Closed-Door Training - 7
An assassin has no need for towering heights of martial cultivation.
The lightfoot skill to finish off a target and slip away from the scene as fast as possible, or the deep internal energy to keep fighting endlessly when trouble arises—neither of these matters all that much to an assassin.
So what is the most important martial art for an assassin? Stealth.
Even the greatest masters of the martial world must eat. They must answer the call of nature. They sleep when tired, and at times they lose themselves in a lover's embrace.
At such a moment, just once. A single opening—that one lapse even a master cannot avoid—is all it takes.
If you can finish the target quietly while their guard is down, you can walk away alive without any lofty realm of cultivation, swift lightfoot technique, or deep reserves of internal energy.
For an assassin, stealth was so vital it could decide whether a mission succeeded or failed.
Of course, weak stealth did not mean one was unfit to kill for a living. But even if a killer stood far beyond the norm in every other respect, poor concealment remained a flaw—and that fact never changed.
Cheon Sohee knew this as well as anyone, which was why she was devoting herself wholeheartedly to shoring up her lacking stealth arts.
"Oh! No. 5! Practicing your stealth arts, are we? I have something to tell you!"
"......"
Cheon Sohee did not bother answering Seol-ja, who had come calling at the training grounds.
A fine opportunity. Let's see just how much stronger my stealth has become.
Erasing her presence while keeping her composure was something she could manage. Her weakness lay elsewhere—whenever she harbored murderous intent toward a target, an uncontrollable killing aura boiled up before she even realized it.
Seol-ja was failing to find her on the training grounds. Knowing she was there somewhere without being able to pinpoint her meant her realm had risen since before.
Let's stay hidden as long as I can. Cheon Sohee erased her presence all the more thoroughly.
"Fufufu. It is Yukiko! If you will not come out, then you must be scheming something."
Cheon Sohee watched in silence as Seol-ja curled one corner of her mouth and produced a slip of paper.
Do not act rashly. No matter what she does, I will not be shaken. She steeled her resolve.
"I have received a report that a woman named Lim Hayeon slipped into Kang Yunho's room in the dead of night—"
"Really?!"
She shot straight out of hiding.
"Fufufut."
"Ah."
She'd been had. A groan of despair slipped from Cheon Sohee's lips.
"Nin-nin! No. 5! Your stealth arts still have a very long way to go!"
"...You. Spar with me."
Cheon Sohee said it with a flicker of irritation, uncharacteristic of her.
"A head-on fight holds no answers for me!"
Seol-ja refused outright in a flustered flurry—she was assassin No. 6 herself, but she had absolutely no intention of crossing blades with the Heavenly Killing Star she had just pranked.
"What is it?"
Cheon Sohee gave up at last and asked.
"No. 5! So in the end, you refuse to learn the Kunoichi Seduction Art?"
"Not interested."
Persistent, this one. Why did she keep bringing it up? Cheon Sohee eyed her with distaste.
"Fufufut. No. 5! You read Dangga Pungun and still think the same?! Aren't you being far too complacent?!"
As if she had anticipated exactly this reaction, Seol-ja pointed a bold finger at Cheon Sohee.
"Dangga Pungun?"
"Your beloved might want a whole stable of wives, just like Dang Jeong!"
"Yunho isn't that kind of man."
Cheon Sohee fired back without a beat's hesitation at the absurd claim. Dang Jeong might resemble him, but he was not Yunho.
"That is exactly why you're complacent, No. 5! If your beloved is a man like Dang Jeong, beauties will flock to him whether he lifts a finger or not!"
Seol-ja flashed a grin that said how ridiculous can you get.
"Women, flocking to Yunho?"
Cheon Sohee asked back, her eyes gone round.
"You are far too innocent, No. 5! If even the Heavenly Killing Star fell for him, how could any other woman resist? All that time by his side, and you honestly never saw a single case of it?"
"......"
She did remember.
Whenever Yunho took a stage in his neat, polished finery, they would swarm around him like flies biding their time. The memory of the countless flies she herself had knocked out cold flitted through Cheon Sohee's mind.
"Just look at Dangga Pungun. That woman Lim Hayeon is a former courtesan too, isn't she? Now picture a courtesan like Du Eung-hyang from Dangga Pungun sinking her hooks into your beloved!"
"That woman said she doesn't feel that way about him."
Cheon Sohee's words were true—the letter had come from Yichang, after all. While Kang Yunho had been in Yichang, he had thought of Lim Hayeon as nothing more than a woman who needed looking after, and Lim Hayeon had never once revealed the faint fondness she felt for him. They lived under the same roof, but they were not lovers. Kang Yunho had written precisely because he saw no reason for Sohee to leap to the wrong conclusion, so the letter's contents had to be the truth.
When he was in Yichang, that is.
"Fufufut! No. 5, your martial arts may be first-rate, but in matters of love you are completely third-rate! These eyes can already see the entire future of those two!"
Seol-ja clicked her tongue like some insufferable master detective and wagged her index finger from side to side.
"You can see the future?"
"One look is enough to tell—she's the sort who nags her beloved's ear off every day! Then she'll fall for his manly charm. Later, she'll start sneaking in little gestures of affection. And then—even after your beloved tells her, 'I have my No. 5,' imagine that woman Lim Hayeon clinging on and mewling that she wants to marry him! What will you do then?!"
"Kill her?"
"Aiya! Like that's an option!"
"Then I'll knock her out and leave her somewhere far away."
She had done it a few times already. If it ever comes to that, I'll just dump her somewhere she can never return from—the southern wilds, or the North Sea. Cheon Sohee thought.
"Even if she happens to be someone your beloved truly needs?! What if he is left disillusioned because you cast her out without so much as a word?"
"Yunho would be disappointed?"
Cheon Sohee's eyes went round.
"When you drive out a woman who has settled into a corner of a man's heart, you had best be prepared to earn that man's hatred! Are you prepared to be hated by your beloved, No. 5?!"
Yunho could come to hate me.
The truth pressed down on Cheon Sohee's chest, heavy beyond bearing.
I hate the thought of a woman like Du Eung-hyang at his side. I want to send her far away. But what if she truly is someone he needs? Being hated by Yunho would be even worse. And yet I cannot bear to watch her stand beside him either.
What do I do?
Cheon Sohee's heart began to churn and boil.
"Fufufut! Which is precisely why you need the seduction art!"
As if she could see every corner of Cheon Sohee's heart, Seol-ja drove straight into it.
"Why?"
Only then did Cheon Sohee finally decide to hear her out.
"Even if your beloved loves you best of all, a man's heart wavers when other women keep cooing and preening at him! So you use the seduction art to defend your place as the woman he loves most!"
"The woman Yunho loves most..."
Cheon Sohee's heart wavered.
In Yunho's eyes, I am the most beautiful woman in all of Sichuan. But what if women like Du Eung-hyang—or the Two Flowers of Blue and Red—come wagging their tails at his side? I am nothing like those soft, honey-voiced girls.
"No matter what woman comes to seduce him—'No. 5 is the best there is!' Don't you want to hear him say it?"
"...I want to."
I want to hear it. I want to hear it from Yunho. A faint color rose in Cheon Sohee's cheeks.
"Yukiko shall make No. 5 the finest woman in all the world!"
In the end, Cheon Sohee had no choice but to nod.
"Let the lecture on the Kunoichi Seduction Art commence! Nin-nin!"
Having relocated to her own room and finished her preparations, Seol-ja made her declaration with an expression brimming over with passion.
"What's that on your face?"
"Fufu. Glasses. Do I not have the look of an intellectual woman now? As Confucius said: the childhood friend shall be the lawful wife. And with the cool-beauty attribute besides, victory is assured. Well? What do you think?"
Seol-ja murmured in a refined, cerebral voice utterly unlike her usual self, toying with the frames perched on her nose.
"......"
"Gah! Fine, I'll take them off! In any case, today's subject: the secret arts of the ninja of Dongyeong! I shall teach you a seduction technique—knowing it is half the battle won!"
Seol-ja hollered as she scribbled something onto the board hanging on the wall.
"What is it?"
"The Beach Seduction Technique!"
What Seol-ja had written on the board gleamed in bold, confident strokes:
THE BEACH!
"The Beach Seduction Technique?"
"They say that in Dongyeong these days, one wears garments like these to the seaside."
From a box brought over from Dongyeong, Seol-ja produced scraps of cloth that anyone could see covered far too little area and presented them to Cheon Sohee.
"Those are underwear."
A garment with no sleeves, no legs? Anyone can see that's underwear. Cheon Sohee said, a small crease forming between her brows.
"Swimsuits! Woven from fabric that doesn't drink in water—utterly fashionable these days, I'll have you know!"
"Swimsuits?"
"Precisely. And among swimsuits, No. 5, I believe a decorated bikini would suit you best."
"So they are underwear."
The swimsuit Seol-ja produced next covered only the bare essentials. Not just her arms and legs—even her navel would be on display. Cheon Sohee could only reply with a face gone stiff.
"I recommend it because it will suit you! Behold this cloth ornamentation! Dazzling, yet never surrendering an ounce of its cuteness—perfect for you, No. 5! Put it on at once!"
"Aren't you wearing one?"
No matter how I turn it over, this feels like a swindle. At Cheon Sohee's dubious question, Seol-ja's jaw dropped as though she had taken a clean hit.
"Ha! Setting a pitiful figure beside yourself for comparison! Securing superiority and contrast in one stroke! An incisive point on the art of seduction! But I will not forgive provocation of your teacher!"
"......"
Faced with Cheon Sohee's frosty silence, Seol-ja at last heaved a sigh.
"Very well! The lecture continues on the assumption that you are wearing it! You don the bikini with your usual expressionless face! And then, the moment your beloved gapes at you like a stunned fool, you deliver a single line."
"A single line?"
Seeing No. 5 finally hanging on her every word, Seol-ja nodded in satisfaction. Then, crossing her arms to hug her own shoulders, she averted her gaze and spoke.
"I-it's just... it's embarrassing, wearing a swimsuit like this... The trick is to color your cheeks faintly red and shyly shield your body. Kuuuh. Well? What do you think? Merely imagining it makes my brain melt!"
"Why would I be embarrassed in front of Yunho?"
"Uuuuh! You must be embarrassed! That works its magic even before the clothes come off! No—it drives a man out of his mind with the urge to tear them off you!"
"Understood."
"Do not wave this away! Is the seduction art some trifle?! The prickly minx who only turns bashful at the end, the proud heiress of a wealthy house who secretly dotes on the hero, the crossdressing swordswoman who is a revelation once undressed, the black-hearted viper behind a lovely face, the sly bombshell whose bold advances slip straight through the protagonist's guard—against such rivals, the childhood friend attribute can barely scrape together any page time! You must never squander the five seconds allotted for showing your charm!"
"...Understood."
Before she knew it, Cheon Sohee was nodding along to Seol-ja's torrent of eloquence.
"I got a touch carried away. Onward to the next subject! Our next secret technique: 'Rub the Oil On Me'!"
Seol-ja declared, drawing out a suspicious gourd of oil brought all the way from Dongyeong.
"Oil?"
"We are at the seaside as we speak! You cannot very well let the sun scorch that skin of yours, can you? You have the man apply a special oil for you! Let him lay hands on your bare skin as if by accident, all while showing off your figure, No. 5! The mood will turn positively pink!"
At Seol-ja's words, Cheon Sohee found herself recalling a similar experience. Back when she had taught him the Jade-Faced Guardian Divine Skill, she had applied medicine to every inch of Kang Yunho's body.
Yunho... touching my body?
And she would be wearing nothing but that underwear-like garment. Yunho's hands on her bare skin. A strangely ticklish feeling warmed Cheon Sohee's face to red.
"What if I rub it on him instead?"
"Wha—! I never even conceived of such a thing! Kghk! The student surpasses the master! Truly, the Heavenly Killing Star who slays men!"
"......"
"I-I refuse to be outdone as your teacher! As a combo technique, I shall also teach you 'And the Front Too'! Follow along closely now!"
Seol-ja did seem to spout a great deal of nonsense, but there was something useful buried in it. Asking Yunho to rub oil on her, especially—that hardly seemed like a bad idea.
The lecture proving more useful than she had expected, Cheon Sohee fixed her attention on Seol-ja's every word.
"We train hard again tomorrow!"
"I don't feel like any of it helped."
There truly had not been much of substance. Cheon Sohee said it with a dissatisfied look as she stepped out of Seol-ja's room.
"Grr! Then next time, I shall graciously teach you how a cool-beauty childhood friend secures page time on a hot springs getaway! Oh! Lady Dan Seowol? What brings you here?"
The moment the two emerged from the room, the Red Rakshasa Dan Seowol stood waiting, as though she had been there all along.
"My disciple. Let us speak a while."
Dan Seowol regarded her disciple—the Heavenly Killing Star—with a grave voice.
"Mm."
"Ah! An intimate exchange between master and disciple! Yukiko! I am a touch envious, but I shall withdraw!"
With the look of someone who had thoroughly enjoyed her day, Seol-ja bade Cheon Sohee farewell and disappeared back into her room.
"......"
Cheon Sohee watched her go for a long moment before heading to Dan Seowol's room.
"Is Seol-ja bothering you?"
Dan Seowol led her disciple inside and asked with tender, wistful eyes.
"No. She's not bad."
Dan Seowol faltered for an instant at the answer. She had assumed the girl found her nothing but a nuisance.
This man Kang Yunho has truly changed so much.
Had falling in love taught her how to receive another's warmth? The child had once been numb to everything under heaven. To think she could change this much.
A small smile settled on Dan Seowol's lips.
"And your killing intent? Is it still under control?"
"I've found the path. All I have to do is walk it."
A fine answer for a master to hear—yet not one that set her heart at ease.
"Are you confident you can keep your reason among people?"
Dan Seowol asked once more, her face grave, as if to confirm it a second time.
"Has something happened?"
Dan Seowol could not answer her disciple's question at once.
Am I truly making the right choice? After agonizing over it more times than she could count, the Red Rakshasa nodded and spoke.