***
Three Swords, Splitting Light .
Shwaak!
The ultimate technique of the Jeomchang Sect’s Eighteen Light-Splitting Swords split the light and decapitated three people.
Blue Wind, Breaking Waves .
Shaaak!
The chests of the figures lunging at me were ripped open by the ultimate technique of the Cheongseong Sect’s Blue Wind Sword Style, and blood splattered.
But those lunging at me did not scream at all, even as their bodies were split and they were dying.
And I, who had made them that way, was not happy in the slightest.
Rather, I was shedding tears of grief.
Because they were not enemies, but my own family—the members of the Sunwoo Clan.
My family, my friends, my subordinates.
“Khahaha! What an interesting fellow! You call yourself the Head of the Sunwoo Clan, yet you only use the martial arts of Cheongseong and Jeomchang day and night! Have you forgotten the famous Thirteen Swords of Sunwoo?”
The demon of the Blood Demon Cult, Black Blood Illusion Demon, Du-dang.
The very man who had turned the members of the Sunwoo Clan into puppets to attack me was mocking me.
“Aha! Now that I think about it, that was only passed down to this guy, wasn't it? I had forgotten.”
Beside him stood my younger brother, Sunwoo Gi, who had been the Head of the Sunwoo Clan just before me, standing stiffly with a vacant expression.
I had heard that he had gone missing during the Blood Demon Cult’s raid, but to think he had become Du-dang’s puppet like that.
That was not all.
“To think you are brutally slaughtering your own family members, you truly are a cold-blooded fellow. You were from the Biryong Unit, right? Those Biryong bastards are always like this. Tsk tsk.”
Clicking his tongue, Du-dang looked around at my family members who were standing blankly.
“Now, whom should I send so that you won't be able to bring yourself to kill them and will surrender? Right, it has to be this child.”
At the spot where his gaze landed, there she was.
My younger sister, Yeon-ha, who had stayed by my side until the end, even when I was called the shame of the Sunwoo Clan and an incompetent pig.
I had hoped that he would at least leave that child alone….
Perhaps my expression had distorted significantly, as Du-dang clapped his hands and burst into bright laughter.
“That’s it! It seems I chose well! Now, try brutally killing this child as well! Sunwoo Jin, the last Head of the Sunwoo Clan!”
My sister, Yeon-ha, passed through the Blood Demon cultists who were surrounding me and slowly approached me.
In her hand, she held her favorite sword, 'Baekro' (White Heron), which I had gifted to her….
Suddenly, I looked around.
The Blood Demon cultists were surrounding me from all directions, and behind the wall they formed, Du-dang stood the people of the Sunwoo Clan—whom he had turned into puppets—as if to show them to me, clapping and enjoying himself as he sent them one by one.
There was no longer any hope.
I closed my eyes tightly.
‘I am sorry, Unit Leader. It seems I could not become like you after all.’
The face of my benefactor, who had turned me from a mere invalid into a martial artist—my eternal Unit Leader, Mad Wind Flying Dragon (Gwangpung Biryong) Seol Poong—suddenly came to mind.
And the words he had said to me….
Whenever I was frustrated, he would always smile and say this to me:
‘Jin, are you shriveled up like that again? I’ve always told you, you have already done your best. That is enough. You are not responsible for the results. So, straighten your shoulders now.’
I snapped my eyes open again.
Strength had returned to my eyes.
The Unit Leader had always said to do what I could until the final moment.
That as long as I didn’t give up until the end, I wasn't a loser even if I was defeated.
Yes, those words were right.
Just because I couldn't win didn't mean I had to be a loser.
I would not be able to defeat them today, and naturally, I would not be able to survive either.
However, there was still something I could do, something I had to do.
If I were captured by them like this, my body would also become Du-dang’s puppet, just as my family members had.
And someday, that man would try to repeat what he did to me to the Unit Leader as well.
I couldn't let that happen.
The thought of my existence becoming a burden to the Unit Leader and my friends was horrific.
‘Yes, if I must die anyway, I will die cleanly by my own will!’
I made my decision.
I gripped my sword in a reverse hold and brought it before my chest.
The Red Lotus Sword (Hong-yeon-geom), the symbol of the Sunwoo Clan's Head which was said to possess the energy to dispel evil, was aimed at my heart.
Only then did the laughter finally vanish from Du-dang’s face.
“You rascal, what are you trying to do?!”
It seemed I had made the right choice this time as well. I smiled fiercely and spoke to the man.
“You may be able to kill me, but you will never be able to use my corpse. And, Du-dang. I will never let you live. Even if I become a ghost, I will kill you somehow!”
As soon as I finished speaking, the tip of the Red Lotus Sword pierced through my heart.
Puk!
A pain, as if my chest were being seared with fire, shot through my entire body.
But it was not painful.
Rather, even as my consciousness grew hazy, I felt a sense of relief.
Since the Red Lotus Sword, which had been called a divine sword throughout the long history of the Sunwoo Clan, had pierced my heart, that man would not be able to use my corpse.
And I also felt regret.
If I had known it would be like this, I should have lived a little more diligently.
I should not have just run away using the excuse that I didn't want to fight with my brothers.
And, I should have displayed my talents to my heart's content….
Amidst my hazy consciousness, a piercing voice screaming struck my ears.
“Kyaaa! It’s murder!”
Yes, I did commit murder.
I killed many, and I also committed suicide.
So, could you please be a little quiet?
It’s too noisy for me to stay dead.
“It’s murder! Young Master Sunwoo Jin killed Young Master Dan Ha-sang!”
Perhaps because I was dead, my head felt incredibly heavy, but my brow furrowed as soon as I heard that voice.
Dan Ha-sang? What era are you talking about?
Just thinking about that incident still keeps me awake at night.
However, as the surroundings grew noisier and I heard the sound of people crowding in, only then did I notice that something was strange with my consciousness.
I tried opening my eyes slightly.
To my surprise, my eyes opened.
“Huh?!”
I was bewildered.
I had clearly died, yet my eyes were opening?
Why?
And the sight that entered my eyes as soon as I opened them was a mess of scattered liquor bottles and food, and the corpse of a young man slumped over in the seat across from me.
The corpse of a man who had died with a sword plunged into his back.
I knew him very well.
His name was Dan Ha-sang.
He was the man who had promised to become my sister Yeon-ha’s husband, and who had died over ten years ago, in the year I turned twenty-one.
But he was now dead right before my eyes.
“What on earth is…?”
I stared at him with blank eyes.
I couldn't grasp what was happening at all.
I couldn't even tell if the reason my head felt dazed was due to the alcohol or this incomprehensible situation.
Suddenly, I looked at my hands.
They were hands as plump and fleshy as a bear's paw.
“These… aren't my hands.”
My eyes narrowed automatically.
These plump hands were not my hands—at least not as they were recently.
They were hands I thought I had parted with forever after I lost weight at the age of twenty-two….
“Is this a dream? Exactly what? How far back?”
While I was muttering blankly, people rushed into the room.
They were startled upon seeing the corpse and then shouted at me.
“Young Master Sunwoo! Why on earth did you murder Young Master Dan?!”
Hearing those words, I blankly shifted my gaze to the sword stuck in the corpse’s back.
Dan Ha-sang—the sword stuck in his back was indeed my sword.
Having been captured, I was tied up tightly and made to kneel in the center of a large hall. As I knelt there with my fat body, my legs felt incredibly numb even in this situation.
‘Ah, this… it seems this might not be a dream after all.’
I swallowed hard at the vivid sense of reality.
Then, a middle-aged man standing on the platform of the hall in front of me roared in a voice that seemed to spit fire.
It was my father, Sunwoo Joong, the Head of the Sunwoo Clan in Guizhou.
“Jin! You rascal! Do you have anything to say?!”
No, not at all.
I had nothing to say.
It wasn't that I had no excuse, but rather that the situation was so absurd that I had no words.
My father, whom I hadn't seen since I last saw him at twenty-one, was roaring at me.
And it was in the exact same appearance and with the same words as my memory.
“Does your silence mean you admit to killing the third son of the Dan family, the man who was to be your brother-in-law?!”
No, not at all.
I could never admit to that.
At twenty-one, I had been so flustered and drunk that I couldn't trust myself, so I hadn't been able to say anything, but after thinking about it for years without being able to sleep, I had reached a conclusion.
‘I definitely did not kill him.’
That was right.
I had no reason to kill him, and I lacked the ability.
He was my only friend who hung out with me without prejudice, even when I was treated as the shame of the family.
Furthermore, thanks to him, he had formed a connection with my sister, Yeon-ha, and they were scheduled to be betrothed.
So why on earth would I, who was counting down the days until he became my brother-in-law, kill him?
Also, while he was the descendant of a fairly promising martial family, I was nothing more than a pig at this time.
Even if I were drunk, killing him with my abilities would have been difficult—no, impossible.
And….
‘More than anything else, there is one clear piece of evidence that I didn't kill him.’
On that day, I had not taken a sword to the drinking session.
As someone who was called a child prodigy when I was young due to my memory, I could guarantee that much with certainty.
In conclusion, Dan Ha-sang’s death was definitely a conspiracy.
A conspiracy to kill him and frame me.
But despite all this, the words that came out of my mouth were the exact same words I had said at twenty-one, completely different from my current thoughts.
“I… do not remember.”
Naturally, that answer only added fuel to my father Sunwoo Joong’s rage.
My infuriated father shouted.
“You fool! You call that an answer?!”
Then, the young men standing beside Sunwoo Joong—my brothers whom I hadn't seen in a long time—laughed as if it were absurd and spoke.
“That idiot has caused accidents while drunk more than once or twice, but I truly never dreamed he would cause a major incident like this.”
“Is that so? I knew it. Since he set a fire last time, I wondered what kind of hooligan act he would do this time to bring shame to the family, and I thought it could only be killing someone while drunk. I just didn't expect him to kill the man who was to be his brother-in-law.”
“By the way, I’m a bit surprised. I didn't know Brother could even grip a sword with those pig-like hands of his. To think he could even kill a person.”
The eyes of my brothers, who were snickering as they spoke, were filled with a light of disdain that they couldn't hide.
It was a scene exactly like my memory.
I swept my gaze over them with cold eyes.
‘He’s probably among them. The person who killed Dan Ha-sang and framed me.’
Based only on what was said just now, the possibility seemed highest for the second brother, Sunwoo Hyeok, who said he already knew.
However, I suspected someone else more than him.
Then, my father Sunwoo Joong shouted again.
“I truly do not know how I should punish you! How can I atone to the Dan family?! Should I kill you and send your corpse?!”
I just kept my head down and remained still.
If this was a situation where I had truly returned to the past, the result would be decided regardless of whether I spoke or not.
Then, sure enough, my brothers began to offer their opinions with oily smiles.
“Would their anger be appeased if we sent him dead? Make him an invalid and send him alive. So that they can vent their anger directly.”
Those were the words of the eldest brother, Sunwoo Seong.
“Is there a need for us to go through the trouble? Just sever ties and kick him out, and they will take care of it themselves.”
Those were the words of the second brother, Sunwoo Hyeok.
But the decisive words came from the fourth, Sunwoo Gi, just as I remembered.
“How about doing this? Send the third brother to the front.”
“Huh?”
“What did you say?”
Because that opinion was so unexpected, not only the other brothers but also my father Sunwoo Joong widened their eyes and looked at Sunwoo Gi.
He continued speaking.
“Didn't a request come from the Alliance recently? To send one direct descendant to the front. So, let’s send the third brother there.”
Then, my father Sunwoo Joong asked with a heavy face.
“With Jin’s martial arts, if he goes to the front, he will be killed by the demons immediately.”
“Does it matter? His life is forfeit anyway; if he dies like that, it will be an honorable death. We would raise the family's honor and he would pay for his crimes—wouldn't it be killing two birds with one stone?”
As he finished speaking, I muttered one more reason in my mind that he hadn't mentioned.
‘And one of you won't have to go to the front, right?’
The ‘front’ referred to the border line where they faced off against the Blood Demon Cult, which had occupied Yunnan Province.
About ten years prior to this moment, the Blood Demon Cult had once tried to advance into the Central Plains by taking down the Jeomchang Sect of Yunnan Province, which was one of the Nine Great Sects.
At that time, the Murim Alliance organized a subjugation force and clashed with them head-on; that was the Great War between the Orthodox and the Blood Cult (Jeong-hyeol Dae-jeon).
At that time, the Murim Alliance barely managed to block the Blood Cult’s advance into the Central Plains after a desperate struggle in which the then-Alliance Leader died.
However, they could do nothing about Yunnan Province, which the cult had already occupied. Yunnan Province, which had been the territory of the Jeomchang Sect, had become the possession of the Blood Demon Cult just like that.
Since then, the Murim Alliance had recruited righteous martial artists near Yunnan Province to monitor the Blood Demon Cult’s advance, and people called that place the Great Blood Demon Cult Front.
‘But that’s already a story from ten years ago. Now…. Tsk.’
As time passed, the front, which was initially a place where martial artists overflowing with chivalry competed to volunteer for, had now degraded into a place that was only dangerous and offered neither fame nor profit.
So, it had eventually become a place that could only be maintained by receiving mandatory support from martial artists.
For that reason, the clans of Guizhou Province belonging to the Murim Alliance had to obligatorily send one direct descendant each to Yunnan Province, where the Great Blood Demon Cult Front was deployed.
Our Sunwoo Clan was the same.
‘Originally, one of the other three brothers, not me with my weak martial arts, should have gone. But! Now you can use this incident as a pretext to send me, who doesn't matter even if I die?’
So, for my brothers, there could be nothing better than this.
Having reminisced about the events of this time thousands and tens of thousands of times, I thought the probability was highest that the one who plotted the conspiracy was the fourth brother, Sunwoo Gi.
The opinions in the hall were soon unified.
Because it was a decision where no one would lose—no, it was a decision that was far too beneficial for the remaining brothers.
It was decided that the Dan family would be given appropriate material compensation, and the conclusion was reached that I would be transported to the Yunnan front as quickly as possible.
It was the exact same decision as ten years ago, when I was twenty-one.
Afterward, I was imprisoned in the dungeon.
In the black night sky, a pale moon was soaking up the light all by itself, shining eerily.
It was the last moon of my hometown that I had thought of every night for a long time even after going to Yunnan.
Suddenly, thoughts of that time came to mind.
‘In the past, I used to cry endlessly while looking at that moon.’
But now that I had returned, that was not the case.
Because I already knew that two people would visit me tonight.
And I had to obtain something from one of those two people.
One of them was already approaching cautiously.
It was my kind sister, Yeon-ha, who had been my only sanctuary in my home that was always as uncomfortable as a field of thorns.
“Brother Jin, are you okay?”
Seeing her face, the image of her as a puppet of the Blood Demon Cult just before I returned to the past came to mind, making me feel even more affectionate toward her.
I answered with a gentle smile.
“I’m fine, Yeon-ha. Is everything okay with you?”
“What could possibly be wrong with me? You, brother, please hang in there. I believe that you are not the culprit.”
That kind child had spoken like that back then, too.
Back then, I had just cried and repeated my thanks.
Now, I could speak with confidence.
“That’s right, Yeon-ha. Your brother is not the culprit.”
Then, Yeon-ha asked back with a surprised expression.
“Pardon?”
“Hmm? Why are you like that?”
“No, just… I wondered why you are so certain….”
Hmm? Why was I so certain?
“There is no way I would kill the person who is my only friend and was to be your husband, is there? Above all, Brother Dan and I were drinking while facing each other. Yet, the sword was stuck in Brother Dan's back. And with a sword I hadn't even brought with me, at that.”
Then, Yeon-ha swallowed hard and replied.
“I-I see. Then Brother, why did you say such things in front of Father….”
“Because I thought leaving the clan and going to the front would be a better choice for me.”
“What?!”
That was right.
Looking back on my past life, my life could be divided into before and after my deployment to the front.
Among them, my previous life—that is, my life in the clan—could not be considered worthy of a martial artist, no matter how well one looked at it.
‘No, far from being like a martial artist, it wasn't even human-like.’
The memories of that time were truly so suffocating just to recall.
Among the brothers of the Sunwoo Clan, I was the only one whose mother was not around. Because she had passed away when I was very young.
But in fact, that wasn't very important.
The important thing was that I didn't have a powerful maternal family.
In my childhood, I had once made a name for myself as a child prodigy thanks to my excellent memory.
And from then on, I had to realize something.
‘The more I display my abilities, the more I will be hated, and the shorter my life will become.’
The cold gazes sent by the mothers of the other brothers.
The suffocating pressure that gradually tightened.
Though I was young, I could feel those things all too well.
So I had no choice but to choose.
The path of hiding my abilities and becoming a fool….
But one day, while pretending to be a fool, I suddenly realized something.
That I had truly become a fool.
I had tried to appear lazy and ended up truly lazy; I had tried to appear as though I only played around and ended up learning nothing.
I had smirked even while being called the shame of the Sunwoo Clan, and I had always ruined myself by indulging in wine and women.
That was my life for the past twenty-one years.
Suddenly, a hollow laugh escaped me.
‘Yes, honestly, I deserved to be cursed at as a pig.’
So, to change that, I had to leave the clan.
And I had to go to the front to meet him.
My idol, Mad Wind Flying Dragon Seol Poong, who had changed me from the shame of the Sunwoo Clan into a martial artist.
That was the reason I remained silent and took the blame for the crime.
Of course, I had no intention of staying framed for that crime until the end in this life.