Chapter 84
Translator: TrueDetective
Chapter: 84
Chapter Title: 24. About Faith (4)
-World Rank 0 Number One Sword: This is bad…… Hwajin's blunder ended up on broadcast TV……
└NoBallsHere: It was bound to happen eventually. Just came a bit sooner than expected.
└OhFileRoom: What is this conversation lolololololololol
-MengDyuGongDyu-nim: Garung even makes its cry sound like Garungㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
└WhatShaman: Wait, is it really okay for a dog's bark to be Garung?
-JinJinJaHaJinJinJa: Malamute? Tsa? Samoyed? But those eyes look like fox eyes, maybe a mix?
└JooHwaWhatTheHell: Isn't this just them messing with Hwajin lolololol Seizing every chance to tease lololol
└CirculateQiBreakfastCirculateQiLunchCirculateQiDinner: Gotta be a mix, right? Foxes are in the dog family after all.
└JinJinJaHaJinJinJa: Even so, who thinks it'd be mixed with a fox;; No prejudice is too much;;
-JaHaYaLetsMarry: No mention of raising a dog before, did he adopt it just for [Dogs Garung, Cats Garung Too]?
└WuxiaIdolWhatR UOtaku: For me, it was creepier that the filming spot looked like the agency house?
└108ArhatJin: Already accepted the program name as that?
-ThreeGreatSouthernSectFucker: Lolololol What Hwajin can achieve before the show ends. Changing the program name vs. Shedding the brute image
└JaHaYaLetsMarry: Shut up, you ignoring the Heavenly Demon?
└ThreeGreatSouthernSectFucker: Hate how you're typing typos on purpose lololol
└OurBaldieNoItsNotMe: You can change the program name but you can't change the person
└MurimRiceCake: You guys really beggars? lololololol
-Heavenly Demon Princess: Let's go viral with [Dogs Garung, Cats Garung Too] from now on so Hwajin can achieve at least one of those goals……
└IfIBabyWhatYouDo?: Gave up on shedding my kid's brute image like a dog lolololol
└ThreeBondsFiveEthicsHeavenlyDemonCultComment: My kid's still clumsy with Koreanㅠ
└MudaMudaMudaShaman: Feels like he learned Korean from the internet lololol
-Heavenly Demon Reincarnation Full Horse Slash Absolute Sword:
Listen up, you beggar trash.
Hwajin isn't a brute.
He's serious when he needs to be.
If you can't believe it even after I say it like this, you never will.
Shedding the image right away will be tough……
Vodka.
└JaHaYaLetsMarry: This guy's pretending to say nice things but can't even put in the effort lolololololololol
└NoBallsHere: World drip as vodka? This okay? Is this right??
└ForbesTopMonkLikeManNo1: You can tell from the nickname he's mocking lol teacher
└Heavenly Demon Reincarnation Full Horse Slash Absolute Sword: Busted lololol
└Heavenly Demon Reincarnation Full Horse Slash Absolute Sword: But isn't it true tho?
└Heavenly Demon Reincarnation Full Horse Slash Absolute Sword: Better to trust Hwajin than the CEO lololol
* * *
After checking the WeTaxi reactions, I set my phone down and rubbed my forehead.
The Heavenly Demon, who had reverted to Garung's fox form, stroked it while glancing at me and said,
“This seat did his utmost.”
“…I know.”
Right.
It was predictable from the flow so far that the Heavenly Demon would make an appearance(?) even on a pet variety show.
Besides, he only looks like a brute to the beggars who don't know the circumstances—it's also true that Garung hadn't been in dog form for long.
It's not like someone from the murim would know about Ibérico ham.
The problem is that now it really seems like it's time to change that image.
“Heavenly Demon-nim, would you like to study with me?”
“Study, you say?”
“You need to become a perfect TOEIC scorer for real now.”
“Ah, that thing from before…… Fine, let's do it.”
Since the Heavenly Demon has an auto-translation perk from his isekai trip, wouldn't a perfect TOEIC score be easy?
That was overly optimistic thinking.
The Heavenly Demon fluently read the English passages in the TOEIC workbook.
He read them well, but.
That was all he did. Just read.
“…You need to start with basic common knowledge.”
“I'm confident in studying martial arts manuals.”
Saying stuff like that on air would just strengthen the fourth-dimensional wuxia concept idol image!
“But what are you studying?”
While the Heavenly Demon worked on TOEIC problems, I was studying hanja on the side.
He snatched the Level 1 hanja list I was looking at, glanced at it, and gave me a pitying look.
“You…… I thought you were clever, but you still can't read characters properly?”
What the hell is this Central Plains guy saying? The Republic of Korea has Hangul, created by King Sejong.
“But why the sudden studying?”
“Lion CEO gave me some 'hints' with a few ancient books, but when I tried reading them before bed last night, my smartphone alone wasn't enough.”
“Why borrow the power of a smartphone? This seat is right here?”
“……”
I fell silent for a moment.
The Heavenly Demon sensed the odd vibe in my silence like a ghost and raised one eyebrow.
“You don't trust this seat?”
“Then can you promise? To tell me exactly what's written?”
“Well……”
The Heavenly Demon trailed off and looked away.
No way, but he really can't promise?
Lion CEO said not to trust the Heavenly Demon.
The CEO isn't all that trustworthy himself, but there must be a reason he said that.
The strangely favorable Lion CEO toward me.
This old mansion said to be built for the demon.
The CEO trying to establish the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
The Heavenly Demon who oddly never sharpens his blade against the CEO.
'How likely is it that the Heavenly Demon already knows about the CEO's Heavenly Demon Divine Cult plans?'
But if he knew, there'd be no reason to help me establish the Haomen.
It's not zero possibility that the help he's giving me now is acting or deception.
But the Heavenly Demon handing me that crumpled envelope of cash doesn't seem like he's scheming something else.
Eh, whatever.
In times like this, fall back on the Joo Ja-ha攻略 method.
“Heavenly Demon-nim.”
“What?”
“Do you still want to return to the murim?”
The Heavenly Demon's expression turned peculiar.
“…What's your angle in asking that?”
“Just, I want to know what you think.”
“……”
The Heavenly Demon eyed me as if weighing something, then responded not with an answer but a question.
“If this seat said his mind has changed, what would you do?”
“Honestly, I haven't decided yet.”
“What?”
“If you say you don't want to go back, I haven't figured out what to do yet.”
My answer must have been unexpected, as the Heavenly Demon stared at me silently for a moment.
“Are you trying to flatter this seat?”
“Do I seem like the type to flatter you?”
“No, you're not.”
It's true I had no intention of flattering, but him agreeing so readily pisses me off.
“However, I still don't grasp the meaning of why you'd ask such a thing.”
“You don't get the meaning?”
“You know that if this seat doesn't go back, recovering the bodies of those excommunicated disciples will be a distant prospect.”
Previously, the Heavenly Demon said the excommunicated disciples' bodies weren't destroyed but transferred to the murim.
Go back to the murim, find those bodies, burn them, and they'll return to the original world, original bodies.
As he said, someone had to go to the murim for it.
But it didn't have to be the Heavenly Demon.
“If……”
I slowly opened my mouth.
“If we could contact Namgung Jun in the murim, what then?”
Namgung Jun's name must have been a blindside, as the Heavenly Demon's eyes widened.
“…Have Namgung Jun perform the body offering?”
“Garung crossed over via the scroll, so maybe we can find a way to contact them too.”
“It's not complete nonsense.”
“So, if we could do that, what would you do? Stay here?”
“……”
The Heavenly Demon furrowed his brow in conflict for a moment, then replied softly.
“…This seat hasn't decided yet either.”
A vague answer, but one that left possibilities open on both sides.
“So you're thinking of staying here too.”
“I don't want to go down in idol history as the all-time flopper.”
The recording scandal and flop controversy must have left a bit of trauma.
“And……”
The Heavenly Demon muttered in a somewhat hollow voice.
“Even if I return to the murim……”
He trailed off and said no more.
But I got the sense that the Heavenly Demon was somewhat skeptical about returning to the murim.
Strange.
Wi Hwa-jin is the Heavenly Demon.
Wouldn't it be natural for the Heavenly Demon to want to go back to the murim with the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult?
He definitely said he wanted to go back, told me to cooperate.
Why does it feel like he's changed his mind?
'Come to think of it, I've never heard him talk about the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.'
When the Heavenly Demon mentioned the magyo folks from that world, he lacked the enthusiasm he had for the Mount Hua Sword Saint or the North Sea Ice Palace Saintess.
All I'd heard about them was that on his birthday, the magyo offered gifts and named people they wanted to kill.
And that they made a hook song as tribute to the Heavenly Demon.
Just in case, I asked him.
“What about the magyo folks?”
“Those guys had a cute charm.”
A cute charm?
No idea if they got along badly or well.
“Come to think of it, I haven't heard much about the murim from you.”
“Hm, want to hear? Shall I spill the tea?”
“Please stop with the internet slang.”
“Back when this seat was the Fresh Heavenly Demon, the Shaolin baldies started the long-hair trend because of me……”
“…Then maybe I'll hear a little.”
The 'Fresh Heavenly Demon' hook was too intriguing to skip.
* * *
After hearing murim tales full of shock, horror, and astonishment.
I brought the Heavenly Demon to my room and handed him the ancient books Lion CEO had given me.
Honestly, I didn't fully trust him, but it was too much for me to interpret alone.
Some had old Hangul with key words in hanja midway.
Others were entirely in hanja from start to finish.
Some characters were ancient hanja that didn't even show up in searches.
I'd have him do a first pass interpretation, then I'd double-check the parts that bugged me.
The Heavenly Demon skimmed the books I'd given him and sorted them into two piles.
At first I thought it was by thickness.
Pointing to the hefty ones, the Heavenly Demon said,
“These are about this seat.”
Then he moved his finger to the relatively thin ones.
“Those are on summoning formations.”
So the 'hint' Lion CEO meant to give me was about summoning the Heavenly Demon?
I admitted that's what I came for, but…… Lion CEO definitely said with his own mouth there's no evidence in the mansion that he summoned the Heavenly Demon.
“Let's look at the summoning ones first.”
At my words, the Heavenly Demon picked up one thin book and started flipping through, reading.
“What's written here are the things needed for summoning.”
“What are they?”
“A live chicken, whale oil, pure inner power……”
It seemed the whole page was summoning materials, as he read down for a while.
Nowhere in the list he read was there anything about offering part of a body.
At most……
“Finally, two hop of the summoner's blood.”
“Two hop?”
I looked up the unit: one hop is about 160ml.
Two hop…… 360ml?
About the amount drawn at that blood drive last time.
“Not enough to call a human sacrifice.”
“Even so, pure inner power—that's not just for the formation casters. It must've used the excommunicated disciples' inner power for sure.”
So what should have just depleted inner power ended up transferring parts of their bodies too?
“This book only describes it as a summoning formation. The CEO probably didn't even know he cast a transfer swap technique. Or didn't care.”
If he cast it without knowing, that's even more unforgivable.
He must have realized after a few tries that casting this summoning formation cost the excommunicated disciples parts of their bodies.
And he kept trying to summon the Heavenly Demon relentlessly, even without knowing it wasn't permanent damage.
“Look at this book too.”
That one was written entirely in curly hanja.
From the binding and uneven handwriting sizes, it looked hand-copied and bound by someone.
“…A diary written by the summoner.”
“A diary?”
The Heavenly Demon flipped the front and back covers, reading comparatively, and made an odd face.
“Judging by the handwriting changes midway…… It seems passed down through generations.”
So this summoning ritual has been attempted continuously until now?
Suddenly, Lion CEO and Hyunseong sunbae came to mind.
Hyunseong sunbae was a reincarnator, but…… A person from the Heavenly Demon's murim, reborn in this world—there must be some reason for that at least.
“What are you doing? Read from the front.”
“……”
The Heavenly Demon stared at the first page for a moment, then slowly began reading aloud.
“We, having formed a symbiotic contract with blood, are bound together in life and death.”
A diary, but more like a summoner's summoning log?
But…… The next part was odd.
“To protect the summoner's body, we placed a calling spell upon the true name of the summoned beast……”