Absolute Regression

Chapter 708: Was It You, That Assassin Back Then?

“Are you not afraid of death?”

Cha Iran asked Geom Mugeuk the exact same question that the Leader of the Unorthodox Alliance had asked her.

Because the words about waiting in hell first had felt like they were truly meant.

Geom Mugeuk shook his head.

“I am afraid.”

As the Young Cult Leader of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, one would expect him to say that death was nothing to be feared.

But Geom Mugeuk added, as though he truly meant it.

“I am a person with anxiety. Someone who worries about all kinds of things in advance. How could someone like that not fear death? I fear my own death, but I fear even more the deaths of those around me. Earlier you asked me if I was a fool, didn’t you? You were right. I am a fool. Even though I clearly know that the more connections I make, the more worries I’ll have, I keep on making more people whom I cannot allow to die.”

As she stared at him, Cha Iran asked,

“Am I included among those people who cannot be allowed to die?”

Surprisingly, Geom Mugeuk nodded.

“What if, later, that person looks at me and says? Hey, you call yourself the Young Cult Leader of the Demonic Cult, yet you couldn’t even save the one woman who loved me? What were you even doing? Then I’d be too ashamed to even lift my head. And from then on, I wouldn’t even be able to act proud before that person.”

It was such a simple reason that it struck even deeper.

“There’s a kind of loyalty between men. Like the rule that you should protect a friend’s woman. Even if you are only half a woman.”

At the words ‘half a woman,’ Cha Iran gave a wry laugh. That was just his way of describing that she alone liked Ak Gunhak. But still, to call her half a woman?

“Isn’t that the very reason men in the martial world die so young?”

That was what she said, but Cha Iran felt it clearly. That this Young Cult Leader sitting beside her was not such a simple person.

This time, Geom Mugeuk asked.

“What are you thinking so deeply about?”

Looking at the flowers of the garden, Cha Iran answered.

“Whether you’re a fool or a madman.”

Geom Mugeuk laughed out loud. Perhaps it was because she thought he had saved her life? He could definitely feel her heart waver.

“How much time do we have?”

“What time?”

“The time until the killing mission.”

The killing mission was set for tomorrow. Barely a few hours remained until midnight.

“Why are you asking that?”

“If there’s still time, then let’s at least have dinner together one last time.”

“You’re definitely a madman.”

A single gust of wind blew past the two of them, and the garden they were gazing at.

The sunset the wind carried spread across the garden. The flowers gifted the two who were watching with a new shade of beauty.

Watching Geom Mugeuk marvel at that sight, Cha Iran thought to herself.

Originally, it should have been the opposite.

Instead of staring blankly at the flowers, he should have been losing himself in her face, falling for every word she spoke.

But the one constantly being pulled along was herself.

“Let’s go eat, I beg you! They say even the wishes of the dead should be granted—can’t you grant the wish of the living? And am I just any ordinary person? I’m your lifesaver, am I not? Do you think I wasn’t afraid of the Leader of the Unorthodox Alliance? And was that all? When you were drunk, throwing up, and crawling around…”

She suddenly jumped up as though she didn’t want to hear another word.

“Wait while I change my clothes.”

*         *         *

In the wardrobe hung several splendid outfits.

As Cha Iran was choosing what to wear, her gaze drifted to the corner of the wardrobe. There, a black martial uniform was folded.

After a brief hesitation, Cha Iran picked up the uniform in her hand and said,

“How long are you going to stay hidden?”

Then, from behind her, Hwa Do-myeong revealed himself.

“Wouldn’t that red palace gown hanging on the left suit you better?”

But Cha Iran shut the wardrobe with a loud snap.

“Are you angry?”

“Angry? I’ve known since long ago that you’re a coward.”

“You are angry.”

“I said I’m changing clothes. Turn around.”

Hwa Do-myeong turned his back, and Cha Iran began changing.

“The Leader of the Unorthodox Alliance wouldn’t have killed you. The Unorthodox Alliance owes the Young Cult Leader too many debts. A man with such clear ties of grace and enmity wouldn’t recklessly kill you.”

Cha Iran silently continued changing clothes.

“This plan was all calculated. So don’t misunderstand, thinking you were abandoned.”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“You’re angry right now!”

Yes, she was angry. But the reason for her anger was not Hwa Do-myeong.

It wasn’t because he hadn’t stepped forward to help.

The reason she was angry was because…

After finishing changing, she even tucked the box with the bead into her arms.

“I’ll be back.”

At that moment, Hwa Do-myeong spoke.

“Don’t go.”

Without turning around, he said to her,

“You’ll be persuaded by the Young Cult Leader. Just as Ak Gunhak was persuaded.”

No reply came from Cha Iran.

Click.

The sound of the door opening was heard.

By the time Hwa Do-myeong turned around, Cha Iran had already left the room.

He didn’t leave the room immediately.

Because of the heavy makeup, it was hard to tell what emotions were cast over his face, but at least it was neither regret nor anger.

Swish.

Sitting with one foot up on the table, he gently fanned himself while gazing at the setting sun outside the window.

*         *         *

While Cha Iran was changing, Geom Mugeuk was waiting there.

At that moment, someone carefully approached him. Someone who had hesitated a hundred times whether to come or not.

That person was none other than the Seventeenth Beauty.

“Young Cult Leader, I have a request.”

“Please Speak.”

When she had faced off against the Leader of the Unorthodox Alliance earlier, the Seventeenth Beauty had been prepared to die.

At that moment, she had felt only one regret.

It was that she might die without ever being able to thank the Faceless Swordsman with the crescent moon mark who had saved her. Incredibly, he was the one who came to mind then.

That was why she had gathered her courage now.

“Among the Faceless Swordsmen, please give this dagger and my thanks to the one with the crescent moon mark, for saving me. I feel like if I don’t say it today, I’ll never have the chance to say it again.”

The Seventeenth Beauty respectfully offered a dagger. It was meant as a token of gratitude to be given to the Faceless Swordsman.

But Geom Mugeuk immediately returned the dagger to her.

With a sinking heart, the Seventeenth Beauty quickly bowed her head and apologized.

“I was rude to someone so noble.”

Now that she thought about it, she had just asked the Young Cult Leader to run an errand.

‘I must be insane.’

She had lost her senses for a moment. She had thought only of not missing this chance. She had been so desperate to deliver her words before the Young Cult Leader left, that she had committed such a grave mistake.

On top of that, she hadn’t even asked Cha Iran’s permission, but had gone straight to the Young Cult Leader. Even if he killed her, she would have no excuse.

At that moment, Geom Mugeuk’s voice came.

“Give it to him yourself later.”

When the Seventeenth Beauty looked up in surprise, Geom Mugeuk smiled and said,

“Once all this is over, I’ll give you the chance to meet him in person. Give it to him yourself then, along with your words.”

Relieved, the Seventeenth Beauty bowed her head.

“Thank you, Young Cult Leader.”

She ran off, brushing away her startled feelings. As she went, she regretted not having thanked him more properly. That was how flustered she had been.

Soon after, Cha Iran appeared there.

She had overheard the two of them speaking as she came.

“Will you really let them meet?”

“I will.”

At her expression of disbelief, Geom Mugeuk explained his reason.

“In life, when else would someone get to meet a Faceless Swordsman through the Young Cult Leader’s arrangement? And when else would a Faceless Swordsman receive words of thanks from an assassin? With just a few words from me, I can give people an experience others will never have in their entire lives. So, why wouldn’t I let them meet?”

Cha Iran said nothing. Because that kind of thought, that kind of heart, did not exist within her. If it had been her in Geom Mugeuk’s place, the outcome would have changed depending on her mood.

She might have gotten angry, saying, ‘How dare you ask me to deliver a message?’ Or she might have agreed and then simply forgotten. Or maybe, just maybe, she would have happily passed on the thanks.

But to actually let the two meet? That was something that simply did not exist in her world.

“And who can ever know what will happen between people? Those two might fall for each other, elope in the middle of the night, and then one day we might meet them again, walking down the road hand in hand with a child. Since they’re people tied to us, when we wave at them, they won’t choose death—they’ll smile.”

“!”

That was something that did not exist even in the dreams of her world.

But because she knew he truly meant it, facing Geom Mugeuk was never easy.

“If we’re still alive by then.”

“We will be alive. Us, and them too. That’s what we’re struggling so hard for.”

And they weren’t just empty words. The fact that the Evil Smiling Demon had spared all the assassins of the Court of Beauties was part of that struggle he spoke of.

“Tonight, the meal is on me. You did save my life, after all.”

“Then make it an expensive one. I must be so tense, because I’m craving meat!”

She stepped ahead first, and Geom Mugeuk followed behind.

“The clothes suit you well.”

Cha Iran quickened her pace and answered.

“It’s just that I had nothing else to wear right now.”

*         *         *

The two shared dinner together.

At least while they ate, they didn’t speak of heavy matters. They talked about the weather, about their favorite seasons. They debated over which place served a particular dish best—this place or somewhere else.

That was how the two of them finished their meal.

“Thanks to you, I ate well.”

“I’m glad.”

For her, it was the first proper meal she had had in a very long time. She couldn’t even remember the last time she ate and conversed with someone without tension.

“So then, have you changed your mind?”

Cha Iran quietly gazed at Geom Mugeuk and asked in return,

“Did you mix some heart-changing drug into the food?”

“I did. The effects should be starting to show by now.”

At Geom Mugeuk’s joke, Cha Iran smiled faintly.

The drug’s effect had already long since taken hold.

Even in this very moment, she was torn in conflict.

She had never imagined she would one day be troubled by such thoughts. Betray her own organization? Be swayed by the enemy?

It wasn’t his words that shook her. Words could always be fabricated.

The problem was that it was Geom Mugeuk himself who swayed her.

Those clear, deep eyes that seemed to look straight into her heart. His sincerity from another world.

And on top of that—

Ak Gunhak weighed heavily on her heart. If the man admired by that splendid person was someone like this? Then surely he must be extraordinary. That thought had influenced her.

Come to think of it, in their connection through Ak Gunhak, the way she saw Geom Mugeuk and the way Geom Mugeuk saw her differed by only a single word.

Because he was the one Ak Gunhak spared.

Because she was the one who liked Ak Gunhak.

Cha Iran asked with calm eyes.

“Do you understand what it means for an assassin to abandon a contract?”

At least to her, no one understood better than herself what it meant. Because she had lived and died as an assassin until the very last moment.

“What does it mean?”

“First, I would lose my reputation as an assassin. Of course, since I’ve never been publicly known, it’s not like I really have a reputation to begin with.”

“You do have the reputation you’ve set in your own heart.”

Geom Mugeuk acknowledged what she felt.

“There’s also a practical problem. If I abandon the contract, I have to return double the payment. Since this particular contract involves such a massive sum, I’d have to spend everything I’ve earned in my entire life just to pay it back.”

But that wasn’t the only problem.

“And they will try to kill me.”

Geom Mugeuk nodded. Yes, they would never let her go easily. Just as they had never let go of Ak Gunhak.

“On the other hand, what I gain is…”

After a brief pause, she imitated Ak Gunhak’s tone.

“Huh? Why are you saving me?”

After speaking, she laughed at herself, as though finding it ridiculous.

At that hollow laugh, Geom Mugeuk added one more thing.

“There is something you would gain.”

“What is it?”

“Me. I’ll be the one to tell him how hard you struggled. Even if he leaves, I’ll remain.”

For a moment, Cha Iran stared at Geom Mugeuk without a word.

Yes, in whatever sense, gaining the Young Cult Leader of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult was undeniably valuable. But how long could such a heart truly last?

“At first, he might smile at me, but then, once, twice, each time he saw me, the thought would rise—she’s a traitor. That woman betrayed once, she’ll betray again.”

Geom Mugeuk answered honestly.

“Sorry to say, but we won’t have that many chances to see each other. I’m far too busy. So it’ll just be a pleasant bond we recall when we do meet again. Maybe someday, someone will come to you and say—‘Are you that assassin from back then? Wake up, the Young Cult Leader abandoned you.’”

Somehow, it felt like such a thing could truly happen. But it didn’t feel unpleasant.

“There’s no need for you to abandon the contract.”

Geom Mugeuk was being as considerate as possible to her.

“Just don’t forget our promise.”

The promise that if he failed in the killing mission, she would take on his contract.

Cha Iran slowly shook her head.

“If you thought I was such a shameless person, then you’ve misjudged me.”

Cha Iran closed her eyes for a moment. How much time passed like that?

Then she steeled her heart.

“I always knew the day would come when I would part ways with them. That’s why I always tried to keep a distance from them. I just didn’t think it would be now.”

She made a decision that would change her life.

“I will abandon this contract.”

It was not betrayal, but abandonment. It wasn’t because she held any special loyalty or gratitude toward them. She had dealt with them as an assassin, so she would take responsibility as one.

Geom Mugeuk’s face filled with joy as he looked at her.

“Thank you. I will make sure you never regret this choice.”

Now she revealed everything honestly to Geom Mugeuk.

“My original mission was to kill the Leader of the Unorthodox Alliance during the celebratory banquet.”

Earlier, she hadn’t been able to budge before the leader’s energy. But that was when she was exposed as an assassin. If she had stood before him as the newly chosen Greatest Beauty Under the Heavens, the situation would have been entirely different.

“But then you appeared, and a new mission was handed down.”

She pulled out the box containing the bead from her chest.

“I was ordered to make sure this reached you. But there was a condition. I wasn’t to hand it over deliberately—it had to fall into your hands naturally. Twice I was given the chance to pass it to you, but you never even touched it.”

Neither on that drunken night, nor on the day she changed her clothes, had Geom Mugeuk shown any desire for the bead.

“I suppose I’ll have to return this to them as well.”

She slowly opened the box.

The bead glowed with a red light—transparent yet deep.

Within it, like blood vessels spreading through, something shimmered faintly around them.

Wooong!

The Secret Box reacted even more strongly than before.

It was then.

Srrrk.

The bead inside the box slowly began to rise into the air.