Chapter 224 - This Time, I Will Assist You

The Wicked Laughing Demon lay on the roof, gazing up at the sky. For someone who always stared at nothing but a white wall, looking up at the sky like this was most unusual.

Then someone beside him said, "Even when you look at the sky, you only pick out the white clouds, don't you?"

At the welcome voice, the Wicked Laughing Demon's eyes smiled brightly behind his mask.

"Did everything go well?"

"Thanks to you, it did."

The person speaking to him was Geom Mugeuk.

The Wicked Laughing Demon sat up. A moment later, the Poison King entered the courtyard. His appearance always gave an impression of fresh, clear youthfulness.

But this time, Geom Mugeuk had experienced firsthand just how frightening he was beneath that bright, youthful exterior. His administration of poison was an art, and the results were lethal. This was a man who could reach straight into the poison pouch of the foremost poison-arts master of the unorthodox factions.

Feeling our gazes, the Poison King snapped his fan open and walked in, fanning himself gently.

The Wicked Laughing Demon rose and offered a light fist-and-palm salute.

"You worked hard."

"Not at all. I merely followed the plan. It was an excellent plan."

Geom Mugeuk said, "Without you, Poison King, we could never have pulled this off."

Now I understood exactly why Father valued the Poison King so highly, and why Murim feared him.

The Poison King looked up at Geom Mugeuk and asked, "Are you going to tell everyone you meet that?"

Geom Mugeuk understood why he was asking. This must be what he wanted to hear.

"Yes. Right up until I finally tell Father."

Satisfaction flickered around the Poison King's eyes at hearing the answer he wanted.

CLACK!

The Poison King folded his fan with a flourish and went inside.

"Ah, it feels so good to see the sky after being in prison."

Geom Mugeuk sat while the Wicked Laughing Demon remained standing, and together they gazed up at the sky.

After a little while, someone came through the gate and called, "I'm back."

Seo Daeryong had returned from shopping for food at the market. Both hands and his arms were full of ingredients.

"I'll prepare the meal. Please wait just a little longer."

He spoke with his eyes on the ground. Long green onions obscured his face, but that wasn't why he couldn't look their way. He couldn't meet the Wicked Laughing Demon's eyes.

"There were plenty of fresh ingredients today. I learned a dish from the inn's cook that I haven't made for you before. I'll make it delicious."

Geom Mugeuk watched with a smile as Seo Daeryong rambled on without even meeting the other man's gaze. He hadn't noticed Geom Mugeuk was there too.

"Thank you, as always."

At the Wicked Laughing Demon's words, Seo Daeryong's gaze practically burrowed into the ground.

"It's only my duty. Oh, and last night I dreamed the Pavilion Master came back. Our Pavilion Master has a knack for making you quietly miss him."

Geom Mugeuk said to him, "I should have stayed away until you missed me desperately."

Seo Daeryong jerked his head up in surprise.

"Pavilion Master!"

His eyes widened, and the ingredients tumbled from his arms.

WHOOSH!

Geom Mugeuk's object manipulation through the air suspended the falling ingredients. In the prison, it had been a key floating in the air; now it was green onions, vegetables, and meat.

Seo Daeryong hurriedly gathered them back up.

With his arms full of ingredients, Seo Daeryong couldn't hide his delight. Geom Mugeuk knew that if the Wicked Laughing Demon hadn't been beside him, he would have leaped straight onto the roof and thrown his arms around him. Geom Mugeuk would have been buried in green onions.

"Go tell that boy we have taken his revenge for him, so he should live his own life."

At those words, Seo Daeryong choked up. He had been thinking about the boy throughout this journey.

"Yes. I'll be sure to tell him this is the next Heavenly Demon's Demonic Path."

Geom Mugeuk smiled.

"My older brother might hear about that."

Seo Daeryong hastily corrected himself.

"I'll be sure to tell him this is the Second Young Master's Demonic Path."

Geom Mugeuk jumped down.

"Let's eat. I'm hungry. Wait, are you crying?"

"Crying? Of course not. These onions are too pungent."

Seo Daeryong went inside with onions he hadn't even peeled.

Before following him, Geom Mugeuk looked up at the Wicked Laughing Demon standing on the roof. Their eyes met, and they gave each other a small nod.

Although he always ate separately from the Wicked Laughing Demon, Geom Mugeuk always met his gaze like this before a meal. It made him feel as though they were eating together.

* * *

Go Wol and the Wind Heaven Cult Leader joined us that evening.

"Young Master!"

"Second Young Master!"

Those two never changed.

"Now that vile, dangerous drug will no longer be circulating."

The Wind Heaven Cult Leader commended the Poison King and me for our efforts.

"You worked hard too, Poison King."

"It was a valuable experience."

"It must have been fun."

The Wind Heaven Cult Leader was secretly envious. He had devoted so much to helping me; I thought I ought to make some time to spend alone with him too.

Once the greetings were over, we all sat down together. While we were dealing with Ae Cha and the True Poison Recluse, Go Wol had finished investigating our next target.

"Our next target is Yeo Bulgae."

Before he began his explanation, I asked about something we needed to address first.

"With two of his men dying one after another, won't Yelü Han become suspicious?"

"Naturally. But what can he do? There are plenty of subordinates who witnessed the two fighting with swords. Besides, one of them was poisoned with Berserk. In the end, he'll have no choice but to regard it as a run of bad luck."

"So he won't summon the remaining two?"

"No. Besides, Yelü Han absolutely detests giving in to outside pressure."

He took the argument a step further.

"What's done is done, so he'll look for new people to fill their positions. He isn't a man who looks back."

"He'll have plenty of candidates. Masters from the unorthodox factions must be lining up to join forces with the Unorthodox Alliance's second-in-command."

The Wind Heaven Cult Leader spoke up then.

"He'll think differently once Yeo Bulgae dies too. He won't believe in three coincidences in a row."

At that, Go Wol laid out his plan for the next stage.

"That's why I intend to plan for us to kill Yelü Han before news of Yeo Bulgae's death reaches him."

"What about the last of the four?"

"He always stays beside Yelü Han. We'll have to deal with them together anyway."

Kill Yeo Bulgae, then eliminate Yelü Han and his last henchman before word of that death spread. In other words, he was proposing that we deal with all three almost simultaneously.

"Good! Let's do that."

I accepted his suggestion without hesitation.

"Thank you. I'll submit the detailed plan shortly."

The Poison King, who had been listening, suddenly asked, "Once we kill Yelü Han too, won't the Unorthodox Alliance suspect us?"

I answered in Go Wol's place.

"I have a solution in mind for that. Though I don't yet know whether it will work."

The Poison King looked at me as if asking whether I could really manage even that. In truth, I didn't know either. I couldn't know what awaited us.

"First, tell us about Yeo Bulgae."

Go Wol began his explanation.

"Yeo Bulgae has a rat tattoo on his chest. He manages hundreds of pleasure houses in the Central Plains and is known as the King of the Night. The rat tattoo represents his determination to forgo sleep and earn money at night."

"What is his character like?"

"He too is utterly vicious. He built his present sleepless empire by abducting women, taking daughters from families driven into Hell King Debt, and using every vile means imaginable. His lust is insatiable, and countless women have fallen victim to him. There are even rumors that he sells older courtesans' bodies to practitioners of bizarre, sinister arts."

If Ji Saeng had deserved death for Immortal Debt, and Ae Cha and the True Poison Recluse for Berserk, this man deserved death as well.

Since Father had given me permission to eliminate Yelü Han and all four of his henchmen, I intended to deal with every last one of them. If not for the Demon Supremes and me, who could kill someone who had risen to become the King of the Night? Especially someone under the protection of the Unorthodox Alliance's second-in-command.

"He's been expanding his pleasure houses throughout the Central Plains. Recently, he's been trying to extend his territory into Guizhou."

That was when the Wicked Laughing Demon spoke.

"Did you say Guizhou?"

"Yes."

The Wicked Laughing Demon's eyes turned cold.

Thousand Flowers Pavilion was in Guizhou. So was Yeo Jeong, its mistress, the woman who loved the Wicked Laughing Demon.

He looked at me. Without another word, I told him, "This time, I will assist you, Laughing Demon."

The Wicked Laughing Demon nodded, then rose and left.

Everyone looked at me, wondering what was going on, but it wasn't my place to explain.

"We'll leave for Guizhou early tomorrow. Everyone, make your preparations."

* * *

After the meeting, I had a cup of tea alone with Go Wol.

"We need to take even greater care with this operation."

I told him everything about Thousand Flowers Pavilion, its mistress Yeo Jeong, and her relationship with the Wicked Laughing Demon. Whatever the others knew, our strategist needed to know.

"Truly, nothing escapes Heaven's net."

I nodded silently.

Learning of the Wicked Laughing Demon's deep connection to Thousand Flowers Pavilion worried Go Wol.

"One wrong move could expose our identities."

"The Laughing Demon knows that very well. There's no need to worry too much."

"When someone you care about is involved, unforeseen complications can arise."

"There won't be any. You can trust him."

Go Wol smiled at my certainty.

"Why are you smiling?"

"I was wondering whether there was anyone else you trusted this much, Young Master."

"There's you, isn't there? Investigator Seo, Yi An, and Commander Jang too. I trust you all equally."

Even so, he seemed to sense something particularly special in how I regarded the Wicked Laughing Demon.

"May I ask you something?"

"What is it?"

"Have you never considered that the people you just mentioned might betray you?"

Seeing me form such deep bonds with people must have worried him.

"Betrayal planned from the outset isn't common, is it? Unless someone is persuaded to turn against you, isn't it usually a matter of feeling betrayed for one reason or another as life goes on?"

Go Wol nodded, listening attentively.

"And that sense of betrayal can be understood differently from each person's perspective. Someone might leave because they're disappointed in the other person, only to be branded a traitor simply for leaving. When perhaps the person letting them leave is the real traitor."

I shared my convictions about parting ways with people.

"If someone wants to leave me, I'll send them off with even more courtesy than when we first met. I won't turn someone into a traitor for leaving."

A smile spread over Go Wol's face.

"At times like this, you seem more like an older brother to me."

"That's because I'm an old man in a young man's body."

I needed to have many honest conversations with Go Wol. The better he understood exactly what kind of person I was, the better a strategist he would become. If I simply expected him to be a good strategist without making that effort, that might be precisely how a traitor was made.

Just then, someone appeared.

"May I join you?"

It was the Wind Heaven Cult Leader.

"Of course."

He sat with us.

"Now that I look at you, you seem to have lost some weight."

His face lit up as though he had been waiting for me to say that.

"Someone nags me so much I have no choice but to lose weight. A man ought to have a solid, dependable sort of charm, you know."

Go Wol, who had been so serious with me, showed another side of himself.

"You were fat, Cult Leader."

"I know. That's why I'm training so hard!"

The nature of the Wind Heaven Cult Leader's martial arts required little movement, which had contributed to his weight gain.

"You need to lose more. You still have a long way to go."

"Enough nagging! Bring me liquor and meat! I'm going to eat it all today!"

Who in the world, hearing only this conversation, would think this man was the Wind Heaven Cult Leader? Who would imagine the other man was the prisoner once bound in shackles?

Seo Daeryong joined us too.

"How was it with the Laughing Demon?"

"Frightening."

"It didn't look as though fear was all you felt."

"What do you mean?"

"You were rather talkative when you came back from buying food at the market."

"Don't you know I get talkative when I'm scared?"

But it seemed he hadn't only been scared.

"Honestly, I'm a little sorry it's over. Whenever I brought the Laughing Demon his meal, my heart pounded so hard I could hear it in my ears. That strange tension is addictive."

Then someone else spoke from behind us.

"Addiction is my specialty, you know."

We turned to find the Poison King.

"Four men gathered together, and you're drinking tea?"

He sat down after that gratuitous remark, despite not being particularly fond of liquor himself.

"Investigator Seo was just telling us how he's become addicted to the Laughing Demon."

"Keeping that man pleased can't have been easy."

Seo Daeryong seized the opportunity to complain to us.

"I wasn't going to say anything, but... the Laughing Demon is a surprisingly picky eater. He doesn't like having the same dish twice in a row. So every day, I wandered the market as forlornly as a rain-soaked wolf, wondering what side dishes to buy today and what to cook for him tomorrow..."

Then Seo Daeryong noticed that everyone was looking behind him.

With a miserable expression, he said, "... He isn't, is he? Please tell me he isn't."

The Wicked Laughing Demon sat beside him.

"I was brought up pampered, so my appetite is a little limited."

Seo Daeryong bowed his head deeply.

"And my tongue is far too loose. Please kill me."

"It's all right. Your lifespan has grown just as limited as my appetite."

At the Wicked Laughing Demon's joke, Seo Daeryong clutched his head, and everyone laughed at him.

The Wicked Laughing Demon didn't seem offended in the slightest. If anything, he seemed a little more cheerful and in better spirits than usual. And so I knew.

'Yeo Bulgae, you're in serious trouble.'