Reaper of the Drifting Moon

Pyo-wol silently looked at the weapon in his hand.

It was a deformed dagger with serrated teeth on the back of the sword, like a dagger. It was not a form commonly seen in Jianghu. 

It was a vicious weapon that was created only to cut off a person’s breath as efficiently as possible.

The imagination of humans is so amazing that they can casually create such weapons to kill their fellow human beings.

The same dagger was given not only to Pyo-wol, but also to the other children. It was unlike any cheap weapon they had ever used. The weight, strength, and sharpness were all incomparably superior.

Although it was their first time using this type of dagger, the children knew how to handle it as if they had been using it for a long time. This was not strange since the children had dealt with numerous weapons in the underground cave. 

Pyo-wol placed the dagger into his bosom.

He wanted to throw the weapon away, but if he did, he would be immediately under the surveillance of the Blood Phantom Corps assassins. 

The fact that Pyo-wol preferred to use his bare hands was a secret.

Since he has thoroughly learned all the assassination methods using his bare hands, the weapons provided by the instructors ended up being used as decoration. 

Even when the other children were taught by the instructors on how to handle a weapon, he only studied how to effectively kill using his bare hands. To him, utilizing a weapon was cumbersome.

“What are you thinking so hard about? Kikik!”

So Gyeoksan approached him.

As Pyo-wol looked at him silently, So Gyeoksan sat down next to him and continued.

“Are you trembling now that we’re going to be on a mission soon?”

“Well… to some extent.”

“You son of a bitch, you’re lying again. You? Tremble? I’m sure everyone would laugh at that joke!.” 

Chuckle!

“You seem to be the one trembling. Considering you’re talking a lot more than usual.”

“Hey! Who’s trembling? I’ve given up fear for a long time. Nothing in this world can scare me.”

So Gyeoksan snorted. He continued his speech by moving the deformed dagger in his hand.

“I wish I could be put into the mission soon. I feel like I’ll only be rewarded for all the suffering I’ve endured in the past if I chop someone’s head off.”

So Gyeoksan’s voice was filled with stinky flesh.

It was the same with the other children. Although they did not say anything, they too share similar feelings with So Gyeoksan.

They feel conflicting emotions of both fear and excitement.

Because of that, they were radiating more energies than necessary.

Pyo-wol understood their feelings.

He, too, was restraining himself from feeling emotions as much as possible, but he was also feeling some excitement to some extent.

‘The goal is, after all, that Woo Gunsang, right?’

He wanted to sneak out and figure out the identity of Woo Gunsang. Doing so might quench the excitement that he was feeling right now. 

Since coming to Clear Wind Manor, he has not seen any other children except the children from the underground cave. 

The Blood Phantom Group thoroughly separated the children to prevent any collision. So Gyeoksan was still next to Pyo-wol and was still talking. But Pyo-wol didn’t listen to him. Treating his chattering as just passing noise.

Then a voice came from outside.

“Get the equipment you’ve been given and go outside.”

Pyo-wol and So Gyeoksan looked at each other’s faces, then hurriedly got their gear and ran out. With the two of them in the lead, children from other rooms joined one after another.

Familiar faces such as So Yeowol, Lee Min, and Song Cheonwoo gathered in one place.

After a while, Gu Juyang appeared.

In his hand was a musical instrument. 

A slight tension flashed on the children’s faces.

They instinctively noticed that the flute in the hands of Gu Juyang was the instrument that controls the cursed poison hidden in their body.

The memories of that time were still vivid in their minds which brought them great fear. 

Gu Juyang looked at the children’s faces one by one and opened his mouth.

“From now on, you will move secretly to somewhere else. From now on, move according to the Fourth Sword’s orders.”

Behind Gu Juyang was a man wearing a mask.

He was the strongest swordsman among the Seven Ghost Swords. After the retirement of Lim Sayeol, he served as the de facto head of the Seven Ghost Swords.

Gu Juyang handed the Hell Call to the swordsman. The right to decide the life and death of the children was now at the hands of the swordsman.

The swordsman’s eyes gleamed fiercely.

“Those who disobey my orders will die by my hands. Those who act late will also die. Those who act stupidly will die. So if you don’t want to die, you better act wisely.”

The children’s faces hardened at his threat. He was an assassin on active duty. Hewas incomparable to the three swords who recently retired.

Naturally, the degree of coercion felt by the children was different.

“Let’s go!”

The swordsman moved first.

The children followed him and moved out of the Clear Wind Manor. Then, about a dozen assassins moved together after the children. 

Gu Juyang looked at the children’s backs with cold eyes.

The swordsman and the children moved in the dark.

Sasak!

In the pitch-black darkness, only the rustling of the blades of grass resounded.

The swordsman couldn’t help but admire the children who followed him without falling behind.

‘The senior brothers raised them well.’

As an assassin who had reached a high level, he could guess the level of the children just by the sound of their breath and the slightest movement.

The children had achieved incredible growth at such a young age.

His conjecture was confirmed by the fact that as many as twenty-eight children were moving together yet not a single footstep was heard.

None of the children fall behind the regular assassins of the Blood Phantom Group. 

Rather, some appeared to be even superior.

He suddenly felt that it was a waste, but he deliberately tried not to think more than that. 

After all, the children have to be only used once and thrown away after. They were different from the existing assassins who belonged to the Bloody Phantom Group. There was no need for affection, no reason to feel pity for them. 

By the time they reached their destination, it was already dawn. They ran all night. 

The place they arrived at was a small hillside. From there, a large mountain was clearly visible in the distance. The huge mountain with numerous mountain peaks connected like a blue castle overwhelms the viewer.

Even the clouds could not cross the mountain, and they were spinning around their waists.

The children were overwhelmed by its immense majesty.

Pyo-wol was no different from the children.

Even when he wandered the world before becoming an assassin, he had never seen such a huge mountain.

‘Our objective lies in those mountains.’

Pyo-wol had an intuition that the huge mountain in front of him was his final destination. The existence of Woo Gunsang is probably somewhere in that mountain.

The swordsman ordered the children.

“Everyone, hide yourselves here.”

As soon as his command was given, the children dug into the ground like moles and hid.

The voice of the Fourth Sword was heard through the ears of the children who were hiding in the hideout disguised as leaves.

“Your target is on that mountain. If you climb the mountain as per my instructions, you will find a manor that looks exactly as the one you were all living in before. Among the buildings, the man inside the Bright Moon Palace is your target.” 

The voice ended. 

It was then that the children realized the truth of why they had been trained in the underground cavity.

Bright Moon Palace is a small house on the outskirts of a manor. 

The road leading to Bright Moon Palace was already well memorized. The children were not afraid to infiltrate Bright Moon Palace. 

They were just curious. They were wondering on who could be the person inside the Bright Moon Palace for them to spend the whole seven years in the underground cave to be raised as assassins. 

Only Pyo-wol knew the person inside Bright Moon Palace.

‘Woo Gunsang…!’

* * *

The woman was beautiful.

She wasn’t very tall, but her skin was as pale as snow, and her long, hanging hair was as shiny as silk and was dark as pitch black.

Her eyelashes were very long when they were slightly lowered, and the eyes set below them were black and clear and seemed to clear the heart of the viewer.

The woman wore a light blue top engraved with a peacock feather pattern, and a waist skirt was layered over the lower skirt, which was elegant and attractive.

The woman walked alone in the flower garden in full bloom.

The garden, which has been nurtured with great care by skilled gardeners for many years, is reminiscent of the kingdom of heaven, with numerous flowers blooming in harmony.

“Haa…”

The woman suddenly sighed.

Her face was full of sorrow.

The woman reached out her white hand and caressed a blooming flower.

Pssh!

She said she was careful to touch it, but the petals crumbled in an instant and turned into dust.

“Haa…”

It was the second time for the woman to sigh as she raised her hand.

An old woman who appeared to be in her sixties entered the garden.

She was an impressive old woman with a gray robe reminiscent of a jackdaw and her bubbly eyes. The whole body of the old woman walking in with the monster in her hand as a staff felt a tremendous sense of intimidation.

As soon as she saw the old woman, the woman bowed her head.

“Master!”

“Are you alone again, Seol-ran?”

“I was outside because the breeze felt so nice.”

“You’re needlessly sentimental as always.”

“I’ve been working hard all this time. Can’t I use this amount of free time?”

An ordinary person would not be able to raise their voice just by looking at the old woman’s eyes, but the woman answered with a calm expression without any sign of nervousness. 

“Do you still resent me?”

“I don’t resent you. My life is on the line for this, so I would have liked it if you excused me from it..”

“You’re taking quite the high and mighty tone. I have fucking brought you in when you were just a child begging on the streets. I have washed, fed you good food, and even taught you the very martial arts that made you who you are today. And after all that, you want to be excused?!”

The eyes of the old woman over sixty shone more fiercer than that of a tiger.

The woman frowned slightly.

The old woman’s eyes did not threaten the woman at all. But the old woman was her master.

Had it not been for the old woman, the woman might have died of starvation, or she might have been living a miserable life as a plaything for a rich man.

No matter what the old woman’s intentions were, the fact that she had received grace did not change.

That was the only reason the woman followed the old woman.

“Well, it’s just a thought. If it’s the master’s order, of course, the disciples must follow it. So, don’t be too upset. It’s harmful to your health.”

The old woman’s eyes grew more fierce at the woman’s words. However, the woman’s expression still did not change. Seeing such a woman, the old woman wrinkled the tip of her nose.

The only person to whom her dignity did not work was the woman. Everyone is afraid of the old woman, but she is the only one who doesn’t mind.

Of course, there were talents and abilities to do that, but the barrier was the biggest. So it made her feel even more sad.

The fact that a woman cannot be appointed as a legitimate heir, and that she has no choice but to be used as a political tool.

The woman asked the old woman.

“Is it today?”

“Yes. If they don’t give a definite answer by today, we’ll have to carry out the plan we’ve prepared.”

“But that would put a lot of pressure on us.”

“Would we have prepared for the next seven years without that much pressure? You just have to follow the directions of this master.”

“Of course, I’m always ready to follow Master.”

Despite the woman’s somewhat sarcastic tone, the old woman did not get angry.

Today was a very important day for the old woman.

Because of that, she hasn’t slept properly since last night, and her eyes were red and bloodshot.

It was the first time since she became the owner of a clan that she felt such a burden.

‘How pitiful.’

The woman looked at the old woman and gave her sad eyes.

That was then.

“Master!”

With a loud noise, a woman who appeared to be in her early to mid forties ran into the garden.

Flowers were trampled on and scattered by her rough steps, but she didn’t care.

A woman in her forties arrived in front of an old woman and a woman in an instant. The woman in her forties bowed down to give her greetings and said to the old woman.

“Master! I got a call from them.”

“Really? What did they say?”

“They came up with the offer we wanted.”

“It’s done!”

Thud!

All of a sudden, the old woman pounded the floor with her cane.

The impact dented the floor, and numerous petals flew into the sky.

The old woman’s face had a young light of excitement, but the opposite shade was cast on the woman’s face.

‘After all, this is what it is.’

This determined the woman’s fate.

The old woman looked at the woman.

“From now on, you have to do well. The fate of the sect depends on what you do.”

“Please do not worry. I will do well.”

The woman struggled to hide her feelings and spoke calmly.

Even the old woman knew her feelings. But she chose to ignore it. The burden she carried was too great to understand the student’s private feelings and take care of the situation.

Then a woman in her forties interrupted their conversation.

“But there is one problem.”

“Problem? Oh!”

The old woman’s expression contorted.

Even so, the wrinkled face looked even more ugly.

“Is today that day?”

“Yes! How do we deal with that matter?”

The old woman’s expression hardened at the disciple’s question.

“Hmm!”