The assassins of the Jinkagu.

When a commission was given, they always moved in a set order.

Move to the location of the commission target.

And investigation.

There is no case where everything about the target is recorded in the commission letter.

Also, you never know what variables might occur during the commission, and since you must never leave a trace, you have to be perfect in your investigation.

Because if an assassin's tail is caught, it is easy to be traced back, and accordingly, the safety of the organization could be endangered.

Therefore, they move to the location of the commission target in advance and grasp various information.

Of course, the role of investigation is not limited to second-class assassins like now.

It depends on the commission target.

The more renowned a sect is in the martial world, the more elaborate its security network is, and since there are many strong warriors, there are cases where first-class or even special-class assassins have to do the investigation.

If the commission target is specialized in various formations and mechanisms like the Zhuge family, they dispatch a person specialized in that field even among the special-class assassins.

They use talented people in the right place at the right time depending on the situation.

But the Gongson family is a merchant family.

Among those who were guards of the merchant group, the number of warriors who were highly regarded could be counted on one hand.

Especially in the case of a prestigious family like the Gongson family, the security network is not very tight.

What kind of crazy punks would attack a place that is respected for its good deeds and is not even targeted by bandits and water thieves?

They might be chased by the authorities and the martial families who admire the Gongson family right away.

But that crazy punk is the Jinkagu.

They do not discriminate between commission targets.

If it's for money, they are punks who would even take the emperor's head.

Of course, they would have to have that much ability.

The punk that Cheonyeong is chasing, guessing it's Hwagye, is a second-class assassin.

A punk with the lowest skill among the assassins of the Jinkagu, who are divided into second-class, first-class, and special-class, excluding the trainees.

"Tsk tsk, no matter how I think about it, the Killing Master gave the names in a mess."

Cheonyeong clicked his tongue, watching the masked man who was hiding inside the wall of an unknown estate and waiting for the right time from a distance.

The twelve assassins who had risen to the second class with Cheonyeong.

Starting with Hyeseo (Wise Rat), who looked just like a rat, ox, horse, sheep... and so on.

Although they said they had borrowed the names of the twelve zodiac signs, no matter what, what was Sagyo?

It feels bad to think about it again.

A cunning snake...

Damn old geezer.

Cheonyeong wore an annoyed expression as he recalled the head of the Jinkagu, the Killing Master, Jin Gumyeong.

Just you wait.

At that time, all I took was one arm and one ear, but I will definitely cut off that head and kick it around like a ball.

Just as Cheonyeong was burning with a desire for revenge against Jin Gumyeong.

Hwirik!

Hwagye jumped over the wall and disappeared into the estate.

"Shoddy. Shoddy."

He didn't know before.

Although he eventually grew into an assassin several times stronger, Hwagye at this time was at a similar level to himself.

Should I say he was a little better?

But returning to the past and seeing his young self, his skills were truly laughable.

What was he doing, acting so cautiously while sneaking into an estate that didn't even seem to have great security?

And a roof tile was crooked when he jumped over the wall.

His lightness skill is a complete mess.

The lightness skill of an assassin who should not leave a trace!

Pak!

Cheonyeong showed off his skills, sneering at Hwagye.

Of course, no one was watching.

It was just self-satisfaction.

Nevertheless, perfectly.

Tok!

He jumps over the wall, correcting the roof tile that Hwagye had touched with the tip of his foot.

* * *

Hwagye, who had hidden his body in a shady spot of the estate's main pavilion, cautiously scans his surroundings.

The number of warriors patrolling outside with torches is five in total.

They are moving in a crisscross pattern, on guard.

The gap is the moment when the warriors' crisscross ends and they move away from each other.

Swi-ik!

As the gap between the warriors who were walking with their backs to each other widened appropriately, Hwagye moved quickly.

His footsteps were almost inaudible, and since he was wearing tight-fitting night clothes, his clothes did not even flutter in the wind.

Tak.

Hwagye, who had carefully opened the window and entered, once again carefully examined the dark room.

Drrrreung, puu...

Nothing could be heard except the snoring of the room's owner.

Since the light was off, there was no way his shadow would be discovered from outside.

Hwagye, who stood up leisurely as if to celebrate his successful infiltration, approaches the bed.

A middle-aged man with a corpulent build, sleeping spread-eagled, filling the bed.

It was Hwang Haegu, a pig farmer who had been invited to the funeral by the Gongson family.

Hwagye, who was looking down at him, takes out a small box from his bosom and opens it.

Ttalkkak.

What came out of the box was incense.

Incense with a sleeping effect.

It was an item that would make Hwang Haegu fall into a deeper sleep.

Tak.

After lighting the incense and waiting for the acrid smoke to spread throughout the room, Hwagye takes out another item from his bosom.

A rolled-up string.

With the long, unfurled string, Hwagye begins to measure every part of Hwang Haegu's body.

The length from head to toe.

The size of his face, the length of his neck, the width of his shoulders, and so on.

He didn't even miss the length of his fingers.

It was a preparation for the commission to be carried out in the Gongson family.

To help the special-class assassin, Jasu, with her killing, the second-class assassins had to infiltrate the Gongson family in advance.

So they had investigated the people who were invited to the funeral, and among them, they had chosen Hwang Haegu.

Because his body type was almost identical to his fellow assassin, Godon.

"At this rate, we can make it look roughly similar."

Hwagye said with a satisfied voice after finishing the measurement.

The margin of error in the physical conditions is within an acceptable range.

Since Godon had decided on the person to disguise himself as, all that was left was to find people among Hwang Haegu's subordinates for the remaining two to disguise themselves as.

And when all that confirmation was over?

They would come about two days before the day of the operation, kill Hwang Haegu and the targeted people, and tear off their facial skin.

"I hope I'm a general manager... last time I was a servant, so it was hard."

Just as Hwagye was grumbling, neatly cleaning up the remaining incense ash with a wet cloth, and about to go outside.

"You too? Actually, that's what I hated the most. That's right, I had forgotten, but at this time I was disguised as a handmaiden, right? Damn, cross-dressing."

"...?!"

Hwagye's eyes shot open at the suddenly heard voice.

There was definitely no one.

A question.

But an answer was not needed.

If he was discovered by someone, there was only one thing to do.

Pyut!

Hwagye threw a flying needle at the same time as he twisted his body in the direction the sound had come from.

Pak!

The sound of a flying needle sticking.

But it was not the sound of a human body, but the sound of it sticking in wood.

"You stupid punk, the more I see you, the more disappointed I am."

"...?"

"But at that time, I really thought you were quite something."

Cheonyeong appeared with a sneer from a place completely unrelated to the direction the flying needle had been thrown.

Who?

Could it be Hwang Haegu's secret guard?

But... he said he thought he was quite something at that time?

Why was he talking as if he knew him?

Hwagye's mind became complicated at Cheonyeong's words.

Cheonyeong smirked at Hwagye's complicated eyes.

"What are you worrying about so much? Didn't you learn it when you were training in the Jinkagu? What to do the moment you are discovered?"

"Wh-what did you say?"

Hwagye, who should have taken the next action, couldn't help but flinch in surprise at Cheonyeong's words.

He... knows about the Jinkagu?

How on earth?

Hwagye's head was filled with only questions.

It was natural.

Because he was a second-class assassin who still lacked experience as an assassin.

"Who are you?"

"What?"

"By any chance... are you an evaluator?"

"..."

Cheonyeong wore an absurd expression at the words Hwagye had come up with after much deliberation.

Well, it was understandable.

He must have been more than flustered just by the fact that he knew about the Jinkagu.

He probably thought he was an evaluator who had come to check on his mission performance.

"Keuk keuk, you have a rich imagination. How did you think of that?"

"Pardon?"

"Do I look like an evaluator to you?"

"What's that?"

"Hwagye. It's you, right?"

"...!"

As expected. It seemed he was right, seeing his eyes widen like lanterns.

"Well, it's understandable to be surprised."

"Who on earth are you..."

"Actually, I've wanted to see you a lot."

"Pardon?"

People are like that.

When faced with a situation that goes beyond what they can think of, their minds go blank.

That was Hwagye now.

He was so flustered that he didn't know what to do.

A person he had never seen before not only knew about the Jinkagu but also knew his assassin name, so he couldn't attack or run away right away.

"Well, since it's something that hasn't happened yet, what would you know?"

"..."

"But I remember it clearly. You pretending to be injured and luring me."

"L-luring?"

"At least at that time, I trusted you. I was stupid. To go to a place of death to try to save you somehow, just because you were one of the few from the same batch."

"What on earth is that?"

Tension, suspicion, and the effort to understand something that couldn't be understood.

Hwagye hesitated, even with a handful of flying needles in his hand.

"Well, maybe it's something that won't happen. You never know how things will turn out, and it doesn't make sense for me to ask about a sin that hasn't been committed."

"What are you talking about? What on earth is that..."

"But."

Cheonyeong, who had been muttering as if pondering to himself with his chin raised, looks down at Hwagye.

At that moment, goosebumps rose all over Hwagye's body.

The eyes looking down.

The emotion contained in the eyes, which were not even half visible, felt eerie.

"My head understands, but my heart can't."

At the sinister smile on his lips, which were split in a grin, Hwagye suddenly realized.

That he had to run away somehow.

Otherwise, he felt he would be torn apart like a moth caught in a spider's web.

"Ha-ap!"

Hwagye scattered hidden weapons without a designated target.

Even if it just grazed, he wouldn't survive.

Hwagye, regardless of the success of the hidden weapons, focused only on escaping and threw his body towards the door.

Wajik-keun!

The warriors outside flinched in surprise at the sound of the door breaking.

A masked fiend.

He would be a fool if he didn't grasp the situation.

"A-an attack! The estate master is in danger!"

Some rushed towards Hwagye, and some rushed into Hwang Haegu's room, from which Hwagye had burst out.

"E-estate Master!"

Cheonyeong's figure was not visible, and only Hwang Haegu, who was deeply asleep, intoxicated by the sleeping incense, remained.

Drrrreung, puu...

As the sound of snoring spread faintly, the warrior who had stroked his chest in relief shouted urgently.

"The estate master is safe! Stop that punk! Hurry!"

At the fierce shout, the warriors who had been on guard outside the pavilion rushed towards Hwagye.

Five in total.

"Tch!"

Swae-aek!

Hwagye scattered flying needles towards the rushing warriors.

"Keu-ak!"

"Keok!"

The warriors who were close to Hwagye were hit by the flying needles and flinched, then couldn't take another step and fell one by one.

The face of the merchant group's guard captain contorted at the sight of them turning pale at once and foaming at the mouth, trembling.

"Th-this is? Poison?"

Since the warriors were in this state as soon as they were hit, it must have been a deadly poison.

But without a chance to resolve his bewilderment, Hwagye runs towards the wall through the hole that has formed in the encirclement.

"Dammit! The punk is getting away! Chase him!"

At the guard captain's command, the warriors hurriedly followed.

And on the roof of the pavilion.

Cheonyeong, who had climbed up there at some point, watches Hwagye, who is running away over the distant wall.

In Cheonyeong's hand was a flying needle with a deep green tip.

It was a hidden weapon that Hwagye had thrown to kill him.

Filled with poison.

"Keuk, yes. It's so good that you've come out like this. I was worried for a moment. Fortunately, you aimed for my life just now... and I'm a person who always repays a grudge."

In fact, he didn't need an excuse to kill Hwagye.

Because he was an assassin.

* * *

"Huk, huk..."

Hwagye, who had escaped from Hwang Haegu's estate, had barely shaken off the warriors, but he couldn't head to the inn.

It was because of the judgment that his tail might be stepped on and the organization might be endangered.

In a secluded shade of an alley far from the inn.

Hwagye, with his back to the wall, scans his surroundings with tense eyes.

That punk? Did he fail to follow?

But what kind of punk was he?

Didn't he seem to know him, the Jinkagu?

And his words... he couldn't understand the meaning at all.

What should he do?

Although he had learned to erase his traces by biting a poison pill at the same time as being discovered, wasn't he still alive?

Yes, he had to report it.

He had to report the facts to Jasu and wait for her disposition.

Hwagye turned his head to check again if there was anyone following him.

And then.

Seu-euk.

In the darkness.

Two hands shot out from behind Hwagye's back.

Without a trace.

Then they grabbed Hwagye's head.

"...What!"

The moment he recognized it, Hwagye tried to resist, but he was twisted helplessly.

Ppudeudeuk!

A cruel noise.

Tuk.

Hwagye, whose head had been turned towards his back, collapses.

Seu-euk.

And the hands, just as they had appeared, disappeared quietly without leaving any trace.

(End of Chapter)