Seventh Killer, Jeok Mahyeok (2)

It was around the evening of the day after his battle with the assassins that Seonu Jin passed Heungmun in Sichuan Province, the site of the former fierce battle against the Righteous Chivalry Guild, and reached the border region of Guizhou Province.

At his original pace, he should already have crossed into Guizhou Province that morning, but helping deal with the aftermath for the merchant caravan that had nearly been massacred by the assassins the previous day had delayed him considerably.

However, the delay no longer mattered much.

He had initially increased his speed to prevent an attack, but now that he had already been attacked, he judged there was no longer any need to hurry.

Moreover, his objective had only been to buy time to postpone Tang Yeo-eun’s marriage. He had never truly intended to return to the Seonu Clan and pursue a marriage proposal.

‘Submitting a marriage proposal to the Sichuan Tang Clan as the heir of the Seonu Clan… No matter how I think about it, that is far too reckless. And actually pursuing marriage with Lady Tang is another matter entirely….’

Seonu Jin suddenly recalled Tang Yeo-eun.

She was an exceedingly beautiful and kind woman, and it was also true that his heart frequently wavered whenever he saw her.

Even so, while a corner of his heart still ached whenever he thought of Na Seoyu, considering a future with another woman seemed far too irresponsible.

For now… that was how he felt.

Seonu Jin shook his head vigorously and steadied his mind.

‘Whatever happens, I cannot allow Lady Tang to be forced into an unwanted marriage with that snake-like bastard.’

Therefore, he had to do everything within his power.

Even if that meant genuinely becoming the heir of the Seonu Clan and submitting a marriage proposal.

He was running along the main road leading into Guizhou Province with those thoughts when—

At the entrance to Sacheopsan Mountain, located on the border between Sichuan and Guizhou, he suddenly spotted several merchant caravans gathered there without attempting to cross the pass.

He also saw a beautiful young lady tearfully pleading with them.

Her desperate voice reached his ears.

“Please, I beg you! Please save my orabeoni! I will repay you even if I must offer everything I have!”

However, despite her anguished plea, the merchants merely cleared their throats and looked away.

“Ahem, ahem. Your circumstances are unfortunate, but we ourselves are so frightened of Sacheop Stronghold that we cannot even cross the pass and are waiting to gather more people. How could we possibly defeat them and save your orabeoni? It pains me to say this, but you should give up….”

“That is right. Should you need work, we can let you join our caravan. Therefore, consider your orabeoni already dead and forget him.”

At last, the woman burst into tears.

“How can you say that?! How could I possibly abandon the orabeoni who raised me all these years?!”

The merchants could only smack their lips as they watched her sob.

After crying for a moment, the woman soon wiped away her tears and composed herself. Then she bowed to them.

“I have behaved rudely toward those who offered advice out of concern for me. Please forgive me. I will look for someone else who might be willing to help.”

The merchants clicked their tongues at her words.

“Tsk, tsk. You have been searching since morning and still found no one, have you? Do you think people like that will suddenly appear if you keep looking?”

However, she no longer paid attention to the merchants. She merely approached other people with a determined expression.

Seonu Jin stopped and watched her for a moment.

From what he had overheard, it seemed the person she called her orabeoni had been imprisoned in a place called Sacheop Stronghold on Sacheopsan Mountain.

That was why the young lady was searching for someone who could rescue him.

Seonu Jin approached her.

Since he needed to delay his journey anyway, dealing with a single Green Forest stronghold along the way did not seem particularly difficult.

“May I ask what has happened, my lady?”

At Seonu Jin’s voice, she brightened and turned around.

Seen up close, she was an exceptionally beautiful woman. Perhaps because of her makeup, she looked somewhat younger than she had from afar, appearing at most around twenty years old.

However, after turning around with a bright expression, she saw that Seonu Jin was alone and soon answered with evident disappointment.

“My orabeoni was captured by a Green Forest stronghold called Sacheop Stronghold on that mountain. I am searching for people capable of rescuing him.”

“People capable of rescuing him.”

Her words were polite, but her expression was somewhat disappointed.

She apparently believed Seonu Jin could never rescue him alone.

A strange competitive spirit suddenly rose within him.

Seonu Jin asked again,

“Is Sacheop Stronghold particularly powerful?”

She sighed and answered,

“I heard it was originally only a small Green Forest stronghold, but after the Righteous Chivalry Guild collapsed, its remnants joined them, causing it to expand rapidly. That is why the merchants do not dare travel there alone and gather in large groups before crossing.”

Seonu Jin frowned at her words and asked,

“Remnants of the Righteous Chivalry Guild joined a Green Forest stronghold? Weren’t they supposedly members of an orthodox faction?”

She smiled bitterly and shook her head.

“They originally served as lackeys of the Blood Cult. Had all those beneath them truly behaved like righteous martial artists, they would never have obeyed the orders of the Righteous Chivalry Guild Master, who was himself a Blood Cultist.”

Now that he heard it, her explanation made perfect sense.

The Righteous Chivalry Guild’s conduct had never resembled that of an orthodox faction.

Anyone who had followed such conduct without complaint might not have been a Blood Cultist, but they could hardly have been proper righteous martial artists either.

Seonu Jin nodded in understanding.

Then he asked her again,

“May I help you?”

She answered apologetically,

“I am sorry, Great Hero. I am deeply grateful for the offer, but they are not people whom you could oppose alone….”

However, as she spoke, her eyes suddenly widened in shock.

She had witnessed the dazzling pale-violet Weapon Qi glowing from Seonu Jin’s partially drawn sword.

She asked in astonishment,

“C-Could you possibly be a P-Pinnacle…?!”

Seonu Jin immediately sheathed his sword and placed a finger to his lips.

“Shh. I would rather not cause an unnecessary commotion. Would this still be insufficient?”

Tears welled in her eyes as she bowed deeply.

“My eyes were blind, and I failed to recognize you, Great Hero! Please forgive me! How could someone of my standing possibly say that a Pinnacle Realm martial artist is insufficient? I can only express my gratitude.”

Then she suddenly asked,

“Are you perhaps someone famous? My knowledge is limited…. May I ask for your esteemed name, Great Hero?”

Seonu Jin smiled gently and answered,

“My name is Seonu Jin.”

Apparently unfamiliar with the name, she looked flustered and bowed again.

“Ah, I-I am sorry, Great Hero. My knowledge truly is terribly limited….”

Seeing her unsure what to do, as though apologetic for never having heard his name, Seonu Jin smiled bitterly and shook his head.

“It is all right. It is not such a remarkable name, and I have never done anything to spread it, so it is only natural that you would not know it. More importantly, do you know approximately where Sacheop Stronghold is located?”

She brightened and hurriedly answered,

“Yes! My orabeoni allowed me to escape before being captured alone, so I know the surrounding area! I will personally guide you!”

And so, Seonu Jin and the woman began climbing the pass together.

However, Seonu Jin did not know.

He did not see the woman following slightly behind him, Jeok Hayeon, faintly raising the corners of her mouth in a smile.

Earlier that morning, before Jeok Hayeon encountered Seonu Jin, Jeok Mahyeok had declared this before his two younger siblings.

“I will handle this mission alone.”

Naturally, his two siblings objected.

“What are you saying, Orabeoni?! We agreed to carry out every commission together!”

“That’s right, Hyung-nim! You promised us that if the target deserved to die, we would kill them, and if they did not, we wouldn’t!”

“T-That was….”

Jeok Mahyeok’s face twisted in discomfort at their words.

He had certainly said that.

It had been a promise made because he did not want his siblings to hate themselves.

Jeok Mahyeok had become an assassin to provide for them, but whenever he had to kill someone who was not evil merely because of a commission, he came to loathe himself.

Even while telling himself that he had no choice, he could not deny that he was scum.

Therefore, Jeok Mahyeok did not want his siblings to experience the same feelings.

‘I can never allow these children to live while thinking of themselves as trash, as I do.’

After making that resolution, he promised his siblings.

If the target deserved death, they would kill them, but if the target was truly righteous, they would refuse the commission.

It was a promise Jeok Mahyeok could make only because his abilities had earned him the position of Seventh Killer, granting him enough standing within the Sichuan Assassin Sect to choose which commissions he accepted.

Afterward, whenever they received a commission, his younger sister Jeok Hayeon tested the target’s character by attempting to seduce them.

She reasoned that anyone who succumbed to the advances of a girl still in her late teens and attempted to violate her deserved to die.

However, although Jeok Mahyeok allowed Hayeon to act that way, he knew the truth.

‘Even a person of sound character would find it nearly impossible to resist when a young and beautiful woman like Hayeon openly seduces him. Unless he were an ascetic, it would be almost impossible.’

Baeksuk Guild Master Hyeok Mokan, whom they had killed that day, was one such example.

He did not know whether Hyeok Mokan had been a truly virtuous man, but it was certain that he had not been evil.

Throughout his life, he had performed many good deeds, and recently he had done much for the people of Heungmun.

Thus, condemning him as someone who deserved death merely because he succumbed to Hayeon’s seduction could only be unreasonable.

It was merely an excuse to complete the commission and spare his siblings from guilt.

However, this mission was different.

‘I do not know what the Sect Master is thinking, but he ordered us to complete it without exception. A commission to kill a master with more than seventy years of internal energy, no less. If we fail, it means they intend to kill us.’

No, perhaps they intended to kill them regardless of whether they succeeded.

Therefore, this mission had to succeed.

So that he and his siblings could all survive.

And even if he failed, he had to ensure that at least his siblings lived.

That was why he intended to go alone….

However, his siblings were now fully grown and refused to obey him.

“Hagun, Hayeon. Just this once, please listen to your orabeoni….”

“No! Orabeoni, you are trying to leave us behind and do something dangerous, aren’t you?!”

“That’s right, Hyung-nim! You promised us! You promised that we would always stay together! And that if the target was not evil, then even if we all died together, we would never obey the assassin sect!”

Jeok Mahyeok was troubled.

Everything his siblings said was correct.

Even so, he could not grant their request. Therefore, Jeok Mahyeok decided to become angry with his siblings for the first time in a long while.

He shouted with a frightening gaze.

“Silence! If I say I will do it, then I will! Why do you have so much to say?! I said I would handle this mission alone! The decision has been made, so stop talking nonsense!”

The terrifying pressure from Jeok Mahyeok’s rebuke immediately silenced his siblings.

Seeing their dispirited faces made his heart ache, but he had no choice.

It was then.

Tears streamed from Jeok Hayeon’s eyes as she began to cry.

“Sniff, sniff!”

Seeing that, Jeok Mahyeok felt as though his heart were being torn apart.

Jeok Hayeon spoke to him through her tears.

“Sniff! I know why Orabeoni is being so unreasonable. You are trying to leave us behind, aren’t you? Because it seems dangerous, because you think you might die!”

Jeok Mahyeok was momentarily rendered speechless.

He could not say anything.

“Fine! Do whatever you want! Go alone, Orabeoni! But remember this! If you go and never return, I will die after you! Even if I don’t die there, I’ll eventually die with you anyway! Sniff, sniff!”

At her words, Jeok Mahyeok froze like a stone statue.

His younger brother, Jeok Hagun, then carefully spoke.

“Hyung-nim, we are no longer ignorant children. We understand perfectly well why you are acting this way. And just as Hayeon said, if you do not return, I will go and take revenge on that man called Seonu Jin. In the end, we will all die together regardless.”

After hearing that, Jeok Mahyeok could no longer tell his siblings not to follow him.

His heart ached too deeply, yet he was also profoundly moved.

However, when he finally declared that they would all go together, he failed to notice the sobbing Jeok Hayeon secretly exchanging glances with Jeok Hagun.

Jeok Hayeon glanced at Seonu Jin’s profile as he climbed the pass slightly ahead of her.

Then she lamented inwardly.

‘Why does he have to be so handsome?! It makes me not want to kill him! And he is a Pinnacle Realm master with that face? That is completely unfair!’

Jeok Hayeon’s dream was to marry a handsome, wealthy man like him and allow her older brother, Jeok Mahyeok, to live in luxury.

Having to kill Seonu Jin, whose appearance was close to her ideal type, made Jeok Hayeon feel as though she might cry at the cruelty of reality.

‘I don’t know whether he is wealthy yet, but if he reached the Pinnacle Realm at his age, making money in the future should be effortless, right?’

The more she thought about it, the more regrettable it seemed.

She suddenly asked him,

“Excuse me… may I ask which sect Young Master Seonu comes from?”

He grinned and answered.

In Jeok Hayeon’s eyes, his smile looked extraordinarily refreshing.

“Ah, I come from the Seonu Clan of Guizhou.”

“What?! The Seonu Clan?!”

Although Jeok Hayeon had operated only within Sichuan Province, there was no way she would not know the Seonu Clan, one of the Eight Houses of Guizhou.

Startled, she asked again,

“Th-Then are you the heir of the Seonu Clan, one of the Eight Houses of Guizhou…?”

He smiled awkwardly and answered again.

“No. I am not the heir at all, but the third son. Within the clan, I am practically an abandoned child.”

“My goodness.”

Jeok Hayeon looked at him sympathetically.

Her assumption that he was wealthy had been correct, since he was the third son of the Seonu Clan.

Moreover, he was so perfect, yet even humble.

‘He reached the Pinnacle Realm at that age, yet he calls himself an abandoned child of the clan? That makes no sense. Ah, how can he be so humble!’

Jeok Hayeon let out another regretful sigh.

The thought of having to assassinate someone like him made her heart feel as though it were tearing apart.

However….

She had no choice.

For her orabeoni and the rest of them to survive, they had to kill him.

In truth, Jeok Hayeon also knew.

She knew it was unreasonable to condemn the men who succumbed to her seduction as evil, and that it was merely an excuse for carrying out their commissions.

Even so, Jeok Hayeon had only wanted to ease the heart of her orabeoni, Jeok Mahyeok, who had endured countless hardships while raising her and Jeok Hagun.

After all, if they wished to survive, they could not avoid killing others.

‘Killing people is wrong, but strictly speaking, it is not our fault, is it? It is the fault of those who commissioned the murders and those bastards in the assassin sect who forced us into this life while we were still children. Therefore, we absolutely cannot die. We refuse to die! Whether we must kill dozens or hundreds, after everything we have suffered, we will survive somehow, even if only because dying now would make it all so unfair!’

Recalling her original resolve and hardening her heart, Jeok Hayeon decided to begin her work immediately.

The work of seducing Seonu Jin….