Chapter 6: Asking to Be Killed
“Something other than a sword, you say.”
The lips of Gam Ji-deok, the Vice Chairman of the Prosperity Association, twitched.
The scar running across his mouth made his expression appear even more ferocious.
The old blacksmith sensed the strange shift in atmosphere and quietly stepped back a few paces.
A martial artist’s killing intent when fully unleashed.
It was so vicious and grim that even those unfamiliar with martial arts could feel it.
Yet Jin Seong-un, who was facing it head-on, only looked calm.
“Go ahead and take it, if you think you can.”
Gam Ji-deok’s lips curled into a savage grin.
He knew the other had learned martial arts.
And from the brief exchange they’d had earlier, he could tell the young man’s martial skills were far from shabby.
Even so, he felt no concern.
‘At the end of the day, he’s just some errand boy from the inn…’
He had made an effort to speak politely only because of the Chairman’s order.
While the Chairman’s martial skill was only slightly above his own, the man’s father wielded considerable influence in the Black Path — and that, he had to admit, was intimidating.
However, he could no longer stomach the sight of a mere errand boy acting so arrogantly.
‘A Right-Hand Swordsman, was it? Taking off his left wrist should be fine.’
A brat who had picked up martial arts while working as a waiter.
And himself — someone who had gripped a blade since childhood, spending decades walking the thin line between life and death to reach this point.
The outcome seemed obvious.
“Old man, let me borrow a sword.”
Before permission could even be granted—
Gam Ji-deok grabbed an iron sword leaning against the wall and charged at Jin Seong-un without the slightest warning.
Whoosh—!
With a slicing sound that split the air, the faintly gleaming trajectory of the sword came crashing down toward Jin Seong-un’s neck.
His aim was to instill the fear of death in a single move, slowing his opponent’s reactions.
However—
Crash—!
The sword pierced straight through the wall behind Jin Seong-un.
By then, Jin Seong-un was already standing a step to the side, watching Gam Ji-deok with his characteristically dry gaze.
Gam Ji-deok blinked.
“What the hell?”
He hadn’t even seen him move.
It was so still that for a moment, he wondered if he had simply aimed wrong.
Shadowless Steps.
The very movement technique that had transformed a petty thief into the legendary master thief known as Shadowless Divine Thief.
As Gam Ji-deok stood there bewildered—
Jin Seong-un let out a faint chuckle.
It wasn’t to mock the other man.
It was simply because he found it somewhat amusing that he, of all people, had actually learned martial arts.
“A waiter who knows martial arts, huh.”
Even to himself, it was an absurd thought.
But that small smile severely grated on Gam Ji-deok’s nerves.
“You son of a bitch!”
Face flushed crimson, Gam Ji-deok poured out sword strikes in rapid succession.
Working as a waiter had taught Jin Seong-un that the world was full of all kinds of people.
Naturally, not everyone respected waiters, and those in the Black Path often treated them like servants.
To put it nicely, they only valued strength and judged people by it alone; to put it bluntly, they were cowards who bullied the weak and groveled before the strong.
Yet now, the waiter he had looked down on his entire life was avoiding every one of his sword strikes.
And every so often, the boy would chuckle lightly, as if amused — a sight that made Gam Ji-deok want to slice his mouth open from ear to ear.
Gam Ji-deok channeled his inner qi until his qi center and meridians throbbed.
The force behind his strikes grew stronger, the speed faster.
Even so, the blade still failed to touch Jin Seong-un.
By the time more than a dozen exchanges had passed—
Jin Seong-un stepped back half a pace.
Gam Ji-deok saw hope. In such a cramped inn, how much stamina could a waiter possibly have?
He must be tired. Now there was a chance to win.
Shing—!
But when Jin Seong-un calmly raised the Black High Sword — which was originally Gam Ji-deok’s —
That hope was crushed.
He merely held the sword in an upper guard stance.
And yet, Gam Ji-deok felt an endless, suffocating dread.
He had never met a truly great master in his life, but if he ever faced one, this must be the exact kind of crushing helplessness he would feel.
“Your sword says this.”
Jin Seong-un’s voice flowed out evenly.
Gam Ji-deok, dazed, simply stood still.
Thud—!
Suddenly, his chest burned hot.
When he looked down, he saw the Black High Sword — taken from someone he could barely even remember — lodged deep in his chest.
Once again, the errand boy’s movements were impossible to see. Just like when he had smiled while dodging his sword.
“Kill me, it says.”
Jin Seong-un, who had calmly conveyed the will of the Black High Sword, slowly drew the blade out.
Blood gushed onto the floor in a rush.
Gam Ji-deok’s body slowly toppled forward.
Thud—!
Jin Seong-un stared at the corpse for a moment, then wiped the blood from the Black High Sword onto the man’s clothes.
It felt strange. The sensation of the blade slicing through bone and flesh, and the fact that a person could die so easily, felt unfamiliar.
Other than that, there was no particular feeling.
Perhaps it was because he had often seen bad men kill good people during his years as a waiter.
The death of a villain didn’t feel like much of a tragedy.
Jin Seong-un, who had been staring at the sword in his hand, soon shifted his gaze.
The old blacksmith who had earlier openly looked down on him now had his shoulders trembling violently.
Regardless, Jin Seong-un scratched his neck with his index finger, then bowed his head slightly.
“I dirtied your shop unintentionally. I’ll clean it up before I go.”
“Ah, no… I’ll take care of it…”
“Come now.”
Cleaning was a waiter’s specialty.
Jin Seong-un pressed his fingers a few times into Gam Ji-deok’s chest.
It was a pressure point sealing technique he had learned from his only female master, Noble Enchantress. By sending energy into the points, it physically bound the opponent’s blood vessels and meridians, and was effective even on a corpse.
Once the bleeding stopped, he fetched a rag from the corner of the smithy and wiped the floor.
The amount of blood spilled in such a short time was considerable, so it took quite a while.
“Must be because of his size.”
Muttering that to himself as he cleaned, Jin Seong-un gave off the kind of feeling that made the old blacksmith think he might be next.
That dry expression after killing a man was strangely terrifying.
“H-hey, you…”
“Yes.”
Jin Seong-un looked up at the old man.
Most of the blood had been wiped away.
He was already thinking of taking the Vice Chairman’s body to the law enforcement office to collect a hefty bounty.
“I… I saw nothing. My memory isn’t so good at my age. By tomorrow, I’ll have forgotten everything. Who killed whom, who knows martial arts…”
Jin Seong-un stared intently at the old man.
It seemed he had unintentionally offended him.
Whatever the old man did afterward didn’t matter much to him, but the fact that a waiter knew martial arts being known could hinder business.
“Yes, I understand.”
When Jin Seong-un nodded, the old man finally let out a sigh of relief.
Jin Seong-un felt an odd sense of guilt and thought he should leave quickly.
It had been meant as a kind gesture, but—
Ssshhhk—
Gam Ji-deok, Vice Chairman of the Prosperity Association and a man feared by all.
The sight of a mere waiter dragging his corpse across the floor only stirred up another kind of fear.
The moment he left the smithy, Jin Seong-un slung Gam Ji-deok’s body over his back and used Shadowless Steps to head toward the law enforcement office.
Thanks to that, the people in the marketplace barely got a good look at him.
The law enforcement office was thrown into turmoil.
Not even the low-ranking constables guarding the gate were ignorant of Gam Ji-deok’s name.
And yet, here he was—brought back as a corpse.
The one who had brought him in was the same waiter who had dragged in two Prosperity Association martial artists not long ago.
Head Constable Hwang Myeong-seok immediately issued an order for silence.
The Chairman of the Prosperity Association was not a man of mild temper.
If word spread that his Vice Chairman had been killed by a mere waiter, the balance of the commercial district would be disrupted, and the displeased Chairman would summon Hwang himself.
The head constable firmly instructed his subordinates to keep their mouths shut and moved to arrest Jin Seong-un.
He had no real charge to pin on him.
But he couldn’t simply ignore the Chairman’s request.
“You… you little—”
Hwang locked eyes with Jin Seong-un.
And then, the words caught in his throat.
This was the madman who had dared to kill the Vice Chairman in the Prosperity Association’s own territory and bring him here.
No—calling him bold wasn’t enough.
He must have been half out of his mind.
‘What if this lunatic stabs me next?’
Who would help him?
The Chairman wasn’t here.
And the subordinates present wouldn’t be able to stop a madman who had even killed Gam Ji-deok.
“What seems to be the problem?”
When Hwang remained silent, Jin Seong-un asked. But the head constable couldn’t bring himself to arrest him.
So, after much hesitation, he blurted out this nonsense instead—
“You… must care deeply about maintaining the peace in this town.”
What nonsense was that?
Jin Seong-un stared at him fixedly.
Regardless, Hwang the Head Constable finished spouting his nonsense about giving him the bounty and hoping for continued cooperation.
Jin Seong-un’s steps felt oddly light.
The change was so subtle that no one would have noticed, but it was clear he was in a slightly good mood.
“Next time, it’d be nice if the Chairman himself came.”
The bounty for Vice Chairman Gam Ji-deok was impressive.
The rewards for the two he’d handed in earlier couldn’t even compare.
With this amount of money, he could start proper business and still be able to supply liquor and food for at least a year.
If business didn’t go well, maybe another six months on top of that…
“I should avoid thinking unlucky thoughts.”
The truth was, Jin Seong-un had been tense lately.
It wasn’t that he feared the Prosperity Association.
Even if martial artists came and pointed swords at him, even if a Vice Chairman wildly swung his blade, he didn’t waver in the least.
It was simply because, for the first time, he had opened his own shop — and he worried every day about whether business would go well.
“First, a meal.”
Today was No Sang-won’s day off.
Since he would be eating alone anyway, he planned to boil some noodles as practice.
For a while, he would still have to hire a cook, but Jin Seong-un’s ultimate dream was to make and sell the food himself.
If possible, he would even handle the work of a waiter.
He intended to become the world’s best innkeeper — one who did the jobs of waiter, cook, and owner all by himself.
“Heh heh.”
As Jin Seong-un, rare for him, smiled slyly and began boiling noodles—
“Waiter-nim, are you here?!”
A rather spirited voice called out.
What kind of customer would be looking for a waiter with such determined tone?
Curious, Jin Seong-un went outside.
A thin, gaunt man was there.
About forty years old.
There were no signs that he had ever trained in martial arts.
Which meant—
“Are you perhaps a cook?”
He had posted a notice on the inn’s outer wall: “Cook wanted. Best treatment in the industry.”
Any cook would at least stop by to ask about the conditions.
When Jin Seong-un asked, the man scratched his head awkwardly.
Jin Seong-un’s shoulders slumped.
“Ah, you’re a customer. I haven’t started business yet, so please come back another time.”
“That’s not it…”
The man pulled out an empty chair and sat down.
He seemed to have something to say, so Jin Seong-un also sat across from him.
The man began tapping the table nervously with his index finger, then spoke in a determined tone.
“I heard… you killed our Vice Chairman.”
“Ah, so you’re from the Prosperity Association?”
“Yes, for now… but please don’t misunderstand. I really just came to talk—”
Jin Seong-un stood up.
The Prosperity Association, again and again — always the Prosperity Association.
Why did they have to keep pestering an honest commoner who just wanted to run a business?
And on top of that, this fellow didn’t even know martial arts, which meant he either had no bounty or only a very small one.
“Talking is good.”
Nodding, Jin Seong-un walked to the entrance and quietly closed the door.
The gaunt man’s face paled.
“No, I just came to ask something!”
“Do you know this?”
“…”
“When asking and answering questions to a waiter, it’s proper to at least slip him a nyang of copper coins. I don’t know what you plan to ask, but…”
Clack.
He locked the latch firmly.
The inn grew dim.
Looking back at the man, Jin Seong-un continued.
“Depending on the question, you may have to pay a rather expensive price.”
He wouldn’t kill him.
The Sword Immortal had told him that no matter how wicked, if they didn’t know martial arts, he should avoid killing them if possible.
If possible.