The sword sliced through the wind, blood splattering everywhere. Guhyeon-su panted and lifted his sword. Blood streamed from Miss Yeo Il-ye’s eye. Despite that, she remained on one knee.
Cling-Clang.
“Ugh… Ugh… Ugh!!”
Guhyeon-su dropped his sword and plopped down.
He couldn’t bring himself to swing his sword while watching Miss Yeo Il-ye calmly accept her sword, even as a peak expert. He still could not accept Miss Yeo Il-ye’s words. She had pushed his father to his death, and Guhyeon-su had to pay with his life as repayment.
Otherwise…
If he were to let go of his resentment and hatred toward Miss Yeo Il-ye, he had no idea how to fill this empty heart.
But Guhyeon-su could not raise his sword.
How could he, a boy on the verge of collapse, meet her cold gaze, unwavering in her acceptance of her choice? He couldn’t even muster the courage to surrender to his own hatred and rage.
So, Guhyeon-su lay down and cried out loud.
Whether that cry was from the sorrow of losing his father, guilt over taking away Miss Yeo Il-ye’s sight, or perhaps a scream blaming his own weakness, he alone would know.
Drip.
“It’s raining.”
Ignoring the pain etched on her face, Miss Yeo Il-ye looked up at the sky. One by one, raindrops began to fall and quickly transformed into a torrential downpour.
Miss Yeo Il-ye draped her bloodied cloak over the sobbing Guhyeon-su. Whether he noticed or not, Guhyeon-su simply kept his head down and cried.
Step.
“I don’t know if you remember, but you once attacked me. It was back when I was wandering around as a junior with a now-retired senior.”
Yeong Ji-hu-yeol said this as he picked up Miss Yeo Il-ye’s sword. Even after having his childhood weapon taken by another, Miss Yeo Il-ye silently looked up at Yeong Ji-hu-yeol.
“Getting hurt is a common occurrence for an outcast. However, that twisted smile you wore when you ambushed and flattened us left a deep mark in my mind. I was truly furious and unfairly treated.”
“What have I done? What did my senior do for us to end up like this? How could someone with no enemies in Sacheon act so heartlessly? Is it permissible for a martial artist of the Jeomchang Faction to stomp on outcasts without reason? I thought that and bore a grudge.”
Yeong Ji-hu-yeol continued as he drew Miss Yeo Il-ye’s sword.
“And that’s why I came here. I clearly understood why Hwang Geum-seon called for me, but your relationship with him doesn’t concern me. I thought this would be your last chance to settle your grudges before returning to the Jeomchang Faction.”
Miss Yeo Il-ye quietly listened to Yeong Ji-hu-yeol’s words. Rain poured down like holes had opened in the sky, and though she was bleeding profusely from facial wounds, neither she nor Yeong Ji-hu-yeol acted as if they were bothered by it.
“But today, seeing you like this… a question arises. Am I a righteous person enough to hold a grudge against you?”
“I chose to become a Sacheon Outcast, committing evil deeds for money. I may not have crossed the line, but I still threatened those who had no martial arts training while deceiving and ambushing people.”
Yeong Ji-hu-yeol sighed deeply.
“Just because I didn’t cross the line, does that mean my evil deeds aren’t evil? Can I genuinely say I feel wronged in front of you? I’m not sure anymore. Hah. The only thing left I can proudly say about feeling wronged is that you cut my sword when you came to deliver the Gratitude Plaque to Ho Cheon-an.”
Yeong Ji-hu-yeol drew his sword and let it hang. Noticing Miss Yeo Il-ye’s one remaining eye following the sword’s blade, he raised his own sword.
“So, I’ll consider settling our grudge with taking your sword.”
Zzzziing!
The clash of Yeong Ji-hu-yeol’s sword and Miss Yeo Il-ye’s sword echoed. The two swords, swung with all the might of a peak expert, broke simultaneously.
Yeong Ji-hu-yeol looked at his broken sword with a relieved expression. He tossed aside the hilt of his sword and, without hesitation, sheathed Miss Yeo Il-ye’s broken sword before handing it to her.
“I’m sorry for breaking your sword. I’ll gift you a new, magnificent one.”
“…I’ll be waiting.”
Breaking a sword and then promising a new one? It was a nonsensical move, but Miss Yeo Il-ye understood Yeong Ji-hu-yeol. He had settled their karmic ties right here. The reason for breaking his own sword was something only Yeong Ji-hu-yeol would know.
Yeong Ji-hu-yeol stepped aside, and Miss Yeo Il-ye rose to her feet.
Swish!
The rain pounded fiercely against her body. Blood continued to flow from her left eye, yet Miss Yeo Il-ye took a step forward toward the Family Head’s Quarters, unfazed.
The broken sword and her lost eye were the prices Miss Yeo Il-ye had chosen to pay for her apology. It was also the karma for recklessly harming others, consumed by anger.
Though it might have been a foolish choice, Miss Yeo Il-ye simply thought she wanted this. It was not some shallow calculation that perhaps bleeding here and fighting with a broken sword might lead to forgiveness.
She merely wanted to face and not deny the karma she had built up herself.
Stepping inside the Family Head’s Quarters, which had not a single window open, Miss Yeo Il-ye felt an overwhelming darkness, even at noon.
In her right hand, she held the sword and in her left, the sword sheath. There was only a three-inch blade left, but extending its length with her swordsmanship should allow her to use it.
Swash!
Swish!
Martial artists hidden in the darkness of the Family Head’s Quarters began to ambush her one by one. Miss Yeo Il-ye responded to their attacks while checking her own condition. The wounds on her face were serious, continuously bleeding without any way to stop it. The throbbing pain felt like it was penetrating through her skin straight to her brain, and with one eye missing, her depth perception was severely off.
Her internal energy was not at its best either. If she had been cutting down opponents with her sword one by one, she might have managed, but she had wasted a considerable amount engaging the martial artists.
However, her mind was calmer than ever.
‘So it is…’
In the midst of chaos, a sense of clarity emerged.
Miss Yeo Il-ye focused on the inner steel framework of her being. It looked sturdy at first glance, but the lower part was completely hollow.
She melted away the flames of her inner self, reshaping that structure. Thus, she had changed, and she believed that the flames had died down.
But that was not the case.
The flames may have vanished, but Miss Yeo Il-ye’s interior did not turn cold. She finally gazed upon her true inner self. Though it had been reshaped, instead of becoming cold, it burned with warmth.
‘How haphazard.’
Miss Yeo Il-ye chuckled as she looked at her inner self. Had she tried to build a new structure over the burning cabin? What a ridiculous thing to do.
The inner flames had ebbed away, but it simply transformed into a form of heat. Although she thought she had concluded everything, in reality, she had not even properly finished refining the flames.
She hadn’t cooled her insides, so why had she considered it complete? She had just thought that because the form changed, the heat would cool down on its own.
‘Then let’s correct it.’
Miss Yeo Il-ye’s imagery reshaped itself anew. The form was not a building.
It was a person.
Her mother. Father. The tribesmen who secretly gave her the Tang Clan. The servant who swept the yard every day. The gardener. The martial artists guarding the cabin…
The master of the Jeomchang Faction. Her junior sisters. Master Cheongheo and the elders of other sects. The adorable Big Brother Hyeok Gi-rin.
And a certain outcast who wore a death mask.
Instead of a hollow, bizarre structure, shapes of people filled Miss Yeo Il-ye’s interior.
Drip. Drip.
Finally.
Pitter-patter… swish!
Rain began to fall inside Miss Yeo Il-ye’s being. As the raindrops landed on her heated interior, they cooled her heart.
Control over the internal energy, which had been rushing out haphazardly, fell back into her hands.
“Indeed.”
She had previously been satisfied with merely handling the vast internal energy. But was that the correct approach? No matter how abundant the internal energy, it was abnormal not to be able to wield it freely.
The elite warriors of the Hwang Gold Clan hid in the darkness of the Family Head’s Quarters, openly stalling for time. They must have thought that since they couldn’t win head-on against her and with her severe facial injury, taking their time would work in their favor.
‘I can feel it.’
The winds of internal energy softly spread throughout the Family Head’s Quarters. It was unthinkable for a usual martial artist to use an abundance of their internal energy for scouting when they should be saving it, but it was feasible for Miss Yeo Il-ye.
“Ugh!”
“Khack!”
One by one, elite warriors hiding in the depths of the Family Head’s Quarters began to be hunted. Initially relying on the darkness and familiar terrain to confront Miss Yeo Il-ye, those who had already exposed their positions were no match for her.
Pfft!
Miss Yeo Il-ye glanced sideways at the martial artists she had just defeated before continuing forward. At this point, only one person’s presence could still be felt in the Family Head’s Quarters.
“Hwang Geum-seon.”
“Looks like the country bumpkin of a hick cabin has stirred things up to this extent.”
Miss Yeo Il-ye walked silently.
“It seems the ones gathered in front of the Family Head’s Quarters couldn’t stop you! Haha, you’re no different than a fellow like me! Aren’t you the son of one who died because of you? What’s the difference between you trampling on someone like him and me trampling on you?”
“…I have one question.”
Miss Yeo Il-ye asked quietly. There were barely thirty Sacheon Outcasts. So how was it that every time she visited Sacheon, she encountered the Sacheon Outcasts so frequently?
And how did Hwang Geum-seon precisely gather outcasts who had grievances against her and their families?
If Hwang Geum-seon had sufficient power, it would not have been impossible to extract personal information poking through the anonymity of the Sacheon Outcasts, but…
“Did you send requests to the outcasts every time I visited Sacheon?”
It suddenly felt like Hwang Geum-seon was the one controlling the requests, leading to her acquiring that information.
“Hahaha! Then what do you plan to do? Why do you want to blame me now? Oh great hero of the Red Bamboo Swordswomen! Were you not the one who charged in like a raging bull every time you met an outcast?”
“Right. You wouldn’t have left me alone…”
“Hahaha… I should’ve ensured it back then. I’m curious as to how you managed to grill those stiff-headed Taoists of the Jeomchang Faction. What’s the secret to remaining in the sect while causing such a ruckus multiple times? Hahahaha!”
Hwang Geum-seon could no longer speak. Miss Yeo Il-ye had unleashed her internal energy, pressing down on him.
“In the end, you’ve tossed my life into chaos. Not content with burning down my cabin, you made an effort to snatch away the Jeomchang, my second protector and home.”
“You… kuh…!”
Though there was a more refined method called “pointing the blood,” to silence him, Miss Yeo Il-ye opted to suppress him with her internal energy.
Miss Yeo Il-ye looked into the bloodshot eyes of Hwang Geum-seon, filled with poisons and malice, which couldn’t conceal the fear of death.
“You seem to understand that you have done a thousand and one cruel acts.”
Miss Yeo Il-ye tightened her grip with her right hand. Though it was broken by Yeong Ji-hu-yeol, three inches of blade remained.
With this, a person could easily die.
“Ugh!… Agh!”
Despite the pressure of her internal energy, Hwang Geum-seon desperately flailed around to survive, his eyes pleading.
“Oops! I hit a little too hard.”
Miss Yeo Il-ye muttered as she watched Hwang Geum-seon tumble from his chair to the floor, scattering his teeth. Well, this should be fine. She thought, letting out a long sigh.
Just looking at him rolling on the ground relieved her. If she could just kill Hwang Geum-seon right here, it would cool the pent-up bitterness in her heart.
“But if I kill you here, their pent-up bitterness will remain unresolved.”
Hwang Geum-seon had committed numerous crimes. The people he had plunged into misfortune were not just Miss Yeo Il-ye. Countless individuals had fallen into despair because of him.
Hwang Geum-seon was not only her nemesis. For every sin he had committed, just as many people suffered due to him. And among them, someone might be raging against others instead of Hwang Geum-seon, just as young Miss Yeo Il-ye had.
Everything about Hwang Geum-seon’s misdeeds had to come to light. The ones who lost their money. The ones who lost their families. The ones who lost their dreams… The ones who lost their precious possessions. Those wronged by his evildoings had to learn that Hwang Geum-seon was behind their suffering.
Although what they treasured would not return, at least it might serve as a wisp of comfort to soothe their feeling of loss.
“I’ll make you spit out everything down to your very bottom from the underground of the government office.”
Miss Yeo Il-ye murmured, grasping the back of the fainted Hwang Geum-seon’s neck.
Rumbling! Swish!
On a summer day when it seemed like the sky had opened up, rain poured relentlessly.
The revenge drama unfolding in the Hwang Gold Clan had come to a close.
