The Blood-Heaven Blade Demon swept his gaze over the people seated there. The meaning contained in that displeased look was this:
‘You’re telling me to sit among this rabble?’
Before those words could leave his mouth, I greeted him warmly.
“Welcome, Elder. Come, please sit here.”
When everyone rose and bowed respectfully, he sat down as if he had no choice.
“Why did you call me?”
Just as the Sword Venerable had misunderstood before, it seemed he had thought I would be alone.
In truth, to the Blood-Heaven Blade Demon, who happened to be at the drinking party was a secondary issue; he was simply unfamiliar with and burdened by drinking gatherings like this. Just as when I had given him a birthday gift, he was not accustomed to such private, personal atmospheres.
“Why else would I call you to a tavern? I called you to drink together.”
I poured him a cup. Though he looked reluctant, the Blood-Heaven Blade Demon accepted the drink.
“You have to mingle with young people to become young yourself.”
“What would I do with becoming young?”
“If you can become even a day younger, that’s a good thing. What does it matter if you’re an expert, or if you hold power? Before the years, everyone must kneel.”
“You’re still green yourself. Why are you going on about the years?”
Everyone was listening to our conversation with startled expressions. They probably had not imagined that the Blood-Heaven Blade Demon and I would speak so comfortably.
“I’m saying we should live while enjoying this moment. What do people regret when they die? That they didn’t learn more martial arts? That they didn’t build up more internal energy? That they couldn’t defeat some Sword Ghost living somewhere over there? I don’t think it’s any of those.”
“That is why everyone makes this fuss before dying. So they won’t die while regretting idiotic things like that.”
“You, Elder, will be different.”
“What am I supposed to be?”
“You’re young for your age, and open-minded, aren’t you?”
After all, when it came to praise, wasn’t praise given in front of others the best kind?
“Hmph!”
The Blood-Heaven Blade Demon snorted and drank, but his expression did not seem entirely displeased.
Seo Daeryong’s face had been truly complicated ever since he entered. His drunken eyes seemed to be saying this.
—No, I don’t want this! This can’t happen! Right? You’re joking, aren’t you?
I felt sorry to say this to him, who was engulfed in shock and terror, but yes. I intended to make the Blood-Heaven Blade Demon Seo Daeryong’s master.
Jang Ho offered the Blood-Heaven Blade Demon a drink.
“Thank you very much for recommending me the other day. I am only now able to properly greet you.”
“It was not my will, but because of the Second Young Master here, so offer your thanks to him.”
“I’ve received plenty of thanks, so please accept his gratitude as well, Elder. In truth, it would have been impossible without you.”
The Blood-Heaven Blade Demon looked at Jang Ho and said,
“I recommended you because I judged it a position you could sufficiently handle, so do not concern yourself with it.”
“Thank you.”
At the first praise he had ever heard from a Demon Venerable, Jang Ho’s expression brightened.
A person’s nature may not change easily, but their attitude can change depending on the situation. The Blood-Heaven Blade Demon I first met and the Blood-Heaven Blade Demon seated here now were truly very different. Different enough that I could make this sort of proposal.
“There is something I would like to ask of you, Elder.”
“What is it?”
I looked at Seo Daeryong. No longer able to withstand the alcohol, he had his eyes closed and his head lowered.
“Please teach this friend some martial arts.”
As if the words were completely unexpected, the Blood-Heaven Blade Demon was startled.
“Who is this little rat?”
Just as I was about to introduce him, Seo Daeryong suddenly lifted his head and shouted in a slurred voice.
“I am Seo Daeryong, the right arm of the Pavilion Lord, a hard-boiled man who, though power-oriented and cold-blooded by nature, loves only one woman, a rebel who raises his hand alone when everyone else remains silent, and a pacifist! And I am not a little rat!”
After pouring all that out in one breath, he dropped his head again. We could tell. Seo Daeryong was completely drunk.
“Hahaha.”
I laughed aloud, and Ian lowered her head, holding back her laughter. Jang Ho gave a faint snort of laughter and drank.
Seeing how he remembered exactly what I had said even while dead drunk, he was a genius when it came to memory.
“What is that strangely insane bastard?”
“He’s very drunk, so please be understanding.”
“Martial arts, my foot! He should consider himself lucky I haven’t killed him for your sake.”
“He is someone we absolutely need.”
“No.”
“Elder!”
The Blood-Heaven Blade Demon looked at me as if glaring.
“But why me?”
“Because you are the most skilled, Elder. I want this friend to learn from the most skilled person.”
“He is not my disciple, so how could I pass on martial arts to him?”
“Then take him as your disciple.”
“What?”
“I don’t think there is anyone among your current disciples who could inherit your position. Your youngest disciple is kind, at least, but with that personality, it would be difficult for him to become your successor. What do you think of this friend here?”
“No!”
The Blood-Heaven Blade Demon refused flatly.
“You must have spent your whole life doing only what you wanted to do. Now live while doing some things you dislike.”
“I said no.”
“Why do you dislike it? There must be a reason.”
“I just dislike it. If I dislike it, what need is there for a reason?”
It was right then.
“I dislike it too!”
Everyone’s gaze turned toward the owner of the voice. It was Seo Daeryong, the protagonist of a drunkenness that risked his life.
“You think I would like it?”
A startled Ian tried to stop him, but he was already challenging the Blood-Heaven Blade Demon with half-lidded eyes.
“Elder Blade Demon!”
Fortunately, he did not call him “hey, Blade Demon.”
“I clearly said I dislike it. So don’t even dream of teaching me! You! Can! Not!”
He enunciated each syllable of the words “cannot.” With every word, everyone grew tense, fearing the Blood-Heaven Blade Demon might make a move.
Seo Daeryong, who had been raising his voice, now looked at me. His eyes had already gone completely unfocused. Well, if he were in his right mind, he would never act like that toward the Blood-Heaven Blade Demon. Ah, this was the final flare before death.
“Our respected Pavilion Lord! I’m going to ask you one thing!”
“It seems you are about to be murdered, so I will answer you with utmost sincerity.”
“Why are you trying to throw me to that cold and heartless man? Uhuuhuk, if you do this, I, Seo Daeryong, will feel wronged.”
A vein bulged on the Blood-Heaven Blade Demon’s forehead. I smiled at the Blood-Heaven Blade Demon with an expression asking him to be understanding.
“Why else? So you can learn martial arts.”
“So why?”
“To raise your self-esteem.”
I did not say it in front of everyone, but it was to make him the next Pavilion Lord of Hwangcheon Pavilion. If he learned martial arts from the Blood-Heaven Blade Demon, he would gain the strongest backing there was.
“Ahh, it’s true that my self-esteem is a bit low.”
He dropped his head again. Iyeon, beside him, held him up.
“You’re very drunk. I’ll escort you back first.”
When she tried to help him stand, Seo Daeryong rejected her hand.
“I’m not drunk, our Heart.”
“Heart?”
“Yes, I am the arm. Lady Ian is the heart. Our Heart, more precious than an arm. An arm can be cut off, but the heart must not be hurt.”
Ian would probably think Seo Daeryong was spouting nonsense because he was drunk.
You jealous bastard. You’re smart enough to remember everything even in the middle of this.
I once again asked the Blood-Heaven Blade Demon politely.
“Please teach him for just half an hour after you finish your work. A few days is fine, and a few years is fine too. If you don’t like this friend, you can teach him for just one day. Please give him a chance first.”
“You really do believe in that drunkard.”
“I believe in you, Elder.”
The Blood-Heaven Blade Demon and Seo Daeryong somehow had something in common. They were slightly removed from the mainstream, yet possessed a greater passion than anyone in the mainstream.
Just as the Blood-Heaven Blade Demon was about to say no—
“I said I dislike it!”
Seo Daeryong beat him to it.
The Blood-Heaven Blade Demon frowned. At that moment, I saw it. The emotion contained in the Blood-Heaven Blade Demon’s eyes.
‘Shall I show you what truly disliking something is? Shall I put you through hell once?’
Seo Daeryong, unaware of that, stood before the Blood-Heaven Blade Demon with his eyes almost closed, jutting out his lips and shaking his head. If he had stuck out his tongue as well, it would surely have been cut off.
Fortunately, before the Blood-Heaven Blade Demon’s blade could fly, Seo Daeryong slammed his head onto the table with a thud and fell asleep. It was a magnificent death in battle. It would be the bravest drunken fit of his life, both up to now and for the rest of his days.
And it was also the drunken fit that changed his life.
The Blood-Heaven Blade Demon asked me,
“If I teach that damned bastard martial arts, what will you do for me?”
The prepared answer came from my mouth.
“I will resolve the old resentment you have carried for a long time.”
“!”
The Blood-Heaven Blade Demon would know what that meant.
A brief silence flowed between us, and then we drank again. We no longer talked about asking him to teach martial arts. We simply drank quietly while talking about this and that.
After two more bottles of liquor had been emptied, Ian passed out, and Jang Ho remained to the end, keeping the Blood-Heaven Blade Demon and me company as a drinking partner.
In the middle of drinking, I stepped outside the tavern for a moment.
As I stood there, getting some air, the Blood-Heaven Blade Demon came and stood beside me.
“What you said earlier was not a joke, was it?”
“No. I can’t let him learn your martial arts for free, Elder.”
The Blood-Heaven Blade Demon was silent for a while.
Did he truly wish to reconcile with the Ilhwa Sword Venerable?
As he looked across the street, the Blood-Heaven Blade Demon abruptly asked,
“Does that branch over there have any effect?”
“It’s running well.”
“No, I’m asking whether it has an effect. I mean, does it help raise your reputation?”
It seemed he probably thought I had established it to increase my popularity.
“Yes. It helps a great deal.”
I did not bother persuading him that I had established it for the residents of Maga Village. He would not understand that helping them was as important as killing the Soul-Capturing Demon Venerable.
“Please take good care of Investigator Seo.”
“I truly am doing all sorts of absurd things. Leaving a young whelp to me—what are you planning to do?”
“I’m busy.”
“What keeps you so busy?”
“I have to spend every day thinking about how to kill things that don’t deserve to be called human, run here and there trying to obtain my right wing, and curry favor with my father.”
He realized that the right wing was the Ilhwa Sword Venerable.
“Then perhaps… am I the left wing?”
“Yes. If you would like to be the right, I can switch you.”
The Blood-Heaven Blade Demon shook his head with an expression of disbelief.
“You really are insane. To think you would bind the Sword Venerable and me as a pair of wings.”
“You said it to me at first, didn’t you? That with my madness, you felt you could stake your fate on me. That we should devour everything with madness. Have you already forgotten?”
“I did not know you were this insane.”
“Let’s go mad together. How much time do you have left to live that you would hesitate?”
“Is that something you should say to an elder?”
“I’m insane, after all.”
The Blood-Heaven Blade Demon smiled faintly.
“I will soon leave the cult and be away for two or three months. Please look after my people well in the meantime.”
“Understood.”
That single word, understood, asking nothing at all—those few short syllables sounded tremendously reassuring.
Through today’s drinking gathering as well, I felt that his door had opened a little more. But I still could not be certain what lay inside that door.
To open the door wide, I needed the other wing. Only when the two wings faced each other, flapping and clashing, would I finally learn why that wing moved the way it did.
“The rain will stop soon. The birds will fly too.”
The drinking gathering had ended, and I was on my way back with Ian.
“I made another mistake today.”
“What mistake? If you drank that much, of course you would fall asleep.”
“Falling asleep is also a drunken habit.”
“You wouldn’t drink like that unless I were there anyway, would you?”
“That’s true, but still.”
“Then it’s not a drunken habit. It’s rest.”
At my words, Ian smiled.
“How many times am I allowed to ask the same question?”
“It depends on the question.”
“For example… why are you so good to me?”
This question, I was willing to receive for the rest of my life.
“About five times?”
“Starting now?”
“Yes, starting now.”
“Why are you so good to me?”
“So I can work you to the bone for the rest of your life. Why are you so curious about the same answer you always hear?”
Ian smiled shyly.
“I’m going to ask again.”
“You have four times left.”
Like that, we walked together beneath the gentle moonlight. As if something had suddenly occurred to her, Ian asked,
“But wait, what about Investigator Seo? He looked very drunk earlier. Did he go ahead?”
“Before you woke up, his master took him away.”
“His master?”
Ian’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Don’t tell me! They went together?”