The Assassin's Home Mountain (1)
Salmak.
The most infamous band of assassins in all the martial world. There was a saying that if even a supreme master learned his name had been entered into Salmak's ledger, he had best sit down and draft his will.
To avoid drawing the hatred of all mankind and becoming a target of the orthodox sects' righteous fury, Salmak scrutinized and investigated every prospective target with painstaking care before committing to a kill.
Assassination was Salmak's trade, but no matter how beautifully it was wrapped, murder was still murder. Enmity was unavoidable.
That was why, unlike the branch offices that received commissions, the location of Salmak's headquarters — the Main Mountain — was kept a closely guarded secret.
And there, at the heart of Salmak's Main Mountain—
「Sohee.」
「Looking at him again. Brother Yunho.」
A beauty with a short black bob was training in the martial arts, her mind resting on a certain man.
Clap. Clap. Clap.
As Cheon Sohee finished her practice, the sound of applause rang out. She turned indifferently toward it and found a familiar woman there, welcoming her with a smile.
Though the woman looked to be in her late twenties and did nothing more than stand quietly smiling, a mature, worldly allure radiated from her all the same.
A crimson outfit that left the side of her chest bare, long blood-red hair shimmering like crimson silk with a subtle scarlet aura rippling through it. Any man would feel his heart stir — and yet the faint, dangerous presence she gave off would keep every last one of them from daring to approach.
"So the Asura Life-Seizing Skill has reached its heights."
"You came?"
"Still no manners for your master, I see. Yes. It seems you've made some progress."
Dan Seowol.
Inheritor of the Asura Life-Seizing Skill. She favored crimson robes and left trails of blood wherever she went, earning her the name Red Rakshasa in the martial world. She was also the master of the Heavenly Killing Star, Cheon Sohee.
"I had a small breakthrough."
Sohee replied indifferently, a faint smile on her lips as her master approached. Master and disciple they may have been, but with Seowol's mature looks and tall stature beside Sohee's girlish face, the two looked more like an elder sister and her much younger sibling. Though it was true that in certain respects, the younger sister happened to be the larger of the two.
"And quite a deep one, for a 'small breakthrough.' You've found someone to lean on, haven't you?"
Her master narrowed her eyes and gazed at the disciple who had crossed the threshold into womanhood with a faintly sly look.
"......"
I knew this was coming the moment we met. Cheon Sohee swallowed her words deliberately.
"Your disciple has caused her master no end of trouble, and still you mean to say nothing?"
"You suffered because of me?"
"Your disciple girl lost herself to her madness and caused a catastrophe. As her master, shouldn't you be the one cleaning up after her?"
"Ah... I'm sorry."
The Seong Family Estate incident.
The Heavenly Killing Star had run rampant, and many had died. It was a blessing in disguise that the estate's lord had a poor reputation, and that the new lord — the very one who had commissioned the hit — was the one who covered it up.
"As long as you know. Now then. If you'd rather not speak of that man just yet, then I'd like to hear about Chilgok County first. Did you go see the Cheongija?"
The Red Rakshasa, Dan Seowol, asked as she recalled why she had sent her disciple to Chilgok County in the first place.
"Yes. He said there were two ways."
Cheon Sohee recounted what the diviner had told her — the two methods for calming the Heavenly Killing Star: raising one's martial arts to a higher realm, and the Defier of Destiny.
"I've heard of the Defier of Destiny myself. They say if one fulfills a heaven-ordained fate and yet the starlight refuses to fade, a new destiny can be forged. But isn't that the stuff of legend?"
Cheon Sohee didn't know it, but Dan Seowol had never neglected to search for a solution for her troublesome disciple. It was Seowol's own mouth, after all, that had told her to seek out the Cheongija.
"I found him."
"Found him? How?"
"He was my destiny."
At her disciple's puzzling answer, the Red Rakshasa did not press for clarification. She simply looked at her disciple's face.
The terse speech was nothing new. But the expression on her disciple's face was something she had never once seen before they parted.
A small smile played across Dan Seowol's lips at the change in her.
"Your face is no longer that of a killer, Sohee. It's the face of a woman. So. The man I've been curious about — he and the Defier of Destiny you speak of seem to be one and the same. Now I'm truly dying to hear about this man."
Just as Dan Seowol pressed further—
"Ha! Number Five! A story about a man! Watashi wants to hear too!"
A woman wedged herself between the two of them.
"And you are?"
"Ha! You dare ask for watashi's identity! It is only common sense to answer! To spread the ninja arts of this world! To proclaim the coolness of this world's love! Ninja of Salmak — Yukiko! Making her entrance!"
The woman who had burst in between them looked to be about Cheon Sohee's age, with the sort of lively puppy-dog face that made anyone want to pat her head, dressed in garb that resembled the killer's attire of some eastern land.
"Number Fifteen? When did you get back from Dongyeong?"
Cheon Sohee recognized her at once. Dongyeong — the land that those in the know called Japan. She was a killer who had been dispatched there on a long-term mission. When had she returned?
"Fu. Fu. Fut!"
The puppy-faced woman called Number Fifteen grinned at Cheon Sohee with great self-satisfaction.
"What?"
"Who are you calling Number Fifteen!"
"You're not Fifteen?"
"I'm Number Six!"
"You're Six?"
A subtle distortion crossed Cheon Sohee's face — the kind only someone close to her would have noticed.
"Ah! What's with that look! That 'even Salmak has its limits' expression!"
"I never made such a face."
"Watashi has seen Number Five once or twice, you know! With my ninja arts, I can see everything! Nin-nin!"
"Why did going to Dongyeong make you so weird?"
The Fifteen she remembered had not been this kind of woman.
"Weird! Yukiko has been enlightened! I studied under ninjas of every school, nose to tail, and was recognized by Dongyeong's greatest ninja! I have received permission to found my own school — Yukiko-style Ninpo — here in the Central Plains!"
"I know what ninja arts are. Number Fifteen."
"Six!"
"Fine. Six. But what's with 'Yukiko'? You're Joseon-born, aren't you?"
Cheon Sohee knew she wasn't the only Joseon native in Salmak. Number Six had clearly been Joseon-born too, from the same intake as her. And now, Yukiko?
"Ha! My blood is half Joseon, half Dongyeong! That's why, when I went to Dongyeong this time, I learned my true name!"
"True name? Isn't your name Seolj—"
A single shuriken whizzed past Cheon Sohee's cheek at a speed no ordinary martial artist could have followed.
"Ha! Shuriken slipped!"
"If you want a fight, I'll give you one."
"It's not that! It's a warning to watch your mouth!"
"Haah. You two are the only survivors of your intake, aren't you? And you both became first-class killers on top of it. Stop the bickering and learn to get along."
Dan Seowol sighed softly and stepped in between the two, who carried on like a cat and a dog.
"I don't want to get along."
"Ah! But I do want to get along!"
"Both of you. Follow me to my quarters."
"I hear you lived together."
The three of them moved to Dan Seowol's quarters.
"Ha! Straight into the juicy part! Number Five! Have you found the lord of your heart! Nin-nin!"
"Can we send her back?"
Cheon Sohee shot a resentful glance at the Number Six killer.
"Yukiko is deeply disappointed! Have you forgotten the grace of the one who saved your life!"
"I'd have lived without it."
It had been a minor assist at most. She had never owed anyone a life debt. Cheon Sohee said flatly.
"......"
Number Six simply beamed at her in silence.
"Fine. Go ahead and listen."
Nothing would change just because they heard it. Cheon Sohee gave a small sigh of resignation and nodded.
Which one of them had changed — her, or Number Six? It hadn't been like this before. Dealing with her was exhausting.
"Fufu. Even the great Heavenly Killing Star can be taught shame — such is the ninja art I learned in Dongyeong! The Art of Taunting strikes true! Nin-nin!"
Number Six flashed a triumphant victory smile and let out a bizarre battle cry.
Should I throw her out? She'd already said she'd let them listen, but Cheon Sohee briefly considered trading blows with her anyway.
"When it comes to matters between men and women, it's better to have someone of a similar age listening alongside me. Let us hear this story of the man you lived with."
Dan Seowol spoke as if instructing a disciple whose thoughts were written plainly across her face. A child with no social graces. Unless you tethered her to at least one persistent friend, she'd have nothing left to cling to in this life.
Cheon Sohee stared at the two expectant faces for a long moment, fidgeted in a way entirely unbecoming of her, and finally opened her mouth as if confessing.
"...He was my childhood friend."
"Ooooooh! Childhood friends who promised to marry beneath the promise tree!"
"Cut it out just once and I won't say another word."
"Number Five is so cruel!"
"I wish to hear of the man who stole my disciple's heart. Be silent, both of you."
This once, even the Red Rakshasa did not take her disciple's side.
"It makes me a little angry, but watashi is curious too! I'll be quiet!"
Dan Seowol stole a glance at her disciple, who was glowering at Number Six, and laughed inwardly.
So she doesn't deny that her heart was stolen.
The girl had always been walled off from romance. Even if she admitted to living with a man, she could have answered flatly that it was for the mission, or because of the Heavenly Killing Star. And yet when told he had stolen her heart, she hadn't reacted at all.
Her disciple, if anything, seemed to be sinking into her memories of the man — a faint flush rising in her cheeks.
Just what manner of master thief stole the Heavenly Killing Star's heart?
She was her own disciple, yet she had never once imagined the girl would fall in love. With an expression grown all the more intrigued, Dan Seowol settled in to hear the tale of her disciple's romance.
"He's three years older than me. We played together when we were little."
"So someone from your home village survived."
She knew full well how her disciple had come to Salmak.
"He lived in a different village."
Cheon Sohee shook her head.
"I see. That could happen. And after ten years apart — did you recognize each other?"
"Yes. He recognized me at a glance, even after ten years."
Cheon Sohee believed she was keeping her expression in check. But her master saw right through her.
Just as everyone notices the moment a single drop of paint falls into clear water — her cold, impassive face and every one of her movements had taken on the look of a woman endlessly proud of, and endlessly fond of, one particular man.
"How very interesting."
If she teased her now, she'd never hear another word of it.
Her master pretended not to notice, and kept coaxing the story out of her tongue-tied disciple.
"To be so very you about it — and for a man like that to steal your heart. It really must be the childhood friend you spoke of."
Her master spoke with a note of astonishment — that her disciple had drawn a blade on a man for failing to recognize her, a name even she herself had not known.
"Yes. I'm so sorry I didn't recognize Brother."
Cheon Sohee spoke with a heavy heart.
Her brother, who had picked her out instantly despite more than a decade apart. And she had pointed a sword at that childhood friend. At the brother who had carried her in his heart all those years.
What must that have felt like? If their positions had been reversed, her own heart would have been torn apart. She hadn't thought anything of it when they first met — but the more she dwelled on it, the more it ached.
"Huuuuueeeeh! Yukiko is so sad!"
Their meeting and the misunderstanding, the doubt, the love, the revelation that he was the Defier of Destiny, the rampage, and at last the parting.
By the time Cheon Sohee had talked her way through it all, no longer able to govern her own emotions, Number Six was weeping openly.
"A childhood friend from long ago, alive and found again in the Central Plains — and he turns out to be the Defier of Destiny. That is nothing less than a bond ordained by heaven itself."
Even the great Red Rakshasa failed to keep her composure, her face betraying her astonishment. Really, was this not a match made by the heavens?
One could almost believe the heavens had not been cruel to her disciple after all — that they had gone and found her the one and only other half of her soul.
"...Yes."
Dan Seowol watched quietly as her disciple gave a small nod. Where had the emotionally barren girl gone?
Before her stood only a woman in love, aching from a painful goodbye. But her master was not one to be satisfied with that alone.
This was a rare moment — her disciple's emotional armor had cracked. The walls around her heart had gone soft and pliant under the ache of lost love.
Dan Seowol had no intention of letting this opportunity slip.
"How far did things go between you?"
"Uuh! Yukiko is not yet used to these sorts of stories, but this is thrilling!"
Cheon Sohee looked at her master, who had asked such a bewildering question. The old Cheon Sohee would never have answered. But talking about Kang Yunho had softened something in her.
They had grieved alongside her, and that had eased her heart. When she boasted of Kang Yunho, they had marveled, and she found herself wanting to tell them more.
In the end, Cheon Sohee decided to share even the things the old her would have taken to the grave.
"He gave me his one and only thing before he left."
"Yes! When a woman parts from the man she believes is her destined other half, she must receive his one and only thing!"
Dan Seowol lit up instantly at her disciple's bombshell declaration.
"Ooooooh. Yukiko! Watashi has heard of such things!"
"And? How was the first time? Did it hurt, as they say?"
"It didn't hurt. It actually felt good."
Cheon Sohee shook her head with a knowing, woman-of-the-world smile.
"Hngh! So this is the difference between one who has opened the door of adulthood and one who has not? Yukiko cannot bear this self-loathing!"
"I—is that so? I'd heard that with rare talent, it doesn't hurt even the first time."
Flustered that her disciple had reached such lofty heights, Dan Seowol stammered on.
"At first I was just flustered by my own feelings. But when I looked at Brother Yunho's face, I couldn't hold back anymore."
"You were the one who made the first move?"
Dan Seowol stared at her disciple with eyes wide with shock — as wide as they could possibly go.
"I require brush, ink, and paper! From this point on, watashi must take notes!"
"There's some right there, write if you like. Now then, disciple. Did you do it inside, or outside?"
"The first time was only outside. The second time, inside."
Cheon Sohee said, averting her eyes bashfully.
"Aaaaaaah."
At her disciple's shocking confession, her master let out a groan that shook the very room.
"What's wrong?"
"Did I not tell you, time and again, to be certain about prevention? Are you managing your monthly cycle properly? Or is there simply no reaction? You're not even twenty yet — do you already wish to retire from the trade?"
"Prevention?"
Cheon Sohee tilted her head at her master's words.
"If you did it inside, you should naturally have been thinking about prevention!"
"What are you talking about?"
"Hm?"
"...Huh?"
At her disciple's baffled expression, an unwelcome guess flashed through her master's mind.
No. It couldn't be. Forgetful as she is in such matters, still.
"Don't tell me this 'one and only thing' wasn't the experience of your wedding night?"
"He gave me my first kiss."
"Only your first kiss?"
"The second time... our tongues... touched."
Cheon Sohee flushed red, as if the memory itself were indecent.
"Ah......"
"Ah......"
"Did I... do something wrong?"
A silence of profound pity settled over the room.