Chapter 34

“Uwaaah! That was so cool!”

Only then did Wi So-rang let out a cheer.

Her eyes were round with excitement.

“Sajae, how did you do that just now? When that uncle used a strong attack, I thought you were going to slam into him for sure. But then you just swoosh- and it was over in an instant! You’re totally a genius, Sajae!”

Her eyes shone with pure excitement, as expected of a kid who loved martial arts.

“How do you knock someone down in a single second? That was the most thrilling thing in my life!”

“How old were you again, Sajeo?”

“Ten! Hehe.”

Seeing Wi So-rang’s bright smile made me smile too.

Just then, I heard Yuk Ja-heung mutter under his breath.

“Is this even possible? You got stronger in just a few days.”

He fiddled with the Heavenly Demon’s gourd he had bought from me, as if recalling old memories.

Those were the thoughts of the Demon Cult’s very first victim since I entered.

But he quickly ruined the mood.

“Don’t get too excited. As soon as Fourth Sahyung hears you made a mess, he’s going to storm in here.”

“Like you did before?”

“Yeah. Exactly like that.”

Yuk Ja-heung answered without shame.

Somehow this guy never feels embarrassed about what he’s done.

Watching Mak Mun being dragged away by the warriors of Blood-Thousand Hall, he spoke.

“So what happens to the Little Demon Gathering now? Is it over, or not?”

“It never even started in the first place.”

“Yeah, it never started. The Little Demon Gathering is supposed to be just for Little Demons anyway.”

Wi So-rang and I answered in turn.

“Then can we just go?”

“Sure. Let’s go.”

We left Blood-Thousand Hall behind and stepped outside.

“Hey, what are you going to do now?”

“What do you mean, what? I’m going back to Hidden Cloud Pavilion.”

“No, I mean after that. Fourth Sahyung is no joke. One wrong move and you will not survive the night. So what I’m saying is.”

Yuk Ja-heung dropped his hand heavily on my shoulder.

“Sajae, I pray for your peaceful rest.”

“Pray for your own rest, not mine.”

“Why mine?”

“Because I feel like you’re going to die by my hand soon.”

“…I’m going.”

Yuk Ja-heung vanished as swiftly as the wind.

I let out a snort of laughter and spoke to Wi So-rang.

“Let’s go too.”

“Yeah. Um, but Sajae.”

“What.”

Wi So-rang opened and closed her lips.

“What is it, that’s not like you. If you have something to say, just say it.”

“Um, Sajae. When are you coming next time?”

She meant our sparring.

We had finished the spar that we had postponed two days ago.

“I wonder… When would be good?”

“How about four days later? I’ll buy you something reaaally tasty then!”

I quietly looked down at Wi So-rang.

She clearly wanted to spar, but something felt different from usual.

Did she have a reason?

“Alright. I’ll come in four days.”

“Really? Got it!”

“Or I might not make it. I could die to Fourth Sahyung today.”

I joked to the delighted Wi So-rang.

Wi So-rang shook her head.

“You won’t lose, Sajae. I know it.”

There was not a grain of doubt in her voice.

Was there anyone else in the Demon Cult who believed in me as much as she did?

I parted ways with her and climbed into the carriage.

On the way back to Hidden Cloud Pavilion, Im Yeon showered me with endless praise.

Naturally, it was because of the fight with Mak Mun.

After listening for a good while, I finally spoke.

“Guard Im.”

“Yes, Young Lord.”

“Today, keep Hidden Cloud Pavilion’s front gate open.”

“For what reason?”

Im Yeon asked back, puzzled.

She was the one in charge of the guards.

She paid attention to various factors within Hidden Cloud Pavilion for my safety.

The front gate was one of them.

“The guard manual states that we should keep doors closed whenever possible. It says an open door alone stimulates an abnormal desire to enter.”

“If you close it, it will just get smashed for nothing. An uninvited guest is scheduled to come tonight.”

“An uninvited guest? Surely you don’t mean…”

Im Yeon trailed off.

She had figured out who I meant.

Mak Mun had said that Heuk Un-hwi had gone hunting. If it was Heuk Un-hwi, that was probably true.

And once he received the report, he would charge over here in a towering rage.

Im Yeon asked anxiously.

“Young Lord, how about requesting reinforcements from the Guardian Hall? I can go right away.”

“That would be pointless. It’s not like they would protect me.”

“But still…”

“I’ll handle it, so don’t worry. No matter what happens, do not interfere. Got it?”

“The guard manual says that if the one we are protecting is in danger, we must immediately step in to guard them-”

Im Yeon quoted the guard manual yet again.

Things had been quiet for a few days, but thanks to Heuk Un-hwi, it was back to “in the end, the guard manual” again.

“If I need help, I’ll ask for it. Until then, do not step in.”

Reluctantly, Im Yeon nodded.

Right about then, the carriage arrived at Hidden Cloud Pavilion.

As I got down, I said.

“First, I’ll do some circulation breathing and then take a nap. I need to top up my stamina.”

“Yes, Young Lord.”

After circulating my qi and breath, I lay down on the bed.

And night deepened.

“Hey, you brat from the Baek clan or Ten clan or whatever, get out here!”¹

The Heuk Un-hwi I had been waiting for had arrived.

The Heavenly Demon Divine Cult’s Fourth Young Lord.

Heuk Un-hwi urged his horse on without a moment’s rest.

The horse, at its limit, snorted frothily, but he ignored its pain and kicked its flank.

Lately, one brat’s name kept reaching his ears.

The seventh disciple taken in by his master.

He was making such a racket with whatever he was doing that Heuk Un-hwi had decided to crush his spirit first.

To say ‘you are nothing in front of me, so stop acting up,’ he had left the Little Demon Gathering to Mak Mun and gone out hunting.

But what?

He beat Mak Mun in a single move?

And he told him to tell his master if he calls people, he should stay put instead of doing something else?

To him, the Fourth Young Lord?

‘I’ll kill this little shit.’

After riding hard for a long time, Heuk Un-hwi arrived at Hidden Cloud Pavilion.

He had been ready to smash the surely closed front gate, but for some reason, it was open, so he simply went in.

He shouted loud enough to blow all the roofs off Hidden Cloud Pavilion.

“Hey, you bastard from the Baek clan or Ten clan or whatever, get out here!”

Hidden Cloud Pavilion stirred in a flurry at the sudden visit of an uninvited guest.

In the midst of that, I strolled outside at my leisure.

Heuk Un-hwi was standing in the middle of the yard like a beast.

A sturdy, muscular body, a square jaw, and a brutal aura pouring off his entire frame.

He looked exactly as I remembered him.

‘So regression does have a critical downside.’

It forces you to meet people you never wanted to see again.

I had thought that already when I first met the Elder Council Lord and Yuk Ja-heung, and this man was no less unpleasant than those two.

‘Tsk tsk. Just look at him.’

Perhaps as hunting wear, Heuk Un-hwi was dressed in tiger hide.

The inside of the Demon Cult was always warm, so wasn’t he hot?

On top of that, his whole body was covered in blood. I could not tell if he had gone hunting or bathed in the stuff.

“You the milk-smelling Baek-whatever brat?”

Heuk Un-hwi, whose eyes had been rolling all over the place, locked onto me.

I deliberately answered politely.

“Yes. I am Baek Su-gyeong.”

“You know who I am?”

“You must be Fourth Sahyung. It is an honor to meet you for the first time.”

I cupped my fists and bowed deeply.

Heuk Un-hwi’s brows rose. My attitude must have been unexpected.

He stayed like that for a moment, then suddenly half-turned his head and shouted.

“You lot, hurry up already!”

“Y, yes, sir!”

Soon, four men appeared, carrying a hunting cart.

On it were the corpse of a bear and some other blood-smeared creature I could not identify.

‘What a brute.’

A cart alone would be heavy, yet he had people run while carrying a cart loaded with a bear and another animal.

They looked like experts, but they were still human.

All of them were staggering like they were about to collapse.

Heuk Un-hwi pointed to the bloodied shape beside the bear.

“You. Know what this is?”

“I do not.”

“Look!”

Heuk Un-hwi lifted the shape from the cart and flung it down in front of me.

To my surprise, it was not an animal.

It was Mak Mun, whom I had taken down earlier that day. There was hardly an intact patch left on his body, as if he had been beaten mercilessly.

‘So that’s why this bastard is drenched in blood.’

I had thought the blood on Heuk Un-hwi’s body was from animals.

Now it looked like it might be Mak Mun’s.

Mak Mun must have woken from his faint, gone to the hunting grounds to report in person, then been beaten until he was unrecognizable and dragged back.

“You did this to my subordinate, didn’t you?”

“No.”

“There was more than one witness to your fight. You did this to him!”

“I did fight him, but I only hit the back of his head once-”

“Shut it! Did you beat this bastard up or not? Just answer that!”

“I did beat him.”

“Now you admit it! You dared to mock the Little Demon Gathering’s tradition and pull this crap. This is a huge crime. Got that?”

I almost burst out laughing.

He thought he was being clever, but it was so clumsy. Anyone could see he was the one who had beaten him like this.

Looking at Heuk Un-hwi, I asked.

“What crime is it?”

“What crime? Treason.”

“Isn’t it insubordination, not treason?”

“If I say it is treason, it is treason!”

“Even so, what is not true is not true, Sahyung.”

“Who is your sahyung? I never took a sajae like you.”

“Then should I not call you sahyung?”

“Do not call me that!”

“Got it, you punk.”

I shrugged as I answered.

Heuk Un-hwi’s lips trembled for a moment, as if his words had caught, before he spoke again.

“G, got it, you punk? To a sahyung who is like the sky…!”

“You just said you’re not my sahyung. Which tune am I supposed to dance to? With you flip-flopping like this, your head must be for decoration.”

The muscles in Heuk Un-hwi’s face twitched.

This was the best way to handle a madman. Become even crazier.

“You… do you have more than one life?”

“Is there anyone with more than one life?”

“You are going to regret only having one.”

“Yeah, right.”

Heuk Un-hwi shook with rage.

He seemed to think that if he came in person, I would flatten myself on the ground, but he was mistaken.

If I were that kind of guy, I wouldn’t have put Mak Mun down in the first place.

“…”

Heuk Un-hwi walked toward the cart.

The exhausted warriors who had carried it quickly stepped aside.

Heuk Un-hwi stared down at the huge bear’s corpse, then suddenly grabbed one thick hind leg.

‘What is he doing?’

Just as I was wondering.

“Uraaah!”

Ppudeudeudeuk-

With a sound like a tree being uprooted, the bear’s hind leg tore away from its body.

Red droplets of blood splattered across Heuk Un-hwi’s face.

While everyone stared speechless at him, he slammed the bear’s leg down on the ground without care. Thud! The earth caved in.

Then he stepped on it with one foot, grabbed the thighbone with both hands, and twisted.

Kwagik, a femur as long as an adult’s forearm came sliding out.

Leather, flesh, and things like blood vessels clung stickily all over the bone.

Heuk Un-hwi scraped off the remaining meat with his fingers, then licked the flesh-coated fingers with his tongue.

He had already looked brutish and vicious, but now he seemed like a lunatic.

He pointed at Mak Mun and me in turn with the tip of the femur.

“They say you dropped my man in one hit, right? Let’s see how many blows it takes to drop you.”

Holding the femur loosely at his side, Heuk Un-hwi strode toward me.