Chapter 97 - Why Are You Obsessed with My Mask?

The Wicked Laughing Demon came to see me again the next day.

“I thought you wouldn't be coming back.”

“How could I stay away from the man who holds the power of life and death over me?”

He was mocking yesterday's offer to spare his life, and I responded in my own way.

“Please wait a moment. I need to get this done quickly.”

“Don't mind me. Take your time.”

I could have paused my work, but I made him wait rather than yield the upper hand.

Walking over to the window, he asked, “I don't see yesterday's flowers.”

I answered while stamping a document. “Investigator Seo seems to have taken them out to water them.”

I reviewed the next document and stamped it. Then another. And another.

Apparently tired of waiting by the window, the Wicked Laughing Demon perched on my desk.

He looked down at me working, his manner suggesting that since I'd kept him waiting, I ought to put up with this much rudeness.

“Why make your work so difficult? Just kill them all.”

I smiled at him. “You're the one taking the easy way through life, Laughing Demon.”

He roared with laughter. I mustn't be fooled by this easy familiarity. Those who let their guard down around the Laughing Demon all died. Only those who stayed wary of the Wicked Demon survived.

“All done.”

When I looked up after stamping the last document, he said something unexpected.

“Will you really spare my life if you become the successor?”

Of course, I mustn't be fooled by that either. Surely he hadn't come to beg for his life.

He was enjoying this entire process. What the Wicked Laughing Demon wanted was to keep engaging with me like this and someday watch me crumble. He was the sort of man who wouldn't be satisfied until he could snicker and mock me then.

I drew a dagger and scored a long line across the desk.

“I will spare you. But...”

I marked a vertical line a little to the right of the midpoint.

“You have to reach here to survive.”

Interest lit the Laughing Demon's eyes.

“What is this?”

“How much I care about you.”

“Oh! Such a thing exists?”

“You have to get past halfway to survive. Even if someone is a friend, aren't they no different from a stranger if you feel no affection for them? A friend in name alone dies.”

“Surviving is difficult, isn't it?”

“You'll have to get past it somehow.”

“Where am I now?”

I marked another vertical line just beyond the starting point.

“Only there?”

“Already here.”

The Wicked Laughing Demon looked down at the line, back at me, then down at the line again.

He couldn't help becoming absorbed in this relationship.

Not only did I treat him with utter disregard, but he would also taste in me a sense of justice and chivalrous righteousness he could never find in the Cult. That would be a spice more stimulating to him than anything else.

“Second Young Master, what do you think of the cult leader?”

He was probably asking because he suspected I was behaving this way with Father's backing. Or perhaps acting on Father's secret orders.

“I don't think about Father. I just try to feel things out each time. He's not someone I can understand by thinking about him. That only makes things harder for me.”

The Wicked Laughing Demon laughed, as though he could relate.

“If you've said everything you came to say, shall we get going? It's time for my meal.”

“You must eat, of course. Let's go.”

I left the office with him. As I emerged from the building, he trailed right after me.

“Where will you be eating?”

“I thought I'd go out to Demon Family Village today.”

“Let's go together.”

Feigning surprise, I asked, “Will that be all right?”

Since he never removed his mask, I'd never heard of him sharing a meal with anyone.

“It will be fine. I'll just sit while you eat, Second Young Master.”

“I meant Demon Family Village, not you. It will be all right, won't it?”

Only then did he realize I was joking that he shouldn't go on a rampage or slaughter anyone, and he laughed loudly.

We crossed the training grounds and headed out while Seo Daeryong watched anxiously from the other side, clutching the flowerpot to his chest.

* * *

Just before we entered Demon Family Village, the Wicked Laughing Demon said, “Did you know? I've never visited Demon Family Village. Whenever I had business outside, I simply passed through. This is my first time walking around here.”

“Isn't that fortunate for the residents?”

He laughed at my joke.

“Is it all right for me to walk the streets?”

“If you're worried people will be terrified out of their wits, you needn't worry about that.”

“Why not?”

“You'll see.”

With that, we entered Demon Family Village. As we walked along, everyone passed us without making a fuss. A few people recognized me and bowed in greeting, but no one recoiled in terror at the Wicked Laughing Demon beside me.

“Why is no one afraid of me?”

“Because no one thinks you're the Wicked Laughing Demon.”

“They should know it's me when they see this mask.”

“Look over there.”

I pointed to a street vendor across the road. The stall sold all sorts of things related to the Divine Cult of the Heavenly Demon.

“They even have your mask.”

“!”

The Wicked Laughing Demon was startled.

Masks like those worn by the Faceless Wanderers really were hanging there. Not just white masks, either. Some were colored, and others had pictures painted on them.

“Those bastards!”

He raised his hand as though he intended to blast the whole lot away, and I tugged on his sleeve.

“I think that hand is needed over there.”

Just then, a child walking across the street, holding his father's hand and wearing a Faceless Wanderer's mask, was waving eagerly at the Wicked Laughing Demon in his matching mask.

“It doesn't cost anything. Give him a wave.”

I shook his sleeve lightly, and he waved back as though reluctantly giving in.

The child passed us, unaware that he might be the only person the Wicked Laughing Demon had ever waved to.

“There's no need to be so surprised. Even that is allowed.”

The vendor next door sold wooden figurines, including ones modeled after the Eight Demon Supremes and even the Heavenly Demon.

The Heavenly Demon figurine truly astonished him.

“Is this really allowed?”

“If they don't sell these things in a village near the Divine Cult of the Heavenly Demon, where would they sell them? They can't sell them in front of the Orthodox Martial Alliance, can they?”

“They could sooner sell them in front of the Orthodox Martial Alliance than here.”

“It's because Father is generous. He gave them permission to make and sell as many as they like. Ever since then, merchandise related to Father and the Demon Supremes has poured out. You'd think they'd be too uneasy to make it, but the power of profit is great.”

“This really is amusing.”

Only now did the Wicked Laughing Demon burst into hearty laughter. Passersby glanced at him, but they walked on without anyone thinking he was the Wicked Laughing Demon.

“When you or I come out here, we naturally feel as though we're the main characters. But this is a world where those people are the main characters. If they recognize us, they become frightened and bow, but what matters to them isn't us. It's their own lives. They have to earn money to feed themselves each day, meet people, raise children. That's what Demon Family Village is like.”

“Interesting. How do you know so much about it, Second Young Master?”

“Ever since I was little, I would sneak out of the Cult and wander around Demon Family Village. This village was my world.”

That was the excuse I gave him. He wouldn't believe I'd traveled far and wide through the world, but Demon Family Village sounded plausible.

His gaze returned to the vendors selling masks and Heavenly Demon's Soul figurines.

Without hesitation, he released his unique demonic qi, the Laughing Heart of Evil. The vendors frowned and rubbed their chests, as though feeling a tightness inside.

“Soon that man will put on one of the masks he's selling and stab the man beside him to death. If they die, it will be because of you, Second Young Master. You're the one who brought me here.”

“Don't be unreasonable. You're the one who followed me when I said I was going to eat. And you're the one killing them. There's also one thing you must understand.”

“What is it?”

“Commit murder in front of the Pavilion Master of Yellow Springs Pavilion, and the penalty is beheading. Go ahead and make the trade: their lives for yours.”

I started walking ahead and added, “You may lay hands on that figurine of Father, but you don't lay hands on people's livelihoods.”

Behind me, I felt him withdraw the Laughing Heart of Evil. He had been testing my reaction, not intending to kill them from the outset.

Right now, he was enjoying playing with me. He was probably expecting that the more he yielded to me, the more thrilling the pleasure awaiting him when he finally killed me would be.

I arrived at Merry Life Tavern.

“Here we are. This is my usual place.”

“It's shabby. Why this place, of all places?”

“I come here so often that it does get a little stale, but I like the owner. He's the only person who will know you're the real Laughing Demon.”

That very man, Jo Chunbae, came out and greeted me warmly as always.

“Welcome, Pavilion Master.”

His gaze turned to the Wicked Laughing Demon.

He flinched, and fear spread across his face.

“This man really does know who I am.”

“Because you're here with me. He knows the real one has come.”

Smiling, I told Jo Chunbae, “He is who you think he is. Fortunately, only I'll be eating, so you needn't worry too much.”

“Yes, sir!”

Even so, the pressure the Wicked Laughing Demon put on him seemed greater than Father's. In the rumors, he was a villain who killed people for no reason at all.

“I think he's more afraid of you than any guest I've ever brought here. Even Father.”

“The cult leader has been here too?”

“Yes.”

“That's unexpected.”

“There's a first time for everyone.”

“And they all have that first time with you, Second Young Master.”

I smiled faintly, and he reflexively smiled along.

This time, I asked the question.

“Have you ever eaten in a tavern like this?”

“When I was young.”

“Who did you eat with?”

He didn't answer.

But I knew who it was. He had told me he'd once eaten in the marketplace with his father, before becoming the Laughing Demon's disciple. It was a single memory that remained like a picture in his mind.

For a moment, I pictured that scene: a little boy entering a tavern, holding his father's hand.

The Wicked Laughing Demon had said he'd been born steeped in killing, that it had been in him since childhood. But had he really? Had that little boy's eyes been full of murderous intent as he entered the tavern?

Meanwhile, the food arrived.

Perhaps Jo Chunbae thought that one mistake could truly get him killed, for he was careful even about breathing.

As he set down the dishes safely and retreated, his eyes said it all: Thanks to you, I've reached the pinnacle of tavern ownership today.

I answered with my eyes: We don't know that, my good host. Who knows what gathering may come next?

Picking up my chopsticks, I asked the Wicked Laughing Demon out of courtesy, “Would you like to join me?”

“There's no opening for the mouth in this mask. How would I eat?”

“What about lifting it slightly and eating from underneath?”

“Wouldn't that look undignified?”

“Then there's no way, I suppose.”

“I'm not hungry. Don't mind me. Eat.”

“All right. I'll eat, then.”

I really did eat alone. The Wicked Laughing Demon simply watched. Anyone watching might have called it madness, but I was accomplishing the difficult feat of eating alone in front of him.

“Isn't it uncomfortable to keep wearing that mask?”

“It must be harder for you than for me, Second Young Master.”

“For me?”

“Without a mask, you have to make all sorts of expressions every day, don't you?”

“Ah, you may have a point.”

Starting with that exchange, I told him about all sorts of things.

I talked about the Blood Heaven Saber Demon, the Single Flower Sword Supreme, and the Demonic Buddha visiting this place. I talked about the weather, and about how white masks would probably sell well in front of the Orthodox Martial Alliance. He simply listened without a word.

When I finished my meal and set down my chopsticks, he said something unexpected.

“Second Young Master, I have a favor to ask.”

“Go ahead.”

“Please speak to the cult leader and have my restriction lifted.”

I put on a startled expression. But the moment he mentioned a favor, I'd expected this request. Originally, he had asked my brother for this. Now that his fate and mine had changed, he was asking me instead.

“That won't be easy.”

“That's why I'm asking you. Somehow, I feel you might be able to get it lifted.”

“What will you do for me if I get your restriction lifted?”

“Just say the word. What do you want? My wholehearted support?”

My brother had wanted that. But I was painting a bigger picture.

“No.”

“You don't want my support?”

“I don't want forced support. It would only disrupt the unity of those who support me.”

“Then what do you want?”

Looking into the two eyes behind his mask, I said, “Remove your mask, even if only when we're alone together.”

“!”

The atmosphere froze.