Chapter 270
Chapter 270
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 270
>Chapter Title: Plague (5)
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Amid the chaotic atmosphere.
Il-mok swallowed a sigh inwardly and opened his mouth.
“Excluding Team Leader Dam Bin and Young Hero Gu Yangmun, everyone else return to tending the patients.”
Right after the others departed at Il-mok’s instruction, Il-mok spoke to Dam Bin.
“Team Leader Dam, take your rest here from now on. Absolutely do not go near the patients.”
“If I circulate my internal energy and use disinfectant liquor, there’s no risk of catching the plague, Young Master.”
To her response, like that of an Il-mok addict, Il-mok played his trump card. A trump card even a fanatic couldn’t refuse.
“This isn’t a recommendation—it’s an order. You’ve conceived a child who will serve the Divine Cult in the future, haven’t you? Put the child first unconditionally.”
Dam Bin, wearing an uncharacteristically complicated expression, soon bowed her head in reply.
“…I will obey the order.”
“Then go out and rest.”
As Dam Bin rose to leave the hall at Il-mok’s instruction, Gu Yangmun also stood to follow her.
“Young Hero Gu Yangmun, stay here.”
“Yes?”
Gu Yangmun looked back with a puzzled expression, but Il-mok simply stared at him without another word.
“…I will obey the order.”
Gu Yangmun sat back down again, and after Dam Bin had left the hall, Il-mok asked him.
“Have you given it any thought in the meantime?”
“With Team Leader Dam even pregnant now, what’s the point of agonizing over it, Young Master.”
Seeing Gu Yangmun’s face set with manly resolve to take responsibility, Il-mok let out a light sigh.
“As I told you before, a sense of responsibility alone doesn’t solve everything. Decide clearly whether you’ll be with her purely out of ‘responsibility,’ or if you feel even the slightest affection for her.”
Gu Yangmun replied, his face uncharacteristically complicated.
“Team Leader Dam is a woman too, so it’s not as if there are no feelings at all. It’s just…”
Instead of pressing him as he hesitated mid-sentence, Il-mok waited calmly for him to continue.
After a moment of agonized thought, Gu Yangmun belatedly added the rest.
“A man should walk the path he’s chosen for himself with unwavering resolve, but I couldn’t help thinking that cherishing multiple women amounted to cowardice, Young Master.”
At his inner turmoil, something suddenly occurred to Il-mok.
“…No way, is that why you kept clinging to Miss Jin despite her constant cold rejections? You believed a man must carry his first love for life?”
“That’s right, Young Master. No matter what trials come, shouldn’t a man press on along the path he chose, with a smile?”
Il-mok wasn’t sure whether to call this romantic or the mark of a madman… He just couldn’t get a read on it.
It would have been a fine philosophy if his first love had worked out, but as things stood, it was pure stalking.
On the flip side, this romantically deranged madman might just make a solid husband if handled right.
At the very least, he wasn’t the type to go chasing skirts elsewhere.
“Listen closely, Young Hero Gu Yangmun.”
“Yes, Young Master.”
“You’re right—a man should pick one path and stick to it doggedly. But your affections haven’t even truly begun yet, have they?”
“What do you mean? Even setting aside Team Leader Dam’s situation, my feelings for Ha-yeon were genuine.”
“It was one-sided on your part, wasn’t it? Think about martial arts training. Back when you first started learning, could you just decide on your own to practice the Heavenly Demon Divine Art because you felt like it?”
“!?”
Gu Yangmun’s face twisted in confusion at Il-mok’s bizarre analogy.
If he left the man to stew alone, he might even fall into Demonic Deviation, so Il-mok pressed on swiftly.
“It’s the same with romance. It only begins once feelings are mutual and you’re together—not when you unilaterally declare it on your own. In other words, you haven’t betrayed anyone or switched affections yet. You never even started to begin with.”
“Is that how it is?”
“Exactly. So from now on, begin your first true bond with Team Leader Dam. Stay true to your vows: as a man, without wavering, straight and steadfast.”
Gu Yangmun’s face looked as tormented as if he teetered on the edge of a heart demon as he asked.
“So you’re saying Team Leader Dam—not Ha-yeon—is my first love?”
“That’s right.”
Il-mok knew full well his argument was pure sophistry, but he delivered it with utter conviction.
After all, convincing a madman required mad logic.
Gu Yangmun, utterly naive with zero romantic experience, soon opened his mouth in感動.
“Ahh. Thanks to you, Young Master, this Gu Yangmun has attained great enlightenment.”
With the persuasion seeming to take hold, Il-mok added more.
“So focus on Team Leader Dam like a proper man. Even more than you did with Miss Jin back then.”
“Hm? Didn’t you say not to shower too much affection at the start?”
“That was before things turned romantic. Team Leader Dam’s situation is different.”
“Ah! As expected of you, Young Master!”
Having fortified Gu Yangmun’s mindset, Il-mok issued his final command.
“Now go find Team Leader Dam. No matter how capable she is, this is her first pregnancy. Naturally, she’s struggling to come to terms with it. Stay by her side at all times to support and help her.”
“I shall carry out your order!”
Il-mok watched as Gu Yangmun saluted with clasped fists and dashed out. Only then did he let out a sigh.
“Whew. Madman or not, he’s a sincere romantic at heart—faithful enough to make it work somehow?”
Il-mok was attempting a bit of self-brainwashing too.
* * *
In a red-light district of some distant region, far from Lanzhou in Gansu Province.
Deep within an utterly ordinary brothel nestled among dozens of others.
“Tsk. What a bunch of morons.”
The Hao Clan Leader clicked his tongue in disgust as he received the subordinate’s report, then chugged straight from a bottle of baijiu.
“Bunch of idiots. Strutting around like they’re clever, only to get their guts ripped out by the very prey they couldn’t even spit up. Tang Clan blockheads.”
The black-clad man who had come to report bowed his head at the Hao Clan Leader’s tirade and said.
“The Orthodox Factions have always been like that.”
Harboring no fondness for the Orthodox himself, the black-clad man joined in the Tang Clan bashing.
Their rage at the Tang Clan stemmed from more than mere antipathy toward the Orthodox.
Having clashed with the upstart Maitreya Divine Cult, they had devised a “kill with a borrowed knife” plot.
They leaked intel on Pingliang County to the Tang Clan, aiming to sic them on the Maitreya Divine Cult.
But the scheme ended in utter farce.
The Heavenly Demon Secret Grotto crisis erupted out of nowhere, and the Tang Clan pulled off something utterly insane amid it.
Worse, the Maitreya Divine Cult had played a major role in exposing the Tang Clan’s deranged antics—an outcome too ridiculous for words.
On top of that, the Maitreya Divine Cult had thwarted the Blood Cult’s conspiracy and even rescued Orthodox later-generation disciples, making “kill with a borrowed knife” a dicey prospect now.
“Pigs. Greedier than us, and too busy spewing their phony bullshit.”
With some key Orthodox powers now indebted to them, everyone had to play wary—even if the Maitreya Divine Cult’s turf looked ripe for the taking.
He spent ages guzzling baijiu while venting about the Orthodox’s vile hypocrisy.
“Blood Cult. Why the hell did those vermin have to kick up a fuss right then? Damn it all.”
His curses soon shifted to the Blood Cult.
As he relentlessly ranted against those who had wrecked his plans.
Heh heh.
The Hao Clan Leader suddenly flashed a twisted grin.
The black-clad man, who had been watching the leader’s unsightly display, asked as if he’d been awaiting just that.
“Has a plan come to mind?”
“Hahaha. Yeah. If the Orthodox are worthless, we just use someone else instead.”
The Hao Clan Leader would never utter that he’d personally move against the Maitreya Divine Cult—not even on his deathbed.
He had to prepare for any contingency.
Not that he feared dying in a fight with that Maitreya incarnation.
The Hao Clan was a disorganized mess by nature; if the leader stepped out and left his post vacant, it’d be an invitation for a backstab.
The constant location changes weren’t just for dodging enemies—they were mainly against internal betrayal.
“If it’s someone to replace the Orthodox, do you mean Black Dao forces? There aren’t any near Gansu that could stand up to the Maitreya Divine Cult.”
“I never even hoped for the Black Dao.”
“Then… You plan to use the Demonic Cult?”
The black-clad man’s uncharacteristic shock earned a headshake from the Hao Clan Leader.
“How the hell am I supposed to manipulate those fanatics?”
With that, the Hao Clan Leader muttered playfully, as if struck by a delightful idea.
“Hmm. Like the Blood Cult tried—if we spread rumors that the Maitreya Divine Cult is hiding the Heavenly Demon’s corpse, it just might work. Though the instant it’s exposed as fake, those Demonic Cult zealots’ll swarm me in droves. Hahaha.”
The black-clad man gave a wry smile at the jest. Tales of Demonic Cult fanatics were legend, turning it into a spine-chilling quip.
“Then who? You’re not thinking of tipping off the Blood Cult, are you? Now that I think about it, their last plot tanked because of the Maitreya Divine Cult—they could be useful.”
The Hao Clan Leader stared at the black-clad man’s guess like he was insane.
“Are you right in the head? The whole murim’s hunting those bastards—join hands with them? Looks like you’re a spy planted to wipe out our Hao Clan after all.”
Worn out from playing along with the leader’s lunacy, the black-clad man sighed.
“Then who exactly do you plan to mobilize against the Maitreya Divine Cult?”
Grinning slyly at the question, the Hao Clan Leader replied.
“The authorities.”
The black-clad man furrowed his brow at the answer.
It wasn’t about fretting over the taboo against meddling with officials. That custom was just a bizarre holdover tangled in messy politics.
The Hao Clan had zero reason to honor it.
His frown came from elsewhere.
“All the branches near Gansu are gone—wiped out by the Maitreya Divine Cult. How do you expect to sway the authorities?”
“Hahaha. To move Gansu officials, why bother with Gansu brothels? Our Hao Clan spans the Central Plains—naturally, we’ve got connections to Gansu officials in other provinces too.”
“…Won’t such a big move risk exposure?”
“Hahaha. Relax. These are the times we’re in, aren’t they? With the whole Central Plains fixated on Sichuan and the Blood Cult, who’s gonna notice us?”
Nodding in convinced agreement at the Hao Clan Leader’s cocksure reply, the black-clad man asked.
“Then what rumor do we spread to the officials?”
“That weird letter we got last time just popped into my head. Heh heh heh. They’re fanatic as the Demonic Cult—tweak their doctrine a smidge to paint ’em as outright rebels, and spread it around.”
“I’ll see it done.”
With a clasped-fist salute, the black-clad man vanished into the shadows in a blink.
And a few days later.
Odd tales about the Maitreya Divine Cult began trickling out across the Central Plains.
Curiously, these rumors only reached officials with Gansu ties—and only when they visited pleasure houses or brothels.
“You spread the rumor properly?”
“Don’t ask, Lord. That official groped me half to death, then heard about that Maitreya whatever cult’s teachings and bolted out in a panic.”
The courtesan, fresh from tangling with the official, stuck out her tongue as she answered.
“You did splendidly. I’ll wipe half your debt as promised.”
After praising and dismissing the courtesan, the brothel owner cautiously pulled out a sheet of paper and began drafting a coded Hao Clan letter.
But the brothel owner had no idea.
‘Just hold on a bit longer, little sis.’
That the Evil God, roaming the Central Plains in pursuit of the Hao Clan’s head, was watching her from the shadows.