The Cheon Sal-pa guys didn’t just drag any random resident from the shanty town for extortion.
Most of the people who were dragged here were residents from the outskirts of the shanty town.
The outskirts are relatively closer to the bustling area, so it’s a place where the residents might have some cash to grab.
I guess they thought it’d be worth raiding people who live in such places.
“This house! It’s all empty, so go on in and lie down.”
I was helped by the person who brought me to the outskirts of the shanty town, and I entered the empty house, collapsing onto a bed made of straw.
Had someone just moved out of this room?
The room looked clean, and the straw was soft and well-dried, making it comfortable.
“Thank you.”
The residents of the shanty town all leaned on each other, arriving at the outskirts before parting ways to their homes.
Luckily, a man in decent shape volunteered to carry me all the way to this room.
If it had been modern times, everyone would have left with bitter faces and rushed straight to the police instead.
In this world, I could only think about how unlucky I was today and drag my aching body back home.
“I should be the one to thank you. I’ll leave some water and food for you. Just sleep for now and eat tomorrow to recuperate. I’ll check on you tomorrow.”
The man said that, tenderly touching his injuries, and returned to his own home.
Bzzz
‘Don’t fall asleep like this.’
Who knows what might happen during the night that’s soon to come? I’ve walked quite a bit, but that’s nothing for a martial artist.
If tonight’s slaughter by the Heavenly Killing Star happens, then sleeping like this is a terrible idea.
I want to go to an inn, but right now that’s impossible. The sun has already set, and the inn I’m staying at takes quite a while to walk to even after leaving the shanty town.
There’s no way I can walk to the inn, let alone sit up straight with this body.
It would have been better if I had headed straight to the inn, but I should be just grateful that they brought me this far in my helpless state.
‘I need to recover my body and prepare to escape.’
I have to stay awake all night, listening for screams, and if I hear any, I need to run. But my body is in shambles. I can’t escape in this state.
I need to recover quickly, not through sleep but through another method.
Ting
‘Tonae Technique.’
I gathered what little strength I had in my aching arm, raised my upper body with immense effort, and forced myself into a seated position to adopt the cross-legged posture.
Using Tonae Technique might take some time, but I should be able to recover enough to walk again.
From long experience, it’s usually better to sleep before doing Tonae Technique after getting beaten up, but right now I need to recover somehow.
‘Please, let this worry be unfounded.’
I sat there, hoping she would return as Cheon So-hee, and began to activate Tonae Technique.
*
Snap
Just a bunch of lame prey.
The Heavenly Killing Star thought while staring at the carnage that was barely recognizable as corpses anymore.
As she expanded her senses widely, she heard the whimpers of frightened and cowering people.
Today, they wished violence wouldn’t visit them. A recurring misfortune, but they hoped for it to come tomorrow. They silently sobbed, wishing for sorrow to avoid them. Clutching their ailment-ridden parts, they hoped for jobs tomorrow.
Powerless, powerless, powerless.
A sense of helplessness that one cannot resist or accept. Those who live a life they can barely endure. Herbivores getting by day to day. They were hiding behind closed doors to escape the sounds of snakes hunting.
Why are we alive?
Such pitiful lives.
To the extent of wanting to kill them.
Kill them.
She wanted to share gifts with them. To present death to those living pitiful lives. To crush their legs, break their arms, and split their bellies before gifting them death.
It’s a gift, after all. Isn’t some return for that much warranted? After relishing their screams, cries, moans, anger, and pain, only then should she present her gift.
That’s still not enough.
Yes, not enough. With her burning thirst, she couldn’t tell when it would be quenched, even if she went into every single house to give gifts. It was an act to quench a thirst like drinking the morning dew clinging to leaves.
Still, she had to find him.
The man who would quench her burning thirst.
I can’t feel him.
Had he run far away in the meantime? Or had he entered some house? The Heavenly Killing Star could not smell his blood.
Should she give up searching? Should she quench her thirst with morning dew instead? But she had a method.
Something feels odd about this blood.
If the Heavenly Killing Star was in her right mind, she would have recognized it as the aura of Cheon Gi-ja, but she had already lost that level of situational awareness.
It’s over there.
Following the scent, the Heavenly Killing Star slowly started to walk.
——
Flap
Is this what it feels like for a butterfly to be intoxicated by a floral scent?
As she drew closer to his blood scent, the Heavenly Killing Star was gradually engulfed in ecstasy.
“What, who is that!”
“What a crazy woman!”
“Hey! Are you hurt?”
“She’s covered in blood!”
Drawn by the heavenly scent of blood, the Heavenly Killing Star encountered several people on her path but ignored them and continued in one direction.
Anyone who knew the true nature of the Heavenly Killing Star would have been horrified by her actions. A person engulfed in bloodlust, and yet she wasn’t killing anyone?
She thought their blood was too insignificant for her to satiate her insatiable hunger.
She was on her way to enjoy the most exquisite murder possible. She could not be satisfied with mere mortals. Each time her thirst for murder surged, she took a deep breath.
Ahhh.
Ecstasy.
How marvelous. How could there be such a delightful scent of blood?
How would it feel to kill him?
How should she kill him? Killing him in one go is too mundane. First, slice his ankle. The scene of him crawling on the ground while screaming in pain would be more amusing than anything else.
What if I laugh and he runs away?
Let’s drive a knife into his calf. Slowly savoring the feeling as the skin tears through the muscle and punctures the ground.
Once he can’t move, let’s twist and pull off each finger one by one. The melody that comes will be sweeter than any concert.
What should I do next? Cut off an arm? Slash open his belly? There are so many options.
Like a chef pondering what dish to make with an entire cow, the Heavenly Killing Star considered how to torture and kill Kang Yoon-ho in an enjoyable way.
The blood scent is close.
Before she knew it, she had found the house he was in. At the end of her field of vision, he was there.
I can quench my thirst.
She could break down the door and rush in. But that would be against her dining etiquette. To savor thoroughly, she needed to act with propriety.
With the reverence and joy of a bride entering a wedding hall, the Heavenly Killing Star marched towards the house at the edge of her sight.
Once I open that door, he will be there.
She took a deep breath. All she could smell was his blood. No other scent could penetrate her mind. The thought of drenching herself in it would surely drive her to ecstasy.
How will you cry? Will you beg for mercy or accept your gift?
What expression will you make?
What kind of expression will you wear before you die?
What does his expression look like…?
Suddenly, she came to a stop.
Something seemed to trigger a memory.
She suddenly clutched her head with both hands.
What does his face…
Her face twisted in an indescribable agony.
…Look like?
A single question pierced through her bloodlust-driven thoughts.
I… can’t remember.
Who is he?
Why can’t I remember? Why was I going towards him? Who was he? I can’t recall. No, I remember. No, I did. Once is enough to forget. You who don’t remember… who are you? You’re frustrating. Hurting.
Why does my chest ache each time I think of you?
Who are you?
Why don’t I know you?
Why are you pretending to know me?
Suddenly, dizziness hit her at the doorway. Her legs went weak, and she had to lean against the door for support.
I can’t bring it to mind.
I promised not to forget. I promised to remember. Why can’t I recall?
What did he look like? That face that warmed my heart. Once is enough to forget. Remind me. Something precious. You wished to reclaim it. Why are you trying to lose it?
That face that smiled kindly at me.
She desperately rummaged through the fog of her memories, but all that surfaced was his smile. What kind of face was it?
Not enough.
His smile is not enough.
She felt a burning thirst.
Not the thirst for murder. The thirst for someone.
There was only one way to quench this thirst.
With burning parchedness, she opened the door.
“Aaah.”
There sat the man who would quench her thirst. He looked on the verge of collapsing, enduring his pain.
Yes. That’s how he looked.
The man who always smiled kindly for me. The man who always worried about me. The man who, despite being weak, tried to protect me.
The man who made her feel like she was not a killer or a martial artist, but rather a sister.
Let’s kill him.
“Shut up!”
Let’s kill him.
“I’ll be by his side.”
She declared with resolute will.
That day. She made a promise with him.
“……. I will be by his side.”
Apologies. Sorrow. Injustice. Longing. All were words that vomited forth. But there was no bloodlust there.
Her voice fell silent.
She threw away the knife she had been clenching tightly in her hand.
———-
The bloodlust has vanished.
Cheon So-hee looked at her blood-soaked hands and thought.
How?
It wasn’t the first time she had been consumed by bloodlust. After everything around her had been devoured, she had barely clung to the last shreds of her rationality and returned.
Even after regaining her senses, the bloodlust didn’t just vanish.
When finally coming back to her senses after a night of killing, she still had to struggle to control the ever-present thirst for blood.
But now…
Calm.
Not a single fragment of bloodlust remained in her heart. Just to check, she sniffed the blood on her hands, but the bloodlust didn’t stir even slightly; only the stench of foul blood rose.
It all started the same way.
She had held back on killing for too long. Carelessly, she had killed many. In her intoxication, bloodlust had erupted from within. Bloodlust dominated her body. The only difference was…
Yoon-ho. Is that you?
Cheon So-hee gazed at the man who was practicing Qi Breakfast without even realizing she was there.
She couldn’t understand why he practiced Qi Breakfast without having mastered martial arts, but it was clear that everything stemmed from him.
How?
Cheon Sal had made her kill even those who were precious to her. If the bloodlust of Cheon Sal could disappear just by seeing the face of someone important, then the bloodbath wouldn’t happen every hundred years.
Neither would the Qi technique he was using suppress Cheon Sal’s bloodlust just because it was for personal training.
Suddenly, a fundamental question arose in her mind.
Did I feel bloodlust when I was with Yoon-ho?
Every time her calmness was disturbed by Yoon-ho, had there ever been a moment when she felt bloodlust even once?
No. There was never a moment when I felt bloodlust while he was beside me.
Days filled with disturbances of her calm.
Gratitude, resentment, warmth. Countless feelings she struggled to experience rose and disturbed her calm, but there was no hatred among them.
Despite worrying every night whether she would end up killing him, she had never once felt the urge to ask him to bind her simply because of bloodlust.
When beside him, she had never felt bloodlust.
How is that possible?
One day, she would meet a person of fate.
A voice suddenly reminded her of what Cheon Gi-ja had once stated.
She had thought it was futile and felt like a waste after a hard search.
One who opposes the heavens. A being who completes their destiny and returns from death. A being who can change the destinies of others. It’s likely that a day will come when you will meet such a person.
Just like the vague, difficult, and ambiguous things universally claimed by fortune-tellers.
If you realize that he is the person of fate, then be by his side. Definitely unexpected things will happen.
“Yoon-ho.”
She looked at the man she almost lost because of herself and asked.
Where is that person?
“Are you my fate?”
