Published at 28th of May 2026 1:36 pm

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Kwa-jik-!

A black apparition shot out.

It was a death curse.

I confirmed that it was aimed at Heavenly Insight and immediately flung my body forward.

I reached out and grabbed the incoming death curse with my hand, crushing it.

"... Hm?"

Heavenly Insight looked at me with a puzzled expression because of my action.

"What are you doing?"

"Ah, I'm sorry. A bug just flew past in front of me."

I shoved my trembling hand back in.

Am I crazy?

'You're releasing a death curse here?'

This was insane.

Even if it was in the form of an apparition that didn't leave traces, who scatters a curse in broad daylight?

'Is this Bow Ghost's doing?'

Could this be Bow Ghost's work?

There was only circumstantial evidence, so I couldn't be certain.

'Who else, other than her, would do something like this?'

Yet, even the circumstantial evidence was fairly definitive.

At this moment, who else but Bow Ghost would fire a death curse?

'But right now, she shouldn't even be capable of something like this.'

I had struck Bow Ghost with something last night.

She should definitely have been affected.

If that's the case, she shouldn't be able to do anything related to ki for a while.

'I deliberately aimed away from her spirit.'

I'd gone to the trouble of only targeting her physical body, not her spirit, and now she's shooting out a death curse?

'And that, too...'

It was a considerable amount. Enough to likely affect even the one who shot it.

'At this scale, wouldn't it strain her spirit?'

Not just strain—it would accumulate karma.

And she fires this off in broad daylight?

I narrowed my eyes.

My stinging hand was already fine.

But it felt like it had affected my spiritual ki.

Since I couldn't resolve it immediately, I shoved it into a corner for now.

'So she didn't even bother with a disguise this time.'

Was this what she was aiming for?

'But on the other hand...'

Is Bow Ghost the type to aim for something like this?

I hadn't spent much time with her, but she didn't seem the type.

'Even if it wasn't Bow Ghost, it'd still be a problem.'

Even if it was her, it didn't quite make sense.

She didn't strike me as someone who would act so rashly.

'Tsk...'

I clicked my tongue inwardly.

At that point, the Young cult leader was already on his way out.

With a deeply furrowed brow, the meeting ended.

How was I supposed to investigate this?

Before I could even grow tired of the question—

I found the culprit much sooner than expected.

* * *

"... What's this situation?"

Right after the meeting.

Divine Spear had told me to see him in a bit.

The time was roughly half a two-hour period later.

Since I had that window, I was moving to meet someone I needed to see right away.

"What's going on here?"

I asked the old man in front of me about the unfolding scene.

The old man was the one-armed swordsman, Sword Emperor.

At my question, the old man looked at me with calm eyes.

"I caught a bug."

"..."

That answer sounded oddly familiar.

A bug?

For a bug, though...

"Isn't it rather big?"

Very, very much so.

"Kkuuh..."

Collapsed in front of Sword Emperor was something sprawled out.

Not very big, but his face was densely covered with age spots.

I frowned as I looked at him.

The bug Sword Emperor claimed to have caught.

I knew exactly who that was.

Suppressing a sigh, I asked,

"What are you doing here?"

The old man replied,

"Death King."

One of the Five Kings Under Heaven, known to be the strangest king of all. It was Death King.

"... Kgh..."

Death King, twisting in pain, looked up at me. His eyes were filled with inexplicable grievance.

"Why on earth are you here?"

Sword Emperor, in the union?

The uncertainty was clear as day.

It was natural to find it odd that a man known to have disappeared without a trace would suddenly show up in the union.

At that moment, Sword Emperor glanced at me and said,

"Because I have someone to teach."

"... Someone to teach?"

I was taken aback by that.

I didn't expect him to say that out loud.

"You mean, you're raising me?"

"Well."

Well, my foot.

You've basically said it all.

I looked at Sword Emperor in disbelief.

But it wasn't what mattered now.

"Death King. What are you doing here?"

"..."

Death King didn't answer. I glared at him.

'Hah.'

I could tell at a glance.

"It was you, wasn't it? The one who fired the death curse."

"... What are you saying?"

He was trying to play dumb. I couldn't help but give a hollow laugh.

"You should hide what must be hidden. I wondered how anyone could fire a curse of that scale and still be fine... Of course, you're not fine at all."

I knew as soon as I saw Death King.

Right, who could fire something like that in broad daylight and remain unscathed? His body was already quite out of sorts.

His spirit was visibly shaken from fatigue, and the karma accumulated had pushed his body to its limit.

That's why he was splayed out like that.

At this stage, even moving his body would be difficult.

'But of all people, he got caught by Sword Emperor.'

He probably never expected to run into Sword Emperor here.

I certainly didn't expect that old man to be caught, either.

"This is inside the Alliance. You, of all people, should know better than anyone that doing things like that here is a death warrant—so why are you doing this?"

"... Kgh."

Death King bit his lip. He looked properly aggrieved.

"This is all your fault, isn't it?"

"... Why me?"

"What the..."

Even as he spoke, Death King glanced at Sword Emperor, full of apprehension.

Was he trying to check the mood? Right then—

Kkook-!

"...!!"

Sword Emperor suddenly stepped on Death King's ankle.

Death King let out a silent scream, unable to make a sound from the pain.

Surprised by the suddenness, my eyes widened.

"You being here—does that mean she's here too?"

"... Ghh..."

"She should be holed up in Northern Sea, so why is she here now?"

Bow Ghost.

Sword Emperor was curious about her whereabouts.

No, it felt more than mere curiosity.

'... Something's off.'

It was more like the mood of someone who'd kill her the moment he found her.

Both Heavenly Demon and Sword Emperor seemed obsessed with devouring Bow Ghost at the first chance they got.

"I thought so. You don't need to answer. Just the fact that you came down from that repulsive mountain is all the answer I need."

"... Sword... Emperor."

"Still, I think I do want an answer. If you don't reply by three, I'll cut your limbs. You get four chances."

Cutting one ankle per chance—meaning:

'... Both ankles and both wrists?'

In other words, if he didn't talk, everything would be cut off. A chilling warning.

"One."

The moment Sword Emperor spoke—

"I cannot betray my master!"

Death King, in a frail old voice, let out a battle cry.

"Two—"

"Do you really think I could say my master is here? Never! I will never say such a thing."

"..."

"..."

I lost my words at this sight. His loyalty was shallower than I thought.

"So, she's here."

As soon as Sword Emperor heard that, he withdrew his foot. Then,

"Training can wait. I have business elsewhere."

"Huh? Wait, just a minute..."

With those words, Sword Emperor vanished from my sight.

He actually left me alone with this guy?

"..."

I looked around blankly. Death King was still groaning, but at least he looked better than before.

"... Huff... Hrk..."

"Are you all right? Why are you running around like this at your age?"

I directed my words at Death King, and he coughed hard before answering angrily.

"... You brat..."

His eyes now showed genuine hostility, unlike before.

"What did you do to my master?"

"What are you talking about?"

I tried to play dumb for now. But—

"She hasn't been the same since coming back from seeing you. What did you do to her?"

She's in a strange state. Hearing that, I could only shrug, as lying seemed pointless.

"What do you think? She picked a fight with me, so I responded in kind."

"You responded...?"

"Yes. Who told her to come in a spirit body? Why do people like you have no sense of danger? Coming like that—she was practically asking to be beaten."

"Ridiculous!"

Death King was visibly offended by my words.

"My master, just because she came in spirit form, lost to you? Unbelievable!"

"But it's true, isn't it?"

"Impossible."

Why couldn't he believe me? Well, fine if he couldn't, but did he have to be so obstinate?

The truth was right before his eyes.

"I admit you're extraordinary. Even I could see that much—you're immensely talented. But do you really expect me to believe you're strong enough to pressure my master?"

"Ah, that."

A childhood memory crossed my mind.

'Become my disciple.'

That was the first thing Death King said to me upon seeing me.

It happened at a time when I needed to use my spiritual ki, around the incident involving Yungsun.

My response then was this:

"I said the same thing back then, didn't I?"

At the time, I didn't even bother hiding the truth.

Because I didn't think I needed to.

So, the answer I gave Death King was:

"Why should I?"

Spoken with a smile. The remark wasn't simply a refusal to become a disciple.

More exactly,

"You really didn't understand what I meant at the time."

Even now, much time later, he didn't seem to grasp the meaning behind my words. Back then, what I meant was:

"Why should someone like me become your disciple?"

"...!"

"It's not like I have nothing better to do than... Become your disciple? That's nonsense."

Maybe if it was about martial skills, but the disciple Death King meant was about shamanistic arts using ki.

There was no reason for me to go down that path.

"At best, you're someone tied to a minor spirit, unable even to control it."

I crouched to look at Death King. More precisely, I was speaking to the spirit in his body.

"You bow and scrape to the spirit, being dragged about without even being able to control it—how could I accept teachings from someone like that?"

It was beyond my understanding.

Neither my grandmother, who wished I wouldn't follow this path, nor Chief Baek, who taught me, ever bent the knee to a spirit.

At best, call it companionship. At worst, it was mutually using each other.

Why would I learn from someone who couldn't even do that and was just dragged around?

"It's just stupidity."

"... You little—!"

"Enough of that."

I stretched out my hand.

My finger touched Death King's forehead.

The moment my index finger brushed him, his body quivered.

It looked like Sword Emperor had sealed his pressure points before leaving.

Thanks to that, my work was easier.

"Death King. Why did you fire a death curse at Heavenly Insight?"

"..."

No answer. That's fine.

"Sword Emperor gave you four chances, but unfortunately, I don't like hacking off limbs."

Nor do I like giving multiple chances.

Creak.

I loosened the loop. Then—

Uuuuuu—!!

"...!!!"

A chilling, sinister ki invaded Death King's body.

"You get one chance. Please answer quickly."

There might be two hands and two feet—

But there's only one soul.

I could only hope Death King made his choice fast.

It wouldn't take long to crush a soul.

TL's Corner:

Although I wouldn't say Heavenly Insight is his reverse scale, Bang Sung-yun still probably treats him like family...

And you should never touch family...

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