Heart Demon
I stopped in the middle of pitching the tent and turned to meet her gaze.
I hadn’t wanted to smile, but my facial muscles slipped out of my control and broke into a bright grin.
"You’re really hopeless. Don’t you ever think about trying harder?"
Guyang Jihee tossed an outer robe at me.
It had been washed clean, without a single stain.
So it seemed I wasn’t just in charge of meals after all.
I’d also been doing all the laundry.
This is ridiculous.
The man who could handle meals, laundry, and even pitching a tent—who learned everything needed for camping.
That was Cheon Sojin.
No wonder he was so comfortable even in that cave. So that’s the kind of backstory he had.
It was a truth I really didn’t want to know.
"J-Jihee, what’s wrong? Is there something wrong with the clothes…?"
"To think my fiancé is this kind of person…. My head hurts just listening."
She pressed a hand to her temple and shook her head from side to side.
"What do you mean?"
"The smell, obviously!! Didn’t I clearly tell you to use scented oil at the end? Or am I the only one who can smell it?"
We were clearly out on a mission, and yet she was obsessing over the smell.
She wasn’t in her right mind.
Among Murim warriors, there were plenty with especially sharp senses of smell. If you used something like scented oil, your location would be exposed at once.
How exactly are you leading a squad like this?
From my point of view, I couldn’t understand what the hell she was thinking.
"…Well, you see. A few days ago, when those black-path bastards launched a night raid, all the scented oil in Guyang Hall got smashed, so there was nothing we could do…."
"What are you saying? Are you blaming me for this?! If it hadn’t been for me, the damage could have been even worse—what does that have to do with anything?"
"That’s not what I meant…. I’m just saying there was nothing we could do."
"You should have prepared extra scented oil in advance for situations like this!! As the squad leader, can’t you handle even something that simple?"
"...Sorry."
No one liked being beaten one-sidedly.
Why the hell did I have to be treated like this?
Was it a side effect of the elixir?
Elixir—
A flash of insight swept through my head.
Blood Demon Pill….
I understood the situation in an instant.
I’d experienced something similar before.
This was a kind of heart demon.
"I’m the daughter of the Guyang family. I can’t lose my dignity in any situation. Surely you don’t want your fiancée wearing dirty clothes, do you?"
"No. I’ll go wash them again right now."
"Sigh…. That’s not what I meant. I’m telling you to bring scented oil."
Guyang Jihee waved a hand, her pink hair swaying with the motion.
….
Only now did I understand why I was being shown this hellscape.
As soon as that thought reached me, my anger faded and a strange calm settled in my chest.
I see.
Strictly speaking, a heart demon was an affliction of the mind, something even the sufferer might not realize existed. It showed the most horrifying experiences they had endured, or the future they feared most, and dragged them into despair and qi deviation.
Even after reaching the Demi-Immortal realm, one could not completely cast off the demons lurking deep within the heart.
If even a Demi-Immortal couldn’t escape that, then what about an ordinary Murim warrior?
"You’re not even answering me now? You can’t even do something this easy…. To think this is my fiancé…? What am I supposed to do? I’m so pitiful I might cry…."
"Jihee! No, I’m the one who’s wrong. It’s my fault."
I silently watched the farce unfolding before my eyes.
Kept watching it.
I can’t use qi, but my will is still intact.
That didn’t mean I just stood there doing nothing.
I honed that will into something sharp.
Han Seola was patting her knees and letting out a huge yawn.
"Sojin… I’m tired…. When are you going to finish the tent? I want to sleep."
"Sorry. I was talking with Jihee. I’ll set it up in a sec."
She sat down and began to whine.
"Sojin is the best! But hurry up…. I want to lie down."
I looked at her childish behavior with warm eyes.
"Sorry, sorry. Just wait a moment."
….
I had plenty to say, but I held my tongue.
I already knew the Blood Demon Pill was a top-grade elixir, but not enough to summon a heart demon.
I hadn’t reached some higher realm like White Blossom or Thousand Blossom; I had merely circulated my breath and calmed my qi. Something like this should never have been enough to produce a heart demon.
Besides, I had once touched a higher realm before, and I cultivated martial arts founded on harmony and balance. There was no way an incomplete heart demon could take root in me.
Then there’s only one answer.
The moon hung bright in the dark night sky.
Even as everyone else slept, Cheon Sojin had volunteered to keep watch so the girls could rest soundly.
"…This is hard."
Cheon Sojin sat on a rock and muttered as he stared up at the moon.
"Still, they’re all good girls. It’s probably just because things have been rough lately."
He covered his face with both hands.
"…And a chivalrous hero doesn’t get discouraged by this sort of thing."
….
While he went on like that, I kept thinking.
This wasn’t my story. It was Cheon Sojin’s story.
I wasn’t about to spout some ridiculous nonsense about consciousness residing in the body itself.
This was a situation completely different from a normal heart demon—
When I didn’t respond, I found myself transported to the academy.
"…What? No compensation? Sojin. What’s going on?"
"We agreed this time it wouldn’t be an outside commission, but an academy task. Did you forget?"
At Cheon Sojin’s pointed remark, Shin Juha lifted her head.
She stared at him in visible confusion, as if she had truly forgotten.
The two of them looked at each other in silence for a long while.
Then Shin Juha spoke first.
"…I knew that, but I need money."
"Still no compensation."
"T-That’s…. Shouldn’t you, as squad leader, handle that yourself? Anyway, give me money."
Even with a demand that absurd, Cheon Sojin nodded.
"Sigh…. Fine. I’ll give it to you. How much do you need this time?"
Such unbelievably ridiculous scenes.
Someone was deliberately showing me this.
It was certainly annoying.
But that was all.
….
I only sharpened my will further.
After Shin Juha left, he smiled and murmured,
"At this rate, if I keep taking on missions, I might even be able to become squad leader by the time I graduate."
BOOM!
Someone shoved the door open hard and stormed in.
"Sojin, what is the meaning of this?"
"Soyeong. What happened?"
She shook an empty pouch in front of Cheon Sojin and scowled.
Deliberately, she tapped her foot against the floor and shot him a sharp look.
"The elixirs are gone. All of them."
"That can’t be. I clearly bought a pouch each of Jaso Pill and Jangnoe Pill."
"Sigh…. I told you. Those sleepy-time elixirs disappear fast."
Tang Soyeong planted a hand on her head and let out a long sigh loud enough to be heard.
"I filled them yesterday. There’s no way. …Don’t tell me you used them all to boost your inner power again? Soyeong, if so, then…."
"Shut up!!"
Before Cheon Sojin could finish, Tang Soyeong cut him off and shouted.
"Sojin, just by being here in this Jincheon squad, I’m helping you a great deal. Are you seriously saying the heir of the Jin family can’t even afford the money for a few lousy elixirs?"
"Soyeong, even so, eating a hundred elixirs is a bit too much…."
"Enough. Go buy me elixirs right now. This time, they’d better be at least Gold-Guard Pill."
She delivered the order as though she were making a final ruling, then left the room without waiting for a reply.
I stood there dazed, staring at the doorway she had gone through, and before long he was ordering elixirs from the Gold Flower Trading Company.
"…It’s still fine. Back then, they were all good. They’re just tired lately."
….
Now I had at least one guess.
Silently, I watched his actions.
When there was no reaction, I was moved somewhere else again.
"You idiot!! Do you even know what you’ve done?"
The man shouted at his son.
"Yes, Father."
"You, you damn lunatic!!!"
"Husband, please calm yourself."
"Wife, how can I calm down? That fool of a son of ours used our Jinrok Hall as collateral to buy elixirs!"
"Father, I have a plan. Please think of this as an investment in the future."
But Cheon Sojin ignored him and continued.
"What nonsense is that!!"
"I bought up the elixirs sold by the merchants, and I’m going to feed them to myself and the Jincheon squad members to make us stronger all at once."
….
"Wouldn’t that be a good thing later, when I’m appointed as squad leader of the Murim Alliance?"
"To think such a fool is my own child…."
"F-Father."
"Get out this instant!! Is anyone outside? Drive this brat out of the academy!"
….
I had mountains of things I really wanted to say.
But I didn’t say a single one.
Instead, I just sharpened my will even more.
*
*
*
"I mean, he’s probably going to keep helping people like an idiot until he gets stabbed in some back alley and dies anyway. Whether he dies now or later, it’s the same life, isn’t it?"
"Then die for us instead. Isn’t that what your big brother called chivalry?"
"Y-You bastards, how dare you—kgh!"
"Stop him!"
"Hurry, catch him!!"
As I fled, I missed a step, plunged off a cliff, and discovered an altar.
"Dead Soul Scripture…?"
The words carved into the altar.
Cheon Sojin read them with frantic intensity.
I watched in silence.
After all, the spell that had possessed the Sword King in the first place was also a forbidden art of the Blood Cult, so the two were probably connected.
The suspicious thing was that “something” I had suspected all along—the Blood Demon Pill.
….
Red light flashed from the altar, and he closed his eyes.
In a sense, this was Cheon Sojin’s final moment.
The world was dyed black, and from somewhere behind that darkness, someone spoke.
"Heh heh heh…. I’m surprised you’ve shown so little reaction. Or are you… frightened?"
I turned my head sharply to look behind me.
Yes. It was like Cheon Sojin had been painted over with ink—
A black shadow.
….
The thing slowly walked toward me.
"Sojin, do you understand? In the end, the only thing that matters isn’t flimsy chivalry, but power…."
It was looking down on me.
Stupidly so.
Thrust—
My razor-sharp will pierced the shadow.
"Useles…. K-Kkraaahhh!!!! Aaaaagh!!!!! H-How?"
A scream that sounded deliciously satisfying burst from its mouth along with the feel of a clean strike.
Following the mysteries of yin and yang, the more violently the thing thrashed, the more strength flowed into me.
Because power had to be brought back into balance and harmony.
I leaned close to its ear and whispered,
"I’m not Cheon Sojin, you bastard."
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