Within the eye holes, Geukak Soma's eyes were smiling wide.
Had he ever imagined that I would demand he remove his mask as the price for undoing his restriction?
He was furious, yet at the same time he was enjoying himself. I was likely the first opponent to make two such conflicting emotions coexist inside him.
He had probably never in his life met anyone who treated him so recklessly. Even Father had never treated the demons so casually.
I know. I know how much Geukak Soma enjoys moments like this. His blood would be racing and his heart pounding madly. I consider that a kind of illness too.
“What if I promise to remove my mask and then fail to keep my word?”
“Then I’ll have to rush in and force it off.”
“Well then, try practicing right now.”
In an instant, Geukak Soma's gaze sank. Having readied himself for a fight, he had become an entirely different person from moments before.
I waved my hands and pushed my chair back.
“If that happened, the skin on my face might get peeled off.”
Geukak Soma relaxed his posture and asked leisurely.
“Well, if you cannot force it off either, what will you do now?”
I stared at him briefly, then answered calmly.
“I won’t do anything.”
For a moment, Geukak Soma flinched. I had just spoken the correct answer that even Geukak Soma himself did not know.
Doing nothing.
For this contrarian Geukak Soma, this was the answer. With an expression showing he could not understand, he asked me.
“Does this mean you trust me?”
“Honestly, I do not trust you. Geukak Soma is not exactly a name that inspires trust, is it?”
I smiled as if joking, but he did not laugh.
“Now, let us get up. You should go eat as well, Lord Soma.”
I did not explain my reasoning to him. Sometimes, not speaking produces the greatest effect. That is especially true when there is no particular reason, as was the case now.
Sometimes, the other person will inflate this trivial matter and craft some plausible reason out of it on their own.
I rose from my seat first, and Geukak Soma followed.
Leaving the pleasure house, we retraced our steps.
He, who had been walking beside me for a moment, halted.
“Please wait a moment.”
He went over to a peddler selling masks. There, he bought a white mask and gave it to me.
“A gift to commemorate today.”
Accepting the mask, I spoke to him.
“I demanded that you remove your mask, yet here you are putting one on my face instead.”
I obediently put on the mask.
“It is suffocating. I assure you, if you fought without a mask, Lord Soma, you would fight twice as well. Just how long must you spend wearing this before it becomes comfortable?”
“It does not take as long as you would think.”
“If that is so, the opposite must also be true. I mean the time it takes for your mind to grow comfortable without one.”
Through the eye holes of the mask, Geukak Soma was silently gazing at me.
So this is how you have been seeing me.
Now he too could observe me only through my eyes within the eye holes. Perhaps that would be even more disadvantageous for me. Geukak Soma had lived an eternity among countless subordinates who wore masks.
I pulled the mask up onto my head like a hat.
“Wear it like this. How comfortable and pleasant is that? Put it on when you want, take it off when you want. Exactly like this.”
As I spoke, I tapped the mask that was looking up at the sky atop my head with my palm.
“This fellow must feel good too. Looking up at the sky like this.”
At that, Geukak Soma looked up at the sky.
“Would this not suffice? Then both of us can see the sky.”
After gazing at the sky with empty eyes for some time, when Geukak Soma turned his gaze back to me, he had already made his decision.
“Very well. I accept the condition proposed by the Second Young Master. If you release my restriction, I shall remove my mask when we are alone.”
I did not believe he would keep his promise.
Before my regression, I had seen his face only once, just before death. He would not easily remove his mask.
But the mere fact that he made that promise held meaning. Would I truly get to see his face from his youth?
“Thank you, Lord Soma.”
The vertical line on the line drawn in my heart had shifted slightly further to the right. It was still far. Only after it had crossed more than halfway would he reach the state of contemplating whether or not to kill me.
“I suppose I need at least this much leverage to stand up to Father, do I not?”
We looked at each other and smiled. Neither of us invested any sincerity in it, yet as if this laughter were the seal of our promise, we smiled broadly.
* * *
The next day, when I entered Cheonma Hall, Chief Strategist Sima Ming was also present.
After greeting Father, I bantered with Sima Ming.
“These days, I have been driven into a corner because of you, Strategist.”
“What do you mean?”
“Father has been on my case about those two points.”
Only then did Sima Ming realize I was speaking of Go, and he laughed.
“It is because you were swindled by a strategist who cannot play Go.”
“So you had already heard.”
This time, I laughed. Father was usually so taciturn that one would not expect him to share such jokes, yet he had told Sima Ming everything. It meant Sima Ming was that close to him.
After exchanging such light greetings, I revealed today's purpose to Father.
“Father, I have come to ask a favor.”
“Speak.”
“Please release Geukak Soma's restriction.”
Father was not surprised. Perhaps it was because he had been briefed on my recent meetings with Geukak Soma.
Sima Ming stepped in on behalf of Father, who was silently looking down at me.
“May I ask the reason?”
“Geukak Soma came and asked me.”
“Then could you not have refused?”
“If I refused and he threatened to kill your family, what then? Ah, then I suppose I would become the Cheonma. Should I have accepted?”
Sima Ming did not laugh at my joke.
“This is no matter for jokes. Do you know why Geukak Soma was placed under restriction?”
“I do. He massacred the martial artists of the Xiedao Meng.”
“Soma is a man who cannot control his anger.”
“The longer he is bound, the greater his anger will grow until it explodes.”
Sima Ming could not refute this.
Father, who had been listening, suddenly spoke.
“Can you take responsibility?”
“Why should I take responsibility? The one who causes the trouble should bear it.”
“If a dog off its leash bites someone, how can only the dog be responsible? The one who unleashed it must bear responsibility as well.”
“That may be true, but…”
“If you accept the condition of taking responsibility, I will release the restriction.”
“Surely I cannot look after him forever? Once the restriction is lifted, he will leave the sect immediately. I will take responsibility only for what happens during that departure.”
“Very well!”
Unlike Father, who readily agreed, Sima Ming emphasized again with an uneasy expression.
“Geukak Soma has accumulated much during the two years he was confined to the main sect. Should he go out to the Central Plains, he may commit slaughter.”
“I will keep that in mind and watch him carefully.”
Finally, I expressed my gratitude to Father.
“Father, thank you for allowing this.”
Of course, Father did not readily accept my thanks.
“Is this truly something to be thankful for?”
From Cheonma Hall's standpoint, there was a limit to how long Geukak Soma could be kept under restriction. My request came at a time when it provided Father with sufficient cause to release the restriction. Consequently, this matter had become yet another trial for the successor.
Father. I am sorry, but I have the advantage this time. I already know what Geukak Soma is planning to do after leaving the sect.
* * *
After leaving Cheonma Hall, I went straight to Akingok to find Geukak Soma.
“Did you truly receive permission?”
Geukak Soma seemed not to have expected me to obtain Father's permission in a single day.
“Yes. The restriction will be lifted tomorrow. An official document will arrive from Tongcheon Pavilion by tomorrow.”
Admiration flashed in Geukak Soma's eyes.
“I did not think you would accomplish it so quickly.”
“Now do you understand why you should support me rather than my brother?”
“I shall think on it seriously. But did the Sect Leader truly grant permission just like that?”
“As if that would happen. Father set a condition.”
“What condition?”
I let out a rather exaggerated sigh before speaking to him.
“If you cause any problems, Lord Soma, I am to take full responsibility for them.”
“Oho! You have wagered your position as successor for my sake.”
“Something like that.”
Geukak Soma could not hide his astonishment.
“Is this worth that much?”
“Seeing Lord Soma's face? I believe it is more than worth it.”
“To think you would wager so much for mere flattery, Second Young Master.”
“Then since the flattery has already been exposed, allow me one more. Becoming friends with Geukak Soma is something no one else in the world will ever experience. It is a condition well worth wagering on.”
Geukak Soma stared at me piercingly. He probably wanted to discern my true intentions, but he would not be able to know me through my eyes and expression alone. Not in the past, not now, and not in the future.
“In other words, I can cause all the trouble I wish. The Second Young Master will take responsibility, after all.”
“It is sheer madness.”
“Why did you not hide it? You did not have to tell me you promised to take responsibility. This could have been a weakness for the Second Young Master.”
“I had to tell you. Are not most of the problems we face caused by failing to speak when we should?”
Geukak Soma smiled strangely. It was a smile different from his habitual one.
“I have no intention of slighting you, Lord Soma. Nor do I believe that hiding things will prevent them from happening.”
“Whenever I heard rumors of the Second Young Master, I thought they were exaggerated. Yet now I see they were greatly downplayed.”
“Perhaps that is because of you, Lord Soma.”
“What do you mean?”
“Depending on one's emotions, even the same report can sound different. However, before you, subordinates cannot help but stiffen. They would deliver only dry reports stripped of personal opinion and emotion. They must have failed to convey what I am truly like.”
“A very reasonable point.”
The laughter sounded different again. Soma laughs like that when he has much on his mind.
“Instead, please promise me one thing.”
“What is it?”
“If you are to leave the sect, you must go with me. Should you break this promise, the restriction will be reimposed, and the period will likely start anew from the beginning.”
“Let us not wait for later—let us leave the sect tomorrow at once.”
This was Geukak Soma, a man who made such impulsive decisions. That was why dealing with him was difficult.
I answered without hesitation as well.
“I look forward to our journey, Lord Soma.”
I deliberately phrased his departure from the sect as a journey.
“We are not going on a journey.”
“If you go with a friend, is not anywhere a journey?”
I did not want to approach this journey with a heart anxious about preventing him from causing incidents.
I would go out with the mindset of truly taking a brief excursion with Geukak Soma. If a friend fights, stop him; if a friend falls into crisis, save him. With exactly that mindset.
“Then I shall take my leave.”
“I will see you tomorrow morning, Second Young Master.”
As I opened the door to leave, Geukak Soma asked from behind.
“Is there anywhere you wish to go?”
I turned back to him and said.
“Many places. But for this departure, I wish to see Lord Soma's world. Please show me around.”
“My world will be boring. Perhaps even more so than Magachon.”
“It only feels that way because it is your world. To another, it will be different.”
He smiled, and I smiled with him.
Meeting Soma makes me smile often. Whether it is a forced smile, a dagger hidden within laughter, or a sincere one. Either way, I end up smiling. They say those who smile often live long. So there is this benefit as well.
As I opened the door to leave again, I added one more thing.
“By the way, Magachon is not such a boring place. After all, it is full of people who make their living selling masks to Geukak Soma.”