The Outcast Writer of a Martial Arts Visual Novel - Chapter 84: The Villainess (1)

While some lived today to see tomorrow, others lived as if they were to die tomorrow.

Yodong Castle.

Moyong Family.

A personal training ground.

Here, there was a woman living as if she was to die tomorrow.

In the current martial arts world, she was known as a viper-like woman who killed her husband, a villainess widow likened to a black widow.

“Report.”

Moyong Sang-ah.

It has been several months since the incident where she killed her husband.

Moyong Sang-ah paused her personal training and addressed the visiting head of Changbongdae.

“Some of the Kang family’s businesses still refuse to be taken over.”

“Even when you show them the document stamped with my husband’s seal?”

“They tried to tear it up right in front of me, claiming it was forged. I barely stopped them.”

“They attempted to tear up the merchant document?”

A flash of anger escaped her usually calm demeanor.

The document was left to her by her husband to take over the Kang family’s businesses in the Central Plains.

Through this document, she gained overwhelming rights and legitimacy to take over numerous businesses of the Kang family in the Central Plains.

“I’ve threatened them to hand over their businesses. But those Korean people are stubborn and don’t seem to want to give them up easily.”

“Then let’s go. Prepare the Changbongdae.”

Moyong Sang-ah’s escort, Changbongdae, which was supposed to be disbanded upon her marriage, has been regaining its strength since that day.

“Miss, we will handle it.”

“It’s someone who ignored my husband’s will. I need to see it myself.”

One of the few things left to her by the merchant.

Someone tried to ignore it and erase her husband’s traces.

She couldn’t just let it go.

Moyong Sang-ah headed to one of the Kang family’s businesses with Changbongdae.

“Never hand it over!”

The person Moyong Sang-ah met was an innkeeper in Xingcheng of Yodong Castle, who had taken over all the businesses previously operated by the Kang family following their downfall.

“These businesses were left by the merchant. If you hand them over, you can continue to operate them.”

Moyong Sang-ah calmly proposed a solution that would be acceptable to both parties.

“Operate? Who are you to take everything for yourself and reduce me to a servant? Do you even know who I am?”

“I don’t know. What I do know is that you’ve unlawfully taken over the Kang family’s businesses.”

A villain who dared to claim what belonged to her husband. Moyong Sang-ah kept her thoughts to herself and addressed the man.

“I am someone who was adopted into the Kang family through a cousin’s marriage eight times removed. What? Illegal? I merely saved the Kang family’s assets from ruin. And now you want me to surrender everything?”

The man’s connection to the family was tenuous at best. He had managed to avoid the disaster that struck the Kang family and had taken over the businesses in Xingcheng through various illegal and violent means.

In contrast, Moyong Sang-ah’s claim was solid, backed by Kang Yun-ho’s name, unlike the man’s dubious entitlement.

“I won’t say much. Just hand it over quietly.”

A Changbongdae member standing beside her might have detected the subtle anger in her voice, but the innkeeper before her did not.

“Not talking much isn’t the problem! Hey! The whole world knows you’re the main reason behind the Kang family’s downfall! And now you want to claim the Kang family’s assets? In the name of Kang Yun-ho, whom you killed? I may be shameless, but aren’t you ashamed before heaven!”

The man, mistaking Moyong Sang-ah’s patience for weakness, raised his voice so that everyone inside the establishment could hear him.

“How dare you speak to the lady like that!”

“Stop.”

Unable to stand by any longer, a Changbongdae member reached for his sword, but Moyong Sang-ah raised her hand to stop him.

Contrary to the initial ease of taking over the Kang family’s businesses in the Central Plains, the inability to fully take over the Kang family’s businesses months after the incident was a significant setback.

As it became known that Moyong Sang-ah herself was the source of the accusations against the Kang family, many of the Kang family’s businesses in the Central Plains turned their backs on her.

Moyong Sang-ah looked at the man in front of her.

Should she give up?

She was an eternal sinner to the Kang family.

Having already taken control of numerous businesses, she wondered if giving up now would serve as atonement.

Moyong Sang-ah had come here wielding the rights Kang Yun-ho had given her, but in front of his name, she felt infinitely small.

Seeing Moyong Sang-ah deep in thought with a dark expression, the man took it as an opportunity to continue his venomous words.

“Kang Yun-ho, that idiot. Tsk. I knew that bastard would get a big curse one day. What did he leave to his family’s enemy after dying? Was it because of his looks? To give up the family’s assets in Kang Yun-ho’s name? When he died, he should have died gracefully instead of scattering shit so splendidly. Cough!”

The blade piercing the man’s stomach happened in an instant.

“You. You dare to insult.”

Moyong Sang-ah’s sword, filled with rage, slowly stabbed into the man’s stomach.

“Gargh!”

Her cold fury twisted slowly in the man’s stomach, intensifying his pain.

“He is not that kind of person.”

Moyong Sang-ah, though only for a moment, mocked herself for contemplating such an action.

A sinner, to give up his will for atonement?

The person she needed to atone to was not the trash who coveted others’ things without discerning right from wrong.

The person she needs to atone to was,

-I’m sorry, and I’m sorry again. I’m sorry I couldn’t meet you earlier. I’m sorry I couldn’t run to you sooner. I’m sorry I cannot be with you, who will be pointed at in the future.

Her husband, who even gave up his life for such a selfish woman.

Moyong Sang-ah recalled the unforgettable memory of that day, her husband’s face.

Yes. He was more concerned about the future of his wife, who would be pointed at, than his own precious life.

How could she hesitate over such a matter?

How could she betray the will of the man who gave his life for her?

She must seek forgiveness after everything is over.

She must seek forgiveness from him in hell, even if her body is torn apart.

To do so, she decided to become a villainess.

What was there to hesitate about?

“Gah. Gargh!”

Power surged through Moyong Sang-ah’s sword.

“Who are you! How dare you point a sword at our innkeeper!”

A person who seemed to be an associate of the stabbed man shouted at Moyong Sang-ah.

“I am. His. Remaining will. And inheritance. Everything.”

Moyong Sang-ah, reinforcing her resolve in her heart, slashed the man vertically in one swift motion.

“Miss!”

The Changbongdae members were shocked by her sudden action. However, Moyong Sang-ah, indifferent to their reactions, spoke to the people in the establishment with an emotionless face.

“From now on, those who support the Moyong Family’s acquisition of the business kneel.”

“Kneel quickly!”

“Are you crazy? The innkeeper has been murdered! And you want to hand over this business?”

“I, I’ll kneel.”

Did they realize they could die if they did wrong?

A few quick-witted ones kneeled immediately at her cold command.

“All rights to the Kang family’s businesses. Are mine. Moyong Sang-ah. I won’t say more. Kneel.”

Most people kneeled at her declaration. However, those who couldn’t let go of what was in their grasp and their guards did not kneel until the very end.

“Changbongdae.”

Moyong Sang-ah called for Changbongdae while looking at those who were still resisting.

“Yes, miss.”

“Kill everyone standing.”

“What?”

One of the Changbongdae members standing behind Moyong Sang-ah, mouth agape, questioned what he thought he had misheard.

“Kill them all.”

Moyong Sang-ah repeated herself to ensure there was no misunderstanding.

“Understood!”

The Changbongdae members sprang into action.

“Please, spare me!”

“I’ll give you everything! Please!”

Swiftly, the Changbongdae members behind Moyong Sang-ah began slitting the throats of those in front of them.

Soon, the floor of the establishment was covered with people kneeling and trembling in fear, alongside headless corpses.

“Have the deputy clean up and stamp the document stating that the Moyong Family has taken over this business.”

Moyong Sang-ah glanced indifferently at the blood-soaked establishment before turning to leave.

“Miss.”

On the way back to the Moyong Family, the leader of Changbongdae quietly approached Moyong Sang-ah, who was alone in her room.

“Yes. Speak.”

“Today’s actions do not align with the Moyong Family’s principles, which belong to the righteous sects.”

The leader had followed her command and participated in the killings, but he was troubled by the act of killing defenseless commoners.

“I had every right to do so. They had illegally seized my businesses.”

“That may be true, but some of them were not martial artists.”

“Does the Demonic Sect only target martial artists?”

“We are not the Demonic Sect.”

“But anyone under the Demonic Sect’s influence is an enemy of the Moyong Family.”

“…. That’s why we must adhere even more to the righteous path. Our hands need not become dirty because theirs are. Shouldn’t we punish them through righteousness?”

“If it means eliminating them, I don’t mind if not just my hands, but my entire body becomes black.”

“Miss!”

“Give one more warning to the businesses of the Kang family that resist. If they continue to defy us, show no mercy. Kill them all. We have a long journey ahead.”

“Miss, why have you changed so much? You don’t seem like the person I once knew.”

The leader spoke to her in a pained tone, recalling that day.

The day she returned after killing a fool.

He had hoped everything could return to normal with the man’s death.

But since the day that man died, the woman he had served all his life could never return to the way he remembered her.

“…. If you want to leave, then leave.”

“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that.”

After bidding farewell to Moyong Sang-ah, the leader quietly left the room.

Once the sounds around her had faded, Moyong Sang-ah sat by the window and looked up at the sky.

“The road ahead is long. …. Too long.”

Moyong Sang-ah repeated the words she had said to the leader of Changbongdae, feeling the chill of the night wind.

The path to him felt as distantly unreachable as the stars in the sky.

She could not afford to delay any longer.

It’s a path that cannot be reached by seeking someone’s understanding.

“My Husband….”

The chilly night wind brushes her shoulders.

Her trembling heart, filled with sorrow, wishes to lean on a sturdy embrace.

If she did, he would have quietly comforted her trembling self within his heart.

But the man who could have held her no longer exists.

Because she killed him with her own hands.

Now, only she can steady the trembling heart of a villainess.

The chilly night wind.

Quietly, Moyong Sang-ah wrapped her own shoulders.