Chapter 197: Proselytization (1)

Early the next morning.

"Haaaaaah."

Il-mok stretched lazily as he woke up.

After fighting the Heavenly Orchid Society Leader and spending from early morning till afternoon absorbing the energy of the thousand-year-old elixir through meditation, he'd crashed in the early evening and was only now waking up.

"Are you awake, Young Master?"

Hearing Dam Bin's voice from outside the door, Il-mok yawned as he stepped out and asked.

"Haaaah. How'd things go last night?"

"I delivered all your instructions. Anyone who dared to resist your will or who acted out of greedy has been dealt with."

"Good work. You couldn't have slept much at all. Why don't you get some rest?"

"We're taking turns sleeping, so there's no need to worry."

Il-mok looked past Dam Bin and noticed Ju Seo-yeon pouting.

They were taking guard duty in pairs, and she clearly wasn't thrilled about constantly being paired with either Dam Bin or Ouyang Mun.

It was Il-mok's consideration for Jin Hayeon. If he'd paired her with Ju Seo-yeon or Ouyang Mun for guard duty, who knows what horrific things might've happened.

But her sullen face didn't last long. Ju Seo-yeon's eyes suddenly sparkled.

Jin Hayeon and Hyeokryeon Seon-ah were approaching with each carrying a tray and a basin.

"Big brother!"

“We brought your breakfast and some water to wash up.”

As Hyeokryeon Seon-ah greeted Il-mok with a bright smile and Jin Hayeon's calm voice chimed in, Ju Seo-yeon exclaimed with the face of a puppy meeting its owner after hours apart.

"You're beautiful as ever today, Senior Hayeon!"

“…Thank you.”

After replying brusquely to Ju Seo-yeon’s adoration, Jin Hayeon turned to Dam Bin.

“Section Leader. We shall take over the guard duty from now on. Please have some rest."

“Will do.”

Dam Bin nodded and grabbed the puppy-eyed Ju Seo-yeon by the scruff of her neck and dragged her away.

"......"

Il-mok just shook his head at the dizzying scene. He washed his face to shake off the compulsion and enjoyed his breakfast.

After finishing his meal, Il-mok asked. "Where are Young Master Baek Cheon and the women?"

"I'll summon them right away."

Jin Hayeon left the hall and returned shortly after with Baek Cheon and the three women.

"......"

Il-mok stared at them speechlessly for a moment, then sighed and asked Baek Cheon.

"What the hell did you do to them?"

The three women looked absolutely wrecked. They were completely out of it, looking even more traumatized than when they’d been interrogated last night.

"I merely taught them acting."

"...What kind of teaching leaves them looking like jiangshis?"

Baek Cheon looked wronged, and it was Jin Hayeon who explained instead.

"Apparently, he's been teaching them acting since you gave the order."

"Don't tell me... all night?"

Baek Cheon protested.

“I am being wronged! Do you really think I would make them stay up all night? Sleep deprivation is the enemy of beauty! How could someone like me, who needs to catch everyone's attention, stay up all night?"

"......"

Il-mok just stared at him like he’d lost his mind as he continued to yap.

"I just taught them acting until the end of the Hour of Pig (9-11 PM), then started practice again this morning."

In other words, after being ordered to teach them acting yesterday at dawn, he'd worked them for eight full hours, and that still wasn't enough for him, so he'd woken them up again this morning to continue.

Il-mok took a moment to blame himself.

'There's no 'moderation' in lunatics’ dictionary. I knew he was nuts. This is on me for not giving him a time limit beforehand.'

Il-mok let out a soft sigh. "Well, if you pushed them that hard, they must have at least gotten the basics down."

"They're good enough for the task at hand."

Il-mok nodded. “Then there’s no reason to wait. Get started.”

Only then did the three women realize. The mastermind behind their suffering at the hands of this insane attention-whore was this very man.

That's when the crazy attention-whore suddenly blurted out something unexpected.

"Young Master. Along with these three, could you also send Miss Jeong with them?"

"You mean Jeong Hyeon?"

"Yes."

Il-mok frowned. "Why?"

“She’ll be their role model.”

“You think she can handle that?”

Il-mok asked, recalling Jeong Hyeon's side effects.

"Young Master! That's disrespectful to her!"

Baek Cheon's eyes sparkled with trust in Jeong Hyeon.

"She studied acting under me for over six months. I believe she can definitely pull it off!"

Actually, no. He just believed in his own teaching.

Madman's ravings aside, Il-mok fell into thought for a moment.

There was actually something that had been bothering him. And if Jeong Hyeon joined the proselytizing, it might solve that problem.

After finishing his deliberation, Il-mok spoke.

"Bring Miss Jeong here. I'll let her decide for herself."

A minute later…

Jeong Hyeon, who had just woken up, arrived at Il-mok's hall with a half-asleep face.

Last night, Dam Bin and the other women from the Hidden Guard Pavilion, along with Ouyang Mun, had visited the brothels and taverns managed by the Heavenly Orchid Society.

On top of that, they'd taken turns standing guard for Il-mok, so she'd only fallen asleep at dawn before waking up.

"I-I greet Young Master Il-mok."

As Jeong Hyeon bowed in greeting, Il-mok smiled gently and explained the general situation.

She was already half-asleep, so hearing this crazy talk about a recruitment mission made her brain just short-circuit. She stared blankly at Baek Cheon.

'Wh-what did I ever do to deserve this from him?'

Baek Cheon, completely misreading Jeong Hyeon's resentful look, flashed his white teeth in a smile.

His eyes screamed, 'Just trust me! With the acting skills you learned from me, you'll be more than fine!'

Judging by their gazes alone, they weren't on the same wavelength at all.

Not that talking ever helped. Baek Cheon only heard what he wanted to hear after all.

That's when Il-mok's voice pulled Jeong Hyeon from her thoughts.

"I called you here to give you a choice, Miss Jeong. If you were someone who merely trembled in fear, I wouldn't have bothered, but didn't you say you wanted to overcome your social anxiety?"

"Ah..."

"I won't force you, so think it over carefully and decide."

After mulling it over for a moment, Jeong Hyeon spoke.

"I-I do want to overcome my social anxiety, but pr-proselytizing requires t-talking to people, doesn't it?"

She might be able to approach people if she really tried, but she had no confidence in holding a proper conversation.

She could already picture herself stuttering terribly or muttering in a voice like ants crawling before spiralling into a panic attack.

But for some reason, Il-mok just grinned.

"Don't worry. In your case, you won't need to speak at all."

* * *

Later, at a teahouse in the middle of the Lanzhou market.

Cute tea sets and sweet snacks were products that young women loved regardless of time or place.

This place was famous among Lanzhou's young women, making it a spot that countless women frequented.

Normally, the teahouse should have been filled with the chatter of young women, starting with praise for the tea's aroma and taste, and then exchanging various neighbourhood gossip.

But for some reason, there were strange silences between conversations today.

The reason was simple.

Most of the women had their attention captured by something, making it impossible for them to properly converse with their companions.

Some were just openly gawking, totally mesmerized. Others would try to look away, only to find their eyes drifting back for another peek.

And at the place their gazes were directed, there was Jeong Hyeon.

"Oh my, oh my. Look at that face."

"Hey. Be careful. What if he hears you?"

Dressed in men's clothing.

Thanks to her heightened senses from the Ghostly Spirit Divine Bow, Jeong Hyeon didn't miss the women's voices.

'H-how did it come to this?'

Naturally, it was Il-mok's doing.

* * *

After deciding to use the three women for proselytizing, Il-mok had one concern.

‘Although they cannot be compared to Miss Jin or Seon-ah, all three possess respectable looks, more than enough to conduct missionary work… but if we do this, the gender ratio will be completely unbalanced.’

Since he was using honey traps for proselytizing, the new converts would be nothing but men at this rate.

Of course, they'd be recruiting courtesans as converts while taking over brothels and taverns, but he couldn't help feeling something was missing.

This felt less like evangelizing and more like annexing territory.

He wondered for a second why he even cared about the gender balance, but then remembered his side effects. The imbalance in the gender ratio bothered him.

And that’s when Baek Cheon suggested having Jeong Hyeon participate in the mission. For Il-mok, it was a eureka moment.

He remembered what happened at the Hall of the Demonic Way. Specifically, his first meeting with Jeong Hyeon.

'That's right! She's got that androgynous look. With the right clothes and hairstyle, she could totally pass for a pretty boy!'

Il-mok himself had mistaken her for a man for quite a while, hadn't he?

Moreover, once his thinking shifted, other forgotten memories came flooding back.

The biggest share was from his time as Seo Ji-hoon.

Specifically, what he'd recalled when he discovered Ju Seo-yeon was Jin Hayeon's sasaeng fan. He remembered this girl in college who was a sasaeng fan of some pop idol, and a crazy rant she once went on.

—Obviously, the muscular 'beast idols' are way better than the skinny flower boys! Sure, little kids who are still scared of real men might prefer the feminine-looking pretty boys and hate guys with six-pack abs, but they just don't know what's good!

That was from way back, when weird K-pop terms like "beast idol" were all the rage.

And if you flipped that college student's words around:

'Young women who've never been close to men or still find them intimidating prefer androgynous pretty boys!' was the shocking conclusion one could reach.

The mission Il-mok assigned to Jeong Hyeon was precisely this: the pretty boy strategy.

In other words, it could be called the Jade-Faced Young Master Bait.

* * *

While Jeong Hyeon was having an internal crisis about being turned into a K-pop Idol by Il-mok, the voices of young women from respectable families reached her ears.

"Where did such a gorgeous man come from...?"

I’m not a man.

"Look how pale his face is. How can he be paler than me, a woman?"

It’s called ‘being scared stiff.’

"And that bearing. Look at those melancholic eyes."

I’m not melancholic. I’m about to burst into tears.