Jin Sohan stared at the people sprawled all over the floor, drank one more cup, and stood up. Then, out of nowhere, he flipped his white outer robe inside out and put it back on as a black robe.
Jin Sohan had abruptly turned into a black-clothed man.
The Moonlit Night Pavilion Master’s pupils, still wavering as he fought off the haze, shook.
What is he doing?
As the Moonlit Night Pavilion Master stared at him with that look, Jin Sohan answered.
“Looks like blood’s going to splash.”
Jin Sohan picked up a long straight saber from one of the guards lying facedown, then looked around. The only ones still driving out the Drunken Dream Powder’s poison were the Moonlit Night Pavilion Master and Choo Sahyeok. Everyone else still couldn’t crawl out of their dream.
Was he planning to kill someone first with that saber?
While people were collapsed everywhere, Jin Sohan walked around with the saber in hand, and that alone painted the room with a murderous air.
After sweeping his eyes over everyone, Jin Sohan came back around to stand in front of the Moonlit Night Pavilion Master and looked down at him.
The Moonlit Night Pavilion Master was still pouring everything he had into driving the poison out of his body, but the moment Jin Sohan approached with a blade, he had no choice but to stop circulating his inner energy and open his mouth.
And what came out was only this.
“Spare me.”
Jin Sohan answered, still gripping the straight saber.
“Why would I?”
“Why… I’ve never even seen you before… Do you have a grudge against Moonlit Night Pavilion? Or did you make an enemy of the Blood-Whisper Sect? At least let me know the reason—”
Jin Sohan tilted his head.
“Bad memory. If you got caught lacing the drink, you die.”
“I’m Blood-Whisper Sect. You think the Blood-Whisper Sect will just let this go?”
Jin Sohan smiled faintly.
That’s what I wanted to confirm, and he offers it up himself…
While Jin Sohan looked down at the Moonlit Night Pavilion Master, Choo Sahyeok—still behind them, circulating his inner energy—had heard every word.
Choo Sahyeok thought that if he could buy just a little more time, he could shake off the haze, then launch a surprise attack from behind.
Jin Sohan stared into the Moonlit Night Pavilion Master’s eyes and said,
“Mystic Lunar Dance Troupe.”
At that single phrase, the Moonlit Night Pavilion Master’s expression cracked and his pupils widened. Reading his face, Jin Sohan let a cold smile sit on his lips.
“Been a while since you heard that name, hasn’t it?”
A flicker of confusion passed over the Moonlit Night Pavilion Master’s face.
Mystic Lunar Dance Troupe…? Who the hell survived—!
Jin Sohan continued.
“There used to be a dance troupe here. Just like the Blood-Whisper Sect did—by force…”
As he spoke, wind stirred behind Jin Sohan.
Choo Sahyeok, having driven off the haze, sprang up from his seated position—then, in midair, drew and wrapped his hand around a straight saber and drove it into Jin Sohan’s back. Even while poisoned, it was a lightning-fast saber art—clean, without a single wasted motion.
CLANG!
Sparks burst where the two straight sabers met.
Without even looking back, Jin Sohan swung his straight saber, knocked Choo Sahyeok’s attack aside, and slowly turned around.
From Jin Sohan’s counter, the blade in Choo Sahyeok’s grip trembled, and a stabbing pain shot through his wrist and up into his shoulder.
In a flat voice, Jin Sohan praised him.
“That’s a usable saber art.”
Choo Sahyeok spread his straight saber to the lower right, shaking off both the blade’s vibration and the fear surging through his whole body.
HMMMMM—!
The straight saber swallowed a ringing hum. At the same time, Choo Sahyeok’s eyes narrowed, sharp as a blade.
In that instant, Jin Sohan smiled.
Choo Sahyeok’s gaze—and the thick, sticky killing intent he could feel from behind—made Jin Sohan smile.
The Moonlit Night Pavilion Master had also been planning a surprise attack from behind.
But he was in a state where he couldn’t use his inner energy, so he meant to seize Jin Sohan’s arms by sheer strength and let Choo Sahyeok finish it.
Before the Moonlit Night Pavilion Master could even stand, Choo Sahyeok thrust out a hand and shouted,
“Pavilion Master…!”
Seeing Jin Sohan’s expression, Choo Sahyeok tried to stop him—too late.
Jin Sohan tucked the straight saber in his right hand under his left armpit and, as the Moonlit Night Pavilion Master rushed him, pierced the man’s abdomen like a flash of lightning.
After sending the Moonlit Night Pavilion Master in a single strike, Jin Sohan spoke to Choo Sahyeok.
“If you want to die, rush me again.”
With the blade still buried, Jin Sohan turned his back to Choo Sahyeok again—then kicked the Moonlit Night Pavilion Master away with his left foot as he ripped the saber free.
SPURT!
How could he treat someone already dead this viciously?
The Moonlit Night Pavilion Master’s corpse flew across the second floor, slammed into the wall by the first-floor stage, and crumpled.
WHAM!
The Moonlit Night Pavilion Master sprawled out in a mangled heap.
Having abandoned the ambush, Choo Sahyeok let out a sigh.
“Haa…”
*****
Jin Sohan stood at the railing on the second floor with the blood-smeared straight saber in hand and looked down. People kept staring back and forth between the Moonlit Night Pavilion Master’s corpse and Jin Sohan.
The man in blue martial robes looked at Jin Sohan and said this.
“Why did you kill him?”
Jin Sohan answered curtly.
“He laced the drink. So I killed him.”
As if they’d rehearsed it, the man in blue martial robes nodded and said,
“Lacing the drink—he deserved to die. You killed him well.”
He was speaking as if making sure the people on the first floor heard.
Jin Sohan glared at the remaining guests, the announcer, and the suppliers—then turned to Choo Sahyeok.
“Choo Sahyeok. I’ll give you one chance.”
He flicked the blood off the straight saber onto the floor and continued.
“Don’t want it?”
“N-no, sir.”
Choo Sahyeok got gooseflesh down his spine from Jin Sohan’s tone, expression, and eyes.
This isn’t some ordinary villain.
And after seeing the strength that had launched the Moonlit Night Pavilion Master across the room, he realized that even if they hadn’t been poisoned, they still couldn’t handle this man. Choo Sahyeok thought Jin Sohan had shown that strength on purpose.
As Jin Sohan walked to the seat of honor where the Moonlit Night Pavilion Master had been sitting and pointed to the opposite side, Choo Sahyeok set his straight saber on the floor and went to sit across from him.
The sudden booms—and then, depending on their inner energy, guards beginning to regain consciousness—left them all blinking in a daze as they stared at the seat of honor.
Jin Sohan was sitting in the Moonlit Night Pavilion Master’s place, and across from him sat Choo Sahyeok.
As more subordinates woke, Choo Sahyeok spoke with a grave face.
“Stand by.”
“Yes.”
Jin Sohan examined the straight saber’s edge and spoke as casually as someone saying he’d step out for a walk.
“From this moment on, I’m taking over Moonlit Night Pavilion.”
Choo Sahyeok, looking dumbfounded, rolled the words around in his mouth.
“…Hmm.”
“If you want a peaceful takeover, I need your cooperation.”
Watching Jin Sohan talk about “peace” right after arriving and slaughtering the Moonlit Night Pavilion Master in such a horrific way, Choo Sahyeok answered, cowed.
“Moonlit Night Pavilion can’t be considered the Pavilion Master’s alone. Behind it is the Blood-Whisper Sect—”
Jin Sohan cut him off.
“So the real owner is the Blood-Whisper Sect?”
“Yes.”
Jin Sohan pointed the straight saber at the Moonlit Night Pavilion Master’s corpse and said,
“In a situation like this, what does that even mean? When he dies like that.”
“…Hmm.”
Choo Sahyeok thought Jin Sohan was right.
That’s true.
What use was it that the Blood-Whisper Sect stood behind them?
Right now, this man had seized Moonlit Night Pavilion so easily it was absurd—and if he wanted, he could kill everyone here, including Choo Sahyeok. Choo Sahyeok wasn’t stupid. He revised his thinking fast and asked,
“Then what should I do?”
“Anything…”
“…Yes?”
“Do what I tell you.”
“I understand.”
“But we need to settle you stabbing me in the back.”
“Yes.”
Jin Sohan slid a hand into the inner pocket of his white martial robes, pulled out a small pouch, and flicked a black pill at Choo Sahyeok.
Catching it, Choo Sahyeok heard Jin Sohan say,
“Eat it. This is the last time I spare your life.”
Choo Sahyeok didn’t have room to argue. He swallowed it first, then asked cautiously.
“What is it?”
“What do you think? Poison.”
“Yes.”
Even knowing it was poison, Choo Sahyeok had asked anyway. It felt like he’d been helplessly caught.
There’s no gap to slip out through at all.
Jin Sohan said,
“Right now, you’re following my orders because I’m holding your leash. But when the time comes to choose, if you stick a blade in my back like earlier, you’ll die like the Pavilion Master. And the Blood-Whisper Sect won’t be able to cure that poison either.”
“I understand.”
“The key point is…”
“Yes.”
“On the surface, Moonlit Night Pavilion is still the Blood-Whisper Sect’s. But in truth, it’s mine. For the time being, only you need to know that truth. Because you’re going to pretend to be the Pavilion Master for a while. Understood?”
“Understood.”
“When is the tribute due?”
Only then did Choo Sahyeok feel a chill run down his spine.
Ah. He was planning to deal with the Blood-Whisper Sect from the start.
“It’s paid once every hundred days, so there’s still plenty of time.”
“Before that, any reason the Blood-Whisper Sect would come here?”
“They control many places, so there’s no reason for them to come in person. Usually the Pavilion Master… no, the Pavilion Master would go to report… However, if today’s incident leaks out first, then the Blood-Whisper Sect will come.”
Jin Sohan nodded.
“You understood my question well. Take control of the atmosphere so today’s incident doesn’t leak outside.”
“How would I—”
Jin Sohan tossed the straight saber he’d used to kill the Moonlit Night Pavilion Master onto the floor in front of Choo Sahyeok.
“Figure it out. That’s your job.”
It meant Choo Sahyeok was to kill anyone who would interfere or leak word to the Blood-Whisper Sect. Choo Sahyeok stared at Jin Sohan’s face again.
Damn… I really got caught.
Still, it was better than ending up like the Pavilion Master’s miserable death. Only then did Choo Sahyeok belatedly notice Jin Sohan’s black robe.
Maybe he isn’t alone.
Choo Sahyeok was thinking whatever he wanted—but the reason his thoughts went that way was because fear of Jin Sohan had already taken root. He didn’t know Jin Sohan’s name, and he didn’t know what he belonged to, so he had no choice but to guess like this.
Then Jin Sohan tapped the table with a finger and said,
“And give me the keys.”
“Pardon? Which keys—”
Jin Sohan rotated his finger in a circle.
“All of them.”
“All of them, meaning—”
“The safe, the warehouses, where you store elixirs, where you store weapons, any secret lockboxes, even the Pavilion Master’s personal items… everything.”
“I understand. But there are quite a few fakes in the warehouse.”
“Doesn’t matter.”
“Yes.”
Choo Sahyeok stood up, then asked carefully.
“What should I call you from now on?”
Jin Sohan paused as if thinking for a moment, then answered.
“Mystic Lunar Troupe Master. Just call me Troupe Master.”
“Yes, Troupe Master.”
After answering, Choo Sahyeok stole another glance at Jin Sohan—and realized the man looked lonely.
Cruel, violent, smart, cold, blunt… and lonely.
That was the man Jin Sohan looked like through Choo Sahyeok’s eyes.
But only then did Jin Sohan finally look down at the first floor and speak to someone.
“Let’s have a drink.”
From the first floor, the man in blue martial robes answered in a cheerful voice.
“I’ll come up.”
With a straight saber in hand, Choo Sahyeok started walking—then slapped a subordinate who still wore a vacant expression across the face.
“Get your head on straight.”