So? Did Someone Force You to Become the Heavenly Demon?

Chapter 44: History is Made at Night (2)

Just like someone at peak concentration, Kwan Mu-yeol’s pupils were constricted, his gaze fixed on the finely ground powder falling from his fingers into the Dragon Well tea.

And just before all the powder is mixed into the tea—

Pat.

A finger shot out from the darkness, aiming for Kwon Mu-yeol’s pressure point.

“!?”

Kwon Mu-yeol noticed the ambush too late and tried to swat away the approaching fingers, but was a beat too late.

Having focused on poisoning the Dragon Well Tea, he had noticed the hidden enemy’s approach far too late.

Pa-pat!

With lightning speed, the black-clothed figure struck two pressure points on Kwan Mu-yeol’s body and instantly immobilized him.

With the same speed and grace, the black-clothed figure also caught the pouch containing the poisonous mushroom and the Dragon Well Tea from mid-air.

Securing the items, he hoisted the incapacitated Kwan Mu-yeol over his shoulder and melted into the darkness, disappearing somewhere into the night.

***

“Ughhhh.”

Il-mok, on the other hand, was still enjoying the relaxing massage from Jin Hayeon. A strange groans had just escaped his mouth when suddenly—

Pat.

A black-clothed figure had just vaulted over the wall of Windrock Palace.

“Who goes there!”

Startled, Jang Hwi drew his spear and shouted, while Jin Hayeon, who had been performing massage on my back, immediately assumed a fighting stance and emitted a cold aura.

But upon seeing the intruder’s face, their expressions shifted to bewilderment.

“Third Young Master. Would you care to explain the situation?”

The unexpected visitor was Third Brother, Seo Wan-pyeong, who was supposedly away from headquarters on a mission.

But their surprise wasn’t solely due to his appearance.

“I wanted to come through the main gate, but my hands were full, so I had no choice.”

Oddly enough, Third Brother was carrying Kwon Mu-yeol on his left shoulder, holding him with his left hand, while his right hand held a tray with some refreshments and a teacup.

‘Wow… he didn’t spill a single drop.’

Despite jumping over the wall without using his hands, not a single drop of tea had spilled from the teacup on the tray in Third Brother’s right hand.

While Jang Hwi and Jin Hayeon were flabbergasted, I alone was leisurely admiring Third Brother’s lightness skill.

I already knew that Third Brother hadn’t left headquarters. Though, I also hadn’t expected this dramatic entrance.

Rising from my prone position, I asked, “Did he do something suspicious, brother?”

Third Brother nodded, dumping Kwan Mu-yeol unceremoniously onto the floor.

“After getting refreshments from the kitchen, he slipped into a secluded spot and added this to the tea.”

He took out a leather pouch from his sleeve and tossed it to me.

Pat.

Catching the pouch, I untied the string sealing the opening and found a colorful-looking mushroom inside.

‘Wow…. Anyone can see it’s a poisonous mushroom.’

Both Jang Hwi and Jin Hayeon who peered over my shoulder had their expression hardened upon seeing the item inside.

“Given the circumstances, isn’t it beyond doubt? We should execute him immediately. ”

I shook my head at Jang Hwi’s comment.

“There’s no way this guy would target me on his own.”

“Ah….”

Unlike Jang Hwi, who let out an exclamation as if he just realized something, Jin Hayeon and Third Brother nodded as if they had expected as much.

Then Third Brother cautiously approached Kwon Mu-yeol and released his pressure point.

He kept the paralyzing point subdued and positioned his hand right in front of Kwon Mu-yeol’s mouth in case he tried to bite his tongue or resort to some other trick.

However, making such precautions meaningless, the man didn’t choose suicide. Instead—

“It’s a misunderstanding!!”

He pleaded his innocence.

“You put this in my tea and call it a misunderstanding?”

When I chuckled sarcastically while shaking the pouch with the mushroom, Kwon Mu-yeol spoke in an uncharacteristically urgent tone.

“That tea wasn’t meant for you, Young Master! I, I was going to drink it myself!”

“Don’t be ridicul—”

Before I could finish, he blurted out another excuse.

“Remember our conversation about the Demonic Arts’ side effects? I told you I was trying something new!”

Indeed, I remembered consulting with Kwon Mu-yeol when he said he was suffering from side effects similar to those of the Soul-Stealing Heartless Sword.

At that time, Kwon Mu-yeol had blushed as he admitted that when his obsessive compulsion became unbearable, he resorted to self-harm.

Later, he mentioned trying a different approach, though it sounded so distasteful that I hadn’t pressed him further.

But that ‘something new’ was eating poison?

“No matter how I look at it, that sounds like a flimsy excuse. Do you really think taking poison would alleviate obsessive-compulsive disorder?”

In response, Kwan Mu-yeol’s face twisted in sheer exasperation as he replied.

“Actually, that poisonous mushroom is poison, but not poison!”

“Stop talking nonsense.”

“Then let me drink it!”

“!?”

My expression transformed to that of sheer disbelief when he declared that he would drink the poisoned Dragon Well Tea.

But after the initial shock wore off, it seemed like a somewhat logical approach.

But Jang Hwi beside me chimed in, eyeing Kwan Mu-yeol with a wary look.

“Young Master, he might be trying to commit suicide by poison.”

“Jang Hwi!! What are you saying!! Are you doubting me too!?”

While Kwon Mu-yeol and Jang Hwi were arguing, I turned my head to look at Third Brother, who was still restraining Kwon Mu-yeol.

Understanding my unspoken question, he nodded.

“I’ll monitor his vital signs. If he tries to commit suicide, I’ll take immediate action.”

The decision was made. We would let him drink the tea.

It wasn’t just because I believed Kwon Mu-yeol’s words.

‘Although the circumstances are suspicious, it’s actually too suspicious to be believable.’

The previous assassination attempt had been blamed on the Murim Alliance. Would they now resort to such a simple and blatant method?

Desperation was a possibility, but something felt off.

While I was organizing my thoughts, Third Brother carefully tilted the teacup to Kwon Mu-yeol’s mouth.

For a brief moment, we observed his reaction as he took a sip of the poisoned Dragon Well Tea.

But suddenly, something was off with Kwan Mu-yeol’s condition.

“Heek. Heheh.”

The man who always wore a stoic, solemn expression suddenly relaxed he even started giggling while his eyes glazed over.

He giggled, babbling incoherently, like being possessed by a ghost.

Then—

“……”

As the effect of the poisonous mushroom seemed to wear off, Kwon Mu-yeol returned to his usual stoic face.

No, he looked a bit different.

His face was flushed red like a young man whose secret stash was found by his mom.

He was trying hard to maintain a solemn expression to hide his embarrassment, but it wasn’t working at all.

Everyone had secrets they wished to hide and we might have possibly witnessed what Kwon Mu-yeol wanted to hide the most.

“Ahem. I apologize.”

But I felt wronged too. Witnessing such a spectacle wasn’t pleasant.

“Why did you put that in my tea?”

“As I said, it was for me.”

Kwon Mu-yeol answered pitifully.

“Didn’t you go to get my late-night snack?”

“I intended to secretly sip the tea, then claim I’d spilled it by accident, and finally return to the kitchen to get another serving.”

“At a time like this?”

“Precisely because it’s a time like this.”

“???”

Seeing everyone’s perplexed looks, Kwan Mu-yeol sighed deeply and said.

“Haven’t I failed in protecting you, Young Master? Because of that, my obsessive-compulsive symptoms have worsened more than usual. I felt like I was about to go insane from a heart demon. But I couldn’t harm myself while on duty, so this was my only option.”

His explanation left me feeling troubled as well.

‘These damn side effects are troublesome.’

Having experienced similar effects from my own Demonic Art, I couldn’t dismiss his plight.

I sighed softly and asked.

“Does this mushroom help with your compulsions?”

“A single large bite is lethal, but if you consume it in a small amount and dilute it with water beforehand, it can temporarily suppress the compulsions. I only use it in the case of emergencies.”

“Does anyone else know about this?”

“How could I reveal my reliance on such a thing? A Demonic Cult’s warrior succumbing to side effects would be seen as a disgrace.”

His shame wasn’t merely from his bizarre behavior under the mushroom’s influence.

He was deeply ashamed of his reliance on a poisonous mushroom to cope with his affliction. Having shown that to others must have increased his self-loathing even more.

Of course, relying on such a thing wasn’t ideal.

Though from his perspective, it was medicine, not poison.

‘A poisonous mushroom can be medicine…’

It was a strange feeling.

It was something I’d heard often somewhere. Didn’t someone say that what’s poison to one person can be medicine to another, and what’s medicine to one can be poison to another?

While my thoughts about Demonic Arts’ side effects, mental illness, poison, and medicine were getting complicated—

“Hmm?”

A certain memory buried in a corner of my mind resurfaced.

“Third Brother, did you have a late-night snack on the night I was attacked?”

“As you have known, I suffer from insomnia, so I tend to eat late-night snacks almost every day.”

His answer solidified my suspicion.

Third Brother also seemed to have guessed what I was thinking.

“But there was no poison. Do you think I wouldn’t notice something like that?”

Seeing Third Brother about to succumb to paranoia again, I quickly replied.

“It wasn’t poison.”

“???”

“It wasn’t poison, but for you it might as well be a deadly toxin.

I recalled a memory from my previous life as Seo Ji-hoon.

Specifically, a memory related to Lee Ji-yeon, who was arguing with a disgruntled citizen on the day I died.

She spent the early days of her job in tears and at some point suffered from depression.

She showed signs of avoiding certain foods during the period when her depression was severe, though it was somewhat less after she completely darkened later.

The reason was that these foods had a negative impact on depression.

In other words—

“There are foods and drinks, besides poison, that can make one agitated or depressed, Third Brother.”

Foods that are bad for depression patients do exist, and on top of that, Third Brother was a severely depressed patient suffering from extreme paranoia.

“Non-poisonous foods can make one depressed?”

Third Brother tilted his head with a look of incomprehension, and the others also had strange expressions.

“Yes. Just as the poisonous mushroom that Warrior Kwan ate became medicine to him, what’s beneficial to one can be harmful to another. Also, aren’t there some ordinary drinks or foods that are fine when eaten separately but cause problems when eaten together?”

This much was common knowledge even in this era, as everyone nodded with understanding expressions.

“There are also foods and drinks that induce relaxation and drowsiness. Or those reputed to boost virility.”

“Hmm. In folk tales, they say that any food rumored to be good for virility quickly becomes extinct.”

As someone who frequently leaves headquarters on missions, he nodded as if he understood the concept.

Jin Hayeon frowned at the talk about virility, though.

“Conversely, some foods, while not poisonous, can heighten irritability. For ordinary people, these are good foods because they sharpen the mind and increase concentration. But for those who are already sensitive and sharp, they’re as good as poison.”

“Indeed.”

Third Brother, aware that he filled those criteria nodded with an understanding expression.

However, true to his paranoid nature, he didn’t let it go.

“But how do you know all this?”