Chokseong-3

After burning all the bandits who had attacked, Soyou dashed towards the direction of their hideout.

Inho, who had been blankly staring at his Master, belatedly snapped out of it and followed her.

Because of his late start, Soyou had already disappeared from sight, but since he already knew the way, Inho was able to catch up to her quickly.

Of course, by the time he arrived at the hideout, people’s screams were already echoing from everywhere.

Soyou was striking the bandits’ heads with her fist, and the bandits hit by her destructive attacks died on the spot.

As she wreaked havoc in the hideout, a well-built bandit who seemed to be the leader appeared before her, wielding a huge greatsword.

“How dare a little girl come here!”

The bandit, his face flushed red as if he had been drinking, shouted aggressively.

But that was all he did.

Soyou’s kick, as fast as lightning, shattered his skull and sent his massive body flying.

“…Now it’s a bit quieter.”

Soyou, standing alone in the gruesome scene devoid of any sign of life, said.

“I thought you might want to come here, so I cleaned it up in advance.”

Soyou looked at Inho, who had followed her, with a face that seemed to ask, “Did I do well?”

Inho could only manage an awkward smile.

“……”

While Soyou was looking around the hideout, Inho gathered the bandits’ corpses in one place.

Looking at the mountain of corpses he had piled up, Inho recalled the memories of that day he had buried in his heart.

A mountain of rotting, slashed, and severed corpses.

And the flames that were rising from below.

He unknowingly gritted his teeth and, just like Namgoong Soyeon had done back then, burned the bandits’ corpses.

The tower of humans, which he called firewood, blazed fiercely.

Huge flames surged, emitting a foul odor.

Inho did not take his eyes off the flames.

The fire was diligently doing its job as always.

If left alone, it would devour the huge tower of corpses and disappear.

“……”

He thought of those he had not properly mourned.

Chief Manager, Yeonhwa, Maehwa, and the Cult’s People of the Black Heaven Cult.

Inho closed his eyes and tried to recall their faces, but his vision blurred as if obscured by fog.

“What are you thinking about?”

Soyou, who had finished looking around the hideout, approached him from behind as he stared blankly at the flames.

“I was just watching,”

Inho replied mechanically.

Soyou moved closer to Inho, naturally taking his hand.

“Liar.”

“Pardon?”

“I said you’re lying. You had a look in your eyes that clearly showed you were thinking about something.”

Soyou’s eyes narrowed slightly.

The flames were reflected in her red eyes, flickering.

“It’s really nothing. I was just thinking about people.”

“People? What people?”

“Just some people.”

Soyou wanted to press further at Inho’s evasive words, but she held back.

Inho and Soyou stayed in the hideout for a week.

It was partly because they had no definite place to go, and partly because the supplies the bandits had brought were plentiful, so they lacked nothing.

For them, who had no travel expenses at the moment, it was like a timely supply drop. Also, Soyou had noticed that Inho was secretly fond of this place.

Soyou planned to get closer to Inho here.

Inho’s heart was like a door that seemed to be wide open but was firmly closed.

Inho was infinitely close, yet he acted strangely.

So she stayed in a secluded place and increased the time she spent with him.

In the morning, they sparred, and in the afternoon, they talked to each other and asked questions they were curious about.

They also made meals together and repaired the dilapidated parts of the hideout.

But even so, Soyou was dissatisfied.

‘I don’t know you.’

Soyou thought so.

She wanted to know everything about Inho from head to toe.

She wanted to trace the lines of his firm body with her fingers, bring her nose close to him, and inhale his scent deeply.

She was so curious about what he was thinking, who he was remembering.

She wanted to have his past, present, and future in her hands and not show them to anyone.

She thought that she would gradually, over time, possess all of him.

But her plan was shattered by a carrier pigeon that suddenly flew in.

One day, a piece of paper was tied to the leg of a carrier pigeon that flew to Inho.

“A carrier pigeon? Did you request information from the Hao Clan?”

Soyou asked while Inho untied the letter from the pigeon’s leg.

“I asked the person who told me about Grand Master’s news last time,”

Inho replied.

“Asked what?”

“To investigate Grand Master’s death. Master was too distracted to take care of it.”

“So, that’s the answer you got.”

“Yes. Revenge. You’re going to take it, right?”

When Inho asked if it wasn’t obvious, Soyou couldn’t answer immediately.

Taking revenge for Yeomjin was a matter of course, but Soyou hesitated whether it was right to bring Inho to that place of revenge.

Inho opened the letter, and since he couldn’t read, he showed it to Soyou.

“Inho.”

“What does it say? Does it say where their base is?”

“It’s not that.”

“Then what?”

“They’re…”

As Soyou hesitated, Inho sensed that something was wrong.

“They’re… coming here.”

The group that killed Yeomjin was coming for them.

Whoosh

A chilling wind passed over the hideout.