Chapter 144
Chapter 144
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 144
Chapter Title: Living Like Everyone Else
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The Demonus weakening operation has concluded.
They had overcome a massive hurdle, akin to scaling an entire mountain.
One might expect a well-deserved rest after such a feat, but Yong-un's subordinates found themselves busier than ever.
Drip.
A single bead of sweat traced down his jawline and splattered onto the ground.
Swipe.
Myung-su, First Ghost Soul of the Ghost Soul Assassins, wiped the sweat from his brow with his sleeve and sank into thought.
'In the end, I wasn't able to help again.'
He had believed that a year of secluded training had made him strong enough.
During the Demonus weakening operation, witnessing high-rank Hunters from other nations had convinced him his efforts weren't in vain.
But that complacency didn't last long.
Before the boss of the San Marino Demonus—the Marquis Gristarin—he had been utterly powerless. That sense of helplessness swiftly crushed his arrogance into despair.
'In the end, I had to rely on the Supreme One again.'
He had stacked bricks of training to build the towering edifice of seclusion.
He thought he had drawn close to the heavens, to the Supreme One.
But it was all an illusion, born of hubris.
In the end, the Supreme One still couldn't entrust his back to him.
'I don't want to be a burden.'
His legs trembled with exhaustion, but he forced strength into them.
Myung-su slowly rose from where he had collapsed, scanning his surroundings.
"Hah... hah..."
Ragged breaths mingled with the thick stench of sweat, perfuming the air before the Ghost Soul Assassins' home like incense.
In the midst of it all, the assassins lay sprawled in exhaustion, struggling to focus their hazy gazes.
"Get up."
"Just one minute... hah... no, thirty seconds."
Cheon-il, Second Ghost Soul, shook his head as he released his demonization.
It wasn't just him.
Third Ghost Soul Poison Witch, Fourth Ghost Soul Dancer, Sixth Ghost Soul Seong-min, and even Seventh Ghost Soul Kim Gu.
All the Ghost Soul Assassins who had fought valiantly inside Demonus wore expressions of utter depletion, unable to rise.
All but one.
"Barum."
Fifth Ghost Soul Barum stood beside Myung-su, looking relatively unscathed.
Myung-su's eyes lifted to Barum, whose own had turned demonic and enlarged.
"You called?"
Unlike their first meeting, Barum now genuinely acknowledged Myung-su, First Ghost Soul, as his leader.
His polite speech felt entirely natural.
Yet Myung-su felt a pang of bitterness at the sight.
Back when no one could move before Marquis Gristarin...
Barum had been the only one—the sole demon—who could.
"Shall we have a spar? It's been a while."
He hated to admit it, but Barum was strong.
Much stronger than Myung-su himself, leader of the Ghost Soul Assassins and First Ghost Soul.
"If First Ghost Soul commands it, I'm ready anytime. But..."
Barum extended both hands, claws snapping out—blue nails that nullified all energy.
The very weapons that had once instilled terror and helplessness in Yong-un's subordinates now armed his hands.
They might seem excessive for a light spar, but Barum thought otherwise.
"You'll need to give it everything you've got."
Shing.
Myung-su drew a pair of daggers.
A faint smile played on his lips as he met Barum's gaze.
"Just what I wanted."
What had started as a casual spar escalated into a battle for survival.
But Myung-su was glad for Barum's resolve.
It meant he himself had grown.
"I'll give it everything too."
Barum smiled.
It wasn't overkill.
After Demonus, Myung-su hadn't slacked off; he'd honed himself relentlessly and grown.
This was necessary.
Through that growth, Myung-su had closed the gap with Barum, the demon who once terrified Yong-un's crew.
Now, a casual spar wouldn't yield insights—their skills were too evenly matched.
But there was another reason Barum sought a life-or-death duel.
Myung-su's eyes, gripping his daggers with a smile.
The burning desire to grow stronger in those eyes set Barum's heart racing.
"Let's begin."
Slash.
"Just what I wanted."
Barum's blue claws raked the air.
As expected, they shredded the demonic energy coating Myung-su's daggers.
Yet Myung-su slipped through the dispersing energy, melting into the void with Void Fusion Technique, carving a gash on Barum's arm.
Splurt.
Red blood sprayed from Barum's arm.
But before it hit the ground, Barum too vanished into the scenery with Void Fusion Technique, entering the gray realm it created.
Just before his eyes turned gray...
His claws slashed at empty air.
In the Void Fusion space, Myung-su was hurled backward.
A duel fought purely on instinct, without a trace of presence.
Clang! Whoosh...
...Clang! Clang!
"Whoa..."
The Ghost Soul Assassins gaped.
They weren't using Void Fusion, so they saw only the real-world flashes.
Yet their eyes captured Barum and Myung-su flickering in and out of visibility, clashing—a perfect showcase of what Ghost Soul Assassins truly were.
A battle between ghosts.
Clang! Clang-clang!
The assassins watched intently, faces grave, eyes glued to the fight.
The spar ended in a draw.
But it was a draw only because they stopped midway; had they gone all out, the result might have differed.
Barum's demonic regeneration healed the many wounds across his body.
Myung-su, unscathed but for a broken dagger which he discarded with regret, collected himself.
Barum with countless wounds, Myung-su having lost his weapon.
What if they'd fought to the finish?
"Thanks. I gained a lot from this."
"I appreciate it too."
Only those two would ever know.
They shared genuine smiles and embraced.
"Alright, let's get moving and clean up the Gate."
Myung-su sheathed his remaining dagger and ordered the Ghost Soul Assassins to mobilize.
That was when it happened.
"First Ghost Soul."
A voice called from the roof of the Ghost Soul Assassins' home.
Sudden, without a hint of presence.
It could have startled anyone, but they were used to it—no one flinched.
Instead, they turned toward the roof, dropping to one knee in unison.
"You called, Supreme One?"
He could tell who it was from the voice alone now.
Yong-un, seated atop the roof, addressed them all.
"The next three days, I'm taking over this house."
"......Understood, Supreme One."
It was abrupt.
Yet the Supreme One's orders were to be obeyed with one's life, even if incomprehensible.
Myung-su's momentary confusion gave way to a bowed head.
"Supreme One bro!"
But then, a familiar cute voice piped up from the group.
Cheon-il, brimming with irritation.
"If you're living here, bro! Where do we stay? On the floor?"
His innocent words drew involuntary smiles from the Ghost Soul Assassins.
But they couldn't laugh aloud.
Forced to stifle their mirth, the assassins trembled with effort.
Yong-un smiled at them.
"Sorry about that. You all will stay at my place instead. It'll be cramped, but livable."
"Huh? Then what are you doing here, Supreme One bro?"
"Cheon-il!"
Myung-su finally scolded him.
"Can't I ask? Jeez..."
Cheon-il pouted, face full of sulk.
Yong-un chuckled softly.
"It's fine. For the next three days... I'm planning to train."
"...?!"
All his subordinates looked up at him in shock.
"Tr... training, sir?"
Even Myung-su couldn't hold back his curiosity.
Yong-un's power was such that calling him a one-man army wasn't exaggeration.
For him to train?
It was a sight none had witnessed, a notion none had imagined.
"Why the surprise? I'm a Hunter too. To get stronger, I need to train."
His words left the Ghost Soul Assassins reeling, as if enlightened by some profound truth.
'He's right...? So why does it feel so strange?'
It was undeniably true.
But why?
The Supreme One was human, a Hunter.
In this rapidly changing world, to avoid obsolescence, Hunters had to train ceaselessly.
Training was natural for them.
So why did it feel so alien?
As puzzlement hung in the air...
Cheon-il's innocent voice shattered the silence again.
"Bro, just train a little! How much stronger do you wanna get? You said to trust your back, but now you're running away more! It's hard for me!"
Jealousy erupted from the pouting Cheon-il at Myung-su's words.
Was training that grueling?
His final complaint came with a sniffle.
And then.
"Hahahahaha!"
"Hahahahaha!"
"Cheon-il!"
"Puhahaha!"
Everyone burst into laughter they'd been holding back.
Three days.
A time that was short if short, long if long.
During that span, Yong-un ordered the Ghost Soul Assassins into mandatory vacation.
For those with jobs, it would be cause for joyous leaps.
But the Ghost Soul Assassins were different.
At Yong-un's house.
"Sigh... so boring."
Training was their everything; raiding Gates their sole joy.
But this vacation was an endless parade of tedium without those joys.
Of course, they could have scouted a spot here for forced training.
But they couldn't.
Before departing, Yong-un had commanded:
"Training matters, but so does rest. Insights missed in training may come during repose. For three days, no training—live like everyone else."
Mandatory training ban.
Their core duty, the bulk of their day, vanished.
"So... what are we supposed to do now?"
Thus, the Ghost Soul Assassins huddled, faces serious, deep in deliberation.
For the next three days—what to do?
To Kim Gu's question, Myung-su replied gravely.
"We follow the Supreme One's order. Live like everyone else."
Like everyone else.
An utterly foreign concept to the Ghost Soul Assassins.
Myung-su, who'd lived his life as an assassin, never once like others.
Cheon-il, dubbed a cursed child, barely attending school.
Poison Witch, an experimental subject confined to the mountains with Guard Dog.
Dancer, supreme sorceress of the Night Slaughter Society, never leaving Zhenhe Valley.
And Barum, a demon born ignorant of the world.
"Hmm..."
No one had a ready answer.
As they pondered deeper...
The one most fitting the Supreme One's command raised his hand.
Seventh Ghost Soul Kim Gu.
"But is this even worth agonizing over?"
He eyed them all with bewilderment.
"Huh? You know the answer?"
Now the assassins stared at him oddly.
Especially Poison Witch's peculiar gaze made Kim Gu shrink before he murmured.
"You haven't forgotten, right? I used to work at Dodmat World."
"Ah!"
Not all Ghost Soul Assassins had lived abnormal lives.
At least Seong-min and Kim Gu had experienced normalcy, unlike the others.
The puzzled assassins turned to Kim Gu.
"Right! Tell us what we should do!"
Poison Witch prompted.
"Yeah, you're the most qualified. First Ghost Soul? For three days, how about handing your position to Seventh Ghost Soul?"
Dancer backed her up.
"Sounds fun!"
Cheon-il beamed.
Living like others seemed more than intriguing to him.
"If Cheon-il likes it, so do I."
Barum, ever Cheon-il's devotee, nodded.
And finally.
"Seventh Ghost Soul."
"Yes."
Myung-su spoke with a blank face—but eyes brimming with anticipation.
"For three days, we'll do as you say. Tell us what to do."
Seeing this, Kim Gu smiled slyly.
"Just trust me."
Thumping his chest, he flashed a meaningful grin, plan already set.
Living like everyone else.
To others, it might be natural, fun even.
But for the Ghost Soul Assassins, it was a first—a thrilling novelty.
An adventure so exciting it flushed their faces with anticipation.
Three unforgettable days lay ahead for the Ghost Soul Assassins.
"Heh heh heh heh."
In Seventh Ghost Soul Kim Gu's way.