Absolute Regression

Chapter 654: I Intend to Stand on Stage with Him

The Hermit of Heaven and Earth reacted to the words, embodiment of vengeance.

No matter how much Geom Mugeuk provoked him, he had only shown the slightest of reactions before, yet to these words, he reacted greatly.

“Wait!”

When he shouted, Geom Mugeuk had already opened the door and gone out.

The Hermit of Heaven and Earth rushed over and hastily opened the door, but Geom Mugeuk was already gone.

Instead of Geom Mugeuk, a middle-aged man was walking toward him from the end of the hallway.

“Hall Master, what is the matter?”

The man who approached was Chief Steward Joo, the chief steward of Humble Haven. He had always lived as if he were invisible, solely for the sake of the Hermit of Heaven and Earth and Humble Haven.

The chief steward’s name was Joo Somyeong.

“Have you seen the Young Cult Leader?”

“No, I have not.”

He had been walking down the hallway, and yet the Young Cult Leader had vanished, evading even his eyes. All the hallway windows had been shut, so it was as if he had disappeared like a ghost.

Considering that Geom Mugeuk had managed to slip past the eyes of countless martial artists when coming in, it was only natural that he could vanish like this as well.

“He even managed to avoid your eyes.”

This was a surprising statement, for the martial artists guarding this place trusted the chief steward’s eyes even more than their own.

At those words, Joo Somyeong’s gaze began to change. It was a gaze he had never once shown to those seeking Humble Haven.

His normally friendly eyes turned sharp and cold, and in that moment, Joo Somyeong was no longer the chief steward, but Hwa Yulcheong’s long-serving right hand.

Joo Somyeong examined the hallway again. He checked the closed windows, then looked up at the ceiling.

Soon he shook his head. There was no trace anywhere that the Young Cult Leader had slipped out.

In other words, he had passed by right under his nose.

“An unbelievable skill.”

The Hermit of Heaven and Earth’s gaze turned toward the window.

“Yes, he is a man hard to believe.”

Just like Joo Somyeong, his voice changed to a low, deep tone, and his gaze lost its emotions. It was a gaze and voice he had never revealed while with Geom Mugeuk.

Now even his aura had changed.

His usual aura was like a lone flower standing proud in a snowy field.

But now, the color of the falling snow had turned to a deep gray. What drifted through the air was no longer snow, but ashes carried from burning something.

From all around came screams filled with agony.

On the ground where the snow had melted away lay countless corpses, and blood flowed like a river. The drifting ashes were from the bodies being burned.

In the midst of a battlefield where only sorrowful resentment lingered, he stood.

The gaze with which he looked upon the battlefield boiled fiercely. One could only wonder how he had managed to hide such heat all this time.

This was his true aura.

"The Young Cult Leader knows about me."

Knowing exactly what that meant, Joo Somyeong’s expression hardened.

"That can’t be. He must have been guessing. He’s simply an unusually clever one, isn’t he?"

The Hermit of Heaven and Earth nodded, speaking his honest thoughts.

"Clever isn’t enough to describe him. If I were ten years younger, my identity would have been exposed."

He had been shaken by Geom Mugeuk. There was something about the Young Cult Leader that touched people’s emotions. Looking into his eyes and listening to his words truly made something surge up inside.

But he did not know.

That even without being ten years younger, he had already revealed his identity.

That right now, Geom Mugeuk was standing before his very eyes.

It was Geom Mugeuk within the Temporal and Spatial Transference Technique.

Just moments ago, as Geom Mugeuk opened the door and stepped out, he sensed someone approaching from the far end of the hallway and slipped into the Temporal and Spatial Transference Technique.

It was a momentary thought — that if he remained here after everyone else had left, they might share something important.

And that guess had been right.

Even knowing he was the one behind it all, the Hermit of Heaven and Earth acted so perfectly that a tiny sliver of doubt remained. Now, that sliver was gone.

Outside the Temporal and Spatial Transference Technique, Hwa Yulcheong looked at him and said,

"Geom Mugeuk, the villain of this stage will be you. The Grand Demon War will inevitably come, and the cause will be you."

Geom Mugeuk stood before him with cold eyes.

‘Fine, I’ll play that villain.’

He had never intended to step onto such a grand stage for free.

‘But my fee will be your life.’

*         *         *

Jin Paecheon stood in the garden in front of his residence, hands clasped behind his back, gazing up at the sky.

The back that had supported the orthodox sects somehow felt lonely today.

It was a life he had lived without knowing fear.

No villain, no master, neither the demonic cult nor the Unorthodox Alliance — no one in the world had ever made him afraid.

Yet after this recent matter, he felt an unfamiliar sense of powerlessness. If he had simply lost in martial arts, he would not have felt this emptiness. He could just train harder. Train, and win again.

What was tormenting him now was that his judgment was no longer what it once was.

‘Have I grown old?’

In the past, he would have already made his decision several times over, but now he was still hesitating between Geom Mugeuk and the Hermit of Heaven and Earth.

He tried to convince himself that this was a matter requiring decisive evidence, but in the past, he would have instinctively known. Whose words were true.

It was with that razor-sharp instinct that he had supported the orthodox martial world until now.

But now, he felt that instinct had dulled.

Escorted by the guards of the Alliance Leader’s Hall, a man entered.

Wearing a bamboo hat pressed low over his head, it was none other than Geom Mugeuk. Removing the hat, Geom Mugeuk greeted politely.

“I greet the Alliance Leader.”

He had naturally thought they would meet in the Alliance Leader’s Hall, but the Alliance Leader had instead brought him here, deeper into his personal quarters.

Perhaps before or after the three-way summit, but in the current situation, he hadn’t expected to be invited this far in.

At that moment, a woman entered.

“It’s been a while.”

Seeing her, he immediately understood why he had been brought here. She was Jin Haryeong.

She had grown even more mature since the last time he had seen her. She had always been beautiful, but now, with added experience and training, she radiated strength. One could feel the fruits of her accomplishments.

“You seem to carry the rough winds of the martial world.”

At Geom Mugeuk’s half-joking greeting, Jin Haryeong smiled and asked,

“That’s a compliment, right?”

“Of course.”

Now, even after a long time apart, the two could meet and speak comfortably, like old friends.

There was a clear reason behind her transformation.

When everyone else was changing by the day because of one person, she couldn’t allow herself to fall behind.

It was the result of effort born from that resolve.

“Have you been well?”

“Thanks to someone, not really. I haven’t been able to leave the Inner Compound.”

Because of Geom Mugeuk’s suspicion that Jin Hagun and Jin Haryeong might be targets, she had not been allowed to leave the Alliance Leader’s Inner Compound. Even there, she was surrounded by layers of martial artists from the Martial Alliance’s guard unit.

“At first, I thought you people had invaded.”

It was true. She had been in a Gathering of Successors meeting when the Alliance Leader’s guards had suddenly burst in and taken her away. Those martial artists with her must have thought a major crisis had struck the Alliance.

“If we had invaded…”

“You’re about to say everyone at that meeting would have died, aren’t you?”

When she looked at him with mock suspicion, Geom Mugeuk waved his hand with a laugh.

“No! I’m not the kind of person who would break up a gathering, so don’t worry. You know how much I like people getting together, right? Speaking of which, isn’t it about time we had one? I also need to hear the story about Bih Sa-in and the Young Palace Master.”

At his words, Jin Haryeong laughed as well. She already knew from her grandfather just how serious the current situation was.

But Geom Mugeuk never lost his smile, even in such times. How could one not like that?

Jin Paecheon silently watched the two talk. Suddenly, he remembered the moment Jin Haryeong had brought Geom Mugeuk, saying he was the man she would marry.

‘Should I have just married them off right then?’

At the time, it had seemed absurd. But now, such a thought crossed his mind.

‘If I really had, how would things have turned out?’

Would this dilemma have been different?

When the reunion between the two ended, Jin Paecheon asked Geom Mugeuk,

“Have you met him?”

“Yes, Alliance Leader.”

Judging by the fact that he asked in front of Jin Haryeong, it seemed she had already been told about the situation.

“What did you find out?”

It was not a question that could be answered lightly — yet the reply came swiftly and with certainty.

“I confirmed that he is the one behind it.”

A heavy silence followed.

Both of them knew well that Geom Mugeuk was not someone who would lie about such a matter.

“Are you saying the Hermit has truly joined hands with the ones behind this?”

Jin Haryeong asked, her face filled with genuine shock.

Compared to her, Jin Paecheon showed no expression at all, only fixing his gaze on Geom Mugeuk.

“It’s not that he joined hands with them. He was the one behind it all along. If it weren’t so, he would never have betrayed his friendship with the Alliance Leader.”

It was also said for Jin Paecheon’s sake — to make it clear this was not about friendship.

“This incident isn’t a betrayal. He merely entered your life and acted from the very beginning.”

At those words, Jin Paecheon felt as if a small vent had opened in the suffocating, tangled mess in his chest.

Geom Mugeuk began widening that opening even further.

“It’s nothing more than one of the countless schemes unfolding in the martial world. The only reason it lasted so long is because you, Alliance Leader, are such an extraordinary figure. So place no meaning on this matter. Even if it weren’t him, there are countless others you could give meaning to.”

Geom Mugeuk’s gaze shifted toward Jin Haryeong. His look said it all — wasn’t there someone truly precious to place meaning and heart upon?

Of course, Geom Mugeuk knew well that this was not a wound to be healed with a few words. That was why he devoted himself to making that opening larger.

“It’s not even worth the strain on your mind. In fact, it deserves less meaning than a friend of ten years, of five years, or even one you made just the other day. This isn’t about friendship. The longer the time, the less meaning it has. Lasting decades? That’s not friendship — that’s obsession.”

Though Jin Paecheon knew full well these words were spoken for his sake, they undeniably helped. He could feel that vent growing larger bit by bit.

“This isn’t a matter of whether you recognized him or not. You are a martial artist, not an actor. This is not your failing — it is theirs. The problem lies in their ambition to devour the martial world, in the persistence to hide their identity for decades. That’s far from normal.”

Geom Mugeuk added one last thing.

“So you can just say this: ‘You rascal, you worked hard pretending to give me your forced kindness all this time, you really did.’”

Jin Haryeong could feel it — that Geom Mugeuk was doing everything he could to keep her grandfather’s heart from being left with a wound. Yes, this was the kind of person he was.

She asked Geom Mugeuk accusingly,

“If you were a villain!”

Of course, she trusted Geom Mugeuk completely. This was something she said on her grandfather’s behalf.

“Then it’d be a disaster.”

Jin Haryeong nearly burst out laughing at his reply. That half-joking remark struck right to the heart. Yes, it would truly be a disaster.

Geom Mugeuk spoke calmly to her.

“But if I were going to cause a disaster, it wouldn’t be in this way. I wouldn’t plot some scheme while being doubted to the very end.”

Then, as if protesting, Geom Mugeuk said to Jin Paecheon,

“If I plotted something, it would be a more comfortable and exciting scheme!”

Jin Haryeong looked at her grandfather with agreement in her eyes. You know it too, don’t you? That what he’s saying is true. If this man ever plotted something, he wouldn’t let a situation like this even happen. We wouldn’t even know it was a scheme until it was over. In fact, we’d already be caught up in it!

Jin Paecheon silently looked at Geom Mugeuk. How could he not recognize the effort being made for his sake?

Through this Young Cult Leader, he kept realizing that trust wasn’t about how long you had known someone.

“Why do you try so hard for me?”

Geom Mugeuk glanced at Jin Haryeong before giving an unexpected answer.

“You’re my friend’s grandfather, aren’t you? That makes you no different from my own grandfather.”

Jin Paecheon looked at Jin Haryeong. Without Geom Mugeuk, neither his granddaughter nor his grandson would be alive today. Seeing her directly now made him feel anew just how great a thing it was that she had been saved.

Even if that matter had nothing to do with the truth of this incident, it weighed heavily on his decision now.

Without Geom Mugeuk, these children wouldn’t exist, and his life would have been without meaning. So why was he still unable to trust this man?

“Now, tell me about that comfortable and exciting scheme you’re planning. I have to make sure I don’t get caught up in it.”

At those words, Geom Mugeuk beamed.

At last, Jin Paecheon had chosen to trust him.

Geom Mugeuk bowed politely.

“Thank you for trusting me.”

“Sorry for deciding so late.”

“If it were me, I’d have thought about it for another ten years.”

Jin Paecheon smiled. This Young Cult Leader was making him laugh at the very moment he had decided his friend was a traitor. Yes — he would trust him and see it through, he would follow his instincts.

Jin Haryeong looked at Geom Mugeuk with a smile.

‘Thank you, my friend. What you did for my grandfather today — I’ll be sure to repay it.’

Geom Mugeuk answered her with a bright smile of his own.

Once Jin Paecheon made his decision, he didn’t look back. He now intended to trust Geom Mugeuk and handle this matter accordingly.

“So, why did you ask to see me today? Did you come to get permission to kill him?”

Since Geom Mugeuk had told him in advance that he wanted to meet, Jin Paecheon assumed it was to get the go-ahead to kill.

“No. I’m going to make sure you see it with your own eyes — that he truly is the one behind this.”

Jin Paecheon shook his head, saying it wasn’t necessary.

“I believe your words.”

“That’s exactly why I’ll show you. Because you’re someone who trusts me, I have to show you.”

The Alliance Leader’s stifled chest had been opened. But now, in its place, there would surely be another small opening.

A hole of doubt.

If they handled it without confirming it for himself, that hole of doubt would never be closed. Geom Mugeuk had no intention of letting his relationship with the Alliance Leader continue that way.

Now, he began the work of sealing that hole.

“I intend to stand on stage with him.”

And this was the request he had come to make of the Alliance Leader today.

“Please be an audience member for that stage.”