Translator: HH
Swish!
He pointed at me with his free hand. What was I supposed to say? He sounded like he was saying ‘How do you like it now! Your bad deeds have been revealed to the world!’
I smiled.
“Yes.”
“Haha, see! You bastards. I’ll report to the world what kind of things you did using this assassin…”
“False.”
The Crusader spoke.
“What?”
“Not true.”
The Crusader spoke indifferently again.
“Didn’t he say ‘yes’ to your question. That answer was false. So to organize things, Kim Gong-ja didn’t kill over 4000 people.”
“…”
“Do you have any more questions?”
Silence.
While the Sword Saint shut his mouth, Crusader tilted her head.
“But 4000. Is it possible for one person to kill that many people? I think that’s almost impossible.”
“T, That…you used this youngest as a special assassin…”
I brightly smiled.
“You’re right. I’m a special assassin.”
“Not true.”
“…”
Sword Saint dropped his mouth open.
“C, Crusader. I saw you wrong! I thought you wouldn’t lie!”
“If you’ll believe me or not, is up to you.”
Crusader replied calmly.
“That’s why I asked if you would believe me at the beginning.’
“…”
“If you change what you’re saying now it’s a bit…pathetic. No, it’s really pathetic. Sword Saint. It’s unlike how I thought of you.”
“W, wait!”
The Sword Saint frantically looked at me.
“But there’s no way you didn’t kill anyone!”
“Ah. Yes. That’s right. I did get rid of someone once.”
Crusader nodded.
“It’s the truth.”
“See!”
“But it’s just one person.”
“What?”
Crusader nodded again.
“It’s true.”
“…”
“Of course, just because I killed one person doesn’t change the fact that I’m a murderer. But Sword Saint-nim. Even though I can’t be clean, I can tell you this. That bastard really deserved to die. Because he tried to kill me first.”
“It’s the truth.”
“No, he would’ve been a gentleman if he just tried to kill me. He massacres people. Massacres. I saw him kill someone, but dang, he didn’t even blink an eye as he burned someone to death! That fucking bastard!”
“It’s the truth.”
“Although I don’t know for sure, he probably killed tens, no hundreds of people. Yes. He’s definitely someone to do that. I killed someone like that. Curse me as a murderer if you want to. But did you know? Even if I go back to the past, I’ll get rid of him. Dang. Shit. I don’t know how someone can be as evil as him.”
Crusader nodded her head.
“It’s all true.
“…”
Sword Saint was silent.
He slowly looked around him. He didn’t understand the situation, but now, he probably did after looking around.
Because the Guild Masters were all looking at him like ‘…what are you doing?’
“Hahahah! Hahaha!”
Heretic Questioner burst out laughing.
“Kim Gong-ja, the special assassin of the Five Large Guilds! How funny! It would be nice if that was true, but Sword Saint! We met Kim Gong-ja for the first time yesterday!”
“That’s also true, by the way.”
“…”
The Sword Saint’s silence was deeper.
-Tsk tsk tsk tsk. One who lives by skills, dies by them.
Bae Hu-ryeong continued to click his tongue next to me.
“Mm. Well, I’ve answered everything.”
I smiled.
What sir Gong-ja said really was all correct.
“It seems like there was a misunderstanding. It’s a good thing that was it. But Sword Saint. If I was really “…”
“I think a word of apology is appropriate here. What do you say?”
Crusader nodded her head.
“It’s the perfect truth. With any lie.”
“…”
“Quickly apologize to Kim Gong-ja. Sword Saint.”
The geezer paled.
“I, I…”
Sword Saint spoke after a considerable amount of time had passed.
The hunters were looking at Sword Saint. His lips were dry.
“I, to Kim Gong-ja…”
Sword Saint could say a lot of things here.
He could just not believe Crusader. He didn’t have any reason to. Even though Crusader was famed for being just and righteous, she was in the Five Large Guilds. Why did he have to trust her?
‘You’re all trying to trick me!’
Could be what Sword Saint said.
Or…he could reveal his own skill card. The power that showed an opponent’s kill count. But it wasn’t wise to show others your skill. However, it was still enough.
‘I didn’t suspect Kim Gong-ja because I’m a boomer. It’s all because of my skill! What can I do when this is what my skill says? Isn’t it obvious that someone should trust their skill before they trust a person first?’
It was natural for people to excuse themselves.
‘Or there are psychopaths that just kill others like the Flame Emperor.’
Distrust. Excuses. Shutting their mouths.
The Flame Emperor proved that he was a psychopath by choosing the method of shutting someone’s mouth…and Sword Saint would show what kind of person he was from this.
“Mm.”
Sword Saint wet his lips.
And he decided.
“…Did you say your name was Kim Gong-ja.”
“Yes.”
“If you didn’t kill innocent people like I thought…no. That’s not it.”
Sword Saint shook his head while he was speaking. Kashing. As he pulled his sword back in, sighs of relief could be heard in the reception room. The hunters around Sword Saint looked less nervous. Among them, Sword Saint tightened his necktie.
“I’ll speak again.”
He bowed his head.
“I’m sincerely sorry.”
The old man was apologizing.
“I was wrong. I misunderstood…so I almost killed someone. I always thought that I should kill anyone I judged deserving to be killed. I killed by my beliefs.”
He bent his head even more.
“But from now, that won’t happen again.”
His low voice rumbled in the reception room.
“Just apologizing with words is useless. If you want anything, I’ll try to uphold it…It would be nice if I could say that but…”
Self-deprecation was mixed in his voice.
“Please don’t ask for my life. I ask you. I still want to live. I want to see the top of this tower. …I made a big mistake, and almost killed you. But please forgive this old man and let him live.”
The palace’s reception room became quiet.
The old man could’ve made a different choice. He could’ve not turested the Crusader, or excused himself with his skill. But he didn’t. Instead, he acknowledged that he might be wrong.
“…”
The Crusader glanced at me. Our eyes met. She nodded her head silently. We didn’t speak, but I knew what the Crusader was saying.
‘It’s the truth.’
Everything he said was true.
His apology, and his promise not to kill people based on his skill. Not only that, but the fact that he didn’t want to die.
That he wanted to live more.
To forgive him.
-That boomer.