Inside the Black Lotus fortress, Hyun Mu-gak sat on a low throne of dark wood. Candles flickered along the stone walls. The map lay open on his lap, the red circle still fresh.
He did not raise his voice.
"Come."
From the shadows near the ceiling, a figure detached itself. A girl landed on the stone floor without a sound. She wore tight black robes, her face half-covered by a cloth mask. Only her eyes were visible.
She knelt and bowed her head. "What is your command, Master?"
Hyun Mu-gak held out the map. She rose just enough to take it, then knelt again.
"There is a place in the mountains," he said. "Inside the red circle. Someone lives there. Someone who removed a curse I placed."
His voice was calm, but his eyes burned.
"I don't want to know how he did it. I don't care. I want him gone."
The girl tucked the map into her sleeve. "Alive or dead?"
"Dead."
She bowed once more. Then she rose, stepped backward into the shadow of a pillar, and vanished as if she had never been there at all.
Hyun Mu-gak leaned back on his throne and closed his eyes.
***
Tree to tree. Branch to branch. Her footsteps made no sound. Her breathing stayed slow, even. The map was tucked inside her sleeve, the red circle burned into her memory.
Someone who can remove one of that evil prince curses. How am I supposed to kill someone like that?
She landed on a thick oak and pushed off again, her body cutting through the moonlight.
What if that person is strong enough to break a curse...
She shook her head beneath her mask.
Not my place to question. I kill. That's what I do.
She looked up at the moon. Full and white, hanging low over the mountains.
I just wish this was what I do best.
She ran faster, disappearing into the dark.
The next day at noon, Gaon worked at his forge.
Clank! Clank!
Hammer up. Hammer down. The new raw material iron he had bought from Hwagok with some of the gold glowed red beneath his strikes. He was making a new sword. Not for Jin-ah. A better one.
Sweat dripped from his chin. His muscles moved in a steady rhythm.
***
A bit farther away, hidden in the thick canopy, the assassin watched.
She had arrived just before dawn. Her qi perception was active eyes closed, but she could see everything. The trees. The hut. And the boy at the forge.
She pulled the map from her sleeve. The red circle covered this entire area.
This is the place. And that's the person.
She opened her qi perception wider.
His external power... it's huge.
She had seen cultivators with strong qi. She had killed some of them. But this was different. No internal energy at all. Just external force pouring off him like heat from a bonfire. Dense. Heavy. It pressed against her senses even from this distance.
Geez. This person is too strong.
She lowered her hand from the map. Her fingers trembled slightly.
How am I supposed to kill someone like that?
She moved around the edge of the clearing, keeping to the shadows of the trees. Her eyes caught the little girl—Jin-ah—walking along the tree line, practicing her footwork. Alone. Not paying attention.
So he's the only real threat here.
She turned her gaze back to the forge.
Gaon was still hammering. Then he stopped.
He turned his head. Slowly. Toward the sky. Toward the tree where she was hiding.
What?
She froze. Her hand went still on the branch.
He moved his head again slightly to the left. Following her. Not her body. But her presence. Her eyes met his from a distance, even though he could not possibly see her through the leaves.
No. He can't see me. I'm hidden. My qi is suppressed.
He kept staring in her direction. His hammer hung at his side.
She canceled her qi perception. Let it all drop. The world returned to normal sight just trees, just leaves, just a boy looking at nothing.
Did he catch me?
Gaon tilted his head. Then he looked away and went back to hammering.
But on his thought, something lingered.
Why do I feel like I'm being watched?
He did not see anything but his instinct that crawled up his spine and settled at the back of his neck.
Strange.
He raised the hammer and brought it down again. The clang echoed through the clearing.
Even after all that, the assassin did not move.
The sun moved across the sky. Gaon keep working heated the metal, hammered, cooled it, heated it again.
The assassin remained motionless in the branches, her eyes never leaving him.
Gaon set the hammer down and wiped his forehead with his sleeve. He looked around the clearing.
That feeling again. It's not going away.
He thought of Jin-ah because she had been walking around the forest earlier, practicing. Maybe she was hiding somewhere, trying to surprise him. Kids did that.
Slowly turned toward a large bush at the edge of the clearing not the tree where the assassin actually hid, but the bush below it. The leaves were thick. Someone could be crouched behind it.
"You don't need to hide or play games," he called out. "Come out."
The assassin's breath stopped.
He sees me. He knows exactly where I am.
She had not moved. Had not made a sound. Her qi was suppressed. And yet this guy had looked at her.
Woosh!
She dropped from the branch and landed in the clearing. Her hands stayed loose at her sides.
She walked toward him until she stood a few paces away.
"I'm amused," she said, her voice flat behind her mask.
Who is this?
He did not know her. Had never seen her before. But his instinct had screamed at him for the past hour.
"You were watching me," he said. "I felt it."
The assassin tilted her head. "Felt it. Not saw it."
"Yes."
She was quiet for a moment. Then she nodded slowly.
"You're strong… I wasn't sure before. Now I am."
She stood there, waiting for someone make first move.
Sring! drew her double daggers.
"I have a proposal… If you can beat me, I'll tell you everything. Why I'm here. Who sent me. Everything."
Gaon looked at the daggers, then at her face. Only her eyes were visible above the mask.
Beat her?
He picked up the hammer from the anvil.
"Fine."
The assassin's eyes narrowed behind her mask. She shifted her weight.
If he beats me easily, then he's the one who cured the curse. That means he's strong. Strong enough that I don't need to stay with that cult anymore.
Wooosh!
She lunged.
Her left dagger came low. Her right high. A pincer of steel aimed at his ribs and throat.
Gaon hammer swung in a short arc, deflecting the left dagger. His free hand caught her right wrist before the blade could reach his neck.
She twisted, trying to pull free. His grip did not loosen.
The hammer came down on the flat of her left dagger.
Clankkk! The blade snapped. The broken piece clattered to the ground.
She stopped moving.
Her eyes were wide.
He didn't even try.
Gaon hand moved from her wrist to her throat her back pressed against his chest. She could not move.
"You lost," he said.
She looked at her broken dagger on the ground, then at the arm across her neck.
"Ask your questions."
He tightened his grip just enough to remind her she could not escape.
"Who are you? Your name… And where or who do you come from?"
"My name is Baek A-rang. I'm an assassin of the Black Lotus Sect. Hyun Mu-gak sent me. He wants you dead for breaking his curse."
Her eyes shifted to look at him as much as she could.
"That's the truth. No lies…"
"…Are you the one who cured the curse?"
Gaon's brow furrowed. His voice came out flat, confused.
"What curse? I don't understand what you're talking about."
Baek A-rang's eyes narrowed.
"Three days ago, a curse placed by Hyun Mu-gak vanished. The victim was somewhere in these mountains. Near here. No one can break his curses. No one except..." She paused. "Someone who did the impossible."
She looked at the hand on her throat, then at the broken dagger on the ground.
"There's no way it wasn't you."
Gaon's thought turned inward.
Should I tell her? If I say yes, she might run back to someone and bring more trouble. If I say no... she might not believe me anyway.
He kept his face still.
"You lost. I beat you. But questions aren't enough."
Baek A-rang's eyes flickered. Then she spoke, her voice lower than before.
"Help me. Leave that demonic cult. Take me as yours."
Gaon blinked.
What?
To Be Continued.