Chapter 226
Chapter 226
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 226
Chapter Title: The Brother's Refusal
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“What... what did you say......?”
Jeok Mu-gun blinked both eyes in disbelief after hearing the unbelievable story.
Jeok I-gyeom stared at the floor, avoiding eye contact with him.
“I-gyeom, did I hear that wrong?”
“No, Brother. I won't leave this place.”
Kung.
Jeok Mu-gun felt as if his heart had sunk straight to the floor.
He had lived his entire life with the single goal of finding his little brother, yet the brother he finally met was rejecting a life together.
Feeling a surge of blood rushing in reverse, on the verge of collapse, Jeok Mu-gun barely regained his wits and posed the question.
“Why….”
“…….”
“...Can you tell me why you're refusing to leave with me?”
This wasn't a place he had come to of his own will—he had been kidnapped as a child and sold against his wishes.
Jeok Mu-gun could easily imagine the grueling training he must have endured in the assassin enclave of Saam Valley.
From now on, they could escape this place and enjoy a peaceful life together.
Yet Jeok Mu-gun simply couldn't comprehend why he was refusing.
“Brother.”
Jeok I-gyeom started to respond but hesitated, swallowing his words.
With a faint sigh, he looked at Jeok Mu-gun with a bitter expression.
“We've already been living our own separate lives, so it wouldn't be good to get any more involved than this.”
“I-gyeom, what do you... ”
“Brother. It was good to see you after so long.”
Jeok I-gyeom bowed his head in greeting and turned away.
The resolute determination never to look back at Jeok Mu-gun again emanated from his retreating back as he walked off.
Jeok Mu-gun stared blankly at him before his legs gave out, and he collapsed onto the ground.
It was a massive shock.
For his brother to express such firm refusal.
What on earth had happened here? Why would he insist on staying even after being brought by force?
It was utterly incomprehensible….
“You have the face of someone who can't accept it.”
Hyeok Mulin's shadow fell over Jeok Mu-gun, who sat there in a daze.
Jeok Mu-gun slowly raised his head.
“Cult Leader….”
“Looks like the talk didn't go well.”
“...Yes, I can't understand it.”
At Hyeok Mulin's voice, Jeok Mu-gun barely suppressed his boiling emotions and replied.
“I-gyeom was a boy who helped those around him with the warmest heart and never lost his smile. Yet he coldly rejected my offer, and on top of that, walked away without even glancing back.”
Red blood trickled from Jeok Mu-gun's tightly clenched fist.
“There must be something going on.”
“I think the same.”
“……!”
At Hyeok Mulin's affirmation, Jeok Mu-gun's pupils dilated in an instant.
As the person directly involved, his perspective wasn't objective, so even if he harbored such thoughts, they could only remain suspicions.
But for someone else—even the Cult Leader himself—to share the same view.
In that moment, Jeok Mu-gun's suspicions solidified into certainty.
He sprang to his feet.
“I need to meet him one more time.”
The previous encounter had been too rushed and unprepared to probe deeply into his thoughts.
First, they needed to sit down face-to-face for an in-depth conversation to fully grasp the situation.
Jeok Mu-gun took a step toward Jeok I-gyeom's quarters.
But at that moment.
“No need for that.”
Hyeok Mulin's words seized him by the ankle.
As Jeok Mu-gun turned with a puzzled expression, Hyeok Mulin murmured in an impassive tone.
“There's a better way to peer into his heart.”
The lives of assassins were as fleeting as those of flies.
Hiding in the shadows, secretly eliminating the targets designated by their clients.
One might think it the safest job, but in truth, it was no different from any other pursuit of lives in the brutal martial world.
In other words, if their presence was ever discovered, the odds of losing their own lives were exceedingly high.
Jeok I-gyeom had been sold into this life.
It stemmed from the very circumstances of assassins like him.
With so many dying on missions, they could never stop sourcing fresh blood.
Of course, they didn't exclusively kidnap and raise children.
Any warrior willing to join was accepted.
Hands were perpetually short, and turning their lives into successful commissions was pure profit.
Thus, the most vital task in Saam Valley was recruiting and training new blood. The man at the heart of that role was none other than.
“This year's a real drought—cracked and parched.”
Saam Valley's Salbeom, Hyeong Du.
He was one of the valley's top powerhouses, but at the Valley Master's suggestion, he had stepped back from the front lines to take the Salbeom position.
Like the instructors in other clans or sects, his role was to test prospective recruits, then train those showing promise.
The Valley Master understood the importance of nurturing new talent better than anyone, so he had entrusted the job to a trusted subordinate.
And right now, that Hyeong Du sat on the stairs, racking his brains and letting out a deep sigh.
“Last year alone, thirty-two died. We need to raise even more newbies this year.”
Last year, they had taken a commission from the Nine Great Sects, only for an entire unit to be wiped out in the disaster that followed.
The massive personnel loss still hadn't been filled.
“The recent harvest has been a disaster.”
He wasn't talking about farming fields.
It was about the new children procured from the underworld brokers.
Their aptitudes and talents.
And as he muttered, not a single standout talent had emerged among the recent arrivals in Saam Valley.
As Hyeong Du lamented, a fellow assassin at his side spoke up.
“What did I tell you? Kids from the Guangxi region rarely show any aptitude.”
“Cut the nonsense. You think talent is predetermined by birthplace?”
“Not exactly, but it can bloom differently depending on where they grew up. Take Xinjiang, for example.”
In fact, the proportion of Xinjiang kids who kept up with training was similar to other regions.
But for some reason, the elite assassins who rose to prominence were disproportionately from Xinjiang.
“You know Jeok I-gyeom came from Xinjiang too, right?”
Hyeong Du let out a low groan at the name.
Jeok I-gyeom, leader of the assassin vanguard.
He had completed every high-difficulty mission assigned by the Valley Master, ascending to an executive position at a young age.
He was also the highest achiever among those Hyeong Du had trained as an assassin in his youth—a figure admired by many.
“...Just a coincidence.”
Yet Hyeong Du shook his head in denial.
It was merely individual talent.
Far too few samples to tie it to a region.
However.
“Still, like you said, let's bring in some Xinjiang kids next time.”
It wouldn't hurt to verify the theory properly.
Hyeong Du mentally reserved Xinjiang for the next recruitment trip.
His fellow assassin responded as if struck by a thought.
“By the way, I hear human traffickers have sharply decreased in Xinjiang lately. Not sure if we can secure any kids.”
“Sharply decreased?”
“Yeah. Word is, the Heavenly Demon is cracking down extra hard on the worst criminals.”
“The Heavenly Demon...”
A guy who wasn't helpful in the slightest.
“Tch. If we'd been operating in the Central Plains instead of Xinjiang, we could've made the Heavenly Demon tremble.”
“Tremble? We couldn't even get close before dying.”
“What kind of talk is that! Are you really downplaying Saam Valley's might like this?”
“I'm just stating facts. Sure, we're the assassin group that makes Guizhou City quake, but how could we stand against the Demon Cult?”
“Even so, you only know long from short by comparing...!”
Hyeong Du's voice rose against his companion's growing nonchalance.
In the midst of his heated rant extolling Saam Valley's greatness, a subordinate approached.
“Salbeom-nim, you need to come take a look right now.”
“It's my day off—what is it?”
Hyeong Du frowned, displeasure plain on his face.
Summoning him on a holiday? Unless there was a damn good reason, he'd chew the guy out...
“Some people showed up applying to be newbie assassins. I've had them wait.”
“What?!”
Hyeong Du's eyes nearly rolled back as he shot to his feet.
“They applied as newbies? Lead the way—now!”
He completely tuned out his companion and hurried after the subordinate.
His excited footsteps quickened by the moment.
Before long, he spotted two men standing in the yard before the testing hall.
“Not one, but two!”
He barely contained his surging excitement, wiping all joy from his face.
With a stern expression, he scrutinized them anew.
One was a sharply handsome man; the other closer to middle-aged than youthful.
Even better.
With immediate combat potential desperately needed, adults entering as recruits were far preferable to children requiring full training from scratch.
And they looked like they knew martial arts, judging by their auras.
Burying his satisfaction deep, he approached and demanded in a stiff voice.
“Who are you? Who sent you to our valley?”
“Hyeok.”
“I'm Jeok. We came to Saam Valley on Jeok I-gyeom-nim's introduction.”
Not proper names, but it was enough for Hyeong Du.
They've done assassin work before.
Assassins sometimes adopted single-syllable aliases for quick communication.
And an introduction from Jeok I-gyeom, no less.
“Where are you from? Mind if I ask?”
The man who called himself Jeok hesitated briefly.
At that moment, Hyeok spoke up without reservation.
“Xinjiang.”
“……!”
“We're from Xinjiang.”
Perhaps because they'd just been discussing origins.
Hyeong Du's interest piqued instantly.
Perfect timing.
Now I can test if that fool's theory holds water.
“Follow me.”
No matter how short-staffed they were, Saam Valley had no use for just anyone.
Every recruit had to pass a test first.
However, the trial Hyeong Du had in mind was entirely different from the standard newbie evaluation.
I hope they live up to my expectations.
Hyeong Du glanced back at them, his lips curling into a sinister smirk.