Something Comes Into View
The halls of the Murim Alliance Headquarters shone quietly beneath the moonlight.
After the gathering of rewards and recruitment offers had finally drawn to a close, we found ourselves gathered in front of the Myeolmade building before we knew it.
The time had come for comrades who had clawed their way back from hell to say their farewells.
"So this is where we all part ways," said Jeok Unyeop, captain of the Myeolmade, breaking the silence with a face that looked half-relieved and half-regretful.
At those words, the people who had fought their way out of the hellscape that was the Blood Sect simply looked at one another in silence.
"If any of you ever pass through Anhui, please drop by the Namgung Clan at least once," said Namgung Sohye, her hand clamped tight around her brother's arm as if to declare she would no longer tolerate him causing trouble out in the world. "I, Namgung Sohye, give you my word that you will be treated with the utmost hospitality."
She smiled brightly and promised she would even run out barefoot to greet us. Her obsessive streak was a problem, but her face was pretty enough that the picture she painted was rather charming.
"Of course, this Namgung Jin will also throw his arms wide and rush out to welcome you all," added the Namgung Clan's next heir, pushing his clinging little sister away with an awkward look as he seconded the invitation.
Namgung Jin went down the list of everyone's exploits one by one, praising each of us as magnificent, then suddenly fixed his gaze on me alone.
"Especially you, Young Hero Dan Mujin. Even if you don't pass through Anhui, you must come visit us at least once."
He seized my arm and insisted I come, saying that back in that cave he had been deeply moved by the way I threw my life away like a worn-out shoe for the sake of justice. He vowed to lay out the Namgung Clan's finest wine and every delicacy of land and sea, and looked fully prepared to come find me himself if I failed to appear.
"I would like to share a deep friendship with you. I feel we understand each other."
I don't feel that way at all, though.
Whatever misunderstanding had taken root, the young master of the Namgung Clan continued to shower me with an almost oppressive amount of interest and goodwill.
"My office is in Beijing. If it really comes to that, Young Hero Namgung Jin could simply come to me, couldn't he?"
"Haha… Well, it seems I won't be able to leave home for a while. After everything we've been through, they won't be letting me out of their sight anytime soon."
Namgung Jin shot a glance at his sister, who was still clinging to his arm like a rope and refused to let go.
Yeah. That one was never going to release him easily.
A vital blood relative of the Namgung Clan—and a potential future clan head—had charged straight into enemy territory chasing the Myeolmade. The elders of the family must have nearly died of fright; they would keep him in chains for the foreseeable future.
"Oppa, you should be careful around that one."
Suddenly Namgung Sohye stepped between her brother and me, cutting off the budding camaraderie.
We had just fought side by side through a war, and she was telling him to be careful right to my face.
Had she glimpsed the Heavenly Killing Star's nature during the battle? Or had she grown suspicious because I found the Blood Sect's secret passage too easily?
I thought I had settled the second possibility when I took the Blood Sect protector's head.
"That troubleshooter likes men. I confirmed it at his office."
"…"
She yanked Namgung Jin firmly toward her, as if she refused to let anyone steal her precious brother. At that bombshell of a statement, every eye turned silently toward me.
"Huh. Young Hero Dan Mujin, is that your preference?"
"…Absolutely not."
I shook my head at once in answer to Captain Jang Jin's question.
Apparently Ilhong, while still disguised as a man, had made such a fuss at the office that day that a rather strange misunderstanding had taken root.
It was better than being suspected of being the Heavenly Killing Star or a Blood Sect agent, but it was still an extremely awkward topic.
"Damn it, so that was why. No wonder no matter what I tried, you stayed as cold as a stone statue…"
Then Dang Yeohye, the Poison Claw Blood Maker, chimed in from the side as if something had finally clicked, matching the nonsense with perfect timing.
"Mujin, I've been wondering too… You do like women, right?"
The tiny girl said something strange, and the purple-eyed woman with the greatsword at her side turned to look at me with a worried face.
Jo Harang of the Purple Micro Star remarked that, come to think of it, I had never really shown any interest in women, and that it was a little odd.
"The young men I know at that age aren't usually like this…"
Apparently my behavior didn't match the typical pattern of a young, hot-blooded male martial artist standing in front of beauties.
"…What kind of nonsense is that? Of course I like women."
It was deeply unfair. I was suppressing my instincts and emotions because of that conditional death sentence hanging over me.
If I were the only one who would die, I would live without a second thought. But this was the kind of curse that could inflict catastrophic damage on everyone around me if I slipped even once.
"Young Hero Dan Mujin, I will support you no matter what path you walk."
Even Moyong Cheonghye nodded, looking half-pitying and half-understanding.
At this rate I was going to have to knock someone flat soon just to clear up the misunderstanding.
It was an absurd suspicion to pin on someone who was barely holding his desires in check.
"Harang, say something. You saw me flirting with Miss Ju Wolay not long ago."
I could have just let it slide, but once before I had ended up stuck with a weird title like "Seven Parts Cloud, Three Parts Hero" by ignoring things like this.
Unfortunately, that remark did nothing to clear the suspicion and only seemed to poke Dang Yeohye's temper.
"Ju Wolay? Who the hell is that now?"
Judging by the way her red-rimmed eyes twitched and the murderous look on her face, I decided those two should never be allowed to meet.
"Anyway, we should be heading back to the Namgung Clan. Mother is raising such a fuss for us to return at once."
Namgung Jin, finished with his preparations to leave, said as much.
Fair enough. Both of his precious children had nearly died in a foreign land at the same time; any parent's stomach would be turning inside out.
"And Lady Moyong Cheonghye, please visit Anhui with Young Hero Dan Mujin at least once. I must insist."
"…If I have the time, I will."
Namgung Jin locked eyes earnestly with my blood sister, Moyong Cheonghye, and extracted that promise from her. Even as Namgung Sohye dragged him away in a jealous fit, he kept glancing back this way, clearly still thinking about Moyong Cheonghye.
"Heh heh. Has he taken a fancy to the Evil-Slaying Divine Maiden?"
"Good for them. They make a fine pair."
Captains Jang Jin and Jeok Unyeop each offered a comment as they watched Namgung Jin's retreating back.
I looked at the same figure and couldn't help muttering inwardly.
That bastard… Don't tell me he's after my sister?
The Moyong Cheongjin inside me seemed to flinch and bristle. I still couldn't tell whether the guy loved his sister or resented her.
Sometimes I couldn't get a read on him at all. Then again, that was probably why people called it love-hate.
"Are you leaving as well, Young Hero Dan Mujin?"
"Yes. I have a job to get back to."
Moyong Cheonghye, who had been receiving Namgung Jin's gaze, had somehow moved to my side and spoken to me.
Every time I conversed this close to the terrifying woman who intended to purge every evil under heaven, my gut always seemed to twinge.
"We've only run into each other a few times by chance. We're practically strangers. Even so, thank you for coming all the way there to save me."
"…It was nothing. I only moved because it was a job."
Practically strangers.
The choice of words sent a strange emotion rising through my chest.
"But after everything we've been through this time, I feel as if we've grown much closer. Would you perhaps call me 'older sister,' the way you do with Squad Member Dang Yeohye?"
She was asking whether, even though we didn't share blood the way she and Dang Yeohye didn't, we had spilled enough of it together that she could become my sworn sister.
"…"
When I stared at her in blank disbelief, she scratched her cheek a little bashfully and offered an explanation.
"Everyone only looks at me with fear. There's not a single person who treats me with any real closeness."
Well, if I met a woman who spent her days doing nothing but cutting off the heads of the wicked, I would probably look at her with fear too.
Her reputation was almost as terrifying as Dang Yeohye's, and her results were so overwhelming that even the captains treated her carefully.
"But you seemed to get along with the fiery Lady Dang Yeohye well enough to call each other sister and little brother…"
Hmm. So she figured that with my level of nerve, it ought to be possible.
That was the reason? For a second I had nearly jumped out of my skin thinking something else had been exposed.
"Hey, Mujin. That kind of casual title is something you only allow after you've known someone a long, long time and gotten really close."
The moment it looked like someone other than her might also get called "older sister," Dang Yeohye—who was normally obsessed with the issue because of her height—suddenly butted in.
"Squad Member Dang Yeohye, do not interfere. Unless you want to regret it at training later."
"…"
The vice-captain of the Myeolmade crushed her cute new recruit's rebellion with rank alone.
"Uh, doesn't Lady Moyong Cheonghye already have a younger brother…?"
Why was she making this request of outsiders when she could just ask Moyong Hwi?
I couldn't make sense of it. The Moyong Cheongjin inside me also felt baffled. What kind of emotional shift had happened while I was gone?
"I do, but he doesn't treat me with any closeness. If anything, he… Never mind. It's nothing."
She trailed off with a bitter expression. It seemed Moyong Hwi, as he grew older and accumulated grievances, had started keeping his distance from her.
And their father was a cold-blooded man who ordered his own daughter to kill her brother. Everyone around her either revered her or feared her.
I supposed a faint sympathy for her human loneliness was stirring. But even so, the request was still burdensome.
"I appreciate the offer, but right now it's a little too sudden…"
As I began to refuse, her expression instantly fell.
Was I holding the Evil-Slaying Divine Maiden's emotions in the palm of my hand right now? The feeling was extremely strange.
"Still, I'll try little by little. By the next meeting, or the one after that, we should be close enough that it comes naturally, don't you think?"
At that, the eldest daughter of the Moyong Clan, Moyong Cheonghye, lit up as if a flower had burst into full bloom.
Only then did her face brighten enough that she seemed willing to let me go, and she offered her farewell.
"You little shit. Do you know how long it took before I let you call me 'noona'… and you're just going to let her have it that easily?"
New recruit Dang Yeohye, however, clearly had quite a few complaints about the arrangement.
She had thought that, excluding Eun Hwaran, she was my only "older sister" on the Murim side of things, and the discovery that it wasn't true left her looking a little sulky.
"Are you jealous?"
"Hah. What?"
I had hit the mark; her emotions flared a little.
Worried they might actually explode, I quietly changed the subject.
"Aren't you going home, noona?"
"Hmph. That damn house. Is there even anyone there who'd be happy to see me?"
I was pretty sure the clan head and Uncle Neungsam would welcome her with open hearts, but she still held a thoroughly cynical attitude toward her family.
"Don't worry. I will."
"…Hmph, right? There's really no little brother better than you."
Looking both satisfied and a little embarrassed, she thumped me on the back.
"Then I'll see you on my next leave."
Dang Yeohye said that when she next got leave, she would stop by Beijing and visit my office.
If she was coming anyway, I hoped she would bring a job with her. Just a small wish from a business owner.
I had killed someone.
Maybe yesterday. Maybe a few weeks ago. I wasn't sure.
On the road home after a long, long job, heading back to Beijing—the imperial capital that now felt almost like home—Jo Harang walked beside me looking endlessly pleased with how fat her money pouch had grown. My own mood, walking near her, was pure turmoil.
Because ever since that day, I carried one more critical secret that I could never tell the people around me.
"Foolish thing."
"…"
Was this the price of deliberately cutting a man's throat—to save everyone, and to hide the secret?
The existence that had once only scrawled words across my palm now possessed a flesh-and-blood voice.
"What are you looking at?"
"…"
That hazy thing taking shape before my eyes was the red lips of the previous Heavenly Killing Star—the Holy Maiden of the Blood Sect.