Chapter 150: Mask (4)

“You’re saying you’re my goal—what do you mean by that?”

“So Cheon.”

I addressed So Cheon, whose disguise was beginning to crack.

“It hasn’t just been a year or two since we met, has it?”

“……”

Well, to be precise, it had been three years, but if you included my past life, So Cheon and I had known each other for almost twenty years.

Of course, it was a one-sided twenty years—only I remembered.

Other than his kleptomania, I knew So Cheon wasn’t the type to act impulsively.

No matter how much he’d been cast aside by his clan, he was still a direct descendant of the Hidden Shadow So Clan.

He was a top-tier killer of the cult who had survived the hell of that ruthless family of assassins.

“Are you here because you have business with me, or did someone from your clan send you to me?”

Or maybe—

“Did you come here to kill me?”

“…That’s not it.”

“Well, that’s a relief. Then I can assume there’s another reason?”

At my quiet yet sharp words, So Cheon let out a sigh and scratched his messy hair.

“Haa… You’ve always been sharp, but this is kind of scary….”

“……”

“How did you notice? I thought I was being careful.”

Well, of course.

“You didn’t ask me a single thing.”

“Didn’t ask…? That’s because—”

I raised my hand to cut him off.

“I know. We were both discarded by our families. There was an unspoken rule not to pry into each other’s situations. But…”

So Cheon’s attitude today crossed the line.

“I don’t mean to boast, but I’ve accomplished quite a bit in the past year.”

If it were someone who knew me, they’d have grabbed me by the shoulders and shaken me, demanding to know what had happened.

Even if we had an unspoken rule, it would’ve been normal to at least hint at curiosity.

“So why did you ignore all of it?”

“……”

“You didn’t ask me what I’ve been through, or even how I became the Vice Pavillion Master of the Naming Hall at a gathering like this.”

At first glance, he seemed like someone who was detached from worldly matters—but that wasn’t true at all.

You couldn’t be a great thief if you had no interest in the world.

“…I see. So that’s how it is.”

So Cheon sighed and brushed his hair back.

It became clear that the scruffy hair was just a disguise—this was the So Cheon I knew.

No, even sharper than before… this was So Cheon the assassin.

“Yeomyung… No, Jin Yeomyung.”

I waited tensely for what he was about to say.

Just as he opened his mouth with a solemn tone—

Clatter!

The door to the room suddenly slid open, and someone entered.

“…Huh?”

Huh?

Both of us turned our gazes toward the entrance at once.

Disrupting the heavy atmosphere, a stunningly refined and traditionally beautiful woman appeared.

Rather than a noble family’s young lady, she gave off the aura of a queen from some distant realm.

“Pardon the intrusion.”

She walked toward us the moment she stepped through the door.

So Cheon shouted at the woman who had barged in.

“W-What are you doing?!”

“…?”

“You were supposed to wait for the signal! What is this sudden—!”

“……”

Seriously, what was going on?

I thought she was just some courtesan, but they knew each other?

I gave So Cheon, who had failed to maintain the serious mood, a look of sympathy.

“You’re just so predictable…”

So Cheon quickly made excuses.

“N-No! This was a super important moment, and that damn sister of mine ruined it—!”

“Young Master Jin.”

“…Hm?”

The woman neatly cut off So Cheon and sat gracefully beside me, a gentle smile on her lips.

“I would like to offer you a drink. Will you accept it?”

Without asking, the mysterious woman poured liquor into a cup and offered it to me.

I stared at her for a moment.

A small mole beneath her right eye made her face all the more unforgettable.

“Being served by a beauty isn’t a bad thing, but shouldn’t we at least exchange names first?”

She looked to be a few years older than me, but her tone was oddly familiar.

‘Who is she? I don’t recall seeing her before.’

With a woman of such decadent charm, there was no way I’d forget.

Still smiling faintly, she replied,

“If you accept the drink, I’ll tell you.”

“…Is that so?”

Without hesitation, I extended my cup.

Across from me, So Cheon scowled in displeasure, but he didn’t seem intent on interfering.

Drip drip drip!

She poured the drink, and I downed it in one go.

“……”

“How forthright of you.”

“I enjoyed it. Now then, perhaps it’s time you revealed your identity, miss?”

“I am…”

With a faint, melancholic smile, she said something absurd.

“…a creditor who came to reclaim what was taken by you, Young Master.”

“…Creditor?”

What had I done to become someone’s debtor?

“Don’t tell me you’re saying I once stole your heart—”

“If you’re going to spout nonsense like that, I’ll kill you right here and now.”

Her eyes narrowed in an instant.

Yikes—definitely not that, then.

I might’ve suffered a small emotional wound from her ironclad rejection.

Anyway, was this the ‘purpose’ So Cheon had for seeking me out?

“Yeomyung. ‘We’ want two things.”

‘We, huh…’

“Two things, you say? What are they?”

“One is for you to quietly be held in our clan’s safe house.”

“That’s already a request I can’t possibly agree to… What’s the second one?”

“The second is…”

So Cheon trailed off for a moment, then glanced up at the ceiling as he continued.

“To have Brother Byeok returned to the main clan.”

My expression stiffened slightly.

“……Gu Chil?”

“Yes.”

So Cheon sighed and motioned with his chin toward the woman.

“We want Brother Byeok… to marry my sister and become a son-in-law of the So Clan. This is also the will of the clan leader.”

“……!”

Thud!

The moment he finished his sentence, the woman pulled a dagger from her bosom and stabbed it straight into the table like a bolt of lightning.

‘What the—?!’

Her demeanor had completely changed from just a moment ago when she had been all polite and graceful!

The woman who had thrust the dagger so boldly now spoke with a gloomy voice.

“So Cheon is right. Today… I must take back my Brother Un, whom you stole, Young Master.”

Brother Un?

As I was left speechless, dumbfounded by what I’d just heard—

Gu Chil, who had been hiding in the ceiling, revealed himself.

“Young Mistress So Soryu, what is the meaning of this?! And… marriage?!”

“Just as I said, Brother Byeok.”

While So Cheon let out a sigh—

“Ah… Brother Byeok.”

The woman’s expression instantly softened, and she looked at Gu Chil with the gaze of someone in love.

At that moment.

Gu Chil and I realized the true identity of the woman standing before us.

“Y-you can’t be…?!”

“You—you’re… s-sister?!”

Chills!

A cold shiver ran down my spine.

And just like that, a memory from about ten years ago flashed before my eyes like a lantern slide show.

—

“Give my brother back right now, you thief!”

—

A girl who had approached me innocently to lower my guard, then swung a poison-coated dagger at my throat.

“So Soryu, the crazy b*tch of the So Clan!”

“So you finally remember me.”

The moment she said that, So Soryu pulled the dagger from the center of the table and swung it at me.

But before I could even react—

Clang!

Gu Chil had already drawn his dagger and blocked So Soryu’s surprise attack.

“As expected of you, Brother. Your skills haven’t dulled a bit.”

“S-So-yu… What are you doing?”

Even while fulfilling his duties as a bodyguard, Gu Chil asked with a trembling voice.

So Soryu replied with a calm smile.

“It’s just as I said. Jin Yeomyung of the Jin Clan will temporarily become a prisoner of the So Clan, and Brother Un will become our clan’s son-in-law.”

“Aren’t the So and Jin Clans allies? Why would you kidnap the young master?!”

“That’s…”

Fwip!

“If you come quietly, I’ll tell you.”

As soon as she said that, the lights that had been brightly illuminating the room went out as if it had all been a lie.

And that wasn’t the end of it.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Somewhere, a drum began to sound.

The problem was that with each beat of the drum, one by one, the lights around us started to go out.

Suddenly, chaotic cries rang out from different corners of the tower.

“W-what’s going on?!”

“Who the hell did this?!”

With every beat of the drum, not just the tower, but the nearby brothels and businesses were all losing their light.

‘What a spectacular performance.’

In no time, the entire area was plunged into a world of pitch black, illuminated only by moonlight.

And then—

Shuffle!

Rustle, rustle!

Dozens of presences descended across the fifth floor in an instant.

‘No, it’s not just this place.’

Judging from how all the lights in the area had been extinguished, it wasn’t just a handful of people that had been mobilized.

A hundred? No—two hundred?

Whatever the number, one thing was certain: this was a thoroughly prepared trap.

“So… Will you come quietly now?”

So Soryu tilted her head slightly, a seductive smile playing on her lips.

***

When the entire tower had been taken over by strange forces—

On the top floor of the tower, the ninth level.

Inside a secret chamber accessible only to the Tower Mistress, someone spoke.

“It’s quite noisy outside.”

Surprisingly, the voice belonged to a young woman.

“My apologies. It appears outsiders have occupied the tower.”

At the woman’s side was none other than the Tower Mistress herself.

She knelt respectfully, extending her jade-like hands to inspect the young woman’s attire.

“Judging by the distinct murderous aura and skill… Could it be the So Clan?”

Even if it wasn’t the So Clan, there were only a handful of forces in Miok Fortress with the audacity to cause this kind of chaos.

“If the So Clan is indeed targeting us deliberately, then there’s little the tower’s martial officers could’ve done to stop them.”

“Hmph, I told you to take some members of the Divine Ghost Unit with you, but you were so stubborn.”

At that, the Tower Mistress smiled and shook her head.

“How could I use such overwhelming force just for managing a humble tower? That would’ve been excessive.”

At last, the Tower Mistress’ hands withdrew from the young woman.

A sign that the inspection of her attire was complete.

The young woman looked down at her clothing briefly, then gave the Tower Mistress a slight nod.

“I won’t forget the Vice Unit Leader’s help.”

She was the Vice Pavillion Master of the Divine Ghost Unit, a direct information-gathering force of the Cheon Clan.

It was a secret identity, one thoroughly hidden from the public—such was the true identity of the Tower Mistress.

The Tower Mistress bowed deeply in humility.

“Serving the Cheon Clan and the Cult Leader’s family is the honor of the Divine Ghost Unit. Such words are far too much for me.”

“So he passed through here, did he? I had a feeling something troublesome would happen again.”

The young woman scoffed.

At that adorable reaction, the Tower Mistress gently covered her mouth, smiling softly.

“Are you sure you’re not just pleased that Young Master Jin avoids getting close to women?”

“Well, I won’t deny it.”

Surprisingly, the young woman nodded calmly.

“Setting aside their skills, the So Clan’s persistence is fierce. This could become troublesome—we’ll need to help.”

Whether it was genuine concern over the So Clan’s obsession or merely a convenient excuse was unclear.

But that wasn’t something the Tower Mistress needed to care about.

“Here…”

The Tower Mistress carefully handed over a mask.

It was a smooth ivory mask with a crescent moon carved into the forehead.

“Here is your identification badge as well, Lady—no.”

The moment the mask was worn, the young woman had to be addressed by a different name.

“Lady Moonlit Sword Blossom.”

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