Chapter 129 - What Dreams Do You Dream When Drunk?

The next day, I arrived at Yellow Springs Pavilion.

The investigators and enforcement martial artists welcomed me back enthusiastically after my long absence. Morale at the pavilion had soared once again, especially after the arrest of the Great Drunken Demon’s subordinate.

My office was as neatly arranged as when I had left. Just as the flowers in the pot by the window were flourishing, it was clear that Seo Daeryong had been taking good care of the office.

“Bring me all the work that’s piled up.”

“I knew you would ask, so I brought it with me. These are the matters you must handle personally, Pavilion Master.”

I had expected a large backlog, but the documents Seo Daeryong handed me were fewer than I’d imagined.

On inspection, I found that he had meticulously completed everything except the matters that absolutely required my attention. It reminded me that, when it came to running Yellow Springs Pavilion, he was better at it than I was. He was also learning martial arts from the Blood Heaven Saber Demon, so there was nothing to worry about there.

‘You’re coming along nicely, our next Pavilion Master of Yellow Springs Pavilion.’

Of course, Seo Daeryong would never have imagined I was thinking that.

Just then, another investigator entered carrying a box.

“This was sent to you, Pavilion Master.”

“Who sent it?”

“The Drunken Demon Supreme.”

He had sent something after we arrested his subordinate? I had been asking the Demon Supremes about the Drunken Demon, but he had made his move before I could make mine.

The investigator set down the box and left.

As I was about to open it, Seo Daeryong suddenly shouted.

“Be careful!”

“You startled me! Why?”

“I was going to say, what if it releases poisonous smoke? But I suppose it wouldn’t. He wouldn’t kill you over some bastard who got drunk, drove a carriage, and killed people.”

“Of course not. You nearly scared me to death instead.”

I opened the box to find a liquor bottle inside.

“He sent liquor.”

The moment I picked it up, I gave a startled twitch.

“No, he sent a liquor bottle, not liquor.”

The bottle was empty.

“Could it be a valuable piece of pottery?”

“It’s just an ordinary liquor bottle they sell at the market.”

“Why would he send you a cheap bottle? Isn’t he picking a fight?”

That was the obvious reaction. Why had he sent an empty bottle?

“It’s a warning from the Drunken Demon. He wants us to release his man.”

“If that were the case, he would have sent a broken bottle. Or a blade.”

“Then why did he send it?”

“Is there any need to puzzle over it?”

I sprang to my feet.

“What are you going to do?”

“What else would I do with the Drunken Demon?”

Bottle in hand, I walked out of my office.

“Have a drink.”

* * *

With the liquor bottle in one hand, I entered Great Drunken Grove, where the Drunken Demon lived. Since I had sent word ahead of my visit, a martial artist was waiting to guide me.

I followed him deeper into the grove.

Houses stood scattered throughout the grounds, ranging from humble huts to large manors. All manner of dwellings had been built there, giving the place a beauty that was also free-spirited.

Breweries large and small dotted Great Drunken Grove. Drunken Warriors sat drinking on wooden platforms, while others lay sprawled, thoroughly drunk. Viewed charitably, it was a place of freedom. Viewed less charitably, it was a complete mess.

But I knew better. Though their numbers were smaller than those serving the other Demon Supremes, the people gathered here were relatively more skilled. That was why the eyes of those seemingly drunken men were anything but ordinary.

A lake lay in the middle of Great Drunken Grove. On a small island at its center stood the hall where the Drunken Demon lived.

I took a small ferryboat across. The martial artist who brought me dropped me off on the island, then returned.

I walked slowly toward the hall. A woman welcomed me at the entrance, holding the door open.

“Welcome, Young Master. My name is Yeo Bin.”

With her graceful, composed appearance, she was an expert belonging to the Three Great Drunken Warriors, just like Gu Mayeong, whom I had met previously.

“The Demon Supreme is waiting for you. This way, please.”

I slowly entered. She led me to a pavilion called the Drunken Dream Pavilion.

When I climbed up into it, I found the Drunken Demon there. He was asleep, reclining at an angle against a floor chair covered in soft fur.

The place reeked of liquor and was a shambles. Dozens of bottles were scattered everywhere, some lying on their sides, others standing upright.

But I could sense that these were not merely bottles carelessly strewn about. Instinctively, I knew that if a fight broke out here, every one of them would become his weapon. They might even activate as a formation. It was a mess, yet not a mess at all.

The Single Flower Sword Supreme had described him as easygoing, while the Wicked Laughing Demon had said he put him in a bad mood. Now he was showing me a new side of himself: asleep in a drunken stupor.

Drunken Demon, what dreams do you dream when drunk?

For a moment, I stood gazing past him at the sunlight sparkling on the lake. Then I sat down about ten paces away and placed the bottle I had brought in front of me.

Sensing my presence, the Drunken Demon slowly opened his eyes.

The Great Drunken Demon, Song Sahyeok.

He was youthful and handsome—one of the most handsome men in the Cult, with a face that looked far younger than his age. He appeared not to have shaved for several days, but his good looks made the stubble seem manly rather than unkempt.

As soon as he opened his eyes, he drank the liquor in front of him and asked me,

“Care for a drink?”

Over his face, I saw the last image I had of him before my regression: a frail man reduced to skin and bones.

When I returned to the Cult to obtain materials for the Great Art of Regression, the Drunken Demon had still been alive. But he was merely clinging to life, not truly living.

He had been bedridden. I was told he had been ill for a very long time. The Demon Physician had diagnosed his illness as the result of drinking too much.

The Drunken Demon, dying of an illness caused by drink?

It had shocked everyone and made him a laughingstock among those who disliked him.

[“Care for a drink?”]

Those were the first words he had spoken to me from his sickbed. His first words to me were the same then as now.

As they echoed in my heart, the image of the vibrant Drunken Demon before me overlapped his sickly face.

“It’s a liquor you’d enjoy.”

“No, thank you.”

As though he had no intention of pressing me, he drank what he held by himself.

“Why have you only come to see me now? Am I that unpopular among the Eight Demon Supremes?”

“The protagonist always makes his entrance last.”

“Am I the protagonist of your story?”

“I’m the protagonist of my story. You’ll be either an ally or an adversary. What about your story, Drunken Demon? What role do I play? Is my brother your ally? Or am I?”

The Drunken Demon stared at me, then asked a question instead of answering.

“Do you like drinking?”

“There was a time when I did.”

“And now?”

“I drink enough to keep the gathering convivial.”

“You’re still so young, yet you talk as if there’s a story behind it.”

At his dismissive response, I boldly asked in return,

“Does a young person’s story not count?”

The Drunken Demon laughed. Seeing that handsome face break into a smile, my first thought was that he must have left quite a few women in tears.

“What kind of liquor do you like?”

“I haven’t drunk enough to develop a preference yet. I prefer something easy to drink over strong liquor.”

He was probing me through questions about liquor.

His gaze shifted to the bottle in front of me.

“What liquor did you fill it with?”

“Why assume it’s liquor? It could be water. Or poison.”

He smiled at my answer and poured liquor into his cup. He didn’t ask me to pour for him, and I didn’t offer.

“Why do you think I sent an empty bottle?”

“I don’t know. I wondered if you sent it so I would come ask you that.”

“How did you feel when you received it? Be honest.”

“Honestly? You won’t like it.”

“That’s all right.”

“Never mind. You’ll definitely get angry.”

“I promise I won’t. If I get angry, I can have a drink. We have liquor, don’t we? Go on, then.”

“This was what I thought: What the fuck is this bastard playing at?”

The Drunken Demon flinched for an instant, then drank the liquor in front of him.

“Wonderful!”

By the time he set the bottle down, his expression had brightened.

“This is why I love liquor. Once you drink, you forget everything and feel good.”

He had drunk only a cup, yet spoke as though he had finished a whole bottle.

“If it annoyed you that much, why did you come?”

“Because it’s a chance to learn what kind of person you are. Are you someone I can accept or not? Someone I can accomplish great things with, or merely a drunk?”

The demonic qi that subtly seeped out of him was unlike anything I had ever felt. As it enveloped my body, my head spun as though I were drunk, as if the fumes of liquor were mixed into his qi.

I activated the Heavenly Demon’s Body-Protection Art. The dizzying influence vanished, and I regained my composure.

Surprise flickered across the Drunken Demon’s face when he saw that my gaze remained steady.

“Do you like drinking, Drunken Demon?”

When I not only withstood his pressure but asked him a question, he withdrew his demonic qi.

“Do I like drinking? Is that something to ask the Drunken Demon?”

“Isn’t it precisely because you’re the Drunken Demon that I should ask?”

“What do you mean?”

“You should ask a martial artist whether he likes martial arts, a musician whether he likes music, and a painter whether he likes painting. You should ask the owner of the Merry Life Tavern how he finds selling liquor. Aren’t those questions we should ask such people at least once? So let me ask again. Do you like drinking?”

“!”

The Drunken Demon’s expression openly said, Well, look at this fellow.

“You really are nothing like the rumors. I’ll grant you that. Of everyone I’ve met, you’re the furthest from what the rumors say.”

“I hear that far too often. Whoever’s spreading rumors about me, I think I should drag them in and give them a scolding. If they’re going to spread rumors, they should at least get them right.”

“I’ll have to drink to deal with you. It would be difficult sober.”

“Shouldn’t you keep that thought to yourself?”

“What’s so momentous about having a drink?”

He drank several times in succession.

“What liquor is that? Something hard to obtain elsewhere, I imagine?”

“That’s one of the preconceptions people have about me. I’ll happily drink any liquor.”

As if to prove it, he sent his cup flying toward me. It drifted slowly through the air and hovered in front of my face.

I smelled the liquor.

“Oh, this is...?”

“That’s right. It’s from the Merry Life Tavern you frequent.”

That meant he had been keeping an eye on me.

“I’ll set aside my preconceptions.”

He retrieved the cup himself. As it returned, it tipped in midair, and he opened his mouth beneath it to drink.

The empty cup dropped onto the table. Its movement was so gentle that it made no sound at all.

His skill was evident from his use of object manipulation through the air alone. It was such a precise display that I wondered how a drunken man could manage it.

“You’re impressive yourself. Recognizing the Merry Life Tavern’s liquor by smell alone.”

“That’s only because it’s all I’ve been drinking lately. Aren’t you the one who knows the taste of every liquor in the world from its smell?”

“How could I know all the countless liquors in the world?”

Despite his modest words, the Drunken Demon was famous for identifying liquor by its scent.

He drank again. The more liquor he consumed, the rosier his face grew. I had imagined someone like the Drunken Demon could drink enormous quantities without his complexion changing at all, but his face had become noticeably red.

“Drinking makes me feel good. Doesn’t it do the same for you?”

“That depends on whom I’m drinking with.”

“Liquor tastes best when you drink alone.”

“I don’t know much about that world yet.”

“What a shame! Not knowing such heavenly pleasure!”

That was a lie. During my years as a wandering martial artist, I had often drunk alone. Back then, liquor had been my friend, my escape, and my refuge. And it had been a devil tempting me toward ruin.

“You should have learned to drink from me! From the Drunken Demon himself.”

“You’re right. My father taught me wrong. I’ll tell him when I see him tomorrow.”

Knowing I was joking, the Drunken Demon laughed and drank.

The drunker he became, the further his body leaned. He behaved just like an ordinary drunken man, even spilling liquor as he drank. It was difficult to tell how much was real and how much was an act.

He seemed the very picture of carelessness, but I didn’t believe he had let his guard down. If anything, this would be the most dangerous moment to fight him. To fight him, I would first have to sober him up.

“Now that I think about it, you’re right. Assuming the Drunken Demon would drink without limit was another preconception.”

“It’s because I’m the Drunken Demon that I drink in moderation. Only fools who don’t understand liquor drink themselves senseless.”

“Quite right.”

“Second Young Master, have you ever fought after drinking?”

“No.”

“Try it. It’s absolutely marvelous. It eases your nerves and makes you less afraid. Getting hit hurts less, too. It might raise your fighting strength by thirty percent. I suspect all the great masters remembered in Murim’s history fought after drinking.”

He looked at the bottle in front of me.

“So drink. Liquor will give you strength. Liquor will comfort you.”

Only then did I pick up the bottle I had brought. Slowly, I removed its stopper.

“I don’t think it will.”

The moment the scent of liquor spread through the air, the Drunken Demon, who had been reclining so far he was almost lying down, abruptly straightened up. It was a liquor he recognized.

Without drinking, I set the bottle back down in front of me and said evenly,

“Because I, too... know very well what goes on in the heart of someone lost in drink.”