Cheon Su-rin was born into the world just as winter was melting away.
Even now, all these years later, Cheon Hyeong-do could not forget that time.
That day was a joyous day on which his only child was born, and at the same time, a tragic day on which he lost his beloved wife.
“Darling! It's a boy!”
“.......”
“Darling? Wake up, darling!”
His wife breathed her last without even seeing the face of the child she had borne.
The midwife could only guess that it was a sudden death from excessive bleeding; the exact cause of death was unknown.
It was not rare for a mother to pass away after a difficult birth, so he let it go, thinking of it as a cruel misfortune.
But the calamity was only the beginning.
Half a month after Cheon Su-rin was born, the wet nurse who had been caring for the child died.
This time, too, the cause was shrouded in mystery.
The wet nurse in the room had become a cold corpse without a single external wound, and beside her, Cheon Su-rin was smiling innocently, as if he knew nothing.
After that, deaths of unknown cause followed the family like a shadow.
Even the intervals were unclear, but on average, two or three people died silently every month.
The family could no longer dismiss it as coincidence.
They began an investigation, but no common external wounds or traces of chronic illness were found among the dead.
“I have found the culprit.”
After a long silence, the Clan Head and Cheon Hyeong-do's father, Cheon Tae-jeong, reached a conclusion.
“Who is it?”
Instead of answering, Cheon Tae-jeong quietly crooked his finger and pointed at Cheon Hyeong-do.
“Are you...... suspecting me right now?”
“No, it is not you.”
“......?”
“It is your son, Su-rin. That child is directly connected to the deaths that have swept through the family.”
Cheon Hyeong-do was struck with a shock like a bolt of lightning from a clear sky.
He could not accept either the claim that his own child had taken dozens of lives, or the fact that his father had named his grandson as the culprit.
“Do you know what the dead have in common?”
“......That there were no external wounds, isn't it?”
“No. That every one of them had contact with Su-rin.”
Wet nurses made up the largest share of the dead.
Those who had to stay by the child's side in place of his mother.
The wet nurse had already been replaced six times, so it had become impossible to even find a new wet nurse within the family.
The rest of the dead had also been those who had set foot in Cheon Su-rin's room, even if only for a moment.
“He's a baby who hasn't even reached his first birthday! How could a newborn babe who can't even walk kill someone?!”
He held back his anger, but he could not hide the tremble in his voice.
But Cheon Tae-jeong continued without batting an eye.
“Even if he cannot walk, he can kill.”
“What do you.......”
“Every one of the dead died suddenly when their hearts stopped. Were they elderly, it would be one thing, but for even sturdy people under thirty to have their hearts stop, every last one, is that not strange?”
“.......”
“Moreover, all of the dead were ordinary people who had not learned martial arts.”
In that instant, Cheon Hyeong-do realized what his father was implying and shuddered.
“Surely you're not saying Su-rin killed people by giving off his energy?”
“A martial artist can, if he sets his mind to it, kill an opponent with energy alone. The cause of death closely resembles that.”
“That's absurd! How could a child who doesn't even know the basics of martial arts do such a thing?!”
Harming someone with energy alone required formidable inner arts.
The claim that a newborn had achieved a level that even Cheon Hyeong-do himself could not be sure of sounded like nothing but absurd sophistry.
He even began to think that his father, exhausted by the investigation, was trying to make his grandson a scapegoat no matter what.
“If he is the Heavenly Slaughter Star, it is possible.”
“......What did you just say?”
“If he was born with that cursed slaughter nature, then even as a baby, he can very well take human lives.”
Cheon Hyeong-do could no longer control his expression.
Even if he was his father, this was a remark that went too far.
“Take that back! Are you in your right mind saying this?”
“How did your wife die?”
“It was an accident! It's not unusual for a mother to die during childbirth......!”
“She died even with the most skilled physician and midwife in Shandong at her side. Do you still consider it a mere accident?”
“......What on earth are you trying to say?”
“Perhaps your wife was the Heavenly Slaughter Star's first victim.”
It was a disgrace and an insult.
If the other man had not been his father, he would already have drawn his sword.
It was the first time in his life he had felt such enormous hatred toward his father.
“So...... what is it you're finally trying to say?”
“I will give you two paths.”
“.......”
“One is for me to kill Su-rin with my own hands, right now.”
Cheon Hyeong-do's eyes trembled.
How could he say he would kill his grandson so calmly?
The being before him looked not like his father, but like a devil wearing his father's skin.
“Do you think I want to do this? You have not forgotten either. The calamity the Heavenly Slaughter Star brought.”
“.......”
“The Heavenly Slaughter Calamity. The lives that man took cannot even be counted. Your elder brother was one of those victims as well.”
A faint killing intent mixed into Cheon Tae-jeong's voice.
It was the deep-rooted grudge of a father who had lost his son, held against the very existence of the Heavenly Slaughter Star.
“The Heavenly Slaughter Star is a being that can never be forgiven. Even if it is my own grandson.”
Cheon Hyeong-do fell silent.
The Heavenly Slaughter Calamity, who had killed his elder brother, was an enemy he could not forgive either.
But the reality of having that original sin laid upon his own son tormented him.
“......What is the second choice?”
He could not kill his son. Only one path remained for him.
“Come in.”
At Cheon Tae-jeong's call, the door opened and an old man appeared.
His dazzling white hair was neatly fixed with a jade crown, and his beard, which reached down to his navel, was as clean as a cloud.
Wearing a snow-white Taoist robe without a speck of dust on it, he looked like an immortal who had come down from the mountains.
The old man was not a member of the family.
At the appearance of an outsider he had never seen before, suspicion filled Cheon Hyeong-do's eyes.
“Who is he?”
“One who can put Su-rin's slaughter nature to sleep.”
Was there truly such a way?
If that were possible, it could stop the family's tragedy and save Cheon Su-rin's life as well.
“However, the seal is only temporary. No one knows when it will come undone.”
“Then are you saying he'll kill people again?”
“So it would seem. When that time comes, it will not end quietly as it does now. As the child grows, the slaughter will grow more gruesome.”
“.......”
“The Heavenly Slaughter Calamity first revealed his slaughter nature after he turned twenty. So there should be a reprieve until then.”
The second path his father presented.
Cheon Hyeong-do could guess its end without even hearing it.
“When that time comes...... I will kill Su-rin with my own hands.”
If that was the only way to keep his son breathing.
Cheon Hyeong-do swore to walk willingly down the cruel path of thorns that awaited him.
***
A room where lamplight flickered.
Cheon Hyeong-do, who had been dozing against the wall, quietly opened his eyes.
“Why the memory of that time.......”
The moment he looked at Cheon Su-rin lying on the bed, he knew the reason.
Just as the prophecy of long ago had said, Cheon Su-rin had finally awakened the Heavenly Slaughter Star.
It was a little earlier than expected, but the moment that could not be avoided had come at last.
To keep his oath of the past, Cheon Hyeong-do had tried to kill Cheon Su-rin with his own hands.
He had meant to send his son away, then atone by taking his own life as well.
‘No, not yet.’
Cheon Su-rin was clearly controlling his killing urge on his own.
Otherwise, he would never have meekly taken the sword strike in that desperate situation.
He had always believed that one who awakened simply became a killing ghoul, but the son before him was quite different from what he had known.
“Du-chil.”
He carefully woke Bong Du-chil, who had been keeping watch in the room with him.
The boy, who had been curled up on the floor, sat up groggily.
“It's late. Go to your room and sleep.”
“I'm fine. If I wash my face once, I'll be wide awake.”
“I'll tell you right away when Su-rin wakes up. So go and get some proper sleep.”
When Cheon Hyeong-do spoke firmly, Bong Du-chil had no choice but to get up.
In truth, his eyelids weighed a thousand geun, and he felt as if he might topple over at any moment.
“I'm sorry...... Please be sure to call me when Hyung wakes up.”
Cheon Hyeong-do silently nodded.
When Bong Du-chil left and silence fell, Cheon Hyeong-do approached Cheon Su-rin's side.
When he pulled back the blanket, the trace of the wound was revealed.
The moment he saw the bloodstained bandage, what he had done came back to life like a nightmare.
‘I stabbed my son with my own hands.’
No matter how much he consoled himself that it had been a choice for the greater good, it felt as if a brand he could never erase had been seared into his heart.
Shaking his head to cast off his stray thoughts, Cheon Hyeong-do carefully unwound the bandage.
“......!”
When the bandage came off, Cheon Hyeong-do's eyes widened in shock.
New flesh had already grown, and the sword wound had faded.
No matter how good the medicine applied, this was a power of recovery beyond human bounds.
This, too, must be the influence of the Heavenly Slaughter Star.
Every circumstance pointed to Cheon Su-rin's awakening.
To keep the family's oath, he had to cut off the sprout before this child turned into an even greater calamity.
“No, not yet.”
The look in Cheon Su-rin's eyes that he had last seen had clearly been that of the son he knew.
The time to draw his sword would be when Cheon Su-rin had been devoured by the slaughter nature and committed meaningless butchery.
Telling himself it was not yet time, Cheon Hyeong-do steadied his trembling heart.
Just then, Cheon Su-rin's body stirred faintly.
Soon he seemed to regain consciousness and slowly opened his eyes.
“Su-rin?”
“......Father.”
“Do you recognize me?”
Cheon Su-rin nodded.
Only then did Cheon Hyeong-do smile in relief and help his son sit up.
As Cheon Su-rin raised his upper body, he looked down at his abdomen.
The dried bloodstains were vivid, but he felt no pain.
And belatedly, the cold sensation of his father stabbing him with a sword came back to him.
“Did you...... treat me, Father?”
“I lent a hand, but you saved your own life purely through your own strength.”
“.......”
“I'll ask you again. Have you truly awakened the slaughter nature?”
“I have. But I can control my killing urge by my own will.”
They were words hard to believe readily.
What was the Heavenly Slaughter Star? It was a cursed nature that made killing intent boil up from merely breathing, until one inevitably walked the path of an asura.
It was as contradictory as a cat turning down fish.
“You must find it hard to believe.”
Cheon Su-rin, too, knew how absurd his words sounded.
But contrary to his expectations, Cheon Hyeong-do shook his head.
“No, I believe you.”
“You really...... believe me?”
“Yes. The you I saw was my son, no different from before.”
“.......”
“If a father doesn't believe his son, then who on earth will believe in you?”
Cheon Su-rin's eyes widened slightly.
He had been prepared for it to be difficult to persuade his father with any argument.
“......Thank you.”
“There's nothing to thank me for. If anything, I should be the one saying it. Thank you for living.”
His tone was gruff, but the sincerity in it reached Cheon Su-rin's heart.
After composing his emotions for a moment, Cheon Su-rin carefully spoke.
“Father, isn't it time you told me as well?”
How he had known he was the Heavenly Slaughter Star, and where on earth his father's overwhelming martial power had come from.
He had never asked before, but now it was a question that could not be avoided.
“......Do you know of the Thousand Righteousness Clan?”
“The prestigious clan in Shandong?”
“Yes. That Thousand Righteousness Clan.”
Cheon Su-rin knew at least the name.
It was a clan whose fame and power were so great that it was compared to the Five Great Clans.
“I was that clan's Young Master.”
Not merely a warrior, but the clan's heir.
It was a far greater past than he had expected.
“Then why are you running an academy out here in the frontier?”
Cheon Hyeong-do could not answer readily.
It was the road he had taken when he left the clan behind.
It pained him to convey this cruel truth to his son, who stood at the very starting point of it all.
“......It's a rather long story.”
In the end, Cheon Hyeong-do told him everything.
Now that the slaughter nature had manifested, he could no longer hide it, and he judged that Cheon Su-rin had grown enough to face his own fate.
As he listened to the story, Cheon Su-rin's expression grew more and more shaken.
His first awakening had not been recent.
The shadow of death had already been surrounding him since he was a newborn.
“Did I...... kill my mother?”
His mother, who he had only known had died when he was young.
The fact that her death had been caused by him pierced him like the sharpest dagger.
“No! You did not kill her!”
“.......”
“It was an accident. It had nothing to do with you or the Heavenly Slaughter Star. Do you understand?”
He could not declare that there was absolutely no connection. But Cheon Hyeong-do denied it desperately.
That was likely the only salvation allowed to his son, and to himself.
Cheon Su-rin closed his trembling eyes and quietly nodded.
“Then, Father...... you gave up everything for my sake.”
His status as the Young Master of the Thousand Righteousness Clan, his honor, and even the family he had left behind.
It could not have been an easy decision.
He thought that his father, who had chosen to stay by his side, might have lived an even more painful life than he himself, who bore the curse of the Heavenly Slaughter Star.
“Su-rin, as long as I have you, that's all I need.”
Cheon Hyeong-do had already proven those words through his actions.
At that single sentence, Cheon Su-rin made a vow.
That he would never be consumed by the Heavenly Slaughter Star.
That he would not hand the life his father had protected over to that killing ghoul in vain.