Chapter 86
Kill Me (2)
The two stood facing each other.
Baek So-cheon had not been speaking lightly. His entire aura had changed into that of someone facing an enemy.
A man truly capable of killing her was now directing killing intent at her.
Cheon Geuk’s heart pounded violently. Never in her life had she been this nervous.
Sssssss.
The atmosphere between them changed.
The air became heavy and suffocating.
It was not the sharp killing intent that came flying at someone like a blade. Instead, it was an oppressive presence that made both body and mind sluggish while weighing down the entire body.
Cheon Geuk understood.
This kind of presence was several times more threatening than sharp killing intent.
When struck by sharp killing intent, one’s mind snapped awake and the instinct to resist and fight surged forth.
But this presence robbed a person of the will to act.
Baek So-cheon seemed like an entirely different person.
The pressure bearing down on her was so intense that this version of him seemed real, while everything he had shown her until now felt like an act.
It almost felt as though everything he had done until today had merely been preparation to kill her here.
Of course, Cheon Geuk did not easily submit to that pressure.
She desperately tried to steady her mind.
The presence emanating from Baek So-cheon grew heavier, pressing down on her even harder.
Even then, Cheon Geuk waited solely for the moment he moved.
He could not possibly maintain this overwhelming pressure while attacking her.
Then, the instant the nature of the force suppressing her changed—
Swoosh!
Baek So-cheon’s sword swept past her face.
If she had not desperately twisted away, her face would have been sliced open.
“...!”
Her heart sank.
For a woman, an attack threatening to scar her face was particularly terrifying.
It was the perfect opening move to crush her confidence.
The one fortunate thing was that Baek So-cheon was not using the forms of the Thousand-Hand Tathagata Asura Divine Sword.
Instead, he was using a swift sword style based upon that martial art.
Yet even that had nearly sliced her face apart.
Swoosh!
Baek So-cheon’s sword flashed again.
This time, it grazed past her chest.
Cheon Geuk did not simply allow herself to be attacked.
Barely avoiding Baek So-cheon’s strike, she swung her Death King Dagger.
Swish!
With a short burst of wind, Cheon Geuk’s dagger shot toward Baek So-cheon’s thigh.
A streak of sword light appeared before his leg.
Clang!
Sparks burst from somewhere along the sword trail.
Baek So-cheon had knocked aside her attack with his sword.
Cheon Geuk had no time to regret her failed attack, much less consider what technique she should use next.
Baek So-cheon’s sword was already descending as though it intended to pierce straight through her body.
She threw herself aside.
Her body moved smoothly, like a swallow skimming across the surface of water, while Baek So-cheon’s sword pursued her like a hunting hawk.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Terrifying impacts tore deep gouges into the ground.
Had those attacks landed on her back, her body would have been ripped apart.
Cheon Geuk nearly shouted, “That’s enough!”
But she refused to give up.
She knew this was likely the first and last opportunity of her life.
At her level, advancing another step was something that would never happen unless she encountered what could only be called a fortuitous encounter.
And now she had encountered one.
An extraordinarily dangerous one.
Swoosh!
Her dagger shot threateningly toward Baek So-cheon’s throat.
She did everything she could.
She trusted that no matter how lethal her attack was, Baek So-cheon would not die.
In a sense, this entire fight was madness.
She poured every ounce of concentration into it and drew out the absolute limits of her strength.
She used every technique she possessed.
Never in her life had she experienced such a desperate, chilling battle.
Their figures soared into the air.
Clangclangclangclangclang!
In a direct confrontation, a dagger was overwhelmingly disadvantaged against a sword.
But Baek So-cheon showed her no mercy.
He relentlessly drove her toward death.
How many exchanges had they made?
Which techniques had she used?
What technique should she use next?
She could no longer think about any of it.
She fought in a state of complete selflessness, unable to spare even a fragment of thought for anything else.
Had she done so, she would already have been dead.
Complex trails formed by sword and dagger intertwined, punctuated by violent collisions.
It was a desperate battle with death standing right beside her.
And at the final, most extreme moment, Cheon Geuk experienced something she had never experienced before.
She saw herself objectively.
Like the soul of a dead person leaving the body and looking down upon its own corpse, she could see herself fighting from outside herself.
It was unbelievable.
This was a battle so intense that she should not have possessed even enough mental freedom to imagine such a thing.
And at that moment, she realized what she had been missing.
She understood why that wall had appeared before her.
Ah!
The instant she realized it, the wall blocking her path disappeared.
And then—
Thrust.
The sound of flesh tearing brought Cheon Geuk’s mind crashing back into reality.
The two, who had been fighting like mad, had stopped moving.
Her gaze slowly lowered.
Baek So-cheon’s sword was embedded in her side.
Tap. Tap.
Baek So-cheon immediately struck her acupoints to stop the bleeding.
Fortunately, the sword had passed through without damaging her ribs, sparing her from a fatal wound.
“Stay with me, Cheon Geuk.”
Cheon Geuk slowly raised her head and looked at Baek So-cheon.
She felt dazed, unable to tell whether this was a dream or reality.
“...You finally call me by my name when you’re killing me.”
Baek So-cheon breathed a sigh of relief.
“If you still have enough energy to joke, you’re not going to die.”
Cheon Geuk also let out a relieved breath.
Now that the fight was over and she realized she had survived, the tension drained away, taking all the strength from her body.
“You scarred a woman’s body, so take responsibility.”
“How?”
The next instant, Cheon Geuk suddenly pulled Baek So-cheon toward her.
She kissed him.
Her incomparably soft lips trembled against his.
And then, still held in Baek So-cheon’s arms, she lost consciousness.
***
Cheon Geuk dreamed.
She saw herself as a child.
She was holding someone’s hand and walking down a seemingly endless corridor.
She raised her head and looked at the man leading her.
Without even glancing at Cheon Geuk, the man spoke coldly.
“If you aren’t ruthless, you die.”
How old had she been then?
Six?
Seven?
Had she even been old enough to understand what “ruthless” meant?
After becoming Alliance Leader herself, she had completely prohibited the kidnapping of children.
She changed the system so that only those who personally wished to become assassins would be accepted.
Cheon Geuk smiled faintly within her dream.
Even while dreaming, she found herself thinking that, at least, she had done that one thing right.
The scene changed.
Her dream continued.
This time, it was the very day her master, the previous Alliance Leader, had chosen her.
It had probably been sometime during the summer when she was thirteen.
She had still been a fresh-faced young girl.
“Is this the child?”
“Yes. She achieved the highest results in our history.”
The previous Alliance Leader stared directly at Cheon Geuk.
Cheon Geuk stared back without looking away.
“Are you not afraid of me?”
“I am.”
Her voice trembled.
“Then why do you keep staring at me?”
“Because if you try to kill me, I need to fight back.”
Interest flashed across the previous Alliance Leader’s face.
Never before had any assassin—much less a novice who had only just completed her training—responded to him this way.
“How can you tell whether I intend to kill you?”
“I can tell from your eyes.”
“And what about me right now?”
Cheon Geuk looked at him.
“You don’t intend to kill me.”
The previous Alliance Leader suddenly seized her hand.
A sharp needle was hidden between her fingers.
“Then why are you still holding this?”
She answered with fear in her eyes.
“Because you never know when someone’s heart might change.”
The previous Alliance Leader stared at her in surprise.
Then he burst into laughter.
“Hahahahaha!”
The scene changed again.
Baek So-cheon stood alone in a place littered with corpses.
The Reapers who had been known by many different names had all become corpses.
Not a single assassin of that era had managed to kill him.
For the Cheukcheon Alliance’s three-million-nyang commission, the Assassin Alliance had wagered everything.
And in the end, they had paid the price.
Holding a sword dripping with blood, Baek So-cheon walked toward her.
He stopped directly in front of her.
“From now on, you’re the Alliance Leader.”
The next instant, Cheon Geuk’s eyes snapped open.
Baek So-cheon was looking down at her.
He was not the terrifying Baek So-cheon from that day.
His face was filled with genuine concern.
I suppose I understood the truth of this world when I was thirteen. Even then, I knew that a person’s heart could change at any moment.
The instant she saw Baek So-cheon, Cheon Geuk was overcome by a comforting sense of relief.
“How long has it been?”
“Three days.”
“I’m dead. My guards must be so worried they haven’t slept at all.”
“I contacted them.”
“You told them I was injured?”
“Yeah. I asked the elder to pass along the message instead. I figured if I told them myself, they wouldn’t let me off easily.”
“At least you understand that much.”
A strong medicinal fragrance drifted from the wound in her side.
“I used the most expensive medicine so it wouldn’t leave a scar.”
“What about the scar on my heart?”
“Your heart was wounded too?”
“No.”
Baek So-cheon chuckled and touched her injury.
“Are you all right?”
“It hurts like hell. You’ve been stabbed plenty of times, so you know.”
“I do.”
Cheon Geuk caught the wrist of the hand Baek So-cheon was using to examine her wound.
Their eyes naturally met.
“Thank you. The wall in front of me disappeared.”
“Really?”
“Yes. The moment I understood why the wall had appeared in the first place, it vanished.”
“Congratulations.”
Baek So-cheon smiled brightly.
Their life-or-death battle had been worthwhile.
She had surpassed her limits and advanced another step.
“By the way... us. Was that a dream?”
She remembered kissing him just before losing consciousness.
“No.”
“You know something? I was really disappointed when I passed out. We had a chance to take things further. Did you bring the hundred thousand nyang?”
“No. Should I go get it now?”
“There’s no time for that. Just count the hundred thousand nyang as my medical expenses.”
Cheon Geuk pulled him toward her by the collar, and Baek So-cheon kissed her.
It was a deep, passionate kiss in which they lost themselves in each other.
That kiss unleashed the desire they had both been suppressing.
Without either one taking the lead, they began undressing each other, giving no thought to what might come afterward.
Their bodies rose into the air.
Baek So-cheon had lifted both himself and Cheon Geuk with his power.
“You’re injured. We can’t exactly do this on the ground.”
A soft current of energy supported them as comfortably as a plush bed.
For the first time, Cheon Geuk revealed the voluptuous body she had never shown anyone.
Her graceful neck, full breasts, slender waist, firm thighs, and beautifully shaped legs formed an extraordinarily alluring figure.
Whenever Baek So-cheon touched her, trembling gasps escaped her lips.
Baek So-cheon was more deeply immersed in the moment than ever before.
Cheon Geuk was breathtakingly beautiful, but even more important was the profound emotional bond that had already formed between them.
Yet he did not rush.
Knowing it was her first time, he treated her with extraordinary care and gentleness.
Like winds blowing from different directions and eventually merging into one, the two became one.
“Haa... haa...”
They breathed heavily.
Their bodies slowly descended from the air.
Their clothes flew toward them on their own and covered them.
“Having my first time right after getting stabbed... I guess I really am a woman of the martial world.”
The remark was so absurd that Baek So-cheon burst out laughing.
“Hahaha.”
“You’re laughing right now?”
“Sorry.”
She had made the joke because she feared things might become awkward afterward.
They still did.
But it was a pleasant kind of awkwardness.
For a while, the two simply lay there, staring at the sky framed by the surrounding cliffs.
“Just so there’s no misunderstanding, nothing changes because we slept together. You know that, right? Don’t start clinging to me because you like me. I can’t stand pathetic men.”
How could Baek So-cheon not understand her heart?
She was only saying that because she was worried he might feel burdened.
“Why aren’t you answering?”
“Fine. Besides, a hundred thousand nyang isn’t exactly a small amount.”
“Exactly. I didn’t need it this time because you treated me, though. It’s not like I’ll get injured this badly all the time. Hmm, anyway... you helped me enormously this time, so I should repay you. You raised my martial arts by an entire level, so how much would that be worth? A million nyang? No, even if someone offered a million nyang, there’s no guarantee I could have achieved this breakthrough. Fine. Let’s make it ten million nyang. What do you think? I owe you ten million nyang. And I’m the kind of person who can’t stand owing—”
Baek So-cheon pulled Cheon Geuk tightly into his arms.
At last, freed from all her complicated thoughts, he felt her relax completely against him.
“I’ll collect every last bit of that debt.”
At Baek So-cheon’s words, Cheon Geuk smiled and closed her eyes.
Ever since she had been dragged away against her will as a child and made into an assassin, she had never felt this peaceful.
She fell asleep in Baek So-cheon’s arms.
For the first time in her life, she slept without keeping her guard up.
And for the first time in her life, she dreamed a dream without death or blood.