Mae-Bi stood in the circle.
Jeong Rak was out cold. Han Yuri was still gasping for breath in the dirt. The rest of the Fifth Division stood silent, unsure whether to be impressed or afraid.
Baek Mu-Gi stepped forward.
His voice carried across the courtyard, not with volume but weight.
"Mao Bi."
Mae-Bi bowed his head.
He could feel the eyes of every assassin, every squad leader, watching.
Baek Mu-Gi's tone sharpened.
"Excellent."
Mae-Bi tensed.
"I had assumed the Fifth Division was just a nest of dull knives," the First Fang continued, "and you—well, you were practically invisible. Useless. Deadweight."
Then, a pause.
"But now you do this."
His words echoed.
"Were you hiding your strength all this time?"
There it was.
The question that could kill him.
The centipede inside his heart twitched, sensing a lie might come next. Ready to strike.
Hiding your power from the cult meant disloyalty. It meant disobedience to the Heavenly Demon.
It meant death.
But Mae-Bi had lived fifty years once already and he'd prepared.He stepped forward.
Then dropped to his knees.
Thud.
His forehead slammed against the dirt. Blood seeped from the wound as he bowed low.
"I deserve punishment if it looks that way, First squad leader."
The crowd murmured.
Mae-Bi didn't lift his head.
"I wasn't hiding anything," he said clearly. "I was weak."
No lie.
"I failed in every stage of cultivation. I was the last to finish drills. The last to strike in sparring."
Still true.
"But I watched. I studied. I remembered."
A slight pulse of heat in his chest the centipede stirring but not biting.
"I couldn't keep up by force. So I survived with memory. With mimicry. With desperation."
"I didn't think that was power, sir."
He lifted his head now, slowly, eyes locked with Baek Mu-Gi's.
"I thought it was shame."
A long silence.
Even the other assassins didn't move.
The First Squad leader's face remained unreadable beneath his half-mask.
Then—he let out a quiet breath.
"Clever," Baek Mu-Gi said. "You're either telling the truth..."
He stepped forward.
"...or you're smart enough to lie like a saint."
The centipede in Mae-Bi's chest went still. Satisfied.
Baek Mu-Gi's voice cut through the air.
"From this moment forward—Mao Bi is the Squad Leader of the Fifth Division."
Baek Mu-Gi's voice boomed across the silent courtyard.
"Is there anyone who opposes this decision—"
His eyes swept the assassins.
"—or wishes to challenge the title of Squad Leader of the Fifth Division?"
No one moved.
The other squad commanders stood with arms folded, blank-faced. No scoffing. No protest.
Only silence.
Baek Mu-Gi tilted his head.
"Am I speaking to myself?"
"NO, SIR!" the field answered in unison.
A smirk tugged at the edge of his mask.
"Good. Then welcome your new commander."
He raised his hand.
At once, the assassins of the Fifth Division snapped into formation. Their right fists clenched and pressed into their left palms, arms held straight and firm before their chest the classic Murim salute of loyalty and respect. A traditional gesture meaning: "I offer my strength with no deceit."
And then, in perfect unison, they shouted:
"WE GREET THE NEW SQUAD LEADER OF THE FIFTH DIVISION!"
The air trembled with their voices.
Mae-Bi didn't smile.
He simply turned, faced Baek Mu-Gi, and dropped to one knee again.
"Thank you, First leader ," he said. "I will not waste this position."
Baek Mu-Gi gave a faint nod.
Mae-Bi stood slowly.
He turned to face his squad — his squad now.
His eyes scanned each of them, not for admiration... but for weight.
Responsibility.
Every one of them was a trained killer.
But Mae-Bi wasn't just thinking about protecting them.
He was thinking about the thousands they might be ordered to kill in the future.
If he could steer them—
Even a little—
He could change the tide.
He could use the cult to destroy the cult.
Mae-Bi brought his own fist to his palm, and bowed slightly to them in return.
Not as a formality.
But as a quiet promise.
Baek Mu-Gi lifted his hand.
The other squad leaders turned without a word, vanishing into shadow along with their divisions — silent as phantoms. The training grounds emptied in seconds.
Only Mae-Bi remained.
Baek Mu-Gi stepped closer and rested a gloved hand briefly on his shoulder.
"Report to Lord Hyeolgeom Gunju later today," he said. "Tell him the Fifth Division has a new leader."
Mae-Bi didn't respond right away.
He simply nodded because he knew what that meant another storm was coming.