Invincible with Twin Swords

Chapter 18 : It's Not Your Fault!

Deoksam and I were staring intently at the shadow, but the agency head still hadn't noticed and was just looking around the door with a tense expression.

The shadow gradually took on a human form and finally stood quietly behind the agency head.

In the darkness, only his unfocused eyes sparkled.

Our eyes met, but there was no reaction.

He must have already observed us before we noticed him. Our appearance, with no killing intent and our weapons down.

He knows we have no hostility.

The vice-commander of the Azure Blade Unit, Blood Eagle Man, Wang Parip.

He was not the same as I remembered him. In my memory, he was always dark, but not to this extent.

His black pupils had no vitality, like a dead corpse, and no purpose could be felt in his eyes.

It was not the sharp gaze of an assassin who had come to kill someone.

It was the gaze of a man who was just trying to do a natural thing, like having to wake up when morning comes.

He paid no attention to us at all and, as if he were air, reached out and touched the acupoint on the back of the agency head's neck. The agency head flinched and then stood still, unable to say a word, only his two hands holding the sword trembling.

Deoksam and I just stood still and watched him.

A low, metallic voice scraped out.

"Last winter, in a small rural village in Hezhou, Guangxi, you raped and brutally killed a girl and then abandoned her body. For that crime, you will die painfully at the hands of the Blood Eagle Man today."

The agency head's two eyes, soaked in fear, shook violently.

"I will ask you a few questions. If you answer properly, you can die without pain. To express affirmation, you can blink your eyes."

The Blood Eagle Man's voice was calm.

"Have you seen the red hawk decoration I sent before?"

The agency head, whose acupoint was pressed, couldn't say a word and only his pupils moved from side to side.

"Eight years ago, in Pingliang County, Gansu. A young girl with a red dot on her shoulder. She was wearing a necklace with a small hawk decoration. Do you remember?"

"If you remember, you might live. I'll give you one more chance. Do you remember?"

The agency head didn't know how to answer and was still trembling all over, shedding tears. A moment passed.

"It seems you don't remember."

And he took out a sword that was too short to be a sword and a little too long to be a dagger. The entire blade was painted black, as if it were absorbing all the surrounding light.

And he looked at us and said.

"He is dying because he did something that deserves death. The two of you should not interfere."

Then he put the sword to the agency head's neck.

The agency head was sending a desperate plea for salvation to me and Deoksam.

The moment he was about to cut the agency head's neck, I said.

"I remember!"

At my words, the hand that was about to cut his neck stopped.

And he looked at me. With those eyes that had lost even their soul.

"...What?"

"I remember. She was twelve years old at the time. Her name was Wang Yeoryeong. She was your one and only younger sister."

His unfocused pupils trembled like a lonely candle in a strong wind.

"You said her face was white and like a full moon. You also said that in the suffocating life of an assassin, only that child was your joy in living in this world."

He had already lowered the hand holding the sword.

Tears were flowing from his two eyes.

His whole body was trembling as if he had just become a living person again.

"I, I... I... that child..."

He must have meant that he couldn't protect that child.

He couldn't confess this story to anyone.

With the guilt of not being able to protect her, his life went deeper into the pitch-black darkness. Deep, deeper into the abyss where not a single light entered.

He said there was only one goal left in his life.

To find that bastard and tear him to shreds, cutting off his flesh piece by piece!

Suddenly, an enormous killing intent poured out from his whole body.

"Who are you? Who are you to know all that..."

Re-gripping his short sword, he rushed at me.

"It's not your fault!"

He stopped.

Tears welled up in his eyes and then poured out.

I said it again.

"It's not your fault!"

His two knees buckled powerlessly and he sat down. He was sobbing sorrowfully with his face in his hands. His shoulders were trembling sadly.

In this moment, it probably doesn't matter to him who I am or how I know all these facts.

During the Azure Blade Unit days. The first time he confessed all this, he also cried sorrowfully.

He eventually found out who that bastard was, but it was after he had already lived out his natural life and died. He had dedicated his whole life, but in the end, he couldn't get his revenge.

I will give him another chance.

* * *

I killed the head of the Subduing Dragon Escort Agency in his place.

A person who violates a young girl is not a human. It is a beast in human form. I only regret that I couldn't kill him painfully.

We eventually made an excuse that we couldn't protect the agency head from the Blood Eagle Man, that he was already dead by the time we noticed, and hurriedly left the Subduing Dragon Escort Agency. And we met him again at the promised inn far away.

"...Your story is truly hard to believe. Who could believe such a story?"

Deoksam, who was next to me, stepped forward.

"Well, I didn't believe it at first either..."

"But to me, that doesn't matter at all. What meaning does the story that the Demonic Cult will swallow the Central Plains and the Heavenly Demon will bring a storm of blood have to me now? Regardless of whether it's true or not, it's a story that has nothing to do with me."

I just looked into his two eyes without saying anything.

It's his life.

The biggest reason I tried to find him was to give him one more chance. That was all.

"...But."

Wang Parip said in a calm tone.

"If you give me a chance to get my revenge. And if I can find that bastard and tear him to shreds..."

Wang Parip couldn't continue his words. It looked as if blood would drip from Wang Parip's tightly clenched fists at any moment.

Wang Parip was from the Hidden Killing Curtain.

The Hidden Killing Curtain was one of the assassin groups in the Central Plains, but its identity was not known.

It was not known at all who made what kind of commission for what reason, but its name was not omitted when mentioning the three great assassin groups.

Wang Parip, who was abandoned by his parents along with his young sister, was taken in and raised by the master of the Hidden Killing Curtain. And with his innate talent, he grew up to be the best assassin of the Hidden Killing Curtain.

"There was a big age difference between us. She was my younger sister, but she was like a daughter to me. The master treated us like family, but my sister was still my only family."

Listening to his sad past is still too difficult. But I have to listen to his story. I will listen to it for a lifetime.

"The weather that day, the chirping of the birds, what clothes that child was wearing that day... I remember everything."

It would have been better if he had forgotten. He could have lived if it had faded from his memory.

He bowed his head as if to hide his tears.

"When I found her, she was lying under a tree as if asleep, with her hands gathered on her chest, wearing nothing. The clothes and shoes I had bought for her were neatly placed next to her."

He clenched his two fists as if the memory of that time was reviving.

"There was a necklace with a hawk decoration I had carved for her out of red sandalwood. She was so happy when she received it as a gift. It was her favorite thing, so she never took it off her body for a moment."

I remembered the image of him sitting in the shade of a tree, carving a hawk with folded wings. What he had carved was sadness.

"Only that was gone. That bastard must have taken it. To remember that day."

Deoksam, who was quietly listening to the story, trembled with anger.

Only the killing intent emitted by the three people filled the entire room.

After that, he left the Hidden Killing Curtain to find that bastard and searched the entire Central Plains. Since there were no clues, he started looking for guys who had committed similar crimes, and that work gave him the name Blood Eagle Man.

"There were two things I was afraid of. The first was, of course, not being able to find that bastard, and the second was finding him but not recognizing him. That's why I sent the red hawk decoration in advance as a warning. Because there's no way that bastard wouldn't recognize it."

"I don't know if it's fortunate, but you will find that bastard. Seven years from now."

Wang Parip's two eyes trembled slightly.

"Who was it? Was it the guy in Gansu? A martial artist? What kind of bastard is he? What kind of son of a bitch is he?"

He shook my shoulders and screamed. If he hears the name, he will run out right now.

"If you hear the name, you probably won't believe it. No, you might even run out to confirm it right away."

"Tell me the name first! I've wandered the entire Central Plains to find that bastard. Is it a guy I know?"

"Promise me one thing. If you hear the name, you will stay here for one day and organize your thoughts. After that, I won't stop you no matter what decision you make."

Wang Parip, who had been silent for a long time, took a deep breath and answered.

"...I promise!"

He has endured and waited for eight years. He can wait one more day.

"Seven years from now, you will hear the news of the death of Gwak Un-gyeong, the master of the Hidden Killing Curtain. To you, he was your master and the benefactor who took you in and raised you, so of course you attended the funeral."

The thin blood vessels in Wang Parip's two pupils burst. His appearance now was like a demon that had escaped from hell.

A face must have already appeared in his mind. He just can't admit it.

"After the funeral, while you were organizing your master's belongings, you found a small box in a secret space at the bottom of a wardrobe. In it was what you had been looking for so desperately..."

"No! It's absurd! It's a story you made up!"

He stood up abruptly and rushed at me, but Deoksam, who was next to him, hugged him and held him back. Tears were also flowing endlessly from Deoksam's two eyes.

"It will be hard, but listen to the end! The box was filled with small trinkets, things like danghye smaller than the palm of a hand. It was all the belongings of young girls. And in the deepest part, there was also a small hawk-shaped necklace..."

Wang Parip was tearing his hair out and wailing.

He wouldn't be able to believe it. To him, the master was the one who had taken in him and his sister who had been abandoned and raised them. When he lost his younger sister, he had grieved with him.

"It doesn't matter whether you believe it or not. I just told you what I heard from you. You can confirm the truth yourself. However, as you promised earlier, stay here today and calm down."

If I send him now, he might get swept away by his emotions and make the wrong choice. The him I know is a calm person. He will make the right choice when time passes. After that, whatever choice he makes is entirely his own.

"...I understand. As promised, I will organize my thoughts today."

Wang Parip was tormented by the fact that the bastard who had committed such a deed had lived out his natural life and passed away.

The books of the ancient sages talk about karma, but reality is not a book. The idea that a sinner will receive due punishment is just our earnest wish.

As promised, he stayed for a full day and then left this place.

He would want to confirm it with his own eyes. Whether the story he heard from me is true.

We waited for him at the inn. As time passed, Deoksam became anxious, but I was not worried.

Even during the Azure Blade Unit days, he always judged the situation calmly in my place.

When the moon had risen once and was setting again, he returned.

(End of Chapter)