Content warning: This chapter contains graphic and violent scenes in the latter part.
If you are uncomfortable with such content, please feel free to skip this section.
Salmun Road’s foot brushed against something long and blackened.
A corpse—a human body.
From the crown of the head down to the back of the knee.
The body was torn vertically, mutilated beyond any recognition of normalcy.
Staring blankly at the ceiling, Salmun Road’s eyes, which hadn’t even registered the horror before death, seemed lost.
Did I make a mistake?
There were eighteen members in Salmun’s group.
But by the time they’d reached this point, they had already come across seven corpses.
Including those not yet discovered, the outcome was all but decided.
Should I have run away?
It would be a lie to say he wasn’t shaken.
He hadn’t been careless, though.
He had assessed Kim Suhyun as a fighter superior even to Goyeonju and planned accordingly.
Yet, there was one assumption he had failed to consider—and it became his fatal flaw.
Could it be that he…
Judging by the evidence, his subordinates had been picked off one by one.
For an assassin to be defeated like that was the ultimate humiliation.
Still, Salmun Road didn’t blame his men.
Because he himself was completely in the dark.
Then—
“!”
Suddenly, his eyes, which had been staring endlessly at the ceiling, snapped sharply to the left like lightning.
From somewhere came the soft sound of footsteps.
Holding his breath and suppressing any noise, he waited.
Soon, about twenty meters away, a figure slowly emerged.
A man holding a dagger that reflected a crimson gleam, turning his head this way and that—it was none other than Kim Suhyun.
Is he looking for me?
Kim Suhyun’s back disappeared around the corner.
Instinctively, Salmun Road melted into the shadows.
He followed quietly, careful even of his breathing, but despite turning the same corner, Kim Suhyun was nowhere to be seen.
“?”
Confused, he scanned the surroundings—and there, on the opposite side, was Kim Suhyun again, peering around just like before.
A trap?
It was a gut feeling.
But even if he realized it, nothing would change.
Trap or not, there was only one choice in this situation.
Salmun Road carefully observed the path Kim Suhyun took, then swiftly slipped along the wall.
Not the worst.
At least he had a bead on Kim Suhyun’s location.
Though, of course, there was a high chance he’d vanish again.
Wait.
His smooth steps gradually slowed.
Salmun Road furrowed his brow in confusion.
Having designed this hideout himself, he knew exactly what was where.
But the place Kim Suhyun had just gone into was a dead end—completely sealed off.
Several minutes had passed; by now, he should have come back out.
Yet he didn’t.
Still, you think, huh.
A cold voice whispered behind him.
Salmun Road’s body stiffened instantly.
Before he could react, the rear was silently taken.
A flicker of conflict flashed in his wide-open eyes.
“…Impressive.”
Clang! The two daggers he’d been holding dropped to the floor.
Without hesitation, Salmun Road raised both arms.
His hands spread wide, signaling no intention to resist.
“Oh. You’re even smart, huh?”
“I guess I was wrong about you.”
And then he added,
“Well, I already tried, but if I surrender, will you spare me?”
“Hmm. For now, turn around. Slowly.”
Salmun Road nodded obediently.
Hesitantly, he began to turn his body.
About two-thirds of the way through the turn, something unexpected happened.
Two new daggers shot out from his sleeves like lightning.
Seamlessly, naturally.
Still in the turning stance, Salmun Road threw the dagger in his left hand with all his might.
The blade streaked like a ray of light toward its target—the heart of Kim Suhyun, who was standing with arms crossed.
But it missed.
Cutting through empty air.
“Damn…!”
In that split second of shock, Salmun Road felt a sharp pain pierce his left knee.
Losing his balance, he gritted his teeth and raised his right arm high.
The next moment, a crimson dagger flashed like lightning from somewhere, piercing his right hand precisely.
Thud!
“Ughhh!”
He had thrown it with such force that his right hand exploded, and his whole body spun in the direction of the impact.
Before he could even fall to the ground, a brutal kick slammed into his abdomen.
“Gah, cough!”
Hot blood surged up his throat, mixing with his cough.
“I even gave away my position.”
A dark shadow loomed over Salmun Road’s body, pressed against the wall.
“Head-on confrontation is out of the question. Assassination seems impossible too. So you chose a close-range ambush? That’s a disgrace for an assassin.”
A clear sneer.
Warm droplets fell from above, tracing down his face.
Salmun Road, barely able to breathe, finally lifted his eyes.
Beneath the dizzying ceiling, a bloodied foot ruthlessly stomped down.
The thread connecting Salmun Road—the one they had trusted until the end—snapped.
With that, the entire Salmun group’s connection was severed.
Left alone, Neulseolyeong sprinted at a terrifying pace toward the point where Salmun Road’s thread had broken.
Even if it meant exposing her position and suffering the consequences, she had to save Road at any cost.
Steeling herself, she reached the destination—but what awaited her was an unexpected emptiness.
Neither Salmun Road nor Kim Suhyun was in sight.
All she saw was a large message scrawled on the wall.
Reading it, Neulseolyeong let out a sigh that was almost a groan.
The blood-smeared wall bore a simple message:
“Come back.”
Just three words.
Neulseolyeong ran as if flying, but at every turn she faced the corpses of her comrades.
Some were hanged, others had limbs severed—the worst were those whose bodies were brutally torn in half or crushed grotesquely against the wall or doorframe.
Kim Suhyun had displayed them all like trophies, and Neulseolyeong was on the verge of losing her mind.
Her comrades desperately fleeing into the darkness.
Kim Suhyun calmly following behind, slaughtering them one by one.
Just by watching, she could see exactly what had happened to them.
It was laughable for an assassin to be engaged in fierce combat—but even more laughable to be toyed with or massacred.
Approaching the place where they had originally been, Neulseolyeong’s legs suddenly faltered.
“…”
The door stood wide open.
The floor of the passage was covered in bloody footprints.
The foul, metallic stench was overwhelming.
Step by step, the interior came into view.
When she fully entered, Neulseolyeong gasped sharply.
Ugh, ugh…
Huh, huh…
A chorus of groans hummed softly around her.
The first thing she saw were nine comrades still alive.
The problem was—they were all kneeling in a line in the center of the room.
Including Salmun Road.
When she noticed the footprints stamped all over their bodies and their arms twisted grotesquely in different directions, a spark ignited in Neulseolyeong’s eyes.
“Just give it up.”
A voice stopped her as she spread all ten fingers wide, ready to act.
Her trembling gaze turned left.
Kim Suhyun was perched on a stone table.
Arms lightly crossed.
Legs crossed.
Eyes closed, a cigarette dangling from his lips, head slightly bowed.
As if lost in deep thought.
After a moment, Kim Suhyun, still with eyes closed, stretched out one arm.
He quietly grasped the hilt of a sword embedded vertically in the table.
Then, half-opening his eyes, he fixed his gaze on her.
“If I take up this sword… you’ll die right here.”
His soft voice echoed in her ears, sending chills down her spine.
Those colorless, emotionless eyes.
A strange feeling swept over her entire body.
It was like being thrown naked into a vast ocean teeming with sharks.
If you make a move, you die.
In the end, she let her arms fall weakly.
“What… do you want…?”
“Looks like you’re finally ready to talk.”
Kim Suhyun calmly withdrew his arm.
Resting his chin on his hand, he closed his eyes again and tapped the table lightly with his index finger.
How much time passed?
“There’s a lot I want… but first, the client.”
“Client? What are you talking about? We already said everything in the forest!”
“Still not clear-headed, huh?”
“It’s because of the cursed Golden Embassy! You can ask Yeonju unnie!”
Humming softly, Kim Suhyun got off the table.
Then he said,
“Enough. Let’s play a game.”
“What?”
Neulseolyeong’s voice was filled with disbelief.
The answer came—
Bang!
Crack!
A scream.
Kim Suhyun grabbed the back of a nearby woman’s head and slammed it onto the stone floor.
Blood sprayed fiercely from the junction between her small face and the ground, as if her forehead had been shattered.
The suddenness left Neulseolyeong speechless.
But Kim Suhyun didn’t seem to care and continued speaking.
“The rules of the game are simple. The moment you give the right answer, the game stops.”
Kim Su-hyun announced this coldly, then without a hint of hesitation, tightened his grip on the back of the woman’s head.
“Ugh… ugh…!”
The pressure intensified in an instant.
Her delicate skin and skull compressed with every passing second, and the woman flailed her arms helplessly.
When the force grew so severe that her face seemed to be sinking into the floor, a sudden, sickening crack echoed sharply.
“Kiiiii! Kaaaaaah!”
Her arms, which had been thrashing wildly, now pounded the floor frantically.
But it was only a brief moment.
At the limit of her endurance, with a sickening snap, her skull shattered into pieces.
At the same time, the woman’s body stiffened as she let out a final, agonized scream.
Despite the shattered skull spilling out crushed bone fragments, flesh, and brain matter, her body continued to twitch spasmodically.
But even that soon fell silent.
Kim Su-hyun brushed his hands clean and moved to the side, placing his left hand on the shoulder of a man nearby.
He was strikingly handsome, with sharp, piercing eyes.
“Not bad looking,” Kim Su-hyun smirked, grabbing one of the man’s arms with his right hand.
Before pulling, he glanced at Neul Seol-yeong.
“So, what about the client?”
Neul Seol-yeong, breathing heavily and unevenly, spoke in broken words.
“I told you… there’s no… such thing…”
“Is that so?”
Kim Su-hyun chuckled and yanked the man’s arm hard.
A sickening sound of flesh tearing echoed as red muscle and white bone were exposed.
“Ughhh!”
The man’s head snapped back violently.
Then came a wet, explosive sound as blood splattered across the floor.
Kim Su-hyun had forcibly twisted the arm around and ripped it clean off at the shoulder.
White foam bubbled from the man’s lips, but it wasn’t over yet.
Kim Su-hyun tossed the severed arm behind the man’s back, then proceeded to rip off the remaining arm—and both legs.
In the end, only the face, torso, and buttocks remained.
Kim Su-hyun lifted the blood gushing man and slammed him down onto the table with a heavy thud.
“This should sell well as a night-time toy. Perverted faggots will go crazy over it.”
Still, Neul Seol-yeong remained silent.
No, he had his eyes tightly shut and his head bowed low.
His chest heaved as if struggling to steady his breath.
Kim Su-hyun was ruthless, but Neul Seol-yeong was no less stubborn.
At that moment, Kim Su-hyun’s sharp gaze caught something unusual as he scanned the surroundings.
“Looks like you’re enjoying the game, huh?”
“…I just want to say something, even if it’s a lie.”
“You keep saying that… How about this guy next?”
“…!”
In a flash, Neul Seol-yeong, struggling, opened his eyes in alarm.
Kim Su-hyun didn’t miss the change.
Choosing the ‘Salmun Rod’ was the right call.
“Well, keep your eyes closed then.”
With that, Kim Su-hyun reached out with blurred eyes.
“Wait…!”
Neul Seol-yeong shouted desperately, but it was too late.
The fingers plunged viciously into his eye socket, gripping tightly.
As Kim Su-hyun pulled, a choking sound escaped, and the Salmun Rod’s body twitched violently, barely clinging to consciousness.
Crunch!
The red nerve fibers attached to the eyeball snapped.
“Hah.”
Kim Su-hyun didn’t stop there. He shoved the cigarette he’d been holding into the hollow eye socket and rubbed it around.
Then—
“Stop! Stop it!”
A scream filled with sobs and desperate cries pierced the air.
---------------------------= Author’s Note =---------------------------
As I write this, I worry that the story might have been too brutal.
Of course, some readers might think this is nothing, but I’m sure others will frown at the violence.
The warning at the top is for those readers.
Unfortunately, I’ll have to include a warning in the next chapter as well.
Not because it’s violent, but because there may be uncomfortable sexual content.
Since this omnibus is nearing its end, I ask for your understanding. (__)
P.S. The Salmun Rod’s eye will recover in a later chapter.