Geukak Soma came to find me again the next day.
“I thought you wouldn’t come anymore.”
“You hold the power of life and death over me. How could I not come?”
To Geukak Soma’s mockery of my words from yesterday about sparing him, I responded in my own way.
“Please wait a moment. It’s something I need to handle quickly.”
“Don’t mind me, take your time.”
I could have paused my work for a moment, but I deliberately made him wait.
Geukak Soma, who had walked over to the window, asked.
“I don’t see that flower from yesterday.”
I answered as I stamped a document.
“It seems Investigator Seo took it outside to water it for a moment.”
I reviewed the next document and stamped it again. And again. And again.
Geukak Soma, who had been looking out the window, must have grown tired of waiting, for he perched himself on my desk.
And with the air of someone thinking that since I had made him wait, he could endure this much rudeness, he looked down at me working.
“Why do you make work so difficult? Just kill them all.”
I said to him with a smile.
“Lord Soma, you live too easily.”
At my words, Geukak Soma let out a coarse laugh. You mustn’t be deceived by this unguarded appearance. Those who let their guard down against Soma all die; only those who remain tense in the face of Geukak survive.
“I’m finished.”
After stamping the last document and raising my head, Geukak Soma spoke unexpected words.
“If you truly become the successor, will you spare me?”
Of course, I mustn’t be taken in by these words either. As if he would come begging for his life?
He is enjoying this entire process. Geukak Soma’s wish is to interact like this and someday see me crumble. He is the type of person who must cackle and mock me at that moment to feel satisfied.
I took out a dagger and drew a long line across the table.
“I will spare you. But…”
From the center, I drew a vertical line slightly to the right.
“You have to come this far to survive.”
Soma’s eyes flashed with interest.
“What is this?”
“It is the measure of how much I care.”
“Oho! Something like this?”
“You have to cross the halfway point. A friend for whom you feel no affection whatsoever is no different from a stranger, is he? A friend in name alone dies.”
“Surviving is difficult.”
“You’ll have to find a way across somehow.”
“Where do I stand now?”
I drew a vertical line at a spot just past the starting point.
“Only this far?”
“You’re already here.”
Geukak Soma looked down at the line, then back at me, then down at the line again.
He couldn’t help but fall into this relationship.
Not only did I treat him casually, but he must also sense from me a flavor of negotiation and compromise that could never be found in the main cult. That would become the most stimulating spice for Geukak Soma.
“What does the Second Young Master think of the Cult Leader?”
The reason he asks is probably to confirm whether I’m doing this because I trust my father, or whether I have received secret orders from him.
“I don’t think about my father. I just try to feel things as they come. Father isn’t someone I can understand with my head. It’s only exhausting for no reason.”
As if my words resonated with him, Geukak Soma laughed.
“If you’re finished speaking, let’s get up. It’s mealtime.”
“You must eat. Let’s go out.”
I left the office with Geukak Soma. As we exited the building, he followed right after me.
“Where will you be dining?”
“I thought I’d go out to Maga Village for a meal today.”
“Let us go together.”
I asked him, feigning surprise.
“Are you sure that’s alright?”
Since he was someone who never removed his mask, I had never heard of him dining with anyone.
“It’s fine. I will simply sit while the Second Young Master eats.”
“I wasn’t asking about you, Lord Soma. I meant Maga Village. Is that alright?”
Only then did Geukak Soma realize it was a joke telling him not to run amok or commit slaughter, and he burst into loud laughter.
While Seo Dae-ryong, hugging a flower pot to his chest, watched us with concern from across the way, we cut straight across the training grounds and headed outside.
* * *
Just before entering Maga Village, Geukak Soma spoke.
“Did you know? I’ve never come out to Maga Village. When I had business outside, I would just pass through; this is my first time walking here.”
“Isn’t that fortunate for the villagers of Maga?”
He laughed at my joke.
“Is it alright for me to walk these streets?”
“If you’re worried that people will be startled and panic, you needn’t concern yourself with that.”
“Why?”
“You’ll see.”
And so we entered Maga Village. Even as we walked down the street, everyone passed by without much fuss. A few people who recognized me bowed their heads in greeting, but no one looked at Geukak Soma beside me and recoiled in terror.
“Why is no one afraid of me?”
“Because no one thinks you are Geukak Soma.”
“Shouldn’t they know it’s me when they see this mask?”
“Look over there.”
I pointed to a stall across the street. The stand was selling all manner of items related to the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
“Your mask is over there too, Lord Soma.”
“!”
Geukak Soma was startled.
Masks worn by the Faceless Agents were actually hanging there. Not just white masks, but even ones painted with colors or decorated with drawings.
“Why these…!”
As Geukak Soma raised his hand as if to blow them all away, I tugged his sleeve.
“I believe that hand will be needed over there.”
Just then, a child holding his father’s hand and wearing a Faceless Agent’s mask caught sight of Geukak Soma wearing the same mask and waved eagerly.
“It doesn’t cost anything. Please wave back.”
When I gently shook his sleeve, Geukak Soma reluctantly waved his hand.
Without knowing that he might be the only person Geukak Soma had ever waved to, the child passed by us.
“Don’t be too surprised. That, too, is possible.”
The stall next to it was selling wooden dolls; not only dolls modeled after the Eight Demon Lords, but also dolls modeled after the Heavenly Demon.
Geukak Soma was truly astonished to see the Heavenly Demon dolls.
“Is this truly allowed?”
“If they don’t sell such things in a village near the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, where would they sell them? They couldn’t sell them in front of the Martial Alliance, could they?”
“Rather, they could probably sell them in front of the Martial Alliance. It’s here that they couldn’t.”
“It’s thanks to Father’s magnanimity. He permitted them to make and sell as much as they wished. Since that day, goods related to Father and the Demon Lords have flooded out. You’d think it would be too uncomfortable to make them, but the power of profit is a mighty law indeed.”
“This is truly amusing.”
Only now did Geukak Soma laugh heartily. Passersby glanced at him, but no one thought he was Geukak Soma and simply moved on.
“Lord Soma, when people like us come out here, it feels like we should naturally be the protagonists. But this is a world where those people are the protagonists. If they recognize us, they may fear us and bow their heads, but what is important to them isn’t us—it is their own lives. They must earn money to survive each day, meet people, and raise children. Maga Village is such a place.”
“Fascinating. How does the Second Young Master know this so well?”
“From a young age, I would secretly leave the cult and wander Maga Village. This place was my world.”
I glossed over it to him like that. He wouldn’t have believed me if I said I had traveled the wide world, but it sounded plausible enough for Maga Village.
Geukak Soma’s gaze turned again to the stalls selling masks and Heavenly Demon dolls.
Without hesitation, he unleashed his unique demonic art, the Lesser Evil Heart. The merchants selling goods frowned, feeling a tightness in their chests, and rubbed themselves.
“Soon that one will put on the mask he was selling and stab the person next to him to death. If they die, they’ll die because of the Second Young Master. Because you are the one who brought me here.”
“Don’t be unreasonable. You are the one who followed me to eat. And you would be the one killing them. Furthermore, there is one thing you must know.”
“What is that?”
“Committing murder before the Lord of Hwangcheon Pavilion is punishable by execution. Try swapping them—those people’s lives and Lord Soma’s life.”
I started walking first and added,
“It’s fine to touch those Father dolls over there, but you must not touch the livelihoods of people trying to make a living.”
I felt Geukak Soma withdraw his Lesser Evil Heart behind me. He had done it to test my reaction, not because he intended to kill them from the start.
He finds playing with me amusing right now. The more he yields, the more he must be anticipating the moment he kills me, expecting an even more thrilling pleasure.
The place I arrived at was a tavern.
“Here, this is my regular spot.”
“It’s shabby. Why here of all places?”
“It is a bit tiresome since I come all the time, but I like the owner here. He is the only person who knows you are the real Lord Soma.”
That man, Jo Chun-bae, came out and greeted me warmly as always.
“Welcome, Pavilion Lord.”
His gaze turned toward Geukak Soma.
For a moment, Jo Chun-bae flinched and showed a fearful expression.
“Truly, only this man knows who I am.”
“It is because he came with me. He knows the real one has arrived.”
I said to Jo Chun-bae with a smile.
“It is indeed the person you are thinking of. Fortunately, I am the only one eating, so you needn’t worry too much.”
“Yes!”
Nevertheless, the pressure Geukak Soma gave off seemed greater than even Father’s. According to rumor, Geukak Soma was a villain who killed people for no reason.
“I think he fears you more than any guest I have ever served. More than my father, even.”
“The Cult Leader came too?”
“Yes.”
“Unexpected.”
“Everyone has a first time.”
“Everyone has that first time with the Second Young Master.”
I smiled faintly, and he habitually followed with a laugh.
This time, I asked.
“Have you ever eaten at a tavern like this?”
“I did when I was young.”
“With whom?”
He didn’t answer.
But I knew who it was. Before becoming Soma’s disciple, he had said he once ate at a street stall with my father. It was a single memory that remained in his mind like a painting.
I suddenly tried to imagine that scene. A little child entering the tavern holding my father’s hand.
Geukak Soma said he was born drenched in killing from a young age, but was that really true? Would that little child’s eyes, upon entering the tavern, really have been filled with killing intent?
Meanwhile, the meal arrived.
Perhaps feeling that a single mistake could truly get him killed, Jo Chun-bae was careful even to the point of breathing cautiously.
The look in his eyes as he safely set down the dishes and retreated seemed to say, “I have achieved great success as a tavern owner today thanks to this.”
I replied with my eyes. That remains to be seen, Owner. Who knows what kind of occasion will arise next.
I picked up my chopsticks and asked Geukak Soma out of courtesy.
“Will you eat as well?”
“Is there a way to eat when this mask has no mouth hole?”
“How about slightly lifting the mask and eating from underneath?”
“Wouldn’t that make me look ridiculous?”
“Then there is no way.”
“I’m not hungry, so don’t mind me and eat.”
“Yes, then I’ll eat first.”
I truly ate alone. Geukak Soma merely watched me. Anyone looking would call it madness, but I was accomplishing the difficult feat of eating alone in front of Geukak Soma.
“Isn’t it hard to keep wearing the mask?”
“Wouldn’t it be harder for the Second Young Master than for me?”
“Me?”
“Since you have no mask, you must put on various expressions throughout the day, no?”
“Ah, that may indeed be the case.”
Starting with that story, I told him many things.
I told him tales of how Hyeolcheon Doma, Ilhwa Sword Lord, and Mabul came here, stories about the weather, and that white masks would probably sell well in front of the Martial Alliance. He listened to my stories silently.
As I finished my meal and set down my chopsticks, Geukak Soma spoke unexpected words.
“Second Young Master, I have a request.”
“Please speak.”
“Please speak to the Cult Leader and have my prohibition seal removed.”
I made a startled expression. But when he said “request,” I had predicted he would ask this. Originally, this was a request made to my older brother, but now that his fate and mine have changed, he is making this request of me.
“It is no easy matter.”
“That is why I ask the Second Young Master. Somehow, I feel that if it is you, it might be resolved.”
“What will you do for me if I have the prohibition seal removed?”
“Just say the word. What do you wish? Do you want my full support?”
My brother had wanted that. But I was drawing a bigger picture.
“No.”
“You don’t want my support?”
“I don’t want forced support. It would only break the unity of those who support me.”
“Then what do you want?”
Staring into the two eyes behind the mask, I spoke.
“When it is just the two of us alone, please remove your mask.”
“!”
The atmosphere froze instantly.
“Why are you so obsessed with my mask?”
“I am not obsessed with the mask.”
“Then what?”
“Since we are becoming friends anyway, I wish to be true friends.”
“!”
Geukak Soma, silent for a moment, asked coldly.
“Can you handle me without the mask?”
Gazing into his two eyes, shining with primal evil intent through the gaping holes, I calmly returned the question.
“Without that mask, can you handle me?”