Chapter 180
Chapter 180
-----------------------------------------------------------------
>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 180
>Chapter Title: Career Path (5)
>-----------------------------------------------------------------
As Hyeok-ryeon Hwan relentlessly emanated killing intent, Hyeok-ryeon Seon-a, walking beside him, furrowed her brows.
“Father.”
At her curt call, Hyeok-ryeon Hwan flinched in surprise and withdrew his killing intent.
“Ahem. It seems Father got a bit, er, tense at the thought of meeting that famous youngest young master.”
True to form as a doting fool of a father, Hyeok-ryeon Hwan was powerless against his daughter.
The reason he was traveling with her to meet a lecher who had his sights set on her was exactly the same.
Today was the day that damned lecher was returning after graduating from the Demonic Path Academy.
Hyeok-ryeon Hwan had planned to go alone, but if Hyeok-ryeon Seon-a had tried to stop him, he would have been ready to take his own life right then and there—which was how this bizarre father-daughter outing had come about.
Still, he was making the best of it, convincing himself he was happy just to walk with his daughter.
He enjoyed this happy time with his daughter as they walked for a while.
When they arrived near Wind Rock Hall, a look of bewilderment settled on Hyeok-ryeon Hwan’s face.
Several men had already arrived there ahead of them.
Upon recognizing them, Hyeok-ryeon Hwan hurriedly clasped his hands in salute.
“I greet the Baek Clan Patriarch. I greet the Great Young Master. I greet the Dharma Protector Chief.”
Each one of them outranked Hyeok-ryeon Hwan, who was the young clan head of the Hyeok-ryeon Clan.
‘I already knew from my wife that the Great Young Master favors the youngest young master, but why are the Baek Clan Patriarch and the Dharma Protector Chief here?’
As the young head of one of the Five Great Clans, his status was one that held its own anywhere in the cult.
On top of that, with his skills on the verge of reaching Transcending Demon, there weren’t many in the cult stronger than him. The experts on his level numbered only the leaders of the various martial units, at most.
Yet here were three such experts gathered, all superior to him.
“Hahaha. I heard you’d ended your secluded training. Young Hyeok-ryeon Clan Head. I’ve been tied up with Demonic Cult Pavilion affairs and couldn’t greet you properly until now. Glad to see you. Looks like you’ve made great strides in the meantime.”
Wi Jin-hak, the Great Young Master—just two years his senior and someone he shared a certain camaraderie with—greeted him warmly.
“How could mine compare to yours, Great Young Master? Haha.”
Hyeok-ryeon Hwan responded to the greeting with an awkward laugh, still harboring doubts about why three such heavyweights were here.
And he wasn’t the only one nursing such doubts.
‘Why is the young Hyeok-ryeon Clan Head here too? Is the Hyeok-ryeon Clan aiming for the next cult leader position as well? Is this the young clan head’s independent move? Or orders from Clan Head Hyeok-ryeon Cheon-gang?’
The Dharma Protector Chief, who harbored ambitions of securing Il-mok to aim for the next cult leader role, wondered the same.
‘So many people coming to see our youngest. It’s heartening that others recognize his value, but they might all become my rivals in the future.’
The Great Young Master, planning for the time after his master’s departure, felt conflicting emotions.
The four men all wore smiles on the surface, but inwardly they sized up each other’s intentions while exchanging trivial pleasantries.
There was exactly one person utterly uninterested in their conversation: Hyeok-ryeon Seon-a.
Craining her neck this way and that, wondering when the one she’d been waiting for would arrive, Hyeok-ryeon Seon-a’s eyes suddenly widened.
“Brother!”
Before she could shout, the four men—who had already sensed someone approaching and turned their heads—spotted Il-mok and Jin Ha-yeon.
Hyeok-ryeon Seon-a bolted straight for Il-mok, ignoring her father entirely, while Wi Jin-hak let out a hearty laugh and greeted him.
“Youngest! Come on over. Hahaha!”
“I greet Eldest Senior Brother.”
Il-mok saluted his eldest senior brother with clasped hands, then hesitated as he reached to pat the head of the rushing Hyeok-ryeon Seon-a.
In the time since, the little girl had grown quite a bit. Treating her like a child as before felt a touch forced now.
“Long time no see.”
“I was waiting for you, Brother.”
As Il-mok’s hand rose toward her head and then dropped back down, a hint of disappointment flickered in Hyeok-ryeon Seon-a’s eyes as she followed its path.
But Il-mok’s gaze had already moved past her, toward Wind Rock Hall.
‘Who the hell are those guys?’
Aside from his eldest senior brother, the other three were complete strangers.
It was an odd vibe.
One was staring at him like prey.
Another seemed strangely excited.
‘What’s with him? Stoned?’
And the last one had a completely dazed look on his face.
Thanks to his daughter abandoning him for the youngest young master, Hyeok-ryeon Hwan had turned into a statue of neglect.
* * *
Il-mok, who had returned to Wind Rock Hall with Jin Ha-yeon—who had been waiting in Heavenly Demon Hall—entered with the guests waiting at the entrance.
Jin Ha-yeon, ever the capable maidservant, swiftly prepared to receive them, and soon Il-mok and the four guests sat facing each other around the tea tray she had set out.
Since this was a time for the adults to converse, Hyeok-ryeon Seon-a waited outside with Jin Ha-yeon.
Il-mok, the host, smiled and greeted them first.
“Thank you all for coming. I’ve been away from here for so long that I’m sorry there’s nothing proper prepared. But what brings you all here?”
Il-mok hid his inner wish for them to leave soon with utmost naturalness.
The four men, each with their own motives, engaged in a subtle battle of wits, gauging one another’s intentions for a moment.
The Great Young Master Wi Jin-hak broke the silence first with a hearty laugh.
“Hahaha. What special reason would there be? Your foolish senior brother just came to celebrate his precious youngest junior brother’s graduation from the Demonic Path Academy. Hahaha.”
“Thank you, Eldest Senior Brother.”
Il-mok saluted once more with clasped hands.
*Now that the congratulations are done, please be on your way,* he swallowed the follow-up silently.
The Dharma Protector Chief, who saw Wi Jin-hak as a rival, spoke up next—more bluntly than the Great Young Master.
“Hahaha. This chief came to congratulate Eighth Young Master on his Demonic Path Academy graduation as well. But graduation is not an end, but a beginning. So, doesn’t Eighth Young Master need to start thinking about which division to join?”
Il-mok grasped his intent immediately.
*Phew. Good thing I got Master’s permission in advance.*
With the pretext of seeking revenge on the Flying Dragon Hall Leader and gauging the Central Plains situation, the Heavenly Demon had responded positively to considering Il-mok’s journey to the Central Plains.
“I was just coming back from discussing that very matter with Master, but since he’s given me a specific mission, it’s hard to speak freely about it.”
When Il-mok nailed it shut by invoking the Heavenly Demon’s name, even the Dharma Protector Chief couldn’t press further.
“Oh? Master has already assigned you a task? I was hoping to lead the Demonic Cult Pavilion together with my excellent junior brother here, to nurture the cult’s talents. What a shame.”
Unlike the Dharma Protector Chief, the Great Young Master openly showed his disappointment but didn’t push any further.
*With Master as my excuse, they’ll all leave soon enough.*
Il-mok assumed the other two shared the same goal as the Dharma Protector Chief or his eldest senior brother, but he was mistaken.
Baek Un-hak, who had been silently listening to the three, suddenly spoke up.
“I came here because I wanted to personally thank Eighth Young Master.”
Il-mok, having no prior acquaintance with Baek Un-hak, could only wear a puzzled expression.
* * *
A little over a year ago.
The day after Baek Cheon left for the Central Plains, having turned Baek Un-hak’s world upside down.
Baek Un-hak had visited Heavenly Demon Hall at the Heavenly Demon’s summons.
“I greet the Lord of Ten Thousand Demons.”
Even as he paid his respects to the Heavenly Demon, Baek Un-hak had to struggle to maintain his composure.
Out of fury toward the youngest young master who had filled his precious second son’s head with nonsense.
“Hohoho. Rise.”
And right after standing at the Heavenly Demon’s command, Baek Un-hak nearly lost control of his expression.
“Baek Clan Head, you’ve raised your second son splendidly.”
*What nonsense is this?*
Was he mocking him for having a second son who had abandoned his important post to head to a Central Plains branch?
Baek Un-hak barely managed to keep his lips from twitching as he forced himself to ask.
“I am too dull to presume to understand Your Excellency’s intent.”
“Hahaha. No need for such humility. Didn’t your second son set off for the Central Plains with grand ambitions?”
“…Grand ambitions?”
Baek Un-hak asked back with a baffled look, and only then did the Heavenly Demon stroke his beard and ask in puzzlement.
“You haven’t heard, Baek Clan Head? The reason your second son headed to the Central Plains.”
Baek Un-hak recalled yesterday’s events.
His son, saying the clan was too small, heading to the Central Plains. Come to think of it, he did seem to harbor some grand ambition.
To the clan head, however, it had just seemed like youthful impulsiveness from his still-young son.
Yet from the Heavenly Demon’s reaction, that ambition seemed worthy of even the cult leader’s acknowledgment.
“Ahem. I sent him off knowing he had grand ambitions, but I didn’t look into the details.”
“Hohoho. Now I see your second son has inherited your own heroic ambition, Clan Head.”
“My apologies.”
Baek Un-hak saluted with clasped hands at the Heavenly Demon’s high praise, then cautiously probed to sate his surging curiosity.
“If I may be so bold, might I ask what Cheon-i’s heroic ambition entails?”
“Hohoho. Of course.”
The Heavenly Demon gladly affirmed with a laugh, his expression turning reminiscent as he recounted past events.
Just one day prior. What had happened at the Demonic Path Academy graduation ceremony.
“It was astonishing enough that he turned this old man and my youngest disciple’s affairs into a play, but the real marvel came after.”
Baek Un-hak struggled even more to maintain his expression upon hearing that the second son of the Baek Clan—one of the Five Great Families no less—had fallen into what was at best a trivial pursuit like theater, but the words that followed flipped his emotions entirely.
“He said he would turn the tales of our great predecessors, the former Heavenly Demons, into plays to preach their greatness to the masses.”
Only then did Baek Un-hak fully grasp his son’s purpose, feeling as if struck by a massive club.
And not just because of that grand ambition.
‘Come to think of it, as His Excellency said, Cheon-i played the Heavenly Demon in that graduation play too.’
In a play preaching the Heavenly Demon’s greatness, naturally the protagonist would be the Heavenly Demon.
Only then did Baek Un-hak realize.
‘Our Cheon-i hasn’t strayed onto the wrong path.’
The side effect of the Baek Clan’s secret art, White Blossom Demonic Art, was an addiction to attention.
He had worried that the boy, starved for it, had gone astray because even the clan elders shunned giving him any.
‘Cheon-i was trying to escape the clan and gain the attention of the entire world! And by spreading the mighty deeds of our cult, no less!’
His second son truly had found the clan too confining. All thanks to the youngest young master’s advice.
* * *
“Thanks to Eighth Young Master’s advice, our Cheon-i set off for the Central Plains with heroic ambition. I must personally thank the one who gave such excellent counsel.”
Il-mok finally asked back at Baek Un-hak’s words, which he still couldn’t make sense of.
“My advice? What advice do you mean?”
“Hahaha. My, my. Now I see Eighth Young Master is humble too. It was because of you that our Cheon-i took an interest in theater, deciding to use plays to preach the cult’s greatness.”
Only then did a memory stir for Il-mok.
Advising Baek Cheon, who was being punished at the time—and after which Baek Cheon had turned into a genuine madman.
“I am truly grateful for that, Eighth Young Master.”
Baek Un-hak saluted once more with clasped hands in thanks.
No matter if by seniority, age, status, or martial prowess, this was the gratitude of a man who outranked Il-mok in every way.
Yet Il-mok’s expression as he received it was subtle.
It wasn’t because of the father thanking him for making his son even crazier, or his deranged attitude.
Three years in the cult had made him used to such lunacy.
A far more pressing issue had now surfaced in Il-mok’s mind.
‘No way… I won’t have to run into that madman again in the Central Plains, right?’
Hearing that Baek Cheon had gone to the Central Plains left a nagging chill crawling up his spine.