Chapter 136 - I'm More Coldhearted Than I Look

The next day, I entered closed-door training for ten days. I left Yellow Springs Pavilion's work to Seo Daeryong and put the Demon Supremes out of my mind.

This training could not wait.

Everything has its trigger and its proper time. Just as you must commit to winning a spar when you sense the moment has come, there is a right time for training.

My trigger was the spar with Father, still vivid in my mind. Before it faded, I had to absorb its lessons and make them my own.

I decided not to think about the Demon Supremes. The Drunken Demon might have come looking for me the following day, or a fight might have broken out among them. They weren't people I could control anyway, so I focused solely on what I had to do.

I retraced the spar at the Merry Life Tavern, where I had fought in a state of complete absorption.

I recreated my spar with Father down to the smallest movement. When I moved this way, Father had moved that way. When I attacked like this, he had blocked like that. I compared and analyzed his movements and mine.

That spar had been significant in several ways: I had fought without imposing limits on myself, and even in the midst of that urgency, I had faced the severe restriction of not touching anything.

It had given me a great deal to reflect on and much to learn. Rather than physically exhausting training, this was training in deep contemplation and reflection. I thought of nothing but martial arts, immersing myself more deeply than ever.

Ten days later, I emerged from the training hall with a thick, unkempt beard.

A sudden waft of liquor made me think, Surely not. Then that very possibility spoke from behind me.

"Who on earth are you working so hard to kill? Me? Surely not?"

To my surprise, the Drunken Demon was waiting for me.

"Why are you here?"

"Why else? I've been waiting for you to come out. I went to see you the day after we drank at the Merry Life Tavern, and they told me you'd entered closed-door training for ten days. I rushed straight here when I heard."

"Surely you don't mean you've been waiting here the whole time?"

"Of course! I've been waiting since the first day."

I stared at him, then said with a smile,

"You're lying. You must have told Martial Artist Yeo, 'Let me know when the Second Young Master finishes his seclusion in ten days.' Then you went off to drink and enjoy yourself, didn't you? When did you arrive today? Just a little while ago, right?"

"Hmm. Has Yeo Bin switched to your side?"

His candid admission made me laugh. The Drunken Demon asked, eyeing me suspiciously,

"But you didn't go into seclusion because you found me a nuisance, did you?"

"To be honest, I enjoy drinking and spending time with you. If anything, the problem is that I enjoy it too much."

"When I heard you'd gone into seclusion, I thought the sky was falling. If you'd secluded yourself for a hundred days, I'd have turned to stone waiting for you."

"Don't you have any other drinking companions?"

"Who?"

"You could drink with the Sword Supreme."

"After the humiliation she suffered at that Laughing Demon's hands that day, would she want to meet anyone for a drink? We should give her time to cool her anger."

Could that really be the reason? This was a man who had come all the way to the training hall to wait for me. Right now, he was more interested in me than in the Sword Supreme, so she probably wasn't even on his mind.

"Isn't it precisely at times like this that a person needs a friend?"

"It's because I'm her friend that I'm giving her space."

That was true as well, so I couldn't argue.

"Now, let's go have a drink."

"Do you enjoy drinking with me that much?"

"Didn't you say you wouldn't call someone your brother after drinking together only twice?"

That was what I had told him at the Merry Life Tavern. Apparently, it had stayed with him.

"Wouldn't you agree after, say, two hundred times?"

"If we've shared drinks two hundred times, wouldn't what we call each other be meaningless by then anyway?"

"No, it matters. If we've drunk together two hundred times and still can't call each other brothers, wouldn't that be a strange relationship too?"

"That's true, but..."

"If I asked you to have tea with me, I wouldn't even manage five times. But drinking? I can make it to two hundred."

"Why are you going to such lengths to become my brother?"

His reason was unexpected.

"It's simple. At the moment, your chances of becoming the Heavenly Demon are fifty-fifty, aren't they? That gives me a fifty percent chance of having the Heavenly Demon as my younger brother."

"You're making one major mistake."

"What mistake?"

"If I become the Heavenly Demon, I won't treat you as an older brother. Those two hundred drinking sessions will all disappear the moment I do."

"Outwardly, perhaps?"

"Not in my heart, either. Nor in private. In fact, I might treat you even more strictly to avoid giving anyone that impression."

The Drunken Demon regarded me with a curious look.

"I thought you'd remain open and candid even after becoming the Heavenly Demon. I thought you'd dispense with formalities and live like brothers with the Demon Supremes."

"Then that's a preconception you have about me. I'm colder and more heartless than I look. Perhaps I act even more affectionate to hide it. If I become the Heavenly Demon, I'll draw a sharp line between public duties and personal relationships. If you expected me to casually agree to call you my brother, spending those remaining one hundred and ninety-eight drinking sessions with my elder brother would be a better investment."

Then the Drunken Demon said in a significant tone,

"Your brother must not become cult leader."

"Why?"

"I'll tell you over a drink."

The Drunken Demon hurried away. I walked in the opposite direction.

After getting some distance away, he came chasing after me.

"You're being too much. Second Young Master, aren't you curious?"

"Not at all."

"Even though it's the reason your brother mustn't become cult leader?"

"That's right."

"Why on earth not?"

This time, I spoke in a significant tone.

"You're curious why I'm not curious, aren't you?"

"I am."

"I pretended not to be curious to make you curious. You're doing the same thing, aren't you? You're trying to bait me into drinking with you by making me curious, even though you don't have much of a reason at all."

"A person who's too clever loses their human warmth!"

"I already told you I'm coldhearted."

As I strode away, the Drunken Demon doggedly followed.

"I've waited ten whole days. Second Young Master, are you really going to do this?"

Well, I had to acknowledge that much effort.

"You win. I'll wash up and rest a little first, then come see you at the Great Drunken Grove this evening."

Only then did the Drunken Demon's expression brighten.

"I'll be waiting. Make sure you come."

"In return, you must tell me why my brother shouldn't become cult leader."

"Didn't you say you weren't curious?"

"How could I not be? I'll see you later, then."

I returned to my quarters, shaved, washed, and changed into fresh clothes. Then I stood before the bronze mirror.

The person I was now had changed again from who I had been ten days earlier.

During my seclusion, I had raised the Wind God's Four Steps to a new realm.

The eighth level of the Wind God's Four Steps.

I had expected results when I entered seclusion. I had attained twelfth-level complete mastery of the Heaven-Soaring Sword Art and gained enlightenment from the words left by the Sovereign of Myriad Evils. I had fought Baek Manggi, then undergone the unusual experience of reviewing that battle through a third party's eyes in a dream.

On top of all that, the spar with Father had been decisive. As though he had foreseen this outcome, Father had used the Wind God's Four Steps against me throughout the spar.

Ah, there was one more thing: my desperate need to achieve complete mastery of the Wind God's Four Steps, somehow, before being taught the Nine Calamities Demonic Art.

As a result, I had achieved the triumph of reaching the eighth level of the Wind God's Four Steps—a triumph that, in a sense, was only natural.

The greatest change after reaching the eighth level of the Wind God's Four Steps was that I was seized by a desire to run somewhere using Swift Step. My body itched to move, and I had to suppress the urge to run around the training ground right then. I needed to satisfy that desire properly; something so small wouldn't suffice.

For now, I lay down on my bed and slept. Was it because I was in such good spirits? For the first time in a long while, I caught up on my sleep without a single worry.

* * *

That evening, I bought a bottle of liquor and visited the Great Drunken Grove. The Drunken Demon was lying in a rowboat, drifting across the lake.

I took the rowboat Yeo Bin provided and slowly approached his. There was nothing in his boat but liquor bottles.

"Just as I thought! You don't eat anything with your drinks when I'm not watching."

"If you drink with me every day, I'll eat with my drinks every day. Here, have a cup."

"I'll drink what I brought."

One thing I liked about the Drunken Demon was that he never pressured anyone when it came to drinking. Whatever liquor I drank, even if I merely touched it to my lips and set it down, he didn't mind. Nor did he insist that I get drunk with him. I thought the Drunken Demon truly loved liquor.

"I thought this the last time I came, too, but this lake is really lovely."

"There are even finer places in the Great Drunken Grove. I'll take you next time."

"Do you really think there will be a next time for us?"

"Why do you think there won't be?"

Instead of answering, I drank.

"Yes, I know what you mean. The Blood Heaven Saber Demon dislikes me so much."

He drank as well.

"Then again, I'm hardly the only person he dislikes. Do you really intend to gain the Blood Heaven Saber Demon and lose three others? Isn't that far too poor a bargain? He's someone who could go over to the First Young Master at any time, given the right terms."

The Drunken Demon was gradually beginning to sow discord and push the Blood Heaven Saber Demon out.

"Didn't I tell you that day? I'll win all three of you over. That's why I've come here today."

"If you can't distinguish ideals from reality like this, the First Young Master will become the successor in the end. Choosing the successor who will become the Heavenly Demon isn't simply a matter of who's better at martial arts or who's cleverer."

"Then what decides it?"

"Think about it. Choosing a successor isn't choosing the greatest demonic swordsman under heaven. It's choosing someone who can lead the Cult well. A cult leader who will make concessions where needed and live in harmony with the Eight Demon Supremes. Otherwise, the Cult will fracture and ultimately be swallowed up by the Orthodox Martial Alliance. Why are you looking at me like that?"

"I didn't know you were someone who thought so rationally about the Cult's future."

"I'm a prime victim of misunderstanding and prejudice."

"If you dislike that, why not quit drinking?"

"A Drunken Demon who's quit drinking? All of Murim would laugh at me."

With that, he drank.

"May I ask you something? I've wanted to ask for a while."

"What is it?"

After a brief pause, I asked him,

"Do you drink to forget? Or do you drink so you won't forget?"

"...!"

The Drunken Demon flinched for an instant, then stared at me before answering that it was neither.

"For pleasure. I drink simply because I like liquor. I like liquor itself. Assuming I drink because there's some story behind it is another preconception."

With that, the Drunken Demon drank again. I couldn't tell whether he meant it or was making an excuse. So long as he was drinking, it wasn't easy to see the truth in him.

I drank the liquor I had brought, too. Being with him made me keep reaching for a drink. Back when I had drunk heavily, there had certainly been a reason.

Had I been drinking to forget? Or so I wouldn't forget?

"Then why not support my brother as successor? Unlike me, he wouldn't tell you that you must reconcile with the elder Saber Demon."

Then the Drunken Demon said something unexpected.

"The First Young Master must not become the successor."

He had repeated what he'd said outside the training hall. The fact that he had brought it up himself told me it hadn't merely been a ploy to lure me into drinking with him.

Could this be why he had approached me, asking that we call each other brothers?

"The First Young Master... is far too fond of the cult leader."

"...!"

It was something I had never expected to hear from the Drunken Demon.

"I'm fond of Father, too."

"His fondness is beyond comparison with yours."

I couldn't deny it. Whether it came from genuine affection, from being overawed by Father's authority, or from wanting to become the successor, my brother would do anything Father told him.

"I acknowledge that you're superior to the First Young Master. But even so, I still can't be certain you'll become the successor."

I had to agree with that as well. Father was quite capable of sparring with me today, then bluntly telling me tomorrow that my brother would be his successor.

"Very well. Let's say that's true. Why should my brother's fondness for Father disqualify him from becoming the successor?"

"Because the First Young Master won't be able to oppose the cult leader's wishes."

"What wishes?"

Once again, something startling came from the Drunken Demon's lips.

"His resolve to unify Murim."

The Drunken Demon knew. He knew Father harbored the ambition of unifying Murim.

I recalled a conversation I had once had with Father concerning the Wind Heaven Cult Leader.

["The time has not yet come. That is all you need to know."]

At the time, I had thought Father might be dreaming of unifying Murim.

The Drunken Demon had noticed that ambition of his. Perhaps he wasn't the only one; some of the other Demon Supremes might know as well. They refrained from saying anything at all about Father.

"The First Young Master will become the successor and faithfully obey his father's orders. Without a doubt, he'll lead the vanguard in a campaign to conquer Murim. But you? You would try to stop the cult leader. From everything I've seen of you so far, you aren't someone who favors war."

"That's right. I don't want war."

"Then you must become the successor and stop the cult leader."

I had never dreamed the Drunken Demon had chosen me for such a reason.

He had chosen me to prevent a future war? This Drunken Demon, who was always drunk? This man who seemed the most thoughtless of all the Eight Demon Supremes?

I brought my face close to his.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm trying to see how much of that is true and how much is a lie."

"Everything I've said is true."

"You do nothing but drink, yet you chose me for the sake of peace in Murim? You're asking me to believe that?"

"Let's call that the last preconception about me."

Looking at me with drunken eyes, the Drunken Demon revealed the truth as though making a confession.

"That is precisely why I sent the First Young Master a broken liquor bottle."