The Heavenly Demon Tests Them (6)
I had always known a situation like this would come someday. Fanaticism was the shadow that followed in my footsteps, after all. As I went about my business and met various people, it was only natural that some among them would carry that seed within.
I looked at the woman who was fidgeting in delight at having met me. She still seemed unaware of what she harbored inside. She probably thought she simply liked and admired me. Faith was something that seeped in slowly, only to be realized naturally at some point. That was what the people who served me in the Divine Cult used to say, so I knew it well.
Even if it had not yet bloomed, fanaticism was still fanaticism. Meeting eyes with someone who carried its scent was an uncomfortable thing. Should I push her in the chest and send her tumbling off the cliff? I could simply claim she had climbed up using improper means. As far as I remembered, this person was not from Mount Hua, so if I threw her into that mess down below, the people of Hwasan would gang up on her and she would fall. Then she would naturally fail to advance to the next test.
Yes. That was a good idea. But if I forced the issue and dropped her, she might come to resent me. Would that create some distance from her fanaticism?
“Um… Heavenly Dragon?”
When I said nothing and simply stared at her, the woman seemed to feel uneasy and spoke up. I met her eyes, which were mixed with expectation and worry, then pulled out my pipe from within my robes and put it in my mouth.
Calm down. I already knew that simply earning her hatred would not drive away the fanaticism. If things could be resolved that way, I would not have chosen seclusion while being chased by my own fanatics. One should not expect normal thinking from them. Fanatics possessed an exceptional talent for twisting my intentions, after all.
Simply pushing her off would be meaningless. She would just crawl back up the cliff somehow and stand before me again.
I exhaled a puff of smoke and spoke.
“Congratulations.”
This time, to deal with the fanaticism, I had decided to show people exactly what kind of person I was. I would hide neither my strengths nor my weaknesses. I would reveal everything. From the moment I asked Enry for advice, I had resolved to see it through to the end, for better or worse.
A choice must have consistency. If I made different choices depending on the situation and simply made excuses, that could not be called a choice. It would be nothing more than moving as others wished.
To maintain consistency, I could not drive this woman away. On the contrary, I had to keep her close. Since she had not yet bloomed her fanaticism, I needed to keep her by my side, interact with her properly, and find out whether the seed would wither and die or bloom.
“You arrived here first. You have passed this test.”
“Really?!”
“Yes. Though you have not officially passed yet.”
“Waaaaah!”
While the woman let out a cheer of joy, a donation flew in.
“Is her name well-known?”
I wasn’t entirely sure, but I could roughly tell that this person had a passionate attachment to Hwaryong Muin. Come to think of it, Han Min-jun had said something like this when he looked at her application before.
“A ghost of Hwaryong Muin.”
“That’s right! I really play this game hard! If you choose me as a member of Hwasan, I’m confident I can show better results than anyone else…”
“Calm down.”
I waved my hand because it looked like she would keep talking without even breathing if I let her, and the woman immediately shut her mouth. She listened well. If I told her to jump off the cliff, she would probably throw herself down without hesitation. I wouldn’t actually say that, though. It seemed like she really would do it.
“What is your name?”
“I am Park Seol-ah! From the Mil-yang Park clan.”
“I was asking for your in-game name.”
“Just call me Seol-ah! Other people call me that too!”
I just call people whatever I feel like, but whatever. If that was what she wanted, I saw no reason not to.
“Alright. Seol-ah. Do you know much about the martial arts of Hwasan?”
“Of course. I’m confident I know them better than anyone. I’ve heard Heavenly Dragon-nim speak about the principles of Hwasan countless times.”
Whether it was because she was happy that I had shown interest in her, or because I had called her Seol-ah, Park Seol-ah beamed with a bright smile. It was so bright that it almost made me feel bad. Getting used to this person was going to take quite a while.
…Hm. Maybe I should have chased her away after all?
The civil war that had broken out among the people of Hwasan grew increasingly chaotic as more people emerged from the forest. At first there had been at least some rules and sides, but as the melee continued, those regulations collapsed one by one. Eventually, as the fighting intensified, the people of Hwasan stopped focusing on climbing upward and instead concentrated on knocking others down.
The curses bursting out from excitement. Voices filled with resentment. Blades swinging wildly without direction. All of it showed what a true melee was like.
In particular, Han Min-jun and the others who had previously received teachings from the Heavenly Dragon and now stood at the center of that chaos were slowly growing sick of people. They had originally possessed skills superior to the others. Having grown even stronger after receiving the Heavenly Dragon’s teachings, they naturally became targets of restraint within the melee.
Those who had once talked about rebuilding Hwasan while helping one another now ganged up on Han Min-jun’s group, who gritted their teeth and fought desperately. Perhaps intimidated by their fierce resistance, the concentrated attacks on Han Min-jun’s group lessened once the melee grew truly chaotic. Other people began avoiding them instead. Thanks to that, Han Min-jun’s group was able to hold out without suffering major losses.
“Min-jun hyung.”
“What?”
“Don’t you think there are fewer than fifty people left?”
At his younger brother’s question, Han Min-jun quietly looked around. He was right. Not many had survived the intensified melee. If they stopped fighting right now and climbed the cliff together, everyone here could pass.
But the people did not realize it. Having lost their reason amid the life-and-death struggle, they swung their swords thinking only of defeating the enemy before their eyes.
“Should we climb up by ourselves now? It looks like no one’s even paying attention to throwing rocks anymore.”
Han Min-jun nodded at the suggestion. With this few people left, even if the others threw rocks, it would not pose much of a threat.
Once Han Min-jun’s group began to move, the remaining survivors started to grasp the situation one by one. Further fighting was meaningless. Everyone still alive could pass. Those who realized this shared the information with the others still swinging their swords, and so the people who had survived the struggle below Hakigi began climbing the cliff.
“You have come?”
When Han Min-jun saw the Heavenly Dragon sitting on a stone chair at Hakigi and smoking her pipe, irritation surged up inside him for a moment. What the hell was that ghost-infested forest? And why had she made the people of Hwasan kill each other? The complaints rose all the way to his throat. The other people of Hwasan felt much the same.
The hell they had experienced was less a test of Hwasan and more the law of the jungle. It could just as well have been a test from the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult. No matter how much she played the Heavenly Demon concept, wasn’t this a bit too much?
Everyone was thinking that, but no one voiced their complaints. Because it was all too obvious how the Heavenly Dragon would respond.
‘You don’t like it? Then leave.’
Each of them had gone through so much to join the new Hwasan for their own reasons. They could not give up now. So even while holding their dissatisfaction, they remained silent.
“Hmm. Forty-one, is it? We could wait a little longer, but since there don’t seem to be any more survivors nearby, let’s end it here.”
After speaking, the Heavenly Dragon stepped in front of the cliff.
“Hak Yeong-chung. Take them to the Hwasan faction and wait.”
“Understood, Sect Leader.”
The Heavenly Dragon stepped out beyond the cliff as casually as if she were walking an ordinary path. Yet she did not fall. It was as if an invisible path existed in the sky; she moved with ease and leisure.
“Her martial arts skill is truly incredible.”
One of Han Min-jun’s companions let out a sigh of admiration from the side. Han Min-jun thought the same. Void Walking was known to be one of the most difficult footwork techniques to use among many types of light movement arts. To wield it so freely… Was there even any player who could do something similar?
After leaving Hakigi, I went to Baru and asked her to withdraw the Taoist magic she had spread throughout the forest. Now that the test was over, there was no longer any reason to maintain it. In the process, I learned that a few people were still wandering inside the forest, but they were failures. It was true they had survived so far, but I could not pass those who had still not escaped the forest even now.
Still, I needed to reach fifty people, so I brought up the nine who had shown outstanding skill in the fight below Hakigi. Among them, some asked why they had fallen while others had risen, but when I pointed out their shortcomings one by one, they understood on their own and stepped back.
After that, I returned to the grounds of Hwasan with the nine I had passed. Thanks to Baru’s hard work over the past few days, Hwasan had recovered much of its former appearance. There were still many places that needed repair, but it would probably be fully restored within a week at most.
Seeing the number of applicants reduced from five hundred to fifty made me feel much more at ease. Yes. This was the number I had originally wanted. With this few, conducting the test would be much simpler.
“Now then, I shall inform you of the content of the next test. From now on, I intend to give you all time for revenge.”
When I mentioned the word revenge, the applicants looked at one another. It seemed the fight that had taken place below Hakigi had left quite an impression. I had not meant it in that sense, though.
I shrugged and continued.
“The culprit who made you fight one another is right here in front of you. What I meant was that I would give you the opportunity to take revenge on me personally.”
I was the one who sent you into the forest to be chased by ghosts. I was the one who made you kill one another below Hakigi. Then shouldn’t the blade of revenge you all carry be aimed at me?
“The test is simple. I will randomly divide you into groups of five. Then those five will form a team and attack me. To put it in the game terms you usually use, I am telling you to raid me.”
Isn’t this what you all wanted? While taking the test, you must have thought about wanting to hit the person who created it at least once. I am giving you that chance.
“I will not tell you how many from each group will pass. However, I can assure you that if you show outstanding performance, you will be given an opportunity.”
Even after I finished speaking, the applicants’ reactions were lukewarm. I had thought they would burn with determination, so I did not understand why they were making such reluctant faces. Did they not want to take revenge on the one who had tormented them? If it were me, I would have thought of any means necessary to land at least one blow.
Even though the donation voice was filled with anger, I remained indifferent. Wasn’t it more fun when the odds were against you?