Cheon-geuk (2)
Beon Saeng, who had gone out on an errand, returned and immediately came to Baek So-cheon with Im Choong.
"I delivered the dagger to Gu-ryong Inn just as you instructed. The owner seemed pretty ordinary, though. Who is she?"
"To strangers, she's just an innkeeper. To those in the know, she's terrifying."
Beon Saeng glanced at Im Choong. He was checking if the man had overheard anything in the meantime, but there was nothing related.
"If you delivered it properly, the scariest person in the jianghu will show up in a few days. Be careful how you greet her."
Who on earth deserved the title of the scariest person in the jianghu?
"Who is it?"
"Judge her by appearances, and ten lives won't be enough. I've warned you."
With that, Baek So-cheon headed into his room.
"That didn't sound like a joke, did it?"
"Nah. Looks like a scary one really is coming."
"Branch Chief, you know what I did? I went around whistling, calling the scariest person in the jianghu on your orders. Good lord! Is it okay to send a backwater squad leader like me on an errand like that? You don't send someone on a terrifying job without spilling the details first, right?"
"I would've told you. Hell, I wouldn't have sent you on something that dangerous to begin with."
"I wanna go back to the old days. Peacefully hanging out with you, Branch Chief."
"Too late for that, huh?"
Despite the conversation, both men's faces were bright. Ever since meeting Baek So-cheon, there hadn't been a single day without heart-pounding tension—but it wasn't bad.
What if Baek So-cheon left someday and things returned to the way they were? Would that life truly feel like "peace" anymore?
"By the way, the scariest person in the jianghu? Who could it be?"
Such curiosity was tempting—who could resist?
Two days later, the awaited guest visited the branch.
The scariest person in the jianghu turned out to be a woman, surprisingly.
Her face was veiled by a thin silk cloth over her bamboo hat, but her figure was sensually captivating, enough to drop jaws.
Only then did Im Choong and Beon Saeng understand why they'd been warned not to judge by looks. Approach without reading the room, crack a joke, and your head would roll.
Even hearing that, Beon Saeng's mouth itched. He desperately wanted to say, You're truly beautiful.
"You two, get out. No one comes in."
"Yes, ma'am."
Once the pair left and they were alone, the woman finally spoke.
"It really is you."
Her voice trembled.
She drew out the dagger—the very one Baek So-cheon had given Beon Saeng to deliver.
"Even receiving this, I was half in doubt. Could it really be you? You haven't changed a bit."
"Sit."
"Well, who else could order me around like this if not you?"
"Sit down!"
"Stop yelling already. I'm sitting, okay? What can a powerless girl like me do? Come when called, sit when told."
After taking a seat, she removed her bamboo hat.
The room brightened the moment her face was revealed. She was stunningly beautiful.
She had the kind of looks where saying, "The world's top beauty is just for a time. Now there are so many young, gorgeous successors," wouldn't feel out of place at all.
If it had just been beauty, it would have ended there.
But she added one more allure.
Her beauty wasn't merely feminine grace.
Toughness—an unlikely trait—formed a pillar of her charm. Her delicate appearance suggested she'd survive even if thrown into hell, a perfect blend of beauty and resilience that gave her a unique magnetism.
It made her seem martially formidable, carrying an aura you couldn't trifle with.
And that impression was spot on.
She was none other than Cheon-geuk, Alliance Lord of the Sal-su Yeon-maeng—the Central Plains' Greatest Assassin Alliance, commonly called the Killer League—and the Killer Queen of her era.
People assumed the Killer Queen was a man, thanks to preconceptions and her masculine name, but the current one was a woman. A poorly kept secret known only to the alliance's top brass.
"Why are you so pissed?"
"I waited two days."
"Well, you called me to this backwater in Jeol-gang Province. Anyone else, and it wouldn't have been two days. Frankly, you're not the Bi-gak Lord anymore, are you?"
Bi-gak came up.
"And demoted from Cheol-geom-dan squad leader, right?"
She knew Baek So-cheon's recent situation well.
"Not in the mood for games. That's enough."
"Why'd you call me here?"
Baek So-cheon rose and approached her.
He got right up close, staring silently—then
Slap!
Baek So-cheon slapped her cheek without mercy.
Her head slowly turned back toward him. Her reddened face bore a mix of indescribable emotions.
She glared and shouted.
"Are you insane?"
In that instant!
A whoosh of wind.
Four iron swords were suddenly at Baek So-cheon's throat. Four figures had appeared from perfect concealment, encircling him: three men and one woman. They were Cheon-geuk's guardian killers, the Sa-cheon-sal.
Existing solely to protect the Alliance Lord, they possessed supreme stealth and peak-level martial arts.
Four swords at his neck, yet Baek So-cheon showed no fear. Instead, he yelled at them.
"You bastards! Pull those swords away! Who the hell points blades at my neck?!"
The Sa-cheon-sal bristled with killing intent, awaiting Cheon-geuk's command. They looked ready to decapitate him any second.
Cheon-geuk told them,
"Stand down."
At her order, they vanished like ghosts, just as they'd appeared.
Cheon-geuk glared at Baek So-cheon.
"Give me a proper reason for hitting me. Or you die by my hand today."
Baek So-cheon bellowed back.
"You bitch. You wanna die? I warned you—never kill people who don't know martial arts or kids, no matter what assassin gigs you take!"
His words caught her off guard.
"We haven't killed any."
"Can you swear to that? Every assassin group under you?"
"……."
She was speechless. Did the Sal-su Yeon-maeng have just one or two killer outfits?
"You think because I lost my inner power, you'll break our promise? Is that it?"
"No! You damn jerk! Stop pushing me! Give me a second to think."
She snapped, and Baek So-cheon fell silent for a moment.
She touched her stinging cheek.
"Ah, this pisses me off. You hit me? With that empty bamboo-stalk body of yours?"
She repeated it in disbelief. No one but Baek So-cheon could get away with this.
"You deserved it. It's not that you were weak—you earned the slap."
"Forgot who I am? I'm the Killer Queen."
"Yeah, I put you there."
Cheon-geuk's eyes wavered. Then she shot back defiantly.
"That's the only reason your head's still attached."
Silence fell.
Moments later, she regained her composure, speaking calmly again.
"Where was the Sal-beop broken?"
Sal-beop: the unbreakable laws of the Sal-su Yeon-maeng. First rule: never kill kids or those ignorant of martial arts.
"Chil-geom-hoe."
Her expression hardened slightly.
Of all places.
One of the trickiest groups under the alliance.
Since they were killers, they lacked the Murim Alliance's blind loyalty. She had to pressure, intimidate, sometimes coax them to keep the league in line.
"You know who placed the contract?"
"Shin-hwa-bang."
"What do you want?"
"Proof that Shin-hwa-bang ordered the Yang Chu family massacre."
"Got it. I'll investigate internally and get back to you."
At the door, she paused.
"Do it again—curse or hit me—and you're done."
Baek So-cheon offered no apology, issuing a harsher warning.
"Next time it happens, you'll get beaten like a dog."
"Hey!"
Unable to hold back, she yelled. In the whole world, only this Baek So-cheon shattered her calm.
In a flash, her hand gripped his throat. Her movement had surpassed peak, reaching transcendent peak.
"You really wanna die? Gotta die by my hand to feel satisfied?"
Then she saw it: Baek So-cheon wasn't scared at all.
She released her grip.
Donning her hat, she walked out.
"I won't kill you. I'll keep watching you live in misery."
After she left, Baek So-cheon let out a sigh of relief.
"Whew, close call with death."
A single boat drifted on gentle waves.
The Sa-cheon-sal stood at bow and stern, having dropped their concealment.
In the middle sat Cheon-geuk, drinking. She stared at the moon reflected in her cup; the guardians watched her mood.
Her slapped cheek was swollen, but no one dared mention it.
"Have a drink."
Dong-seong, leader of the Sa-cheon-sal at the bow, accepted the cup politely.
"Thank you."
"Curious about Baek So-cheon?"
"Yes."
Cheon-geuk taking a slap and just leaving? They knew her better than anyone. Her pride wouldn't allow it.
As her protectors, they needed to know about him but hadn't dared ask—until she brought it up.
"What kind of man is he?"
Cheon-geuk toyed with her empty cup.
"How long has it been? Since you became my Sa-cheon-sal."
"Five years. Exactly five years and four months."
The time since she'd become Killer Queen.
"When the previous Killer King died, his guardians died with him."
Thus, with the new queen Cheon-geuk, these four were reborn as Sa-cheon-sal.
"You were in secluded training, so you wouldn't know……."
From her lips spilled a shocking truth, buried as the alliance's deepest secret.
"Baek So-cheon killed the previous Killer King."
"……!"
"He took them all down alone. Ninety-seven assassins from the Sal-su Yeon-maeng died with the king that day."
Not just Dong-seong—the other three gasped too.
"Impossible."
The previous king, his Sa-cheon-sal, and elite killers around him.
"Yeah, unbelievable. But believe it. I saw it myself."
She raised her hand. It trembled faintly.
"See? Recalling that day still makes it shake."
"Why'd he attack us?"
"We kept trying to kill him endlessly. The Black Heaven Alliance put out a three-million-nyang contract."
"Three million nyang?!"
"Yeah, the highest in Sal-su Yeon-maeng history."
Fed up with the endless hits, Baek So-cheon got the Murim Alliance Lord's approval and struck the league.
Five years ago, when he topped the Murim Seol-yeol-log.
"We know he's lost his inner power now."
"Yeah, he barely survived death. No inner power left. Yet he boldly summons me to this Jeol-gang backwater and slaps my face. What do you think?"
"A madman? Suicidal? Probably both. Clinging to past glory."
"Maybe."
She poured and drank.
"Just give the order now, and……."
"Yeah, we could kill Baek So-cheon."
"Then why hold back?"
"Even a rootless killer bitch like me doesn't kill the man who spared me and made me Killer Queen over one slap."
Baek So-cheon knew she couldn't kill him. That was his scary part—reading people perfectly.
"When he acknowledged me, the previous king's successor, as Killer Queen, he demanded one promise: never take contracts on those without martial arts or kids. I swore on my name and an assassin's honor. If we broke it…… a slap and some curses are a bargain for us."
Setting down her cup, she said,
"To Chil-geom-hoe."