Episode 132
Sun Woo-jin and Jeok Ha-yeon were climbing up a hill.
Suddenly, Jeok Ha-yeon stumbled and fell.
“Ah!”
Her fall was so convincingly natural that there was no way it was an accident.
Startled, Sun Woo-jin quickly turned around and rushed to her side.
“Miss! Are you alright?!”
Jeok Ha-yeon’s top had slipped slightly, revealing one shoulder. Struggling to get up, she said with effort,
“I’m f-fine. It’s nothing…”
But as she tried to stand, she suddenly screamed again and collapsed—seemingly injured at the ankle.
“Ahh!”
“Miss! Your ankle!”
She sat sideways, stretching out her slender leg, and looked at Sun Woo-jin with a pitiful gaze.
“I’m so sorry, noble sir. To think that I, who you’re trying to help, would only be a burden…”
Her posture oozed seduction—every curve of her body accentuated, her disheveled clothing revealing a hint of shoulder, and those pleading eyes.
Truly, she was a master of temptation.
‘And with a little aphrodisiac sprinkled on top, even a monk who’s trained for a hundred years wouldn’t be able to resist,’ she thought confidently.
Having seduced countless men over the past two years, Jeok Ha-yeon was certain this was perfect.
Sun Woo-jin might try to take advantage of her right then and there—or at the very least, his heart would be shaken.
So when she glanced at him, she saw his expression harden as he approached—and she smiled inwardly.
It looked like this would end quickly.
Either she would finish it, or her brother Jeok Ma-hyeok, lurking nearby, would.
Sun Woo-jin stepped closer and called softly.
“Miss…”
Jeok Ha-yeon responded with moist eyes.
“Yes, noble sir.”
Looking into her eyes, Sun Woo-jin said,
“Please forgive my rudeness.”
“Yes, of course… Ah!”
Startled, Jeok Ha-yeon screamed as Sun Woo-jin suddenly lifted her into his arms.
“I can’t leave you here alone. I think this is the only way. Please bear with me, even if it’s uncomfortable.”
Caught completely off guard by his unexpected action, Jeok Ha-yeon’s heart began to race as she looked up at his face, so close.
He was even more handsome up close.
‘What is this? Why is he so handsome? And why does he look so calm?’
Despite holding her in his arms, there was no trace of lust in Sun Woo-jin’s expression.
Even though she had doused herself in aphrodisiac like perfume.
Instead, it was her own heart pounding wildly, while his composed demeanor only made her feel frustrated.
Suddenly, a thought struck her.
‘Is this man the true hero?’
It seemed so.
To remain so composed in the face of her usual irresistible seduction, this handsome nobleman must be the genuine righteous gentleman she’d only read about in books.
Well, someone this impressive could very well be that.
‘But to think I have to kill someone like this…’
It was heartbreaking.
She even found herself resenting the heavens.
But Jeok Ha-yeon soon gave in.
When had the heavens ever been kind to the righteous?
They only forced the strong to prey on the weak to survive.
With a heavy heart, she looked at Sun Woo-jin and prepared to act.
His hands held her firmly, but her own hands were free.
And with his chest so close, even the most skilled assassin could strike swiftly.
She subtly aimed the poison needle hidden in her sleeve at him.
Just then, Sun Woo-jin suddenly asked,
“Is something wrong, Miss?”
Startled, Jeok Ha-yeon replied,
“W-what? What do you mean?”
She looked up to see him gazing at her with a puzzled expression.
“Your eyes look so sad. We’re on our way to rescue your brother, so why do you look so sorrowful?”
Caught off guard, Jeok Ha-yeon stared blankly at him and, without realizing it, spoke honestly.
“It’s just… I resent the heavens so much.”
Sun Woo-jin smiled gently and asked again,
“Why do you resent the heavens?”
With a mournful expression, she answered,
“Everything in this world harms others just to survive. Insects, birds, animals… and people too.”
As she spoke, she slowly shifted her hand inside her sleeve, aiming it toward Sun Woo-jin.
But he, as if recalling something, looked at her warmly and said,
“This is just my opinion, but I believe that at least humans always have a choice. Animals’ main purpose is to eat and reproduce, but humans sometimes starve themselves to death to uphold their will, or retreat to the mountains to grow old alone. Isn’t ‘righteousness’ also a kind of choice? Like animals, we could live by the law of the jungle, but some choose to protect the weak and sacrifice themselves for what’s right.”
Hearing this, Jeok Ha-yeon’s hand tremblingly aimed the poison needle at Sun Woo-jin.
She had always insisted that it wasn’t their fault they had to kill people.
It was because of those who forced them into this life.
But Sun Woo-jin was saying that everyone has a choice.
That they must take responsibility for their actions.
Inwardly, Jeok Ha-yeon shouted,
‘…What nonsense!’
But she knew deep down it wasn’t her true feeling.
If anyone else had said this, she would have scoffed and seduced them, telling them to know their place before spouting such nonsense.
But now, she couldn’t bring herself to laugh at the words of someone who was helping her selflessly, who remained unmoved by her seduction despite everything.
Tears suddenly streamed down her face.
“Ah!”
She didn’t know why she was crying.
All she could do was apologize through her tears.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry, noble sir.”
Then, finally, she pressed the trigger on the poison needle hidden in her sleeve.
Click!
Or rather, she tried to.
But for some reason, her body wouldn’t move.
‘?!’
Panicked, she looked at Sun Woo-jin, who smiled and said,
“No need to apologize, Miss. You can’t kill me.”
Jeok Ha-yeon had thought his hands were bound while holding her.
But that was her mistake.
In fact, she had unknowingly exposed all her vital pressure points to him.
With just a flick of his finger, Sun Woo-jin had already sealed her entire meridian system.
He had realized she was an assassin.
At first, he had been uncertain, but after detecting someone trailing them in hiding, he had already taken poison antidote internally.
That was why her aphrodisiac had no effect on him.
Jeok Ma-hyeok was following Sun Woo-jin and Ha-yeon in hiding.
He had agreed to watch for now, at Ha-yeon’s insistence to test if Woo-jin would fall for her usual seduction.
But as always, Jeok Ma-hyeok was extremely anxious.
Swallowing hard, every time Ha-yeon acted like this, he worried he wouldn’t be able to stop her in time—that she might be harmed or exposed as an assassin.
Today was worse.
Maybe because the opponent was a master with over seventy years of internal energy, Ma-hyeok had been feeling uneasy for a while.
Though they hadn’t even exchanged a glance, he felt as if the opponent sensed his presence.
It was like a sticky spiderweb of gazes clinging to his body.
‘Something’s definitely wrong. I need to get Ha-yeon out of here quickly.’
He finally made up his mind.
But it was already too late.
Ha-yeon was already in Sun Woo-jin’s arms, and there was nothing he could do.
Then, Ma-hyeok sensed something strange.
Sun Woo-jin suddenly set Ha-yeon down.
Though she looked startled, she couldn’t move.
Ma-hyeok immediately understood the situation.
‘Pressure point strike! She’s been sealed!’
It seemed the man was about to assault Ha-yeon.
Gritting his teeth, Ma-hyeok prepared to strike first.
Before the man could harm Ha-yeon!
But just as he was about to leap, he saw something even stranger.
The man wasn’t trying to assault her.
He suddenly drew his sword and was about to strike her down.
Ma-hyeok heard the man’s voice.
“Die!”
His vision went white.
The man was trying to kill Ha-yeon.
So suddenly?!
Panic surged through him.
If he attacked Sun Woo-jin from behind now, he might kill him—but Ha-yeon would die too.
He couldn’t allow that.
“No!”
He shouted with all his might and charged.
This was something he had never done in his life as an assassin.
He hoped the man would stop his sword and look at him.
But the man didn’t.
As if he couldn’t hear him, he continued to bring the sword down on Ha-yeon.
Swish!
“Ahhh!”
Ma-hyeok screamed and changed his target.
Not Sun Woo-jin, but the sword.
Desperately, he threw his own pressure point strike and lunged toward the descending blade.
Whoosh!
He prayed with all his heart.
He hoped his strike would deflect Sun Woo-jin’s blade, that it would save Ha-yeon.
“Please, please!”
But despite his desperate wish, his strike missed the sword entirely.
Whoosh!
It only sliced through empty air.
And the moment Jeok Ma-hyeok’s strike cut through nothing but space, Sun Woo-jin’s sword changed course in an instant, shooting forward like a streak of light.
Straight toward Jeok Ma-hyeok’s neck.
Shing!
“?!”
Jeok Ma-hyeok was momentarily stunned, unable to grasp what had just happened.
The sword that had been aimed at Ha-yeon was now pressed against his own throat.
Before he knew it, the mask he’d been wearing was split in two, slipping down his face.
Only after a brief moment did he realize the truth.
It had been a trap, designed to lure him in.
But that didn’t matter to Jeok Ma-hyeok.
His entire focus was on his younger sister, Jeok Ha-yeon.
“Ha-yeon…”
Ha-yeon lay there, her blood flow stopped, her eyes rolling wildly as she stared at him.
No wounds, no injuries—she looked perfectly fine.
Relief threatened to bring tears to his eyes.
Sun Woo-jin grinned.
“You tried to save this child, not me. That’s what saved your life.”
“…What?”
And just like that, Jeok Ma-hyeok was struck with a pressure point attack.
Jeok Ha-gun, Jeok Ma-hyeok’s younger brother and Ha-yeon’s twin, was trailing them from a distance.
His stealth skills weren’t yet on par with Jeok Ma-hyeok’s, so he had no choice but to keep his distance.
Then, suddenly, he saw it all unfold.
Sun Woo-jin moving to kill Ha-yeon, and his brother Jeok Ma-hyeok rushing toward him.
He saw his brother being helplessly subdued by Sun Woo-jin.
“Haah.”
Jeok Ha-gun sighed deeply.
Today was the day.
His brother and sister always dreamed of the future—ten years from now, escaping the clutches of the Sicheon Killing Sect, living a happy life.
But Ha-gun had never believed in such dreams.
Never believed they could escape the Sicheon Killing Sect, or even survive that long.
“Such nonsense. A dream.”
From the moment they swallowed the poison of the Sicheon Killing Sect, their lives had been nothing but puppets in its grasp.
To live, they had to obey. To refuse meant death.
What future could there be in such a life? After killing so many just to survive, what right did they have to hope for happiness?
So Ha-gun’s only wish was simple.
To spend whatever days they had left together—laughing, playing, living as three—and to die on the same day.
That was all.
He muttered calmly.
“The day has finally come.”
Then, he charged at Sun Woo-jin with all his might.
“Haaah!”
Crash!
Though far less skilled than his brother, Ha-gun made no attempt to hide as he charged the master swordsman.
It was reckless to the point of suicide.
And that was exactly the truth.
Ha-gun wanted to die first.
He felt sorry for his brother, but rather than watch Jeok Ma-hyeok and Ha-yeon die, he wanted to be the first to fall.
He smiled inwardly.
“Sorry. Next life, I’ll be the eldest and take care of you both. Like you did for me—begging, getting beaten, burned, but always smiling. I’ll never give up.”
He caught the shocked expression on Jeok Ma-hyeok’s face.
His blood points hadn’t been sealed yet, and he shouted loudly.
“Ha-gun! No! Run away!”
Ha-gun smiled.
Where could he run to?
Without his brother and sister, he was nothing.
And he never would be.
Sun Woo-jin watched the reckless charge with an unreadable expression.
Then, in an instant, the sword flew.
At a speed impossible to block.
Shu-hak!
It was over.
Thud!
The young assassin struck by the sword’s energy was violently flung back in the direction he had come from.
The grotesque-faced assassin of the Pamyun Sect cried out desperately.
“Ha-gun!”
Lately, I’d learned to control my sword energy with my will—sharp or blunt, hard or soft.
So the boy struck by the blunt, soft sword energy was only knocked unconscious.
But the Pamyun assassin, unaware of this, had tears streaming down his face.
I glanced at him and smirked.
“So this is the one.”
I’d heard stories in my past life about an assassin from Sichuan.
Held hostage with his siblings, forced into the assassin’s path, until one day his siblings were killed and he single-handedly wiped out his entire sect.
After killing every last member, he reportedly wept in the rain before taking his own life.
That story had left a deep impression on me.
I’d even thought, if only I’d known about him sooner, I could have helped.
Wouldn’t that have been a great boon to the Sunwoo family, struggling with a shortage of talent?
“And now, here we are, meeting for real this time.”
A laugh escaped me.
It felt like seeing a childhood toy I’d wanted but never had, now rediscovered as an adult.
Once I saw him, I couldn’t let go.
The Pamyun assassin glared at me as if ready to devour me, screaming.
“You bastard! I’ll never let you live!”
I replied with a cold smile.
“How amusing. You, an assassin, angry at me? After failing to kill me? The nerve.”
He was momentarily speechless.
Apparently, he wasn’t shameless enough to argue back.
“W-well, with your skills, I didn’t have to kill you…”
“Why would I? Why should I spare those who try to kill me?”
His twisted face contorted further, unable to respond.
He was fun to tease.
“Besides… it’s not over yet.”
I said, pointing my sword toward the girl lying sealed on the ground.
His face went pale.
Then he begged me desperately.
“Master! No, great hero! That girl was forced to become an assassin because of her foolish brother! Please! Please spare her!”
I scoffed.
“Do you think those she killed felt the same? Shameless to the extreme. No wonder you became an assassin. If you truly cared for your sister, you wouldn’t have forced her into this, risking her life!”
I pressed the sword’s tip upside down against her stomach.
Her wide eyes flickered with despair as she looked at my blade.
The Pamyun assassin shouted in a last-ditch effort.
“I had no choice! No choice! They fed poison to my siblings! If they didn’t obey, they’d be killed! What else could I do?”
I smiled faintly.
“So that’s how it was.”
Even if his love for his siblings was genuine, I’d doubted his character for forcing them into assassination.
But now, I could understand.
He passed.
I hesitated for a moment, then asked him.
“If I don’t kill your sister, will you do anything I ask?”
His eyes widened to their limits as he answered urgently.
“Anything! I’ll do anything!”
I smiled coldly, looking at him.
Even I felt how wicked that smile was.
If Bisa-young saw me now, she’d probably curse me as a demon of the Blood Sect.