Yeon Baekjin had never once imagined that, in his life, he would ever meet the young cult leader of the Demonic Cult.
Now the three people before him looked completely different.
And the first question that came to mind was this. His words and manner had become exceedingly courteous.
“Why is the young cult leader of the Demonic… no, of the Divine Cult here?”
Because of you.
To keep you from living out the fate of killing Seojin.
“As Great Hero Yeon knows, I came because of our Squad Leader Seo.”
The young cult leader himself had moved for the sake of a mere squad leader? At the natural doubt that appeared on Yeon Baekjin’s face, Geom Mugeuk looked at Seojin and said,
“Squad Leader Seo is someone special to me.”
At Geom Mugeuk’s words, Seojin bowed his head politely. He felt it from time to time. That the young cult leader gave him an affection far beyond what he deserved. Yet it was clearly not the fondness one felt toward someone of the opposite sex. Was it because he cherished Ian so much?
Yeon Baekjin looked at Seojin.
Then that meant his elder brother had killed the hometown elder brother of a squad leader of the Demonic Cult’s Ghost Shadow Unit. How close the two were did not matter. What mattered was that, because of it, the young cult leader of the Demonic Cult had come here.
For the young cult leader to have come was no different from saying that the entire Demonic Cult had come. With a single word from him, the Yellow Dragon Martial Hall could be wiped out overnight.
Yeon Baekjin’s body trembled faintly. He had lived thinking himself rather bold, but he could not hide the fear that came rushing in.
Yeon Baekjin asked cautiously,
“What should I do?”
Instead of answering, Geom Mugeuk threw out a question.
“What do you intend to do about your brother?”
For an instant, Yeon Baekjin’s expression hardened.
Since his brother had tried to kill him, the answer was already there. He was not the sort of person who would meekly let himself be killed simply because the person trying to kill him was his brother.
“It’s not as though I can die for that, can I?”
He had no choice but to become ruthless as well.
At Yeon Baekjin’s answer, Ian thought of Geom Mugeuk and the Eldest Young Master.
Even in a mere martial hall, such bloodshed between kin could not be avoided, yet he had brought the succession struggle of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult to a peaceful end. Only now did Ian feel anew just how much effort Geom Mugeuk must have made.
Yeon Baekjin remembered that Geom Mugeuk knew about the place he was trying to find.
“Could it be that the young cult leader is also trying to find that place?”
It was a question born from his inability to truly believe that he had come all this way purely for the sake of a mere squad leader.
“That’s right. I intend to resolve that matter as well.”
Yeon Baekjin’s fear grew even greater. The Demonic Cult had its eyes on the very place with which his brother was currently obsessed. Would they really leave them alive? The Demonic Cult he knew was not such a place. Every story he had heard about the Demonic Cult from childhood until now had been stained with blood. Beneath those handsome and beautiful faces, monsters must be hiding.
But what changed his mind were the corpses of the White Serpent Corps strewn across the floor.
‘If not for them, my corpse would be over there.’
Thinking that his life had been as good as forfeit anyway, his fear subsided.
His gaze turned to Geom Mugeuk.
“What must I do for you to become not a vicious young cult leader, but one who disappears like smoke?”
“Two things will suffice.”
“What are they?”
“Be honest. And trust us.”
Yeon Baekjin was silent for a moment. Now that he knew who the other party was, neither of those two things was easy.
“I cannot say I trust you yet, but I will speak honestly.”
That honesty came half from gratitude for saving his life, and half from fear.
“My brother is currently possessed by something. It must be connected to the secret construction. And what he was promised in return…”
He had grasped the situation accurately.
“It is certainly a martial arts manual.”
“Why do you think it is a manual?”
“My brother could not stand martial artists looking down on our martial hall’s martial arts. He would not have been able to resist the temptation of a peerless divine art.”
Geom Mugeuk combined all the information he had gathered so far and reached a conclusion.
“There is a treasury beneath the Yellow Dragon Martial Hall where a peerless divine art is kept, and the hall members who left without graduating despite having the ability are digging there?”
And the one managing that place was the Sword King.
With the Sword King’s martial prowess, he would not go to such lengths for a mere martial arts manual.
‘What is it that you want?’
Geom Mugeuk’s gaze deepened. Clearly, the Sword King was trying to use him to do something.
Even if he gave in and moved according to the Sword King’s intentions, he had to stay one step ahead. If only he could sneak into that place.
“Is there anyone besides your brother who might know about that place?”
“There is one person. Giseok, one of the Seven Masters, is my brother’s arms and legs. He should know something. However, his martial arts…”
He was about to say that Giseok was far stronger than the other masters, but stopped. Just from seeing the martial arts of the woman accompanying him, he could tell what the young cult leader’s martial prowess must be like.
“His loyalty to my brother runs deep, so he will never open his mouth.”
“Then Giseok must have been the one who brought in the White Serpent Corps.”
“My brother would not have contacted them directly, so that must have been the case.”
Though Yeon Baekjin answered his questions obediently, there was one part on which he could not compromise.
“My brother… I will take care of my brother’s matter myself.”
He had resolved to kill him with his own hands. He did not want his brother to be used miserably and then killed by those bastards. Nor did he want him killed by the Demonic Cult.
If he could not kill him, he was prepared to die together with him.
Geom Mugeuk, who had been quietly gazing at him, said something unexpected.
“Meet your brother again.”
Yeon Baekjin was startled.
“Did you not see? He called the White Serpent Corps to kill me. And their highest-ranked expert at that! If not for you, I would have died here today.”
“That is why I am telling you to meet him.”
Yeon Baekjin guessed the reason like this.
“You mean to use my brother’s guilt! If I go to him now, he will think the White Serpent Corps has not yet carried out the commission. Since I am a younger brother who will die soon anyway, he might tell me something.”
At that, Geom Mugeuk shook his head.
“That is not it. If he were the sort of person who would let information slip out of guilt, he would not have called the White Serpent Corps in the first place.”
“If not that, then why?”
“Go and say everything you want to say. Only then will you have no regrets as you live on.”
For a moment, Yeon Baekjin wore a blank expression.
‘What? He’s saying this for my sake?’
Yeon Baekjin could not believe it. No, he could not understand it.
“You are asking me to believe that, in a situation like this, you are looking after me? What am I to you?”
At that, Geom Mugeuk brought up something Yeon Baekjin had forgotten.
“You showed your back twice. Once to us, and once to the enemy. Both times, it was to protect Seojin.”
The first time, when he had stood in front of Seojin. The next, when he had blocked the hidden weapon for him.
“What are you, you ask? You are a person willing to give your life to protect my subordinate.”
It was truly consideration purely for him.
“If things end without you saying what you need to say, you will think of your brother for the rest of your life. Even if you live on as the master of the Yellow Dragon Hall, there will be a shadow over your heart forever.”
Of course, there was another reason as well.
If Yeon Baekjin lived brightly, that would be a good thing for Seojin too. Geom Mugeuk was still trying until the very end. To him, Seojin was worth that much.
“With the relationship between the two of you, you may regret it whether you speak or not, but this time, the regret of not speaking will be greater. So not for your brother’s sake, but for your own, go say everything and come back.”
* * *
Yeon Baekin stood by the window of his office, gazing at the night scenery.
Though it was late, lights were lit throughout the martial hall, and figures could be seen training until late.
“They arrive today?”
At Yeon Baekin’s question, Giseok, who stood behind him, answered respectfully.
“Yes. They should have already arrived.”
Yeon Baekin asked no further, but Giseok spoke in place of what was in his heart.
“Great Hero Yeon will likely find it difficult to see tomorrow morning’s sun.”
Yeon Baekin’s expression hardened reflexively, then he suddenly recalled the Sword King’s words.
—A villain is one who keeps walking a single path while being cursed.
Yes, there was no need to be ashamed. Trying not to be cursed was, rather, the more shameful sight.
“Seeing how thick the stars are, tomorrow will be clear.”
A smile formed at the corners of Giseok’s mouth. He considered this sort of leader far better than one who was indecisive and pretended to be kind.
“Has that man still been going to the White Dragon Class training lately?”
“He has gone every day recently. They say he has taught a Yellow Dragon Sword Art entirely different from the existing one.”
Giseok added cautiously,
“I do not know what on earth he is thinking.”
He had said it in hopes of hearing whether Yeon Baekin knew what he was thinking, but Yeon Baekin said nothing. He had not told Giseok about the demon the man had spoken of.
Just then, a subordinate’s voice was heard from outside.
“Your younger brother has come to see you.”
Yeon Baekin and Giseok looked at each other. At this late hour, it was an unexpected visit.
“Shall I stay?”
At Giseok’s question, Yeon Baekin shook his head.
“Show him in.”
When the door opened, Yeon Baekjin entered.
As he came inside, the smell of alcohol wafted strongly from him. He held a liquor bottle in one hand. The moment he saw Giseok, instead of greeting him, he spoke like a drunken man.
“Our Master Gi’s tail must have worn away to nothing.”
It was a rude remark, but Giseok showed no sign of displeasure at all. Rather, he smiled and said,
“I only wish my loyalty truly reached that extent. Then, please talk.”
After offering his respects, Giseok left the room.
One might have expected him to say a word about being rude to Giseok, but Yeon Baekin treated him more gently than usual.
“What brings you here at such a late hour?”
The instant he saw that, anger surged up in Yeon Baekjin. He had called the White Serpent Corps to kill him, and yet he made that face?
If he were human, should he not look at least a little flustered out of guilt? At the very least, should he not be as cold as usual?
Yeon Baekjin perched on the guest table and drank straight from the bottle. In doing so, he quelled the anger rising within him.
“Couldn’t sleep. Had something to say.”
The one who had advised him to have a drink before going was Geom Mugeuk. It would probably loosen his nerves. It had truly been wise to bring it. If he had not, he might have shouted just now.
Yeon Baekjin held out the liquor bottle.
“Want some?”
Yeon Baekin shook his head. Yeon Baekjin drank alone again.
“So, what is it you wanted to say?”
After sitting blankly at the table for a moment, Yeon Baekjin brought out the words he had thought of on the way here. They were also words he had kept in his heart for a long time. Words he spoke not for his brother, but for himself.
“To be honest, I thought I had yielded the position of hall master to you.”
Yeon Baekin listened to him in silence.
“Since I was young, I often heard that I had greater martial talent. I thought that if I set my mind to it, I could become hall master.”
Without looking at his brother, Yeon Baekjin continued speaking as he looked down at the liquor bottle in his hand.
“Of course, you are far stronger now, but even that, I thought, was because I had yielded. I deliberately stopped trying because I did not want to become stronger than you.”
Yeon Baekin had had no idea that his younger brother had been thinking this way. And this thought came to him: Is he insane?
“It was all my delusion. This martial hall was never mine, not even once.”
At his younger brother’s confession, Yeon Baekin spoke with a pleasant expression.
“I only thought of myself and failed to understand your heart. From now on…”
“From now on?”
“Let us get along. We are each other’s only brothers, are we not?”
Had his brother always been this brazen and cold-blooded?
“Thank you, Brother.”
For leaving me with this sight at the end.
Yeon Baekin could feel for himself that his heart was colder than ever. He felt as though he could say any number of kind words.
‘You should have acted like this from the start. You should have either lived pretending not to know, as you have until now, or helped me with loyalty like Giseok’s. Then I would not have had to do this, would I?’
But he knew his younger brother was not someone capable of that. Once he sobered up, he would begin investigating him from behind again.
“Let us at least eat together tomorrow.”
What meal? My funeral offering? At those words, Yeon Baekjin’s anger crossed its limit. Because of that, he instead smiled and asked,
“What kind of martial art is it?”
Yeon Baekin flinched in surprise.
“What do you mean?”
“I am asking what kind of martial art it is, the one you are possessed by.”
Yeon Baekjin asked with a smile, but his eyes were cold.
The smile vanished from Yeon Baekin’s face.
Yeon Baekjin could tell. This martial art was like a reverse scale to his brother. Well, of course it was. He must have staked everything on it.
“You have not received that martial arts manual yet, have you? They said they would give it to you once you finished digging up that treasury, didn’t they?”
Yeon Baekin’s expression grew increasingly stiff, but Yeon Baekjin kept pressing him.
“Who in the world would just hand over a peerless divine art? And you believe them when they say they will? Brother, are you an idiot?”
Yeon Baekin did not lose his temper to the end. After all, once his younger brother left this room, he would never see him again. Rather, this was good. Even the faint trace of guilt he had felt toward his brother vanished with this.
Yeon Baekjin was truly furious. To be deceived by such a person, to call the White Serpent Corps to kill his own younger brother. In the end, he would die by Yeon Baekjin’s hand—Brother, are you truly such a fool!
Yeon Baekjin rose from his seat and, feeling stifled, flung open the office window.
He stood by the window like that for a long while, staring outside.
“If you are done talking, leave.”
Yeon Baekjin glanced once at his brother, then left the place without a word.
Left alone, Yeon Baekin opened the wall cabinet and took out a liquor bottle. It was an expensive liquor he normally savored.
After filling a pure white cup to the brim, he drank it down.
“Now get out of my life.”
* * *
When Yeon Baekjin met Geom Mugeuk again, he was excited.
“This is only my feeling, but I think I have found where the entrance is.”
A short while ago, when he had stood by the window of his brother’s office and looked outside, he had seen the night view of the Yellow Dragon Martial Hall.
There were brightly lit places, and there were places less bright. Even so, lights were lit here and there, but there was one place that was particularly dark. Since he had never had the chance to stand there at night and look outside, he had forgotten that place existed. It was a place that, normally, every member of the hall forgot.
A place directly visible from the office, yet used only once a year. A place considered sacred in the martial hall, so no one could approach it in ordinary times. And above all, the place his brother valued most.
“It is the sparring arena where the graduation exam is held.”