Tuk.

Fwoosh!

The highest-quality silk bedding caught fire.

Yeo Ha-ryoon flinched, his attack momentarily halting.

“Fire?”

His gaze darted to the flames consuming the blanket. If he relaxed his stance, Jin Cheon-hee would escape. But if he maintained his grip, he would be the one caught in the fire. As this realization dawned, the crimson in Yeo Ha-ryoon’s eyes began to recede, slowly returning to their natural ink-black. The madness was subsiding, and his mind was clearing.

That’s right. Although Yeo Ha-ryoon had been speaking in a cold, flat tone, he had not been acting rationally. The madness of the Star of Heavenly Slaughter had been controlling him.

His eyes really do change color, just like in the novel. That was too close…

“Where… am I? I was definitely…”

It’s surprisingly common for a soldier fresh from a battlefield to attack anyone nearby. The moment Yeo Ha-ryoon’s mind cleared and his grip loosened, Jin Cheon-hee seized the opportunity, kicking him squarely in the stomach.

Paak!

“Keuk!”

The blow caught him completely off guard in his confusion. In that brief instant, Jin Cheon-hee scrambled free from his grasp.

Hoo. I can finally breathe.

The bedding was now burning fiercely. The boy was still on the bed, covered by the flaming blanket. He violently threw it aside, scrambling off the bed to his feet. But perhaps due to the surge of anger, the red in Yeo Ha-ryoon’s irises began to glow even more intensely than before.

Just like the novel, his destructive urges grow stronger when his blood is stirred.

Whenever he lost consciousness or his life was in danger, his bloodlust would take over. It would take a long time before the Heavenly Demon, Yeo Ha-ryoon, could learn to control this curse. The Inhumane Path of the Demonic Cult would save his life many times, but in exchange, he would lose many precious things.

A secret birth and uncontrollable madness… the bread and butter of martial arts novels.

But having a character like that standing right in front of him was a different story entirely. In a book, he was a piece of entertainment that cost 100 won per chapter; in reality, he was an uncontrollable murderer. And the way his eye color changed every time the curse manifested…

What is this, Eighth-grade syndrome?

And of all the colors, it had to be red. The only saving grace was that, true to his role as a protagonist, the kid was ridiculously handsome.

First things first, he had to calm this killer down. Yeo Ha-ryoon had already lowered his stance, assuming a posture like a crouching tiger. It was the stance one took right before unleashing a martial arts technique!

Dammit. To calm him down… right. There was that!

In a flash of inspiration, Jin Cheon-hee was surprised at himself. The perfect idea to pacify Yeo Ha-ryoon had just popped into his head.

Calm. Stay calm.

Controlling one’s emotions was a basic skill for a surgeon. He had felt this same sense of high-stakes focus countless times on the operating table. This time, however, the life he was operating on was his own. In a way, that made it feel even less significant than a stranger’s. Perhaps thanks to that detachment, his voice came out steady.

“The graces and grudges of the Gangho are like the two sides of a blade.”

Yeo Ha-ryoon, still just a young boy, froze.

“…?”

Yes! It worked!

He didn’t miss the flicker of hesitation in the boy’s eyes. This was exactly what he had intended. The words Jin Cheon-hee had just spoken were the last words Yeo Ha-ryoon’s mother had left for him.

—Ryoon, my son. The graces and grudges of the Gangho are like the two sides of a blade. Whether it is a debt or a feud, both ultimately call for blood. I beg you not to be bound by them. Live a life different from mine.

To Yeo Ha-ryoon, his mother was his only blood relative. For that reason, she had never told him the secret of his birth. She had wanted him to live an ordinary life, untangled from the webs of gratitude and vengeance. But her wish did not come true. After her death, Yeo Ha-ryoon discovered the truth of the Star of Heavenly Slaughter. To suppress that power, and for several other reasons, he would eventually make his way to the Demonic Cult.

Now. What are you going to do?

Recalling the novel’s contents, Jin Cheon-hee watched Yeo Ha-ryoon closely. Hearing the last words of his only family spoken aloud, the boy’s eyes widened.

Jin Cheon-hee pressed his advantage.

“Do you think you’ll be safe if you go to the Demonic Cult? Once you have the Blood Gu inside you, you’ll be nothing more than their puppet, no matter how strong you are. Wake up, Yeo Ha-ryoon.”

At the mention of the Demonic Cult, the red in Yeo Ha-ryoon’s eyes faded completely, returning to a clear black. His expression changed. Suspicion. Confusion. Those emotions colored his face.

“How… could you possibly know that…?”

The Demonic Cult. It was a name that should make any ordinary person flee in terror. Yet here was a child, willingly walking toward it. A trail of blood followed wherever he went. One might understand if he had been kidnapped, but for a child to seek out the gates of the Demonic Cult himself… his story had to be a tragic one. That was the current Yeo Ha-ryoon. And, Cheon-hee guessed, it was likely the story of this body’s original owner as well.

“How I know isn’t important. What do you know about the Demonic Cult?” Jin Cheon-hee continued, seeing the confusion in his eyes. “Shall I tell you? To enter the cult, you have no choice but to consume the Blood Gu. There are no exceptions.”

The Blood Gu, or Blood Gu. It was a parasite that lived inside the body, gnawing away at its host. To keep it dormant, one had to take a special pill provided by the cult—one pill every ten days. If the pill wasn’t taken on time, the Blood Gu would lay its eggs and explode within the body. Death was the secondary concern; the book had described the pain as being eighty to a hundred on a scale where being burned alive was a ten. It was the first trial he would have to endure before he could become a Junior Cult Leader and kill the others.

“What would you do if I told you I know a way to remove the Blood Gu?”

“Who are you? How do you know these things?”

“Who I am and how I know are irrelevant. I know what you need. Isn’t that what’s important?”

Outwardly, they were both just children. But Yeo Ha-ryoon’s genius, granted by the Star of Heavenly Slaughter, and his tragic fate had forced him to mature quickly, while Jin Cheon-hee held the memories of his adult life. Their conversation flowed without any awkwardness. To a third party, however, the scene would have looked bizarre, even grotesque. The fire from the bedding had spread, and the bed itself was now engulfed in flames. The image of two young boys facing off amidst the inferno was utterly surreal.

He seems to be considering it. But… it’s best to wait for him to speak first.

Jin Cheon-hee waited. After a moment of silence, Yeo Ha-ryoon broke it.

“…Are you also aiming for the Divine Cult? Which family are you from?”

Aha. He thinks I’m from one of the Demonic Cult’s Eight Great Clans. I guess it makes sense. The novel did say that the children of the Eight Great Clans often wandered the Gangho as part of their training, sometimes acting as spies. In that case… is there any need to correct his misunderstanding?

“Don’t you think it’s telling that a child was riding on that escort mission all by himself?”

Fwoosh—

As they spoke, the flames grew larger. Finally, it was enough for the guards outside to notice. But Jin Cheon-hee moved to the door and slid the bolt shut, blocking it.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

A guard began pounding on the door.

Yeo Ha-ryoon asked, “What are you doing?”

“Helping you make a choice.”

“What?”

Fuck it. I have to go big here. It’s all or nothing!

Jin Cheon-hee’s heart was hammering. No matter that he had lived past forty, scary things were still scary. But he knew that if he didn’t forge a solid relationship with this kid right here, right now, he would never get another chance.

“Will you join hands with me? Or will you die?”

“There’s also the option of knocking you out and leaving.”

“Is there? If you do that, I’ll scream that you’re a spy from the Demonic Cult. That you tried to kill me. With the bruise you gave me, who do you think they’ll believe, me or you? Even if they only half-believe me, they’re bound to find something if they start digging, don’t you think?”

“…You bastard…” the rusty voice scraped through the roar of the flames.

He could hear the shouts of the guard and the sound of servants running. The door would be broken down soon. But before that.

“Choose.”

At Jin Cheon-hee’s firm command, Yeo Ha-ryoon muttered softly.

“…I remember now.”

What did he remember?

“When I collapsed, you were the one who moved and treated me. I was drifting in and out of consciousness, so I thought it was a dream… but it seems it was real. And it looks like you had other motives.”

Jin Cheon-hee thought, There’s no way you’d believe me if I said I didn’t know you were the protagonist and just did it out of the kindness of my doctor’s heart. It would be better to give him a plausible motive he could accept.

“It was a bit of both. So, what’s it going to be?”

The smoke was getting thick. The decorative shelf that held the incense candles had also caught fire.

BOOM!

A sword strike flew past him, slamming into the door. As a distinguished guest room, the door was quite sturdy. It hadn’t shattered from the first blow.

A twisted smile played on Yeo Ha-ryoon’s lips.

“Let us join hands.”

The smile was not that of a child. It was as if something from the bottom of an abyss was smiling in his place.

And this is Yeo Ha-ryoon before he’s ever killed anyone. This was, relatively speaking, his most innocent smile.

Jin Cheon-hee’s expression became the polar opposite.

“Heeelp meee! Waaaaaah! Mommyyyy~~!!!”

It was the voice of the purest, kindest, most terrified child, a cry that would pluck at anyone’s heartstrings. A child trapped in a fire, screaming—the effect was doubled.

“You…?” Yeo Ha-ryoon stammered, dumbfounded by the 180-degree turn.

The door burst open. Ignoring everything else, Jin Cheon-hee, his eyes welling with tears, ran to the most bandit-like guard and hugged him, sobbing his heart out.

“You did a fine job locking the door, but it seems you didn’t know how to open it.”

“Did you seriously not teach the kid how to unlock the door?”

At that question, the bandit-like guard’s face turned beet red. He had taught the boy to lock the door for safety, but he had, in fact, forgotten to teach him how to unlock it.

The guard loudly changed the subject. “Q-Quickly, put out the fire! The child must have been so scared!”

The servants shot daggers at the guard as they rushed to extinguish the flames. Jin Cheon-hee had been nothing but kind and cute the entire time he’d been here. And because of that oaf, the poor child had almost been in a terrible accident.

“Do better next time!”

“Right. Can’t trust this one!”

At that moment, Yeo Ha-ryoon caught it. Peeking from behind the guard’s broad back, Jin Cheon-hee flashed a subtle smile.

It was, without a doubt, the face of a swindler.