Geom Mugeuk entered the main headquarters of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
“Welcome, Young Cult Master!”
The martial artists guarding the main gate bowed their heads in unison. Until just moments ago, they had been in the grip of suffocating tension.
When the Demon Flame had first risen, they had not even been able to stand out here. Every mechanism installed at the main gate had been activated, and they had waited at their designated posts.
But when the Demon Flame went out, and Geom Ujin and the Demon Venerables returned safely, they knew that this battle had ended in victory.
The past few days, when the Demon Flame had risen, would be spoken of among their juniors for a long time to come. Perhaps, with exaggeration piled upon exaggeration, it might even be passed down in the end as an adventure tale beginning, “Back on the day the main gate was breached…”
Geom Mugeuk did not return to his residence, but headed to the temporary lodgings where the residents of Maga Village were staying.
“It’s the Young Cult Master!”
“The Young Cult Master has come!”
At Geom Mugeuk’s appearance, the residents of Maga Village rejoiced greatly. Though they had been told that the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult had brought them here for their own sake, they had all been anxious after being dragged here so suddenly.
And now, the Young Cult Master whom they trusted and followed most had returned.
The residents of Maga Village gathered around the Young Cult Master. Geom Mugeuk looked over the temporary quarters where they had been staying. No matter how much care had been taken, how comfortable could temporary lodgings truly be?
“You have all suffered much.”
Jo Chunbae came running out from among them.
“Young Cult Master! You are safe.”
“Innkeeper, have you been well?”
Geom Mugeuk took Jo Chunbae’s hand.
“Oh dear, how can someone as esteemed as you do this?”
For the Young Cult Master to take his hand in front of so many people was truly an immense honor and joy.
“The fighting outside is all over.”
At Geom Mugeuk’s words, everyone cheered and rejoiced.
“Does that mean we can go home now?”
“That is true, but there is a problem.”
To the puzzled crowd, Geom Mugeuk said,
“Everyone, follow me.”
Geom Mugeuk led them all out of the headquarters.
When they arrived at Maga Village, the residents stood there in a daze.
Where their homes had once stood, there was nothing. How could not even the collapsed ruins remain? Even seeing it with their own eyes, they could not believe it.
Geom Mugeuk said to them,
“A great battle took place here, so there was no avoiding it.”
Everyone was so stunned that they could not speak. A sigh burst from someone’s mouth, and with that as the start, everyone began to reveal their emotions.
Some were utterly devastated, while others clutched their heads in anguish. Some sank to the ground and burst into tears, and there were also those who could not hide the resentment in their eyes as they looked at Geom Mugeuk.
Geom Mugeuk silently watched as each of them let their emotions spill out.
“How are we supposed to live now?”
“Young Cult Master! Please save us!”
“This is too much!”
The shock of losing their entire foundation made them forget that the person before them was the Young Cult Master.
At that moment, Jo Chunbae shouted,
“You people! What rudeness is this toward the Young Cult Master? If we had been here, we would have vanished just like this.”
At those words, everyone came to their senses. The disappearance of their homes was not the issue. It occurred to them that if Geom Ujin had not taken them away in the first place, they would all be dead.
Jo Chunbae said to Geom Mugeuk,
“Thank you truly for saving us.”
Jo Chunbae showed them that expressing gratitude first was the proper thing to do. Following him, the residents of Maga Village also conveyed their thanks to Geom Mugeuk.
“Thank you, Young Cult Master.”
Yes, even if they resented everyone else, they must not resent the Young Cult Master. They all knew well just how much he had done for them.
Only then did Geom Mugeuk speak to them.
“Our cult will step forward and rebuild your homes.”
Only then did everyone feel relieved. If the Divine Cult did not help them, then from this very day onward, they would truly have no way to live.
That was not the only good news.
“Not only your homes, but we also intend to restore as much as possible of the furnishings and belongings that disappeared inside. We will also provide money so that you can get by for a while.”
Then one of the Maga Village residents who had resented him earlier spoke.
“If you had told us from the beginning, we would not have shown such an ugly sight. I apologize, Young Cult Master.”
With a gentle expression, Geom Mugeuk said to him,
“I did not think of that as an ugly sight.”
There was a reason Geom Mugeuk had not told them that first.
“Even if we build better buildings here and furnish the interiors, we cannot recreate the memories you have accumulated here over decades, can we?”
At those words, not only Jo Chunbae but all the residents of Maga Village were startled. They had truly never imagined that the Young Cult Master would take even such things into consideration.
“So you may grieve more and resent more. If you force yourselves to endure it, you will grow sick with resentment. So be as angry as you want now. Resent as much as you need.”
Several people burst into the tears they had been holding back. Yes, how could this matter be resolved entirely with money? Taller and better buildings were good, but there were things that had to be cared for before that.
“I am sorry for blowing away your memories.”
Representing the residents of Maga Village, Jo Chunbae said,
“No. Just saving us like this and rebuilding our homes is already more grace than we deserve. Thank you, Young Cult Master.”
Following Jo Chunbae, all the other residents also bowed their heads to the Young Cult Master.
“I am grateful that you say so. Starting tomorrow, I will mobilize all the manpower of our cult to construct a new Maga Village. Let us discuss things together as we build your new home.”
If the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult set its mind to it, rebuilding Maga Village would not take long.
“Now, you have all suffered greatly, so think of this as life granting you a vacation and rest well! Ah, and that money is all my father’s money. Thank my father, not me.”
At those words, laughter broke out here and there. The faces of the Maga Village residents brightened fully. The gazes they directed toward Geom Mugeuk were filled with indescribable gratitude and loyalty.
Suddenly, Jo Chunbae recalled something the Young Cult Master had once said. Back then, saying he would absolutely not allow outside pressure, he had declared,
“If someone threatens you by saying they’ll call their father, like that bastard earlier, then I’ll call my father too!”
He was mentioning the Cult Leader just as he had then, but the Young Cult Master of that time and the Young Cult Master now felt different.
‘The Young Cult Master is truly growing into a splendid man.’
Geom Mugeuk walked over beside Jo Chunbae.
“Innkeeper, even so, that one managed to survive.”
In the direction Geom Mugeuk was looking, a single table stood all alone.
“A good idea has come to me. Since it is a historic table, make people pay double if they want to sit there and eat.”
At Geom Mugeuk’s joke, Jo Chunbae laughed. He intended to set this table aside and take it home. Then he would pass it down as a family heirloom.
“Do not be too sorry that the writing on the second-floor wall is gone. Once the building is rebuilt, I will invite all those people and have them write new words.”
“No, please do not.”
At Geom Mugeuk’s consolation, Jo Chunbae revealed his honest feelings.
“To be honest, I feel relieved. I said before that I did not care about those words, but every day I was anxious that someone might steal them or that a drunkard might scribble over them. This is actually refreshing.”
Geom Mugeuk said with a laugh,
“That is right. There is no need to show it through writing. You experienced it yourself, did you not? Tell the customers about that day in your own words, one by one. You yourself are the legend, Innkeeper.”
Jo Chunbae looked at Geom Mugeuk with trembling eyes. The Young Cult Master always made him feel this way.
What am I, for him to do this?
Here stood a Young Cult Master who made an old tavern owner into a legend.
Geom Mugeuk sat down at the table and said to Jo Chunbae,
“Innkeeper, bring me some wine.”
He was saying it in jest, knowing full well that everything had disappeared and there was nothing to bring.
It was right then.
Tak.
“Here is your wine.”
Geom Mugeuk was so startled that he sprang to his feet. Someone he truly never could have imagined was standing behind him. It was the old man who had sent him back to the past.
“Elder.”
At some point, everyone around them had stopped. Jo Chunbae had stopped, and the people of Maga Village who had come with him had all stopped moving as if time itself had frozen.
“When we met the second time, you were abstaining from alcohol, so we could not drink, could we? It should be fine now, yes?”
The old man smiled and sat at the table.
This was his third meeting with the old man. When he had met the old man for the second time in the Valley of Wind, the old man had patted his shoulder and said,
“You have suffered much, haven’t you? You are doing well.”
He could not say just how much strength those words had given him.
Geom Mugeuk picked up the wine bottle and filled the old man’s cup.
“Please accept a cup from me.”
Geom Mugeuk filled the old man’s cup to the brim.
This time, the old man filled Geom Mugeuk’s cup.
“At last, you have achieved your long-cherished wish. Killing those who had to be killed, and saving those who had to be saved.”
“It is thanks to you, Elder.”
“Not everyone who returns to the past can live a life like yours. This was not thanks to me. It was something you accomplished.”
The two clinked their cups together and emptied their wine. The wine he had given him was no ordinary wine.
A wondrous change brought about by a single cup of wine.
At that moment, several streams of precelestial true qi and inner energy were mixed within Geom Mugeuk’s body. There was the inner energy based on Hyeok Docheon’s demonic art, the orthodox inner energy of the Martial Emperor Divine Sword, Ju Gasin’s unorthodox inner energy, and even the unique inner energy of the Lord of Cheonui Palace. Not only that, but precelestial true qi of different natures had also been mixed together.
Because Geom Mugeuk possessed vast and pure inner energy, ordinary new inner energy could be converted into his own pure inner energy.
This time, however, the amount of inner energy was enormous, and precelestial true qi of different properties was mixed in with it as well, so melting it all into one was no easy task.
Though the quantity was vast, its purity had fallen, and he had been thinking that he would have no choice but to discard a considerable portion of it.
Sssssss.
But then all of those energies began to merge into one. Inner energy as inner energy, and precelestial true qi as precelestial true qi.
And then they became Geom Mugeuk’s original pure precelestial true qi and inner energy, merging into a single whole. As if they had been Geom Mugeuk’s from the very beginning, they became one.
When that tremendous inner energy became one, Geom Mugeuk’s gaze grew even clearer and deeper. A power that truly surpassed human limits filled Geom Mugeuk’s body to overflowing.
“I thought you would take this power back.”
A moment ago, when those energies had merged into one, he had thought the old man must be about to take them away.
Instead, the old man had made them identical to his own energy, allowing them to become an even greater power.
“It is power you gained through your own efforts. How could I do such a thing?”
Geom Mugeuk had guessed one fact.
“You are the one who arranged the Six Paths Primordial Qi throughout the murim, are you not?”
The old man merely smiled an inscrutable smile, as if to say that such things could not be revealed, but Geom Mugeuk knew. It had surely been arranged by this old man.
Just as he had gone through the process of finding the materials for the Great Art of Regression, after returning he had gone through the trials of obtaining those six energies.
The old man looked at Geom Mugeuk with gentle eyes and said,
“You have worked hard.”
He was the only person who knew how much Geom Mugeuk had suffered in his life before the regression.
“Do you remember? The answer you gave when I asked what sort of life you wanted to live after you finished your revenge.”
Geom Mugeuk nodded. He remembered it as vividly as if it had happened only a few days ago.
“I do not know either. Whether I will become the Heavenly Demon after my father, live quietly with my back turned to the world, become a libertine who takes all the beauties of the world, leave the cult and live a life beating the trash of the world, or perhaps become trash myself… I have decided nothing.”
The old man asked,
“Have you decided now? What kind of life you will live?”
After thinking for a moment, Geom Mugeuk calmly answered,
“I still have not found a life I can answer in a single phrase. Whether I will become the Heavenly Demon or a free spirit roaming the murim. But whatever life I live, I will keep just one thing. To live as joyfully as possible in each moment.”
Then, as if he had remembered something important, Geom Mugeuk asked in a complaining tone,
“No, and should you not be asking this question after I persuade my father, who is trying to unite the murim? I now have something more difficult left than catching Hwa Mugi! You know, don’t you? What kind of person my father is.”
The old man seemed to find the situation amusing instead.
“Is life not a succession of hardships?”
“Surely you are not saying there will be another hardship after that?”
“How can one know the affairs of the world?”
Indeed, aside from the matter of his father, would there be anything that could not be resolved with his status and his martial arts?
As if he had seen straight into Geom Mugeuk’s thoughts, the old man said,
“Your child might cause you trouble.”
A child! Geom Mugeuk stared at the old man in astonishment.
“Surely not? You are not preparing such a thing and getting ready to enjoy it, are you?”
“How could that go according to my will? It depends on your heart.”
“Please do not say such frightening things.”
A child? It was a matter he had never once thought about, but as his relationship with his father deepened, there had been times when he had thought of children.
Out of a desire to become a father like his own father.
“I will never be able to become such a good father as my father. I would need to be able to suppress my child with just a glance like he does, but I talk too much, so am I not already destined to be a nagging father?”
“You could also become an ideal father and son who talk a great deal with each other.”
Geom Mugeuk stared intently at the old man and shook his head.
“Do not try to steer me in some strange direction for no reason. I am not getting married!”
The old man, looking at Geom Mugeuk with a pleased smile, bid him farewell.
“I have had wine with you, so I should be going now.”
Geom Mugeuk felt regret at parting with the old man. This meeting was different from their first, and different from their second as well.
“You asked me how I would live, but my life from now on may disappoint you. I have already used up almost all the coolness I am capable of.”
“There is no need to worry. The people around you, whom you have made splendid, will lead you to become even more splendid.”
Looking at the old man, Geom Mugeuk smiled brightly.
“Until now, I was too preoccupied to properly greet you.”
Geom Mugeuk performed a deep bow to the old man. With all his heart, he conveyed his gratitude to the heavens.
“Thank you truly for sending me back.”
As the old man slowly disappeared, he left behind his final words.
“Watching over your life has been a great joy to me.”
And with that, the old man vanished.
Geom Mugeuk looked up at the sky and said,
“Please continue watching over me from now on.”
At that moment, Jo Chunbae, who had begun moving again at some point behind him, spoke. He naturally thought Geom Mugeuk’s request to watch over him had been directed at him.
“Whether I watch or not, Young Cult Master, you will become the greatest Cult Leader in the history of the murim.”