Chapter 96: At the End of Your Life, There Was Nothing
Chapter 96: At the End of Your Life, There Was Nothing
The following day, the Smiling Demon of Extreme Evil came to find me.
The sight of him slowly crossing the training grounds of the Huangquan Pavilion, his face hidden behind that white mask, radiated an overwhelming sense of pressure and dread.
The investigators and enforcement warriors couldn't even bring themselves to whisper. Everyone held their breath, bowing low as he passed. They feared him far more than they had ever feared the Blood Heaven Blade Demon or the One Flower Sword Venerable.
I stood by my office window, watching his approach.
Seo Dae-ryong, standing beside me, spoke in a trembling voice. "What in the world happened yesterday to bring such a terrifying monster to our pavilion?"
"Investigator Seo, our Huangquan Pavilion is meant to be the most terrifying place in the entire Cult. The person coming here should be the one trembling. Why are you the one shaking?"
"Yes, let’s say that’s true. But should I be looking for a place to hide right now or not? Please, tell me for the sake of our friendship. I’m begging you!"
Seeing as he still had the nerve to crack jokes, his training under the Blade Demon must be paying off. Since he was putting his life on the line, I expected he would show me a completely transformed version of himself soon.
"It was only yesterday that I told you to keep worrying about me."
"I’ll worry about you from a distance, just like yesterday," he shot back.
"Go and escort him in. My right-hand man should be the one to greet him."
"I only hope the Smiling Demon doesn't realize I'm your right-hand man."
With a heavy sigh, Seo Dae-ryong headed out. My gaze returned to the Smiling Demon.
I knew he would come looking for me, but I hadn't expected him so soon—and in broad daylight, no less. His tendency to act impulsively on instinct was the same now as it had been in my past life. That was what made him such an interesting opponent, yet so difficult to handle.
A moment later, Seo Dae-ryong’s voice drifted in from outside the door.
"The Smiling Demon of Extreme Evil has arrived."
"Bring him in."
Following Seo Dae-ryong’s lead, the Smiling Demon entered.
"Welcome, Elder."
"There you go with 'Elder' again. I told you to treat me comfortably, like a friend."
"I couldn't possibly do that. I shall call you Lord Smiling Demon instead."
"Very well."
The Smiling Demon let out a laugh. His behavior was so natural it was as if nothing had happened between us yesterday.
As Seo Dae-ryong prepared to make a quick exit, I spoke up.
"Ah, by the way, that fellow there is my right-hand man, Investigator Seo."
Seo Dae-ryong’s face was a mask of silent agony. But when the Smiling Demon turned to look at him, he bowed with a perfectly composed expression.
"I am Seo Dae-ryong. It is an honor to meet someone I so deeply admire."
"Oh? I'll be sure to remember that."
"Thank you."
Seo Dae-ryong walked out with an expression that suggested his world had ended. He was likely screaming inside: Please, don't remember me! I chuckled at the sight.
The Smiling Demon asked abruptly, "Don't people usually hide those they cherish?"
"If the opponent were an enemy, perhaps. But you aren't an enemy, are you, Lord Smiling Demon?"
"True, but we aren't friends yet, either."
"If someone determined to kill decides to act, can anyone really stay hidden? Has there ever been a time when someone you intended to kill escaped you just by hiding?"
"Never."
"Exactly. Since life is uncertain and we never know when we might die, shouldn't he at least live his life properly as my right-hand man?"
A strange light flickered in the Smiling Demon's eyes. "That is quite an interesting perspective."
The Smiling Demon stood up and began to pace around the office. He scanned the documents piled high on my desk and the books lined up in the cabinets before leaning in to catch the scent of the flowers in the pot by the window. It was the plant the One Flower Sword Venerable had given me.
"The fragrance is lovely."
"I recently found a reason to start liking flowers."
"A successor of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult who likes flowers... If those Murim Alliance bastards invade, are we to die in a flower garden?"
Despite his mocking tone, I responded calmly.
"Dying lonely in some nameless field might have its own charm, but isn't this also quite nice? To have the last thing you smell as you draw your final breath be the scent of flowers rather than blood."
Instead of saying whether he liked the idea, the Smiling Demon let out his habitual laugh.
"But what brings you to see me?" I asked.
The Smiling Demon turned away from the flowers to face me. "After the Second Young Master left yesterday, I gave it some deep thought. It felt like such a shame that we couldn't be friends."
"I felt the same."
"So, I came here to see if we could find a way for us to become friends."
"You are most welcome. And did you find a way?"
"The method I thought of is for us to each make a concession."
"In what way?"
"I will concede on the matter of how the Second Young Master views good and evil. I will try to understand your 'new' Demonic Path."
"Then what should I concede?"
"You said we could only be friends if I took off my mask. Can you concede on that?"
"Before I answer, let me ask one thing. Why do you want to be friends with me?"
"I want to be on close, informal terms with the Second Young Master."
In truth, I knew exactly why the Smiling Demon was acting this way. First, he wanted to find out how I had killed the Soul-Seizing Demon Lord. When I had returned to the Cult in my previous life, both the Soul-Seizing Demon Lord and the Smiling Demon were still alive.
The feeling I had back then was simple: The more evil one is, the longer they survive.
The Smiling Demon was someone who valued his own life above all else, so he desperately wanted to know how I had managed to kill the Soul-Seizing Demon Lord. He assumed that if she could fall, he could too.
The other reason was his personality. He became obsessed with people who provoked or interested him. He would approach them, make them his 'friend,' and then kill them the moment he grew bored. It was a pathological quirk of his that only I knew about.
Therefore, I couldn't attach any positive meaning to his offer. To him, "let's be friends" meant "I'm going to play with you until I kill you."
These two reasons were what brought the Smiling Demon to my office. They were the reasons he was telling such an absurd lie about trying to understand my Demonic Path.
"I want to be friends with the Second Young Master."
Fine. In this life, too, I would become his friend. Only by becoming his friend would he stand at a point that was neither enemy nor ally. That was the kind of person he was—a man you could only stop being enemies with by becoming his "friend."
"Very well. Let us both make concessions."
At my answer, the Smiling Demon laughed loudly. To anyone else, it sounded like a hearty laugh of genuine joy, but I was watching his eyes through my New Eye Technique. He was looking at me with eyes that were utterly cold.
Smiling Demon, at the end of your life, there was nothing.
He claimed until the moment he died that he had no regrets, but that was a lie. The moment he recalled his childhood, he was already drowning in regret.
The Blade Demon was changing, the One Flower Sword Venerable was changing, and even the Pungcheon Cult Leader was changing—but this Smiling Demon would not change easily. He was born with an evil nature and raised under the brainwashing of his master since childhood.
It was then that Seo Dae-ryong’s voice came from outside.
"The First Young Master has arrived."
"Bring him in."
The Smiling Demon said with a grin, "I invited him."
Inviting my brother here while coming to see me? That was truly something only the Smiling Demon would do. He was the type to immediately execute any idea that popped into his head, regardless of the consequences. Despite this impulsive nature, the fact that he was one of the Demon Lords who survived until the very end showed just how formidable his malice truly was.
A moment later, Geom Mu-yang entered. He greeted the Smiling Demon first.
"It has been a long time, Lord Smiling Demon."
"Welcome, First Young Master. Now, I don't suppose I need to introduce you two?"
I played along with his playful remark. "Perhaps we brothers are exactly the kind of people who need an introduction. We know less about each other than you might think."
As I treated the Smiling Demon with such ease, a slight tension flickered across Geom Mu-yang’s face.
Taking it a step further, the Smiling Demon spoke to Geom Mu-yang. "I was just pestering the Second Young Master to be my friend."
The Smiling Demon watched Geom Mu-yang’s reaction, his eyes glinting with curiosity. My brother responded exactly as expected.
"One needs such diversions from time to time."
At Geom Mu-yang’s perfectly composed reaction, the Smiling Demon laughed. "This is why I intend to enjoy my diversions with your younger brother. Our First Young Master is far too upright to be any fun."
"Mu-geuk is full of wit, so he will certainly make an excellent friend."
My brother really was going through a lot. He wasn't the type to just show up because someone told him to and listen to such talk. He was enduring it all out of his obsession to become the successor.
You're doing well, Brother.
If your nerves get frayed here, you lose the moment it happens.
Whether he sensed my thoughts or not, the Smiling Demon continued to provoke Geom Mu-yang. "The Second Young Master came to see me yesterday. He asked me to support him instead of his brother."
He was relentless, even with me sitting right there.
"Lord Smiling Demon, you asked to be my friend, so why are you trying to drive a wedge between brothers? This isn't how one becomes a good friend."
The Smiling Demon chuckled. "There is nothing in this world as entertaining as driving a wedge between people, so how can you ask me to stop? I could hold back a call of nature, but I can't hold back on that."
"If you want to sow discord, don't do it to us. Go do it to the Murim Alliance or the Unorthodox Path Alliance."
"I'd love to, but my current situation doesn't allow for it."
Geom Mu-yang just stood by, listening. He was likely hoping I would make a slip of the tongue and cross the line.
"Since the two of you are gathered in one place, may I ask a question I've been curious about?"
At the Smiling Demon's inquiry, my brother answered readily. "Of course."
"Then I shall ask the First Young Master first. If I help you become the successor, what will you do for me?"
The Smiling Demon was truly himself—displaying such a wicked hobby with both of us right in front of him.
Geom Mu-yang answered calmly, as if he had come prepared. "I will triple the support for the Villain Valley and lift the restriction on the number of Faceless Guests. Furthermore, I will lift the ban currently placed on you that prevents you from leaving the Cult."
The Smiling Demon was currently under a ban preventing him from leaving the Cult's territory. This was because of an incident two years ago where he slaughtered warriors of the Unorthodox Path Alliance, nearly triggering a full-scale war.
"That was because those bastards came at me first," the Smiling Demon muttered.
It may have started that way, but it had ended in a massacre. After that, Father forbade him from going out into the Central Plains. It had been nearly two years now; he must be itching to leave.
"Oho, that is a very attractive offer."
"Think nothing of it. Beyond that, I will give you my full support in anything else you desire."
The Smiling Demon laughed loudly. Did my brother know? That even as he laughed with such joy, the eyes behind that mask were as cold as ice.
"Now, I shall ask the Second Young Master. If I help you become the Heavenly Demon, what will you do for me?"
Both of them were curious to hear my answer. I stared at the Smiling Demon and said in a low voice, "I will let you live."
The atmosphere froze instantly. I should have followed it up by saying it was a joke, but instead, I doubled down.
"Didn't we talk about it yesterday? The kind of new Demonic Path I aim for. Knowing that, how did you think I would treat you, Lord Smiling Demon—you who champion extreme evil? Did you think I would happily offer you support? Even if I have to shoulder the political burden, I will at least let you live."
My brother might have been inwardly cheering, thinking that I was ruining this great opportunity out of youthful hot-headedness. But there was something my brother didn't know. The Smiling Demon is the type of person who becomes more fascinated by an opponent when they act like this.
As if to prove it, his eyes, visible through the holes in his mask, were shining brightly when viewed with my New Eye Technique.
I spoke to him even more coldly than before. "Suddenly, playing at being friends isn't so fun anymore, is it? Games that excessively break formalities always end poorly. So, please, do not mention being friends ever again."
In the chilly atmosphere, the Smiling Demon stood up. "If we aren't friends, staying in the same room will only lead to a fight. I shall see you next time."
After bidding farewell to Geom Mu-yang as well, the Smiling Demon left the office.
Once we were alone, Geom Mu-yang asked me, "What on earth are you thinking?"
My brother knew I wasn't the kind of person to recklessly anger the Smiling Demon.
"Doesn't it just piss you off? 'You successors need to get on the good side of us Eight Demon Lords. Come on, wag your tails. Then I'll put you on the throne.' Doesn't that make you angry, Brother?"
After considering my words for a moment, my brother stood up to leave. "The one who always makes me angry is you."
Leaving those words behind, Geom Mu-yang walked out.
Soon after, Seo Dae-ryong came in. "Were you waiting outside because you were worried about me?" I asked.
"Not about you, Pavilion Master. I was worried the flowers might have withered if you released your Demonic Energy." He looked at the flowers in the pot and sighed in relief.
I smiled and stood beside him. I could see the Smiling Demon walking out of the building.
"He looked angry. Will it be alright?"
"He isn't angry. Don't you see that excited spring in his step?"
"I can't really tell. To me, it looks like the stride of someone who wants to trample someone to death."
"If you're that worried, put the flower pot outside in advance tomorrow."
"I should. Wait, what? You're saying the Smiling Demon is coming back tomorrow?"
The Smiling Demon was the type of person who would chase you to the ends of the earth if you tried to run away.
"He's someone I have to settle things with, one way or another."
After a brief pause, Seo Dae-ryong asked, "How do you endure all this pressure, Pavilion Master?"
"I have a right-hand man, a left-hand man aiming for the right-hand man's spot, a heart, wings, and now I even have a brain. What would be so hard for me?"
I looked at the back of the Smiling Demon walking alone in the distance and added softly, "The one who's having a hard time is likely that wicked and lonely soul."