CH 234

“Ouch!”

Hong Ye-seol let out a sharp scream as she pulled out the phantom dagger.

Her appearance, trembling like a sparrow caught in the rain, could easily arouse sympathy from anyone who would see her. However, Pyo-wol was well aware that it was just a facade.

She didn’t scream even once after being stabbed twice by the phantom dagger. There was no way that such a person would succumb to the pain on the floor after pulling the dagger out.

“It hurts. To put two holes in a woman’s body. How are you going to take responsibility for this?”

Hong Ye-seol asked Pyo-wol as she looked at her punctured shoulder.

In an instant, her unique scent of wild chrysanthemums stimulated Pyo-wol’s sense of smell. 

However, Pyo-wol answered without a change in expression,

“If you find it unfair, then I can kill you right now.”

“Such harsh words from that handsome face? Don’t you know how to joke around?”

“I’m not stupid enough to joke with an assassin.”

“Hmpf!”

“Now tell me. Who is he?”

“Lee Yul. He’s the Snow Sword Manor’s attendant. It’s all thanks to his influence that the Snow Sword Manor has recently expanded this much and returned to Runan.”

“Is he also related to the Jin family issue?”

“That’s right. I don’t know his true identity, but he’s really cool-headed.”

“You really don’t know what his true identity is?”

“I haven’t figured out his true identity yet. I’m still looking into it. However, he would frequently hire assassins from the Hundred Wraith Union.”‘

“What kind of commissions do they usually carry out?”

Hong Ye-seol stopped the bleeding from the wound on her shoulder and answered,

“I don’t know. I’m not sure if you know, but the assassins of the Hundred Wraith Union act on their own. The only person who knows exactly what kind of mission the other assassins are doing is the captain.”

“Is this the first time you’ve been commissioned by Lee Yul?”

“That’s right. He mostly hired low-ranking assassins in the past, so this is the first time he’s hired me. This just means that what’s happening here is important to him. You can tell from the fact that he hired the most reliable assassins.”

“You’re too much of a big mouth to be reliable.”

“He was the first to violate the terms of our contract. It is an unwritten rule in our world that when hiring an assassin, the client must not hire another assassin without prior notice. He clearly knows that too. But he secretly signed a contract with other assassins anyway. It’s an insult to me.”

There was a chill in Hong Ye-seol’s eyes.

As with any warrior, assassins have a sense of pride.

Among them, the pride of the top ten, who belonged to the upper ranks, was indescribable.

She considered it as an insult for her client to hire another assassin when she is already among the best.

When Lee Yul signed a contract with the Four Red Lotus Ghosts behind her back, it was clearly an attitude of ignoring Hong Ye-seol.

Since Lee Yul was the first to violate the terms of the contract, Hong Ye-seol thought that she didn’t have to abide by the confidentiality clause.

If Lee Yul had respected her, then she too would have kept his secret until the moment she died.

After all, it was her philosophy to give back as much as the other person treated.

Hong Ye-seol said,

“I’ve told you everything I know.”

“There’s no substance.”

“That’s the extent of what I know.”

“Are you going back to the Snow Sword Manor?”

“You’re going to kill him, aren’t you?”

“…….”

“I understand. I would have done the same. There’s nothing more stupid than being merciful. I’m thinking of breaking the contract with the Snow Sword Manor. I doubt he’d find anything wrong with that since he violated the contract first. But don’t let your guard down. With his personality, once I break the contract, he’ll definitely call and hire another assassin.”

Most of the warriors in Jianghu hate assassins. However, there were a few who considered assassins to be useful tools and used them well.

Lee Yul was one of those few people.

There was no way he would stop hiring another assassin just because Hong Ye-seol was missing. It was clear that he would somehow summon another person with abilities similar to hers.

“What kind of person is the leader of the Hundred Wraith Union?”

“That isn’t included in the terms of our contract. So I can’t tell you.”

Hong Ye-seol winked.

Even if Pyo-wol was threatening her, she didn’t feel scared.

This is because she already knew what kind of person Pyo-wol was.

He was obviously a scary person.

She could tell that much with how he easily managed to overpowered her at once.

Not only was he strong in martial arts, but his scheming capability was also among the best in Jianghu. But he wasn’t without reason. He had a clear boundary. 

While she couldn’t be sure of the boundary, she was sure that he wouldn’t use force for no reason as long as she didn’t cross the line he set.

Hong Ye-seol got up while adjusting her clothes.

“If you don’t have any more questions, I’ll be on my way. As you can see, the wound is so bad that I need to be treated by a doctor.”

“…….”

“Bye!”

Hong Ye-seol waved her hand at Pyo-wol and then flew away.

Pyo-wol looked blankly in the direction Hong Ye-seol had disappeared.

“The organization is united out of necessity, but its members work around as they pleased. The Hundred Wraith Union is such an organization.”

Hong Ye-seol might have answered nonchalantly, but Pyo-wol was able to get a lot of information about the Hundred Wraith Union from her words.

Among them, the biggest piece of information was regarding the disposition of the Hundred Wraith Union.

The members of the Hundred Wraith Union perform commissions independently, and they do not exchange information with each other. With this, it could be said that the communication amongst its members is not that good. 

Although the abilities of each member may be excellent, when viewed together as a group, their organicity and cohesiveness are not as good as those of usual clans.

In addition, it seemed that even the top ten best assassins of the Hundred Wraith Union did not know of each other’s current situation. Above all, Hong Ye-seol had previously mentioned that she didn’t care if other assassins died.

“If I catch the others, I’ll know for sure.”

He might not have found out much about Lee Yul, but this was enough for now.

* * *

By the time Pyo-wol returned to the Jin manor, it was already late at night. The lights would normally have been turned off at this time, but the manor was illuminated brighter than ever.

This is because many people came to the Jin manor while Pyo-wol was away. There weren’t enough lodgings for them to sleep in, so workers were building motels until late at night.

The warriors who had not been assigned accommodations were having a drinking party with bonfires lit all over the place.

Camping was normal for them, so they weren’t bothered even if they slept on the ground for a few days.

The Jin family might have initially experienced great embarrassment because of the IOU brough by Jang Gwang-san and Sa Ok-yeon, but since Namgung Wol and Oh Jugang resolved it in time, the morale and spirit of the Jin family rose significantly. 

Jin Siwoo offered lots of alcohol and food to the guests in order to further boost the people’s morale. Because of that, the Jin family was in a festive mood.

At that time, there was a small figure approaching Pyo-wol.

“Where have you been? I’ve been looking for you for a long time.”

The small figure was  Jin Seol-ah.

Jin Seol-ah looked up at Pyo-wol with an angry expression.

“I had something to do.”

“What is it?”

“It’s personal.”

“Tch!”

Jin Seol-ah snorted at Pyo-wol’s indifferent reply.

“The number of people has increased a lot.”

“Most of them arrived a while ago, in the afternoon.”

“Where’s Siwoo?”

“He’s entertaining an important guest.”

“Who?”

“I don’t know. He didn’t tell me.”

Jin Seol-ah replied with an uninterested look.

Jin Seol-ah was slightly fed up with the great amount of people coming into their manor.

Jin Siwoo had been busy the whole day because he had to entertain important people. And since Jin Seol-ah didn’t want to get involved with such troublesome matters, she ended up wandering around Jin manor by herself.

Pyo-wol said to Jin Seol-ah,

“Can you tell me about those who came into the Jin family today?”

“Hmm!”

After Jin Seol-ah rummaged through her memories, she then started talking excitedly.

Pyo-wol listened to her story.

* * *

Lee Yul looked at the men in front of him with an emotionless expression.

“What?”

“Hong Ye-seol has told us that she will give up on your request.”

The men who answered were the Four Red Lotus Ghosts.

Lee Yul’s eyes were cold as if he didn’t like the answer of the Four Red Lotus Ghosts.

“Why?”

“She told us that you were the first one to break the terms of the contract.”

“How insolent!”

Lee Yul’s jaw muscles twitched.

The fact that an assassin dared to break the contract by mentioning the terms of the contract itself was an act of insulting him.

He had commissioned the Hundred Wraith Union several times, but this was the first time that this happened.

“Does this happen often?”

“Not at all. However, in the case of the top ten assassins, their autonomy is recognized by the captain.”

“In other words, she wouldn’t be punished in the Hundred Wraith Union.”

The Four Red Lotus Ghosts did not bother to answer.

Even within the Hundred Wraith Union, the top ten assassins received special treatment. They were just on a different level.

If they knew beforehand that Hong Ye-seol was here, then they would never have accepted Lee Yul’s request.

Lee Yul read the atmosphere among the Four Red Lotus Ghosts and smirked,

“So there’s such a thing as loyalty amongst assassins?”

“…….”

“Okay, then! Does this mean there won’t be any problems if I were to commission another top ten member of the Hundred Wraith Union?”

“That’s right.”

Four Red Lotus Ghosts answered in unison.

Lee Yul muttered,

“She doesn’t know how high the sky is.”

If he could, he wanted to find Hong Ye-seol right away and kill her by cutting her into pieces. Even though she is said to be one of top ten assassins, Lee Yul believed that he had the ability to find and kill her at any time.

It’s just he couldn’t do so right now because of other matters. He can’t afford to distract himself.

As if he had suddenly remembered, Lee Yul asked,

“You guys chased the assassin too, right?”

“That’s right.”

“What is his level?”

“We don’t know. We just know that his assassination, stealth and infiltration skills are all superior to us. We tried our best to track him but we lost him.”

“Aside from the Hundred Wraith Union, are such assassins common?”

“Absolutely not.”

Four Red Lotus Ghosts denied at the same time. 

“You mean, an assassin has that much ability and yet not be a member of the Hundred Wraith Union? That’s certainly unusual.”

Lee Yul frowned.

They were already aware of all the people who entered the Jin manor. 

They already identified and made ample preparation against warriors who could pose a threat. But nowhere in the list was there any information about the person who broke into the Snow Sword Manor today.

“He’s no ordinary guy. He must have understood my intentions.”

Sending Jang Gwang-san and Sa Ok-yeon to the Jin family to humiliate them was an impromptu plan. However, the opponent figured out his intentions, used it as an opportunity to track down Jang Gwang-san and Sa Ok-yeon and even entered his residence.

It was clear that the assassin was trying to ascertain the identity of the person who instigated the two.

It’s not just his assassination or stealth skills that are great, but he was also smart. Those who knew how to use their brains were not very common in Jianghu.

In particular, it was not easy for an assassin to be cunning.

“How did the Jin family recruit an assassin of that level?”

Lee Yul thought that this was unexpected.

The Jin family he knew was straightforward and only insisted on head-to-head confrontation.  If there was someone who knew how to use their brains in the Jin family, then destroying them would actually have been more difficult.

“Is it… him?”

He recalled the information that a great assassin had appeared in Sichuan. He was uninterested when he heard about it the first time since it was so absurd and ridiculous. 

But if the Jin family really managed to bring him into their side, then they would have to reconsider their plans.

Lee Yul looked at the Four Red Lotus Ghosts.

They were obviously top-notch assassins. The fact that they belonged to Hundred Wraith Union proved that they had the best skills. But compared to that assassin, all four of them looked sloppy.

He immediately took out his pen and ink and started writing a letter.

It was a request sent to the captain of the Hundred Wraith Union.

After filling out the request form, he opened the window and blew a long whistle. Then, out of nowhere, a falcon flew in the night sky and sat down by the window.

The all-black hawk was Cheonri Heuk-eung, a spiritual creature of the Hundred Wraith Union.

It was a spiritual object assigned only to a few VIPs like Lee Yul.

He tied the letter to Cheonri Heuk-eung’s feet. Then, Cheonri Heuk-eung flapped its wings and disappeared into the darkness in an instant.

Lee Yul muttered,

“An assassin is the best for hunting another assassin.”