Reaper of the Drifting Moon

It was the first time Pyo-wol knew that the warm sunlight he used to enjoy to his heart’s content in the past could be fatal.

It felt like his whole body was burning. If left under the sun for a little more time, it seemed that his whole body would turn to ashes.

The excruciating pain did not bring the other children to their senses, but Pyo-wol did not lose his temper. He closed his eyes, endured the pain, and listened to the sounds around him.

Then a voice pierced into his ear.

“We seem to have created some useful ones. I’m sure the client will be satisfied.”

As soon as he heard the voice that contained no emotions, Pyo-wol realized that he was the Captain of the Blood Phantom Group.

It was because he felt extraordinary confidence in the person’s voice.

Those who only receive orders from others can never make such a voice. Moreover, while the man spoke, the others remained silent.

It meant that only he deserved to open his mouth at this point.

Pyo-wol made sure to remember the man’s voice.

Another voice was heard.

“Put them all in the wagon. Move them to the Clear Wind Manor (Cheongpungjang)¹ and have them adapt them to the outside world.”

“By your order!”

Assassins of the Blood Phantom Corps answered as they approached the children. They formed a pair and went side by side with the children. They took each of the children’s arm and dragged them to the wagon that was prepared in advance.

The inside of the carriage was completely blocked from outside light using a blackout curtain. The assassins pushed the children into the wagon without hesitation.

“Heup!”

“Okay!”

When the door closed and the light from outside was completely blocked, the children took off the cloth that covered their eyes. They all each have an expression that shows that they can finally live.

Pyo-wol also unwrapped the cloth that covered his eyes and leaned his back against the wall of the wagon.

The carriage was like a cage for animals with how cramped it was. Dozens of people were crammed into a tight space that could have been full even if only three or four people fit in.

Thanks to this, the children were unable to move and could only breathe heavily.

‘We’re being treated like an animal until the end.’

The children’s eyes blazed with anger in the darkness.

They were used to being treated like sub-human, but they didn’t really know that they would be treated like this even when they went out of the underground. They thought the treatment would be a little better when they came out, but the fact that nothing had changed made them despair.

Pyo-wol leaned against the wall and closed his eyes.

There was nothing he could do here anyway. It would have been better for him to take a little rest and conserve his stamina.

The carriage was so cramped that it was difficult to even breathe, but Pyo-wol tried to relax by loosening the muscles of his body as much as possible.

The carriage moved non-stop.

By intuition, Pyo-wol noticed that more than a day and a half had passed.

For such a long time, the assassins of the Blood Phantom Corps not once opened the door of the wagon or gave them food. Thanks to this, the children had to spend the whole day starving.

Creak!

When the hunger of the children reached its peak, the carriage stopped.

Pyo-wol had a gut feeling that they had finally arrived at their destination.

After a while, the carriage door opened.

“Everyone get out.”

Assassins of the Blood Phantom Group dragged the children out of the wagon.

The children were afraid to see the sun again, but luckily they arrived at night. So they were able to get out of the carriage without fear of the sun.

The carriage arrived at a small manor surrounded by a high wall.

When all the children came out of the wagon, Gu Juyang said.

“This is where you will be staying from now on. This is where you will adjust to life outside. Don’t be relieved that you’re outside. I’ll cut off the breath of any indolent bastards myself.”

The children couldn’t even breathe deeply at the breathtaking voice of Gu Juyang. That is how intense the presence of Gu Juyang was.

To the extent that even these strong children are terrified.

He beckoned the assassins to put the children into their respective rooms. Still, the room was better than the carriage. It was because they were assigned to the signing room.

Pyo-wol was assigned the same room as So Gyeoksan and Go Shinok.

They had been together for seven years in the basement, but this was the first time they had been together in the same room like this.

There was no awkwardness in between So Gyeoksan and Go Shinok, but since Pyo-wol was a complete stranger, having him join was inevitably uncomfortable in many ways.

Pyo-wol also noticed that fact and said.

“Don’t worry about me. It doesn’t matter if you treat me as someone who doesn’t exist.”

“Kikik! Who cares?”

So Gyeoksan replied with his characteristic bizarre smile.

The only furniture in the room was four old wooden bunks and a desk. There was a change of clothes on the wooden bed.

At first glance, they were cheap clothes of poor quality, but at least they were better than the current clothes the children were wearing now.

The clothes of children who had not changed properly for such a long time were worse than a rag. It was because they couldn’t wash it properly, so the stench remained.

“I need to go and wash up.”

“Where?”

Pyo-wol silently pointed his finger at the window.

A well could be seen through the window.

“Ah!”

“A well?”

So Gyeoksan and Go Shinok burst out in exclamation.

In the past seven years, they weren’t able to properly wash themselves. There was not enough water to drink, so they couldn’t waste water on washing.

While they were admiring the view, Pyo-wol had already arrived at the well.

Under the dim moonlight, Pyo-wol took off his clothes and poured water from the well on his body.

The cold feeling on his body made him realize that he was back in the outside world.

‘I’m finally here.’

Pyo-wol once again splashed water on his body.

“Let’s wash together.”

So Gyeoksan threw off his clothes and ran to the well. After that, Go Shinok and another child followed.

For the first time in seven years, they washed, ate to their fullest and rested freely.

Over the next seven days, Pyo-wol gradually increased the amount of his time in the sun.

At first, it was extremely painful to stand for half an hour, but after seven days, he was able to endure it for several hours without any problem.

So were his eyes.

At first, he almost closed his eyes and moved only by hearing, but after a while, he was able to walk with his eyes open even in broad daylight. However, there was not much space for them to move freely.

At best, the backyard was all they could get to loiter around. Still, the children looked happy. The blue sky seen over the high wall, the fresh smell of air, the sound of grasshoppers, and the flowers blooming under the wall made them happy.

It was a scene they thought they would never see again.

They managed to capture the scenery that the children who died in the underground cave wanted to see at least once.

‘It’s okay for me to die right now.’

Some children even shed tears due to intense emotion. It wasn’t that much, but they were quite touched. They realized how precious the scenery that they took for granted when they were young.

But the Pyo-wol knew.

The happiness they are all feeling right now will not last long.

The Blood Phantom Group had a clear purpose in raising them.

Pulling them out of the dark meant it was time to use them.

Now that they have all perfectly adapted to the sun, there’s no reason to wait any longer.

Pyo-wol’s conjecture soon became true.

“I’ll hand out the weapons, so from now on keep them safe. You’ll use them soon.”

The Blood Phantom Group provided the children with swords, gifts, and tools used in disguise.

The smiles disappeared from the children’s faces.

They too felt that the time had come to be put on the mission.

* * *

Gu Juyang’s residence was located in Great Moon Hall, the largest hall in Clear Wind Manor².

Clear Wind Manor was originally prepared by a certain rich merchant to spend his old age. He wanted to live comfortably with his lover and die in peace, but his wish did not come true.

While sleeping in the arms of his lover, he was attacked by an assassin and died screaming.

All the family members who were working left, and the Clear Wind Manor was naturally ruined. The abandoned Clear Wind Manor became the base for the Blood Phantom Group.

The young assassin who assassinated the old owner of Clear Wind Manor was now a middle-aged man occupying the bedroom.

Lim Sayeol, who took off the mask, sat in front of Gu Juyang.

Like Pyo-wol and the children, Lim Sayeol and the instructors had struggled to adapt to the sunlight they saw for the first time in seven years.

The younger people adapted a little more quickly, but the older people like Lim Sayeol had to suffer for a long time.

Gu Juyang looked into Lim Sayeol’s face.

“You’ve been struggling all these years”

“Of course, I only did what I had to do.”

“Our group became more prosperous thanks to the sacrifices of you and the others, uncle. I’m not sure how to repay all of these favors.”

“There is no favor to repay. I would already be dead if it weren’t for the former head.”

Lim Sayeol won with a bluntness.

It was Gu Jangpyeong, the father of Gu Juyang, who led him down the path of an assassin, who had a difficult life trying to make a living.

If it wasn’t for him, Lim Sayeol would have died earlier in some place. In order to repay the favor, Lim Sayeol has been faithful to his savior for generations.

Whoosh!

Gu Juyang poured alcohol into the glass placed in front of Lim Sayeol.

“Uncle has done his job. You may rest now.”

“Are you finally allowing me to retire?”

“Of course. I have taken measures so that not only uncle, but also the Second sword and the Third sword can retire.”

“Thank you.”

“It’s no problem at all! You’ve always dedicated your life to the Blood Phantom Group so I should give you at least this much favor.”

Gu Juyang poured alcohol into his glass as well.

Lim Sayeol looked at him with eyes filled with mixed emotions. He devoted his whole life to the Blood Phantom Corps until it was okay for him to retire completely. He didn’t know how much time he had left, but the fact that he could live the rest of his life regardless of the Blood Phantom Group was enough to satisfy him.

Lim Sayeol picked up the glass of wine poured by Gu Juyang.

The cheap, strong liquor he was currently drinking felt more delicious than any other drink he had ever drank.

Gu Juyang also smiled slightly and took a glass of wine. Unlike Lim Sayeol, he only slightly moistened his mouth.

Lim Sayeol is now fully retired, but he was different.

If you drink too much alcohol, your nerves will become dull, and your judgment will be affected. To an assassin whose life or death could be decided by a momentary judgment, alcohol was like poison. Because of that, he never had more than one drink before.

Suddenly, Lim Sayeol opened his mouth.

“Those children are really pitiful. Their qualities and abilities are too great to be used once and thrown away.”

“I know.”

Gu Juyang shook his head.

Through correspondence sent by Lim Sayeol on a regular basis, he was well aware of the terrifying development of children trapped in an underground cavity.

If they can fully absorb the children, the Blood Phantom Group will be able to emerge as the strongest assassin group. But they couldn’t.

That was the condition of the contract with the client in the first place.

The client wanted assassins who are completely new faces, not just any existing assassins. Gu Juyang thought that the reason was to completely hide the identity of the client.

In fact, even though he received a huge request worth 500,000 gold, he did not even know the identity of the client.

If the Blood Phantom Group had not discovered the underground cave by chance, they would not have accepted this quest.

It was close to impossible to avoid the eyes of the world and raise a new army of assassins.

The first to discover the underground cave was Gu Jangpyeong, the former Captain of the Blood Phantom Group.

He discovered an underground cavity by chance. An underground cavity where traces of man-made terrain remain.

After several years of research, Gu Jangpyeong concluded that this underground cavity was probably a secret facility operated by one of the thirteen tribes of the old Magyo.

However, it was not possible to ascertain exactly which tribe the facility belonged to.

In fact, it didn’t matter who the original owner was.

The important thing is that the underground cavity is a facility abandoned a long time ago, and it has an optimal environment to train new assassins while avoiding the eyes of the world.

From the beginning, it was possible to teach martial arts and put the children into the underground cavity, but Gu Juyang did not.

Rather, children who had never learned anything were thrown into extreme environments, and only the surviving children were taught martial arts and trained as assassins.

They’ve done this because it was judged to be much more efficient.

In fact, the amount they spent to raise the children as assassins was only 100,000 nyang of gold. He invested only 100,000 nyang and made a profit of over 400,000 nyang.

More than ten times the number of children who survived lost their lives, but their deaths did not faze Gu Juyang.

After all, they were children who were randomly kidnapped from all over Jianghu. Most of them were orphans who wandered around the river without any connection, so no one would care whether or not they would disappear.

They perfectly meet the requirements of the client.

“Their abilities are precious, but there is nothing we can do about it. Our relationship with them ends here.”

“Hmm…”

“Don’t worry about them either, uncle, and enjoy your retirement life. It would be nice for you to have a pretty girl as a concubine.”

“Have you figured out who the client is?”

“I don’t know either. If we want to do this for a long time, we shouldn’t cross the line/”

The corner of his mouth twisted upwards. It wasn’t difficult to find out who the client was if he wanted to.

However, it was a request worth 500,000 nyang of gold.

If he invested that much money and seven years of time, he wouldn’t be an ordinary tycoon. There was no reason to pretend to be such a big guy for nothing.

Despite the fact that the Blood Phantom Group had the size and ability to fit among the top ten powerful assassin groups, it was still an assassin group.

No matter how great the assassin group was, it could not be compared to the powerful and prestigious sects.

Even if only one of the powerful and prestigious sects come forward, a group of assassins the size of the Blood Phantom Group will be annihilated in an instant.

The only exception was White Spirit Troupe³, the most powerful assassin group.

The strongest assassins of Baek Gwi-ryeon, the Ten Bloodsuckersl (十血殺), was already a legend in Jianghu.

The main pillars of the current Jianghu are the Wudang sect, Shaolin Temple and Mount Hua sect.

The group of assassins that even the three chieftains were reluctant to face was White Spirit Troupe.

The goal of Gu Juyang was to raise the Blood Phantom Group into a group comparable to that of White Spirit Troupe. Until then, being as careful as possible was not enough.

“The Blood Phantom Group will take a massive leap forward if we manage to complete this request. Once we do, it’s not impossible to catch up to White Spirit Troupe.”

“Hm.”

Gu Juyang’s eyes were full of ambition. But Lim Sayeol’s eyes, who was looking at him, were slightly shaking with unease.

Editor’s Notes

1. Clear Wind Manor was the name used in the manhwa.
2. Clear Breeze District Great Moon Palace was the term used in the manhwa. For the MTL, it is 大月殿 Great Moon Hall.
3. White Spirit Troupe was the name used in the manhwa to refer to the strongest assassin group in Jianghu. In the MTL, it was translated as Baek Gwi-ryeon (百鬼職 Hundred Ghost). I’ll be using the manhwa ver for consistency.