Dark Sky Lord

“Ugh!”

Not even a groan came out properly. His whole body trembled like a dead tree from the pain shooting up to the top of his head.

Half of him hoped for it.

Just as the sound of paper fluttering in the winter wind started to come from his body, another wave of excruciating pain came.

It was a pain that made saliva drain from his body and flooded in.

“Ughhhhh…….”

Dok-Go Mu-Ryeong put down the saliva soaked with flesh and blood on one side and picked up another object. A small black jade bottle.

After a while.

The iron bed shook and made a sound of hail falling as Yu Baek-Ha's teeth clashed against it.

Tadadada…….

“Uddddd…….”

The pain was so severe that it completely overwhelmed his mental state, making the previous pain seem like a joke.

The flesh on his wrists and ankles, bound by chains, was peeled off, and even though blood was flowing from the peeled areas, he didn't have any thoughts.

The only thing he could think of was one thing.

Please let this pain end! That's all he could think of.

The time of agony didn't last long. At most, it was only enough time to slowly count to thirty.

To Yu Baek-Ha, it felt as long as crossing hell.

Dok-Go Mu-Ryeong looked down at Yu Baek-Ha, who was trembling with his lips, with indifferent eyes.

His pupils were half-turned.

If it had been a little longer, he might have completely lost his mind.

He let go of Yu Baek-Ha for a moment.

Then, when Yu Baek-Ha's lips stopped trembling, he brought a thin iron wire from the display shelf.

If you continue to inflict pain, you become immune to pain.

But if you give pain over time, your mind will be hit first by the pain that comes rushing in.

By now, Yu Baek-Ha would have been too overwhelmed by fear to think straight.

Sure enough, when Dok-Go Mu-Ryeong approached with the thin iron wire, Yu Baek-Ha's lips quivered.

"Stop..."

Even if it was not the Thousand Characters Martial Scripture but the Ten Thousand Characters Martial Scripture, there was nothing better than that for him as a scholar.

It was just his stubbornness to solve an unsolvable riddle that kept him holding on.

Yet, despite enduring all sorts of threats and pain, he did not open his mouth about the Thousand Characters Martial Scripture for a reason.

To buy time.

Thanks to enduring it so tenaciously, I managed to buy myself five days.

But I couldn't hold on any longer, and there was no need to buy more time.

He squeezed Yu Baek-Ha's throat harder to make his point clear.

"Stop...doing this..."

It's such an easy surrender.

Dok-Go Mu-Ryeong looked at the iron wire in his hand, then back at Yu Baek-Ha.

There are only two reasons why a criminal would be brought to the Secret Prison.

One is when they are so strong-willed that they won't yield to any threat.

The other is when they require absolute secrecy.

In the case of Yu Baek-Ha, it could be considered the second reason.

But on the other hand, he thought that the first reason could also be why Yu Baek-Ha was brought here.

Otherwise, wouldn't he have spoken before being brought here?

Anyway, it wasn't something he needed to concern himself with.

"You're going to talk?"

In response to Dok-Go Mu-Ryeong's question, Yu Baek-Ha nodded slightly.

"If someone like you were to lie, you know what would happen."

A bitter smile formed on Yu Baek-Ha's lips, where his blood was flowing.

"Heh, heh... Don't...worry."

"Surprising. I thought you could endure a little longer."

A voice without any ups and downs. It is a voice that cannot be considered as a boy's voice.

Yu Baek-Ha's expression strangely softened.

"Fire... cruel... oh my..."

For the first time, a expression appeared on Dok-Go Mu-Ryeong's face.

"What is pitiful?"

"In this world... what child... would live with such dry emotions like you?"

Dok-Go Mu-Ryeong looked straight at Yu Baek-Ha and opened his mouth with an indifferent expression.

"I was born here. And I grew up here. Even if I don't know what it means for emotions to wither, I prefer to finish my work quickly and rest under a ray of sunlight."

Yu Baek-Ha's eyes widened and his gaze trembled slightly.

Even the pain coursing through his whole body was not felt in that moment.

'Huh, how can such a thing happen in this world? It's not surprising that the child grew up like that.'

His eyes are clear and calm, like a lake without a single ripple. Moreover, if you dissect each of his actions, it doesn't seem like he has an extremely evil nature. He just lives like that because he has lived like that.

Yu Baek-Ha couldn't hide his innocent heart after seeing life for the first time.

However, Dok-Go Mu-Ryeong only focused on his own tasks regardless of Yu Baek-Ha's reaction.

"Now, release one hand and bring me a brush and rice paper. Write on it."

Yu Baek-Ha closed his eyes tightly.

Various thoughts came and went.

Traces of decades of life. An unexpected connection with a woman. His daughter's face. And the figure of the boy standing in front of him...

'Has heaven left me with one last task?'

He felt the chain that was wrapped around his right hand being released. At the same time, a sharp pain surged from his bare wrist.

Yu Baek-Ha slowly opened his eyes. When he opened his eyes, he saw a boy standing five steps away.

The boy suddenly asked.

"Hey, don't you want to know how people live in this world?"

Dok-Go Mu-Ryeong replied briefly.

"This is my world, my everything. Will anything change if I know?"

His expression was indifferent as if he didn't need to know.

Yu Baek-Ha's gaze trembled slightly. He hesitantly asked something.

"How long... can you leave me here?"

"What do you mean?"

“If you can't hear the answer from me, they will ask until when they can wait for you.”

“It's indefinite.”

“Do you really believe they will wait indefinitely?”

Dok-Go Mu-Ryeong furrowed his forehead for a moment and slowly raised his head.

“No. If I can't figure it out within a month, they might take someone else instead.”

A gleam flickered deep in Yu Baek-Ha's eyes.

It was a calm gaze that seemed too stable to believe that he had suffered from intense pain.

He stared at Dok-Go Mu-Ryeong and calmly opened his mouth.

“Then why don't we make a deal? If we make a deal, I'll decipher ten characters a day.”

Ten characters a day.

In that case, Nam Jo-Gyeong will also wait without urging for about a hundred days.

After all, it's not Yu Baek-Ha who has such a worn-out body that he can't be severely tortured.

But why would he suggest such a deal?

Dok-Go Mu-Ryeong looked at Yu Baek-Ha with indifferent eyes that sank.

It wasn't that there had never been anyone who wanted to make a deal with him before. Sometimes, he was the one who suggested the deal first.

The words of those who first proposed the deal were consistent.

-If you let me sneak out, I'll give you treasure or immense wealth later!

And he himself made only one proposal.

-If you tell me what you know willingly, I'll kill you without pain.

'What you know' was not just about secrets. It meant revealing everything he knew.

The one who made the deal could hear many stories from the guests. In Room 18 in Secret Prison, where there was no father, listening to those stories was the only comfort.

“I'll make the deal if you tell me everything you know.”

It seems that he is not only talking about Thousand Characters Martial Scripture.

To Yu Baek-Ha, nothing was too precious. Even Thousand Characters Martial Scripture was not worth a single scripture to him, so what could be more precious than that?

“Tell me, whether it's Thousand Characters Martial Scripture or anything else.”

That's when it happened.

A thought that came up like lightning.

Dok-Go Mu-Ryeong presented one more condition to Yu Baek-Ha.

“But...tell me the most important hundred characters of Thousand Characters Martial Scripture last. It has to be a character that would render the rest useless if it's not that character.”

“That's not a difficult task.”

Such a willing acceptance. Moreover, even the gaze is gentle.

Dok-Go Mu-Ryeong's eyes narrowed.

Until now, he had dealt with nineteen guests, but this kind of guest was the first.

“Alright. Then I will kill you without any pain on the last day.”

He thought that would be enough. After all, there were no conditions beyond that which he couldn't fulfill, considering that he couldn't survive anyway.

But Yu Baek-Ha shook his head.

Wrinkles formed on Dok-Go Mu-Ryeong's white forehead.

“What do you want? You don't think you can survive here, do you?”

“Kukuku, since we've come this far, what is there to fear about dying? It's not about that.”

“Then what is it?”

“Someday, you will also go outside, won't you?”

Dok-Go Mu-Ryeong closed his mouth.

Go outside?

He couldn't answer that question.

Yu Baek-Ha was not a foolish person. If he had been smart enough, would anyone have been able to decipher the Thousand Characters Martial Scripture?

He noticed Dok-Go Mu-Ryeong's situation. That Dok-Go Mu-Ryeong's body was unable to leave this place until he died.

He looked at Dok-Go Mu-Ryeong with a pitiful gaze.

‘I can't let a child who knows so many secrets go outside. What a pitiful child......'

But I can't just keep watching forever.

Yu Baek-Ha opened his mouth again and stated his demand.

“If you can go outside as a heavenly favor, I have one request for you to fulfill.”

Dok-Go Mu-Ryeong stared at Yu Baek-Ha with indifferent eyes.

Leaving this place itself is a dream.

But just because it's a dream doesn't mean it's impossible forever. It's an event that has only one in ten chances, even if it means risking your life.

“First, tell me what the request is. I'll decide after hearing it.”

Yu Baek-Ha took a deep breath and slowly opened his mouth.

“Someday, whenever you go outside and meet a girl named Yu Ha-Ryeong with only a dot on her neck, please deliver a message.”

Dok-Go Mu-Ryeong suddenly remembered Yu Baek-Ha's personal history.

“Is she your daughter?”

“Yes, she is my daughter.”

“I might not be able to deliver the message.”

If he couldn't go out, of course he couldn't deliver the message. Yu Baek-Ha was well aware of that fact.

“Then it can't be helped.”

Dok-Go Mu-Ryeong furrowed his brow and thought for a moment before nodding slowly.

Yu Baek-Ha, who is known as the Great Scholar, knows a lot. There was no loss in this deal.

“Alright, let's do it that way. Now tell me what I should say.”

“If you break down the wall of the place where you used to play with your father when you were young, tell her that she will understand why her father did that.”

Yu Baek-Ha looked at Dok-Go Mu-Ryeong with calm eyes and told him the message to give to his daughter.

Even though he was in a situation where he had to live a life with a deadline of one hundred days, his heart felt strangely comfortable.

'One hundred days, it can be short or long. How much can I change this child? Hahaha, it's fortunate that I can do something before I die.'

The next morning.

Dok-Go Mu-Ryeong called Yeom Devil through Yeom Sang-So.

And he told Nam Jo-Gyeong about the deal with Yu Baek-Ha.

Leaving out the second condition.

As expected, Nam Jo-Gyeong approved the deal. With one condition.

“Alright. Wait for about one hundred days. But who can tell if it's a proper interpretation or a sloppy one? So, if you first interpret the hundred characters and present them, I will check the content and then decide whether to approve it or not.”

Yu Baek-Ha also accepted it obediently. Since he couldn't get anything with just a hundred characters anyway.

“Good. That's how it will be. However, since my physical condition is not good, I can only write about ten characters a day, so please come back in ten days.”

* * *

Yeom Devil visited Room 18 in Secret Prison twice a day, in the morning and evening. Of course, he didn't come inside and only put food through the hole in the iron door.

Even though he was curious, he didn't ask any questions.

He was the one who knew better than anyone else that if you know too much, you die early.

So it has been ten days since Yu Baek-Ha came in.

That evening, Nam Jo-Gyeong came in with Yeom Devil.