Reaper of the Drifting Moon

If you place a frog in a pot of cold water, and gradually raise the water’s temperature, the frog will not jump out. It will just remain inside the pot, and die.

That’s exactly how the Tang family collapsed.

The Tang family, Qingcheng sect and Emei sect, who chose to close their gates through a wrong momentary choice, gradually pressed and tightened the Tang family. Their work to dismantle the Tang family was very meticulous and took place over a long period of time.

By the time the Tang family realized that fact, it was already after the windfall.

The visions of poisoning and yakjangsul, which were the foundations of the Tang family, were lost, and many of their craftsmen died.

The hidden weapons of the Tang family were fatal.

The hidden weapons, which were fired with a principle that ordinary people could not even imagine, was a target of caution for martial artists.

Even in the Tang family, craftsmen who made hidden weapons were specially managed. They were so important that information about them was thoroughly blocked and protected.

But one day, a major incident occurred where the said craftsmen were slaughtered.

While a blast furnace for molten iron was being installed, an unknown explosion suddenly occurred. The craftsmen present at the site were then all dried up.

It was later revealed that the incident was a work done by the Emei sect to prevent the installation of a new blast furnace.

They thought that the addition of the furnace would increase the Tang family’s productivity, but the result was fatal enough to shake the foundation of the Tang family.”

This incident accelerated the downfall of the Tang family.

As they lost their vision and human assets that had been handed down for hundreds of years, the Tang family members lost their strength, and Qingcheng sect and Emei sect did not leave the Tang family alone.

With fatal wounds, the Tang family was soon devoured and ended up collapsing.

People now believed that the Tang family’s vision had been lost.

The same was true of the descendants of the collateral family, who could be said to be the side branches of the Tang family. These were the people who use the surname of the Tang clan, but have never been able to inherit the vision of the clan.

Among them, there were those with great ambition.

Dang Cheol-san was one of them.

He was a collateral of the Tang family.

Although he uses the Tang family surname, he and his family have long been separated from them. It could be said that their bloodline has no ties to the Tang family at all.

When his ancestors left the Tang family a long time ago, they settled in Jiangsu Province. They built a large workshop and merchant group on their own, but they always felt they were lacking.

They wanted to recreate the old Tang family products in Jiangsu Province. However, no matter how hard they tried, they could not revive the Tang family’s vision.

At that time, they had heard rumors of a young artisan who had just appeared in Chengdu. His craftsmanship reached a great level, and all the weapons he made were sold at the highest prices.

As soon as Dang Cheol-san heard the rumors about the young artisan, he became greedy.

He thought that the young artisan must have inherited the vision of the Tang family. And he realized that if the artisan grew up, he could cause a huge blow to the workshop they were running.

Although Chengdu was far away, the fame of the great artisan spread even beyond Chengdu.

Dang Cheol-san decided to steal the vision before the young artisan had the opportunity to grow bigger. Even if he couldn’t take away the Tang family’s vision, he planned to kill the artisan to prevent him from sprouting.

“So, the one who commissioned the Hundred Wraith Union was a person named Dang Cheol-san.”

“That’s right.”

“He’s still a blood relative who shares the same Tang surname with me. Is it because it’s already been a long time ago, now he has nothing to do with it?”

Tang Sochu smiled bitterly.

Pyo-wol watched him from the side without saying a word.

Baekrok revealed everything. He initially pretended that he didn’t know anything about the client, but he eventually spilled the truth.

If there was an exception, it was about the Hundred Wraith Union. He was obviously an assassin belonging to the Hundred Wraith Union, but he knew very little about them.

This is because the Hundred Wraith Union was completely in the form of a point organization.¹

Only the Top Ten knew everything about the Hundred Wraith Union, while the rest of the assassins were operating in a subordinate form.

When a quest comes into the Hundred Wraith Union, the assassins are given missions according to their abilities, location, and level of danger.

Baekrok was also given a mission like that.

There would have been no problem if he had just accepted the request for the prosecution of Tang Sochu, but he ended up also accepting other requests on his way to the distant Sichuan Province.

Because of that, Yu Gi-cheon managed to get on his tail.

Everything ended up happening this way because of his greed.

Tang Sochu asked,

“Then what happens now? Will the Hundred Wraith Union give up on the quest because Baekrok has failed?”

“They will never give up.”

An assassin group lives on trust.

If an assassin gives up because they failed a mission, their integrity will go down. No client would be willing to hire a group of assassins who cannot be trusted.

In particular, the Hundred Wraith Union would be more sensitive to issues like trust, since they can be considered as the best assassin group in the Jianghu.

If Baekrok’s failure is known, the Hundred Wraith Union will surely send another assassin to complete the quest.

“The good news is that there is still a lot of time before they know of Baekrok’s death.”

Baekrok thoroughly erased his traces using the Xuanwu Merchant Group. While it made it difficult for Pyo-wol and Yu Gi-cheon to find him, it was the same with the Hundred Wraith Union.

The Hundred Wraith Union thoroughly maintained a point structure of organization.

The Hundred Wraith Union would not know of his whereabouts until Baekrok reported it himself. In particular, someone like Baekrok who erases his trails would be difficult to find.

The usual time it takes for an assassin to complete one mission could be as short as a month or as long as a year. In particular, it was not at all unusual for a request from a remote area like Sichuan to take more than a year.

“If the Hundred Wraith Union doesn’t receive a report that the quest has been completed even after a year has passed, they will become suspicious. And they would most likely send a new assassin.”

“So my life is being extended by a year.”

Tang Sochu laughed bitterly.

It was Pyo-wol who knew the physiology of the assassins better than anyone else.

What Tang Sochu said would be correct. Then he had only one year left.

He was well aware of the notoriety of the Hundred Wraith Union. They were the best assassin group in Jianghu. They never failed in accomplishing their commission.

No target has ever survived.

At least that’s what it has been known so far.

Not unless the client cancels the request, the Hundred Wraith Union will continue to pursue Tang Sochu.

Tang Sochu grumbled.

“How could my life be so hard? I can’t believe I ended up being the Hundred Wraith Union’s target after I can finally make a living. Sheesh!”

“Don’t worry.”

Pyo-wol patted Tang Sochu’s shoulder.

He never intended to let Tang Sochu die.

“What are you going to do?”

“You’ll see.”

After saying those words, Pyo-wol kept his mouth shut.

Tang Sochu looked at Pyo-wol’s face silently.

Pyo-wol’s face shone brightly with the light coming from the burning workshop. He exuded a dizzying sensuality and was more beautiful than a woman.

In the eyes of Tang Sochu, the figure of Pyo-wol looked like a reaper.

* * *

Tang Sochu moved to Red Villa.

He made his own workshop on one side of the Red Villa.

The walls were built using specially manufactured bricks, and the roof was covered with hand-made iron tiles.

The workshop which was created in this way ended up being completely cut off from the outside. Noise and heat were prevented from leaking outside.

Tang Sochu connected the vent to an underground waterway, allowing heat and noise to escape.

So even though there was a workshop where iron was being hammered every day, the people living nearby remained unaware of that fact.

As such, everything is now being done in secret.

All for the safety of Tang Sochu.

This will not completely protect him from the Hundred Wraith Union’s threat, but it will at least buy him some time.

Tang Sochu didn’t come out of his new workshop.

It was clear that he was busy hammering iron every day, but no one knew what kind of product he was making.

Pyo-wol did not interfere with Tang Sochu.

He thought that Tang Sochu also needed time to clear his mind.

Pyo-wol sat down in his living room and looked at Tang Sochu’s workshop. No sound could be heard from the workshop, but Pyo-wol knew that Tang Sochu was working harder than ever.

Maybe even Tang Sochu himself was oblivious to the fact that he was hammering more greatly into the iron more than usual in hopes of forgetting his anxiety.

Pyo-wol fully understood the feelings of Tang Sochu.

No matter how big a person was, it was impossible for him to keep his composure once he realized that an assassin group like the Hundred Wraith Union was targeting him.

Pyo-wol suddenly looked at the table next to him.

There were two letters on top.

Both were from Jin Geum-woo.

While he was away, Jin Geum-woo had sent two letters.

Pyo-wol left the letter in the drawer without opening it. In the drawer, the letters from Jin Geum-woo were piled up one after another.

Tak!

Pyo-wol carelessly closed the drawer.

He had a lot to think about from now on. He didn’t want to distract himself by reading Jin Geum-woo’s useless letters.

‘So I should figure them out in a year, right?’

Pyo-wol thought that he should collect information about the Hundred Wraith Union.

Like what he told Tang Sochu, Baekrok knew little of the organization.

Baekrok was ranked 37th in the Hundred Wraith Union.

It couldn’t be considered high, but it wasn’t low either.

However, little was known about the inside information of the Hundred Wraith Union.

It was clear that only those who were in the top ten at least, would know everything about the Hundred Wraith Union.

Countless thoughts filled his mind.

Pyo-wol did not reject those thoughts.

He knows that if he continues with this kind of thinking, he can come up with good results someday. And even if there was no good result, Pyo-wol would not be disappointed.

There was still plenty of time left.

A year might feel like a short time, but it was enough time for someone like him to accomplish something.

Pyo-wol’s daily life did not change.

He would hone his martial arts skills whenever he was at the Red Villa, and he would learn the four arts whenever goes out.

That’s how he perfected himself.

The assassin aspect in Pyo-wol’s outward appearance was completely gone. Someone who would be meeting him for the first time would never think he was an assassin.

As Pyo-wol was about to return from an outing,

“Brother!”

Guian, who had been stuck in the basement, came out after a long time.

The person who made the biggest contribution in finding Baekrok was Guian. He identified Baekrok with only a few circumstantial evidence and minor clues.

It was thanks to Guian that Pyo-wol managed to defend Tang Sochu. So, Pyo-wol trusted Guian quite a lot.

“I think you should meet Eunyo.”

“Why?”

Pyo-wol made a puzzled expression.

After Soo-hyang’s death, Pyo-wol hardly visited the Divine Fragrance Pavilion. And Eunyo became in charge of the brothel’s operation.

Her ability was so outstanding that she had already added three more brothels. She accomplished all of that without any support from Pyo-wol.

The Hao clan was no longer in power in Chengdu.

After Baekrok killed Do Il-chul, the branch rapidly collapsed.

And it was Guian and Eunyo who took their place. The two of them worked together in controlling all the information that enters Chengdu.

After taking control of Chengdu’s information network, Guian became more relaxed that he rarely made a stiff expression.

Seeing him now, Pyo-wol had an intuition that something unusual had happened.

“What’s going on?”

“I don’t know yet. Eunyo sent someone to call brother.”

“Where is she?”

“She’s at the Divine Fragrance Pavilion”

Pyo-wol got up and headed straight for Divine Fragrance Pavilion.

“Brother, let’s go together!”

No one knows how Soma knew, but he followed Pyo-wol like a ghost.

The two entered the Divine Fragrance Pavilion, shoulder-to-shoulder.

Even though it was now early evening, the Divine Fragrance Pavilion was crowded with customers.

“Welcome!”

The secretary who was waiting at the entrance, greeted the two of them.

“What about Eunyo?”

“She is in the VIP room.”

“The VIP room? Not in the annex?”

“Yes!”

Eunyo does not come out of the annex unless there was something else going on. The fact that she was waiting in the VIP room, not in an annex, was unusual in itself.

With the guidance of the secretary, the two entered the VIP room.

“Brother! Soma!”

Eunyo got up from her seat and greeted the two of them.

“What’s going on? For you to call me at this hour?”

“It’s because of the guest in the next room.”

“Next room?”

“Yes, that room adjacent is also a VIP room. Only big-name guests are treated in that room.”

“So?”

“A distinguished guest from Henan is staying here today. It was said that he is the owner of the Ezhou’s Dunjiang Escort Corps. A courtesan named Xuan Yi is serving him.”

“And?”

“Xuan Yi came out quietly a little while ago and said something.The leader of the Dunjiang Escort Corps said that Jianghu’s promising warrior has met an untimely death…”

“…………”

“And he said that the name of the person was Jin Geum-woo.”

SoundlessWind21’s Notes

TT–TT how could.. Pyo-wol’s only friend… now be…

1. Point organization. Raws: 점조직.
   • An organization in which the members of the organization do not know each other’s positions or positions at all, but have a structure in which work is connected only to a very small number of members or only one member.

     The members do not gather and act collectively, but are separated one by one like an isolated point, and then receive work instructions from the members of the organization, who are connected to each other, and are themselves different points. It is to instruct the members of the organization to do the work.

     Of course, the upper level can grasp the activity status of each member of the organization as if looking into the palm of their hand, but the members of the lower level know only one thing, what they are doing, and hardly know for what purpose or for whom they are doing it.All you have to do is follow your orders and move like a machine.

2. Dunjiang Escort Corps. Raws: Dunjang Trademark Bureau, 둔장상표국의