“Lately, I’ve been looking for a strategist.”
Today’s meeting with Sama Myeong was for the sake of saying those words.
“Am I not enough for you?”
At Sama Myeong’s joke, I smiled and replied.
“Father and I are both rather greedy men, aren’t we? Father would never share Strategist Sama with me. You know my father well enough, don’t you?”
Sama Myeong deflected with a smile.
“So I came to seek your advice, Strategist. I wanted to ask what sort of strategist I ought to look for.”
For a moment, Sama Myeong toyed with his wine cup in silence. He looked calm, but his mind was surely turning at great speed.
From the intent behind my visit to how much he should tell me. What effect the aftermath of his words might have on himself, on our cult, or on the succession struggle. All manner of thoughts were likely being sorted inside his head.
I did not know the conditions that made a good strategist. Only this one thing I knew from experience.
A good strategist, in the end, makes good choices.
As far as I knew, Sama Myeong was a better strategist than anyone, so he would surely give me the proper answer.
He drank another cup of wine, and when I filled his cup again, he finished thinking.
Sama Myeong asked me with a meaningful look.
“Could it be that you have already finished deliberating?”
There was an important meaning contained in that question. I could tell. Sama Myeong already knew of the shackled man’s existence. He even knew that the person I had in mind was him.
What he was saying to me now was this.
—Are you considering that man from the Pungcheon Cult as your strategist?
Perhaps it was only natural. There was no way Chief Strategist Sama Myeong would be unaware of the shackled man, who served as the Pungcheon Cult’s strategist.
Lately, using the theft case as an excuse, I had been going in and out of the Pungcheon Cult Leader’s residence, and now I had suddenly come to meet him and said I wanted to find a strategist. Of course he would think of him.
“There is someone I’m considering, but I’m not yet certain.”
If I asked him directly, he would never answer, so I asked with my eyes.
—May I take him as my strategist?
Sama Myeong gazed at me and held back his answer. Now was the moment when the most important words of today’s meeting would come.
“No one can be certain when it comes to winning a person over. The result only appears after a long process. So for now, trust your instincts, Second Young Master.”
Trust my instincts.
It was ordinary advice that anyone could give.
But right now, that advice held a different meaning. Knowing that I had the shackled man in mind, he told me to trust my instincts, which in the end was advice to accept him.
If the shackled man were someone who would harm our cult, he would never have said such a thing. It meant he was a man of ability whom Sama Myeong acknowledged.
Sama Myeong was not my man, but at the very least, he was someone filled with loyalty toward our cult. With the possibility that I might become the Heavenly Demon, he would not recommend just anyone.
“Yes. I will trust my instincts.”
When I raised my cup, Sama Myeong nodded once, then clinked his cup against mine with vigor.
Today, all he had told me was to trust my own instincts.
Whether it was Father or a Demon Venerable, if someday there were any questioning over whether he had recommended the shackled man to me, he was free of it. Even with me, it was the same. I could not demand to know why he had recommended him. Sama Myeong had merely told me to trust my instincts; he had not recommended him.
We drank for a full two sijin.
We shared all sorts of stories, but Sama Myeong did not show the slightest disorder, nor did he make a single slip of the tongue.
* * *
Several days passed.
Outwardly, they were days no different from any other, but among the Demon Venerables, all manner of schemes and politics ran rampant.
And today, at last, the day of fate arrived.
“They must be in the middle of voting right now.”
At Seo Daeryong’s words, I nodded.
“Most likely.”
Right now, through the Demon Venerables’ meeting, they were deciding the next Demon Venerable.
I could not know whether the Blood Heaven Blade Demon or the One Flower Sword Venerable had persuaded the other Demon Venerables. I had not gone to ask them separately, and they had not come to tell me either.
“You’re involved in this matter too, aren’t you, Pavilion Master?”
I nodded readily.
“You’re my right arm, yet there are many things you don’t know. Are you disappointed?”
“No. I hope I never know. I absolutely won’t sulk just because I’m excluded from something like this. So please proceed without my knowledge in the future as well. Even if you unify the murim, Pavilion Master, I’m fine finding out from rumors the next day!”
“You were always this funny, weren’t you? When you first met me, you were just pretending to be gloomy, right?”
“Now even I’m confused. About what kind of person I am.”
“Bright is better. She’ll like that more too.”
“She?”
“The junior you like.”
“You mean the one even I had forgotten about?”
As if he had given up denying it now, Seo Daeryong nodded.
“Thanks to you, Pavilion Master, we’ll end up getting married.”
“If you want that, you need to eat with her first. Ask her to have a meal.”
“What for, when she’s busy?”
“What does eating have to do with being busy? Because you start out with that kind of burden, things that could work out end up not working. You should just approach her as someone she can see often and comfortably.”
I sensed Seo Daeryong’s eyes glint slightly.
“Does seeing someone often change anything?”
“It does. But you mustn’t become someone too comfortable. This is the most important part. Don’t let yourself look easy!”
“What should I do so I don’t look easy? Should I put strength into my eyes?”
“Good heavens!”
When I let out a sigh, Seo Daeryong quickly said,
“It was a joke, a joke.”
“It’s sadder because I know it wasn’t.”
“I’m not that lacking in sense.”
There was no way to determine the truth of that. A subordinate rushed in and reported the voting results.
“The results are out.”
“What happened?”
“It was a draw.”
“A draw? There are seven Demon Venerables. How can there be a draw?”
“They say one Demon Venerable abstained.”
“Ah, so there was an abstention.”
Who the Demon Venerables cast their votes for was not made known to outsiders. It seemed that either the Blood Heaven Blade Demon or the One Flower Sword Venerable had only managed to persuade half of them.
“And?”
“They decided that the first disciple and the third disciple will have a duel to determine the outcome. They say it will be held immediately tomorrow.”
“So it comes to this in the end.”
It may not have been intended, but in the end, the decision would be made through a duel. From Seo Hwanjin’s perspective, this was rather a good decision. If the one with superior skill took the Demon Venerable’s seat, there would be less room for complaints afterward.
After the subordinate who delivered the report left, Seo Daeryong asked,
“Who do you think will win?”
“Why do you ask?”
“I’ll go to the marketplace and place a wager. This is when a life of meager wages turns around.”
“Bet everything you have on Cheongseon!”
“Why the third disciple?”
“You’re not betting on the third disciple. You’re betting on the Pungcheon Cult Leader. No, to be exact, you’re betting on the Pungcheon Cult Leader’s desperation. He won’t let his disciple lose. Where are you going?”
“To mortgage my house!”
Seo Daeryong opened the door and was about to leave, but stopped.
“You’re not going to stop me?”
“You weren’t going to gamble anyway.”
“How do you know?”
“Gamblers only aim for a sudden fortune. They don’t think about changing reality like you do.”
Seo Daeryong grinned and closed the door.
“I really am going. I’m going to put strength in my eyes and ask her to eat.”
I walked to the window.
In the training ground where dusk had settled dimly, martial artists were coming and going busily. Each organization that heard the voting results would be watching tomorrow’s outcome closely.
It was important for Cheongseon to win, but more important to me were the Blood Heaven Blade Demon and the One Flower Sword Venerable. If not for them, we could not have come this far.
‘Thank you, elders.’
* * *
The next day, the duel took place.
Around the dueling platform, the Seven Demon Venerables and their subordinates, as well as Seo Hwanjin’s ghost arts practitioners, all gathered. Since this match was open to spectators beyond the Demon Venerables’ direct subordinates, the Pungcheon Cult Leader and I also found seats and sat down. Father, however, did not attend.
Onto the dueling platform climbed the first disciple, Yang Do, and the third disciple, Cheongseon.
At their appearance, cheers erupted from Seo Hwanjin’s ghost arts practitioners.
Compared to the deceased Soul-Seizing Demon Venerable, they still had a long way to go, but one of them was the next Demon Venerable who would lead Seo Hwanjin from now on. Depending on what sort of person that was, Seo Hwanjin’s fate would be divided.
Would Yang Do, the existing powerhouse, win? Or would Cheongseon, who had learned martial arts from the Pungcheon Cult Leader, win?
The expectation was that Yang Do would win at a ratio of about seven to three. Although Cheongseon had become the Pungcheon Cult Leader’s disciple, she had had far too little time to learn martial arts.
Since neither Yang Do nor Cheongseon had received the Space-Time Transposition Art, we could watch them fight. If not, it would have been the blandest fight in the world. The two of them would have vanished before our eyes at the same time, only reappearing after victory and defeat had been decided.
There were no polite greetings between the two.
“Cowardly bitch. Bitch who sold out her master.”
“Bringing up Master now is exactly what selling out Master looks like, you stupid senior brother.”
With cold curses, the duel began. The two knew that their lives and futures were at stake, so they showed each other no mercy.
Pitch-black smoke raised by Yang Do engulfed Cheongseon, and her Soul-Seizing Art invaded Yang Do’s mind. The wailing of ghosts rang out, and a ghost-possessed wind blew.
A black monster sprang from the floor and tried to drag its opponent down, while a red hand that shot out from midair tried to tear off the opponent’s head.
Though it was a fight not between Demon Venerables, but their disciples, it was fiercer and more powerful than expected. Since no one had expected much, everyone was startled.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwang!
With a roar, the earth trembled, and at times thunder sounded from a clear sky.
The demonic practitioners watching fell into despair as they thought:
How in the world is one supposed to block those techniques?
Just by watching this fight between disciples, one could understand why the orthodox sects had considered the Soul-Seizing Demon Venerable the most troublesome. Techniques that left one at a loss for how to respond appeared one after another.
Everyone held their breath.
Even when they threw hidden weapons, even when they rolled across the ground, no one looked down on them.
A black evil spirit sprang out and took the incoming hidden weapon in their stead, and even in the moment they rolled across the ground, ghostly energy was being released from their hands. Blood that melted the floor surged over the opponent, and a shimmering haze tried to tear off the opponent’s arms.
They employed every method they could, and the battle was desperate and gruesome. It would not have seemed strange if they tore out each other’s throats with their teeth. The watching demonic practitioners were swept up in fervor.
And then, at some moment!
The ghostly wailing that had sounded throughout the fight ceased.
When the gray smoke that had been coiling around the two of them like a mad whirlwind vanished, the sight of them standing face-to-face came into view.
Everyone could tell. At last, the fight was over. They still could not tell who had won.
The first to speak was Yang Do.
“That last technique?”
“A lethal demonic art I learned from my new master.”
“I knew since we were young… that you were this kind of bitch.”
“Then you must know well. That I will become a Soul-Seizing Demon Venerable greater than our late master.”
Leaving him standing there, Cheongseon walked toward the place where the ghost arts practitioners were gathered. In a ringing voice, she said to them,
“That is why our Seo Hwanjin will become the greatest of the Eight Demons!”
The moment her words ended—
Papapapapak!
Blood spurted like fountains from the mouth, nose, and ears of the first disciple, Yang Do. With every meridian in his body severed strand by strand, he collapsed to the floor.
No one had imagined that Cheongseon would cruelly kill the first disciple, so silence flowed for an instant. Only for a moment. Then cheers erupted, shaking the place.
Waaaaaaaah!
Cheongseon slowly walked toward where the Seven Demon Venerables sat.
She cupped her fist respectfully.
“I greet you. I am Cheongseon.”
Those who had chosen her were smiling, and those who had not were stiff-faced.
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon rose from his seat and shouted as their representative.
“A new master of Seo Hwanjin has been born!”
At his cry, everyone cheered.
It was the moment a new Soul-Seizing Demon Venerable was born.
Cheongseon looked at the Pungcheon Cult Leader and respectfully greeted him with cupped fists.
Next, she looked at me and greeted me.
But she did not cast even a single glance toward Sa Ujong.
Perhaps he had expected even a secretly passing look, for Sa Ujong seemed deeply disappointed. At some point, his life had ceased to flow as he wished.