Sipchilgyo’s steps slowed.
The Mumyeonggaek followed behind her, knowing nothing.
She hadn’t known about the others, but she had wanted to save this Mumyeonggaek at least.
But she could not. Her vital points had been sealed, so she couldn’t even warn him, and had she truly tried, she would have lost her life.
It had been a life spent solely contemplating how to kill another.
Thus, harboring the desire to save someone felt truly unfamiliar. No, it was the first time she had ever felt it.
Just then, the Mumyeonggaek behind her pushed her back. Her thoughts had deepened so much that her steps had grown too slow.
Sipchilgyo turned around.
They had been together the entire ride in the carriage, but this was the first time their eyes had met like this. Because he had only been staring outside.
Sipchilgyo turned back and moved her steps.
And so they entered the guest hall. The moment she stepped inside, Sipchilgyo flinched in surprise. Behind the open door, a single Mumyeonggaek was standing.
And by the window, there was another Mumyeonggaek. He was leaning against the wall, looking into the guest hall, and Sipchilgyo could tell at a glance that he was no ordinary Mumyeonggaek.
The very presence he exuded was different from that of the other Mumyeonggaeks. That presence naturally brought a single name to mind.
‘Geukak Soma!’
Was it because of his pure white mask?
The moment she saw Geukak Soma, a massive, snow-white wolf came to mind. A lone wolf standing on a snowy plain where snowflakes flew.
Only then did her comrades properly come into view. They were all staring this way with rigid expressions.
Only now did she understand. That Samgyo and the twenty assassins of Gaein-gyo had all been subdued.
Why hadn’t she considered that they might have been subdued as well?
Then Geukak Soma asked her.
“Are you alright?”
Sipchilgyo briefly wondered if he was asking her, but at that moment, someone answered from behind.
“Yes, I am fine.”
Startled, Sipchilgyo turned around.
She realized it was the Mumyeonggaek who had saved her, answering with a respectful fist-and-palm salute. Geukak Soma had been asking if he was alright—he who was wounded in several places, his martial robe soaked in blood.
At that sight, Sipchilgyo was surprised once more.
‘So he could speak after all!’
She had thought all along that Mumyeonggaeks were people who couldn’t speak. She had thought they were ones who had their tongues pulled out and even their emotions removed.
He even exchanged glances with the Mumyeonggaek who had originally been in the guest hall. Surprisingly, they smiled at each other.
‘What, they know how to smile too?’
The Mumyeonggaek took Sipchilgyo and seated her in a chair. Sitting there, Sipchilgyo finally realized her predicament—their predicament of being captured by those terrifying Mumyeonggaeks and Geukak Soma of the Magyo.
Her gaze turned toward her senior and junior assassins.
Since they couldn’t open their mouths anyway, they quietly exchanged glances. Then she saw it. A single line of blood drawn across everyone’s neck.
‘Could it be?’
Sipchilgyo could tell. That they had all suffered wounds from a single person.
‘It was Geukak Soma.’
The Geukak Soma she knew was someone who did not suit saving people at all. Someone renowned as the most cruel among the Demonic Lords.
‘Then why on earth isn’t he killing us?’
Meanwhile, other carriages arrived one after another.
From them too descended subdued assassins. All the assassins of Gaein-gyo mobilized this time were being brought in captured.
The Mumyeonggaeks seated the captured assassins in empty spots. The assassins brought in later were increasingly astonished by the greater number of captured comrades.
Were we such a powerless organization?
They were women who had been confident they could kill any man in the world if they set their minds to it.
But to those masked ones, their beauty did not work. It was blocked by those masks. As if they had met their natural enemy.
The Mumyeonggaeks who had gone out like that all returned after subduing the assassins.
Looking at the captured, Samgyo could tell.
‘Everyone except Ilgyo and Igyo has been captured.’
It was fortunate they weren’t being killed immediately, but she did not entertain the naive thought that the Magyo would simply let them live.
Since they had been targeted, Chairan, Ilgyo, and Igyo might also be in danger.
She also worried that they might be using them as hostages to exploit Chairan.
Her gaze turned toward the carriage parked outside.
Now there was only one thing to believe in.
Whether he received a report that a broken carriage had arrived at the Sinhwabang guest hall, or a report that a fight had broken out among women at the guest hall, she hoped the Sect Leader of Sinhwabang would come here leading experts himself.
No matter how fearsome Geukak Soma was, with the grand meeting only two days away, he wouldn’t be able to touch the Sect Leader.
She hoped he would come and create a variable.
But no matter how long they waited, the Sect Leader of Sinhwabang did not come.
* * *
Three people were sitting in the Sect Leader’s hall of Sinhwabang, drinking.
The one sitting in the middle was the Sinhwabang Sect Leader, An Cheonggwang, and the other two were Yeom Sageom and Cheol Hando.
The two masters who had helped An Cheonggwang build Sinhwabang into what it was today.
“Only two days remain now.”
Chairan had conveyed the plan that she would kill the Sado Alliance Leader on the final stage. Originally, the plan was to kill him at the celebratory banquet a few days later, but with the Sado Alliance Leader arriving early, the plan had been moved up.
“Don’t forget the promise you made us.”
At Yeom Sageom’s words, An Cheonggwang nodded.
“Have I ever broken a promise to you?”
There had been many times. He probably couldn’t remember. Or perhaps he was pretending not to.
And there was a bigger reason than getting confirmation of the promise. It was because they knew well that An Cheonggwang’s ambition was a blaze that burned into another conflagration the more it was fulfilled.
With such a man, one had to seize what was offered with certainty when it was given. Because he would be unable to remember again.
What An Cheonggwang had promised the two was immense wealth and power.
If the plan to pin that assassination on Heukcheonmun after killing the Sado Alliance Leader succeeded, the Heukcheonmun would suffer annihilation at the hands of Bisa-in, who would become the next Sado Alliance Leader.
If that happened, Sinhwabang would rise to become the foremost faction in Anhui, and would be able to swallow all the forces that the Heukcheonmun had held.
If only that came to pass, becoming the foremost sect of the Sado would not be a vague dream either.
“Come, let us drink.”
The three men toasted.
Just as the cups clinked with a cheerful sound—
Creeeak.
The door there opened and someone entered.
Having confirmed who had entered, the three men jumped up from their seats in shock.
Amazingly, the person who entered was Baek Jagang, the Sado Alliance Leader.
If the Sado Alliance Leader had come, there should have been a signal from the martial artist guarding outside; the fact that there had been no signal until he arrived here meant he had come in secret.
Something felt ominous, but An Cheonggwang welcomed him with a bright expression and rushed forward.
“Welcome, Alliance Leader.”
An Cheonggwang greeted him with a respectful fist-and-palm salute.
“What brings you here without sending word?”
Baek Jagang stared at his face silently, then abruptly asked.
“Why did you do it?”
“!”
In an instant, An Cheonggwang’s heart sank. Could it be that the Alliance Leader had come knowing everything?
Not only him, but the spines of Yeom Sageom and Cheol Hando, standing behind, grew cold.
“What do you mean?”
A brief, heavy silence fell. An Cheonggwang, not knowing what this was about, did not avoid Baek Jagang’s gaze, his eyes proclaiming his innocence.
Baek Jagang’s small eyes formed a smile.
“If there is a drinking party, you should have invited me too.”
Only then did An Cheonggwang inwardly breathe a sigh of relief.
“I feared it would be an imposition on one so exalted and did not invite you. My apologies, Alliance Leader.”
Yeom Sageom and Cheol Hando, standing behind, greeted him respectfully with a fist-and-palm salute.
“We greet the Alliance Leader.”
Baek Jagang looked at them. Then he repeated exactly what he had said to An Cheonggwang earlier.
“Why did you do it?”
Hearing the same question again, Yeom Sageom and Cheol Hando were inwardly flustered. They had committed a crime, so they felt pricked with guilt, but Yeom Sageom asked with a smile.
“What do you mean?”
Then, as if it had been a joke again this time, Baek Jagang spoke with a laugh.
“If you came, you should have greeted me first.”
“You seemed busy, so I planned to greet you at the banquet. My apologies.”
After exchanging greetings, the four sat around a round table again.
An Cheonggwang poured wine for Baek Jagang.
“Alliance Leader, won’t you have a drink first?”
Baek Jagang accepted the wine and then poured for the three men. As he poured the first cup for Cheol Hando, who was sitting on the right, he asked him.
“Did I not ask why you did it?”
The three men flinched again. They had thought that question had been answered and passed like a joke earlier, but now he was demanding an answer again.
“What do you mean—”
Before his words could finish, a gust of wind was heard.
Shiiiiik!
Shk!
It was also the sound of wind that carried his answer to a place where it could never be heard.
Thud.
Cheol Hando’s head fell onto the table and rolled around before stopping beside the wine bottle.
“Shit!”
Spewing a curse, Yeom Sageom knocked over his chair and retreated backward, while An Cheonggwang sat frozen in place, his eyes wide.
He hadn’t imagined the Alliance Leader would cut down Cheol Hando so suddenly without warning. And with a single stroke at that.
Click.
Baek Jagang sheathed the sword he had extended into the air back into its scabbard.
Then he spoke as if nothing had happened.
“These days my anger seems to have worsened; twice is my limit. I asked twice, and when I received no answer, I could not stand it.”
Baek Jagang looked at Yeom Sageom, who had retreated far back, and lifted the wine bottle. It was a gesture meaning to come and receive wine.
Yeom Sageom could tell. That Baek Jagang had come knowing everything. There was no way he would have done something like this otherwise.
‘If I accept that wine, I die.’
The terror of death flooded in. A life lived traversing the Anhui martial arts world, thinking there was nothing to fear. But now, faced with impending death, his whole body trembled.
Yeom Sageom looked at An Cheonggwang. An Cheonggwang sat without saying a word. But then, what clever solution could he have in this situation? He must be wracking his brains to somehow escape this situation.
Yeom Sageom slowly walked over and sat down.
He was prepared to draw his sword at any moment. Even if he died, he wouldn’t die so futilely.
On the table flowing with blood, he received wine from the Sado Alliance Leader.
Was it because he thought it might be his last drink?
The wine that had been sweet until a moment ago was bitter.
“...The wine tastes fine.”
Baek Jagang asked again.
“Why did you do it?”
The second question asked of him—he had to answer.
He answered honestly.
“For money and power—was there any reason not to?”
Baek Jagang nodded with an expression that said he understood up to that point.
“You thought it was me?”
“No, I did not know that.”
The moment he answered, a chill crept up Baek Jagang’s ear.
Baek Jagang stared at him quietly, then spoke calmly.
“Have one last drink and be on your way.”
Yeom Sageom’s eyes widened. Was he sparing him? It was hard to believe, but he had to escape this place first. No matter what lay outside hell, could it be worse than hell?
Yeom Sageom poured wine for Baek Jagang.
Clink.
In that very instant!
Shiiik!
Puh-uk.
In an instant, Baek Jagang’s sword, which had split the air, was piercing Yeom Sageom’s heart.
His blood trickled down the blade, while the wine from the bottle still filled Baek Jagang’s cup.
Clink.
Baek Jagang drank all the wine the dead man had poured, then pulled the sword embedded in the heart.
Thud.
Yeom Sageom’s corpse fell backward.
An Cheonggwang could understand.
That the words “have one last drink and be on your way” had not meant to leave this place.
They had meant to leave this world.
Baek Jagang wasted no time. He didn’t try to test his opponent. He only asked exactly what needed to be asked.
“Why did you do it?”
It was the second question asked of him. He too could no longer delay or read the room.
“I wanted to devour Anhui’s martial world, and all of the Heretical Path. I dreamed the dream that the Alliance Leader once dreamed.”
An Cheonggwang rose from his seat and walked toward the armchair at the back, recounting the day Chairan had come to him. Though he rose and moved, Baek Jagang simply listened.
“...If I hadn’t accepted their proposal, I would have gone to Heukcheonmun. The one falsely accused would have been our Sinhwabang.”
He spoke as if wronged, but it didn’t work on Baek Jagang.
“That would never have happened. The Heukcheonmun leader is loyal to me. They wouldn’t have approached you in the first place.”
Faith in the Master of the Heukcheon Sect and contempt for An Cheonggwang flowed out at the same time.
“Temptation always chooses the easier path, after all.”
An Cheonggwang’s face twisted where he sat in the grand armchair, and he shouted as if in desperation.
“You are far too arrogant.”
The moment An Cheonggwang manipulated the armrest of the chair—
Srrrng.
The walls around where Baek Jagang sat rotated, revealing hundreds of tiny holes. The ceiling opened as well, and hundreds more holes appeared there.
It was the mechanism he had built for moments of crisis like this. A device made in secret over a very long time, at enormous expense.
Baek Jagang recognized the mechanism.
“The Death-Extinguishing Ten Thousand Needles Gate (死滅萬針關). A fine mechanism indeed. Did you know? It was made by a technician from this Alliance.”
His composure grated on him, but An Cheonggwang trusted this mechanism. He trusted the money and time poured into it.
“Do not pretend to be at ease! Even you cannot come out unscathed.”
Originally, he had never intended to use this mechanism on Baek Jagang. He had meant to use it if Cha Iran betrayed him.
“Damn it!”
Even if the Lord of the Sado Alliance died here and he escaped through the secret passage behind the grand armchair, he would spend the rest of his life hiding his identity and face while being hunted.
“You were not supposed to die here.”
It should have been the Heukcheon Sect that killed him.
“How could you not endure two mere days and shatter my dream like this!”
Hundreds of hidden-weapon apertures were aimed at him, yet Baek Jagang was not shaken in the slightest.
“If you had used the money spent on making a mechanism like this to raise the Shinhwa Gang, you would have realized your dream. You simply chose the easy path.”
At that moment, An Cheonggwang could bear it no longer and activated the mechanism.
Clack!
But the mechanism did not activate.
Clack, clack!
No matter how many times he pressed the device, only metallic sounds rang out; the mechanism did not attack.
Baek Jagang rose from his seat and said leisurely,
“When we knew exactly what sort of man you were, do you think my guards would have simply sent me in here?”
His guards had already infiltrated the walls and roof in advance and dismantled the mechanism.
“Damn it!”
An Cheonggwang sprang to his feet. Should he flee through the secret passage? Or should he launch an attack?
Before he could decide what to choose, a flash of light split that momentary gap.
Shuuuuung!
Puaaak!
Blue sword energy that flew like light pierced through his chest.
He could not rise into the air and simply collapsed back into the grand armchair.
Thud.
He looked down at his own chest, now punched wide open, and vomited a gush of blood.
It was far too futile.
When he had first chosen to take Cha Iran’s hand, it had not taken even fifteen minutes. That decision had changed everything.
Life was long, but decisions were always made in a single moment.
What would have happened if he had refused back then?
Baek Jagang turned and walked away as he said,
“Dream your dream in your next life.”
Then An Cheonggwang’s voice came from behind him.
“……That woman once said this.”
Baek Jagang stopped and looked back at that final moment.
From An Cheonggwang’s mouth, words he truly had not expected spilled out along with blood.
“……She said that only if you died would the murim not be destroyed.”
With those words, An Cheonggwang’s head dropped.
For the first time since entering this room, Baek Jagang’s small eyes narrowed to pinpoints and gleamed sharply.
No chill had prickled near his ears as he heard those words.
Which meant she had truly said them.
If I am alive, the murim will be destroyed?