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**

Su-ryeon looked down at one of the branches of the Black Forest Room located in the mountains.

This was hard-earned information. This place was a forward base and one of the key branches of the Black Forest Room.

Under the cover of night, while everyone was asleep, Su-ryeon descended stealthily and flicked her hand.

“Kill them all.”

However, the scattered assassins of Sapa couldn’t bring back a single head.

“It’s empty.”

“There’s no one here either…”

“…….”

It was clear that there had been signs of people during the day.

The fact that everything is empty at night meant only one thing.

A trap.

Su-ryeon quickly organized her thoughts and prepared to give orders.

But before that, blood surged.

—Chwaak!

A fallen head rolled across the floor. The headless corpse collapsed.

Su-ryeon gazed at the people emerging from the shadows in silence.

“…A girl? Hehe, she’s quite young. Cute.”

A group snickered. There were many of them.

Surrounded on all sides, they stood lined up.

It’s not just their number that mattered.

Masters. The individual combat strength may be lesser than hers.

But…

When a portion of them gathered, they could match her.

“Younger ones are more delicious, after all.”

“Don’t covet. She’s the Master’s prey.”

“If there are leftovers, won’t they come back a bit?”

“That’s true as well.”

“Let’s cut the tendons first.”

They laughed and joked, with such lowly content.

Su-ryeon reflected on the flaws.

They weren’t behaving like assassins.

That could be said plainly.

It was a part that could have been discarded. Revenge for the organization didn’t have to happen in the first place.

If she were the original Head of Sapa, she would have closed her eyes to small losses and turned her gaze towards greater profits. No, rather, it might have been wrong from the start.

Provoking the Sado Clan had yielded no profit whatsoever.

“…….”

It seemed that wrongs piled upon wrongs had led to this point. What was the reason for this?

As Su-ryeon contemplated deeply, she eventually smiled for the first time in a while. She whispered to her assassins.

“Everyone, escape.”

“…Master?”

“I’ll hold them back.”

Ah.

Right.

When the warmth disappeared, she felt utterly powerless. Yet, she tried to survive.

But was it really impossible? She couldn’t tell who the blade of revenge was truly supposed to be directed at or what meaning it held.

…Perhaps.

It was simply that she wanted to follow him.

“Him.”

“It’s an order.”

“Where are you!?”

She swiftly sliced down the first warrior who charged at her. In this long-awaited battle, she smiled lightly.

Death was present before her. But so was nostalgia.

That day. In that hut.

No matter how many times she tasted the food, it never tasted the same.

…In truth.

The words saying she needed family.

Were real. Truly.

…But instead of the playful title of ‘Daddy’, she wanted to call him something closer…

“Capture her!”

Amidst the flood of warriors, an array of magic erupted from Su-ryeon’s grasp.

The ferocious demonic arts.

Martial arts that dreamed of becoming a single demonic entity.

To accumulate it, she had to become a dagger. It wasn’t what she wanted from the start.

But due to pressure from her surroundings, she had no choice.

She was raised that way, and so she thrived. Yet, eventually, she found what she truly wanted.

“Go now. Right away.”

Among the escaping assassins, there were thankfully none of her companions left.

She didn’t know how many of them would survive. But she wished to save every last one.

After all, it was just as if she had dragged someone unrelated into her own affair.

“Capture…!”

Tear and slash.

Strike and burst.

Magic erupted from her fingertips. Volumes of magic surrounded Yi-hyeong Ki, rising high into the air.

Yi-hyeong Ki was something that connected to the shape of the heart. Su-ryeon knew better than anyone how it looked.

A kind of weapon. Wasn’t it nurtured that way? Even if she had known warmth for a moment, its essence did not change.

In a world without him, her body had already lived as a weapon.

“Do you want to violate a girl?”

She waved her hand like the flutter of a butterfly. She stomped on the approaching corpses and stood atop the stone tower.

She turned her fox mask inside out. Even if she had to pierce her own neck while cornered…

To not show that expression.

“Go ahead. Do your best.”

“…You little bitch!”

She leaped towards the charging warriors. She moved as if dancing.

The energy of martial arts flowed down her fingertips more vigorously than ever. Her body flipped gracefully in the moonlight.

She felt light.

A dance knowing where death awaits is light like this.

The magic she unleashed exploded the heads of her two opponents. But in that moment, a blade that charged in pierced part of her protective barrier.

The sword wrapped in her protective energy pushed her body back, spraying blood on top of her. But the wound itself was shallow.

She could still move.

Let’s take at least one more. She didn’t know why. She simply needed to vent her anger.

She had tried to take one last piece of humanity with her, but you all took that away from her. So she wanted to take it back.

More.

…More.

More blood!

“What a crazy girl!”

Blood splattered on her wielding hand. Her shoulder was pierced. But she didn’t care and pressed on.

She was used to enduring pain. She substituted the hammer falling onto her abdomen with blood spitting.

Her energy rapidly fell. Her Yi-hyeong Ki began to falter.

But before it all fell apart, she danced to erase more lives.

Born as a weapon with no emotions.

Raised as an assassin.

But when she dies, she would die as a human.

The magic she had wielded broke. The sword she swung split in half.

Every weapon sent forth to kill the assassins was blocked. The protective energy of the enemy leaders couldn’t be penetrated.

Her energy ran out. But she clung to the next warrior, baring her teeth.

The fox mask shattered. But even beneath the broken pieces, she bit into the opponent’s neck.

“Guuaaaaah!!!!”

Jeok-un.

What do you think of the girl’s song?

Is it too rough for a dirge? But it can’t be helped.

The girl’s world has always been this way.

Will she go somewhere else when she dies? Perhaps she may never meet again.

You and I were fundamentally different from the start.

…But still.

“…I want to see you.”

—Kaaang!!

The mace she swung dug into her body. It cracked open, and blood gushed forth.

She rolled on the ground. Just managing to pull her body back in time to minimize her injuries, but now all she could do was stand.

“…….”

The gazes around her stared at her in shock. Su-ryeon mumbled.

She spat out all the flesh that remained in her mouth.

She wanted to leave her first kiss for later.

Even if she couldn’t grow into a proper woman, she wanted to leave it for that person.

“…….”

She looked down at the broken sword. Her trembling hand also glanced over.

…Now.

It was time to finish it.

“It’s… time…”

She had killed enough to kill.

Let’s go back.

To where she wanted to be.

Before she was violated by someone she didn’t want to be violated by.

“…Now.”

She lifted the broken sword.

To drive it into her own neck.

“I’ll follow… you…”

“You don’t need to.”

—Thud.

The sword aimed at her neck was stopped.

By a hand she didn’t recognize.

“Su-ryeon.”

Su-ryeon blinked. She turned her head towards the voice she shouldn’t have heard.

A conical hat. The black figure of blood.

A scarred face.

The one who blocked her sword gently embraced her. Su-ryeon realized that her legs had given way without her even noticing.

“Did you have to wait so long?”

“…Uh…”

“You were too hasty. That wasn’t like you, Su-ryeon.”

Am I dreaming?

A dream where the dead come back to life.

If it’s a dream…

It’s a vile dream.

Su-ryeon dropped the broken sword. She subtly reached out to touch the embraced body.

It was real. The sensation could be felt. From one to ten, the reality was felt at her fingertips.

If so.

Then, truly… truly…

“…Is it you?”

“Yes.”

He smiled.

With a face she had never seen in the nightmares she had experienced.

“I rushed here for the sake of my daughter. Swiftly.”

“…….”

Su-ryeon smiled. She buried her face in his embrace.

Whether it was reality or a dream didn’t matter.

…She simply wanted to stay like this.

“…I won’t call you that anymore. From now on…”

…

Su-ryeon was put to sleep. Her wounds were too severe; there was no other choice.

Instead, she handed her over to Il-ho, who had followed behind her. Because she had the medicine.

“Wow. Just like before.”

Gu Ok-gyeong stood beside me. I quietly asked.

“What will you do?”

“That’s what I want to ask. You clearly look like you want to kill them.”

“…….”

“Well, it’s not like I didn’t want to wipe them out once anyway… so I don’t have any disagreements…”

Gu Ok-gyeong cracked her neck. She tore off her Infimyeon-gu and chuckled.

In the moonlight, her radiant beauty was revealed. The members of the Black Forest Room shuddered at that face.

“Y-Young Master?”

“Yeah. You little pups. Drop your weapons. Kneel before me.”

“…The Young Master is the core of the Sado Clan… how…?”

The head of the Black Forest Room shouted in confusion.

“Don’t be fooled. Look beside you! Isn’t that Song Nam-cheon!”

“Song Nam-cheon!”

“The traitorous general! Then…”

“It’s a fake! All of you put your swords up! I don’t know how he got out of the Heavenly Trap, but I’ll personally drag him back to the real Young Master!”

Song Nam-cheon discreetly observed the situation.

“Should I have slipped away, Young Master?”

“Ah. Enough. I’m tired of this whole fake or real thing. Da-un, you be quiet too. Got it?”

“It’s dangerous.”

“I’m not at risk with my body untouched. Now then, it’s time to bark like a dog. Like a beast. I’ll bark even louder at those who call me a fake since I’m soon to be the best beast of the Sado Clan.”

Master of Sado Clan Gu Ok-gyeong nodded. She firmly grabbed my sleeve at a distance.

“Together? Or alone?”

“…….”

She looked back at the wounded Su-ryeon.

Now that the permission of the real Head of Sado Clan had fallen…

“I won’t decline.”

There was no reason to hold back.

My person had almost been destroyed.

What could be more important than that?

 

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