Headquarters - 4
"I don't need it."
Cheon Sohee shot down Seolja's offer to teach her the art of seduction without a moment's hesitation.
"Yukiko is deeply wounded! Watashi offered with the purest of intentions, and you refuse just like that?! Why?!"
Hand pressed to her chest, Seolja bent herself at the waist like a drawn bow, deliberately laying the wounded act on thick.
"Oppa wouldn't like it."
Cheon Sohee shook her head, her face as blank as ever, entirely unmoved by No. 6's theatrics.
She didn't know precisely what the ninjas of Dongyeong meant by "seduction," but she knew how female assassins killed. A lewd glance here, a suggestive sway there, luring a man into his bed — and severing his lifeline before he ever woke. There was no such thing as going too far in their trade, but it was not the Heavenly Killing Star's taste.
There was another reason she shied from the word seduction, too.
I don't want Oppa to see me as some cheap, vulgar woman. Anything but that.
A mature woman rose out of her blurred memories. Her mother, ever gentle and full of love, the very picture of wifely grace — one of the few precious scraps of childhood she still carried in her head.
If she had to become someone, she wanted to become a woman like her mother.
Not a woman who sold herself cheap, but a dignified, elegant wife — beautifully robed, waiting in the inner quarters for her husband to return from the world outside.
"Hohoho! Yukiko knew No. 5 would say that! But there is a reason No. 5 must learn the kunoichi seduction arts of Dongyeong!"
The Heavenly Killing Star's refusal had fallen squarely within predicted parameters, and No. 6 laughed on, high-spirited.
"A reason?"
"Even with your whole body bound tight in black rope! Even lying in the very same bed! That Oppa of yours insisted he never once laid a finger on No. 5! Is that correct?"
"Yes. That's right."
Cheon Sohee nodded obediently.
"Then that is really, truly strange! Any man in such a situation would be burning with lust! He didn't even know you were the Heavenly Killing Star, yet he never so much as grazed a single hair on your head! Could it be... he does not see the Heavenly Killing Star as a woman at all?!"
With an expression of perfect composure, No. 6 drove a dagger of doubt straight into the Heavenly Killing Star's heart.
"Oppa doesn't... think of me as a woman?"
It landed. Watching the Heavenly Killing Star's face seize up as if lightning had struck her mid-thought, Seolja allowed herself a private moment of satisfaction.
"Hohohot! No. 5's expression is far too interesting."
It was a face she had almost never seen before. No. 6 could swear to it: she had seen more of the Heavenly Killing Star's expressions these past few days than in the ten-odd years they had known each other as fellow trainees.
To think a single man of fate could put such color into the Heavenly Killing Star's face. The longer No. 6 watched, the more fascinated she became.
"Oppa... me?"
No. 6's mischievous giggling never reached Cheon Sohee's ears at all.
Oppa doesn't think of me as a woman?
No. Impossible. Hadn't he always looked at her with such tenderness? With such warmth in his eyes, as if she were something to be cherished?
Never once — not bound to the Seven Nights Bed, not sharing it — had Cheon Sohee felt wronged by Kang Yoonho, or held a single complaint against him.
If anything, her chest would go warm at the feeling of him staying close, holding her powerless self together, sheltering her. But lust?
Was she supposed to believe an ordinary man would have burned with desire in that situation? Then why had none ever stirred in Oppa?
Because she was his childhood friend? Because she was like a little sister?
The moment the questions began, one anxiety pushed its way through the tangle of her thoughts.
Then what about that woman?
Cheon Sohee pictured the woman at the bookstore — the one who lived and ate under the same roof as Kang Yoonho.
If he felt no desire toward her because he saw her as a childhood friend, a little sister... then with an ordinary woman, would that desire come?
No. Impossible. With her at his side, Oppa would never covet another woman.
Cheon Sohee rejected the thought at once — but the anxiety sprouting in the corner of her heart went and quietly dredged up the murky emotions hidden deep within her chest.
"The Heaven of the Heavenly Killing Star is starting to show again! Calm yourself and hear watashi out! Watashi has heard it said — with a man who truly cherishes his woman, such a thing is possible!"
"Cherishes her...?"
From between the murky emotions, a single green sprout lifted its head.
"Even when lust boils over! There exist rare men who love a woman so dearly they handle her like a precious treasure! Watashi has heard this with her own ears!"
No. 6 seized the moment, fencing in that sprout, pouring sunlight over it, watering it by hand.
"Yes. He would. He said he thought of me for ten years."
Cheon Sohee nodded.
Ten years Oppa had lived with her tucked away in his heart. They had only brushed past each other once, and he had remembered her name on the spot — even the foods she'd loved as a child.
And hadn't he told her? That he had become a maedamja, a street storyteller, out of his memories of her. That the two of them were the only people in the world who knew the other still lived.
Just as Yoonho Oppa was more precious to her than anyone, so too was she more precious to him than anyone else.
The murky emotions in Cheon Sohee's heart slowly melted away.
"Incredible! Truly the finest of men! A bond decreed by heaven itself — a man worthy of the Heavenly Killing Star!"
No. 6 heaped on the praise like a dry-goods clerk desperately flattering a lady customer agonizing over whether to buy.
"Mm."
"But! That man's love may hold more love for a childhood friend — a little sister — than love for a woman!"
Seeing the Heavenly Killing Star's Heaven face again was not the goal, but the anxiety had to stay. No. 6 snatched hold of the wariness as it tried to slink away.
"What?"
"Of course, having gone so far as a kiss, he must see you as a woman! But a woman who does not know a single art of seduction? That is serious! If he goes on seeing you as the little sister, the childhood friend... his eyes could wander to another woman!"
"Oppa isn't that kind of man."
"But are you not that kind of woman?"
Her Oppa might be an upright man. But if a woman never showed him a shred of charm as a woman, then even the most upright of men would waver, in time.
No. 6 struck at the weak point, and the Heavenly Killing Star read exactly what she meant.
"..."
Cheon Sohee couldn't argue back. No — too much of it struck too close to home.
The days she'd spent at Yoonho Oppa's side. It wasn't as if there had been no women tossing cheap, fluttering glances his way.
Even with her standing right there. Granted, back then the two of them weren't that kind of relationship. And yet Oppa had worn a different face with them than the one he wore looking at her.
The moment Cheon Sohee pictured Kang Yoonho grinning before other women, her brow creased without her willing it, and her lips pushed out into a small pout.
If she never learned the art of seduction — if she had no charm to offer as a woman — wouldn't Oppa's eyes wander someday?
Just for a moment, eyes closed, Cheon Sohee pictured the future: herself at his side, and Oppa beaming at another woman.
She hated it.
She hated it so much.
Her eyes squeezed tightly shut.
"Yukiko is not trying to teach you how to snare a man! Watashi is teaching you how to protect your beloved from other women!"
If she didn't learn, would she have to watch scenes like that again and again — even standing right beside him?
And if she did learn... could she protect Oppa?
Cheon Sohee imagined Oppa turning that grinning face toward her, undone by her art of seduction.
Not bad.
No. That sounds rather good.
Yes. If her own effort could put a new expression on Oppa's face — then perhaps it was all right to learn.
"...Just a little."
"Hm?"
"I'll learn a little."
And so Cheon Sohee finally accepted Seolja's insistent persuasion.
"Hohoho! Excellent attitude! First, Yukiko shall instruct you in the kunoichi's deadliest stances of seduction, as learned in Dongyeong!"
"Mm."
"Stances of seduction that can dazzle a man senseless while your face stays perfectly casual! Now, follow along! Yukiko-style Ninpo: Dazzling Stance! Nin-nin!"
No. 6 began running through a series of poses — nothing overtly shameless, and yet the kind that would steal a man's gaze in an instant the moment he noticed them.
The problem was that her intent showed through far too plainly. Rather than the bearing of a mature seductress, she looked like an eager puppy throwing herself into her master's training drills.
It hardly helped that Seolja's face was naturally built for smiles, round and puppyish to begin with.
"Like this?"
Cheon Sohee studied Seolja's affection-starved puppy impression carefully, then awkwardly mirrored the pose.
But the effect was another matter entirely.
The feminine grace that poured out of her overwhelming physical presence was powerful enough to send a jolt straight through any man's brain.
"Tch... an assassin, and blessed with such useless size..."
"What?"
"N-nothing! Watashi merely means you are a talent well worth teaching! Now, try it once!"
Seolja pulled her expression back together and threw herself into the lesson with fresh zeal. But the more she realized that the very same poses landed on an entirely different plane of power when No. 5 did them, the more envy bled into her face.
"Keep going?"
Cheon Sohee, who had yet to grasp just how devastating her own body was, asked flatly as she was made to cycle through one bizarre pose after another.
"Argh! Do you have any idea how hard the road is for a childhood friend who wants to become the main wife?! The wealthy young lady who appears out of nowhere! The beautiful schemer with an innocent face and a heart full of schemes! The cross-dressing beauty who turns out to be absolutely stunning once the clothes come off! And even the crafty klutz who pretends to be hopeless while slipping straight through the protagonist's every defense! The childhood friend must drive off every thieving cat that comes prowling and seize love through her own two hands — it is the most exhausting post in all of romance! Nin-nin!"
Honestly, where on earth had No. 6 heard so many tales of the childhood friend's failures? She held forth on the dangers of the position until even Cheon Sohee was starting to wonder.
"The first art of seduction! We begin with the Toast-in-Mouth Collision! Nin-nin!"
I will see the childhood friend win her love, whatever it takes. No. 6 pressed on, her fighting spirit blazing.
"Toast?"
"The first meeting demands an unforgettable impression! Even simple physical contact is devastating — and No. 5 carries not mere healthy charm, but an entire body built for seduction. This should be easy! Now! We begin with 'I'm late!', toast in mouth!"
"First meeting? I already met Oppa."
"Ugh! The ninpo, undone before it even began!"
"...Maybe I should quit after all."
"Not yet! The next technique! Ninpo: Lucky Pervert! The art of making a man fall naturally, helplessly, into the Heavenly Killing Star's charm!"
"How does that one work?"
"Watashi shall teach you how to collide naturally! And fall!"
"Collide and fall?"
If someone charged at her, she would dodge — or cut them down. Why would she collide?
And if struck, you endured. Why on earth would you fall?
When Cheon Sohee stared at her, questioning, Seolja folded her arms and proclaimed with perfect confidence:
"Hot-blooded master Yukiko forgives no questions! A true Lucky Pervert means setting up a pounce so flawless the man never even notices! Yukiko shall demonstrate! Follow along!"
No. 6 produced a jointed wooden mannequin, tripped into it "naturally," and tumbled to the floor in a picture-perfect fall.
She had clearly shoved it herself, and yet she claimed the floor as if by pure accident. Better still, her legs wound around the mannequin's mid-fall, arranging them to overlap no matter what.
Truly a technique for ending up on top. Cheon Sohee marveled at Seolja's ninpo.
"The important part is that we must be the one pounced upon! Make the man feel guilty — and at the same time, brand a woman's softness into his memory! Nin-nin!"
"Do we really have to?"
"Do you not want Oppa to love you?! Do you want him looking at other women?!"
"No."
"Then follow along!"
And so Cheon Sohee found herself conceding, standing before the wooden mannequin.
"Again!"
"Where is your shy expression?"
"Again!"
"On second thought, the expressionless look may be even better! Look into the mannequin's eyes and deliver just one line — cool and indifferent!"
Seolja's seduction training proved every bit as ruthless as Salmak's own.
At that very moment, the two first-class assassins of Salmak were deep in cultural exchange on the subject of seduction.
"So. Taken by the Sichuan Tang Clan, was he?"
News of Kang Yoonho had reached the hands of the Heavenly Killing Star's master, Dan Seowol.