CDF Chapter 5

“Wait!”

At the woman’s shout, Aenghwa hesitated.

Cheon Hajin rubbed his ear.

“Nice vocal cords.”

The woman stood up abruptly, her face turning extremely cold.

“What are you doing?”

“What?”

“I’m asking what you’re doing!”

“You can see what I’m doing, you robber bitch.”

“Look here, Third Young Master!”

“Hey, and I’m asking this because I really don’t know.”

Cheon Hajin tilted his head.

“Are you perhaps a disciple of the Cult Leader like me?”

Though he asked out of genuine curiosity, to the person in question it could only sound sarcastic.

The woman’s face reddened. She completely lost control of her expression.

“No, right? Yeah, I thought so. Yet you’re making threats, shouting in my face.”

“Listen here.”

“Are you perhaps of higher status than me?”

Cheon Hajin turned to Aenghwa.

“Aenghwa, is this woman my superior?”

“N-no, she isn’t.”

“Ah! Right. You might know. Who is this woman?”

Aenghwa kept glancing nervously at the warriors.

Cheon Hajin glared.

“Why are you watching those muscle-heads? Answer quickly.”

“Y-yes!”

Aenghwa explained briefly and simply.

The woman’s name was Hong Yeo-rin^[1].

Currently working in the Divine Cult’s internal Joyous Pavilion^[2], she was a demonic practitioner and daughter of the Crimson Snake House among the Seven Houses of the Demonic Path.

Though young, she was strong enough to be called a later-stage expert, and was recognized as a pillar of the demonic martial world for her excellent handling of affairs.

And crucially…

“Oh, really? You’re my fellow disciple’s younger sister?”

“Y-yes.”

“I was wondering why you were barking so much, turns out you had reliable backing.”

The woman, Hong Yeo-rin’s face twisted.

Reliable backing? The Third Young Master was mocking her while fully aware of her and her brother’s lethal relationship.

Cheon Hajin waved his hand dismissively. It was a gesture absolutely dripping with boredom and irritation.

“Though this has gotten a bit awkward, fine. Since you’re a fellow disciple’s blood relative, I’ll be understanding. I don’t want this to get bigger.”

“…”

“Leave. And don’t come back again. Got it?”

Not that I’ll be here even if you do come back.

Cheon Hajin smiled deviously. His neck grew hot at the thought of finally escaping this place.

This…!

Hong Yeo-rin’s cheeks trembled uncontrollably. The insults she’d received until now were hard enough to bear, but now he was openly mocking her.

“…Fine.”

Her face had suddenly become expressionless.

As her anger reached its peak, her face grew calm instead, filled with cold wind.

“It’s rather fortunate that the Third Young Master is acting this way.”

“Yeah, goodbye.”

“Before I go, let me just handle this one thing.”

“What now.”

She pulled out two sheets of high-quality paper from her breast.

“This is the contract with both our seals on it.”

Contract?

“Remember? If either party breaks the contract first, or creates a situation that forces its breach, they must pay triple the penalty.”

“Hm?”

“Converting the spiritual medicines invested in the Third Young Master to currency approaches one thousand taels of gold. Adding various other financial support brings it to just over two thousand taels, but I’ll overlook the extra considering our relationship.”

“…?!”

“Six thousand taels of gold. Pay it right now. If that’s too difficult, at least write a promissory note stating when you’ll pay. Then I’ll quietly disappear.”

Spiritual medicines? Financial support?

Wait, as a Cult Leader’s disciple, he received spiritual medicines and financial support from a fellow candidate’s blood relative? What kind of absurd nonsense is this?

I’ve never heard anything about this?

Cheon Hajin looked at Aenghwa.

Aenghwa shook her head with a frozen face. Her expression said she knew nothing about it.

Ha! Six thousand taels? Six thousaaand?!

Six thousand taels of gold.

Converting to silver, that’s sixty thousand taels. Sixty thousand taels of silver was an astronomical amount equivalent to a decent-sized sect’s annual budget.

Demanding such a huge sum right now? Or write a promissory note if that’s not possible?

Give me a break!

“Sure, let’s write that note.”

“…What?”

“You said to write a note if I can’t pay right now, right? Aenghwa! Prepare some writing materials.”

His casual response actually made Hong Yeo-rin the flustered one.

“Y-you’ll write a note? Really?”

“That’s what you asked for, bitch.”

His tone was thoroughly curt. Hong Yeo-rin felt dumbfounded.

He’ll write a promissory note?

A promissory note should never be written carelessly. The higher one’s social status, the more cautious one should be.

It’s not about whether the promise is kept—the very fact of writing a note can cause controversy.

Simply put, if word spread that Hong Yeo-rin had some kind of promissory note from the Third Young Master, public attention would inevitably focus on the Third Young Master.

Public attention is like a double-edged sword.

If that attention contains only curiosity, it’s fine, but the moment it develops into suspicion, the subject becomes trapped in invisible bars.

For someone of Third Young Master’s status, wouldn’t those bars be tremendous pressure?

Is he serious?

Seo Ryang wasn’t particularly brilliant, but he was someone who understood the political situation and could read trends.

Of course she thought he wouldn’t write any note. That’s why Hong Yeo-rin had included it as an option.

After all, it was the best means to pressure the opponent and gain the upper hand.

But he says he’ll write it. With an utterly unconcerned expression at that.

“Are you really going to write it?”

“Need your ears cleaned?”

“You’re really going to write it?”

“Want me to clean them for you?”

The bridge of her nose trembled involuntarily.

Cheon Hajin internally snorted.

No big deal to write it.

With over thirty years of martial world experience, how could he not see through this cute little robber girl’s shallow scheme?

So what? What about it?

Once he left this place, any promissory note would dissolve into thin air. He was thoroughly individualistic, with zero interest in reputation or power.

Besides, this body’s original owner was needlessly cruel and killed subordinates at the slightest provocation. He couldn’t care less about such a person’s face.

“Young Master, I’ve prepared the writing materials.”

“Ah, good work.”

Cheon Hajin asked while grinding the ink:

“How about writing that I’ll pay in about three or four months, will that do?”

“…”

“Why no answer? Too long? For six thousand taels of gold, I think that timeframe fits business etiquette, don’t you?”

You never know what might happen in life. Three to four months was minimal insurance for any contingencies.

Hong Yeo-rin’s expression changed several times.

But only briefly.

“…Fine. Write it.”

“Alright.”

Cheon Hajin hummed while wielding the brush.

Looking down at the note with a confused face, Hong Yeo-rin suddenly flashed her eyes.

“What are you doing right now?”

“Writing the note.”

“…”

“Don’t talk to me. I’m busy.”

Hong Yeo-rin was dumbfounded.

“You think changing your handwriting will make it invalid?”

Handwriting? Ah!

Right.

His handwriting couldn’t possibly match Seo Ryang’s.

But what does that matter?

“You’ll stamp your seal anyway. Don’t nitpick over trivial things.”

“…”

“Let’s see, since the Spring Festival is four months away, shall I write to pay by year’s end? That works, right?”

“No.”

“Three months then? Fine, let’s do that.”

“Whether three months or four months later doesn’t matter. That’s not what’s important.”

“Damn it, if you have something to say just spit it out. What’s with all this beating around the bush?”

At his irritated tone completely devoid of any consideration for her, Hong Yeo-rin took a deep breath.

Stay calm. Getting angry here means losing.

“We need to revise the amount.”

“Making it cheaper? That’s kind of you.”

“I’m raising it to ten thousand taels.”

The brush stopped abruptly.

“Ten thousand?”

“Yes, ten thousand taels.”

“Did it have babies? Why did six thousand suddenly become ten thousand?”

“I need compensation for mental damage too.”

Cheon Hajin’s brow furrowed.

“What nonsense is this now.”

“Eleven thousand taels.”

“What?”

“The contract is only completely terminated when payment is completed. Until then, you must maintain dignity as a contracting party.”

“Dignity my ass, even so, raising it by five thousand taels over a few words?”

“I must.”

Clear killing intent now resided in Hong Yeo-rin’s eyes.

“An insult to me is an insult to the Crimson Snake House. Not only did the Third Young Master treat a daughter of the Divine Cult’s branch, the Crimson Snake House, as a robber, but you also spewed profanity to my face. What do you think will happen if this gets out?”

She turned the insult she received into an insult against her house.

In other words, by inflating it from an individual matter to one between factions, she meant to draw a sword over their secret contract.

From now on, this was neither about money nor a deal for a better future.

It had become a battle of pride.

“What will happen? Well, I’m not sure?”

“There will be many complications, but one thing’s certain—the Third Young Master will have unnecessary worries from now on. When blood scents the air, hungry wild dogs tend to gather.”

“Are there witnesses to this alleged insult?”

“Yes. Those two people.”

She meant the escort warriors she brought.

Hong Yeo-rin pushed further.

“Or perhaps everyone in my home branch might have seen it.”

“You’re talking crazy.”

“I’ll raise it to twelve thousand taels. And you’d better not ignore my words. It’s not difficult for our home branch to inflate rumors if we put our minds to it.”

“You can turn lies into truth?”

“More precisely, we add weight to the truth. Some lies might be mixed in, but that’s up to us.”

Hong Yeo-rin smiled.

Though killing intent swirled in her eyes, satisfaction showed in her expression.

“If you don’t like that, change it to twelve thousand taels and stamp your seal. I’ll tell you in advance—there will be no more discounts.”

“…”

“What are you doing? Hurry and stamp it. Didn’t you say you had somewhere to go? You seemed terribly busy.”

Cheon Hajin silently glared at Hong Yeo-rin.

Hong Yeo-rin’s smile deepened.

A used-up wretch dares!

Originally, providing him spiritual medicines and financial support was meant to make the Third Young Master her stepping stone.

She was inferior to her brother in martial talent, rank, and age.

But her ambition far exceeded her brother.

Since she couldn’t become Cult Leader due to the inherent limitations of being a woman and her lacking talent, She wanted to at least rise to a position Second to One, Above Ten Thousand^[3].

In the past, she had considered a political marriage with the Third Young Master, but that was completely off the table now.

She had no need for a stepping stone who couldn’t even run after falling into cultivation deviation and had lost even minimal dignity.

Regrettable, but she’d have to find another stepping stone after multiplying her investment several times.

The triumphant Hong Yeo-rin and Cheon Hajin who glared at her.

Hong Yeo-rin thought Cheon Hajin was perplexed, but he was caught up in entirely different thoughts.

…Right, that’s how it was.

Escape this hellish Demonic Cult. Create my own peaceful life.

That had been his thinking.

But he had just realized something. More precisely, remembered something he had forgotten.

Life is equivalent exchange.

Escaping the Demonic Cult was obviously no easy task.

Yet he had taken it too lightly. He thought he could escape easily with just a little effort, just a little work.

Wrong. That was merely optimistic observation.

That wasn’t right.

Three to four months’ insurance? Things will work out somehow?

This is the headquarters of the demonic martial world, renowned as the most brutal even within the martial world.

When he should be endlessly tense and careful, he had taken the situation too lightly.

Crucially, I’m still living in the martial world.

And the martial world is a place where you can never achieve what you want without risking your life.

Scratch scratch scratch.

Cheon Hajin corrected the amount on the note to twelve thousand taels.

Hong Yeo-rin smirked.

“Hand it over.”

“No.”

“…What did you say?”

Cheon Hajin gently rolled up the paper.

Hong Yeo-rin frowned.

“Hey, Third Young Master.”

“Aenghwa.”

“Yes! Young Master!”

“Go out and call the guard captain^[4].”

Aenghwa left hurriedly without answering or questioning. She was extremely tense in this suffocating atmosphere.

A moment later, the guard captain entered.

“Divine Cult is Invincible, Ten Thousand Demons Submit. I see the Third Young Master. For what reason have you summoned this humble one?”

“Prepare a carriage. I have somewhere to go.”

“Third Young Master, though it’s presumptuous to say, your current condition…”

“I’m going to the Cult Leader’s Palace.”

“…What?!”

“Prepare the carriage and send word to the Cult Leader’s Palace. Inform them that the Third child wishes to see Master.”

The atmosphere in the room instantly turned cold.

“Calling mommy and daddy? Perfect. Since I don’t have parents, I’ll call Master instead. After all, Ruler, Teacher and Father are One^[5].”

He had endured for three months, to the point of tedium.

No more testing the waters. He would enter the heart of this hell, this Demonic Cult, and stake everything on a decisive negotiation.

He wasn’t even irritated at Hong Yeo-rin anymore.

Rather, he was grateful. Thanks to this robber woman, he perfectly realized just how brutal this place was.

To find my freedom, I must stake an equal ante.

I’ll reclaim my rights before the most powerful person here.

“What are you doing? Send word to the Crimson Snake House too. Let’s see whose voice is louder at the Cult Leader’s Palace.”

Hong Yeo-rin’s face turned extremely pale.