The Perils of Common Sense
Having finished the red-bull slaughter, Gong Ryun strode back into the city with a proud cut of beef in one hand.
He felt rather like a hunter returning from a successful hunt, and the feeling was excellent.
"Let's get something to eat first."
"An excellent idea, Gong Ryun. You've suffered enough with all that brainwashing, so this time we'll go wherever you like—my treat."
"Oh? Really? No take-backs?"
And so Gong Ryun headed straight for the tteokbokki shop.
"Kyaaaaaaaah!!! Gong Ryun!!! Do you want to see me have a stroke?! Why do you keep dragging us to places like this!!!"
Sure enough, Un-rang lost his mind.
The two of them bickered right at the entrance before going in.
"Hey, Un-rang. You said I could eat whatever I wanted, didn't you?"
"The owner of this place terrifies me!! Do you have any idea how strong she is!!"
"So what? If she's a master, there's plenty to learn, isn't there? How about you take this chance to network with a real expert? I brought you here with a plan! Everybody wins!"
"Gyaaah!!! Every single time—Gong Ryun, you have zero sense of danger!!! When a master is nearby, you keep your head down! That's common sense!! Do you know how many pieces a person's skull can be split into with a single swing of a master's arm?!!"
"Hey!!! We're all people!! Don't discriminate based on martial realm!!! You racist!!!"
"Don't talk nonsense!!!"
Un-rang was on the verge of a complete breakdown. The proprietress of this place was a martial artist estimated at Nature Realm at the very least. And "at the very least" meant that, in the worst case, she might even be at the peak of Nature Realm. In a backwater city like this, that made her the strongest person around.
He had told Gong Ryun not to come here, and yet the man kept returning to this Korean restaurant. Clearly Gong Ryun still had no idea what this place really was.
"Gong Ryun. Listen carefully. This is no ordinary restaurant. There's a reason the prices are so cheap."
"I already know that. The Boss runs the restaurant as a hobby."
"You know that?? Then do you also know the true identity of this succubus boss?"
"Of course I do. The Boss's true identity is… a rich person who hides her power. She's got so much money in the bank she doesn't need to earn any more. Makes sense—she's lived a long time, so she must have saved up quite a bit. And rather than loafing about like some idle wastrel, she still works. A diligent soul. I rest easy knowing she probably won't end up in the Hell of Sloth."
"Hell of Sloth—are you serious right now!!! Listen well, Gong Ryun!!! This place is a smuggling den!!!"
"Smuggling?"
"Yes!!! A secret black market dealing in illegal secret manuals, spirit medicines, weapons, and the like!!!"
"A black market?"
"Yes!! A black market!!"
"And what's the problem with that?"
"What?!!"
"Black markets can exist. It's fine."
On the Slave Planet where Gong Ryun had grown up, black markets had been a necessity of life.
You simply could not survive on rations alone.
Even when his mother made carbonara, she had bought the ingredients from the black market.
In other words, to Gong Ryun a black market was as natural as a basement under every house.
"Well now. So the Boss dabbles in a little black-market work on the side. How industrious. Day job by day, black market by night—that's the golden rule of merchants, after all. A basement at home and a black market. The Boss is a woman of real practical grit."
Gong Ryun recited the common sense of the Slave Planet.
Un-rang clutched his head.
"Gong Ryun! Smuggling is bad! Buying and selling in secret is not an honorable thing!"
"That's not true! So if a child is starving to death, where are parents who didn't get their food rations supposed to go? If a mother is dying of illness, where is her son supposed to get aspirin? Everyone has the right to use discreet small-business services! Black markets are a basic human right of dignity!!"
Gong Ryun was completely unashamed!
With that, he seized Un-rang's arm in his grip and dragged him bodily into the restaurant.
"Kyaaak!! Let go of me!!! Release that joint-lock!!!"
"Come now. You're just not used to it yet. Wouldn't it be nice if we got friendlier with the Boss while we're at it? I think I saw tteokbokki-flavored nanorobots on the menu—let's try those. Try, try."
And so Un-rang found himself hauled inside the shop.
The interior had a vintage, alleyway-shop charm, but a closer look at the ornaments displayed on the walls and shelves revealed them to be extremely high-end pieces—an utterly mismatched combination that left a strange impression.
The space itself was fairly large. Yet for all that room, there were few tables, leaving empty stretches of floor that felt oddly hollow. It was like some kind of backrooms. Un-rang wanted to turn around and leave that very second.
Ah. He really, truly had not wanted to come back here.
He had hoped the last time—when Gong Ryun was depressed and Un-rang had brought him—would be the final visit.
It wasn't simply because this was a smuggling hideout. The important part wasn't the smuggling itself. It was who used that smuggling.
Hoot. Hoot.
And what was that supposed to be. Off to one side of the shop sat a living owl.
Quietly caged, the owl twisted its head to follow the newly arrived customers.
The atmosphere grew even more suspicious.
"Speaking of black markets, I notice it all over again—isn't the shop's interior wonderfully cozy, Un-rang? Truly black-market-like. Very snug."
"Ah… I want to go home…"
"Here, Un-rang. I've got a regular seat."
"A regular seat? Ha ha ha. Gong Ryun. That's just exaggeration, yes? You don't mean you actually come here every day?"
Come to think of it, Gong Ryun had never told Un-rang that he had moved into this place.
He had relocated after the depression hit, and right after moving he had been hypnotized by the cult and dragged on that canyon tour, so his head had been a mess.
If he mentioned it now, Un-rang would only start whining again, so better to tell him later.
"What are you getting? I'll start with dongchimi as an appetizer."
"…"
"Honestly, what are you so worried about? It's fine, Un-rang. The Boss is so kind. She even helped me when I was under hypnosis, didn't she?"
"Mmm… that much is true, but…"
Un-rang recalled how the Boss had tried, in her own way, to comfort Gong Ryun during his depression.
Even so, the unease would not leave him. What worried Un-rang was not simply that the Boss was strong…
"Ugh, and thinking about it, that whole crowd is hopeless. Hypnosis? Of all things, hypnosis? Creepy as can be."
"Hmm. The Herenesh Order. They're famous for their extremists, but I never thought they'd go that far."
"No. Not that cult."
Gong Ryun recalled his final scene with the cultists.
Before the Conch Administrator had put him in the car, they had clearly said they were the Heavenly Demon Sect.
"Ugh, those Heavenly Demon Sect bastards!! I only ever heard the name here and there and never paid attention. Now I see they're pure concentrated evil! Trash who care about nothing but destroying the galaxy!"
"W-wait…!!!!! Gong Ryun!!!!!! If you say that in this place!!!!!"
"Just like the ones who nearly destroyed the galaxy two hundred years ago!! They should all just disappear!! Why does the Orthodox Faction leave the Demonic Sect alone? Shouldn't they wipe them all out?"
"Kyaaaaaaah!!!! Gong Ryun!!!! Stop right there!!!!!!!"
"Oh my~~~ Gong Ryun~~~ you're early today~~~"
"Those war-addicted scum of the world should be—ah, hello, Boss?"
"Hhkyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!!"
Right in the middle of Gong Ryun's impassioned rant, the Boss appeared behind them. As always, without a single footstep.
Gong Ryun had more or less gotten used to her popping up from behind. Un-rang, on the other hand, let out a piercing scream.
"The monk came too today~~~? So what were you talking about~~~? I thought I heard something about the Demonic Sect~~?"
"Ah! That! We were talking about the Demonic Sect. After seeing those Jamiseong, it all became clear. The Demonic Sect is trash! Social contaminants! Forces of evil! They must be purged in the name of righteousness!"
"Hhkyaaaak!!! Gong Ryun!!! In front of whom are you saying that!!"
Un-rang looked ready to die of hyperventilation.
The succubus, however, tilted her head with a sly little smile.
"Hmm…?"
"The Heavenly Demon Sect is a bad civilization! Crush them!"
"Gong Ryun~~ can you tell me what the Heavenly Demon Sect actually does?"
"Hmm? Aren't they a terrorist group trying to destroy the galaxy? Like they did two hundred years ago."
"I knew something felt off~~ Well, Gong Ryun is missing a lot of common knowledge~~ But this is strange~~ Being this empty-handed is rare~~ You've been settled here a few years since leaving home, haven't you~? You ought to know at least the basics about the Demonic Sect~~~?"
"Huh? That wasn't it? Aren't they a war-crazed fanatic group?"
"I'm with the Demonic Sect, you know~~"
"…… …… …… Huh? Who is?"
"Me. Heavenly Demon Sect~~ Absorption School~~~"
"………Eh…?"
Gong Ryun's mind blanked. A sudden, completely unprompted coming-out.
The succubus race.
A people who had, as an entire species, devoted themselves to the Demonic Sect—and who had been the first among non-human races to join it.
Boasting a long and storied tradition, they had for ages all but monopolized the Absorption School of the Demonic Sect. A school was, by nature, a gathering centered on a particular form of martial art. But when it came to energy absorption, no one was more expert than the succubi, and so the Absorption School had long been their turf.
At least until some rootless tentacle-thing had seized the position of school master.
"…I thought the succubus race was superior to the Jamiseong. Weren't you fighting the energy-absorbing Jamiseong?"
"From the founding of the Space Heavenly Demon Sect onward, the school master of the Absorption School was always a succubus, generation after generation~~ Then that rootless tentacle just waltzed in and took it~~ What a nightmare~~"
"…Huh? What the—!! …But is it okay for fellow Demonic Sect members to be that hostile?"
"Gong Ryun~~ The Orthodox Faction splits into great families and sects and fights over interests too—why would the Demonic Sect be any different~~~?"
"Even so…"
"Even in this tiny city, the mercs split north and south and beat each other senseless~~~ The Heavenly Demon Sect, spread across this whole vast galaxy, does more of that, not less~~~"
"Ah…"
"And unlike that tentacle bastard, we succubi are the moderate faction, you know~~? If they're the extreme war faction, we're the extreme moderate faction~~ Our directions are completely opposite~~"
Two groups that could not help but fight each other.
Like the eternal rivalry of Mount Hua and Wudang.
"Then the Demonic Sect isn't a criminal organization dreaming of overthrowing the galaxy?"
"Nah, not really~~ But this is truly strange~~~ How can someone know so little about the Demonic Sect?"
"Well, there's no way to get information on them."
"Hmm? Just search it~~?"
"The Demonic Sect is disloyal, so if you search it on the internet, the search history stays and you can get penalized."
"What kind of nonsense is that~? Who can't search the internet~? Who told you that?"
There was only one person who could have taught him something like that. The senior in life he had met first after coming to this planet—the one who had taught him how the world worked…
"Well, of course it was Un-rang…"
Un-rang…
"Ahem."
Un-rang looked the other way and cleared his throat.
"U… Un-rang…?"
"Ahem…"
"Un…rang…?"