Chapter 38
Translator: uly
Chapter: 38
Chapter Title: The Black-Haired Schemer - 2
I've been hit on the back of the head while walking before.
Back in my school days, after classes were over, I was walking home when someone smacked the back of my head. Who dares to hit an innocent student on the back of the head?
Was it that guy from yesterday? I ignored the guy yelling "My spot!" and used an area skill there before jumping to another channel. I didn't think he'd chase me down so persistently with whispers just for doing that once.
Thinking back, he was really something else. Even when I fled to other channels, he tracked me down relentlessly. Was it that important? It was a game I didn't play much and eventually quit, but the madness from that time still feels a bit scary when I think about it.
Anyway, if it wasn't him, there was no one else who'd hit me on the back of the head.
"Who is it!"
Angry, I turned around to see a middle-aged man smiling at me.
"Hey, isn't this Yun-ho! Long time no see!"
"Who... are you?"
"You don't remember me? I used to visit your parents' house sometimes when you were little."
"I'm sorry. I don't really know."
No matter how much I racked my brain, I couldn't figure out who he was.
"Kang Yun-ho. Are you in high school here? You're a freshman this year, right? Correct?"
"Yes."
He even remembers my age. Who is this?
"You rascal! You really don't remember me, do you? I'm hurt. When you were little, with your chubby cheeks like steamed buns, you'd ask me to buy you snacks, and I'd buy them for you."
"Haha."
I had no memory at all of someone who even bought me snacks.
"Well, is your father doing well?"
"Yes. He's fine."
"Good. When you get home, tell him you ran into Mr. Choi, an uncle you worked with ten years ago, on the street. Take care."
The uncle who had slapped the back of my head waved his hand and disappeared.
After the uncle left, all that remained was a stinging back of the head, bewilderment, and a sense of guilt for not recognizing an uncle who knew me. That day, I went home and told my father what had happened.
"Huh? What Mr. Choi? I don't know anyone like that. Who is it? I can't remember no matter how hard I think."
What on earth? What am I supposed to do if my father doesn't know him?
The mystery of that day continued until I stole someone else's "spot!" again.
The mystery was solved a few months later.
That uncle went to the police station, you see.
It turned out he was just a lunatic who went around smacking kids on the back of the head.
He'd hit first, then casually check the student ID. Name, ID color. From that, he'd figure out the age and grade. Then he'd pretend to know the parents, and that was it.
Even though students' brains were starting to harden by then, if an adult claimed to be a close friend of their parents and said they'd seen them when they were little, they couldn't easily get angry.
Of course, being hit might make them very angry. In that case, he'd just put on a calm, smiling face.
The saying goes you can't spit on a smiling face. With a smile, he'd pretend to know the student using minimal information by claiming to know their parents. Then, no student could easily get angry.
The reason that lunatic ended up at the police station was because he got caught by a student's parents who had come to pick them up.
In the end, that's what a scam is.
Like in movies or dramas, meticulously planned scams are scams, but throwing out minimal information and letting the other person imagine and deceive themselves is also a type of scam.
The desperate method I'm using to survive the Heavenly Killing Star is like that too.
"Wake up."
As I was asleep, someone shook my shoulder to wake me.
I was tense, but it seems I had dozed off for a moment. The habit of falling asleep even when hearing animal cries in the middle of the night in the mountains is coming in handy now.
"Huh? Who? Kgh!"
It starts off intense. As I turned my head, still groggy from sleep, and looked at the Heavenly Killing Star with blurry vision, her hand jabbed at me.
A strange pain shot through a weird spot, and then my throat felt odd. Did she press my mute acupoint? No voice came out at all.
Is this pressure point sealing? People in the martial arts world have universal switches on their bodies; pressing them makes you unable to speak or forces you to fall asleep.
I looked at the Heavenly Killing Star with a startled face. She brought her cold dagger to my throat.
"You know me."
I shook my head side to side. I don't. I'm seeing your face for the first time right now.
"We met a while ago at the Gap-su Merchant Group."
I stared blankly at Cheon So-hee and then tilted my head. No, I told you, I'm seeing your face for the first time.
"Ah! Right."
As if finally realizing it, Cheon So-hee began to change her body and face. She's a bit of a scatterbrain, isn't she?
The male face changed to a female face, the male body to a female body. Amazing. Is she using Bone-Shrinking Skill and Transformation Skill together?
I pretended to be shocked watching Cheon So-hee's body transform before my eyes.
I am an ordinary person. I don't understand this situation. Time for self-hypnosis.
"Do you recognize me now?"
Cheon So-hee's face had become the one I saw a few days ago.
I nodded my head vigorously. My voice is sealed, you know. Hurry up and release it.
"Look at this."
Cheon So-hee showed me the fake diary right in front of my eyes. Good. If she hadn't seen that first, I would have had to find another way to hand it over. At least the diary laid the groundwork.
I alternated my gaze between the diary and Cheon So-hee. Now I just need to start. Please release the seal on my voice. Please.
"I'll let your voice come out now. If you scream recklessly, I'll kill you immediately, so be prepared."
Cheon So-hee searched my body for the voice switch and pressed it. Amazing. Can I learn something like this? It would be useful to know something like a switch for... other things.
I deliberately relaxed my body while having frivolous thoughts. I can't let my voice get tense from being too nervous. Let's keep it natural.
"Young Lady. I must have mistaken you for someone. Please, spare my life."
The moment my voice was released, I carefully avoided the dagger at my throat and bowed low, prostrating myself. Spare me. I'm so scared. I have to pretend to be trembling.
"Don't lie. You recognized me."
"It seems I was mistaken because your name was the same as a child I knew. I apologize for causing this misunderstanding that led you here. Please, just spare my life."
I need to lay more groundwork.
"Couldn't that child and I be the same person?"
Still bowing, I only raised my head to look up at Cheon So-hee. Short hair, red eyes. It's definitely the Cheon So-hee I know. But actually, it's different.
"It was the middle of the night, so I was mistaken when I saw your black hair and red eyes. But in the light of the guest room, you seem like a different person."
"A different person?"
"Your face is different. It's not the face of the So-hee I remember. The So-hee I knew was a child who would grow up to make, not just the village, but all the boys of the eight provinces of Joseon cry. Looking at you now, your appearance seems very different."
The Cheon So-hee before my eyes is the Cheon So-hee I know. But her appearance is different. She was using Transformation Skill and Bone-Shrinking Skill to have the face of an ordinary woman.
Cheon So-hee was silent for a moment.
Surprised?
Someone who knows the Heavenly Killing Star's real face. Probably not many in The Assassin Guild know your real face, right? But I know.
"... Wait a moment."
Cheon So-hee touched her face and began to change back to her original face. Her body also started to inflate in certain areas.
Yes. That's the face. That's the body. A beauty as long as she doesn't open her mouth. The real Cheon So-hee had appeared before me.
"So, So-hee? Is it really you, Cheon So-hee?"
I sat down on the ground with my butt, pretending to be shocked. And I looked at her as if I were seeing someone who absolutely shouldn't be in front of me.
"Who on earth are you."
"So-hee, do you really not remember me?"
Someone who knows the Heavenly Killing Star's name.
Someone who knows Cheon So-hee's real face.
The only person who knows Cheon So-hee's past.
It must be getting more and more confusing.
The Heavenly Killing Star looked confused seeing me pretending to recognize her. But the Heavenly Killing Star, while confused, could absolutely not deny that I was someone she didn't know.
The reason I devised this current plan.
The reason I can so naturally pretend to know the Heavenly Killing Star.
The reason the Heavenly Killing Star cannot determine the truth even if I speak with confidence.
All originate from a single setting.
The Heavenly Killing Star had lost most of her memories before the age of eight.
******
Heavenly Killing Star Cheon So-hee.
The time that existed in Cheon So-hee's memory was not 18 years, but 10 years. For her, there existed a blank period of 8 years.
Cheon So-hee had almost no memories before the age of eight. On the day all the villagers were slaughtered. Cheon So-hee lost most of her memories due to the shock.
"I don't know... who you are."
She didn't know who I was. It didn't come to mind at all. No matter how hard she tried to remember, a person who didn't exist in her memory. Cheon So-hee was engulfed in confusion.
[That day, all the villagers died.]
The content written in the diary. A fact known only to herself and those who kidnapped her that day.
'Your face is different.'
Very few people knew her original face. It was impossible for a Joseon person she was seeing for the first time to know her face.
'Cheon So-hee?'
He knew a name that only she in this world should know.
But he was a person who didn't exist in her memory.
On the day the villagers died. Along with her memories, all the people who remembered her name died that day.
The Heavenly Killing Star was kidnapped that day and grew up in an assassin organization.
Since everyone who could call her by her name had died, no one knew her name, Cheon So-hee.
Even her master in The Assassin Guild only called her Heavenly Killing Star and didn't try to learn her name. The Assassin Guild was a place that raised expendable assassins, not an organization that built master-disciple relationships and nurtured martial artists.
The Heavenly Killing Star built up her skills in The Assassin Guild and became the 20th-ranked assassin. Her first assassination mission. Even when everyone thought it was impossible even for the Heavenly Killing Star, she assassinated a martial artist with a clear difference in skill level in one go. After that day, no one doubted the Heavenly Killing Star's talent.
Time passed, and the 15th-ranked assassin of the den died. The Heavenly Killing Star became the 15th-ranked assassin. The 10th-ranked died and she became the 10th. The 8th-ranked died and she became the 8th. Fake identities, The Assassin Guild 20th, 15th, 8th, 5th-ranked assassin. Her name changed constantly.
A name is not important to an assassin. What's important is the mission.
Thus, the Heavenly Killing Star buried her name in her heart.
The Assassin Guild 5th Rank.
First-Class Assassin.
Heavenly Killing Star.
That was her current name.
She was the only one in this world who remembered her real name.
Cheon So-hee had lived believing that until now.
"So-hee."
She had never imagined a day would come when someone would call her by that name.
"I don't know... who you are."
A look of confusion spread over Cheon So-hee's expressionless face.
Huh?
Expressionless?
She's a bit weird. No, she's quite weird.
The sense of incongruity I felt from the first time we met, that something was off, overwhelmed me.
The Heavenly Killing Star I knew was a crazy woman. A woman who indiscriminately committed murder and felt no guilt for it. A woman suited to letting out mad laughter, always with blood smeared on her face.
That's not the feeling I'm getting now. What is it?
As I got a moment to catch my breath, my mind started racing.
Heavenly Killing Star. What are her characteristics in martial arts stories? Madness. Killing intent. Murderous heart. Talent for killing. If an enemy, a man or woman crazy about killing. What's this woman's setting? Villain. Murder. Driven mad by the Heavenly Killing Star's murderous heart.
Driven mad by the murderous heart?
Ah! You haven't gone crazy yet.
I cheered inwardly. For a madman, a club is the cure, not words. I pretended to be weak from the start, afraid that if I rubbed the Heavenly Killing Star the wrong way, she'd kill me immediately, but this changes things. In this state, the plan should work even better.
"So-hee."
I called out to the Heavenly Killing Star, who was standing there dazedly. For some reason, Cheon So-hee made a surprised expression.
It's working. Just calling her name is working.
Then let's drive the wedge home.
The person who knows the Heavenly Killing Star's real name.
The person who knows Cheon So-hee's real face.
The only person who knows Cheon So-hee's past.
"So-hee. So-hee. It's your oppa, Kang Yun-ho. Do you really not recognize this oppa you used to play with when you were little?"
From now on, I am the Heavenly Killing Star's childhood friend.