The Pungcheon Cult Leader sat by the window, looking outside.
In the courtyard, Cheongseon, the Soul-Capturing Demon Venerable, was training in martial arts. After officially becoming the Soul-Capturing Demon Venerable, the time she spent training had decreased, but even so, her skills were improving day by day. She unquestionably had talent for the Soul-Capturing Art.
As he toyed with the ten-thousand-year cold iron dagger and watched Cheongseon train, the Pungcheon Cult Leader habitually looked back. There stood the empty display cabinets where his sacred relics had once been placed.
The Pungcheon Cult Leader let out a sigh.
When he received the dagger, he had said it would do well enough as a sacred relic, but now the only sacred relic in his room was the ten-thousand-year cold iron dagger in his hand. In a sense, he had exchanged all those sacred relics for this single dagger.
‘No. Let’s stop living a life of looking back.’
He had to turn this emptiness into a sense of release.
In the past, had he ever been able to go out somewhere for even a cup of tea without worrying about his sacred relics?
But now, with this one dagger at his side, he could leave for anywhere. They said one became free only by emptying oneself, and those words truly fit. Yes, this was how he should think.
Meanwhile, Cheongseon finished her training.
“Master, then I shall take my leave for today.”
“You worked hard.”
Cheongseon, who had been about to turn away, came back and brought up the words she had been hesitating over.
“Master.”
“What is it?”
“When will you pass down your true secret techniques to me?”
The Pungcheon Cult Leader had yet to pass down his secret techniques to her.
“Cheongseon.”
“Yes, Master.”
“Why are you in such a hurry?”
“Because I am weak. Since I am weak, my heart grows impatient on its own.”
She was the one who had killed her senior brother and risen to the seat of Demon Venerable. At first, all the ghost arts practitioners of Seohwanjin had been wild with enthusiasm over her, but now she could feel that popularity slowly cooling. These days, she was tormented by the pressure of having to show the ghost arts practitioners some overwhelming martial art.
On top of that, she also disliked Saujong, who tried to meet her whenever he had the chance. She had liked him so much before, yet the moment she took the seat of Demon Venerable, she came to hate him as if it had all been a lie. Every single thing he did irritated her.
In her heart, she wanted to cut him off cleanly, but fearing he might go around spreading strange rumors, she still met him from time to time.
She had even begun to think that perhaps she might kill him, so she was troubled in many ways.
“What kind of Demon Venerable do you want to become?”
“I do not even have the leisure for such extravagant thoughts. With my current level, how could I possibly sleep?”
“If an ambitious and talented person like you trains hard for about thirty years, you will become me. What do you think? Of your future self.”
For a moment, Cheongseon flinched.
“I think I would have to work ten times harder than I do now.”
Even after saying it, Cheongseon worried that she had made a needless joke, but fortunately, the Pungcheon Cult Leader laughed heartily and took it in good humor.
“Could you not have made it about five times?”
“My apologies. Originally, I was going to say twenty times.”
Since she had already started, she joked once more, and the Pungcheon Cult Leader laughed even louder.
It was the first time since they had met that the two of them had exchanged jokes.
Cheongseon saw a new side of the Pungcheon Cult Leader. She had thought he was simply a rigid, inflexible person. This was unexpected.
“Very well. You have eyes and ears, so you likely have some idea what I went through and what situation I am in.”
He had not told her directly. But she must already know enough. That he had given up the position of cult leader and joined hands with Geom Mugeuk. How, then, did she see him?
“I know full well that, deep down, you think me pathetic.”
“No. You made a choice I could never make.”
“Which makes me even more pathetic, does it not?”
“Which makes me respect you even more.”
“The reason I brought this up is that while martial arts are important, something else is more important.”
“What is that?”
“People. More precisely, the eye to judge people.”
“Yes.”
“You just thought this to yourself, didn’t you? ‘People, my ass.’”
“No, Master.”
“I would have thought the same. So it is all right.”
“Absolutely not.”
When the Pungcheon Cult Leader stared at her, Cheongseon revealed what she truly felt.
“I think that if your martial arts are weak, people are all useless in the end. Because they will all leave you eventually. I am sorry to say this, but for now, I still believe martial arts are more important than people.”
“Yes. I thought the same. Someday, the day will come when you understand what I mean.”
“Yes! I understand.”
Understand what? He had been the same. At that age, no matter who told him anything, it had not entered his ears.
Only after she was bewitched by someone like Geom Mugeuk, only after sacred relics vanished every time she turned around, only after shackles wrapped around her neck and she was dragged all over the place, would she think: Ah, everything my master said back then was right.
Martial arts were important only when killing people. In reality, an eye for people was a hundred times more important. Only then would she realize it.
“I will observe your accomplishments soon and move on to the next stage.”
“Thank you, Master.”
Cheongseon left the place with a pleased smile.
When he first took Cheongseon as his disciple, he had thought of her only as a vicious woman full of ambition. Back then, his mind had been elsewhere, and he had not given much thought to this Cheongseon.
He had wondered whether he could truly grow fond of her, but once he actually began teaching her, a certain affection of its own had started to form.
Especially lately, after being pushed around this way and that by clever people, having someone he could nag a little and act like an elder toward made him feel as if he could breathe again.
But that lasted only a short while.
Not long after she left, a visitor came. It was the Eldest Young Master, Geom Muyang.
“I came because I wished to meet you, Cult Leader. I apologize for not sending word in advance.”
“It is fine. Come in.”
Geom Muyang sat facing the Pungcheon Cult Leader.
“That day, things were so hectic that I could not greet you properly.”
“It was the same for me, so do not mind it.”
“I heard that you have become quite close with my younger brother.”
“There were many twists and turns.”
“It must have been a great fortuitous encounter for Mugeuk.”
“In truth, it was not exactly so.”
“What do you mean?”
“Your younger brother is so clever that there was much for me to learn.”
The Pungcheon Cult Leader spoke indirectly of his own hardships, but Geom Muyang misunderstood, thinking the Pungcheon Cult Leader was speaking highly of Geom Mugeuk.
“My younger brother is indeed clever.”
“He was the cleverest person I have ever seen.”
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon had said he moved hearts, and the Pungcheon Cult Leader said he was the cleverest person he had ever seen. Clever, yet possessing a charm that moved hearts?
Geom Muyang still did not feel that such praise suited his younger brother.
“By the way, what brings such a busy man here? Are you not the busiest person in the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult?”
“Please help make that true in reality as well. I am the sort of person who likes being busy.”
Geom Muyang spoke bluntly.
“If you join hands with me, I will grant you the two things you desire most, Cult Leader.”
Hearing him out, the Pungcheon Cult Leader found that they truly were the two things he desired most. And throughout the conversation, he thought of one person.
* * *
The Pungcheon Cult Leader came to see Gowol.
“Where is the Second Young Master?”
“He has not returned yet.”
Perhaps because Geom Mugeuk was absent, the Pungcheon Cult Leader needlessly took out his irritation on Gowol.
“If you stay here alone and lonely, how is it any different from being bound in shackles?”
“You keep saying such things because you have never been bound in shackles. Would you like to try it once?”
“Enough, enough.”
Even with the same sort of joke, he felt more at ease than before.
“Listen. I have one request.”
“Speak.”
“When it is just the two of us, can you not speak comfortably to me?”
Gowol looked at him for a moment, then finally opened his mouth.
“Cult Leader.”
“Yes! That is it!”
“You even gave up the important position of cult leader for my sake, so how could I not grant such a small request? However, there is one thing I am worried about.”
“What is it?”
“You like it now, but what will you do if you come to hate it later? If you come to hate me, this will be the first thought that crosses your mind: ‘This young bastard, daring to speak down to me.’ By then, it will irritate you terribly.”
“By then, our relationship will already be shattered, so what does it matter? I will have lost you anyway.”
For a moment, Gowol’s heart surged. He had truly hated this man a great deal, and yet there was no one who liked him as much as this man did.
“Fine, good. Just do not regret it later.”
“Regret is mine to bear. Do not worry.”
“Why did you come today? Surely not just to say this.”
“I simply came to see you.”
After quietly examining the Pungcheon Cult Leader, Gowol suddenly said,
“The Eldest Young Master came to see you, didn’t he?”
For a moment, the Pungcheon Cult Leader flinched.
“How did you know?”
“I thought he would.”
“This is that, isn’t it? You secretly watched me, found out that way, and now you are pretending to be clever, aren’t you? You people are all frauds, aren’t you?”
The Pungcheon Cult Leader wore an expression that said, what else could make me say such things?
“What did the Eldest Young Master offer you?”
“He promised an advance into the Central Plains if I took his side. He said that if the Second Young Master had promised a branch, he would establish a branch altar for me.”
“That is a promise he cannot keep. It is a lie.”
“Why are you so certain?”
“The Eldest Young Master is someone who obeys his father’s words unconditionally. Unlike the Second Young Master, he has no irregularity in him at all. He will follow his father’s will and absolutely refuse to allow the Pungcheon Cult to advance into the Central Plains. If the Eldest Young Master becomes the Heavenly Demon, the Pungcheon Cult will never so much as hang a palm-sized signboard in the Central Plains.”
“You are judging unfairly because you are on the Second Young Master’s side.”
Ignoring the Pungcheon Cult Leader’s words, Gowol asked a question.
“What else did he propose?”
“There was no other proposal.”
At that, Gowol’s gaze toward the Pungcheon Cult Leader narrowed.
“Do not look at me like that. He did not set any other conditions.”
“It shows when you lie.”
“It shows? How?”
Gowol did not tell him. Instead, as if proving those words true, he guessed Geom Muyang’s proposal exactly.
“He used me, didn’t he?”
The Pungcheon Cult Leader’s eyes flew open.
“How did you know?”
“He must have promised to send me back to you. If it was a proposal that could shake you, that would be the only one.”
To be honest, the Pungcheon Cult Leader had been tempted by the Eldest Young Master’s offer.
If he could get Gowol back? It might sound insane, but he had even thought he could give up something as trivial as advancing into the Central Plains.
Seeing how the Eldest Young Master shook the heart of a man who had abandoned even his position as cult leader, he thought the Eldest Young Master was formidable.
“The Eldest Young Master was incredibly clever too.”
“The Eldest Young Master is not a clever man. If he were truly clever, he would not fight the Second Young Master.”
“You have an illness. A disease. Second Young Master fever.”
“So what did you say?”
“Do not worry. I firmly refused.”
“Do not lie. You are probably scheming over how to use the conflict between the two of them to get me back. You came to see me to probe whether there was any way to do it.”
After a brief silence, the Pungcheon Cult Leader asked,
“Does it really all show?”
“Cult Leader. Why do you keep forgetting? You said it clearly with your own mouth, didn’t you? That you could never beat these clever bastards. You say that, so why are you trying to use petty tricks again?”
“That is… because of you.”
“If you do this, you will instead… lose me forever.”
The Pungcheon Cult Leader let out a sigh.
“I am sorry. Even knowing it, I acted like a fool again.”
“You must fight with other strengths. Against men who use their heads, you must fight by making some other charm your weapon.”
“What charm do I have?”
“If you had no charm, I would still be bound in shackles.”
The Pungcheon Cult Leader’s eyes trembled faintly.
“You are the only one who says such things to me.”
“No. It is because you only look at me. Because you sit on a throne and look down on others carelessly. Now come out into the real world and show people what kind of person you are, and people who say such things will line up. By then, perhaps you will be the one saying this about me: ‘Ah, those shackles back then? I wonder if he is still living well.’”
“What nonsense.”
The two looked at each other and chuckled.
“Cult Leader, think of me as a campfire. Warm yourself a little distance away. If you keep me too close, you will get burned, and soot will cover you all over.”
The Pungcheon Cult Leader nodded silently and said,
“…Just do not remember me as the cult leader I was back then.”
Gowol’s heart also trembled. Even Geom Mugeuk had not stirred such ripples in his heart.
“Cult Leader, starting tonight, recite these words five times before you sleep.”
“What words?”
“Second Young Master to the end. Second Young Master to the end. Now, say it.”
The Pungcheon Cult Leader forcibly filled in the remaining three times.
Contrary to his words, in his heart he cried out like this.
‘I envy you, Second Young Master. I envy you, Second Young Master. You bastard, I envy you.’
Still, he thought it was fortunate that Gowol was here. Because today, Gowol felt closer to him than he had when he kept him beside him bound in shackles.
It seemed that even in relying on someone, compatibility existed. To be honest, he even thought he would not mind burning to death in that campfire.