Failed Possession Chapter-51

# Ch-51

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A corridor lit by crimson lights that resembled a butcher shop.

The old hallway let out an unpleasant creaking sound every time someone stepped on it, and from the gaps of the doors lining both sides, even louder creaks and mechanical groans flowed out.

“…”

This place was one of the Red Houses scattered around the outer district of Panteleon, a business establishment managed by the Hao Clan.

“Yuri-nim.”

Amid the mixture of creaks and groans, Haryeong opened her mouth.
She, who had been walking ahead, glanced back at Yuri.

“If a well-built man comes to a place like this alone, anyone would be suspicious.”

“…”

“Do you know how flustered I was when I first stood in front of this place? For two whole years, what in the world had you gone through, and what change of heart made you come somewhere like this in broad daylight? That’s what I was thinking.”

As she spoke, Haryeong stared straight at Yuri’s face. Under that gaze, Yuri let out a deep sigh and grumbled.

“Didn’t you already know everything before coming?”

“Know what?”

“That this place is one of the Hao Clan’s establishments.”

“I knew that, but I didn’t expect Yuri-nim to be having a private meeting not with a cheap prostitute, but with a one-eyed ugly old man.”

Not every brothel in this world belonged to the Hao Clan, but cheap-looking ones with shabby exteriors were, with high probability, theirs.

“My face burned so much I couldn’t bring myself to enter through the door, so I climbed up the wall instead. Do you know how shocked I was when I saw you through the window? I thought those two years had twisted your tastes.”

“C-can we at least keep walking?”

Since she had turned her head, Haryeong had stopped right in the middle of the hallway. Even now, the creaks and groans continued around them. After staring at Yuri’s embarrassed face, she slowly shrugged.

“I thought you wanted to hear more.”

“Stop talking nonsense. Have you eaten?”

“Not yet.”

“Then let’s go eat.”

“Suddenly? Listening to this endless sound of species reproduction makes your appetite rise or something?”

“I said stop the nonsense.”

Grumbling, Yuri passed by her. Haryeong stared at his back as he went ahead, then clapped twice.

“It seems your physique has gotten better over the last two years? Taller, broader shoulders, and your back—wow.”

“What ‘wow’…”

“I’m not someone who makes things up.”

For two years, Yuri had never neglected the training of his internal and external arts.
As a result, he hadn’t become a bulky giant like Bakered, but compared to when he had been in Lutran, his build had improved considerably.

In a corner of the restaurant they reached after leaving the old brothel, a blood-soaked man was sprawled out as if it were the most natural thing in the world. He seemed to be the owner of the scream they had heard earlier. A quick look showed he wasn’t dead, but more than half his teeth were shattered and blood streamed from his mouth.

“Your sense for choosing restaurants is absolutely dreadful.”

“Would you like to choose, Miss Haryeong?”

“All the restaurants around here are probably about the same. I’m not such a shameless assassin that I nitpick a meal someone else is paying for.”

That answer contained no less than two things Yuri wanted to question. Without waiting for guidance, he found a seat and sat down, then raised two fingers with a sigh.

“First. Am I the one paying?”

“It’s the restaurant you brought me to.”

“I don’t have any money.”

“It certainly looks that way.”

Naturally taking the seat across from him, Haryeong rested her chin on her hand and looked at Yuri.

“Were you so poor that you couldn’t even change your clothes once in two years?”

“What nonsense are you spouting?”

“The robe you’re wearing now—you bought that in Lutran two years ago, didn’t you?”

Back then it had looked brand new, glossy and shining, but now it wasn’t quite rags, though it was certainly old enough to qualify as worn.

“I wear it because it’s convenient.”

“Indeed. Seems you change your other clothes well enough. There’s no smell either, so you must wash it regularly. Hmm, or maybe not? Does that robe have a cleanliness spell on it?”

“The second thing.”

Without listening further, Yuri raised another finger.

“Are you still an assassin?”

At that, Haryeong quickly finished ordering from the approaching staff and looked back at Yuri.

“Once an assassin, forever an assassin.”

“What is this, the Marines or something…”

“Marine, what?”

“It’s a thing.”

“Oh my. Now that it’s known you’re a possessor, are you just saying anything?”

“You didn’t come to kill me, did you?”

If you answered every one of Haryeong’s nonsensical remarks, the conversation would go very far astray. Yuri had learned that fact two years ago.

So he forcibly steered it back.

“Hmm.”

The brows of usually expressionless Haryeong twitched slightly. She stared at Yuri with eyes opened just a bit wider than usual.

“Why would you think that?”

“There seem to be plenty of reasons.”

“Well, that’s true. But if I had come to kill you as an assassin, I wouldn’t be sitting here face-to-face waiting for food with you like this.”

She tilted her head slightly as she said that.

“Hmm, I’ll retract that statement. If I had come alone as an assassin to kill you, rather than assassination, I’d probably choose a method like this.”

“To lower my guard?”

“Exactly. Rejoice, Yuri-nim. The fact that I’d choose a method like this means I judged it would be difficult to kill you with simple assassination.”

Earlier, Haryeong had said she wasn’t someone who made things up, but that wasn’t always true. If necessary, she could skillfully mix lies in.

But not in this case. Without deception or exaggeration, she truly judged that simple assassination wouldn’t be enough to kill the current Yuri.

She had already been observing him from outside the brothel window. She hadn’t let even the slightest killing intent leak out, and though she considered the possibility of assassinating him here—

—honestly, she thought the chances were low.

A high-rank martial fighter was already far harder to kill than a warrior of the same rank, but Yuri showed no openings. She didn’t know what kind of life he had lived these two years, but it was certain that man had lived a life wary of “assassination.”

“After saying that I might try to lower your guard like this and attempt assassination, my words may lack credibility, but I didn’t come to kill you.”

“You just said once an assassin, forever an assassin.”

“Do you think every assassin wants to kill you? That’s excessive self-consciousness.”

After saying that, she tilted her head.

“I answered two questions in a row, so now it’s my turn. Why weren’t you very surprised to see me?”

“I was surprised.”

“Not very. For someone who appeared suddenly, your reaction was far too bland.”

“I thought you’d come someday. I just didn’t think it would be today.”

“Why did you think that?”

Seeing once is better than hearing a hundred times. Instead of answering, Yuri pulled out Black Fang from his back and stabbed it into the table.

“…”

Just then, the staff who brought the food glared back and forth between Black Fang stuck in the table and Yuri.

“What are you staring at.”

Yuri glared back and spat the words. Losing the short staring contest, the staff grumbled and set down the dishes before leaving.

“Why take your temper out on an innocent staff member? You’re the one who stuck a knife into a dining table.”

“Just looking at this food, I can already imagine the taste. That bastard might be innocent now, but the moment I eat it, he’ll have committed a crime.”

Haryeong casually lifted a fork and took a bite of sliced meat.

“Death penalty.”

After quickly delivering the verdict, she flicked her finger toward the ankle of the staff who was still walking away. A bead so small it was hard to see flew out from somewhere and struck his ankle.

“Argh!”

He fell over with a scream. Ignoring it, Haryeong glared at Yuri.

“You’re also guilty for bringing me to eat at a place like this.”

“You’re eating off a poor guy who couldn’t even buy a new robe for two years, so just accept it.”

Despite calling it bad, she popped another piece of meat into her mouth and chewed.

“Anyway, why did you suddenly take out Black Fang? Planning to cut meat with that?”

Yuri didn’t answer and just stared at her.
Even under that gaze, Haryeong stubbornly chewed, swallowed, and finally stuffed in one more piece.

Gulp. After swallowing, taking out a handkerchief, and elegantly wiping her mouth, her lips finally parted.

“So that’s how you knew. As expected.”

This was my oversight, she thought inwardly, setting the handkerchief down.

“Does that game also have the Black-White Twin Fangs?”

“No, it doesn’t.”

“Huh? Then how did you know?”

“While looking at the magic cast on Black Fang, I figured it out.”

At that reply, Haryeong’s eyes widened. She stared at Black Fang still embedded in the table, then slowly tilted her head.

“Magic isn’t something you can actually see with your eyes, is it?”

“In my case, if I focus and look closely, I can see it.”

Perhaps because it was an assassination dagger, the magic cast on Black Fang was excessively covert, so it hadn’t been visible from the start.

But after using it many times, he had grown accustomed to the spells dwelling within Black Fang. As Haryeong had said two years ago, Black Fang was a convenient dagger. Even without infusing internal energy, its edge was sharp enough to slice through most things like paper, and it required no special maintenance.

What was especially convenient was that it hit well even when thrown roughly. When he first heard that, he hadn’t understood what it meant, but after actually throwing it, he realized immediately. If he simply thought about where he wanted to hit and tossed it somewhere nearby, Black Fang would move on its own and pierce exactly where he aimed.

After using it so often, he became interested in the magic imbued within it.

If he could properly analyze the spell formula and replicate it, wouldn’t he be able to enchant other daggers too?

The result was failure. It seemed the spell had been tailor-made specifically for Black Fang, making it extremely difficult to reproduce with magic, and Yuri, who had never learned magical techniques professionally, couldn’t imbue objects with magic in the first place.

But during the process of analyzing the spells, he discovered one magic that he simply couldn’t grasp at all.

“So you couldn’t identify the magic itself, is that it?”

“Yes.”

“How could this be. To think I fell for such an obvious leading question.”

“Still, I was fairly certain. You emphasized over and over that I should never throw it away.”

Grumbling, Yuri pulled Black Fang out of the table.

“I even wondered if you told me to keep it so you could track me down later as an assassin.”

“Why didn’t you throw it away?”

Haryeong’s eyes narrowed.

“If you suspected that, you should’ve discarded Black Fang. Why keep it and let me find you?”

“Aren’t you the one who told me not to throw it away?”

“I did say that, yes.”

“It was convenient, and I figured something might happen if I got rid of it.”

“Did you think you could handle me, an assassin?”

“I’m not that arrogant.”

“Well, in the end you did well. If you’d thrown away something I so strongly warned you not to, I would’ve become a ruthless assassin and come looking for you. Since it’d be hard to search alone, I might’ve asked for help here and there too.”

“Help? Who would you ask? You have lots of friends?”

“I don’t have many friends, but I know experts at finding and capturing people. Not friends, though.”

Grumbling, Haryeong set down her fork.

“So then. Why did you come to Panteleon? This isn’t exactly a place for sightseeing.”

“It’s not like I came to sightsee.”

“I heard you’re trying to obtain a pass for District 4, but why go to such a dangerous place?”

“Do I have to spill my circumstances to you, Miss Haryeong?”

“How hurtful your words are, Yuri-nim.”

“Why?”

“Didn’t I say earlier? I don’t have many friends.”

“So what.”

“I thought you were one of those few friends. Was that just my own misunderstanding again?”

“I still haven’t heard why you came here.”

Yuri tilted his head slightly.

“Did someone send you?”

“Excessive self-consciousness.”

The corner of Haryeong’s lips twitched.

“I came here of my own will, not under anyone’s orders. So you can drop any expectations that perhaps Miss Elena is looking for you.”

Yuri frowned and glared at her. At that gaze, the twisted curve of Haryeong’s lips deepened a little.

“So you really were hoping?”

“So why did you come?”

“No special reason.”

Keeping that crooked smile, she continued.

“After we parted like that two years ago, I wondered what you were doing. I thought you might’ve changed your name, but you didn’t.”

“I considered it at first, but figured that would stand out even more.”

Abandoning his name was something he’d considered from the moment he first transmigrated, but in the end, he didn’t.

Because he thought the name ‘Yuri’ had value.

“If someone with no history or name suddenly shows up and starts making moves, wouldn’t anyone guess they’re a possessor?”

“You did well. If you’d created a fake identity and run around diligently, you might not have met me today.”

“Because of the War Church?”

At the immediate reply, Haryeong nodded.

“You’ve gained quite a bit of knowledge over two years, haven’t you?”

The War Church was a sect hostile to possessors. Unless one was someone like Chuk Shin-do or another of the Four Absolute powerhouses, most possessors hid the fact that they were possessors out of fear of the War Church’s hunts.

Decades ago, under the pretext of acting for the sake of possessors, they had taken the lead in destroying the Order Church’s buildings when the Order Church was expelled from the Union. Even now, they searched the continent for the reclusive Order Church—just that hostile toward possessors.

The War Church didn’t execute possessors on the spot or publicly, but over the decades, countless possessors had been captured by them, and no one knew what happened to those taken away to the War Church.

“Your relationship with Fist Wolf. Your martial talent personally guaranteed by Heavenly Thunder and Full-Moon Play. And then Namgung Yuri’s potential.”

“You always have to mix in at least one bit of nonsense.”

“Would you prefer being called Thunder Cloud rather than Yuri?”

“Call me by my name.”

“Thunder Cloud… To think our Yuri has grown enough to earn a sobriquet. Even a cold and merciless assassin like me feels like crying.”

“So I’m asking why you came.”

“No special reason. I thought maybe we could become a bit closer.”

Was she serious? Or just joking around like before? Yuri quietly studied her eyes, but just like before, he couldn’t read what lay inside Haryeong.

“And what would you do by getting closer?”

“Let’s become close friends.”

“Do you want something from me?”

“Why would there be that kind of thing between friends? We just help each other when times are hard. I’ll help you too, so it’s not a loss. Just earlier, I saved you from getting fleeced by that Hao Clan raccoon old man.”

“Haah…”

A deep sigh escaped him. She clearly wasn’t going to stop until she got a reason. In truth, it wasn’t something he had to desperately hide.

“There’s something I’m looking for.”

“What is it?”

“Cultists.”

Yuri’s voice lowered. Haryeong also leaned forward, drawing close to the table.

Panteleon’s outer district was a lawless zone where the city’s laws didn’t apply, a place where fugitives, drifters, and all sorts of shady figures from every region mixed together.

In other words, it couldn’t even be called moral as a courtesy. Even back in the rural village of Aldor where Yuri had lived, people often died over trivial disputes, but the outer district of Panteleon was worse.

Among them, the most dreadful and chaotic place was District 4. The cultists who served evil gods nested there. Like the names of the gods they worshiped, they stirred chaos into the world.

“Hmm, cultists.”

Should he say they were similar? Folding her arms, Haryeong thought.

“Catching fugitives on the side too.”

“For money?”

“To get stronger.”

“Your wallet?”

“My martial arts.”

“What rank are you now?”

“Secret.”

“When did you reach Rank 5?”

“About half a year ago.”

Their casually thrown remarks ended up connecting. Haryeong let out a hollow laugh and shook her head.

In martial arts, Estor Orsia, the Sword Dragon called heaven-sent genius, reached Rank 5 at twenty-one. Half a year later than that was only slightly behind Estor—talent rivaling that genius Sword Dragon born of the Orsia bloodline.

“Sir Yuri. To be honest, there’s a secret I must take to the grave.”

“What all of a sudden.”

“I’ve never told anyone else, and even if someone grabbed my limbs and threatened me, I wouldn’t speak. I’m not such a weak assassin that torture would break my resolve.”

“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”

“But I think it’s fine to tell you. Keeping it secret might actually damage the trust between us.”

“No, what—”

[Sir Yuri… are you perhaps the Young Cult Leader of the Demonic Cult?]

The voice transmission suddenly pierced in.

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