Only when they returned to their lodging did Hwi reveal himself.
Appearing marvelously, as if he had been standing there all along.
Geom Mugeuk formally cupped his fist in respect.
"You've worked hard protecting me."
Hwi responded to Geom Mugeuk’s greeting with a smile.
"It's alright. It's actually more comfortable when I'm in hiding."
How could that be true?
It must be physically taxing, and mentally draining to have to watch the opponent and the surroundings.
He’s just saying that so I won’t feel uncomfortable.
"What did you think of that man?"
Geom Mugeuk asked Hwi about Myeong Shin.
"He was an assassin of the highest level."
As expected, Hwi had grasped his level without even fighting him.
He had assessed the opponent's skill just by looking at his gait and hand movements.
Hwi asked carefully.
"What do you plan to do now?"
Normally, he wouldn't have asked.
But he asked because he had seen Geom Mugeuk part on such good terms with Myeong Shin earlier.
Geom Mugeuk then revealed his plan for the future.
"I'm thinking of trying to make him my ally."
Although Hwi knew Geom Mugeuk's abilities better than anyone, the problem was that the opponent was an assassin.
"Assassins are not to be trusted."
It was the first time Hwi had been so resolute.
Geom Mugeuk understood Hwi.
Hwi and Myeong Shin were polar opposites, existing on opposite ends of the spectrum.
Not only would Hwi not trust him, he would despise and loathe him.
He just wouldn't show it in front of him.
Knowing this, he still attempted to make Myeong Shin his ally because he knew about his life.
But since he couldn't say such things, he said,
"Yes, I won't trust him. However, this effort will be meaningful. Even if he doesn't become my ally, a single moment of his hesitation at a crucial time could save our lives."
Hwi felt it.
Just as he had always done, the Young Cult Master was seeing something he could not.
But on the matter of assassins, he had to speak clearly.
"Assassins are not to be trusted. Please do not forget that."
It was the first time in his life that Hwi had repeated the same words twice.
"Yes, I will keep that in mind."
Only after confirming it again did Hwi's expression relax.
"I also have a favor to ask of you, uncle."
"Please speak."
Geom Mugeuk unwound the Supreme Heavenly Silkworm Thread from the handle of the Black Demon Sword and handed it to him.
"Wrap this around your heart and energy core."
"I'm fine. The Young Cult Master should wear it."
At that, Geom Mugeuk loosened his clothes to show the Supreme Heavenly Silkworm Thread wrapped around his heart and stomach.
"I'm already wearing it."
"Wear a second layer."
"I'm wearing three layers. So you wear one layer, uncle."
Hwi stared at Geom Mugeuk.
"This is a Supreme Heavenly Silkworm Thread with a long history, you know. The Demon Sovereigns have already wrapped theirs too. Ah, of course, I washed it clean. And I'm not giving it to you for good. You have to return it later."
Because in the final battle, he would have to wrap his whole body in it.
And he would stand at the forefront of that battle.
Hwi could tell.
No matter how much he refused, Geom Mugeuk would not back down.
"I understand. Thank you, Young Cult Master."
Hwi wrapped the Supreme Heavenly Silkworm Thread around himself in front of Geom Mugeuk.
Only then did Geom Mugeuk smile with satisfaction.
"It suits you well. Here, look."
Geom Mugeuk drew his sword and showed him his reflection on the blade.
His own reflection on the blade felt unfamiliar.
He had spent his entire life protecting someone, but this feeling of being protected was a first.
"Thank you, Young Cult Master."
Geom Mugeuk asked him suggestively.
"You want me to go to Father right now, don't you?"
Because he had left and returned with me instead of protecting Father.
He must be curious if Father is alright.
"No."
"Then can I go out to take care of other business right away?"
As he acted as if he would leave again at any moment, Hwi spoke with a look of defeat.
"Still, now that you're here, shouldn't you at least say hello before you leave?"
Geom Mugeuk smiled and turned around.
"Where would I be going?"
As Geom Mugeuk entered the building, he shouted.
"Your son is home, Father."
Hwi followed me inside with a pleasant look on his face.
Father was in his room.
He was reading a dispatch sent from the Heaven-Reaching Pavilion.
While firmly grasping the situation, he was entrusting the work entirely to me.
Yes, only when one possesses the patience to wait for a child to climb up a cliff on their own does that cliff become meaningful.
"I'm back, Father."
Father raised his head and looked this way.
The moment my eyes met Father's, I felt it.
He's gotten stronger!
It seems I'm not the only one who's training.
Before, I could vaguely tell that Father had gotten stronger, but now I could clearly feel that he had become stronger.
Perhaps it's because I've become stronger that I can feel it more clearly, but in any case, it's a good result.
Father, become stronger.
Become so strong that Hwa Mugi, the unification of the Martial World, all of it becomes trivial.
I will fill that emptiness for you.
Father's gaze turned to Hwi.
Hwi respectfully bowed his head to Father.
A sense of relief and gratitude blossomed on his face.
"It's the first time, isn't it? Leaving Father's side like this."
Hwi is human too, how could he have stayed by his side without a moment's rest?
He ate, went to the privy, washed, and changed his clothes.
But I can imagine.
How rushed those moments must have been.
How Hwi must have hurried in that short time.
May no accident happen in the moment I'm gone!
Hwi had said that dying before the person you must protect is the only blessing given to a guard.
But there must be a curse as well.
The one time you leave your post after never leaving, the person you must protect dies.
And better than anyone, Father knew Hwi's heart.
"I'll be at the safehouse for a while."
Father's consideration, telling him not to worry in the slightest.
Moreover, Father had already packed all his things.
When Father slung a large leather pouch over his shoulder, Hwi cried out in surprise.
"Give that to me, I will carry it."
Hwi was flustered.
He had probably never let Father carry luggage even once.
Then Father said to Hwi.
"Aren't you in the middle of carrying out my orders?"
"Cult Master!"
"I'm fine."
Hwi looked at me.
A look that said, ‘hurry up and take the bag and lead the way.’
"Father, I will carry it."
"It's fine. You just try not to die."
Father slung the leather pouch over his shoulder and left the room.
"Father, you look cool carrying the leather pouch."
I meant it sincerely.
Above all, it was a new sight, so it was refreshing.
Watching Hwi, who was fidgeting, I said loudly enough for Father to hear.
"Stop staring! That shoulder, it's a shoulder that wouldn't budge even if it carried Mount Tai, but it's going to wear out from your gaze, uncle!"
Myeong Shin came again three days later.
He had wanted to rush over immediately, but he deliberately dragged his feet.
He couldn't show that he was anxious.
"Care for a drink?"
"That sounds good."
Before leaving, Myeong Shin handed over a wooden box he had brought.
Inside it were daggers.
"Frankly, I can acknowledge swords and other weapons, but I can't acknowledge daggers. Will the Demon Sect's Iron Workshop still not try to kill me for this?"
It seemed his pride was hurt by the remark last time that his work wasn't good enough to make the main sect's Iron Workshop artisan want to kill him out of jealousy.
Geom Mugeuk examined the daggers.
"Ah, I shouldn't show the daggers to our Master Craftsman Gwak, even if I show him other things. It would be troublesome if he asked me to kill you."
At Geom Mugeuk's words, Myeong Shin's face lit up.
"Well then, since I've received daggers as a gift, I should buy the drinks today. Last time I chose the wrong tavern, so you choose today."
Myeong Shin nodded with a casual expression, but his heart began to pound.
‘Is today the day?’
But if they had to leave the marketplace, he might become suspicious.
He had to make a careful decision.
And so, the two men once again walked towards the marketplace.
"May I ask you something?"
"Ask."
"These Golden Dragon Clan people, aren't they too far below your level?"
Myeong Shin answered nonchalantly.
"You've lived a life of only giving orders, so you wouldn't know, but we live a life where we have to do as we're told. What power do we have?"
"I might believe that from someone else, but coming from you, it sounds like an excuse."
Myeong Shin felt there was a hidden meaning in Geom Mugeuk's words.
"You've investigated me too, haven't you?"
The information network of the Heavenly Demon Divine Sect was known to be the best in the martial world.
Since they had mingled like this, there was no way he wouldn't know about him.
"I have."
Geom Mugeuk answered honestly.
"The me in the report you investigated, what kind of person am I?"
The answer came immediately.
"Myeong Shin, the second-in-command of the Underworld Ledger. He has three principles in his assassination missions: he doesn't kill children, he doesn't kill those who don't know martial arts, and he doesn't kill those who are not villains."
He thought that much could be known.
The opponent was the Heavenly Demon Divine Sect, after all.
But the next piece of information surprised Myeong Shin.
"And because of that, you've recently been in conflict with the head of the Underworld Ledger."
For a moment, Myeong Shin was startled.
‘That matter is only between the two of us.
How did he know?’
Myeong Shin pretended not to know and asked Geom Mugeuk.
"Conflict? Why do you think so?"
Geom Mugeuk, who had been walking until then, stopped.
Myeong Shin also stood with him and waited for an answer.
Geom Mugeuk said calmly.
"Because I've never seen an assassin like you."
Geom Mugeuk's gaze towards him was utterly serious.
"There are no assassins these days who live by such principles. An assassin that seems to only exist in stories. It would be no problem if your leader were also such a person, but he wasn't."
The two men stood on the side of the road and continued their conversation.
"To be honest, I dislike assassins too. I'd rather be alone than go out of my way to befriend one. But when I heard that you were an assassin who abided by such principles, I became curious."
After a brief pause, Geom Mugeuk added.
"That's probably why they sent you. They must have investigated that I'm interested in people like you. If someone other than you had come a few days ago, I would have killed them on the spot. Eliminating one more enemy when I have the chance, that's the kind of person I am. From that point of view, the leader who sent you is quite a clever person."
Myeong Shin had not expected Geom Mugeuk to know about him in such detail.
"Why are you telling me everything? Are you confident you can handle me even if you tell me?"
At that, Geom Mugeuk shook his head and said.
"What have you been listening to? I said I'm interested in an assassin like you. Wouldn't it be nice to have an assassin like this as a friend? That's what I thought."
In a fleeting moment, Myeong Shin felt the desire to draw a dagger and stab Geom Mugeuk in the neck.
He had instinctively sensed that the opponent had let his guard down.
And feeling such a desire also meant that the opponent might be speaking the truth.
"You're not just trying to use me to wipe out the Underworld Ledger, are you?"
Geom Mugeuk pretended to be surprised and smiled brightly.
"You've already figured it out?"
Myeong Shin could not tell Geom Mugeuk's true intentions.
Just then, a flock of birds flew overhead in a group.
Both men's gazes naturally turned to the sky.
"The Young Cult Master of the Demon Sect and an assassin as friends? Is such a thing even possible?"
"The Young Cult Master of the Demon Sect and a tavern owner can also be friends."
Myeong Shin knew that was true.
"How can the circumstances of a tavern owner and an assassin be the same? A tavern owner can close his doors tomorrow, but we are people who cannot."
Then Geom Mugeuk said something unexpected.
"I think it's harder for the tavern owner to close his doors."
Myeong Shin's gaze, which had been on the sky, turned to Geom Mugeuk.
"You wouldn't know how hard those people live. They're the kind of people who only close their doors when their family is captured. You think you're more diligent than them? Is that really so?"
Feeling that he was asking sincerely, Myeong Shin held back his answer.
"If I take a day off, my customers will stop coming. If I take a day off, someone who came all this way will have to turn back. At least you don't have to worry about that, do you? You don't worry, ‘The person who's supposed to die by my hand must be waiting,’ do you?"
One of Myeong Shin's eyes twitched slightly.
He was trying his best to get along with Geom Mugeuk.
But Geom Mugeuk kept poking at something inside his heart.
"The fact that you can't leave, isn't it just that you're too lazy? That you can't bring yourself to change your familiar life?"
Myeong Shin's expression hardened slightly.
"Don't speak so carelessly about another's affairs. What do you know about me? All you're doing is judging based on information collected by spies, isn't it?"
"Isn't that you?"
Myeong Shin flinched again.
"The me in your report, the you in my report. Isn't that us? Is there a real me separate from how others see me? Then that means we're living in a misunderstanding. Isn't that wrong?"
Myeong Shin couldn't refute it.
"What others see is who we are. In fact, that's more accurate. We hope to be grander, more valuable people, but the you and me in those reports, isn't that who we are?"
Myeong Shin wanted to say no.
That he was a better person than what others saw.
And looking at himself thinking this, he realized.
'Ah! I wanted to be a better person.'
He had never had a conversation like this with anyone, so this was the first time he discovered this thought deep inside his heart.
Perhaps the principles of his assassination missions stemmed from such a heart.
"Why are you doing this to me? If you truly want to be friends with me, then tell me honestly what you're thinking."
He had to take Geom Mugeuk to the King of Assassins, so he swallowed the words that surged up.
‘You're pulling this trick to use me to get rid of the Underworld Ledger.
How lowly do you think I am to try and get to me like this?’
The gazes of the two men standing on the road tangled in mid-air.
A conversation that could decide their fates was taking place on the street.
"To be honest, it's not for you, but to protect myself."
Geom Mugeuk's eyes were clearer and deeper than ever before.
"Because I don't want to sweep away people like you on the path I'm taking. Because I thought it would be nice if there was at least one cool assassin somewhere in this world who would kill villains for a single coin offered by a kid who unjustly lost their parents."
"..."
"Because I don't want to walk my path while killing even people like that. You're right, this isn't for you, it's to protect myself."
Then, Geom Mugeuk took a coin from his robes and held it out to him.
"So this coin is the contract fee to protect myself."