Chapter 58
Chapter 58
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Translator: TrueDetective
Chapter: 58
Chapter Title: 17. Southern Barbarian Beast Palace Masquerade (4)
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An arrow flew in, bearing a note tied to its fletching.
That seemed to be the end of it, as the three church disciples vanished from atop the Ferris wheel without a second thought.
The Beggar Clan disciples who had watched the whole scene unfold were remarkably optimistic about it.
“Whoa, what was that? The CG is insane.”
“Is this even something you can call CG?”
“They did a Viking ride split show earlier, so what’s this?”
“No, doesn’t something feel off? Is this even possible?”
“Kichi’s loaded, that’s why.”
Seeing the Heavenly Demon tuck the note from the arrow into his sleeve, I quickly moved to smooth things over.
“The real Heavenly Demon was number six! The ‘Southern Barbarian Beast Palace Young Palace Lord’ title goes to the Ferris wheel team. Everyone else got it wrong, so...”
“Damn, so close.”
No, how was that anywhere near close?
It seemed like most people who cultivated inner energy ended up like Dang Sa-cheon.
“With that, the Heavenly Demon hunt is over. Time to head to dinner, right?”
The Alliance Leader and I glanced at the note, and the two of them naturally led the Beggar Clan disciples toward the restaurant.
They made excuses about needing to find the other members.
Once the crowd dispersed, the Heavenly Demon and I unfolded the note from the church disciples.
It contained only a brief address.
“They want us to meet here?”
“Probably.”
I immediately pulled out my phone and searched the location.
Street view showed it was an abandoned building, with a crude banner on the wall reading “Nursing Academy.”
The “ㄴ” in “Gan” was oddly round, making it look like “Jianghu Academy” at a glance.
No way...
“They didn’t do that on purpose, did they?”
“Shin Tae-eul would.”
What kind of impression did Shin Tae-eul leave on the Heavenly Demon?
Either way, the meeting spot with the church disciples was set.
Leaving only the address on the note meant they wanted an immediate rendezvous.
“Once the fans finish eating, they’ll run the rides for a bit. No Vikings, though.”
“Not this lord’s fault.”
“I’m not blaming you. Anyway, we’ll get a shot of everyone on the carousel or something. Let’s round up the other members first. They might still be looking for the church disciples.”
So I followed the Heavenly Demon to find the others...
And heard something unexpected from Dang Sa-cheon.
“Jaha sunbae is dead.”
“What?”
I was utterly baffled.
Because right next to Dang Sa-cheon, who said it so casually, Jaha stood with his arms crossed, looking annoyed as he glared at me.
“...He’s perfectly fine?”
“We’re in the middle of a Mafia game.”
Why the hell were they playing Mafia here of all places?
Well, that wasn’t the real issue.
What really bothered me was that the one-armed masked duo—impossible to tell if they were men or women—were playing along too.
“Who are those two, playing Mafia with you guys?”
“They’re the Right Protector and Left Protector, apparently. Sent by someone called their master.”
“...Doesn’t that sound weird no matter how you slice it?”
“It does.”
Namgung Mu, sitting between the Right and Left Protectors, spoke up with a grave expression.
“With Jaha sunbae dead, one of those two has to be Mafia, but the cop hasn’t called anyone out.”
“That’s what’s weird?”
“Of course it is!!”
Jaha, who’d seemed to be suppressing his boiling frustration, finally snapped and pointed accusingly at Dang Sa-cheon.
“No, hyung, listen! Dang Sa-cheon’s the Mafia! Hey, you ungrateful bastard! How could you kill me first?!”
At Jaha’s outburst, Namgung Mu flinched in confusion.
“I thought the blue mask was Mafia?”
“R-Right Protector’s the cop!”
“And Left Protector’s the doctor! Namgung-se, that guy, Left Protector saved him twice!”
“Y-You tried to kill me? Twice in a row?”
“Isn’t that obvious, Mu... no, Juna? How else would we have fun if those two died first? That’s why Taeguk sunbae made them cop and doctor—because the Protectors are having a blast.”
“No, Taeguk hyung! You put me in charge of moderating, and you gave Mafia to Dang Sa-cheon?!”
“......”
Taeguk stayed silent, and everyone started getting heated—it was total chaos.
What the hell had these guys been up to?
That’s when the Heavenly Demon, who’d been quietly observing the Right and Left Protectors, finally spoke.
“Now I see—they’re the ones I know.”
“You know them?”
The Right and Left Protectors only then seemed to notice the Heavenly Demon, jumping to their feet.
“H-Heavenly Demon!?”
“The Heavenly Demon’s here too?”
“He’s here?”
“Right Protector, Left Protector. What are you doing here?”
At the Heavenly Demon’s question, the two whispered to each other before clasping their fists in salute.
“As you can see, playing.”
“Mafia! So fun!”
“Night comes, someone dies.”
“Just like back in the Demonic Cult!”
They seemed thrilled, but the Heavenly Demon shook his head firmly.
“Besides that. What are you doing in this world? How did you get here?”
The Right and Left Protectors exchanged glances and answered in unison.
“We got caught by the human shaman.”
Human shaman?
The Heavenly Demon’s face lit up with interest.
“Hoh. You mean the cultist?”
“He said not to tell.”
“You can tell this lord. The cultists are under my command.”
“Really? So that guy’s the cult leader here?”
“Obviously. You’d know from the name alone.”
“The Demonic Cult isn’t a cult...”
The Right and Left Protectors glanced at each other hesitantly before cautiously addressing the Heavenly Demon.
“If the master’s master is the Heavenly Demon, tell him to let us go.”
“Let us go.”
“If he does? Can we go back to where we were?”
“We have a way back!”
Convinced the Heavenly Demon could free them, the two excitedly spilled everything.
“There’s a scroll in the master’s house.”
“A scroll that takes us home!”
“In the master’s room.”
“Yeah, his room!”
“There’s a barrier—we can’t get in.”
“Barrier’s there. But humans can!”
I’d just heard something huge.
Even with a clue to returning to their world, the Heavenly Demon’s expression didn’t change as he continued calmly.
“Understood. Quit playing and go back. This isn’t a place for you.”
“Not our place? Why?”
“Can’t we play more Mafia?”
“There’s a Shaolin monk here. Get spotted, and Sakyamuni’ll fuck you up.”
“Sh-Shaolin!”
At the Heavenly Demon’s words, the duo paled, nodded to each other.
“Right Protector, let’s go.”
“Yeah, Left Protector. Time to head out.”
“Mafia was fun.”
“Fun, so we’ll go back.”
They gave Jaha a surprisingly polite fist salute, and he looked a bit awkward.
“Uh... yeah. Let’s play again sometime.”
Even through their masks, I could feel the duo grinning.
“Then, Heavenly Demon, glad we met again.”
“See you again, Heavenly Demon.”
“Yeah.”
The Heavenly Demon gave a perfunctory reply, and the duo shot off, vanishing from sight.
The moment they were gone, Jaha rushed over.
“What the hell are they?”
“Can’t you tell? They’re yokai.”
“Yokai? Like monsters?”
“Not exactly yokai—something that spawned naturally, I suppose.”
“Oh~ like flies?”
“Hah... why would this lord bother explaining to you?”
“You’re ignoring me again!!”
As the Heavenly Demon bantered—not quite banter—with Jaha, Taeguk cut in.
“What about the church disciples?”
“Contact made. Physically, too.”
Everyone tilted their heads at “physically,” but when the Heavenly Demon pulled the note from his sleeve and handed it over, they were glued to its contents.
“We’re meeting here?”
“Yeah.”
“No time or anything?”
“They’re either always there or in a spot where they can watch who comes and goes.”
“So... when do we go?”
No need to deliberate when.
“Tonight at midnight.”
Time for the Nine Great Sects and Eight Great Families to gather.
* * *
After the [Southern Barbarian Beast Palace Masquerade] ended.
In the van on the way back, I received the rough cut of the final episode of [Righteous-Demonic Cult Training Camp Chaos].
They’d set up cameras all over the amusement park and edited in real time, apparently.
I’d wondered how they’d air the Beggar Clan disciples leaping rides and the Heavenly Demon smashing the Viking...
“Clever editing...”
Here’s what aired:
The Heavenly Demon hunt started from the plaza, with his Ferris wheel leap completely cut.
From the chase onward to the Viking’s destruction, it was seamlessly edited, so it looked like no chase happened at all on broadcast.
They added an animated rules explanation about splitting into teams to guess the real Heavenly Demon’s number, making it flow naturally despite skipping the middle.
All three teams’ absurd answers made it look like intentional comedy.
The members’ Mafia game was included too, captioned as “Mafia with fans they bumped into.”
No mics, so voices were minimal, but notices said member commentary and Namgung Ryeo-sensei’s narration would be added.
After that: the Alliance Leader singing for the dining Beggar Clan disciples, everyone joyfully on the carousel.
Probably end with member reactions post-accommodation show.
If they edited it this well despite everything...
“The editors must know about inner energy, right?”
“No amateur work.”
The Heavenly Demon, watching the rough cut with me, scowled.
“Not to my liking.”
“Creepy knowing there’s someone in management we don’t know about, yeah.”
“That’s not it. The Alliance Leader’s screen time is more than this lord’s? This lord did all the dirty work!”
Oh, that’s the issue?
“But... what about those yokai? Shouldn’t we have shut them up?”
When I asked worriedly, the Heavenly Demon shrugged indifferently.
“What good would silencing them do? Did they look like the type to obediently shut up if told not to blab?”
“......”
Probably not.
“Let ’em be. You’ll see—they’re a bit dim. They’ve probably forgotten what they said by now.”
“...Got it. So they were summoned like you? You seemed to know them.”
“Yeah. Looks like they were too. Probably by the CEO.”
“Not just you, then?”
“Could be practice for summoning this lord. Or he hooked some weird shit by accident.”
“Wait, so there could be more coming? Like you?”
“Who knows. His ultimate target was me, so maybe he’s stopped.”
The Heavenly Demon continued.
“You heard earlier. The CEO’s place has a portal. This lord can use it to return. But as you suspect, once I’m gone...”
“He’ll start that crap again?”
The Heavenly Demon just nodded.
I’d burned the summoning circle, but... needed a more fundamental way to stop the CEO.
Come to think of it, cultivating martial arts was effective.
Build power, take down the Masked Expert or lock up the CEO.
“In that vein, won’t you learn?”
“Martial arts?”
“Yeah. This lord can’t babysit forever.”
“Heavenly Demon... what did you say was why I couldn’t debut as an idol?”
“...Ah, right.”
My awful dancing.
Worse than Jaha’s, so debut canned.
Impossible for me to build inner energy dancing Nine Great Sects and Eight Great Families choreo.
“I do want to learn. But the usual way would just be spinning wheels for me.”
“Hm... Understood. This lord will handle that part.”
Handle it? How?
“Thanks anyway.”
The Heavenly Demon gave a chilling smile.
...This guy’s gonna bring something weird.
* * *
Kichi’s CEO, the cultist, greeted the Right and Left Protectors with a beaming smile.
“Had fun?”
“Super fun!”
“Super fun, yeah!”
“Knew you’d like it. Good boys.”
At the cultist’s words, the Right and Left Protectors nodded—then paused.
“Good... but Dang family head isn’t good...”
“Not good, Dang family head...”
“...Looks like Sa-cheon caused another scene.”
The cultist narrowed his eyes.
Dang Sa-cheon always exceeded expectations.
Unpredictable variables ahead—an anxiety factor.
No need to rein him in yet, though...
“But wanna play with Dang family head next time too.”
“Play again next time!”
“Knew you’d say that.”
The cultist smiled warmly and handed them prepared items.
“What’s this?”
“What is it?”
“Something to visit the Nine Great Sects and Eight Great Families anytime and play.”
At his words, the Left and Right Protectors examined the devices closely.
A map on the screen, red dots labeled with names floating above.
“Hwasan, Wudang, Namgung...”
“That’s them.”
“It’s those kids!”
“They’re moving.”
“Yeah! They’re going around!”
“With this, we know where they are?”
“Of course. A gift from Lion CEO.”
Watching the Left and Right Protectors delight over the trackers, the cultist smiled quietly.