novelraw Chapter 12
Chapter 12
Chapter 12
He had suddenly become stronger for unknown reasons overnight due to a miraculous opportunity.
However, none of it had been achieved through his own effort, and he even felt as though he was being controlled by that mysterious power.
Because of that, he feared that if he didn’t figure out how it functioned, he would eventually become nothing.
It felt as though, without someone to guide him, he wouldn’t even be able to take a single step forward on his own.
Seo Mugyeom realized that he hadn’t understood this truth until he heard it from the Division Leader.
And he believed that the words the Division Leader had told him were precisely what he needed to hold on to tightly now.
"Please, I’m in your care, Division Leader."
Pyo Inhaeng had merely voiced what he felt when looking at Seo Mugyeom, but he was slightly surprised to see how moved Seo Mugyeom was by it.
And if Seo Mugyeom had expectations of him, it made him think he should put in more effort.
"Suddenly becoming stronger doesn’t always mean something good."
"And if you receive a miraculous opportunity for no reason at all one day, you might be asked to pay the price at a time you don’t want."
"What you should be most cautious of is qi deviation."
"And the ability to control your power."
Seo Mugyeom nodded slowly.
Those were things he had never thought of before.
Once again, Pyo Inhaeng flinched.
He had just said whatever came to mind to sound reasonable, but now Seo Mugyeom’s eyes looked as though they were burning with intense light.
Had he not seen Yoon Seok, Pyo Inhaeng might not have said such things to begin with.
But seeing the Vice-Leader of the Eighth Division come all the way here and show interest in Seo Mugyeom made him feel like he had to do something.
Seo Mugyeom opened his mouth in awe and even sighed in admiration.
The more he thought about it, the more it seemed like golden words to him—and yet he hadn’t realized it before.
"R-right. Taking things for granted just because you think you already know them can lead to problems."
"Thinking you know something and becoming arrogant is a serious mistake."
"If you assume you know nothing, even reviewing things you’ve already learned can be helpful."
"That’s true!"
"..."
Pyo Inhaeng told Seo Mugyeom to continue his training and gave occasional pointers from the side.
He just said things that seemed a little off to him, but from that moment, Seo Mugyeom’s eyes would shine as though he had reached a great enlightenment.
He acted as if he had received help that allowed him to take a step forward, one he couldn’t manage before while standing on the peak.
Since such things kept happening, Pyo Inhaeng eventually began to suspect whether he was being teased.
So he asked directly.
"Seo Mugyeom, are you making fun of me?"
"Sorry? Why would I make fun of you, Division Leader?"
"You’ve been taking the time to guide me. That has never happened before."
"I’m really grateful to you, Division Leader."
"Right? That’s what you think, isn’t it?"
"Good. People should know how to be grateful."
Feeling better, Pyo Inhaeng glanced at Seo Mugyeom and asked.
"Seo Mugyeom, about that mission. Would it be better if I accepted it?"
"What mission are you referring to…?"
"When your life is on the line, doesn’t your dormant internal energy start to move?"
"So I’m saying I’ll bring a mission that can wake up that lazy internal energy."
It was a revolutionary idea he hadn’t considered before.
If he could just bring in such a mission from the Tenth Division—and if he could participate in it—there’d be no need to hang around other divisions.
‘Finally! Am I finally going to become a Blood Demon?’
As the thought of becoming a Blood Demon, which had slipped his mind amidst other things, resurfaced, Seo Mugyeom’s expression changed.
Pyo Inhaeng flinched, wondering why Seo Mugyeom was suddenly acting like this again.
"If that happens, it would be amazing!"
"Really? Then I suppose I’ll have to put in some effort now."
There wasn’t much effort required from him, though.
All he had to do was accept missions in the Tenth Division that others didn’t want to take on.
"I don’t know how many of those there’ll be."
"As you know, it’s not something that happens all the time."
Of course, he knew that.
The Divine Martial Sect was the successor of the Heavenly Demon Cult, and the government had labeled the Heavenly Demon Cult as a demonic sect and banned it.
The reason the state hadn’t interfered with the Divine Martial Sect was largely due to its lack of capacity, owing to consecutive wars in the border regions.
It was merely being left alone for that reason, but if the state ever decided to act, they could use any pretext to suppress the Divine Martial Sect.
Didn’t that actually happen a few years later?
However, for now, the state was still maintaining such a stance, so the Divine Martial Sect was also watching its steps and not causing major trouble.
Because of that, the kinds of missions Pyo Inhaeng and Seo Mugyeom were looking for weren’t readily available.
‘Still, if I really try, there should be something. I can just take the jobs other divisions were getting before.’
Pyo Inhaeng had said it boldly in front of Seo Mugyeom but then started to worry a bit.
It was good to awaken his subordinate’s internal energy, but he could also end up putting himself in danger.
And if he gathered too many people to ensure safety, it might not be helpful to Seo Mugyeom.
"What do you think would be good? If you have any good ideas, tell me."
"Well… I haven’t really thought about it. I’ll start thinking about it now."
He had only thought about becoming a Blood Demon by nearly dying, but hadn’t seriously considered what kind of mission would be best to undertake.
So from that moment, Seo Mugyeom began thinking about the most dangerous situations occurring during this period.
But nothing that came to mind seemed particularly good.
In reality, not that many battles became as intense as people imagined.
Maintaining the members and fighting strength of an organization was crucial, and usually both sides avoided major sacrifices.
Even escorts and bandits, who constantly talked about killing each other, rarely actually clashed directly with weapons for similar reasons.
Seeing Seo Mugyeom falling deep into thought, Pyo Inhaeng found it amusing.
It sounded good in theory, but what skills did Seo Mugyeom have to come up with such ideas?
And yet, wasn’t he acting like something might actually come to mind?
Pyo Inhaeng never imagined Seo Mugyeom might really be capable of that.
Seo Mugyeom had no idea what Pyo Inhaeng was thinking of him and was racking his brain intensely.
And during that time, something unintended surfaced in his mind.
‘That’s right. Wasn’t this around the time when the Vice-Leader of the Sixth Division got replaced?’
When Seo Mugyeom suddenly remembered it, Pyo Inhaeng immediately noticed that something had come to Seo Mugyeom’s mind.
It wasn’t difficult to notice since he had been watching Seo Mugyeom from the beginning.
"What thought came to your mind?"
Seo Mugyeom hesitated at Pyo Inhaeng’s question.
He had definitely remembered something, but he didn’t know how to explain it.
The change of the Sixth Division’s Vice-Leader had seemed like nothing special at first.
Originally, the Sixth Division’s Vice-Leader, Jang Ilmun, was found dead one day, and the Divine Martial Sect’s Guardian Ten Division was thrown into an uproar, but the culprit was caught quickly.
Surprisingly, the culprit was the madam of a brothel, and it was said that she had killed Jang Ilmun in a sudden fight after he impregnated the brothel’s most famous courtesan.
Being a Vice-Leader of the Sixth Division was by no means a low position in the Divine Martial Sect.
Just the fact that such a man frequented a brothel was already disgraceful enough, but on top of that, he impregnated a courtesan and fought with the madam.
At first, when it was said that Jang Ilmun had died, the Sixth Division swore with firm resolve that they would uncover the truth and thoroughly avenge his death no matter what.
But once the culprit was caught and the details came to light, the Sixth Division rushed to cover up the incident.
It wasn’t just the Sixth Division—both the Guardian Ten Division and the Divine Martial Sect also tried hard to forget the matter and selected a replacement.
That’s how the new Vice-Leader became Un Jongak.
Seo Mugyeom found it strange that this event had occurred at precisely this time.
Rather than the incident itself being strange, perhaps it was stranger that he had returned to this point in time.
‘Could it be that I came back because of Vice-Leader Jang?’
‘Could it be that Vice-Leader Jang’s vengeful spirit revived me to take revenge?’
Seo Mugyeom had his reasons for thinking such a thing.
People regarded Jang Ilmun’s name with disgrace and avoided mentioning it from then on.
And Un Jongak, who replaced Jang Ilmun as Vice-Leader of the Sixth Division, went on to climb the ranks smoothly.
He first became the Division Leader of the Sixth Division, then went on to lead the Third Division and the Second Division in turn.
It seemed his goal was to become the Division Leader of the First Division, but the highest position he managed to reach was Vice-Leader of the First Division.
Still, being the Vice-Leader of the First Division came with better treatment and fame than even some Division Leaders, so that alone could be considered a remarkable success.
Seo Mugyeom learned that Un Jongak was the one who had killed Jang Ilmun through a coincidental opportunity.
Un Jongak, who rarely drank to the point of losing consciousness, once became completely intoxicated, and the Tenth Division had to take care of the aftermath.
When Seo Mugyeom arrived at the scene, it was already covered in someone’s vomit.
Not only regular warriors from the Tenth Division but also senior members had come to clean the place, and they left Un Jongak in Seo Mugyeom’s care.
It was quite a distance to Un Jongak’s quarters, but carrying him there was still easier than cleaning up vomit and dealing with drunken people.
But they had deliberately entrusted the task to Seo Mugyeom.
It seemed they wanted to console the sense of humiliation of being dragged into such a situation just for being part of the Tenth Division.
‘Now that I think about it, there was no one better than the seniors of the Tenth Division.’
Memories he thought he had completely forgotten resurfaced, down to the smallest details.
On the way to the quarters, Un Jongak rambled endlessly.
And eventually, he confessed that he had killed Jang Ilmun.
How he killed Jang Ilmun.
Why he killed him.
The reason, of course, was for promotion within the Guardian Ten Division.
He said he devised the entire plan after seeing how much Jang Ilmun cherished one particular courtesan during a visit to the brothel.
Jang Ilmun had frequented the brothel constantly but had never impregnated a courtesan.
Everything that happened afterward had been orchestrated by Un Jongak.
Even the madam who falsely confessed to killing Jang Ilmun had been threatened by Un Jongak, and she, too, was later killed by him.
Seo Mugyeom was so shocked upon hearing this that he later told Ho Jo-yeong.
But Ho Jo-yeong told him not to tell anyone else and covered up the incident.
The reason was because the opponent was Un Jongak.