Star Instructor, Master Baek-Chapter 388: That Alias is Taboo

The night came alive with festive magic. People on the streets swayed to the delightful melodies of nearby minstrels, while their eyes remained transfixed on acrobatic troupes clad in vibrant costumes.
Children began their familiar whining when the sweet scent of candy reached them, and their fathers, who were carrying them aloft, would chuckle and give in to their pleas, placing a treat in their hands. Meanwhile, their normally stern mothers found themselves enjoying the moment and saving their admonishments for another day.
Thanks to the visitors who came to attend the Azure Dragon Festival, Nanchang temporarily transformed into a city that never slept.
"Hahahaha!"
In spite of the late hour, the city teemed with life, the usual silence of the night punctuated by the laughter of children, the soft murmurs of young lovers, the lively banter of merchants and their customers, and the boisterous chatter of martial artists enjoying a meal.
SPURT!
"Everyone looks happy, don't they? Too bad you can't enjoy it."
"...H-How?" a man gasped in pain.
Even amid the splendor of the festival, some places remained shrouded in darkness. In a narrow alley with no stalls or stages nearby, where no light seeped in, was the perfect place for an assassin to handle his business and hide a corpse.
"You're asking how I found you?"
"...Yes."
The assassin, who was disguised as an ordinary middle-aged man, stared blankly at the throwing knife that was lodged in his abdomen. The lacquered knife, which was coated such that it would not reflect light, had originally belonged to him. However, the attacker who had sprung up out of nowhere had snatched it and stabbed him with it.
Everything had happened in the blink of an eye. As skilled as he was, there was nothing even a Deathshroud assassin could do once a peerless master got the drop on them.
"You should have hidden better," Baek Suryong remarked icily as he shoved the mortally wounded assassin against a wall. Bathed in the soft light of the moon, he whispered into the man's ear, "Shall we have a little chat?"
"......" The assassin shuddered.
Were the smiles he wore while competing in the Azure Games all fake?
Little did he know, both the passionate, flamboyant teacher and the cold, ruthless killer were actually two sides of the same person.
"...Just kill me," he sighed, accepting his death.
His acupoints had been sealed, so he couldn't move any part of his body except his mouth. Baek Suryong had even removed the poison pill hidden in his molars, rendering suicide impossible.
He longed for a quick death, but the exquisitely plunged throwing knife would not grant him one. He knew that if it were twisted just a little, his intestines would be severed and he would die in terrible agony. Still, even that would be better than dying slowly in this cold, dark alleyway.
"...Azure Dragon Hero. You are a lot more thorough than I had heard."
"Thanks for the compliment."
"To the point where I wonder if you're truly an orthodox master."
"Want to find out?"
The assassin met Baek Suryong's chilling, faintly glowing eyes. Despite having lost most of his emotions, the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. "...Even if you torture me, I won't tell you anything."
"Is it because you're from Deathshroud? For a mere cutthroat, you're quite prideful. As for whether or not you'll talk... well, we'll find out when we try."
The assassin forced a smile. "I will tell you one thing, though."
"Speak."
"Besides me, several other assassins have infiltrated the Azure Dragon Academy, and you're not their only target."
"......" Baek Suryong listened quietly.
"As a peerless master, it's only natural that you're confident in your ability to protect yourself from an ambush. But what about the others? The innocent people who came to enjoy the festival, unaware of the danger, your fellow instructors, and your budding young students? Are you confident that you can stop all the blades aimed at them by yourself?"
The assassin sighed, feigning concern for Baek Suryong.
"If you want to protect the people around you, devote yourself to our Cult. You may have killed two of the Cult's elders and thwarted our plans several times, but the higher-ups have decided to show you mercy in light of your talents."
"Mercy?"
The assassin's trembling voice gradually grew steady again. Looking at Baek Suryong with eyes full of false concern, he said, "That's right. If you follow us to the Cult, no one will die. If you refuse, however, this place will soon be stained with blood... You understand, right? Now, if you could first let go of the dagger..."
"......" Baek Suryong's eyes glazed over.
The Fifth Shroud smirked inwardly. His voice had a peculiar rhythm that clouded his opponent's mind. It was a form of sound art, and he had never failed a mission, especially not when he was fully focused on one target.
Even a peerless master is bound to make a mistake in a moment of complete carelessness!
There was no way the Azure Dragon Hero could anticipate being attacked by someone with a pierced abdomen.
Yes! His grip is weakening!
The Fifth Shroud's heart pounded. The moment the Azure Dragon Hero loosened his grip on the knife, he planned to pull it out and stab him.
Unfortunately, his wish did not come true.
Baek Suryong grabbed the Fifth Shroud's neck with his free hand. "I thought you were a little talkative for an assassin. So you're a sound arts specialist, huh?"
The assassin's face quickly turned purple from asphyxiation. "Keok...!"
"I've heard that some of the Deathshroud assassins have special talents besides stabbing people, but this is my first time actually meeting one, haha."
"...Where did you hear such a thing?"
"The Blood Dragon Captain told me about it around fifty years ago?"
"......" The Fifth Shroud remained silent, unmoved by the absurd joke.
Baek Suryong smirked faintly. "I'm going to ask you a few questions. Cooperate, and I'll kill you as quickly and painlessly as possible."
"......"
"No answer? Then I guess you have no intention of cooperating."
"......"
"Can't be helped then."
FWOOSH!
Baek Suryong's pupils dyed red, illuminating the darkness like a crimson flame.
The Fifth Shroud's eyes shot wide open in horror. Moments later, he began to cry tears of blood. He struggled to look away, but couldn't as Baek Suryong had sealed his acupoints.
"Ugh..."
An instinctual fear made his whole body tremble uncontrollably.
Deathshroud was the murim's most feared assassin organization, with members who feared neither pain nor death. Nevertheless, the Blood Demon Eyes struck terror in them, because at their core, they were Blood Cultists.
It didn't take long before the Fifth Shroud's mind started to collapse.
"Hee, heeheehee..." he giggled, though tears of blood were still dripping from his eyes.
Baek Suryong took a step back in disgust. "How many Deathshroud assassins are there in the Azure Dragon Academy?"
The Fifth Shroud, half out of his mind, knelt before Baek Suryong. The throwing knife in his stomach dug deeper because of his movement, but right now, he couldn't register pain. "Five... infiltrated first... the rest... on standby..."
"I asked, how many of you are there in total?"
"I don't know... exact number... but most of Deathshroud... has been mobilized..."
Baek Suryong's eyes hardened. He had expected a significant number of assassins, but most of Deathshroud?
"Who are all the targets? And the exact plan?"
"Only... Skykiller knows..."
The Fifth Shroud was rapidly deteriorating. The throwing knife that had pierced his stomach had damaged his organs, and his mind was shattered. Even if he were left alone, he would die in five minutes.
Needless to say, Baek Suryong had no interest in prolonging the assassin's life. "Where's Skykiller?" he demanded.
"I don't know... he hid it... from the rest of us..."
"Useless fool. You don't know anything at all," Baek Suryong grumbled as if massively disappointed.
The Fifth Shroud panicked, his expression conveying a desperate desire to be useful. "If even one of us dies... all of us will be alerted... through sorcery..."
"Sorcery? Did Skykiller cast that spell?"
"Yes..."
Baek Suryong grinned triumphantly.
So this generation's Skykiller is a sorcerer as well as a martial arts expert, huh?
"And..." the Fifth Shroud suddenly fell to the side.
THUD!
His head hit the wall. The impact restored the light to his eyes, which had been clouded by the Blood Demon Eyes. A terminal lucidity gripped him that not even the Heaven Defying Divine Art could suppress.
"Skykiller was right... You are... like us..." The Fifth Shroud looked up at Baek Suryong and giggled mockingly. "Be careful... Skykiller always... prepares several backup plans..."
He took his last breath, then closed his eyes.
Baek Suryong sighed. "I need to catch that bastard Skykiller quickly."
The Fifth Shroud was a highly skilled assassin, but he wasn't good enough to kill him. This could only mean that he was mere sacrificial bait Skykiller tossed out just to test him.
He said they would know if even one of them died. If so... hmm?
Sensing a familiar presence approaching quickly, Baek Suryong hurriedly concealed the Heaven Defying Divine Art.
"We lost one," Mae Geuklyom said gravely.
Moments later, Namgung Su and Noh Goonsang arrived from different directions.
"The target escaped."
"...Same here."
Previously, they had each agreed to take care of one assassin, and whoever finished first would eliminate the fifth and final assassin. However, the three of them had lost track of the last assassin, so they came looking for Baek Suryong, wondering if he had caught the guy.
Baek Suryong shook his head. "I interrogated my target, and he revealed that they can sense each other's deaths through sorcery. If the fifth bastard immediately escaped the Azure Dragon Academy upon noticing his comrades' deaths, we won't be able to catch him easily."
All of their expressions darkened. Now that the assassin had hidden his presence and blended into the crowd, finding him again would be much more difficult.
"If an assassin is running rampant outside, it'll be a big problem."
We must catch him right now."
"Wait, that might be what they're aiming for. For now..."
"Don't worry," Baek Suryong said calmly, looking at the wide-open main gate of the Azure Dragon Academy. "Just in case, I asked for reinforcements to keep watch over the city."
"Reinforcements? Who else is there besides us?"
Baek Suryong grinned at the three of them, especially Mae Geuklyom. "I was planning to keep it a secret until everything was over... but I think you'll probably be happy to see them."
The Ninth Shroud escaped the Azure Dragon Academy as fast as he could without attracting attention.
They're all dead.
Thanks to the sorcery Skykiller had cast, he knew the Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, and Tenth Shrouds were all dead. He was the only one who had lucked out and survived.
The first plan has failed. I must quickly this!
He blended in with the crowd easily. While the Beggars' Gang and the Rogues' Guild had set up a surveillance net, he was confident that his disguise would not be discovered as long as he didn't cause a disturbance or use martial arts.
Only after entering the deserted outskirts of the city did he realize he was being followed.
Someone's on my tail!
The Ninth Shroud lured his opponent into a dark alley and spun around to face him.
"You're one of them, aren't you?" a swordsman wearing a black bamboo hat asked lazily. His posture was relaxed, and he held a gourd, presumed to contain alcohol, in one hand. "I was just wondering whether to stop you. I'm afraid to follow you all the way to an assassin's den, you see."
Instead of answering, the Ninth Shroud rushed forward without hesitation, drawing his sword and executing the swiftest sword technique he knew.
I'll end this in one strike!
He gathered all his strength and focused it on his blade. As befitting an assassin, he generally preferred short, decisive battles.
His opponent did not shrink back. Rather, he casually tossed the gourd high into the sky, shifted his stance, and placed a hand on his sword's hilt.
How foolish!
The Ninth Shroud was confident. Contrary to the common belief that assassins were weak in direct confrontations, those of Deathshroud were different. His single swing was so fast that even the most skilled masters would not be able to dodge it.
Under the shimmering moonlight, the two swordsmen crossed paths.
SNAP!
The string on the man's black hat snapped and blew away in the wind, revealing his face.
The Ninth Shroud's eyes widened. "...The Azure Dragon Hero?"
No, while his face is similar, it's also different. There's a softer, more mature air about him...
The Ninth Shroud recalled the portraits of the Azure Dragon Hero's relatives, which he had studied prior to the mission.
"You! You're the Handsome..."
"Stop right there! That alias is taboo!"
SQUELCH!
The Ninth Shroud's chest split open, and blood gushed out. A moment later, the assassin's body toppled sideways.
FWIP!
Baek Muheun snatched the gourd he had tossed into the air earlier, grumbling, "What a pain in the ass! Thanks to my stupid son, I can't even enjoy the festival..."
He picked up the black hat that had fallen on the floor and dusted it off, then opened the lid of the gourd and gulped down the remaining liquor.
Translator's Note:
Papa Baek is here! That's all for this week's Master Baek!