Chapter 98: Volunteer Work (3)

While Il-mok was busy making gaming pieces, the Heavenly Demon spent his time teaching letters to the more severely affected patients. Meanwhile, the Hidden Guard Pavilion Master and Elder Kang kept working on construction with the other elders.

After pushing through half a day of non-stop building, they'd managed to put together five decent huts. The whole thing was basically like assembling prefabricated structures, and only the elders' incredible martial arts skills made such lightning-fast progress possible.

By the time the sky started turning that deep crimson color...

"Alright everyone! Exercise time's over, let's get cleaned up and grab some food!"

Finally, they could wrap up the day's work and start cleaning up.

But honestly? Bathing twenty elderly folks with dementia was just as exhausting as the construction work had been.

At least they'd already gotten a few of them washed earlier, so that was something.

While Il-mok, Elder Kang, and the Heavenly Demon handled bathing duty, the Hidden Guard Pavilion Master slipped away from the clearing to forage for fruit and hunt some game for dinner.

Being the Heavenly Demon's right-hand man meant being ready for anything—the guy really was a jack-of-all-trades.

Once they'd finished the baths and evening meal, Peach Blossom Ridge had gone completely dark.

"Snooore..."

"Zzzzz..."

Even though it was barely evening, several elders had already fallen fast asleep. After a full day of hard labor starting from dawn, plus a good meal and bath, they looked pretty content.

A few others were still up, playing games by the flickering light of Il-mok's campfire.

"You sneaky bastard, trying to cheat me!"

"Ha! Look who's talking! You were the one trying to pull a fast one!"

Of course, when people's memories come and go, game time could turn into outburst time pretty quickly.

"Easy now."

When the Heavenly Demon let just a wisp of his energy flow out with a gentle scolding, they immediately settled down.

Before long, even the game players started nodding off and drifted to sleep.

After getting all the sleeping elders tucked into their respective huts...

"Whew."

Il-mok dragged his tired body over to the campfire, where Elder Kang, the Hidden Guard Pavilion Master, and the Heavenly Demon were all staring into the flames.

They all had the same look on their faces of a weird mix of bone-deep exhaustion and genuine satisfaction.

Il-mok had seen that expression before. It was the kind of face people made after finishing volunteer work.

"You've all worked hard."

At his master's praise, Il-mok clasped his hands and bowed.

"I'm sorry for dragging you into such troublesome work, Master."

The Heavenly Demon shook his head.

"Don't be. I've been carrying guilt about the people I sent to this place for far too long. If I'm being completely honest, I'm wondering if doing this kind of work for just one day is nothing more than cheap hypocrisy, an attempt to ease that guilt."

This was a side of the Heavenly Demon that Il-mok had never seen before. There was real regret in his expression, something deeper than just surface concern.

His eyes were fixed on the red glow of the campfire, but his mind seemed to be looking much further back.

'...Only about twenty remain.'

In all the decades since becoming the Heavenly Demon, he'd sent way more than twenty elders to this place.

But today, they'd only cared for around twenty people. So where had all the others gone?

It wasn't a matter that required deep contemplation.

While he was lost in thoughts about all those he'd turned away—too busy with his duties as Heavenly Demon, claiming there were no solutions—his disciple's voice snapped him back to the present.

"But isn't hypocrisy still better than nothing?"

"Hypocrisy better than nothing..."

"That's right, Master. Most people live exactly like that. They don't help others because they're genuinely good people. They do it because helping makes them feel good about themselves, or because they want others to think they're virtuous, or maybe just because they felt sorry for someone in the moment. But there's no point in judging them for it. Hypocritical help is still infinitely better than no help at all."

It happened all the time in the modern world too.

Many companies donated money to reduce their tax bills or enhance their public image, then made sure everyone knew about it.

Some people called them hypocrites, but Il-mok's perspective was different—he'd worked as a social welfare civil servant, after all.

Those hypocritical donors were still way more useful than the ones who just pocketed money without giving anything back.

The Heavenly Demon considered Il-mok's words for a moment before responding.

"But I'm the Heavenly Demon, I rule over the entire Demonic Cult. How can I care for my people through hypocrisy?"

"Indeed. You're the Heavenly Demon who has to look after everyone. Perhaps spending time directly washing and feeding people like this isn't the most effective use of your time. But because you're the Heavenly Demon, there are things only you can accomplish, right, Master?"

After thinking it over briefly, the Heavenly Demon caught on to what his disciple was getting at.

"You mean like the Pure Mind Hall and the school program?"

"Exactly, Master."

Leaders didn't need to be down in the trenches doing manual labor.

Once or twice to get a feel for the situation? That’s fine. But making it a regular thing was just a waste of time.

What real leaders needed to do wasn't put on shows at work sites. They needed to create laws and systems that would actually help people more effectively on the ground.

"Then, what should be done to better care for the elders here?"

Il-mok's answer came in a long, detailed explanation.

"First off, it's impossible for Elder Kang to handle twenty people by himself. We need more manpower. I know there's already a unit that’s assigned to the Peach Blossom Ridge. Instead of having them just watch the place, we should turn them into caregivers."

Il-mok was drawing on memories from his previous life as Seo Ji-hun—all those times he'd dealt with dementia care facilities while working in social services.

"And we need to do more of what we did today. Keep the elders together and provide them with consistent work or entertainment to keep their bodies and minds active. If you just let dementia patients sit around doing nothing, you're only making things worse."

Of course, he couldn't just copy modern methods wholesale. Il-mok had to adapt that information to work in this time and place.

"We also need to observe each patient and keep detailed records. Particularly, we should divide patients by severity into mild and moderate cases. Those with severe dementia symptoms should focus on simple games and learning letters, while those who are doing better can handle group activities like today's work. Additionally, it's important to identify the cycles when each patient's dementia symptoms weaken or strengthen."

His goal was to transform this place from Oblivion Ridge into what it should be.

A real sanctuary for the elders.

Of course, his obsessive-compulsive tendencies were working overtime here.

‘Damn it, once I start something, I can't just half-ass it!’

He might procrastinate, but once he began something, he couldn't do anything halfway.

"Another important thing is helping them remember who they are. The main headquarters keeps records on all the elders, right? We should use those records to put up information tablets in the huts and any new buildings we construct. Give the elders something they can read every day to remind themselves who they are, where they are, and how they should behave."

Il-mok had even borrowed ideas from a movie he'd seen about a guy who lost his memory every single day and how he managed to function.

What started as genuine compassion for the dementia patients had gotten hijacked by his Soul-Stealing Heartless Sword's obsessive side effects, and Il-mok just kept going and going.

He'd reached the point where he was basically vomiting up entire institutional frameworks while being completely oblivious to the fact that...

‘Our youngest really is something else.’

‘Good lord... I had no idea the Young Master was this sharp.’

‘Setting aside that the Heavenly Demon chooses him, how does someone so young come up with ideas like this?’

The expressions on the faces of the Heavenly Demon, Hidden Guard Pavilion Master, and Elder Kang kept shifting as they watched Il-mok.

***

The next morning, their makeshift dementia care team was up bright and early, bustling around to take care of the elders.

Getting breakfast ready and making sure everyone ate, giving them light work to keep their bodies and minds engaged, and cleaning up after those who had accidents or suddenly reverted to acting like children.

On top of that, they helped with go and mahjong games, just spending time together...

"It's time to return now."

The Heavenly Demon checked the position of the sun and made the call.

While the Heavenly Demon, Hidden Guard Pavilion Master, and Il-mok got ready to leave, Elder Kang bowed deeply to them.

"Safe travels, Lord of Ten Thousand Demons."

"I'm sorry to leave you with this burden when you're still recovering yourself."

"Please don't say that. The kindness the Heavenly Demon has shown me is more than I could repay in ten lifetimes."

After finishing his conversation with the Heavenly Demon, Elder Kang turned to Il-mok with a formal bow.

"Travel safely, Young Master. I'll never forget what you've done for me."

"Take care of yourself."

Il-mok returned the bow, and they finished their farewells.

The three of them headed across Peach Blossom Ridge toward the spot where the Illusory Dream Formation's life gate would open.

Since the gate only stayed open for exactly one hour at the designated time, missing it meant waiting several more days.

Luckily, it opened shortly after they arrived, and they managed to get out of Peach Blossom Ridge.

When they emerged through the life gate, they found dozens of people waiting for them.

Array Master An Hyo-gyun from the Eight Trigrams Hall was there in case anything went wrong with the formation, along with the martial artists from the unit that normally managed Oblivion Ridge.

"Master! Youngest!"

And for some reason, First Disciple Wi Jin-hak was there too.

"Jin-hak, what are you doing here?"

"I'm sorry, Master. I just couldn't sit around waiting for news anymore, so I came out here."

Wi Jin-hak answered his master's question, then looked at Il-mok with obvious relief.

Ever since hearing that Il-mok had gone missing, Wi Jin-hak had been itching to join the search.

The only thing that kept him at his post was the Heavenly Demon's orders to focus on his assigned duties.

But he figured coming out just to meet them when they returned had to be okay, right?

"Greetings, Eldest Brother. Sorry for making you worry."

"Ha! As long as you're safe, that's all that matters."

The Heavenly Demon watched the exchange between his first and youngest disciples with a warm expression before addressing Il-mok.

"Normally, disciples from the Hall of the Demonic Way aren't allowed to leave the premises. Now that you're out of Peach Blossom Ridge, Il-mok, you need to return to the Hall immediately."

Il-mok quickly bowed to his master, keeping his head down to hide his expression of pure frustration.

‘Seriously? After all that work, I can't even get one day to rest?’

His hopes were crushed.

"Just to be safe, escort Il-mok back to the Hall of the Demonic Way."

The Heavenly Demon gave instructions to the martial artists who'd been monitoring Peach Blossom Ridge.

Looking at the approaching martial artists, Il-mok sighed quietly and handed over the bundle of wooden tablets he'd been carrying.

"This is what I put together based on our discussion last night."

The tablets contained detailed instructions for the people who'd be taking over caregiving duties at Peach Blossom Ridge.

Il-mok's obsessive tendencies had kicked into high gear after their conversation, and he simply couldn't leave it at just talking.

‘Damn perfectionism.’

Since verbal instructions could become garbled during transmission, Il-mok took the time to document everything by carving text into wooden tablets with his sword.

‘Damn Soul-Stealing Heartless Sword.’

And because using too many tablets would make them heavy to carry, he'd painstakingly carved tiny, precise characters into each one.

It wasn't hard to do, thanks to the skill improvements he'd gained from Elder Kang's brutal training. Actually, the process of carving such small letters kept making his swordsmanship even more refined, which was driving him nuts.

‘Damn body.’

No matter how he looked at it, he'd definitely possessed the wrong body. His talent was ridiculously over the top to the point that every time he did something, some kind of enlightenment would hit, and his martial arts would level up.

‘Though this talent is what kept Master from killing me and made him take me as a disciple instead. Son of a bitch! If only those crazy Murim Alliance bastards hadn't attacked in the first place!’

Come to think of it, this whole mess started because of that son of a bitch Murim Alliance attack.

’I'm definitely getting payback. Those Flying Dragon Corps pieces of shit.’

If one traced back to the very beginning, it all started because the Heavenly Demon decided to stop at that inn. But Il-mok had zero intention of seeking revenge against his master.

Not because he respected the guy or anything.

The man was a complete monster. Il-mok wouldn't dare even talk back to him, let alone think about revenge.

Human nature being what it is, people tend to direct their anger at targets they can actually handle.