Chapter 223 - Dealing With Poisoners Is Always Like This

Did the two of them look alike?

They had so little in common that the Poison King would have been justified in jumping up in protest. I had simply blurted it out to divert the True Poison Recluse’s attention to me.

It worked. His attention shifted from the Poison King to me. Yes, deal with me instead.

“Seeing someone who resembles you can rub you the wrong way for no reason, can’t it?”

The Poison King’s eyes said it all.

Me, resemble this ugly bastard?

The True Poison Recluse had the same question.

“In what way do we look alike?”

Even he could see they looked nothing alike.

“You look very much alike to me. Even your eyes and the air about you are identical. There’s something rebellious about you both, yet there’s depth, too.”

The True Poison Recluse frowned. His expression spoke for him. You’re spouting this crap now? Rebellious? Depth? In this underground prison where people are dying?

“Weren’t you that handsome when you were young?”

What was there to dislike about being told you resembled a handsome man?

The problem was that he didn’t believe a word I said.

“Enough nonsense. Tell me why you stepped in to save him.”

The True Poison Recluse openly exuded killing intent. He looked ready to poison me as an example if I really did spout nonsense.

“He helped me in prison.”

“How much help could he have given you for you to risk your life?”

I looked toward the Poison King.

“When I was fighting like a dog, he became a dog himself and fought beside me.”

The Poison King hadn’t expected me to give that reason. Surprise and intense emotion flickered across his face.

Fortunately, those words worked on the True Poison Recluse better than any long-winded explanation.

“What business do mere prisoners have prattling on about loyalty? Stick your neck out so insolently one more time, and you’ll disappear into a handful of bloody liquid.”

“Yes! I’ll be careful.”

The True Poison Recluse looked back and forth between us with displeasure, but he took it no further. Every single one of us was an important experimental subject.

He locked the Poison King back in his cell, then left.

I sent the Poison King a sound transmission.

“Thank you for holding back.”

“Why did you interfere? I could have handled it myself.”

“I know.”

“You were afraid I’d cause trouble, weren’t you?”

“No.”

“Don’t deny it!”

After a brief pause, I told him,

“On the contrary, I was afraid you’d endure it.”

“!”

The Poison King stared at me in astonishment.

“I was afraid you’d endure it. That you’d let him slap you and humiliate you, and still hold back. You probably would have endured it for the sake of our plan.”

His large, clear eyes grew even wider.

“What if your flattery about him resembling me hadn’t worked, and he’d tried to kill you?”

“Then we’d scrap the plan. We’d make it look as though he’d killed everyone here and died himself because of Berserk’s side effects, then leave.”

“And Ae Cha? He’s holed up in his den and hardly ever comes out.”

“If we think it over, we’ll find a way.”

“You took that much of a risk... merely because you didn’t want to see me suffer?”

“Merely? That’s a very important reason. Important enough to abandon the whole thing and go home.”

His eyes asked whether I was flattering him again, so I told him how I truly felt.

“Of the flattery and sincerity in my words, sincerity keeps taking up a greater share.”

After gazing at me, the Poison King disappeared from the little window.

* * *

Prisoners died every day.

Each time, the True Poison Recluse came to the prison to confirm their deaths, then glared at the Poison King before leaving. The Poison King’s presence evidently remained a thorn in his side.

He should have trusted his instincts more. He should have considered why those clear eyes grated on him so much.

But the repeated failures of his research had exhausted him, and he failed to heed the constant warnings of his sense of danger.

Instead, he was being poisoned with Berserk day after day. The Poison King administered it with such exquisite skill, and the Recluse so rarely had occasion to use his internal energy strenuously, that he could not detect it.

After he left, the Poison King asked me,

“If things go according to plan, will Ae Cha come here?”

“He certainly will. According to Strategist Go’s investigation, Ae Cha and the True Poison Recluse don’t get along. If he hears the experiment succeeded, he’ll come to verify it himself.”

“At the current rate, we should have our answer within roughly ten days.”

The end was now in sight.

* * *

For ten days, I devoted myself entirely to the Heavenly Demon’s Body-Protection Art.

Sometimes, turmoil around us brings out an unexpected ability to concentrate. That was true of me. In this cramped, wretched prison where inmates died every day, I focused on training more intently than ever.

And at last, I made progress in the Heavenly Demon’s Body-Protection Art.

It was the combined result of my training here and the changes in my body brought about by my recent increase in internal energy. Slowly but steadily, the art was progressing toward complete mastery.

After advancing one stage, it was markedly different. It reacted to danger faster and more sensitively, and felt more closely integrated with me.

Even as I trained, the prisoners continued to die.

From the conversations of the martial artists who came and went with the meals, I learned that if this experiment failed, they planned to continue even if they had to abduct ordinary martial artists.

These people had no concern for human lives when pursuing their goals. No, other people’s lives had never entered their consideration at all.

This was absolute evil. With masters like the True Poison Recluse and Ae Cha conducting secret experiments in a place like this, who could stop them, and how?

“Stopping evil deeds like these is my Demonic Path.”

And for the first time since I had begun saying that, someone asked me about the next generation.

The Poison King asked,

“What happens after you die? Will the next Heavenly Demon truly be able to uphold that Demonic Path? I mean, can there ever be another person like you?”

“Why should I worry about what happens after I die? Those who remain will work it out themselves.”

“After all this effort to establish a new Demonic Path, wouldn’t it be a waste if later generations ruined it?”

Yes, they might ruin it. But I considered that beyond my control. No, I thought it was right not to interfere in the first place.

“Would ordering future generations around accomplish anything? Would they listen if I asked? They’ll simply watch how we live. If they think it looks admirable, they’ll follow our example. If they don’t like it, they’ll change it.”

Just as I had.

* * *

As the Poison King had predicted, on the tenth day, every prisoner brought here had died.

Only Geom Mugeuk and the Poison King remained.

Meals continued to be served for several more days, and naturally, neither of them died.

Several days after that, the moment they had been waiting for arrived.

At last, Ae Cha visited the underground prison with the True Poison Recluse. Having kept himself secluded in his den, Ae Cha finally showed himself.

“Did you really succeed?”

“Yes! See for yourself. We have two successful formulations. With a little more research, we can make them more stable.”

“Let’s have a look!”

Ae Cha peered through the openings in the iron doors of Geom Mugeuk’s and the Poison King’s cells.

His delighted eyes turned snakelike.

“They’re both so young. Are you sure it doesn’t only work on young people?”

The True Poison Recluse nearly swore. Ae Cha always acted this way, but he hadn’t expected this bullshit even today.

“Aren’t you looking down on me a little too much?”

A chill settled between them.

“It was only a passing remark. There’s no need to get so prickly.”

After that irritating reply, Ae Cha looked back and forth at Geom Mugeuk and the Poison King in their cells again.

‘They look too young, however I look at them.’

Then Ae Cha’s heart began to pound. His sense of danger flared fiercely. What was this? This ominous feeling?

Like a God of Gambling switching cards before a Gambling Fiend’s eyes, the pinnacle of the Poison King’s martial arts was displayed in the very presence of the unorthodox factions’ foremost poison-arts master. One small opening was all he needed.

‘!’

Ae Cha’s expression suddenly stiffened. Forcing a smile, he approached the True Poison Recluse.

“You’ve worked very hard!”

At the instant he drew close—

SWISH!

Ae Cha drew his sword with lightning speed and stabbed the True Poison Recluse in the arm.

The Recluse was helpless against the surprise attack.

As he reflexively tried to scatter poison, Ae Cha moved first and sealed his paralysis points.

“Have you gone mad?”

At the Recluse’s shout, Ae Cha grabbed him by the throat.

“What’s wrong with you? Have you taken Berserk?”

The True Poison Recluse thought Berserk had driven Ae Cha into a frenzy. Otherwise, there was no reason for him to suddenly try to kill him.

Nor could Ae Cha discard him now that the experiment had succeeded. In preparation for just such a possibility, the Recluse alone knew how to make Berserk. He had never written it down anywhere. It existed only in his head. Ae Cha knew that, so he had no reason to kill him.

“The antidote! Give me the antidote!”

Ae Cha vomited a mouthful of blood.

His face had turned black. Only then did the True Poison Recluse realize that he had been poisoned. Ae Cha had attacked under the mistaken belief that the Recluse had poisoned him.

“You bastard! I knew you’d betray me like this one day!”

“It wasn’t me! I’m telling you, it wasn’t!”

Had they ordinarily been on good terms, they would have examined their surroundings more calmly. But they were as hostile as sworn enemies, and could think only that the other was trying to kill them.

Just then, Ae Cha’s and the True Poison Recluse’s subordinates rushed in from where they had been waiting outside.

“What’s happening?”

“True Poison has betrayed us! Kill them all!”

Ae Cha’s subordinates drew their swords and stabbed the True Poison Recluse’s men to death. It happened in an instant, and the shock of hearing that their leader had betrayed Ae Cha prevented the Recluse’s men from immediately counterattacking with poison.

Once they were all dead, Ae Cha’s subordinates ran toward him, only to collapse one after another.

Ae Cha thought the Recluse’s men had used poison, but in fact Geom Mugeuk had sent out finger force to strike their sleep points and put them to sleep. They would be the finest witnesses to what had happened here.

Both the earlier poisoning and the striking of the sleep points had been accomplished unobtrusively from inside the cells, through the little windows.

Seeing his men collapse, Ae Cha went wild.

“You treacherous bastard! Give me the antidote before I kill you!”

Ae Cha tightened his grip on the True Poison Recluse’s throat. A little more force would break his neck. Unable to breathe, the Recluse choked out,

“If I really meant to kill you, you’d already be dead.”

That much was true, and Ae Cha hesitated in confusion. Yes, if the Recluse had meant to kill him, wouldn’t he have used a stronger poison that killed instantly? He wouldn’t have allowed a counterattack like this, either.

It happened just then.

Smoothly, the key at the waist of one of the Recluse’s fallen subordinates rose into the air.

The True Poison Recluse saw it first, and his eyes widened.

The key flew through the air and unlocked the Poison King’s iron door.

CLICK!

Startled by the sound, Ae Cha also turned to look.

The key flew through the air again and unlocked Geom Mugeuk’s iron door.

At the click, both Ae Cha’s and the True Poison Recluse’s hearts sank.

The doors opened, and Geom Mugeuk and the Poison King walked out of their cells.

Ae Cha stood dazed for a moment. Was the poison making him hallucinate?

Geom Mugeuk and the Poison King approached them side by side.

The True Poison Recluse grasped the situation first.

“Kill them! They’re the ones who did this!”

Snapping back to his senses, Ae Cha thrust his sword at Geom Mugeuk.

An attack that would have failed even as a carefully prepared ambush could hardly work now. Ae Cha’s sword stabbed uselessly into empty air, while Geom Mugeuk closed in with the Hell King’s Steps and sealed his paralysis points.

Ae Cha stared at Geom Mugeuk in shock. Only now did it truly sink in. Things had gone wrong—terribly wrong. He should never have subdued the True Poison Recluse and stabbed his arm.

The Poison King strode over and opened the poison pouch hanging at the True Poison Recluse’s waist. The Recluse inwardly rejoiced.

‘You dare touch my poison pouch? Yes, hurry up and fucking die!’

Of course he would die. What kind of poison pouch would it be, belonging to the True Poison Recluse, if someone could touch it carelessly?

Yet the other man handled the poison more expertly than he did.

Carried on a stream of air, the Recluse’s poison flew into Ae Cha’s face.

“No!”

Ae Cha’s desperate cry soon became a horrific scream.

“Aaaaaaargh!”

Since this was a signature poison used by the True Poison Recluse alone, he would be the one who had killed Ae Cha.

Then who would kill the True Poison Recluse?

Ae Cha’s sword hand moved of its own accord, driven by an invisible force.

THUNK!

The sword plunged into the True Poison Recluse’s chest.

“Aaaaaaargh!”

“Uuuuurgh!”

Both men let out agonized screams at once.

Geom Mugeuk went over, jabbed his fingers beneath the True Poison Recluse’s eyes, and flicked his nose.

Blood began flowing from his eyes and nose. The Poison King had already administered enough Berserk to saturate his body, so the conclusion would be that the Recluse had rampaged under its side effects, and the two men had ultimately dealt each other fatal wounds.

“... Why?”

The Poison King gave a terse answer to the Recluse’s strained question.

“Because you made a shit drug.”

Geom Mugeuk added nothing. He did not say that the drug had caused a bloody rampage and killed innocent people, or that a child had been left all alone after losing his family. Those words would have meant nothing to this man. They would not have left so much as a scratch on his conscience.

But to someone so full of pride, the Poison King’s words must have cut deeply.

This time, Ae Cha, half his face dissolved by poison, struggled to ask Geom Mugeuk,

“... Who are you? You two?”

Geom Mugeuk gazed at him silently, then said in a low voice,

“That gentleman is Berserk, and I am Black Consort.”

He had named the two principal drugs they sold.

Ae Cha wanted to say something, but his life ended there. A mere half a quarter-hour earlier, he could never have imagined that his life would end so futilely.

Watching Ae Cha’s head droop, the True Poison Recluse spoke to the Poison King.

“... I have something to say.”

The Poison King obliged him by drawing closer.

The Recluse bit the inside of his cheek and spat blood—a spray laced with deadly poison.

SPLASH!

The Poison King opened the Avici Fan and blocked it.

Blood ran down the fan. Besides the Recluse’s blood, it bore the marks of many battles. The Poison King apparently kept those traces rather than cleaning them away or replacing the fan.

“A third-rate poisoner’s poison won’t work on me.”

Toyed with utterly to the very end, the True Poison Recluse trembled in anguish and shame, then his head fell limply forward.

Geom Mugeuk looked down at the two dead men in silence. This meant more than simply killing one of Yelü Han’s four subordinates.

This was the moment countless lives that would otherwise have been lost to Berserk were saved, and the moment the boy who had lost his mother and little sister was avenged. Now he could go to Seo Daeryong and tell him to return and give the boy the news. Your revenge has been accomplished. No evil can prevail against the Cult. So now, at least you must live a happy life. Their deaths carried all that meaning.

Geom Mugeuk bowed respectfully to the Poison King.

“Thank you for all your hard work.”

He truly had endured much in this cramped, suffocating place. Geom Mugeuk had spent all his spare time training, but the Poison King, accustomed to living amid the nature of the Thousand-Poison Forest, must have found it terribly stifling.

“Dealing with poisoners is always this difficult and sordid.”

“I enjoyed it. Because I was with you.”

“Stop administering poison. I’ve had enough already.”

“Pardon?”

Leaving a bewildered Geom Mugeuk behind, the Poison King strode out first.

Just before leaving, Geom Mugeuk sent out finger force to release the sleep points of Ae Cha’s subordinates, whom he had put to sleep earlier.

A moment later, amid the uproar behind them—True Poison had gone mad, he had betrayed them, their superiors must be informed—the two vanished without a sound.