The Flute of Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Iron

But that wasn’t the case at all. Even after being showered with terrifying verbal abuse, the Advance Blue Wave Squad member hadn’t actually heard most of it. He took great pride in being a member of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult. The Cult revered the strong above all else; strength was law. It was a crucible of solitude overflowing with lunatics and madwomen. Cannibals? They existed. Torturers? They existed. Those who took pleasure in killing? Of course they existed. But having faced and clashed with so many demonic practitioners directly, he had developed an eye for distinguishing the real monsters from the half-baked ones.

The girl standing before him was the genuine article. He couldn’t understand how something like her had managed to hide among the orthodox factions. She was more demonic than any practitioner he had ever met. No—it was as if she belonged to an entirely different species of creature. His jaw trembled.

“P-please spare me……”

A first-class expert was rubbing his hands together like a fly. This was one of the advantages of the unorthodox path. A warrior without any greater cause held only one thing sacred: his own life.

Cheong looked down at the groveling man. Like the others, he was someone who deserved to die. Her gaze turned crooked.

“Me? Why?”

“If you just spare my life, I’ll do anything.”

The moment Cheong lifted her foot, the man cried out in terror.

“Wait! Great One! I have information! I’ll tell you everything I know! The Boksinjeok! We’re looking for the Boksinjeok!”

Cheong’s movement stopped. She had no idea what the Boksinjeok was, nor did she particularly care. But the status window that floated up before her eyes seemed to feel differently.

“Tsk……”

System, it’s you again? Don’t you sleep? It’s two in the morning. At least you’re cleaner than the last one. If you keep acting this pathetic, how am I supposed to accept you? Why don’t you just stop breathing and die already?

Suddenly, a half-remembered strategy guide crossed her mind. It had said that while progressing through the game, one had to resolve three random crises—early, middle, and late game. But she had already seen the final crisis all the way to the end boss. What kind of order was this? This was a complete mess. Would it end if she just caught Yeonyoung? Or did she really have to handle three when even one was already a pain?

Still, ever since encountering Yeonyoung, the quest window felt a bit more manageable. At least it didn’t chew through her brain like the martial arts window did.

“Haa……”

Cheong let out a long, deep sigh. She wanted to vent the frustration clogging her chest right then and there, but—

“So, what the hell is the Boksinjeok, you bastard? Why are you talking like I’m supposed to already know? Isn’t that some kind of illegal whatever under the whatever law?”

Cheong stood at an angle and continued.

“In that case, my verdict will be the death penalty.”

“I’ll tell you everything!”

Two hundred years ago, there was a legendary blacksmith known as the Incarnation of the Fire God. His name was Ban Chi—

Cheong suddenly exploded in anger.

“Agh, what the hell is this sudden story dump? Do I look like I’m in the mood for some grandpa’s bedtime tale? Should I pull out all your teeth and turn you into an actual old man?”

“N-no! So, what I mean is……”

One of Ban Chi’s masterpieces was a flute made of ten-thousand-year cold iron—the Boksinjeok.

“What? You’re telling me you went through all this trouble just to find one lousy flute?”

“It’s not just any flute. It’s a flute made of cold iron. It is a treasure that every musician in the world desires, and its tone is so beautiful that even the Qing Emperor himself praised it—”

The Qing Emperor, or Fuxi, was a supreme deity in ancient China who acted as the creator of humanity. He generously bestowed all kinds of miscellaneous knowledge upon mankind like a tree bearing fruit. Among those gifts ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was music. To say that even the Qing Emperor would admire it was the highest praise one could give to a musician.

However, if someone told Cheong, “There’s this flute whose tone surpasses all the sounds of nature and is incredibly beautiful,” she wouldn’t be able to imagine what kind of flute it was and therefore wouldn’t care.

“It’s still just a flute, isn’t it?” she would say.

But if someone told Cheong—

“That flute is a treasure worth ten thousand gold……”

“It really is a treasure! I acknowledge it.”

—she would exclaim in admiration.

Ten thousand gold. An unimaginable amount of wealth. No wonder the system window had made such a fuss. Cheong thought to herself.

She couldn’t hand it over to that group of villains. But she also couldn’t entrust it to the Murim Alliance. Wasn’t the final boss, Yeonyoung, pretending to be a patrol officer of the Murim Alliance? If she threw a treasure into an organization run that sloppily, it would disappear without a trace.

Then what?

Her master sometimes played the flute. If she gave it as a gift, wouldn’t she be happy?

Cheong made up her mind.

“What are you doing?”

“Y-yes?”

“Aren’t you supposed to start guiding me? What are you waiting for?”

“Then you’ll really spare my……”

Cheong’s eyes narrowed.

“What? Are you, a villain, talking back to me right now?”

“I will guide you! I want to guide you! Please let me guide you!”

Cheong’s expression relaxed.

“Good. Let’s go.”

Hundreds of drawers were scattered across the tomb chamber floor. Rotten medicinal pills, rusted hairpins and jade ornaments, corroded long blades and daggers—all of them lay tumbled together. No one could have imagined that the final moment of a hidden treasure map would involve angrily yanking out drawers. It was utterly vicious.

Normally, it wasn’t something the leader of the Advance Blue Wave Squad should be doing himself, but with fire literally on his tail, he had no choice. How long had the terrifying demonic heads of the Cult been rummaging through the drawers in the tomb?

Finally, from the very top row—an annoyingly high spot that required ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠hanging from it—a drawer containing a dark blue flute tumbled to the floor.

“We found it!”

“At last……!”

Yeom Sa-rae-dal let out a voice thick with emotion at the lifeline that had finally revealed itself. It was a plain, dark blue body about one and a half feet long. At a glance it looked like a metal club, but it was a treasure whose value could not be measured.

“Good. Now then……”

It was then.

Thud.

Someone jumped down into the tomb chamber. Yeom Sa-rae-dal flinched and grabbed his iron hammer.

“Who goes there! …Wait, it’s you. Where are the others?”

Yeom Sa-rae-dal recognized his subordinate’s face. He didn’t remember the name, but the face was familiar. The subordinate hesitated.

“Well, you see……”

—Hey, is this the right spot? I’m coming down?

A cheerful voice suddenly pierced into the stone chamber. At the same time, with a light tap, a girl of mysterious age landed gracefully inside the chamber.

Cheong slowly looked around the stone chamber. In the center was an open stone coffin, revealing faded silk and the remains of a crumbled corpse beneath it. The floor was littered with every drawer pulled out and scattered.

“What the—grave robbing? You’re looting a tomb? You evil bastards! Disturbing the rest of the dead? I cannot forgive this!”

Yeom Sa-rae-dal shot a look at his subordinate, demanding an explanation. Cheong also stared at the man whose pants were suspiciously wet. The subordinate looked back and forth between his leader and Cheong. Then he naturally drew his sword and pointed it at her.

Cheong frowned.

“Betrayal right here? Really? That’s your best move?”

“Shut up! I only lured you this far!”

“Whatever. I wasn’t planning to let you live anyway……”

Cheong had never promised to spare him. Now that they had reached their destination, she had intended to send this unnecessary villain to his final destination in the afterlife. He was quick on the uptake.

“Now, cry for me, Moonlight Chopping Demon Blade! Moonlight Slash! Demon Half-Sword!”

Cheong shouted whatever nonsense came to mind and charged forward. Yeom Sa-rae-dal swung his iron hammer to meet her. Clang!

The blade and the iron mass collided with a tremendous roar. Yeom Sa-rae-dal’s face turned deathly pale.

What kind of internal energy does this young bitch have……!

He had already exhausted most of his energy breaking through the ceiling of the stone chamber. “What are you all doing!”

At Yeom Sa-rae-dal’s shout, the remaining four squad members leaped forward. Cheong knocked aside a sword and a blade, then sharply pulled her hips back. A spear blade brushed dangerously close to her pelvis. She raised her sword high.

It was then.

Clatter. The sound of chains scraping.

A metal chain wrapped tightly around Cheong’s forearm. It was a weapon known in the Central Plains as an iron chain.

“Now!” the chain wielder shouted.

Yeom Sa-rae-dal didn’t miss the chance. He drew his iron hammer back with all his strength. He would crush that skull in one blow! The vicious, spike-covered iron mass flew toward Cheong’s head.

Cheong violently yanked her arm. The combination of her monstrous raw strength and internal energy sent the chain’s owner flying through the air, turning him into a human shield.

Thud!

The chain wielder blocked the hammer with his back. His spine shattered instantly. He vomited a fountain of blood and died on the spot.

At the same time—

Ding—!

An out-of-place temple bell sound rang out. The upper body of the man holding a blade exploded. His internal organs, finely minced, sprayed in all directions.

A bright voice filled the stone chamber.

“Half-sword. Eliminated!”

“You bastard!”

Despite the confident shout, the speaker hesitated and glanced around nervously. He had at least realized that Cheong was not beneath him.

“He said to use polite speech. Don’t you know manners? You really show how poorly educated you are. If you’re upset, you know what to do, right?”

Cheong wiggled her fingers. Yeom Sa-rae-dal signaled the last remaining subordinate with his eyes. At the same time, he folded and unfolded a few fingers in a specific pattern. It was a secret signal between squad members. It meant to attack simultaneously.

The subordinate briefly lowered his eyes and raised them again. Understood.

And then—

“Now!”

Yeom Sa-rae-dal roared, pouring every last bit of his remaining internal energy into his feet as he kicked off the ground. The subordinate, knowing this was their final chance, also stamped down hard and leaped upward. Both bodies flew toward the hole in the ceiling.

It was a perfectly timed, dramatic mutual betrayal. A specialty of villains.

The hole was narrow. Since two people jumped at the same time, they inevitably collided in mid-air with a loud crash. Both fell and rolled across the floor.

“You bastard! I told you to attack! How dare you disobey orders!”

“You’re the one who tried to run away, leader!”

“This is insubordination! Insubordination is punishable by death!”

“You were the one who tried to throw your subordinate away and run, you son of a bitch! I knew from the beginning that the so-called leader was always just fucking around by himself!”

“W-what did ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠you just say, you fucking son of a bitch!”

The two began shouting at each other. Cheong’s face twisted in disgust.

Whether it was the Demonic Cult or whatever, it really was a complete mess.