The energy was hidden deep within his body, so faint that detecting it was nearly impossible, but the identity of the energy was definitely demonic energy.
“How interesting.”
If ordinary energy flowed like a calm river, demonic energy was a torrent in full flood.
It was a frenzied, chaotic force that could not be contained like ordinary energy. Eventually, it drove even the vessel it contained into madness. It was a vile energy that neither belonged to nor could coexist with anything normal.
That was what interested Baek Woo Jin. No matter how weak the energy was, it should have been wild and unruly, only to disappear without a trace. However, this demonic energy had hidden in the deepest corners of his body and was sleeping quietly like a hibernating bear.
Was it a mistake to mix the pill with the liquor of the gourd before drinking it?
No, more than that….
The real mystery was why demonic energy had suddenly appeared here in the first place.
After confirming once more that the demonic energy posed no immediate danger, he stood up, opened the stone door, and stepped outside.
The remnants of horrifying experiments came into view. Things he had previously dismissed as insignificant now loomed much larger in his mind.
The sight of grotesquely stitched-together corpses had given him suspicions before, but now he had certain proof in his hands.
Demonic cultists?
The rats hiding within the Tang clan’s walls were fanatics of the demonic cult.
***
Another week passed.
He had taken one pill with every meal, for a total of twenty-one pills, and there was still a considerable amount of demonic energy dormant in his body.
Over the past week, he had meticulously searched the laboratory cave again. This time, it wasn’t to find secret passages but to find out what exactly the demonic cultists, who had spent decades infiltrating the Tang clan, hoped to achieve through these brutal experiments.
Now that he clearly understood they were demonic cultists, the purpose behind their test subjects became clear upon closer inspection.
Thanks to this revelation, he quickly gathered information and successfully organized it.
Though it was a bit risky, he had also devised a plan for escape. Now, the only task remaining was to carefully choose the right day to act.
“How have you been?”
Whoosh!
Jin Mi Yeon, who had issued most of her orders to the Shadow Clan while rarely showing herself, appeared before Baek Woo Jin at just the right moment.
And she hadn’t come alone.
“It seems the situation is quite different from what I was told.”
A man looked down at him with a cynical gaze.
“Oh, that’s right, you were here.”
Tang Yeon Shin, the head of the Tang clan, revealed himself alongside Jin Mi Yeon as they stood in front of Baek Woo Jin.
There’s another mystery I need to solve.
It felt like remembering an assignment he had completely forgotten about at the end of summer vacation.
The puzzle was the true identity of Tang Yeon Shin who was now standing right before him.
Tang Yeon Shin’s gaze, which had been fixed on Baek Woo Jin, shifted to Jin Mi Yeon.
“You said you wanted to open him up and examine his organs, did you not?”
It had been a sort of rebuke, questioning why Baek Woo Jin was still alive and well.
“Hoho! It’s because I find him too precious for that.”
“Precious…?”
“Yes, incredibly precious.”
Her voice oozed with greed.
When Tang Yeon Shin frowned in irritation, she quickly added in a soothing tone,
“There’s no need to worry. It’s simply to put him to better use.”
Her expression implied she had already planned everything out and that there was no need for concern. Reluctantly, Tang Yeon Shin set aside his dissatisfaction for the moment.
“Well then, let’s check his condition, shall we?”
Kneeling down, she grabbed Baek Woo Jin’s wrist and started to take his pulse.
Jin Mi Yeon whose eyes were closed as if she was peering deep into his body let out a faint yet unmistakable smile behind her mask.
“It’s progressing even better than I expected.”
Her voice overflowed with undisguised delight as her gaze swept over Baek Woo Jin from head to toe.
She looked at him not as a human being but as though admiring a piece of artwork.
“Hoho, the young master has no idea, does he? Not a clue about his current condition.”
Her smug tone carried the air of someone who believed they alone held all the answers, a confidence so brazen it amused Baek Woo Jin, who let out a faint scoff without realizing it.
“You’re talking about the demonic energy you’ve implanted in my body, right?”
Following his single sentence, both Jin Mi Yeon and Tang Yeon Shin froze. Their eyes widened as though they had just seen a ghost.
“How, how did you…?”
Jin Mi Yeon asked in a tone of disbelief.
It was a demonic energy that had nearly shed its original properties. As if that wasn’t enough, it had been meticulously hidden deep within his body. How could he possibly know about it?
“I’m a bit sensitive, you see.”
“What—!”
It was the result of over ten years of accumulated experiments. If someone could detect it merely by being sensitive, she would not have considered it a success.
Baek Woo Jin’s voice broke the silence once again.
“You people are truly something. Spending decades rotting away just to plant your eggs in the Tang clan.”
Since the demonic energy had been exposed, its true nature was bound to come to light. After all, in the entire world, only the demonic cult used demonic energy.
“Refining demons is important, isn’t it?”
If his earlier remark had been shocking enough to make one gasp for breath, this one was so staggering it could make someone forget how to breathe entirely.
Like Baek Woo Jin pointed out, the ambition they had pursued even within the Tang clan was the perfection of demonic beings.
It was like putting a circlet on the head of Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, who was running wild and out of control. The goal was to put a leash on the demonic beings, who relied solely on their instinct for slaughter, and couldn’t recognize even their masters.
When she had first heard through the guards that he was frantically roaming the cave, she thought he was wasting his time searching for secret passages that didn’t exist.
But now, her expression quickly returned to composure.
“You’ve figured it out quite well.”
She didn’t bother denying it.
Upon reflection, it wasn’t even that difficult a conclusion to reach. Once someone realized that demonic energy had infiltrated their body, they could naturally deduce that its source was the demonic cult. And if they connected that feeling to their observations in the laboratory, anyone with a functioning brain could quickly piece together what the experiments were for.
But it’s not something to worry about.
Though she was surprised, she didn’t find it particularly threatening.
From the beginning, he had been a prisoner in this place. He was also someone who could never again step outside with a will of his own.
No matter what he realized, it meant that nothing he knew would ever escape to the outside world.
Hearing her now-calm breathing, Baek Woo Jin clicked his tongue.
“Tch.”
He had tried to unsettle her a little, but she regained her composure almost immediately. It seemed she was firmly convinced that he wouldn’t be able to leave this place anyway.
“I’ve figured out most of it, but there’s just one thing I’m curious about. Could you answer it for me?”
He gestured to his own body as he continued.
“If I’m going to end up as a demon anyway, couldn’t you at least satisfy my curiosity before that?”
Restraining the instincts of a demon—
If that was the main goal in refining demons, their ultimate objective went beyond that: to create demons who retained their rationality.
“I never expected you to figure out that much…”
The demonic energy implanted in Baek Woo Jin’s body was one of the methods used for this purpose. They injected the energy to prolong the process of demonization by suppressing its inherent trait of destroying everything it touches and driving even the vessel that contained it to madness.
During that prolonged process, they believed that if the subject adapted to the transformation of their rationality, it would be entirely possible to create a demon that retained its sanity. This was her trump card.
“This definitely has a good chance of succeeding.”
When Baek Woo Jin spoke as though praising her, Jin Mi Yeon couldn’t help but laugh helplessly behind her mask.
Since he had pleased her so much, she decided to give him the small favor of answering one question.
“I suppose I should at least hear you out. What is it that you’re so curious about?”
As soon as her words were out of her mouth, Baek Woo Jin nodded to Tang Yeon Shin, who looked at her with uneasy eyes.
“That one.”
“…Are you curious about the head of the clan?”
He asked again in a low tone.
“The true identity of that impostor pretending to be the clan head.”
On the day they first met, when Baek Woo Jin had pulled his “Are you scared?” secret technique, Tang Yeon Shin’s expression had shifted noticeably. Now, it was the same.
This time, the change in his expression was unmistakable. It was a mix of surprise and confusion.
“Do you have any basis for such an assumption?”
“Plenty. But the most decisive one is…”
When assuming Jin Mi Yeon was part of the demonic cult, there were countless reasons why Tang Yeon Shin, standing before her, might be a fake rather than the real deal. Yet among them, one stood out above all.
“You’re weak.”
There were certain things that a man could hardly stand to hear. Just as Baek Woo Jin’s earlier “Are you scared” had pushed Tang Yeon Shin’s buttons, phrases like “You’re weak”, “Your martial arts are pathetic”, or “You lost to me, didn’t you?” were the kind of remarks that couldn’t just be laughed off. They were what people called “trigger buttons”.
Baek Woo Jin didn’t stop there.
“You’re good enough that you wouldn’t get beaten up just anywhere, I suppose…”
He deliberately trailed off, shaking his head in a show of exaggerated disappointment.
“You insolent…!”
The effect was immediate and striking.
Tang Yeon Shin’s face, which had been painted with confusion, turned bright red with rage.
“You dare insult me, a mere brat who’s only just reached the peak master!”
Blinded by fury, he drew the dagger at his waist and moved to slash it without hesitation. But Jin Mi Yeon stepped in front of him and blocked his path.
“Stop.”
“Move aside! I’ll deal with this brat right now…!”
“I said, stop.”
Within the demonic cult, the ranks assigned to the two individuals were roughly equivalent. However, in terms of importance, Jin Mi Yeon held a slightly higher position. This was because she was leading the vital experiment on improving demonic beings, a key effort in the Cult’s plan to bring the world under its control.
“Damn it.”
Tang Yeon Shin barely managed to suppress his anger and returned the dagger to his belt. Jin Mi Yeon let out a small sigh and turned away.
“Truly astonishing.”
For over a decade, they had fooled everyone in the Tang clan. And yet, in just two weeks, someone barely over twenty years old had seen through it all. It was a scenario neither of them had ever imagined.
“It seems you’re already certain. There’s no point in denying it, is there?”
With a quiet sigh, she raised her hand to the mask covering her face.
“You’re right.”
The moment the mask, which had clung perfectly to her face, was removed, her aged voice instantly transformed into that of a much younger woman.
It was a voice Baek Woo Jin had heard several times before, one that was familiar to him.
As the mask fell away, her youthful, beautiful face was revealed, just as Jeong Jong Gu had described.
It was the face of the maid who had clumsily attempted to seduce Baek Woo Jin with her gestures and gaze.
She smiled seductively.
“You don’t seem surprised. I take it you already knew.”
Her tone and demeanor had completely shifted as she stepped closer while lowering her head slightly.
“But I bet this will surprise you.”
As soon as she finished speaking, her skin began to ripple. The distinct features of her face, once firmly in place, were suddenly consumed by the waves coursing through her flesh.
For a moment, her shifting skin seemed chaotic, but soon the ripples subsided and everything returned to its rightful place. The vanished features of her face reappeared as if nothing had ever changed.
For the first time in this exchange, Baek Woo Jin found himself unable to hide his surprise.
Her face had transformed right before his eyes.
“What do you think?”
Even her voice had changed. It was lower now, sultry, and carried a seductive tone that could unsettle any man’s heart.
“This is my true form.”
Her face, her smile, her voice, her mannerisms, even the way she moved her hands.
“Miss… Tang?”
It was someone Baek Woo Jin knew all too well. It was none other than Tang Seon Yeong.
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