[Earlier That Morning ]
The morning mist curled through the trees, and with it came the usual disaster.
"Yeon, put that squirrel down," So-Ri said without even looking up.
Yeon blinked and slowly set the dazed creature back onto the ground.
"It tried to steal my rice cake," he mumbled.
"It's a squirrel!" Yul-Rin snapped, stirring the porridge with exaggerated patience. "It probably thought it was food."
"I am food," Ma-Rok said solemnly, holding a stick like a spit. "The jungle will devour me first. Remember me as brave."
"You tripped on a sleeping bird," Sun-Ho replied, deadpan.
Ma-Rok pointed dramatically. "That bird looked at me with malicious intent!"
Master Jang Cheol-Oh sipped his tea without emotion. "I miss assassins. At least they were quiet."
Laughter erupted across the camp.
---
[Midday – Before the Mission Begins]
The group huddled around a crude map drawn on a squirrel-skin scroll. Ma-Rok poked the center with a sausage skewer.
"So, the red circle is the enemy base?"
"That's a gravy stain," Yul-Rin muttered.
"Oh… then this triangle—"
"That's where you drooled while napping," So-Ri sighed.
Yeon flipped the scroll upside down. "Does that make this north?"
Master Jang slapped his forehead. "How did we lose to ourselves before even reaching the enemy?"
Sun-Ho leaned back on a rock, arms crossed. "Strategic chaos. Confuse the enemy by confusing your own team."
Everyone turned to him.
He nodded solemnly. "Ancient tactic. I just invented it."
They stared.
"…I love it," Ma-Rok declared.
---
[Now – Dusk, Fire-Venom Sect Territory]
Mist slithered through the dark valley like a living thing, brushing past jagged rocks and crooked trees. A village lay below, tucked under the shadow of the mountain — Fire-Venom Sect territory. Silent, unassuming.
From a ridge high above, Baek Sun-Ho — now masked as Musang Oje — watched.
Wheeee. The cold wind curled around his dark cloak.
Below, outer sect members moved lazily, unaware. A pungent scent hovered in the air. The stench of alchemical corruption. His eyes narrowed behind the mask.
"That smoke... they're still testing the Emberwine Drug," he muttered.
He leapt.
Thup! His feet landed on a low thatched roof.
Fwip. His cloak fluttered behind him as he moved — a shadow among shadows.
He slipped into the first hut like a whisper.
Snk... The lone alchemist never saw it coming — a faint chop to the back of the neck and down he went.
Tap tap tap. Three quick knocks on a bamboo pipe as he passed by. The signal for So-Ri and Yul-Rin, watching through spyglasses.
---
From the ridge above:
"He moves like he's weightless," Yul-Rin whispered. "Even his footsteps are quiet. I think I love him."
So-Ri squinted. "You say that every time he does something mysterious."
Ma-Rok leaned forward. "Still not convinced that's Sun-Ho. This Musang guy's way too terrifying."
Master Jang chuckled. "And that's why it works."
---
Back inside the camp:
Sun-Ho paused behind a storehouse. Voices — two guards approaching.
"I swear, the last batch made my cousin cough blood. Still, the elder wants more."
"You think I care? That old freak pays in silver."
Snap. A twig under their foot.
Thud.
Their heads hit the wall one after another. Sun-Ho dragged their bodies into the bushes.
He moved fast now. Three more huts. Each time — swift, quiet, efficient. Whap. Thunk. Paf.
Then he stopped.
A pressure tickled his skin.
Someone strong is here.
A large man stepped out from the main hall. His shoulders wide, his arms scarred with burns. A lieutenant of the Fire-Venom Sect.
"Who's there?! Show yourself, coward!"
Sun-Ho stepped forward from the shadows.
"You... you're not one of us."
No reply. Just a gloved hand reaching for a small orb.
The lieutenant sneered. "You think trinkets will save you?"
Fshhh! Smoke burst outward.
Sun-Ho vanished into it.
Crack!
The lieutenant staggered. A knee to the ribs.
Boom!
He swung his fist — missed.
Snap!
A pressure point collapsed. The lieutenant screamed, arms spasming.
"Who are you?! What are you?!"
The mask glinted under moonlight.
Musang Oje spoke for the first time. "No one... and that is enough."
With a flash, the man fell, crumpled by a palm strike laced with burning Qi. Fire without flame.
Sun-Ho stood alone among scattered bodies and broken crates. He reached down, grabbed a sealed vial.
"So this is what they're making."
He looked skyward, as if sensing something.
---
From a far ridge, So-Ri exhaled slowly. "He did it."
Master Jang's arms were crossed. "No wasted movement. No hesitation. I taught him well."
Yul-Rin raised a brow. "But that pressure he used... that wasn't just fire."
Ma-Rok nodded slowly. "That was... elementless. Like he just used will alone."
Yeon blinked and whispered, "Cool."
---
Back at the edge of the battlefield, Sun-Ho left a mark on the largest crate. A sigil burned in with a finger.
A wordless warning to the next intruders:
Leave this path — or be reduced to cinders.
He turned and walked away.
Whmm... The wind blew through the broken village, rustling cloth and whispers.
---
Far away, under an ancient pagoda, a man in rich robes sipped from a porcelain cup. A masked subordinate knelt before him.
"Sir. We've lost contact with Fire-Venom's testing site. Survivors spoke of a masked figure. Moved like smoke. No element signature."
The man didn't flinch. Just smiled. "So... he finally stirs."
He turned his head toward the north, toward a boy he once disregarded.
"Let him come. I'm eager to meet this... phantom flame."
---
Back with the party:
Sun-Ho returned, mask off, wiping fake blood from his glove. Everyone looked at him in half disbelief.
"So," Ma-Rok said. "Musang Oje — he say anything about me?"
"He said you're brave... in a lovable vegetable way."
Ma-Rok beamed. "Told you I left a good impression."
Master Jang raised an eyebrow. "You're not even suspicious how Musang and Sun-Ho are never in the same place?"
Ma-Rok shrugged. "Must be coincidence."
So-Ri covered her face, laughing.
Yul-Rin whispered to Yeon, "We're doomed."
Wheeee. The wind stirred again.
But now it carried a whisper. A whisper of shadows... and rising legends.
---
[End of Chapter - 22]