The Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
Regarded as the mightiest single force in existence.
The people of the Central Plains pointed fingers and called it a den of demons, but Un-hyeok could not have cared less.
'My goal is revenge.'
Against those who played a part in my death.
Against those who merely stood by.
Tenfold for what they did to me — no, a hundredfold. Only then would the scales balance.
Un-hyeok had felt it acutely while being hunted through Heaven's Dragnet.
That facing the vast collective of the Central Plains alone was beyond his power.
'The Heavenly Demon Divine Cult......'
All the better.
'If it means I can have my revenge, I'll gladly become a demon.'
The goal was set.
'First, I need to seize control of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.'
Un-hyeok recalled the information he had once gathered on Dok Un-hyeok.
'The disgrace of the Poison Demon Sect.'
Dok Un-hyeok had supposedly squandered the entire fortune of the Poison Demon Sect on wine and women.
The extent had been severe.
So severe that he had ultimately died from the complete depletion of his vital essence.
'What connection do I have with the Poison Demon Sect, to have woken in this man's body?'
It was not enough that he had died under the false accusation of practicing the martial arts of the Poison Demon Sect's founder, the Cosmos Poison Demon.
He even shared the same given name as Dok Un-hyeok — only the surname was different.
'Fate, or misfortune?'
He didn't know.
What was certain was that he now had to live in Dok Un-hyeok's body.
Meanwhile.
The courtesans began waking one by one, roused by the commotion.
"Mmm...... ugh, what's all this racket at the crack of dawn...... Kyah!"
"What is it, Aenghwa? Why are you screaming?"
"O-over there...... Black Bear is......"
"What? What's Black Bear doing here......?!"
Black Bear's infamy was well known throughout the market streets.
It was said that if someone failed to repay a debt, he would beat them senseless — woman, child, or elder, it made no difference.
CRASH—!
Black Bear kicked over a drinking table.
"Fuck! Enjoying the show?! Get the hell out, now!"
"KYAAAH! R-run!"
The terrified courtesans snatched up their clothes and fled.
In the pleasure house, only Un-hyeok remained calm.
'......Should I call this fortunate?'
He didn't know Black Bear.
But the head of the Golden Dragon Chamber — the organization Black Bear belonged to — Yi So-ye, he had known in his previous life.
More precisely, Yi So-ye had been one of his former comrades.
'Shadow Eye Specter, Yi So-ye.'
A woman whose skill in gathering and handling intelligence was the finest under heaven.
— Do not run your mouth carelessly.
— The eyes and ears of the Shadow Eye Specter reach every corner of the world.
During the War Between Realms, the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult had found Yi So-ye's intelligence network the most troublesome threat of all.
For that reason, Yi So-ye was a talent Un-hyeok absolutely had to secure.
'Information is power.'
Un-hyeok also knew of events that would unfold in the future, but only the major ones.
And even those were likely to diverge from what he remembered.
'That's the nature of cause and effect. Change the cause, and the result changes with it.'
Which was why he needed an intelligence source to prepare for the unexpected.
'Even someone as capable as Yi So-ye doesn't have certain information right now. If I can use that to my advantage, getting her to join hands shouldn't be too difficult.'
But before that.
Un-hyeok intended to create a trigger that would bring Yi So-ye to him.
"Three months ago."
Drawing on Dok Un-hyeok's memories, he began.
"The principal I borrowed was a hundred silver ingots, if I'm not mistaken. I'll pay that back within a month."
"That's a given. And you'll pay the interest too. You do realize your debt's growing even as we speak, don't you?"
He truly thinks he's found the perfect mark.
Greed glistened in Black Bear's eyes.
Clearly set on wringing every last coin out of him.
Un-hyeok smirked.
"I think there's some misunderstanding. I've got no intention of paying back that full amount."
"......What?"
"I'll pay back only the principal — roughly a hundred silver ingots — plus interest calculated at the Golden Dragon Chamber's standard rate. And......"
Un-hyeok spoke with careful deliberation.
"Directly to the Chamber Master."
The Golden Dragon Chamber was an emerging power within the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, currently running several businesses in parallel.
Among them was daily lending, though the original interest rate was not particularly high.
The culprit behind the murderous rates was Black Bear.
He had been inflating the rates on his own to skim off the top.
Naturally, Black Bear was not about to let that slide.
"What did you just say? You've lost your mind — got a death wish, have you?"
But this bastard.
The more Un-hyeok let it go, the more this guy treated him like a pushover.
Grabbed by the collar and shaken back and forth so violently his head was spinning.
"I'll count to five. Let go while I'm asking nicely."
"What?"
"Five."
Un-hyeok held up all five fingers.
Black Bear scoffed.
"Ha, still drunk, are you? That's it. You're getting a beating today."
When Black Bear raised his fist, three of Un-hyeok's fingers folded down.
"Two."
What?
Didn't four come after five?
The instant Black Bear hesitated in confusion.
SQUELCH—!
Without a shred of hesitation, Un-hyeok jabbed both of Black Bear's eyes.
"Aagh—! M-my eyes!"
"Idiot."
Watching Black Bear clutch his eye sockets, Un-hyeok sneered.
"You didn't actually think I was going to count all the way to five, did you?"
Strike first to win.
In a fight, momentum is nine-tenths of the battle.
With Black Bear blinded and flailing, Un-hyeok held the upper hand.
"You coward! Attacking by surprise— you think you'll get away with—"
SMASH—!
A wine bottle cracked over Black Bear's skull, sending him staggering.
"Gkh—!"
"Oh? That didn't even faze you?"
"AAARGH—! You wretch! I'll kill you!!"
Blood streaming from his eyes, Black Bear swung his fists wildly.
WHOOSH—! WHOOOOSH—!
"Where are you?! If I get my hands on you, I'll tear you limb from limb!!"
But Un-hyeok had already moved well out of reach.
'I've got a rough read on how he moves. Shall I go for an opening?'
He quietly picked up a chopstick lying on the floor.
One step, then another.
Silent and stealthy.
Un-hyeok approached Black Bear, who was panting from exhaustion.
"Huff, huff...... Dok Un-hyeok, you rat bastard......! Stop hiding like a coward and show yourself!"
Not a sound. Not even a hint of presence.
Meanwhile, Black Bear's eyesight had recovered slightly.
He cracked his eyes open, but his vision was blurred.
He looked around frantically searching for Un-hyeok, but the man was nowhere to be seen.
'Where did you hide, Dok Un-hyeok?!'
But at that very moment.
Tap, tap—!
Someone tapped his shoulder, and Black Bear spun around swinging.
"There you are!"
But his fist struck nothing but air.
Instead.
SQUELCH—!
"Guh— GAAAKH!"
The chopstick in Un-hyeok's hand pierced straight through Black Bear's cheek.
When Black Bear collapsed with a THUD—! Un-hyeok pressed his index finger to his own lips.
"Shh."
A chill crawled down Black Bear's spine.
He had lived a rough life, but this time, even Black Bear felt true terror.
'This is really Dok Un-hyeok?'
A spineless wreck too scared to even make eye contact.
That was the Dok Un-hyeok he knew.
But today's Un-hyeok was an entirely different man.
'He doesn't hesitate to hurt people. One wrong move and I'm dead!'
Every instinct screamed at him to run.
"Ngghhk—!"
Black Bear mustered every last ounce of strength and crawled toward the exit.
But Un-hyeok was not one to just watch.
CRUNCH—!
"GAAAAAAAH!"
This time, the chopstick pierced the back of Black Bear's hand.
"I'm trying to have a serious conversation here. Where do you think you're going?"
There was no escape.
Black Bear's voice shook with terror.
"I-I'm sorry. I was wrong, so......"
"Hey. Where are your manners?"
Black Bear flinched.
"M-my deepest apologies! I forgot my place and was rude to you, young master...... Please, just this once! I'll erase the debt entirely!"
"That much is obvious."
Black Bear's face brightened.
"Then you're letting me live?!"
"I'll let you live. But I won't be letting you go in one piece."
The kind of beating that would make him piss himself at the mere sight of Un-hyeok's face.
So thoroughly that the thought of revenge would never even enter his dreams.
That was Un-hyeok's way.
"Y-young master? What do you mean by......?"
Un-hyeok seized Black Bear's ankle with one hand and pressed the jagged edge of a broken bottle to his Achilles tendon.
"What are you— n-no, please!"
"Who said anything about 'can't'?"
SLASH—!
Un-hyeok severed the tendon, and droplets of blood spattered across his face.
"GAAAAH!"
"Don't be dramatic. We're just getting started."
THWACK—! CRUNCH—! CRACK—!
A short while later.
"Grrkkkk......"
Beaten senseless, Black Bear foamed at the mouth and passed out.
Un-hyeok wiped the blood from his face and stood up.
"Tch. My clothes are a mess."
Un-hyeok straightened his clothes and thought.
'The bait's been cast. Now I just wait for a bite.'
Once Yi So-ye learned that Black Bear had been crippled by Dok Un-hyeok — reduced to a wretch who could not even hold a spoon — her nature would demand she take interest.
This fell far beyond the scope of anything she could have predicted.
'She'll come to see for herself with her own eyes soon enough.'
So all that remained was to go home.
'And now Dok Ryeon-hwi is my father, with Dok Mu-won and Dok Seo-ryeon as my siblings.'
To become family with people who had been his mortal enemies in his past life.
It gave him chills, but what could he do?
For the sake of revenge, Un-hyeok could do anything.
"Well then, shall I pay a visit?"
To what would now become his new home.
"To the Poison Demon Sect."
***
Meanwhile.
A man in heavy makeup, his face painted like a woman's.
Hong Ryu-yeon, the general manager of the Golden Dragon Chamber, was busily tidying up the room.
'Damn her. What business does she have, showing up out of nowhere?'
A secret room hidden behind the bookshelf — Ryu-yeon's alone.
He climbed the stairs, concealed the entrance to the secret room, and sat down in a chair.
Just as he pretended to casually touch up his makeup, he heard someone approaching outside.
"Ryu-yeon, are you in there?"
"Of course, Chamber Master. Please, come in."
The sliding door opened.
A beauty with delicate, finely arranged features, reminiscent of a cat.
The Chamber Master of the Golden Dragon Chamber, Yi So-ye, revealed herself.
"I hope I'm not interrupting your rest?"
By then, Ryu-yeon had already wiped away his earlier expression, his face the very picture of warmth and kindness.
"Not at all."
Just then, So-ye's gaze drifted to the cosmetics scattered across the table.
Ryu-yeon quickly pretended to tidy them up.
"Oh my, I'm sorry, Chamber Master. The room is quite a mess, isn't it?"
"The scars...... right?"
The tragedy of the Underworld Gate.
So-ye had originally been the woman destined to become the young gate master of the Underworld Gate.
That was, until her senior martial brother, U Mun-so, murdered their master and seized the Underworld Gate for himself.
So-ye herself had come close to death during that time, but fortunately, with Hong Ryu-yeon's help, she had managed to survive.
In the process, however, Ryu-yeon's face had been left with scars that could never be washed away.
"I'm sorry, Ryu-yeon. If it weren't for me, you wouldn't have those scars on your face."
"Please don't say that, Chamber Master. Even if I could go back to that day, I would make the same choice."
Ryu-yeon took So-ye's hand.
A gentle warmth.
Come to think of it, Ryu-yeon had always been that way.
Always putting So-ye before himself.
"Thank you, Ryu-yeon. I'm so glad you're here. Without you, I might have broken long ago."
"Oh, Chamber Master, you give me too much credit......"
Hong Ryu-yeon smiled softly and changed the subject.
"That aside, you must be terribly busy right now. What brings you here in such a hurry?"
"Ah—! Right! It's about Black Bear. He went to collect money at Moonlight Pavilion this morning and came back crippled."
"What do you mean?"
"Dok Un-hyeok — you know, the disgrace of the Poison Demon Sect?"
"How could I not? He borrowed a hundred silver ingots from Black Bear not long ago."
"Apparently he did it."
"......Pardon? Are you serious?"
Third-rate.
Among martial artists, a level hardly worth noting — but to ordinary people, it was another matter entirely.
Moreover, Black Bear was strong even among third-rate fighters.
Ten grown men would not have been enough to overpower him.
"So I went to ask Black Bear about it. But he'd been beaten so badly that just hearing the word 'Dok' sent him into convulsions."
"So that's why you came to me. Hoping I might know something."
"Right. Have you heard anything about Dok Un-hyeok lately?"
"Hmm, no. I haven't heard anything in particular. I report all the information I receive to you, Chamber Master."
Save for one thing.
A secret he could never speak of.
"Is that so? Hmm......"
So-ye traced her lips with her fingers.
In truth, Black Bear being half-crippled was not what concerned her.
She had already been aware that his recent atrocities had crossed the line, and had been planning to make an example of him.
Yet some completely unexpected nobody had gone and done the job for her.
"Strange, isn't it? The intelligence I've gathered has never been so suddenly wrong before. Why is it only with Dok Un-hyeok?"
Martial artists often say they can smell qi.
But the same applied to those who dealt in information.
Something unknowable lurked within the intelligence surrounding Dok Un-hyeok.
After a moment's deliberation, So-ye made up her mind.
"I can't let this go. I need to see Dok Un-hyeok with my own eyes."
"What?! Is that really necessary?"
Ryu-yeon thought little of it, but So-ye felt differently.
"When intelligence is wrong, there's always a reason. Even if it seems trivial, letting it slide could come back to haunt us."
"Well, if that is what you believe, Chamber Master."
"And......"
So-ye gazed at the blue sky beyond the window.
"I've already put on my makeup, after all. It would be a waste to stay cooped up indoors with weather this nice. Let's go for a stroll — get some fresh air."
A breeze from outside the window swept So-ye's hair, and she tucked it behind her ear.
"To the Poison Demon Sect."