The Final Struggle to Protect Oneself
A week had passed.
Hwangbo Mujin instinctively sensed that something was wrong with him. For one thing, there were gaps in his memory. He vaguely recalled being furious about something major recently, yet no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't remember what it was. Even now, a sudden surge of anger would bubble up out of nowhere... but without knowing the reason, it left him feeling like his mind was unraveling. Could it really be the madness the physician had warned about?
'Hah...'
And it wasn't just him—something seemed to have happened to the family as well. The reason he thought so was simple.
Clack.
It was because his second daughter-in-law, Yeo Suhyang, had just opened the door and burst into tears the moment she entered. This was already the fourth time the woman who came once a day to feed him her milk had slammed the door shut behind her and started sobbing. It felt excessive if she were simply crying out of longing for her husband who had been sent away. There had to be something wrong with the family... but since she never spoke a word, he couldn't ask. It was incredibly frustrating.
If only she would just tell him plainly why she was crying.
Swish.
After crying for a long while by the door, Yeo Suhyang wiped her eyes and began removing her jeogori. She unwrapped the cloth binding her chest, revealing her voluptuous upper body as she approached Hwangbo Mujin. Standing beside the bed, she leaned down with practiced familiarity.
Jiggle...
Her massive breasts cast a huge shadow over his aged face as they descended. Even as they hung downward, they lost none of their fullness. He knew he shouldn't be thinking such things while looking at his daughter-in-law's bare skin, but... no, no. He shook off the rising thoughts.
—Sluuurp.
He took the nipple she pushed between his slightly parted lips into his mouth and began to suck. He had grown somewhat accustomed to it now, so the reluctance he once felt had faded. In truth, he couldn't have resisted even if he wanted to. The moment it slipped between his lips, his body instinctively began sucking.
'And today as well, I see.'
Come to think of it, whenever his daughter-in-law cried like this, her nipples were always swollen and puffy. Normally they felt soft and plump, but on days like today they seemed larger, firmer—almost rock-hard, as if the infant grandson had been suckling at them relentlessly all day. Since he drank from her every single day, he could clearly tell the difference between swollen days and normal ones. Still, what did that have to do with her crying...?
—Sluuurp, slurp... sluuuurp...
"...Hic, ugh, hic... hic..."
Yeo Suhyang, who was feeding her breast to Hwangbo Mujin, suddenly broke down into sobs. Today, the sight of her father-in-law blankly sucking at her nipple filled her with nothing but resentment. She was in this humiliating position... If only Father-in-law hadn't collapsed, none of this would have happened. The thought made her furious.
Drip. Drip...
As Yeo Suhyang let her tears fall onto the pillow beside Hwangbo Mujin's head—
Squeeze! Squuuueeeze! Squuuish, squish—!
She grabbed the breast he was suckling and began milking it forcefully. A fountain of breast milk gushed into his mouth, making his throat bob repeatedly.
"Hic... They say breast milk is good for your body, Father-in-law. Please... hic!... drink a lot and get better... I beg you, hic—I'll give you as much milk as you want... ugh..."
Her desperate touch gradually grew rougher. Eventually she was using both hands, squeezing both breasts hard.
Squeeze, squuuueeeze! Spluuuurt! Sluuurp...!
Every time she pressed down hard, veins bulged across her pale white breasts and an enormous amount of milk—far more than he could swallow—sprayed out. It overflowed from both sides of his wrinkled mouth, yet she didn't stop.
"Hic... ugh... Please wake up soon... hic!"
The once wise and elegant daughter-in-law now seemed completely out of her mind.
'My child, don't cry... I'm sorry. This is all my fault...'
Hwangbo Mujin lay there silently, milk dribbling from the corners of his mouth, apologizing to his daughter-in-law in his heart. He had a feeling that something had gone terribly wrong for her, and that it was because of the state he was in now. Just what could it be...? Who in the world would dare do something that would make the Hwangbo family's daughter-in-law cry like this...?
It was suffocating. If only someone would come and tell him what was happening with the family. These days, the only person who visited his quarters was his second daughter-in-law, who came daily to feed him her milk. Even his eldest son, now the family head, hadn't visited since the succession ceremony. It had been over a month since he'd last seen his first daughter-in-law or any of the other family members.
Yeo Suhyang had been squeezing her breasts with desperate fervor, as if believing he would wake up once he drank it all. Only belatedly did she notice that the milk was flowing back out of his mouth. She came to her senses.
—Sluuuurp.
She pulled her nipple free and carefully wiped his mouth. Then she gently dried the tears on his face, picked up her jeogori from the floor, put it back on, and left the room.
"Agh... ughya..."
Left alone, a lamenting murmur escaped Hwangbo Mujin's lips. It sounded like a thin breath that might fade away at any moment. He looked especially frail today. The spirit that had remained resolute even after his collapse now seemed as fragile as an old man on his deathbed.
Right now, Hwangbo Mujin's inner self was like a glass vessel that could shatter from the slightest impact. Hadn't his eldest son, Hwangbo Jun, visited a week ago? Yet he couldn't remember it. It wasn't senility. The upright mind he had cultivated over a lifetime was making one final, desperate struggle.
Ever since the demonic energy had seeped into his brain, his heart and mind had been changing without him even realizing it. His unconscious mind, in an effort to protect its very foundation, had begun erasing the memories that created cracks in his psyche.
That was why it was called demonic arts. Depending on the nature of the technique, it could completely alter a person's core being. If the blood energy that formed the foundation of the Blood Crystal had truly penetrated his brain, even the most enlightened high monk would have gone mad long ago...
Yet here he was, resisting to the point of erasing his own memories. Just how strong must the inner foundation he had built over his lifetime be?
Hwangbo Mujin.
He was truly a man worthy of the title of the greatest under heaven, both in body and in spirit.
But he had to realize—this was his final struggle. If another crack formed after this, then...
There would be no turning back.
That evening, at Mujingak.
Hwangbo Mujin, propped up in bed and swallowing the thin porridge a maid was feeding him, could feel that his energy had been steadily declining lately. They said that when the body falls ill, the mind follows. At this rate, it wouldn't be long now.
'Yes... Heh heh, this hellish life won't last much longer...'
The weaker his body grew, the more at peace his mind became. Just as Hwangbo Mujin was preparing himself for the end that would soon arrive—
Clack.
The door opened and Eon Garyeong entered. His first daughter-in-law, who had stopped visiting for some time, had finally shown herself.
"G-Great Madam, you've come."
Startled by the unexpected visit, the maid quickly stood up, abandoning the spoon mid-air, and bowed deeply.
Eon Garyeong ignored the maid's greeting as if she hadn't heard it and approached the bed. She looked down silently at Hwangbo Mujin, who was slumped pathetically against the wall. Her gaze was like the freezing winds of the Northern Sea. The maid, who had been cautiously lifting her head, quickly lowered it again in fear at that icy expression.
"If you're done with your duties, leave us."
"Y-Yes, Great Madam."
The maid hurriedly cleared the bowl from the bed, placed it on a tray, and carefully left the room. There was still nearly half the porridge left in the bowl, but she had no time to worry about that. Reading the room was the most important skill in this job, and she knew she had to make herself scarce right now.
With the sound of the door closing, an eerie silence filled the room. The temperature seemed to have dropped compared to before Eon Garyeong had entered.
"Ugh, ughya..."
Hwangbo Mujin, leaning his upper body against the bed railing, mumbled something. His cloudy eyes were unfocused, and his words were unintelligible gibberish. The maid had left in such a hurry that she hadn't wiped his mouth—there was still a smear of white porridge at the corner of his lips.
"Ha..."
A sigh—or perhaps a scoff—escaped Eon Garyeong as she looked down at her father-in-law. The already cold look in her eyes now carried a contempt she had never shown before. A body that couldn't even support itself without help. Even the once fearsome Father-in-law looked utterly pathetic now.
"Tsk. Any affection I had left has completely vanished. Not that there was much to begin with."
Clicking her tongue, Eon Garyeong leaned down and whispered into Hwangbo Mujin's ear.
"Father-in-law, do you know what that man of mine has been doing every night? My goodness... He's been sneaking over to his exiled younger brother's house. And always late at night? You understand what that means, don't you?"
She straightened up, looking down at the once-great father-in-law with an icy voice.
"Father-in-law... you didn't give birth to a son. You gave birth to a dog. A horny mutt who leaves his own wife behind to wave his dick at his younger brother's wife."
"Ughya, ugh, ughyaaa..."
Unbelievable. It was simply unbelievable... His own son. His son had... Then the reason he had sent his younger brother alone to the Murim Alliance. The reason his second daughter-in-law had come to his room crying four times since that day. If his son had visited her the night before each time... And the way her nipples had been swollen so tightly...
Crack.
Suddenly, something snapped inside Hwangbo Mujin's mind. His unconscious, which had been desperately trying to protect him, screamed in despair. His body froze for a moment, went rigid, then violent tremors began spreading throughout his entire frame. The shaking grew more intense, and veins bulged all over his body.
A seizure. He was having a seizure.
Eon Garyeong, who had seen this many times since her father-in-law had fallen into qi deviation, didn't seem surprised at all. She looked down at him with emotionless eyes, as if staring at an inanimate object, and slowly turned her head toward the door as if to call for the maid. Then, as if something occurred to her, she looked back at Hwangbo Mujin.
Her gaze wasn't on his face.
It was fixed on his lower body—on the massive erection that had suddenly sprung up beneath his pants during the seizure.