Chapter 424: Legend and Reality (3)

CREEEAK!

Soh Bang grimaced as hard as she could at the light spilling through the opening door.

A little light did enter through the tiny window, but there was so little of it that she could barely make out the inside of the solitary cell. The sudden brightness was so harsh that tears sprang to her eyes.

Then—

RUSTLE.

Soh Bang’s body went rigid.

The hand shielding her face began to tremble. The murderous Killing Intent pouring from the man who stepped through the door wrapped around both her body and mind.

THROB!

A savage pain shot up from her broken thigh.

The bone had been set somehow, but her Inner Qi had been sealed, the food had been poor, and the conditions were wretched. If not for the faint traces of True Qi still dispersed throughout her body, the wound would have festered long ago and killed her.

Fortunately, the bone was nearly healed, and the pain had grown mild.

Yet the instant she faced the man’s Killing Intent, agony flared through her thigh so violently that her mind nearly went blank.

“Soh Bang, was it?”

His low voice carried a pressure that made it hard even to breathe.

“Just as I expected. Even with your Inner Qi sealed, you recover quickly. An ordinarily trained body couldn’t do that.”

CREEEAK! THUD!

The door closed.

Soh Bang stared warily at the man.

Yeon Hojeong sat down across from her and set a small bundle on the floor. The cell was so cramped that there was less than a yard between them.

“Eat.”

“......”

“Don’t want to? You must be starving.”

“......What are you scheming?”

Yeon Hojeong tilted his head.

His eyes blazed crimson, bright enough to seem as though they could burn through the darkness, yet his expression was one of mild confusion.

The eyes and the expression did not match at all.

That only made him more unnerving.

“Scheming?”

Soh Bang swallowed.

“Did you poison the food? If you’re going to kill me, then just do it cleanly.”

“Well said. If I meant to kill you, I would have done it already. I don’t waste good food by putting poison in it.”

“Maybe you intend to kill me more painfully.”

“You know nothing about me, so I suppose it’s understandable you’d think that way.”

Yeon Hojeong smiled.

The corners of his mouth curved faintly upward. His eyes were hot as an active volcano, yet carried a strangely cold edge that doubled Soh Bang’s heartbeat.

“There are so many torture methods that can make a quarter hour feel like a year that I’d have trouble counting them all.”

“......!!”

“Don’t turn down kindness when it’s offered. You’re living a life where you don’t know when you’ll die anymore, aren’t you?”

A sneer appeared on Soh Bang’s face.

It was so forced that anyone could see it.

“You kept me alive just in case, and now you’ve finally found a use for me? How frugal of you.”

“Waste not, want not. I don’t cling to things I’ve already thrown away, but if I went to the trouble of obtaining something, I make sure I get some use out of it.”

“......”

“Like you said, I kept you alive just in case. But now that things have turned out this way, I’ve found a use for you after all. So receive your treatment, eat properly, and keep your strength up.”

“Just kill me.”

“That’s a strange thing to hear from a bitch who fought like hell because she didn’t want to die.”

Soh Bang’s face stiffened slightly.

Yeon Hojeong’s smile, on the other hand, deepened.

And as it deepened, so did the pressure radiating from him.

“There probably isn’t another person in this world who hates the Perverse Lust Cult as much as I do. And yet I let you live. You, a high-ranking member of the Perverse Lust Cult.”

“......”

“In the middle of that frantic battle, with Killing Intent raging everywhere, showing patience that doesn’t suit me isn’t exactly a hobby of mine. So why do you think I didn’t kill you on the spot?”

“......”

“You’re different from Yayul Jeok. Before loyalty even enters the question, your attachment to life is almost grotesquely strong.”

“Shut up!”

Soh Bang’s face flushed red.

“You think an insult like that will shake me? Kill me now! I’d rather die than become some object for a bastard like you to use!”

“Even if your life is guaranteed?”

“That’s absurd—!”

“Once I decide I’ve gotten everything useful out of you, I’ll let you go. Whether you live somewhere in the Central Plains or return to the Perverse Lust Cult, I won’t stop you.”

“......!!”

For a moment, Soh Bang found herself speechless.

Yeon Hojeong shifted into a more comfortable posture, bracing one hand against the floor and raising the opposite knee.

He looked as though he were sitting in his own room.

It was relaxed and open, yet at the same time, subtly oppressive.

Yeon Hojeong was good at this sort of thing.

He knew exactly what tone and posture to adopt to create the atmosphere he wanted according to the other person’s state of mind.

“I don’t care what kind of personality you have anymore. But one thing is certain. You cling fiercely to life. If necessary, you’d even betray the group you belong to in order to survive.”

“Shut your mouth!”

“If I’m wrong, then die.”

“......What?”

HMMMMM.

The crimson glow in Yeon Hojeong’s eyes deepened.

The flame-like color unique to Vermilion Bird Fire Qi gradually thickened into something viscous and bloodlike.

His Killing Intent alone seemed capable of bursting another person’s heart meridians.

“Kill yourself.”

“......!!”

“I don’t feel like dirtying my hands just to take one miserable life like yours. Kill yourself.”

“Y-you bastard!”

“You want death that badly, so why are you still alive? Do it yourself. Of course, I’m under no obligation to bury you properly, so you’ll probably end up as food for stray dogs on some mountain. But I assume you’re prepared for that much.”

“......”

“What exactly have you been living for all this time? If you wanted, you could have killed yourself long ago. Did you think we’d welcome you with a smile? That we’d quietly send you back to the Perverse Lust Cult? You can’t be that stupid.”

“......”

“Or did you actually think you could escape?”

Soh Bang could not answer.

The truth was, she herself did not know why she had not killed herself.

Her Blood-Drinking evil qi could not be circulated in the slightest under the overwhelming seal on her Inner Qi, and as time passed, that sealing force only grew stronger.

She could sense it instinctively.

Unless the person who had placed the seal removed it personally, she would never be able to circulate Blood-Drinking evil qi again for the rest of her life.

In other words, escape was absolutely impossible.

Her captors were not fools, either. Naturally, they would never release her Inner Qi.

That left only two possibilities: they would use her, or torture her.

If so, Soh Bang should have killed herself.

She should have died for the Cult.

She could not allow herself to break under torture and reveal information.

And yet she had not killed herself.

No—she had never even once thought of the words kill myself.

Soh Bang’s eyes shook as though an earthquake had struck.

Why?

Yeon Hojeong watched her for a moment, then gave a quiet scoff and rose.

“Be honest with yourself. You’ve come too far to preserve your pride by inventing one excuse after another.”

“......You don’t understand.”

Blood vessels stood out in Soh Bang’s eyes.

They were so red she looked ready to weep tears of blood, and faint fear and confusion lurked within them.

“You people don’t understand. You don’t know how terrifying the Cult is.”

“I don’t care.”

“The Cult never forgives traitors.”

“That’s hardly unique. Your damned Perverse Lust Cult doesn’t have a monopoly on that. No organization in the world forgives betrayal.”

“It’s not like that! The god our Cult serves is—!”

“If the Perverse Lust Cult truly has a god, then that god is surely an Evil God. What kind of god treats its own followers with such cruelty?”

“You know nothing of our doctrine!”

“I can live perfectly well without knowing that garbage. And from the look of things, so can you.”

“......!”

“If fear comes before reverence whenever you speak of your god, then in my view, that god was never worth believing in to begin with. You seem to see your god not as an object of respect and worship, but as something to fear. I can’t understand why anyone would choose to live that way.”

Soh Bang’s eyes widened.

She had never thought about it that way.

Her desire to live might have been strong enough to make even betrayal cross her mind, but in the end, she too was merely an ordinary believer who had been indoctrinated into the Cult’s teachings since childhood.

Yeon Hojeong turned away.

“What’s in that bundle is medicinal food. My subordinates are going without extra meat so that it can be made for you.”

“......”

“Eat. Recover properly. I’ll come again tomorrow. If you still haven’t made up your mind by then, I’ll kill you myself.”

BANG!

The door slammed shut.

Sunlight from the tiny window fell across the bundle.

Soh Bang stared at it, her face filled with profound confusion.

A moment later—

RUSTLE.

The sound of cloth being untied echoed through the solitary cell.

“Supreme Commander.”

“Speak.”

“The prisoner has finished her meal.”

Yeon Hojeong’s eyes turned cold.

“Understood.”

Yeoguk bowed.

“Then I’ll be going.”

“One more thing. How is Okcheong?”

“Much better. His recovery is accelerating by the day. According to the physician, in about five days he should be able to use his movement art without difficulty.”

“Good. See that he’s looked after.”

“Yes.”

Yeoguk left the room.

Mo Yong-woo, seated across from Yeon Hojeong, let out a sigh.

“Brother Yeon.”

Not Supreme Commander.

Brother Yeon.

That meant what he was about to say was personal, not official.

“Do you really have to go that far?”

“With what?”

“That Perverse Lust Cult woman. Soh Bang.”

“Hmm?”

A shadow fell over Mo Yong-woo’s face.

“You put a slow-acting poison in that medicinal food, didn’t you?”

“So what?”

“......”

“I don’t trust enemies. How am I supposed to let that bitch quietly recover when I have no idea when or how she might turn on us?”

“But......”

“If you want to steer a horse, you need reins. If I’m not going to kill her cleanly, then I’ll use her until every joint in her body is ground to dust.”

Yeon Hojeong took a sip of water.

The stale feeling in his mouth cooled.

“Guangdong is still unsettled. If we want to bring the province under control quickly, that damned woman’s existence is indispensable.”

Mo Yong-woo sighed.

“What else can I say to you? Still, the physician came to see me today. He said this was excessively sinister for the Martial Alliance.”

“Tell him to curse me instead.”

“That isn’t the issue. Didn’t you say that poison was made using the medicine he prescribed as its base?”

Mo Yong-woo looked toward Sima Hyeon, who stood quietly to one side with his arms folded.

“Even if that man was the one who actually prepared it.”

Sima Hyeon remained silent.

He had only arrived here a short while ago in the first place.

Yeon Hojeong shook his head.

“My justice has no room for mercy toward an enemy. If someone is my enemy, I’ll deceive them a thousand times and use them ten thousand times if that’s what it takes.”

“......”

“We should stop talking about this.”

“Whew. Very well.”

Mo Yong-woo rose.

“I’ll be going, then. You should get some proper rest too, Brother Yeon.”

As Mo Yong-woo turned to leave, Yeon Hojeong suddenly spoke.

“Commander Mo Yong.”

“Yes, Supreme Commander.”

“When this is over, I’ll go to the Demon-Sweeping Corps immediately.”

Mo Yong-woo smiled.

“It would be an honor.”

With that, Mo Yong-woo left the room.

Yeon Hojeong stared at the closed door in silence, then drank again.

“......Bitter.”

Yeon Hojeong closed his eyes.

He felt terrible.