Chapter 199
Chapter 199
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 199
>Chapter Title: Proselytizing (3)
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By the time Il-mok finished singing A River Like Peace to Me, Baek-cheon was gazing up at him with tears welling in his eyes, for some reason.
“I’ve realized just how lacking I am, Young Master! I even thought of spreading the Divine Cult’s greatness to the extremes and drawing attention, yet I failed to think of songs. My narrow-minded thoughts are so pathetic that tears are blurring my vision.”
Not content with just gazing up at him, Baek-cheon dropped to his knees and shouted.
“On top of that, I thought you only excelled in martial arts and the five senses, but I never even imagined you’d have talent in melody as well. I want to gouge out these eyes of mine that failed to recognize your talent, Young Master.”
“Ahem. Well, no need to go that far with the eyes.”
Il-mok coughed awkwardly and turned his head away.
It wasn’t at all because receiving praise for a song he hadn’t even written or composed himself left him feeling oddly unsettled.
‘Why are they looking at me like I’m better than that guy?’
It was because the onlookers around him were staring at Il-mok as if he were some once-in-a-generation attention magnet.
Even Baek-cheon was giving off the vibe of acknowledging him as several levels superior, which made it all the more uncomfortable.
‘I’m not an attention magnet!’
He was singing the song now precisely to dump the role of performing it at the assembly onto Baek-cheon.
“Ahem. It just came to me by chance, so go ahead and try singing along.”
“Yes, Young Master!”
Baek-cheon stood up with the face of someone entrusted with a historic mission, his eyes shining brightly as he stared intently at Il-mok.
‘Ugh, that’s intimidating.’
The already clear gaze now glistened with moisture, sending chills down his spine.
Il-mok let out a light sigh and sang A River Like Peace to Me once more. Perhaps because the song was simple, Baek-cheon succeeded in singing along without much difficulty.
Nodding at the sight, Il-mok said.
“Excellent. Then I’ll teach you the next song.”
Il-mok planned to teach Baek-cheon a few more hymns besides A River Like Peace to Me.
Hymns were quite familiar songs to Il-mok. No, to Seo Ji-hoon.
Of course, Seo Ji-hoon wasn’t a believer in Christianity or Catholicism.
For someone who pursued work-life balance, going to church or cathedral every Sunday was no different from torture.
Yet the reason hymns were familiar was because he had endured a certain horrific period.
A horrific period that most Korean men would have experienced.
‘Damn Nonsan Training Center.’
And Il-mok began teaching the hymns that had been deeply etched into his mind from that horrific time.
“In the dark night, in the pitch-black night, we set off to find the dawn.”
The one and only form of entertainment at Nonsan Training Center, where eyes would roll at the thought of the provisions given for religious activities, drawing people in.
That song boasting a club-like atmosphere.
Siloam.
“Oh Maitreya, we thank you for granting us light.”
Even after graduating from Nonsan Training Center, he consistently attended church every weekend in his unit to snag those provisions. And to avoid the scoldings from seniors, those hymns had been imprinted in his mind like engravings.
Even after a decade or more, being military memories, they were stuck in a corner of his head like PTSD, refusing to budge.
Even during his time as a social welfare civil servant, he often heard hymns while involved with volunteer groups.
One way or another, the groups closest to volunteering were always Christian or Catholic ones.
Was it the simple melody? Or did Baek-cheon have some real skill in singing? After A River Like Peace to Me, he quickly memorized Siloam as well.
‘Is this why they won’t fade from memory?’
Being songs sung together by believers, hymns generally featured easy-to-sing, simple melodies and rhythms.
To the point where they could almost be original exam-banned songs.
Naturally, such a future flashed in his mind.
A scene of all the beings in Nanzhu singing Siloam together.
* * *
After learning two hymns from Il-mok.
Baek-cheon returned to his quarters and was singing those glorious songs again.
‘The Young Master could have sung them himself before the believers, yet he yielded them to me—this is another of his graces!’
It was a grace as vast as the heavens, so Baek-cheon immersed himself in practice with the mindset of a prophet bearing a religious mission.
He repeated the two songs over and over for quite a while.
‘Wait?’
A sudden thought struck Baek-cheon’s mind.
‘The Young Master said to use songs to spread our Divine Cult far and wide. And at the Demonic Path Academy, he told me to spread the Divine Cult to the extremes.’
Recalling the two grand missions Il-mok the Young Master had given him, he arrived at a shocking conclusion.
‘Is there really any need to do these two separately?’
Naturally, his imagination exploded.
What if he dramatically portrayed the great achievements of past Heavenly Demons, and at the most crucial scene of the extreme performance, belted out a majestic song with his powerful voice?
He could picture people utterly captivated by his brilliant acting and soul-stirring song, chanting the name ‘Baek-cheon’ and gazing up at him with faces overcome by emotion.
Plop.
Before he knew it, he had sat down on the floor in a cross-legged position, and inspiration bubbled up in his mind like a spring.
Matching that inspiration, the demonic qi of the White Flower Demonic Art coiled in his dantian slipped out and began flowing through his limbs.
The side effect of the White Flower Demonic Art, the hereditary martial art of the Baek family—one of the five great clans of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult—was attention addiction.
‘Yes. What if I scatter flowers like hidden weapons, filling heaven and earth?’
‘I’ve been trapped in narrow thinking until now! Just as I can mix extreme performances with songs, there’s no need to perform the Three Ultimate Stances only with Feather Fall Needle!’
In the midst of devising ways to draw even more attention, Baek-cheon had gained enlightenment in his martial arts as well.
* * *
The next morning, early.
“Young Master! Young Master!”
At the familiar voice of the madman outside the door, Il-mok sighed lightly and got up.
“Come in.”
No sooner had Il-mok given the order than Baek-cheon entered the room, along with Dam-bin, who had been standing guard as protector, and Hyeok-ryeon Seon-a.
“Why the fuss so early in the morning?”
Il-mok unwittingly blurted out his true feelings in his half-asleep state, but it fell on deaf ears to Baek-cheon, who had already converted to fanaticism. He was the type who only heard what he wanted anyway.
“Last night, this Baek realized your grand intent, Young Master.”
“???”
Wondering what nonsense this was, but before Il-mok could ask, Baek-cheon bowed deeply to him.
“You told me to perform at the Demonic Path Academy, and now to sing. So your true intent must be to create a performance combining the two, right?”
“…….”
Il-mok squinted and thought.
‘A theater with singing and acting... does he mean to make an opera?’
He figured the madman had finally invented the world’s first musical.
‘Hmm. Opera and pansori are operas too, but does this world have opera or pansori? If it does, it’d be a chance to ship this madman off to the West or East to learn it.’
But more importantly, wasn’t it better to get rid of the madman first? Right after finishing the hymn propagation in Nanzhu.
Oblivious to how Il-mok saw him, Baek-cheon shouted with a face still brimming with awe.
“While swimming in the sea of inspiration after grasping your profound intent, this Baek came to realize it fully. All rivers return to the sea, so all this enlightenment connects to the White Flower Demonic Art I’ve cultivated. Thanks to your teachings, Young Master, this Baek has broken through one wall!”
With that, Baek-cheon prostrated himself repeatedly on the floor, as if ready to split his forehead open.
At his reverent posture, Dam-bin and Hyeok-ryeon Seon-a, watching from the side, looked shocked as well.
“I’d heard rumors that those who spend time with you advance rapidly in realm, but I never imagined you taught songs with that intent. Truly astonishing, Young Master.”
“As expected of big brother! Can’t you give me some teachings too? I’m always ready to receive them from you, big brother.”
After Baek-cheon, even the two joined in praising him, so Il-mok replied half-heartedly.
“Ahem. That wasn’t my intent.”
What could he say? It felt like he was being lumped together with Baek-cheon as the same breed of attention magnet.
“Hohoho. Humble to a fault.”
“As expected of the Young Master!!”
But despite Il-mok’s denial, none of the three showed any sign of believing him.
“Haa….”
Fed up with the continued attention-magnet treatment, Il-mok let out a deep sigh.
* * *
The next evening. A river on the outskirts of Nanzhu.
A dim spot a little removed from the laundry area where women washed clothes during the day.
There, a multitude of people gathered.
About a third of them exuded a rigid, fearful tension, while another third radiated excitement or curiosity.
The rigid and fearful ones were from brothels or pleasure houses—courtesans, or their managers and guard warriors.
The excited or curious ones were those drawn by honey traps and proselytizing, coming out of sheer curiosity.
The groups, radiating entirely different vibes, didn’t mix at all. Their sole common point was craning their necks, looking around as if searching for someone.
And amid that chaotic atmosphere, someone appeared.
“I wish to convey gracious words to all the believers who have come to our Maitreya Illuminated Cult’s assembly today.”
A middle-aged man wearing the mask of the Wrathful Four Heavenly Kings. None other than the Branch Leader of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult’s Nanzhu branch.
Those from brothels or pleasure houses who knew of the Maitreya Illuminated Cult’s existence watched him with tense faces, while those lured by honey traps regarded him with puzzled expressions.
‘Maitreya Illuminated Cult?’
‘Gracious words?’
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
Amid this, the Branch Leader’s sermon began.
“Our Maitreya Illuminated Cult awaits the Maitreya who will descend in the future to the present world. Maitreya will drive out the overflowing evils of this world and save all sentient beings. Even now, Maitreya’s incarnation has descended to this Nanzhu and cleansed the wicked Nancheon Society—this too is proof that Maitreya will come.”
At the story of Maitreya’s incarnation tidying up the Nancheon Society, those who came out of curiosity began buzzing.
In that disorderly atmosphere, the Branch Leader shouted.
“First, let us all sing together a song honoring Maitreya’s incarnations who descended for us and fought the wicked.”
No sooner had his shout ended than Baek-cheon stepped forward.
Without even wearing a mask.
Seeing the crowd gathered and staring at him, Baek-cheon felt an intense ecstasy as if he were ascending to heaven right then.
“The song you’ll all sing with me today is ‘Fight the Wicked.’”
True to his attention-magnet nature, Baek-cheon declared boldly and began the song.
Following A River Like Peace to Me and the Hymn of Light (Siloam), another hymn Il-mok had taught him.
“Fight the wicked, brethren freed from sin. Fight boldly, there against the evil foes.”
In Il-mok’s view, perhaps the hymn closest to the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult’s doctrines.
“The day of judgment and the day of light stands before your eyes, soon to arrive.”
A song so simple and famous that even those who didn’t know hymns knew at least the chorus.
“Light~! Light! Maitreya Il~luminated Cult!! Light~! Light! Maitreya Il~luminated Cult!!”
The hymn known as Glory, Glory Hallelujah.