Chronicles of the Demon Faction - Chapter 880



Only Noblemtl

Side story 230. The Magical Scripture and the Magical Realm (5)

When I turned my head, there was a boy there.

It’s the age when the under-nose becomes dark. He must be about fifteen now. His facial features are distinct and his eyebrows are thick, so even though he hasn’t fully grown yet, he has a very strong impression.

Contrary to his impression, his expression itself was gentle. His clear black and white eyes contained a subtle sense of wariness.

Lee Cheon-sang, who had closed the book, spoke calmly.

“I know that the Magic Pavilion is a place that anyone can enter at any time.”

The boy’s eyes grew wide.

“yes?”

“That’s what I think, but am I wrong?”

“… … .”

“… … ?”

“Oh! That’s right. It’s a place where anyone can come in at any time.”

“I don’t think you need to know my true identity.”

The boy coughed, seeming embarrassed.

“Anyone can come in, but you have to write in the guestbook. That’s why I’m asking for your name.”

Lee Cheon-sang tilted his head.

“There was no one there… … .”

“You came in at the exact time I was out at the side office. It’s embarrassing.”

His speech was quite mature for his age.

Whatever it was, it must have been quite a difficult task to be working at the Ma Kyung Gak at this time. At first glance, it seemed like he hadn’t even mastered a single bit of internal energy, so it seemed even more so.

The boy sat down on one of the chairs and opened a book. It seemed to be a guest book.

“Could you please tell me your name and position?”

“Twenty-two horsemen, two thousand men.”

“… … !”

The boy looked at Icheonsang with surprise.

“Is there a problem?”

“Huh? Oh, no.”

The boy who was in a hurry to eat wrote Lee Cheon-sang’s title and name in the guestbook.

‘Good.’

I took a quick look and saw that he was truly a master of calligraphy. Despite his young age, his speech and handwriting did not seem to indicate his age. It was as if I was looking at a well-educated scholar.

The boy asked, drying the paper with the wind in his hand.

“By the way, is there a book you’re looking for?”

“Nothing in particular.”

“The scriptures displayed in the Magyeonggak may seem to be placed haphazardly at first glance, but they are actually carefully categorized by content and field. If you can’t find the scriptures you’re looking for, please tell me what field you’d like to read. I’ll recommend one for you.”

He speaks as if he were the owner of a second-hand bookstore.

Lee Cheon-sang shook his head.

“I will read as much as I can before I go, so you focus on your work.”

The boy’s eyes grew wide.

“Are you saying you read all the scriptures here?”

“I didn’t say I would read it all.”

“If you read just two books a day, it will take several years. How much do you want to read?”

Considering Lee Cheon-sang’s reading speed, it is possible to read more than ten books a day on average.

“I will read it for three days.”

Lee Cheon-sang took out the second volume of the Je Yuk Cheon Shin Hwa Gyeong as if he was not going to talk any further.

The boy who had been quietly looking at Icheonsang nodded.

“Okay, I’ll tell the person in charge in the morning.”

Time passed like that.

After reading a few books standing up, I suddenly felt light coming in through the window.

‘Is it morning?’

Lee Cheon-sang, who was looking out the window, rubbed his eyes for a moment.

‘It was a sunset.’

I didn’t even realize that half a day had passed, and I was just reading a book. I was only aware of the time, but I didn’t feel anything special.

He organized the contents of the books he had read.

‘There is certainly a lot of nonsense and unnecessary content.’

He said that he had organized his bookshelves by subject, so all the books he was reading now were related to mythology.

‘It is definitely different from Buddhist mythology.’

In Buddhist mythology, Shakyamuni resists the final temptation of Mara and attains enlightenment under the Bodhi tree, becoming Buddha.

However, the mythology of Cheonmasingyo cleverly interprets that part differently.

In the first place, humans cannot escape from desire. No, they should not escape from it. Desire is what makes humans human, and humans who live in the world without desire are evil people who ignore the natural nature of living things.

That is the basic doctrine of the Cheonmasin religion. The word desire is considered important in the religion, so much so that it is even mentioned in mythology.

‘Desire.’

What is surprising is that the scriptures acknowledge that Parsun was defeated by Shakyamuni, a mere human being.

By acknowledging this, Pasun gave birth to the Buddha, the enlightened being. In other words, Buddha is interpreted as a being born as a test of Pasun. From a mythological perspective, Pasun gave birth to those who were his opposites, and thus played a decisive role in awakening the light of all things while living in the low-level world of desire.

‘It’s dark.’

The darkness is the waves.

It is dark and deep, but the presence of light is necessary for humans to perceive it.

Expansion from the lower places. Darkness was a shadow, and the light called Buddha was used to expand the shadow.

The moment a Buddha was born in the world, the devil finally became perfect. The more people who seek enlightenment, the more active the devil and darkness that hide among them will become, which means that light and darkness can never be completely separated.

In other words, in the mythology of the Cheonmasingyo, Pasun is a holy being who suffered a humiliating defeat for all demons.

‘It’s like magic.’

There, Lee Cheon-sang thought of Jinma-gong.

Jinmagong is a basic magic skill made up of simple knots, but it has an incredible contagious power that can turn any divine skill into magic skill.

That is the true nature of the devil. If you don’t approach it, you won’t know its existence, but the moment you see, hear, smell, touch, and taste it, you will be tainted by it.

‘It seems like a story full of excuses that can be interpreted however you like.’

The scriptures of all religions in the world are similar. The same goes for Cheonmasingyo.

However, when I thought about applying it to magic, it was quite interesting.

‘I need to see other things too.’

He hadn’t read all the books on mythology, but he had a rough idea. He walked over to the next bookshelf and took out the first book.

‘You found the right one.’

It was a book on the subject of desire. The entire shelf would be devoted to it.

It was when I was about to turn the first page.

“Have you eaten?”

It seemed that the librarian had been replaced because it was dinner time. Lee Cheon-sang, who had been busy reading a book and had not noticed the change in personnel, nodded slightly at the boy instead of greeting him.

“I didn’t eat.”

“Please have some of this.”

The boy who had bought something took out some well-dried beef jerky.

Lee Cheon-sang did not refuse.

“Thank you.”

The boy said, coughing.

“If you’re going to be here for six hours, you’re going to get hungry. But you can’t bring any smelly food. Beef jerky is the way to go.”

Judging from the fact that he even asked questions that weren’t asked, it seemed like he didn’t have a dark personality.

The boy asked, watching Lee Cheon-sang chewing on beef jerky.

“Which volume are you reading?”

“Fourteen volumes.”

“yes?!”

The boy blinked.

“Fourteen volumes? Not four volumes?”

“exactly.”

“… … What did you read?”

“The Sutra of the Six Heavenly Myths (upper and lower), the Canon of the Great Plains of the Realm of Desire (upper and lower), the Canon of the Realm of Waves and Tens of Times (lower and upper), the Sutra of the Buddha of Demonic Light (upper and lower), the Sutra of the Following the Spirit of Demons (lower and lower), the Sutra of the True Demon (lower and lower).”

“… … ?!”

“I’m reading the Great Demon Sutra of Desire now, and it’s fourteen.”

The boy opened his mouth like a carp.

“Did you read all of that?”

“exactly.”

Even while answering, he didn’t stop turning the pages. He was also chewing on the beef jerky with relish.

The boy who had been blankly staring at Lee Cheon-sang scratched his head.

“I see you were looking for something?”

It seemed like he thought he had only glanced at it. Lee Cheon-sang did not answer.

The boy said, coughing again.

“The books on the myth of the Parthians are all there. On the other hand, the Nine Desire Demon Sutra is different. There are a total of one hundred and eight chapters, and the contents of each volume are quite profound.”

“No, that wasn’t the case.”

“yes?”

Lee Cheon-sang said as he turned the page again.

“The books on mythology I’ve read each had subtly different content and meaning.”

“… … ?”

“After reading thirteen volumes, I decided there was no need to read any more.”

The boy’s eyes wavered.

“Do you remember all that?”

Lee Cheon-sang turned the pages of the book again without saying a word.

The boy was about to ask something else when he suddenly looked into Icheonsang’s eyes.

His eyes, which were extremely absentminded, moved diagonally. He was reading the contents of the densely written book paragraph by paragraph, not sentence by sentence.

It is surprising to think that it is a scripture that must be interpreted word by word. It was a level of reading ability that would be impossible if one could not read the next sentence before it was finished and memorize the sentences that had already been read by interpreting them one by one.

A look of surprise appeared on the boy’s face.

‘I thought I was the only one who could read like that?’

Among the four books in the Magyeonggak, only he read all the books in it.

It was partly because of my personality of loving books and not easily getting bored, but it was also because of my innate ability to read books faster than anyone else.

Even the boy remembered most of the contents of thousands of books, which meant that he was born with a natural intelligence.

The boy who had been staring blankly at Lee Cheon-sang opened his mouth cautiously.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Okay then.”

“What do you think the theme of Masan Gwangbulgyeong is… … .”

“Light and darkness.”

If it is an ability, then compressing the vast content divided into three volumes into two words is an ability.

The boy couldn’t continue. Light and darkness? If you think about it, that’s right. He himself thought a little differently and in a long-winded manner, but as he pruned and pruned the branches, he saw that Masan Gwangbulgyeong was discussing light and darkness, just as Lee Cheon-sang had said.

‘Did you really read it all? Really?!’

The boy’s face, looking at Lee Cheon-sang with his mouth wide open, was filled with shock, surprise, and a slight sense of empathy.

Lee Cheon-sang, who had turned the page once again, extended his hand.

“Let’s have one more.”

“Yes? Oh! Please do. I brought a lot.”

The boy sat down and observed the two thousand people.

Lee Cheon-sang chewed on beef jerky and flipped through the book.

There was no disturbance in his posture. He read the book in that posture for half an hour, moving only his eyes and hands, so it seemed as if he would not be surprised even if there was thunder and lightning.

‘It’s tremendous concentration.’

Lee Cheon-sang, who had finished reading the book before he knew it, took out the next book.

Then the boy opened his mouth.

“Do you have any urgent matter, sir?”

“exactly.”

“You said you would read as much as possible in three days?”

“exactly.”

“If you are someone who can summarize the content of several books in a few words, wouldn’t it be helpful even if we just talk about it without reading it?”

Lee Cheon-sang looked at the boy.

The boy said with a smile.

“I have read every book in this place. I remember most of them, including the titles, contents, and which volume contains what content.”

“… … .”

“If you’d like, I can be your conversation partner?”

It was an interesting suggestion.

Lee Cheon-sang looked around.

“When people come… … .”

“I’ve been working here for a year now. Only two people have come in during the year, and one of them got bored and wandered around, but he didn’t get halfway there and left.”

“I guess I’ll be the only one left.”

“Yes.”

Icheonsang put the book he had picked on the bookshelf.

“Okay. That would be faster.”

“If there’s nothing in particular you’d like to talk about, let’s start with the desire section we picked up a little while ago.”

“Let’s do that.”

“great.”

The boy got up from his seat and bowed his head solemnly.

“I would like to have a conversation with the twenty-two-horse leader of the new religion, the two thousand-sang mine.”

Lee Cheon-sang tilted his head.

“What are you doing?”

“Ah, when I was young, my late father told me that when you talk to someone, you should always be polite and formal when making requests. Now that I think about it, I wonder if it was really necessary, but it became my own principle and I still stick to it.”

Lee Cheon-sang nodded.

“I hope this will be a good conversation.”

The boy smiled.

“This is Hwang Mu-dam, the interviewer. Please take good care of me.”