Who Are You? (3)
His gaze shot towards the tree as if he were staring someone down, but there was no one there.
Chil-ho looked at Il-ho with a puzzled expression, as if asking what he meant.
Il-ho glanced back and forth between Chil-ho and the tree. It seemed like he had looked at the tree with some significant intent.
But the distance was too great to assume there was anything there. It was a distance where no message, no matter how urgent, could be conveyed.
“Why were you standing there so absentmindedly?”
“I was just a bit nervous.”
“That’s not like you.”
Chil-ho spoke calmly.
“You keep saying that.”
“Do I?”
“Yes. Well, I’ll get back to what I was doing.”
Chil-ho nodded slightly, then turned and walked away. He could feel Il-ho’s gaze on his back, but at least this reaction felt true to himself.
Il-ho sighed and turned in the opposite direction.
Lately, his emotions had been in turmoil. The reason was the growing distance between him and Chil-ho.
But this sense of alienation only led to self-reproach.
‘We were never that close to begin with.’
Distance is something you feel between people who are close enough to call it that.
She was standing somewhere out of sight.
This anxious feeling kept pushing him to approach her hastily, making him irritable.
‘In the end, it’s all… because of me.’
Il-ho believed it was due to his own changes.
Meanwhile, Chil-ho walked to the far end of the wall in the opposite direction Il-ho had gone, then returned to his original spot.
The secret message from Byeok-ri-dan came through again.
-Who is he?
-Il-ho, my superior.
Chil-ho quickly summarized the people present: Cheon So-seon, Lee Seon, Baek-seok, and Il-ho, detailing their martial arts skills and personalities as succinctly as possible.
Byeok-ri-dan repeated the question he had intended to ask earlier.
-Do you know whose soul resides in the child?
-They haven’t told us.
It was expected. That would be the most crucial secret.
-Understood. Leave the rest to me. Thank you for finding out.
In an instant, Byeok-ri-dan vanished.
Chil-ho sensed that something urgent was unfolding.
What on earth was happening? What would happen next?
Inside the temple, the grand ritual was about to begin.
“Alright, let’s get started.”
Jeong-so was as excited as a child going on an outing.
“Wait a moment.”
“Why?”
“I’m not quite ready.”
“That’s something a novice would say.”
“Sorry. Just give me a little more time.”
Jeong-so was inwardly annoyed.
‘Damn it. This is why working with women is so exhausting.’
Im Yeon-jeong was stalling for time as much as possible. It was for Byeok-ri-dan outside. She didn’t know how he would help her, but giving him as much time as possible would be advantageous.
And there was another reason. In fact, this reason was more significant.
She walked over to the bed.
She looked down at the child wrapped in bandages. Once this ritual was over, the child would die. Was it because he was the same age as her son? She couldn’t stop thinking about him.
‘I’m so sorry, child.’
But even without the ritual, the child was in danger. That’s why they were performing the soul-separation ritual.
Im Yeon-jeong gently stroked the sleeping child’s head.
‘Please go to a good place. Be reborn into a happy life.’
Just as the ritual was about to begin.
Whoosh.
I leapt over the wall and landed in the middle of the courtyard.
Everyone watched me with somewhat dazed expressions.
They hadn’t expected someone to appear so boldly in the place they had fortified. My sudden appearance chilled the atmosphere.
I was wearing a mask. When fighting villains like these, one must conceal their identity, especially if they have a family. These scoundrels would exploit any weakness they could find.
Instead, I wore a mask with significance.
It was the mask of the nameless hero who had once saved Im Yeon-jeong. A top-grade mask, so no one could tell I was wearing one.
Since I had decided to bring Im Yeon-jeong to my side, there was no need to hide the fact that I was the nameless hero.
Another reason for appearing as the nameless hero was that I had saved her life once before. She would trust me more because of it.
She still didn’t know that the ritual’s target was her son.
Once she found out, she would be overwhelmed with shock and fear. At that moment, her trust in me would be the strength that kept her going.
Cheon So-seon took a step forward and asked calmly.
“Who are you?”
“The one you’ve been looking for.”
At those words, Cheon So-seon’s expression hardened. He realized I was the one who had been interfering with his work all along. The fact that I had appeared so boldly must have made him tense.
The method I chose was a direct approach.
It wasn’t about killing them all. It was about using the most wise and appropriate means to achieve my goal.
I left open the possibilities of force and negotiation. In other words, if it came to it, I would kill them all, but if I could achieve my goal without killing anyone, I would spare them.
Since the person targeted by the ritual inside the temple was her son, the goal couldn’t simply be to kill them all.
Cheon So-seon scrutinized me with a peculiar gaze.
Not only him, but Lee Seon’s sharp eyes scanned me from head to toe.
To their left stood Baek-seok, and to the right were Il-ho and Chil-ho. She was staring at me with wide eyes, surprised that I was the nameless hero.
“Why have you come here?”
Cheon So-seon asked, and I replied calmly.
“What else would bring me to a temple? To offer prayers, of course. May I enter?”
“That would be difficult. A very important person is offering prayers first.”
“Buddha teaches us to let go of greed and attachment. Isn’t monopolizing the temple a form of greed?”
“The person inside is particularly fond of solitude.”
As I exchanged words with him, I was gauging Cheon So-seon’s martial prowess.
Now, I could vaguely sense his skill. It was proof that my abilities had indeed improved. Conversely, he would still feel nothing from me. If anything, the fog around me had thickened.
I then turned my gaze to the two elders flanking Cheon So-seon. Chil-ho had mentioned that one of them was called Lee Seon.
The elder with the sword was the Sword Master, and the one without any weapon was the Fist Master.
Surprisingly, the two were nearly as skilled as Cheon So-seon. Just a notch or half a notch below him. If they combined their efforts, they would be stronger than Cheon So-seon.
But it was clear they weren’t ones to combine their efforts. Their energies were too opposing, making it difficult to work together, and they wouldn’t achieve double the effect.
Just then, the temple door creaked open, and someone stepped out. It was Im Yeon-jeong. She had been listening to the conversation outside.
Under normal circumstances, she shouldn’t have come out. It was a situation where she could be suspected for revealing herself.
Sure enough, Cheon So-seon frowned at her. His glare was filled with reproach for not starting the ritual and coming out instead.
But she had a reason.
Pointing at me, she said,
“That’s him. The one who killed the Sword Master!”
She acted as if she had come out just to inform them of that.
Her eyes wavered as she looked at me. She must have been shocked to realize I was the nameless hero. And she judged that revealing herself was a way to help me.
Otherwise, she would never have come out, nor would she have pointed me out.
I smiled and said,
“Oh, a beautiful lady was offering prayers.”
As I spoke, I sent a secret message. This too was a technique only the highest masters could perform.
-The child with two souls must be saved. Can you do it with your skills?
I continued to engage Cheon So-seon in conversation to keep his attention on me.
“Keeping such a beautiful lady hidden? Isn’t that too much?”
In the meantime, Im Yeon-jeong’s secret message came through. While exchanging secret messages with her, I continued to converse with Cheon So-seon to keep his focus there.
-If the soul is extracted from the child’s body, the child will die. I can’t stop it.
-What if the ritual isn’t performed at all?
-The child won’t last long anyway.
-How long can he hold on?
-A day? Five days? Ten days? I don’t know.
I still hadn’t told her that the child was her son. The moment she found out, all her rationality would be paralyzed.
And the situation was this:
The child would die whether the ritual was performed or not.
At that moment, Baek-seok stepped forward and spoke to Im Yeon-jeong.
“Please return to the temple.”
I stopped her as she was about to comply.
“Wait. Since the beautiful lady is here, let’s talk a bit more.”
After halting her, I asked Baek-seok,
“Are you the White Stone?”
Baek-seok was startled by my question. He asked in a trembling voice,
“How do you know?”
“Is it such a big secret that you should be so surprised?”
Baek-seok glanced at Cheon So-seon. He wanted to share his feelings about how I knew even the organization’s secrets, but at that moment, he realized his mistake.
Cheon So-seon’s eyes seemed to say, “Kill him.”
But Baek-seok knew. The opponent’s skills were far superior to his own. Cheon So-seon knew it too.
In other words, he was to serve as a sacrificial pawn to reveal the opponent’s skills. Someone had to confirm the opponent’s abilities, and he was the most suitable for the task.
‘Damn it.’
Baek-seok knew what kind of person Cheon So-seon was. If he refused this silent command, he would pay the price one way or another.
‘Damn it. White Stone, my foot.’
In this organization, everyone except Cheon So-seon and his cronies were expendable. It was just a matter of when they would be used up. From the start, he was nothing more than a disposable stone.
‘Fine. If I’m going to die anyway.’
Baek-seok stepped forward confidently.
“Yes, I’m the one with the white stones. Was it you who overturned my board?”
I could tell he was ready to face death.
“It seems so.”
“How dare you barge in here and cause such a ruckus?”
I glanced at Cheon Soseon and Lee Seon.
“How pitiful, that word ‘dare.’ Look at them. They’re watching you die, hoping to find a way to save themselves.”
At that, Baekseok, seething with rage, lunged at me.
I stood my ground and delivered the swiftest, most precise move I could muster.
A flash.
A swift, slicing sound.
Baekseok fell to his knees, a deep cut across his chest.
I looked down at him and said, “Don’t feel too wronged. They won’t find their salvation in this move.”
Baekseok gave a bitter smile.
Thud.
With that final smile, he collapsed forward.
Cheon Soseon and Lee Seon exchanged glances.
It was impossible to gauge my full strength from that single move. Yet someone had to step up, and it was Gwon Seon, with his fiery temperament, who moved forward first.
“I’ll take care of this arrogant whelp.”
Just then, Cheon Soseon spoke up.
“Wait.”
Gwon Seon turned back, and Cheon Soseon continued, “I think we all need to face him together.”
Gwon Seon, Geom Seon, and even the onlookers, Ilho and Chilho, were taken aback.
Especially Geom Seon and Gwon Seon, who knew exactly how powerful they were, were even more surprised.
Gwon Seon spoke calmly, “We haven’t practiced any combined techniques, have we? Not even the two of us.”
“We’ll just have to make it work. If we face him one by one, we’ll all be picked off.”
Gwon Seon looked at Geom Seon. They knew Cheon Soseon well. For someone with such towering pride to say this was significant.
“Alright.”
Gwon Seon didn’t insist. He was fiery, but not a foolish old man.
Geom Seon and Cheon Soseon stepped forward alongside him.
As the three stood together, they began to exude an overwhelming aura.
Cheon Soseon smiled at me and said, “Don’t take it personally. We’re just trying to survive.”
Indeed, Cheon Soseon was a clever one.
“I don’t mind. I expected this. But you still have a problem.”
“What do you mean?”
I wiped Baekseok’s blood from my sword and stepped forward.
“It seems you’ve chosen the wrong path.”