Swordless Demonic Path

Chapter 14 : Meeting (1)

In the dead of night, past midnight, Jin Sawoon, who had crossed the wall of the Cheon family manor, was wearing black night clothes and a mask.

Having infiltrated the Cheon family manor in a state completely assimilated with the darkness, he passed the guards and entered the inner courtyard.

The number of warriors patrolling the paths was not that many, so there was no difficulty in infiltrating.

Rustle!

Jin Sawoon, who had nimbly crossed the wall and entered the three-story separate building, climbed a tree and sat down to see the brightly lit third floor.

A distance of about five zhang. This was safe enough.

What he saw through the window on the third floor was the overlapping of two black shadows.

It seemed they were embracing. After holding each other's bodies like that for a long time, they were seen entering a dark room.

He was curious about who the woman with Cheon Woo-rin was, but he decided to wait.

If she wasn't a woman who lived in this house, she would leave tomorrow. It wouldn't be too late to find out then.

Rustle!

It was then that the sound of wind was heard.

In Jin Sawoon's eyes, he saw a black figure dressed similarly to himself.

The black figure, who had climbed the wall like a snake, gently lay down on the roof of the third floor.

It seemed he was trying to eavesdrop on the conversation of the man and woman in the room.

If not, there was also the possibility that he was an assassin aiming for Cheon Woo-rin's life.

Right now, he thought it was the latter.

And for an assassin, this was a very good opportunity to kill Cheon Woo-rin.

While he was sharing the pleasures of love with an unknown woman, he would not have the capacity to pay attention to the assassin on the roof.

Swish!

He grabbed one of the daggers attached to the leather guard on his forearm.

Since it was a surveillance mission, he hadn't brought most of his hidden weapons, so a short sword and a dagger were all he had.

Jin Sawoon grabbed the dagger and quickly threw it towards Cheon Woo-rin's room.

Thwack!

"Who is it!"

Startled by the sound of the dagger embedding itself in the wall, Cheon Woo-rin shouted.

Bang!

Cheon Woo-rin, who had jumped out through the window, urgently looked around. He had come out in such a hurry that he was only wearing a robe over his naked body.

"Young Master! What is it?"

Rumble!

A dozen or so guards quickly gathered in front of Cheon Woo-rin. Cheon Woo-rin raised his hand to silence them and then looked around.

Whoosh!

At that moment, the sound of clothes fluttering was mixed with the sound of wind from the north. Cheon Woo-rin shouted.

"Intruder! Heading for the north gate!"

"Intruder!"

"Catch the intruder!"

The guards shouted and ran towards the north gate.

In the meantime, Cheon Woo-rin went into the room, got dressed, and grabbed his sword.

The woman, who had been naked until just a moment ago, was standing dressed. She was a tall woman with long black hair down to her waist, a fox-like beauty with single-lidded eyes and fair skin.

"It seems it's not my day today."

"I'm sorry. But the night is long. Wait."

"I won't wait long."

Cheon Woo-rin hugged her with a disappointed expression and then went outside. It was to catch the intruder.

Whoosh!

The masked man who had escaped the Cheon family manor entered a dark alley at a very fast speed and then disappeared.

The place where the masked man reappeared was a third-floor guest room of an inn not far from the south gate.

The masked man, who had entered the room through the window, took off his mask and sat down in a chair.

When he took off his mask, Dokgo Hye's handmaiden, Soo-soo, revealed her face.

She drank water with a face full of annoyance and a deep frown.

"What on earth happened?"

She retraced her steps to see if she had made any mistakes, but there was nothing special.

For the past few days, she had been following Cheon Woo-rin, and not once had her presence been discovered.

Suddenly, she recalled the sound of something hitting the wall.

It felt like a sound someone had deliberately made. But she hadn't seen anything.

Moreover, today, the guards were also far from Cheon Woo-rin's residence.

He had deliberately dismissed the guards because he had entered a room with a woman.

Thump!

At the sound of the window opening, Soo-soo was startled and turned her head. The moment she saw a black figure, she quickly threw a dagger.

Thwack!

As the dagger embedded itself in the wall, a black figure grabbed the back of Soo-soo's neck. As a large man's hand gripped the back of her neck, Soo-soo's eyes widened with a stiff expression.

By the time she thought that black smoke was brushing past her eyes, she was already subdued.

'Was I caught?'

Thinking she was going to die, she squeezed her eyes shut. Just then, she heard the voice of the man who had grabbed the back of her neck.

"Your name is Soo-soo. Why was the young lady's handmaiden on Cheon Woo-rin's roof?"

"Kill me."

It meant she would not answer useless questions.

At Soo-soo's answer, which showed a firm will, Jin Sawoon let go of his hand and took a step back.

Whoosh!

In that instant, Soo-soo turned her body, and a sharp dagger in her hand flashed, cutting at Jin Sawoon's neck.

Jin Sawoon raised his hand, grabbed Soo-soo's right wrist, then grabbed her neck and applied pressure.

"Keuk!"

"I am Jin Sawoon of Ghost Spirit Valley. I guarded the young lady a while ago."

With his words, he let go of Soo-soo.

Soo-soo stepped back three paces, then grabbed her neck and caught her breath. She felt her mind go blank for a moment as her neck was choked.

"You were the porter."

As Jin Sawoon spoke again, Soo-soo, who had come to her senses, recalled the Slaughter Ghosts of Ghost Spirit Valley who had boarded the luggage carriage at the Cult.

There were five of them, but she had thought it strange that the number had been reduced to four at Gisan Manor. She realized that the one who had disappeared was Jin Sawoon.

She had only seen him in passing, but her memory was not bad.

As the killing intent disappeared from Soo-soo's face, Jin Sawoon picked up the teapot on the table and drank from it.

Soo-soo, still with a wary face, stroked her neck and asked.

"Was the incident at the Cheon family manor just now your doing too?"

"I thought you were an assassin, so I deliberately informed Cheon Woo-rin."

"An assassin?"

"Anyone who sees a masked person on a roof in the middle of the night would think so."

At Jin Sawoon's words, Soo-soo sighed as if she had nothing to say and sat down in a chair.

As Jin Sawoon said, to others, her appearance was enough to be mistaken for an assassin.

In fact, Jin Sawoon had chased her to kill her. He had intended to torture her to reveal her backer, but there was no need for that.

There was no way Dokgo Hye's handmaiden was an assassin. Soo-soo said.

"I was doing what the young lady ordered. She told me to find out everything about Cheon Woo-rin."

"Why?"

"She liked him."

At her answer, Jin Sawoon's expression hardened. It was because it was an unexpected answer.

Soo-soo spoke again.

"The young lady thought that Young Master Cheon was a good person, so she told me to find out more. She said that if he was truly the chivalrous person he was rumored to be, it would be okay to think about marriage. Because what you see on the outside and what's on the inside are different. Just as there are people who are the same on the inside and out, there are also people who are not."

"So even his private life?"

"Of course."

Soo-soo answered as if it were a matter of course. Immediately after, she glanced at Jin Sawoon and asked.

"But what business does a Slaughter Ghost of Ghost Spirit Valley have approaching Cheon Woo-rin? You didn't come as an assassin, and it seems you were trying to get information like me, right?"

"The order I received is to monitor Cheon Woo-rin. It's my mission to report his every move."

"I'm glad I'm not going to die."

"The order I received is surveillance, not assassination."

At Jin Sawoon's indifferent answer, Soo-soo realized that he was not someone who took jokes.

Soo-soo asked in a subtle voice.

"We have the same purpose, so how about we share our information and join hands? You seem to be quite skilled, so wouldn't it be good to cooperate?"

Receiving Soo-soo's proposal, Jin Sawoon thought for a moment.

Soo-soo thought that Jin Sawoon's infiltration ability was amazing. She couldn't even feel his presence while he was approaching her room.

If he had stepped on the roof, a faint sound would have been made. But Jin Sawoon was not. Even now, Jin Sawoon's breathing was so faint that it was hard to even hear.

'Two is better than one.'

Soo-soo wanted to work together with Jin Sawoon since they had the same purpose. Two would be much more comfortable than one, and the risk would also be reduced.

Unlike Soo-soo, Jin Sawoon didn't mind being alone rather than in a pair. But he knew that for the sake of the purpose, two was more convenient.

He also judged that Soo-soo's stealth ability was not bad.

"My name is Jin Sawoon."

As Jin Sawoon said his name, Soo-soo smiled.

"I am Eun Soo-soo. Call me Soo-soo. I'll call you Sawoon."

"Okay."

Jin Sawoon answered as if he had no complaints about her words, then sat on the bed and asked.

"Who was the woman with Cheon Woo-rin?"

It was the question he was most curious about.

Eun Soo-soo frowned.

"Seomun Ok of the Seomun family."

"Hwahwaru?"

"That's right."

Hearing the name Seomun Ok, Jin Sawoon nodded as if he knew her well.

Seomun Ok was the niece of the Seomun family head and the owner of Hwahwaru. Hwahwaru was the most famous brothel in Cheonsu City, and it was said that it was always bustling with customers because of its many beautiful courtesans.

On the outside, Hwahwaru was a brothel, but it was also a place that handled the world's information.

She had been married in the past, but after her divorce, she was living at Hwahwaru. She was in her late twenties and had no children.

Soo-soo sighed and said.

"Seomun Ok is not a big problem. Besides Seomun Ok, Young Master Cheon is physically involved with two other women. He's a promiscuous bastard."

"Who are the other two?"

"Cheon Ae-ryeong and a handmaiden named Hong-hwa."

"Cheon Ae-ryeong?"

When the name Cheon Ae-ryeong came out, Jin Sawoon was very surprised, unlike usual.

"Surprising, isn't it?"

As Soo-soo read his expression and asked with a light smile, Jin Sawoon's face returned to being expressionless.

Cheon Ae-ryeong was Cheon Woo-rin's cousin. She was the daughter of the head of the Cheon family manor, and she too was famous for her beauty.

She was known as a woman with a quiet personality and few words, and she did not have much interaction with the rising generation.

"Did you report that fact to the young lady?"

"Not yet. I can't because the young lady is at her family's home. I'm planning to inform her briefly by letter tomorrow. And since she's coming to the Cult in fifteen days, I'll have to properly reveal Young Master Cheon's true face then."

Even as Eun Soo-soo spoke, she poured and drank tea as if her insides were burning, and then frowned.

"I thought there wouldn't be much to it because his reputation was good, but he's lecherous and shows too many bad sides. You know that Young Master Cheon asked the young lady to marry him, right? It's not an official marriage proposal yet, but it seems the talk will come out soon. Of course, it's a ridiculous story."

Eun Soo-soo spoke with killing intent, as all the good feelings she had for Cheon Woo-rin had disappeared.

Just as her expectations for Cheon Woo-rin were high, her disappointment was also great.

Rumble!

As the sound of many people's footsteps was heard from outside the window, Jin Sawoon slightly opened the window.

In his eyes, he saw many warriors of the Cheon family who had come out of the Cheon family manor. They were roaming around in groups of three and five from the alleys to the main road.

"Does Young Master Cheon think the intruder was an assassin?"

When Jin Sawoon asked, Eun Soo-soo couldn't answer. Jin Sawoon asked again.

"Where did you learn stealth? I heard you grew up in the Dokgo family. Do they also teach stealth in the Dokgo family?"

"You know about me too?"

"Because you're the young lady's friend. I don't know much, but I know the gist."

"Ghost Spirit Valley is also amazing. To even grasp the details of common handmaidens."

Jin Sawoon shrugged his shoulders and looked at her as if to say, "Hurry up and tell me." Eun Soo-soo had a hesitant expression, as if she was debating whether to speak.

"How can I join hands and work together with someone who is not honest?"

As Jin Sawoon asked again, Eun Soo-soo answered as if she had no choice.

"The Dokgo family basically doesn't trust others. They don't trust people, so would they trust information? They don't trust the information that comes up from the Heavenly Divine Cult either. So they have an organization they created independently. I learned there."

"It's not an organization known to the Cult, is it?"

"That's right. But it's not just the Dokgo family. Other families also have similar organizations. The Cheon family is the same."

"I haven't seen any of those guys at the Cheon family manor?"

"They probably didn't bring them because they didn't feel the need. With this incident, the security around Cheon Woo-rin will be strengthened, and people like us will be deployed."

Hearing Eun Soo-soo's words, Jin Sawoon felt that he didn't know as much about the Cult as he thought.

Suddenly, Kang Yu's words came to mind.

"We are just pawns belonging to Ghost Spirit Valley."

(End of Chapter)