Chapter 208 - The Sword Supreme Said She Wouldn't Come

A heavy silence fell.

Calling this his last request was the strongest move the Wicked Laughing Demon could make.

The Blood Heaven Saber Demon had never expected him to go this far. This was no situation to lighten with a joke.

His heart pounding, the Fist Demon unconsciously clenched his fists. He felt as though he, too, stood on the battlefield the Wicked Laughing Demon had opened.

Geom Ujin stared silently at the Wicked Laughing Demon.

The surrounding air had turned cold. Beneath Geom Ujin's qi presence, as heavy as Mount Tai, the Wicked Laughing Demon felt a suffocating tightness. His entire body hurt as though it were being torn apart. It felt like falling into a pit with sharp blades packed densely into every wall.

The Wicked Laughing Demon closed his eyes against the pain. He experienced a vision of standing in the midst of a battlefield. Blood flowed like a stream, and shouts rose from every direction. Flames soared, and hidden weapons flew everywhere. He stood at the very center of it all.

And the man before him was not Geom Ujin, but Geom Mugeuk. With his mask pushed up onto his head, Mugeuk was looking at him and speaking. He could hear no voice, but he could read the words on his lips.

["I want to see more of your world, Laughing Demon."]

The moment Geom Mugeuk smiled brightly and lowered his mask over his face, the Wicked Laughing Demon returned to reality.

Geom Ujin stood where Mugeuk had been.

Their eyes met, and at the same time, the tremendous pressure crushing him slowly began to fade.

Geom Ujin spoke sternly.

"I can tolerate seeing your back while you wear the Undying Ghost Mask. But do not face me wearing it."

The Undying Ghost Mask was the mask he wore to war. This was the Heavenly Demon's solemn warning never to turn his blade on him, whatever happened.

The Wicked Laughing Demon bowed his head.

"Forgive me, Cult Leader."

Despite his stern warning, Geom Ujin's expression showed no displeasure. His face already held forgiveness: he would overlook it this once.

The Blood Heaven Saber Demon and the Fist Demon could feel it. If anything, this had made Geom Ujin more favorably disposed toward the Wicked Laughing Demon. His manliness had pleased him. This was precisely the sort of man the Heavenly Demon liked.

As if to prove it, Geom Ujin added,

"Why call it your last request? What will you do if you have another request someday?"

"Even if I do, I will refrain from making it."

The Wicked Laughing Demon was relinquishing any future opportunity he might be given.

"I shall accept only that this is your first request."

It was Geom Ujin's consideration for him, an assurance that he would grant another request in the future. Although the act could well be called insolent, Geom Ujin had embraced the Wicked Laughing Demon with immense generosity.

The Wicked Laughing Demon bowed his head, emotion in his eyes.

"Thank you."

He turned away again, removed the Undying Ghost Mask, and put his original white mask back on.

To the Blood Heaven Saber Demon, that blank white mask felt more frightening than the Undying Ghost Mask with its depiction of an evil spirit.

Then someone else arrived. Two people this time—and, astonishingly, they were the Drunken Demon and the Single Flower Sword Supreme.

The Drunken Demon was thoroughly drunk.

"We greet you, Cult Leader."

He and the Sword Supreme stood side by side and paid their respects.

"I ought to have sobered up before coming, but I simply lacked the courage to face you sober, so I had a drink. Please forgive me."

The Drunken Demon immediately looked out for the Single Flower Sword Supreme.

"Oh, the Sword Supreme said she wouldn't come. I dragged her here."

This was his friendship at work. He wanted to spare her relationship with the Heavenly Demon while ensuring she would not be left as the only one who had failed to help Geom Mugeuk. There was, after all, a clear difference between coming here and not coming at all.

Though his persuasion had brought her along, the Single Flower Sword Supreme felt conflicted. Her head told her she absolutely must not come, but her heart wondered whether it was right for her alone to stay out of it.

The Heavenly Demon had always been someone she revered and found difficult to approach. Yet now her eyes went to the three Demon Supremes who had arrived before her.

'Why did they all accept Geom Mugeuk's request? Weren't they afraid of the cult leader's wrath?'

The thought that they might share a bond she knew nothing about left her feeling excluded. At the same time, she wondered whether she was being too selfish. Even with the Drunken Demon right there, she honestly could not understand why he was struggling so much.

Geom Ujin asked the Drunken Demon,

"Have you come because of Mugeuk as well?"

The Drunken Demon had told Geom Mugeuk that the cult leader disliked him, but Geom Ujin showed no sign of it.

As though explaining his late arrival, the Drunken Demon said,

"I refused the Second Young Master's request to persuade you."

"Then why have you come?"

"Because I was ashamed. I was the one who first pestered him to call me his brother, yet when he actually needed help, I backed away. I was ashamed of myself."

His voice trembled. Considering how eloquent and jovial he normally was, it was clear just how nervous he felt.

Geom Ujin did not ask him why he had become so taken with Geom Mugeuk. Did he truly dislike him?

It was the Blood Heaven Saber Demon who asked instead.

"How did the Second Young Master win you over? We've all told our stories. Let's hear yours."

The Drunken Demon gauged Geom Ujin's expression, then spoke cautiously.

"The Second Young Master intoxicates me. Looking at him makes me want a drink. Drinking together is enjoyable, and when he's absent, I miss him and drink again. In truth, there have been several such people in my life. But the Second Young Master has something else that makes him special."

"What is it?"

"Even as he intoxicates me, he keeps sobering me up. Just as standing before you does now. He intoxicates me, then sobers me up, then intoxicates me again. The Second Young Master is the only person who does both."

The Demon Supremes listened quietly, each thinking of the Geom Mugeuk they knew.

Then Geom Ujin abruptly asked,

"If he is so special, why did you refuse his request?"

"Forgive me, but may I have a drink before answering?"

It was an insolent request, yet one he could make precisely because he was the Drunken Demon.

When Geom Ujin nodded, he took a long gulp of the liquor at his waist. As the drink went down, life began returning to his eyes.

Staring directly at Geom Ujin, he said,

"Because of you, Cult Leader."

His answer brought tension back into the air.

"Because of me?"

"Yes. Because of you, I became a pathetic older brother who couldn't even look after his little brother."

"Why was that because of me?"

"Because my wish for you not to dislike me was stronger."

The Drunken Demon felt that if he did not say it today, he never would. Just once, he had wanted to ask the cult leader why he hated him so much. To ask him not to dislike him so.

"You thought I disliked you?"

"Don't you?"

The atmosphere grew increasingly taut.

The Single Flower Sword Supreme hurriedly sent him a sound transmission.

—Have you lost your mind? Stop!

The Drunken Demon glanced at her.

—If I don't say it now, I'll regret it when I die.

He took out his liquor again and drank deeply. Then he spoke of something he had never told anyone.

"I tried to win your favor! Though you never once acknowledged it!"

He had never imagined saying this in front of the other Demon Supremes, but emotions always burst forth at moments like these. Or perhaps it was because some part of him wanted someone to hear how he felt.

Geom Ujin said nothing.

"Shut up, you drunkard!"

The shout came from the Single Flower Sword Supreme. Just as the Drunken Demon had looked out for her, she was the only one looking out for him now.

"You drunkard! Why did you come here? To whine about your lot? Didn't you say you had to stand up for your little brother? That you would do it even if you lost the cult leader's favor and were driven out? That I had to be here too, so I'd have something to say to the Second Young Master afterward? Then what are you doing? Why are you ranting drunkenly instead of saying what you came to say? How dare you, before him!"

She was not normally someone who grew so angry at others. Nor did she normally speak so much. But she was deliberately making herself angrier, hoping this might at least ease Geom Ujin's wrath.

Whether he understood her intentions or not, the Drunken Demon shouted back,

"I saw the cult leader's face and forgot it all! What are you going to do about it?"

"Don't pretend you're drunk! You're nowhere near drunk yet!"

He flinched.

"You drunkard! I'd dislike you too. Rambling on with liquor for courage. Why would he hate you? Because you act so hatefully!"

"Yes, you're wonderful! Our lofty Sword Supreme! Aren't you just marvelous! I'm already on his bad side anyway, so it's fine. It's perfectly fine!"

Just then, Geom Ujin spoke abruptly.

"I do not hate you."

Silence fell. Every eye turned to him.

"I hated your master."

The Drunken Demon was startled. He had never heard this before. Even his master, the person involved, had never said anything of the sort.

Geom Ujin said no more. He neither rebuked the Drunken Demon's insolence nor apologized for the misunderstanding. He did not explain why he had hated his master, either.

The Drunken Demon gazed at Geom Ujin and asked,

"Did you truly never feel even the slightest hatred toward me?"

"Never."

One corner of the wall that had stifled his heart came crashing down. Through the fallen wall, a ray of light entered.

"Had I known this would happen, I should have thrown a drunken fit long ago."

He was calm and earnest, as though his earlier drunken rant had never happened.

"I had no idea that was the reason... Whenever I returned from seeing you, I drank excessively that day. Why does he look at me so coldly? What mistake did I make? All those thoughts kept me awake."

Now he could look Geom Ujin in the face. Ever since he had come to believe the Heavenly Demon hated him, he had been unable to look at him properly.

"I owe you an apology, Cult Leader, but I think today's drunken outburst will remain the best of my life."

Geom Ujin asked,

"Well? Will you ask me to grant Mugeuk's request too?"

The Drunken Demon answered firmly.

"No. I will not ask."

Geom Ujin looked around at the five Demon Supremes.

Since becoming the Heavenly Demon, he had never before had five Demon Supremes come to him on account of one person.

"The boy is rewriting the Cult's history."

He spoke into the empty air.

"Bring Mugeuk here."

* * *

When I arrived, Father and the five Demon Supremes were standing in a line, looking at me.

I had expected them to persuade him individually, not to find all five together. Even the Drunken Demon and the Single Flower Sword Supreme, who had refused, were there.

"Your son has come at your summons."

Fortunately, Father's expression was not too bad. I met each of the five Demon Supremes' eyes in turn.

The Blood Heaven Saber Demon gave a slight nod, as if to signal that things had gone all right.

The Fist Demon clenched his fist so that only I would notice. That gesture conveyed what this gathering had felt like.

The Wicked Laughing Demon was smiling. From the relief in his eyes, I could tell he had weathered something momentous.

The Drunken Demon was looking at Father. I could sense that another change had taken place in his life. Beside him, the Single Flower Sword Supreme smiled at me.

"All five people I'm fond of are here!"

Still looking at Father, the Drunken Demon spoke in a voice thick with drink.

"Why leave out the cult leader? There are six."

"I was leaving you out, Brother."

"... Oh."

The Drunken Demon drank. Seeing him drink so openly before Father, I knew there must truly have been quite an uproar. I could hear about today's events later from him or the Blood Heaven Saber Demon.

I stood before Father, inwardly nervous about the outcome.

That was when it happened.

The Wicked Laughing Demon slowly walked over and stood beside me. That one act let me imagine how he had conducted himself today.

Behind his mask, his eyes smiled at me.

I have done everything I could.

Thank you so much, Laughing Demon.

We conveyed our feelings through our eyes.

Next, the Blood Heaven Saber Demon sighed and stood beside me.

"What an uproar to find myself in at my age."

"I'm sorry."

The Fist Demon moved next.

"He is my first disciple. I have no choice."

Three Demon Supremes had come to stand at my side.

Their eyes were full of apology as they looked at Father. They were not opposing him. They were showing their determination to protect me.

Then the Drunken Demon, who had been looking at Father, walked toward me.

"Now that I see Mugeuk, I simply can't stay out of it. I must help too. Was my master also so changeable? Is that why you disliked him?"

Geom Ujin answered his question.

"Quite the opposite. Once drunk, he would never yield."

"Then that is a great relief. Of the Eight Demon Supremes, I must be the easiest to sway."

"Isn't that a problem in its own right?"

"Then tell the next Drunken Demon that you disliked his master because he was too easily swayed."

At last, the Drunken Demon was at ease before the Heavenly Demon. To become the only man who could act drunk even in the Heavenly Demon's presence, building the immense trust that would allow it—that was the path he needed to take in his relationship with Father.

And I had a feeling that this change in their relationship would change the Drunken Demon himself.

This time, he smiled at me.

"Wait for this pathetic brother of yours to become someone impressive."

He meant it sincerely.

"As long as you promise to stay less impressive than me."

He handed me his liquor bottle. A promise with the Drunken Demon was made over a drink. I drank and returned it to him. He drank as well.

Afterward, he walked over to the Single Flower Sword Supreme.

He took her hand and brought her toward us.

"I believe the cult leader's decision is right."

"I know. But this is where you should stand today."

It was enough that she had conveyed her position to the cult leader.

Even amid all this, the Drunken Demon placed her beside the Blood Heaven Saber Demon before returning to his own spot.

And so five Demon Supremes stood to either side of me. There had been four when we attacked Villains' Valley. Now, with the Fist Demon joining us, there were five.

Father looked silently at me and the Demon Supremes. He seemed neither pleased nor displeased. After all, this was a first for him as well.

That mocking smile, as though he found me laughable, formed on his lips. Yes, no smile could have suited this situation better.

"Very well. Ordinarily, I would have required all eight Demon Supremes to come before granting permission. But today, the Wicked Demon has done the work of three."

Counting him as three made seven in all.

"Bring just one more before me, and I will permit this undertaking."

"Who?"

A name left Father's lips. The name of that very person I had not met even once since my regression—the last Demon Supreme.

"The Poison King."