The Bloody Hand Witch looked at me with wide eyes, and mouth opened as she blinked.
It was my first time seeing her this shocked. It was only then I understood what had just happened.
‘No… it was the second stage?’
Han Baek-ha had told me.
The second step was to influence the other person and have them act as we intended. If I had heard correctly, this was exactly that.
-Brat. You are a man, after all!
What are you saying? I strongly denied the words of Short Sword.
-Why deny it now? I understand now. Any man would want to see a woman naked, right?
Don’t put it like that! Isn’t it strange to do this here?
It would look like I am ridiculing her in front of everyone.
-But you did cause that, right?
I just thought it would be funny if she took off her mask and danced. But it was just a fleeting thought.
-Yes, yes, right.
This is insane!
Not only this idiot, but even Baek Ryeon-ha was looking at me with cold eyes.
Eyes close to disappointment. Even if she didn’t know about the second stage of Illusion Eye, she must be angry at me for making Dam Yehwa take off her clothes.
“Young master,”
Han Baek-ha called out.
This situation was so terrifying that I didn’t want to know what she would say, but she didn’t seem to care about Dam Yehwa’s condition and spoke approvingly,
“What did you do just now?”
“… I don’t know?”
“Don’t you? It was clearly the Young Master who did…’
She went silent and continued in Voice Transmission.
[That was the second stage of the Illusion Eye. How did you do that?]
Han Baek-ha was obviously curious; it seemed like she wanted a clue as to how this happened.
But I didn’t know.
[I don’t know.]
[Don’t mess with me. It happened right in front of my eyes. Are you trying to deceive me, the teacher who taught you?]
Her eyes narrowed.
It seemed like she didn’t want to listen to my words. Actually, if she had known this, she would have done a lot more things.
-What does that mean?
Short Sword asked because she didn’t get it.
‘She wants to know how to reach the second stage.’
-How? Hmm…I think it would be better not to tell.
I agreed with her. But she saw it with her eyes. How can I lie now?
Besides, she looks like she would do anything to get it out. In the end, I let her know what I could think of.
[I just thought it would be nice if she had done something weird when doing the Illusion Eye.]
[… and you wanted Yehwa to take her clothes off?]
[It isn’t like that…]
She called Dam Yehwa without listening to me.
“Yehwa.”
She hurriedly tied her clothes and answered with a red face,
“T-teacher.”
“Look into my eyes.”
Dam Yehwa didn’t ask twice why and looked into the eyes of her teacher, who couldn’t be disobeyed. I wondered what would happen. The two stood watching each other.
“…”
For a while, nothing happened, making Han Baek-ha frown. It didn’t seem like the second stage was happening.
“Young master.”
She called me.
“Yes. Sixth Blood Star.”
“Young Master, do it.”
Han Baek-ha pointed to Dam Yehwa with her hand. The woman wrapped her arms around her body with a grim expression.
She seemed convinced that I was up to something.
“It isn’t like that…”
“But my clothes were…”
“Stop.”
Han Baek-ha stopped her from arguing. It seemed that she only wanted to know about the second stage.
“Look into Young Master’s eye.”
“B-but teacher…”
“Do it!’
Dam Yehwa had no choice but to step back at those words. Her orders were strict in such groups. And she looked at me with a dissatisfied face.
-She really hates it.
‘… right.’
What can I do about what already happened? There was no way I could relieve her worries now.
[Let Dam Yehwa sit and stand.]
Han Baek-ha told me.
“Phew.”
At this, I looked into the eyes of Dam Yehwa. And then memorized all I was told and looked into her.
Han Baek-ha didn’t take her eyes off him and looked at both me and the target. As before, I thought of Dam Yehwa sitting and standing.
‘…’
But even as time went on, there was no response. Rather, my eyes were hurting from the effort of focusing too long.
“Sixth Blood Star…it doesn’t seem to work.”
“Young master. Are you doing this on purpose?”
Han Baek-ha seemed suspicious of me. She didn’t seem to believe me. So I looked at her. Dam Yehwa also seemed to be getting pain in her eyes for looking at me for too long.
Suspicious, Short Sword whispered,
-Oh. Did you cheat? You didn’t….
‘No.’
-You aren’t cheating?
If I lied, would my eyes be stinging like this? I really memorized the technique.
I also wanted to make sure Dam Yehwa was fine this time, but I wasn’t cheating.
“Hmm.”
Han Baek-ha looked at Dam Yehwa for a while, and then as they looked at each other, Dam Yehwa flinched and staggered.
“Uh!”
Tak!
But this time, she was up without anyone holding her.
‘Ah.’
Looking at this, it seems like the first stage. It was good. On the other hand, it was like she was trying to check if I was actually performing the technique properly.
“…looks true.”
“Why would I lie to you?”
She nodded, looking at me.
“I understand. I will believe the words of a young maser. I kept my promise to help, so let’s stop and go… ah.”
Han Baek-ha, who was about to leave, turned to Baek Ryeon-ha like she remembered something. And then Baek Ryeon-ha looked at me and shook her head.
Looking at that, it seemed like she also wanted to do something with me.
-I think this was planned.
That was weird. Would this small bet make anyone change their mind?
And she was the candidate for the sect leader.
However, I had to stop at the words I had just heard,
[Sexual offender]
… damn it.
Thanks to the mistake, Baek Ryeon-ha and Dam Yehwa got it right.
The anger of Dam Yehwa could be avoided, but what do I do about the next candidate for the sect leader? I didn’t want to be looked down on.
Short Sword tried to comfort me.
-You just have to clear up the misunderstanding later. Cheer up!
The problem was that I didn’t when I got the chance to. I had to tell them I wasn’t a horny person.
But there was nothing more foolish than trying to regret what happened.
-Then why did they walk up in a hurry?
Short Sword asked me.
She saw Han Baek-ha, who was returning to the main hall. Even though it was really late, she was heading back to the main hall.
‘Because she has a clue.’
-Clue? Do you mean about the Illusion Eye?
‘Yes.’
It could be a coincidence, but the second stage had been executed.
She would have the desire to implement it in her head, so she must be heading back to practice now.
Drr!
When I quietly opened the door and walked through it, Song Jwa-baek and Song Woo-hyun were lying on the floor.
Since the number of rooms for people was limited, three of us had decided to share one room. Sleeping on the floor of the cave was something we had gotten used to, so the twins decided to sleep on the floor, and the bed was given to me.
-Here? Wonhwi.
The South Heavenly Iron Sword asked me. I left him in the room because I didn’t think I would like listening to the two fight.
-Are you done?
‘Right.’
Afraid the two would wake up, I was slowly walking in. Sitting on the bed across from the ones lying on the floor, I loosened the sword from my waist and placed it on the edge of the bed.
It was then.
Shh!
Song Jwa-baek, who was half asleep, got up and looked around,
“Where did you go?”
It seemed like he was wondering where I had gone, as I had disappeared in the middle of the night. I told him while shaking my head,
“It was nothing.”
“…if it really was nothing, would you go out and come back this late?”
This guy was so annoying. Why is he talking like this?
He looked at me like I had to listen… ah!
Suddenly, I wanted to test the Illusion Eye against him.
-Illusion Eye?
Right.
It didn’t work on Dam Yehwa the second time, but we never know.
I didn’t know if I could do it, but I figured testing it out couldn’t hurt. So I decided to try it and focused on his eyes.
“What are you doing? I asked where you have been! Why are you staring at me like that?”
The guy asked with an annoyed voice.
He felt annoyed that I was staring at him but not answering. I definitely had to train more. It took a while as I wasn’t used to it.
“Yah!”
He was angry and tried to get up. That moment.
As he tried to get up, he suddenly went blank, and he sat down and looked at the twin who was sleeping.
Song Jwa-baek who looked at his twin, slammed his twin’s smooth head with his palm!
Slap!
Song Woo-hyun opened his eyes in shock at the sound. Song Woo-hyun looked at his brother in anger.
At that time, Song Jwa-baek hurriedly pulled back his hand and said,
“W-why am I hitting…”
At that moment, Song Woo-hyun jumped up and hit Song Jwa-baek on the forehead.
Thud!
“Kuak!”
Song Jwa-baek collapsed with that hit. He passed out too, the only sound which could be heard was his breathing.
Song Woo-hyun, who put his twin to sleep, lay down and closed his eyes.
-Puahahaha!
Seeing the scene, the Short Sword burst into laughter. On the other hand, I didn’t. I knew it.
‘Is this it?’
The second stage of Illusion Eye, which I thought was a coincidence, succeeded again.
In just three days, I learned a lot about the technique. It was because I tried it out on several people.
The first step was the same as what Bloody Hand Witch had told me. But the second stage was completely different.
And here was what I found:
First. When caught by Illusion Eye, there were some differences between people. Five counts was as long as most people would act under my will. Dam Yehwa must have stopped taking her clothes off for the same reason.
Second. A target who had been caught once couldn’t get caught in the Illusion Eye in quick succession. I got caught as a result of doing it again against Song Jwa-baek. When I tried again, he got mad at me, saying the twins had been fighting since last night.
I tried it on others but got the same result. Looking at it, it felt like there had to be a different situation to make it happen.
Third, It was possible to move the target as I wanted with Illusion Eye, but it was impossible to bring out the information the target knew.
I did what I intended but couldn’t come up with anything more spontaneously. That was the disappointing part.
Fourth. It didn’t work on those who had strong mental strength or those stronger than me. I tried it on commander Jang Mun-wong, just in case, but the effect didn’t work on him.
Thanks to this, I stopped trying it on him.
And the last and the most important, fifth.
Unlike the first stage of Illusion Eye, the second stage consumed innate qi. I didn’t notice the first two times I used it, but as I continued to use it, I began to feel a significant drop in my innate qi.
-Is this why she could only do the first stage?
‘Yes.’
As Short Sword said, Bloody Hand Witch had been using this for over 20 years but had no effect. But I could use it as soon as I had learned it.
This managed to convince me.
The method for making the suggestion of Illusion Eye stronger was innate qi.
-Oh. Then if the innate qi is strong will the third stage be possible?
‘I don’t know.’
I tried to see if the third stage illusion was possible just in case, but it didn’t work.
It could be because of a lack of innate qi. If this was right, as Short Sword said, the third stage would be possible.
-Kyak! Still, we learned something useful. If that witch found out, it would make her stomach hurt.
The Bloody Hand Witch thought I wouldn’t move higher so she taught me this. But what now?
She had given me a technique that even she couldn’t fully master.
