For a moment, Gu Yanghu just stared at me, dumbfounded, like he couldn’t believe what he’d heard.
Then his face twisted as if this was the most absurd thing in the world, and he shouted,
“You crazy bastard! You think I’d call some worthless piece of trash like you Big Brother?!”
He kept screaming through the pain that kept rising up.
He still didn’t seem to grasp the situation he was in.
“If you don’t want to keep getting hit, shout ‘Big Brother.’”
As I walked toward him with my fist curling up, Gu Yanghu felt fear at last and started backing away.
But his back soon hit the wall.
“D–don’t come any closer.”
THUD—.
“Guhk!”
My fist sank cleanly into his abdomen.
Gu Yanghu gasped and choked, like he couldn’t even breathe.
That was the beginning.
The day he took the most hits in his entire life.
“Big Brother! Big Brother! Brother! Brother!”
He clung to my pant leg, sobbing with tears and snot streaming down his face, calling out to me in desperation.
At that moment, the storm of blows that had been raining down on him finally stopped.
I grinned at him.
“Do you still think this Big Brother is ‘worthless’?”
“N–no, sir! Big Brother! W–what are you saying? Worthless, you? You’re greater than the heavens and brighter than the sun, Big Brother!”
He shook his head wildly, babbling for dear life.
I squatted down so our eyes were level.
“Is that how you really feel?”
“Y–yes, I mean it!”
“Good. Then tell me what you did wrong.”
“T–that, uh...”
His eyes darted around.
“See? You’re not done getting hit yet.”
“N–no! Big Brother! It’s j–just, it hurt so much my head went all fuzzy, that’s all!”
He really didn’t want to get hit again.
Even people who’d been beaten their whole lives would find that kind of pain unbearable; for someone who’d never felt it once in his life, how bad must it have been.
“Then talk.”
Gu Yanghu started rattling things off.
But the way he talked—hesitating, constantly checking my face—was even more ridiculous.
It was like he was thinking, Is this wrong too? and trying to read my reaction.
It was obvious.
This bastard had gone his whole life without knowing what exactly he’d been doing wrong.
“So basically, you were wrong about everything.”
“I–is that so? I didn’t know. Father did it, my older brothers did it... so I thought it was just normal.”
“Did your family never teach you about benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom?”
“They did.”
“Then you should’ve known your actions were bad, shouldn’t you?”
“I was confused. The books clearly said those things were wrong, but everyone around me did them like it was nothing.... So I came to a conclusion.”
“What conclusion.”
“That benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom are only for people of equal or higher status.”
If no one ever pointed it out, I could almost see how he’d end up like that.
“All right. I’ll give you a chance.”
“Wh–what kind of chance?”
“A chance to live like a decent human being from now on.”
“T–thank you.”
His face, though, was sour.
Everything about him screamed he just wanted to get out of this situation as fast as possible.
“You’re going to stick with me for a while.”
“Excuse me?”
Gu Yanghu flinched like he’d been electrocuted.
“You don’t want to?”
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of my fist starting to curl up again.
He grabbed it with both hands in a panic and shouted,
“I do! I want that! I’ll stay right by your side, Big Brother!”
“Yeah?”
“Yes!”
“Everyone around here would recognize {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} your face on sight, right?”
“W–well, yes?”
“Then you’ll need a disguise.”
“A disguise?”
“Yup. Otherwise people won’t talk freely about you. You think anyone’s going to speak honestly when the person in question is standing right there?”
“I... I understand.”
“Send those guys back.”
“Yes.”
“We’ll live here together for a while, starting today.”
“H–here?”
He glanced around the dirty forge and his face twisted up.
“You don’t like it?”
“N–no... sir....”
He looked like he wanted to cry.
****
“Young Master? What do you mean, go back without you?”
“I had a talk with my Big Brother here, and it turns out we see eye to eye on a lot of things. So I’ve decided to stay here with him for a while. You all go back and report that to the family.”
The guards, now fully conscious, stared at Gu Yanghu with blank faces.
They had no idea what was going on.
— Young Master. If you’re being threatened, please nod your head.
Gu Yanghu stole a glance at me.
Thankfully, I was looking elsewhere.
He nodded.
The guards understood immediately.
“Understood. Then we’ll take our leave.”
— Please wait just a little longer. We’ll return to the family and report to the Family Head.
He nodded again.
He’d buckled under violence, but once the pain faded and an opening appeared, other thoughts started creeping in.
Right.
Father will get me out of here and punish that fucking bastard who humiliated me.
He just had to endure until then.
With that thought, it became bearable.
“All right. Go quickly. And make sure you explain everything properly to the family, got it?”
“Yes! Don’t worry, Young Master.”
They exchanged looks, faces set with grim resolve, and then parted ways.
I let out a quiet snort.
I’d only pretended I wasn’t watching.
From the start, I hadn’t expected him to change easily.
Let’s see, then.
How will the Gu Yang Family Head respond?
****
The Gu Yang Family estate exploded into chaos.
“What? What are you saying! Our Gu is being held by some weirdo?”
“I–I don’t know, sir. We passed out, and when we woke up, that was how things were.”
SMACK—.
“Guhk!”
“You idiot. You couldn’t even guard him properly, what the hell were you doing?!”
“M–my deepest apologies.”
Blood trickled out between the guard’s lips, but he couldn’t even wipe it away; he just bowed his head.
“If anything happens to Gu, you’d better be ready for what comes next.”
“Yes, sir.”
“That’s enough. Get out of my sight.”
“Yes!”
Once the guards were gone, the Gu Yang Family Head, Gu Yanghyeon, rubbed his forehead and turned to the chief steward beside him.
“You heard all that?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Give me your thoughts.”
“First of all, we have to retrieve the Young Master.”
“Should I send in soldiers?”
The chief steward shook his head.
“If we do that, what will you do if they threaten us by using the Third Young Master as a hostage? I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Then what?”
“How about hiring assassins?”
“Assassins?”
“Yes. We just have to quietly kill everyone except the Young Master, without anyone ever knowing.”
“And if the assassin makes a mistake and kills my son?”
“We prevent that by hiring the very best in the industry.”
“You know a place like that?”
“Shall I make the arrangements?”
Gu Yanghyeon stroked his beard, thinking it over.
Then, as if his mind was made up, he spoke.
“Fine. Do as you say. If they’re the top assassins in the business, they should handle it cleanly.”
“Understood.”
“And who are these ‘top of the industry’ people?”
“The Ghost-Slaying Corps.”
At the name Ghost-Slaying Corps, Gu Yanghyeon smiled.
“I know of them. Good. I don’t care how much it costs—just make sure they get the job done.”
“Yes, sir.”
****
The Ghost-Slaying Corps, one of the three great assassin organizations of the martial world, was a nest of men mad for money.
If you paid them, they didn’t care whether the target was a comrade or blood kin.
Their only interest was how much they could earn.
A bunch of highly skilled lunatics grouped together for that purpose, which made them even more terrifying.
Because of this, not just martial artists but political powers as well had put a great deal of effort into wiping them out, but all had failed.
Despite the name “Corps,” they weren’t gathered in one place; they were scattered all throughout the Central Plains.
When a commission came in, whoever from the Ghost-Slaying Corps was closest took the job and pocketed nine-tenths of the payment.
That didn’t mean there was no central headquarters.
There was a place that trained new assassins, gathered all the information, and passed it down to their killers.
The problem was that no one yet knew where that place was.
The Ghost-Slaying Corps had only existed for nineteen years.
Even so, they’d exploded in size in no time because of one outrageous condition:
Nine-tenths of the commission fee went to the assassin who completed the job.
Because of that, outstanding assassins flocked to the Ghost-Slaying Corps, and in a flash they became one of the Three Great Assassin Organizations of the Central Plains.
Other assassin groups, feeling threatened, had tried to take them down, but all failed.
What crushed them was the master of the Ghost-Slaying Corps, called the Ghost Lord—an existence known as the Hell-Judge Ghost.
The Hell-Judge Ghost personally slipped in and killed the leaders of the assassin groups that targeted the Corps, without a rat or a bird ever knowing.
Aside from the Ghost-Slaying Corps, there had originally been five great assassin organizations; three of those were annihilated by the Hell-Judge Ghost.
Once that became known, the assassins of the Ghost-Slaying Corps both feared and revered their Ghost Lord and followed him all the more.
To this Ghost-Slaying Corps came a commission from the Gu Yang Family.
Not just anywhere—from the Gu Yang Family.
Naturally, it was reported up the chain.
“A commission to kill everyone in the Mok family forge and retrieve the Gu Yang Family’s third young master, is it.”
The man who snorted as he read the commission was one of the elders of the Ghost-Slaying Corps.
“They figure if they move personally, the third son might be put in danger, so they want us to wipe everyone else out quietly. That’s what this boils down to.”
With an unconcerned expression, he pondered the appropriate rating.
“Says here one of them is estimated to be top-peak level....”
After a moment of thought, the elder pulled out a token and tossed it.
On its face were the characters “Black Ghost.”
It was the lowest of the Ghost-Slaying Corps assassin grades: Black-Ghost rank.
“No need to send a Blood-Ghost just to take out one top-peak expert and a bunch of smiths.”
“Wouldn’t it be better to gather more intel before setting the grade?”
“That’s unnecessary. This is enough.”
“Even so...”
“What, you don’t trust my judgment?”
“N–no, sir. I’ll have the mission assigned at once.”
****
Night had fallen deep over the sky of Changsha when several red hawks appeared overhead.
They stared down intently at the city center.
Then, as if they’d located their target, they scattered and began to dive.
KEEE—.
The descending screeches reached the ears of a middle-aged man kneading noodle dough in earnest.
He stopped what he was doing and stepped outside.
A red hawk dropped something in front of him and took off again.
What hit the ground was a small cylinder, about the size of a pinky finger.
The man picked it up, checked what was inside, then tore off his apron, glanced around, and headed underground.
The basement walls were lined with weapons, blueprints, night-raid outfits, and work gear.
The man changed into his work clothes and carefully selected a weapon.
He tapped at the displayed weapons with his fingertips, then chose one.
“Top-peak level, huh.... This should do.”
He took down a single dagger, pulled a mask over his face, and slipped outside.
Then he blended into the darkness that had already settled over the streets and vanished in an instant.
Scenes like this were unfolding all over Changsha.
One man stopped playing with his children, soothed them, and stepped outside.
Another downed the last of his drink with a laugh, paid his tab, and walked out into the street.
All of them shared a single destination.
The Mok family forge.
TTAANG— TTAANG—.
Though night had fallen, the forge was brightly lit, the constant ring of hammer on steel echoing out.
Black shapes gathered in front of the forge.
Figures melted into pitch-black darkness.
Only their chilling eyes couldn’t be hidden.