The Heavenly Demon Who Reigns

"T-ten...?"

Hearing Cheon Myeong's words, Jo Seokjin unknowingly let out a slip of the tongue.

He thought for a moment that he might have misheard, but looking at Cheon Myeong's appearance and the character he was making with his fingers, it seemed that he had heard correctly.

'This is absurd!'

Jo Seokjin had been thinking of one. But to ask for ten times that.

No matter how much he used his name, he could not get ten Hyeol-su-yu.

And to think that what he would do after getting them was to give them to someone else, he thought that he might be hit by his father for the first time in his life if he said that.

"..."

Cheon Myeong was carefully observing Jo Seokjin's reaction.

Ten was an absurd number even for Cheon Myeong to think of.

If the culprit was Jo Seokjin himself, he would try to negotiate with him somehow.

Since he would not want to let his own mistake be known to the main family, there was a high probability that he would ask for a negotiation within a range that he could handle himself.

"That's ridiculous!"

"Why, is it hard?"

"Don't you also know how much value one Hyeol-su-yu has, Young Master?"

"You just told me to say whatever I wanted."

"T-that's..."

"So I told you what I wanted, what's the problem?"

Cheon Myeong said that and looked at Baekjo as if he couldn't understand.

Peep-.

Then, Baekjo cried as if agreeing with Cheon Myeong's words.

Seeing that, Jo Seokjin felt so annoyed with Cheon Myeong that he wanted to kill him right away, but he forced himself to hold it in and barely opened his mouth.

"...It's impossible for me to get ten Hyeol-su-yu with my ability."

"Really? As far as I know, you are a direct descendant of the Snake Jo Family. And aren't you the young master who will succeed the head of the Snake Jo Family in the future?"

"Even if I am the young master... I can't do everything."

Hearing that, a light flashed in Cheon Myeong's eyes.

"Then just say it. How many Hyeol-su-yu can you get with your ability?"

"..."

As Cheon Myeong asked, Jo Seokjin pondered.

In the first place, Jo Seokjin had been planning to give Cheon Myeong one.

But looking at Cheon Myeong's tone, it didn't seem that he would be convinced with just one.

Would a guy who had originally asked for ten be satisfied with just one?

He had to adjust the number to a line that Cheon Myeong could be convinced with and a line that would not be a burden to him.

'Three... no, since he asked for ten, I think he'll be satisfied with at least half.'

Jo Seokjin eventually set the limit at five.

Even that was a figure that was two-tenths of the Hyeol-su-yu that the Snake Jo Family had, but that was an amount that he could bring if he pushed himself a little as the young master.

'I can't help it. Even if I have to deal with that guy later, for now, I have no choice but to do as he wants.'

Since he had already said it, he could not completely refuse.

If he refused, that would be a problem in itself.

If Cheon Myeong were to drag the leader into this incident, the matter might become so big that he could no longer handle it.

Rather than taking such a risk, it was much better to handle the matter for sure in this place.

'Let's ask for four first. And if Cheon Myeong refuses, I'll raise it to five.'

If he did that, Cheon Myeong would also feel that he had tried his best.

If he had asked for five from the beginning, Cheon Myeong might try to raise the number because he had asked for more than he had thought.

Although four and five were only a difference of one, when viewed on the basis of ten, since it was a number that was half and not half, the difference felt great depending on how one thought about it.

'Yes, let's do that.'

A fast-spinning thought.

Jo Seokjin finished organizing and said to Cheon Myeong.

"Four... this is my best."

"Then do that."

"As expected, with this... what did you say?"

"I said just give me four."

A completely unexpected answer.

Although it was a good situation for Jo Seokjin, rather, since Cheon Myeong had said it so easily, he couldn't help but feel uneasy.

"You said that was your best, right?"

"...That's right."

"When can you get it?"

"Fifteen days... I think I can get it within that period."

"Okay, when you get it, bring it to the Socheongak."

The conversation was flowing very smoothly.

As a result, Jo Seokjin had gained one more than the number he had expected, but since he felt somewhat uneasy, he could not be happy.

'Could it be...!'

At that moment, a thought came to Jo Seokjin's mind.

Could it be that the number Cheon Myeong had wanted from the beginning was not ten?

Although he didn't know exactly how many he had actually wanted, he might have been testing him by asking for more than that at first.

No, it's certain.

Just as he had done, Cheon Myeong had conversely asked for more than that and had made him present the number first.

'Did I fall into that guy's trap...?'

Why did he fall for such a simple trick?

If it had been his usual self, he would have noticed it quickly.

But to think that he had only realized that fact after he had already been had, Jo Seokjin began to feel a surge of anger from within.

'This guy... are you saying that your true purpose from the beginning was this!'

In the first place, weren't all the actions of testing him with a Neuk-a for this?

Since it was just his own guess, he might be overestimating Cheon Myeong.

But his intuition was strongly saying that it was true.

'He's a dangerous guy.'

To think that Cheon Myeong was such a guy, Jo Seokjin only realized it for the first time after facing this situation.

Perhaps since he had learned Cheon Myeong's true nature with four Hyeol-su-yu, this deal could be said to not be so bad.

In Jo Seokjin's mind, the level of vigilance towards Cheon Myeong had risen sharply in an instant.

Although there was a part that Jo Seokjin had not noticed even at the moment when his vigilance had risen so much.

"...I understand."

Jo Seokjin answered, looking at Cheon Myeong with a meaningful gaze.

Thump-.

At that moment, Cheon Myeong suddenly began to approach Jo Seokjin.

Since his vigilance towards Cheon Myeong had risen in his mind, Jo Seokjin flinched without realizing it.

And Cheon Myeong stopped in front of Jo Seokjin and held out his right hand towards him.

"That, give it back."

"...?"

What is he asking me to give back?

Jo Seokjin belatedly discovered the Neuk-a he was holding.

"This... are you asking me to give this back?"

This Neuk-a had come out of Cheon Myeong's bosom.

But why is he asking me to give it back?

Since he had thought that the role of this Neuk-a was over, Jo Seokjin could not understand Cheon Myeong's intention.

"Why? Is it troublesome?"

"...Not at all."

No matter how much the Neuk-a was the unique hidden weapon of the Snake Jo Family, it was not a hidden weapon with a very high versatility.

In fact, since it would be quite easy to get a Neuk-a, it would be okay to give it back to Cheon Myeong.

Jo Seokjin thought so and held out the Neuk-a he was holding to Cheon Myeong.

Swish-.

Cheon Myeong took the Neuk-a that Jo Seokjin had held out and put it back into his bosom.

And he looked at Jo Seokjin with a relaxed smile and said.

"If there is another assassination attempt on me, I will think that the Snake Jo Family is behind it."

"What is that..."

"So if you really want to assassinate me, you'll have to prepare thoroughly so that there are no failures, right? So that the unique hidden weapon of the Snake Jo Family doesn't come out like this time."

"..."

"I'll take the Neuk-a I got back, just in case the same thing happens again, to compare it at that time."

Saying that, Cheon Myeong, as if he had said all he had to say, turned around and walked away from Jo Seokjin.

And Jo Seokjin, who was standing alone with his head bowed.

The face that was visible from below was so contorted that it was creepy just to look at it.

'Cheon Myeong... how much do you have to anger me to be satisfied!'

Those words just now were a warning that Cheon Myeong had given him.

At the same time, because of that warning, he could no longer move rashly.

As Cheon Myeong had said, if he were to make a mistake and fail the assassination again, Cheon Myeong would surely use the Neuk-a he had gotten back as a pretext and do the same thing to him as this time.

Even if there was no Neuk-a on the assassin's body in reality, if Cheon Myeong held it out and said that it had come from the assassin's body, what would he say?

Since he would not be able to smooth things over like this at that time, Jo Seokjin had no choice but to be cautious, as Cheon Myeong had intended.

'I thought he was an empty shell, but a scary guy was crouching inside the shell.'

Yes, I admit it. I lost this time.

But the person who will win in the end will be me, Jo Seokjin muttered to himself as he swallowed this anger.

* * *

After finishing the breathtaking confrontation with Jo Seokjin, Cheon Myeong was returning to the Socheongak.

'I'm glad things went well.'

As Jo Seokjin had guessed, what Cheon Myeong had been aiming for from the beginning was the Hyeol-su-yu.

Although the Neuk-a could be a certain amount of physical evidence, it could not be enough evidence to surely catch Jo Seokjin.

That's why, rather than surely revealing the person behind it, Cheon Myeong had chosen to use this to his advantage.

Thanks to that, as a result, Cheon Myeong was able to get a Hyeol-su-yu.

'So that guy is Jo Seokjin.'

However, there was one flaw in Cheon Myeong's plan, and that was that Cheon Myeong did not know about Jo Seokjin.

That's why he had had no choice but to act quite cautiously until he had met him directly and had figured out what kind of guy he was.

Of course, as Cheon Myeong had expected, Jo Seokjin was a guy with a rather fast head, but at the same time, perhaps because he was still young, in Cheon Myeong's eyes, he seemed to have quite a few openings.

One of them was a part that he could surely confirm due to Baekjo.

From the moment he had seen him get angry at Baekjo for the first time, he had been able to know that although the guy was cautious and had a fast head, he was a guy who hated to lose and had a strong pride.

And from that time, Cheon Myeong had dug into that part of Jo Seokjin and had proceeded with the conversation in a way that was advantageous to him.

'Since he's a guy with a strong pride, he will surely keep the words he has uttered.'

He had poked him just in case, but as expected, since it was a family that handled poison techniques, they had a Hyeol-su-yu.

And if that Hyeol-su-yu were to come into his hands, Cheon Myeong was planning to test one of the things he had seen in the Yakjeonbogam.

'If I'm lucky, I might be able to reach a state of being immune to all poisons in the future.'

A body immune to all poisons.

In the martial world, a body that was not affected by any poison was called that.

Of course, he had not thought that it would be possible to go that far with just this, but still, wouldn't he be able to have a body that had some immunity to poison?

If Jo Seokjin had known that he was plotting such a thing with a Hyeol-su-yu, that guy would not have given him a Hyeol-su-yu, regardless of his pride.

Because if this was successful, most poisons would no longer work on him.

From the Snake Jo Family's point of view, wouldn't that be the same as losing half of their power?

Since Jo Seokjin would want to kill him no matter what, that was news like a bolt from the blue.

'Well, since I've warned him this much, he won't attack me for a while.'

Perhaps if Cheon Myeong had not appeared in front of Jo Seokjin like this, Jo Seokjin would have attempted to assassinate Cheon Myeong again soon.

So what Cheon Myeong had chosen was a direct confrontation.

Since he had warned him in this way, Jo Seokjin would not be able to move rashly now.

'In the meantime, I will also prepare.'

It didn't matter if Jo Seokjin tried to assassinate him again later.

Because at that time, he would also have all his preparations made.

And that day would probably be the time when he could surely catch Jo Seokjin.

Swish-.

Cheon Myeong raised his right hand and stroked Baekjo's head with his finger.

"You did well too."

The fact that this had gone well was also due to Baekjo's contribution to some extent.

As Cheon Myeong praised him for that fact, Baekjo cried softly with a small voice, as if he were in a good mood.

Peep-.

Seeing this, Cheon Myeong lowered his hand with a smile.

And at the moment he turned his gaze to the front again, Cheon Myeong discovered the person standing in front of him and stopped walking.

"...?"

Whoosh-.

The long black hair that had fallen down due to the wind was fluttering in the air.

And the owner of the fluttering black hair was looking at him.

(End of Chapter)