A man stepped down from the carriage.
He had a sleek, well-proportioned build and a cold impression.
As if the phrase “not a single drop of blood would come out if you stabbed him” existed for him alone, his expressionless face suited him perfectly. He was chilling, yet immaculate.
The man who had stepped down from the carriage entered the wide-open manor. At the entrance hung a signboard reading Great Night Gang.
As soon as he went inside, a horrific scene unfolded before him.
More than a hundred corpses lay scattered everywhere. The members of the Great Night Gang had been massacred. Among the bodies, warriors uniformly dressed in red martial robes were searching for survivors and killing them.
It was a gruesome sight reminiscent of a battlefield, but the man walked on without so much as blinking.
Blood flowing across the ground splashed up, soaking his shoes and trousers, but he paid it no mind.
If anything, the sight of him walking through a sea of blood suited him all too well. His very stride revealed his presence. It was a terrifying presence, as though no one could stand in his path unless he himself chose to stop.
The man was Yaryul Han, the second-in-command of the Sado Alliance.
The warriors in red martial robes who had massacred this place were none other than the warriors of the Extreme Blade Corps.
The Extreme Blade Corps. The Sado Alliance’s most elite organization, led by Yaryul Han.
Whenever Yaryul Han passed by, the warriors of the Extreme Blade Corps bowed their heads respectfully. The aura emanating from each and every one of them was far from ordinary.
Yaryul Han entered the main hall.
In the large chair at the center sat Jong Sim, leader of the Great Night Gang, leaning crookedly against it. Gravely wounded, he was covered in blood, and around him lay the corpses of Extreme Blade Corps warriors as well.
“You bastard!”
The leader of the Great Night Gang roared. But his insides churned, and he vomited blood in a gush.
“How could you! How could you do something like this!”
In contrast to the agitated gang leader, Yaryul Han was utterly calm.
He walked somewhere. In a corner, there was still a warrior of the Extreme Blade Corps clinging to life. He was breathing in pain. His wounds were too severe; he was already beyond saving.
Without hesitation, Yaryul Han placed his palm against the man’s chest.
Soon, the warrior breathed his last as if falling asleep. From behind him came the voice of the Great Night Gang leader.
“I’ll say it now, but whenever I saw your face, it always gave me the creeps and put me in a foul mood.”
Yaryul Han showed no stirring of emotion whatsoever.
“You always hid your feelings.”
The Great Night Gang leader had never once sensed any emotion from Yaryul Han. He had never seen him rejoice, never seen him grieve, never seen him become angry.
“Are there even human emotions inside that body of yours?”
At that, Yaryul Han rose and answered calmly.
“Must there be?”
His deep yet pleasant voice rang through the main hall.
“What?”
“Those human emotions you speak of. I asked if they must necessarily exist.”
Faced with such a brazen question, the Great Night Gang leader did not know what to say.
“To hear such words from you is rather bewildering. You are not a man who has lived all that humanely either.”
“Shut your mouth!”
The old man roared, then vomited blood again. Dark red blood soaked his clothes.
“Even so, I never lived a life where I framed an entire sect and slaughtered them to the last.”
Today, the Great Night Gang had been exterminated for the crime of colluding with the Murim Alliance and plotting rebellion. The evidence had been clear. A letter had been found that the Great Night Gang leader himself had never written, yet the handwriting was identical to his. A huge sum of money he knew nothing about, received from the Murim Alliance, had been stored at a bank. There were traces of the Sado Alliance’s secrets having been leaked, testimony had emerged, and there was even a witness who had seen him in secret talks with people from the Murim Alliance. Even in his own eyes, he was clearly a traitor.
“At least tell me the reason. Why?”
The Great Night Gang leader was certain that the one who had trapped him was Yaryul Han.
“You have forgotten.”
At Yaryul Han’s words, the Great Night Gang leader flinched. It sounded as though he had made some grave mistake.
“Forgotten what?”
“In the past, you said this to me. That if a person is too much like that, it could put the other party in a bad mood.”
The Great Night Gang leader had no memory of saying such a thing. Had I said that? It was hazy.
“You could not hold back what you wanted to say. Living in murim, yet unable to control your emotions? I despise such people.”
“So?”
Yaryul Han said no more.
In that instant, the Great Night Gang leader was struck with shock.
“Are you saying that is the entire reason?”
“To kill someone I despise—do you need a reason more certain than that?”
The Great Night Gang leader roared.
“You mad bastard!”
Compared to the agitated gang leader, Yaryul Han remained calm.
“There are as many people in this world as grains of sand. Is there any need to go on together with someone one dislikes?”
Yes, the Great Night Gang leader could understand up to that point. It made no sense, but let him say he understood. But this part, at least, he simply could not comprehend.
“Then you should have killed only me!”
“My mood was far too foul for that.”
“No matter how foul it was… you killed even innocent people for something so trivial?”
The Great Night Gang leader let out a pained sigh.
Tears flowed from his eyes. If he had suffered this for some grand grudge, he would have felt less wronged. He would have felt less sorry to his family, to the warriors of his gang. His clan was being exterminated over a single remark he could not even remember?
The Great Night Gang leader spoke in a self-mocking tone.
“I suppose this is all fate.”
“You may want to blame fate, but this is your fault. The fault of an insensitive man like you, who attaches the word ‘trivial’ to another person’s feelings.”
The Great Night Gang leader beckoned him closer.
“There is something I must say to you before I die.”
Had he sensed death? The anger vanished from the Great Night Gang leader’s face.
Yaryul Han approached him.
A little closer, a little closer. The Great Night Gang leader gestured with difficulty.
Yaryul Han obediently granted his final request.
The distance between the two men narrowed.
Swish!
The Great Night Gang leader drew upon every last bit of his remaining internal energy and thrust out a palm strike. The labored gestures from moments before had been an act for the sake of this one move.
Flash! Slice!
But Yaryul Han’s sword was faster. His sword was so swift and precise it could not even be seen.
Thud, roll.
The severed head of the Great Night Gang leader rolled across the floor. Looking down at the head, Yaryul Han said coldly,
“You old fool, did you really think I would do all this for such a reason?”
After leaving behind words that would keep the Great Night Gang leader from closing his eyes even in death, Yaryul Han went outside.
When he emerged, rain had just begun to fall.
Swaaaaaa.
Yaryul Han stood beneath the eaves for a moment and looked up at the pouring rain.
A man ran through the rain toward him and offered him a wind cloak. It was Cha Hwan, whose entire body was covered in dragon tattoos. The last man alive among the Four.
Though his whole body was covered in dragon tattoos, the animal he brought to mind was a black panther. Dark skin, a lithe physique, and the whites of his eyes standing out all the more because of his black skin.
Yet he was a man who wished to become a dragon rather than a panther. Among the Four, he prided himself on having the greatest loyalty. He also believed that the reason Yaryul Han kept only him by his side was because he recognized that loyalty.
“No need. It has been a while since I last stood in the rain.”
Yaryul Han walked into the rain, and Cha Hwan followed silently behind him. Behind him again, the warriors of the Extreme Blade Corps lined up and walked after them.
* * *
I arrived at the safe house with Geugak Soma.
Gowol was waiting for us with new information.
“Something unusual is happening inside the Sado Alliance.”
“What kind of thing?”
“The Great Night Gang was recently annihilated.”
“By whom?”
“The Great Night Gang committed the crime of rebellion by colluding with the Murim Alliance. The evidence was clear, and during the process of arresting them, they were wiped out by the Extreme Blade Corps led by Yaryul Han. I believe this was Yaryul Han’s doing.”
Gowol had grasped the situation accurately.
Because even before my regression, the Great Night Gang had been exterminated by Yaryul Han. However, the timing had changed. Things that were meant to happen still happened, but the timing or cause could shift subtly.
“Why do you think so?”
“First of all, the Great Night Gang leader I know is not someone who would ever betray the leader of the Sado Alliance.”
And there was another decisive reason for Gowol’s suspicion.
“The timing is too coincidental. Do you know when the Sado Alliance received the tip about this matter and began investigating the Great Night Gang?”
“When?”
“When Aecha died.”
It truly was an uncanny timing.
Gowol judged it this way.
“When two of his limbs among the Four died, Yaryul Han seems to have become convinced that someone intervened.”
“Surely not?”
“Yes. He seems to think the Sado Alliance leader is behind it.”
It was something I truly had not expected.
“And as revenge, he struck the Great Night Gang?”
“The Great Night Gang leader was famous as a supporter of the alliance leader. Yaryul Han was warning them what happens if they touch him.”
It was a sufficiently plausible guess.
It was an open secret that Yaryul Han coveted the position of alliance leader. At present, the Sado Alliance leader was too powerful for him to dare reach for that seat, but if Bisain took that position, the situation would change.
There were even rumors circulating in the world that if the Sado Alliance leader wanted to pass the position to Bisain, he would have to kill Yaryul Han.
In a situation where a tense power relationship of mutual restraint was being maintained.
“Yaryul Han seems to believe that the Sado Alliance leader has begun cutting off his hands and feet in order to make Bisain his successor.”
Something that would have happened someday had occurred early because of our movements.
“This is a perfect opportunity. If we can make good use of this situation, we won’t have to worry about what comes after killing Yaryul Han.”
A truly unexpected situation was waiting for us.
“You mean we kill Yaryul Han and make Bisain the person who killed him?”
“That’s right. It isn’t bad for Bisain either. He will firmly establish himself as the successor, and we will succeed in this operation.”
I looked at Geugak Soma, who had been listening beside us. Geugak Soma, who had only listened in silence, had eyes that said he would follow my will no matter how the situation unfolded.
If so, what had to be done was set.
“First, I suppose I should meet my friend. Though I don’t know if he still considers me one.”
* * *
Bisain was eating at a high-class inn he often frequented.
His face was still hideous. Cut, crushed, distorted. An appearance that sent a chill through one’s heart just by looking at it. But compared to the dark and heavy air he had before becoming successor, he seemed somewhat brighter.
Around him, the Sado Thirteen Wolves were eating with him while standing guard.
A thread of sound transmission reached Bisain.
—Have you been well?
Bisain’s chopsticks paused for a moment, then soon began moving again.
—You truly have no fear. To think you would come all the way to the main headquarters of this alliance.
The content of his words was blunt, but his tone was gentle. He owed me his life. If not for me, he would never have become the successor either.
—There is something I must discuss with you quietly.
—Do it here. Do you even know how difficult it is for the successor of the Sado Alliance to go out alone?
—Later, you will live a life where everything is done once you merely say the word. So for now, do a few difficult things. Let us meet at midnight on the peak of the mountain behind the Sado Alliance.
Before leaving the inn, I saw it. A faint smile had formed at the corners of Bisain’s mouth. I did not know if it was the smile of a friend, but at least it was not the smile of an enemy.
* * *
I stood on the summit of the mountain overlooking the main headquarters of the Sado Alliance.
Before my regression, in the course of searching for the materials for the Great Art, I had once stood here and looked down at that Sado Alliance. I had stood here thinking that once I regressed, everything would be resolved.
Then I heard Bisain’s voice from behind me.
“What important matter do you have that you would call someone out at this hour? You could have done it by sound transmission at the inn.”
Without turning around, I said,
“I was afraid you might overturn the dining table.”
“Everyone knows I have a filthy temper, so it would have been fine.”
Bisain stood beside me.
“What if I shoved you from behind? You don’t even turn around?”
“Haven’t we become close enough that I need not worry about such things?”
When I looked at him, Bisain snorted.
“That’s not it. You’re acting relaxed because even if you fell, you could land without so much as harming a hair.”
“That is also true.”
When I looked at him with a smile, Bisain turned his gaze away and looked at the Sado Alliance buildings in the distance.
“Have you come to collect the debt of my life?”
“Surely it is not only the debt of your life. I must collect the debt of making you successor as well.”
“What do you want?”
“Will you grant me anything?”
“If it is something I can grant.”
I looked at him. Bisain looked at me as well.
“Let us kill Yaryul Han.”
At my sudden words, he was startled.
“I knew long ago that you were a strange man, but I did not know you were such a desperately insane bastard.”
A brief silence flowed between us, and then he asked,
“Are you saying you intend to go to war with us?”
“If that were so, I would not be having this conversation with you. I came to kill Yaryul Han.”
“Why do you intend to kill him?”
“The grudges he has raised by watering them with blood have gone round and round and come to me.”
Because Bisain knew well what kind of person Yaryul Han was, he did not ask further. How could there be only one or two people who had become his enemies?
“When you ascend to the seat of alliance leader, Yaryul Han will certainly aim for your position. That is why the current Sado Alliance leader must be troubled. Over when to eliminate Yaryul Han. And if he is not thinking such a thing?”
“If he is not?”
“Then the Sado Alliance leader has made Yaryul Han his successor. It would mean he is handing over the seat of alliance leader while knowing you will die.”
“!”
He said nothing. His mind must have been complicated. Yaryul Han was an enemy he absolutely had to kill in order to become alliance leader, but at the same time, he was the greatest force supporting the Sado Alliance.
“His attack on the Great Night Gang was nothing more than a preliminary battle before attacking you.”
Bisain could not deny those words. The death of the Great Night Gang leader must have been a tremendous shock to the Sado Alliance leader and to him as well.
“Do you remember? That one day, when I become the Heavenly Demon and you become the Sado Alliance leader, we would meet again, reminisce about this time, and shake hands.”
I gazed into Bisain’s eyes, which were caught in conflict. I knew very well that this was not something he could decide easily. But my success or failure also depended on this matter.
“I want to shake hands with you, not Yaryul Han.”