A red room lit by candlelight. This place was a pleasure house located on the outskirts of the outer city of the Heaven and Earth Society. On the table lay white and red face powder, along with brushes and other tools for putting on makeup.
Someone was staring at them with a grim expression. She was Ha Chae-rin, a candidate to become the Sect Master of the Flying Kill Sect, one of the three great assassin groups. No, to be exact, it was Go Chan possessing her body.
Thud!
Go Chan laced his fingers together and rested his chin on them. The face reflected in the bronze mirror was beautiful enough to be called enchanting. But it was not his own face.
‘... Do I really have to go this far?’
Looking at the cosmetics on the table, Go Chan fell into self-loathing. How had things ended up like this? As a Spirit Guardian, he was bound to Mok Gyeong-un, so he had followed him all the way to the Heaven and Earth Society.
To be honest, if he had his way, he would have run. But his life and death depended on his master, Mok Gyeong-un, through that bond, so he had no choice.
‘Damn it.’
Go Chan let out a deep sigh. He had somehow made it all the way to the outer city of the Heaven and Earth Society. But when it came time to actually sneak inside, he had never imagined the security would be this tight.
‘Impossible.’
Back when he was an assassin, infiltration missions had come up often. No, most killings required secret infiltration in the first place. But the Heaven and Earth Society, one of the three powers dividing the current Central Plains martial world, was on an entirely different scale from the small and mid-sized sects he had infiltrated before.
“Haa.”
With trembling hands, Go Chan reached toward the brush used for applying powder. The reason he was trying to hold those makeup tools was simple. It was to infiltrate the inside of the Heaven and Earth Society.
Flinch!
The moment he grasped the brush, goosebumps broke out all over his body. It was because of the intense rejection buried deep within his vengeful spirit. The thought of a man like him coming all the way to a pleasure house and disguising himself as a courtesan filled him with such powerful revulsion that he almost convulsed.
But there was no other way. To find a route inside, Go Chan had wandered around the outer city of the Heaven and Earth Society gathering information. He had even considered hiding inside supply or food carts entering the city, but that was impossible because the city gates of the Heaven and Earth Society were inspected thoroughly.
In the end, the only workable option was to make contact with someone from inside and get in through them.
[Hooh. So the young lady wishes to meet the heroes of the Heaven and Earth Society now that marriage age is upon her, is that it?]
[Th... that’s right.]
Even if it was just for gathering information, the fact that he had to say something like that made his stomach churn. He had felt sick even while saying it.
[But if you want to meet not mere low-level guards, but people on the level of squad leaders or division masters, that won’t be easy.]
[Is there no way?]
[You want to know? Ahem.]
The man subtly held out his hand. As expected of a fence who dealt in information, he was greedy for money. So Go Chan put silver coins in his hand.
Once he got the silver, the fence smoothly told him the method.
[Do you know Red Shoes Pavilion?]
[Red Shoes Pavilion?]
[That’s right. It’s a pleasure house on the eastern outskirts of the outer city, and there...]
Bang!
[Are you telling me to become a courtesan?]
For a moment he was so dumbfounded that he nearly snatched the money right back from the fence. The fence soothed him and said, [Hah. Hear a man out to the end.
Red Shoes Pavilion may be a pleasure house, but it isn’t some ordinary brothel.]
[What difference is there between a pleasure house and a brothel...]
[The courtesans there are not only beautiful, but skilled in learning, music, and the arts, and carry themselves with refinement. Even the high and mighty in the city visit that place.]
[... Is that true?]
[Would I lie after already taking your silver? With looks like yours, young lady, Red Shoes Pavilion would welcome you with both arms open.]
Trusting those words, Go Chan had ended up infiltrating Red Shoes Pavilion. Just as the fence had said, though he had his doubts, he had successfully entered the place. When they asked if he had any talents, he remembered the time he had once disguised himself as a musician during his assassin days.
So he played the fiddle, and they truly welcomed him enthusiastically.
[You can perform? If it is as one of our female musicians, then you are most certainly welcome.]
As if that were not enough, they said that several courtesans had already gone to become favored women of division masters in the Heaven and Earth Society, leaving vacancies behind.
‘Favored women... Ha!’
So it really was possible to infiltrate the inner city somehow. Go Chan swallowed dryly. Then, after hesitating several times, he finally picked up the brush and began applying makeup to his face.
Not long after, the voice of the matron of Red Shoes Pavilion came from outside the room.
“Are you done preparing?”
“Uh... w-well, that is...”
Go Chan, who had been applying red powder to his lips, fumbled in panic. Perhaps frustrated with waiting outside, the matron finally opened the door and came in.
Creeeak!
“How can putting on makeup take this long? Your natural face is pretty, so a little would have been enough. Let me see. How well did you do?”
At those words, Go Chan looked at his own face in the mirror and could not hide his embarrassment. He had tried to figure it out by digging through Ha Chae-rin’s memories, but his instinctive revulsion had made his hands shake far too much. The matron came close and looked at Go Chan’s face.
Then her brow wrinkled at once, and she muttered, “...
Heavens.”
He had applied so much powder that his face was as white as a corpse. With the small brush meant for darkening the eyes, he had smeared the ink so heavily that black streaks ran beneath his eyes like tears.
And he had drawn the red around his lips so long that it looked as though his mouth had been split all the way to his ears.
“You’ve turned yourself into a ferocious demon.”
Rather than a beauty, Go Chan had become the face of a ferocious demon. Seeing the matron clicking her tongue, Go Chan clenched his teeth. How had he ended up doing something like this?
‘Seduction ploy, my ass.’
He might honestly be better off gambling with his life and forcing his way inside.
Mok Gyeong-un stood in front of the room with a smile on his face. The moment Yeom-ga saw him like that, he was so flustered that he became speechless. Malice overflowing behind that smile.
The instant their eyes met, Yeom-ga felt a chill run down his spine.
‘This is...’
The restriction had been lifted, and he could use his internal energy freely again, so why was he being overwhelmed by the ominous aura coming off this bastard? Yeom-ga clenched his teeth. He had stepped forward intending to turn the bastard into half a cripple, but the boy had suddenly appeared, overwhelming him in presence and stealing the initiative.
As his irritation grew, Yeom-ga twisted his face viciously and opened his mouth.
“What do you mean, we’re thinking the same thing?”
“Is there some other reason?”
“What?”
“You looked useful, so I was thinking of taking you in as one of my group members.”
Crunch!
Yeom-ga slowly began raising his internal energy as he ground his teeth. Then he said to Mok Gyeong-un in a heated voice, “You want to take me in as one of your group members?”
“Yes. To be honest, I’ve wanted to kill you since yesterday, but murder is forbidden under the restrictions of this gate, so I thought it’d be better to just make use of you.”
Yeom-ga’s eyes turned vicious. What nonsense was this arrogant bastard spouting? He wanted to kill him, but thought it better to use him instead?
Crunch!
His teeth ground together on their own. Now that the internal energy restriction had been lifted, how many of these boys could possibly contend with him? Yeom-ga could not tolerate it any longer.
Pat!
Having already completed the circulation of internal energy throughout his whole body, Yeom-ga shot his hand toward Mok Gyeong-un’s throat. He intended to seize the throat with his right hand, suppress his vital points in an instant with his left, and drag him into the room. But then, Thud!
“Urk!”
Before he could even do that, Mok Gyeong-un’s foot slammed into his abdomen. It had happened so quickly that he had not even seen it. The veins in Yeom-ga’s face bulged, and his skin flushed red as if it were burning.
“Y-you bastard...!”
“Aren’t legs longer than arms?”
Smack!
Yeom-ga tightened his abdomen and kicked the tip of his foot upward toward Mok Gyeong-un’s groin. Mok Gyeong-un folded his leg and retreated slightly. Not missing that moment, Yeom-ga kicked off with his other foot, spun his body, and tried to smash down on Mok Gyeong-un’s crown.
‘Revolving Shadow Kick.’
It was the third move of the Vermilion Heaven Kick Arts, the pride of Killing Curse Valley. It was a technique that deceived the opponent by starting as a rising kick, then instantly spun the body and brought the strike down from above. It was so fast and mixed with feints that it was difficult to avoid.
But then, Swoosh! Mok Gyeong-un merely moved half a step and twisted his body, lightly dodging the Revolving Shadow Kick.
‘!?’
Yeom-ga’s eyes narrowed. He had never imagined the boy would evade it so easily. But techniques were meant to link into one another, and the next attack was already prepared.
Papapak!
As Mok Gyeong-un turned, Yeom-ga thrust his sword seal fingers toward his Adam’s apple. Having reached the Peak Realm, he could form sharpness with qi, if not to the degree of a real sword. That was what one called sharp energy.
Slash!
But then, Pahk! The sharp energy thrust forward as if it would pierce through Mok Gyeong-un’s throat. Yet before it could touch him, Thud!
Mok Gyeong-un’s foot swept out like lightning and kicked Yeom-ga’s leg. It was only a simple kick, so Yeom-ga did not evade it. Instead, he sent internal energy into his leg to create rebound force.
From his spiritual sense, his internal energy was superior to this bastard’s. So if he protected his leg with internal energy, he judged he could easily endure it...
Thud!
“Ugh!”
The instant his leg was struck, Yeom-ga’s body spun half sideways and his head slammed into the floor. For a moment, Yeom-ga was stunned. What in the world had just happened?
He could not understand why he had failed to avoid that kick. It had been fast, yes, but the moment they collided, his rebound force had scattered.
‘What the...’
As he was still trying to make sense of it, Mok Gyeong-un smiled faintly and said, “You’re weaker than I expected.”
“You bastard!”
Fury rushed to the top of Yeom-ga’s head. He flicked his arm, pushed himself upright, and at the same time launched another kick toward Mok Gyeong-un’s neck. But then, Whoosh!
Smack!
Mok Gyeong-un lightly avoided it, then grabbed Yeom-ga by the head and smashed him down into the floor.
Bang!
The floorboard shattered, and Yeom-ga’s head broke through it and sank into the floor. It hurt, but more than the pain, Yeom-ga could not endure the humiliation. With all his strength, he raised his internal energy and tried to lift his head back up.
But the internal power he had concentrated into his neck and head strangely dispersed bit by bit, leaving him weaker instead.
‘W-what is this?’
He could not understand what was happening. Then Mok Gyeong-un grabbed a fistful of Yeom-ga’s hair and yanked.
Grip!
As his embedded head was pulled free, the sharpened splinters of wood stabbed into the flesh all over his face, and blood began streaming down. Looking at Yeom-ga’s face like that, Mok Gyeong-un sneered in satisfaction.
“Now your face is a little easier to look at.”
“You... what did you do?”
“What do you mean, what did I do?”
“Don’t tell me you used something like energy-scattering poison?”
“Energy-scattering poison?”
At Yeom-ga’s words, Mok Gyeong-un asked back with a puzzled expression. He prided himself on knowing nearly every poison worth knowing, but this was the first time he had heard the name energy-scattering poison.
Energy-scattering poison.
It was a strange poison made through a special process, one that, once certain conditions were met, caused internal energy to scatter apart.
“Don’t play dumb! If it’s not energy-scattering poison, then why does my internal energy scatter every time I touch you?”
Every time he collided with Mok Gyeong-un, the internal energy in that area dispersed. At first he had thought it might just be coincidence, but after it happened twice, energy-scattering poison was the only explanation that came to mind.
“Hm. So there’s even an interesting poison like that?”
‘Is this bastard playing with me right now?’
Yeom-ga’s fury flared to the very top. If it had come to this, he had no choice but to use Killing Curse Valley’s secret technique. They had warned him not to use it except in the direst circumstances, since it was a killing art that could only end with the opponent’s death.
But he could no longer hold back.
Crack crack!
Yeom-ga concentrated his internal energy toward his chest. At once, the strange pattern drawn across his upper body began glowing red. But then, Thud!
“Urk!”
Mok Gyeong-un yanked back Yeom-ga’s hair and smashed his fist down. But that was not the end. As if he meant to cave in Yeom-ga’s whole face, Mok Gyeong-un kept bringing his fist down over and over.
Thud!
“Keh. S-stop...”
Thud!
“Nggh... st...”
Thud! Crack!
Even when the sound of his nose breaking rang out and his teeth shattered, it did not stop.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Forget using any secret technique, Yeom-ga did not even have the chance. Under the relentless blows to his face, he had already lost consciousness.
“Hik!”
At that sound from behind, Mok Gyeong-un turned his head with his fist still raised. There stood a boy who had been doing energy circulation and breath control, but had opened his eyes when the sounds of fighting woke him.
‘W-what happened here?’
The boy could not hide his bewilderment as he stared at Yeom-ga, whose face had been beaten into a bloody mess while his hair remained gripped in Mok Gyeong-un’s hand. Mok Gyeong-un waved his blood-smeared hand at the boy and said with a smile, “Ah, don’t mind me. Please go on with what you were doing.”