Thud—

Yu Gang flung the masked man to the ground.

The three who were stepping toward him halted for a beat.

“...Is he dead?”

Yu Gang nodded.

“Just before I could knock him out, he swallowed poison.”

He looked to Seolhwa.

“I’m sorry I wasted the opening you made.”

Seolhwa shook her head.

“No. I didn’t leave one for capture. The opposite.”

“...Pardon?”

She stepped in and pulled off the mask.

Shock washed over the party as they took in the man’s face.

“This man is...”

Bronzed skin, with strange, misshapen patterns painted over his entire face.

Three small rings pierced his lips, and his features were nothing you’d call ordinary for someone of the Central Plains.

“From the Southern Wilds.”

“Yes.”

“You knew?”

“Yes. I knew from the weapons they were using.”

“Who are they?”

“Barbarians of the Southern Wilds.”

Seolhwa glanced at Yu Gang.

“That’s what they’re called in the Central Plains.”

When she’d raced in at the sound of fighting and found the ones trading blows with Yu Gang, Seolhwa had been appalled.

Barbarians of the Southern Wilds.

A savage people.

Among themselves, they call each other warriors.

She hadn’t known of their existence until relatively late, across the sum of her previous life.

She had meant to investigate once the Namgoong Clan was settled—but never got the chance.

Because of that, she still didn’t know which Blood Lord’s power they belonged to.

“In their fighting, there’s no such thing as subduing. Only kill, or be killed.”

If you fail to kill, there is only being killed.

So there is no hesitation in how they move.

Which is why their opponents are forced into confusion, and even those with strength enough to win sometimes lose.

In that, they resembled assassins.

“Those who go into battle resolved to die always carry poison. To face such people, you must accept death yourself.”

Seolhwa looked at Yu Gang.

“Have you ever killed someone?”

“...”

“That’s why. Why I left one.”

A blade that doesn’t know death hesitates.

Hesitation drives me to death.

Just as Seolhwa had cut down the masked men with ease, Yu Gang had the skill to cut them as well.

But killing them was not among Yu Gang’s choices.

All his battles until now had been fought not to kill, but to win.

As it happened, he hadn’t been the one to kill this one—but it hardly mattered.

“You two are the same. This isn’t only the Beggar’s Union’s problem. There’s another power behind them.”

“Are you saying an Outlands power is targeting the Beggar’s Union?”

At Tang Hojin’s question, Seolhwa shook her head.

“No. Someone more dangerous.”

At times like this, it was maddening that she couldn’t speak the words Blood Cult.

The name Hwaoru didn’t suffice to convey their danger and savagery.

Blood Cult.

She needed to tell them there were people who worshiped and craved blood.

“As you saw, they’re no trifling force. They’ve even brought in the barbarians of the Southern Wilds. If we try to settle the Beggar’s Union’s affair, we could find ourselves in mortal danger.”

It was for that reason she had come to them at all.

To tell them to be ready for danger.

“The one who killed the Dragon-Head Lord likely wasn’t So-and-so.”

At Seolhwa’s words, shock of dawning comprehension colored the other three faces.

The corpse of the Dragon-Head Lord—said to have been torn to pieces.

The rumor of blood everywhere and a brutal murder.

“No way...”

Golden Lotus Rain stared at the already-dead assassin from the Outlands.

He had died with eyes open and foam at his lips.

“This was... their doing?”

“Most likely.”

Yu Gang bent to draw the mask back over the assassin’s face.

“We should turn the body over to the Martial Alliance and request reinforcements.”

If danger comes, run.

Do not try to stand and fight.

That was the Chief Division Lord Seop Mugwang’s last admonition to them when they left the Alliance.

“If we wait for reinforcements, it’ll be too late. If they’ve already found So-and-so’s disciple, it means they’ve traced So-and-so’s trail to some degree.”

Yu Gang rose, his face grave.

“We have to find So-and-so first.”

Seolhwa agreed.

If So-and-so fell into the hands of the Beggar’s Union—or the Blood Cult—then the Beggar’s Union affair could never be brought to light, and there would be no stopping the Beggar’s Union from falling under the Blood Cult.

“I have a plan.”

The three looked to Seolhwa.

With a resolute face, she spoke calmly.

“First, hand So-and-so’s disciple over to Cheon Guiho.”

****

“Oh-ho, I’ve been waiting!”

Hugae Cheon Guiho came out at a trot to greet Yu Gang.

His gaze flicked past Yu Gang’s shoulder.

“I’m alone today.”

Perhaps embarrassed at being caught in his thought, Cheon Guiho rubbed the bridge of his nose.

“I see. Come in.”

But Yu Gang didn’t sit. He spoke.

“We found So-and-so’s disciple.”

Cheon Guiho’s face lit at once.

“Truly? He was there?”

“Yes. Doing water-carrying.”

Cheon Guiho whooped, doing a little jig.

“Kk-kkeuk! Didn’t I say so! I told you he’d gone in and never come back out!”

“What will you do with him?”

Cheon Guiho froze mid-dance.

“What are you asking?”

“He’s the disciple of the one who killed the Dragon-Head Lord and fled. When you meet him, what will you do?”

“In my heart, I’d like to make him give up where So-and-so is and beat him with a stick.”

“Turns out he’s an old friend of mine.”

“...What?”

Cheon Guiho’s merriment darkened.

“I didn’t know before. But when I saw him, I knew.”

“What are you trying to say?”

“Don’t kill him. Do that, and I’ll hand him over.”

Cheon Guiho no longer smiled.

The impish air, the light demeanor—gone.

Fixing Yu Gang with a hard face, he radiated the presence befitting a Hugae of a vast power spanning the Central Plains—only his clothes were those of a beggar.

“You’re telling me to spare a traitor? Is that the Martial Alliance’s will?”

“It isn’t. It’s my personal request.”

“...”

He held Yu Gang in a cutting stare for a long moment.

“Kk-kkeuk...”

The small chuckle grew, and then Cheon Guiho began laughing like a man unhinged.

“Kk-kkeuk-kkeuk-kkeuk!”

“...” 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

“A joke. A joke.”

He waved a hand.

“How could I kill that boy—who, until not long ago, was family? And do you think fleeing was his idea? So-and-so told him to.”

He patted Yu Gang on the shoulder.

“Don’t worry. No intent to kill—at all!”

Kk-kkeuk-kkeuk...

The unpleasant laugh curled around Yu Gang’s ears.

He dipped his head briefly.

“Thank you for granting my request.”

****

Right after securing the promise, Yu Gang returned to quarters and went to the Beggar’s Union with Chunpal.

Chunpal might have been expected to be afraid, but there wasn’t a hint of shrinking.

Shoulders squared, he strode through the Beggar’s Union’s stronghold with a surprising air of pride.

‘Chunpal’s changed a lot since then.’

As a kid, he’d only scream and flare up.

Then again, thinking on it, the only one who’d keep coming at Yu Gang without giving up even after being beaten down was Chunpal.

“Welcome! How long has it been, Chunpal!”

True to his word, Cheon Guiho received Chunpal warmly.

The instant Chunpal stepped in, he rushed over and swept him into a hug.

Chunpal had been wearing a face grim and resolute enough to go to war; now he looked so flustered he glanced to Yu Gang for help.

“You idiot, if there’s a misunderstanding you clear it up—what are you running for!”

Cheon Guiho thumped his back—thunk, thunk.

“Sit. Tell me what’s happened. And you—could you give us a moment?”

“I’m sorry, but I’ll stay.”

Yu Gang made his intent plain.

In the very heart of an enemy camp where anything might happen, he wasn’t leaving Chunpal’s side.

“If you need it, raise a Qi Screen.”

Cheon Guiho’s expression was a touch sour, but he shook his head.

“It’s fine. Stay. Sit, Chunpal.”

As if used to it, Chunpal plopped—down in front of the stone table.

He stared at the pot of tea on the table, then slid it toward Cheon Guiho and spoke.

“Master didn’t kill the Dragon-Head Lord.”

“Did you see it?”

“No.”

“Then why are you so sure?”

“He isn’t that kind of man. You know that better than I do, Hugae.”

“...”

Cheon Guiho fell silent, as if turning it over, then tapped the table—tok, tok—with the humor gone from his face.

“If there’s a misunderstanding, we ought to clear it up. How are we supposed to talk if he keeps hiding like this?”

“That’s because you’re trying to kill Master...!”

“I’m not.”

“...”

“Yes, I was angry before, that’s true. As you know, the mood in the Union was better than it had been in a long time, and we thought it was Brother So-and-so who ruined it. But you know what?”

Cheon Guiho scratched his forehead.

“Thinking on it, Brother must have had his reasons. As you say, he isn’t that kind of man.”

He took Chunpal’s hands.

“So—will you help me at least talk to him?”

His voice had softened.

It sounded like he was soothing Chunpal—or perhaps that he genuinely cared about the situation.

The one who looked thrown off by it, if anything, was Chunpal.

“Please, Chunpal.”

Watching them closely, Yu Gang drew his brows together.

‘Something’s off.’

On the surface, the conversation was ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ proceeding more calmly and smoothly than expected—but he couldn’t shake the sense that something was misaligned.

And it didn’t take him long to see why.