Sect Master? You Mean This Sword Demon?

Now that I thought about it, I’d lived a life far removed from wealth in my previous life, and somehow it looked like I was destined to be poor in this new one too.

After all, even when I’d lived as a Bishop in my previous life, I’d been plenty poor.

Why was anger suddenly welling up inside me? If I had lots of money, I probably wouldn’t even be angry. Anyway, right now I was angry because I was poor.

Whatever the case……amid this chaotic mess of thoughts and questions, one thing at least was perfectly clear.

I had been given a new life, and the direction I chose to take from here was now entirely in my hands.

Whether that was a blessing or a curse, I still couldn’t say.

My head was starting to feel hot, so I was staring blankly out the window when I heard someone’s footsteps beyond the door.

Did I not live alone? Apparently not.

The wooden door slowly opened, revealing a young man who looked to be in his early to mid-twenties.

He wore old martial robes and carried a tray with a damp cloth in both hands, but the moment he saw me, his eyes widened in shock.

The young man looked at me and asked,

“Sect Master?”
“…….”
“Sect Master, are you all right?”

The young man dropped the tray and rushed over, immediately examining my complexion from every angle.

Even as I met his eyes, I couldn’t stop thinking about the title he’d just used for me.

‘Sect Master?’

This Sword Demon? The young man continued pelting me with questions.

“Sect Master, are you all right? Your eyes look completely different. Are you feeling ill? Does your head hurt, or……”

The questions came at me like a storm, making my head spin slightly. I gently pushed the overly concerned young man back with one hand and asked,

“No. More importantly…….”
“Yes. Please, go ahead.”
“What the hell is this bullshit about me being the Sect Master?”
“……Pardon?”

After a relatively brief conversation with the young man, I learned a few more things.

First, the young man who had greeted me was named So Geum-ho.

It was a fairly impressive name, meaning Golden Tiger, but the young man looked nothing like a tiger. If anything, his name made me think more of salty salt than a tiger.¹

Second, I was currently in a sword sect called the Sword Name Gate, located in a rural place known as Yongmyeong County. Apparently, it had once been rather successful, but now it was on the verge of collapse, with only around three disciples remaining.

And then there was what I’d been most curious about: the identity of this body.

The man responsible for bringing the Sword Name Gate to ruin, the source of all its problems, the culprit, the bastard who started it all. This body belonged to none other than Dokgo Mu-jin, Sect Master of the Sword Name Gate.

So in my previous life, I’d been hunted by the righteous, unorthodox, and demonic factions alike. And now that I’d reincarnated, I’d become a penniless Sect Master hunted by creditors.

Either way, both lives involved being chased. Why was I suddenly starting to resent the black-clad man who had reincarnated me?

In any case, before I reincarnated, the man named Dokgo Mu-jin had always been frail and sickly, and recently he had collapsed and remained unconscious for several days.

That was why So Geum-ho had been so shocked when he found me awake.

If that was the case, everything roughly fit together. Dokgo Mu-jin had collapsed for some unknown reason, and if I had reincarnated into his body while he hovered between life and death……then all my questions were answered at once.

And the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult……apparently still existed somewhere, having yet to disappear.

I had no idea how many years had passed between my death and reincarnation, but in a way, it was only natural that the Demon Cult was still operating without having suffered any serious blow.

After all, it was the cultists and demonic martial artists who had disappeared, not the Cult Leader.

I’d long believed that if you wanted to bring down the Demon Cult, you had to kill the Cult Leader first.

A Demon Cult without its Cult Leader was nothing. Conversely, as long as the Cult Leader remained alive and well, the Demon Cult could not be defeated no matter what anyone tried.

That was the true nature of the Heavenly Demon Cult as I remembered it.

That settled the direction of my new life. Whatever the circumstances, I had been given another life, so I might as well set my sights high.

This time, I would……kill the Cult Leader and become an enemy of the Demonic Path.

“……In this life as well, I am the Cult Leader’s enemy.”

The words had slipped out without me realizing it, and So Geum-ho, who was waiting outside, called back.

“What did you say?”
“Nothing.”
“Yes.”
“I’m done sorting out my thoughts. Come in.”

I’d sent Geum-ho out earlier, telling him I needed some time to gather my thoughts.

Before long, the door opened again, and Geum-ho entered carrying leaf tea, staring at me intently.

“……You truly don’t remember anything at all?”
“…….”

In truth, I’d already lied and told him I’d lost some of my memories to avoid suspicion.

Who would believe me if I said I’d been a Bishop of the Demon Cult in my previous life and had now reincarnated into a new body?

Sometimes, to hide a truth so absurd it sounded like a lie, you had to cover it with an actual lie. This was exactly one of those times.

I accepted the tea and answered indifferently.

“Right. Your name was…….”
“Geum-ho. So Geum-ho.”
“Right, Salt.”
“That isn’t…….”
“Quiet. Let me ask you something. There’s something I’m curious about.”
“…….”

So Geum-ho, whose name had somehow become salty before he knew it, glared at me before letting out a deep sigh.

“……What are you curious about now?”

I opened and closed my own hands, which were remarkably delicate for a man, and asked the question that had come to mind.

“From what I can tell, I seem to have been born with a frail constitution. How did I end up becoming the Sect Master of a sword sect? No matter how I look at it, it doesn’t suit me.”

For a moment, So Geum-ho’s expression stiffened, and a strange sadness passed over his face. He said,

“So you really do not remember anything.”
“Is there a story behind it?”

After hesitating for a moment, So Geum-ho reluctantly continued.

“Yes, actually……the Sword Name Gate was founded by the first Sect Master, meaning your father. While he was alive, it was the most successful martial academy in the area, and many people came seeking to learn the sword. But…….”
“But?”
“……One day, the first Sect Master passed away from a chronic illness, and everything began to fall apart. You suddenly found yourself responsible for the sect, and unable to endure the pressure from the surrounding sects and martial academies, you spent more and more time bedridden……and, well, things eventually ended up like this.”
“I see.”

So Dokgo Mu-jin had never intended to become a martial artist, but circumstances had gone awry and left him as Sect Master.

That explained both why this body was such a wreck and why the sect itself was such a wreck.

Dokgo Mu-jin had been a frail man with no aspirations as a martial artist to begin with, and there would have been nothing strange about a sect led by such a man disappearing at any moment.

But things were different now. Whatever the hell was wrong with this body, I was a martial artist to the core.

Resting my chin on one hand, I asked So Geum-ho,

“Which sects or martial academies harassed us the most?”

Geum-ho stared at me in alarm and hesitated.

“Well…….”
“It’s fine. Tell me.”
“The Sword Hero Gate and Righteous Sword Gate, in particular…….”

I nodded once and rose to my feet.

“Got it. I’ll be back.”
“Where are you going?”
“To see the goddamned bastards who harassed us.”
“What are you planning to do?!”

Geum-ho desperately tried to stop me, but I had no intention of backing down.

After all, my long-standing belief is simple. You learned martial arts so you could raise hell.

Bastards from the heretical paths learned martial arts so they could torment decent people weaker than themselves. Someone like me learned martial arts so I could raise absolute hell against bastards like the Cult Leader. That was all there was to it.

If I wanted to beat down the Sword Demon’s enemies, I first had to beat down Dokgo Mu-jin’s.

I grabbed the Demon Wail Sword lying beside the bed.

A demonic sword was still a demonic sword, it seemed. Even holding it again, the impure energy curling around my hand seemed to put every nerve in my body on edge.

Geum-ho asked in disbelief,

“And what is that? A sword completely wrapped in cloth?……”
“Can’t you tell by looking? It’s a sword.”
“That’s not what I’m asking. I’ve never seen that sword before.”

I stared at the Demon Wail Sword for a moment before answering.

“……It’s a keepsake from my father. Looks like it’s finally time to use it.”
“…….”

At the mention of a keepsake, even Geum-ho had no choice but to fall silent.

Of course, that was obviously a lie. I had grown up an orphan without parents in the first place.

I didn’t know what happiness parents could give, what it felt like to lose them, or how overwhelming the grief of inheriting a dead father’s keepsake might be.

But when it came to knowing what mattered for surviving in the Kangho, I understood better than anyone.

Above all else, if you wanted to survive in the Kangho, it was crucial not to look like some pushover idiot.

That was especially true of the Black Path, whose people loved their pointless pecking orders. Among the prideful White Path, anyone who looked weak was treated with contempt, while on the utterly ruthless Demonic Path, fools had trouble surviving at all.

My previous life had taught me that well enough.

Once again, I’d be living in the Kangho. In that case, there was no way I could allow myself to be treated like an idiot and looked down upon.

With firm resolve in my heart, I slung the Demon Wail Sword over my shoulder.

“I’ll be back.”

It was a fairly confident farewell, but Geum-ho no longer tried to stop me. It seemed he’d finally realized that ordinary attempts at persuasion had no chance of working on me.

Come to think of it, I’d never been particularly good at listening to others. That was why so many cultists had found me difficult to deal with, and I wouldn’t even obey the Cult Leader if I didn’t like his orders.

With a personality this fucked up, no wonder everyone had called me a madman.

I still had no idea how this life would unfold……but whatever happened, I had no intention of becoming a good listener in this life either.

With only one thought in mind……that someday, far in the future, I would slap the Cult Leader across the face, I stepped outside and took the first step of my new life.

“I’m coming……to see you now.”