Cha Iran lifted the box and peered at the bead.
The surface of the bead was smooth, and the red light suffusing it was clear yet deep.
Looking closer, she saw that inside the bead, things like a person’s blood vessels stretched out like a web, and around them some sort of energy shimmered and moved.
Was it because it felt as though it were alive?
It felt not as if she were looking into it, but as if the bead were looking at her.
Just as Cha Iran carefully closed the lid of the box, someone appeared behind her.
The person who emerged was a woman dressed in black martial attire. She was Cha Iran’s hands and feet, and Ilgyo, the most skilled member of the assassin organization Gaingyo.
She, too, was beautiful, and had indeed passed the preliminaries of this competition.
After bowing respectfully, Ilgyo reported.
“The Sado Alliance Leader has departed from the Sado Alliance. At my estimation, he will likely arrive on the day the main round is held.”
Cha Iran tilted her head slightly.
“That is earlier than expected.”
They would select the eight who would advance to the final match from the main round, and three days after that, the finals would be held.
The banquet attended by the Sado Alliance Leader would be held on the evening after the finals.
And yet he would arrive not for the finals, but on the day of the main round?
“It seems he intends to watch the main round of this competition.”
After the Young Cult Leader of the Demonic Cult became involved, many things had begun to change. For the side intending to carry out the plan, it was not a welcome development.
“The escort?”
“As expected, the Alliance Leader Hall’s guard unit and the Young Alliance Leader have set out with the Thirteen Wolves of Sado.”
Cha Iran nodded.
“What about the Master of Cheonhwa Pavilion?”
“He remains in the guest hall.”
“And the Extreme Evil Lesser Demon?”
“He has not moved.”
Cha Iran spoke to Ilgyo as if warning her.
“They are bizarre and strange, so it is easy to let down one’s guard. But do not forget. The words ‘Extreme Evil’ are attached before their names.”
Ilgyo lowered her head, her gaze sharp.
“Yes! I will keep it in mind.”
After bowing respectfully, Ilgyo looked at her leader.
She knew better than anyone what an outstanding assassin Cha Iran was, but the enemies they were facing this time were monstrous. They were more splendid than the dazzling clothes she was wearing now.
The Young Cult Leader, the Extreme Evil Lesser Demon, and the Sado Alliance Leader and Young Alliance Leader.
Reading the worry in Ilgyo’s eyes, Cha Iran held out the box she was carrying.
“Do not worry. The reason we will win is inside here.”
The box was firmly shut, but an unknowable, ominous aura wavered around it.
* * *
At last, the day of the main round of the World’s Greatest Beauty Selection Competition dawned.
Yi An had risen before daybreak and climbed the back mountain to train in martial arts.
Geom Mugeuk followed and watched her as she trained, sweat running down her body. There were times when they inevitably had to be apart, but he was trying not to leave Yi An’s side if he could help it.
“I’m just too nervous.”
She felt most at ease when she was training in martial arts.
After she finished a round of training, Geom Mugeuk asked her,
“Do you feel a bit better now?”
“I feel like I can breathe a little.”
She said that, but she was still trembling. It was nerve-racking enough to display martial arts in front of countless people, and now she had to show off her beauty on top of that.
Geom Mugeuk understood her heart better than anyone.
“I’m sorry.”
At Geom Mugeuk’s words, Yi An smiled.
“I’m the one who should be grateful. If not for you, Young Master, when would I ever get to live such an interesting life?”
“Right? Exactly?”
Instead of agreeing, Yi An lowered her head deeply and started walking.
“As if. I want to run away even now.”
Geom Mugeuk laughed and followed after her.
When the two returned to the inn, a woman was waiting for her.
Surprisingly, she was someone Geom Mugeuk had called.
“I asked them to send this lady here.”
The woman had been found through inquiries at the Anhui branch of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult. She was proficient in makeup and had come to do Yi An’s makeup.
“You can’t go to the main round bare-faced, can you?”
Yi An was truly grateful that Geom Mugeuk had thought even this far ahead. As it happened, she had been worrying about how she should do her makeup.
After washing clean and sitting before the bronze mirror, Yi An heard the woman say with a smile,
“Life may be short, but one’s eyelashes should be long.”
To this woman, makeup was life itself. It held the same meaning to her that a sword did to a martial artist.
She advised Yi An to wear the white court gown today out of the two outfits she had bought.
As she applied makeup to match the clothes, she explained the techniques in detail. It was truly makeup artistry being passed down by a woman of the highest skill.
While she did Yi An’s makeup, Geom Mugeuk closed his eyes, circulating his qi and regulating his breathing as he steadied his internal energy and his mind. Now the main round stage was beginning.
He could not know when the scene the Master of Cheonhwa Pavilion had witnessed would occur. It might happen today, or it might be on the final stage three days later.
He felt sorry for the Master of Cheonhwa Pavilion, but that event would not occur.
The makeup did not take as long as expected.
She personally demonstrated that a true master did not drag out her work. No, she demonstrated it with Yi An’s face.
A light tap here, a swift touch there. Her hands moved so lightly that one wondered if it was all right. If this woman’s makeup artistry were compared to martial arts, it would be a swift sword technique.
“There, it’s done.”
After the makeup was finished, Yi An turned toward Geom Mugeuk. The corners of her tense eyes trembled faintly.
Even she could not adjust to the reflection in the bronze mirror. She could not judge whether she was prettier than before, so she was both worried and expectant about what Geom Mugeuk would say.
Geom Mugeuk, who had been circulating his qi with his eyes closed, slowly opened them.
Looking silently at Yi An, Geom Mugeuk said something she could not understand.
“Live with that face from now on.”
“You want me to wear makeup every day?”
Since it sounded like he was saying, Your face with makeup is prettier than your bare face! Yi An turned to the woman who had done her makeup and joked,
“Your skills are too good. You’ve become my hostage.”
Of course, she sensed that Geom Mugeuk’s words had another meaning. He was not the sort of person who would tell her, someone who lived absorbed in martial arts, to put on makeup every day.
Indeed, there was a hidden meaning in Geom Mugeuk’s words.
“That’s not what I mean. I’m telling you to live with the feeling this made-up face gives off.”
If the Yi An without makeup was purity itself, then the Yi An with makeup looked intense. It was difficult to find the right words for it, yet she was beautiful. There was certainly an astonishing power in a woman’s makeup.
“Don’t live with such a soft heart. Don’t live being too kind. Don’t be the first to speak to people, and if someone approaches you, live as if you’re saying, Get lost!”
You can’t even live like that yourself, Young Master!
Because she knew well what kind of heart Geom Mugeuk was speaking from, Yi An smiled.
“Yes! If I feel like my heart is weakening, I’ll start with makeup.”
“Then shall we go?”
Before leaving, Yi An respectfully expressed her gratitude to the woman.
“Thank you so much.”
“I already received a large sum, so I am the one who should be grateful. If you advance to the finals, I will see you then.”
“Then today might be the last time.”
Yi An’s humility did not work on the woman.
“In three days, I will teach you makeup artistry suited to a red court gown. Look forward to it!”
The woman naturally believed Yi An would make it to the finals. She had done makeup for countless women, but this was the first time she had seen a woman this beautiful, and also the first time she had felt so rewarded after applying makeup. She truly wanted to be dragged away as a hostage and do her makeup every day.
And so Geom Mugeuk and Yi An headed to Sinhwabang.
The streets were packed with people. Yi An moved with a veiled bamboo hat on and a thin cloak covering her clothes.
Since more than a hundred women had advanced to the main round, today’s main round stage would take quite some time.
Behind the main round stage was the largest hall in Sinhwabang, and that was the waiting room where the participants waited.
Guards were not allowed to enter that waiting room.
“Yi An.”
“Yes, Young Master.”
“You know, don’t you? Who’s inside there.”
This time, the enemy was said to be an assassin organization made up of beautiful women. That meant not only Cha Iran, but several other assassins might be inside as well. No, they certainly would be.
“The only one you can trust now is yourself.”
Yi An silently nodded.
Just then, someone walked over. It was none other than An Hupyeong. Sachu and the martial artists lined up some distance away.
“Miss Yi. I hope you achieve good results.”
“Thank you.”
“You will definitely pass the main round. I guarantee it.”
His words, saying he guaranteed it, sounded as if he meant he would use his influence to make her pass.
He did not know that such words were discourteous to the other person and would instead lose him points. He had lived his whole life thinking only from his own perspective, so he had never been trained to consider another person’s feelings.
His father, An Cheonggwang, had built Sinhwabang into a great and powerful force, but the price of that devotion had to be paid in the place closest to him.
Yi An did not speak with him any further and entered the hall.
It would have been nice if she had said a few more words. Feeling pointlessly disappointed and spiteful, An Hupyeong glared at Geom Mugeuk.
A fellow he disliked every time he saw him.
A fellow he hated for no real reason.
A fellow he wanted to drag away, beat up, and frighten badly.
That was why the words that came out of his mouth could not be pleasant.
“Guard Miss Yi properly! Understand?”
Because he had lived his whole life being guarded, he had always looked down on those who served as guards.
“Yes.”
His petty spite continued as a question.
“How long have you been guarding Miss Yi?”
“A long time.”
“So when did you start!”
When had Yi An started guarding him?
“Since we were little.”
“Little?”
For a moment, An Hupyeong felt puzzled.
She had been guarded since childhood? That meant she was of noble status, did it not?
“Miss Yi… what is her position in the Divine Cult?”
Geom Mugeuk looked at An Hupyeong with a faint smile.
It felt as if he were sneering, asking why he was only asking that now, and An Hupyeong’s expression hardened.
‘This bastard is laughing?’
Just as he was wondering how to thoroughly crush him,
a woman walked over.
Seeing her, An Hupyeong was startled. A woman as beautiful as Yi An was walking toward them. The beauty who gave off a completely different impression was none other than Cha Iran.
“It seems Miss Yi has already gone in.”
“She just entered.”
“Then an opportunity has come to me.”
When he saw Cha Iran smile alluringly at Geom Mugeuk, An Hupyeong’s eyes narrowed.
From what he could tell, she was clearly a woman who knew Yi An, yet merely because he was a guard martial artist, he was conversing with such a beauty.
“How about it? Shall we sneak off for a meal?”
As usual, she was tempting him as if joking, but Cha Iran’s feelings as she looked at Geom Mugeuk were clearly different from before.
‘You saved that man? I can’t believe it.’
Ak Gunhak must have spared him. He was not someone who listened to every order blindly. That was why she had liked him.
So she wanted to ask Geom Mugeuk. What had happened between him and that man? Why was he trying to leave? And, if by any chance he knew, where he intended to go.
Ever since she had heard about him from Hwa Domyeong yesterday, it had been bothering her.
But the chance to hear about Ak Gunhak would likely not come unless it was just before this Young Cult Leader died.
“Tonight, let’s have a drink together to celebrate advancing to the finals.”
She was saying that she would naturally pass, and she thought Geom Mugeuk would, as usual, naturally refuse.
“Let’s do that.”
At Geom Mugeuk’s answer, Cha Iran gave him a look of surprise.
“Even if Miss Yi is eliminated, you must keep the promise.”
“Even if you are eliminated, do not be ashamed and come. I will buy you a drink.”
Cha Iran smiled and went inside. Until then, An Hupyeong had been looking only for a chance to cut in, but in the end, he could not speak to her.
If it had been the usual An Hupyeong, he would certainly have inserted himself into the conversation. Who might you be, miss? I am so-and-so. How pleasant to meet you like this.
But he could not say a word. It was not because of his single-minded devotion to Yi An.
He did not know why, but it was difficult to speak to her carelessly. The feeling she gave off was unmistakably like that. Do not interrupt me now!
“Who is that woman?”
“She is Miss Cha Iran.”
“Who are you to make a dinner appointment without Miss Yi’s permission? Who are you to say she should come even if she is eliminated and not be ashamed?”
Seeing him converse and even joke with a woman he himself had not managed to say a single word to, his jealousy exploded.
Truly, if not for Yi An, he would have ordered Sachu and his subordinates to drag him somewhere secluded and beat him half to death.
“From this moment on, don’t say a single word! The instant I see you open your mouth, I’ll tear that mouth apart!”
After threatening him like that, he walked toward where Sachu was.
Sachu, who happened to be receiving a report from a subordinate, spoke urgently.
“They say the Sado Alliance Leader and the Young Alliance Leader have arrived.”
“What? The Sado Alliance Leader is already here?”
An Hupyeong was greatly shocked. He did not know about anyone else, but he absolutely had to look good before the Sado Alliance Leader and the Young Alliance Leader.
“Where are they? Where are they now!”
“They are probably meeting the Gang Leader.”
“Hurry and send the men to find out. Especially if the Young Alliance Leader moves anywhere, tell them to contact me at once!”
The person more important to him was not the Sado Alliance Leader, but the Young Alliance Leader of the Sado Alliance. If he made a good impression on him, his life would be easier from here on.
“I have to be the first to meet him!”
“Understood.”
As he was flustering about, he saw Geom Mugeuk far off, speaking with someone. The other party appeared to be a young man, but his back was turned, so An Hupyeong could not tell who he was.
He had told him not to say a single word today, yet Geom Mugeuk was speaking with him, smiling brightly.
‘This bastard!’
An Hupyeong strode toward the two of them with Sachu and his subordinates.
“I told you I’d tear your mouth if you opened it, didn’t I?”
“I truly didn’t want to.”
Geom Mugeuk tattled on the man in front of him.
“This person forced me to speak.”