The Cellmate

The notorious headquarters of the Demonic Cult.

Specifically, the Thunder Jail—a place where the most gruesome incidents unfolded.

Seol Ah-heon was currently confined within that very jail.

“Haah…….”

He was screwed. No matter how much he thought about it, there was no answer.

Since he had always been a cautious person, he had never even been near a police station, let alone a holding cell.

Yet, of all things, he was now imprisoned in the Demonic Cult’s Thunder Jail. It was both absurd and sorrowful.

If he had to find a silver lining in this bleak situation, was it that he was still alive?

But this time, even that fact didn’t provide much comfort.

It was because of the last words Baek Geon-ha had left him with.

‘Keep this in mind. It is not because you have value, but because I can kill you at any time that I have allowed you to keep your breath for a while.’

The way he spoke had been so gentle. For a split second, he had actually thought Baek Geon-ha was being merciful.

“It was a baseless expectation…….”

He let out a sigh heavy enough to sink the ground. Not that the solid stone floor budged an inch.

It wasn’t just the floor. The ceiling and the walls were all made of rock. From the looks of it, a natural cave had been renovated into this jail.

Seol Ah-heon tapped on the sturdy wall and muttered.

“Prison break is out of the question.”

He hadn’t really expected to be able to escape the Demonic Cult’s prison in the first place.

If it were a dirt floor, he might have tried digging a hole with a spoon, but there was no hope with a stone floor this hard. Unless, of course, he could freely manipulate sword qi.

“Ugh, it’s cold.”

Quickly giving up on the idea of escape, Seol Ah-heon decided to focus on his own well-being. He sat down with his back against the wall and pulled his knees to his chest.

Why on earth was this jail so cold? He didn’t expect heating, but shouldn’t it at least be habitable for a human?

It felt like he had been suffering from the cold ever since he possessed this body. At this rate, he was going to freeze to death before Baek Geon-ha could even kill him.

“Hey! Is anyone there? If you are, please answer me!”

Just then, a desperate voice rang out. Startled, Seol Ah-heon called back.

“W-who is it?”

“Whoa, how long has it been! I’m a poor soul who’s lost track of how many months I’ve been stuck in here. It’s truly a pleasure to meet you!”

The response came from beyond the right wall. It seemed to be a prisoner in the adjacent cell.

He welcomed Seol Ah-heon with genuine warmth. While Seol Ah-heon was grateful, he couldn’t help but feel a bit uneasy given the circumstances.

“How long ago were you caught, friend?”

“Today.”

“Is that so? I must have missed it because I was taking a nap. In the past, I would have bolted upright at the mere sound of footsteps. My ears have been going dull since I’ve been locked up for so long. Hahaha!”

The man burst into laughter. Between his trilling voice and his mannerisms, there was something undeniably frivolous about him.

Judging by the voice, he seemed to be in his mid-twenties—around Seol Ah-heon’s age.

“By the way, we seem to be around the same age, so is it okay if I speak comfortably?”

The man made the suggestion, likely having judged Seol Ah-heon to be a peer as well. Seol Ah-heon readily agreed.

“Yes, please speak however you like.”

“No, it wouldn’t be fair if only I were comfortable. I’d like it if you spoke comfortably too.”

“Th-then… shall I do that…?”

He had never met someone so sociable. As someone with a timid personality, Seol Ah-heon was a bit flustered, but it wasn’t a bad feeling. He was actually glad to have gained a companion while his mind was in such turmoil.

“Ha, I’m finally having an actual conversation! There’s a limit to muttering to yourself, you know? I thought spiders were going to start spinning webs over my mouth.”

“Have you been locked up alone all this time? Without a cellmate?”

“I told you to speak comfortably. But what’s a ‘cellmate’? I don’t understand fancy terms. I’m quite uneducated, haha.”

“Ah, sorry. It’s not a fancy term, just slang… it means ‘a fellow prisoner locked up together’.”

“Nothing like that here.”

The lively voice dimmed slightly.

“Dozens of people have passed through this jail. But everyone…….”

“Ah…….”

He didn’t need to hear the rest to understand. Their ends surely hadn’t been good.

Seol Ah-heon quickly changed the subject.

“You must have been lonely.”

“Yeah. Loneliness is one thing, but the boredom was enough to drive me insane. Boredom might actually be the greatest torture of all time. Do you know what it feels like to stare at a wall all day? Counting the days only works for so long; eventually, you lose all sense of time.”

“……I feel like I’ll find out soon enough.”

“Haha, you won’t go crazy! Because you can chat with me!”

The man laughed heartily. Despite the grim situation, it was good to see that he hadn’t lost his positive attitude.

Perhaps this was just the result of going half-mad from long-term imprisonment, but Seol Ah-heon felt a sense of liking toward him.

“Thanks. Hey, can I ask you something?”

“What are you curious about? Ask away!”

“This jail… do they serve meals?”

It was a funny but vital question. If food wasn’t provided, he would starve to death.

“Of course. How else could I have stayed alive until now? Though all they serve is soggy noodles day and night, it’s enough to keep the hunger at bay.”

“I see. Then, what about other things?”

“Other things? Like what?”

“Don’t they give out blankets? Or guarantee a minimum amount of exercise time…….”

“What? Blankets? Exercise time? Hahahaha! You’re a really funny guy!”

The man’s laughter echoed loudly through the jail.

Dejected, Seol Ah-heon lowered his head. It wasn’t because the man was laughing at him. He had held out a sliver of hope, only to realize that basic human rights were non-existent here.

“Have you ever tried asking the guards? For daily necessities and such…….”

He asked, unable to let go of his lingering hope, but the answer remained the same.

“Well, I have asked. But no one ever listened.”

“Ah…….”

“I mean they literally don’t listen. It’s not a matter of them accepting or rejecting the request.”

“Then?”

“They don’t react at all. You think it’s just about requests? Even if I throw a fit, they don’t even look at me. They ignore me no matter what I say.”

The man vented his frustrations. Hearing this, Seol Ah-heon realized the stress of such absolute isolation must have been immense.

“That must have been really hard…….”

“Mm-hmm, I can’t say it wasn’t. The frustration of talking incessantly and never getting a single word back! I started wondering if they’d forgotten I even existed.”

“N-no way.”

That had to be false. If it were true, he would be in big trouble too. Wouldn’t that mean he might rot in this jail forever with no promise of release?

‘I don’t think the Demonic Cult’s jail would be run that sloppily, though…….’

Seol Ah-heon suddenly became curious about the man’s crime.

Given that he hadn’t been executed while dozens of others had passed through, it didn’t seem like he had committed a heinous felony.

But on the flip side, being locked up for that long was suspicious in itself.

Seol Ah-heon raised his guard belatedly and asked.

“By the way, what were you charged with to end up here?”

“C-cough! That’s…….”

The man, who had been chatting excitedly, faltered for the first time. He spoke with an unnaturally bright voice.

“Why don’t you go first?”

“Well, I don’t know if you’ll believe me…….”

Seol Ah-heon began his explanation truthfully.

Of course, he didn’t mention unrealistic words like “possession.”

Officially, he was ‘Ice Block Seol Ah-heon’. A person who had infiltrated the Demonic Cult’s secret library with his master, stolen an elixir, and was imprisoned for consuming it.

“What? Ice Block? Wait, I’ve heard of that name. A peak master who learned ice arts despite being a man! Right?”

“Y-yeah.”

“Wait, but you stole the Soul-Snow Divine Pill? Isn’t that the elixir the Cult Leader gave to the Fifth Young Master, Baek Geon-ha, to reward his merit? Or am I wrong?”

“……You’re right.”

“No way, you coveted the Fifth Young Master’s things? Whoa. How could you take something belonging to the one famous for being the most ruthless among the Young Cult Masters…….”

Muttering repeatedly, the man eventually burst into a fit of laughter.

“Bwahaha! Friend, you’re truly insane! I like you!”

Whether Seol Ah-heon’s tale—which was less of a heroic epic and more of a disaster story—was that entertaining, the man’s laughter showed no signs of stopping. It seemed it had become a much-needed shot of dopamine in his bleak prison life.

‘Well, at least he’s enjoying himself.’

Seol Ah-heon finished his story with a sigh.

********************************************

After their first meeting, Seol Ah-heon and the man became close very quickly.

Just as he said, there was absolutely nothing to do in this jail. Their only pastime was chatting, and after talking all day, it was only natural for them to become friends.

Thanks to that, Seol Ah-heon learned a lot about the man.

His name was Chang-yeon. He was originally a performer working at a pleasure house called ‘Hyangnak-ru’.

“A pleasure house……?”

“It’s not like that! I didn’t do anything bad.”

“I know.”

“Then why is your expression so suspicious?”

“What are you talking about? You can’t even see my face.”

A solid stone wall stood between them. Because of that, Seol Ah-heon still didn’t know what Chang-yeon looked like even after several days had passed.

“I can tell just by your voice~. You were thinking something weird just now, weren’t you?”

“No.”

“Hmph, liar. Then why did you trail off like that?”

“There was no special meaning behind it.”

In truth, it was because he had realized who Chang-yeon was the moment he heard the name ‘Hyangnak-ru’.

Chang-yeon was a character who appeared in the latter half of The Chronicles of Mount Hua.

His affiliation was the Lower Gate. His martial arts were somewhat weak, but he was a character whose tenacious survival skill were second to none.

For example, he was said to have returned alive and well even after being imprisoned in the Demonic Cult’s jail.

‘Ah, can I really call it “well”? Since he ended up with a large scar on his face…….’

Chang-yeon was ashamed of that scar and always wore a mask. Though that was an event that hadn’t happened yet at this point in time.