Chapter 2
Translator: penny
Chapter: 2
Chapter Title: Brothel Bound
"Good!"
"Come on, we're adults now.... Huh? You're actually going?"
The guy looked shocked, as if he'd expected me to turn him down.
But from my standpoint, it was the most obvious answer in the world.
'I need to build up my internal energy.'
My unique demonic art, the Blissful Creation Art.
A one-of-a-kind technique that let you cultivate pure internal energy through intimate unions with women—the name itself signified advancing toward creation through carnal pleasure.
After my regression, with my internal energy barely a mouse's tail and leaving me on edge, his suggestion felt like a godsend.
'Prostitutes won't give much effect, but...'
Beggars can't be choosers.
The Blissful Creation Art was a divine skill that built internal energy faster than any other, but it wasn't without its flaws.
One major issue was that the amount of energy gained depended entirely on your partner in those unions.
The manual where I'd first found it described the ideal partner in vague terms.
The higher their internal energy, the more beautiful they were, the greater their status—factors like that.
But having fully mastered the art in my previous life, I understood exactly what it meant.
It all came down to your heart truly stirring.
A woman beautiful in my eyes.
A woman hard for me to attain.
A woman I desperately craved.
Desire born from the heart, channeled through pleasure, forged into creation.
That was the true essence of the Blissful Creation Art.
In that sense, courtesans I'd embraced countless times in the past didn't stir my heart at all.
I'd gain almost no energy from them, but in my current situation, I had to take what I could get.
'Cheon Suyeon was on another level, though...'
Back then, I'd taken the virginity of Cheon Suyeon, the World's Greatest Beauty.
She was the Martial Emperor's granddaughter, even betrothed to someone—and she triggered explosive growth in my internal energy.
The desire that bloomed for her back then had been more intense than ever.
If I could claim her now that I'd returned to the past...
No, hold on.
A crucial fact suddenly hit me.
"Hey, Jeong Mutae. How old am I ri—no, how old are you right now?"
I started to ask about my own age but hastily switched to his.
"What're you talking about all of a sudden?"
"No, seriously—how old are you? We're the same age, right?"
"Obviously. You and I are both turning twenty this year. That's exactly why I made the offer..."
Twenty.
Right.
I'd vaguely remembered as much.
My fourth sister, Mok Jiyeon, had left for the Mount Hua Sect when I was twenty.
But what mattered wasn't my age right now.
The age at which I'd died as the Lecherous Demon was fifty-one, just past knowing one's heavenly fate.
Thirty-one years from now.
And when I'd claimed Cheon Suyeon in the past... I was forty-eight, and she was twenty-three.
A twenty-five-year age gap between us.
And...
'Holy shit... Cheon Suyeon hasn't even been born yet?'
I'd regressed thirty-one years.
And that wasn't all.
I hadn't started making a name as the Lecherous Demon until after forty, when illusions of youth fade.
Most of the women I'd taken back then were just past twenty.
I'd chosen them because they moved my heart...
'Right now, they either aren't born or are still infants...'
The age differences with them hit me anew.
"Jimyeong, you okay?"
Jeong Mutae called out to me as I stood there in a daze.
I'd been rattled for a moment, but I snapped out of it quick.
'Actually, this works out better.'
Once you've claimed a woman before, your heart doesn't stir for her much anymore.
Even if it was a first in this life, if I'd had her in the previous one, my progress would slow.
But like this, those awkward situations were mostly off the table.
It might sound picky, but the ages that moved my heart were set in stone.
Twenty to thirty.
Early thirties at the oldest.
There were plenty of stunning women from my era, but I'd started my Lecherous Demon days too late to claim them.
Now that I'd returned to the past, though, I could have them fresh—any I wanted.
'Like the woman who'll become Cheon Suyeon's mother, for instance...'
She'd later become the Martial Emperor's daughter-in-law, and she was already renowned.
One of the Five Dragons and Five Phoenixes, even...
"Something really going on today? If you're not feeling it, we can hit the brothel next time..."
Lost in fantasies I couldn't have dreamed of before, I grinned like an idiot—earning a worried frown from Jeong Mutae.
At his words, I shouted in a panic.
"No way! Let's go tonight!"
He blinked in surprise.
"That eager, huh? I figured you for the uninterested type... Guess I had you wrong."
Uninterested? Like hell.
No one was more interested than me.
My past self probably felt the same.
He'd just been too embarrassed to show it.
Proof? The five years right after today.
Once past-me got his first taste of brothel life, he plunged headfirst into debauchery.
Five full years.
That's how he earned the nickname Flowery Playboy.
Handsome face, hitting the brothels daily—it was nickname-worthy.
And as a scion of the Mok Family Clan, his pockets were deep enough to sustain it.
But he couldn't live like that forever.
Eventually, allowance cut off, scandals piling up—he got kicked out of the house.
'Oh yeah, gotta check that shrine too.'
After getting booted, he'd crashed one night in an old shrine.
That's where he'd found the Blissful Creation Art manual.
It was years later, so probably no one else had claimed it, but better safe than sorry.
I couldn't stand someone else using my unique art.
I was zoning out mid-conversation, so Jeong Mutae shook his head.
"Must be Jiyeon leaving that's got you all worked up. But I see you want to go, so I'll swing by this evening."
"Yeah, yeah. Make sure you do."
Sharp guy—he stuck to the brothel plan to the end.
I waved him off and started walking.
'Strike while the iron's hot. Straight to the shrine.'
Luckily, it was less than an hour's walk from home.
With lightfoot skill, I'd be there in moments.
Just as I was about to cross the threshold, someone grabbed me.
"Jimyeong, where you headed?"
A familiar, warm voice halted my steps.
I turned slowly.
There stood a strikingly handsome man, rugged in that manly way.
Someone I'd missed terribly, felt endless gratitude toward... and deep regret for.
"Brother...?"
My one and only brother, the Mok Family Clan's eldest son—Mok Jicheon.
"Skipping the feast? Jiyeon's been looking all over for you..."
Seeing him so young, not yet thirty, emotion welled up unbidden.
Mok Jicheon.
Heir to the Mok Family Clan.
Eight years my senior, he'd doted on me fiercely since childhood.
Even during my five years of wastrel antics that isolated me from the clan, he was my sole ally.
Hell, when I became the Lecherous Demon and a public enemy of the martial world, he still took my side—clashing with the Murim Alliance Leader himself.
'Didn't help much, but...'
Still, the clan took massive damage from it.
Which made my fourth sister hate me even more.
Even so, when the whole world wanted me dead, he was the only family in my corner.
He couldn't offer much material aid, but his emotional support had been my rock...
Yet as a public enemy, I'd avoided him to spare the clan more shame.
I hated burdening what family I had left.
So despite aching to see him, this was someone I could never face.
"What's wrong? Hurt that Jiyeon's leaving?"
"..."
I desperately fought back the moisture in my eyes.
I was Mok Jimyeong, the Lecherous Demon.
The man closest to becoming the World's Greatest Martial Artist.
Not some weakling who teared up like this.
I blinked my eyes clear and barely held it together.
Mok Jicheon let out a hearty laugh.
"Haha! You two were always thick as thieves as kids. Still, her joining the Mount Hua Sect as a disciple is a huge blessing—wish you'd at least congratulate her."
"...Understood."
No matter how urgent the shrine, it wasn't worth ditching my long-lost brother.
It wasn't even that pressing to begin with.
I followed him back to the feast.
A few familiar faces caught my eye.
My father, the Mok Family Clan head—Mok Taehyeon.
My fourth sister, Mok Jiyeon, who was off to the Mount Hua Sect soon.
And a bunch of retainers whose names escaped me.
Lost in nostalgia as I scanned the room, Father spotted us and called out.
"Both of you, over here! How are you so late?"
Stern tone, stern face.
The father I'd once respected and feared most...
'Father...?'
Why did he look so frail now?