Men Who Never Forget

A quiet afternoon. Today, I skipped training and ate with the officers in the main hall.

I knew this wasn’t the time to be sitting around stuffing my face, but it couldn’t be helped.

If you’re hungry, you eat, and if you’re sleepy, you sleep…… Was it just my imagination, or had I said this before?

Anyway, I forced the rice, which felt like grains of sand, down my throat.

The side dishes were good and I was hungry, so I wondered why the food just wouldn’t go down. Then I happened to turn my head,

‘Damn it, nearly gave me a heart attack.’

I met the eye of the lunatic One-Eyed Ghost, who wasn’t eating the food in front of him and was instead stubbornly glaring at me, and instinctively clutched my chest.

So that was why I’d lost my appetite. The bastard had been glaring at me so hard that even the food trying to go down had apparently started coming back up.

Had I somehow been cursed to never eat comfortably after sparing an assassin? To think I couldn’t even enjoy a single meal…… Life in the Kangho was hard.

At this rate, I was going to die of indigestion before I even got to see the Cult Leader’s face, so I turned away. This time, in the opposite direction from One-Eyed Ghost, a seemingly insane Gongson Han was glaring at me too.

‘What’s his problem now? Ah, what a mess. What a mess.’

Who knew the liquor cup I’d thrown at Gongson Han’s head earlier would lead to this? A lunatic was glaring at me from the left, another lunatic was on the right, and even I, sitting between them, was a lunatic. It was truly a feast of madness.

With no other choice, I turned my gaze back and looked One-Eyed Ghost straight in the eye.

His gaze seemed to be asking what we were going to do next, so I asked him a question instead.

“……If you go back, what are you going to do?”

One-Eyed Ghost set down his chopsticks and looked at me.

“Go back where?”
“I’m asking what you’ll do if you go back to the assassin organization. Kill them all? If so, I’ll let you go.”
“……Killing them all is beyond me.”

I filled my cup with liquor as I chewed One-Eyed Ghost out.

“Then what the hell are you planning to do, you bastard? Does going back solve anything? Are they going to let your younger sister go? Why is an assassin like you so damn clueless?”

One-Eyed Ghost glared at me murderously with his one remaining eye. But I wasn’t the kind of man who lost a staring contest either.

Ignoring his nasty glare, I raised a finger and pointed it at One-Eyed Ghost’s eye before lowering it again.

“What’s with the killing intent……? Fix that look in your eye. Keep it up and I’ll make you completely blind instead of just one-eyed.”
“…….”

As the atmosphere around the meal turned icy, I heard Gongson Han and So Geum-ho whispering to each other.

“Young Sect Master Salt.”
“What?”
“How the hell did your Sect Master end up with such a shitty personality? Did he stumble into some fortuitous encounter that made his tongue stronger instead of his martial arts?”
“……That’s true. He just passed out, woke up, and turned into that.”

I clenched my teeth.

“Han. Salt. I can hear every word.”

The two startled rats hurriedly apologized.

“Sorry.”
“My apologies.”

This was why having exceptional senses wasn’t always a good thing.

When I let out a deep sigh, One-Eyed Ghost crossed his arms and spoke.

“……I’ll be punished, but at least my sister will be safe.”
“If you return?”
“For the time being. They don’t care about my life in the first place. They’ll try to keep using me however they can. Even if I return now, I’ll be punished, but if I don’t return soon, they’ll torture my sister even worse. I can’t bear to see that happen.”

I stared at One-Eyed Ghost’s face and furrowed my brow.

“……What the hell is the point of that? Do you think the Bloodland Assassin Guild is stupid? You think they’ll let her go when the time is right?”
“…….”
“Whether you die of old age or because you run into the wrong bastard like me, they’ll keep a grip on your younger sister’s throat until the day you die. I’m asking what the point of that is.”

One-Eyed Ghost didn’t answer, so my words continued like a speech.

“Even if you die, your younger sister isn’t going to become free. She’ll either end up a slave like you or suffer something even worse. Isn’t she basically just a breathing corpse?”
“A breathing corpse?”
“That’s what she is. You really think those bastards will willingly let your younger sister go? How long are you going to live like a dog on a leash? Am I wrong? Gongson Han. You answer.”

Having his name suddenly called, Gongson Han stopped eating and coughed repeatedly in surprise before finally managing to answer.

“Ah, yes. Right. I suppose so. He’s definitely a slave. And the dog-on-a-leash part is true too.”

One-Eyed Ghost turned his head and glared at Gongson Han this time. Somehow, I felt as though I could hear Gongson Han’s inner thoughts.

‘Why does everyone have to give me shit?’

I spoke.

“Of course, if the life you want is that of an idiot slave who kills when his superiors tell him to kill and kills himself when they tell him to die, I’ll respect that. I’m an understanding man like that.”
“…….”

One-Eyed Ghost stared into empty space before letting out a deep sigh.

“……What else can I do when there’s no other way? All I can do is choose whichever path makes my sister suffer less.”

I picked up a piece of Dongpo pork and waved my chopsticks around.

“Why is there no other way? The Bloodland Assassin Guild is the problem, right? Just kill them all.”

When I casually declared that I’d wipe an entire assassin organization off the map, every officer’s gaze immediately turned toward me.

Chewing the Dongpo pork in my mouth, I asked in return.

“What? Did I say something wrong?”

Gongson Han and So Geum-ho stared at me dumbfounded, while One-Eyed Ghost looked into my eyes and spoke with a cynical edge to his voice.

“……If it were that easy, I would’ve done it long ago. Sect Master, don’t get cocky just because you took down the Black Serpent Gate. You’re dealing with an organization of assassins. If people who do nothing but learn how to kill were that easy to take down, it wouldn’t be a well-known assassin organization in the first place.”

I nodded.

“That doesn’t matter in the slightest.”
“……Why?”
“Because I am an expert on assassins, an assassin who hunts assassins, the terror of assassins, an assassin-hunting hunter.”
“……”
“In other words, I’m the enemy of every assassin out there. It’d be hard to find even two men under heaven as good at catching assassins as me.”
“…….”

This was exactly what people meant when they said someone’s pride pierced the heavens. Of course, about nine-tenths of what I’d just said was a lie.

Gongson Han once again unleashed a whisper toward So Geum-ho.

“When is that bastard ever going to stop talking bullshit?”
“Han. I’m pretty sure I told you I can hear everything.”
“My apologies.”

I poured myself another drink, downed it, and looked at One-Eyed Ghost.

“When do you think they’ll make a move? Once they realize you’re late returning, I mean.”
“……If they’ve realized something is wrong, they’ve probably already started moving. Or they may be deliberately staying quiet to see how we react. I don’t know the exact situation either.”
“I see.”

I crossed my arms, nodded, and spoke.

“……I’ve made up my mind. The three of you, listen carefully. If anyone talks back, I’ll take it as a challenge to a life-and-death duel.”
“…….”

If anyone had objected, I would’ve had to deal with these bastards before dealing with the Assassin Guild. Fortunately, no one did. I pointed my chopsticks toward the edge of the table.

“I left most of the Black Serpent Gate bastards alive. I put a useful man in the Sect Master position, so there shouldn’t be much to worry about. Still, just in case, Gongson Han, take some men and go over there to keep an eye on things. A man named Seok Yong will explain the situation.”
“What? Ah. Understood.”

This time, I moved my chopsticks slightly to the right of where I’d been pointing.

“Meanwhile, the Young Sect Master will stay here and handle our affairs. Leave rebuilding our buildings to a few capable subordinates. Understood?”
“Understood. But what about you, Sect Master?”

I infused the chopstick with power and drove it straight down into the center of the table. A clean hole appeared where the chopstick had pierced through, and a smile naturally spread across my face.

Imagining the hole I had made was the Bloodland Assassin Guild, I continued.

“One-Eyed Ghost and I are going to smash the Bloodland Assassin Guild. How dare those bastard assassins with no proper standing interfere in a fight between members of the Black Path? No matter how far the principles of the Kangho have fallen, we can’t turn a blind eye to shit like this. Right?”
“…….”

I glared at the silent One-Eyed Ghost and demanded an answer.

“Right or wrong? You’re awfully quiet. I’m suddenly getting pissed again…….”
“……You’re right.”

I grinned once, then brought my palms together to draw everyone’s attention.

“Good. Nice and simple. Tonight, One-Eyed Ghost and I are going to beat the shit out of those evil bastards. We’re the true heroes of the Kangho, is what I’m saying.”
“…….”

Gongson Han answered halfheartedly in the most lifeless tone imaginable.

“Ah, yes. Congratulations. Hero sounds great. Why don’t you go ahead and become a chivalrous hero while you’re at it?”
“Come on, that’s going too far. How could I be a chivalrous hero?”
“What the hell are you talking about?”

I hurriedly cut off Gongson Han’s nagging.

“Let’s eat. It’s getting cold. You need a full stomach to fight. Everyone, pick up your chopsticks.”
“…….”

As I roughly worked out a strategy, I also spent a moment wondering what I would have done if I’d been in One-Eyed Ghost’s situation.

For starters, I don’t think I would’ve simply fought them head-on. If only my own life were at stake, I would’ve raised every kind of hell imaginable, but if my family’s life were on the line, even I wouldn’t have had much choice.

But would I have simply taken it forever? Probably not. I would’ve obeyed orders and done plenty of bad things, all while pretending to be loyal and building up my strength.

Then one day, once I’d grown stronger than the Guild Master, wouldn’t I have killed everyone in the Guild?

Thinking about it, that was exactly the path I’d taken in my previous life. The reason this thought had suddenly occurred to me was probably because One-Eyed Ghost reminded me of the Sword Demon I had been in my previous life.

Just as I had never forgotten the heart I’d had as a slave even while walking the wicked road of the Demonic Path, One-Eyed Ghost had never forgotten the human heart that wanted to protect his younger sister even while living as an assassin.

The two of us were alike in one respect. We were men who never forgot.