“That was why I couldn’t tell anyone.”
Because this affair was deeply connected to Cheonhwaru—and to the Mistress of Cheonhwaru. She had feared that if she spoke carelessly, an even greater calamity might befall the Tower Mistress.
She had expected Yeojeong to be greatly shocked, but the Mistress of Cheonhwaru was, surprisingly, not badly shaken.
Yes. A woman who lived with the fate of loving Geugak Soma would surely meet storms of this degree head-on.
“From now on, I’ll tell those two and discuss it with them. Will that be all right?”
In truth, it was not permission she strictly needed to ask for. Even so, she sought Chohui’s consent, for Chohui had risked her life to bring this information to her.
Chohui knew well that the Tower Mistress treated her subordinates with such consideration. Yeojeong herself probably did not know how much comfort and strength a single word like this—one that could have been passed over—gave to those beneath her.
Yeojeong and Chohui approached Geom Mugeuk and Geugak Soma. The two were in the midst of conversation.
“It would have been nice if Soma-nim had tasted Father’s fish dish too.”
When Geugak Soma imagined the Cult Leader losing bet after bet and cooking fish, laughter came to him of its own accord.
“It was more enjoyable than any journey I’ve taken until now.”
Geugak Soma responded to Geom Mugeuk’s words with a joke.
“I’m hurt. I thought the journey you took with me was the best.”
“Records exist to be broken. Come travel with me again.”
Just then, Yeojeong cut in and said,
“It may not measure up to that fish dish, but I can cook a thing or two myself.”
It was her way of asking them to take her along on that journey too.
Even after being told that she might become the central figure in an incident that would turn the entire murim upside down, such a joke came naturally to her. It was a moment that made her feel anew just how solid a fence these two people before her formed around her life.
“Of course. Naturally, you must come with us.”
When Geugak Soma shook his head as if to say they would go alone, Geom Mugeuk gave her a look that said, I will escort her myself. Just trust me.
It was at times like this that Yeojeong felt Geugak Soma had changed. In the past, it would have been unimaginable for him to shake his head in jest in a situation like this.
Geom Mugeuk looked at Yeojeong and greeted her formally.
“Have you been well, Tower Mistress?”
Earlier, he had let her reunite with Chohui first while he exchanged greetings with Geugak Soma. Only now was he properly greeting her.
“How could I merely have been well? Thanks to the Young Cult Leader’s advance warning, my life was saved. Not only mine—you saved everyone in this tower.”
“That was because Soma-nim came and protected you.”
“Orabeoni gives the credit to the Young Cult Leader, and the Young Cult Leader gives the credit to Orabeoni. Then shall I receive help from both of you this time?”
With that, she naturally relayed exactly what Chohui had told her moments ago.
After hearing the story, Geom Mugeuk’s expression hardened.
Now that it had been revealed that the enemies were targeting Cheonhwaru and its mistress, this matter would have to be handled more carefully and decisively than any other.
“If they say the one who will commit that incident is you, Tower Mistress, it likely means they intend to frame you for the crime.”
At Geom Mugeuk’s words, all three nodded.
“How did you obtain the information?”
At Geom Mugeuk’s question, Chohui answered.
“Even heavy secrets that overcome the fear of death and even torture sometimes fail to overcome drunkenness.”
She did not explain in detail. But the men who had pursued her had already proven that the information she had obtained was true.
“I sincerely ask that the two of you please protect the Tower Mistress.”
Chohui bowed respectfully to Geom Mugeuk and Geugak Soma. When she had first fled here, her heart had been filled with unbearable unease. Even if she managed to convey this information to the Tower Mistress, she had been trapped in the ominous feeling that, in the end, the Tower Mistress might still die at their hands.
But now it was different.
She looked around. Terrifying Faceless Guests stood guard here and there, frightening merely to behold.
Then her gaze turned back to Geom Mugeuk and Geugak Soma. On the way here, she had experienced enough to know what kind of person Geom Mugeuk was.
And when she looked at the cold smile on that pure white mask of Geugak Soma’s, the thought naturally came to her.
‘Shouldn’t you people be more afraid now?’
Geom Mugeuk said to Chohui,
“Leave the matter to us now and rest well.”
“Yes! I will.”
After greeting the two of them cheerfully, she looked at Yeojeong one last time.
Yeojeong said to her,
“If I live, it will be thanks to you.”
Then Chohui returned the words Yeojeong had once said to her.
“No, it will be fate that saved you, Tower Mistress. The warm fate that led you to save a little girl being sold away.”
She bowed deeply and withdrew.
After walking some distance away, she turned back and asked,
“May I drink? I’ve held back for far too long.”
“You may drink it all.”
At Yeojeong’s words, Chohui’s steps as she turned away were light. Now everything she had to do was finished.
Watching her back, Geom Mugeuk said to Yeojeong,
“She is a good bond.”
“As you can see, I’m rather blessed with people.”
As she said that, she looked at Geugak Soma. Geugak Soma stood there without a word. Feeling that she alone had perhaps been flaunting her affection too openly, Yeojeong asked after one person.
“How is the pretty heart?”
“She should be well.”
“You must have set your heart far away.”
“I wanted her to become a heart that is both pretty and strong.”
Come to think of it, Yeojeong had told Ian that she would become someone precious.
Ian, are you doing well?
After they had exchanged greetings for the first time in a long while, Geom Mugeuk asked her,
“Do you have any guesses as to who might be behind this matter?”
Yeojeong shook her head.
“No.”
She had quietly grown Cheonhwaru and had never become entangled in any affair of the murim.
Geom Mugeuk’s gaze naturally turned toward one person. It was Jaein, lying collapsed with his acupoints sealed.
“Who is that man?”
At Geugak Soma’s question, Geom Mugeuk answered,
“He is a subordinate of the man tasked with pursuing Lady Cho. We’re in a situation where we need someone very frightening to make him open his mouth.”
A cold laugh flowed from the empty eyeholes of Geugak Soma’s mask.
“You need not look far.”
* * *
Jaein regained consciousness and opened his eyes.
‘Ah! I was captured by the Young Cult Leader, wasn’t I?’
He remembered his acupoints being sealed by Geom Mugeuk.
‘He was rambling about some strange Young Alliance Leader business.’
As Jaein looked around, he flinched in surprise. Only then did he realize that someone was standing in the room where he had awakened, back turned, looking out the window.
“Where have you brought me?”
Jaein thought the man was Geom Mugeuk.
“No matter how much you pressure me, there are things that can be done and things that cannot. The one I serve places great meaning on protecting the client’s secret. So even if you go to him, you will not be able to learn who the client is…”
Just then, the door opened and Geom Mugeuk entered. When Jaein saw him, he was startled.
“What are you talking so much for? Have you already become friends?”
Then the man who had been standing with his back to the window slowly turned around.
The instant Jaein saw him, his eyes flew wide open. That mask, together with the Young Cult Leader? He could tell at a glance who it was.
“Geugak Soma!”
After blurting out the name without realizing it, he was frightened and quickly covered his mouth with his hand. The hand over his mouth trembled. A chill ran through his entire body.
No matter how much one acted strong, to a martial artist, the existence known as Geugak Soma evoked a primal terror. The wicked fear that if it were Geugak Soma, he would not simply kill you even if he killed you.
He remembered what Geom Mugeuk had said just before he lost consciousness. That a truly frightening person had come to Cheonhwaru. So that person had been Geugak Soma!
Geugak Soma slowly approached, stared at Jaein, and asked coldly,
“Was it you who sent the Ghost Killing Squad to Cheonhwaru?”
Jaein felt a sense of danger, as if his entire body would be torn apart on the spot if he said yes.
“No.”
“Then who was it?”
For a moment, Jaein could not say anything.
Then his eyes met Geugak Soma’s. The instant he met the eyes within those eyeholes, Jaein felt a terror he had never experienced before. It was not frightening simply because the other party was Geugak Soma; those eyes themselves, as they appeared now, were far too terrifying. His will collapsed in an instant, and only his survival instinct wrapped around him.
“The person I serve sent them!”
Geugak Soma had not pointed a finger at his eyes, nor had he inflicted any pain, but in the end, Jaein could not overcome the fear inspired by the being called Geugak Soma.
Geugak Soma still said nothing, waiting for his next words.
“I will take you to that person!”
Only then did Geugak Soma walk back to the window and stand with his back turned.
Geom Mugeuk came over to Jaein.
“I understand. Even I, the Young Cult Leader, find him frightening, so how much more must it be for you?”
Jaein let out a long sigh.
“That person will absolutely never reveal the client. He is pathologically obsessed with upholding that principle.”
Then Geugak Soma, who was looking out the window, suddenly said,
“No matter what kind of man he is, he will speak in the end.”
After a brief pause, absolute faith was added.
“Because the Young Cult Leader will be the one to make this plan.”
* * *
Seo Danmyeong did not stay in one place.
He kept moving by carriage, and he always decided where meetings would take place.
Today, the carriage was stopped in an alley from which Cheonhwaru could be seen, in the opposite direction from yesterday.
Jaein climbed into the carriage and reported in a low voice,
“We failed.”
Seo Danmyeong’s face twitched at once.
“You mean Goeak failed to kill him?”
“No. He did not try to fight him in the first place. They knew each other.”
Jaein told him the truth.
“The man guarding the courtesan was none other than the Young Cult Leader of the Demonic Cult.”
The emotion that came to Seo Danmyeong first was relief rather than surprise.
‘Of course!’
It felt as though all the questions that had been weighing him down throughout this matter had been resolved at once. When he had heard that even Goeak had failed, everything before his eyes had truly gone dark.
But upon hearing the words “Young Cult Leader of the Demonic Cult,” light descended into that darkness.
‘I’m not a failure! I was simply disgustingly unlucky.’
Suspicion naturally followed.
‘There’s no way the Young Cult Leader would have simply let him go.’
When a cold glint flickered in Seo Danmyeong’s eyes as he looked at him, Jaein spoke honestly.
“Yes, I have brought the God of Death with me. This carriage is being watched even now.”
“You mad bastard!”
Killing intent flashed in Seo Danmyeong’s eyes. Jaein had judged that the suspicious Seo Danmyeong would never believe him if he said he had come alone, so he had been honest even about that.
“Do you want to die by my hand?”
“No. It is because I trust you, Elder.”
“Because you trust me?”
“Because I trust that you will somehow find a way to escape.”
Slap!
Seo Danmyeong struck Jaein mercilessly across the cheek.
“You should have died there!”
He wanted to drive a dagger into Jaein’s lowered neck at once.
But he could not. If he killed him, the Demonic Cult bastards would rush in immediately and either capture him or kill him.
Then the door opened and Geom Mugeuk climbed into the carriage.
“You seemed to be getting emotional, so I came early. Ah, and all the subordinates hiding nearby have been put to sleep, so don’t harbor any useless expectations.”
Seo Danmyeong knew at once that the man who had appeared was the Young Cult Leader.
“Young Cult Leader.”
“I hear you are called the Netweaver?”
“That is so.”
“A person who weaves nets. A splendid name.”
Geom Mugeuk treated him with courtesy. Even kindness with transparent motives was still better than rudeness. Especially to a man who took pride in the name Netweaver.
“I can guess why you have come, but I cannot reveal who the client is. I may die by your hand, but my death will remain an honorable one.”
Half of that was his resolve not to let his spirit be broken, and half was sincerity. He did not want to die. But to exactly the same degree, he did not want to reveal the client.
Then Geom Mugeuk said something unexpected.
“You will die not by my hand, but by the client’s. And it will not be a particularly honorable death.”
Seo Danmyeong shook his head firmly.
“As long as I try to keep the secret, the client will not try to kill me. From the very beginning, that promise at least was made clear.”
“That is not why.”
Geom Mugeuk pointed out something he had not even considered.
“You nearly ruined their work.”
Not only Seo Danmyeong but Jaein as well wanted to know what he meant.
“They are trying to make use of the Mistress of Cheonhwaru to carry out their scheme. That is why the courtesan risked her life to reach the Tower Mistress. But you attacked Cheonhwaru and tried to kill everyone there.”
“That was—!”
It had been a stratagem to prevent the courtesan from making contact. He had not known that their objective was the Tower Mistress and Cheonhwaru itself.
“I didn’t know that!”
“Will they truly understand? No, even if they do, what of it? You have already ruined everything. I will leave here and announce that the Mistress of Cheonhwaru is dead. The enraged client will surely try to kill you.”
Then came Geom Mugeuk’s decisive card.
“I will wait, and through those who come to kill you, I will find out who made the request. Since they will think everything is over because the work has been ruined, they will try to erase all traces using their own people.”
“!”
“The life you have built up your whole life will end with you being killed by your client. Since you laid hands on us, you should at least be prepared for that much.”
For a moment, Seo Danmyeong was so flustered that no thoughts came to him.
Geom Mugeuk gave him no time to think and pressed him hard.
As Geom Mugeuk was about to get out of the carriage, Jaein shouted,
“Wait! If we tell you who the client is… will you spare us?”
Of course, it was a prearranged interruption and a prearranged persuasion.
“Elder, you cannot let it end like this. You must live and plan for the future.”
But the words that he would reveal the client did not readily come from Seo Danmyeong’s mouth.
Geom Mugeuk delivered the powerful blow he had prepared.
“No one except us will know that you revealed it.”
Geom Mugeuk’s—no, the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult’s—solution, added coldly, powerfully tempted him.
“Because we intend to wipe out that client completely.”