Chapter 770: I Went to Find You Again, Today
Had she ever been this flustered in her life?
Cha Iran could say with certainty.
This was the first time she had ever felt her face burn and her heart race so intensely that she could sense the heat herself.
As her cheeks turned crimson, the Sword King felt a pang of guilt. He knew Geom Mugeuk would tease her mercilessly, yet he still went along with his antics.
―You must stay here without moving. You must not come out midway.
―What kind of trick are you trying to pull this time!
Though he pretended to be reluctant, he was inwardly curious. Did she really like him? Seeing how Geom Mugeuk had repeated himself several times and made such a fuss, it did not seem like some baseless jest.
But now, judging from her reaction, he could tell—she truly liked him. That realization surprised him. They had only exchanged greetings and small talk a few times in passing. She had liked him all this time?
“It’s been a while.”
At the Sword King’s greeting, Cha Iran struggled to calm her pounding heart.
“It’s been a while.”
Her voice trembled in a way she could not hide. Even as she spoke, only one thought filled her mind.
‘How much did he hear earlier? Surely he didn’t hear everything, did he?’
She had shouted those words about finding her love far too loudly. Please, tell me he didn’t hear! This was all the Young Cult Leader’s scheme. If it hadn’t been the Sword King standing there, she would have grabbed the Young Cult Leader by the collar and shaken him until his teeth rattled.
“I didn’t expect to see you here.”
“Neither did I.”
“What happened?”
At Cha Iran’s question, the Sword King could not answer. How could he explain so simply why he had come all the way to the main division of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult?
Instead, Geom Mugeuk spoke in his place.
“He came because you said you wanted to see him.”
Not because of Ak Gunhak, but to tease her again.
“Please, stop teasing me already!”
Even after bringing Ak Gunhak, he had pretended as if he had done nothing. And now he wanted to joke again?
But perhaps it wasn’t merely a joke. The Sword King interjected calmly.
“Seeing you was also one of the reasons I came to the Cult.”
At those words, her heart, which had barely steadied, began to pound again. Her heartbeat told her what she had been denying—she truly did like him.
Of course, the Sword King did not reveal any personal emotion.
“Since you and I were the only ones who survived, I thought we should meet at least once.”
With that, Cha Iran realized that out of the twelve subordinates of the Dark Palace Master, only Ak Gunhak and herself had survived.
“So, they all died in the end.”
Her gaze turned again toward Geom Mugeuk. Back when they were carrying out various tasks in the Dark Palace, she had never even considered the Young Cult Leader as someone to take seriously.
But gradually, he became the center of everything, and in the end, everyone except herself and the Sword King was swept away by his hand. She had never imagined that all of them would fall to the Young Cult Leader, not even to the Cult Leader himself.
‘Truly, you are someone who knows no impossibility.’
And what’s more, he had kept his promise—to save the one she loved. He had dragged the Sword King out from the clutches of that terrifying Dark Palace Master and brought him to stand before her.
“Are you hurt anywhere?”
The Sword King shook his head.
“I’m fine. What about you?”
“Yes. I’m perfectly fine.”
Once she began speaking with the Sword King, the tremor in her heart began to settle.
She carefully asked,
“Did you happen to hear what I said earlier?”
The Sword King nodded. At this point, there was no use in staying embarrassed and blushing endlessly.
“It was just a joke I often shared with the Young Cult Leader, so please don’t mind it.”
Then Geom Mugeuk interrupted.
“You won’t regret it later?”
Geom Mugeuk knew. If this sweet, thrilling moment simply ended here, it would not be easy to recreate such an atmosphere again. Their faces might never flush like this again.
“You know, later you might regret it. You’ll think, ‘I should have told him how I felt then. It was going to end anyway, so why did I hide my heart?’ It’s only a moment of embarrassment. In truth, it’s more shameful not to confess one’s feelings.”
Cha Iran couldn’t deny it. She thought she probably would regret it, just as he said.
“Why are you trying so hard to match us together?”
“Because both of you are good people.”
At that, the Sword King cut in.
“Lies. You just enjoy seeing us flustered. You’re doing this to keep teasing us.”
“Brother Ak! That’s a misunderstanding.”
“Misunderstanding, my foot!”
Cha Iran turned to Geom Mugeuk.
“You said I was a good person, right? Then name three good things about me.”
“……”
“I knew it.”
Standing beside the Sword King, Cha Iran formed a united front.
“It seems we were both dragged here for the Young Cult Leader’s fleeting amusement.”
“If we don’t stay alert, we’ll fall into his tricks again.”
Geom Mugeuk looked exasperated.
“I was trying to bring you two together, but not like this.”
All three of them smiled at once. After laughing together like that, the tension lifted, and the awkward, embarrassing air that had filled the room finally disappeared.
Cha Iran’s gaze turned toward the Sword King.
“In truth, I survived because of you. You saved my life.”
The Sword King looked surprised and asked,
“What do you mean?”
Her eyes shifted toward Geom Mugeuk.
“The Young Cult Leader knew I liked you… and that’s the only reason he didn’t kill me.”
“!”
The Sword King looked at Geom Mugeuk with a startled expression.
“Is that true?”
“Well, Brother Ak might have liked her, right? No matter how much of an enemy she was, how could I kill someone Brother Ak cared for?”
At those words, the Sword King shook his head helplessly. It must have been a life-or-death situation.
She sighed, “Even in that chaos, the Young Cult Leader wanted to let you go free, no matter what. Honestly, I couldn’t understand it. If you liked you that much, he should’ve kept you by his side, Young Cult Leader; so why did you want to let him go? To be honest, I still don’t understand.”
Then Geom Mugeuk said to her,
“But now, you can understand it. The plan has changed. Back then, the plan was to help this person find his freedom. Now, it’s to tie him firmly by our side.”
At those words, Cha Iran’s heart fluttered slightly. If he stayed by her side, she could wish for nothing more.
“Are you seriously holding a strategy meeting while he’s standing right there listening?”
“Would that man really be fooled even if we tried? From now on, our operation is to clip his wings and grab hold of his pants. I’ll take his left leg, you grab the right. Pour in all your friendship and affection. If that still doesn’t work, we’ll have the Blood Heaven Sword Demon and the Sword Supreme help pull at that ponytail of his when they return.”
To speak such nonsense right in front of the Sword King? And to tell her to grab a man’s leg? Yet somehow, it didn’t feel unpleasant at all. Even the Sword King was smiling. Truly, only Geom Mugeuk could pull something like this off in the entire martial world.
“Fortunately, Brother Ak will be staying in the Cult for the time being. So when I said earlier that he’d teach you martial arts, that wasn’t a joke.”
He might not teach them any secret techniques, but even just learning the basics of swordsmanship from him would be far greater than studying any martial arts manual.
“Will you really teach swordsmanship to me and my subordinates?”
At Cha Iran’s cautious question, Ak Gunhak smiled and replied,
“Only if you don’t mind learning from a Martial Hall instructor.”
---
Lee Ahn was training in martial arts alone.
Her sword flowed as smoothly as a wave, then burst forth as fiercely as molten lava. No matter what, her gaze never once wavered from the tip of her sword.
Right now, she was fighting an imaginary opponent. Ever since she had mastered the Soaring Sword Art, she had begun a full regimen of visualization training—battling imagined foes in her mind.
As she grew stronger, her imagined enemies became stronger as well. She pushed her imagination to its utmost limit.
Because of that, this current battle could not have been more exhilarating.
She dodged her enemy’s attacks, rolled across the ground, and avoided strikes in a manner that might have looked ridiculous to anyone watching.
But Lee Ahn was serious. She never relied on half-baked imagination.
She knew well that careless visualization training could do more harm than good.
If her body grew accustomed to blocking attacks that were too easy, she might fail to stop a real enemy’s strike in an actual fight.
After sweeping across the entire training ground in one intense session, she took a deep breath and raised her blade upright before her. The imagined opponent still stood, staring back at her, unfallen.
Then a familiar, pleasant voice called from behind her.
“Isn’t that a bit unfair?”
At the sound, her expression instantly brightened.
“You’re already beautiful, and you even train this hard? That’s just too perfect.”
“Young Master!”
When she turned around, Geom Mugeuk was standing there. She stared at him quietly for a moment, then broke into a radiant smile.
“Young Master! Congratulations on your rebirth!”
Geom Mugeuk looked surprised.
“Who told you? Did you meet my father?”
“No, I just knew at a glance.”
Lee Ahn had recognized the change in him immediately. Since childhood, she had served as his bodyguard, and she could sense changes in his body even more accurately than he could himself.
“How could I not notice when you’ve changed this much?”
At least for her, the transformation was so great that anyone could tell he had gone through complete rebirth.
“You’re not very surprised.”
“You’re right. Why am I not surprised?”
Lee Ahn widened her eyes and tilted her head.
“I guess I just thought it was natural for you, Young Master. You’re the kind of person who could step out for a moment and come back saying, ‘I just saved the martial world from destruction.’”
Just as she giggled, Geom Mugeuk suddenly pulled her into his arms. He used to carry her on his back or let her run into his embrace, but lately such moments had become rare.
“I missed you, Lee Ahn.”
He hugged her tighter than usual, and Lee Ahn wrapped her arms around him just as firmly. ‘You must have suffered a lot, Young Master.’
“Ah, this embrace feels so unfamiliar. Your chest is broader, and you’ve grown taller. It feels like I’m cheating.”
Her teasing made Geom Mugeuk laugh. Yes—only Lee Ahn could bring him both warmth and excitement like this.
“They say I have a pleasant scent now, you know?”
“This scent is wonderful too, but honestly, I think I liked your old scent better.”
“You’re probably the only person who’d say the original smell was better than the one after my full body transformation.”
“But it’s true.”
Then, startled, Lee Ahn quickly pulled away from his arms.
“Oh! I—uh, I smell like sweat.”
She had momentarily forgotten that she had just finished martial arts training.
“Since we’re on the topic, let me ask—do you spend all your time training in martial arts, I see you train every time I come? You should be using your hard-earned skills to beat up some scoundrel you don’t like, or get drunk and make trouble, or just disappear on a trip somewhere. I told you, live true to your desires!”
“My greatest desire is to become stronger than anyone else.”
“Then what’s your second desire? Your third?”
“My next desires can only be fulfilled once the first one is achieved.”
“And what exactly are those?”
But Lee Ahn never told Geom Mugeuk. Instead, she smiled and changed the subject.
“Well then, since the Young Cult Leader has returned, I’ll summon the Tenebrous Ghosts Corps.”
Geom Mugeuk nodded.
“Good. There’s someone I’d like to introduce too.”
---
Seventeenth Beauty was wearing the blue palace gown of Cha Iran.
Cha Iran’s eyes had been right about what color suited her best. She looked far more beautiful than she ever had in her martial uniform.
Taking a deep breath, Seventeenth Beauty stepped into the Valley of Wicked.
She had come near this place before, but this was the first time she had ever entered it.
There were no guards at the entrance, yet she could feel several gazes watching her. Sitting on the branches on either side of the entrance were Faceless Swordsmen. Some crouched, others sat leisurely.
Passing by their silent watch, she continued walking inside. Oddly, she was more nervous than when she had carried out assassination missions.
She half-hoped that, as she walked, she might run into the Crescent Moon Faceless Swordsman—but of course, that was wishful thinking.
There were far more Faceless Swordsmen moving about than when they had last worked together on an operation. That time, only the elite had gathered; now, the entire corps seemed to be present. There were so many masked figures that she could hardly keep her focus.
In the end, she gave up on searching and approached one of the passing Faceless Swordsmen.
“May I ask a favor?”
The Faceless Swordsman stared at her for a moment, then nodded.
“I’m looking for someone—someone whose mask bears a crescent moon. I’d like to see him.”
The Faceless Swordsman replied,
“Wait here.”
With that, he leapt into the air. There was something eerie about them at times, yet in moments like this, they seemed almost ordinary.
A short while later, another Faceless Swordsman appeared—the Crescent Moon Faceless Swordsman himself.
His eyes, visible through the mask, were filled with surprise, as if he hadn’t expected her to come all the way here.
Seventeenth Beauty trembled, but since she had gathered the courage to come this far, she pressed on.
“I know it’s rude to show up like this unannounced… but I wanted to see you. Since you wouldn’t come to me, I decided to come to you.”
Many eyes still watched from around them, yet she felt no embarrassment.
Then, the Crescent Moon Faceless Swordsman said something she hadn’t expected.
“I went to find you again today.”
At those words, Seventeenth Beauty’s eyes widened in shock. And then she realized—he had been among the onlookers earlier. He had really come to see her with his mask off.
Her heart swelled with emotion. The words “again, today” meant he had come more than once before. That joy gave her new courage.
“Show me your home.”
The Crescent Moon Faceless Swordsman nodded.
The two of them walked deeper into the Valley of Wicked.
At the same time, one of the watching Faceless Swordsmen shot forward with incredible speed, using lightfoot technique to dash inside. He had just received the Crescent Moon Faceless Swordsman’s voice transmission.
―Hurry and clean the house!