Chapter 72: Chapter 72
As Jang I-seo and Heuk-ya’s confrontation began at the entrance, Mao entered the Heavenly Demon Palace, surveyed the sealed doors, and walked forward slowly.
Every time he came here, it felt like being locked in a predator’s cage with all his blood draining out.
‘Is it supposed to be this hard and bleak just to see your family?’
Honestly, he wanted to post a “Parents Must Visit” notice at the entrance and flee. Next time, you come to me.
But Mao understood now.
There was no going back. No turning around.
If he didn’t want to return to his former good-for-nothing life, only forward remained.
That was why he’d come back.
“You’ve come.”
The white-haired lord of all demons, seated at a well-set table, looking ageless. A gaze alone enough to command all who served.
The Heavenly Demon, Jin U-gwang. At the breakfast table.
“You’re not late today.”
Jin U-gwang rested his chin on his hand and studied Mao with amused interest. Mao approached without hesitation and prostrated himself ten paces away.
“Supreme Heavenly Demon! All demons bow! Seventh Young Master Mao greets his father.”
A relatively composed tone. Jin U-gwang’s lips curved upward, barely perceptibly. A first. The perpetually terrified, panicking boy had never shown such dignity.
When you sat at the summit long enough, everything became tedious, insignificant as dust. So fresh emotions were always welcome.
A good start.
“Sit.”
“Yes.”
Mao rose and took his seat at the far end of the long table. Surveying the dishes, it was modest again. Meat, vegetables, broth.
Low-sodium, lightly seasoned, small portions.
Hearing the name Heavenly Demon, you’d expect him to tear into bloodied raw meat. Seeing this, you’d think he was human after all.
“Eat.”
“I’ll eat well!”
Mao shoved meat into his mouth the moment he finished the greeting. Last time, he’d been so nervous he couldn’t tell whether food was going into his mouth or his nose. Tasting it now…
‘It’s good!’
So he stuffed everything he could see into his mouth. Watching this, Jin U-gwang savored his own food slowly and thought.
‘An entertaining fellow.’
He’d adopted Mao three years ago, but knew almost nothing about him. This was only their second meal together.
The silent breakfast ended. Jin U-gwang set down his utensils and, for the first time, asked like a father.
“Did it suit your taste?”
At the unexpectedly warm words, Mao felt a lump in his throat and answered like a son.
“Yes. It was delicious.”
“I’m glad it suited you.”
At Jin U-gwang’s smile, Mao felt guilty for having been nothing but frightened all this time.
Was this what family felt like? Had he been too afraid? Then again, telling your son you’d shoot him dead with finger wind at the next breakfast. What kind of father does that?
“This could have been your last meal.”
There it is. That kind of father.
Mao pretended not to hear and trembled like a leaf.
Last meal.
Meaning he was about to be killed.
The food sat heavy in his chest. With bitter resignation, he reminded himself again. Where he was. Who sat before him.
The greatest under heaven. The demon among demons.
The Heavenly Demon.
This man was not his biological father. He was an absolute demon who could kill him at any moment.
Mao squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them fierce and wide.
“Now I have to endure your finger wind, right?”
“Why? Will it be difficult?”
“If I say it’s difficult… will you not shoot?”
“I don’t wish to be a father who breaks promises to his son.”
“Still better than a father who kills his son, isn’t it?”
“A son who dies from that much isn’t my son.”
Smiling makes it scarier. Jin U-gwang laced his fingers and smiled. So gently. What a wonderful household.
Mao swallowed hard.
Either way, the message was clear. Dodge or die.
Huu. Well. Expected.
Mao exhaled deeply and declared.
“Fine. Once only. You promised. No cheap shots with a second shot. Agreed?”
Mao cracked his knuckles and rose boldly. Then, with truly insolent bravado, curled his index and middle fingers inward in a beckoning gesture.
“Come.”
Jin U-gwang went blank with disbelief, then erupted into silent, roaring laughter.
Was he being provoked? How delightful.
He pointed with his index finger, casual as a scolding.
Then.
FWIIIISH!
Without warning, finger wind shot forth.
The test had begun!
CRASH!
As the finger wind carved across the table, rice bowls, soup bowls, side dishes. Everything shattered indiscriminately, sent flying.
Even the thick wooden table split clean in half along the finger wind’s path.
It hadn’t even touched anything. The wind pressure alone demolished everything.
Such was the gale that the invisible wind became visible, sweeping up dust into sharp lines.
The manifestation of a tempest.
‘One hit and I’m dead! Unconditionally dead!’
Mao’s eyes went wide as saucers. His lips dried completely.
As expected, no mercy.
The Heavenly Demon was the Heavenly Demon.
A bloodless slaughterer who’d kill even his own child without flinching. A demon so cruel he’d launch a surprise attack without warning over a tiny provocation.
But,
‘You were right. Just like you said.’
Mao’s lips, which should have been frozen in despair, curled into a smile.
Because of the dependable adjutant who’d foreseen even this moment and prepared him.
‘Jang I-seo.’
Because he existed.
*
*
*
– A few days earlier.
“What are you saying? You want me to provoke Father? Are you insane?”
During the endless training, as Mao grew increasingly proficient at Iron Bucket Defense, Jang I-seo leaned against the wall at an angle and said exactly that.
Provoke the Heavenly Demon.
“Yes. That’s how you survive.”
“You said I’d survive if I became harder than rock.”
“Does the Seventh Young Master think he’s harder than rock right now?”
“Yeah. I’m iron now. It barely even hurts anym… ARGH!”
THWACK! Jang I-seo snatched a pebble from the ground and whipped it sideways into Mao’s temple. Mao crumpled to the floor. He looked up in horror.
“Are you insane?”
“See? The stone didn’t break. The Seventh Young Master did.”
Pitter-patter. Jang I-seo dropped the pebble.
“Hey! That was a sneak attack! If I’d been ready…”
“That’s my point. If you’re hit by finger wind with no preparation, like just now. From the side or behind. Could you withstand that?”
“Huh? No way, Father wouldn’t be that cheap…”
“The opponent is a merciless Cult Leader. He could erase the Seventh Young Master like dust at any moment.”
“Hey, you shit! He’s my dad!”
So what. Not even your real dad. Jang I-seo cut that down cleanly and taught the winning formula.
“Right now, you can definitely block finger wind. If you know where it’s coming from. So make sure it comes from directly in front. Aim for the moment you’re seated across the table. And the moment the finger wind flies…”
Show me. Properly.
*
*
*
That’s right. I’ll do it. Jang I-seo!
“URYAAAAAH!”
Mao thrust his stacked palms forward, directly at the finger wind screaming toward his face.
Simultaneously, yang energy erupted from his dantian.
Rushing through opened meridians, it converged into his palms. And the moment he emitted his qi toward the incoming finger wind.
KWAANG!
The Heavenly Demon’s finger wind, howling in like a typhoon.
With utter insolence. No. With absolutely unacceptable audacity.
Bounced back the way it came with a thunderous boom.
KWAAA-
Carrying an even more violent gale.
Mao’s absolute yang energy, possessing protective properties, had collided with the Heavenly Demon’s finger wind that could pierce cliff faces and redirected it.
“Neither dodging nor blocking… A counterattack?! Hahaha!”
Astonishment and roaring laughter simultaneously flooded the Heavenly Demon’s face.
* * *
“Are you truly… a spy?”
Meanwhile, as an unexpected father-son clash unfolded inside, outside, a stunned Heuk-ya and an utterly unfazed Jang I-seo had begun their debate.
“If the Right Emissary has so decided, then it must be so.”
A truly ambiguous answer. Meaning: I don’t know, interpret it as you like.
Heuk-ya snorted and replied.
“You’d entrust a life-or-death matter to someone else’s judgment? And still call yourself an adjutant serving His Supremacy?”
“Not someone else. Simply yield to the strong. The weak serve the strong, and the strong bear responsibility for their choices. Isn’t that the doctrine of a cult that worships the supremacy of the strong?”
“What an insolent whelp. Sounds like you’re telling me to take responsibility.”
“How else can I serve with trust?”
Insufferable. Heuk-ya issued his verdict to the brazen Jang I-seo.
“Heh heh heh. Fine. Then you are a spy.”
A death sentence.
“Why?”
Jang I-seo asked without a flicker of expression. His heart’s residual trembling had stopped long ago. So Heuk-ya wouldn’t resort to the cheap trick of calling him a liar.
“I have never met anyone who, facing me for the first time, argues back without a tremor. Moreover, remaining this calm with death before your eyes means one of two things. Either you’re highly trained… or you’ve lost all sense of fear.”
Jang I-seo’s eyes widened slightly, then he nodded.
“Couldn’t it be the latter?”
“Impossible. If so, you wouldn’t be merely first-rate.”
Jang I-seo nodded readily again.
“If you’ve decided so, there’s nothing to be done. Then what happens next?”
“I’ll take both your legs.”
“Fine.”
Again, a ready answer. This time, Heuk-ya’s eyes widened.
“Fine? Even if I cut off your legs?”
“I’m from the Counter-Espionage Division. For a spy, losing both legs is lenient. I would’ve taken the neck.”
“Heh heh heh. Then I’ll take the neck instead.”
“That’s fine too. But following the order the Cult Leader gave me comes first. I trust you’ll overlook that much.”
What was this now?
“An order from the Cult Leader? To you?”
Heuk-ya tilted his head and examined Jang I-seo again. No matter how he looked, a nothing first-rate warrior. But the surprising answer was yet to come.
“The Cult Leader bestowed his internal energy upon me.”
“What nonsense is this?”
“It’s embarrassing, but my body is the Nine-Orifice Body. Nine holes in the dantian. He ordered me to find a clue to cure it. Though the condition isn’t exactly good.”
Shlk. Jang I-seo rolled his sleeve to the elbow. Swollen black veins emerged. The symptom of demonic aura poisoning. The deeper the color, the closer to completion.
And Jang I-seo’s veins were complete darkness, impossible to hide even with skin tone.
Anyone could see it. The Heavenly Demon’s handiwork.
“The Nine-Orifice Body… Hah. Such a constitution exists? Truly fascinating.”
“I think so too. Why the Cult Leader would wish to save a spy like me and even bestow his noble heavenly demonic internal energy upon him. I find that fascinating too.”
“What?!”
“So I intend to ask the Cult Leader directly when I see him.”
Hah. A breath escaped Heuk-ya.
So this was it. The reason for all that tongue-wagging about supremacy of the strong and responsibility.
If he declared Jang I-seo a spy here, it would make the Cult Leader, his own sovereign, look foolish.
In short.
“Kgh… I’ve walked into my own trap.”