Chapter 53
Translator: uly
Chapter: 53
Chapter Title: The Black Rope of Fate - 1
[Number 5. It's a mission. Come to the designated location.]
The note secretly handed to Cheonsalseong by Jeomsoyi along with dinner. It contained a message from the assassination den Cheonsalseong belonged to.
Cheonsalseong told the man who had been smiling at her all evening, seemingly for no reason, that she would step out for a moment and went out into the street.
The sun had already set, and the day had grown dark; shops in the market were closing up one by one, finishing their day's business.
Cheonsalseong walked through the market for a while, then slipped into a shop in a secluded corner of a back alley and opened a discreetly hidden door.
"You've come. Sit."
Inside the secret room was a middle-aged man sipping tea.
"The mission?"
Cheonsalseong didn't even sit down and asked the man.
"You're as impatient as ever. We should catch up on each other's news before getting to the point. Is that any way to ask right off the bat?"
The middle-aged man, the branch manager of the assassination den, gestured for her to sit in the chair.
"No time."
"Well, I suppose. I hear you've been getting cozy with a dark-haired man lately."
"We're not like that."
"Not like that, my foot. There's only one reason a man and woman sleep in the same room."
The middle-aged man wiggled his eyebrows and smirked. Cheonsalseong glared at him, but no one in the assassination den would flinch at a mere look like that.
"I'm just staying with him to find out something."
"That's how all relationships between men and women start. First, you find out what food the man likes, what kind of affection he responds to, and later, what positions he prefers."
"I'm leaving."
Cheonsalseong turned to walk out the door.
"Oh my, I can't even joke with Number 5. Your next mission is to go to Xingguo near Baiyun Mountain in Jiangxi Province. The branch there will give you detailed information."
"Jiangxi Province?"
Too far. They were currently in Hubei Province. A mission within Hubei would be one thing, but having to travel across provinces meant a grueling journey.
Would that man come along? His diary said he had only recently managed to make a stable living. Could he give up that stable livelihood and leave with her? Cheonsalseong wasn't sure.
"Yes. Jiangxi. Why?"
"Too far. I'm refusing this mission."
In the end, Cheonsalseong decided to refuse the mission.
"Wow! The day has come when I see Number 5 refuse a mission. Isn't this a first? It seems something more important than a mission has finally appeared in your life?"
The corners of the man's eyes curved like crescent moons. His expression was mischievous, as if he knew everything.
Cheonsalseong suddenly felt that if she killed this man right now, she wouldn't have to carry out any more assassination missions to suppress her killing intent.
"Then I'm going."
"I don't mind you refusing the mission, but... that man. Does he know you're Cheonsalseong?"
At the man's words, Cheonsalseong, who had been turning toward the door, stopped.
"He doesn't need to know that."
Cheonsalseong's words were bold, but there seemed to be a hint of unease somewhere.
"If a woman sleeping in the same bed could get up in the middle of the night and kill him, you'd think he should know, right? If you keep refusing missions because you don't want to leave the man, can you keep controlling your killing intent? It might be fine for now, but if you keep refusing missions because you don't want to part with him, later you might have to part with him forever."
The middle-aged man indirectly warned that she could send the man she was living with to the afterlife.
For Cheonsalseong, killing intent was similar to constant hunger.
Even someone on a strict diet, if they get hungry during sleep, there comes a time when appetite overrules reason.
Even if they control their appetite with strong willpower during the day, they might unconsciously go to the fridge at night looking for food.
Cheonsalseong was similar.
Even if she controlled her killing intent with willpower and martial arts during the day, that control could slip during sleep. If her killing intent surges excessively during sleep, the first thing she'd do is 'cook' the most tempting man right in front of her.
"...... The Black Night Rope. Can you get it for me?"
After a moment of contemplation, Cheonsalseong requested a temporary measure to control her killing intent.
"You'll use the Black Night Rope? That doesn't just suppress killing intent, you know. If I remember correctly, you hated being bound by it because it leaves you defenseless, right? Even in the assassination den, only your master was allowed to bind you with the Black Night Rope. You're asking for that?"
The Black Night Rope.
The Black Night Rope was a rope woven from the hide of a spiritual beast enchanted with various spells, an artifact that could suppress Cheonsalseong's emotions and martial arts.
It was an artifact the assassination den painstakingly created after incidents where Cheonsalseong would wield her sword while intoxicated by killing intent in the middle of the night.
Of course, such an artifact couldn't completely prevent Cheonsalseong from being consumed by killing intent.
It was merely an auxiliary tool for sleeping at night.
"I'm already using something similar. Get it for me."
The ninja outfit Cheonsalseong wore during important assassination missions. That outfit had cords enchanted with spells similar to the Black Night Rope.
Sometimes, when dieting, eating can make you even hungrier.
Similarly, for Cheonsalseong, killing might not suppress her killing intent but could instead increase her desire to kill. The cords on the ninja outfit were artifacts that controlled such situations.
Artifacts that slightly suppressed killing intent without suppressing martial arts or emotions. She was already using artifacts of a similar type, though their effect was more modest than the Black Night Rope.
"The Black Night Rope should be at the assassination den. It'll take quite some time to fetch it. Can you hold out until then?"
"......"
During the past few days with the man, her killing intent hadn't surged yet. But could she last until the Black Night Rope arrived?
Cheonsalseong couldn't give a definite answer.
The man laughed at Cheonsalseong's hesitation and stretched his hand under the chair.
"I knew it! I brought it here."
The middle-aged man pulled out the Black Night Rope from a box beside him.
"How?"
Cheonsalseong was startled that the Black Night Rope, which should be with her master at the assassination den, had appeared before her eyes.
"Your master heard the news and sent this urgently. There's also a note, so take it together."
Cheonsalseong received the Black Night Rope along with the note from her master.
What news could he have heard to think of sending this? Cheonsalseong wondered.
The Black Night Rope was an item she had stopped using after her martial arts achievements deepened and regular assassination work allowed her to control her killing aura.
'Throw this away now.'
'You'll need it when you're a little older. I'll keep it.'
That day, her master had taken the Black Night Rope with a mysterious smile, even though he had told her to throw it away.
Did he know a situation would arise where she'd need to use it again?
What situation had he anticipated to send this?
Cheonsalseong carefully unfolded the note from her master to check its contents.
[Make sure to use contraception.]
For a moment, Cheonsalseong seriously considered whether she should grab her sword and head to the assassination den right now.
In the end, Cheonsalseong couldn't go back to the assassination den and returned to the inn where Kang Yun-ho was staying.
She quickly made it to the door of the guest room she shared with Kang Yun-ho, but couldn't easily open it once there.
'Is this the only way?'
She looked at the Black Night Rope in her hand and pondered.
It was an item she had even been reluctant to use during training at the assassination den. So much so that she had told her master to throw it away once she could control her killing intent.
Of course, if bound by this rope, no unfortunate incidents would occur at night for a while. But if bound by this rope, she would be incapacitated.
Not only would her killing intent be suppressed, but her martial arts would also be suppressed, and her emotional control would falter. Even so, should she be bound by this rope? Cheonsalseong looked at the black rope.
'I need to sleep.'
She hadn't slept for two days already, staying awake to observe and find out the man's suspicious points.
No matter how much of an assassin she was, she couldn't spend every night worrying about what kind of sleep-talking he did, what his face looked like, what he looked like as a child, or if that face was in her memory.
No matter how much martial arts one practices, unless one is an immortal, one must sleep and eat.
'I don't want to sleep in another room.'
It was the easiest method, but she didn't want to use it.
When she was with Kang Yun-ho, her emotions strangely kept surging.
She was afraid that this might break her inner peace and bring out the killing intent within. But if she didn't do this, she might never recover her past memories.
She didn't know when the day she would be consumed by killing intent would come, but she didn't have much time left. It was a fact she wanted to deny, but Cheonsalseong knew reality.
Memories as foggy as mist that wouldn't emerge no matter how much she dug. If she sailed with the waves of emotion, she might someday pierce through the fog and find hidden memories.
To continue sailing, she had to keep him within her sight.
'Can I trust him?'
If bound by the Black Night Rope, she would be defenseless. Could she trust that man?
Even Cheonsalseong knew the fate that could befall a defenseless woman with no resistance in this martial world.
How would that man treat her if she became defenseless? In fact, everything so far could have been an act, and he could reveal his true colors now that she was defenseless.
Even if he didn't reveal his true colors, dark desires could arise, and he might violate her.
For a brief moment, Cheonsalseong tried to imagine the scenario of Kang Yun-ho violating her.
"Where did you go?"
Just then, Kang Yun-ho's voice came from inside the room. Cheonsalseong flinched at his voice.
Why am I startled? I haven't done anything wrong.
Just hearing the man's voice suddenly threw her heart into turmoil.
"When are you coming?"
At the sound of Kang Yun-ho's voice anxiously waiting for her, her unsettled heart calmed.
Kang Yun-ho wasn't relieved that she was gone; he was looking for her. The man was anxiously waiting for her.
Cheonsalseong didn't notice, but the corners of her mouth lifted slightly at that thought.
"I'm back."
Cheonsalseong opened the door with her expressionless face and approached the man.
"So-hee?"
Could she entrust this rope to this man?
Could she entrust herself to him?
Cheonsalseong thought back on his actions over the past three days.
'How foolish it is for people to wash blood with blood.'
'So that's why I'm treated like a barbarian here.'
No matter what kind of human, when given power stronger than their counterpart, their true nature emerges. Cheonsalseong recalled her master's words.
It was possible he was acting in front of her. But in the situation she witnessed today, he had no reason to put on a facade. He could have killed that villain just by saying the word to her.
Yet he forgave the villain.
[Make sure to use contraception.]
She remembered the words from her master's note.
If she were bound and incapacitated, his true nature would emerge. But she wasn't anxious.
Because the true nature she saw today was that of a virtuous man, anyone could see that.
Looking at the man's bewildered face, Cheonsalseong opened her mouth.
"Tie me up with this."
Today, she would be bound by this man. With resolve, she held out the black rope.