“You really are a madman.”
The words slipped naturally from Hwa Mugi’s mouth.
Geom Mugeuk grinned broadly, like a madman.
“That’s right. Even words like that should be said first. You, me, and those people inside your body, too. Say everything you want to say. Today, no one becomes a wronged ghost who died with words left unspoken.”
Geom Mugeuk looked around at the people seated with him.
“Father, if you have anything to say, please do.”
At that, Geom Ujin made a rare joke.
“Our family has more than enough with just you.”
Geom Mugeuk answered cheerfully.
“I’ll speak as the representative of the Geom family!”
Jin Paecheon’s gaze as he looked at Geom Mugeuk was endlessly gentle.
After seeing Geom Mugeuk converse with the Muhwang Divine Sword, his trust in him deepened even further.
He had spoken with the Muhwang Divine Sword first. He had tried his utmost, but he had not been able to move the man’s heart. Yet Geom Mugeuk had comforted him properly. He was a hundred times better than this old man.
Baek Jagang was admiring him from another angle. Not once, while Geom Mugeuk spoke to him, had the hairs on his ears stood on end. It was simply astonishing that all of those words were sincere.
“Alliance Leaders, please speak freely as well!”
Geom Mugeuk was about to turn his head again when the displeased face of the Pungcheon Cult Leader came into view.
“Why do you not tell me to speak freely?”
“You’d do it even if I told you not to.”
“Well, that is true.”
“First, take some credit.”
“Credit?”
Geom Mugeuk spoke as if he had seen with his own eyes what had happened before he arrived.
“When I wasn’t here, you must have been in charge of our side’s mouth, weren’t you? How much trouble must you have gone through, speaking on behalf of those blunt, taciturn people?”
“You truly miss nothing.”
“Even if I missed everything else, how could I possibly miss your performance, Cult Leader?”
After filling the Pungcheon Cult Leader’s face with deep emotion, Geom Mugeuk looked back at Hwa Mugi.
“I told you, if you have something to say, say it to your heart’s content.”
Of course, Hwa Mugi did not say a word. The ridicule in his eyes said, As if that could make me open my mouth.
“Then again, they say even a man in the middle of his antics can’t continue once you spread out a mat for him. If I say, ‘Let’s talk,’ even words that were about to come out would slip right back in.”
Of course, Geom Mugeuk was good at it whether there was a mat or not.
“You called me a madman, didn’t you? Then you’re an even greater madman.”
At Geom Mugeuk’s words, Hwa Mugi was dumbfounded. To be called a madman by a madman! But when he heard what followed, he did not feel displeased.
“You charged in here alone, didn’t you? You may be the only person in the history of murim who tried to fight the entire martial world by himself. There was no one before you, and there will be no one after you. You set an unprecedented, unrepeatable record.”
Of course, Hwa Mugi was not someone who would let that slide so easily.
“Do not fawn over me. It will not make me tell you anything.”
“I’m not fawning. I’m saying that’s the truth.”
Hwa Mugi had intended not to engage in even a single word of conversation, but Geom Mugeuk’s words kept provoking him.
“There’s one thing I’m curious about.”
An entirely unexpected question flowed from Geom Mugeuk.
“Why did you charge in?”
Hwa Mugi and the others naturally interpreted the question this way: Why the Divine Cult first, instead of the Murim Alliance or the Sado Alliance? But that was not it.
“You could have lived a different life, couldn’t you? With those martial arts, you could have lived quite a splendid life.”
Hwa Mugi could not answer. Astonishingly, he had never once thought about living a different life.
Because he was the Heavenly Slaughter Star. Because he carried those souls. Because he had undone the seal.
He had thought it only natural that he had to charge in. He had thought it only natural that he had to kill them all and seize this murim.
Geom Mugeuk’s question continued.
“You could have simply said this, couldn’t you? ‘A fate bestowed by Heaven? Don’t make me laugh. I will never live according to your will!’”
“If Heaven granted me such great power, do you think it did so for me to live some ordinary life? If Heaven sent down someone like me, then that is all because of you.”
The words he had been repeating ever since arriving here came out again. But they did not work on Geom Mugeuk.
“Is that what you think? Or is that what the Dark Palace Lord or the souls inside you told you?”
Hwa Mugi could not answer that it was his own thought.
Was it because he had struck the mark? Hwa Mugi’s gaze sank coldly.
“You run your mouth as you please because it is someone else’s affair.”
“I apologize for that.”
“This must be your purpose. To confuse me with that glib tongue of yours.”
Geom Mugeuk drank the liquor set before him.
“I can’t help being selfish either. Do you think I’m asking for a conversation for your sake? It’s for me and for everyone here. I want to understand you better so I can kill you more certainly. Forgive me if my words turn sordid.”
Hwa Mugi felt as if he understood now. Why everyone had changed so abruptly when Geom Mugeuk arrived.
In this brief span of time, he had lifted a person’s mood, angered him, made him unable to understand what was happening, and caused him to feel several rises and falls of emotion.
He had said he would not converse, yet before he knew it, he was speaking with him, nerves drawn taut.
His curiosity toward Geom Mugeuk ended here. Just as he was about to rise from his seat and draw his sword—
“Ah, there is someone inside you I should thank.”
Naturally, he thought that person would be the Demon Cult Leader. But it was someone entirely unexpected.
“Please call out the Sado Alliance Leader.”
The person who found those words the most unexpected was Baek Jagang. As for the Muhwang Divine Sword, Geom Mugeuk had met him after going back three hundred years, but what connection could he have with Ju Gasin?
“For what reason?”
“You’ll know if you watch.”
If he had asked for the Demon Cult Leader, Hwa Mugi would never have done as he wished. Yet he, too, was curious as to why Geom Mugeuk had to thank the Sado Alliance Leader.
“We agreed there would be no ghosts dying with words left unspoken!”
Hwa Mugi granted Geom Mugeuk’s request.
His gaze settled calmly, and Ju Gasin appeared. He, too, did not know why Geom Mugeuk had sought him out.
“Why did you call for me?”
It was the question everyone was curious about.
“If we count today, this is the third time we have met.”
At Geom Mugeuk’s answer, Ju Gasin looked as if he could not understand.
“The third time? If we met three hundred years ago and now, that should be the second.”
“I met you at your tomb, Alliance Leader.”
In that instant, Ju Gasin’s eyes sharpened.
“You gave me a gift there.”
Geom Mugeuk had obtained the final orb from Ju Gasin’s corpse.
But Geom Mugeuk did not tell him what it was.
There was a reason Geom Mugeuk did not speak of the power of the Six Paths Origin Qi.
Hwa Mugi would not know about the Six Paths Origin Qi.
The Dark Palace Lord would never have told him about the one and only power capable of controlling him.
Before seeing what had happened that day, he had thought that the cult leaders and alliance leaders of the Orthodox, Unorthodox, and Demonic factions who had gathered then had divided the Six Paths Origin Qi among themselves. Some of it, due to various circumstances, had flowed into places like the Ice Palace and the Pungcheon Cult.
But that day, all of them had been absorbed into the secret coffer and trapped within transparent orbs, and at the time, they had fallen into the hands of the Dark Palace Lord.
Had the six orbs emerged from the secret coffer after that? Or had they been elsewhere from the beginning? Because he had returned to reality before seeing that sight, even Geom Mugeuk did not know.
At least one thing was certain. The Six Paths Origin Qi had been arranged in various places by someone other than those who had been present that day.
“So please, Sado Alliance Leader, eat the dish that the Muhwang Divine Sword could not.”
“Do you know what kind of person I am, telling me to eat this dish?”
He did not know much about him. But he could guess one thing.
“Are you not someone who still has not abandoned his dream?”
Ju Gasin’s eyes sharpened.
“Why do you think so?”
“Because the reason you involved yourself in what happened three hundred years ago must have been that you dreamed of unifying murim.”
Baek Jagang, who was listening, was inwardly impressed. He had heard Ju Gasin’s proposal, so he knew that Ju Gasin had not abandoned his dream. Yet Geom Mugeuk had read his heart accurately without hearing such words.
“Such a thing will not happen. So if there are words you are keeping in your heart, say them all. If not now, you will have no chance.”
It sounded as if he was saying he would kill Hwa Mugi, so Ju Gasin should leave no regrets.
After staring at Geom Mugeuk for a moment, Ju Gasin flatly refused.
“I have nothing to say to you.”
Just as Ju Gasin was about to disappear, Geom Mugeuk abruptly mentioned an unexpected being.
“At that tomb, I saw Jeok Rang, whom you used to bring with you, Alliance Leader.”
“!”
“Ah, of course, I did not see him in person. I saw him in a painting. He was truly magnificent and handsome.”
When Jeok Rang was mentioned, for the first time, an emotion passed through Ju Gasin’s eyes. It was longing.
“Even just seeing the painting of you together, I could tell you cherished him greatly.”
Ju Gasin nodded.
“The only one……”
Ju Gasin did not continue. Was he about to say, He was the only one who understood me?
“Have a drink for Jeok Rang. He must have grieved deeply over your death, Alliance Leader.”
Geom Mugeuk lifted the cup placed before him.
He seemed like a person who would never raise a cup for any other reason.
Ju Gasin lifted his cup. And he raised that cup toward Baek Jagang as well.
It meant they should drink together.
He still hoped Baek Jagang would accept his proposal. He would somehow let him live, so he should live a life beneath one man and above ten thousand.
Baek Jagang lifted his cup and quietly toasted him in the air.
Just as Ju Gasin was about to bring the cup to his lips—
Crash.
Once again, the cup fell to the floor and shattered.
Before anyone knew it, his eyes had changed. And the one who returned this time was not Hwa Mugi.
“Pathetic humans.”
It was the Demon Cult Leader, Hyeok Docheon.
“Orthodox or unorthodox, you are all the same. What is so significant about having drawn in a few outside forces that you would feel guilt over it for three hundred years? And in the current situation, you’re missing some mere dog?”
Geom Mugeuk spoke to him.
“Let me correct two things first. They were not some mere outside forces, but the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult and the Sado Alliance. And he was not some mere dog, but a wolf. A very handsome wolf named Jeok Rang.”
Hyeok Docheon glared at Geom Mugeuk with blazing eyes.
“If I had not been absorbed into the secret coffer, are you saying our cult would have grown worse?”
Hyeok Docheon’s gaze turned toward Geom Ujin. He had not liked Geom Ujin at their first meeting either.
“An insolent whelp, just like his father.”
Of course, to Geom Mugeuk, that was the highest praise.
“Being told I resemble my father is what I love hearing most. Thank you for your kind words.”
Thinking he was being mocked, Hyeok Docheon twitched. Demonic energy and killing intent billowed forth together.
“You dare insult a former cult leader?”
Geom Mugeuk spoke to him calmly.
“The Heavenly Demon I know would not break a cup meant for a drink with his descendants after three hundred years. So I do not know who you are, but please go back in, and tell the real Demon Cult Leader to come out.”
Hyeok Docheon stared silently at Geom Mugeuk.
“You truly are no ordinary fellow!”
There was a reason he had pushed Ju Gasin aside and come out.
“Looking at you, a thought suddenly occurred to me.”
To him, it was far more important than guilt or a wolf.
“I will ask directly. Can you get me out of this body?”
At that question, everyone there was shocked. No one had expected him to suddenly appear and ask such a thing.
“Why are you asking me that?”
“If the secret coffer took you to that place three hundred years ago, then it must regard you as special.”
That was not the only reason. The Dark Palace Lord had said it: everything had fallen apart because of the Young Cult Leader. Just as he had said, even the sight of him seating the Heavenly Slaughter Star at a table and handling him proved he was no ordinary fellow.
Hyeok Docheon asked with blazing eyes.
“Do you know a way?”
Everyone’s gaze focused on Geom Mugeuk. They wondered if, no matter how much he was Geom Mugeuk, an answer saying he knew could possibly come out here.
An astonishing answer flowed from Geom Mugeuk’s mouth.
“I should be able to get you out of that body.”
Of course, it would not be in the way he wanted.
Hyeok Docheon’s eyes flew wide open. Because Geom Mugeuk had answered not “I can,” but “I should be able to,” it instead made him trust it more.
All the others listening were shocked as well. Hwa Mugi was probably shocked, and the other souls must have been shocked too. Baek Jagang, whose ears had not prickled, was the most shocked of all.
Soon, Hyeok Docheon laughed heartily. His laughter rang out thunderously.
Then, suddenly cutting off his laughter, he glared at Geom Mugeuk again.
“Is that true?”
In that one sentence, astonishment, doubt, expectation, and excitement were all mixed together.
“If it is a lie, I will tear you apart alive!”
Geom Mugeuk looked at the shattered dish on the floor and said,
“But you should have asked such an important question before breaking the wine cup.”
Hyeok Docheon was half in doubt, but in the hope that it might be true, he made an offer to Geom Mugeuk.
“If you just let me out, I’ll grant you anything you want!”
Certain that this was, of course, what he wanted, he added in an excited voice.
“I’ll let you bring about the unification of the murim.”
At that, this time Geom Mugeuk burst into loud laughter. Hyeok Docheon thought it was a laugh of joy.
“The unification of the murim I have now is already difficult enough for me. Honestly, it’s harder than dealing with you people!”
Hyeok Docheon could not understand what he meant.
On the other hand, everyone there wore a different expression. Some smiled faintly, while others looked slightly awkward. Only Geom Ujin showed no change in expression whatsoever.
“If I can just get out…”
Hyeok Docheon, who had been speaking with expectation, closed his mouth.
Before anyone knew it, he had returned to being Hwa Mugi. He could listen to anything else, but when it came to this matter, he cut off the conversation.
“As expected! You don’t deviate from my predictions by even an inch. You can remove them from my body? Are you trying to bewitch the Demonic Cult Leader with such nonsense?”
Geom Mugeuk, who had been quietly watching him, suddenly asked.
“Do you dislike it?”
“What?”
“I’m asking if you’re all right with those people being inside your body. Reading your thoughts, reading your emotions. Don’t you hate that?”
Hwa Mugi’s expression hardened. His relationship with these souls was not something that could be explained, or concluded, in a word or two.
Geom Mugeuk asked him.
“What are they to you?”
Hwa Mugi did not answer. He slowly rose from his seat, drew his black sword, and pointed it at Geom Mugeuk.
A powerful killing intent unlike anything he had ever experienced assailed him, but Geom Mugeuk remained composed.
“Fine, fighting is a kind of conversation too. Still, I prefer talking things out. There are still people who haven’t spoken yet.”
But Hwa Mugi’s killing intent grew even denser. He had no intention of being toyed with any longer by Geom Mugeuk’s glib tongue.
Geom Mugeuk accepted the fight.
“Fine, let’s fight. Once you’ve been beaten half to death, then you’ll say it: please, let’s talk this out!”
He spoke as if he would beat him up at any moment, but Geom Mugeuk was still seated.
There was a reason for that. Looking at one person, Geom Mugeuk spoke. It was something no one present had expected.
“Father, please beat that bastard half to death and sit him back down in front of me.”
The Pungcheon Cult Leader thought Geom Mugeuk was joking like that because he had yet to see for himself just how strong his opponent was.
“Young Cult Leader, that bastard is no ordinary man. He even recovered all his internal energy with a martial art called the Reverse Heaven Absorbing Demon Art!”
But Geom Mugeuk had not said it as a joke.
“That is why I’m asking Father.”
In Geom Mugeuk’s eyes was absolute trust in his father.
Geom Ujin, who had been silently looking at his son, slowly rose from his seat.
“I’ve eaten, so perhaps I should work off the meal a little.”