Chapter 71
“Namgung Sojeo, this will be uncomfortable, but while you bow your head, hold my neck for a moment.”
“E-excuse me.”
No surprise — the source of déjà vu revealed itself quickly.
Ssskt.
‘A dagger.’
The woman withdrew a blade from inside her chest the moment she climbed onto Bangwoo’s back. Yeil quickly wrapped Bangwoo’s neck with her left arm.
Was it instinct that sensed the threat?
“Ugh!”
Bangwoo drove his elbow into the woman’s abdomen, and the dagger grazed Yeil’s arm almost at the same time.
“Sojeo!”
It was a well-tempered dagger.
Gasp, cough. “Hah… your reactions are faster than I thought.”
And with practiced movements she even created distance. Judging from the brief standoff, this woman was no ordinary assassin. Moreover—
‘The scar on her neck was meant to hide traces of cauterization.’
There was a high probability the opponent was from Yeonghwang Yuse.
“Are you all right?”
Bangwoo hurriedly hauled up Yeil’s jacket. His rough hands tore the thin summer fabric mercilessly and revealed a shoulder stained red beneath.
“My fault — I’m sorry. But stay calm. Fortunately the wound isn’t deep….”
Shhik—
Another dagger, aimed again at Yeil’s chest, stuck into the ground when Bangwoo rolled away fast enough to deflect it.
Carrying Yeil on his back, Bangwoo left the ruins. It seemed the enemy had realized the target was the bundle he carried, not him personally.
“It’ll be fine! Give me your arm!”
Half to reassure Yeil and half to act, Bangwoo used one hand and his mouth to finish bandaging the injured arm.
Shhik—
“…Damn it!”
Perhaps worried that the assassins behind them would keep firing until Yeil was hurt, Bangwoo cursed in a rough voice, turned, and faced the woman.
“Where are you hurt?”
Before she could shake her head, a spray of hidden blades flew again. Bangwoo’s footwork swatted away the weapons at the speed of wind, but he could not prevent Yeil, who had chosen to risk injury, from being struck.
A new wound opened beneath the roughly applied emergency bandage in no time.
“Staunch the bleeding!”
Seeing her condition, Bangwoo shouted urgently.
“I’ll protect you. Bind the wound and run from here now, Namgung Sojeo! Get to the Murim League by any means — tell them the Thousand-Faced Demon has appeared here!”
Tell the Murim League that the Thousand-Faced Demon had appeared?
‘Ridiculous.’
The Thousand-Faced Demon hadn’t appeared — how could he tell them to report such a lie?
‘That’s not the Thousand-Faced Demon.’
A fake.
It had to be fake. The Thousand-Faced Demon had died four years ago. Yeil herself had ended his life and cut off his head; there was no “what if.”
The Thousand-Faced Demon had been a man.
Although the sobriquet “Thousand-Faced” came from an appearance that made gender indeterminate, he had unquestionably been a man.
‘Even if he’d removed his clothing…’
He called himself a man, so he was one.
And that man had a sworn brother he cherished like family.
“…Are you really the Thousand-Faced Demon?”
“Namgung Sojeo! This is not the time for that — I told you to run!”
At last the unknown woman drew her sword and covered her face with a large palm.
“All right.”
With a crackle that sent shivers through the air, the enemy’s face began to be torn away grotesquely.
And at last the face revealed, and the new voice…
“Child, I am the Thousand-Faced Demon.”
The only sworn brother left behind by the Three Calamities’ Thousand-Faced Demon.
‘A definite name.’
Jinmyo.
‘Of all people.’
Of all the killers, Jinmyo.
Yeil swallowed a sigh.
This was going to be messier than she’d expected. Bangwoo would not possibly return alive from Jinmyo.
The first reason was:
“Heh heh, today I’m rather lucky. Did you say Namgung’s child? It’s rare to find a child I like so much, all girlish and perfect.”
Jinmyo smiled lightly as a powerful force poured in on Bangwoo.
“Sword strength….”
Yes — even if not comparable to heaven and earth, the gap was like Mount Tai to the ground.
The second reason was….
“But you, Taoist Bangwoo.”
When Jinmyo addressed him, Bangwoo’s expression contorted.
“You always surround yourself with weak girls. Is it your taste to watch over things you can’t protect?”
Jinmyo was a master of psychological warfare, digging into the deepest wounds of his opponent.
“….”
Bangwoo deliberately did not reply.
Clang — the clash of two swords in midair whipped up a dusty gust that mussed Yeil’s hair.
“Taoist Bangwoo.”
“….”
“Why so silent? I heard from Ilsal many things about you; I’m quite curious.”
Bangwoo ground his teeth.
Jinmyo’s face spread with a deep smile, as though savoring a child’s antics.
Jinmyo had once been someone Tianwuling (Cheonmuryung) kept an eye on.
But Tianwuling soon lost interest because Jinmyo was more fanatical about the Thousand-Faced Demon than anything else.
A killer from Salmak following someone other than Chenmunju — Tianwuling could have taken him or disposed of him, but let him be. Tianwuling was always indulgent toward the Three Calamities.
Yeil remembered their last conversation.
Hugging the cold, dying body of the Thousand-Faced Demon — spitting blood and cursing Yeil with that face.
[Never… never… you must never fall into Chenmunju’s hands, Ilsal… In Jinmyo’s hands your neck will be twisted! Thrash in pain and die; beg and I will pluck out every last thread of your bloodline so you’ll regret this day… ]
Jinmyo had remained under Tianwuling.
‘He took the Thousand-Faced Demon’s name by Tianwuling’s command.’
If so, he must also know about the impostor posing as Month-Sword-One-Slayer (Wolgeom Ilsal) nearby.
“Ilsal said you were quite the talent; you were useful enough that they planned to hypnotize you and hand you over to the Great Evil, but they lacked time and couldn’t do it.”
He never said such a thing.
“Heh heh. You followed like a motherless dog and thus won Baekchung’s trust, letting you steal the Zaha training technique so easily.”
He never said that either.
“Did you take care of Taoist Seonhye’s corpse? The rest of the three major disciples are disappointing — far below weak Seonhye Taoist….”
Bangwoo, who had kept his composure up till now, finally flared.
Perhaps he attacked actively, for sounds of multiple moves followed.
“Indeed, the strongest in the martial world, the late-stage index — Chang Pae Sa-ryong. As a souvenir I think I’ll take your face too. Consider it an honor…!”
At first Jinmyo mocked Bangwoo with chuckles, but his voice gradually stopped; at some point it cut off.
Bangwoo had managed, surprisingly, to press Jinmyo back.
‘I hadn’t thought he could be a match.’
Yeil must have underestimated Bangwoo.
‘…Maybe because memories from childhood are so clear.’
How much had he grown to stand against Jinmyo? Or perhaps Jinmyo was no match for Namgung Jeokmyeong. Without seeing their martial skill with her own eyes, she was uncertain.
“Ah! Come to think of it, Ilsal should be attacking the Murim League right now. What a shame he won’t be able to be the one to face me!”
Yeil froze.
At the same time, Bangwoo’s movements halted.
Ilsal was attacking the Murim League?
‘Lies cling to his tongue.’
He pretended conversation with the illusion-Yeil, then said that the illusion-Yeil was nearby.
The name had been discarded long ago; he didn’t care how it was used or what treatment it received.
But if a false Thousand-Faced Demon and Wolgeom Ilsal together had struck the Murim League, then it would be the perfect chance for Yeil to extract information about Yeonghwang Yuse.
If there was a problem….
‘Namgung Soyo has its limits.’
Especially now.
From the moment Bangwoo visibly faltered, he had been treated like a plaything by Jinmyo.
“How cute, Taoist Bangwoo! The moment you could take revenge on Ilsal has arrived, and yet you’re blocked by me — doing nothing but dithering!”
One could hear it — Bangwoo had been struggling badly against Jinmyo ever since he heard Ilsal might be nearby.
“Why not abandon Namgung Girl and go to the Murim League right now?”
