Absolute Regression

The next day, Soma came looking for me.

Wearing a white mask and slowly crossing the Underworld Pavilion training grounds, he created an overwhelming sense of dread and fear.

The investigators and enforcement martial artists couldn’t even whisper from a distance. Everyone held their breath, greeted him, and passed by. They were far more terrified than when the Blood Heaven Blade Demon or the One-Slash Sword Supreme visited.

I watched the scene from the window of my office.

Seo Daeryong, who was next to me, spoke in a trembling voice.

“What happened yesterday that made that terrifying person come to the pavilion himself?”

“Investigator Seo, the scariest place in our sect is the Underworld Pavilion. The person who comes here should be scared, so why are you trembling?”

“Yes, I understand. But should I hide or not? Please tell me, considering our time together. I beg you!”

Seeing him able to joke like this, it seemed he was learning martial arts well from old man Blade. Well, with all his efforts, I expected him to show a transformed self soon.

“I’ll worry from a distance, like yesterday.”

“Go and escort him. My right-hand man should do it.”

“I just hope the Evil Smiling Demon doesn’t find out that I am your right-hand man.”

With that, Seo Daeryong went outside, and my gaze returned to Soma.

I knew he would come looking for me, but I didn’t expect him to come so soon, and in broad daylight, directly to the Underworld Pavilion.

Acting on instinct impulsively, whether then or now, he remained unchanged. That made him an interesting opponent and also a difficult one to deal with.

After a while, Seo Daeryong spoke from outside the door.

“The Evil Smiling Demon is here.”

“Let him in.”

Soon, the Evil Smiling Demon entered, guided by Seo Daeryong.

“Welcome, sir.”

“You’re calling me sir again. I told you to treat me like a friend.”

“I can’t do that. Then I’ll call you Soma.”

“Good.”

The Evil Smiling Demon laughed out loud. His behavior was natural, as if nothing had happened yesterday.

When Seo Daeryong was about to leave, I quickly spoke up.

“By the way, this friend here is Investigator Seo, my right-hand man.” 1

Seo Daeryong screamed internally but greeted calmly when Soma turned to look at him.

“I’m Seo Daeryong. It’s an honor to meet someone I respect so much.”

“Oh, I’ll remember that.”

“Thank you.”

Seo Daeryong walked out with a face as if the world had ended. Inside, he must have been shouting, “Please, don’t remember me!”. I laughed as I watched him leave.

The Evil Smiling Demon suddenly asked.

“Usually, don’t people hide what they cherish?”

“If the opponent is an enemy, yes. But you’re not an enemy, are you?”

“However, I’m not a friend yet either.”

“If someone decides to kill you, no matter how well you hide, can you stay hidden? Have you ever failed to kill someone just because they were hiding?”

“No, I haven’t.”

“Exactly. Life is uncertain, so shouldn’t we live properly while fulfilling our roles as fearless men?”

A glimmer of interest shone in Soma’s eyes.

“That’s quite an interesting statement.”

The Evil Smiling Demon stood up and looked around the office. He glanced at the pile of documents on the desk, the books in the cabinet, and then smelled the flowers in the pot by the window. It was a gift from Seo Yeongrang.

“The scent is nice.”

“I recently found a reason to like flowers.”

“A potential successor of the Heavenly Demon Divine Sect who likes flowers… If the Martial Alliance attacks, are we going to die in a flower field?” 3

Even with his mocking words, I responded calmly.

“Dying lonely in an unknown field might be stylish, but isn’t this nice too? If the last thing you smell before you die isn’t blood but the fragrance of flowers.” 3

The Evil Smiling Demon habitually burst into laughter instead of answering whether he liked it or not.

“So, what brings you here?”

The Evil Smiling Demon, who had been facing the flowers, turned towards me.

“After the Second Young Master left yesterday, I thought deeply and felt it was a pity that we couldn’t become friends.”

“I feel the same way.”

“So, I came to find a way for us to become friends.”

“You did well to come. So, did you find a way?”

“The way I thought of is for each of us to make a concession.”

“How so?”

“I’ll concede to understand your new Demonic Path and how you view good and evil.”

“Then what should I concede?”

“Can you concede the idea that we need to take off our masks to become friends?”

“Before that, may I ask one thing? Why do you want to be friends with me?”

“I want to interact with you without barriers, Second Young Master.”

In fact, I knew why Soma was acting this way. First, he wanted to find out how I killed Yasuo. When I returned to the cult back then, both the Soul Reaper Demon Supreme and Evil Smiling Demon were still alive.

At that moment, what I felt was this: The more evil you are, the longer you survive.

The Evil Smiling Demon also valued his life highly, so he would want to find out how I killed the Soul Reaper Demon Supreme by any means necessary. If the Soul Reaper Demon Supreme fell, he would think he could fall too.

Another reason was his personality. He was obsessed with people who provoked and intrigued him. He would approach, make friends, and kill them as soon as he got bored. It was a pathological tendency only I knew about.

So, there was no good meaning behind his offer of friendship. His offer meant he wanted to toy with me and then kill me.

These two reasons were why the Evil Smiling Demon personally came to my office. It was also why he told the absurd lie that he wanted to understand my new Demonic Path.

“I want to be friends with you, Second Young Master.”

Fine, in this life, I would become friends with him too.

Once we became friends, he would stand at a point where he was neither an enemy nor an ally.

That was the nature of Soma. He was someone who would only barely cease to be an enemy if we became friends.

“Alright. Let’s both make concessions.”

The Evil Smiling Demon laughed loudly at my answer. Anyone would think he was laughing heartily out of joy, but I looked into his eyes with my New Eye Technique. He was staring at me with an exceptionally cold gaze.

Soma, there was nothing at the end of your life.

He claimed he had no regrets until the moment he died, but it was a lie. The moment he thought of his childhood, he was already regretting.

Gu Cheonpa changed, Seo Yeonrang changed, even Jeong Dae changed, but Soma would not change easily. He was born with an evil nature and was brainwashed by his master from a young age.

It was at that moment.

I heard Seo Daeryong’s voice from outside.

“The Eldest Young Master is here.”

“Bring him in.”

Soma smiled and spoke.

“I called him.”

He came to see me and brought my brother here? Only the Evil Smiling Demon could do such a thing.

When he thought, “Shall I try this?” he executed it without considering the consequences. Despite this impulsive personality, he survived as one of the Demon Supremes, showing just how formidable his evil nature was.

Soon, Geom Muyang entered. He greeted the Evil Smiling Demon first.

“It’s been a long time, Soma.”

“Welcome, Eldest Young Master. Well, I suppose introductions are unnecessary, right?”

I played along with his playful words.

“Perhaps our brotherhood is exactly the kind of relationship that requires introductions. We know less about each other than we might think.”

As I treated the Evil Smiling Demon with ease, a flicker of tension crossed Geom Muyang’s face.

Taking it a step further, Soma spoke to Geom Muyang.

“I am in the middle of pestering the Second Young Master to be my friend.”

The Evil Smiling Demon watched Geom Muyang’s reaction with a look that said he wanted to see what would happen.

As expected, my brother responded appropriately.

“Sometimes, such amusements are necessary.”

Seeing Geom Muyang’s impeccable reaction, Soma laughed and said,

“That’s why I plan to enjoy this amusement with your younger brother. Our Eldest Young Master is too upright to be any fun.”

“Mu Geuk is full of wit, so he will make a good friend.”

My brother had been through a lot. He wasn’t the type to come when called and listen to such words. He was enduring it all with the determination to become the successor.

Yes, you’re doing well, brother.

If you lose your nerve here, you lose. You’re handling it well.

Whether he understood my thoughts or not, the Evil Smiling Demon provoked Geom Muyang.

“The Second Young Master came to see me yesterday. He asked me to support him instead of you.”

Even in my presence, he spoke without hesitation.

“Soma, you asked to be friends, so why are you trying to sow discord between brothers? This way, you won’t become a good friend.”

The Evil Smiling Demon chuckled at my words and said.

“There’s nothing more fun than sowing discord. How can you ask me to hold back? I could hold back a bowel movement, but not that.”

“If you want to sow discord, do it with the Martial Alliance and the Unorthodox Alliance, not with us.”

“I would love to, but I’m currently not in a position to do that.”

Geom Muyang just listened to our conversation. He was probably hoping I would make a mistake and cross a line.

“Since both of you are here, may I ask a question I’ve been curious about?”

My brother readily answered Soma’s question.

“Of course.”

“Then let me ask you first, Eldest Young Master. If I help you become the successor, what will you do for me?”

As expected, the Evil Smiling Demon was being himself, exhibiting his twisted tastes right in front of us.

Geom Muyang calmly answered, as if he had prepared his response.

“I will triple the support for the Valley of Evil and lift the restrictions on the number of Faceless Swordsmen. And I will lift the ban on excommunication currently placed on you.”

The Evil Smiling Demon was under a ban on excommunication. This was because of an incident two years ago when he massacred members of the Unorthodox Alliance, nearly inciting a war.

“They attacked first.”

It started that way, but it ended in a massacre. After that, Father banned him from going to the Central Plains for a while. It had been almost two years, so he must have been itching to get out.

“Oh, that is a very tempting offer.”

“Don’t mention it. Besides that, if there is anything else you want, I will fully support you.”

Soma laughed heartily. Did my brother know that even as he laughed with joy, his eyes behind the mask were chillingly cold?

“Now, let me ask you, Second Young Master. If I help you become the Heavenly Demon, what will you do for me?”

Both of them were curious about my answer.

I looked at the Evil Smiling Demon and spoke quietly.

“I will let you live.”

The atmosphere froze for a moment. I should have followed with a joke, but instead, I added,

“We talked about it yesterday, didn’t we? About the new Demonic Path I aim for. But how could I support someone like you, who embodies extreme evil? Did you think I would support you wholeheartedly? I will let you live, even if it means bearing the political burden.”

My brother might have inwardly cheered, thinking I was ruining this great opportunity with youthful rashness.

But there was something my brother didn’t know. This Evil Smiling Demon was someone who became even more captivated when his opponent responded this way.

To prove this, his eyes, which I saw through my New Eye Technique, were shining brightly.

I spoke to him more coldly than before.

“Suddenly, the game of friendship has lost its appeal, hasn’t it? Games that excessively break formalities never end well. So, please, do not mention being friends again.”

In the chilling atmosphere, Soma stood up.

“If we are not friends, staying in the same place will only lead to fights. See you next time.”

After bidding farewell to Geom Muyang as well, the Evil Smiling Demon left the office.

Once we were alone, Geom Muyang asked me,

“What on earth are you thinking?”

He knew I wasn’t someone who would rashly anger the Evil Smiling Demon.

“It’s just infuriating, isn’t it? We successors need to please them, the Eight Demon Supremes. ‘Go on, wag your tail. Then I’ll put you on the successor’s seat.’ Doesn’t that make you angry, brother?”

My brother, contemplating what to say, stood up and spoke.

“I always get angry at you.”

Leaving those words behind, Geom Muyang also left the office.

Shortly after, Seo Daeryong entered.

“Were you waiting outside because you were worried about me?”

“Not about you, my lord. I was worried that the flowers might have withered if any demonic energy was emitted.”

He looked at the flowers in the pot and sighed with relief.

I smiled and stood beside him.

We could see the Evil Smiling Demon walking away from the building.

“He seemed angry. Will he be alright?”

“He’s not angry. Can’t you see the excitement in his steps?”

“I can’t tell. It looks more like the steps of someone who wants to trample someone to death.”

“If you’re that worried, put the flowers outside tomorrow in advance.”

“I should do that. Wait, what? The Evil Smiling Demon is coming again tomorrow?”

If you tried to avoid him, he would chase you to the end.

“He’s someone I need to settle things with, one way or another.”

After a brief pause, Seo Daeryong asked.

“How do you endure all this pressure, my lord?”

“I have a right-hand man, a left-hand man aiming for the right-hand position, a heart, wings, and now even a brain. Why would I find it difficult?” 4

I looked at the distant figure of the Evil Smiling Demon walking alone and quietly added.

“The one who suffers is that wicked and lonely soul.”

1: Lol, the betrayal !!! XDXDXD

2: He react the same as Geom Woojin ^^ (Heavenly Demon)

3: Considering the lives of martial artists, I agree that it’s not bad

4: Will he have a tail and legs ? Because I don’t think he needs guts.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!