Chapter 362: You Raised Your Child This Well?
Chapter 362: You Raised Your Child This Well?
“Then, I shall take my leave.”
Geom Mu-geuk bowed politely and turned away.
The core of this provocation was the act of walking away. My father wouldn't have sent you back for the sake of the greater good, yet you are dismissing me.
Geom Mu-geuk walked with long, purposeful strides. Please call me back. Hurry up and call me! As much as he felt the urgency, his steps showed no lingering hesitation.
“Wait.”
At Baek Ja-gang’s call, a triumphant smile played on Geom Mu-geuk’s lips. He turned back toward the man.
“Is something the matter?”
“Where do you think you’re going?”
“Did you not tell me to return to the Cult?”
Baek Ja-gang’s small eyes narrowed into thin slits, looking like sharp lines drawn across his face. If he let the boy go now, he would be a man who ruined a great cause for the sake of his pride.
Of course, he knew this was Geom Mu-geuk’s provocation. The problem was that the subject of comparison was the Heavenly Demon, Geom Wu-jin.
He might lose to anyone else, but he refused to lose to Geom Wu-jin. The man had been his lifelong nemesis—an object of love and hate, someone he respected yet loathed.
“Did your father truly tell you to bow to me ten times?”
How could Baek Ja-gang not see through the provocation? It was time to be honest. Geom Mu-geuk let out a light sigh.
“I lied. My father would have been furious.” Geom Mu-geuk bowed his head to Baek Ja-gang. “I apologize for using such a cheap tactic.”
He candidly admitted that he had provoked him on purpose.
“So you know it was cheap?”
“Yes.”
Once he admitted it, Baek Ja-gang’s expression softened slightly.
“That is how desperate I am.”
“Even if someone is desperate, it should be me. Why are you the one feeling desperate?”
Though he maintained a calm facade, Baek Ja-gang was feeling a sense of crisis. His safe house had been breached, and his successor had been attacked. Furthermore, the Deputy Strategist of the Alliance had been named as the mastermind.
He did not take this matter lightly. If he had, he wouldn't have even shown up here. He simply didn't want to show his agitation in front of the Young Cult Leader of the Demonic Cult.
On the other hand, Geom Mu-geuk’s desperation was purely personal.
“I consider the Young Alliance Leader a true friend. I want him to safely inherit the position of Alliance Leader.”
Baek Ja-gang felt that the hair on his neck still wasn't standing up. It was a sensation that worked on many opponents, but there were those it didn't work on. He wasn't a fortune teller, after all. He would have to count Geom Mu-geuk as an exception.
The Young Cult Leader of the Demonic Cult telling the truth? That was supposed to be impossible.
“Why do you want to be friends with Sa-in?”
Geom Mu-geuk answered without hesitation.
“Because I believe that he is the one who can open a new path for the Unorthodox Path.”
“A new path? What is this new path you speak of?”
“I do not know that myself. It is a path the Young Alliance Leader must find. However, whether it be my Demonic Path or his Unorthodox Path, I believe our era will have a new ideal.”
Geom Mu-geuk knew what Baek Ja-gang was thinking. He had been the same before his regression. If some green youth started talking about ideals, he would have thought exactly what Baek Ja-gang was thinking now: You only say that because you don't know reality.
But he had lived through that reality until the very end. He had lived that life—sometimes pathetic, sometimes surprising and great—surviving all sorts of pain and storms.
Of course, that didn't mean he had all the answers, nor did he believe that having lived once before meant he would live this life perfectly. He knew that even if he lived a hundred times over, he couldn't live well without effort. In fact, the very fact that he had lived before could trip him up and throw his life into an abyss.
Baek Ja-gang, that is why I am trying. Because if I leave things be, a bitter reality awaits where both you and I are dead, and the Twelve Zodiac Kings rule the Murim.
“How do you feel when you think of my father?”
As expected, Baek Ja-gang’s eyes sparkled at the mention of his father.
“First, you probably get angry and want to fight and win, right? When I think of the Young Alliance Leader, I feel happy. My first thought is that I want to meet him, laugh, talk, and hang out. Our Murim will not fight or hate each other. We’ll hang out at the beach and flirt with young ladies.”
“That is nothing more than a childish ideal.”
“Why is that?”
“Because humans with power are never satisfied with what they have. Both you and Sa-in will change.”
Geom Mu-geuk looked up at the sky for a moment.
“Before I came here, I sat with the Young Alliance Leader and looked up at the sky. I imagined a time when our hair would be as white as those clouds. Will we truly change?”
Baek Ja-gang didn't answer. His expression said, Do I really have to say it for you to know? and Geom Mu-geuk nodded.
“Then I will strive to change for the better. I will try my best to change as little for the worse as possible.”
Baek Ja-gang stared silently at Geom Mu-geuk. He had to admit that the boy was no ordinary fellow, simply for making him listen to such nonsense.
Dreams, huh.
Come to think of it, he had never considered such a thing. How could a dreamer rule the Unorthodox Path? The Unorthodox Path was a place where you could die just by closing your eyes. Suddenly, he felt a desire to hear Geom Mu-geuk say, “The Alliance Leader was right. My thoughts were nothing more than a childish ideal.” He wanted to teach a lesson to Geom Wu-jin’s son.
Geom Mu-geuk knew that it wasn't ideals or friendship that would capture this man's interest. The most powerful thing to draw his attention was this:
“My father once spoke of you, Alliance Leader.”
Sure enough, Baek Ja-gang’s gaze intensified.
“What did he say?”
“It might be a bit rude; may I relay it exactly as he said it?”
“Go ahead.”
After a brief pause, Geom Mu-geuk spoke.
“He said, ‘For a piece of Unorthodox trash, he has big dreams.’”
Once again, Baek Ja-gang let out an incredulous laugh. It was something he should have been offended by, but he didn't feel that bad because it felt like he had been acknowledged. Yes, if it was Geom Wu-jin... he was a man qualified to say such things.
Then, Geom Mu-geuk suddenly asked.
“Is the dream you have the same as my father’s?”
Baek Ja-gang flinched for a moment. He knew. He knew that Geom Wu-jin dreamed of the Unification of the Murim. He had even warned Bi Sa-in about it. Now, the Young Cult Leader of the Demonic Cult was asking him: Do you also dream of the Unification of the Murim?
It was a question no one had dared to ask, and naturally, it was a topic he had never answered. I don't know what your father's dream is. He skipped such obvious words. He wasn't entirely sure what kind of person this young leader was yet, but he could tell he was someone who could communicate even if certain things were left unsaid.
“And if it is?”
After a short silence, Geom Mu-geuk spoke calmly.
“I ask that you dream a different dream.”
Baek Ja-gang roared in a burst of anger.
“You want your father to be the only one with that dream?”
A powerful aura swept over Geom Mu-geuk, but his Heavenly Demon Body Protection Art, which had reached Great Achievement, protected him much more comfortably than before.
“No, I intend to wake my father up as well.”
As the pressure weighing down on Geom Mu-geuk vanished, Baek Ja-gang burst into laughter. It was the first time he had laughed out loud since the two had met.
“You know your father even less than I do. The moment you shake him to wake him up, you will lose your chance to be the next Heavenly Demon. He might crush your skull in his sleep.”
That was the image of his father through the eyes of the Leader of the Unorthodox Path Alliance.
Geom Mu-geuk sighed and said, “Perhaps.”
Baek Ja-gang was definitely being drawn to Geom Mu-geuk in at least one aspect: the way he admitted things when they needed to be admitted. He didn't have the pointless stubbornness that clumsily clever people often possessed. Thus, he didn't make people feel frustrated.
There was one more thing that drew him in: the boy never let a moment get boring with his unexpected words.
“Alliance Leader, I’m hungry.”
This was also the first time he had heard such a thing since becoming the leader of the Alliance. Who would dare look at him and say they were hungry?
“Please buy me a meal.”
The lad knew well. It was hard to heartlessly turn away someone who said they were hungry. Baek Ja-gang thought of Geom Wu-jin again. Of his incredibly blunt and cold demeanor.
To think a man with that personality managed to raise a fellow like this.
Fine, even if he was going to send him away, he should feed him first. Baek Ja-gang spoke to the air.
“Prepare the carriage.”
Then, the voice of Escort Captain In Gung replied.
“Yes, sir!”
While waiting for the carriage, the two silently watched the river flowing far below the mountain.
“I like this place. It’s quiet and the scenery is excellent.”
“I bring people here when I want to kill them secretly.”
Geom Mu-geuk looked down at his feet, then back at Baek Ja-gang.
“You’re not joking, are you?”
“I am not.”
“Was I almost killed as well?”
“It was a close call.”
It wasn't so much that Baek Ja-gang liked Geom Mu-geuk, but rather that he enjoyed this conversation. He had lived a rigid life ever since becoming the leader of the Alliance.
“Is there still someone you want to kill these days? I would think a man of your stature would have no one left to kill.”
“There are still many. Resentment piles up as much as one's age.”
Geom Mu-geuk smiled faintly. Seeing that smile, which seemed to say I understand everything, Baek Ja-gang thought to himself: What does a young brat like you know?
It made him want to keep digging. He wanted to show him that no matter how brilliant he was, he was still just a kid.
“Why? Do you think your father doesn't kill? You might only see his noble and dignified side, but corpses are likely piling up every day in places you can't see. Do you think the Orthodox bastards are any different? They kill people by framing them as demonic or branding them as unorthodox.”
This was likely the reason this man didn't believe in ideals. It was why he tried to hold only cold reality in those small eyes.
“Though in your ideal world, I suppose no one would die.”
“No. I intend to kill even more.”
“!”
Baek Ja-gang looked at Geom Mu-geuk with an intrigued gaze.
“You might wonder what a Young Cult Leader of the Demonic Cult is talking about, but I hate those who have given up on being human. I’m going to kill them all.”
Since it wasn't something a Young Cult Leader should say, and certainly not something to say to the Leader of the Unorthodox Path Alliance, Geom Mu-geuk finished with a joke.
“The saying that where there is good, there is also evil... I suspect that was a phrase made up by the evil side. They’re just trying to hang on somehow. Did you happen to make that up, Alliance Leader?”
Baek Ja-gang realized then that he wasn't a man without laughter. He almost laughed again at the question of whether he had coined the phrase.
“In your Demonic Path, we would be the ones killed the most.”
“That is why I am supporting and cheering for the Young Alliance Leader—so that doesn't happen.”
Baek Ja-gang realized that this young leader was a formidable opponent. Suddenly, he missed Bi Sa-in. Geom Wu-jin had raised his son this well, yet he felt he had been complacent. He might be lagging behind Geom Wu-jin, but he couldn't let his child fall behind as well.
Child? Right, whether it's a disciple or a son.
He couldn't tell if it was because of the sense of defeat from being unable to surpass Geom Wu-jin, or because he usually thought of Bi Sa-in as his own son, but at least for now, he was engaged in a battle of child-rearing.
In the meantime, the carriage driven by In Gung, who wore a bamboo hat pulled low, arrived. To avoid drawing attention, he had brought a common carriage found in the marketplace rather than an official Alliance carriage.
The two boarded the carriage. For this secret outing, bamboo hats with veils were prepared inside.
“Where are we going?”
“Didn't you say you were hungry?”
The carriage carrying the two arrived at a shabby restaurant located a bit away from the marketplace.
“It is a place I visit occasionally.”
And so, the two had their meal there. Geom Mu-geuk marveled once again at the surprising experiences life occasionally threw his way. A meal with the Leader of the Unorthodox Path Alliance right in front of the Alliance headquarters? Could he have imagined this when he first set out for this place?
“I also have a regular spot in front of the Cult. If there is an opportunity next time, I would very much like to host you, Alliance Leader.”
Baek Ja-gang gave a slight nod, but he believed such a thing would never happen. Unless he conquered the Demonic Cult headquarters in a war. Would food even go down then, Young Cult Leader?
While eating, Geom Mu-geuk brought up the topic of Hyeok Sa-gun.
“Hyeok Sa-gun has likely played the role of a strategist better than anyone else until now. Thinking back, he was too perfect, and his luck was far too good. From now on, look at him as a traitor. You will surely see a different side of him.”
He wasn't worried about being found out for no reason. Baek Ja-gang was not a man who easily revealed his inner thoughts. Furthermore, he was already looking into other aspects.
“Assuming your words are true, then the Chief Strategist who stepped down due to illness must have been targeted by that fellow.”
“Yes, I believe he was poisoned.”
“But why didn't you say so?”
“Because you would have realized it anyway, Alliance Leader.”
Baek Ja-gang looked at Geom Mu-geuk. He didn't know what the real face behind that veil looked like, but one thing was certain: despite talking so much, the boy was thoroughly controlling what to say and what not to say.
At the center of his deepening interest in Geom Mu-geuk was Geom Wu-jin.
He raised his child this well? That cold-blooded man?
The thought kept occurring to him. He didn't want to lose, at least not in this competition.
“When did you say you would come to the Alliance?”
“In two days.”
“I shall see you then.”
Baek Ja-gang withdrew his intention to send Geom Mu-geuk away. As he stood up, Geom Mu-geuk spoke to him.
“Before you go, please give the Young Alliance Leader a good scolding.”
“A scolding? Why?”
“He must feel very guilty for not being able to come out himself. If he hears that you scolded him, he will actually feel more at ease.”
Baek Ja-gang was genuinely surprised. He’s being considerate of Sa-in’s feelings in this situation? And such a subtle emotion at that? This young fellow?
He now understood a little why the word 'bewitchment' had been mentioned.
“Don't get used to it.”
At Baek Ja-gang’s words, Geom Mu-geuk looked puzzled.
“What do you mean by that?”
“If you tell Sa-in that, he will understand.”
It seemed to be a conversation Bi Sa-in and Baek Ja-gang had shared in the past.
“I will relay the message.”
After parting ways with Geom Mu-geuk, Baek Ja-gang boarded the carriage. The light emanating from his small eyes was intense enough to swallow the whole world.
Look at these rascals!
The person added to the category of 'rascals' was, surprisingly, Geom Wu-jin. Though it was a battle fought only in his mind, the fight had now become a two-on-two match, with the 'successors' joining the fray.