Chapter 484: Because I Don't Have a Single Assassin Friend

TL: FoodieMonster007

Geom Mugeuk stared at Myeongjin without a word.

Myeongjin calmly met his gaze.

They both felt it at the same time. This meeting would be the start, the moment that would decide not only their fates but the fates of many others.

"Surprised?"

Geom Mugeuk answered Myeongjin's question with an expression that said it was obvious. "Have you already forgotten? The last I saw of you was your back as you fled after showering me with poisoned needles."

Myeongjin laughed and said, "Have you forgotten? You were the one who pulled that handle."

This time, Geom Mugeuk laughed.

"How about it? Care for a drink?" he asked, not wanting to lose the good atmosphere.

Geom Mugeuk didn't accept immediately. "In your investigation files, how am I described? Does it say I'm the type of fool who follows along when a terrifying assassin who just tried to kill him asks to go for a drink?"

"That's exactly what it says. That's why I came."

Blinking, Geom Mugeuk let out a deliberately long sigh. "It's frustrating, but you've investigated me thoroughly."

Had he ever seen someone give such an answer in a moment like this? Would he ever see it again? Myeongjin was certain. This would be the first and last time. The Young Cult Leader was the only person who would accept such an absurd meeting.

Geom Mugeuk's gaze then cooled as he said suggestively, "But what if I kill you right here and create a new variable?"

Myeongjin reacted without any panic. "The report on you also mentioned that you would make this kind of threat."

It was a joke. There was no way such a detail would actually be written down.

Of course, the Hell Mansion had investigated Geom Mugeuk thoroughly, and they knew a lot about the Young Cult Leader of the Demonic Cult. Myeongjin had completely familiarized himself with the contents, but he still found much of it hard to believe. There had never been a Young Cult Leader of the Demonic Cult like him in the world.

"Alright, let's go." Geom Mugeuk readily accepted the offer and stepped out of the main gate.

It was Myeongjin who was surprised and asked, "Are you really going? It could be a trap, you know."

"Of course, it probably is."

"Then why accept?"

"I can't just live inside my house forever, can I? And you can't wait forever for me to come out. Especially since for you people, time is money, isn't it?"

Geom Mugeuk started walking first, and Myeongjin walked with him.

The hidden Hwi would be following them secretly. As he had said, from now on, Hwi was someone who was there and not there. The moment he revealed himself would be the moment everyone's life and death was decided.

The two walked toward the marketplace, a few steps apart. Even with that distance, it was close enough to launch a fatal surprise attack on each other if they chose to.

Myeongjin imagined launching a surprise attack on Geom Mugeuk. Being an assassin, he naturally had such thoughts whenever he met a master. Could that man block my sneak attack? If I attack, he'll block like this, then I'll follow up with another attack… He could roughly picture how it would go.

However, for some reason, he couldn't form such a picture with Geom Mugeuk. Not even after reading so much information about him.

Just then, Geom Mugeuk suddenly asked, "Why you?"

It was an abrupt question, cut off from any context, but Myeongjin knew what he meant. He recalled his conversation with the Death King.

[Why me?] [The Young Cult Leader resembles you.]

Myeongjin didn't relay those words. "I must be a thorn in the side of the organization."

Geom Mugeuk corrected his self-deprecating joke. "Or you're the most skilled."

Myeongjin didn't deny it. After all, no one could dispute that he was the most skilled assassin in the Hell Mansion after the Death King.

"I thought others would be involved since this is a matter of the merchant world. I didn't expect you people to be behind it."

Myeongjin knew the reason. The organization had likely entrusted the management of its funds to the Hell Mansion because they knew the Death King had no greed for money.

What had they promised him? To him, moving the Death King's empty heart felt like the most difficult thing in the world.

"By the way, I saw the other day that your weapon-making skills are at a master craftsman's level."

"It's just a pastime."

"Your dexterity is too precious to be used for killing people."

If they had been thoughtless words, he would have been angry. But the Young Cult Leader genuinely held what he made in high regard.

"If Master Gwak of our Cult smithy had seen it, he would have asked me to kidnap you and bring you to him."

"He might get jealous and ask you to kill me."

Geom Mugeuk laughed at Myeongjin's pride. "He's not that extreme."

Hearing that, Myeongjin could tell that Geom Mugeuk's praise wasn't just empty flattery meant to make him feel good.

"Next time, sell me a few of the daggers you've made. I happen to have run out of daggers."

"To kill me with?"

"You don't seem weak enough to be killed with a dagger I'm not used to."

Myeongjin didn't feel uncomfortable at all having this kind of conversation with the Young Cult Leader. The Young Cult Leader certainly had a talent for leading conversations comfortably. Even uncomfortable topics didn't feel very uncomfortable when he brought them up.

The place prepared as a trap was not in this marketplace. It was a rest stop located between this town and another.

"Where should we drink?"

And so, the two arrived at the marketplace, rambling on about this and that. Geom Mugeuk looked over the few taverns there and chose one.

"Let's go there."

Myeongjin gave Geom Mugeuk the choice of which tavern to pick. The place Geom Mugeuk chose was the shabbiest tavern of them all. Myeongjin obediently followed Geom Mugeuk's lead. The tavern's interior had a similar atmosphere to the place the Death King was preparing.

This Young Cult Leader really likes taverns with this kind of atmosphere.

Myeongjin asked Geom Mugeuk, "I heard the three-party meeting was also held in a tavern like this."

"It has character, don't you think?" Geom Mugeuk glanced at the owner. "The drinks and food here will be good, too."

"How can you be so sure?"

"I can tell the quality just by looking at the owner's face. It's an innate talent."

A moment later, however, Geom Mugeuk put down his chopsticks with a grimace. The side dish they were served was terrible. On top of that, the alcohol wasn't very good either.

Geom Mugeuk said with a dejected face, "The owner must have changed his face. Maybe this is a place where a former assassin washed his hands of the business and opened a shop."

Myeongjin gave a faint smile at Geom Mugeuk's joke. But his smile, accepting the joke, was tinged with bitterness. The words 'former assassin' weighed heavily on him.

Until now, he had carried out his killings according to his own principles. He wouldn't kill children. He wouldn't kill those who hadn't learned martial arts. He wouldn't kill those who were not wicked.

But at some point, the Death King had started to challenge these principles. Especially the last one.

[Who can decide what is good and evil? If you act as an assassin with such principles, does that make you a good person?]

Myeongjin couldn't answer yes to that question.

[I'll accept that you don't kill children. I'll also accept that you won't kill non-martial artists. But I cannot accept that you won't kill those who are not wicked.]

It meant that when an order came from the organization, he was to kill without complaint.

[This is for your own good, too. What if you establish such a useless principle and then make a mistake later? Are you going to wash your hands of the business out of guilt? Or will you take your own life? Why do you try to make your life harder in a world that's already difficult enough to live in?]

The Death King's persuasion was becoming more and more pressuring.

Myeongjin could feel it. The moment was approaching when he would have to tell the Death King. He would break his principles. No, he wouldn't break them. At the end of that struggle, one doubt always awaited him.

What if I wasn't the second most skilled in the Hell Mansion?

Would he have survived this long? Would he have been able to cling to the ice cliff in the Death King's heart? Did he survive because he was a friend? Or did he survive because his skills were too valuable to discard?

These days, as the moment to make a decision about his principles drew near, his heart was complicated in many ways. What he had said to Geom Mugeuk earlier wasn't just an empty remark. The words about being sent because he was a thorn in their side. Perhaps they were trying to remove that thorn by borrowing the hand of a formidable foe like Geom Mugeuk.

Geom Mugeuk watched Myeongjin, who was silently staring down at his cup, then looked out the window. For a moment, the two were lost in their own thoughts.

It was Geom Mugeuk who broke the long silence. "I have something I'm curious about. May I ask?"

"Ask anything."

"Why didn't you run away? You must know that several of your comrades have died at my hands by now, right?"

And those comrades were no ordinary masters. They were absolute masters who would one day become the Twelve Zodiac Kings. As the Death King's right-hand man, he would have a rough idea. Indeed, judging by his expression, he knew. He knew that they belonged to some organization.

Myeongjin answered calmly. "Because we're the people needed for times like these. We're the experts when it comes to killing people."

Watching Geom Mugeuk nod silently, Myeongjin casually added, "Aren't you people just as expert at killing as we are? No. You're worse than us. We never move unless we're paid, but you people kill indiscriminately, regardless of money, don't you?"

This was how the murim had viewed the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult until now.

"Indiscriminately? That's all in the past. Our Cult has changed a lot recently. It should have been detailed in that report of yours."

Of course, Myeongjin knew. He also knew that this Young Cult Leader right here was at the forefront of that change.

"Alright, since we're on the topic, let me ask you something." Geom Mugeuk threw an unexpected question. "Is being an assassin fun?"

It seemed like a thoughtless question, but it was intentional.

"Who does a job for fun? I do it because it's a job. But why do you ask?"

Myeongjin thought he had investigated everything about Geom Mugeuk, but in truth, Geom Mugeuk also knew about Myeongjin. Myeongjin knew more of the fine details, but Geom Mugeuk knew the decisive fact. His end. Why he was loyal to the Death King, and why he ultimately met his death at the Death King's hands.

"Somehow, you don't seem suited to be an assassin."

"I can't trust that feeling of yours." Myeongjin's gaze shifted to the owner sitting at the counter as he added, "Hasn't it already been proven how terrible your judgment of character is?"

Geom Mugeuk laughed pleasantly. At his genuine laugh, Myeongjin laughed along. In that moment, he wondered who was more off-guard.

Geom Mugeuk asked Myeongjin, "The alcohol isn't great, so let's move. Do you know any other taverns?"

Myeongjin slowly shook his head. "No."

He wanted to say that he had a regular spot a little ways from here. However, he didn't. He judged that Geom Mugeuk was asking to test him. He had to make their trip to that place feel completely natural. At a moment when he let his guard down. A moment that would make him think, 'Surely not him?'

Instead, Myeongjin was the first to get up from his seat. "That's enough for today. Let's drink again next time."

"Ending already? Let's hang out more!"

"I'm busy. There's a line of people waiting to be killed."

Before leaving, Myeongjin asked, "Why did you take the risk to come out and drink with me?"

An unexpected answer came from Geom Mugeuk. "It's probably in your report, but I like making friends. But I don't have a single assassin friend."

"!"

Myeongjin wore a shocked and bewildered expression.

Geom Mugeuk said to him, "They all start with that expression."

When Myeongjin returned to the Death King's tavern, the street had already been completely prepared.

Assassins had become the owners and clerks of each building. These top-tier assassins had become drapers, tea house owners, and customers. Even another assassin wouldn't have felt anything out of place. Moreover, ordinary travelers who were not assassins were mixed in as well. In fact, their presence was the most important. They would serve as the most excellent shields to conceal the assassins.

If the Young Cult Leader comes here, he will surely die.

Myeongjin arrived at the Death King's tavern. There, too, travelers passing through were eating and drinking. The Death King, who was sharing a table and conversing with them, greeted Myeongjin.

"Welcome!"

Myeongjin sat in a corner and ordered a simple bite to eat and some alcohol. After bringing the order, the Death King went back to chatting with the customers. He looked just like the kind of talkative owner one might meet while traveling through the Central Plains. Who would think that man was the master of the Hell Mansion?

Only after the travelers left did the Death King finally come over to Myeongjin. "Did you meet the Young Cult Leader?"

"Yes, I met him."

"What was he like?"

"Did you say he resembled me?" Of course, he hadn't meant it in a good way. A demonic practitioner and an assassin. He had said they were similar because they were both trying to walk a different path. "Then you've overestimated me greatly."

He said it to mean that Geom Mugeuk was no ordinary person.

"In what way?"

"He's strange. It's hard to put into words."

The Death King poured and drank a cup of the alcohol from Myeongjin's table. It was as he had expected. He already knew that Geom Mugeuk was no ordinary man.

"You said you wouldn't kill anyone who isn't wicked, right? Is he wicked? Or is he good?"

Myeongjin couldn't answer. Generally speaking, the Young Cult Leader of the Demonic Cult would naturally be classified as wicked. But was the man he had spoken with today wicked?

The Death King was trying to persuade Myeongjin through Geom Mugeuk. "This is why. It's a question with no answer. Let go of that principle of yours as a folly of youth."

Myeongjin didn't answer. Seeing how uncomfortable those words made him, it seemed he still couldn't accept it.

"This job, can you do it?"

"I will."

He had even been told that if they weren't friends, he would have died several times over. The killing had already begun, and it couldn't be stopped now.

"We will go down in the history of the murim for this killing."

Myeongjin didn't reply to the Death King's words.

"If you can't just bring him, use the Golden Dragon Clan. Once this job is over, they'll have to be dealt with and leave anyway. Even if we don't kill them, their clan will be annihilated. The moment the Young Cult Leader dies, the Demonic Cult will wipe out everyone involved, down to the last blade of grass."

Myeongjin stood up from his seat and bowed politely. "I'll be on my way now."

As he was leaving, the Death King spoke. His words were about the patience of an assassin that Hwi had mentioned, and they were the resolve of a man who stood at the pinnacle of that patience.

"If you fail to bring the Young Cult Leader, I'll live the rest of my life as the owner of this tavern."