Episode 64

The Cheongsapa didn’t randomly drag any residents from the shantytown for extortion.

Most of those taken were people living at the shantytown’s entrance.

This part of the shantytown was closer to the bustling area, inhabited by residents with some financial means.

It must have appeared to be a prime spot for squeezing money out of the inhabitants.

“This is the house. It’s empty, so go in and lie down quickly.”

The person who had led me to the shantytown’s entrance supported me as I lay down on a straw bed in an empty house.

It looked as though someone had just vacated the room.

The room was clean, and the straw bed was soft and well-dried, offering a surprising level of comfort.

“Thank you.”

Relying on each other, the shantytown residents reached the outskirts and then scattered to their respective homes.

A man in relatively good shape had offered to help me all the way and had brought me to this room.

In modern times, they would have headed to the police station with grimaces instead of going their separate ways.

In this world, however, they had no choice but to return to their homes, dragging their injured bodies and accepting their misfortune.

“I should be thanking you. I’ll leave some water and food. Rest for today, and tomorrow you can eat and regain your strength. I’ll come to check on you.”

After advising me, the man massaged his own injuries before heading home.

‘I can’t fall asleep like this.’

I don’t know what will happen tonight. The distance was not much for a martial artist, even though I had walked quite a bit.

If the massacre by the Heavenly Death Star occurs tonight, sleeping would be the worst decision.

I would like to go to an inn, but that’s impossible given my current state. The sun had already set, and the inn where I was staying was a substantial distance from the shantytown.

It’s out of the question to walk to the inn, or even to sit up with my body so weakened.

I should have headed to the inn initially, but I had to be thankful they brought me here despite my inability to move.

‘I need to recover and prepare to escape.’

I needed to stay awake all night, listening carefully, ready to flee immediately if I heard screams. But my body was badly injured. I couldn’t escape in this condition.

If I couldn’t sleep, I needed to find some other way to recover quickly.

‘Tonap Technique.’

I barely managed to put strength into my injured arm, propped up my upper body, and assumed a cross-legged position with great effort.

Using the Tonap Technique would take time, but I should be able to recover enough to walk.

Based on my experience, it was better to sleep overnight and perform the Tonap Technique when injured, but I need to recover this way now.

‘Please. I hope my worries are unfounded.’

Wishing that she would return as Cheon Sohee, I sat down and began using the Tonap Technique.

Such trivial prey.

The Heavenly Death Star thought this while looking at the remains that were hardly identifiable as corpses.

As she expanded her senses, she heard the cries of those stifled with fear.

Hoping today’s violence wouldn’t reach them. Enduring the misfortune that came every day, wishing it would pass until tomorrow. Holding onto their ailing parts, praying for a job tomorrow.

Powerless, powerless, and powerless.

The helplessness of not being able to resist or accept. Lives living because they couldn’t die. Herbivorous animals surviving day-to-day. They were hiding, closing their doors to avoid the sound of a snake being hunted.

[Why do they live?]

Such pitiful lives.

It made her want to kill them.

[Kill them.]

She wanted to give them a gift. Share death with those living a wretched life. Breaking their legs, crushing their arms, slicing their bellies, then giving them death.

She was giving them a gift, so she should receive something in return. Their screams, cries, moans, anger, pain – she needed to enjoy all of it before giving the gift.

[That’s not enough.]

Yes, it’s not enough. Simply entering each house to give gifts won’t quench this burning thirst. It’s like trying to quench a fire with morning dew on leaves.

She must find him.

A man to quench the burning thirst.

[I can’t feel it.]

Had he escaped far away by now? Or had he gone into a house somewhere? The Heavenly Death Star could no longer smell his blood.

Should she give up the search? Should she quench her thirst with the morning dew? But The Heavenly Death Star had a way.

[His blood smelled strange.]

If The Heavenly Death Star had been in her right mind, she would have recognized it as the aura of the Death Star, but she had lost the ability to judge the situation to that extent.

[It’s over there.]

The Heavenly Death Star slowly started walking towards where she sensed the smell.

Was this how a butterfly felt, intoxicated by the scent of flowers?

The closer she got to the smell of his blood, the more The Heavenly Death Star was drenched in ecstasy.

“What, what is this!”

“Some crazy woman.”

“Miss, are you hurt?”

“She’s got a knife. Run away!”

“She’s covered in blood!”

Led by the enchanting scent of blood, The Heavenly Death Star encountered several people but ignored them, continuing in one direction.

Anyone who knew the true nature of The Heavenly Death Star would have been horrified by her actions. The notion that The Heavenly Death Star, steeped in bloodlust, would not kill was unthinkable.

She considered their blood too trivial to satisfy her intense hunger.

She was on her way to commit the most delectable murder. Such trivialities couldn’t satiate her. Every time she felt the thirst for murder, she took deep breaths.

[Ecstatic.]

So ecstatic. How could such a delightful scent of blood exist?

What would it feel like to kill him?

How should she kill him? A quick death is too dull. She would start by cutting off his ankles. The sight of him crawling in pain will be hilarious.

What if he ran away laughing?

Let’s drive the knife into his calf and slowly savor the sensation of tearing through the skin and muscle, piercing the ground.

Once he can’t move, she would twist and pull out each finger one by one. It will produce a melody sweeter than any music.

What next? Cut off his arm? Slice open his belly? There are so many possibilities.

The Heavenly Death Star pondered over Kang Yun-ho like a chef considering what to cook with a whole cow, thinking about how to torturously kill him in the most enjoyable way.

[The scent of blood is closer.]

The Heavenly Death Star soon found the house where Kang Yun-ho was. At the end of her sight, in that house.

[I can quench my thirst.]

She could smash in the door in one go, but that would be against the etiquette of a meal. To savor it slowly, one must maintain decorum.

The Heavenly Death Star marched towards the house at the end of her sight with a devout and ecstatic demeanor, like a bride entering a wedding hall.

[When I open that door, he will be there.]

The Heavenly Death Star took a deep breath. The world was filled with only the scent of his blood. No other smell penetrated her mind. She felt that covering herself in this blood would bring an ecstatic tingling to her head.

How will he cry? Beg for mercy? Or accept his fate?

[What expression will it be?]

What expression will he wear before he dies?

[His expression is…]

She suddenly stopped in her tracks.

It seemed that she was remembering something.

She suddenly clutched her head with both hands.

[His face is…]

Her face contorted with indescribable agony.

‘…What did he look like?’

A single doubt tore through her murderous intent.

She couldn’t remember.

‘Who is he?’

‘Why can’t I remember? Why was I going to him? Who is he? It’s not in my memory. No, I am remembering. No, I was forgetting. Forgetting should be enough just once. You, whom I can’t remember. Who are you? You’re frustrating. It’s agonizing.’

‘Why does my heart hurt every time I think of you?’

‘Who are you?’

‘Why don’t I know you?’

Why did he act like you knew her?

She felt dizzy at the door. Her legs gave out, and she leaned on the door for support.

‘I can’t recall.’

She had decided not to forget again. She chose to remember. Why couldn’t she remember?

What did he look like? The face that warmed her heart. It should have been enough to forget just once. Remember. Something precious. She wanted to retrieve it. Why was she trying to lose it?

‘A face that smiles at me kindly.’

She barely searched through the fog of memory, but only his smile came to mind. What did his face look like?

It wasn’t enough.

His smile wasn’t enough.

She felt a burning thirst.

Not a thirst for murder, but a thirst for someone.

There was only one way to quench this thirst.

She opened the door with a parched throat.

“Ah.”

There he was, sitting, quenching her thirst. Enduring pain in a precarious state.

Yes. He looked like that.

A man who always smiled kindly at her. A man who always worried about her. A man who tried to protect her, even though he was weak.

A man who made her feel like a little sister rather than an assassin or a martial artist when she was with him.

[Let’s kill him.]

“Shut up!”

[Let’s kill him.]

“I’m going to stay by his side.”

She expressed her firm determination.

That day, she had promised him.

“I’m going to stay by his side.”

Regret. Sorrow. Injustice. Longing. Words spilled out all those feelings. But there was no intent to kill in them.

The voice was no longer heard.

She threw away the knife she had been gripping tightly.

‘The murderous intent is gone.’

Cheon Sohee thought, looking at her blood-stained hands.

‘How?’

This wasn’t the first time she had been consumed by murderous intent. Only after the murderous intent had devoured everything around her could she barely cling to the edge of her sanity.

Even when she came back to her senses, the murderous intent was not resolved.

Even after committing murder, she had struggled to control the unfulfilled thirst and murderous intent.

But now.

‘It’s calm.’

No trace of murderous intent remained in her heart. Just to be sure, she sniffed the blood on her hand, but the murderous intent didn’t even twitch; only the foul smell of blood rose.

‘It started the same way.’

she had refrained from killing for a long time after carelessly murdering many people. Intoxicated with murder, murderous intent had sprung from within her. It dominated her body. If there was one difference…

“Yun-ho. Is that you?”

Cheon Sohee looked at the man practicing Qi cultivation, still unaware of her presence.

She couldn’t understand why he was practicing Qi cultivation without learning martial arts, but it was clear that everything was influenced by him.

“How?”

The murderous intent of the Heavenly Death Star would make one slay even their dearest person. If the murderous intent of the Heavenly Death Star disappeared upon seeing a loved one’s face, then mass killings wouldn’t occur every 100 years.

The same held true for the internal energy technique he was practicing. It seemed unlikely that the murderous intent of the Heavenly Death Star would be suppressed just because someone was using an internal energy technique for personal training.

Suddenly, a fundamental doubt arose in her mind.

“Has the murderous intent ever surged when I was with Yun-ho?”

Every time her peace of mind was disturbed because of Yun-ho, had there ever been a time when murderous intent surged?

“No. There was never a time when murderous intent arose while I was with him.”

Days when her peace of mind was constantly broken.

Gratitude, regret, warmth. Many emotions that were hard to feel before broke through her peace of mind, but there was no murderous intent.

Even though she was bound every night, worried that she might kill him, she had never once asked to be tied up because she felt murderous intent.

There had never been a surge in murderous intent when she was with him.

“How is that possible?”

‘一 Someday, you’ll meet a noble person.’

Suddenly, Cheon Sohee recalled Cheon Gija’s words.

It was an encounter she had sought with difficulty, one she believed to be a futile effort.

‘一 One who defies heaven’s destiny. A person who has completed their heavenly mandate and returned from death. A person who can even change the fate of others. You will meet such a person one day.’

The being was as vague, difficult, and indefinite as the words of fortune-tellers.

‘一 If you realize that he is the noble person, then stay by his side. Surely, something unexpected will happen.’

“Yun-ho.”

She looked at the man she had almost lost because of her own actions and asked.

‘一 Where is this person?’

“Are you my noble person?”