Sunrise (2)
"The Black Tiger Sect is an unorthodox sect, isn't it?"
I was fairly sure already, but I leaned in and whispered it into Lee Seol-ah's ear, just to be certain.
"Yes, that's right. And the Black Tiger Sect has quite a foothold in the back alleys, you know?"
She whispered it back against my ear.
"Wet behind the ears, and they talk while their elders are speaking...!"
"How old are you?"
"Thirty-four, you little shit!"
A full seventeen years younger. Not me, of course. Him.
"So you were the younger one?"
Hearing the shout from the man who claimed to belong to the Black Tiger Sect, I blinked and asked again. I was genuinely a little surprised. That face, and he was only thirty-four?
I'd have guessed we were the same age, at least. Unexpected.
Mental age, of course. Fifty-one. The man looked absurdly old for his years — gray showing, half his scalp already bare — and he was thirty-four. Enough to make a person worry about his future.
"You've had a hard life, for someone so young...."
"The hell did you say, you little shit?"
I was looking at him with pity when Lee Seol-ah burst out laughing.
"Wow, our master's even older!"
"...That somehow feels worse."
Perhaps it was because the man I'd been compared to looked so aged. My mood only grew filthier.
"You son of a..."
Flushed scarlet at being ignored, the man reached for the blade at his waist. Or rather, he tried to.
"...?"
A slash. A sword bearing crimson sword-qi raked shallow cuts across his whole body, again and again.
"Gyaaah...!!"
The man, whose theatrics were rather excessive, let out a shrill scream and collapsed in a heap.
"Hrgh...!"
"Th-that's sword-qi...?! A master...!"
The other two dark-path fellows stared at me, soaked in fear.
"Hieek...!"
"Ah, keep it down."
I planted my foot on the jaw of the man rolling across the ground in terror and looked at the ones still standing.
"I was going to ask for directions. Where's your sect?"
"Th-that's..."
I sighed and swept my sword through the empty air. With a soft hiss, a bald patch bloomed dead center on each of the two men's heads. Perfect circles of hair loss.
"Hieek...!!"
"Hah...!"
They groped at the bare scalp where their hair had been, stricken with terror. Looking again, a sense of loss was doing its share of the work as well. Their hair was already thin and sparse; it would have fallen out soon enough anyway. Even so, it seemed to have been precious to them.
Lee Seol-ah, who had been watching the sight with a cruel little giggle, opened her mouth.
"Master says that if you hand the information over nicely, he won't tear your limbs off to use as chopsticks, or yank your heads free, scoop out brains that aren't even worth a bundle of udon, and turn your skulls into washbasins."
A bright smile sat at the corners of her mouth as she said it. I looked at her and clicked my tongue inwardly.
...How does she even come up with thoughts like that.
A pretty face, and usually so cute and innocent in everything she did — and yet, now and then, she was far too cruel. I hadn't said any of that. Still, it looked as if it would help with the interrogation, so I let it stand.
"W-we'll talk!"
"No, talking won't do! We'll guide you — we'll guide you there ourselves!"
I gave a satisfied nod at the suddenly obsequious dark-path fellows and lifted my foot from the man sprawled on the ground. His eyes had rolled back. He seemed to have fainted while I was stepping on him.
"Look after your friend, too."
"Yes, Great Hero!"
They propped up their unconscious companion and headed for their sect. Remarkably effective. Most of the credit, it had to be said, belonged to our disciple. I snorted a laugh and looked at Lee Seol-ah. She wore a confident smile, her chin tipped slightly upward. After all that talk of scooping out brains and using skulls as basins, she looked rather cute now. Smiling, pleased, I stroked her hair.
"Hehe."
Lee Seol-ah laughed as well, lifting her chin a little higher. Why was our disciple this cute? Chuckling, I ruffled her hair harder and faster.
The heart of the back alleys. The Black Tiger Sect.
...Good. Now that he's come this far, there's nothing the bastard can do.
Jang Gyeong-tae — a member of the sect, and one of the men who had guided Yu Hajin here — thought it with a thin, unpleasant smile. He had reason to. The sect master of the Black Tiger Sect had reached a mature stage of the Transcendent First-Rate. However skilled a First-Rate master might be, he could never measure up to that realm.
The intruder looked to be in the prime of his years, and yet he had already achieved unity of body and sword and manifested sword-qi. Spare him, and he would surely become a threat. Today, though, he would be buried here.
"Hmm. Is this the place?"
Yu Hajin asked, stroking his chin.
"Y-yes! Then I'll be on my way...!"
"I-I'll be going too!"
Jang Gyeong-tae and another member of the Black Tiger Sect, Park Chang-hyeon, scrambled to leave. Yu Hajin caught them both, one in each hand.
Fuck, now what...!
They turned their heads at the same time and looked at him.
"I never said I was letting you go."
Crimson eyes, burning cold, fixed on them.
"Answer this one thing, and I'll let you go."
"Y-yes!"
"Just give the word!"
The answers were exceedingly polite, nothing like what they felt inside. Survive first. Everything else could wait.
"Lie, and your head comes off. Have you ever killed innocent commoners?"
The voice had sunk deep, and a bleak chill seeped from it all on its own. They flinched and answered.
"N-no, we haven't!"
"Never...!"
The denials practically leapt out of them. In truth, they had. Quite a lot, in fact. They had only lied in order to live.
And yet.
"You lied."
Yu Hajin's expression hardened. He released the backs of their necks and drew his sword with his right hand.
"You son of a—!!"
"You're just going to kill us, you bastard..."
Swallowed by fear, that most primal of emotions, they twisted their faces and backed away. A slash — and silence settled.
"The pupils contract. There's a shallow tremor. The gaze slides away. And the pulse, the breathing, and the blood pressure all rise."
Looking down at three cleanly severed heads — the man who had already been stretched out on the ground among them — Yu Hajin murmured.
"Those are the signs of a lie. If there's a next life, mind them. If you don't trust yourselves to, then live kindly."
A soft click. He sheathed the sword without a sound and stepped into the old sect building.
"Wow, that was seriously so cool! This is what romance is!"
Lee Seol-ah, twenty-six, who revered swords, blood, and the wandering hero, said it with a bright little laugh.
"...We just charged into the enemy's own ground. Why are you so cheerful? Hold your sword properly."
Because of the weight, I handed her the iron longsword I usually carried — the blade I had originally used.
"Oh, don't get all shy."
"Sigh. If it looks dangerous, get yourself clear."
"Oh? Are you worrying about me?"
"Yeah. I'm worried, so don't fight if you can help it. Just deal with the ones who come at you first."
"As you command."
Lee Seol-ah giggled as she said it, her excitement plain. She'd be even cuter if cutting off heads didn't thrill her so much. With a faint smile I mussed her hair a few times, then drew my sword ahead of time. A drawing art was well within my reach, but there was no need to bother with one.
We kicked straight through the sect's main gate.
"What the hell is this bas—"
A wet chop, and the Black Tiger who had spotted us first departed this life. Not by my hand. By our disciple's.
"Hmph."
She drew the corners of her mouth up with pride and lifted her chin, and the sight was cute. This was our disciple. Smiling just as deeply, I cut down every Black Tiger in sight.
"W-we have to tell the sect master..."
"Go on. I'll let you. Finding the sect master myself would be a hassle."
I waved a hand through the air as I said it. Hurry up and go.
"...But if a Peak Realm master shows up in the middle of this, do I have to run?"
"Don't worry. The sect leaders of ordinary sects — the sect masters, I mean — are usually First-Rate. Even among the great clans and the great sects, the Peak Realm is rare."
Well, if she said so, then that was that. I nodded.
Right then, a hulking man began walking toward us from far off.
Transcendent First-Rate.
His presence was no ordinary thing. Like a well-honed blade, it wasted nothing; it became thorns and pricked at the skin. I glanced aside. Tension had settled even into the expression that had been full of her mischief. Face set, I stroked her hair a few times and spoke.
"Seol-ah. Clear the surroundings for me, would you?"
"...Yes."
She moved toward the Black Tiger rabble stationed around us. In the end, only two of us remained: myself, and the sect master of the Black Tiger Sect. Our gazes met in the empty air and struck sparks.
At the very least, this won't be easy.
My brow drew in of its own accord. Watching me, he opened his mouth.
"Your name?"
"Yu Hajin."
I answered low, my face gone cold.
"Never heard of it."
"It'll be the last time, too."
He snorted, and a broadsword came free in his hand.
"I like the confidence. I'm Gu Jung-cheol."
"I didn't ask for your name."
"A shame."
A brief silence followed that short exchange of names. Then, with a sharp burst, the two of us launched at each other at once.