“Aren’t you afraid of death?”
Cha Iran asked Geom Mugeuk the very same question the Sado Alliance Leader had asked her.
Because his words about waiting for her in hell had sounded sincere.
Geom Mugeuk shook his head.
“I am afraid.”
She had thought someone on the level of the young cult leader of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult would answer that he wasn’t afraid of something like death.
But as if he had meant it, Geom Mugeuk added,
“I’m a man with anxiety. The sort who worries in advance about every possible thing. How could someone like that not fear death? I fear my own death, and I fear the deaths of those around me even more. You asked me earlier if I was a fool, didn’t you? I am. Even though I know perfectly well that the more bonds I form, the more worries I’ll have, I keep increasing the number of people who must not die.”
As Geom Mugeuk stared straight at her, Cha Iran asked,
“Am I included among those people who must not die?”
To her surprise, Geom Mugeuk nodded.
“What if that man looks at me later and says this? Hey, you’re supposed to be the young cult leader of the Demonic Cult, and you couldn’t even save one woman who liked me? What the hell were you doing? Then I’d be too ashamed to raise my head. I wouldn’t be able to act superior in front of him ever again.”
It was such a simple reason that, if anything, it struck home.
“There’s that kind of loyalty between men. A friend’s woman is someone you protect. Though in your case, you’re only half his woman.”
Cha Iran let out a small laugh at the words “half his woman.” He meant it that way because only she liked Ak Gunhak. But still, half his woman?
“There’s a reason men in this murim die young.”
Though she said that, Cha Iran could feel it. This young cult leader sitting beside her was not such a simple person.
This time, Geom Mugeuk asked,
“What are you thinking so hard about?”
Looking at the flowers in the garden, Cha Iran answered,
“I’m thinking about whether you’re a fool or a madman.”
Geom Mugeuk laughed aloud. Was it because she thought he had saved her life? He could clearly feel her heart wavering.
“How much time do we have?”
“What time?”
“Until the assassination.”
The assassination was set for tomorrow. Only a few sichen remained until midnight.
“Why do you ask?”
“If we have time left, let’s at least have dinner together one last time.”
“So the madman part is certain, then.”
A gust of wind blew in, brushing past the two of them and the flower garden they were gazing at.
The sunset carried on the wind spread through the garden. The flowers bestowed a new-colored beauty upon the two watching them.
Looking at Geom Mugeuk admiring the sight, Cha Iran thought inwardly.
It should have been the opposite. He should have been staring spellbound not at the flowers, but at her face, and falling for every word she said.
Yet the one being dragged along was her.
“Let’s go eat. It’s my request! They say even the wishes of the dead are granted, so can’t you grant the wish of the living? And am I just any living person? I’m your savior, no less. Do you think I wasn’t afraid of the Sado Alliance Leader? And is that all? When you were drunk and vomiting and crawling around…”
As if she could not bear to listen any longer, she sprang up from her seat and said,
“Wait while I go change.”
* * *
Several splendid garments hung in the wardrobe.
As Cha Iran was choosing what to wear, her gaze moved to the corner of the wardrobe. A black martial uniform was folded there.
After hesitating for a moment, Cha Iran picked up the uniform and said,
“How long are you going to keep hiding?”
Then Hwa Domyeong appeared behind her.
“Wouldn’t that red court dress hanging on the left be nice?”
But Cha Iran shut the wardrobe with a snap.
“Are you angry?”
“Angry? Hardly. I’ve known for a long time that you were a coward.”
“You’re angry.”
“I’m going to change. Turn around.”
Hwa Domyeong turned his back, and Cha Iran began changing.
“The Sado Alliance Leader wouldn’t have killed you. The Sado Alliance owes the young cult leader a great deal. A man as clear about debts and grudges as he is would not have killed you recklessly.”
Cha Iran changed clothes without a word.
“This plan was all calculated. So don’t misunderstand and think I abandoned you.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You’re angry right now!”
Yes, she was angry. But the reason for that anger was not Hwa Domyeong. Nor was it because he had not stepped forward to help.
The reason she was angry was…
Once she had finished changing, she even tucked the box containing the bead into her robes.
“I’ll be back.”
At that moment, Hwa Domyeong said,
“Don’t go.”
Without turning around, Hwa Domyeong spoke to her.
“You’ll be persuaded by the young cult leader. Just like Ak Gunhak was.”
Cha Iran gave no answer.
Click.
The sound of the door opening came.
When Hwa Domyeong turned around, Cha Iran had already left the room.
He did not leave the room right away.
Because of his heavy makeup, it was impossible to know exactly what emotion lay across his face, but at the very least, it was neither regret nor anger.
Fwoosh.
He sat with his feet propped on the table, gently fanning himself as he gazed at the setting sun outside the window.
* * *
While Cha Iran changed, Geom Mugeuk waited there.
Then someone cautiously approached him. The person who came after agonizing a hundred times over whether to come or not was none other than Sipchilgyo.
“Young Cult Leader, I have a request.”
“Speak.”
Earlier, when they had faced off against the Sado Alliance Leader, Sipchilgyo had been prepared to die.
In that moment, she had felt only one regret.
She regretted that she would die without being able to tell the crescent-moon Faceless Guest who had saved her that she was grateful. Truly, to her own surprise, he had come to mind then.
That was why she had mustered her courage like this.
“Among the Faceless Guests, please tell the one with the crescent moon design that I am grateful he saved my life, and give him this dagger. I felt that if I didn’t say it today, I might never get to tell him.”
Sipchilgyo respectfully offered a dagger. It was meant as a token of gratitude for the Faceless Guest.
Geom Mugeuk immediately returned the dagger to her.
Realizing her mistake, Sipchilgyo quickly lowered her head and apologized.
“I was rude to an honored person.”
Come to think of it, this was asking the young cult leader to run an errand for her.
“I must be insane.”
For a moment, she had lost her senses. All she had thought was that she could not let this chance slip by. In her urgency to have the message delivered before the young cult leader left, she had committed such a grave mistake.
She had even asked the young cult leader directly without receiving Cha Iran’s permission. She would have nothing to say even if she were killed.
Then Geom Mugeuk’s voice came.
“Tell him yourself later.”
When Sipchilgyo raised her head in surprise, Geom Mugeuk smiled and said,
“Once this matter is all over, I’ll give you a chance to meet him in person. Give it to him yourself then, and say it yourself.”
Sipchilgyo lowered her head in relief.
“Thank you, Young Cult Leader.”
She ran back, soothing her startled heart. As she went, she regretted that she should have thanked him more properly. That was how flustered she was.
Soon after, Cha Iran appeared there.
As she came, she had heard the conversation between the two.
“Will you really let them meet?”
“I will.”
At her expression of incomprehension, Geom Mugeuk explained why.
“When else in life would one ever get to meet a Faceless Guest separately through the young cult leader’s arrangements? And when else would a Faceless Guest ever receive thanks from an assassin? With just a single word from me, I can give them an experience others may never have in their entire lives. So is there any reason not to let them meet?”
Cha Iran said nothing. Because it was a heart and a way of thinking she did not possess. If she had been Geom Mugeuk, she thought the result would have depended on her mood in that moment.
How dare you ask me to deliver a message? She might have grown angry. Or she might have said she would deliver it and then forgotten. Yes, perhaps she might even have passed it along in a good mood.
But to let the two meet? Yes, that was something that did not exist in her world.
“And who knows what happens between people? Those two might fall for each other and elope in the night, and one day, while walking down the road, we might meet them again as they walk holding a child’s hand. Since they are your people and mine, when we wave to them, they will not kill themselves. They will smile.”
“!”
That was something that did not exist even in the dreams within her world.
But because she knew these words were sincere, dealing with Geom Mugeuk was not easy.
“If they’re alive until then.”
“They will be alive. We will, and so will they. That’s what we’ve been struggling so hard for all this time.”
He was not merely speaking. The fact that Geukak Soma had spared all the assassins of the Gain Sect would also be included in what he had just called struggling.
“I’ll pay for today’s meal. Since you saved my life.”
“Buy me something expensive. Maybe because I was tense, I want meat!”
She walked out first, and Geom Mugeuk followed after her.
“That outfit suits you.”
Cha Iran quickened her pace even more and answered,
“I simply had nothing suitable to wear right now.”
* * *
The two ate dinner together.
At least while they were eating, they did not discuss anything serious. They talked about the weather and the seasons they liked. They even debated over the dishes that came out, saying that there was a place that made this dish exceptionally well, or no, another place was tastier.
Like that, the two finished their meal.
“Thanks to you, I ate well.”
“I’m glad.”
She, too, had eaten what felt like a proper meal for the first time in a very long while. She could not even remember when she had last eaten and conversed with someone without such tension.
“Now then, has your mind changed?”
Cha Iran gazed quietly at Geom Mugeuk and asked in return,
“Did you put some medicine in the food that changes a person’s heart?”
“I did. The effects should start showing soon.”
At Geom Mugeuk’s joke, Cha Iran smiled faintly.
The medicine was already working well enough.
Even at this moment, she was conflicted.
She had never imagined she would truly find herself worrying over such a thing. Betray the organization? Because she had been won over by the enemy?
It was not Geom Mugeuk’s words that had shaken her. Words could be fabricated as much as one liked.
The problem was that the person named Geom Mugeuk had shaken her.
Those clear, deep eyes that seemed to peer into her heart. His sincerity from another world.
And one more thing.
Ak Gunhak had played a large part. If this was someone that wonderful man liked? Then he must be someone extraordinary. Such feelings had influenced her.
Come to think of it, in regard to Ak Gunhak, the way she saw Geom Mugeuk and the way Geom Mugeuk saw her differed by exactly one word.
Because he is someone Ak Gunhak likes.
Because she is someone who likes Ak Gunhak.
Cha Iran asked in a calm gaze,
“Do you know what it means for an assassin to abandon a commission?”
At least to her, he knew better than anyone what it meant. After all, she had died as an assassin to the very last moment.
“What does it mean?”
“First, I would lose my reputation as an assassin. In truth, since it isn’t known to the world, there may be no reputation to speak of.”
“There must be a reputation you’ve built in your own heart.”
Geom Mugeuk understood her heart.
“There are practical problems, too. If I abandon a commission, I have to return twice the commission fee. This commission fee is so enormous that I would likely have to spend every bit of money I’ve earned in my entire life to pay it back.”
That was not the only problem.
“And they will try to kill me.”
Geom Mugeuk nodded. Yes, they would not let her go quietly. Just as they would not let Ak Gunhak go.
“On the other hand, what I gain is…”
After a brief pause, she imitated Ak Gunhak.
“Huh? Why are you saving me?”
Perhaps she found it funny even after saying it herself, because she laughed.
To that hollow laugh, Geom Mugeuk added one thing.
“There is something you gain in return.”
“What is it?”
“Me. Me, who will tell that man how hard you struggled. Even if he leaves, I will remain.”
For a moment, Cha Iran looked at Geom Mugeuk without saying anything.
Yes, in whatever sense, gaining the young cult leader of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult would certainly have value. But how long would this feeling last?
“At first, you may smile when you see me, but after seeing me once, then twice, every time you look at me like that, you’ll think of me as a traitor. That woman betrayed once, so she’ll betray again.”
Geom Mugeuk answered honestly,
“I’m sorry, but we won’t have many chances to see each other that often. I’m far too busy. We’ll simply maintain a good relationship because we see each other only after a long time. Perhaps someone will even come and say this to you. Are you that assassin from back then? Wake up from your dream. The young cult leader abandoned you.”
Somehow, it felt as if that would truly happen. But she was not offended.
“You don’t need to abandon the commission.”
Geom Mugeuk was being as considerate of her as possible.
“Just don’t forget your promise with me.”
It was the promise that, if the assassination failed, she would accept his commission.
Cha Iran slowly shook her head.
“If you thought me so shameless, then you misjudged me.”
Cha Iran closed her eyes for a moment. How much time passed like that?
She made up her mind.
“I knew there would come a day when I parted ways with them. That was why I always tried to keep my distance from them. I just didn’t know it would be this time.”
She made a decision that would change her life.
“I will abandon this commission.”
It was not betrayal, but abandonment. Not because she felt any special loyalty or gratitude toward them. Since she had dealt with them as an assassin, she would fulfill that responsibility.
Joy filled Geom Mugeuk’s face as he looked at her.
“Thank you. I will make certain you never regret making this choice.”
Now, she told Geom Mugeuk everything honestly.
“My original mission was to kill the Sado Alliance Leader at the celebratory banquet.”
Earlier, she had been unable to move under the Sado Alliance Leader’s aura. But that was when she had been an exposed assassin. Had she stood before him as the woman who had just become the greatest beauty under heaven, the situation would have been different.
“But when you appeared, a new mission came down.”
She took the box containing the bead from her robes.
“They told me to make you take this. But there was a condition. The order was not to give it to you intentionally from our side, but to make it naturally fall into your hands. I gave you two chances to take it, but you didn’t even touch it.”
On the day he had been dead drunk, and on the day she had changed clothes, Geom Mugeuk had not coveted the bead.
“I suppose this must also be returned to them.”
She slowly opened the box.
The bead’s red light was transparent, yet deep.
Around the things stretching through its interior like blood vessels, something shimmered.
Woooong!
The Secret Coffer reacted even more powerfully than before.
It was right then.
Srrrrrk.
The bead inside the box slowly began to rise into the air.