194

Chapter 194 - The Main Branch - 3

After Kang Yoonho successfully found his footing in the Book Café Daseogak, he stealthily sought out the local branch of the secret organization Salmaek, following the instructions he had heard.

Kang Yoonho requested that they deliver a letter to Cheon Sohee. However, as Salmaek was a closed group and he was not one of its members, plus the location of their main branch—where the letter needed to go—was a highly guarded secret, his request was denied.

What he did manage to get from pleading with the Salmaek local branch was an agreement for them to send a brief summary of news on their own accord.

A brief report of news sent from the Uichang branch.

This report struck Cheon Sohee's mind with a force more powerful than any blunt weapon.

"The bookstore named Daseogak in Uichang seems to have him working as its manager."

It was hard to believe such news.

So filled with shock, Cheon Sohee could hardly make out what her teacher— who had previewed the report—was saying.

"He's living with a woman?"

Who? Her brother.

With whom? A woman.

Why? …Why?

Sohee couldn't wrap her mind around such unfathomable news and inevitably found herself questioning it again.

"This is unbelievable! I could have foreseen the possibility of an affair, but living together already? Yukiko! I can't hide my shock upon stepping upon the stairway to adulthood! Nin-nin!"

Cheon Sohee watched with a blank expression as the 6th Assassin, who had sneakily glanced at the report, clutched her forehead, whirling around with exaggerated gestures.

How could an average man and woman live together, unmarried, under the same roof? It was incomprehensible. How could something like that even happen?

Although Sohee herself had never once slept in a different room from Kang Yoonho, she deemed this fact insignificant.

Childhood friends. An Eokcheonja and a Cheonsalseong. A man and woman who promised a future to each other. Is there any reason they wouldn't live together? It was the most natural thing.

一 Even if a promise was made, I was taught that a man desires to pluck the flowers before his eyes.

Could her brother possibly…?

"No, there's no way he would do that."

Her voice was firm with certainty.

Despite the shocking news, Cheon Sohee did not feel anger or betrayal towards Kang Yoonho. Rather, her faith in him remained unshaken. Kang Yoonho she knew simply wasn't that sort of man.

There must be some mistake. Something else must have compelled her brother to live with another woman.

Yes, the problem must lie with the woman he was with.

"Dang Hwarin."

She must be the issue. Who could she be? From the Sacheondang perhaps? The name sounded familiar. Cheon Sohee stared intently at the name Dang Hwarin.

Who are you?

Why are you living with my brother?

He promised me a future.

What right do you have to be with the man I love?

If Cheon Sohee's glaring eyes could kill the letters on the report, the name Dang Hwarin would have been disintegrated into strokes in an instant.

A dark, sticky emotion began to seep out from within the heart of the Cheonsalseong.

"Yukiko in dire straits! I think I'm seeing the true extent of the Cheonsalseong! Yukiko! I have no confidence in facing the deranged 5th! I must prepare the Stealth Technique of the Cicada's Molt for a quick escape!"

The 6th Assassin exaggeratedly warned Cheon Sohee, who seemed to be getting consumed by disgusting and uncomfortable feelings.

"It's not what it seems."

This wasn't her usual cold bloodthirst.

She was overwhelmed with anger. However, the murderous intent of the Cheonsalseong, which sought to dominate her entire being, wasn't what was taking hold. It was cold but hot, hot but cold—a peculiar feeling, sticky and quietly bubbling up.

Cheon Sohee recalled a memory tied to a strange yet familiar emotion.

Yes. This was similar to how she felt when Kang Yoonho had talked about the woman who had taught him the art of escape in the past.

Cheon Sohee's emotion was jealousy, born from love, but being a sensation she had only experienced once before, it was difficult to articulate clearly.

"It looks as though I could dash to Uichang the moment I see his face."

Danso Wol chuckled softly to herself, having anticipated this reaction, as she watched her disciple's face fill with unfamiliar jealousy.

"...."

Can I go? Cheon Sohee refrained from speaking and did not contradict her teacher's words.

She longed to see her brother Yoonho. She wanted to ask him why he was living with another woman. She needed to know who this woman was.

But she knew she must never go.

If she could not hold herself back, she might never be able to see her brother's face again. She must never go to his side.

Cheon Sohee clenched her mouth as if suffering through the pain of patience.

"I knew you would react like this, so I requested additional reports. Read the second report."

One piece of bad news and two good ones.

Cheon Sohee started reading the first piece of good news handed to her by her teacher.

"Dang Hwarin. Purple hair, green eyes. Appears to be of the Dang lineage. Formerly of the Seong household, she was driven out due to an incident caused by the Cheonsalseong. Seong household's Hwarin?"

Cheon Sohee's eyes widened slightly as she repeated the familiar name.

"Do you know her?"

"I've heard of her. I've seen her before."

It was a name Sohee knew from her mission to assassinate the Seong household head.

On her first day infiltrating the Seong household, she had seen Seong Hwarin making a fuss at their client.

"The power shift in the Seong household, brought on by the incident you caused, left her to be expelled alone."

"Because of me?"

"Ah! Is this the so-called poetic justice? Stealing away the man who is to blame for being banished, and making him one's own in an act of revenge?"

"Yukiko."

With a chilly voice, Cheon Sohee called Yukiko by her true name.

"Hey! What did you just say? …Agh! Sorry! My bad this time! Yukiko was wrong!"

Yukiko bowed deeply, accepting her mistake after Sohee's stern look.

"If you've seen her directly, you'll understand quicker. Read the rest of the report."

"From her lower face up, there are discolored patches that seem to be some skin affliction, and she's always covering it up."

Sohee remembered the woman from the Seong household. Even though she was covered up with a veil, it wasn't a sight fit to show others.

Her brother is living with a woman afflicted with a skin disease, not a beautiful lady?

"A person with a pretty face and a destructive figure like the Cheonsalseong wouldn't be replaced with such a woman!"

Yukiko, attempting to redeem herself, offered words of comfort to ease her troubled heart.

'Could there be some other circumstance with brother Yoonho?'

The weight that had been heavily pressing on her heart began to lighten a little.

"As the report mentioned, there's something I found out about Dang Hwarin, that woman I came to know while dealing with the Seong household's affairs."

"What did you find out?"

Detecting her disciple's subtle change of mood, Danso Wol began to reveal what she had learned.

"It turns out that this Dang Hwarin girl has been burdened with a huge debt. Your 'husband' helped keep the bookstore afloat, but the debt remains. So, it's not that they're cohabiting at the bookstore; they share their lodgings and run the business together."

They were living together at the big bookstore because of a debt.

Her teacher relayed this information with a smile, knowing it would ease her disciple's romantic concerns.

"I get it now. But you could have told me that right away."

The cause and effect were clear. Her brother, whom she had once tried to kill, had helped her, and now he had assisted a woman in need. As a result, he had settled his life as a mediator and became the manager of the bookstore.

It wasn't cohabitation in a romantic sense, but sharing a space for a business partnership.

Cheon Sohee could understand that much.

"In this dreary Salmaek, there's no news more delightful than my disciple's love life. If I told you too easily, wouldn't it be less fun?"

Had her disciple not encountered the bad news, Danso Wol would have been disappointed. She laughed quietly.

"...."

Cheon Sohee glared at her teacher with dissatisfaction.

"It looks like you're a little reassured. Well, you'll be even more at ease after getting this piece of news."

Danso Wol handed her disciple the third piece of news.

"What's that?"

"It's a message sent by your 'husband' himself."

It was a movement not even visible to her own eyes. Danso Wol marveled as she watched the note disappear from her hand.

The mentor was intrigued as her disciple handled the note more carefully than any treasure, slowly unfolding it.

一 Sohee. Thanks to a new friend I've made here in Uichang, I've settled well and achieved a small success. I live on, doing my best to keep the promise I made to you.

A note barely a line long.

Kang Yoonho, after successfully completing a series of Tanggapungun orders and in high spirits for scarcity of the first and second volumes, had delivered them to Salmaek and earned permission to send this note.

It's my brother.

It's his way of speaking. I can sense him.

Cheon Sohee read the content once, twice, as if she could devour the words with each read.

"Daseogak, a bookstore with a book written by an anonymous author, has been shaking up all of Uichang. It must be your 'husband's' handiwork."

From her disciple's words, it seemed he had expressed ambitions of literary success. Danso Wol easily identified the mysterious author's identity.

"The friend mentioned in the note seems to be that Dang Hwarin person!"

"Yes, if he were really fooling around, he would have avoided mentioning other women, but telling you about her seems like he thinks of her as a business partner or at best, a friend."

What the woman thinks of the man is unknown, but Danso Wol consciously held back her words to reassure her disciple.

"I've never heard of a cheating man initiating such conversations!"

In fact, when Kang Yoonho sent the letter from Uichang, he considered Dang Hwarin a friend, so there was no reason for him to feel uncomfortable mentioning her to Cheon Sohee.

Cheon Sohee continued to stare at the note.

It was a misunderstanding.

For a moment, she had suspected her brother who was doing his best for her.

"Brother. Yoonho, my brother."

Holding the note to her chest, Cheon Sohee called out to the man who was far away.

She was well aware of how much he had suffered from his role as a mediator. He wasn't wealthy.

He wanted to succeed through a book, so he must have wanted to work at the bookstore. How much he must have struggled to land that position.

Yet, her brother continued striving to keep his promise to her.

He was always thinking of her. Writing for her.

And he had found modest success.

The emotions churning quietly within her dissipated instantly with a sense of relief and comfort.

"Brother. You're keeping your promise."

Cheon Sohee quietly embraced the news from Yoonho.

Her brother was moving forward.

That she could ever doubt such a brother - Cheon Sohee sat down, overwhelmed with emotion for her brother and a sense of guilt towards herself.

"5th Assassin! Are you trying to make me cry? Crying after getting angry will make you grow horns on your butt!"

-------------

"Pretty … right?"

The next day, Cheon Sohee quietly muttered to herself while touching her face.

The doubts were resolved, but an uneasy feeling remained. She would call her a friend, but something was off-putting. Cheon Sohee was unaware that this was a woman's intuition.

"Am I pretty, or is that Dang Hwarin woman? Are you worried about that?"

A familiar voice came down from the ceiling.

"You? Where did you come from?"

"That's not important! Yukiko! 5th Assassin, your lack of confidence is frustrating! Take a look at yourself in the mirror!"

"Why the mirror?"

"As much as I hate to say this, Cheonsalseong! In all of Joseon, I've never seen a beauty greater than Cheonsalseong. To worry about losing your heavenly ordained man to some woman with a peculiar face..."

Yukiko, with an air of dismay, brought a mirror over to her.

Indeed, Cheon Sohee's reflection in the mirror was beautiful; despite suffering buried in snow during harsh winter, she was soon to end her suffering and blossom like buds in full bloom.

Cheon Sohee hadn't given much thought to her appearance, but Yukiko's praise filled the strange void in her heart and confidence surged within her.

Let's forgive my brother for eating that half an egg. Cheon Sohee thought to herself.

"Even now, do you feel insecure? 5th Assassin?"

"No."

"If you still feel insecure, I have a method for you."

"A method?"

"Would you like to learn the art of seduction practiced by Dongyeong female ninjas?"

While Yukiko made this unexpected offer to the distressed Cheonsalseong, urgent news was flying into Uichang.