Chapter 18
“Then are you saying there is another reason?”
When the Second Demonic Marquis asked, So Ga-woon spoke with confidence.
“Of course. The mnemonic verses for the Heaven-Shattering Will Art are written in the Martial Arts Academy. It is known as the strongest martial art in the history of the Divine Cult, but it is one that no one has rashly tried to learn because no one has ever achieved complete mastery of it.”
“I know that too. But surely not. Are you thinking that Cheon Ha-seong remained at the Martial Arts Academy because of that? It is a martial art that no one has mastered in the hundreds of years the Divine Cult has existed; there's no way Cheon Ha-seong would have chosen a martial art that cannot be mastered, is there? If he had trained in another martial art during that time, he could have easily achieved complete mastery.”
It would have been far better for raising one's martial arts level to master a technique that was a step below it.
“Cheon Ha-seong is not an ordinary man. If he were ordinary, he couldn't have remained a legend of the Martial Arts Academy.”
The Second Demonic Marquis looked at her son with a face of half-belief, half-doubt.
“Do you really think Cheon Ha-seong can achieve complete mastery of the Heaven-Shattering Will Art? That is something even the Cult Leader could not accomplish. If what you say is right, doesn't that mean Cheon Ha-seong is better than the Cult Leader?”
“I believe it is possible. Did you not hear what Cheon Ha-seong did when he went to the Cult Leader's Hall saying he would save Seo Hyo-eun, Mother?”
The Second Demonic Marquis nodded.
This time, it took a while for the news to be delivered from the spy. It was delivered long after the time the news should have arrived, and only a single letter was secretly passed on.
However, that single letter contained a lot of information.
It said that the Cult Leader had dueled with Cheon Ha-seong, that the returned Cult Leader had stayed in his bedchamber for a long time, and also that an assassin had infiltrated and that the Cult Leader's personal bodyguard, Gwak Won, had colluded with the assassin and been caught.
It was written in such an abbreviated way that it was difficult to understand the full context, but it seemed clear that things were unfolding in an unusual way.
“Don't you know well how the Cult Leader thinks of Seo Hyo-eun, Mother? No matter how well Seo Hyo-eun spoke of Cheon Ha-seong, if he had thought him unqualified, he would have cast him out. But there is no report of that. On the contrary, they say he even called for Cheon Ha-seong again later.”
“Are you saying it's because Cheon Ha-seong proved his martial prowess?”
“That is what I think. In truth, even if that's not it, it doesn't really matter.”
“It seems you've already made a plan. What should we do?”
“We erase all of the mnemonic verses of the Heaven-Shattering Will Art that are written in the later gates of the Martial Arts Academy.”
The expression of the Second Demonic Marquis, who had been full of expectation thinking something grand would be said, suddenly hardened.
“And after doing such a thing… will we be safe?”
The Heaven-Shattering Will Art was not simply a martial art. It held a symbolic meaning within the Divine Cult. She wondered how they would handle the aftermath of erasing the mnemonic verses of such a martial art.
“What you are thinking, Mother, others will think as well. And they will be furious. But what if we say that Cheok Gyo-woon ordered the Head Instructors of the Martial Arts Academy to do it?”
The Second Demonic Marquis's eyes widened.
“Can you make it so?”
“Wouldn't it work if we approach and win them over, pretending to be the Fourth Demonic Marquis's people? We can have someone whose connection to us is unknown carry out the task.”
“Do you have someone in mind?”
“I hear the Chief Head Instructor of the Martial Arts Academy has been frequenting the gambling dens recently. It seems he couldn't get deeply involved due to a lack of money, but it looks like he has started to get hooked lately.”
It was strange that such a thing had suddenly happened. The Second Demonic Marquis knew just how cunning a person her son was.
And she knew that he laid the groundwork in advance for the future, even if there was no immediate use for it.
“It seems you've already had a hand in it.”
“You just have to wait, Mother.”
“Yes. I don't know what this mother would have done without you. This mother has only you. You just trust this mother. Whatever your maternal grandfather says, the child who will become the Young Cult Leader in the end and rise to the position of Cult Leader will be you. Only you are qualified for that position.”
“Thank you, Mother. I will only trust you.”
As the Second Demonic Marquis nodded with satisfaction, So Ga-woon gave a faint smile. That smile was chillingly similar to his biological father's, but only those in the know would be able to tell that his smile resembled him.
***
“Aigoo, I told you it was a pair!”
The Chief Head Instructor of the Martial Arts Academy, Bang Sun-taek, visited the gambling den again today, disguised in his own way.
He had first gone to the gambling den a few days ago, following someone he had met by chance at a drinking party, and the fun was considerable. The person he met at the drinking party seemed to have a lot of money and was not reluctant to spend it on others, so Bang Sun-taek had a few fun rounds with the stake money he was given.
It was so thrilling that even after returning home, he often thought of the gambling den. However, for a while, he didn't dare think of going back.
At that time, he had been drunk, and the person had offered to stake his money and led him so actively, so he had followed along, pretending he couldn't refuse. But after he sobered up, he couldn't go back.
He was a Head Instructor of the Martial Arts Academy. The Chief Head Instructor, at that. If a rumor got out that someone like him was hanging around a place like a gambling den, he could lose his position at any moment.
A Head Instructor of the Martial Arts Academy should be a model for the young martial artists, so what would happen if a rumor spread that he frequented gambling dens?
However, when Cheok Gyo-woon entered the academy, someone from the Fourth Demonic Marquis had secretly visited and slipped him some money.
Once he had some easy money, it seemed like he could somehow handle the other problems.
After obtaining a cheap human-skin mask, he began to frequent the gambling den. His skill was not good, but the type of gambling he did was a game where skill didn't matter at all in the first place.
The money he received from the Fourth Demonic Marquis's person had run out a long time ago, but whether he tried to sleep or train, the image of the gambling den flickered before his eyes.
So, after enduring for as long as he could, he took five taels of silver and went to the gambling den again. That money was his family's living expenses for a month, but it didn't even take fifteen minutes for it to disappear.
When he lost money, he grew impatient, and with the thought that he had to win it back, he bet even bigger, and the result was disastrous.
The thought that it would have been better if he had stopped even a little earlier became desperate, but even so, as if some lingering attachment remained, he could not easily leave the gambling den.
At that moment, a man approached him.
Bang Sun-taek had never seen him since he started coming to the gambling den. But looking closely, he seemed to be even worse at it than he was. He had been losing continuously since sitting down, to the point where Bang Sun-taek wondered how someone could be this bad.
Bang Sun-taek was in no position to give others advice, but he thought that perhaps with this man, it might be okay.
So he kept giving him advice from the side, and whenever the result came out as he had said, he would get worked up and nag him about why he hadn't listened.
But the man, who had said nothing no matter what Bang Sun-taek said until then, suddenly looked at him.
Bang Sun-taek flinched, wondering if he had been too forward, but then thinking, 'Can't I even say that much?', he puffed out his chest again.
“What are you going to do, looking at me like that?”
“Brother, it seems I'm just too bad at this. It's fun to play, but since I only keep losing, I feel like a fool. I have more than enough money, but still, wouldn't it be more fun if I won once in a while? So how about you sit here and play for me, Brother? If you lose money, I'll cover it, and if you win money, let's split it in half. What I'm saying is, I'll be your backer.”
“Is that… for real?”
Are there really people like this in the world?
Bang Sun-taek wondered if there really was such a fool.
If what this man said was true, it seemed he was someone born with money but no brains.
As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Bang Sun-taek sat down. There were other people around, and it seemed their ears had perked up too. Then, people started asking if they could do it instead.
“He was talking to me, so why are you all butting in?”
Saying that, he immediately urged the gambling den's attendant to begin.
“Will you go with Odds or Evens?”
Bang Sun-taek shouted 'Odds' without any hesitation. Perhaps because he thought he wasn't losing his own money even if he lost, he didn't even need to think about it.
From then on, a strange thing happened. He won eight rounds in a row.
At first, he was excited at the thought of being able to play with someone else's money, but as he thought about having to split the money he won, his mood gradually soured.
Later, he even gave him a look, but the backer took his half without any sign of apology.
His winning streak reached eleven rounds, and then nineteen rounds.
At that, not only the gambling den's attendants but even the owner must have thought it was strange, as people gradually started to gather.
Bang Sun-taek was currently wearing a human-skin mask and gambling under the guise of another person. Therefore, he did not want to draw the attention of others.
However, that thought soon disappeared.
He was here to gamble, and he was still a long way from winning back all the money he had lost. He had been excited while winning, and he thought that if he were to change his tune now that he was about to lose a little, the backer would not let him be.
The strange thing was, while the attendants seemed to be gathering, the customers were not. However, Bang Sun-taek did not notice this fact.
“Don't you feel a little sorry? For continuously taking my money without doing anything, I mean.”
When Bang Sun-taek said that, the backer stared at him intently.
“As for me, I don't care if I lose or win money. I was just trying to have some fun. I wouldn't even mind giving all the money we've won so far to the attendant and leaving. So, what do you want to do now? Should I wash my hands of this?”
Bang Sun-taek thought for a moment. The amount of money he had won so far was considerable. Even after giving half to the backer. It seemed he could play for quite a while longer with the remaining money. Seeing how lucky he was, it felt like he could probably win a few more rounds. Of course he would, wouldn't he?
If Bang Sun-taek had been able to think just a little bit rationally, he would have known that what was happening to him made no sense.
If there had been a few losing rounds in between, he might have felt a bit of reality. But as he continued to break his winning record, he started to feel like he was someone amazing. He felt as if he had become a person specially favored by the heavens.
He finally made up his mind.
“Whatever you do with that money is your business now. I'll be playing alone from now on.”
Then he spiritedly shouted, “Odds!”
That was the beginning.
When he lost three rounds in a row, he laughed.
Even when he lost money in two more rounds like that, he could still laugh.
He still had a lot of money left, and time was on his side.
However, it didn't even take an hour for the smile to disappear from his face.