Chapter 2

"That bastard is a vicious devil."

Jin I-bong, the Grand Chief of the Jinhwa Merchant Union, was half out of his mind.

Gwimyeong, the top assassin of the Ghost Killing Gate, wondered what kind of person had brought such ruin upon the wealthiest man in Hebei.

"If he were a real devil, he wouldn't have left you alive."

At Gwimyeong's sarcasm, Jin I-bong raised his head.

He hadn't slept properly for days, his eyes were sunken and hollow, making him look ten years older than he actually was.

Jin I-bong stared at the tip of Gwimyeong's deeply lowered bamboo hat and said weakly.

"...He's keeping me alive to make me suffer even more."

"What do you mean?"

"He took all my fortune."

Whoever it was, he really hit the jackpot, Gwimyeong thought. Just how much was the entire fortune of the Jinhwa Merchant Union? It wouldn't have been easy.

He had a feeling that finding the bastard wouldn't be easy. After pulling off such a big score, he should be enjoying himself with courtesans and singing drinking songs, but that wouldn't be the case, would it? A guy who could pull this off would be incredibly good at hiding. Of course, he would be caught eventually. He was certain that no one could escape his tracking skills.

Perhaps feeling uneasy, Jin I-bong added.

"Don't think you can look down on me because of this. Even the scraps he left behind are enough for me to still be called a rich man in the Jianghu."

In fact, it was highly unusual for Gwimyeong to meet Jin I-bong this time.

An assassin bound to an organization does not meet the client. The organization never reveals who the client is. This was in preparation for cases where both the assassination and suicide failed. If they were caught and revealed the client, who would hire that organization?

But this case was a little different.

Before departing, the Sect Leader of the Ghost Killing Gate had secretly called Gwimyeong and instructed him to handle this matter as a personal favor rather than an official commission. He didn't know how much he had pocketed on the side, but he had even given him a special thousand-nyang note.

He wondered why they were making such a fuss over something that could be resolved by simply writing down the name of the person they wanted dead, but he figured that even among the rich, there must be various circumstances. If the Sect Leader of the Ghost Killing Gate was sending him personally, then this Jin I-bong before him must be a long-time customer of the Ghost Killing Gate.

A man who had amassed wealth through the killing business.

A man who didn't deserve even a penny's worth of sympathy, even if he had lost ten million nyang.

Gwimyeong took a piece of paper from his pocket and held it out to him.

"The bastard's name, appearance, and personal details. Write down everything you know."

It was likely to be a false name anyway, but he had to start there.

The faster he found the bastard, the bigger the cut he would get. He just had to finish this quickly and return.

Jin I-bong smirked. It was an unpleasant smirk, as if he knew Gwimyeong's intentions all too well.

Gwimyeong frowned. Killing intent rose involuntarily, but Jin I-bong was not intimidated. He pushed the paper aside.

"Don't be in such a hurry."

Did this man even know who he was dealing with?

Gwimyeong was one of the few assassins in the Jianghu classified as special grade. He was the most skilled assassin in the Ghost Killing Gate, one of the three major assassin organizations in the Jianghu, and he was an undefeated killing king who had never failed a single one of his ninety-seven commissions.

The phrase 'Jianghu's best' had often begun to be attached to his name, and in short, he was the most successful assassin these days.

He should be shedding tears of gratitude that he was personally taking on this job, yet he was acting like this. Well, a man who has lost everything has nothing to fear.

Jin I-bong said calmly.

"He's only a young man of about twenty."

That was unexpected. He had expected an old devil who was quite old, whether he had cheated or taken it by force. A mere twenty-year-old had outsmarted Jin I-bong? Gwimyeong was intrigued.

On the other hand, he also felt relieved. Being young meant having little experience. A guy with high Martial arts wasn't scary. Because complacency was a fatal weakness for experts.

The opponent an assassin fears is someone with a lot of experience. When the first move fails, the target's response determines the assassin's life or death. Someone lacking experience cannot catch an exposed assassin in one go. A flustered and excited youngster is just prey for prepared second and third moves. But an experienced expert dies the moment the first move fails.

No amount of luck can buy experience.

"You mustn't underestimate him."

"You can underestimate a twenty-year-old."

"A twenty-year-old who bit this old man who's been through thick and thin."

"The mountains and rivers you've lived through... must have been good for kids to play in."

In fact, Gwimyeong was not being careless. He was a killing demon far from being careless. Rather, he had survived by preying on careless opponents. But at least in front of this old, greedy, and unsightly old man, he didn't want to show any signs of tension regarding a twenty-year-old target.

"Have you ever seen a tiger afraid of a rabbit?"

"A rabbit that bites a tiger to death."

"That kind of rabbit... doesn't live in my forest."

Jin I-bong closed his mouth, as if his feelings were hurt.

A moment of silence passed between the two men.

Gwimyeong was curious. As the man said, Jin I-bong had lived a rather difficult life. He was a figure who was at least a wolf, if not a tiger. Just what kind of bastard had brought this old and cunning wolf down so much? His curiosity grew.

"Aren't you curious why I hired you specifically to get my money back?"

In fact, he was curious. What he needed now was not to hire an assassin, but to hire a reliable expert to retrieve his assets.

Jin I-bong would have quite a few experts he was acquainted with. Or he could buy them with money.

Jin I-bong spoke as if he had seen through Gwimyeong's thoughts.

"Because ordinary experts couldn't kill him."

Gwimyeong's eyes sparkled with interest.

Jin I-bong sighed and continued in a slightly softer tone.

"Listen carefully to what I'm about to say."

Gwimyeong took the sword he had been carrying on his back and placed it next to him. Half of it was out of interest, and half of it was mockery, wondering what kind of bastard had done this to him and made him whine like this.

"He came to our village six months ago. I met him by chance at a drinking party. He had a very kind impression, and his eloquence and wit were extraordinary. As we became acquainted, we met more often. He approached me very well, making it seem like a real coincidence."

Jin I-bong bit his lip. It seemed that thinking about that time was making him angry again.

"We sometimes drank and hung out together. Despite his young age, his knowledge was impressive. There was nothing he didn't know, and there was no corner of the Central Plains he hadn't been to. To be honest, I wanted to take him as my son-in-law if I had a daughter. About two months passed. He showed me a Martial arts manual, saying that he had obtained it by chance while drunk."

At the word manual, Gwimyeong's eyes twinkled.

"What kind of Martial arts book was it?"

"It was the Thunderbolt Sword's unique Martial arts."

"Thunderbolt Sword? Which Thunderbolt Sword are you talking about?"

"Thunderbolt Sword Naeng Isang!"

Gwimyeong's eyes widened in an instant.

Martial arts with the name Thunderbolt were common in the Jianghu, but the only one who possessed Martial arts that truly created thunderbolts was only one person.

Thunderbolt Sword Naeng Isang.

An absolute expert who roamed the Jianghu as one of the Ten Great Experts of the World forty years ago. He rose to the ranks of the Ten Great Experts of the World at the young age of thirty, but he suddenly disappeared from the Jianghu a few years before the great orthodox-demonic war. There were many speculations about his disappearance, but he had not shown himself to this day. Everyone thought he was dead.

Gwimyeong burst into hearty laughter.

"Hahahaha! Are you saying that the great Jin I-bong was scammed with a mere Martial arts manual?"

Gwimyeong concluded that it was a Martial arts scam because there was no way Naeng Isang's Martial arts book would suddenly appear, and even if it did, there was no way such an ancient Martial arts book would fall into the hands of such a youngster.

But Jin I-bong's answer was unexpected.

"That manual was real."

"Impossible."

Then Jin I-bong raised his hand and signaled.

A servant came in and removed the screen behind him. Behind it was a wall slightly smaller than the screen.

"Look."

Gwimyeong, who was looking at the wall, was shocked.

A lightning mark in the shape of a soaring dragon. It was clearly the mark of that Thunderbolt Sword he had only heard about.

"It's a forgery."

"He showed it to me directly in front of my eyes. He said this was the level of the first stage."

"Just the first stage and it leaves such a mark?"

Gwimyeong couldn't take his eyes off the wall. The sword mark that was engraved now was enough to inspire admiration.

There, Jin I-bong drove the wedge.

"I secretly obtained Naeng Master's handwriting and compared it. It was definitely a manual written by Naeng Master himself."

"So what happened?"

Jin I-bong sighed.

"You know that the value of that manual is worth more than a thousand gold. In the end, I had only one choice left."

He could tell without hearing it. If he had the ordinary mindset of 'what's someone else's is someone else's', he would never have become the wealthiest man in Hebei.

"Who did you send?"

Gwimyeong was increasingly drawn into the story.

"The first people I sent to kill him were the most trusted Martial Artist from my own family. Don't underestimate them just because they're old men who hold umbrellas. Among them was the Sword of Life and Death."

Gwimyeong was startled.

"Sword of Life and Death Chu Baek?"

"That's right, that's him."

He had never met him in person, but the Sword of Life and Death he had heard about was fierce. There was the incident where he had cut down all seven of the Fukien Seven Ghosts in one place, and the anecdote of cutting off both arms and legs of the famous swordsman Yeom Cheon-gil of Ak-yang and throwing them into the marketplace was very famous.

It was surprising that someone like the Sword of Life and Death was working as an old man's bodyguard here, but this story was more curious than that.

"Not only him, but those who went with him didn't come back either."

"The Sword of Life and Death was defeated?"

Jin I-bong nodded.

"That night, the bastard came. I opened my eyes at the strange presence, and the bastard was silently looking down at me. I had never been so surprised. I denied that I had done such a thing. Then, without a word, the bastard cut off one of my fingers."

Jin I-bong raised his left hand, which he had been hiding under the table until then. Contrary to his words, there were no fingers on that hand.

"I prostrated myself and begged. He asked for the price of my life. I answered ten thousand nyang. Then the bastard cut off another one of my fingers."

Jin I-bong shuddered, as if he was reminded of that time.

"I said I would give him a hundred thousand nyang. Only then did the bastard silently accept. He demanded it in small notes worth ten nyang from the Central Plains battlefield."

Commonly, the reliable ten-nyang notes from the battlefield were used like cash among merchants, making it impossible to trace the funds.

Gwimyeong swallowed hard. A hundred thousand nyang... Damn, that was an amount that would allow him to live like an emperor for the rest of his life, building a palace in the back room.

"Only then did I realize that the bastard had intentionally approached me. But I had no choice but to give him the money willingly."

Jin I-bong let out a sigh mixed with lamentation.

"Actually... the problem started after that."

"What happened?"

"He didn't leave this place."

"What?"

Gwimyeong was startled. That was a really unexpected action. Regardless of whether he was afraid of Jin I-bong's revenge or not, wouldn't the natural thing to do be to go somewhere else after taking such a large sum of a hundred thousand nyang? He would have left if he were him.

"Anyway... I should have ended it there."

A desperate lamentation flowed out again.

Gwimyeong sighed and said.

"You sent someone else, I presume."

Gwimyeong understood Jin I-bong. Jin I-bong was a heartless gold-digger. Such a man had lost the world's best Martial arts manual, a hundred thousand nyang in cash, and two fingers. There was no way he could just give up.

"The next person you sent must have been a really great person."

"He was. Because I sent the Sword Demon."

"If you're talking about the Sword Demon, which Sword Demon are you talking about?"

"Sword Demon Jin Mu-baek."

Gwimyeong almost jumped up from his seat.

Sword Demon Jin Mu-baek was a Martial Artist on a different level than Sword of Life and Death. He was one of the Ten Great Swordsmanship Experts of the Jianghu and a true expert belonging to the Hundred Great Experts of the Jianghu. If Sword of Life and Death was a chick, Sword Demon was a hawk. If Sword of Life and Death was a local expert, Sword Demon was truly a national expert.

Gwimyeong swallowed hard.

"It cost me as much as twenty gold bars to move him."

He once again realized that gold could move even the dead.

"The result?"

The result wasn't good, so he was here, but still, even with Jin Mu-baek going, the result wasn't good?

"The Sword Demon didn't come back. That night, the bastard came again."

"That can't be..."

Even though it was the expected answer, Gwimyeong's shock was very great. The Sword Demon was defeated by a young man of about twenty? That was absolutely impossible. Clearly, a third expert had intervened. Not just an expert, but a group of experts had intervened.

"I was awake and saw the bastard opening that door and coming in. The guards who were paid a hundred nyang a month were just scarecrows. The bastard smiled at me. Really, it felt like my mind was shrinking."

Jin I-bong shuddered as he looked at the door. Gwimyeong was certain that he wouldn't live long. He was already a ghost who had been completely robbed of the meaning of life.

"Without asking any questions, he cut off my finger first. And he asked me. How much is the price of my life? I said a hundred thousand nyang. Then he cut off another one. I cried and shouted. How much do you want? He said he wanted two hundred thousand nyang. Of course, in small notes."

Already, the money he had been robbed of was three hundred thousand nyang. The amount was so large that it was unimaginable.

It was amazing that he hadn't committed suicide.

"...If it had stopped there..."

If it had, he would have had one finger left. But now, Jin I-bong had no fingers on his hand.

"Even after receiving that money, he didn't leave?"

At Gwimyeong's question, Jin I-bong nodded heavily.

"He was like a devil."

"Why didn't you report it?"

As Gwimyeong blurted out, Jin I-bong asked quietly.

"Report it to whom?"

No name came to mind.

After fully enjoying Gwimyeong's awkward silence, Jin I-bong said.

"You're right. I should have called someone. Someone stronger than the Sword Demon. I mobilized all the connections I had built up over a lifetime and called one person."

Gwimyeong swallowed hard.

"Who is it?"

To be asking questions and enjoying himself in a situation like this, this old man must be going crazy.

"Demon Sword Cheon Mu-ak."

Gwimyeong finally jumped up from his seat.

"You must be joking?"

Even though he knew it wasn't a joke, Gwimyeong had no choice but to ask that.

Cheon Mu-ak was one of the Ten Great Experts of the World. Moreover, he was a demon.

When he first entered this visit today, how could he have imagined that the background of this commission would be so dazzling? The hairs on his body stood on end all at once.

"Want me to surprise you even more?"

Jin I-bong said with a smirk.

"He didn't come back either."

"......"

Suppressing the urge to shout that it was a lie, Gwimyeong silently sat back down.

"The bastard came. He cut off my last remaining finger. This time, he didn't ask for the price of my life. I thought I was dead."

Jin I-bong trembled, as if he was chilled to the bone.

"He started to disguise himself as me in front of my eyes. No, it was Shapeshifting. He took a mold of my face to make a Human skin mask and inflated his body with fake flesh. It was such a great Shapeshifting technique that even I would have been mistaken. And......"

Jin I-bong couldn't continue. Tears flowed from his bloodshot eyes.

"After suppressing my Blood Point, he threw me behind that screen. And he brazenly started disposing of my assets. Even the subordinates who had been with me for twenty years didn't realize that I was a fake. They were simply fooled by the bastard's acting, saying that he had a cold and was coughing."

The tears continued to flow.

"He sat here for seven days, pretending to be me. He divided the land and sold it off at cheap prices, and sold the goods in the warehouse at wholesale prices. He even took out loans from the battlefield using the building as collateral. Because it was a place where transactions were usually frequent, the battlefield didn't suspect anything at all. He knew so much about my assets. He knew facts that even I had forgotten. He took out as much as seven hundred thousand nyang like that."

Gwimyeong shook his head. The total amount of money he had been robbed of was one million nyang.

One million nyang. Enough money to buy an entire city.

"As he left, he said this: There's no reason not to take it. I'm in such a good mood."

"There's one thing that doesn't make sense."

"What is it?"

"Then why didn't he just take your wealth from the start? There was no need to show you the secret manual."

"Yes... I was curious too. Terribly curious. I've been thinking about it ever since I asked for you."

"So, did you figure out the answer?"

Jin I-bong nodded.

"No matter how much I thought about it, there's only one possibility."

"What is it?"

"He wanted a justification. A justification to take my wealth legitimately."

"...A justification..."

"I tried to kill him to take back what was his. That's justification enough to take my wealth."

But Gwimyeong shook his head.

Someone who cares about justification steals someone else's wealth? It didn't fit. It didn't make sense. But he couldn't think of another answer.

"Why didn't he kill you?"

The initial answer came again.

"To inflict pain on me, I suppose."

Jin I-bong was clearly convinced of it.

He said with intensity in his eyes.

"Do you understand now? Why he wanted to see you, the best assassin in the world, in person?"

Gwimyeong closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

He felt that the greatest moment of his life had arrived.

"Kill him for me."

Gwimyeong opened his eyes. A cold yet powerful chill, never seen before, emanated from him.

This time, Gwimyeong asked the same question he had asked when he first met Jin I-bong.

"Who is he?"

Staring into the eyes of the world's best assassin, who was now prepared, Jin I-bong finally answered.

"Jeok Leegeon. That's the name of the devil."