← A Demonic Cult Elder, Disguised and Employed as a Righteous Sect Laborer# 1-1
When I opened my eyes, the ceiling was moving.
No, the ceiling wasn't moving. My vision was shaking. My eyelids felt heavy, and my head was dull. It felt like slowly rising from the depths of the ocean. Hyunmyeong tried moving his fingers. His fingers existed. Of course they did.
But the fingers weren't his fingers.
He nearly had a seizure. He lifted his hand and brought it to his eyes. Thin, pale fingers. The veins on the back of his hand were a vivid blue. These weren't his hands. His hands didn't look this weak. His hands were—
The memory cut off.
Hyunmyeong sat up. It was a bed. A narrow bed. He was lying on a wooden, mopped bed. The surroundings were dim. The light seeping through the window was faint. It was either early dawn or rainy weather. Hyunmyeong slowly inhaled. It smelled like mountains. Soil and moss, and the smell of wood.
He didn't know where he was.
It wasn't Seoul. He was certain of that. His one-room apartment smelled like air conditioning. The smell of a freezer. This place was different. This place was real. Too real.
Hyunmyeong slowly lowered himself from the bed. His feet touched the cold wooden floor. Coldness spread between his toes. The sensation was too vivid. Hyunmyeong pinched his arm with his fingers to check if he was dreaming.
It hurt.
"What... what is this..."
A voice came out. But that voice wasn't his voice. It was higher. Softer. Almost like a teenage boy's voice. Hyunmyeong touched his neck with his hand. His neck was thin too. There was almost no muscle.
He needed to find a mirror.
He looked around the room. There was one door. The window was closed, and he could only see a narrow space like a dead end alley. Hyunmyeong headed toward the door. He reached out and opened it.
It was a hallway. A wooden hallway. Stairs were visible to the left. To the right were more doors. He could hear someone snoring. There were other people besides himself.
Hyunmyeong headed toward the stairs. With each step, the wooden floor creaked. As he descended to the lower floor, it grew progressively brighter. It was dawn. Pale light was streaming in through the windows from the east.
There was a hall. A not-very-wide hall. A house built of wood. A house in the mountains. Hyunmyeong scanned the surroundings looking for a mirror.
There was a water bucket. A metal water bucket. Hyunmyeong saw his reflection in the bucket.
It was an unfamiliar face.
A thin, pale face. Black hair. A young face. Around twenty? No, younger than that? The eyes were dark, and there were dark circles under them. The cheeks were sunken in. This body was one that hadn't eaten properly.
Hyunmyeong picked up the water bucket. It was heavy. This body was weak. It wasn't easy to pick up the bucket.
"What... what's going on?"
Hyunmyeong muttered. At that moment, something came to mind. It was faint, like a piece of paper floating on water, but it grew increasingly clear.
'Jeongpa Amturok.'
Hyunmyeong stopped. That name. That title. It was a novel he had been reading. From 11 PM to 4 AM, scrolling with his fingers through a web novel while exhausted from work at the company.
'Jeongpa Amturok' was a martial arts novel set against the backdrop of the conflict between the Orthodox Sect and the Demonic Cult. And—
And he was inside that novel.
Hyunmyeong looked at his face reflected in the water bucket again. A face came to mind. The face of a supporting character in the novel. The name was... the name was...
'A disciple of Seoun.'
In the novel, this character didn't have a special name. He was just 'a disciple of Seoun.' Seoun was the master of an obscure sect in 'Jeongpa Amturok.' And this disciple was a handyman of that sect. In the novel, this character was treated almost as background. He appeared only once, in a scene where Seoun woke his disciple, and never appeared again after that.
Hyunmyeong wrapped his head with his hands.
"What is this, what is this..."
There was no such thing as possession. That was fantasy. It didn't happen in reality. But it was happening now.
Hyunmyeong took a deep breath. He was a former elder of the Demonic Cult. A high-ranking executive. One of the strongest in the Demonic Cult. Panicking didn't suit him. Hyunmyeong slowly repeated deep breaths. Once, twice, three times.
His mind began to calm down.
Fine. Hyunmyeong thought. It doesn't matter what this is. It's become reality now. What's important right now is understanding the situation.
Hyunmyeong slowly walked around the hall. A house made of wood. An architectural style he had never seen before. But it matched the descriptions he had seen in the novel. The headquarters building of a sect. A small wooden building. Built in the mountains.
He recalled the novel again. He organized his memories. The content was coming back to him. The plot of the novel. The characters. The developments.
And most importantly.
'Gangho.'
Gangho was the hidden force behind the novel. A faction leader within the Orthodox Sect. Someone trying to take control of this sect. And about 100 chapters later, Gangho would invade this sect. Seoun would die. Iseol would become Gangho's subordinate.
Hyunmyeong clenched his fist.
It became clear what situation he was in now. He had escaped from the Demonic Cult and possessed this strange world. And the owner of this body—no, he was now a supporting character in this novel.
But he was not a supporting character.
Hyunmyeong calmly surveyed his surroundings. Dawn was breaking outside the window. Soon the people of the sect would wake up. He had to pretend to be here too. He couldn't let anyone notice he was doing something strange.
Hyunmyeong tidied himself up. He brushed off his hands and straightened his mouth. He checked again in the mirror. The face was still unfamiliar, but the expression was calm. Cold.
At that moment, footsteps sounded from upstairs. Someone was waking up.
Hyunmyeong retreated to the corner of the hall. With a natural expression. As if he had been here from the beginning.
The footsteps headed toward the stairs.
Hyunmyeong waited. For the moment his new life would begin. In this strange world, in this unfamiliar body, to escape a predetermined destruction.
His brow furrowed slightly. A cynical smile appeared at the corners of his mouth.
"Good. Let's begin."
Hyunmyeong's murmur was heard by no one. From above the stairs, someone's feet were descending one step at a time.
The footsteps descending the stairs stopped.
Hyunmyeong opened his eyes. His gaze was directed toward the faint mountain peaks beyond the window, but his ears caught every sound. The rustle of fabric, the rhythm of breathing. A middle-aged man. Somewhat clumsy movements. This was Seoun.
"Huh? That disciple..."
It was Seoun's voice. Low, and somehow unstable. Exactly as he'd read in the novel. This man bore only the title of sect leader, but in reality, he was someone who couldn't properly maintain his position. Hyunmyeong knew this.
Hyunmyeong slowly turned his body. His movements had to be those of a supporting character. Hurried, yet somehow awkward. As if he hadn't fully awakened.
"Master."
Hyunmyeong's voice was small. Thinking of his actual age, it matched the voice of this body. The supporting character in the novel was fifteen years old. Even looking at the final act, he was around that age.
Seoun looked at Hyunmyeong. His expression mixed surprise with a hint of suspicion.
"What were you doing all night? Up this early?"
Hyunmyeong lowered his head slightly. "I couldn't sleep well."
It was a lie. Hyunmyeong had just woken up. But this statement felt natural. A supporting character would certainly be able to spend a sleepless night in a new environment. Seoun would accept it that way.
"I see."
Seoun sighed. He stood beside Hyunmyeong and looked out the window together. The sun was rising over the mountains. This small sect in the remote mountains, some distance from the main headquarters of the orthodox faction. It was morning in that place.
"You need to work hard, boy. This place isn't much, but still..."
Seoun trailed off. Hyunmyeong understood his feelings. He was trying to produce results in this small sect to catch the eye of the main headquarters. But lacking in skill, he failed repeatedly. That was also why Kangho had used him in the original work.
"Yes, Master. I will work hard."
Hyunmyeong bowed his head again. Like a supporting character. But his eyes remained cold. Seoun didn't notice. This man lacked observational skills.
"Good. Then let's prepare breakfast. I heard an inspector is coming from the main sect today..."
Seoun muttered.
Hyunmyeong's eyes moved. An inspector. That was an important figure in the original work. A watcher sent from the main headquarters. And Kangho's first tool. Hyunmyeong remembered the inspector's name from the original work.
Han Bi.
"An inspector?"
Hyunmyeong asked. His expression remained gentle, but his mind began different calculations. Knowing the original's progression in advance meant this. Who would come, what they would do, in what order things would unfold. Everything was a predetermined sequence.
But Hyunmyeong intended to change that sequence.
"Yeah. Seems something strange happened. The main sect sent someone directly. You all should just train as usual, help with sect matters, things like that... don't do anything strange."
Seoun looked at Hyunmyeong. In that gaze was something that seemed like caution. But it soon faded. This man lacked the mental fortitude to maintain suspicion consistently.
"Understood, Master."
Hyunmyeong bowed. This gesture too felt natural. As if this body had originally been in this sect. As if Hyunmyeong had been this supporting character from the start.
Seoun headed toward the kitchen. Hyunmyeong followed him. Other parts of the sect were waking up too. Isul's voice, the footsteps of other disciples. The day was beginning.
In the kitchen, Hyunmyeong began his work. Cooking rice, preparing side dishes, setting the table. Everything was what a supporting character should do. But Hyunmyeong's fingers were precise. The efficiency learned at the demonic sect's residence had seeped into his body. To hide it, Hyunmyeong deliberately moved slowly.
"Wow, lots of side dishes today?"
Isul appeared in the kitchen. Seoun's daughter. A girl who appeared to be around fourteen, with intelligent eyes. In the original work, this girl would eventually become one of Kangho's subordinates. But for now, she was merely a disciple of the sect.
"I couldn't sleep since dawn..."
Hyunmyeong answered.
Isul looked at Hyunmyeong carefully. That gaze was brief but sharp. Hyunmyeong felt it. This girl was different from the other disciples. She had observational skills. She could become a problem in the future.
"I see."
Isul said. The suspicion disappeared, but curiosity remained. Hyunmyeong knew it. This girl would become the person who came closest to discovering his true identity in the future.
Breakfast proceeded. Seoun, Isul, and the other disciples of the sect all gathered. Hyunmyeong stood beside them, attending to what was needed. Water, rice, side dishes. Everything felt natural.
"Since the inspector is coming today, you all need to focus. Especially during training, be serious about it. Understood?"
Seoun looked at his disciples.
"Yes, Master."
Hyunmyeong answered along with them. Simultaneously with the other disciples. The volume of his voice, the tone, everything matched. Hyunmyeong had already become part of this place.
But his mind was making different calculations. Han Bi would come. And after that, Elder Cheongmok would be assassinated. After that, Kangho's schemes would begin. Everything was a predetermined sequence.
Hyunmyeong thought as he poured water. Can I change all of this? No, I must change it. There was no future for this body to originally live. In the novel, this supporting character disappeared within the original's progression. But Hyunmyeong was a different person. An elder of the demonic sect.
Hyunmyeong erased his smile. He rearranged his expression. To that of a supporting character.
Isul looked at Hyunmyeong again.
Hyunmyeong felt that gaze but didn't react. Not yet. The relationship with Isul was something to build slowly. Trust was needed. Time was needed.
Morning continued. The sun rose over the mountains. And as noon approached, Hyunmyeong left the kitchen and went out to the courtyard. He prepared to begin training with the other disciples.
But Hyunmyeong's eyes were directed toward the path below the mountain.
It was the path where the inspector would come.
"Let's begin."
Hyunmyeong muttered. This time, no one could hear it. Only the mountain wind carried that sound away.