Chapter 212 - The Poison in Which Pouch?

Did I think the Poison King was trapped in his own world?

“Isn’t he?”

I asked Father this in return, taking it for granted that he was. Did Father disagree? What sort of person did he think the Poison King was?

But Father had not brought it up to explain what sort of person the Poison King was, or what his world was like. He had done it to say this:

“And how open is your world?”

Father looked at me for a moment, then went inside his residence without another word.

I stood there thinking about what he had said. And then I understood the meaning behind his words.

This was what Father was asking me:

How are you, proclaiming a new Demonic Path, any different from the Poison King? From someone else’s perspective, aren’t you trapped in your own world too?

Of course, he did not mean that I was exactly like the Poison King, who disliked meeting people and preferred being alone.

He meant that my approach to the Poison King was wrong. If I approached him from that perspective, he would never open his heart to me.

The Poison King must have sensed it—that I regarded him as someone trapped in his own world. Countless people must have looked at him that way before. I had been no different from them. Asking him to sign a pledge to leave the Thousand-Poison Forest had been a mistake from the start.

“Thank you, Father! You truly are the wisest, most magnanimous person in the world...”

Before I could finish, the light inside his residence went out.

“... And the coldest.”

I bowed respectfully toward Father’s residence, then turned to return to my own.

Giving me a clue put Father at a disadvantage. Yet he had enlightened me anyway. Putting our wager aside, he had shown affection for a son who had come to him for help.

* * *

The next day, when I went to the Thousand-Poison Forest, the Poison King was not at his residence.

I searched the surrounding woods for him. After looking for quite some time, I found him deep in the forest.

He was lying face down on the ground, having a staring contest with a snake.

The Poison King could hold a perfectly good conversation, but once he became absorbed in something, he would not notice even if someone died beside him.

Even now, he was in a state of complete absorption, unaware that I had come near. Seeing him like this had led me to think he was trapped in his own world. I had considered him an eccentric and, without realizing it, had secretly thought myself superior to him.

This was what Father had made me realize. I should not think that way. He was not trapped; he was living his own life.

When I went closer, I saw that this was no ordinary snake.

It was a Flower King Seven-Step Snake, a spiritual creature whose venom was among the deadliest of poisons. It was called the Flower King because it loved flowers, and the Seven-Step Snake because even a martial artist with profound internal energy would die before taking seven steps after being bitten.

Then the Poison King spoke to the snake.

“Hey, you’ve gotten awfully cocky since you grew bigger. Since when do you rear that head of yours up and defy me?”

The Flower King Seven-Step Snake, which had been flicking its tongue, lowered its head. Surely that was impossible, but it really looked as though it understood him.

“And didn’t I tell you that, whatever else you eat, you’re not to touch the ghost-flame herb berries? Why don’t you listen? Do I have to steep you in fire liquor before you come to your senses?”

The Flower King Seven-Step Snake coiled up and tucked its head inside its coils. Did it really understand human speech? Surely it was a coincidence?

I had seen all sorts of things throughout my life, but never anything like this.

Just then, another snake slithered past. This one was a Yin-Yang Blood-Venom Snake, with venom every bit as potent as the Flower King Seven-Step Snake’s. It, too, was a rare sight.

“Wol!”

The Yin-Yang Blood-Venom Snake stopped and looked at the Poison King. He spoke to it as it flicked its tongue.

“You know this fellow Wang is a womanizer, don’t you?”

The Yin-Yang Blood-Venom Snake looked at the Flower King Seven-Step Snake, hissing and flicking its tongue.

“If Wang gives you trouble, come and tell me. All right?”

I could not tell whether it truly understood him, but as soon as he finished speaking, the Yin-Yang Blood-Venom Snake disappeared into the undergrowth.

“You can go now too!”

The Flower King Seven-Step Snake disappeared into the woods.

It was hard to believe, even having seen it with my own eyes.

The Poison King was getting up when he saw me and jumped in surprise.

“Good grief! You startled me!”

“I’m the one who’s more startled. What sort of Poison King gets this surprised every time someone is standing beside him?”

Of course, had anyone approached with killing intent or malice, the Poison King would have noticed immediately. One must never underestimate the martial prowess of those who had attained the rank of Demon Supreme. A Demon Supreme was still a Demon Supreme. If they went on a rampage, no one could say who would defeat whom, or how. They simply kept their true abilities hidden.

“If you asked assassins which of the Eight Demon Supremes they wanted to kill, every last one of them would line up behind the sign with your name on it! Even an assassin on his very first mission would succeed.”

“Then Wang would bite them to death.”

“Don’t tell me you even gave the snakes names?”

“Never seen a Poison King who names his snakes before?”

The Poison King strode away.

Of course I hadn’t! I caught up with him and asked,

“When did you become friends with the snakes?”

“I was seven when I started going around catching snakes. Wang and Wol were here even then.”

“You were young.”

“In our day, everyone started at that age.”

The joys and sorrows of those years showed in the Poison King’s eyes as he recalled his childhood. It helped me understand why he was so reluctant to leave this place.

“If you’ve been here since you were seven, then this place is your world.”

The Poison King stopped and glanced at me.

“And you said you wanted to take me out of this world?”

“No. Now I regret saying that.”

“Why?”

“I still want to show you the world outside, but I should not have put it that way. I’m sincerely sorry for being presumptuous.”

When you were sorry, you apologized sincerely. I did not attach reasons explaining why I had been compelled to act that way. Reasons were for the person granting forgiveness to attach to that forgiveness.

But whether he had heard me or not, he had already stopped to look at a venomous insect on a tree.

Seeing the Poison King become engrossed in something yet again, I smiled without realizing it.

What was he thinking about now? Perhaps he was trying to have a conversation with that insect.

This was his world, and it was an open world.

* * *

Several more days passed.

I quietly devoted myself to the work, and the Poison King still enjoyed losing himself in his own world.

What had changed over those days was my attitude toward his world. Now I tried to understand it—the world in which a seven-year-old boy had gone around catching venomous snakes.

Today, too, the Poison King was gazing at the poisonous mushrooms growing in a wooden box, lost in thought.

Then he casually turned his head and cried out.

“You startled me!”

I had been standing quietly beside him, looking at the same wooden box.

“Are you going to keep startling me?”

“Seeing those poisonous mushrooms growing so well puts my mind at ease. Doesn’t that mean I’ve practically become a human poison vessel myself?”

“You’ve hardly been here any time at all, and you’re already going on about being a human poison vessel?”

“Maybe I should just live here too. The Thousand-Poison Forest feels like home now.”

“If you think pretending we’re close will change anything, you’re mistaken.”

“I’d prefer things not to change. I like you exactly as you are now.”

“What?”

The Poison King looked at me and shouted.

“It won’t work! These little tricks won’t work on me!”

His voice grew a little louder each time he rejected me. That was proof that I was getting closer to him.

* * *

Sang Seon always guided me from the entrance of the Thousand-Poison Forest to the Poison King’s residence.

“I can go in on my own now.”

“You could still encounter something dangerously poisonous.”

That could not have been the only reason. He still led me along various routes to confuse me and had not lowered his guard around me.

I sensed that this sprang from his deep loyalty to the Poison King. When someone genuinely cared for another person and was loyal to them, it always showed in their eyes somehow.

“Sir, there’s something I’d like to ask you.”

“Go ahead.”

“How long have you known the Poison King?”

“Since he was a child.”

“What was he like as a boy?”

Sang Seon stopped walking.

“Why do you ask?”

“I’m curious.”

“He wasn’t much different from now. Intelligent and thoughtful, cheerful and bright. He had the qualities of a leader, too.”

I forced myself to swallow the words, “Isn’t that completely different from how he is now?”

I doubted Sang Seon would take my joke as a joke. His affection for the Poison King was not mere loyalty; there was something of an uncle or a parent in it.

He reminded me of the Blood Heaven Saber Demon.

* * *

I did not know whether the Poison King was intelligent, thoughtful, cheerful, bright, or possessed the qualities of a leader, but one thing was certain. He was cute. And not simply because of his fresh-faced appearance. Take this, for example.

The Poison King wore twelve pouches at his waist, each with a picture on it. They depicted the twelve animals of the zodiac, anthropomorphized in a colorful, cute style that would have suited children’s clothes. I had paid them little attention at first, but looking at them now, I could tell.

“You chose these yourself, didn’t you?”

“I drew them.”

I was astonished. He had drawn all of these himself?

“No one in the world would ever guess. That such cute pouches contain the Poison King’s deadly poisons, I mean.”

Surely the Poison King’s poison pouches ought to have evil spirits drawn on them, or, if they bore inscriptions, frightening characters such as “Demon,” “Kill,” “Evil,” or “Death”? If all those pouches opened, hell would unfold. In fact, that made them feel all the more uncanny and frightening.

“Which pouch contains the most frightening poison? Surely it isn’t that cute rabbit pouch?”

“Shall we find out?”

He made to put his hand into the rabbit pouch.

“I’ll pass!”

I waved my hands and hastily backed away. The Poison King smiled at the sight, then immediately composed his face. It was the first time he had smiled broadly at me. Apparently, the smile had surprised him too. I saw all of it, but pretended not to notice.

* * *

The next day, there was an important poison mixture to prepare.

Unlike his usual self, the Poison King wore a serious expression as he explained the day’s poison preparation.

“This Heaven’s Heart Poison is an ingredient in Dark Soul Severing Poison, one of the deadly poisons I use. A single drop of Heaven’s Heart Poison can easily kill dozens of people. Now, you stand well back over there... You already have.”

I was standing beside the door, ready to bolt at any moment.

The Poison King searched for something on his desk.

“They were right here. Where did they go?”

“What are you looking for?”

“My gloves.”

He was looking for the deerskin gloves he wore when handling poison.

“Do you mean these?”

I held up my gloved hands.

“Why are you wearing them?”

“You said this poison was terribly dangerous.”

“What about me, then?”

“Why would the Poison King need gloves?”

“Bring them here this instant!”

I quickly took them off and brought them to him.

“What’s in your mouth?”

I took out the poison-warding pearls I had tucked into either cheek and showed him. Seeing that I had put no fewer than two of them in my mouth, the Poison King shook his head in disbelief.

“With that much protection, even I couldn’t kill you.”

Of course, he was joking. If the Poison King decided to kill someone, even a hundred poison-warding pearls in their mouth would not stop his poison.

I was teasing him too. It was also part of my effort to grow closer to him. If he truly had been bright and cheerful as a child, those qualities must still lie dormant somewhere in his heart.

The Poison King put on his gloves and began preparing the poison in earnest.

“If the quantities are even slightly off, blue smoke will rise. That means it’s a failure. You have to be extremely careful and focused. I’m the only one who can prepare it this way.”

The Poison King showed me how to blend Heaven’s Heart Poison to make Dark Scar Severing Poison. Since I had no way of knowing what the other ingredients were, he was really showing me how carefully the process had to be carried out, rather than how to make Dark Scar Severing Poison.

He could have sent me outside and done it alone, but apparently he wanted to show off to me.

“Did you see? How cautiously and carefully it must be handled?”

“Yes.”

Just then, blue smoke rose behind him.

“Poison King!”

“Get outside, quickly!”

I darted outside. The Poison King took an antidote from inside his robe and drank it, then poured a liquid sitting nearby onto the source of the smoke.

HISSSSS!

Even more smoke billowed up.

“Poison King! Poison King!”

When he did not come out right away, I hesitated, wondering whether I should run inside and rescue him.

Then the Poison King came outside, waving the poisonous smoke away.

“Are you all right?”

“Of course I am.”

A small puff of poisonous smoke escaped his mouth, and he fanned it away with his hand.

“The path of poison arts really isn’t an easy one.”

“I failed on purpose. To warn you to be careful.”

“...”

“...”

“Of course you failed on purpose. Surely the Poison King, the greatest master of poison in all Murim, couldn’t have failed to prepare a poison he uses all the time—”

“Enough.”

“Yes.”

I smiled brightly at him. The Poison King looked at me with an expression that said he did not know how to respond. Poison King, it was still too early to tell which of us would end up standing in the training ground.

It was just then that Sang Seon came running over and quickly delivered his report.

“An investigator from Yellow Springs Pavilion named Seo Daeryong has come to see the Second Young Master. He says it’s urgent.”