The Agreement (4)

I'd never been a particularly patient man.

Some people blamed it on my origins — said I'd never learned proper manners to begin with. Others suggested it might be a side effect of the Iron-Blooded Yama Divine Art, an orthodox technique so vicious it barely deserved the name.

The first lot were insulting me. The second were making ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠excuses on my behalf. Personally, I figured the first bunch had it right. Of course, I did fold that particular critic's limbs the wrong way around — but the point still stands.

Still. I'd been trying my best to keep a lid on it…

I'd swallowed the suspicious looks he'd given me from the moment we met. I'd swallowed the little test he'd tried to pull by sliding me that teacup with a wager attached.

And the reward for all that restraint?

He's probing to see if I'm a Demonic Cult spy?

He'd tossed the words out because he was certain of his position in the murim, certain his martial prowess put him overwhelmingly above me. If I looked offended, he'd laugh it off as a tasteless joke. That calculation wasn't even wrong, and I'd been fully prepared to let it slide.

I would have, too — if Jegal Hyeon hadn't gone and struck the one nerve he should never have touched.

My teeth ground together. I found myself rubbing my left shoulder for no good reason. The arm was still attached, still whole. The memory of it being torn off was just as whole.

Unfortunately, I never did grant that request. I'd torn an arm off the Heavenly Demon, sure enough — but in the end, it was Danmok Jin who took his head.

That was why the Heavenly Demon and the Demonic Cult were a reverse scale to me. The one thing I could not, would not, tolerate.

…Should I just kill him? For the patriarch of one of the Five Great Clans, his martial skill is on the weaker side. If I drew on my will, I could do it. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I'd take a nasty internal injury, but escaping Cheonryong Academy afterward wouldn't be impossible. After that, if I found a place to recover…

I was seriously considering murdering Jegal Hyeon. That's how far gone I was.

The only reason I was still holding back had nothing to do with mercy.

"Captain! For heaven's sake, think for half a second before you do something stupid!"

The worried voice of Biyeon, my old vice-captain, was still circling in my ears. And for an art rooted in Buddhist teachings, the Iron-Blooded Yama Divine Art was doing a stubborn job of clinging to the last thread of my sanity.

Jegal Hui, sitting beside me and desperately trying to swallow her hiccups while reading the room, counted for a little something too.

That said, if a word of apology didn't come out of that damn old man's mouth, I honestly couldn't say what would happen next.

Jegal Hyeon sipped his tea as if nothing were wrong, even as a blade-sharp killing intent flooded the room. That infuriating composure was about to make me draw on him when—

Jegal Hyeon bowed his head with genuine formality.

"…Father?"

Jegal Hui was so startled her hiccups stopped cold.

The patriarch of one of the Five Great Clans — one of the pillars of the Orthodox murim — had just bowed his head and apologized to a mere junior. For a proud, renowned master of the Orthodox path, it was a humiliation he had every right to feel.

"Haaah…"

So I decided, for the moment, not to kill him. Fortunately, I still had that much self-control left.

Jegal Hyeon swallowed his shock in silence.

…What kind of killing intent is that, coming from a kid?

He'd put on a show of sipping his tea with leisurely composure, but even that had nearly been crushed under the sheer weight of it. A martial artist who was merely First-class overwhelming Jegal Hyeon — a master who had reached the ripe heights of the Peak Realm — with nothing but presence? It defied all common sense.

So this one, too…

Every so often, the murim produced people like that. Anomalies born under a special fate, whose true strength couldn't be measured by realm alone.

"Ahem. I only meant to test you, briefly. If it caused you discomfort, allow me to apologize once more, with all due respect."

He spoke with the bearing of a renowned master of the martial world. What he had yet to notice was that his own speech had grown a shade more courteous — because the ghostly gleam in Baek Woohyeok's crimson eyes was enough to send a chill down his spine.

"…Fine. I'll accept the apology."

Baek Woohyeok nodded.

"Father! I'm disappointed in you! How could you suspect my friend of being a Demonic Cult spy?"

Jegal Hui poured out her grievance, and the moment the situation settled, Jegal Hyeon's inner daughter-fool reared its head with a vengeance.

Why is my precious daughter taking that brat's side instead of her own father's?!

The image of his beloved daughter grabbing Baek Woohyeok's hand and declaring, I'm going to marry this man! flashed through Jegal Hyeon's mind, and his face went scarlet with rage.

Take in the bastard who punched my daughter in the face as a live-in son-in-law? Over my dead body!

Just as the doting father in him was about to overpower the head of the Murim Alliance's Military Department—

"…So why, exactly, were you testing me to see if I was a Demonic Cult spy? I thought those bastards were hiding in the Ten Thousand Great Mountains, quiet as the grave."

Baek Woohyeok's question arrived at just the right moment. Jegal Hyeon clung to his reason by a thread. He flicked his White Feather Fan, settling his mind, and when he spoke again his tone was grave.

"Secret movements of the Demonic Cult have been detected. Their target, it would seem, is Cheonryong Academy. Understandable enough. To them, the Academy is a living symbol of their last defeat."

It was a performance worthy of the Divine Strategist. To Baek Woohyeok, who had already watched the man lose face, it was just pompous.

…He's putting on airs for no reason.

Hmm. So the Murim Alliance has been tracking the Demonic Cult's movements after all.

Fair enough. The organization currently leading the murim could hardly be expected to ignore the stirrings of its old archenemy.

They don't seem to know the details, though.

To someone who already knew the future, the gaps in the Alliance's intelligence stood out like a sore thumb. For instance: the secret movements the Alliance had currently identified were not, in fact, aimed at Cheonryong Academy.

There's already a Demonic Cult spy inside the Academy.

What they were really after was something else.

"During the Orthodox-Demonic War some sixty years ago," I said, "I heard a rumor that Cheonbul, after defeating the Heavenly Demon of that era, took a sacred relic of the Demonic Cult as a spoil of war. Is that true?"

"It is. A well-known story among martial artists. I suppose you might not have heard it, given how little information you have about the murim. But why bring that up all of a sudden… wait. Don't tell me—!"

Exactly.

"Their target isn't Cheonryong Academy at all. It's the relic!"

Before the regression, back when I was still grinding away at my training in the Academy, I'd heard a piece of news that hit like a hammer. The Murim Alliance's treasure vault had been completely cleaned out by person or persons unknown, and the culprit was never found.

It came out later that it was the Demonic Cult's doing.

At the time of the theft, the Alliance hadn't suspected the Cult for a second. The Demonic Cult had been quiet ever since their defeat in the Orthodox-Demonic War — and besides, they'd already pulled a stunt somewhere else by then.

A diversion, and nobody even realized it…

Well. As I'd said more than once, this was an age of peace. Even people like the Divine Strategist, who kept a wary eye on the Cult, were underestimating what those people were still capable of.

"…They'd dare go after the vault in the very heart of the Alliance? No — they're a religious order, after all. If it's a sacred relic, that's more than plausible."

Watching Jegal Hyeon flick his White Feather Fan and turn the problem over in his mind, I was sure of one thing.

At the very least, we won't get steamrolled in the opening stages of the war the way we did last time.

As Jegal Hyeon had said, the Demonic Cult was a religious order at its core. In the previous timeline, the fanatics who'd marched with that stolen relic at their head had come on like a tidal wave. If we could stop the theft this time around, we could take the wind right out of their sails.

"…You have my thanks. Because of you, I was able to recall something I'd overlooked."

"Don't mention it. A man of your caliber would've figured it out without me."

"Not so. Every strategist in the Alliance assumed that if it was the Demonic Cult, they would naturally target Cheonryong Academy. We forgot that to demonic practitioners, religious conviction outweighs any pride they might have as martial artists. And with so many promising juniors gathered at the Academy, our attention was bound to be pulled in that direction."

This time, instead of an apology, Jegal Hyeon bowed his head in gratitude.

"…Wow."

Judging by the dumbfounded little sound his daughter made, it was a rare sight indeed.

That said…

I never claimed the Demonic Cult wouldn't raise hell at Cheonryong Academy.

Naturally, Jegal Hyeon was not about to overlook the fact that Cheonryong Academy still needed its own defenses. The Academy remained a plump, tempting target for demonic practitioners, and that hadn't changed.

Cheonryong Academy is the pride of the Orthodox path — the place where the next generation of Orthodox talent is gathered in one location. We must be thoroughly prepared for whatever the Demonic Cult intends.

Of course, that conversation had already been had, to a point. He'd already informed Song Muja, the Floating Cloud Great Tiger and principal of Cheonryong Academy, that the Demonic Cult might be up to something.

But no matter how well Song Muja and the instructors he trusts prepare, once things actually break, a certain amount of damage will be unavoidable…

Jegal Hyeon's gaze drifted toward Baek Woohyeok. As if that vicious killing intent had never existed, the young man was laughing and chatting with his beloved daughter.

"Hmm… would you have any interest in taking on a task for the greater good of the murim?"

If the instructors weren't enough, why not enlist the students? And ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠if that student already possessed skill that surpassed most of the instructors, so much the better.

The realm I can sense is First-class… but this one is clearly hiding his true ability.

In that respect, Baek Woohyeok was a rather convenient candidate.

"…I don't know about that."

The man in question, however, looked thoroughly uninterested.

As I thought… a half-baked appeal to the greater good isn't going to work on him.

Any ordinary Orthodox junior would have nodded along the moment words like duty and justice came out. Baek Woohyeok, though, was cut from an entirely different cloth.

Then how do I persuade him?

Jegal Hyeon was turning the problem over when Baek Woohyeok spoke first.

"…The Murim Alliance has plenty of good elixirs, I take it?"

And with that, the real negotiations began.

In the room Baek Woohyeok and Jegal Hui had left behind, Jegal Hyeon grumbled under his breath.

"Ugh… he really took me to the cleaners."

"Was it necessary to bring that ill-mannered brat into this?"

A masked martial ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠artist had appeared at some point, as if from nowhere. He was a member of the Dark Shadow Unit, assigned as Jegal Hyeon's hidden bodyguard in his capacity as head of the Military Department.

"Well, I did make a mistake. And he's no ordinary talent — he'll be useful, I'm certain of it."

Then, after a pause:

"Besides. Giving him a job makes him easier to watch."

Jegal Hyeon still hadn't fully let go of his suspicions regarding Baek Woohyeok.

"I'll have my people keep him under surveillance. If anything suspicious turns up, we'll—"

Jegal Hyeon nodded at the Dark Shadow Unit squad leader's words, but a thought lingered.

A man who overwhelmed me, even for a moment — would he really have failed to notice the Dark Shadow Unit's presence?

Hmm. They're putting a tail on me already.

I could feel a faint, carefully concealed presence. The Dark Shadow Unit, most likely. Not that I needed to worry about it. They were just doing their jobs.

"Woohyeok. What are we going to do from here?"

"Hm? About what?"

"We have to root out any demonic practitioners who might've infiltrated Cheonryong Academy."

"Ah. That."

Truth be told, I didn't need to lift a finger.

"You know how it goes in those novels, right? That's always the protagonist's job."

And Cheonryong Academy happened to have two people who could reasonably be called protagonists.

If I just sit tight, either Namgung Cheon or Danmok Jin will take care of it on their own.

All I had to do was sit back and swallow the elixirs the Murim Alliance had handed over.

If I just take the elixirs, could I break through to the Peak Realm? My body's still not fully developed, but…