Namso!
It was the name that called the woman.
It was a forgotten name now, a name that had not been called for over fifty years. Naturally, there was no one who remembered Namso. Even if there were people who remembered, they were only grandfathers and grandmothers.
If you interpret the word Namso literally, it means perilla in the south.
Perilla.
It is a very pretty brown grass.
The name Namso is also pretty. But the meaning contained within it is so gruesome it gives you goosebumps.
Dark brown? Purple? You can think of perilla as perilla leaves dyed red.
Namso’s clothes were the color of perilla.
Her clothes were always dyed dark brown. It was because they were stained with blood. It wasn’t that blood had just splattered on them, but that blood had seeped into them for a long time and wouldn’t wash out.
That’s right. Namso had killed a great many people.
Although she was forgotten now, fifty years ago, even a sleeping child would have a seizure just by hearing the name Namso.
After roaming the martial world for ten years, Namso met a man.
The man had no place in the martial world. So he had no title, and no martial name. But he was really good with a blade. He was a master so skilled that Namso was defeated in a single move.
Namso formed a family with the man who called himself the Single-Instant Sect Master.
They lived very happily… but unfortunately, there were no children between the two. They had tried all sorts of secret remedies that were said to be good for pregnancy, but none of them had any effect.
The two gave up on having children.
But… at an old age when menopause had already passed, an age when she would be called a grandmother, she suddenly became pregnant.
It was Oh Bia.
The Single-Instant Sect Master used the Seori surname. But the Seori surname was like a title given to those who had obtained the Single-Instant Blade. The Single-Instant Sect Master’s original surname was Oh, and his daughter inherited her father’s surname.
A grandmother having a child?
The Single-Instant Sect Master and Namso had a child at an old age, but they did not think it was strange at all. Perhaps pregnancy was possible because of the youth preserving art called the Firm as a Rock Art.
Namso had trained in the Firm as a Rock Art.
Namso was only three years younger than the Single-Instant Sect Master. But she still looked like a middle aged woman in her forties. It was the effect of faithfully training in the youth preserving art.
If the Firm as a Rock Art had been just a study to maintain youth, she would not have even touched it.
To an assassin, beauty is worth less than a bone a dog has chewed and thrown away.
The Firm as a Rock Art makes the flesh as tough as rubber. It makes it as hard as a rock.
An assassin always stands before a blade. They are cut and torn by weapons as if it were a daily meal. So they research ways to heal quickly, ways to move even after being injured, and the Firm as a Rock Art is a part of that.
Fifty years ago, she had trained in the Firm as a Rock Art while working as an assassin… where does a martial art once learned go? It always sticks to the body, and you train whenever you have time.
Perhaps it was because of the Firm as a Rock Art that she was able to give birth to Oh Bia.
Oh Bia was a blessing that came to the old couple. So how pretty would she be? She was so precious that it wouldn’t hurt to put her in her eyes. Just by her whimpering, they would be at a loss and flustered.
Namso looked at Oh Bia.
The five year old girl looked at her mother with wide eyes.
“Bia, let’s go down the mountain with mommy for a bit.”
“Just the two of us?”
“Just the two of us.”
“What about daddy?”
“Let’s just tell daddy to stay here. Daddy doesn’t even play with you. Let’s just go and play by ourselves.”
“Are we going today and coming back today?”
“Since we’re going down the mountain, let’s stay for a few days. We can eat delicious food and buy pretty clothes.”
“Wow!”
Oh Bia jumped up and down with joy.
“What about big brother? Can’t we take big brother too? Let’s take big brother too, okay?”
Oh Bia whined.
She was talking about Heo Heun. Perhaps because she had met a child of her own age, Oh Bia was very attached to Heo Heun. She had followed him around until he was left alone in the cave.
“Big brother has to train in martial arts. He’s busy right now.”
“Hmph!”
Oh Bia pouted her lips.
“Hohoho!”
Namso laughed and looked at the Single-Instant Sect Master.
The old man pretended not to hear the two’s conversation and just sharpened his blade.
Swoosh! Swish! Swoosh! Swish!
The sound of the blade being sharpened sounded monotonous.
“Get dressed. Let’s go down and come back.”
“Okay.”
Oh Bia began to put on a thick fur coat.
“I’ll be back.”
She said as if it were nothing.
“Hoo!”
The old man just sighed.
“We’ll just be gone for a little while. I’m just showing this child the world, so don’t be too sad.”
Nod! Nod!
The old man nodded his head.
This was also a kind of protective measure. If the old man subdued Heo Dogi, he could meet his daughter again. But if he fell at Heo Dogi’s hands, this would be his last meeting with his daughter.
“I’m all dressed!”
Oh Bia, who didn’t know the old man’s feelings, quickly put on her fur coat and came out.
“Say goodbye to daddy.”
“I’ll be back!”
The child shouted excitedly.
“Listen to your mother.”
The old man said with a smile.
It was a farewell. Namso was taking the child.
The Single-Instant Sect Master watched the two people who were getting farther away endlessly. He watched until their figures completely disappeared from his sight. While forcibly suppressing the feeling of his chest being blocked.
* * *
“Please take care of the child.”
“Sister, if you raise her here, she’ll become an assassin.”
“It’s okay. I brought her here because it’s the safest place.”
“Is it forty years? I was surprised that you’re still the same as you were in the old days, and I’m also surprised that you have a child like this, and I’m also surprised that you’re entrusting the child to this place where you said you would never set foot in your life. It’s a day full of surprises, isn’t it?”
“I’m sorry. Was I too indifferent?”
“You cut ties with us. I understand.”
Her junior sister said calmly.
There was a difference of almost ten years between Namso and her junior sister. When Namso settled down and went into seclusion, her junior sister had succeeded in her first kill and couldn’t contain her excitement.
Now, her junior sister looked much more experienced.
Her junior sister was a female leader who held a corner of the central plains, while Namso was just a middle aged wife who was aging gracefully.
“If I don’t come to pick up Bia within a month… raise her in earnest. Please.”
Namso held out two secret manuals.
“All my martial arts came from here. So there’s nothing else to leave behind, and this is the Firm as a Rock Art. I got it in the martial world, and I think this is what allowed me to have Bia at this age.”
Her junior sister nodded her head as she looked at the secret manual.
“And this is the middle volume of the Blood Sword Sutra.”
“The Blood Sword Sutra…!”
Her junior sister, who had been calm about the Firm as a Rock Art, was so surprised at the words Blood Sword Sutra that her eyes widened.
The Blood Sword Sutra was the martial art of the Blood Sea Sword Saint. It was the martial art of the wife of the Sacred Sword Sect Master, Hyeonjeong.
The first volume had been lost long ago. Now only the middle and lower volumes remained. But with just these middle and lower volumes, an ordinary martial artist had obtained the martial name of the Blood Sea Sword Saint.
“Bia, she’s engaged.”
“To the Sacred Sword Sect?”
Namso nodded her head.
“To whom in the Sacred Sword Sect? The three sons are all dead? Haven’t you heard the news yet? The Sacred Sword Sect is in an uproar.”
“I don’t know who she’s engaged to either. Because that person didn’t tell me. But if he’s her fiancé, he should have the lower volume of the Blood Sword Sutra. The one among the sons of the Sacred Sword Sect Master who gives the lower volume is the fiancé.”
“I told you all three sons are dead!”
“Hoo!”
Namso sighed.
The matter concerning Heo Heun was a complete secret. It was a heavenly secret that could not be told to anyone. So she did not tell her. Oh Bia knew that her older brother was her fiancé, but would she remember it in the distant future? If she lived in the Drunken Flower Garden, she would probably forget.
Perhaps it was better to forget and live.
Heo Heun had the lower volume of the Blood Sword Sutra. The Single-Instant Sect Master had given it to him while passing on the thirty six blades. While telling him to give it to his fiancée, his daughter Oh Bia, with his own hands.
The Blood Sword Sutra was a wedding gift.
The wife of the Sacred Sword Sect Master had given it to the old man as a wedding gift for her fourth son. Although it was passed on through the Sect Master, the Sacred Sword Sect Master and his wife had already finished their discussion on this matter.
But this was not a blessing.
It would have been a blessing when the Sacred Sword Sect was intact, but now it had become a source of trouble.
The reason why the middle and lower volumes were not given at once but were separated was because she was worried that the Blood Sword Sutra might be given to the wrong person. Then wouldn’t that be a discourtesy to Hyeonjeong?
“Hoo! This Blood Sword Sutra… I don’t know if it’s a blessing or a curse. Of all things, it’s the martial art of people who have been annihilated. Just a year ago, this would have been a great blessing. And with just this middle volume… it’s like learning the body without the head and tail.”
Her junior sister shook her head.
“If I don’t come… raise her well.”
“From this moment on, don’t worry about this child. Don’t worry even a little bit.”
Her junior sister, the master of the Drunken Flower Garden, said firmly.
She trusted her junior sister. Her junior sister thoroughly kept her word. Her words were her heart, and her actions. She had the will and belief that she had to keep her word under any circumstances.
There was a time when she thought that will was too strong and not suitable for an assassin. But she had grown up well. She had even become the leader of the Drunken Flower Garden. She moved a large group of three hundred assassins. Naturally, her influence on the martial world was also powerful.
Her junior sister told her to entrust Bia to her without worry.
Her mind was at ease.
“Sister, if you had stayed, this position would have been yours.”
“I don’t regret leaving this place. I have no regrets. Pfft! Now that I say it, I’m sorry. I say I have no regrets, but I’m entrusting my child to you.”
“Sister.”
“…”
“I’m telling you because it might be the last time.”
“What is it? Tell me.”
“Live.”
“…!”
“Live somehow. It’s better to be in this world even if you roll in a dog poop field than in the afterlife. Just escape with your body. Leave the rest to me.”
“Pfft! Unfortunately… I live with a person who only knows how to go straight ahead. A month. Wait for a month and then… raise her.”
Namso stroked the face of Oh Bia, who was sleeping soundly.
* * *
There are people who know that Oh Bia exists. So she had to prepare.
“Is there a house nearby where a child has died?”
Namso made inquiries in the village. She went around to many villages.
She needed a dead girl.
Her build had to be similar to her daughter’s. It would be even better if she was so similar that anyone would think she was Oh Bia.
She would disguise her daughter as dead.
One might think who would give away their own child, a precious child who had died at a young age without even getting to grow up, to someone else, but people who were desperate were different.
It was a world where even living children were sold for a few coins.
If someone offered to buy a dead child, nine out of ten would gladly hand them over. That was how hard it was to live in the world.
She had barely managed to find a house where a daughter had died yesterday.
“If you give me ten more nyang…”
The hands of the parents who were giving away the dead child trembled.
They wanted to get a penny more while giving away their child. But that didn’t mean that the parents’ grief was absent. The pain existed. Tears welled up in their eyes as they looked at the dead child.
Namso gladly gave them ten more nyang.
She dressed the dead child in her daughter’s clothes. And she placed the body on a path where wolves often roamed.
The child would disappear, leaving only traces of being bitten.
With this work, Oh Bia would disappear from the world. The reckless child had met a wolf while enjoying the snow. She would evaporate, leaving only a few pieces of clothing, a lump of blood, and a few pieces of flesh.
If the Single-Instant Sect Master defeated Heo Dogi, everything would be as if it had never happened. The incident of being bitten to death by a wolf would also become a strange incident that happened by chance. But if he was defeated, it would become the truth.
‘It’s done. Child, please forgive me.’
Namso gently laid the dead child down.
Growl! Grrr!
The wolves, who had already smelled the scent of the corpse, bared their teeth and growled.
Thirty years ago, when the Sacred Sword Sect Master had spared his younger brother… Namso had immediately said it was a mistake. That the Sacred Sword Sect Master was making a very big mistake, and that he would regret it someday.
A fierce beast recognizes a fierce beast.
An assassin recognizes a blade soaked in murder.
Heo Dogi’s blade was not a simple blade. It was a blade suitable for murder. Heo Dogang and Heo Dogi had trained in the same Illuminating Thousand Swords, but they had chosen blades of completely different natures.
A fierce beast that has once tasted blood will surely bare its fangs. It cannot overcome the urge to kill. A person who covets power will be obsessed with power even at the moment their life ends.
Heo Dogi was such a fierce beast.
The wolves that rushed to eat the dead child and Heo Dogi were the same fierce beasts.
‘No matter how accurate the Sacred Sword Sect Master’s judgment is, he is still a person, the Single-Instant Blade will not lose. It will win. This is all a futile act. I wonder if I’m just letting the wolves get a taste of human flesh for no reason.’
Namso put her hands together and prayed for the dead child.
(End of Chapter)