Chapter 106
Chapter 106
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 106
>Chapter Title: Heavenly Predestined Bond (1)
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“…….”
“…….”
A strange silence hung over the clearing for a moment.
Everyone stared at Il-mok with baffled expressions.
Feeling awkward for some reason, Il-mok cleared his throat and spoke up.
“Ahem. So… why do you keep your hair so short?”
It was one of the two biggest reasons he’d mistaken her for a man.
In this era, many men still wore their hair long. Women cutting their hair short was practically unheard of.
At Il-mok’s question, Jeong-hyeon, who had been staring blankly, jumped in surprise.
She never imagined Il-mok had mistaken her for a man.
“B-because it gets in the way when shooting a b-bow…”
Even as she answered, Jeong-hyeon’s mind wandered elsewhere.
‘S-so that’s why you said that.’
She recalled that day.
- Living here with you, Jeong Gwan-do, is enough for me.
Now she understood what Il-mok had meant.
‘…He just meant it was more comfortable around me. Since he thought I was a man.’
Remembering how her heart had fluttered like waves crashing over her, making her run away, her head drooped without thinking.
Seeing Jeong-hyeon suddenly bow her head, Il-mok felt cold sweat trickle down his back.
‘Oh no…’
It wasn’t because he’d mistaken a woman for a man and hurt her feelings.
‘Don’t look. Get a grip, Il-mok.’
The second reason he’d mistaken her for a man kept popping into his head, drawing his gaze downward.
It wouldn’t matter between men, but staring there knowingly now that he knew she was a woman would be sexual harassment.
With Jeong-hyeon’s head bowed and Il-mok turning his away to avoid looking, silence fell over the clearing again.
And the one who shattered that silence was Ju Seo-yeon.
“Ah! Come to think of it, that’s why you mistook her for a man!”
“???”
Il-mok and Jeong-hyeon turned to her with puzzled looks at the out-of-nowhere comment.
“I found out when we bathed together, but Jeong Gwan-do wraps them with bandages because they get in the way when shooting her bow.”
“!!!”
‘What did she wrap?’
While Il-mok inferred the omitted subject from Ju Seo-yeon’s explanation,
“It was truly an amazing sight. To think something so magnificent could be hidden under bandages. Haha.”
Ju Seo-yeon gave Jeong-hyeon a thumbs-up, praising how impressive they were.
“Eek…”
At Ju Seo-yeon’s sudden revelation, Jeong-hyeon’s face turned beet red in an instant, her whole body shrinking.
‘She’s no Amazon…’
Il-mok, lost in such trivial thoughts, suddenly remembered something important as he watched the embarrassed Jeong-hyeon and the pleased Ju Seo-yeon.
“Jeong Gwan-do.”
At Il-mok’s abrupt call, Jeong-hyeon, on the verge of losing herself to shame, peeked up at him.
“…?”
For some reason, Il-mok was staring at her with the most serious expression imaginable.
“Listen well.”
As Jeong-hyeon nodded in a daze, Il-mok warned her.
“Never use the bathhouse with Ju Gwan-do.”
Not only Jeong-hyeon but also nearby Baek Cheon and Ju Seo-yeon stared at him in shock at the random order.
‘…Sharing a bathhouse with the same sex isn’t safe either.’
What Il-mok had belatedly realized was Ju Seo-yeon’s tastes.
* * *
While Il-mok sorted things out by sending Jeong-hyeon ahead and Ju Seo-yeon after,
In the Demonic Path Academy’s hall, Academy Lord Yeom Ga-hwi was meeting privately with instructor Chu Il-hwan.
Today, it wasn’t Yeom Ga-hwi summoning Chu Il-hwan—it was Chu Il-hwan who had come to him.
To report on yesterday’s events.
“Hmm. So Jeong-hyeon gained enlightenment thanks to Il-mok Gwan-do…”
Yeom Ga-hwi, having heard Chu Il-hwan’s report, stroked his beard with a fist callused from years of battle and muttered.
‘The Lord will be thrilled.’
As he stroked his beard, Yeom Ga-hwi recalled the events from a few days ago.
After Il-mok returned alive from Mang-a Ridge—no, now called its original name, Peach Flower Ridge again.
Yeom Ga-hwi had been summoned by the Heavenly Demon and gone to the main headquarters for a private audience.
‘It’s been ages since I’ve seen the Lord so delighted.’
The Heavenly Demon recounting Il-mok Gwan-do’s deeds at Peach Flower Ridge looked just like an old man at the market bragging about his genius grandson.
The Heavenly Demon was always lenient with the faithful, but Yeom Ga-hwi never imagined he’d become so boastful.
Still, considering what he’d seen and heard, anyone with such a disciple would probably boast too.
As Yeom Ga-hwi recalled the Heavenly Demon’s disciple-bragging, his memory naturally flowed to what came next.
The reason the Heavenly Demon had summoned him wasn’t just to boast about his disciple.
The real point came after.
It had just dragged on like any grandfather’s grandson stories.
‘There are suspicious elements within the Divine Cult.’
The Heavenly Demon suspected Il-mok Gwan-do’s disappearance was a trap set by someone.
Naturally, preparing such a trap required henchmen among the Demonic Path Academy’s assistants or instructors.
When he’d heard that, Yeom Ga-hwi’s inner thoughts had been mixed.
As Academy Lord, he wasn’t outraged that his instructors or assistants were under suspicion.
It was because the suspicious group’s target wasn’t the Heavenly Demon.
In the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, the absolute existence was the ‘Heavenly Demon’ alone.
The Heavenly Demon’s disciple was worthy of respect, not reverence.
‘After the Heavenly Demon ascends. Paving the way for the succession struggle.’
The Heavenly Demon called them ‘suspicious elements,’ but to Yeom Ga-hwi, their goal was simply to become the next Cult Leader.
In terms of the succession struggle, it wasn’t particularly suspicious or noteworthy.
The succession struggle was a blood festival where dozens or hundreds of masters died.
And Yeom Ga-hwi, fresh out of the Demonic Path Academy back then, had witnessed that blood festival firsthand.
Until then, the Academy was a hell where half the Gwan-do died and half survived.
But the Divine Cult during the succession struggle made even that seem like child’s play.
The victor of that blood festival was the current Heavenly Demon.
Even after, challengers to the Cult Leader appeared sporadically.
By crushing them, he perfected the Heavenly Demon Divine Art and reached the exalted position of Heavenly Demon: Hyeok-ryeon Il-hwi.
Having witnessed how the old man before him ascended to that position, Yeom Ga-hwi couldn’t help but see it as overprotectiveness.
Perhaps reading his thoughts, the Heavenly Demon added,
“I know what Academy Lord Yeom thinks. But Il-mok is not yet twenty. A grown warrior dreaming of becoming Heavenly Demon and dying for it is heaven’s will, but that child is too young for the succession struggle. At least give him the chance to decide after adulthood, no?”
Yeom Ga-hwi prostrated himself in agreement.
“I shall obey your solemn command.”
As Demonic Path Academy Lord teaching young Gwan-do, it was convincing, but Yeom Ga-hwi intended to follow the Heavenly Demon’s will regardless.
Whether he agreed or not, how could he defy the Heavenly Demon’s solemn command?
Recalling that day, Yeom Ga-hwi looked at Chu Il-hwan before him.
‘There’s a henchman in the Academy targeting Il-mok Gwan-do.’
Thinking of the henchman, Yeom Ga-hwi asked,
“How are the side effects of the Black Thunder Demon Palm these days?”
“…I haven’t fully overcome them yet, but I’ve made some progress. This is all thanks to you, Academy Lord.”
Chu Il-hwan suddenly clasped his fists in a formal salute, expressing gratitude with a solemn demeanor free of his usual playfulness.
* * *
Chu Il-hwan and Yeom Ga-hwi had known each other before the Academy bound them.
When Chu Il-hwan graduated the Academy and joined the Crimson Dragon Unit, its leader was Yeom Ga-hwi, then famed as the Fist Demon.
As the commander of his unit and a master called Fist Demon, Chu Il-hwan had respected Yeom Ga-hwi from then.
But Yeom Ga-hwi disapproved of Chu Il-hwan.
A few years before Chu Il-hwan entered the Academy, the Heavenly Demon had fully reformed it—to minimize Gwan-do deaths if possible.
From Yeom Ga-hwi’s perspective, who endured the old half-die-half-live Academy, graduates after the reform seemed half-baked.
Despite Yeom Ga-hwi’s disapproval, Chu Il-hwan persistently followed him, and after years fighting together in the Crimson Dragon Unit, Yeom Ga-hwi acknowledged him.
That reforming the Academy didn’t make one half-baked.
Years later, as Yeom Ga-hwi mastered the Asura Blood Fist to Transcending Demon realm, the Heavenly Demon’s command came.
Take the Academy Lord position and appoint trusted instructors if needed.
Per the command, before leaving for the Academy, Yeom Ga-hwi offered Chu Il-hwan an instructor role.
But Chu Il-hwan refused—due to the Black Thunder Demon Palm’s side effects.
“Commander. If I become an Academy instructor, I might kill Gwan-do.”
Chu Il-hwan refused to burden Yeom Ga-hwi, but he wouldn’t accept it.
“Think of it the other way. Active in a combat unit with murderous impulses, you’d succumb every time. Teaching Gwan-do requires suppressing them—that’s the path to Transcending Demon, isn’t it?”
“!!!”
Stunned, Chu Il-hwan composed himself and replied.
“But if I fail to control it and cause an accident, I can’t burden you for my growth.”
“You’ve grown arrogant. Think you can slip my watch and cause trouble? I’ll take responsibility and stop you—don’t worry.”
Moved by Yeom Ga-hwi’s consideration, Chu Il-hwan followed him to the Academy.
For years, he taught Gwan-do alongside Yeom Ga-hwi.
There were outbursts and near Demonic Deviations where he almost killed Gwan-do, but Yeom Ga-hwi’s vigilance prevented disasters.
‘My growth to this point is thanks to the Academy Lord too.’
As he’d said, facing Gwan-do while suppressing impulses yielded progress.
Transcending Demon was distant, but Chu Il-hwan had crossed one wall, starting to escape Extreme Demon.
* * *
“I won’t disappoint you, Academy Lord.”
Vowing to himself, Chu Il-hwan spoke sincerely, still in salute.
Watching him, Yeom Ga-hwi opened his mouth.
“Keep what I say now to yourself.”
With that, he relayed the Heavenly Demon’s instructions to Chu Il-hwan.
Yeom Ga-hwi alone couldn’t watch all assistants and instructors without gaps. Plus, having fought together over twenty years since the Crimson Dragon Unit, he trusted him.
“I’ll monitor assistants and instructors as Academy Lord, same as always.”
“Then I’ll watch Il-mok Gwan-do’s surroundings, Academy Lord.”
“Do so.”
Yeom Ga-hwi sent a gaze full of trust.
After bowing to Yeom Ga-hwi again and leaving the hall,
A cold, murderous smile crept across Chu Il-hwan’s face.
‘Daring to bring dishonor to the Academy Lord.’
Attempting to assassinate the youngest Young Master while Yeom Ga-hwi was Lord was no different from challenging him.
Cherishing Yeom Ga-hwi like a father, Chu Il-hwan vowed to hunt them down and slaughter them.