The High Price of Truth

Seol Ah-heon marched forward with purposeful strides.

Perhaps it was because he was wearing the clothes provided by the Cult, or maybe because the rumor that he was training under Jin Gun-seong had spread; regardless, not a single demonic practitioner tried to stop him.

However, he was blocked in front of the Fifth Young Master’s pavilion.

“Who goes there?”

“I am here to see the Fifth Young Master.”

“Ha! Do you think the Fifth Young Master is someone who meets just anyone who asks?”

“Wait, this guy is…”

The practitioner standing guard slighly tugged at his comrade’s sleeve.

“A while ago, with the Fifth Young Master…”

“…Really? Then back then, he was the one…”

The whispering sounded incredibly suspicious. Seol Ah-heon could have overheard them if he focused his hearing, but he didn’t bother. He figured it wouldn’t be anything good anyway.

“…Wait here a moment.”

The practitioner went inside the pavilion and returned shortly. His attitude had become notably more polite as he guided Seol Ah-heon inside.

“Follow me.”

Seol Ah-heon followed the man into the pavilion, organizing the protest he intended to deliver to Baek Geon-ha in his head.

‘And you treated me like a man who deserved to die!’

Stealing and consuming the Soul-Freezing Pill was certainly a mistake. But wasn’t it stolen property in the first place? It shouldn’t be a capital crime for the rightful owner to try and reclaim stolen goods.

“Huh?”

Seol Ah-heon faltered. Suddenly snapping back to his senses, he realized the surroundings were unfamiliar. This was a corridor he had never seen before.

“Is something wrong?”

“I came to see the Fifth Young Master, but this place is…”

“He ordered me to bring you here.”

“Ah, I see.”

Though something felt suspicious, Seol Ah-heon resumed his walk. Having already set foot inside Baek Geon-ha’s pavilion, it was too late to back out. Besides, Baek Geon-ha wasn’t the type to go through the trouble of setting an elaborate trap.

‘Unless he’s planning to just swing his sword out of the blue.’

It was just a thought, but it seemed quite plausible. Seol Ah-heon shook off his suspicion. On the other hand, he didn’t lower his guard completely and kept a sharp eye on his surroundings.

The practitioner led him past several corridors lined with sliding paper doors. It felt like they were heading deep into the heart of the pavilion. Even Baek Geon-ha’s bedroom hadn’t felt this secluded; he couldn’t guess what lay at the end of this path.

Eventually, the practitioner stopped. He signaled to the maidservants guarding the door. As the maids threw the doors open, a wave of misty steam billowed out.

“This is…”

Only then did Seol Ah-heon realize where Baek Geon-ha had summoned him. It was a bathhouse.

Through the hazy vision caused by the steam, he saw a man rising. He brushed back his wet, silver hair.

There was no need to look further; it was Baek Geon-ha.

“What is your business?”

“Ah, well…”

His eyes darted around restlessly. He didn’t know where to look. While it was polite to maintain eye contact during a conversation, he felt that rule surely didn’t apply to a naked person. Yet, staring off in a random direction felt equally strange.

Seol Ah-heon simply lowered his gaze awkwardly. Fortunately, thanks to the thick steam, Baek Geon-ha’s naked body wasn’t clearly visible. If he had been forced to see that “wicked and atrocious thing” again, he would have been even more distressed.

His relief was short-lived as Baek Geon-ha walked toward him. As the steam dispersed, his naked form was revealed.

‘Don’t look. Don’t look.’

The closer Baek Geon-ha approached, the lower Seol Ah-heon hung his head. He couldn’t understand why the man would just call him in like this; he could have told him to wait or appeared after getting dressed. It wasn’t as if his business was that urgent.

‘Wait, no. It is urgent.’

Thinking of the Soul-Freezing Pill, anger flared up again. Seol Ah-heon jerked his head up… only to be startled by Baek Geon-ha, who had reached him in the blink of an eye.

“Has it been ten days?”

“Wh-when did you get so close…”

“No, it has been ten days and one day. Have you made any progress? I heard you followed the Emasculated Mad Sovereign’s orders without resistance.”

“Yes, it was very helpful. But there is something I heard from the Pavilion Head…”

“Are you sure you’ve made progress? You don’t look very reliable.”

Baek Geon-ha muttered his own thoughts and reached out. Fearing he might be strangled again, Seol Ah-heon took a step back. But this time, it wasn’t his neck.

“Ugh.”

A large hand grabbed Seol Ah-heon’s chin and pulled it up. Because his cheeks were squeezed, he let out a sound like a frog.

“You still look as weak as ever.”

Baek Geon-ha muttered as he turned Seol Ah-heon’s head this way and that. Seol Ah-heon had seen someone act like this elsewhere: the horse market. When he had visited the market to buy a fine horse previously, the stable master had handled the horses in exactly this manner.

“Let go of me.”

Being treated like livestock didn’t feel great. When he showed his intent to resist, Baek Geon-ha raised an eyebrow.

“And your cheeky personality is the same as ever.”

“I-I am not!”

Baek Geon-ha gave his cheek a sharp tug. It hurt enough to bring tears to his eyes. Only after Seol Ah-heon started thrashing and whimpering did Baek Geon-ha release his face with a satisfied expression.

‘Wow, his personality…’

In any case, the man’s temper was truly twisted. Isn’t it human nature to feel sympathy when someone else is in pain? Far from that, he actually enjoyed the suffering of others; this was exactly why one shouldn’t trust these wicked Demonic Cult bastards.

“Your energy… seems to have grown stronger.”

Baek Geon-ha scanned Seol Ah-heon blatantly. Startled by the mention of “energy,” Seol Ah-heon covered his body with both arms. It felt utterly absurd that he was the one being modest while Baek Geon-ha stood there proudly without a stitch of clothing.

Seol Ah-heon steeled his resolve. He had come here to try and change this absurd situation, even if only a little. It was no exaggeration to say his future life depended on how he handled himself here.

“Young Cult Leader.”

“What.”

“I heard the story from the Pavilion Head. He said the Soul-Freezing Pill originally belonged to the Yeong-ha Sect. Is that true?”

“It is.”

“I heard that when the Pavilion Head joined the Sun-Moon Divine Cult, he offered the Soul-Freezing Pill to prove his loyalty to the Cult Leader. Without receiving permission from the Sect Leader of the Yeong-ha Sect.”

“So they say.”

Baek Geon-ha admitted it easily. This alone wasn’t the worst-case scenario among the many Seol Ah-heon had imagined. Gaining confidence, Seol Ah-heon raised his voice.

“Then does the Soul-Freezing Pill not belong to our Yeong-ha Sect?”

“‘Our’ Yeong-ha Sect, you say…”

Baek Geon-ha narrowed his eyes slowly. It was a danger signal. But technically, it was only Level 1—not yet at Level 3, which meant “true danger, evacuate immediately.” Seol Ah-heon pressed on bravely.

“I was merely trying to reclaim my sect’s stolen elixir, so I do not believe I committed a capital crime!”

“I assigned you a mentor because I felt pity seeing you so pathetically weak, yet you’ve only learned strange things. Is this the teacher’s fault, or yours?”

“I-I am not saying I am without fault. I am simply saying it wasn’t enough to justify being toyed with by the Young Cult Leader.”

“Ah, is that so?”

The corners of Baek Geon-ha’s mouth curved into an arc. This was also a danger signal. Feeling it rising to Level 2, Seol Ah-heon prepared himself.

“Now that I hear it, your words do have some logic.”

“Please reconsider, …wait, what?”

“I said your words have some logic.”

For once, Baek Geon-ha was listening to him. However, Seol Ah-heon wasn’t naive enough to be relieved by this much. He braced himself for the bomb that was about to drop, and sure enough, the dynamite fell.

“Then you should go and tell the Cult Leader yourself.”

“…The Cult Leader? Me?”

“Indeed. The one who bestowed the Soul-Freezing Pill upon me was none other than the Cult Leader. So, if you intend to demand an explanation for why he handled stolen property, it is only right to do so with the Cult Leader. Is it not?”

Seol Ah-heon’s face turned pale.

He hadn’t expected Baek Geon-ha to agree with him so readily. Since logic was complicated and fists were close at hand, it wouldn’t have been strange if the man had simply used force. But to bring up the Demonic Cult Leader here…

“But… but…”

The various arguments he had prepared in his head vanished, leaving him to repeat the same word. At the same time, he intuitively felt that he had failed.

Truthfully, Seol Ah-heon had thought he could resolve things somehow as long as it was just Baek Geon-ha. By “resolve,” he meant preserving his life even if he took a few hits. Surprisingly, he had been trusting Baek Geon-ha deep down.

‘Trusting that even if he ignored my words, he wouldn’t kill me.’

But dealing with the Demonic Cult Leader was a different story. He was, quite literally, the Cult Leader. There was no way he would let Seol Ah-heon live after raising an objection against him.

“…I was wrong.”

Ultimately, Seol Ah-heon raised the white flag.

However, there was one thing he didn’t know. Once a fight began, Baek Geon-ha did not accept surrenders.