Chapter 2: Ja Hwa-yeon

Had sending her guardian out been a mistake?

I’d only done it so he wouldn’t find out I was a fraud.

Just then, a memo popped up in the corner of the monitor. It seemed to be information her guardian had entered after the fact.

‘Anger management issues and Heart Demon.’

…I was already well aware her symptoms were something along those lines. I knew it the moment I saw her.

In the end, it was no help at all.

I would just have to do this my way.

“Of course. It would be impossible for someone like you to be shaken, Heavenly Demon.”

I gave a slight nod and continued in a simple, direct tone.

“However, just as a mountain of steel can crumble from a single crack, sometimes even the most minuscule fissure can be a sign of what’s to come.”

I leaned in slightly.

“Have you… recently felt the urge to beat someone to a pulp?”

It was a question tailored to her level.

“……”

A beat of silence.

Ja Hwa-yeon’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly.

“I have…” she said, her voice losing some of its edge.

But this was not the moment to jump the gun and shout, ‘That’s the bastard! He’s the source of your Heart Demon!’

“I see.”

I nodded slowly, cautiously.

“And yet…” I continued, my voice a quiet murmur, “you didn’t punish that person.”

My tone carried a hint of praise for one who had restrained their anger.

Ja Hwa-yeon’s eyes wavered faintly. Then she nodded, as if satisfied.

“Indeed. I am the rightful heir destined to lead the Demonic Cult. I cannot cast aside a talented individual over a momentary flash of anger.”

“Precisely.”

I immediately agreed. And quietly, I pushed the door open.

“In that case, Heavenly Demon, would you be willing to tell me who that person is?”

Ja Hwa-yeon stared at me for a long moment before the corners of her lips curled into a slight smile.

“Very well.” Her voice was languid. “Every endeavor needs a catalyst, after all.”

The atmosphere was good. All I had to do was keep it this way.

“When I first fell into this world, I was lost. I had no sword, no cult, not a single soul I knew. But…”

A faint light gleamed in her eyes.

“As if by a miracle, the legacy of my Demonic Cult remained even here. It was a pale shadow of its former self, but its roots had been planted.”

Ja Hwa-yeon continued speaking slowly, her voice low.

“The one who had nurtured it was the Left Protector. To be precise, he was my father’s left hand. When I ascended to my rightful place as the Heavenly Demon, I did so in recognition of his great contributions.”

…At this point, I was starting to get a feeling for where this was going. My mouth felt dry.

“However, at some point, the Left Protector began to defy my words. Even within the Cult, he started to distance himself from me. And…”

She paused for a moment, then added as calmly as if recounting a daily triviality, “Once… there was poison in my food.”

“Excuse me?” The words escaped me before I could stop them.

“Do not make a scene.” She raised a hand, silencing me. “Such things are common in the Cult. He claimed it was a test to see if my skills had grown rusty. The only regrettable part is that he failed to inform Geumgang.”

“……”

The more she explained, the more my head began to ache.

So, this was Ja Hwa-yeon’s situation.

She came to this world and took her place as the Heavenly Demon. And, as befitting one of the Heavenly Demon’s bloodline, she had effortlessly asserted her authority.

Ultimately, the Left Protector, who had founded the Demonic Cult in this world and acted as its leader before her arrival, was forced to step down.

To her, the Left Protector had been her master and her father’s friend even before she came to this world. He was like an uncle to her. When she had arrived in this world alone, armed with nothing but overwhelming martial power, he was the only adult she could rely on.

Therefore, she trusted him.

But in reality, ever since Ja Hwa-yeon ascended to the throne, that same Left Protector had been secretly and repeatedly attempting to eliminate her.

All under the guise of a ‘test.’

‘…’

This was going to be more complicated than I thought.

She was naive, yet difficult to read. How could she not see what was happening?

At that moment, unable to hold back any longer, I finally asked a question.

“…Heavenly Demon. If you don’t mind my asking, may I inquire as to your age?”

“Me?” She narrowed her eyes and studied me for a long while, then answered distinctly, a hint of pride in her voice. “You could say I have just entered my twentieth year.”

Ah.

Bangnyeon. Twenty years old. The age when a flower is said to first bloom.

Our Heavenly Demon was at the tender age of a blooming flower.

Which meant… there was no way she could have understood such political machinations. From her perspective, it was no different than her own family trying to kill her.

I pinched the bridge of my nose and sighed. Or rather, I wanted to. I couldn’t just sigh openly in front of her.

‘First…’

After a bit more conversation, I quietly rose from my seat.

“Very well, Heavenly Demon. I will be back with something to drink. Would you mind waiting for a moment?”

I then took out the brownies and cookies I had prepared on a tray and placed them before her. They were desserts I baked every morning, as if by habit.

Counseling sessions always go better with something sweet to munch on. Sweet things tend to loosen one’s tongue and heart.

“What is this?” Ja Hwa-yeon eyed the treats with a degree of suspicion.

“Refreshments,” I said with a gentle smile. “They are not poisoned, so you may rest assured.”

Still looking skeptical, she brought a brownie to her nose and sniffed it once. Sniff, sniff. She tapped a cookie a couple of times with her fingertip.

Then, without a word, she popped the entire brownie into her mouth.

“!”

As the sweetness of the brownie spread softly through her mouth, Ja Hwa-yeon’s eyes flew wide open.

Smiling inwardly, I quietly slipped out of the room.

I headed straight across the hall to the guardian’s waiting room where Geumgang was. The room was soundproofed, just like the counseling room. When I closed the door, a quiet stillness, cut off from the outside world, filled the space.

“It’s good to see you again. My apologies for earlier. I felt the session wouldn’t have proceeded otherwise.” I began with a polite bow.

“…No. I understand,” the large man replied in a low voice.

He kept shifting subtly, looking as if he were hesitating to speak.

I sat down in a chair and watched him quietly.

“If there is anything you’re curious about, please feel free to ask.”

As if he’d been waiting for that, he immediately asked, “…Is it true? Is there a Heart Demon in the Young Mistress’s mind? Does it seem irreversible?”

His voice was filled with desperation.

Just then, something appeared before my eyes.

[Geumgang]

[Main Stance]
[He is hesitating between the Left Protector and the Young Mistress. He believes he cannot serve a master possessed by a Heart Demon (心魔).]

[Optimal Response] [Satisfaction Probability: 100%]

I took a breath and spoke calmly.

“To put it simply, it is highly unlikely that this is a Heart Demon.”

What I gathered from our conversation was that there didn’t seem to be any major issues with Ja Hwa-yeon. Her aggressive behavior and speech seemed to be a product of her upbringing, and the conversation itself flowed smoothly.

Of course, I was the one who made it flow smoothly.

A flicker of relief crossed Geumgang’s eyes, but it quickly turned to anger.

“I knew it… That bastard, the Left Protector! Physician, please take a look at this…!”

He gritted his teeth and pulled something from his pocket. It was a crumpled piece of paper. When he smoothed it out, it was filled with diagnoses and medical terms.

[Schizophrenia / Intermittent Explosive Disorder / Borderline Personality Disorder / Antisocial Personality Disorder / Impulse Control Disorder / Emotional Dysregulation / Severe Impulsivity and Risk of Self-Harm]

[Findings consistent with Heart Demon (心魔)]

“……”

‘What is this?’

It was a blatantly false diagnosis. They had turned a perfectly fine person into a lunatic.

I checked the bottom right corner of the document. Written in red letters were the words:

[Certified by the Republic of Korea Hunter Counselor Association]

Well… that’s a lie.

First of all, there is no such thing as a Hunter Counselor Association.

Why?

Because I’m the only Hunter Counselor in the world. What kind of association could I possibly form? As of right now, I am the only person with a Hunter Counselor license.

“…If I may ask, where did you get this diagnosis?”

At my question, Geumgang began to speak.

“A few days ago, the Left Protector took the Young Mistress somewhere. At first, I thought it was for training. But…” His gaze clouded over. “When he returned to me a few days later… he told me something shocking. He said the Young Mistress’s condition was dangerous and that for the sake of the Demonic Cult’s peace, she needed to be confined to a medical facility and sealed away…”

He lowered his head.

“Honestly, I couldn’t believe it. The Left Protector… I couldn’t trust him, and I… I wanted to believe in the Young Mistress.”

I let out a quiet breath and looked at the diagnosis again. If it were just any counselor, it wouldn’t matter, but the seal clearly bore the title of Hunter Counselor.

“First of all, this is not an official diagnosis. I am the only Hunter Counselor in the Republic of Korea. In other words, this appears to be a forgery.”

I looked at him quietly and added one more thing.

“Furthermore, ‘Heart Demon’ is not a modern medical term. There are various conditions with similar meanings, but… they don’t seem to apply to the Heavenly Demon.”

In that very moment, as anger and confusion warred on Geumgang’s face…

—KABOOOM!

A deafening roar, like a bomb exploding, erupted from inside the counseling room.

The color drained from Geumgang’s face.

“The… The Young Mistress…!”

Ah, did I take too long? It seemed our Heavenly Demon was thoroughly peeved.

I signaled for the guardian to remain calm and hurried to open the counseling room door.

A frigid energy filled the room. Ja Hwa-yeon was sitting crookedly in her chair with her arms crossed, glaring at me.

On the table where she sat, a fist-sized crater was gouged into the spot where the brownie had been.

Her eyes were closed as she murmured in a voice as cold as ice.

“How insolent you are, Physician.” She muttered, her eyes still shut. “The crime of wasting my time. It should rightly be brought before the council and punished according to the laws of the Cult…”

The cookies and brownies on the plate had already vanished without a trace.

“Do you prefer the black one? Or the brown one?”

“…The black one.”

I silently stood up, placed a few more brownies on a new tray, and set it before her.

Ja Hwa-yeon still wore a sullen expression, but she naturally brought another one to her lips.

I sat back down.

“……”

And I looked at the system interface floating above her.

“Nom, nom.”

Behind Ja Hwa-yeon, whose cheeks were stuffed full of brownie:

[Ja Hwa-yeon]

[Main Stance]
[This black-colored confection is quite delicious. It is fluffy and sweet.]

[Optimal Response] [Satisfaction Probability: 50%]
[Plant a seed of distrust in Ja Hwa-yeon.]

[Optimal Response] [Satisfaction Probability: 0%]
[Simply move on.]

I had no intention of simply moving on, either.

“It’s tasteless,” she told another obvious lie as she cleanly emptied the tray.

I placed one more brownie down and spoke cautiously.

“Heavenly Demon.”

“What is it.”

A fifty percent probability. That meant a fifty-fifty chance of success or failure.

Now, I had to forge my own path. The goal presented by the system was clear, but if I targeted the Left Protector directly right now, I would be the one to arouse suspicion.

The best course of action was to make her see the truth with her own eyes. To drive a sharp needle into her conviction.

“Congratulations. There is nothing wrong with you.”

“Of course. I am invincible.”

Ja Hwa-yeon lifted her chin confidently. I watched her with a gentle expression and nodded.

“In that case,” I said, pulling the crumpled piece of paper I had secretly taken from Geumgang out of my coat and pushing it across the table.

“This must be a blatant lie.”

Her gaze shifted from my face to the unfamiliar paper.

The top line of the page. Guardian: Hyeok Yeon-bo. Her eyes stopped on that name as if nailed to it.

Her lips parted slightly, stunned.

“The Left Protector…?”

Within the document were all sorts of unfamiliar medical terms defining her as a madwoman. But all those words pointed to a single destination.

Heart Demon (心魔).

The cancer of the mind that steals everything from a martial artist and ultimately leads them to ruin. As someone from the Central Plains, she knew better than anyone what that word meant.

Guardian, Left Protector.

Diagnosis, Heart Demon.

Ja Hwa-yeon’s dark eyes trembled minutely. She slowly raised her head to look at me.

A gaze, incomparably sharper than before, dug into my throat.

As cold as ice, she commanded, “Explain.”

Her tone had completely changed. In the suffocating pressure where a single wrong word could get my head lopped off, I replied with a faint smile.

“It is a potent poison.”

“……”

“One meant to assassinate you, Heavenly Demon.”

“……”

“A poison more insidious than any made by the Tang Family—the most cunning poison in the world.”

The moment my words ended…

—KWAAANG!!

An overwhelming wave of energy erupted from her. Once again, the counseling room was filled with the sound of an explosion.

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Translated By: Meher (RaidenTL)

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