Chapter 115. How Much of Hell Did You Look Around Before Coming Here?

The goose is also called Yeogwol.

That is the strangest thing related to geese. Because there is simply no telling what the name Yeogwol is supposed to mean.

Defying the moon……?

No matter what meaning one assigns to yeok, it is impossible to know in detail why Yeogwol refers to a goose.

Very occasionally, a word itself survives while its original meaning dies.

Yeogwol is one such case.

Someone in the world may remember the meaning of Yeogwol, but for now, I do not.

While I lit a campfire and dressed a goose, I imagined all sorts of things about the meaning of Yeogwol, but I could not arrive at any proper conclusion.

Since it was used as a medicinal ingredient, it may have been a medical term.

Goose meat has various effects. For one thing, the meat itself has almost no toxicity, and merely eating it can detoxify, to some extent, poison from insects or toxins caused by drinking contaminated water. Also, the nature of the meat is generally cooling, so it is good for calming excessive heat within the body.

So, in terms of my condition.

Goose meat is good to eat when I want to suppress my madness and fire illness to some extent. In that sense, I suspect the name Yeogwol may have been given by people of the martial world.

Or not.

I skewered the dressed goose and slowly roasted it over the campfire. Meanwhile, the assassins, stiffened rigid after being struck by ice arts, kept sneezing.

I asked.

“Cold?”

“……”

“Anyone here happen to know why a goose is called Yeogwol? No one?”

“……”

“Seems not. If there is, I’m thinking of sparing him, so speak up if it comes to mind. Any of you studied the words of Confucius? You know, when three people walk together, one of them is your teacher. Means there’s something to learn, right? If there’s a teacher here who can enlighten me about Yeogwol, open your mouth. I can’t kill a teacher.”

I began tearing into the goose, roasted golden brown.

“It’s bland without salt, but still edible.”

The assassins, trembling all over, were all staring at me as I ate goose meat in front of the warm campfire.

I met the assassins’ eyes and said.

“Delicious. Tastes good. Melts in the mouth. Melts.”

“……”

“When you think about it, you bastards are like Yeogwol too. You went through the trouble of training in techniques to kill people and became assassins, but you’ve all forgotten why you’re supposed to kill people, haven’t you? Assassins of old weren’t like that. They must have risked their lives because they had proper reasons to kill. You, on the other hand, don’t know any of that. Killing people just because those above you ordered it……. Just as the meaning of Yeogwol disappeared, even if all of you die here today, no one will remember you.”

I ate while stripping every scrap of meat clean.

“I’m an assassin like you, too. But my thoughts are different, and the vessel is different. I didn’t kill for money. I killed because they extorted money from the weak, took their bodies, received tribute, and used bizarre logic to treat people like slaves. I’m not someone who became an assassin because someone told me to.”

I put the last piece of meat in my mouth, then pulled the leg bone out with a pop.

“All done.”

While checking the condition of the stiffened assassins, I struck each of them once more with the Waning Moon Finger Technique.

Tak, tak, tak, tak, tak, tak!

“Gghhhuuugh!”

Startled by the peddler’s groan, I smacked him across the head.

“You scared me, you bastard. What kind of disgraceful sight is this for an assassin? Shut that mouth, will you?”

Looking around, I saw that frozen tears and snot were clinging around all their eyes and noses.

I tattled to the other assassins.

“Is this screaming peddler the lowest rank? Discipline’s gone slack. Since his superiors failed to teach him, the higher-ups get one more Finger Technique each.”

Excluding the one who had screamed, I thrust the Waning Moon Finger Technique into each of them once more.

Tak, tak, tak, tak, tak!

“Good. An assassin this pathetic shouldn’t come out of One-Reed Crossing the River. Anyway, I’m thinking of going to a nearby inn to buy some liquor. Anyone planning to run away while I’m gone, raise your hand.”

I raised my own hand and examined the assassins’ expressions.

“No one?”

A sigh came out on its own.

“So you’re saying you have mouths but won’t answer. Fine. You’re dead.”

I strode to the lakeside and, with palm winds from both hands, splashed lake water over the frozen assassins.

“Die!”

Splash! Splash! Splash!

Angry waves, furious waves, unrestrained waves crashed over the assassins.

I looked at the assassins’ pale expressions, despairing expressions, expressions as though they might stop breathing any moment, and laughed.

“What a bunch of idiots. I was going to stand anyone who answered by the campfire. Wait for now. I’ll go buy some liquor.”

I unfolded my lightness skill and headed for an inn. When I had gone to Oksu Manor, I had already taken note of a place where I wanted to drink. After about the time it would take to drink a cup of tea, I bought three jars of Dukang wine and plenty of dried snacks, then returned to the lakeside.

I abruptly cut into the assassins’ whispered conversation.

“I bought plenty. Plenty. What were you talking about without me?”

The assassins all shut their mouths at once.

“Wow, seriously, who am I supposed to talk to today? Talking to myself makes my throat dry. It’s dry. When your throat is dry, liquor is best. Dukang wine for liquor, dried snacks for food. Hahahaha.”

“……”

“Ah, shit.”

I added more firewood to the dying campfire, then sat on a cushion roughly made from dried grass and reeds and watched the assassins.

One cup of liquor, chew some snacks.

Chew some snacks, then one cup of liquor.

“Kyaa……. The farmer died earlier. The woodcutter died, the hunter died, the scholar died, the sickle froze to death, and the old man died. Ah, the narrow-minded bastard died too. The fisherman, the peddler, the bare-chested one, the swordsman, and the ugly bastard. Five survived like that. Huh? The guy with the sickle is still alive. Then six.”

The man who had been frozen while gripping a sickle opened his eyes.

I said in a worried tone.

“Boys, you can’t sleep now. Even if you’re sleepy, endure it. If you fall asleep and open your eyes, King Yama will ask how you came here, or say, ‘How much of Hell did you look around before coming here?’ For now, tell him you came because of Yi Jaha. His Majesty must be suffering a lot because of me.”

After drinking the Dukang wine, I let out a long sigh.

“No, boys. We have to be able to communicate for me to really enjoy tormenting you. What am I doing today? Pathetic. Pathetic.”

I stood with the Dukang wine and approached the ugly assassin.

“Hey……”

With my left hand, I grabbed the ugly assassin by the chin, then glared into his eyes.

“Look me straight in the eye. Before I kill you.”

After meeting the assassin’s eyes, I continued.

“It’s not because you’re an assassin that I hate you. It’s not because you’re ugly, either. Do you understand me? I hate and despise you because you’re a thoughtless assassin. Live with some thought in your head. Why you live……. Why you were born. Why those crippled bastards make you do things like this. Whether that truly has any meaning…… Have you thought about it? I’m telling you to doubt it.”

I locked eyes with the ugly bastard for a long while.

“……”

“Assassin, understand me. I’m the same as you. What I do is no different from what an assassin does. Only, I kill those who deserve to be killed. I don’t act on another man’s words. The Hao Sect Leader, Yi Jaha, offers you a cup. Drink.”

I pried open the ugly assassin’s maw with the grip of my left hand and let him drink the Dukang wine.

Glug, glug, glug…….

The Dukang wine gurgled down the ugly assassin’s throat.

“How does it taste? Good? I guarantee the others are envying you right now. Sharing a drink with the Hao Sect Leader is an honor. Of course.”

I drank the Dukang wine as I returned to my seat.

“Do you lot know something?”

“……”

“That I used to be a waiter.”

I shook my head and laughed.

“Ah, you wouldn’t have known that. No matter how much you investigated me, you wouldn’t have found that out. I didn’t name my sect the Hao Sect for no reason. It means it’s a sect where those at the very bottom gather. There isn’t much difference between you and me. Whether one is a man who rose alone, or lived a life carrying out only another’s orders until dying as vainly as you will today—that is merely a difference in mindset. I’ll ask one last time.”

“……”

I lightly raised the Dukang wine toward the assassins.

“Anyone want a sip?”

These bastards probably expected me to threaten them one last time and say I would kill them.

‘Yeah. No.’

I coaxed the assassins.

“I’m not telling you to reveal your main base. I’m not asking you to tell me who your leader is either. I’ll ask again, for no particular reason. Anyone want some Dukang wine?”

At that moment, the fisherman’s lips opened with a crack.

“Give me… one sip.”

“Good.”

I rose and approached the fisherman. After lifting his chin slightly, I let him drink the Dukang wine.

“You worked hard to open your mouth. You really are taciturn bastards. I can picture how you were trained.”

I returned to my spot and looked at the assassins. Only now did their faces start to look familiar to me.

“Well now, the moon’s already risen. Soon it’ll be reflected on the lake. Flowers in a mirror, the moon on water. Have you ever thought about this? Why is the moon so uselessly beautiful? Look at that moonlight. Maybe it hangs there so people who work at night don’t trip and fall. Or maybe it hangs there so people sewing at night mind their fingers. Or perhaps it hangs there so lonely, solitary people can occasionally meet its gaze.”

“……”

“No? In any case, it certainly isn’t hanging there to watch bastards like you kill people. That’s my conclusion. Four of you still haven’t drunk, so you may as well die.”

Holding the Dukang wine in my left hand and the Flash Dagger in my right, I approached the swordsman.

When the swordsman hurriedly opened his mouth, red blood dripped from his lips.

“Give me a sip of wine.”

I placed the Flash Dagger against the swordsman’s throat and replied.

“Why did you speak so quickly? Do you know how much I had to talk by myself? How many times do I have to say it before you understand? The blade’s going in.”

The swordsman screamed, his body still frozen stiff.

“Wine! Spare me. Wine!”

I looked into the swordsman’s eyes and asked.

“You’re going to drink?”

“Yes!”

“Understood. Swordsmen should have some affection for one another.”

Instead of the Flash Dagger, I put the Dukang wine to the assassin’s throat.

“Drink. It’s Dukang wine. The rest of you who want to die, don’t say a word.”

I forced the remaining three to choose as well.

“Drink or die. If you don’t answer, I’ll just kill you.”

Two of them drank, but the one who had used the sickle stared at me blankly.

“You’re the one called Leng Qian, aren’t you? Not drinking?”

“……”

I drove the Waning Moon Finger Technique into Leng Qian’s body, then grabbed him by the collar and mercilessly hurled him into the lake. A scream was followed by a splash, and soon Leng Qian sank beneath the lake.

I announced to the assassins who were still alive.

“Five left. From now on, keep an eye on one another. I’m thinking of leaving only one of you alive—the one I can communicate with. As for the rest, go have a little night swim in the lake, or become fish food, do as you please. If any of you think you really can’t endure it, ask me to kill you. I will.”

I drove the Cold Moon Finger Technique into the five who were still alive once more, then returned to my place and sat cross-legged.

“Gentlemen assassins, let’s see who wins.”

“……”

With my eyes closed, I murmured.

“Whether I die first, or your One-Reed Crossing the River leader dies first. Sink into meditation. I’ll tell you in advance—I am not a man weaker than your chief. I need to circulate my qi and regulate my breathing. A man who grows a little stronger every day without fail—that is me. Yesterday, I may have been a little weaker than your chief, but tomorrow I will be stronger. Do you know why?”

After taking a deep breath, I gave my conclusion.

“I’m not telling.”

I began the breathing cultivation of the Moon Shadow Heartless Art beneath the moonlight.

A night when the moon’s reflection settled upon the river.

The heartless moonlight shone upon the living assassins and me.