The Graduation Begins
"Where am I going after graduation? The Yeol-am-ah-hwang-dae, obviously!"
Ma Ra-jin clenched his fist and laid out his ambitions. The Yeol-am-ah-hwang-dae was a unit that prized raw martial power above everything else.
For someone like Ma Ra-jin—who believed that if you didn't understand something, you should just smash it first—it was the perfect fit.
Honestly, Shin Gi-woon had only asked out of courtesy. He already knew Ma Ra-jin would aim for the Yeol-am-ah-hwang-dae.
He hadn't asked Sama Yul, but she would naturally head for the Heuk-sal-gwi-yeong-dae. The real question mark was Bi So-hyang.
Even among the Bow Demon Sect, Bi So-hyang possessed absurd martial skill. Whether she chose the Heuk-sal-gwi-yeong-dae or the Man-byeon-chu-hon-dae, she could go wherever she pleased. Given her personality, neither the Yeol-am-ah-hwang-dae nor the Guangming Guardian Squad suited her.
And with the Heavenly Net Black Death Squad currently without a commander, it was off-limits to this year's Jamma Cave recruits.
So, since she was right there, he asked. Her answer:
"I'm going for the Man-byeon-chu-hon-dae."
"Why?"
"What do you mean, why? I don't want to be an assassin. That unit's perfect for Yul. It's just not my style."
She had chosen the Man-byeon-chu-hon-dae. That meant they would end up in the same unit.
"I'm already in the Man-byeon-chu-hon-dae. Looking forward to working with you."
"You're already in?"
"The commander forced me to enlist."
"You've already won over the commander?"
"Won over is a strong word. More like I made a good impression. We met under pretty dramatic circumstances."
Bi So-hyang narrowed her eyes, but she couldn't bring herself to hit Shin Gi-woon's already swollen face any further.
For the briefest instant, Shin Gi-woon felt her killing intent. He found himself grateful for his puffy face.
"The commander will be coming to collect the Jamma Cave graduates soon, so until then we can pretty much do whatever we want."
"We should make good use of what little free time we have left. Once we enlist, the road of suffering opens right up."
For the record, graduating from Jamma Cave did not mean you had to join one of the five great units.
But when you considered the prestige, those five stood at the absolute peak among every force in the Demonic Cult.
No one stopped you if you wanted to go elsewhere. You could head to the Seven Demon Sects, or simply return to your own family.
The choice was free. Most people still aimed for the five units, so the exceptions were vanishingly rare.
"But if you join the Man-byeon-chu-hon-dae, you're going to suffer like hell, you know?"
"It'll be the same wherever I go. The intensity of the suffering might be similar, but the environment will be different."
"Yeah... fair point."
From what they had gathered, the five units were not short on work.
In order: first, the Heavenly Net Black Death Squad. Rumor had it they lived buried under mountains of paperwork.
It was so bad that people said Lee Hyeong-seop had taken the post of chief instructor at Jamma Cave just to escape the documents.
Next, the Man-byeon-chu-hon-dae. The work itself was simply endless. Tracking was their primary mission, so they were constantly out in the murim world.
The Yeol-am-ah-hwang-dae. They trained so brutally in peacetime—preparing for critical battles and wars—that they regularly suffered deep internal injuries.
The Heuk-sal-gwi-yeong-dae. Once a target was designated, they moved with extreme care to kill. Failure was not tolerated. Fail to eliminate the target, and you never came back.
The Guangming Guardian Squad. They devoted every hour to guarding the heavily fortified Cult Leader's hall. Shifts rotated every two hours, and any free time was spent on training and energy circulation.
Even these units guaranteed meal times and sleep. Personal free time only appeared after years of seniority.
The phrase "suffering you signed up for" fit perfectly. And yet people still flocked to these paths for one reason: this was the Demonic Cult.
A gathering of those who dreamed of conquering the Central Plains. The Demonic Cult.
No matter how much the body suffered, people who were ready to throw their lives away for that conquest were everywhere.
Looking only at the drawbacks might make enlistment unappealing, but the advantages far outweighed them.
First, all five units operated on a merit system. At the same time, anyone who became commander of a unit could, after sparring with the other commanders and receiving the Heavenly Demon's final approval, gain the authority to found an entirely new unit.
Originally, the only Guangming Palace units had been the Heavenly Net Black Death Squad and the Guangming Guardian Squad.
Then an assassin-born commander appeared and founded the Heuk-sal-gwi-yeong-dae. Next came the Yeol-am-ah-hwang-dae.
After that the Soul Chasing Squad was created, and when Shindogun took command it became the present Man-byeon-chu-hon-dae.
"The Heuk-sal-gwi-yeong-dae isn't bad either."
"Huh?"
"You'd learn the most there. They'll teach you every way to kill someone as painfully as possible."
"Uh..."
At that moment Sama Yul opened her mouth as if to object. It was almost the first time she had spoken at such length.
She could talk at length when delivering reports, but she usually stuck to the bare essentials. Right now there was a dangerous edge to her.
"They'll teach you all sorts of methods. How to target the places where a human feels the most pain—"
"Y-Yul! How about we talk about something else?"
"Whatever."
She snapped straight back to short-answer Sama Yul. When the subject was the Heuk-sal-gwi-yeong-dae, her eyes were clear enough to call her a pure-eyed madwoman.
It was the first time Shin Gi-woon had seen this side of her, so it was almost refreshing. Of course, he never wanted to see it again.
Still, one thing was good: this easy atmosphere of laughing and talking with friends.
It was only possible because they were alive, and because the danger had lessened.
Not bad. No—actually, pretty good.
Shin Gi-woon liked this life. In his entire previous existence he had never once considered anyone a true friend.
Ally or enemy. He had viewed the world only in black and white, and the only ally he had ever known was his missing master.
If he had made more allies while he was alive, could he have escaped the Martial Alliance's Heavenly Net?
Bullshit. I was fated to die anyway.
Now an environment had formed where he could gather some information from outside Jamma Cave. The first thing Shin Gi-woon wanted to know about was the purge of the demonic and unorthodox.
Just how far had that damned purge progressed? Surprisingly, it had not progressed at all.
What the hell was the real reason they tried to kill me on that bullshit charge of 'eating dumplings'?
The pretext had been the purge of the demonic and unorthodox. The actual charge had been pure nonsense. And yet the purge itself was not even happening.
It was a bolt from the blue. If that was true, then the Ghost Spear's death felt even more like a dog's death.
If they killed me for some other purpose—if they fabricated a crime just to get rid of me—
Which faction would benefit most from the Ghost Spear's death? No matter how hard he thought, he came up empty.
He had never piled up any real karma!
He had simply lived as he pleased. He hadn't exactly been free of sin, but there had been zero reason for the Heavenly Net to suddenly close around him.
So Shin Gi-woon floated a new hypothesis.
What if, just maybe, Lee Hyeong-seop's faction and the ones who wanted me dead are connected?
He had no proof of any link between them. But something felt off.
The Martial Alliance had killed the Ghost Spear under the banner of purging the demonic and unorthodox. Yet that purge? Complete bullshit. It hadn't even started.
That meant the pretext was just window dressing. In the end, the Martial Alliance had some reason they absolutely needed the Ghost Spear dead.
It felt like they had eliminated him in advance because his existence would have interfered with something.
Which raised another problem: the Martial Alliance Leader himself might be closely tied to Lee Hyeong-seop's faction.
The head of an entire power belonging to some mysterious organization? That organization would be ripped up by the roots and finished.
As someone who already hated the Martial Alliance, Shin Gi-woon would have welcomed it. But if the Heavenly Net had never been the Martial Alliance's doing in the first place, then the direction of his hatred was completely wrong.
I have to get out into the murim world.
Enlist in the Man-byeon-chu-hon-dae, prove his merit, and head out into the wider world as soon as possible to gather information.
For that, everything needed to move smoothly.
And this damn lizard still won't answer.
Ryu-jin had muttered that she was sleepy yesterday and then fallen silent, dropping into sleep without another word. When she would wake was anyone's guess.
And until she controlled the demonic energy in his upper dantian, Shin Gi-woon had no intention of using it.
If it was a matter of life and death he would find a way, but otherwise—
"Haa... I feel like I'm going crazy."
"What? What's the problem?"
"The problems are just too big. Like staring into an abyss. Anyway, I just want to graduate already and—"
"I figured it'd be like this, so I came early."
"Whoa—! Commander!!"
Shin Gi-woon nearly jumped out of his skin at the completely unexpected voice. It was Shindogun, who had approached without a single sound of presence.
Ma Ra-jin, Bi So-hyang, and Sama Yul were equally startled—a rare sight. Shindogun, commander of the Man-byeon-chu-hon-dae and famous under the moniker Thousand Transformations Ghost.
None of them had dreamed an Extreme Demon-level expert would simply stroll up like this. But something about him had changed.
"Your face is different."
"What's my moniker? Thousand Transformations Ghost. The only person who knows my real face is the Cult Leader. Yesterday's face was the one that earned me the moniker out in the murim world."
"Uh... then how do we find you when we need to report?"
"You report to the vice-commander, and that report reaches me. I have the authority to appoint the vice-commander... now you understand why Jeong-hyeon was assigned to the secret branch?"
Shin Gi-woon nodded.
Unit members who didn't even know their commander's face. Reports that went to the vice-commander instead of the commander himself.
The moniker Thousand Transformations Ghost had not been earned lightly. This was what an Extreme Demon expert looked like.
"We don't have time, so let's get this done. Jamma Cave graduation ceremony."
"Right now?"
"When else? Do I look like I have free time? Go grab the others, quick."
The long-delayed Jamma Cave graduation ceremony was about to begin—less than thirty seconds after Shindogun had appeared.