The Hundred-and-Eighty-Seventh Night Festival
The front gate of the Janggeubyeon brothel district, known as the Second Branch of the Unwol Jiju, suddenly erupted in chaos. Shouts of “Where is Branch Head Jeon Punggae!” echoed as a black-robed figure leaped forward with explosive force.
Normally, the sound of lively string instruments and the stench of lewd perfume would have filled this place of eight brothels under the Second Branch. Instead, everything had been reduced to a scene of utter destruction.
This disorder had begun just two hours earlier with nothing but two intruders.
“Biryu! This is the last brothel! I’ve swept the entire upper floor! What about down here?!”
So Yeomgyo shouted while running along the corridor behind me, her red mask glowing faintly.
I shook the blood off my hand and yelled back.
“We’ve nearly finished up here! There’s almost no one left to come out…!”
-Ddongddongddongddongddong!
“Intrusion! It’s an intrusion!”
“Daring to stage a gathering while Branch Head Jeon Punggae is away!”
“What’s your affiliation?”
The underground iron door burst open, and dozens of black-robed figures poured out, leaping into a straight line like a tide.
“Hah, there are still quite a few left.”
I muttered under my breath.
So Yeomgyo didn’t slow her charge, shouting as she leaped.
“We break through right here! I’ll take the left side! Biryu, sweep the right! Seeing so many subordinates, there must be a branch head in this brothel!”
In front of the stone corridor, the entrance was shattered, and the alarm blared. Black-robed figures poured through in a messy flood, though they weren’t entirely defenseless—probably having prepared after hearing the news of the First Branch’s destruction.
Spotting us charging down the corridor with our red masks on, a lone figure gritted his teeth and drew his sword.
So Yeomgyo leaped along the left wall like a single black arrow.
-Hwiririk!
My body twisted irregularly as I dashed along the walls and ceiling, then the corridor, advancing forward.
I pointed at the red silhouette and flickering candles hanging from the ceiling and shouted.
“So Yeomgyo! Put out the lights!”
She screamed in outrage, “How dare a field investigator give orders to a sect leader?! You’ll die for this!”
“...I’ll never join your group.”
-Hwiririk!
Despite my words, the soft sword shot out from her hand like a whip, slicing through the air.
Puff, puff! Hundreds of candles and lanterns shattered at once, plunging the area into pitch-black darkness.
“The lights—!”
“Can’t see—!”
-Kak!
My seven-spider-silk iron gauntlet on my left hand locked together, and my fist clenched tight.
-Jeeong! Jjeojing! Jjeoeong!
Bones and flesh crushed with a sickening crunch, the black-robed figures were sent flying and slammed into the walls like cattle being beaten.
“W-What kind of strength is this?!”
“Body technique?!”
A black-robed subordinate shouted at the figures flying like sheets of paper toward his subordinates.
“You bastards! Stab them with the knife and finish them! They’ve already been checked, might as well use them as side dishes later!”
“The knife won’t stick!”
The black-robed figures screamed in pain.
The leader charged toward me in fury.
“That’s just talk—!”
-Zzaweong!
Flames erupted as the sword swung by the black-robed figure was deflected mere inches from my neck.
The man’s eyes bulged like marbles.
“It really won’t pierce... This is like the legendary ‘Protective Armor’ I’ve only heard about in rumors...!”
-Wajik!
Chomping down with my steel gauntlet, it locked into the man’s mouth.
“Sorry, but it’s not a protective armor—it’s the ‘Protective Gauntlet.’”
I muttered while looking at the black-robed subordinate whose eyes were rolling back in unconsciousness.
“This side is women! Assassin women!”
“Block the path so Jeon Punggae can’t reach them!”
Black-robed figures drew their swords.
Gritting my teeth while watching So Yeomgyo climb the wall to confront them.
“Assassins, you pricks who only know how to ambush once! How dare you!”
“What? You bastards?”
So Yeomgyo’s eyes flashed crimson as her entire aura ignited.
-Chaechae chae! Kwajik! Kwak!
Flames erupted. The moment her soft swords clashed with the incoming blades, the black-robed figures’ strength failed them and they were flung away like broken toys.
-Puk! Peobeok! Puk!
So Yeomgyo brushed past the black-robed figure she had just repelled and swung her swords in all directions. Heads flew off in every direction.
“Oh my god.”
The black-robed figures were thrown into total panic.
“He’s even more of a monster than the man over there!”
“His swords are like whips!”
So Yeomgyo stomped the ground.
She leaped high into the air. The moment she landed, devastating kicks slammed down on either side. Two black-robed figures crumpled with broken necks and crashed to the floor.
This wasn’t just breakthrough—it was merciless vengeance.
I grabbed the black-robed figure’s collar with my blood-soaked hand and shouted at her.
“So Yeomgyo! That was breakthrough!”
“Shut up! I’ll kill them all! Those bastards! They’re spitting on the legacy of assassins from the old Jeongma Great War! Do you know how roughly I’ve trained my people lately?!”
“I won’t stop you.”
I punched the man’s face who was charging and yelled.
“Stop probing and interrogate! You told me to stay calm, yet you’re the first one rolling your eyes!”
“Ah ha. Interrogate?!”
So Yeomgyo nodded.
In front of her, a black-robed figure raised a war hammer and charged with a savage roar.
“You assassin bitch! Die!”
So Yeomgyo’s right leg vanished.
She kicked the attacker’s shin who was charging with the hammer.
-Kuk.
The black-robed figure froze in place as if his legs had turned to stone.
She stomped his solar plexus with a side kick.
The forward charge halted like a nail hammered into wood.
She raised her leg and kicked the man’s jaw, shouting.
“Where is the place you’re staying! Where are your superiors!”
The man who was supposed to answer had already been thrown away after his jaw was shattered.
She followed with a rear kick and shouted.
“Answer me! You bastards!”
The man who was supposed to answer had his spine broken and was pinned to the corner.
She leaped like a red whirlwind, covering the remaining black-robed figures.
“You’re not talking even after all this?!”
“I-I’ll tell you— guhuk!”
The black-robed figure who was about to answer was kicked away by her foot.
“Speak quickly!”
Her aura exploded outward with her red robes fluttering. The sharp voice echoed through the corridor.
“Tsk, you really won’t talk. Is this the place where black-robed figures brag about their guts?!”
“Give me an answer for a second!”
A bald black-robed figure, spun completely by the uppercut kick So Yeomgyo delivered, slammed into the ceiling and dropped down.
“...They said there’s no one with a level head among those with red eyes. That temper of yours is the end of it.”
I muttered toward the one I was about to slam into the wall.
So Yeomgyo’s ears perked up.
She glared at me.
“I’ve told you over and over! I’m Yeom and you’re Cheok!”
“Now that I think about it, you said you were locked up eating wall-curving dumplings after using the Yeoman Eye seriously, right?”
At those words, So Yeomgyo waved her hand dismissively.
“I’m not saying crossing that ‘line’ by becoming Yeoman was necessary. I’m barely keeping it under control... Wait, it’s still twitching!”
So Yeomgyo kicked the black-robed figure who was writhing and reaching for his sword beneath her foot.
“It’s a mess.”
The black-robed figure, clutching my hand around his collar, spewed blood and pointed with a trembling finger.
“H-he’s... Jeon Punggae is past the two large doors on the front... He’s currently...!”
I looked up.
Before me stood an enormous door crafted from a giant camphor tree.
“So Yeomgyo! I found the branch head!”
“What?”
So Yeomgyo turned to look at me.
-Kwaaang!
With a side kick, the massive door exploded like a firecracker.
Wood fragments and overturned tables flew everywhere as food and wine cascaded across the floor.
“Kyaaak!”
“Ugh! What the hell is this?!”
The men entangled with courtesans in the brothel screamed.
“These outsiders are starving to death outside and yet here they are drinking and messing around with women! Who is Jeon Punggae, the branch head?! Get out here right now!”
So Yeomgyo smashed through the banquet hall and charged forward.
“Do you think this place is safe?!”
“Intrusion!”
The branch officers and martial artists who looked like they were enjoying the banquet all half-dressed, adjusted their clothes and gripped their swords.
The courtesans rose with screams.
Mumyeong warned me quickly.
[Host! The courtesans are on the same side!]
“Got it!”
They were clearly screaming in fear, but their eyes were not filled with panic—they were completely composed.
I could see daggers hidden beneath their fluttering clothes.
There was no ordinary person here.
Only those who had tasted blood and were ready to rip out throats if they saw a gap.
-Pabat! Paba bat!
I leaped forward, my black robes fluttering.
-Chaechae chae!
I deflected the blade swinging toward me.
At the same time, I grabbed one side of the table and overturned it.
I blocked the opponent’s view and struck the center of the table with my fist.
“Kuek!”
The table exploded, and the officer behind it was flung away with his ribs shattered.
I slapped my palm down on the martial artist’s throat beside him.
I stuffed my foot into the guqin on the floor.
I lifted the guqin into the air.
I snatched it.
I brought it down on the head of the courtesan who was charging with a short sword.
-Kwaaang!
-Hwiririk! Hwiri rik!
The sound of the guqin shattering and its strings snapping through the air was like a blade tearing the sky.
The martial artist swung his sword toward my side.
[Detect!]
Mumyeong warned me instantly.
-Kkaaang!
I grabbed the blade that was about to pierce my side with my seven-spider-silk iron gauntlet.
I pulled out the sword sheath from his belt.
I struck his Adam’s apple.
I hammered his crown.
With a knee strike that shattered his kneecap, I grabbed his Adam’s apple and slammed him and the neighboring martial artist into the wall at once.
“So Yeomgyo! The path is open!”
“W-what?!”
In the wide-open center, the most elegantly dressed man with long red hair stood with a bewildered expression.
So Yeomgyo didn’t miss the split-second opportunity.
Her eyes flashed as she continuously slashed the throats of the three martial artists who had charged her.
-Dadadadada!
She stomped on plates and wood fragments rising into the air, her red robes fluttering wildly in the middle of the banquet hall like a single red swallow.
Jeon Punggae screamed.
“You crazy bastards! It wasn’t just end with Branch Head Ha Hu-gang like Paeng Ha-jin said!”
Jeon Punggae grabbed his bamboo pipe and bit into a cigarette.
“I don’t know who you are, but I am the one who gained fame with the Cheongma Oryun! Where are you going to...!”
So Yeomgyo’s knee, heavy with her full body weight, slammed into his chest.
“Kuek!”
The sword he was swinging was caught by his wrist by So Yeomgyo’s arm.
He was twisted and suppressed.
So Yeomgyo grabbed the back of his head and slammed it onto the table.
-Wajang chang!
Jeon Punggae didn’t know what kind of prestige the Cheongma Oryun carried.
But it was obvious that the leader of the Blood Death Sect was not of the same level as the strongest assassin group in the Jianghu.
-Huk!
As So Yeomgyo exhaled, her red eyes sparkled.
-Kwaduk! Kwaduduk!
Jeon Punggae’s joints were torn out, rendering him powerless.
All the acupoints were also struck.
Some of them were points I had not learned.
Only after the entire process did Jeon Punggae’s scream finally ring out in despair.
“Kueuaaaaak!”
“You’re Jeon Punggae. Your face is ugly, so it must be you.”
Jeon Punggae gritted his teeth with a stern expression.
“This... this damned pair of bitches... I have the guts to take responsibility for this kind of...!”
So Yeomgyo’s soft sword handle slammed down on the back of his head.
“Are you trying to turn away the heart that decided to walk the righteous path filled with justice?”
“Y-you crazy... like a whore...”
So Yeomgyo looked around.
A half-open door came into view.
So Yeomgyo laid Jeon Punggae there.
“Hey, wait. What are you doing.”
She trapped his neck between the door and the frame, slamming the door shut with all her strength several times.
“Aaaak! Uak! Uak! Stop! Stop!”
So Yeomgyo grabbed his collar and whispered.
“I’ll ask politely like the righteous faction. Answer right away. The questions are two. Where is the branch that is holding the Wanmu Baegachi Yejwae? And where is the Third Branch Head Chu Yeo-ryong?”
Jeon Punggae muttered in hellish pain.
“...All kinds of filthy things but talking about the righteous faction... you vile bastard...”
“...”
So Yeomgyo blinked.
“I may be righteous in my heart.”
She said while turning around.
“Is this the right way to say it? This is confusing...”
“...”
I rubbed my eyes and lowered my head.