Chapter 270 : Plague (5)
Chapter 270: Plague (5)
Amidst the tense and chaotic atmosphere, Il-mok swallowed a sigh before speaking.
"Everyone except Squad Leader Dam Bin and Young Warrior Ouyang, go back to taking care of the patients."
As soon as everyone else left, Il-mok turned to Dam Bin.
"Squad Leader Dam, from now on you'll rest here. Under no circumstances are you to go near the patients."
"If I circulate my internal energy and use cloth with disinfecting alcohol, there's no way I'll contract the plague, Young Master."
Faced with her workaholic response, Il-mok played his trump card that a fanatic like her couldn't possibly refuse.
"This isn't a suggestion, it's an order. You're carrying a child who will serve the Divine Cult one day. The child's safety comes first, no matter what."
Dam Bin's face showed a complexity unusual for her, and she soon bowed her head in acquiescence.
"...I will follow your command."
"Then go get some rest."
As Dam Bin rose to leave the hall at Il-mok's instruction, Ouyang Mun also stood to follow her.
"Young Warrior Ouyang, you stay."
"Pardon?"
Ouyang Mun asked back with a confused expression, but Il-mok just stared at him until he got the message.
"...I will follow your command."
Once Dam Bin left the pavilion, Il-mok asked him a question.
"So, have you thought about what I said during this time?"
"Now that Team Leader Dam Bin is pregnant, what’s there to think, Young Master?”
Seeing Ouyang Mun wearing a face determined to take responsibility as a man, Il-mok let out a light sigh.
"As I said before, responsibility alone doesn't solve everything. You need to be certain whether you're choosing to be with her out of 'responsibility,' or if you actually care for her even just a little bit.”
Ouyang Mun looked conflicted.
"Squad Leader Dam Bin is still a woman, so it's not like I have no feelings whatsoever. It's just..."
As Ouyang Mun hesitated mid-sentence, Il-mok waited patiently for him to continue rather than rushing him.
After thinking for a second, Ouyang Mun finally added the rest.
"A man should rightfully walk the path he's chosen without wavering. But I couldn't help thinking, isn't it cowardly to harbor feelings for multiple women, Young Master?"
Hearing his concern, something suddenly occurred to Il-mok.
"...Is that why you kept clinging to Miss Jin even after she coldly rejected you time and again? You thought that as a man, you should pursue your first love for a lifetime?"
"That's correct, Young Master. As a man, shouldn't one face any hardship with a smile and continue on the path one has chosen?"
Il-mok couldn't quite tell whether to call this overflowing with romance or just plain insane.
That way of thinking would have been admirable if that first love had indeed worked out. But as things stood, it was nothing more than just stalker behavior.
But on the flip side, being a romantic lunatic meant that with the right push, he’d probably make a great husband.
At the very least, he wasn't the type to cheat.
"Listen carefully, Ouyang Mun."
"Yes, Young Master."
"You're right. A man should stick to his path. But your love life never actually started, did it?"
"What do you mean? Despite what happened with Squad Leader Dam Bin, my feelings for Hayeon were genuine."
"But they were one-sided, weren't they? Think about martial arts. When you first learned martial arts, could you just learn the Heavenly Demon Divine Arts because you felt like it?"
"!?"
Ouyang Mun looked flustered at Il-mok's strange analogy.
Worried that leaving him alone might lead him into Qi Deviation, Il-mok quickly continued.
"Romance is the same way. It only really begins after both hearts connect and you're together. You deciding on your own that you like someone isn't the beginning. In other words, Ouyang Mun, you've never betrayed anyone or changed your heart. Because it never actually started in the first place."
"Is that so?"
"Yes. So from now on, start your first connection with Squad Leader Dam Bin as a man with an unwavering heart just as you vowed.”
Ouyang Mun, who looked like on the verge of Qi Deviation, asked, "So you're saying Squad Leader Dam Bin is my first love, not Hayeon?"
"Exactly."
Il-mok knew full well his own words were sophistry, but he answered with complete confidence.
Just like one has to be a monster to face a monster, you have to don the mask of a lunatic to convince a crazy person.
And Ouyang Mun, pure and naive from his complete lack of romantic experience, soon spoke with a moved expression.
"Ah, Young Master, thanks to you, this Ouyang Mun has gained tremendous enlightenment."
Seeing that the persuasion seemed to have worked well, Il-mok added:
"So focus on Squad Leader Dam Bin like a proper man. Even more than you did with Miss Jin in the past."
"Huh? I thought you said not to be too nice at the beginning?"
"That was before sharing intimacy. Squad Leader Dam Bin's situation is different."
"Ah! As expected of you, Young Master!"
After getting Ouyang Mun's head straight, Il-mok gave him one last order.
"Now go find Squad Leader Dam Bin. No matter how capable she is, it's her first time being pregnant. She's bound to have difficulty accepting the current situation. Stay by her side always, help her, and be with her."
"I receive your command!"
Watching Ouyang Mun's retreating figure as he rushed out after bowing with clasped fists, Il-mok finally let out a sigh.
"Whew. He's a lunatic all right, but at least he's a loyal guy. He'll probably manage somehow."
After dealing with Ouyang Mun, Il-mok attempted to brainwash himself as well.
***
In a red light district far from Lanzhou in Gansu Province.
Deep within an unremarkable brothel among dozens of such establishments.
"Tch. Fucking idiots."
The Hao Clan Lord clicked his tongue with a disgusted expression and drank straight from a bottle of liquor after listening to his subordinate’s report.
"Goddamn morons. They acted all smart and clever, but instead of eating the prey, they got ripped to shreds by it. Stupid Tang Family bastards."
Hearing the Hao Clan Lord's tirade, the black-robed figure who'd come to report bowed his head and said, "That's just how those Orthodox cowards are."
The black-robed figure also harbored ill feelings toward the Orthodox Faction, so he was happy to trash-talk the Tang Family.
But their fury to the Tang Family wasn't solely due to their negative feelings about the Orthodox Faction.
They'd been in conflict with the emerging force called the Maitreya Luminous Cult, so they'd devised a scheme to kill with a borrowed knife.
They'd leaked information about Pingliang County to the Tang Family with the intention of making them attack the Maitreya Luminous Cult.
But their plot had ended in an absurd fashion.
The Heavenly Demon Cave incident happened out of nowhere, and the Tang Family did some crazy and stupid stuff there.
What made it even more absurd was that the Maitreya Luminous Cult had played a major role in exposing the Tang Family's insane deeds.
Not only that, ever since the Maitreya Luminous Cult had thwarted the Blood Cult's conspiracy and even saved the Orthodox Faction's rising talents, the situation had become too delicate to employ any borrowed-knife schemes.
"Those pig-like bastards. Their greed rivals ours, yet they're busy spouting hypocritical bullshit."
Since some of the Orthodox Faction's major forces now owed the Maitreya Luminous Cult a debt of gratitude, they couldn't just attack them to take their land, no matter how much they wanted it.
After cursing out the Orthodox Faction’s cowards up to their eighteen generations, the Hao Clan Lord changed his target.
"The Blood Cult. Why the hell did those vermin have to pull their shit at that exact time? Damn it."
He was trash-talking everyone who ruined his plans when—
‘Hehehe.’
Suddenly, the Hao Clan Lord's face twisted into a crooked smile.
The man in black, who had been watching his boss act like a mess, asked as soon as he saw the smile.
"Have you thought of a solution?"
"Hahaha. That's right. If we can't use the Orthodox Faction bastards, we'll just use someone else."
The Hao Clan Lord would never suggest actually moving directly to attack the Maitreya Luminous Cult himself.
He had to cover his ass.
Not because he was scared of dying to that Incarnation of Maitreya fellow, but because the Hao Clan was such a disorganized mess that if he left his spot, someone would definitely stab him in the back.
The reason he kept moving around wasn't just to hide from enemies, but mostly to stop his own people from betraying him.
"If not the Orthodox, do you mean from our side? There aren't any Unorthodox Faction sects in Gansu strong enough to fight the Maitreya Luminous Cult."
"I don't expect anything from those thugs."
"Then... Are you going to use the Demonic Cult?"
When the black-robed figure showed an uncharacteristically surprised expression, the Hao Clan Lord shook his head.
"How am I supposed to control those fanatics?"
Then he muttered with a grin, like he had a funny idea.
"Hmm. Maybe I could spread a rumor that the Maitreya Cult is hiding the Heavenly Demon's body, like the Blood Cult did. But the moment they find out it's a lie, those fanatics would come in swarms to kill me. Hahaha."
The man in black gave a bitter smile. The Demonic Cult was so scary that even joking about them gave him goosebumps.
"Then who is it? Are you going to tell the Blood Cult? Since the Maitreya Luminous Cult ruined their plans, they’d probably attack them."
The Hao Clan Lord looked at him like he was insane.
"Are you nuts? The whole martial arts world is hunting them, and you want to team up with them? You must be a spy sent here to get us all killed."
Too tired to engage with the Hao Clan Lord's nonsense, the black-robed figure sighed and asked, "Then who exactly do you plan to mobilize to strike at the Maitreya Luminous Cult?"
The Hao Clan Lord smiled broadly and answered:
"The government, of course."
The black-robed figure frowned at that.
Not because he cared about the mutual non-interference between the government and martial world. That principle was just a strange custom maintained through complicated circumstances and the Hao Clan had no reason to care about such customs.
He frowned for a different reason.
"All our branches near Gansu Province have already been eliminated by the Maitreya Luminous Cult. How do you plan to move the government officials?"
"Hahaha. Do we have to use brothels in Gansu to control Gansu officials? Our network covers the whole country. There are plenty of people in other provinces who know officials in Gansu."
"...But if we make a move that big, won't we get caught?"
"Hahaha. Don't worry. Given the current situation, all of the Central Plains' attention would be focused on Sichuan and the Blood Cult. Who's going to pay attention to us?"
The black-robed figure nodded with a satisfied expression.
"Then what rumors should we spread to the officials?"
"I just remembered that weird letter we got. Hehehe. They're fanatics just like the Demonic Cult, so if we twist their teachings a bit, we can make them look like rebels trying to overthrow the government."
"I will see to it."
The black-robed figure bowed with clasped fists and instantly disappeared into the shadows.
And several days later...
Weird rumors about the Maitreya Luminous Cult started spreading all over the place.
Strangely, these rumors only popped up when officials connected to Gansu went to brothels.
"Did you spread the rumors well?"
"Don't even ask, Madam. That gentleman who'd been groping me until his hands were worn out, the moment he heard about that Maitreya Luminous Cult's doctrine, he jumped up in shock and ran out!"
The courtesan who'd just finished entertaining an official stuck out her tongue as she answered.
"You did well. As promised, I'll erase half of your debt."
The Madam who'd praised the courtesan sent her away, then carefully took out a sheet of paper and began writing a letter in Hao Clan's cipher.
But the Madam didn't know.
'Just wait a little longer, youngest.'
That the Evil God, who was wandering the Central Plains in search of Hao Clan's leaders, was watching her from the shadows.