The Former Supreme Master [Novel] Chapter 21

***Read This Series Only At: Thunderscans.com***

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# How Much Is My Life Worth? (1)

Gwang Sal.

Cheon Geuk was stunned when that unexpected name came out of his mouth.

“Why him?”

“So he *is* alive.”

The moment those words left her mouth, Cheon Geuk realized she had made a mistake. She should have responded with, *’Why look for a dead man?’*

“He has already passed away.”

However, her belated excuse stood no chance of working on Baek Socheon.

“It’s too late for that, so don’t waste your breath. Just take me to him.”

Cheon Geuk knew enough about Baek Socheon to give up quickly.

“Why are you looking for him?”

“It’s personal. You don’t need to know.”

“If you’re trying to meet someone that important, you should at least tell me the reason.”

“He might be important to you, but to me, he’s just an old retired assassin.”

Cheon Geuk’s lips twitched. She barely held back the curse that was about to burst out. Right now, she was the one in a desperate position, a golden opportunity to wipe out the Seven Swords Association if she played her cards right.

“Fine. Let me ask just one thing.”

As long as his reason for finding him was not *this*, it should be fine.

“You’re not looking for him to kill him, are you?”

“How could I kill Gwang Sal with a body like this? Besides, you’ll be right beside him.”

“Still, promise me. Swear on your name.”

“Right now, my name isn’t great enough to stake on an oath.”

“Swear it!”

“Fine, if that makes you feel better.”

“You promised, right?”

“I promise on my name.”

“Good. Once you find the evidence, I’ll take you to Gwang Sal. I promise on my name as well.”

—

Just then, the voices of Beon Saeng and Lim Chung echoed from outside the house.

Beon Saeng’s excited, flushed voice could be heard all the way inside,

“Wow, how can a person be that pretty?”

To Beon Saeng, Cheon Geuk was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his life.

Realizing that she was the subject of the compliment floating in from outside, Cheon Geuk pointed at herself with a finger.

*‘That’s the kind of woman I am.’*

Next, Lim Chung’s voice carried over,

“You didn’t even get to see her face, did you?”

“Her face is definitely pretty too. I’m certain! Man, I want to see that young lady again.”

“Big Brother said it himself, didn’t he? That she’s the scariest person in the Central Plains.”

At those words, Cheon Geuk wrinkled her nose slightly. Whether it was dissatisfaction at why he described her like that, annoyance that they were pressing forward despite knowing it, or simply a dislike for the ring of the word ‘scary,’ her true thoughts were hard to tell.

“Big Brother, we’re back.”

“Come in.”

The door opened, and Lim Chung and Beon Saeng stepped inside.

As the two entered, they flinched in surprise upon seeing Cheon Geuk inside the room.

Right before they came in, Cheon Geuk had put her veiled bamboo hat back on. Yet ironically, that was precisely how they could tell she was the same woman from earlier.

Dazed, Beon Saeng greeted her as if possessed by a spell,

“I am Beon Saeng, working here at the local branch. I’m… well, Big Brother Baek’s younger brother.”

“Younger brother?”

She asked Baek Socheon, finding it unexpected.

“You make younger brothers too?”

“In what universe does he look like my younger brother?”

*Standing before a beauty you might see once in a lifetime, and he acts like this?* Beon Saeng launched his counterattack.

“Big Brother said that you are a very scary person, Lady. That you’re the scariest person in the martial world… That’s slander, right?”

“Of course it’s slander. Where on me does it look like that?”

When she accepted his banter comfortably, Beon Saeng gained courage.

“Haha! I knew it. Our Big Brother is great in every way, but he suffers a bit from compulsive lying. Please understand, Lady.”

“I know everything too well. Not only does he lie, but he also curses a lot, and sometimes he gets violent.”

“Oh, you know Big Brother quite well!”

“I know enough.”

“How? Wait, Lady, what do you do for a living?”

“I am the Alliance Leader of the Assassin Alliance.”

“Hahaha, that’s a good one! Alliance Leader of the Assassin Alliance… Not only are you beautiful, but you also have a great sense of humor.”

“It’s not a joke.”

“And a great actress too!”

“It’s not a joke, so naturally it’s not an act either, right?”

“Ayyy, come on.”

“I’m telling you, it’s true.”

“……Wait, are you serious?”

When she nodded her head, Beon Saeng shrank his neck back like a turtle and scrambled backward. Retreating all the way to the wall, he finally cried out with a tearful face,

“……Why on earth is a squad leader of the Murim Alliance’s Iron Sword Squad meeting the Alliance Leader of the Assassin Alliance in his own room?!”

A smile formed at the corners of her lips beneath the veil, though no one else could see it.

She rose from her seat.

Beon Saeng flinched, terrified that she might walk toward him, but she simply bid farewell with a chuckle.

“See you next time.”

“Yes! Alliance Leader! It was a grand honor to meet you!”

Beon Saeng bowed his waist until it nearly touched the floor.

When he raised his head, she had already left the room.

Lim Chung spoke to Beon Saeng with a pathetic look on his face,

“Even if you met our Murim Alliance Leader, you wouldn’t have bowed that politely.”

“Our Alliance Leader wouldn’t kill me just because I gave a careless greeting, okay?”

Beon Saeng then turned to Baek Socheon and asked:

“Is that woman really the Alliance Leader of the Assassin Alliance?”

“Yeah.”

“How do you know someone like that?”

“Because I put her in that seat.”

Normally, this would be the exact moment for Beon Saeng’s usual banter, starting with, *’Our Big Brother’s bluffs have now evolved to the level of Alliance Leaders!’*

However, Beon Saeng couldn’t say a word. He was utterly overwhelmed by the fact that he had just met the Leader of the Assassin Alliance.

Judging by the atmosphere, she was undeniably the Assassin Alliance Leader.

He couldn’t believe he had shared a room, greeted, and even held a conversation with someone he would barely see once in a lifetime. The fact that she was a young woman was also a fresh shock.

“I really can’t believe it.”

Earlier, Baek Socheon had mentioned summoning someone from the assassin side, but Beon Saeng had never imagined in his wild dreams that it would be the Leader of the Assassin Alliance herself.

He felt an intricate mix of emotions, thrilled, stunned, and thoroughly baffled.

*‘Ah! Were the two of them dating?’*

Yet compared to such wild guesses, Baek Socheon’s evaluation of her was harsh.

“That woman is the boss of thugs who kill people for money. So you shouldn’t admire her.”

“Yes!”

Beon Saeng answered forcefully. Forget admiration; he had no intention of going anywhere near her again.

He wouldn’t brag to anyone about meeting her, either. Because he had already envisioned a scene in his head: one night after boasting about it, he would wake up to a masked assassin slicing his throat with a dagger while muttering, *’She is not someone a trash like you should speak of.’*

—

Cheon Geuk was drinking liquor aboard a floating boat.

Rather than staying inside a house somewhere, she preferred drifting on the river like this. Being out here brought an odd sense of peace to her mind.

Dong Seong asked cautiously:

“Who is the person named Gwang Sal?”

“He is a very famous senior of our assassin realm. He was called Gwang Sal, the Light Kill, because he completed his assassinations as fast as light. Right now, he is retired and living quietly.”

When the alliance raised Guardian Assassin Stars, they raised them completely isolated from the world.

*All problems arise from desire.*

That was the precise reason for keeping the Guardian Assassin Stars away from the world. They believed that the more relationships these guardians formed with the world or with people, the more dangerous the Alliance Leader’s life could become.

Thus, they were kept in the dark not only regarding external martial arts news, but even internal intelligence of the assassins. They were taught only the skills of killing people, solely to protect the Alliance Leader.

In that regard, the Guardian Assassin Stars were tragic people, raised like puppets for the sake of another’s purpose.

However, Cheon Geuk was different from previous Alliance Leaders.

She taught the Four Heavenly Kills about the world. She taught them about people and emotions as well. As a result, the current Guardian Assassin Stars possessed ‘hearts’ and ‘individuality.’

Despite surrounding objections warning that side effects would arise, she pushed forward with her will, and the result was that she gained the most loyal guards among all successive Guardian Assassin Stars.

“Why is Baek Socheon trying to meet him?”

At Dong Seong’s question, Cheon Geuk shook her head. Even she couldn’t make a guess. The only thing she knew was that Baek Socheon said it was personal business.

*‘What personal business could he possibly have with Senior Gwang Sal?’*

Once the issue with the Seven Swords Association was settled, she would find out.

Lifting her cup, she said quietly:

“We’ll know soon enough.”

She viewed the outcome of this matter positively, a trust inspired by Baek Socheon, a man who lightly disregarded the presence or absence of internal energy.

—

Having received the order to bring Black Hand, Wang Gon’s son returned with out-of-the-blue news instead of the man himself.

“Father, Black Hand has disappeared.”

“Disappeared?”

“He isn’t at his residence, nor anywhere inside the house.”

Wang Gon’s expression hardened. He had been keeping a close eye on him in case he caused trouble.

“Didn’t he go to the physician?”

“No. I checked, and they said he hasn’t visited the physician either.”

Wang Gon flinched and shouted:

“Don’t tell me! Did he go to take revenge on that guy?”

Black Hand was a man whose pride in his martial arts pierced the sky. Yet that pride had been shattered to pieces this time.

“So I sent people to check, but they said nothing happened at the Murim Alliance branch.”

“Dammit. Then where the hell did this bastard go?”

“Could he have fled out of shame?”

“Black Hand? Absolutely impossible.”

Although the man’s humanity was bottom-tier, his loyalty to Wang Gon was high. There was no way he would just vanish.

“If he suffered at the hands of that man named Baek Socheon, Black Hand’s death would have been made known.”

“What if he disposed of him without leaving a trace?”

“A martial artist of the Murim Alliance? Could he really do such a thing?”

“Hmm. Then where on earth did Black Hand go?”

There was no way Wang Woo possessed an answer buried deep beneath the earth.

“Tell Cheon Yangho to investigate the guy who was dispatched this time and report back.”

“Yes, Father.”

As Wang Woo stepped out, Wang Gon grimaced. The moment he paid attention to it, a sharp pain surged through the gums where his teeth had been broken.

Unexpected hardships were pouring into his peaceful life all at once. Getting beaten up, getting arrested, and now Black Hand going missing.

*‘If the Sect Master finds out, it’ll be a disaster.’*

Being arrested at the Murim Alliance branch was already conspicuous enough, but with Black Hand missing on top of that, combining these two reports would make it look like a massive problem had occurred.

Before the situation grew any larger, he had to clean this up quickly.

Naturally, the target of his wrath became Baek Socheon.

*‘You bastard, you look like someone who used to play around back in the day, but you picked the wrong opponent this time!’*

—

Baek Socheon, who looked like someone who used to play around, wasn’t playing around today either.

Today as well, he was climbing a cliff with his bare hands.

Not long ago, he felt like he was going to die from exhaustion climbing this place, but now he was ascending with a leather satchel strapped to his back and heavy weights tied around his wrists and ankles.

Even though his climbing speed was faster than before, his breathing wasn’t as rough. He didn’t collapse flat on his back, nor did he even take off the leather satchel he was carrying.

His physical endurance had crossed into the next realm. Baek Socheon had experienced such growth twenty-seven times over the past three years.

Of course, in the beginning, they were not grand changes. Going from lying down to walking was crossing a realm, and going from walking to running was stepping into another.

In that manner, crossing a realm took a few days at shortest, and a few months at longest.

Just how many times could he surpass his limits?

Whenever he thought *this* was the limit, his body pioneered yet another new territory.

Ironically, this was possible precisely because he lacked internal energy. If he had possessed internal energy, he wouldn’t have felt the need to train his physical body to such an extreme.

A cool gust of wind fluttered Baek Socheon’s hair and clothes as he stood at the edge of the cliff. It felt as if the wind was asking him: *What will you do from here on out?*

“I am going back!”

Baek Socheon’s shout echoed through the mountains. The sky, clouds, forest, mountain birds, and the flowing stream were all witnesses to his resolve.

Because there was a reason he absolutely had to return. His demotion was a demotion meant for a comeback.

In the end, he might fail. If the reason for failure came from the outside, it couldn’t be helped.

Whether he died after getting beaten by a stronger bastard or fell after being tricked by a smarter one, he could treat it as his fate and give up cleanly. *My life ends here.*

However, he never wanted the reason for failure to lie within himself. Saying he lost because he didn’t try hard enough was an absolute no-go.

Once more, Baek Socheon shouted,

“I am definitely going back!”

It was a determination to return to two different positions, one a geographical location, and the other a symbolic one.

To the Palace of the Alliance Leader,

And to the Rank One Position of the Martial World.

—

End