Chapter 38: The Scheme (1)

“Uwaaahhh!”

“We won! We really won!”

The members of team Two hugged each other tightly, practically leaping for joy.

It was only natural.

They had faithfully fulfilled their roles and secured victory.

“At this rate, we’ve basically survived!”

“Exactly!”

Though the team battle still remained, they had effectively crossed the critical threshold to survive this team competition.

In stark contrast…

The atmosphere in team Four was like that of a funeral.

“D-dammit…”

Baeksa pounded the ground in anguish.

They had boldly declared their names to make an impression, but ended up losing without achieving anything noteworthy.

More than the shame, they were now on the verge of being expelled from the Thousand-Day Pass.

And that wasn’t even the worst part.

Ju Guk-seon’s threat to demolish Demonic Heaven Tower—it now felt like a very real possibility.

“Why the long face?”

“Y-young Master?!”

Baeksa blinked wide in surprise.

“Did someone piss you off?”

“Uh, no, it’s just…”

His expression said he never expected the Grand Heir of the Demonic Heaven’s Jin Clan to use such crude language.

“You feeling bitter ‘cause you didn’t perform well?”

“……”

“Or maybe… someone threatened you?”

“T-that is…”

Baeksa couldn’t bring himself to speak, like a dumb mute who had eaten honey.

Seeing his clouded expression, I clicked my tongue.

‘Tsk! I can already guess what’s going on.’

Every desperate face and fierce gaze has a root cause behind it.

The moment I heard Baeksa was from the Demonic Heaven Tower, I figured out how things had gone down in team Four.

Those three didn’t support their team leader out of loyalty.

Rather, their team leader had coerced them, using threats to rally the team under her control.

“What? Did she say he’d flatten Demonic Heaven Tower if you lost or something?”

“H-how did you…?”

Baek Sa’s face twisted in utter shock.

“What do you mean ‘how’? Obvious is obvious.”

Maybe I’d been living too mildly for my status, but people from one of the Six Great Demonic Clans could be utterly vile.

Even my little brother Jin Yeowoon wouldn’t hesitate to kill someone if they annoyed him.

In the rigid hierarchy of the Cult, it was standard practice for higher-ranking families to exploit lower ones. That kind of power abuse was practically tradition.

With my hands behind my back, I said,

“I’ll stop that from happening.”

“R-really?!”

Not just Baek Sa, but Jeoksa and Heuksa also looked at me with disbelief in their eyes.

No matter how powerful the Demonic Heaven’s Jin Clan was—even capable of easily overpowering the Heavenly Justice Ju Clan—they never imagined someone would lift a finger for bottom-dwellers like them.

Especially since they weren’t even under my command yet.

I raised one corner of my lips and said,

“I hate seeing my favorite tavern go out of business.”

“……”

Who’d dare call Demonic Heaven Tower of Miok Fortress just a tavern?

Well, I could—if anyone could, I could.

“Th-thank you, Young Master!”

“We will never forget this grace!”

Thud! Thud!

The three repeatedly slammed their foreheads to the ground in gratitude.

“Enough with the thanks.”

I crouched in front of the kneeling trio and said,

“You all said you wanted to become my subordinates, right?”

“Y-yes! If you’ll accept us, we’ll give you our absolute loyalty.”

Despite their desperate tone, I tilted my head with a skeptical expression.

“I don’t care for loyalty that’s all talk.”

“Ah…”

“If your ears work, you should know what I’ve announced by now.”

At that, Jeoksa cautiously spoke up.

“We heard that you’re recruiting for something called the ‘Main Flow,’ a special kind of test.”

“Yeah, that’s right. And you heard the pass rate for the Main Flow too, didn’t you?”

“Five per…cent…”

That’s right. Not five out of ten, but five out of a hundred.

This wasn’t just a trial—it was hell on earth, where only five out of a hundred made it out alive.

“If you want to be my subordinates, then you’d better have the guts to follow me into hell.”

Even Jin Sang and Baekgu, who acted as my hands and feet, broke into a cold sweat and dodged the question when I asked them to enter the Main Flow with me.

So what about these three?

“If we merely attempt it, will you accept us as your subordinates?”

“Nope. You have to survive. Can’t take corpses as subordinates, can I?”

“If we do survive…”

“Then I’ll guarantee your future success. You can count on that. But only if you really make it through to the end.”

“……”

The three of them stared at one another in silence.

The pause didn’t last long.

Thud!

“I’d follow you into somewhere worse than hell. Please, grant us the honor of serving you, Young Master!”

“Oh?”

Hearing their bold declaration, I let out a whistle.

Didn’t expect them to decide so quickly and without hesitation.

“Good. From today on, you three are my subordinates—Number Two, Number Three, and Number Four.”

“Huh? Who’s Number One…?”

“There’s someone else. You’ll meet him later.”

It might’ve sounded cold, but honestly, I didn’t have high hopes for these three.

They had guts and grit, sure, but they’d missed the optimal window for mastering higher-level martial arts. And more importantly, they weren’t especially talented.

But if they survived the Main Flow?

And if that test yielded the results I was hoping for?

Then—and only then—would I truly accept them as my subordinates.

In this team trial, those who were appointed team leaders were given recognition and granted their own rooms in the dormitories.

And from one of those rooms, the sound of something breaking could be heard repeatedly.

“Damn it! Damn bastards!”

Crash! Crack!

Chairs and tables flew through the air and lost their original forms.

At the Thousand-Day Pass, any damaged items had to be replaced using one’s own resources, but the person venting her fury wasn’t thinking about that at all.

“Damn lowlifes! How dare they use Young Master Jin to threaten me?!”

The one raging in the room was none other than Ju Guk-seon, the team leader of team Four.

She was the youngest daughter of the main family’s patriarch’s younger brother, and within the Heavenly Justice Ju Clan, she had received a fair amount of affection as a direct blood relative.

“I’ll never, never let them off! Not just those three damn worms, but also that wretched bitch who screwed me over!”

The reason for her fury was none other than the warning she had received from Jin Yeomyung after their loss in the mock battle.

“Demonic Heaven Tower is a place I frequent, even if it makes people call me a slacker. If that place were to disappear, I think I’d be very sad.”

He had spoken indirectly, but she wasn’t so foolish as to miss the meaning behind it.

In truth, Jin Yeomyung had only ever visited Demonic Heaven Tower once.

And even that had ended in disaster, when his father Jin Gun-ak found out on the very first day of their past life.

But Ju Guk-seon had no way of knowing that. All she saw was that those three bastards had betrayed her and run off to grovel before Jin Yeomyung.

Even so, she hadn’t been that angry just yet.

The influence of the Demonic Heaven’s Jin Clan was simply overwhelming, and Jin Yeomyung’s radiant looks and outstanding martial prowess had instantly stolen her heart.

‘Ah, how wonderful would it be if I could sit by his side?’

It was while indulging in such fantasies, having come out to see Jin Yeomyung off…

That the real reason for her rage emerged.

“Ah! Young Master Jin Yeomyung!”

“Lady Baek?”

Of all people, she’d run into that woman in the dormitory corridor.

Ju Guk-seon saw it.

The gentle expression that melted over Jin Yeomyung’s face the moment he saw Baek Sang-ah.

“The team battle isn’t over yet, so feel free to keep calling me vice-leader, team leader.”

“Hehe, shall I? Vice-leader!”

“Your leadership was very impressive.”

“Oh, no! It would’ve been tough without your coordination on the front lines!”

They looked extremely, ridiculously close.

In that instant, a fire blazed in Ju Guk-seon’s chest.

And her hatred surged—to the fox who flirted with her man, and the three traitors who’d betrayed her.

While her dark heart was growing even darker…

“Oops, did I come at the wrong time?”

“…Who are you?”

A man appeared before Ju Guk-seon—not quite her man, but still decent-looking enough.

“Your hatred toward Baek Sang-ah seems intense.”

“What business is that of yours?”

At this point, Ju Guk-seon still had some rationality.

But his next words sent her reason flying.

“If that hatred is strong enough to make you want her dead… what then?”

“Of course I want her dead!”

Of course, that wasn’t actually acceptable. Even in the Demonic Cult, murdering a fellow cultist outright was a grave offense.

“In that case, what if I could give you that opportunity?”

“Opportunity?”

“Yes. There’s supposed to be a second mock battle in a month, correct? A simulation of the Black Star Formation, where teams of thirty-three face off.”

“And?”

“Do you not understand, or are you pretending not to?”

The man leaned in closer.

“In a battle involving that many people, it wouldn’t be strange for someone to die.”

“…!”

“When fights get intense, accidents happen. In fact, there were real fatalities among previous cohorts.”

Ju Guk-seon’s expression finally shifted into something intrigued.

“What are you saying?”

“I’ll use my influence to merge your team with hers. Meaning, you’ll be in the same team.”

Now, she was starting to understand where he was going with this.

“And during the battle, someone from your side will ‘recklessly’ charge toward her team?”

“All I have to do is make sure my team moves in a way that keeps them safe, right?”

Ju Guk-seon’s eyes curved into crescent moons.

“You’re very easy to communicate with.”

“So, what do you want in return?”

“Nothing.”

The man waved a hand.

“Nothing? Then… ‘Young Master Han’—why are you so eager to see that bitch dead?”

“For the same reason as you. Wanting someone you dislike to disappear… isn’t that natural for anyone in the Demonic Path?”

“Hahaha… that’s true!”

Of course, it wasn’t true at all. But to Ju Guk-seon, raised among the upper class of the Demonic Faction, this felt entirely reasonable.

“My subordinate is so useless, I have no choice but to move myself. Ugh, all brawn and no brains.”

“Not sure what you mean, but I agree—useless subordinates are the worst. Hahaha!”

And so, the two of them clasped hands while wishing for the death of one woman.

* * *

After that, the other team mock battles proceeded without issue.

Just yesterday, Senior Instructor Lee Hanmyeong—who had gambled away two nyang of silver—glared at Jang Deuk-soo, who was whistling.

“Grr! Instructor Jang, you seem to be in a very good mood these days?”

“Of course. I just won a whole month’s salary in one go.”

“Damn it! I thought my instincts weren’t too bad…”

“Gambling’s always a matter of fine margins.”

In truth, the reason Jang Deuk-soo had bet on this team’s victory was simple.

‘That Jin Yeomyung brat… no matter how I look at it, he’s hiding his true abilities.’

Naturally, Jang Deuk-soo was someone who had personally witnessed Ma Chulsoo—the top graduate of last year’s cohort at the Thousand-Day Pass.

At the time of graduation, Ma Chulsoo had reached the level of a First-rate Martial Artist, capable of emitting Sword Qi with ease.

With that level of achievement, he earned a spot in the Six Demonic Dragons, despite not being from the Demon Dragon Hall.

Moreover, those who survived the program didn’t head off to the Nine Demon Halls or the Seventeen Parties—instead, they willingly followed Ma Chulsoo.

Even if he was a direct descendant of the Blood Dragon Demonic Clan, word was the succession was already settled around his elder brother, the Grand Heir.

He was truly a rare genius of recent years, possessing both martial prowess and charisma.

And yet, the one who defeated that very Ma Chulsoo… was Jin Yeomyung—the infamous slacker of the Jin Clan.

At first, he hadn’t believed it.

There was no clear evidence, and the rumor had seemed like mere gossip. Even when he first saw Jin Yeomyung, his doubts remained.

But then something happened that changed his mind.

Right after this cohort entered the institution, there was an incident—

The underground training chamber for new recruits exploded.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep