Volume 1 Chapter 24 – Destiny

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Translated by Rain

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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Se-ah’s mind was confused as she listened to Yeon So-hyeon’s story.

His story, which mixed the past and the future, was bound to be confusing to her.

“Do you intend to achieve that righteous thing you want to do, even if countless sacrifices follow?”

Even if there were sacrifices, Se-ah had thought of them as only herself and those who shared her will.

“Even if, because of the things you do, innocent people who have nothing to do with it end up dying?”

“How could that be!”

At that answer, So-hyeon looked back at her.

“Ah?!”

Se-ah’s pupils dilated.

A crude yet terrifyingly white mask filled her vision.

Yeon So-hyeon, wearing the mask, slowly raised his hand.

“That must have been why. Those who kept such a righteous heart deep inside their souls withered away alone.”

As he raised his hand, the freezing winter wind grazed it.

“Though to change the flow of the giant river called history, that much blood must flow.”

As he waved his hand, the wind somehow seemed to grow stronger.

Se-ah trembled in the freezing wind.

“But those righteous ones cannot bear to see that immense number of innocent people sacrificed to warp the river’s flow.”

He tried to grasp the cold wind, but the wind only scattered and flowed.

“And so, even if their names remained as infamy and were defiled, they only sacrificed themselves.”

Having merely waved his hand in the empty air, he lowered it.

“Even though nothing changed as a result.”

His masked face tilted to the side.

“……Was that a futile sacrifice? Was that ultimately the sisters’ unavoidable destiny.”

Se-ah could not follow Yeon So-hyeon’s story.

“I do not know what story you are……”

However, Yeon So-hyeon was no longer there.

“In my childhood, I dreamed of changing the world, but I realized that it was a corrupt dream.”

His voice was extremely gloomy.

“Since then, my lifelong wish has been to live finding peace in poverty and enjoying the Way .”

Se-ah hurriedly shifted her gaze in the direction of the voice.

“?!”

So-hyeon was already standing on the wall, looking down at her.

She could not understand what kind of art Yeon So-hyeon had just performed.

Had the Swordless One of the Luoyang Sword Family been hiding his martial arts?

However, she felt a thick shadow that went beyond mere martial arts.

“But because of my born status, finding peace in poverty and enjoying the Way was impossible.”

Although the distance between him and Se-ah was far, for some reason, she felt as if she were hearing his voice right beside her.

“So I pursued tranquility. I expected that if I cast away my own greed again and again, I could be as free as the wind passing through a net.”

A metallic sound that seemed to scrape the eardrums was mixed in that voice.

“I failed.”

He displayed both hands toward the sky with exaggerated gestures.

“In the end, I failed to change the destiny I was born with. I ultimately knelt beneath the star that rules over me.”

That movement, like that of an actor appearing in a play, was exaggerated, yet it was not ridiculous, and it drew out a deep trembling of emotions.

“……However, you sisters’ destiny has not yet been decided.”

It was no longer the Eldest Young Master’s voice.

It could not even be called a human voice.

That voice, which seemed to consist solely of a heavy metallic tone, was rough, cruel, and filled with a somewhat sad resonance.

“I will watch over your destiny.”

No eyeholes could be found in that mask.

Yet for some reason, Se-ah felt a gaze much clearer than facing someone’s eyes at a close distance.

“Whether your destiny will intersect with mine, or if they can overlap, I shall watch.”

His figure, wearing the white mask and the white robes of a scholar, began to melt into the darkness.

“My path is the demonic path of the underworld where the mountain of corpses and sea of blood of the inhuman demonic realm unfold.”

As if melting into the deep darkness, as if scattering into the blade-like winter wind, his figure vanished.

“I pray we do not meet upon it……”

Was the word he left behind a prayer of worry, or a mockery of destiny?

As if possessed by something, Se-ah stared blankly at the wall where the Eldest Young Master had vanished.

Soon the clouds cleared, and the moonlight beautifully illuminated the tiles on the wall.

However, beneath that soft and warm moonlight, there was no sign of the Eldest Young Master.

* * *

Since the Black Bone Gang was an organization that operated mainly in the back alleys, rapid loss of personnel was inevitable.

Nevertheless, the Black Bone Gang was the organization that recruited new members the easiest in all of Luoyang.

Luoyang was a huge and luxurious commercial city with millions of people, and what supported that splendor was a darkness even larger than it.

Those whom the government offices dared not even attempt to count were living in the slums.

‘Do you want to survive in the slums? If so, join.’

The Black Bone Gang was not the kind of organization one could only enter if they had some special skill.

In fact, it did not matter if one was missing one or more qualities.

Rather, that was preferred.

Those who lacked humanity, common sense, or mercy were much more favored for employment.

And such ‘lacking ones’ were rotting away in the slums.

The rest did not matter.

Once they joined and lived with the brothers and sisters, they naturally became completed as excellent members of the Black Bone Gang.

Today, too, their numbers were steadily increasing.

* * *

Amid the common slum landscape that could be seen anywhere in Luoyang, there was a branch of the Black Bone Gang.

Although they called it by the plausible name of a branch, it was a place that could only be called a den at best.

“Haaah……”

The brute guarding the entrance of that den was also an example of someone who had become an excellent member through the aforementioned process.

His father had lost his life to bandits while working for an escort agency (at least that was what he heard).

While his mother did her best to survive, he also did his best alone and had survived somehow.

In that process of growing up, he realized that there were more things he lacked than things he possessed.

And he also realized that it was a law that could never be overturned.

So he joined the Black Bone Gang.

Together with his newly gained brothers, he became absorbed in venting the accumulated resentment and sorrow.

The skull tattoos engraved on his body increased one by one.

He was grateful that this path was amazingly suited to his aptitude.

‘Finally, just a few more jobs, and I will be promoted. Hehe, then I will take the lackeys under me and get my hands on that bitch next door first…’

He even had such constructive plans for the future.

Just thinking about roaming the streets leading the subordinates who would increase in the future made his chest swell with pride.

If that happened, there would be no one in the neighborhood who would look down on him.

Actually, it did not matter if they looked down on him a bit.

He was more attracted to that side.

Was it not because he wanted to press down on that bitch next door, who always looked at him as if he were dirty, even more because of that?

“Is this the Black Bone Gang branch?”

While he was imagining the things that would happen with that bitch next door, and his crotch was getting heavy.

He waved his hand carelessly.

“Beat it.”

However, the opponent was persistent.

“I asked if this is the Black Bone Gang branch.”

He sighed.

“Kid. They do not recruit small, scrawny bastards like you, so beat it while I am being nice.”

“I did not exactly come to be recruited, though?”

The boy, who held his head high, shrugged.

Normally, he would have beaten up anyone wearing that kind of ‘unpleasant mask’ as soon as he met them, but right now, he was in a very good mood.

“Fine. This big brother will specially interview you.”

He displayed his fists, which were heavily calloused at every joint.

“Hold out for just two hits. Then I will specially recommend you so you can get recruited.”

From beneath the mask that shone white under the moonlight, a sound of blatant mockery leaked out.

“I told you I did not come to join. What a frustrating fellow.”

“You son of a bitch, then what is it?!”

Beneath the mask that covered half of his face, the boy’s mouth tore open, revealing sharp teeth.

“Eh? Uh……?!”

The brute wanted to scream, but no voice came out.

Not only did no voice come out, but he could not move his body either.

He could not understand what he was looking at.

“Since you are also a ‘gatekeeper,’ I am kindly telling you……”

Before he knew it, the thing that had approached his side stood on its tiptoes and whispered in his ear.

Its breath was a freezing cold that seemed to slice through flesh.

“I have come to eat you all up.”

“……?!”

As the thing pushed the brute slightly, an irresistible, massive force blew him away.

He lightly flew through the entrance he had been guarding, and could only stop after bouncing two or three times in the filthy, narrow hallway.

“Uuuh, uh……”

He could not even breathe from the impact.

Pain coursed through his mind.

While he wriggled like a bug, rubbing his back against the floor, the thing approached with light steps.

It looked down at him and smiled.

It was a spotless, clear smile, but its mouth was packed with teeth like awls or needles.

From that smile, he felt a fear he had never experienced before.

“Now, now, sing a song.”

“Uuu-ugh!”

What song was he supposed to sing in this situation?

Soon, he faced the opportunity to understand its words all too clearly through his own body.

“If I were to point out what is important when singing a song, the first is indeed breathing.”

Its hand crept toward his abdomen.

“And breathing starts here.”

Its appearance had a comical side, like those performing a play.

“Now, take a deep breath in—”

The hand that arrived at the exact center of his abdomen dug into it without mercy.

“Keu-aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaak!!”

The hand that dug into his stomach was terribly cold.

And immediately after, some terribly hot energy began to melt his intestines.

“You have completely mastered the first step!”

The brute, whose intestines were all melted by the demonic qi of the Scripture of Controlling Darkness and Shaking the Heavens, stopped moving.

“Unfortunately, you had no chance to learn the second step.”

Giggle, giggle. The mask shook, spilling a bizarre laughter.

It was the result of a mask that had not been completed, meeting madness and resentment and becoming complete as a ghostly creature.

“W-What is it?!”

“Which bastard is it?!”

Startled by the brute’s death throes , the Black Bone Gang members rushed out with their weapons.

The scream was so terrible that there were even those who ran out barefoot while sleeping.

However, regardless of having rushed out quite quickly, everyone had no choice but to stop in the hallway.

“E-Eh?!”

Everyone lost their words.

The abdomen of their dead companion was blown wide open, and melted intestines and bubbling blood flowed thickly along the sloped hallway.

And the thing, which looked as if it had just jumped out of a nightmare, waved its blood-drenched hand and greeted them.

“Hello, everyone. Is it not a good night?”