I crossed the final boundary of the inner court together with Jo Chunbae.
They once again checked our identities and searched us, as they had already done twice before, and inspected the various ingredients Jo Chunbae had brought.
Jo Chunbae was frozen stiff. The deeper we went into the inner court, the stronger and more terrifying the aura of the warriors guarding it became, and he could hardly even breathe.
Only after we had passed beyond the boundary did Jo Chunbae finally relax.
“Phew, I’ve never trembled this much in my life.”
“There’s no need to be so nervous. I’m here, am I not?”
“Of course. If not for you, Pavilion Lord, how could I ever have come this far? This is my first time in the inner court.”
The place we were heading was the residence where the Pungcheon Cult Leader stayed.
“What is your first impression of the inner court?”
“I was too scared to look properly.”
“There is nothing to be afraid of. In this vast place, there are only a few people who live as diligently as you do, proprietor.”
“Goodness, please don’t say such things.”
Jo Chunbae waved his hands as if I were talking nonsense, but the pleased corners of his mouth rose higher with every wave.
“I must have been blessed beyond measure. The Second Young Master came to my tavern, and thanks to that I was able to serve dishes to people I could never have dreamed of meeting. I never imagined I would even come all the way to the inner court like this.”
The reason I had brought Jo Chunbae today was ostensibly to have him cook when I drank with the Pungcheon Cult Leader, but in truth it was to show him around the inner court.
At some point, in passing, he had said he wanted to see the inner court of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, and today I was going to grant that wish.
These days, my personal cook, Cook Im, was waiting in the outer court with the other cooks to provide meals for the demonic practitioners of the Pungcheon Cult, so I had ample pretext to bring Jo Chunbae along.
“I must have accumulated a great deal of merit in my previous life.”
“You must have saved the murim in your previous life, proprietor.”
“Even if I didn’t save the whole murim, I’m certain I must have beaten down at least one elder of the Murim Alliance who invaded our cult with an iron ladle.”
I laughed pleasantly at his joke. Just then, warriors of the inner court passing by saw me and greeted me respectfully. Jo Chunbae could not even meet the eyes of those burly, frightening warriors.
“Now that I’m actually here, I’m happy, but also afraid.”
“That is why I established the sub-branch in Maga Village. This is not a place everyone can come to easily. So, proprietor, please keep a good eye on the people of Maga Village and the sub-branch, and if there is anything you need to tell me, make sure to pass it on.”
“Yes, I will.”
In that way, we arrived at the residence where the Pungcheon Cult Leader stayed.
“You’ve come?”
The Pungcheon Cult Leader welcomed us warmly. I had promised to treat him to drinks once the Soul-Subduing Demon Venerable was decided. Since Cheongseon had been chosen and he was in good spirits, and since I had even refused the sacred relic, the Pungcheon Cult Leader looked to be in an excellent mood.
“This is the proprietor of Pungnyu Guesthouse, whom you saw last time. Rather than bringing cold dishes to serve you, I wanted to eat warm dishes made by the proprietor himself, so I brought him along. Proprietor, I leave it to you.”
“I will pour my soul into the dishes I serve.”
“I do not particularly wish to eat your soul, proprietor, so please make them as you normally would.”
“Yes!”
While Jo Chunbae prepared the food, the Pungcheon Cult Leader and I went into the room.
“Congratulations on taking the Demon Venerable as your disciple.”
“It was something I could never have accomplished without you, Second Young Master. Thank you.”
“It is because you taught your disciple well, Cult Leader.”
“Let us call it our victory.”
We exchanged such pleasantries and enjoyed our victory. I had known Cheongseon would win. Once an expert of the Pungcheon Cult Leader’s level had intervened, he would have obtained victory no matter what method he used. The opponent was far too great a figure for First Disciple Yang Do to create a variable.
A short while later, the dishes Jo Chunbae had made and the wine were brought in.
After tasting the food, the Pungcheon Cult Leader was satisfied.
“The cook’s skills are quite good.”
“I will pass that on exactly. The proprietor will be pleased.”
We enjoyed the wine and dishes. As if he had steeled himself for the occasion, Jo Chunbae’s cooking today was excellent.
“Have you met my father?”
“I am to see him in a few days.”
“When you meet him, emphasize this. That you will take Cheongseon as your disciple and raise him into a Soul-Subduing Demon Venerable stronger than the previous one. To my father, that point is the most important.”
“I understand what you mean. Thank you for telling me.”
“Not at all.”
When the drinking party had grown mellow, I spoke to the Pungcheon Cult Leader as if it were nothing important.
“May I offer a cup to the man wearing shackles over there?”
For an instant, the Pungcheon Cult Leader flinched.
“Why do you want to give that man wine?”
“There is no special meaning to it. I have seen him several times whenever I came to visit you, Cult Leader, and on such a pleasant day, I simply wanted to give him a cup.”
The Pungcheon Cult Leader said with a smile,
“That man cannot put alcohol to his lips at all.”
“Is that so?”
It was then. The shackled man opened his mouth.
“I will accept a cup.”
I was startled as well, but the Pungcheon Cult Leader was even more surprised. His expression slowly hardened. From the change in his expression that he could not hide, I could guess.
The shackled man had never once accepted wine from the Pungcheon Cult Leader until now.
“Then I shall give you a cup.”
I rose from my seat, pretending not to see the Pungcheon Cult Leader, who looked as if he might explode at any moment.
Then I took a wine cup and bottle and went over to the shackled man.
I sat before him and held out the cup.
Then the shackled man, who had been lowering his head, lifted it and accepted my cup.
I slowly filled his cup.
I said nothing else. I did not use sound transmission either. I merely poured him a cup of wine.
The shackled man kept his head bowed as he received the wine, then drank it just as he was.
Then he returned the cup to me, and this time he poured for me.
I accepted the wine and emptied it refreshingly.
We, who had only exchanged glances, finally shared wine. Though we had drunk only wine without exchanging a single word, for me, that was enough.
The Pungcheon Cult Leader, who had been watching, seemed truly angry. Otherwise, he would not have said such a thing.
“Do you know what that fellow’s specialty is? He has a nose like a dog. He can smell those who come to steal the sacred relic with uncanny precision. What do you think? Do those shackles not look like a dog’s leash? Hahahaha.”
After uttering words closer to contempt than a joke, the Pungcheon Cult Leader laughed loudly.
Only his laughter could be heard in the room.
And then came the silence.
What he had just said was a clear slip of the tongue that belittled the shackled man. I did not cleverly respond and give him a chance to recover from that mistake. This was, in a way, a gift his rashness had given me.
I returned to my original seat and poured wine into his cup, which had already become empty.
“Now, please have a cup.”
The Pungcheon Cult Leader silently downed the wine.
The shackled man lowered his head as usual and became as still as a fossil.
Looking at him, the Pungcheon Cult Leader bit his lip quietly. At least when it came to the shackled man, the Pungcheon Cult Leader could not hide or control his emotions. Just as the Blood Heaven Saber Demon was with matters related to the Ilhwa Sword Venerable.
Earlier than the time I had originally planned, I bid farewell and left the place.
I had given wine to the shackled man, and I had drunk his wine, so I had achieved the purpose of today’s visit.
* * *
After Geom Mugeuk returned, the atmosphere was chilly.
The Pungcheon Cult Leader acknowledged that he had done wrong, yet strangely, he felt displeased. He did not want to apologize, but forced himself to do it.
“I am sorry about earlier.”
Even at the Pungcheon Cult Leader’s apology, the shackled man said nothing.
“I said I’m sorry.”
When there was still no response after his second apology, the Pungcheon Cult Leader finally exploded.
“Damn it! What do you think you’re doing right now? I am your master. You are my subordinate. I can’t even say something like that? I let you do as you pleased all this time, and now you’ve grown arrogant, have you? Do you want to die? Is that it?”
The Pungcheon Cult Leader shouted. But the voice in his heart was rebuking himself.
‘What are you doing right now? What did you do so well that you’re even shouting?’
The greater his self-reproach, the louder his voice became.
“How much have I endured until now? Five times speaking informally? What lunatic gives such an opportunity to a subordinate? Me! It was because it was me, was it not? And yet you don’t even know gratitude. You said you couldn’t drink, didn’t you? You said you would hate it even unto death, didn’t you? But you accepted the Second Young Master’s wine? And that, after I had said you could not drink?”
No matter how angry he was, he should have stopped there.
But the Pungcheon Cult Leader could not hold back the rage surging within him and crossed a line he should not have crossed.
The next instant, the space around them changed.
It was not the place with the blue sky and fields that he always opened.
It was the middle of a battlefield where blood flowed and corpses lay scattered. The stench of blood stabbed into the nose, making it difficult to remain there even for a moment.
“This is a place perfectly suited to you. From now on, it will be the only place you can see!”
The decisive reason the Pungcheon Cult Leader could not stop his anger was that, from beginning to end, he had been beating the drum and janggu all by himself. He had made the mistake, and he was the one getting angry.
The shackled man had not said a single word. He had merely accepted a cup of wine.
‘No, that bastard was the one who did wrong first. He should not have accepted that wine. You said it to me, didn’t you? That I am petty and greedy? If you knew that, why are you doing this?’
At that moment, as if he had read his innermost thoughts, the shackled man spoke politely.
“My thoughts were short-sighted. I apologize.”
He was so polite that the Pungcheon Cult Leader’s heart sank.
At the anxiety that he might never again hear the shackled man speak frankly, the Pungcheon Cult Leader’s heart began to pound.
‘This is not right. Hurry and apologize. Hurry!’
He shouted inwardly.
But the words “I am sorry” would not come out. He, too, had much accumulated within him.
‘Why should I apologize? I am that man’s master. I am the Pungcheon Cult Leader!’
Though he had quarreled with him several times, they had never experienced such a major conflict. That was why he was flustered, not knowing what to do.
If he had been dealing with someone else, he would have handled it far more coolly. If Demon Buddha had been the opponent, even while shouting outwardly, he would have been calculating inwardly.
But with the shackled man, he could not do that.
The mountain of corpses and sea of blood unfolding before his eyes was the Pungcheon Cult Leader’s own heart. He agonized and agonized, but in the end, the Pungcheon Cult Leader could not apologize.
Unaware of that heart, only the howls of wolves drawn by the smell of blood rang out cruelly.
* * *
I watched Seo Daeryong’s training from a corner of the yard at the Blood Heaven Saber Demon’s residence.
Having passed beyond basic training, he was now practicing forms, and the skill with which he swung his saber was different from before.
In the past, I had told Seo Daeryong at Pungnyu Guesthouse that although it was late, he would learn with greater sincerity. That because of that, it would be all right. My words had become reality.
He did not neglect even a single movement. On top of that, just as an intelligent person learned martial arts well, Seo Daeryong was improving by leaps and bounds.
Just then, the Blood Heaven Saber Demon came to my side and stood beside me.
“Did you come to watch your subordinate suffer?”
“He is a friend who suffers plenty during the day as well. I do not have such a nasty hobby.”
“Then what brings you here at this hour?”
“I came to consult you about something.”
“Come in.”
Leaving Seo Daeryong to his training, I entered the Blood Heaven Saber Demon’s residence.
I admired the books that filled the wall cabinet.
“You have so many books.”
“Add what you want to say after that.”
“Unfittingly so.”
“They are not books to read, but books for decoration.”
“Even the decoration does not suit you.”
“You brat! If you added up all the books I read in my youth, they would number as many as the people the Cult Leader has killed.”
“Then you would have become a great scholar.”
After exchanging jokes like that, we discussed the main matter.
“What is it you want to consult me about?”
“There is someone whose shackles I want to undo.”
At the unexpected words, the startled Blood Heaven Saber Demon misunderstood.
“Is there someone in the underground prison you want to release?”
“No. There is one person around me.”
Then this time, he took it in a symbolic sense.
“Yes, everyone lives wearing at least one shackle.”
“What are your shackles, Elder?”
“As for me…”
Something seemed about to come out, but it slipped back in, and the Blood Heaven Saber Demon asked,
“Who is this person?”
“A subordinate of the Pungcheon Cult Leader.”
“Oh dear.”
His expression already showed he sensed difficulty.
“Since he is someone you wish to obtain, he must be a decent person. And that means there is a high possibility the Pungcheon Cult Leader also cherishes him.”
“Precisely.”
“Does the Pungcheon Cult Leader know that you want that person?”
“He does not.”
“Have you spoken with that subordinate?”
“No, not a word yet. Still, I believe our hearts have connected.”
“Hearts? You believe? This truly is one mountain range after another.”
When I thought of whom I should consult about the shackled man, the first person who came to mind was the Blood Heaven Saber Demon. Even if he could not give me an answer, I felt that while speaking with him, I might be able to find the answer myself. To me, the Blood Heaven Saber Demon was that kind of person.
“That is why I came to see you, Elder. Please tell me a method.”
“Did you leave a method in my keeping?”
I smiled brightly and spoke boldly.
“Yes! Please give me what I left with you. Tell me the path out of this endless mountain range.”