Chapter 91
Translator: TrueDetective
Chapter: 91
Chapter Title: 26. Kunlun is Always in Ruins (1)
We'd gotten information about the 'martial world' that had formed in this world from the Hundred Thousand Mountains.
The owner of the Hundred Thousand Mountains, CEO Lion, had the nickname 'Ten Thousand Demons' Western Sword.'
...Thank goodness Yangdeok wasn't his real name.
And the story was that this Ten Thousand Demons' Western Sword was leading a demonic cult alliance called the Demon Worship Union.
Most of the talk about the orthodox martial artists was just trash-talk, but if I picked out the parts I could understand:
The Namgung family was uniting the orthodox martial folk, while the Demon Worship Union was banding together the unorthodox and demonic cultists to build their power.
'Teacher Namgung Ryeo is a close aide to the cult leader CEO. In the end, it means all the martial artists are under the CEO's umbrella.'
According to the demonic cult leader, both the Demon Worship Union and the Namgung family were organizations that scouted out and managed martial artists from all over to keep them from causing trouble.
But from my perspective, having watched the cult leader CEO up close:
It was the CEO who had summoned these martial artists here.
The scale was too big for it to be coincidences like random trips, possessions, or reincarnations.
'And stories of kids born among martial artists going missing...'
It started around thirty years ago, right?
I was turning twenty-eight this year.
The Nine Great Clans members were all in their early to mid-twenties.
Maybe that's why there were so many orphans in the Nine Great Clans...
"I can't just let that slide."
Dang Sa-cheon said as he expertly counted the cash we'd brought back from the Hundred Thousand Mountains.
"The cult leader CEO seems exactly the type who'd kidnap infants without batting an eye."
"I think the same. Looks like I need to meet with those excommunicated disciples again."
"I'm all for it. Regardless of family ties, it's about time we checked if they've found any traces of Shin Tae-eul."
If what Shin Tae-eul took was... an item related to summoning.
And if that item still had bloodstains from the ritual.
Then I could confirm if my blood had really been used in the summoning.
Actually, I'd subtly asked the demonic cult leader if he knew anything about the Heavenly Demon of the Nine Great Clans.
He had an oddly indifferent attitude toward the current Heavenly Demon, Wi Hwa-jin.
Even though he looked like someone he knew, he insisted it couldn't be the same person?
"Something feels off, but we achieved our goal, so that's good."
As Dang Sa-cheon said, the Hundred Thousand Mountains gambling expedition had massively inflated our capital.
"Thanks to Changhye's performance."
"Yeah, thanks, sunbae. But it's weird that no one tried to mess with us after we cleaned them out like that."
"Well..."
Dang Sa-cheon started to say something to my offhand comment, but Senior Hyeonseong quietly elbowed him to shut up.
"Better if you think there wasn't any."
"Ah... I get it. Better if hyung doesn't know. ...Why do you have to have such superior genes!"
I had no idea what the gene talk was about, but clearly something had happened while I was gone.
"Weren't there any martial artists there you knew, sunbae?"
"Since most were practicing demonic arts, probably no one I was acquainted with."
"Guess you'd have no reason to run into demonic cultists."
"No. Every demonic cultist I've crossed paths with is dead."
R-right.
"Anyway, I figured the cult leader CEO couldn't be pulling this off alone... but the Demon Worship Union? Bigger scale than I thought."
As sunbae worried, Lion and Kitchi were companies active out in the open.
Yet their heads were both fanatics for the Heavenly Demon.
Made me wonder if other companies were involved too.
Senior Hyeonseong seemed to share my thoughts and broached the subject carefully.
"Demonic cults fundamentally worship power. In a capitalist era, power means..."
"Money, obviously."
"Their capital might be beyond our imagination. If infants from martial families started vanishing thirty years ago, the Demon Worship Union existed even before that."
"If the Namgung family has been carrying on the Emperor's Sword Form lineage, they go back pretty far too."
"I only joined the gambling expedition by chance... but don't think you can beat them with money. How about stealing the Emperor's Sword Form manual and training in it instead?"
"..."
"Your face says you've already done that."
Senior Hyeonseong was sharp.
"But even if you stole the manual, it'd be hard for you guys to learn it on your own."
"Ah, the Heavenly Demon turned it into idol choreography."
"..."
Sunbae made a conflicted face for a moment before murmuring lowly.
"...If you want, I'll teach you too. I'm better at orthodox arts."
"Really?"
I'd been a bit uneasy thinking the Heavenly Demon might teach something like the Demon Lord Sword Form after the Mahashin Gong, so I lit up.
"That'd be great."
"Of course, if you've completed that favor I asked before."
The one about sneaking into the cult leader CEO's house and checking it out yourself?
"You've been staying at the CEO's place for a while now. Found anything out?"
"...Yeah."
"Yeah?"
Sunbae raised one eyebrow briefly before relaxing with a look of understanding.
"Guess it's hard to talk about."
How could I tell the Shaolin abbot—who'd been waiting to kill the Heavenly Demon—that I might be the Heavenly Demon's summoner?
"Well, no need to tell me. In times like these where you can't trust anyone, it's better to keep info to yourself."
I'd read somewhere that monopolizing information wasn't a good leader trait.
But yeah, better not spill that I'm the Heavenly Demon summoner.
Especially not the part about sharing life and death.
Otherwise, to kill the Heavenly Demon,
Someone might target me as the easier option.
Of course, on the flip side...
'If the Heavenly Demon becomes a threat... I could stop him myself.'
Hoping it doesn't come to that.
"So-i. No need to answer now. Just one question."
Sunbae asked in a low voice.
"If the Heavenly Demon refuses to go back, what will you do?"
His question wasn't unfamiliar.
It was what I'd been agonizing over most lately.
Is that what he meant by 'you'll know when you go to the CEO's house'?
Even with the portal right in front of him, the Heavenly Demon had never once peeked into the room with the scroll...
Despite being the type to hassle endlessly about when he could go back.
"If the Heavenly Demon has no intention of returning."
Sunbae continued in a chilling tone.
"Could you agree to me killing him?"
"You plan to kill the Heavenly Demon?"
"He is the Heavenly Demon. I can't let him live."
Of course, having seen the Heavenly Demon slaughter a hundred thousand orthodox fighters in the Central Plains, it was natural to think that way.
But right now, my life was tied to the Heavenly Demon's.
If sunbae was serious about killing him, my life would be in danger too.
I couldn't reveal that now... no.
The moment I did, there was no guarantee sunbae wouldn't kill me on the spot.
I changed the subject.
"No... he's just a dummy who's serious about being an idol. Is it really necessary to go that far?"
"...So-i."
Senior Hyeonseong lowered his gaze and spoke.
"I think Hwa-jin hyung has changed a lot from the Central Plains. But the way he enjoyed slaughtering orthodox fighters most was by infiltrating their ranks, pretending to be an innocent young man."
...Pretending to be an innocent young man?
"You're saying his current self might be an act?"
"Yes."
No.
"You're saying spouting internet meme speech and never letting go of his smartphone even for a second is an act?"
"Of course... it's extreme. So I want you to be the one to decide."
"Decide?"
"Whether we can trust the Heavenly Demon as he is now."
Whether I trust him or not decides life or death?
I could see why sunbae couldn't be sure it was an act and was asking me... just looking at the Heavenly Demon's idol activities so far made sense.
Sunbae's words continued.
"Tell the Heavenly Demon you hope he doesn't go back. Watch his reaction. If he's the demon I saw... he'll surely show his true colors."
He wanted me to test the Heavenly Demon?
Thanks to the summoning contract, the Heavenly Demon won't harm me no matter what I do.
So it wasn't like I couldn't test him.
"Does the idea of testing him bother you?"
"A little."
"I like your honest, kind nature. But after seeing those Hundred Thousand Mountains martial artists... founding the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult isn't just talk. With the cult leader CEO possibly abducting infants, we need to steel ourselves."
Sunbae added curtly.
"If you don't want demonic rule here."
* * *
"This lord came to open demonic rule."
That was what the Heavenly Demon said to my face the moment we got back from vacation.
"...What're you talking about?"
Clueless jerk, no idea what I'm agonizing over.
More than that... the Nine Great Clans members who'd followed the Heavenly Demon in seemed a bit more ragged than when they left.
Even Ja-ha's curly, charming black hair hung limp today.
"Hyung... we really thought we were gonna die...!!"
"...Wasn't that a vacation?"
"The Heavenly Demon hyung said he'd take us on a China tour, but he made us do closed-door training!!"
Ahh... I get the gist.
The Heavenly Demon scoffed with a haughty look.
"Hmph. They wouldn't recognize fortune even if it hit them. You think it's common to receive personal instruction from this body?"
"I got the Mahashin Gong from you at our first meeting?"
"...Teaching vermin has tired me out. I need rest."
"No, hyung!! I told you not to call people vermin! And the 'foreigner' excuse doesn't fly anymore!!"
The Heavenly Demon pondered briefly, then hid behind me.
"What?"
"Admin shield. Can't win against him in volume."
"Hyung, hiding behind So-i hyung is cowardly?!"
"Winning is fine."
...If this is an act, I really can't trust anyone.
"How was the Hundred Thousand Mountains?"
The exhausted but still handsome Alliance Leader asked me.
Hundred Thousand Mountains... where to even start.
They weren't that shocked about the martial artist gambling den.
Top idols have strong mentals.
They didn't freak out much about the Demon Worship Union or Namgung family either.
The most shaken was actually Namgung Mu, raised in the Namgung family.
"Whoa...! We always had tons of freeloading guests, but... so that's how they were coming in."
How's this airhead gonna survive this harsh world?
The Nine Great Clans members' faces hardened all at once when I mentioned the missing martial infants.
No one spoke up rashly, then Tae-geuk cautiously spoke.
"...Maybe us too."
"You serious?"
Ja-ha cut him off sharply.
"If our parents are martial artists, wouldn't they come looking? We're this famous—how could they not recognize their own kid's face?"
Ja-ha's point wasn't wrong.
The Nine Great Clans was so huge in Korea, you'd be a spy if you didn't know them.
Plus their concept was wuxia idols.
No martial artist could ignore that.
And their agency was run by the cult leader CEO, buddy of the Demon Worship Union head...
"How about meeting a martial artist who lost a child?"
Nahani suggested it.
Tae-geuk and the Alliance Leader's faces darkened simultaneously.
Tae-geuk spoke first.
"...Do we really need to check? Our goal isn't finding parents."
"Killing two birds with one stone if we do?"
"For me, family is just you, Ja-ha."
"Hyung... sweet, but I'm curious."
I got why Ja-ha was curious if his parents were martial artists.
But I could guess why Tae-geuk wanted to avoid them.
'If the cult leader CEO really abducted infants, those parents are probably... already dead.'
They'd lived as orphans so far, so no parents was fine.
But if they'd been kidnapped as babies and their parents murdered too...
Did they really need to know?
For me, the Nine Great Clans members were family enough.
I didn't even want to think about revenge for parents I'd never met.
"I'm against meeting those martial artists too."
I'd figured the Alliance Leader thought like Tae-geuk, but he went way beyond.
"We don't know if they were really abducted... or offered up willingly."
"What?"
"Right? They're demonic cultists. Isn't the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult like that?"
Even the Heavenly Demon hiding behind me didn't deny it, so... maybe not wrong?
The thought that the CEO might've gotten infants from demonic cultists for the summoning ritual from the start made my stomach churn.
"Still, I'm okay with meeting the excommunicated disciples."
"Good. Let's set something up soon. Contacting them... Heavenly Demon-nim, if you would."
"Sure."
The Heavenly Demon answering like that seemed the same as always, even after hearing the Hundred Thousand Mountains was a demonic cult nest.
If he had no plans to go back... he'd show some curiosity toward this world's demonic cultists.
But he acted like they were none of his business.
...Should I test it now, at this timing.
"And... I have a proposal for the excommunicated kids."
"A proposal?"
"I'm asking for your consent. Especially you, Namgung Mu—I need your permission."
"My permission?"
Namgung Mu looked baffled.
I paused briefly, then said slowly.
"You might remember there's an excommunicated disciple named Tae-heo."
"Ah, yeah. The one from... Kunlun Sect..."
"You remember. Unlike the others, Tae-heo's soul—not body—transferred, as I heard last time."
"Yes, I remember that."
"So... here's my proposal."
Seeing Namgung Mu's head tilt in curiosity about what I was suggesting, I said it.
"I'll contact Namgung Jun in the Central Plains through Tae-heo."
"M-my brother?! Is that possible?!"
"Whether it works, we'll see when we try. But it's worth a shot. We need to check if these transferred folks are really connected to the martial world."
"Y-yeah, that's true. And if I can just contact hyung..."
Namgung Mu clasped his hands anxiously, his face a mix of worry and hope.
I gave him a moment's gaze, then slowly turned to look up at the Heavenly Demon.
"And if we reach Jun-i, I'll ask for a body offering too."
"I see."
"Yeah, so Heavenly Demon-nim..."
I was still skeptical about testing the Heavenly Demon.
Maybe because the Heavenly Demon sunbae experienced and the one I knew were too different.
No matter how much sunbae warned me.
I oddly felt no sense of danger.
So this question wasn't to test him.
It was something I wanted to ask him myself, at least once.
"You're not thinking of staying here and keeping on as an idol, are you?"