Dokma, Jeongal-hwi – 2

The night before Master left.

As expected, Master spent the whole day resting with me by her side.

Perhaps her hard work all this time was to create moments like this?

“I won’t be able to see you for a long time, so I need to fill myself with you today.”

Liar. Then what have we been doing every night?

There were many things I wanted to say, but I shouldn’t do anything stupid to break this mood.

Master’s sharply honed eyes looked gentle and relaxed today.

Master dismissed all the attendants and clung to me from morning.

She would hug my arm and enjoy a nap, or get up in between to eat snacks she had prepared in advance, or read a book.

I spent almost half the day lying in bed, sleeping and waking up, but Master didn’t touch me much.

Or maybe she did something while I was asleep.

“Ugh… my back hurts.”

“Of course your back hurts when you sleep like that. If it were before, I would have woken you up at dawn and made you train.”

Master clicked her tongue as if I were pathetic.

“Master, I have a question.”

“What is it?”

“Aren’t you going to teach me Martial arts?”

“………..”

As the Young Cult Leader, not knowing Martial arts made me feel a little inferior.

Although the Chief Manager and others didn’t seem to care.

“I’m not going to teach you.”

I thought she would teach me right away, but Master gave an unexpected answer.

“Why?”

“Because your Inner Force center is completely ruined.”

Her finger slowly came down from my bare chest and brushed against my Inner Force center.

“I’ll tell you since you probably don’t remember. You died by a sword. Your Inner Force center was completely destroyed then.”

“I see.”

So, my body is incapable of learning Martial arts. Now I understand why she never mentioned the ‘M’ of Martial arts.

“However, Inner Force will naturally gather due to your trained body and the mountain’s energy, but the amount will be very small.”

“You said you glided for a moment when you fell off the cliff, right? That’s about the extent of your Inner Force.”

A state where I can only glide for a fleeting moment.

Wow, if I didn’t even have that Inner Force, I would have fallen to my death.

Thinking about it again sends chills down my spine.

“Even if your Inner Force center wasn’t ruined, I wouldn’t have taught you Martial arts.”

“Why?”

“Because I lost you once because of that Martial arts.”

She muttered in a subdued voice.

Taking her finger off my Inner Force center, she gently stroked my stomach and chest with her palm.

“I thought Martial arts was something that benefited the world. Helping the weak and standing against injustice.”

“Isn’t that mostly right?”

“Huhu, you’re still the same. But, for every one righteous thing you do with Martial arts, someone somewhere does a hundred unjust things with it.”

“So, this Martial arts should not exist.”

She said as if making a vow. It wasn’t a word to me, but to herself.

“Hey, think positively. Martial arts is just a means, and the problem is with the person wielding it. Look, Master, you help Yeonhwa and the other Cult’s People… Ouch!”

-Pinch

She pinched my chest hard. It turned red quickly from how hard she pinched.

“Ah! What are you doing?”

“Who are you mentioning a woman’s name in front of?”

Oh, how scary.

“No, Yeonhwa is just a young child. Besides, you’re the one who assigned her as my attendant.”

“I assigned her as your attendant to provide you with convenience. Bringing up someone else’s name in front of me is a different matter.”

Her standards are so strict.

“No, I was just giving an example.”

I felt unfairly scolded, so I grumbled and showed my displeasure.

Usually, she would laugh and ease the mood around this point, but Master didn’t seem like she would today.

Master, with her eyes slightly raised, met my gaze and said in a lecturing tone as if I was completely wrong.

“They are mistaken. Since I took on the name of Heavenly Demon, I have never had the thought of ‘saving’ anyone.”

“Then what have you been doing all this time?”

“They followed me on their own. I just broke and burned what was in my way. They are the ones who gave meaning to it and became Cult’s People.”

Complicated.

She continued to explain.

“If they follow, I don’t abandon them, and if they don’t follow, I discard them. If they get in my way, I remove them, and if they cross the line, I punish them. That’s been my way of life for the past 12 years.”

“For someone who says that, you’re too lenient with me.”

When I poked at her sore spot with a sly expression, I got pinched on the chest again.

Ouch, this one really hurts.

“You keep pushing me to the end. Yes, it’s true that I can’t kill you.”

Suddenly, our Master gets up.

She loosens my clothes and brings her face close.

“But, I can torment you. You foolish thing.”

Ah… here we go again.

Looking at her head heading downwards, that’s what I thought.

The next day, I, who had been tormented from noon to dawn all night, saw Master off with hollow eyes.

All the Cult’s People of the Black Heaven Cult paid their respects on her departure, which was quite a spectacle.

“It won’t take that long, so rest well.”

Master said with a refreshed smile.

“Have a safe trip.”

When I took the polite fist salute, she looked at me as if she didn’t like it.

Is this not it?

But I can’t just hug her in front of so many people.

As I hesitated in an awkward posture, Master gave a dumbfounded laugh and held out her hand.

“I’ll be back soon.”

I stared blankly at her hand.

And slowly raised my hand and took it.

It was a very, very familiar but very, very unfamiliar handshake.

Black Heaven Cult, Chief Manager’s office.

With the Heavenly Demon gone, the Black Heaven Cult returned to their daily routines.

The Chief Manager, who was looking at the piled-up documents in his office, massaged his stiff shoulders and leaned back in his chair.

The Chief Manager remembered what the Cult Leader had said to him in the early morning on the day she left.

“I’m going to ask you a very strange favor.”

“Whatever it is, please tell me.”

“Even if it takes a long time, find out if there are any stories about someone who has traveled through time.”

“Someone who has traveled through time, you mean…”

“Someone who came from the past or the future.”

Martial Arts Alliance.

The Sword Demon was right in front of them. The Yunnan front, which had been struggling in a precarious power struggle, began to collapse, and the Sword Demon took advantage of the momentum and moved north.

Soon, the Sword Demon’s group of Black Heaven Cult would reach the front of the Alliance.

But the Alliance Leader was confident.

The sword prepared by the Alliance. Namgoong Soyeon, who had become a Blood demon, had grown exponentially in a short period of time.

“Did you call for me?”

Namgoong Soyeon, whose atmosphere had changed quite a bit, stood before the Alliance Leader.

“The Sword Demon’s group is not far away. I want you to step up and subjugate them.”

“Hmm… what should I do? Gang Gongja doesn’t want that.”

“What are you talking about?”

The Alliance Leader tilted his head at the sudden words.

“I have to go somewhere else. I can still hear it. The voice of Gongja calling for me desperately.”

Namgoong Soyeon shed tears as if she was sad.

The Alliance Leader realized that Namgoong Soyeon, who looked like a madman, no, Namgoong Soyeon, who had become a madman, had escaped his control.

“Just wait a little bit. Gongja. Good Soyeon is going.”

Without any greetings, Namgoong Soyeon turned around and left the Alliance.