Chapter 24: Chapter 24
Jang I-seo let out a smirk. Jegal Gwi-ryong sat up, glared, and spoke.
“If you thought I was sleeping, you should have just left. What kind of harassment is this?”
“If giving you money is harassment, the world must be a paradise.”
“Tch. Forcing someone to talk with money when they don’t want to, that’s harassment.”
“As if you didn’t know what I’d ask.”
“Obviously the Heavenly Demon Palace. What else?”
Hah, this uncanny bastard. A grin formed on Jang I-seo’s lips. He pulled out a chair, sat across from him, and asked.
“How did you know?”
“A cheapskate who won’t even spend money on a messenger pigeon suddenly drops this kind of cash? If you asked something easy, you wouldn’t be the money demon I know.”
“Fair point. But still, going as far as the Heavenly Demon Palace is a bit much, isn’t it?”
“Seventh Young Master’s adjutant Jang I-seo. Scheduled to visit the Heavenly Demon Palace soon. Want me to continue?”
Hahaha! Jang I-seo burst into laughter. He really had chosen his shop well. How on earth did this man in such a shabby place gather intelligence so fast?
“But seriously, instead of congratulating me on becoming an adjutant, why are you so prickly?”
“Do I look un-prickly? You got your adjutant position, so why not just bury your nose in a salary and keep quiet? Why do you go around causing trouble and making things annoying?”
“Making things annoying?”
“Your biography alone has sold over twenty copies.”
Jang I-seo’s eyes went wide.
“Wow, this neighborhood is terrifying. Why is everyone so nosy? But so what? Isn’t it good for both of us? I get my name out, and you make money.”
“Damn it all! The contents are money, money, money. Nothing but that damn money, and customers actually love it.”
“That is everything, isn’t it?”
“Get out, you bastard!”
Thwack! Jegal Gwi-ryong pulled a bound volume from the shelf behind him and slapped it on the counter.
A document detailing the Heavenly Demon Palace. But Jang I-seo didn’t even touch it. He waved his hand and recited from memory.
“The Heavenly Demon Palace sits upon Mahe Mountain. To its rear lies a lake vast as the sea, making intrusion impossible. Five paths extend forward like fingers. Four of them are dead ends. Only the central path, where the Guardian Dragon Hall stands, permits ascent.”
Jegal Gwi-ryong’s eyes flashed. Astonishingly, the details pouring from Jang I-seo’s mouth matched the document perfectly. But how could he know all this without reading it?
“But even if you’re lucky enough to reach Mahe Mountain, you must cross a three-hundred-pace gorge bridge to reach the palace. The unauthorized are greeted with crossbow volleys from the Demon Guard Archers stationed on the twin peaks to either side. And even surviving that isn’t the end. You must still climb the Three Thousand Steps, guarded by the Radiant Heavenly Demon Squad, the strongest fighting force in the cult.”
Jegal Gwi-ryong’s jaw dropped. Precise. This was the complete picture of the Heavenly Demon Palace, the most deeply hidden place in the world.
“If you know all that, why did you come here?”
“What I’m curious about isn’t the exterior. It’s the interior. The Heavenly Demon Palace is a massive labyrinth carved into the cliffs of Mahe Mountain over centuries. The Seventh Young Master has reportedly failed every time at his private audience with the Cult Leader. I want to know why. Specifically, the door inside.”
“Hmm…”
At Jang I-seo’s words, Jegal Gwi-ryong swallowed. From his expression, he clearly knew something.
Naturally.
Little was known about him to the outside world, but Jegal Gwi-ryong wasn’t merely a broker of information.
‘One of the Demonic Cult’s hidden technical bureaus, responsible for mechanism formations and trap systems. That’s who you are.’
And this was why he was still alive despite changing his surname to Jegal. Why Sa Hae-ryeong trusted him.
The traps that had surely been installed in the place Jang I-seo was sent to find the Quake Mountain Grandmother. All possible because Jegal Gwi-ryong existed.
One of the Demonic Cult’s few engineers.
Jang I-seo asked gravely.
“If you know something, tell me.”
“…Impossible. Divulging heavenly secrets is a capital offense. I can’t even keep it in my head.”
“I’m asking you.”
“No.”
“Hah, then it can’t be helped. I’ll be taking back the money I just gave you.”
“But!”
Jegal Gwi-ryong’s eyes shot open and he shouted.
“The doors of the Heavenly Demon Palace confirm the qualifications of the one seeking an audience! Therefore, the one who is qualified, knock! And they shall open!”
KRAKABOOM!
Thunder rolled in succession outside. Jang I-seo stared.
“Fuck… What kind of nonsense was that…”
Fourteen days remained until the meeting with the Heavenly Demon.
*
The next day.
Guests arrived at the Seventh Small Palace from the early hour of Myo-shi, when mist still clung to the ground.
Consequently, Mao woke once again with a haggard face. He sat on the porch and blankly observed the commotion.
“Ugh, to think I’d be dragged all the way out here. This crumbling ruin is truly eerie. But why is there no gate? Is this the Gates of Hell?”
The first arrival was a middle-aged man looking up at the sky with an aggrieved expression. Jegal Gwi-ryong.
“Hey, Bang Gwi-ryong. Speak properly. You weren’t dragged here. You came to work. You wolfed down my money and what do you say? Knock? Bah.”
“You insolent wretch! I imparted heavenly wisdom to you!”
“Shut up. Have it done the way I specified by the time I get back. Otherwise, I’m collecting every last coin, interest included. You know me. I collect.”
At Jang I-seo’s barking, Jegal Gwi-ryong trembled. He should never have taken that money yesterday.
‘Either give it all back, or do another job. Your choice.’
He’d bitten into a poisoned apple he couldn’t spit out. Moreover, never returning money once taken was his ironclad principle. He’d ended up accepting Jang I-seo’s alternative assignment.
That assignment was.
“I can really change everything?”
The reconstruction of the Seventh Small Palace. And not just any reconstruction, but a highly dangerous design loaded with mechanism formations.
Jang I-seo beamed and replied.
“Did I stutter?”
“Tell me honestly. Is this why you came to the bookshop?!”
“Among other things.”
“You wicked bastard. If anyone dies, it’s absolutely not my fault.”
“Naturally.”
“Construction costs are extra.”
Jang I-seo shrugged and jerked his head behind him. The second guest, Chwi Hong-ran, bowed and offered her greeting.
“If there’s anything you need, please let Chiseonru know. We’ll procure whatever it is.”
“Hmm.”
Jegal Gwi-ryong nodded. His hands had been itching for work lately anyway. Being able to build freely without worrying about money wasn’t a bad arrangement.
Time was short, so the finished quality might suffer. But it would be fun.
Moreover,
“These are friends who’ll help. Use them for any heavy lifting.”
“Yong-tae at your service. Bow to Master Jegal, boys!”
Hello, Big Brother! The thugs bowed deep and kowtowed. With the third group, the Black Dragon Faction, joining, all preparations were complete.
Everyone exchanged glances and nodded.
Except one person.
“What the hell is all this nonsense from the crack of dawn?”
The still-half-asleep master of the Seventh Small Palace. Everyone except Mao.
“Right. I’m counting on you all until I get back.”
Jang I-seo exchanged greetings with everyone, then hurried over to Mao before he could erupt and pushed him forward.
“Let’s go.”
“Go? Where.”
“You’ll see when we get there.”
Mao stumbled along, bewildered, and looked back. Voices called out simultaneously from behind.
“Have a safe trip, Big Brother!”
“Take care.”
“Bah, tch. If only I had more time, I’d tear it all down and start fresh.”
Wait. Did he hear that wrong? Tear what down? Mao snapped fully awake, and at that exact moment, Mae-gi of the Black Dragon Faction swung a massive sledgehammer. BANG! Into the wall.
“What. What are you doing, you bastards! Hey! Those bastards are smashing my house right now!”
“You must have misheard.”
“No, fuck! Look right there!”
“From now on, we keep looking forward.”
“You crazy bastard? Where are we going?”
As Mao erupted in horror, Jang I-seo grinned and answered.
“The Heavenly Demon Palace.”
* * *
– Mahe Mountain, Guardian Dragon Hall Headquarters.
The Guardian Dragon Hall. An unavoidable gateway on the path to the Heavenly Demon Palace.
From afar, it was grandiose. Up close, its aura was even more ferocious.
With good reason. Tigers existed everywhere.
Tigers engraved on pillars. Tigers painted on the eave tiles at every roof’s edge. Even the paintings and decorations inside the main hall were all tigers.
So occasionally, criminals brought in for questioning would hallucinate, claiming hundreds of tigers were glaring at them, overwhelmed by terror.
Living by the tiger, dying by the tiger.
That was the Guardian Dragon Hall.
And at its peak was none other than its master.
The Clever Tiger, Guardian Dragon Hall Master Ji Dae-ho.
“Hmm… A prodigy brought into the cult fourteen years ago by the Two-Headed Twin Demons.”
The Hall Master’s office, floored with tiger pelts.
Ji Dae-ho sat in his seat, reading through a bound volume. It was a personnel record detailing a specific individual.
The subject of the official document on his desk.
【Third Grade Ghost Adjutant Appointment】
The young man who had forced him back twice at the Seventh Small Palace.
The newly appointed adjutant, Jang I-seo’s records.
Not much was written about him.
He’d entered the cult fourteen years ago.
At the time, the Righteous-Unorthodox-Demonic peace accord was still recent, and abducting or purchasing orphans or commoner prodigies had been common practice.
These were typically called Special Grade Outsiders, and Jang I-seo was one of them.
And the ones who had brought him in were the Two-Headed Twin Demons, now among the Seven Elders.
‘Use this one?’ ‘No, that one.’
As their alias suggested, the Two-Headed Twin Demons were a two-headed entity. The vicious Yang-yu and the gentle Yang-yo jointly monitored and graded the children.
But,
“Yang-yu rated him the worst prodigy, while Yang-yo rated him the finest. Having tested him myself, that assessment resonates deeply.”
According to the records, Jang I-seo had received polar opposite grades.
A dantian full of holes. And martial talent bordering on the astonishing.
His fate had been decided then.
“Those graded highest become adopted children of noble families or disciples of renowned masters. But those graded lowest…”
Become wild dogs.
Wild dogs. Commoners who drifted wherever they were fed.
Some became test subjects for those practicing demonic arts. Others were thrown into battlefields outside the cult.
And Jang I-seo had been a wild dog.
“So it was true that he learned martial arts by watching over shoulders.”
Snap. Ji Dae-ho closed the volume.
Nothing else about Jang I-seo warranted suspicion. He’d drifted through the lowest depths until Gyeom Sa-ik spotted him. After ten years of service, he’d risen to the top of the Counter-Espionage Division. Recently appointed adjutant on Sa Hae-ryeong’s recommendation.
Far too long in the gutter to be a spy or have ulterior motives.
“What a shame. What a shame.”
That was genuine regret.
The look in his eyes at the Seventh Small Palace. Those flawless movements, distilled to their essence. And for one fleeting instant, that hair-raising counter-strike, reading his attack and striking back like lightning.
Taken together, classifying his talent as “highest” was insufficient.
Supreme. No. Calling him the greatest under heaven would be more accurate.
“And yet, such crude and pathetic internal energy. Is this the fairness of the heavens?”
Otherwise, nothing made sense.
If only there were a way to plug the holes in his dantian. No. If someone found one even now.
Trembling with anticipation, Ji Dae-ho ultimately let out a hollow laugh.
Impossible. Even in the Demonic Cult, no such method existed.