"What else is there?"
Baekji asked, pressing down on his churning chest.
It felt like a frightening story was about to co out, but he couldn't not listen.
It wasn't in his mory, but it was his own story.
He had to listen.
"It wasn't Hyuk-ryeonjong. The mont his neck was struck, a lightning-fast blood bolt shot out from the gushing blood, aiming for you, Young Lord. You hastily blocked it, but the blood bolt grazed your forehead... and that's why a lightning-like bloodstain was left on your forehead."
Baekji felt his forehead burn.
"Then, a single crimson blood flower rose from Hyuk-ryeonjong's neck. So people called it a blood light... but strangely, the blood flower spoke."
"..."
―Hahaha. You kill your best friend after your lover... Yes, go mad... that is your destiny...
"Aaaaargh..."
Baekji suddenly clutched his head and rolled on the ground.
"Y-Young Lord!"
The Demonic Advisor hastily approached but was thrown back by a trendous energy.
Thud!
The Demonic Advisor, who crashed into the wall and fell, was suddenly terrified.
The Young Lord's madness was a legendary tale in the Demonic Cult.
Once he went mad, those around him would be torn to shreds like dried pollack.
'Why did I forget that?'
The Demonic Advisor, trembling with fear, watched Baekji from as far away as possible.
* * *
It felt as if his forehead was being seared with fire.
He felt like he was going to go mad from the rage that was welling up, more than from the extre pain.
A violent impulse to beat everything to death.
The bloody battlefield he had once seen in a dream unfolded vividly before his eyes.
Killing and killing again...
Corpses piled up and the earth was stained with blood.
'Kill...!'
Then, from sowhere, a clear voice was heard.
―Yahu... don't do that...
The last look in her eyes as she died, stabbed by Hyuk-ryeonjong's sword...
"Agh!"
Baekji let out a scream-like roar and his eyes shot open.
When he ca to his senses, he was in a room at the Hongng Brothel.
His forehead was throbbing, and as he rubbed it, the Demonic Advisor's surprised face ca into view.
"Y-Young Lord! It really is you, Young Lord!"
What is that brat talking about now, after calling
Young Lord all this ti?
The Demonic Advisor's eyes were as wide as saucers.
"Your forehead, the scar on your forehead has co to life. The crimson bloodstain!"
The Demonic Advisor, while convinced that Baekji was the Young Lord, had left a sliver of doubt.
Because you never know in this world.
But that scar was not sothing anyone could imitate.
A crimson blood-red scar that seed to be engraved on his soul...
"What? A scar?"
Baekji looked at the bronze mirror next to him.
There really was a lightning-shaped, blood-red scar on his forehead.
"What is this?"
It didn't co off even when he rubbed it with his hand.
"..."
Baekji, who had been sitting silently for a long ti, muttered, "So that brat, the Blood Cult Leader, took over Hyuk-ryeonjong's body and aid for the position of Young Lord, and when he failed, he committed atrocities and fled. Not knowing that, I lost my lover and even killed my bosom friend with my own hands..."
He now knew the reason why his forehead throbbed whenever he saw the Blood Sect.
That brat, the Blood Cult Leader, had even engraved a scar and fled.
"The Young Lord wandered the world in search of the Blood Cult Leader. Then, when the Blood Sect appeared, you took the lead in hunting them down. I heard that the Cult Leader was worried because you were too obsessed with catching the Blood Sect."
"..."
"Please return to the cult quickly. The morale within the cult is low because the Young Lord is not here."
"Hey... Demonic Advisor."
"Yes."
"You said I was seventy, but I was the Young Lord all that ti? Didn't they pick a new one? A seventy-year-old Young Lord... that's an age to be the Martial Alliance Leader."
"That's... because it is so in the cult's code... the next Cult Leader can only take office after the current Cult Leader passes away."
"Hah... you want
to be the Young Lord at this age?"
The Demonic Advisor said with a grin, "In my opinion... you seem too young to be the Young Lord..."
"Ah... I reincarnated..."
Baekji, who had been lost in thought for a long ti, stood up.
"Where are you going..."
"I'm going to go and think for a bit."
"You've been doing that until now..."
"Is this a small matter? If it were you, and one day soone suddenly said, 'You are the Demonic Cult's Young Lord!', would you be in your right mind? Shouldn't I first gather my thoughts and think about what to do?"
The Demonic Advisor, spread his fan, puffed out his chest, and said, "If that's the case, don't worry. Who am I! The cult's youngest military advisor! The Demonic Advisor. In preparation for the case that the Young Lord was confird, I have already organized everything you need to do in the future."
As the Demonic Advisor took out a scroll from his bosom, Baekji waved his hand.
"That's enough."
As Baekji reacted indifferently, the Demonic Advisor's head drooped.
A mont later, he lifted his head and said with blazing eyes, "Young Lord."
"..."
"In the past, Young Lord, you ignored the words of your advisors, including myself, and treated us coldly. I, the Demonic Advisor... was highly praised within the cult as the youngest military advisor, but you, Young Lord, did not even glance at ."
"...Did I do that?"
"Yes, you called
just once. On the day I was appointed as a military advisor. Just once."
The Demonic Advisor raised his voice as if in protest.
"...But I still silently assisted you, Young Lord, from a distance. Because I understood. In all the world, there is probably no one who can understand you, Young Lord... A genius recognizes a genius."
What is he talking about? Is he resentful because he wasn't recognized?
This brat must have grown up without being loved.
"Since you, Young Lord, were so brilliant and saw through all matters, how could advisors like us have caught your eye? Still, I, the Demonic Advisor... waited. And today has co."
"What are you talking about?"
Baekji finally got annoyed.
He was confused by the sudden secret of his birth, and now he had to listen to the Demonic Advisor's whining?
"Young Lord who has lost his mory. Like a blank slate... ah, you have already taken the na Baekji. The opportunity to assist the Young Lord, who is like a blank slate, and achieve peace under heaven! The opportunity to spread the holy words of our cult to all under heaven!"
The Demonic Advisor knelt.
"Please give
a chance!"
"Yes..."
This brat is definitely not in his right mind.
A madman must be beaten.
He had wanted to beat him up anyway.
Thwack!
The bamboo staff cut through the air and fell on the Demonic Advisor's head.
"Keuk!"
The Demonic Advisor let out a pained cry.
"Do you know why you were hit? You brat, you talk too much..."
"Th-thank you. Young Lord..."
The Demonic Advisor said thank you, then collapsed sideways and lost consciousness.
"This brat, he's completely crazy. To say thank you even after being hit..."
As Baekji clicked his tongue, Hongyan, who had been watching demurely from a corner, stepped forward and said, "That's not it, Young Lord. The Demonic Advisor is genuinely grateful because he has been acknowledged."
"What...?"
"All the cult mbers know that the Young Lord's beating is an expression of affection."
"What kind of crazy...? Are the Demonic Cult mbers perverts?"
Baekji felt a chill run down his spine.
So they were Demonic Cult mbers after all.
Hongyan said, "If you made a mistake, the Young Lord would just, cut off your neck. The story of soone's neck flying off for talking back..."
Hongyan, rembering that she had talked back to Baekji, trailed off.
"But the fact that you beat them without killing them on the spot... one day, the Young Lord said so."
"..."
"That you beat them because they are worth fixing and using."
Sigh. Was I such a heinous brat?
"So if you are beaten by the Young Lord, it ans you are useful..."
Hongyan, in the middle of speaking, suddenly knelt down.
"Please hit
too."
Baekji, beyond feeling a chill down his spine, now had goosebumps on his arms.
Hongyan approached on her knees and said, "Give
a chance too..."
"These... crazy Demonic Cult mbers!"
Baekji disappeared.
* * *
The annex of Songhwa Hall.
Baekji was still using the residence that the servants used. Of course, it had been completely renovated, so it couldn't be called the servants' quarters.
As he was about to open the door, he felt a presence.
It was a familiar presence.
Creak―.
When he opened the door, he saw Tie Yantai standing in the middle of the room.
As soon as Tie Yantai saw Baekji, he knelt down.
'Hah. Does this old man want to be beaten too?'
He had run away to avoid Hongyan, who was asking to be beaten, but there was another Demonic Cult mber here.
Baekji firmly decided not to hit him.
"I, you know. From now on, a loving rod or anything like that..."
"Young Lord!"
Tie Yantai suddenly shouted and then repeatedly slamd his head on the floor.
He's self-harming, self-harming... should I just hit him?
After slamming his head nine tis, Tie Yantai shot up.
Jeobeok, jeobeok...
Then he silently hugged Baekji.
This old perverted brat...
As Baekji's eyes blazed.
"Young Lord... I recognized you at a glance. How could I not know the Young Lord's beating after being hit so much? However, please forgive
for not being able to be certain of the trendous fact of rejuvenation. Sob, sob, sob!"
Tie Yantai, in the middle of speaking, poured out tears and snot.
"Hey, Elder Tie Guang..."
"Please call
Tie Tou (Iron Head) like before."
"Huh? Is Tie Tou your real na?"
"Tie Tou is a nickna that the Young Lord gave . My real na is Tie Yantai... but only you, Young Lord, can call
Tie Tou."
He didn't say that another brat who had tried to call him that had died.
"Yes. Tie Tou... it's a bit much to call an elderly person by such a nickna, isn't it?"
"Right? I'm not originally Tie Tou..."
Tie Yantai, who disliked the nickna Tie Tou, brightened up.
It seed the Young Lord, after reincarnating, was finally recognizing his true worth.
"I will not be a single step away from you from now on. Although... you have beco younger, I will serve you with loyalty."
"Yes. Don't be so obvious about it. Half of the martial force here are Martial Alliance mbers. How would it look if a Demonic Cult mber pledged his loyalty?"
"Ah. Those brats... I will wipe them all out. There are plenty of useful brats in the main mountain. Shall I bring about five hundred?"
Aha... Tie Tou... Elder Tie Guang was Tie Tou...
"Stop! Don't do anything. Just drink the tea that nghua brews, eat the food that the Zhong family makes, and sleep, just like now. No, don't go outside of Songhwa Hall."
"What about the firewood?"
"You were still doing the firewood until now?"
"Yes... you did not tell
to stop."
Hah. The simple-minded Tie Tou.
"There are servants now. You don't have to do it."
"Keuk! Thank you."
Tie Tou shed tears again...
Then, as if he had suddenly rembered, he fumbled in his bosom and took out an envelope.
"What is it?"
"This is what you, Young Lord, entrusted to
that day. On the night you disappeared."
"?"
Baekji opened it.
The scrawled handwriting... hmm. The handwriting is bad.
He was said to be the number one prodigy of the Demonic Cult.
―I might lose my mory, so I'm leaving this just in case. It is clear that what the Blood Cult Leader was after was our cult's spirit control technique. But why did he borrow Hyuk-ryeonjong's body of all people? Wasn't there a reason he took him over? I must rember this.
It was another shock.
That he might lose his mory...
That ant that he had known in advance that he would reincarnate.
'It wasn't that I accidentally ate the miraculous elixir?'
He had stolen and eaten it to reincarnate.
The difference between accident and intention is a world of difference.
It was sothing that would make the Demonic Cult Leader furious. No matter how much he was his son, to steal and eat the miraculous dicine to ascend to the Heavenly Throne.
'That's that.'
Baekji asked with a pale face, "What does this an?"
"I don't know. I did not open it. You just told
to give it to you when you ca back later."
"Hmm... tell
in more detail. What happened that day? The day I disappeared."
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