Cha Iran’s expression hardened.
She naturally assumed Geom Mugeuk was lying.
To let Ak Gun-hak leave, he would have to fight them.
“Are you saying you’ll fight them just to let that man go?”
At her disbelief, Geom Mugeuk asked in return.
“Isn’t that reason enough to fight?”
“It’s not enough.”
She rose from her seat.
“What kind of fool in this world would risk their life just to let someone go?”
Their gazes locked in mid-air.
“Calling someone a fool to their face?”
He said it like a joke, but the Young Cult Master before her was clearly speaking his heart.
Sensing this, Cha Iran was confused.
She could believe it if it were anyone else.
But her opponent was the Young Cult Master of the Heavenly Demon Divine Sect.
A man who possessed power, martial arts, wealth, and honor—a man who could have this entire martial world if he wished.
For such a man to risk his life for someone who was leaving? Was she supposed to believe that?
Just then, the First Assassin rushed into the room.
She was startled to see Cha Iran with Geom Mugeuk.
As she hesitated to give her report, Cha Iran spoke.
“It’s fine. If it’s something you needed to report so urgently, it must be this man’s doing.”
But she hadn't expected the matter to be so serious.
And because of its nature, the First Assassin reported it in front of Geom Mugeuk.
“Aside from myself and the Second Assassin, everyone was taken by the Evil Heart Laughing Demon and the Faceless Ones.”
A silence descended.
Cha Iran quietly closed her eyes.
In a situation where her anger should have erupted, she showed no rage, nor did she emit any killing intent.
She was demonstrating that sometimes, silence is the most powerful expression of emotion.
One could feel her anger being honed within that silence.
She slowly opened her eyes.
They were perfectly clear and bright.
“So, you’re telling me this after killing all my subordinates?”
In her unchangingly calm words, Geom Mugeuk felt a tremendous rage.
It was also the first time he had seen this side of Cha Iran, the assassin.
Geom Mugeuk immediately cleared up the misunderstanding.
“They are alive.”
Though he hadn’t confirmed it himself, Geom Mugeuk trusted the Evil Heart Laughing Demon and the Faceless Ones.
But Cha Iran did not believe him.
When she looked at the First Assassin, the rest of the report followed.
“Seeing as distress signals were sent from several locations, it seems they were attacked simultaneously and captured. Their status, living or dead, cannot be confirmed at present.”
Not one to create unnecessary misunderstandings, Geom Mugeuk stressed again.
“They are not dead.”
“Where are they now?”
“The Laughing Demon has them.”
Judging from what she had seen of him so far, Cha Iran felt that Geom Mugeuk was telling the truth.
At the very least, he wasn't the type of person to lie about something like this.
Cha Iran first dismissed the First Assassin.
“You may leave.”
“Yes.”
When only the two of them remained, Cha Iran asked.
“You could have killed them all. Why did you spare them?”
Geom Mugeuk looked at her and answered.
“Because of you.”
It was an unexpected answer, but Cha Iran remained unfazed as she stared back at Geom Mugeuk.
“What do you mean by that?”
Geom Mugeuk spoke honestly.
“I thought he might have liked you.”
“1”
Now she understood why Geom Mugeuk had arrived sooner than she had expected.
He had a clear purpose.
“So you came to find out if Ak Gun-hak liked me. Because if we liked each other, you couldn’t kill my subordinates.”
When Geom Mugeuk nodded, Cha Iran felt a sense of relief that her subordinates might be safe, along with a single thought.
If that was truly the case, then his offer to fight to let Ak Gun-hak go might also have been sincere.
‘Are you really willing to risk your life, Young Cult Master, for that man?’
Was this truly possible? To go this far for an opponent he had met and parted ways with?
And the biggest problem at this moment was this.
“Now that you’ve confirmed he doesn’t like me, you’ll kill them all, won’t you?”
“Wouldn’t I have to, if I am to stop you?”
The air around them grew cold, thick with tension.
“Didn’t you come all this way to kill the Unorthodox Alliance Leader? Even if the final stage doesn’t happen, you’ll try to kill him one way or another.”
Cha Iran readily admitted it.
“That is my mission.”
She was surprisingly honest.
“I cannot stand by and watch that happen.”
Geom Mugeuk slowly placed his hand on the hilt of the Black Demon Sword.
Even as it seemed the sword might be drawn at any moment, she did not retreat a single step.
“Are you not afraid to die?”
At Geom Mugeuk’s question, her transparent eyes shone even brighter.
“If you kill people for money but fear your own death, wouldn’t that make for a dull life?”
Geom Mugeuk could feel it.
To her, life and death were already one.
She did not fear death.
Perhaps that was why she had been able to get so drunk and act out in front of him.
“What are you doing? Cut me down.”
Geom Mugeuk removed his hand from the hilt.
Then, a captivating smile bloomed on Cha Iran’s cold face.
She had changed her emotions in an instant, making it seem as if a different woman stood before him.
“Can’t bring yourself to cut me down because I’m pretty?”
She had returned to the seductive Cha Iran.
“Wouldn’t want to get blood on new clothes, would we?”
Geom Mugeuk had no intention of drawing his sword in the first place.
“Kill me when you can. Don’t regret it later.”
“Might I not feel relieved later, thinking I did well to spare you?”
Geom Mugeuk turned, showing her his back.
“Let’s go out for a walk.”
Cha Iran stared quietly at Geom Mugeuk, who was exposing his back to her in this situation, before following him out.
The two walked side by side through the marketplace.
The tension that had been between them was covered by the smell of steamed buns wafting from ahead.
“Aren’t you hungry?”
“You wouldn’t be saying that if your subordinates were being held hostage.”
Geom Mugeuk stopped in front of a cart selling steamed buns, but she continued walking.
Geom Mugeuk walked behind her and said.
“Even if you don’t eat the buns, let’s at least let that man go.”
Comparing eating buns to that matter.
“Go ahead.”
“Let’s do it together.”
“Why do you keep trying to drag me into this?”
“Because you like him.”
Cha Iran stopped in her tracks.
Naturally, Geom Mugeuk stopped as well.
“What about him?”
He didn’t even know she liked him.
“If you help him, he’ll think, ‘Huh? Why is this woman helping me?’”
Since it would be a matter of life and death, his surprise would be even greater.
“When that happens, first, you should smile. Not the smile you show me, but your real smile.”
My real smile? Wondering what he meant, Cha Iran looked at Geom Mugeuk with a puzzled expression.
“When I said he saved me and left, not that I saved him and sent him away, you smiled."
"It was an awkward, stiff smile. But that smile suited you so well. Just as those martial robes from before suited you better than this dress.”
It was something she had never considered.
Did she have such an awkward smile? Did those plain martial robes suit her better than this dress?
“You’re trying to eliminate me from the final stage one way or another.”
Geom Mugeuk smiled and continued what he was saying.
“You must show him that smile. He’ll know in an instant that the captivating smile you show me is fake. While wearing your real smile, say this.”
She wondered what on earth he was about to say.
“Since this is fate, shall we have a cup of tea?”
Cha Iran was so dumbfounded that a dry laugh escaped her.
But Geom Mugeuk remained serious to the very end.
“If he says no, you take off your shoes and chase after him too.”
In the end, she let it out.
“Are you a madman?”
It was a remark directed at the Young Cult Master, and also what she thought Ak Gun-hak would say to her if she did such a thing.
“I hear that often.”
Geom Mugeuk laughed out loud.
Cha Iran recalled how Geom Mugeuk had stood in the alley the previous night when they parted, watching her and smiling.
It seemed this man’s mouth hadn't just been itching all this time.
He laughed so easily, it was a wonder how he had held it in.
“In this martial world, the most dangerous people are those who smile as easily as you do.”
“Then you all are in big trouble. Because this time, I came with someone who smiles very well indeed.”
Cha Iran knew.
He was talking about the Evil Heart Laughing Demon.
“I’ll have to see just how cheap that smile of his is.”
It was her way of saying she would go confirm for herself whether her subordinates were safe.
Despite the Fifth Assassin’s warning, the Seventeenth Assassin once again glanced at the Crescent Moon Faceless One.
This time, too, it wasn’t intentional.
The man, who had been looking out the window, had tapped the wall again to draw attention.
This time was different from before.
The tapping sound was peculiar.
At that sound, all the Faceless Ones reacted in unison.
A Faceless One who had been dozing in a corner shot up, and another who had been leaning against a wall on the other side leaped over.
A Faceless One who was cleaning his weapon moved as if a war had broken out.
In this way, all the Faceless Ones, who had been minding their own business, lined up behind the Evil Heart Laughing Demon.
Soon, the door opened and Geom Mugeuk entered.
“Greetings, Young Cult Master.”
At the Evil Heart Laughing Demon’s greeting, the Faceless Ones also cupped their fists in a synchronized motion.
Clack, clack, clack, clack, clack, clack!
Their movements were so disciplined it was hard to believe they were the same Faceless Ones who had been staring blankly out the window or dozing in a corner.
Geom Mugeuk also politely cupped his fist to the Evil Heart Laughing Demon.
“Greetings, Laughing Demon.”
Soon after, Cha Iran entered.
The female assassins were startled.
Could it be that she had finally come to rescue them? But Geom Mugeuk had entered and exchanged greetings so calmly.
The thought that she too had been captured shocked and drove them to despair.
It was unbelievable.
To think that the great Cha Iran had been captured.
Just then, Geom Mugeuk spoke to them.
“Don’t misunderstand. I’m the one who was captured by this person.”
As everyone looked bewildered by his incomprehensible words.
Cha Iran walked towards them.
Her gaze fell on her subordinates’ necks.
Blood threads, drawn in the same place and of the same length.
That single line spoke volumes about the skill of the one who had drawn it.
It was a line that appeared all the more vivid because she knew her subordinates' skills so well.
Cha Iran spoke to her subordinates.
“See? Because you clenched your teeth and didn’t do something foolish like taking your own lives, you get to see me again, don’t you?”
At her words, the assassins' expressions relaxed slightly.
It didn't seem like Cha Iran had been captured.
Just then, Geom Mugeuk quickly took credit.
“You really brought them here without anyone getting hurt. As expected! You are amazing!”
Of course, three or four assassins had been injured while resisting to the end, but considering the total number, it was fair to say they had been brought with care.
Cha Iran’s gaze turned to the Evil Heart Laughing Demon.
Although he was following the Young Cult Master’s orders, she was grateful that he had subdued and brought them here without injury.
Especially coming from none other than the Evil Heart Laughing Demon.
She conveyed her gratitude with her eyes.
She had said she came to see the Evil Heart Laughing Demon's cheap smile, but she had no desire to see him smile.
She knew all too well when he smiled.
A decision had to be made.
If she didn’t help Geom Mugeuk, they would all die.
Even if the Young Cult Master tried to spare them, that Evil Heart Laughing Demon wouldn't just stand by.
To save them, she had to fight her own organization.
As she was contemplating, a telepathic message from Geom Mugeuk arrived.
-Take your subordinates and go.
Startled, Cha Iran looked back at Geom Mugeuk.
His eyes were serious, as if to say it wasn't a joke.
He was letting them go without any conditions?
-Are you serious?
His reason was also very much like him.
-Of course.
The leader came in person.
It wouldn't do for you to lose face by leaving your subordinates behind, would it?
He meant to protect her authority.
-With my released subordinates, I could still assassinate the Unorthodox Alliance Leader.
-Then most of your subordinates here will die.
Regardless of whether you succeed or not.
-I will use them as sacrifices to ensure my success.
Geom Mugeuk nodded.
-Perhaps you would.
But she could feel it.
Geom Mugeuk was certain that such a thing would not happen.
-Why do you think I can't do it?
-If you were that kind of person, you wouldn't have risked coming here to confirm the fate of your subordinates.
The original plan to ambush the Unorthodox Alliance Leader was a case in point.
Only she, who had become the Greatest Beauty Under Heaven, could attend that celebratory banquet where the Alliance Leader would be present.
Unable to understand, she had to ask again.
-Why are you showing me such favor?
-Because I want to get on your good side.
-And after you get on my good side?
-We have to let that man go.
-You are truly persistent.
-Aren’t madmen usually persistent?
Cha Iran stared into Geom Mugeuk’s eyes.
Since everyone knew the two were communicating telepathically, they all watched the pair without so much as breathing loudly.
Geom Mugeuk spoke to a Faceless One.
“Release their pressure points.”
The Faceless Ones then stepped forward and released the mute and paralyzing points on the female assassins.
Cha Iran said nothing else to them.
“Let’s go.”
The assassins quietly followed her out.
They didn't know what deal had been made, but Cha Iran had saved them.
Thinking she must have paid a great price, none of them could show their joy.
At the entrance, Cha Iran looked back at Geom Mugeuk.
-You lost out on this one.
I would not have given up my subordinates.
Meaning she would have agreed to any demand.
Surely the quick-witted Young Cult Master must have known.
-I have enough that I can afford a loss of this magnitude.
Geom Mugeuk smiled and added.
-If you fight by holding hostage what your opponent can never give up, wouldn’t that make for a dull life?
After staring at Geom Mugeuk for a moment, Cha Iran turned without a word and left.
After they had all departed, Geom Mugeuk apologized to the Evil Heart Laughing Demon.
“You went through all the trouble of capturing them. My apologies.”
The Evil Heart Laughing Demon did not ask why he had let them go.
He simply smiled at Geom Mugeuk and then turned to the Faceless Ones standing behind him.
Knowing the will of the Demon Sovereign, the Faceless Ones all cupped their fists in unison.
In front of them, the Evil Heart Laughing Demon also politely cupped his fist and said.
“Just give the command. We will capture them again, a hundred times over if needed.”