Chapter 205
Chapter 205
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 205
Chapter Title: The Heavenly Demon's Daughter
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In the pitch-black brain prison.
Unhyang stared at Cheongryang, who lay unconscious, her limbs bound by iron chains.
It felt like her heart was being ripped apart and plummeting to the floor. Seeing Cheongryang right there in front of her, she sensed that night had fallen upon her own fate.
"......Get her out."
"I didn't quite hear that."
"Get her out, right now!"
Wood-crack-.
Crack-.
As Unhyang surged with fury and raised her aura, the martial artists nearby flinched.
Among them, only Pung Ga-ryang—the one closest to her—stepped forward to block her path.
"That's as far as you go."
"Move."
"I can't let you go any further."
Pung Ga-ryang raised his own aura, refusing to yield.
"That's an order."
"......"
Unhyang bit her lip and gazed at Cheongryang beyond him.
Even amid this chaos, she showed no sign of regaining consciousness—her condition looked dire.
Her head grew hotter by the second. An impulse welled up to sweep aside Pung Ga-ryang and every martial artist in the brain prison, rescuing Cheongryang on the spot.
Sizzle-.
Just then, as Unhyang's toes twitched to move—
"It would be best if you didn't."
Grab-.
A hand clamped onto her shoulder.
He had appeared in an instant, devouring the aura Unhyang's presence filled the brain prison with.
She turned to see the man's face—the one gripping her shoulder—and her brow furrowed deeply.
"Baek Yi-dan......"
"It's the Deputy Castle Lord."
Silver-white hair framed a tiger-like face.
Shinryeong Castle's Deputy Castle Lord, Baek Yi-dan, read her intentions and spoke.
"Rampaging here would be the same as killing that girl yourself. You know that, right?"
Grip-.
Unhyang clenched her lip until it hurt.
Pung Ga-ryang alone was a high ranker. The others were rankers or near-rankers—formidable experts all.
Fighting them to rescue Cheongryang would be no easy feat. With Baek Yi-dan joining in, it was impossible.
'If I could just eliminate all the witnesses......'
A brief internal struggle.
But soon, she shook her head.
"I understand. I'll hold back."
"Follow me."
Baek Yi-dan released her shoulder and spun on his heel.
Unhyang watched his back for a moment before trailing after him.
They climbed the stairs from the underground brain prison and arrived at the one place she least wanted to return to: the Castle Lord's residence.
Baek Yi-dan dismissed Pung Ga-ryang and the Shinma Corps martial artists who had followed.
"I have business to discuss. Leave us."
"Understood."
With all eyes gone, only Baek Yi-dan and Unhyang remained in the Castle Lord's residence. Alone with him, a strange sensation washed over her.
She had assumed returning here meant facing Uncheon-geuk.
"...Where has Father gone?"
His empty seat should have brought relief, but instead, her unease deepened.
He had used Cheongryang to lure her back during this critical moment—yet he was absent.
It meant other schemes or equally vital matters occupied him.
Sure enough.
"The Castle Lord is meeting the Heavenly Demon."
Unhyang's eyes widened in shock at Baek Yi-dan's reply.
"The Heavenly... Demon?"
"Is that level of surprise okay?"
Her heart plummeted.
"It must be a secret that can never be exposed."
"You—what are you......"
"Do you think I don't know?"
Father, what...
Baek Yi-dan gazed at her, muttering coldly.
"You're not the Castle Lord's daughter—you're that demon's."
The snow-blanketed peak of the Tian Shan mountains.
Uncheon-geuk arrived there with a bottle of liquor—the bloodstains still faintly visible.
A frigid wind whipped across his face. Across from him, the Heavenly Demon Jin Ha-ryeong gazed at her reflection in her cup and spoke.
"You played a little trick."
Uncheon-geuk drank in silence. Studying his serene face, Jin Ha-ryeong asked,
"Regretful?"
"I don't follow."
"Hwang Gyu-seong."
A name that should have provoked a reaction—yet Uncheon-geuk's expression remained blank.
"Murim's aid comes at the price of helping kill me, they say."
"Is that so?"
"What did Shinryeong Castle get?"
"Points. A massive haul. Keeping the underlings paid isn't cheap."
Thud-.
Uncheon-geuk set down his cup and knelt before Jin Ha-ryeong.
"Whatever the reason, my actions offended you. I apologize. If you wish, this life is yours."
"Very well."
Flinch—for the first time, Uncheon-geuk's shoulder quivered faintly.
A tremor too subtle for ordinary eyes. Before the Heavenly Demon, however, nothing was too small.
Silence stretched—long enough for the icy mountain air to fill the lungs.
Then Jin Ha-ryeong spoke.
"I'm kidding."
The faint tremble vanished like a lie.
"Still, take care. I'm tolerant, but others may not be."
"Yes."
"No next time."
"......"
Uncheon-geuk nodded and rose.
As he reseated himself across from her, Jin Ha-ryeong peered down at the cloud-shrouded mountains below.
"She should be back by now."
"Unhyang?"
"Weren't you planning to fetch her again?"
Not long ago, she had seen Uncheon-geuk watching Unhyang.
"Looked like you missed your daughter dearly."
"Necessity."
"Mine? Or yours?"
"Both."
Unhyang.
She linked Jin Ha-ryeong and Shinryeong Castle. Their bond began the day she was born.
"If necessary, fine."
Fiddling with her cup, Jin Ha-ryeong slid the bottle forward.
Uncheon-geuk refilled his cup routinely. In her usual impassive tone, she pressed:
"Remember."
Rumble-.
The pouring liquor felt heavy—like a vast waterfall funneled into a tiny cup.
"No one besides us can know that child's true identity."
"...Yes."
Uncheon-geuk nodded laboriously and drank.
The liquor he brought tasted bitterly like poison.
It felt like her entire body was being dragged into a crimson abyss.
The opulent Castle Lord's residence blurred from view—replaced by a hellscape brimming with blood and shadow.
Her heart thundered as if every buried shame of her life lay exposed.
Everyone harbors secrets they dread revealing.
Scandalous mishaps unfit for daylight, ugly inner thoughts too vile to share, inescapable fates of birth and nature no effort can defy...
Baek Yi-dan's revelation encompassed them all.
What had she just heard? A mistake?
She tried denying it inwardly—but it rang too clear.
Heavenly Demon. Daughter.
What more proof was needed?
"It was real."
Muttering "It was real..." to himself, Baek Yi-dan erupted into maniacal laughter.
"Uhaha, haha, uhahaha!"
His guffaws shook the residence as he rose and paced wildly.
Unhyang remained frozen, unmoving amid his frenzied display—like uncontainable excitement boiling over.
Step, step-.
After circling madly for ages, Baek Yi-dan loomed before her.
His hulking shadow engulfed her.
"I planned to claim you after handing over the Castle Lord... but now, your usefulness shifts."
Hand over the Castle Lord.
The bombshell yanked her back to reality. Long Shinryeong Castle's Deputy Lord, Baek Yi-dan had always coveted the throne.
Unhyang fixed him with a piercing glare.
"You think you can betray Father?"
No matter his prowess, he couldn't touch Uncheon-geuk.
"It would've been tough originally. Without you."
"Even with me, you fail."
"...Is that so?"
A serpentine smirk slithered across his face.
He closed the gap, scrutinizing her features.
"Hiding this means you and the Heavenly Demon are the Castle Lord's weakness. Yours too, naturally."
"Nonsense. Whose daughter—"
"So proud of it? Shout it outside now—that you're the Heavenly Demon's daughter?"
"......"
"Exactly. You dread exposure. That demon's blood runs in you."
Her body went rigid.
His words gouged the wounds she had long feared.
"The friend you risked everything for. Childhood orphan pals. Hard-won coworkers. That streamer you obsess over."
Faces flashed with his words.
Cheongryang first, then estranged old friends, culminating in Lee Soo-hyuk.
"How would they react, knowing you're the Heavenly Demon's spawn?"
Those faces twisted in loathing toward her.
Her throat scorched like days without water; lips cracked dry.
Unhyang had endured such nightmares for years.
Loved ones despising her—sleepless torment.
Now spoken aloud by another. The horror bled into reality.
"I know how the Castle Lord wields that fool and your friends to leash you. Terrifying, isn't it? Them dying for your sake."
Baek Yi-dan prowled her perimeter.
Each barb ripped deeper. Speechless, she couldn't resist.
"I can do worse."
"...Worse?"
"Doubt me? I'll wake your friend now, expose you, rip her apart. The rest too—reveal you, disgust them, doom them through you."
Unhyang teetered at the crossroads.
"Hate that? Aid me. Help slay the man you call father."
"Father......"
"Not blood anyway. Just the fiend you despised."
Grab-.
A pot-lid hand seized her face.
No urge to shove away the rude, repulsive grasp—unlike before.
Baek Yi-dan yanked her close, eyes gleaming with greedy slime. He whispered hot in her ear.
"Mark this, bitch. Till death, you're mine. Body, heart, soul—all."
Those words made her truly feel it: she had returned to Shinryeong Castle's hell.
Unhyang shut her eyes. In the darkness, one scene surfaced.
"Are you guys hiring more staff by any chance?"
The dream began that day.
Brief escape from hell, tasting an impermanent reverie.
"Really just this?"
"Yeah. Monitor streams, scout promising streamers, contact and recruit."
"Recruit... kidnap?"
"...Didn't you come to unwind?"
Such a world existed.
No shattered limbs, no spilled blood, no vile threats.
Adaptation came swift—ease trumps hardship.
For a fleeting while, bliss.
Beloved friends, cherished streamer, dream job.
Unreal happiness, too perfect for truth.
Unhyang opened her eyes slowly. Baek Yi-dan's sneering visage filled her sight.
Yes. A momentary happiness—now accept.
That was the dream.
This is my reality.