Step. Step.

Yoo Geonwoo, walking slowly toward Sowha.

He bent his knees and met her eyes.

“Tell me. What’s happened to Sister Baekwha.”

But the raw edge pouring off Yoo Geonwoo frightened Sowha out of speaking.

Her lungs seemed to have frozen; all that came out was a thin, labored sound.

Song Biryeong, unable to watch it, took him by the shoulder.

“Stop it. You’re the reason she can’t speak.”

Whoosh!

Yoo Geonwoo threw her hand off.

And as he rose slowly, he muttered,

“Never mind. I’ll go see for myself.”

Song Biryeong grabbed at him.

“Wait!! Hold on!! Let’s find out what’s happened first—!!”

Yoo Geonwoo ignored her and walked straight out.

The people left behind only stood there blank-faced at the suddenness of it.

Only Seo Woojin and Woon Seorin held on to their composure, their faces cool.

Seo Woojin let out a small sigh and went to Sowha, who was still struggling for air.

He laid a hand on her back and fed in the smallest trace of internal energy.

It was a clumsy imitation of what the Crazed Fiend had once done to him.

The circulation was unpracticed, but it was more than enough to settle a woman gripped by fear.

As her breathing came easier, Seo Woojin asked,

“Are you all right?”

“Ah… Ah, yes. Thank you.”

Seo Woojin gave a small nod and asked again,

“What happened?”

Having gotten the worst of it out of her, she explained the situation this time without stumbling.

When she had finished.

Every face in the room had gone pale.

“So they came at the people around me instead of me.”

At the chill in his voice, Woon Seorin let out a deep sigh.

“This is my failure. I should have accounted for that as a matter of course.”

“No. Who would have expected their reach to go that wide.”

He meant it.

He had grown close to the Four Black Dragons, but they were something else entirely.

Idols to the warriors of the dark path, and symbols of what success looked like.

So naturally, if someone were burning to get even with him, he had assumed they would fix on him rather than on the Four Black Dragons.

“For now, you have to go.”

Woon Seorin said it coldly.

But Seo Woojin shook his head.

“I can’t leave it like this. Their coming out this way means they’ve committed to it. Warrior Yoo could be in danger.”

He was right.

Woon Seorin thought for a moment, then came back quickly with an alternative.

“Chief and Muk-yeong, go to White Blossom Hall. Avoid a clash at all costs. You don’t have to save the hall or Baekwha right now. Concentrate on getting Warrior Yoo and the hall’s courtesans out. And if it isn’t feasible, don’t rush into saving the courtesans either.”

“But…”

Bae Seokjin started to object, uneasy, and Woon Seorin shook her head firmly.

“We need to know what they intend and what they’re after before anything else. So do as you’re told.”

Bae Seokjin bowed his head and accepted it, and this time Song Biryeong argued.

“I’m going too.”

“Not you, big sister.”

“Why!”

“You’re too quick to act, big sister. One slip and you could ruin it.”

“You—!”

Song Biryeong let her anger show, but Woon Seorin did not waver.

“The Four Black Dragons’ first duty is guarding the Young Lord. Shouldn’t one of the four be doing that job?”

“…”

Song Biryeong bit her lip and swallowed her anger.

Woon Seorin made herself look away from it and turned to Seo Woojin.

“I’m sorry. It looks like I won’t see the duel. I’ll move Cheongeum and find out what they’re thinking.”

“Understood. I’ll leave it to you.”

And so everyone moved, and moved quickly.

Only Song Biryeong had nothing to do.

Watching her face, Seo Woojin made himself smile.

“I’d like to get moving myself.”

Song Biryeong looked at him and let out a small sigh.

Smack—!

And she slapped her own cheek.

“H-hey…”

Seo Woojin jumped.

Her cheek had gone red, and blood ran at the corner of her mouth.

Song Biryeong wiped the blood beading there and gave a smile with blood in it.

“Sorry. I wasn’t in my right mind. Let’s go.”

She said it and walked on ahead.

Seo Woojin made a low sound in his throat and followed.

It was a long silence.

No way of comforting her came to Seo Woojin.

And Song Biryeong, worried about Yoo Geonwoo, would be in no mood to talk.

How long did they walk like that?

Song Biryeong spoke first.

“The first time I laid eyes on that kid, he was about ten.”

“…Really?”

It was a surprise that the two of them went back further than he had thought.

“He turned up out of nowhere, like he’d dropped out of the sky. Didn’t have a thing to his name and still lived like he was better than everyone. Couldn’t survive on his own and would never ask for help first. I had to beg him for the chance to give him any.”

Her face screwed up, as though she were back in it.

“An arrogant little brat. It took a solid ten years before he’d call me big sister.”

“…”

“For all that acting lofty, acting like he had no interest in living — there was exactly one time he let me see him cry.”

“When was that?”

A bitter smile touched Song Biryeong’s mouth.

“When a woman named Baekwha came looking for him. That was the first time he ever broke down and bawled.”

A question came to Seo Woojin.

“Who is this woman Baekwha, exactly?”

“I don’t know either.”

“You don’t know?”

“No. He never told me.”

Song Biryeong sighed and went on.

“But I felt like I knew without being told. That to a man who lives alone in the world, the woman Baekwha is the only family he has. That to someone made of ice, she’s the only warmth there is. So… he won’t be cold about this the way he usually is.”

Seo Woojin kept silent a while.

Was that hurt feelings on Song Biryeong’s face? Or was it worry?

It was hard to read, but that it was for Yoo Geonwoo’s sake was plain.

“If you want to go, you can go.”

Song Biryeong looked at him, startled.

And then she gave that alluring smile of hers.

“Hoho. Look at our Young Lord, so considerate. He can read a subordinate’s heart now? But it’s fine. Rin stung me back there, but she wasn’t wrong. When it’s a time for holding back, it’s better if I’m not there.”

A self-mocking smile, and resignation in her eyes.

It was unexpected.

He had always assumed she was bold and unstoppable and nothing else.

Seo Woojin bit down on a thin smile and spoke.

“I promise you this.”

Song Biryeong gave him a questioning look. His smile deepened, as though he were enjoying the look.

“The day I become Alliance Lord and collect what they owe for this — you’ll be standing at the very front of it.”

“…!!”

“You may be short on patience, big sister, but when it comes to breaking and clearing whatever stands in the way, you’re first among the Four Black Dragons, aren’t you.”

Seo Woojin, wearing a grin with mischief in it.

Looking at his face, Song Biryeong could not say a word for a while.

Seo Woojin did not wait for an answer; he pointed ahead.

“We’re here already. I’ll go in first. You watch quietly from the stands, big sister. It’s the day I become Alliance Lord — it would be lonely with nobody there.”

And then he was gone ahead of her.

Left alone, Song Biryeong could not get a word out until long after he had disappeared.

“The nerve of him, making a woman cry. You really are a bad man, our Young Lord.”

Song Biryeong wiped her eyes and went in after him.

The heart that had been boiling fit to burst had gone quiet somewhere along the way.

The Arena of Martial Supremacy.

The largest training ground in the Dark Alliance.

Ordinarily it serves as a large-scale joint drilling field. The various powers under the Dark Alliance gather there for combined training, and it is also used to test the ability of new warriors.

It is used as well when the Alliance Lord calls a general assembly in person.

And from time to time a dueling tournament is held there, which is the arena’s crowning glory.

The stands ring the dueling platform at the center, rising in tiers, with room for several thousand.

All those people can look down at the platform in the middle and lose their heads together.

And today.

It was also the place where the dark path’s future would be decided.

WOOOOAAAAH!!

A roar that seemed to shake the ground.

Nobody had even climbed onto the platform yet, and the warriors in the seats showed no sign of settling.

Thanks to everything he had done up to now, most of what came out of their mouths was Seo Woojin’s name.

Seo Woojin waited in one of the two staging areas at either end of the platform and let out a small sigh.

‘I thought today I’d get to skip the thinking and just fight.’

What had come out of nowhere that morning was still on his mind.

‘If they went after Warrior Yoo because of me, they won’t leave it there. They mean to get something out of it. But what is there for them to get?’

The death match was on top of him. What could he possibly give in a situation like that?

He turned it over for a long time and could not land on an answer.

But whether it was fortune or misfortune.

A man appeared in front of him to supply the answer.

“You look tense.”

Seo Woojin turned cold eyes on him.

“Cheon Doyun.”

“Hoho. Are you under the impression you’re Alliance Lord already? Some manners, please. I am the Young Clan Head of the Cheon Clan.”

Seo Woojin cocked his head to one side and answered.

“Say what you came for and go. Looking at that ugly face is turning my stomach.”

Cheon Doyun’s face stiffened slightly.

But he took on a sneer soon enough and let the hostility show.

“So you don’t intend to wear the mask anymore.”

“We’ve both seen each other’s bare face already. What’s the point of a mask. Stop saying things that don’t need saying and get to it.”

Cheon Doyun snorted.

“I wonder how long that ease of yours will last.”

Whip.

Cheon Doyun turned and looked out. The roar was still coming out of the stands.

He looked over the seats.

“The Four Black Dragons aren’t here, just as I thought. Ah — there’s Song Biryeong. Hohoho. Woon Seorin, as ever. She could hardly send that fiery woman into a pit of oil.”

Cheon Doyun turned his head back to Seo Woojin.

“Aren’t you curious? What I get out of going after Yoo Geonwoo.”

“Do I need to know?”

“Hoho. You don’t especially need to. There’s no practical gain in it for me, in fact. It’s enough if the anger boiling in me settles even a little.”

“What?”

Cheon Doyun let out a deep sigh.

“I thought about it for a very long time. How to pay back the humiliation of that day. What punishment I could put on you that would give my heart any comfort.”

Seo Woojin frowned.

There was madness in Cheon Doyun’s voice.

An obsession made of nothing but malice.

“Yoo Geonwoo will not be called one of the Four Black Dragons much longer.”

“…!!”

“He’ll be locked in the deepest cell the Dark Alliance has. Ah, don’t worry. I have no intention of killing him that easily. I don’t know whether you’re aware of it, but I have a grudge against him as well.”

Whatever pleasure he was taking in this, a mad delight showed in his eyes.

“Did you happen to know White Blossom Hall means a lot to him? Hohoho. White Blossom Hall is going to become a Gok Clan pleasure house. The courtesans who sell only art and skill will have to start selling their low bodies as well.”

Seo Woojin could not hold it and got to his feet.

His hand was already on the hilt. But he could not draw.

Cheon Doyun glanced at the hand and smirked.

“What? Can’t draw it?”

Seo Woojin moved only his eyes and checked the space around him.

An unseen killing intent had him clamped tight.

Cheon Doyun nodded, satisfied.

“You’re quick on the uptake, I’ll give you that. Then you’ll see what I mean to say as well.”

Cheon Doyun took a step closer.

And just as Seo Woojin had once done to him.

He leaned in slightly and brought his mouth to Seo Woojin’s ear.

“I am about to make a very common, very villainous threat. If you win today’s death match, White Blossom Hall falls. Yoo Geonwoo will only learn of it long afterward. Because I’ll send him out half a cripple.”

“…”

“Hoho. Aren’t you curious? The moment the news reaches him that the courtesans he valued above his own life have been reduced to common whores rolling in the mud of a back-alley slum.”

The twist in Cheon Doyun’s mouth twisted further.

“What face that lofty Yoo Geonwoo will wear as he comes apart.”

Cheon Doyun stepped back a pace or two.

He spread both arms, triumphant.

“If you care for your people that much… it’s simple. Lose this death match. Then Yoo Geonwoo walks out of that cell today, and White Blossom Hall goes back to how it was. Who knows? If you grovel to my sister and beg for your life, she might even let you keep it.”

“…”

“I am truly curious. About what you’ll choose. Whether you look after your own life first in the end, or protect a subordinate.”

“Are you done running your mouth?”

“What?”

Thud.

Shhing—!

Shhhhk! Shnk!

Seo Woojin took one step.

He drew, and cut upward on the diagonal.

The crown holding Cheon Doyun’s neatly bound hair split apart, and the shorn hair scattered in an ugly mess around his head, leaving it wild.

But Cheon Doyun could not get angry.

The Cheon Clan warriors who had been waiting nearby to protect him.

They had moved to stop Seo Woojin as well, and had to halt partway.

The extreme killing intent pouring off Seo Woojin.

It swallowed every will in the room and drove the Cheon warriors’ feet into the ground.

The cold fury in those blazing eyes would not permit it.

Their movement.

“I promise you this. The next one is your neck.”

“Hgh—!”

Shhk! Shhring. Tak.

He swung the blade once and sheathed it.

And he walked straight past Cheon Doyun and out onto the dueling platform.

Something in his chest was burning slowly, and hot.

(End of Chapter 49)