Chapter 86

## Chapter 86: Counterattack

A little while later, Ilho was dragged into a secluded alley.

Inside the alley, Ilho, Samho, and Saho, who had disappeared, were lying unconscious.

In front of them stood three masked martial artists.

‘I didn’t sense them at all…’

The Black Forest’s assassination squad was neutralized without any resistance.

Ilho glared at the woman who had brought him here, unable to believe this unbelievable reality.

No, the opponent was no longer a woman.

Crack.

As she straightened her back, which had been bent while in disguise, her height increased significantly.

Squeak!

When she removed her flesh mask, a man’s face, handsome enough to elicit admiration, was revealed.

It was Baek So-ryong.

Seeing the assassins sprawled on the ground, Baek So-ryong spoke to his masked comrades.

“Good job, everyone. I’ll take care of the rest, so go back to the elder.”

“……”

The masked figures were Aek Yeon-ho, Myeong Il-oh, and Jeongsa So-yeong.

The three nodded silently, then simultaneously used their light body techniques to kick off the wall and disappear.

“…They seem to have gotten a taste for the assassin game.”

Baek So-ryong, who had lightly clicked his tongue, turned back to Ilho. He extended his hand and released the pressure points on Ilho’s body.

“Now that I’ve released your pressure points, you can speak. But don’t start screaming or anything. Let’s keep it civil, okay?”

“……”

“You’re a quiet one, aren’t you?”

Despite Ilho’s indifferent reaction, Baek So-ryong chuckled.

“Maybe this will loosen your tongue a bit.”

Crack! Baek So-ryong swiftly dislocated one of Ilho’s shoulders.

“Gah!”

Ilho, who knelt on the ground, was drenched in cold sweat on his forehead.

Given his familiarity with pain and strong endurance, it was a level of agony that would make an ordinary person scream.

“Will torture… work on me?”

Ilho spoke for the first time, staring straight at Baek So-ryong.

“Kill me. You won’t get anything from torturing me.”

Baek So-ryong chuckled at his resolute attitude.

“Do you really want to die? Why don’t you bite your tongue and kill yourself?”

“……”

“Actually, don’t you want to live?”

Baek So-ryong’s eyes, which were as transparent as glass, stared intently at Ilho.

Sssss…

A faint red aura began to form in his pupils.

“I know assassins like you well. You think you understand death because killing people is your job. But do you really?”

“……”

Ilho didn’t answer.

Baek So-ryong, who chuckled, searched Ilho’s clothes and found numerous hidden weapons.

He took out one of the throwing knives and played with it as if it were a toy, then suddenly threw it to the side.

Thud!

The throwing knife embedded itself in the forehead of Saho, who was lying unconscious. He died instantly.

Ilho shuddered in shock. Baek So-ryong looked down at him and smiled lazily.

“Does seeing others die often make you less afraid of death? No. Every time you see the fear in the eyes of someone dying, your own fear of death grows.”

“……”

The sound of his voice pierced Ilho’s ears, lodging itself in his brain.

Ilho, trying hard to maintain a blank expression, glared at Baek So-ryong.

“Such threats…”

This time, Baek So-ryong threw a dagger to the side.

Thud!

The dagger embedded itself in Samho’s heart.

Samho’s trembling body gradually stopped moving.

Drip… Drip…

Blood dripped from the handle of the dagger embedded in his chest.

Ilho clenched his teeth without realizing it.

“To become an assassin, you train to suppress your emotions and become numb to pain. You become desensitized to killing others. You think that’s overcoming the fear of death. But look closely.”

“Stop…!”

Baek So-ryong threw a thin, needle-like dart at Ilho.

Thud!

This time, it didn’t kill him instantly. Ilho’s eyes widened, and he writhed in pain, trying to pull the dart out of his neck with both hands.

“Gah, cough…!”

Ilho slowly died. Ilho, watching this, trembled violently.

Baek So-ryong, crouching in front of Ilho, whispered in his ear.

“Humans can become accustomed to pain, but not to death. Everyone experiences death for the first time.”

“I, I, I…”

Baek So-ryong tapped Ilho’s chest with the scabbard.

Startled, Ilho screamed and fell backward.

“Gah!”

Baek So-ryong, looking at the pale Ilho, asked.

“Do you want to live?”

“Yes, I want to live. I want to live!”

Ilho nodded without hesitation.

He had seen Saho, Samho, and Ilho die right in front of him.

It wasn’t the first time he had seen his comrades die during his life as an assassin.

But the fear Baek So-ryong had shown him was on a different level.

‘I want to live. I don’t want to die. If I die at the hands of this man… my soul won’t even be saved.’

For the first time in his life, he felt such intense fear and a desperate desire to live.

Tears streamed down Ilho’s face.

“Please… spare me. Please…”

Baek So-ryong, who had been asked to take care of Ilho, removed his sword from Ilho’s shoulder.

The red aura in his eyes had already faded.

“To live, you need to answer my questions well. Where do you belong?”

“B, Black Forest. Black Forest.”

Ilho told everything he knew about the Black Forest.

How many had come here, how they carried out their assassinations, and who was in charge.

Although Ilho, as the leader of a squad, didn’t know much, he answered to the best of his ability to survive.

“Just now, you were signaling with whistles. How do you do that?”

“That’s…”

Baek So-ryong also discovered the communication method used exclusively among the Black Forest assassins.

‘This will come in handy.’

A little while later, Ilho, who had poured out all the information he knew, finally collapsed from exhaustion.

“…You’re despicable.”

A man walked out of the darkness of the alley.

It was Cheong Cheon.

Cheong Cheon looked at the bodies and Ilho with a horrified expression, then at Baek So-ryong.

“Were you originally an assassin?”

Given the cruel methods and actions Baek So-ryong had just displayed, it wasn’t unreasonable for Cheong Cheon to make such a guess.

However, Baek So-ryong shrugged and answered nonchalantly.

“I’ve trained assassins before.”

“…”

Cheong Cheon, though he had many questions, ultimately asked nothing.

Instead, he picked up Ilho, as Baek So-ryong had asked.

“Should we lock this guy up in prison?”

“I might need him as a witness when this is over.”

“Understood. I’ll call the guards to clean up the bodies.”

Cheong Cheon, looking at the bodies, replied.

He didn’t feel much about Baek So-ryong’s killings.

All the dead were assassins.

Scum who made a living by killing people for money.

‘They don’t even deserve sympathy.’

Cheong Cheon turned his head to see Baek So-ryong, who had taken off the flesh mask and changed into a middle-aged woman’s clothes.

“Will you continue hunting assassins?”

“I have to. They don’t listen to words.”

“…But you just convinced that guy with words.”

Baek So-ryong, who had quickly completed the disguise, turned to look at Cheong Cheon. She was now a middle-aged woman.

“It takes too much time. Creating that kind of atmosphere isn’t easy. Besides, that method doesn’t work on everyone.”

The middle-aged woman, hiding a hidden weapon in her sleeve, smiled kindly.

“And there’s an easier and faster way.”

“…”

“See you later.”

Baek So-ryong, turning her body, waved as she left the alley.

Cheong Cheon, watching her shrinking figure, muttered to himself.

“Maybe the best assassin here is that guy.”

Cheong Cheon was once again grateful that he hadn’t made that man an enemy.

Baek So-ryong’s figure had already disappeared.

* * *

Bang!

The Third Head, who had shattered the table with one blow, leaped to his feet.

His eyes seemed to be burning with flames.

“The Blood Gang, those bastards!”

He had just received a report from his subordinate.

The assassins sent to assassinate Gongson Su had been attacked, and the culprit was the Blood Gang.

“Are they challenging us?”

He had expected the three major assassination organizations to compete for Gongson Su’s head.

But he hadn’t expected such an overt attack.

This was essentially a declaration of war on the Black Forest.

As a Black Forest officer who usually looked down on the Blood Gang, this was unacceptable.

“You started it. I’ll make you regret it.”

Gritting his teeth, the Third Head ordered all the assassins on standby to gather.

Since the Blood Gang had started the fight, he would kill them all and take Gongson Su’s head.

The Third Head, radiating a thick killing aura, said.

“Tell everyone to wait for me. I’ll be there soon.”

“Yes, sir!”

At the same time, a similar scene was unfolding at the Blood Gang.

“The Black Forest bastards have gone mad! They’re messing with our people!”

Blood Gang’s Namchang branch.

In this place, usually used as an underground gambling den, the branch leader shouted loudly after receiving the report.

“Gather all the remaining members! We’ll kill them all!”

The branch leader, a burly man with scars and tattoos all over his body, took down a large axe hanging on the wall.

“Let’s break the faces of those arrogant bastards…”

At that moment, a loud crash echoed, and the door connecting the gambling den to the ground floor was broken, and something rolled in.

The doorman, who should have been guarding outside, was lying unconscious, covered in blood.

“It’s an attack!”

“It’s the enemy!”

The dozens of ronin inside the gambling den drew their weapons.

The branch leader, confident in the number of his men, shouted up the stairs.

“What do you think this is? Come in, come in, you bastards!”

A little while later, someone slowly descended the stairs.

Thud. Thud.

Perfectly regular footsteps, without a single error.

“You are the… Blood Gang?”

Snow-white hair and beard, a deep emerald robe that matched them.

The old man, who had straightened his back like a sword, looked around the gambling den with his hands behind his back.

“A gang of human butchers called the Blood Gang?”

“What the… Who is this old man?”

The branch leader of the Blood Gang, raising his axe, shouted.

But cold sweat was dripping down his forehead.

‘He’s a master. An incredible master.’

Seeing this, the old man lightly clicked his tongue.

“Judging by the killing intent in your eyes, you must be the Blood Gang.”

“Damn it… Attack!”

Dozens of ronin, shouting, charged at the old man.

The sword master, Mae Geuk-ryeom, slowly drew his sword.