When Yohan opened the door of the detached house, smoke and a stench full of poison spread out from inside.
It was so foul that even the butler and maids working in the main house could smell it.
"Ahh, I feel refreshed."
After confirming that Yohan had come outside, Mi-suk approached him while coughing.
"What is this...."
When she saw Yohan's appearance, she rubbed her eyes once to make sure it was really him.
Then, with an expression of disbelief, she said the same thing once more.
"What is this...."
The scrawny, ordinary seventeen-year-old student was nowhere to be seen. In his place stood a sturdy, ash-gray-haired young man whose large frame was filled with smoothly sculpted muscles.
"Yohan...?"
"Yeah, good to see you."
Yohan was drying his hair with a towel as if nothing had happened.
Perhaps because the clothes he had been wearing no longer fit, he had taken off his shirt.
"To think a person could change overnight...."
"It's a Hunter's Authority."
That was a lie.
However, after hearing the words "Hunter's Authority," Mi-suk had no choice but to believe it.
After all, a person changing like that was a supernatural phenomenon, and as far as Mi-suk knew, the only thing that could cause such a thing was a Hunter's Authority.
Only then did she begin to truly believe that Yohan was Awakened.
"By the way, did you do what I asked?"
"Ah... yes. Through the head butler, I received permission for you to use the training hall."
"It's not permission. Of course I can use it. Got it?"
"Yes. Understood."
Yohan loosened his stiff body and headed for the training hall.
The Hangeom Family's training hall was not greatly different from others.
Because of the influence of Do-cheol, who loved old things, there were almost no products of science and technology inside the training hall.
There was only a square marble sparring arena over a sandy floor, with steel dummies installed there.
"Simple."
Yohan lightly picked up a wooden sword and stepped onto the sparring arena.
'Light.'
Every time he swung the sword through the air, a whip-like sound rang out.
SWISH—!
Yohan then assumed a sheathed stance and stood before a dummy.
Then he drew his left foot back and gripped the handle of the wooden sword.
He looked at the dummy for a moment, closed his eyes, then drew.
Whoosh.
CRACK.
The wooden sword broke.
It could not even leave a scratch on the steel dummy.
'If it had been a real sword, I could've just cut it.'
Yohan looked at the broken blade with clear dissatisfaction.
"Mi-suk!"
"Would you please not call me that in front of other people?"
Mi-suk trotted over to Yohan.
"Can I not use a real sword?"
"No. By the Family Head's order, blades cannot be used here."
"Everything is forbidden, huh?"
"I will tell you in advance. This one truly is forbidden. The moment you pick up a blade, you will be judged an enemy of the Family."
"I know even if you don't tell me."
Yohan sighed and checked the condition of his body.
'I've grown, but I'm not at my prime.'
The method was, well... there was only one.
Yohan threw the wooden sword aside and stepped down from the sparring arena.
'I can't be satisfied with bone-deep rebirth. Steady training. That is the only way to regain my prime!'
He hopped lightly in place for a moment, then began to run.
***
"Secretary Kim, who is that kid from the branch line coming this time?"
Sitting in the back seat of a luxury foreign car, Seo-yun and Byeong-yun looked at the secretary who was driving.
"I heard he is from the outskirts of Gyeonggi-do and will be participating in the Awakening Ceremony."
"A branch line suddenly shows up and says he wants to undergo the Awakening Ceremony?"
"I also received the report very suddenly, so I am not quite sure...."
"Forget it. What would you know? He's probably just some idiot trying to worm his way into the Academy."
Unlike the talkative Seo-yun, Byeong-yun looked out the window.
"Oppa, why did you come? You're already attending the Academy."
"Mind your own business. I came because the Family Head called me."
"Grandfather only dotes on you. Isn't this discrimination?"
"If you don't want to feel that way, bring back results. For example, take first place in this entrance exam."
"Ye-es, ye-es."
Before long, the car arrived at the Hangeom Family's bamboo forest.
They remained sitting inside until the secretary opened the car door for them.
Only after the secretary opened the door did the two get out of the car.
Seo-yun stretched her stiff body after sitting in the car.
Her long black hair, which reached down to her waist, fluttered in the wind.
"Lead the way. Surely you're not telling us to just walk into the barrier, are you?"
"N-No. I will prepare it."
When Seo-yun pointed into the bamboo forest with a jerk of her chin, the secretary hurriedly began operating the device.
When a map of the Hangeom Family appeared on the device, they followed behind the secretary and entered the forest.
As they entered the Hangeom Family's entrance and headed toward the main house, a foul smell brushed past their noses.
"What is that smell?"
Even Byeong-yun, who had shown no reaction until now, covered his nose with his hand and looked for the source of the smell.
It was the detached house.
"Everyone, gather!"
Unable to endure it any longer, Seo-yun shouted at the butlers and maids.
At a single word from her, people gathered in an instant.
"Welcome, Lord Byeong-yun, Lady Seo-yun."
"Never mind that I'm here. What is wrong with the state of this house?"
"Th-That is...."
"Why does the house smell worse than food waste?"
Seo-yun spoke irritably as she prodded the butler's shoulder.
"It became like this after a branch-line gentleman used it."
"What? A branch-line person?"
"He was someone named Yohan."
"Who is Yohan? Oppa, do you know?"
At Seo-yun's question, Byeong-yun shook his head.
She was curious about why a branch-line person named Yohan had already come and who he was, but right now, she was irritated by the current situation.
"So you're saying the smell spread as soon as that kid named Yohan used it?"
"That is correct."
"Where is he?"
"He is in the training hall."
At the words "training hall," Seo-yun frowned.
"Wasn't the training hall only for people of the Family?"
"Well... he said even a branch-line person has inherited the bloodline...."
"A branch line dares talk about blood?"
At Seo-yun's sharpened voice, the butler became cowed.
"Hm.... Is that so? Fine, go back in."
At a single word from Seo-yun, the butlers and maids disappeared in an instant to return to their duties.
"What are you going to do?"
"What else? As a member of the direct line, I should educate an ignorant branch-line fool."
"Suit yourself."
Seo-yun fumed as she headed for the Hangeom Family's training hall.
Byeong-yun, who had intended to enter the main house and rest, grew curious about the person named Yohan and followed behind Seo-yun.
When Seo-yun and Byeong-yun arrived at the training hall, they saw a sight they could not believe even after seeing it.
A person with ash-gray hair and a solid physique was running endlessly around the training hall.
"That's the branch-line person?"
"Looks like it."
Mi-suk, who recognized Byeong-yun and Seo-yun's voices after hearing them, ran over and greeted them.
"Welcome, Lord Byeong-yun, Lady Seo-yun."
"And what are you?"
"I am Jennifer, an employee of the Hangeom Family Guild."
Mi-suk greeted them with a deep, respectful bow.
"Haah.... There are two outsiders on Hangeom Family land?"
"Th-That is...."
Mi-suk could not respond to Seo-yun's prickly words.
"Speak properly. This is why uneducated people are a problem!"
"Yohan has come to participate in the Awakening Ceremony, and I am at his side to assist him."
"What about the smell?"
"What smell do you mean?"
Mi-suk deliberately tried to ignore the smell that had come from the detached house.
"Where do you think you're playing dumb? They said a strange smell came from the detached house after that branch-line bastard arrived!"
"Ah, as for that, it would be best to ask him directly. I do not know what happened either."
While Seo-yun and Mi-suk were arguing, Byeong-yun watched Yohan running with close attention.
'That is the body of a seventeen-year-old participating in the Awakening Ceremony?'
To Byeong-yun, that was a body only someone who had already been through every kind of hardship could possess.
Or else, he was truly a madman with nothing but muscle in his brain who did nothing but exercise.
'It must be the result of building up his body because he has no ability.'
Byeong-yun simply assumed it was the latter.
Feeling the gaze on him, Yohan stopped running and looked toward Mi-suk.
"Mi-suk!"
"Yes!"
Mi-suk, who had been continuously scolded by Seo-yun, answered the moment she heard Yohan's voice.
"I wasn't finished speaking, and you're looking elsewhere?"
"I am here solely to assist Yohan."
"Why, you!"
The contents of their shouted conversation reached Yohan's ears as he trained in the training hall.
'Seo-yun and Byeong-yun, huh. They'll act arrogant because they're direct line, so shall I establish the hierarchy?'
Yohan approached them with a towel draped around his neck.
"What are you doing?"
"Yohan. I was about to go."
"Go? Go where?! My lecture isn't over yet!"
Yohan stood in front of Mi-suk and looked at Seo-yun.
Hangeom Seo-yun.
As the younger sister of Byeong-yun, the next Sword God, she had grown up hearing that she was eternally second best.
That had become a trauma for her, and unable to make use of her own talent, she had immersed herself even further in the sword.
'She has more talent for magic than the sword, though.'
There seemed to be a thirty-centimeter difference between Seo-yun and Yohan's heights.
That was because Yohan, who had originally been in the 170-centimeter range, had grown to 180 centimeters after bone-deep rebirth.
By contrast, Seo-yun's height was in the 150-centimeter range.
"Mi-suk.... Even so, are you really getting scolded by an elementary schooler?"
"Wh-What?"
Yohan bent his knees slightly and patted Seo-yun on the head.
"Little girl, don't interrupt what the adults are doing. Go write a picture diary or something."
"You really!"
Seo-yun slapped Yohan's hand away.
"How dare branch-line trash put your hand on the body of the direct line!"
"Aw, did that happen? Who did that to you?"
Perhaps because the sight of Yohan treating Seo-yun like a child was funny, Byeong-yun smirked.
"Oppa, don't laugh! And even if I look like this, I'm seventeen!"
"Yes, I see."
When Yohan tousled Seo-yun's hair, she struggled to shake him off.
'What kind of strength is this?!'
As she was trying to shake off Yohan's hand, Byeong-yun grabbed Yohan's wrist.
He tried to pull it away from Seo-yun's head, but his hand also could not move Yohan away.
"Stop it."
"Yeah, good to see you, Byeong-yun."
At being called by name as if they were close, Byeong-yun frowned.
"Have we ever met before?"
"You're the next Sword God, and you're worrying about things like that?"
"Do not carelessly say such things while the current Sword God exists."
"Yes, of course. Stubborn bastard."
Unable to watch any longer, Seo-yun stepped back and spoke.
"How dare you act up when you're only branch-line trash! Show respect to a direct-line descendant!"
"If you want to talk that much about respect, prove it with your skill."
Because Seo-yun had always been pushed aside by Byeong-yun, being told to prove it with skill struck her like a fatal blow.
"Are you saying you want to do this now?"
"Yeah."
Yohan brought over a wooden sword that had been placed in the corner of the sparring arena.
Then he threw it to Seo-yun.
"Hold it."
"It seems like you're really looking down on me. I properly learned the swordsmanship of the direct line."
"Hold it."
"You really!"
Seo-yun took the wooden sword Yohan handed her and stepped onto the sparring arena.
"You shirtless barbarian bastard. Today, I'll turn you into a proper human being!"
"Try it."
Yohan climbed onto the sparring arena and loosened up.
"What? You're not taking a wooden sword?"
"Do I really need to take up a sword just to deal with you?"