Absolute Regression

Chapter 705: Isn’t That Life Too Boring?

Cha Iran’s expression stiffened.

Of course, she thought Geom Mugeuk was lying. If he wanted to make Ak Gunhak leave, he would have to fight against them.

“To say that you would fight them just to make that person leave?”

At her disbelief, Geom Mugeuk asked back instead.

“That seems reason enough to fight, does it not?”

“It’s not enough.”

She rose from her seat.

“What kind of fool in this world would risk his life just to make someone leave?”

The gazes of the two tangled in midair.

“To call someone a fool while standing right in front of them?”

He spoke as though joking, yet the Young Cult Leader before her was clearly speaking in all seriousness.

Feeling that truth unsettled Cha Iran. She thought others might act that way.

But the one before her was the Young Cult Leader of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult. A man who had power, martial arts, wealth, and honor—someone who could even seize the entire martial world if he so wished.

And such a man would risk his life for someone who was going to leave? She was supposed to believe that?

Just then, the First Beauty rushed in urgently.

She froze for a moment at the sight of Cha Iran together with Geom Mugeuk. As she hesitated to report, Cha Iran spoke first.

“It’s fine. If it’s something urgent enough for you to come rushing in, then it must be something this man arranged.”

Yet she had not expected the matter to be so grave. And because of the nature of it, the First Beauty reported in front of Geom Mugeuk.

“Except for myself and the Second Beauty, everyone has been struck down by the Evil Smiling Demon and the Faceless Swordsmen.”

A silence fell instantly.

Cha Iran quietly closed her eyes.

Even in a situation where rage should have exploded, she neither shouted nor released any killing intent.

At times, silence was the most powerful expression of emotion.

One could feel her fury being forged in that silence.

Slowly, she opened her eyes again.

Eyes clearer and more transparent than ever.

“So, what you’re telling me is that you came here, having slaughtered my subordinates, and dared to speak to me this way?”

From her voice—unchanged and calm—Geom Mugeuk could feel an immense fury.

It was also the first moment he witnessed a side of Cha Iran as an assassin.

Geom Mugeuk hurried to clear the misunderstanding.

“They are alive.”

Though he had not checked with his own eyes, Geom Mugeuk trusted the Evil Smiling Demon and the Faceless Swordsmen.

But Cha Iran did not believe him. When she glanced at the First Beauty, the rest of the report followed.

“Given that distress signals were sent from multiple locations, it seems they were attacked simultaneously and captured. Their life or death cannot be confirmed at present.”

Because he was not a man to invite needless misunderstanding, Geom Mugeuk once again spoke firmly.

“They are not dead.”

“Then where are they now?”

“They are with the Evil Smiling Demon.”

Judging from everything she had seen until now, Cha Iran thought Geom Mugeuk was telling the truth. At the very least, he was not the kind of man to lie about something like this.

Cha Iran first dismissed the First Beauty.

“Wait outside.”

“Yes.”

Once they were alone, Cha Iran asked,

“You could have killed them all, so why did you let them live?”

Geom Mugeuk fixed his gaze on her and replied,

“Because of you.”

It was an unexpected answer, yet Cha Iran did not falter as she stared back at him.

“What do you mean by that?”

Geom Mugeuk spoke honestly.

“I thought maybe that man liked you.”

“!”

Now she understood why Geom Mugeuk had come sooner than she had anticipated. He had come with a clear purpose.

“So, you came here to find out whether Ak Gunhak liked me. If we liked each other, then you wouldn’t be able to kill my subordinates.”

When Geom Mugeuk nodded, Cha Iran felt both relief—her subordinates might be safe—and another thought.

If that was true, then perhaps his words about fighting in order to let Ak Gunhak leave were sincere as well.

‘Would you really risk your own life, Young Cult Leader, for that man?’

Was such a thing truly possible? To go this far for someone who had once been an enemy?

And at this very moment, the most pressing issue was this:

“Now that you’ve confirmed that he doesn’t like me, you’ll kill them all, won’t you?”

“If I want to stop you, then I must.”

The air around them turned cold, filled with a taut tension.

“Didn’t you come here to kill the Unorthodox Alliance Leader? Even if the final stage of the tournament never opens, you would try to kill him one way or another.”

Cha Iran admitted readily.

“That is my mission.”

She was astonishingly frank.

“I cannot just stand by and watch.”

Geom Mugeuk slowly placed his hand on the hilt of the Black Demon Sword. Even with the sense that the blade could be drawn at any moment, Cha Iran did not retreat a single step.

“Aren’t you afraid of dying?”

Her clear eyes shone all the brighter at his question.

“If someone who kills for money fears their own death, then isn’t that life far too boring?”

Geom Mugeuk could feel it.

To her, life and death were already one and the same.

She did not fear death. Perhaps that was why she had once gotten so drunk before him, showing all her unrestrained sides.

“What are you waiting for? Why not cut me down?”

Geom Mugeuk released his hand from the hilt.

Then, upon her cold face bloomed an enchanting smile. She shifted her emotions so quickly it was as though an entirely different woman stood before him.

“Too pretty to cut down, am I right?”

She had once again returned to being the tempting Cha Iran.

“If blood stains these new clothes, that would be a shame, would it not?”

Geom Mugeuk had never intended to draw his sword in the first place.

“Kill me while you can. Don’t regret it later.”

“Or later, I might feel relieved, thinking—‘it was good that I spared her back then.’”

Turning his back to her, Geom Mugeuk spoke.

“Let’s go for a walk.”

Cha Iran stared silently at him, allowing his back to be exposed in such a situation, then followed after him.

The two walked side by side through the marketplace. The tension between them was soon drowned out by the smell of dumplings wafting ahead.

“Aren’t you hungry?”

“If your subordinates were taken hostage, you wouldn’t be saying things like that.”

Geom Mugeuk stopped in front of a dumpling cart, but she continued walking.

Following behind her, he spoke.

“Even if you won’t eat dumplings, at least let that man leave.”

To compare dumplings with such a matter—

“Fine.”

“Let’s do it together.”

“Why do you keep trying to drag me into this?”

“Because you like him.”

Cha Iran halted her steps. Naturally, Geom Mugeuk stopped as well.

“And him?”

He didn’t even know that she liked him.

“If you help him, he’ll wonder—‘Huh? Why is this woman helping me?’”

Since it was something worth risking her life over, that surprise would only be greater.

“When that happens, just smile. Not the smile you give me, but your real smile.”

My real smile? What did he mean by that? Cha Iran looked at him with puzzled eyes.

“When he said he spared me, instead of me sparing him, you smiled. It was awkward and stiff, but that smile suited you so well. Just like that plain martial uniform earlier suited you better than this fancy clothing.”

She had never once thought of it that way. That she had such an awkward smile? That plain martial outfit suited her more than this attire?

“You’re just trying to knock me out of the final stage one way or another, aren’t you?”

With a laugh, Geom Mugeuk continued.

“You need to show that smile. That man will see right away that the enchanting smile you give me is fake. Smile for real, and then say this—”

She wondered what on earth he was about to suggest.

“‘Since this too is fate, why don’t we share a cup of tea?’”

It was so absurd that Cha Iran let out a laugh of disbelief.

But Geom Mugeuk, to the very end, spoke in complete seriousness.

“If he says he doesn’t like you, then take off your shoes and chase after him anyway.”

In the end, she couldn’t help but blurt it out.

“Are you insane?”

It was something she had said to the Young Cult Leader, but it was also the kind of thing Ak Gunhak might have said to her if she had acted that way.

“I hear that often.”

Geom Mugeuk laughed out loud.

Cha Iran recalled how, the previous night when they parted, Geom Mugeuk had stood in the alley, watching her with a smile.

It seemed this man hadn’t merely been itching to talk all this time. He smiled so easily, she wondered how he had restrained himself until now.

“In this martial world, the most dangerous people are those who smile as easily as you.”

“Then you’re in trouble. This time, I came with someone who smiles even better than I do.”

Cha Iran knew at once—he was talking about the Evil Smiling Demon.

“Then I’ll have to see just how cheap that smile of his is.”

It meant she would confirm with her own eyes whether her subordinates were safe.

*         *         *

Despite the Fifth Beauty’s reproach, the Seventeenth Beauty once again looked toward the Crescent Moon Faceless Swordsman.

This time too, it wasn’t of her own will.

The man staring out the window tapped the wall again, drawing everyone’s attention.

But unlike before, the sound of the tapping was unusual.

At that signal, every Faceless Swordsman reacted at once. One who had been squatting in a corner half-asleep leapt to his feet, another who had been leaning against the far wall flew over, and one polishing his weapon moved as though war had broken out.

Every single one of them, who had each been absorbed in their own tasks, now lined up behind the Evil Smiling Demon.

Soon the door opened, and Geom Mugeuk entered.

“Greetings to the Young Cult Leader.”

At the Evil Smiling Demon’s salute, the Faceless Swordsmen moved in unison, raising their fists in greeting.

Chak chak chak chak chak chak!

It was hard to believe these were the same men who had been staring blankly out the window or dozing in the corner, so precise were their movements.

Geom Mugeuk also greeted the Evil Smiling Demon respectfully.

“Greetings, Soma.”

Right after, Cha Iran entered. The female assassins were startled. Had they finally come to be rescued? But Geom Mugeuk had walked in so calmly, exchanging greetings, that it didn’t seem that way at all.

When even she appeared to have been captured, they were struck with despair. They couldn’t believe it. That the mighty Cha Iran had been caught? Impossible.

At that moment, Geom Mugeuk said to them,

“Don’t misunderstand. I was the one captured by her.”

As the women looked at each other in confusion at those incomprehensible words, Cha Iran walked up to them.

Her gaze fell upon their necks.

Identical bloodlines cut in the same spot, at the same length.

Those lines alone revealed the skill of the one who had made them.

Because she knew her subordinates’ skill well, those marks appeared all the clearer to her.

Cha Iran spoke to her subordinates.

“See? You didn’t take the easy way out. You clenched your teeth and endured—and now here I am again, before your eyes.”

At those words, the expressions of the female assassins eased a little. It didn’t seem as if Cha Iran had been captured after all.

Then Geom Mugeuk quickly seized the chance to take credit.

“You truly brought them all without letting anyone be harmed. As expected! Remarkable!”

Of course, three or four had been injured after resisting until the end, but considering the total number, it was fair to say they had been escorted here with care.

Cha Iran’s gaze shifted to the Evil Smiling Demon.

It might have been on the Young Cult Leader’s orders, but to subdue and bring them here without serious harm was something to be grateful for—especially coming from none other than the Evil Smiling Demon.

With her eyes, she conveyed her gratitude.

Though she had claimed she wanted to see his frivolous smile, she had no desire to actually see it. She already knew well enough the times when he smiled.

Now, a decision had to be made.

If she didn’t help Geom Mugeuk, all of these people would die. Even if the Young Cult Leader tried to spare them, the Evil Smiling Demon would never stand idly by.

To save them, she would have to fight against the organization.

As she hesitated, Geom Mugeuk’s voice transmission reached her.

—Take your subordinates with you.

Startled, Cha Iran turned to look at him. His eyes were serious, showing this was no joke.

To release them with no conditions?

—Are you sincere?

His reason was just as Geom Mugeuk-like.

—Of course. Since you, their leader came here in person, how could I let you leave without your subordinates? That would make you lose face, would it not?

He meant he would protect her authority.

—With them freed, I could assassinate the Unorthodox Alliance Leader.

—And then most of your subordinates here would die, whether you succeeded or not.

—Then I would use their deaths as sacrifices to ensure my success.

Geom Mugeuk nodded.

—Perhaps you would.

But she could feel it—he was certain such a thing would not happen.

—Why do you think I wouldn’t?

—If you were that kind of person, you wouldn’t have risked coming here to confirm your subordinates’ safety.

Even the assassination attempt on the Unorthodox Alliance Leader proved it. At that celebratory banquet he attended, only she, crowned the Greatest Beauty Under the Heavens, was supposed to attend.

Unable to understand, she had to ask again.

—Why are you showing me such favor?

—Because I want you to think well of me.

—And once I do?

—Then you’ll have to let that man leave.

—Truly persistent, aren’t you?

—Aren’t insane men always persistent?

Cha Iran locked her eyes with Geom Mugeuk’s. Everyone present knew they were speaking by voice transmission, so not a single person dared to breathe too loudly as they watched.

Then Geom Mugeuk spoke to the Faceless Swordsmen.

“Release their pressure points.”

The Faceless Swordsmen stepped forward and began unlocking the assassins’ pressure points and meridians.

Cha Iran said nothing more to her subordinates.

“Let’s go.”

The assassins quietly followed after her. They didn’t know what sort of bargain had been struck, but it was clear Cha Iran had saved them. Believing she must have paid a heavy price, none of them dared show joy.

At the entrance, Cha Iran turned back to Geom Mugeuk.

—In this matter, you’ve taken the loss. I would never have abandoned my subordinates.

It meant she would have accepted any demand he made. Surely that sharp Young Cult Leader had realized this.

—I have much, so I can afford a loss like this.

With a faint smile, Geom Mugeuk added,

—If one were to fight by taking hostage something the other could never give up, wouldn’t that make life far too boring?

Cha Iran stared at him for a brief moment, then turned silently and left with her people.

Once they were gone, Geom Mugeuk offered an apology to the Evil Smiling Demon.

“You worked hard to capture them, and yet I let them go. My apologies.”

The Evil Smiling Demon did not ask why he had released them. Instead, he smiled wordlessly at Geom Mugeuk before turning to look at the Faceless Swordsmen standing behind him.

Knowing full well what the Demon Supreme’s will meant, the Faceless Swordsmen all raised their fists in salute.

In front of them, the Evil Smiling Demon too returned the gesture respectfully and said,

“Just give the order. I will capture them again a hundred times over if need be.”