Chapter 152: Seolyoung, Tries

Baek Seolyoung walked slowly toward the two men.

Jang Wonso only watched what she did. If anything, he looked curious about how she would act.

Baek Seolyoung stopped in front of the pair. For a moment, none of them spoke. In truth, they had not known each other long, yet it felt as if they shared a bond forged over decades.

Of course, it was because Lee Jaseung stood between them that they felt that way.

She slowly held out her hand.

“Give me your swords.”

They had not expected her to ask for their weapons, so Mujin and Mook Young were greatly startled.

“Both of you, hand your swords to me. Quickly.”

Baek Seolyoung’s expression was imperious.

Mujin and Mook Young looked at each other, asking with their eyes what the other thought.

Do we cut one of them down and die, or do we trust Baek Seolyoung’s judgment? It was a moment on the razor’s edge of life and death.

If Baek Seolyoung’s judgment was wrong, they would die like dogs.

Mujin looked at Baek Seolyoung.

Her face was more serious than ever. Right, she would not ask for their swords on a whim.

Mujin nodded to Mook Young. Mook Young nodded back.

Mujin handed over his two swords, and Mook Young likewise gave her his sword.

That was not all Baek Seolyoung did.

Tak tak tak tak.

Baek Seolyoung struck and sealed their acupoints. They could move their bodies, but could not use Qi.

Turning, Baek Seolyoung passed the two swords to Jang Wonso. The Fist King, who stood behind, stepped out to receive them in his stead, and Demonic Toad came forward to check whether their acupoints had been properly sealed.

When Demonic Toad confirmed that their Qi had been fully blocked, he nodded to Jang Wonso.

Baek Seolyoung spoke evenly.

“Let me meet my husband. Put off deciding their fate until afterward.”

For a moment Jang Wonso showed no reaction. He could not guess Baek Seolyoung’s intent.

A brief silence flowed.

Then Mad Serpent, watching Jang Wonso’s face, stepped forward.

“Who do you think you are to order him around?”

Having lost his subordinates, he was livid.

He planned to seize this chance to cut Mujin and Mook Young down in one stroke. Jang Wonso was clearly conflicted.

Brushing past Baek Seolyoung, he smiled and said,

“Thanks to you, I can get what I want without lifting a finger…”

Before he even finished,

Shiiiik!

Puk!

“Graaagh!”

A scream burst from Mad Serpent’s mouth. Baek Seolyoung had whipped out a sword in a sudden strike and cut him down.

Though Mad Serpent flinched and moved by instinct, her blade was far faster than he expected.

A long sword wound ran from chest to arm. Spouting blood, he staggered back. He had avoided instant death, but suffered a grave injury.

He pressed his own acupoints to stem the bleeding.

“Ghhk! You crazy bitch! You son of a whore! I will kill you!”

He raved with mad curses.

Again Baek Seolyoung seized the instant and sprang. Badly wounded, Mad Serpent could not stop her second attack.

Vwooom! Puk!

Baek Seolyoung’s sword pierced his heart.

With a single cry, Mad Serpent collapsed and breathed his last. Unfortunately, Jang Wonso’s inner conflict extended even to whether he should save Mad Serpent or not.

Baek Seolyoung had read it exactly.

Her first strike had given him a grievous wound. Seeing that Jang Wonso still did not aid him, she concluded, this one may be killed.

She believed that, while the chance was there, she had to reduce their numbers in any way possible.

Even though she had killed him, Jang Wonso did not grow agitated.

“Your skill is impressive.”

“You praise me too much.”

Baek Seolyoung spoke again.

“Now show me my husband.”

Jang Wonso asked in a cold voice,

“And why should I?”

There was no courtesy now, no warmth from before.

She sensed it. Their lives hung on her answer.

Mad Serpent’s blood had splashed over her from head to toe, yet Baek Seolyoung looked all the more sensual for it.

The bloodstained look did not suit her, which made it feel all the more provocatively striking.

Baek Seolyoung sent Jang Wonso a voice transmission.

— I know you want to have me.

However much he was a villain, if such words were spoken aloud he might say something different from his true heart, conscious of the eyes around him. That was why she used sound transmission.

— And if I say that’s true?

— If you want to properly have me, do as I say.

Baek Seolyoung pressed hard.

There was something she had learned since meeting Lee Jaseung. There was no reason to go meekly before villains. If the other side was weak, they only trampled harder. That was why they were villains.

Saying such things made her feel filthy and sick.

But for Lee Jaseung, to save the lives of Mujin and Mook Young standing behind her, she could say anything.

— Since we have come this far, I would at least like you to be a decent man.

At those words, Jang Wonso’s heart stirred.

Baek Seolyoung raised her voice so all could hear.

“Beacuse you are a good man, Alliance Leader.”

Those standing behind curled strange smiles at their lips. It was the kind of smile that meant she was utterly mistaken about someone.

“Hahaha. Very well. If this is the will of Lord Baek, let us go.”

Jang Wonso turned his back.

Baek Seolyoung exhaled a breath of relief. Mujin and Mook Young were inwardly astonished. They had not known she had this side to her.

The Three Kings and Demonic Toad followed behind the three of them. Ordinarily, they should have felt displeased that Mad Serpent had been abandoned so easily in death, or at least felt a bitter taste. After all, the next to be discarded could be themselves.

But none of them cared about Mad Serpent’s death. They were the sort who never minded whether others lived or died.

Jang Wonso led them down the left passage.

In the room with the map, Lee Jaseung lay.

The moment she saw him, Baek Seolyoung’s heart began to pound madly. Tears welled up, and it was hard even to walk properly.

But Baek Seolyoung gathered every last shred of her composure. If she truly cared for him, if she truly loved him, what she had to do now was not display her feelings for him, but hide them.

With deliberately steady steps, she came to Lee Jaseung’s side.

Even with all the commotion outside, he still lay unconscious.

Her pupils trembled, and with a hand that trembled even more, she touched his face. His skin was warm. Confirming that he was not dead, Baek Seolyoung let out a short cry.

“Ah!”

She could not say how much she had feared he might be dead.

She had been terrified that Jang Wonso would giggle and show her a corpse.

Thankfully, he lived.

But the problem began now.

“What happened to him?”

Baek Seolyoung asked as calmly as she could.

“I do not know either. He was like this when I first found him.”

Baek Seolyoung took his arm and examined his body. Though she had no medical training, she could at least tell if someone had suffered a serious internal injury.

Fortunately, it did not seem like he had.

If, as Jang Wonso said, he had lost consciousness due to some other cause… then there was hope.

My dear… wake up. Please.

Baek Seolyoung’s gaze toward Lee Jaseung grew fathomlessly deep.

* * *

“You passed the sixth trial. Truly astonishing.”

The old man wore an expression of wonder.

The seven trials of the Seven-Color Hidden Land tested the seven emotions of a human being.

Joy, anger, sorrow, delight, disgust, desire, and love.

Joy was happiness, anger was rage, sorrow was grief, delight was joy in its other shade, disgust was loathing, desire was craving, and finally love was love.

Standing before him, Lee Jaseung was utterly spent. If he closed his eyes he felt as if he could sleep ten days straight, so heavy was the fatigue weighing on his body. Only a mind that had overcome the body’s exhaustion shone clear through his eyes.

Lee Jaseung had endured the harsh trials stoically.

He had suffered pain that shaved the bone, and agony that tore the heart. Some trials required martial skill, others willpower, and there were those that demanded bold nerve.

Only the last trial remained now.

The last of the seven emotions, love. It was the trial related to love.

“How much time has passed outside?”

“Six days have gone by. This is the seventh.”

“That is a relief.”

Time flowed differently here. Each of the six trials had been different. In the first, ten days had passed. In the second, only two hours. In the third, six months. Each varied.

But thankfully, outside it had been only six days. One trial took a single day.

Even so, though it was only six days, he had not returned during that time, so there must have been an uproar outside.

What could the situation be?

He worried greatly, but he could not leave by his will.

There was only one way out.

“Let me begin the final trial.”

* * *

“Now, it is time to keep our bargain.”

At Jang Wonso’s words, every hair on her body stood on end. It felt like a many legged insect clung to every inch of her skin.

Baek Seolyoung drew a deep breath to steady her heart.

At a time like this, she had to keep her wits razor sharp.

Lee Jaseung was alive.

Depending on what she did, she could save him, or she could get him killed.

Of course, tied to his life were her own, Mujin’s, and Mook Young’s lives. No, if she failed, Dan Woobin would strike the Murim Alliance, so many more lives hung in the balance.

Baek Seolyoung rose from her seat.

“Shall we then?”

Baek Seolyoung looked at Jang Wonso and gave a small smile.

“Before that, let his disciples go.”

Jang Wonso agreed readily.

“I can do that.”

“You must not kill them.”

“I swear it on my name.”

At once, Demonic Toad led the two men out. Mujin and Mook Young followed without a word, as if they had resigned themselves to everything.

A secret transmission from Jang Wonso reached the Demonic Toad.

— Kill them both.

— Yes, understood.

The Three Kings and the other subordinates left with Demonic Toad.

Smiling, Jang Wonso gave his last order.

“Set a liquor table here!”

Fear and helplessness rolled in like thunderheads swallowing the sky.

This was a trial.

A trial of her love with Lee Jaseung.

At the very moment Lee Jaseung faced his final trial, she too was facing one that staked her life, her love, and her very future.

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