Geom Mugeuk stared at Myeongsin in silence.
Myeongsin likewise met that gaze calmly.
They felt it simultaneously. That beginning with this meeting, the fates of the two of them—and indeed, the fates of many others—would be decided.
“Surprised?”
To Myeongsin’s question, Geom Mugeuk replied with an expression that said it was obvious.
“Have you forgotten already? The last image I have of you is your back as you fled after dousing me in strong liquor.”
At that, Myeongsin spoke with a smile.
“And have you forgotten? You were the one who grabbed that handle.”
This time, Geom Mugeuk smiled.
“How about it? Shall we have a drink?”
He had asked without missing the pleasant atmosphere, but Geom Mugeuk did not immediately accept.
“What does your organization’s report say about a man like me? Does it say I’m the sort of fool who would follow a terrifying assassin who tried to kill him just because he asked me out for a drink?”
“That’s exactly what it says. That’s why I came.”
Geom Mugeuk, who had been blinking his eyes, let out a deliberately long sigh.
“It’s vexing, but they’ve investigated me properly.”
Had he ever seen someone give such an answer at a moment like this? Would he ever see one again?
Myeongsin was certain. It would be the first and last time. The only person who would entertain this absurd meeting was the young cult leader.
This time, Geom Mugeuk calmed his eyes and spoke softly.
“But what if I kill you here and create an unexpected variable?”
Myeongsin reacted without the slightest hint of panic.
“My report on you included that you might make such a threat.”
It was a jest. Surely it couldn’t have contained such detail.
Of course, Myeongbu had investigated Geom Mugeuk thoroughly, and they knew much about the young cult leader of the Demonic Cult. Myeongsin had fully memorized those contents, but much of it was still hard to believe. There had never been such a demonic young cult leader in the world.
“Very well, let’s go.”
Geom Mugeuk readily accepted the proposal and stepped out past the main gate.
Rather, it was Myeongsin who asked in surprise.
“You’re really going? It could be a trap.”
“Of course it could.”
“Then why accept?”
“Surely I cannot spend my whole life cooped up inside? And you cannot wait forever for me to come out, either. Especially for your lot, time is money, is it not?”
Geom Mugeuk took the first step, and Myeongsin walked alongside him.
Hwi, who was concealed, would be following secretly. As he had said, from now on Hwi was a person who both existed and did not exist. The moment he revealed himself would be the moment when everyone’s life and death was decided.
The two walked toward the tavern district a few paces apart. Though they were separated, it was a distance from which either could launch a fatal surprise attack upon the other if they so wished.
Myeongsin imagined ambushing Geom Mugeuk.
Being an assassin, it was natural to have such thoughts when meeting a master. Could that man block my ambush? If I struck like this, he would block like that, then I would follow up with another attack. He could roughly picture how it would unfold.
But for some reason, no matter how much information he had read, he could not picture such a scene with Geom Mugeuk.
Then, Geom Mugeuk abruptly asked.
“Why you?”
It was a sudden question cutting away all context, yet Myeongsin knew what he meant.
Myeongsin recalled a conversation with the King of Assassins.
—Why me?
—The young cult leader resembles you.
Myeongsin did not relay those words.
“I suppose I’m a thorn in the organization’s eye.”
Geom Mugeuk immediately seized upon his self-mocking jest.
“Or perhaps because you’re the strongest.”
Myeongsin did not deny it. After the King of Assassins, the strongest assassin in Myeongbu was indisputably himself.
“I thought the Upper Realm would be involved in this matter. I didn’t know you were the ones behind it.”
Myeongsin knew the reason. The organization had entrusted Myeongbu with the money management because they knew the King of Assassins had no greed for wealth.
What had been promised to him?
To Myeongsin, moving the King of Assassins’s hollow heart seemed like the most difficult thing in the world.
“By the way, I saw the other day that your skill at crafting weapons is that of a master artisan?”
“Just a pastime.”
“It’s a shame to waste such dexterity on killing people.”
Had it been a thoughtlessly blurted remark, he would have been angered, but the young cult leader sincerely held his craft in high esteem.
“If Master Kwak of our cult’s Smithy had seen it, he would have begged to kidnap you and bring you back.”
“He might have asked to kill me out of jealousy instead.”
At the pride in Myeongsin’s voice, Geom Mugeuk said with a laugh.
“Not to that extent.”
Rather, because Geom Mugeuk spoke that way, Myeongsin could tell his praise was not merely empty words meant to flatter him.
“Sell me a few of those throwing daggers you’ve made next time. I happen to have run out of them.”
“Are you going to kill me with them?”
“I don’t appear weak enough to be killed by daggers I’m unaccustomed to, do I?”
Myeongsin felt not the slightest discomfort conversing with the young cult leader like this. The young cult leader certainly had a gift for guiding conversations comfortably. Even unpleasant topics did not feel so unpleasant when he brought them up.
Thus, the two exchanged all manner of disjointed talk as they arrived at the tavern district.
The place prepared as a trap was not among the taverns there. It was a rest stop situated between this village and another.
“Where shall we drink?”
Myeongsin gave Geom Mugeuk the choice of tavern.
Geom Mugeuk surveyed the several taverns there and chose one.
“Let’s go there.”
The place Geom Mugeuk had chosen was the shabbiest tavern among them. Myeongsin meekly followed his lead.
The interior of the tavern had a similar atmosphere to the place the King of Assassins was preparing.
‘So this young cult leader truly enjoys this kind of atmosphere.’
Myeongsin asked Geom Mugeuk.
“I heard the trilateral talks were also held in a tavern like this.”
“Is it not tasteful and pleasant?”
Geom Mugeuk looked at the innkeeper.
“The food and drink here should be good as well.”
“How can you be sure?”
“I can tell the taste just by looking at the innkeeper’s face. It is an innate ability.”
But shortly after, Geom Mugeuk set down his chopsticks with a crestfallen face.
The food served as a side dish was far too bad. Moreover, the liquor was mediocre as well.
With a dejected face, Geom Mugeuk said.
“It seems the innkeeper has changed his face. This might be a place where a former assassin washed his hands and opened shop.”
At Geom Mugeuk’s jest, Myeongsin smiled faintly.
Bitterness tinged that smile as he accepted the jest. The words “former assassin” weighed heavily upon him.
Until now, he had carried out his assassinations according to his principles.
He did not kill children. He did not kill those who had not learned martial arts. He did not kill those who were not evil.
But at some point, the King of Assassins had begun to touch upon these principles.
Especially the last one.
—Who can determine good and evil? If you conduct yourself as an assassin with such principles, are you a good person?
Myeongsin could not answer yes to that question.
—I acknowledge not killing children. I acknowledge not killing those who are not martial artists. But I cannot acknowledge that you will not kill those who are not evil.
When an order came down from the organization, it meant kill without question.
—This is for your sake as well. If you establish such useless principles and make a mistake later? Will you wash your hands out of guilt? Or will you take your own life? Why make your already difficult life harder on yourself?
The King of Assassins’s persuasion pressed in ever stronger.
Myeongsin could feel it. The moment when he would have to speak to the King of Assassins was approaching soon.
That he would break his principles.
No, that he would not break them.
At the end of that worry, a single doubt always waited for him.
‘What if I were not the second strongest in Myeongbu?’
Would he have survived until now? Could he have clung to that icy cliff within the King of Assassins’s heart? Did he survive because he was a friend? Or did he survive because he was too useful to discard?
These days, as the moment to decide regarding his principles drew near, his heart was complicated in many ways.
What he had said to Geom Mugeuk earlier was not an empty remark. The words about being a thorn in the eye. Perhaps they were using the hand of a powerful enemy like Geom Mugeuk to remove that thorn.
Geom Mugeuk silently watched Myeongsin looking down at his cup, then looked out the window.
For a moment, the two sank into their own thoughts.
It was Geom Mugeuk who broke the long silence.
“There is something I’m curious about. May I ask?”
“Ask all you like.”
“Why did you not flee? You know full well that many of your comrades have died by my hand until now, do you not?”
Those comrades—were they ordinary experts? They were absolute experts who would later become the Twelve Zodiac Kings.
As the right hand of the King of Assassins, he would know roughly as much.
Indeed, judging by his expression, he knew. The fact that they belonged to something.
Myeongsin answered calmly.
“We are people needed for times like this. Killing people is our specialty.”
Watching Geom Mugeuk nod silently, Myeongsin added slyly.
“Killing people—you people are specialists no less than we are, are you not? No, you are worse than us. We never move unless we are paid, but you people are those who kill indiscriminately regardless of money, are you not?”
This was how the martial world had viewed the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult until now.
“Indiscriminately? That is all old news. Our cult has changed greatly these days as well. It must have been detailed in that report of yours.”
Of course, Myeongsin knew. He also knew that the one leading that change was this young cult leader before him.
“Fine, since the topic has come up, let me ask one thing.”
Geom Mugeuk threw an unexpected question.
“Is the assassin’s life enjoyable?”
It looked like a casually thrown remark, but it was a question with intent.
“Who does their work for enjoyment? It is simply work, so I do it. But why do you ask?”
Myeongsin had thought he had investigated everything about Geom Mugeuk, but in fact, Geom Mugeuk also knew about Myeongsin. Though Myeongsin had more detailed information, Geom Mugeuk knew the decisive facts.
His final moments. Why he had been loyal to the King of Assassins, and why he had eventually met his death at the King of Assassins’s hands.
“You somehow do not seem suited to being an assassin.”
“I cannot trust that feeling of yours.”
Myeongsin’s gaze turned to the innkeeper sitting at the counter as he added.
“Have you not already proven how poor your eye for people is?”
Geom Mugeuk laughed brightly. At that unfeigned laughter, Myeongsin laughed as well. At this moment, he thought, At this moment, who is more off their guard?
Geom Mugeuk asked Myeongsin.
“The drink is mediocre as well; shall we move elsewhere? Do you know a tavern?”
Myeongsin slowly shook his head.
“I do not.”
In his heart, he wanted to say that there was a regular spot a little ways from here.
But he did not. He judged that Geom Mugeuk was testing him.
That place had to be reached naturally. At the moment he let his guard down. The sort of moment when the words ‘Surely not this person?’ would slip out on their own.
Instead, Myeongsin was the first to rise from his seat.
“Let us end it here for today. Let us drink again next time.”
“Already? Let us drink more!”
“I am busy. There are people lined up waiting to be killed.”
Before leaving, Myeongsin asked.
“Why did you brave the danger and come out to drink with me?”
An unexpected answer flowed from Geom Mugeuk.
“As your report would have stated, I enjoy making friends. Yet I do not have a single assassin friend.”
Myeongsin’s face showed surprise and bewilderment.
Geom Mugeuk said to him.
“Everyone begins with that expression.”
* * *
When Myeongsin returned to the King of Assassins’s tavern, the street had already been completely arranged.
The assassins had become the owners and staff of each building. Those supreme assassins had become cloth shop owners, innkeepers, and customers. Even another assassin looking on would feel no sense of disharmony.
Moreover, ordinary travelers who were not assassins were mixed in as well. Their presence was actually the most important. They would serve as the finest shield to hide the assassins.
‘If he comes here, the young cult leader will surely die.’
Myeongsin arrived at the King of Assassins’s tavern. There too, travelers passing through were eating and drinking.
The King of Assassins, who had been conversing with them and even sharing a table, welcomed Myeongsin.
“Welcome!”
Myeongsin sat in a corner seat and ordered a simple snack and some liquor.
After bringing the order, the King of Assassins chattered with the guests again. He looked like a talkative innkeeper one might meet while traveling through the Central Plains. Who would think that man was the master of Myeongbu?
Once the travelers left, the King of Assassins finally came to Myeongsin.
“Did you meet the young cult leader?”
“Yes, I met him.”
“How was he?”
“You said he resembled me?”
Of course, it had not been meant as a compliment. A demonic cultist, and an assassin at that—trying to walk a different path. That was what he had meant by saying they resembled each other.
“Then you overestimated me greatly.”
He meant by this that Geom Mugeuk was no ordinary person.
“In what way?”
“It is strange. It is difficult to put into words.”
The King of Assassins poured himself a drink from the liquor at Myeongsin’s table.
It was as expected. He already knew that Geom Mugeuk was no ordinary man.
“You said you would not kill unless they were evil, did you not? Is he evil? Is he good?”
Myeongsin could not answer. Generally speaking, as the young cult leader of the Demonic Cult, he would certainly belong to the evil. But was the man he had spoken with today evil?
The King of Assassins had tried to persuade Myeongsin through Geom Mugeuk.
“That is why. Because it is something you cannot answer. Let your principles flow away as the arrogance of youth.”
Myeongsin gave no answer. Seeing that those words were uncomfortable for him, it seemed he still could not accept them.
“Can you pull this off?”
“I will pull it off.”
It was a situation where he had even been told that were they not friends, he would have died many times over. The assassination had already begun; it was something that could no longer be stopped.
“We will go down in the history of the Murim with this assassination.”
At the King of Assassins’s words, Myeongsin gave no answer.
“If you cannot bring him, use the Geumnyong Clan. In any case, once this matter is over, they too must be cleaned up before we leave. Even if we do not kill them, they face annihilation. The moment the young cult leader dies, the Demonic Cult will sweep away every blade of grass related to them without leaving one behind.”
Myeongsin rose from his seat and bowed politely.
“I shall take my leave.”
As he left, the King of Assassins spoke. His words were the patience of an assassin that Hwi had spoken of, and the resolve of a man standing at the pinnacle of that patience.
“If you fail to bring the young cult leader, I will live out my days as an innkeeper here.”
Absolute Regression, Chapter 485