So? Did Someone Force You to Become the Heavenly Demon?

Chapter 65: Envy (4)

Around the time Il-mok was talking with Ju Seo-yeon.

In the secluded training ground where Il-mok usually visited, Jeong Hyeon kept glancing nervously in a certain direction, his eyes filled with unease.

“…Did I do something wrong to the Young Master?”

He looked toward the path where Il-mok usually appeared. For some reason, Il-mok hadn’t shown up today.

“Well… I can’t blame him.”

Jeong Hyeon sighed deeply, recalling how he had flinched and backed away whenever Il-mok approached him.

His sigh was heavily tinged with self-loathing.

Having social anxiety didn’t necessarily mean hating people unconditionally. If he had suffered deep trauma and grown to despise humans, that would be one thing—but Jeong Hyeon’s condition was really a side effect of his Demonic Art.

“…Am I going to be alone again?”

Though he panicked when others approached, being alone was unbearably lonely.

“Maybe I should try to find a new friend…”

The thought crossed his mind, but Jeong Hyeon quickly hung his head in resignation.

“Who am I kidding…”

How could he possibly make friends when he would have a breakdown just from people coming near him?

Naturally, his longing for Il-mok grew stronger.

For Jeong Hyeon, who had been alone since entering the Hall of the Demonic Way, Il-mok—who had reached out first—was like a ray of light.

Just as a tear threatened to roll down his cheek—

“What are you doing there?”

Il-mok’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

Standing at the edge of the training ground, Il-mok looked at him with a puzzled expression.

“Are you also skilled in drawing?”

Jeong Hyeon was crouched in a corner, sketching something on the ground with a stick.

Coming to his senses belatedly, Jeong Hyeon looked down at the drawing he had made on the ground.

Il-mok’s face was drawn there.

In his loneliness, he had drawn the person he missed—the first person who had almost become his friend.

Realizing what he had done, Jeong Hyeon let out a strangled shriek.

“Heeek!?”

He realized the drawing could easily be misunderstood.

Not wanting to creep out his potential friend, Jeong Hyeon frantically slashed at the sketch with his stick.

Il-mok’s face was mercilessly mutilated beyond recognition.

Watching Jeong Hyeon deface the drawing of an unidentifiable person’s face, Il-mok awkwardly asked.

“Ahem. If… if I’m making you uncomfortable, I’ll leave.”

He wondered if his presence was worsening Jeong Hyeon’s condition.

“No, no, Young Master! I’m fine! I mean, I do have issues, but it’s okay for you to be here!”

Rambling incoherently, Jeong Hyeon quickly changed the subject.

“Y-You’re later than usual today, Young Master.”

Jeong Hyeon immediately regretted it after realizing what he was saying.

‘Now it sounds like I’m scolding him for being late! It’s not like he promised to come here every day! Stupid, stupid Jeong Hyeon!’

Oblivious to Jeong Hyeon’s thoughts, Il-mok answered nonchalantly.

“Ah, I was busy peeling off a leech.”

“A, a leech, you say?”

Were there leeches in the Hall of the Demonic Way?

Before he could ponder further, Jeong Hyeon shook his head vigorously.

‘Pull yourself together, Jeong Hyeon! You can’t miss this opportunity! Right! Instructor Eu Ryeo said it. No matter the side effects, I have to overcome them!’

Gathering his courage, Jeong Hyeon asked.

“Are, are you pl-planning to pr-practice st-stealth techniques to-today as well, Young Master?”

“That’s the plan.”

“Then I’ll d-do my b-best to te-teach you si-sincerely!”

His stuttering was worse than usual, making Il-mok raise an eyebrow.

Jeong Hyeon gathered great courage and took one step closer to Il-mok to demonstrate.

Watching his unusually determined demeanor, Il-mok thought.

‘Still a long way to go.’

Just one step.

No more, no less, exactly one step.

That was the limit of Jeong Hyeon’s bravery.

***

While Il-mok was practicing stealth techniques with Jeong Hyeon.

Bang Mi-hwa was practicing martial arts in one of the Black Dragon Hall’s training grounds with Ha Young.

As a talented student of the Hall of the Demonic Way, she had no intention of neglecting her training. To be precise, she was busy admiring herself for being so dedicated to her training as the future of the cult.

Confident in herself, she trained separately rather than chasing Il-mok around every day.

In the midst of a friendly match with her close friend Ha Young, Bang Mi-hwa had a thought.

‘Ah. If only there were a large mirror in the training ground.’

She believed her martial arts performance could be compared to a celestial maiden’s dance. It was a shame she couldn’t see it herself.

While Bang Mi-hwa was thoroughly self-absorbed.

“Mi-hwa.”

Ha Young, who was crossing her iron fan with Mi-hwa’s soft sword, called out to her.

Finally coming to her senses, Bang Mi-hwa looked at Ha Young with a puzzled expression. Ha Young subtly tilted her head toward a group of fellow disciples walking by.

There, several classmates from the hall were walking by, engaged in conversation.

But neither Bang Mi-hwa nor Ha Young was particularly interested in them. They were students from the Lower Class.

The issue was the content of their conversation.

They were discussing the same rumors Il-mok had heard—about Ju Seo-yeon seducing him to secure a position as his concubine.

“Now that I think about it, it’s strange, wasn’t it? Disciple Ju was always tailing the Eighth Young Master wherever he went,” said Ha Young with a concerned tone, knowing that her friend Bang Mi-hwa had peculiar feelings toward Il-mok, “Right, Mi-hwa… huh?”

And when she turned her head, she saw Bang Mi-hwa’s back running off somewhere.

***

Meanwhile, at that time.

Ju Seo-yeon was in another training ground, swinging her spear like a madwoman.

‘Second place! I must take second place!’

That thought consumed her mind entirely.

“Disciple Ju!”

At that moment, someone’s sharp voice broke her concentration and pierced her ears.

Turning her head, she saw a woman she had encountered a few times in recent days.

‘Bang Mi-hwa, was it?’

Since Ju Seo-yeon wasn’t particularly interested in anyone besides Jin Ha-yeon, she wasn’t even sure of the name of the person in front of her.

“What do you want?” asked Ju Seo-yeon, making no effort to hide her annoyance, but Bang Mi-hwa paid no attention to it.

“What do you want?

“I heard the rumors.”

“What rumors?”

“That you’re in love with the Young Master.”

“…What?”

Ju Seo-yeon was baffled, but Bang Mi-hwa didn’t pay attention to her reaction at all.

“Give up.”

“???”

“He’s already in love with me, so you’ll only end up hurt, Disciple Ju.”

“??????”

“I just came to tell you that. Goodbye.”

Having said her piece, Bang Mi-hwa turned and left.

Watching her retreating figure, Ju Seo-yeon muttered.

“What a strange person.”

Ju Seo-yeon quickly lost interest and returned to focusing on her training.

In her mind, there was only a rosy future with Jin Hayeon.

***

After throwing off Ju Seo-yeon by using Jin Hayeon as bait and resolving his problem with Bang Mi-hwa, Il-mok finally has a semblance of peace in his daily life.

Except for one madman who challenged him to a duel every day and one creepy instructor who kept trying to get close to him, all the problems bothering Il-mok had disappeared.

Time passed quickly as he loafed around while trying his best to ignore those two problems.

Then, on the day marked one month since he enrolled in the Hall, a change came to his repetitive routine.

“Today, we will test the progress you’ve made over the past month. Follow me closely.”

After saying this, Instructor Chu Il-hwan took the lead and headed toward the massive main gate of the Hall of the Demonic Way.

That main gate, which had been firmly locked for the past month, was wide open today.

On the way to the main gate, Il-mok turned his head and saw Instructor Eun Ryeo leading ten Lower Class students walking toward the same destination.

‘Looks like the test will be conducted together with the Lower Class.’

Since it didn’t matter that much to Il-mok, he quickly lost interest.

“As expected of Young Master Il-mok, you are so composed.”

Bang Mi-hwa, having secured her spot on his left, approached with a radiant smile. She kept her gaze fixed straight ahead, showing only the right side of her face to Il-mok.

Used to her odd behavior, Il-mok replied.

“Being nervous won’t change anything.”

“Hohoho. Indeed, we have much in common.”

Bang Mi-hwa took Il-mok’s attitude as a sign of confidence.

While exchanging pointless conversation, they soon passed through the entrance of the Hall of the Demonic Way and arrived at a forest clearing where other instructors and assistants waited.

Soon after, Instructor Eun Ryeo, leading the Lower Class students, arrived at the same location.

“This test will be conducted jointly by the Upper and Lower Classes. You will be divided into five groups of four.”

“The disciples whose names I call now should come forward and follow their designated leader.”

Soon after, Instructors Chu Il-hwan and Eun Ryeo began calling the disciples’ names one by one.

Four disciples at a time were led away into the forest by an instructor or assistant instructor.

“Too bad we’re not in the same group.”

Bang Mi-hwa said this and left with Ha Young, who was coincidentally assigned to the same group.

“You won’t escape this time!!”

Dokgo Pae, who was also assigned to a different group from Il-mok, shouted like a third-rate villain as he departed into the forest.

Il-mok’s observation of the departing groups was simple.

‘Hmm. So they tried to balance the groups based on skill level?’

They weren’t grouped strictly by rank. Every group formed always consisted of two members from the Upper Class and Lower Class, each.

If it were based solely on rank, he and Dokgo Pae, the top two recruits, wouldn’t be in separate groups.

As he pondered this, another group disappeared into the forest, leaving only four recruits, including Il-mok.

“The rest of you, follow me.”

Instructor Chu Il-hwan said this and stepped into the bushes, with Il-mok and the other three following behind.

Il-mok was barely able to suppress his sigh as he confirmed the members of his group.

“I never thought we’d be in the same group, Young Master! I won’t disappoint you! Please choose me as your subordinate!”

Ju Seo-yeon was practically swearing loyalty to him.

“…….”

Jeong Hyeon, trailing a few steps behind, kept opening and closing his mouth as if he had something to say to Il-mok.

And as for the last member—

“I, I look forward to w-working with you, E-Eighth Y-Young Master… sir.”

It was one of the three idiots who had picked a fight with Il-mok on his first day.

‘Choi Woong, was it?’

He was able to vaguely remember him since he was in the same class as Il-mok. Ju Seo-yeon and Jeong Hyeon on the other hand, belonged to the Lower Class.

‘Come to think of it, I heard Ju Seo-yeon barely scraped in entering the Hall. No wonder she got stuck with me.’

They had probably balanced the groups by pairing the top and bottom performers.

Resisting the urge to sigh, Il-mok forced himself to think positively.

‘Right. Anyway, this place is full of nothing but madmen or madmen-to-be. It doesn’t matter which group I’m in.’

While Il-mok was lost in self-hypnosis, Ju Seo-yeon, who finally got a chance after so long, launched another stalker rant to Il-mok.

If there was any silver lining to this situation, it was that Choi Woong kept his mouth shut and merely watched the situation out of fear. Jeong Hyeon on the other hand kept opening and closing his mouth like a fish, unable to muster enough courage to join the conversation.

After enduring Ju Seo-yeon’s endless chatter about Jin Ha-yeon for some time…

Chu Il-hwan, who was walking ahead, stopped.

“Now, I will explain the rules of this test.”

Turning around, Chu Il-hwan abruptly handed a scroll to Il-mok.

Careful not to touch his fingers, Il-mok quickly snatched the scroll from the instructor’s hand.