Chapter 56
Chapter 56
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 56
Chapter Title: An Unexpected Assignment
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Bu Eun-seol was tasked with eliminating the Nam-sa-gok assassins operating in Ak-yang.
When night fell, he prepared to infiltrate the Nam-sa-gok's base outside the south gate.
But suddenly, the assassins emerged and began moving somewhere.
Sensing something amiss, Bu Eun-seol stealthily followed them, only to discover them attacking disciples of the Hyeong-san School.
*‘They’ve truly become a ruined school.’*
Bu Eun-seol sighed under his breath as he watched the Hyeong-san School's swordsmanship against the assassins.
Superior martial arts? Secret internal energy techniques?
Such things were not essential to ending an enemy’s life. What was truly necessary was an intense will to kill and the confidence to do so.
But the disciples of the Hyeong-san School had lost both their will to kill and their confidence.
Instead, with every move they made, their faces were etched with frustration.
*‘They won’t last fifteen minutes.’*
Watching the fight between the Hyeong-san School and the assassins, Bu Eun-seol scoffed quietly.
And indeed, before fifteen minutes had passed, all the Hyeong-san disciples, save for one named Myeong-un, were injured and collapsed on the ground.
“Who are you!”
The lead assassin’s shout pulled Bu Eun-seol from his reverie.
“Who am I, you ask.”
The masked Bu Eun-seol’s eyes crinkled into a smile. The sight sent a chill down the assassins’ spines.
“Kill this bastard at once—”
The assassin’s words were cut short.
No need for questions or answers. Having already decided to exterminate the Nam-sa-gok assassins, Bu Eun-seol drew his sword and stabbed the man in the throat without hesitation.
“Kuh.”
With a choked gasp, the assassin collapsed like a log.
The remaining assassins immediately began to surround Bu Eun-seol.
*Shhh, shhh, shhh, shhh.*
The assassins split into two groups and circled Bu Eun-seol.
Their movements were dizzying, like two snakes coiling around each other. They had formed the Poison Fang Formation, the pride of the Nam-sa-gok.
“Pointless movements.”
The Poison Fang Formation’s uniquely dazzling maneuvers were normally enough to disorient anyone who merely watched.
But to the eyes of Bu Eun-seol, who had mastered the Ya-su-do, their movements were perfectly clear.
“If you want to confuse your enemy, you must move quickly.”
Without hesitation, Bu Eun-seol thrust his sword to the left.
“Ugh.”
A groan escaped the lips of another assassin, pierced by the blade.
It seemed as if Bu Eun-seol was thrusting his sword at random, but nine times out of ten, he struck a weak point in the Poison Fang Formation.
*Shick! Shick!*
As Bu Eun-seol easily disrupted the formation, one of the assassins shouted.
“He’s a master of formation breaking! Keep your distance and use hidden weapons!”
The assassins broke formation and retreated to create distance from Bu Eun-seol.
But that was their mistake.
“Who discusses their strategy in front of the enemy?”
Unleashing the Extreme Speed, Shadowless Form, Bu Eun-seol weaved through the scattered assassins, taking them down one by one.
“Ugh…”
Fear flickered in the eyes of the assassins as they watched their comrades die.
He allowed neither retreat nor attack.
Moving like a phantom, Bu Eun-seol’s sword steadily severed the assassins’ lifelines.
*‘Their skills aren’t that impressive.’*
Until now, Bu Eun-seol had only faced opponents stronger than himself.
From his perspective, these Nam-sa-gok assassins were numerous, but their skills felt mediocre.
“It’s do or die!”
Realizing they couldn’t escape Bu Eun-seol’s grasp, the assassins attacked all at once.
*Swish! Swish! Swish!*
As some twenty swords rained down, the force was like a tidal wave.
Bu Eun-seol’s eyes flashed as he calmly watched the swords pouring in from all directions.
The assassins’ swordsmanship was less a series of techniques and more a physical manifestation of their will to kill.
*‘In other words, will itself can be a formidable technique.’*
Watching the downpour of swords, his own blade moved naturally.
*‘And will can be converted into momentum.’*
Having reached an epiphany, Bu Eun-seol hid the sword that had been moving so fluidly behind his back.
“...!”
At that moment, the assassins felt a strange pressure on their fingertips, and the swords they held suddenly veered off in odd directions.
“What is this!”
Bewildered, the assassins swung their poisoned swords once more.
But Bu Eun-seol again raised his sword and took a peculiar stance.
*Clang!*
This time, their thrusting swords began to clash against each other.
“It’s the Sword Zenith Stance!”
Realizing that Bu Eun-seol was using the Sword Zenith Stance, a technique only masters of the sword could employ, the assassins scattered in terror and retreated.
“Do you have any other tricks?”
As Bu Eun-seol approached with an indifferent expression, the terrified assassins stumbled back again.
“So this is the level of the Nam-sa-gok.”
Bu Eun-seol couldn’t hide his disappointment.
Back on Hell Island, young assassins, not even of age, had used all sorts of bizarre methods to kill each other.
Poison and hidden weapons were basic; there were even those who risked their comrades’ lives or their own in attempts to take their enemies down with them.
*‘To think that the Nam-sa-gok, a notorious assassin group in the martial world, would be this mediocre.’*
In truth, it wasn't so much that the Nam-sa-gok was weak, but that Bu Eun-seol’s skills had improved dramatically.
However, he himself was completely unaware of his own strength.
“Don’t get cocky!”
One of the assassins glared at Bu Eun-seol and shouted.
“Our valley will surely take care of you!”
*Crunch!*
A grotesque sound echoed from within the assassins’ mouths.
Simultaneously, dark red blood began to flow from their lips.
Realizing they could neither defeat Bu Eun-seol nor escape, they had crushed the false teeth containing a potent poison.
*Thud. Thud.*
As the assassins fell like logs,
“Ughhh!”
With the assassins dead, only groans echoed through the forest.
Looking back, he saw the surviving Hyeong-san disciples weeping.
It was not from pain, but from shame.
—That young masked man had single-handedly defeated the assassins that nine of them could not.
*Shhk.*
Wiping his tears, Ok Gi-heun staggered toward Bu Eun-seol and clasped his hands together.
“Thank you for your help, benefactor.”
“Don’t misunderstand.”
Bu Eun-seol said coldly, turning away.
“I wasn’t here to help you.”
“Even so… you saved the lives of our school’s disciples. We owe it all to you.”
“Think what you will.”
As Bu Eun-seol tried to turn away without another word, Myeong-un suddenly stumbled forward.
“Benefactor!”
Myeong-un bit his lip and said.
“Please, at least tell us your name. Our school will be sure to repay this kindness in the future!”
Bu Eun-seol looked into Myeong-un’s blazing eyes.
The mischievous, liquor-loving loafer was gone, replaced by a martial artist with eyes that sought strength.
“Just quit drinking.”
“What?”
As the bewildered Myeong-un’s eyes widened,
“...”
the masked man who had been standing before him was suddenly gone.
“Quit drinking…”
Myeong-un muttered, and Hong Jeon-gun, who was beside him, spoke up.
“Could it be… an incarnation of Grandmaster Neung-ryeong, who was said to have vanished to become an immortal?”
Neung-ryeong, who had disappeared without a trace, leaving behind no oral traditions or secret manuals.
While the martial world believed he had gone missing, the Hyeong-san School believed he had suddenly ascended to the realm of immortals.
“How could that be?”
Ok Gi-heun replied with a hollow look.
“Our benefactor’s swordsmanship was closer to that of the demonic path. How could he possibly be Grandmaster Neung-ryeong?”
“Was that so?”
As Hong Jeon-gun scratched his head, Myeong-un shook his.
“His swordsmanship changed according to the enemy’s movements.”
“What?”
“He even used the Sword Zenith Stance. To be able to use such a technique at his age, he would have to be a famous rising expert of the demonic path… but there’s no reason he would help our school.”
At Myeong-un’s words, Hong Jeon-gun said.
“I really don’t know. I wonder which school he’s from.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
Ok Gi-heun said in a powerful voice.
“He saved the lives of our school’s disciples, so we must repay our benefactor, regardless of whether he follows the righteous or demonic path. And to do that… we must become stronger!”
At his words, all the disciples nodded.
The Hyeong-san School had been mired in despair over their lost martial arts.
But this incident helped them reclaim their lost fighting spirit and ambition.
The sleeping dragons of the Hyeong-san School stretched their wings, ready to once again recreate the glory of their past.
***
Time flows like a river.
Six months had passed since Bu Eun-seol joined the Ak-yang branch of the Gu-sal Squad.
During that time, he had completed missions without rest.
Assassination, reconnaissance, intelligence gathering, theft of treasures or artifacts, background checks on targets, annihilation of hostile sects, or partial destruction of their facilities...
He hadn’t stuck to just one type of mission; he had flawlessly handled every kind of assignment that came his way.
Becoming stronger.
It wasn’t just about fighting enemies with weapons.
It was about calmly analyzing situations, responding to unexpected events, and reaching conclusions faster than others through diverse experiences.
He had realized that this was true strength.
—What in the world is happening at the Ak-yang branch?
As a series of difficult missions that had long been unresolved were completed one after another, the leaders of the Ma-jeon began to take notice of the Ak-yang branch.
—Number Eighteen. He handled all of the Ak-yang branch’s work.
Number Eighteen of the Ak-yang branch.
Normally, agents only handled missions within their specialty.
But he took on every mission without discrimination. Moreover, he completed them faster than anyone else and never left a single trace.
—Interesting.
In the end, the Ma-jeon leadership expressed their interest in Number Eighteen.
And because of that, Bu Eun-seol found himself in an unexpected situation.
Inside the Hoehyeon Bookstore, in a secret chamber.
Bu Eun-seol stared at Sang-ryang and Ma-un, his brow deeply furrowed.
It was because Sang-ryang was saying something utterly absurd.
“A bodyguard?”
The Gu-sal Squad handled all sorts of impossible tasks. But being a bodyguard was not one of them.
“That’s right.”
“I refuse.”
Standing silently with his arms crossed, Bu Eun-seol turned away coldly.
After weathering the storms of the martial world for six months, Bu Eun-seol’s manner of speech had become as cold and stiff as that of any old veteran.
“I came here as an agent of the Gu-sal Squad.”
“Wait, just listen to me for a moment.”
Sang-ryang’s tone and actions were extremely cautious.
After all, the Ak-yang branch had reached a point where it couldn’t function without Bu Eun-seol.
Because he completed his missions so brilliantly as to attract the attention of the Ma-jeon leadership, the branch was now flooded with extremely difficult missions that no other agent could handle.
“This is a mission that came directly from the higher-ups.”
For a moment, Bu Eun-seol’s eyes, reflecting the light of the oil lamp, flashed.
“Then is this an Alpha-grade mission?”
“Well… it’s not Alpha-grade, but it’s similar.”
Sang-ryang scratched his head and sighed.
“It just doesn’t have the Alpha-grade seal on it.”
“I don’t understand what you’re saying.”
“It means it’s a mission that neither you nor I can refuse. It didn’t come down as a Gu-sal Squad mission, but as a direct order to our branch. Ma-un.”
At Sang-ryang’s words, Ma-un handed the letter he was holding to Bu Eun-seol.
“...”
Bu Eun-seol’s brow furrowed again as he looked at the letter.
The contents were simple.
Go to the rendezvous point where the client is and follow their orders. The mission ends the moment the client leaves Ak-yang.
In short, he was to stay by the client’s side as long as they remained in Ak-yang.
“Who is the client?”
Ma-un shook his head at Bu Eun-seol’s question.
“I don’t know. All I know is that the client came to Ak-yang for leisure…”
*‘They must be someone of very high status.’*
In other words, the higher-ups had personally assigned a bodyguard mission for someone who was just visiting for fun.
This meant the client was either a major figure in the demonic path or someone with direct ties to the Ma-jeon leadership.
“A mission directly for the branch…”
Seeing Bu Eun-seol’s displeased expression, Ma-un said.
“But the reward is just as good. Ten thousand nyang a day… It’s been set at a level comparable to an Alpha-grade mission.”
Ten thousand nyang a day.
If it lasted ten days, that would be a hundred thousand nyang, a massive sum. Enough to retire immediately and live in luxury for the rest of his life.
“I’ll just take another mission.”
“You’re turning down a job that pays ten thousand nyang a day?”
“I have no need for money.”
“But it’s a mission from the higher-ups.”
“What do I care?”
At Bu Eun-seol’s blunt reply, Sang-ryang and Ma-un’s eyes filled with terror.
—That crazy bastard is capable of defying an order from the higher-ups