Cult Leader Pungcheon looked at the place where the divine relics had been set. He looked and looked again; even after closing his eyes and opening them, the spots where the Blood God Pill and the supreme-grade Heavenly Silkworm Silk had been were empty.
“I can’t bear to look at it. She was a flawless beauty, and now she looks as if her two front teeth have been knocked out.”
At Cult Leader Pungcheon’s lament, the shackled man looked at the Yin Thunder Bell and spoke quietly.
“She still has her fangs and her molars. She can tear into her opponent, and she can clench her molars and steel her resolve.”
“You get excited every time a divine relic disappears, don’t you?”
“How did you know? If you unfasten these shackles, I might even dance.”
Cult Leader Pungcheon let out a sigh.
“To be honest, I’m afraid.”
“What are you afraid of?”
“That all of this will turn into a vain dream. That when I wake, nothing will remain. Then I’ll regret it, won’t I? What in the world possessed me to give up so much?”
Cult Leader Pungcheon looked at the shackled man. Then the shackled man raised his head and swept back the hair that hung down in thick locks, showing his face for the first time in a long while.
“Why the sudden gesture?”
“I’m showing you the man who possessed you and made you give up everything.”
“You madman.”
The man was right. What had bewitched him now was not the Second Young Master. It was that shackled man. That man who boldly said he had bewitched him, who smiled as he said he would destroy him.
“How do I make Cheongseon a Demon Venerable?”
“We must defeat the Demon Venerables one by one and draw them in. Conciliate them, persuade them, recruit them. At least two divine relics will go into it. If our luck is bad, we may need one more.”
It seemed the shackled man had already finished his calculations, but Cult Leader Pungcheon’s face twisted into a deep frown.
“You’re saying in a roundabout way that I should invest in the Second Young Master, aren’t you? For you, it’s the Second Young Master to the very end.”
“How long do you intend to lean on the Second Young Master? Act like a man and move and deal with it yourself. I will tell you which approach to the Demon Venerables would be advantageous.”
“I told you not to be sarcastic!”
“You are right. Then just do nothing and remain still.”
“Is that something a strategist should say?”
No sooner had Cult Leader Pungcheon spoken than there came the clank of chains.
At that silent protest—what strategist in the world wore such shackles?—Cult Leader Pungcheon could say nothing.
“I say this because you think of me as your strategist. Just stay still. Sometimes, the greatest results are obtained by doing nothing.”
After a brief pause, Cult Leader Pungcheon asked,
“Can I really do that?”
“The Second Young Master will come.”
“And then?”
“He will demand a divine relic in exchange for placing Cheongseon in the seat of Demon Venerable.”
“Even for the Second Young Master, will that be possible?”
“We have to believe. We have already crossed a bridge from which there is no return.”
Just then, Cheongseon, who had been training in the yard, came to deliver news.
“The Second Young Master has come to visit.”
Cult Leader Pungcheon was startled, and at the same time impressed. Because things were moving just as the shackled man had predicted, he felt the illusion that he held the upper hand.
“He’s a fellow who’ll never become a proper gentleman.”
“It is because we are always thinking about the Second Young Master and talking only of the Second Young Master.”
“I told you to stop talking about him! Stop taking his side! Your master is me, me!”
“Then who told you to become the front wave of the Yangtze?”
At the words front wave of the Yangtze, Cult Leader Pungcheon’s heart dropped. The shackled man had likely said it without any special meaning, but to Cult Leader Pungcheon it struck hard. These days, he had already been feeling as if he were being pushed by something, swept toward a place he did not wish to go.
“Fine, you must be pleased, being the rear wave of the Yangtze.”
When he had decided to come to the Central Plains, he had never dreamed he would be having such a conversation with the shackled man.
‘Truly, one can never know what lies even an inch ahead in life.’
For the first time, Cult Leader Pungcheon felt the unfamiliar tension that an unpredictable life could give. Put another way, it also meant he had lived a life that was that predictable and smooth.
* * *
When I went to see Cult Leader Pungcheon, Cheongseon was there as well.
She had been in the middle of training in the yard, and when she recognized me, she greeted me respectfully.
“I greet the Second Young Master.”
When the Soul-Subduing Demon Venerable had been alive, ours had been a relationship as indifferent as looking at chickens and dogs, but now the situation had changed. She needed outside supporters who would back her, and she needed to make a good impression on me, the Second Young Master and Pavilion Master of the Yellow Springs Pavilion.
“I heard that you became Cult Leader Pungcheon’s disciple, Lady Cheong. Congratulations.”
“Thank you, Second Young Master.”
She would not know. That things had flowed this way had begun with my leaking information to Sa Ujong.
“I came because I have news to inform the Cult Leader of. Lady Cheong, you should hear it with us.”
When we entered, the shackled man slightly raised his head, and our eyes met in passing. Since last time, we had been greeting each other in our own way.
“What is it?”
“The Demon Buddha is making his move.”
“The Demon Buddha? How?”
“He is persuading the Demon Venerables in order to make his first disciple, Yang Do, the next Soul-Subduing Demon Venerable.”
“Damn it! To think a friend would go even further.”
“Now that the Demon Buddha has begun moving in earnest, I think it will be difficult for Lady Cheong here to become a Demon Venerable.”
Cheongseon bit her lip gently. She had taken a great risk in order to become a Demon Venerable. If she failed to become one even after becoming Cult Leader Pungcheon’s disciple, she might ultimately be driven beyond the borders alongside Cult Leader Pungcheon.
“Second Young Master. Is there no way to seat this child in the position of Demon Venerable? As you know, in this Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, I cannot move.”
“There is a way, but it will not be easy.”
“What way?”
“We must move Demon Venerables as well. Fortunately, the two elders, the Blood Heaven Saber Demon and the One Flower Sword Venerable, are well disposed toward me. If I ask those two, perhaps…”
“Please help us.”
“Please help me, Second Young Master.”
Cheongseon was just as desperate as Cult Leader Pungcheon.
“This is not as easy as it sounds.”
I put on an act that was not entirely an act.
“I do not know what the Demon Venerables who agree to give their votes will demand. Even if things go well, I will end up owing a great debt to the Saber Demon and the Sword Venerable.”
“Are my disciple and I not the ones receiving help? I will never forget that merit.”
“Very well. I will try.”
“Thank you. Please wait a moment.”
As if he had something to say to me privately, Cult Leader Pungcheon sent Cheongseon out.
“You go outside and train.”
“Yes, Master.”
After greeting me, Cheongseon went out. Her gaze toward me contained desperation.
Once she had gone, Cult Leader Pungcheon asked,
“What do you want this time? It must be a divine relic again, yes?”
“No.”
“No?”
Cult Leader Pungcheon was astonished.
“The only thing more important than a divine relic is my life.”
He said it like a joke, but it was a statement that contained his true feelings. From my mouth flowed words that must have sounded like a blessing to such a man.
“This time, there is nothing I want.”
“Nothing?”
“Yes, nothing.”
“Truly?”
When I nodded as if to make it certain, Cult Leader Pungcheon’s expression brightened.
“When the result comes out, I will treat you to a drink.”
“On top of that, even wine?”
“You gave me two precious divine relics, did you not? Win or lose, let us have a drink.”
“Where?”
“We should drink here. With the divine relics stolen, if the Cult Leader leaves his quarters, everyone will find it strange. I will prepare wine and dishes and bring them.”
Of course, that was not the reason. It was so I could drink where the shackled man was.
“I will do my best to make sure it becomes a victory drink, not a drink in defeat.”
With those words, I rose from my seat. Cult Leader Pungcheon was pleased, but at the same time he was clearly flustered.
“Just in case, teach your disciple well. Lady Cheong may have to spar with the first disciple, Yang Do.”
“I have that in mind as well.”
“Then I will take my leave.”
I was about to leave like that, but then I turned back to Cult Leader Pungcheon.
“Ah, there is one thing I would like to ask.”
“What is it?”
“I tried to create a sky in the space made by the Space-Time Transposition Art, but the mnemonic formula did not connect smoothly. May I ask you to explain it to me once more?”
Cult Leader Pungcheon was startled. The shackled man sitting there also flinched in surprise. He was someone who rarely showed emotion, but this time there was a reaction.
“To fill the space, you must succeed in creating it within half a shichen.”
“I have already succeeded in creating it within half a shichen.”
“What did you say?”
Cult Leader Pungcheon was shocked. When I had said before that I could open it in two shichen, he had not believed me. I had said I would show him directly next time, and yet I had already shortened it to half a shichen, so his surprise was only natural.
“Show me. Then I will tell you.”
“You will wait half a shichen?”
“I will wait.”
“Very well.”
I immediately began reciting the mnemonic formula and using the Space-Time Transposition Art.
Half a shichen later, we were inside the space I had made. I had deliberately brought the shackled man into it with us as well.
Cult Leader Pungcheon was surprised, and the shackled man was surprised too. A sky had spread out, but holes had opened here and there, making it a strange sky.
After looking around for a moment, Cult Leader Pungcheon asked me,
“Why did you make the sky first, of all things?”
“I like looking at the sky. When I look at it, it feels as if the tightness in my chest clears away. Then, please explain it to me.”
“I promised, so I will teach you.”
Cult Leader Pungcheon explained in detail the part of the Space-Time Transposition Art’s mnemonic formula that dealt with filling the space.
In truth, I could create the sky perfectly. But I had pretended not to be able to do it properly so that I could naturally show my ability directly in front of them.
After hearing Cult Leader Pungcheon’s explanation, half a shichen later, I opened a new space where a clear blue sky stretched high and wide, surprising the two of them even more.
It was not a move I had shown for Cult Leader Pungcheon’s sake. It was to show the shackled man directly what kind of talent I possessed.
Was I showing off? Yes. It was intentional boasting.
In my previous life, the foremost virtue I had felt a leader needed was strength. No matter what anyone said, it was strength. A person strong enough that one could trust and entrust everything to him.
And I saw it. The shackled man’s face as he looked up at the sky. His eyes, clear and yet lonely.
I still could not know what kind of person he was. But one thing was certain.
Though I called him the shackled man, he was a person whose appearance and air did not suit shackles at all.
* * *
After Geom Mugeuk left, Cult Leader Pungcheon and the shackled man were silent for a while.
The first to speak was Cult Leader Pungcheon.
“I saw a martial arts genius today.”
“He is certainly a Heavenly Martial Physique.”
“A Heavenly Martial Physique? Yes, without that, there is no way he could learn the Space-Time Transposition Art this quickly.”
“Even so, do you still find it a waste?”
“What? Giving him the Space-Time Transposition Art? Of course it is a waste. Is that feeling of waste not unrelated to the other party’s ability?”
“Who knows what legend he may accomplish with the martial art the Cult Leader passed on to him?”
“As I always say, what use is that legend if it is not me?”
“Our Cult Leader is a man who does not know how to give up.”
“You are being sarcastic again.”
“No. I think it is good that you are honest.”
“It’s because it’s you! Because I’m in front of you that I’m honest. If I go elsewhere, I’m not such a soft person.”
Though he himself so often revealed his inner thoughts like this, the shackled man had not once revealed his own. Cult Leader Pungcheon knew better than anyone the reason for that. Unless he removed those shackles, he would never know the man’s true heart.
But even so, there would likewise never be a day when he removed those shackles.
‘I will not let anyone take you from me.’
Whether he knew that feeling or not, the shackled man only stared at the evil spirits engraved on the Yin Thunder Bell.
“Are the evil spirits speaking to you again?”
“They ask again why I live like this.”
“Tell them everyone lives like this. You damned evil spirit, everyone lives like this. What makes you so special that you ask such a thing?”
But Cult Leader Pungcheon did not know. At this moment, the man was saying something entirely different to the evil spirit.
He was speaking of the person who kept telling him to stop taking his side and stop talking about him. The evil spirit, which looked as tight-lipped as the Yin Thunder Bell itself, merely listened silently to his words.