Chapter 164: Fatal Relationship (1)

After the confrontation with Jeok Rua had ended.

Just as I was about to follow the guide who said they would lead me to a place to rest—

“Ah, wait a moment.”

“What is it you need?”

“I nearly forgot. There’s still something I haven’t received from you, isn’t there?”

The moment those words ended, several black-robed figures from the House of Slaughter began surrounding Gu Chil.

“We can’t afford to lose someone who could be our successor.”

“…….”

At that moment, one of the black-robed figures took off her mask and revealed her face.

It was none other than So Soryu.

“We meet again, Brother.”

So Soryu smiled brightly, without a trace of emotion on her face.

“Soryu….”

Before Gu Chil could say anything,

Jeok Rua covered his mouth.

“That child currently serves as a senior instructor of the House of Slaughter. Since you’ll be living with us from now on, you’ll be receiving a lot of help from her.”

“Hehehe…”

So Soryu naturally walked up to Gu Chil and linked arms with him.

From beside us, I heard a low curse from Myeong-oh.

“That bastard…”

“Hold it in, Myeong-oh.”

When I gave him a look, Myeong-oh quickly calmed her presence.

“…I know. I’m sorry.”

At the very least, this was a time when we had to act according to the prearranged “plan.”

I openly showed my discomfort and glared at Jeok Rua.

“I didn’t expect you to so blatantly take someone from the main family like this.”

“Did I? But a mere concubine cannot change the will of the Clan Leader, can she?”

“I’ll be strongly protesting to the Clan Leader when he returns.”

“Hehe, sure. Though whether it will do any good is another matter.”

Jeok Rua nodded mockingly, as if amused.

***

Now, in the present—

“I understand the plan is to get captured on purpose… but are you sure this is going to work?”

“What do you mean?”

“There must be a lot of eyes on Senior Gu Chil. Will he even be able to act freely…?”

Myeong-oh’s concern was valid.

We were lucky to have blocked out the sound, but even now, there were more than a dozen people watching us from around the building.

“It’s fine. An opening will come, without a doubt.”

“What makes you so sure?”

“If I were in Jeok Rua’s shoes, I would definitely eliminate Gu Chil before Murder Demon arrives.”

“……!!”

“Jeok Rua is Murder Demon’s second wife, and she even has a direct child named So Cheon.”

Naturally, she would want her own child, So Cheon, to become the next Clan Leader.

If she had ambition, that would be the obvious course of action.

“From what I know… doesn’t Young Lord So Cheon lack succession rights?”

“Whether he has them or not doesn’t matter. As long as he’s a direct descendant, it’s enough.”

The current issue within the So Clan was that a clear successor had yet to be determined.

Jin Yeowoon of the Jin Clan, Pa Yeongyeong of the Pa Clan, and Ma Chulsoo of the Ma Clan were all prominent candidates.

Even in the Black Gold Sa Clan, before Sa Biyeon rose to prominence, the eldest son Sa Bihwan had held a firm position.

But in the case of the Hidden Shadow So Clan, there wasn’t a clear contender.

“If you have enough power, you can just kill off all other candidates. It can just be passed off as internal strife among successors.”

From what I knew, the So Clan didn’t have a bloody rule like the Ma Clan.

Flinch!

Myeong-oh’s expression turned slightly fearful.

“N-no! Doesn’t that mean Senior Gu Chil is in serious danger?!”

“Probably. But if it’s Gu Chil, he’ll be fine.”

“Why do you think that?!”

“First of all, Gu Chil isn’t someone who’d go down easily… and the brat you hate so much is probably sticking close to him as his strongest ally right now.”

“……!”

Myeong-oh’s face contorted with disgust.

“She’s using Heavenly Thousand Silken Hands, so she’s no slouch. She’ll probably be a decent shield up to a point. Ideally, she’ll follow Gu Chil and join our side.”

“Th-that bitch is out of the question!”

Myeong-oh screeched.

Honestly, I had no intention of getting involved in Gu Chil’s romantic affairs, but as someone who watched from the sidelines, I couldn’t help but occasionally feel a bit disappointed.

“Myeong-oh.”

“…….”

Just as Myeong-oh turned away in embarrassment from her sudden outburst—

“Love is something you have to fight for.”

“W-what do you mean, love?!”

Myeong-oh hurriedly denied it, but to me, it looked like nothing more than a pitiful struggle.

“To be honest, I don’t get why someone like you would fall for a guy like Gu Chil…”

Even during her time as an instructor at the Thousand-Day Pavilion, Myeong-oh had received countless confessions from other instructors.

Assassins typically hid their appearances with black robes, but when she dressed up, she was quite the sight.

“Gu Chil is a bit old, sure. Just pounce on him. What are you hesitating for?”

In that instant, Myeong-oh looked at me like I was human trash.

“…If you pounce on the Young Cult Leader first, I’ll consider it.”

“…If I did that, I’d probably end up dead.”

“…….”

“…….”

A short silence followed.

Myeong-oh let out a deep sigh.

“Anyway, that brat is no good.”

“Do you have a specific reason?”

“It’s just a gut feeling… but something about her feels ominous. She’ll never come over to our side.”

“A gut feeling, huh.”

There are generally two kinds of gut feelings.

One is what people call real intuition.

The other is an instinctive flash of insight honed through experience.

Myeong-oh’s was probably the latter.

‘Indeed, love is a kind of madness that can turn in any direction. If that’s the case, I may need to revise the plan.’

My ultimate goal in visiting the House of Slaughter was to persuade Murder Demon and bring him over to our side.

However, even before I could make the attempt, it was clear that something strange was going on within the Hidden Shadow So Clan.

“Myeong-oh, for now…”

Just as I was about to issue further instructions—

Creak!

“……!”

Suddenly, the door to the reception room opened.

Both Myeong-oh and I instinctively took defensive stances, but the figure who appeared wasn’t an assassin—it was a hunchbacked old man, far too aged to be one.

The old man’s lips quivered as he bowed his head.

“I… have brought something to drink…”

“…….”

As he said, there was a steaming teacup on the tray he held.

Myeong-oh quickly took the tray and tested the tea for poison.

“There’s no poison.”

“……I see.”

Not that I intended to drink it anyway.

But something—just a gut feeling—told me this old man didn’t come just to offer us tea.

‘What is this…?’

It wasn’t just the five senses; this was something beyond even the sixth sense.

From this old man I’d never seen before, I could feel an overwhelming gravitational pull.

‘I’m sure this is our first meeting. I’ve never seen him before. So why…?’

This man had definitely not learned martial arts.

Or, even if he had in the past, he was now nothing more than an ordinary person—I was certain of it.

Judging by appearance… he looked old enough to make someone in their seventies seem youthful.

Ninety? Maybe even over a hundred.

“Old man.”

“…….”

“Do you have something to say to me?”

For some reason, the old man looked at me gently.

And then, slowly, he opened his mouth.

“Fate…”

“……?”

“…really has a way of appearing when you least expect it.”

The old man smiled.

Because of the deep wrinkles on his face, I could barely see his eyes, but I could feel it—he was genuinely happy to see me.

“Unfortunately, it seems we haven’t yet built up the karmic bond necessary to have a long conversation.”

“What do you mean by that?”

The old man didn’t answer my question.

He simply folded his hands and bowed deeply.

“Master, I wish you success with your endeavors here. The Clan Lord is certainly a fearsome individual, but he was born with a critical weakness… If you strike at that point, victory will surely be yours.”

“Old man, what are you talking ab—!”

“After that, perhaps we’ll meet again.”

Although there were no signs of energy flowing—

My instincts screamed at me about what was coming next.

“Myeong-oh! Catch him!”

Prepared in advance, Myeong-oh sprang forward to restrain the old man—

Whoosh!

“N-no way!”

As if the very space folded in on itself, the old man vanished from sight in an instant.

“A-a ghost? Was that a ghost?!”

Myeong-oh shivered with a pale face, but I recognized the sensation with my well-honed senses.

‘That was the power of a Divine Artifact!’

Until now, I had only heard such objects existed in this world, but never experienced one firsthand.

The hunchbacked old man who had appeared before us was undoubtedly someone who possessed the ability to use a Divine Artifact.

Several hours later—

Myeong-oh returned near dusk after investigating the old man’s identity.

“No good. No one knows who he is.”

Although the House of Slaughter’s assassins had been keeping watch on us,

I was convinced that the old man wasn’t deeply affiliated with the House of Slaughter.

“Thanks to that, there’s chaos in the House of Slaughter right now. We’ve got clear evidence in our hands…”

I glanced at the now-cold teacup the old man had left behind.

“These items—they’re not just ordinary objects. They’re used exclusively in the Hidden Shadow So Clan’s main house.”

“Ho…”

Which meant, to find that old man, we’d need to go all the way to the So Clan’s main house?

The one that absolutely forbids outsiders from entering?

‘That’ll be difficult, for now.’

Right now, the priority was observing the internal situation of the House of Slaughter.

“So, is it time to move?”

Myeong-oh grinned.

“Hundreds of people are tearing through the House of Slaughter right now.”

“Then that means there must be quite a few openings.”

“Exactly.”

Although unintentional, the appearance of the hunchbacked old man had opened a significant breach in the House of Slaughter’s defenses.

Without hesitation, I stood from my seat.

“Once the sun sets completely, we move, Myeong-oh.”

“Where are we heading?”

In this situation, there was only one logical destination.

“The Clan Lord—Jeok Rua’s office.”

Of course, even in this situation, I didn’t expect we could simply waltz into Jeok Rua’s office.

Surely, the place was protected with far greater security than even the Thousand-Day Pavilion.

If we tried to break through with just the two of us, we wouldn’t have enough lives to spare.

‘But getting near the vicinity should be possible.’

Even a small clue that revealed the House of Slaughter’s current atmosphere would be a success.

“This way.”

Following Myeong-oh’s lead, I infiltrated deeper into the House of Slaughter through a narrow side path.

Originally, due to the nature of the House of Slaughter, most areas—except for the central region—could practically be considered training grounds filled with traps.

Even the place we were passing through now was an eerie, abandoned village with not a single resident in sight.

“The House of Slaughter is huge. No matter how many people the Hidden Shadow So Clan sends, they can’t possibly manage every area at all times.”

That made sense.

With a place this large—practically the size of a city—it would take not just thousands, but tens of thousands to fully control it.

Perhaps because she had some memories tied to this path, Myeong-oh had become unusually chatty.

“This shortcut is one that Senior Gu Chil and I used quite often. I doubt any of the current instructors even know about it—”

–Myeong-oh, stop for a moment!

The instant I spotted something familiar in the distance,

I urgently transmitted a soundless message to Myeong-oh.

“……!”

Myeong-oh, trained assassin that she was, immediately went silent and lowered her posture upon receiving my transmission.

I instantly activated my stealth technique to the fullest and pressed myself against the wall of the deserted shack.

–Look toward the clearing.

–…Th-that’s!

The clearing at the center of the abandoned village was quite spacious.

The issue was that artificial light was leaking out from it.

–A campfire… But at this hour, even instructors wouldn’t act without permission. What kind of lunatic would—?

Unless it was secret training, this situation was clearly abnormal.

I focused internal energy into my eyes and peered toward the clearing.

A person dressed in red was kneeling on one knee before someone dressed in black.

Relying on the moonlight, I could just barely make out who they were.

The one in black was none other than…

‘Cheon Yujeong?!’

And the one kneeling before her, in complete prostration, was none other than the House of Slaughter’s Clan Lord—Jeok Rua!

‘Why… are those two here…?’

Cheon Yujeong appearing right in the heart of the House of Slaughter was surprising enough.

But even more shocking was the fact that Jeok Rua was kneeling before her.

Then, a low voice slipped from Cheon Yujeong’s mouth.

“Well done, nanny.”

“……!!”

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