Chapter 78
Chapter 78
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 21
>Chapter Title: Squad Leader (4)
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Clang!
Mo Hwa-rang of Mo Flower Hall's pupils trembled.
The hazy chains wrapping around her body looked like an illusion, but they tightened and restrained her even more whenever she tried to move.
As she tried to circulate her internal energy, Mok Kyung-un approached her and spoke.
“The price for seeing what you wanted to see is pretty steep. You okay with that?”
A smiling face.
But that smile was utterly filled with malice.
How could he smile like that without any murderous intent?
In that instant, she recalled a story she had heard before.
[There are people born with a killing nature, one in thousands or tens of thousands.]
[What’s that?]
[A disposition that finds pleasure, ecstasy, and the reason for existence in death and annihilation.]
[........Isn’t that dangerous?]
[It is. But if you can properly tame it, they make the best material for an assassin.]
[The best?]
[Yes. A killing nature doesn’t waver when taking a life. That’s why they aren’t swayed by emotions.]
That was back when Mo Flower Hall was still called one of the four great assassin groups.
She wondered if Mok Kyung-un might be what her father had described back then—a bearer of the killing nature.
If so, she might have touched something dangerous.
But that didn’t matter.
Mo Hwa-rang stared straight into Mok Kyung-un’s eyes and said.
“I’ll pay any price.”
“Any price?”
“I’m prepared since I uncovered a secret.”
“Prepared..... But you only have one life. Can ‘any’ price really cover it?”
Mok Kyung-un’s face was still smiling.
But his words were brutally cold.
-Master. Give me this human’s body.
The Green Spirit Gwi So-ha spoke with greedy eyes.
Hearing the voice, Mo Hwa-rang flinched in surprise and looked at Gwi So-ha.
Gwi So-ha tilted its head and muttered.
-Human. Can you hear my voice too?
-Hoo.
At those words, Cheong-ryeong showed interest as well.
They had deliberately revealed their forms, but not made their voices audible.
For her to hear it meant,
-She must have awakened Spirit Eyes.
“Spirit Eyes?”
-Yes. Not quite the Ghost Eyes that see the essence of the unseen like yours, but it seems she’s gained eyes that can see souls at the crossroads of life and death.
Cheong-ryeong called it Spirit Eyes.
Mo Hwa-rang couldn’t hear Cheong-ryeong’s voice, her gaze fixed on Gwi So-ha.
Mo Hwa-rang cautiously parted her lips.
“You...... Are you really a ghost?”
-Why? Do I look like a mere human?
Gwi So-ha curled the corner of its mouth.
The fear of the living was no different from nourishment to a vengeful spirit.
However, Mo Hwa-rang showed an emotion different from fear.
“Aaah.”
It seemed heightened somehow.
It was close to the feeling of finally seeing what one had longed for.
Mok Kyung-un said to her.
“You’re showing an interesting reaction. Is seeing the dead your wish come true?”
“No. No. That’s not it.”
Mo Hwa-rang’s voice trembled.
She turned her head to look at Mok Kyung-un, then spoke with resolve, as if she’d made a decision, putting strength into her neck.
“I’ll pay whatever price you want. Even if it’s my life.”
“.........”
At her words, the interest in Mok Kyung-un’s eyes faded.
Having seen countless deaths, he could somewhat distinguish those truly prepared to die from those who weren’t, and she was closer to the former.
She was ready to stake her life if necessary.
She continued speaking to such a Mok Kyung-un.
“But help me in return.”
“.........Hmph. Help you, huh.”
Mok Kyung-un muttered with an annoyed expression.
Then, bringing his finger to her throat, he said.
“Why should I? It’s just a hassle.”
Crunch!
His finger pressed into the spot on her throat.
She met his gaze steadily and said.
“This body....... That ghost over there said it wants a body. If you grant my request, you can have this body anytime.”
“You’re bargaining, but I could take your body right now even without that.”
At Mok Kyung-un’s words, Mo Hwa-rang’s eyes sharpened.
In that moment, a sharp aura emanated from her body.
Clang! Clang!
The chains made of Gwi So-ha’s spiritual power were severed.
Short daggers had appeared in Mo Hwa-rang’s hands at some point.
The blades shimmered with deadly sharpness, honed far keener than even Jusalgok’s hidden blades.
-Fall back.
Cheong-ryeong warned.
Mok Kyung-un stepped back half a pace and slightly tilted his head to the side.
In that instant, multiple trajectories drew lines in the air, narrowly grazing past Mok Kyung-un.
A moment later, and his jaw or parts of his body would have been sliced off.
No, it had grazed him slightly.
Drip!
A single drop of blood trailed along the path of the trajectory.
‘Thread?’
It was far thinner than thread but had elasticity.
The daggers embedded in the floor had thread-like strands tied behind their hilts, encircling the area to prevent movement.
Mo Hwa-rang spoke in a cold voice.
“Don’t underestimate me.”
Murderous intent billowed from her voice.
Mok Kyung-un twitched his lips and said.
“You had a hidden move stashed away.”
Then Cheong-ryeong’s voice came.
-That dagger technique looked familiar. So she’s inherited the line of the Killing King.
“Killing King’s line?”
No sooner had Mok Kyung-un question than light flickered in Mo Hwa-rang’s eyes.
She spoke in a tone of disbelief.
“What are you?”
Mo Hwa-rang was genuinely shocked.
She never expected the words “Killing King’s line” to come from Mok Kyung-un’s mouth.
-It’d be stranger not to think of the Killing King after seeing Linked Kill and Razor Shadow Flying Knife Technique.
Mok Kyung-un repeated Cheong-ryeong’s words verbatim.
“It’d be stranger not to think of the Killing King after seeing Linked Kill and Razor Shadow Flying Knife Technique.”
‘!?’
Mo Hwa-rang’s eyes went wide.
Linked Kill was known to many, so few didn’t know of it.
But Razor Shadow Flying Knife Technique was different.
It was a secret technique only the hall leader of Mo Flower Hall could learn.
A true secret art, not used unless against someone who must be killed or an opponent too formidable to handle otherwise, so it was scarcely known.
And,
‘The Killing King is the predecessor of our hall. It’s a tale passed down orally only to the hall leader and successors—how does this guy know?’
While she was in turmoil,
Mok Kyung-un stomped hard on the floor.
The floorboard sank downward, causing the area where the dagger was embedded to spring upward.
At the same time, the thin threads encircling tautly slackened.
Whoosh!
In that split second, Mok Kyung-un lunged at her in one breath and seized her throat.
Of course, Mo Hwa-rang hadn’t been idle.
The moment Mok Kyung-un charged, she snapped to and thrust her dagger toward his heart as practiced thousands, tens of thousands of times.
No, precisely, only the tip barely pierced.
‘Fast.’
Crunch!
If Mok Kyung-un hadn’t grabbed her wrist with his left hand, it would have gone deeper.
Her movements were so blindingly swift that even seeing them made countering difficult.
Mo Hwa-rang was undoubtedly far stronger than Jusalgok’s hidden blades.
Crunch!
Tremble!
As Mok Kyung-un tightened his grip, she grimaced at the pain of her wrist nearly breaking.
Seeing her not utter a single groan amid it all, Mok Kyung-un chuckled.
“You’re strong. When did you tie this around my neck?”
Slither!
A silver thread was now looped around Mok Kyung-un’s neck.
The dagger that had been in the floor had lodged in the ceiling, and pulling it would have strangled him.
“Why aren’t you pulling?”
“You’re....... not....... strangling me....... either.”
As she said, Mok Kyung-un held her throat with his right hand but hadn’t applied force.
Thus, she hadn’t pulled the thread either.
Frankly, pulling it would sever Mok Kyung-un’s head, so she’d held back.
Any further would truly be mutual killing territory.
‘Killing her would violate the trial’s restrictions.’
And she still had things to gain from Mok Kyung-un.
So he couldn’t kill her...
Swish!
At that moment, Mok Kyung-un released her throat and flicked his finger against the thread.
The taut thread instantly went limp.
‘!?’
Mo Hwa-rang’s eyes widened.
She was clearly channeling qi through the thread, yet it scattered as if dispersed, and the thread no longer obeyed.
‘What in the world?’
She couldn’t comprehend it.
Then Mok Kyung-un spoke.
“You seem pretty useful.”
“What?”
“I was going to give your body to So-ha, but using you directly doesn’t sound bad.”
“What are you......”
“You said you’d pay any price for what you want, right?”
At Mok Kyung-un’s words, Mo Hwa-rang hesitated for a moment.
She had agreed, but his suddenly changed demeanor made her pause.
Then Mok Kyung-un suddenly grabbed her collar and yanked her.
“Ack!”
Crunch!
He then forcibly twisted the hand that had stabbed with the dagger toward his own direction.
She wanted to circulate energy to resist, but the qi sent to her wrist kept scattering, sapping her strength, leaving her helpless.
Crunch!
Before she knew it, the dagger she held was pointed at her own face.
Was he really trying to kill her?
Then something fell, wetting her lips.
It was none other than a drop of blood.
Drip! Drip!
The blood from Mok Kyung-un’s wound on the blade tip was about to fall into her mouth.
As she tried to close her mouth, Mok Kyung-un said.
“Open wide.”
‘!?’
What was he saying?
She couldn’t understand why.
But judging he wasn’t truly trying to kill her, she opened her mouth without further question.
The blood droplet from the dagger tip fell into her mouth.
“Swallow.”
She did as told.
The moment she swallowed the blood in her mouth,
“Hah!”
Her chest burned intensely.
A searing pain consumed her body—so agonizing that she forcibly shook off Mok Kyung-un’s hand and tried to assume a meditative posture.
‘Poison..... It’s poison.’
Pain twisting her organs.
She was certain it was poison.
As a successor of Mo Flower Hall, one of the four great assassin groups, she had some expertise in poisons and had even ingested extreme toxins to build resistance.
But Mok Kyung-un’s blood was incomparable.
‘How can blood have such poison......’
It was as if countless poisons had been condensed; the toxicity was overwhelmingly potent.
Extreme poison didn’t even cover it.
‘I need to circulate qi quickly or.....’
Thud!
As she tried to sit cross-legged, Mok Kyung-un kicked her abdomen.
“Guh!”
Already tormented by her twisting organs, the kick to her stomach made her so furious she wanted nothing more than to kill Mok Kyung-un.
“You!”
Thud!
Then Mok Kyung-un pinned her shoulder and collarbone with his foot and said.
“You said any price. So from this moment, be a loyal dog.”
“You don’t....... have to go....... this far.....”
“Ah ah ah. No can do. I never trust people.”
Mo Hwa-rang’s pupils shook.
She felt she’d made a grave mistake.
This guy was more twisted than she’d imagined.
It wasn’t something definable as killing nature or whatever—this was evil incarnate.
* * *
The boys who had given up even rest and meditation to recruit team members, wandering the rooms.
They couldn’t hide their astonishment upon seeing a group approaching down the corridor.
‘Huh?’
‘.......Is this for real?’
‘What? No way.’
They doubted their own eyes.
Two men and women following behind Mok Kyung-un on either side.
They were the promising stars of this Shiheolgok trial, successors of Jusalgok and Mo Flower Hall.
With the internal energy seal lifted, everyone had expected each of them to naturally become squad leaders and lead others.
But what was this?
Had those two squad leader-level figures joined under that guy?