Chapter 151. Lee Jaha, Do You Have Something to Say?

The warm atmosphere of the sick visit sank in an instant because of the Cult Leader. While everyone held their tongues, Heo Gyeom spoke.

“This is an old man’s request.”

The Blood Night Palace Lord replied.

“Please speak.”

“I know each of you has complicated thoughts about the Cult Leader. I am no different. But if the Cult Leader says he has come for a sick visit, then it will be a sick visit with no other intent, so I hope nothing else happens here.”

The Blood Night Palace Lord said to Gyo Yeong,

“That is how it should be. Yeong-ah, you go inside.”

Perhaps thinking his tone different from usual, Gyo Yeong rose without opening her mouth and disappeared inside.

Then the Blood Night Palace Lord looked at me.

“Sect Leader, he is not someone worth seeing. You should go inside and rest as well. It is enough for only the people of the Blood Night Palace and Elder Heo to remain here.”

The Blood Night Palace Lord was saying something absurd to me. There were not many chances to see the Cult Leader up close.

“I cannot do that.”

I could not do that.

At this point in time, I knew better than anyone that even if all the experts here attacked him together, they would be unable to deal with him. So in a situation like this, I needed to take a look at him in advance.

As Heo Gyeom had said, it would be a sick visit.

The Blood Night Palace Lord said in a subdued tone,

“Then behave yourself. I ask this of you……”

“I am an inherently well-behaved man.”

The Blood Night Palace Lord let out a short sigh. He probably thought that if the Cult Leader was provoked the wrong way, the entire Blood Night Palace would be annihilated. In truth, the Cult Leader was more than capable of doing just that.

At that moment, the ordinary sound of the great hall doors opening sounded like a thunderclap. Following everyone’s gaze, I also stared at the hall.

‘…….’

The Cult Leader, who appeared from the great hall, was so strangely massive that he blocked out all the light coming in from outside.

Thanks to that, the inside of the hall grew dim.

When the Cult Leader began walking, the darkness that had hung over the hall scattered as well. His steps were neither slow nor fast, and yet, strangely, he looked like a man walking while the time around him had been stopped.

There was no way to describe his bearing or expression.

Even though he was walking normally, he looked as if he were approaching while trampling something underfoot. He was not a man who could be described simply with words like arrogance or conceit.

‘Damn bastard. He has a unique atmosphere.’

It was my first time seeing the Cult Leader as well.

When I had gone after being invited to the Demonic Cult, the Cult Leader had been in closed-door training, so naturally I had no chance to see him.

Heo Gyeom spoke first.

“Cult Leader, you have come. Please understand that my health is poor, so I cannot rise.”

When Heo Gyeom said he could not rise, strangely enough, everyone else stood up at the same time.

When I ultimately did not get up, Yongmyeong approached me, picked up the chair beside me, and went over to the Cult Leader.

Because Yongmyeong was deliberately blocking my line of sight with his body, I tilted my head to the side and looked at the Cult Leader walking over.

From the moment he had appeared in the great hall, the Cult Leader had been smiling the entire time, as if something amused him.

‘What the hell is that bastard so happy about?’

Was he the kind of man to whom fortune came when he smiled?

I could not tell.

After Yongmyeong placed the chair where the Cult Leader could face Heo Gyeom and withdrew……

The Cult Leader sat in the chair and said to the people who had come for the sick visit,

“Sit.”

As soon as their eyes met, the Blood Night Palace Lord said,

“Senior Brother, you have come.”

The Cult Leader nodded and replied to the Blood Night Palace Lord’s words.

“The youngest has aged much as well.”

“Yes.”

Everyone except the Blood Night Palace Lord paid their respects at once.

“We greet the Cult Leader.”

The Cult Leader, who had been nodding, stared at me.

“…….”

I also moved my head this way and that as I looked at the Cult Leader. Then I belatedly realized once again that I was a madman. Why on earth did laughter come out the moment I saw the Cult Leader? I had no idea why.

But the Cult Leader took his gaze off me, who was smiling, and looked at Heo Gyeom.

“Elder Heo, one hundred and eleven years. You have lived long.”

Heo Gyeom nodded.

“I have lived long.”

I dug at my ear with a finger. Perhaps the Cult Leader mixed internal energy into his voice even normally, because it felt as if blood might come out of my ears. The atmosphere was such that if he let out a Lion’s Roar with that voice, most of the people here would likely suffer internal injuries. Since I was tired just from his appearance, I kept my breathing calm and looked at the Cult Leader and Elder Heo.

The Cult Leader asked Elder Heo,

“How does it feel to be facing death?”

Was this truly a question one should ask after coming to visit the sick? But after seeing the Cult Leader’s expression, I knew it was not a joke.

Heo Gyeom answered,

“I found myself thinking that I wanted to live longer. I suppose I am still foolish. On the other hand, thinking that I will finally escape this painful life makes me feel relieved as well. But more than relief, more foolish lingering attachment remains.”

The Cult Leader nodded.

“What is it that remains so foolishly within you?”

Heo Gyeom stared at the Cult Leader, then spoke informally.

“It is, in the end, regrettable that I could not kill you with my own hands.”

The Cult Leader moved his head this way and that, then let out a laugh like the sound of metal.

“A thought worthy of you. But I learned about assassins from you as well, so how could I be taken so easily? You were not a man who taught carelessly.”

While speaking, the Cult Leader looked Yongmyeong up and down, then continued.

“……You are his final disciple.”

Yongmyeong lowered his head slightly and answered,

“Yes, Cult Leader.”

“Even if you strive with your life on the line, there is a high chance you will not reach even the tips of your master’s toes, so devote yourself even more than you do now.”

Yongmyeong replied calmly.

“I will keep that in mind.”

The Cult Leader looked at the Blood Night Palace Lord and said,

“Elder Heo must have raised him to kill me anyway, so when the time is right, send him to the Cult. I will keep him with me.”

The Blood Night Palace Lord replied respectfully.

“Understood.”

When I suddenly looked at Yongmyeong, his complexion had already turned pale.

Heo Gyeom asked as if he were curious,

“Cult Leader, how is it that you came all the way here?”

The Cult Leader spoke as if it were obvious.

“If I am to see you, then I should come. You will not return to the Cult and die there. If I had been facing death, would you not have entered the Cult to see me?”

Heo Gyeom nodded.

“Now that I think about it, that is true.”

The Cult Leader really did seem to have come to see Elder Heo.

I observed the expression of my old, macho senior, and from time to time I also studied the Cult Leader’s face. I could tell there was much history between the two of them, far too much to be settled in a few words.

The Cult Leader smiled as he looked at the Blood Night Palace Lord.

“If Elder Heo had not been there, I would never have become the Cult Leader.”

The Blood Night Palace Lord nodded.

“I think so as well. My husband also helped you a great deal, Senior Brother.”

From what I had heard before, the Blood Night Palace Lord’s husband had been killed by the Cult Leader. To that, the Cult Leader replied as follows.

“He was an excellent man. If he had not been so greedy, I would have given him the position of Left Envoy or Right Envoy. By the way, has the Sword Demon not come to visit the sick? Surely he did not hear that I was coming and hastily avoid this place like Yeong-a.”

The Blood Night Palace Lord answered.

“I contacted him, but he has not arrived yet.”

The Cult Leader asked with a smile.

“Does he still spend his days foolishly swinging a wooden sword?”

“I do not know that much.”

The Cult Leader looked around at the people and said,

“……While I often devoted myself to training, many people left. Looking back, the time of the succession struggle was the most enjoyable. Back then, no one ever thought of leaving. There were countless times when we slept only once every three days, and times when we closed our eyes only after five days had passed. I, too, could close my eyes because Elder Heo was there. The assassin of assassins. Even when my eyes were closed, Elder Heo was meeting my enemies in my stead and killing them. For some reason, I miss those days more.”

Elder Heo smiled and nodded several times. It seemed old memories were passing through his mind.

The Cult Leader called to Elder Heo.

“Elder Heo.”

“Speak.”

“Many people betrayed me, but I have never betrayed anyone first. The same goes for you. Most betrayed the words they themselves once spoke, and then left me.”

Heo Gyeom replied,

“Did I do the same?”

The Cult Leader nodded.

“You were no different. The common teaching of the many masters who taught me was that I must not set limits on becoming stronger. But once I reached a certain point, they all repeated the same words. Must you really go that far? You said that to me often as well.”

Heo Gyeom readily acknowledged it.

“I did.”

“Why did you do that? Why did you speak different words with the same mouth?”

Heo Gyeom replied with a weary expression.

“Cult Leader, it was probably because I am human.”

“Then when you were in the cult, why did you not teach the assassins proper manners first? Did you do that?”

“I could not.”

“What did you say to those who wished to survive?”

“I said they had to become devils in order to survive.”

The Cult Leader nodded.

“I grew up believing those words. From the time I learned to walk, you taught me that way, and then one day you told me that I must not do so. I did not think of it as an insult. But I was bewildered. If we had not lived like devils, you and I would already have died during the succession struggle. Is that not so?”

For a moment, I was startled and looked at Heo Gyeom.

Clear tears were flowing from the eyes of my old, macho senior. They were tears I could not tell were of regret or reflection.

Watching those tears, the Cult Leader smiled.

“Is it because you have grown old? So you were someone who shed tears. You……”

Heo Gyeom wiped his tears with his fingers and replied,

“If I returned to that time, I would have lived like a devil again. To survive, there was no other way. But if, after the years passed again, I saw the Cult Leader gradually straying from the path of humanity, I would still…… advise you once more not to do so. Cult Leader, a person’s thoughts change.”

The Cult Leader nodded.

“That is true. Because you blocked me from time to time, I have yet to become the greatest under heaven. If one thinks of limits, one cannot go further. Look at this sorry state.”

Heo Gyeom asked,

“After becoming so strong, does the fact that rivals still remain make you so furious, Cult Leader? Have you not already killed those who needed killing sufficiently—no, excessively, to the point of overflowing?”

“Because of the process we went through in order to survive, those who wish to kill me keep increasing. How, then, am I supposed to stop? Your teachings do not make sense.”

A sigh escaped me of its own accord.

I felt I understood why the Cult Leader had come here. It was not something to say to anyone, but as I saw it, the Cult Leader’s condition was this.

He was a man with very little humanity left.

It did not seem as if he had come to bid farewell to Elder Heo, but rather as if he had come to bid his final farewell to humanity.

The Cult Leader asked Heo Gyeom,

“Elder Heo, do you have a wish?”

Heo Gyeom looked at the Cult Leader and laughed through his nose.

“I know you will not grant it.”

The Cult Leader nodded.

“I think I know what it is.”

The Cult Leader rose from his seat and gazed quietly at Heo Gyeom. Heo Gyeom nodded and said,

“Farewell. Cult Leader, when we die, let us meet in the next life. Then we can reminisce, and I will apologize for teaching you wrongly.”

The Cult Leader shook his head.

“You and I now walk different paths, so even in death we will not meet.”

Only then did the Cult Leader look once around at the Blood Night Palace Lord and the people nearby, then said,

“……Each of you, keep struggling desperately. We will see each other again.”

For a moment, my eyes met the Cult Leader’s. At that instant, the Cult Leader smiled and asked me,

“I Jaha, do you have something to say?”

Since he was a man who had been watching the world through an intelligence organization from the start, it was not surprising that he recognized me out of nowhere.

I replied in an indifferent tone.

“I will keep struggling desperately, so let us meet again at the proper time.”

“Good. I look forward to it. Elder Heo must also have high hopes for you.”

When the Cult Leader looked around at the people again, everyone had no choice but to keep their mouths shut. Suddenly, the Cult Leader looked here and there around the main hall and spoke in a mocking tone.

“I do not know why every bastard who leaves the cult is so fond of palaces. They also put so much care into building them that they look pleasing when they are brought down.”

The Cult Leader, who had walked alone as far as the main hall, clasped his hands behind his back and looked up at the sky outside. Blocking the light that poured into the hall, the Cult Leader turned his head and said farewell.

“Farewell, Master.”

Because of the backlight, I could not see the Cult Leader’s face clearly, but the moment he finished speaking, I had the feeling that he was smiling.

Heo Gyeom also said farewell to the Cult Leader.

“Go safely.”

As the Cult Leader descended the stairs, he replied in an everyday tone.

“Yes. It is good to see your face. When one grows old, one ought to die. There is nothing to be done about it.”

For the moment, I set aside my impressions of the Cult Leader and first examined Heo Gyeom’s condition.

Heo Gyeom was regulating his breathing with his eyes closed.

When I suddenly looked around at the people nearby, they all seemed half out of their minds. The Blood Night Palace Lord, of course, and the others even seemed to be having trouble breathing. The proprietor of Suwol-ok, who had seemed the weakest among them, was trembling in his hands and feet like someone who had caught a cold.

“……The Cult Leader bastard’s gone, so pull yourselves together.”

I slapped the cheek of the Suwol-ok proprietor beside me.

“I said, snap out of it.”

“Yes.”

At the smack, everyone shook their heads a few times. Worried about my old manly senior, I asked.

“Senior, are you all right?”

Heo Gyeom quietly opened his eyes and answered with a bitter expression.

“……Feels like a few days have been shaved off my lifespan.”

‘Ah, fuck.’

Was I supposed to laugh at this or not? I nodded while pinching my thigh. I put all my effort into choosing something to say, but couldn’t find anything. It was my first time meeting a manly man who joked with his own life on the line, so I joined the others in taking deep breaths.

“Phew…….”