The sun was setting, painting the sky a reddish hue as it bid farewell to the tumultuous day, casting its glow for those wrapping up their work.
In the secluded Chilgok County’s shantytown, even that sunlight was unequally distributed. Under normal circumstances, a handful of sunset and damp shadows would have been sprawled across the shabby ground.
However, today, the shantytown was splattered with blood, even redder than the sunset.
“Ugh.”
“I have to crawl away!”
“Help me!”
“My leg!”
Rather than worrying about the future, people were preoccupied with their next meal, and beasts nonchalantly devoured those who were struggling.
The cries of a blue snake, feeding off the blood of the poor, echoed through the shantytown.
Thirty snakes, unable to become human, slithered across the ground instead of the sunset, staining the earth in crimson.
“Yoon-ho…”
A woman, the only one standing after proclaiming her mission, spoke up.
“I was about to lose the ability to walk because of you.”
She approached the snakes, which still had one ankle each remaining, sword in hand.
“Fuck!”
A blue snake that still had energy desperately swung its fangs.
Yet, just like the earthworm was not afraid of the snake’s fangs, she effortlessly deflected the incoming blade and severed the snake’s legs.
“Please… save me!”
“Just the remaining ankles, please! Aaaagh!”
Like a fishmonger slicing fish, the Heavenly Killing Star began to methodically dismember the useless legs of those who could not become human.
“Yoon-ho. Because of you… I hurt my arm.”
The image of his injured arm, ruined in an effort to protect critical parts, flashed in her mind.
The hand that used to serve her food. The arm that brought her comfort every time it bound her body. The shoulder that seemed so reliable when it tried to protect her despite its weakness.
Those precious arms had been harmed by such trash.
“Argh!”
“My, my arm!”
She moved around, shattering the palms of the Cheon Sal-pa under her feet while severing the hands gripping swords.
“Why. Did he. Have to be beaten by you?”
Was it truly their goal to reduce a person to a mere animal? She began to crush the bones of the arms and legs of the martial artists of the Cheon Sal-pa with utmost care.
“Just kill me! Please, just kill me!”
“Aaaaaag!”
The black-knives let out cries of anguish under her cruel torture, but her vengeance was only beginning.
“Blood was spilled from his head.”
The Heavenly Killing Star observed Kang Yoon-ho’s condition and glanced at the blood on her palm.
‘Yoon-ho’s blood.’
She brought her palm closer to her face. How much pain must he have endured? How tormenting it was.
She had heard that some lost their memories after a head injury. If he lost his memory of her because of that blow, could she have endured it?
‘Who… are you?’
She imagined a scenario where he could no longer recognize her due to memory loss.
‘Aaaah.’
She couldn’t endure it. Couldn’t fathom such suffering. She couldn’t stand it.
‘So-hee, do you not remember your brother?’
She recalled the day they first met.
‘So-hee, back in the day…’
‘When brother was young, he would…’
Every time he looked at her, there was a mix of nostalgia and pain in his expression.
Ah. This was his feeling. He was suffering through this pain every day.
She never wanted to feel this way again.
The Heavenly Killing Star glared at the insects before her with an expression filled with rage. How dare these filthy beings almost make him forget her.
He almost couldn’t remember her forever.
[Let’s kill them.]
These bug-like creatures. Let’s crush their shoulders and shatter their arms. Let’s rip open their bellies and pull out their insides. Let’s pull out their insides while leaving them alive and hang them from their necks. Let’s scoop out their eyes and cut off their tongues. And……
‘…….No.’
The Heavenly Killing Star suddenly grabbed her head and staggered.
‘Just now… that was.’
The killing intent of the Heavenly Killing Star stirred within her, making her realize that she had let her guard down during this calmness.
She thought she was in control just by having cut someone. But the urge surged forth. She needed to leave this place immediately. If she didn’t swallow her boiling rage and retreated now, she could be consumed by that killing intent once more.
It would be a rational decision to do qi breakfast in a quiet place and contemplate within.
‘But what about vengeance?’
The killing intent was slowly peeking inside her, but she didn’t want to retreat. Didn’t she train hard in martial arts for times like this?
She wanted to take revenge on him.
If she retreated now, she would regret it for life.
But how?
‘The smell of Yoon-ho’s blood.’
The troubled Heavenly Killing Star suddenly looked at her palm, where the itchy scent lingered.
The blood of Kang Yoon-ho that had smeared onto her hand.
She had almost lost herself to the unbearable.
Instinctively, she raised the palm stained with blood to her nose and inhaled deeply.
‘Yoon-ho.’
Feeling his scent through her nose, she carved his face into her heart. Rage surged. But alongside Cheon So-hee’s boiling anger, the killing intent of the Heavenly Killing Star surged just as much.
This was not enough.
Cheon So-hee licked her palm.
She felt him. Then his gentle voice popped into her head.
‘So-hee.’
Wait for me. I will take revenge and come back. Within her heart, the cold fury for one man ignited the killing intent.
It’s not the Heavenly Killing Star that’s going to kill these people.
It’s Cheon So-hee taking vengeance.
“Yoon-ho’s pain. I will slowly repay it now.”
Done it.
It was time to slaughter the snakes.
“Please. Save me! Gack!”
“Fuck. Fuck!”
“Hehehahaa.”
One. Two. Three.
Cheon So-hee began to deal with the Cheon Sal-pa one by one.
Was it the fifth? Or the seventh? Her hands gradually became increasingly brutal.
Once she reached over ten, she didn’t just separate the Cheon Sal-pa. Instead, she started dismantling them in the truest sense.
Her cold fury faded, replaced by a blissful smile that was wallowing in ecstasy.
‘Was it the 29th?’
Ankles. Arms. Legs. Entrails. Severed necks. What had been missing? The heart, that was it. The Heavenly Killing Star split open a man’s belly and plunged her hands inside. Warm. So good.
She pulled out the heart, bursting it with her blood-soaked hands, wiping it across her face.
“……Mother.”
The man who barely resisted let out not even a sound, enduring the pain while she tortured him.
‘Why did I kill these people?’
The scent of blood was too fragrant. The Heavenly Killing Star brought her fingertips to her nose to enjoy the smell. So wonderful. The sweetest aroma couldn’t compare to this.
‘Why did I kill them?’
The Heavenly Killing Star pondered why she killed these people.
[When it comes to killing, why does there need to be a reason?]
That’s right. There’s no need for a reason when it comes to killing. Why do you need a reason to kill? Killing people is……
[Because it’s fun.]
Exactly. It’s fun. The screams when I crush their ankles. The feeling of cutting through bone when I sever their hands. Cutting through joints is boring; slicing through the bone elicits the enjoyable screams.
The warmth of pulling out their insides feels good. Like being cradled by my mother.
“Mama. Mama.”
She could hear the voice of the man who resisted until the end. Finally, he cried out for his mother like a child as his arms were sliced and bones shattered.
[Mother?]
It felt like she had killed because of her mother. What was it? A sad memory. A memory she wanted to forget. A precious person. It seemed she felt something like that.
[Let’s smell the blood.]
She took a deep breath. Fragrant. Like entering her mother’s womb. Yes. It must have been that feeling that drove her to seek her mother.
[Not enough.]
‘Not enough.’
She wanted to kill more. This was insufficient to quench her thirst. In fact, the more people she killed, the thirstier she became.
[It was boring.]
‘It was boring.’
A bunch of ill-trained ruffians. Lower-tier and mid-tier martial artists. This was not enough to quench her thirst.
She needed a thrilling kill.
Like when she plunged into a master caught off guard after waiting beneath a bed for three days and nights. Assassination provided a thrilling sensation. It quenched her thirst.
The thrill was not enough.
She craved a death that made her heart race.
[Let’s kill them all.]
As she spread out her senses, she could feel the people trembling quietly inside the house. Would it be enough to wipe them all out?
‘Not enough.’
Whether killing one or ten, it would be a boring kill. Such actions wouldn’t satisfy her thirst.
She took a deep breath. In the bloody scent was a faint yet familiar aroma.
It was his scent.
His gentle face. The smiling face. The face pretending to know her, someone she didn’t recognize. It was a face, but faint.
‘Who is he?’
Even when trying to remember, it was all hazy.
The more she thought of him, the more suffocating it became. It pained her. Why did she feel this way?
Yet, strangely, the smell of his blood reminded her of a past bliss. The sweet taste of blood came to mind, making her lick her tongue.
If she killed him, would this suffocating feeling disappear?
Would she feel ecstasy once she plucked out his heart?
[Let’s kill him.]
‘Let’s kill him.’
It felt like killing him would quench this thirst.
