TTDBK 02

Episode 2.

The assassin from Tiris faltered when Baberi so effortlessly brushed aside his attack.

“I chose for her a weak, frail body. Killing her should be simple.”

That was how the sorcerer had explained it when he sent Baberi Rance to another world.

“Simple, my ass.”

The assassin cursed the sorcerer under his breath, clenching his teeth.

“Would it kill you to just die quietly?”

With a swing, the kitchen knife slashed for her throat. Baberi read the arc of the blade and ducked, driving her fist into the man’s stomach.

He staggered back, coughing and choking in pain. In his own hardened body, years of training would have shrugged off such a blow. But this miserable shell he was forced to inhabit crumpled at a single punch.

“Almost makes me wonder if I’m the one who picked a weak body to begin with.”

The vessel he borrowed was sluggish, clumsy, and pathetically weak.

Barbarie, on the other hand, was far too quick. Every time he lunged to catch her, she slipped just out of reach and countered with another punch.

How the hell am I supposed to fight like this?

Fury burned in his chest, but there was nothing he could do. This was the king’s order. All he could do was kill Baberi Rance in this pitiful form and hope to return to his world.

“You’re here on orders from that bald bastard, aren’t you?”

Baberi’s lips curled into a smile. It was so wicked, so predatory, she could have been mistaken for the assassin herself.

“Why would it matter to you, when you’re about to die?”

“Because I like to keep track of reasons for revenge. Helps me count them properly.”

The two circled one another warily, measuring distance, each steadying their breath.

“Arf! Arf-arf!”

At the sight of his mistress being attacked, Kongtteok barked furiously. Baberi ordered him to stay back, but the little dog planted his paws firmly and barked at the intruder with fearless defiance.

“Arf! Grrr-arf!”

The assassin’s eyes flicked to the pup. He ground his heel onto the loose leash lying across the floor. Startled, Kongtteok tried to retreat—just as the gleaming blade flashed toward him.

“No!”

Baberi dove, throwing herself between the knife and her dog. The assassin had been waiting for that. He twisted, pulling her in close, and the kitchen knife buried itself into her left arm.

But before he could drive it deeper, a strong hand seized his wrist and wrenched the weapon free.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing in front of a police station?”

Baberi had known she was being tailed, which was why she deliberately stopped in front of the precinct. The assassin, fresh to Korea, hadn’t the faintest idea what a police station even was.

“Stand still! Don’t move!”

The middle-aged man, clearly a detective, barked at the assassin before turning to Baberi in a gentler tone.

“Are you all right, miss?”

He winced theatrically as he glanced at her bleeding arm, as if he were the one in pain.

“We need to get you to the ER right away. Do your parents know—?”

“I don’t have parents.”

The detective froze. Guilt flashed across his face.

“Ah, hell. That was careless of me. I’m sorry.”

It was the first time Barbarie had ever heard anyone apologize over her lack of parents. In Tiris, as the daughter of traitors, their deaths had been expected—almost celebrated. The real Yu Chaeyoung’s parents, of course, had died in a car crash.

“But I do have an older sister.”

“Then let’s call her, shall we?”

Barbarie nodded and rang Yu Chaelin. When she heard the news, Chaerin shrieked over the phone, telling her not to move an inch until she arrived.

Meanwhile, Baberi clasped Kongtteok’s leash again and calmly watched as the assassin was hauled away in handcuffs.

“Before your sister comes—did you know that man?” the detective asked.

Baberi tilted her head, thought a moment, then shook it.

“No.”

“So he just attacked you with a knife, out of nowhere? Did he say why?”

She knew perfectly well—because Glock had ordered it. But she shook her head with a blank, innocent look.

“Did he say anything strange while attacking you?”

“I don’t remember. The moment I saw the knife, I just… froze.”

Froze? Hardly. I was laughing inside, thinking all my training had finally paid off.

She sniffled, feigning tears. The detective softened, nodding in sympathy.

“What’s going to happen to him now?” she asked.

“I’ll make sure he goes to prison where he belongs. He won’t be laying a hand on you again.”

The detective stayed at her side until her sister arrived.

“Chaeyoung!”

Chaelin rushed in, nearly tripping over herself as she flung her arms around her.

“What happened? Are you okay?”

“Ma’am, please—calm down. Just take her to the ER. It doesn’t look too serious, so try not to worry.”

Only then did Chaelin see the blood soaking through her sister’s sleeve. She let out a shriek.

“I’m fine… Well, it does hurt a little,” Baberi admitted, deliberately feigning weakness.

She remembered suddenly the laundry she’d been told to do and hadn’t, and decided to milk her injury while she could.

…

They didn’t return from the hospital until after midnight. Chaelin saw the untouched laundry and said nothing.

“Tired? Go lie down. Want me to make you some warm milk with honey?”

No nagging, no scolding—only kindness. Baberi drank the sweetened milk, stretched out in a soft bed, and felt a strange peace. No chores to worry about. No stones to be endured.

In Tiris, no one would have helped her. Not even her master—who’d taught her that a traitor deserved to stand still and take the stones hurled at them. But today? A stranger, a detective, had stepped in to protect her.

Because here, Yu Chaeyoung was a citizen of the state.

And now she lay in a warm bed, while the assassin sat in a cold cell.

Baberi smiled faintly.

So this is the taste of state power…

“Maybe… maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to give up on revenge and just live in a place like this…”

Drifting to sleep on nothing more than a cup of honeyed milk, she felt as though she had feasted.

But happiness was brief.

Kill Baberi Rance.

She woke from a dream of Glock, seated on his throne, issuing the command. Grinding her teeth, she knew—forgetting revenge was not an option.

…

When she finally tracked down the assassin months later, visiting him in prison, his words were bitter.

“The sorcerer told me, if I killed you, he’d bring us both back to our world. Now I see it was a trap.”

He laughed sourly. This body’s original owner, he explained, had been convicted of murdering five people. Fingerprints, DNA—all matched. A life sentence.

“I didn’t kill them, but I’ll rot in here anyway. It’s enough to drive me mad.”

Baberi tilted her head.

“But as an assassin… didn’t you kill far more than five?”

He flinched. Guilty silence.

So much for being wronged. Baberi’s lip curled.

When she pressed for the sorcerer’s identity, all he offered was:

“He always wore a mask. Male, that’s all I know.”

Utterly useless. She left him mid-monologue, uninterested in his tragic life story.

…

Two years slipped by. Two years in Yu Chaeyoung’s body. Long enough that even her burning grudge dulled at the edges.

One morning, watching Yu Chaelin prepare for work, she mumbled, “Back home, my dream was to be a potato farmer. To grow the biggest potatoes anyone had ever seen.”

Chaelin blinked. “Stop babbling nonsense and go back to bed.”

But the next evening, over dinner, she surprised Baberi.

“Tomorrow, let’s go to the weekend farm. You said you wanted to grow potatoes, right?”

Baberi stared. She had barely remembered saying such a thing. But Chaelin had remembered. A lump rose in her throat. For the first time, she thought… maybe it would be enough to live as someone’s younger sister.

She nodded eagerly and went to bed early, heart fluttering with excitement.

Potatoes…

She could hardly sleep, smiling in anticipation of tomorrow.

…

When she woke, something was wrong.

Her limbs wouldn’t move. Iron chains bound her wrists and ankles.

A voice came from the shadows.

“At last, you wake.”

The flicker of torches revealed soldiers in blue uniforms she knew all too well.

“Baberi Rance, hear your sentence.”

She didn’t need to ask where she was. Koreans wore padded jackets, not gaudy blue uniforms straight out of Tiris.

“Because of your failure, the Evil Dragon has returned. By His Majesty’s command, you are ordered to join the hunt—and this time, there will be no mistakes.”

Two years gone, and still the same arrogance. The absurdity of it all left Barbarie with only one thing to say:

“…Fuck.”