A person truly on the verge of death does not say they feel like dying. They simply wonder whether life still clings to them.
How does one know this?
Because Jin Cheong-un, who had just opened his eyes while half-buried in rubble, was exactly that.
'Am I alive?'
Having barely managed to raise his upper body, Jin Cheong-un slowly exhaled.
'I actually survived this.'
He turned his head and slowly surveyed his surroundings. Everything from right before his nose to the distant mountain ridges was tinged a reddish hue.
The main stronghold of the Esoteric Sect.
The palace of the heretical cultists—until just days ago the most magnificent and dangerous place in the martial world—had become nothing but ruins filled with death.
'What happened?'
His last memory was of blocking the Esoteric Sect Master's strike in place of the Alliance Leader.
It must have ended one way or another.
After catching his breath for a moment, Jin Cheong-un grabbed the sword on the ground and tried to stand.
That moment.
CLATTER!
The hilt slid limply out of his grip.
"......"
Only then did his own body come into view.
There was not a single unscathed spot on him. It was astonishing that he felt no pain despite being in such a state.
"No wonder my gut feeling was bad."
A hollow laugh escaped him on its own. In this condition, even if he somehow managed to grip a sword, could he even swing it?
Having gracefully given up on standing, Jin Cheong-un simply flopped onto his back.
'How did a country bumpkin from a backwater martial arts school end up here?'
It had been well over a decade since he had harbored lofty ambitions befitting his name and thrown himself into the Martial Arts Alliance.
Looking back, it had all started with a single proposal.
—Warrior Jin. Would you consider becoming the Alliance Leader's secret guard?
A secret guard?
Not just a guard, but a "secret" guard.
Didn't it sound like the sort of thing where you would unearth the martial world's hidden affairs and battle grand conspiracies? If anyone heard this and their heart did not race, they could not call themselves a martial artist.
'If your heart suddenly starts racing, you should go see a physician—why would you sign up as a guard?'
Unearth hidden affairs and fight conspiracies?
Well, yes. He had done something like that.
The problem was the day-to-day.
When the Alliance Leader rested, he worked.
When the Alliance Leader ate, he starved.
Even when the Alliance Leader went to the outhouse......!
Jin Cheong-un squeezed his eyes shut.
'I should've retired.'
He had tried. He had had the chance.
'I should've retired sooner.'
If only he hadn't been sweet-talked every single time by the Alliance Leader's wicked tongue.
—You have been working hard lately. I shall give you about a week off, so go clear your head and come back.
—Oh dear, I was just about to give you a raise...... Even if you retire, it is better to have a full purse, would you not say?
—I say this like a father would to his own son—do you know how harsh it is out there? If the Alliance is a battlefield, the outside world is hell!
Truly, the honeyed words of a man who had risen to Alliance Leader amidst the schemes and stratagems rampant in the Martial Arts Alliance were on another level.
They say the unlucky trip and break their nose even falling backward.
Just when he had steeled himself to quit no matter what he was told.
The Esoteric Sect made its move.
Still, he had somehow made it all the way here......
—Cheong-un! Buy me some time!
That wretched man had actually pawned the work off on him right to the very end?
No matter how he thought about it, it was absurd.
Is that something the leader of the Martial Arts Alliance should say? Strip away the roundabout phrasing, and how was it any different from asking him to be a sacrificial lamb......
'A sacrificial lamb?'
Jin Cheong-un's body went rigid in an instant.
'Nah, no way.'
......No way?
That was when it happened.
"So you did survive after all."
Jin Cheong-un turned his head.
An elderly man was approaching. It was Yeo Un-baek, the current Alliance Leader of the Martial Arts Alliance.
"You survived as well, Alliance Leader."
"I was fortunate."
Yeo Un-baek hobbled over and let out a hollow chuckle.
"How is your body? Are you alright?"
"......Managing well enough."
"Ha ha, remarkable. Do not tell me that after taking that blow...... You?"
Yeo Un-baek's expression darkened as he examined Jin Cheong-un up close.
Jin Cheong-un smirked.
"It's fine. I got off cheap, all things considered."
Yes, he had gotten off cheap.
They had nearly gone sightseeing at the River of Three Crossings together, yet both had survived.
"More importantly, what happened to him?"
The master of the demons who had plunged the world into the flames of war.
He meant the foremost of the Esoteric Sect's Twelve Branch High Priests, the one the world called the Heaven-Slaying Divine Demon—the Grandmaster of the Esoteric Sect.
"You did not see?"
"I was in the middle of a meeting with the Underworld Reaper until just now."
"Impressive that you managed not to follow him and came back instead."
Yeo Un-baek smiled weakly, then spoke in a voice thick with lingering emotion.
"It is over."
"......"
Yes. It was truly over.
The war, and the Sect Master.
And the martial arts he had spent his entire life mastering.
"Thanks to you buying me that single breath, I was able to take his head. How on earth did you do it? Did you secretly learn some new martial art behind my back?"
"Ah, it wasn't that......"
Jin Cheong-un trailed off mid-answer, pausing with a quizzical tilt of his head.
"Hold on. What do you mean by that?"
"Hm?"
"Don't tell me you asked me to block it without actually expecting me to survive?"
"......"
"......"
After a brief silence, Yeo Un-baek subtly averted his gaze and opened his mouth.
"......I believed you would pull it off."
Is this man serious?
Yeo Un-baek deftly changed the subject.
"So, what happened exactly?"
"Honestly, I'm not entirely sure myself."
The enemy's martial prowess had truly lived up to the name Divine Demon.
Even fighting together, they had barely managed a draw, and their cards had long since been laid bare. He had possessed no hidden trump card to block the enemy's ultimate technique.
So......
'I think I went all-in and used the martial arts I'd learned at the school ages ago.'
It was a martial art he had not spared a second glance after learning the Alliance's superior techniques.
And yet, not only had it blocked the blow, it had saved his life.
'I think the enemy shouted something too.'
Who would have thought? He had assumed it was some third-rate art from a backwater school, but could it have actually been a hidden peerless martial art?
Not that it mattered now, at this point.
"I suppose I was just lucky."
"......Lucky. Indeed, what does the past matter now? When the heart is sincere, even the heavens are moved."
The conversation lapsed into silence.
Gazing out at the desolate landscape of the battlefield, Yeo Un-baek murmured as if to himself.
"Only this old Alliance Leader gets to be lucky enough to return alive. How am I to carry home these restless souls buried in the wilds?"
"......"
Jin Cheong-un did not know what to say, so he simply blinked in silence.
Then Yeo Un-baek suddenly turned his head, his eyes deepening.
"Well done."
"......?"
"Had it not been for you, I would never have made it this far."
Yeo Un-baek's voice settled low and heavy.
Jin Cheong-un flinched.
'Why is he being like this all of a sudden?'
Yeo Un-baek's voice continued, calm and even.
"You have done so much for me all this time. There were moments I regretted bringing you into the Black Dragon Corps, but looking back, it seems it was the best decision I ever made in my life."
"What's gotten into you? That doesn't suit you at all."
"I mean it. I shall never forget your sacrifice."
Yeo Un-baek gazed at him with solemn eyes.
"Thank you."
"......?"
"And...... I am sorry."
It should have been the most heartwarming of moments, yet Jin Cheong-un felt a sudden chill run down his spine.
All manner of thoughts raced through his mind.
Jin Cheong-un cautiously placed his hand on the sword hilt.
"Is it now?"
"Now? What do you....... And why are you looking at me like that?"
"So the day has finally come. Did you think I wouldn't know?"
"Would not know? Know what?"
"Given the flow of things, isn't this exactly the atmosphere where you pat me on the back, tell me to rest easy, then cast me aside like a spent hunting dog? Ah, I always knew a day like this would come."
"What?"
Yeo Un-baek blinked, not believing his ears.
"Cast you aside? Who? Me?"
His face instantly flushed a furious red.
"What kind of madness is this?! Why would I?!"
"Well, it's obvious......"
Jin Cheong-un mimed stabbing the air with a sword.
"Something like, 'He knows too much,' or 'He's outlived his usefulness,' or 'It was a necessary sacrifice,' and then from behind...... STAB!"
Yeo Un-baek finally lost his temper.
"Y-You! What exactly have you thought of me all this time?!"
"A man who lured a naive country boy with the sweet words 'secret guard' and sucked him dry to the marrow."
"Even if your mouth is crooked, the words should come out straight! You...... Aargh! You were only a secret guard in name! Do you have any idea how much trouble you caused running around?! The cleanup I had to do!"
"I'm not that young anymore, so why are you calling me 'you brat' like the old days? And how much trouble could I have possibly caused?"
"Have you already forgotten punching the delegates from the Assembly in the jaw?"
"They started it. Even a guard has his pride."
"Get provoked twice more and you will blow the entire Alliance fortress sky-high. Actually, did that not nearly happen once?"
"You said I did a good job back then, and now it turns out you've been holding a grudge this whole time? You're surprisingly petty when I really look at you."
"No, but seriously, do you see what I put up with here?"
Yeo Un-baek's eyes bulged.
"Fine. You want me to stab you for real? Go ahead and present yourself! Where shall I stab?"
"Finally showing your true colors."
"HA! HAAA! HAAAAA!"
Yeo Un-baek pounded his chest as if he might die from sheer frustration.
"Hoo, you brat."
"Please stay where you are and speak from over there."
"You......"
Yeo Un-baek summoned superhuman willpower to preserve his dignity as Alliance Leader.
"Have you been buying those strange storybooks in the marketplace again? I told you to stop reading that rubbish!"
"Strange?! Rubbish?! How could you say something so insulting......!"
"I am the one who has been insulted! I am the Alliance Leader of the Martial Arts Alliance, the head of the orthodox faction, in case you have forgotten!"
"So you're not going to do it?"
"I am NOT doing it, you brat!"
"Then just say you're not doing it. Why get angry about it? Your temper is really something."
CRACK.
Yeo Un-baek ground his teeth.
The Esoteric Sect's dark arts had shaken his composure less than Jin Cheong-un's insufferable smart mouth.
"Search for survivors! Hurry!"
"Over here!"
Around that time, a commotion was heard in the distance.
It was the strike force members who had come to the main stronghold with them. More seemed to have survived than expected.
After watching in that direction for a while, Yeo Un-baek spoke again.
"Cheong-un."
It was less the tone of a superior addressing a subordinate and more that of a father calling his son.
"......Yes, Alliance Leader."
"How long has it been since you joined the Black Dragon Corps?"
"Roughly a little over ten years, I'd say."
"Already...... That troublemaker has become somewhat of a proper person before I even noticed."
Yeo Un-baek let out a hearty laugh.
"Are you truly set on retiring?"
"Yes."
"What about the men who follow you?"
Even Jin Cheong-un was momentarily at a loss for words at that.
"They're the type who never listen to a damn thing I say, so they'll manage on their own."
"You mean it."
"Yes."
"Let me ask one more thing."
Yeo Un-baek wiped the laughter from his face and asked with a serious expression.
"Are you retiring because you simply want to leave? Or has something you want to do come along?"
"......"
"You have sung the retirement tune time and again, yet you never actually had something you wanted to do. After you achieved the goal you came to the Alliance for, you were like nothing but an empty shell."
"That's because I never got the promotion I wanted and just ended up working myself to death."
"That was not the real reason, and you know it."
"......"
That was why Yeo Un-baek had deliberately held on to Jin Cheong-un even longer.
It was the same for all who lived in the martial world, but the work Jin Cheong-un had done his entire life had been the business of drawing others' blood.
Jin Cheong-un had the aptitude, the talent, and—unfortunately—even a purpose for that kind of work.
That was when it came.
"I plan to open a martial arts school."
Yeo Un-baek's eyes lit up with surprise.
"A martial arts school?"
"Yes. I figure I'll take it easy, collect a fair tuition, teach the neighborhood kids, and try my hand at being a master."
Life was truly unpredictable.
It felt like only yesterday he had gone against his master's wishes, left the school behind, and ventured into the martial world—and yet now here he was, planning to open a school of his own.
"A martial arts school. Ha ha ha."
Yeo Un-baek chuckled broadly, then nodded.
"It seems I truly must let you go now."
Looking up at the sky once, Yeo Un-baek let out a low sigh.
"The moment the war ends, quite a few people are going to have headaches because of you."
"It's just one guard retiring. What's there to have headaches over?"
"Just one guard?"
Yeo Un-baek scoffed.
Does this fellow truly not know, or is he pretending not to?
"You have not a care in the world, do you?"
"I'm retiring, so of course not."
"Ha ha ha, we shall see."
"......?"
Yeo Un-baek smiled faintly.
"Cheong-un. From now on, live like a decent human being."
"A decent human being."
"Yes. Stop getting blood on your hands, make some friends, have a drink with them, stop causing trouble, find a good woman, and get married."
"......"
"Do you understand?"
"......Yes."
Suddenly Jin Cheong-un seemed to want to say something, hesitating and working his mouth.
Yeo Un-baek wore a warm smile, as if watching a young son.
"Is there something you want to say?"
"No."
"Ha ha, it is fine. Go ahead."
"But shouldn't you be the one getting married first, Alliance Leader? How have you managed to reach that age without......?"
"You little bastard?"
At that moment, the world before their eyes suddenly grew bright.
Both turned their heads at the same time.
Sunlight spilling over the ridgeline was draping the earth like the folds of a blanket.
The dark and gloomy world was being transformed into something radiant.
"Thank you for everything."
Jin Cheong-un spoke quietly as the sunlight washed over him.
"Yes, you did well too."
Yes, it had been hard work.
And now it was a new beginning.
Retirement at last!
***
Jin Cheong-un stepped out of the carriage and looked down at his identification tablet with a faint smile.
The tablet bore his home address and his name.
Hubei Province, Yichang County, Yinghua Village, North District, House Thirteen.
Cheong-un, of the Jin family.
"So this is it."
He looked up at the gate, then tilted his head quizzically.
'What? I don't think the house I saw was this one.'
Maybe it was because he had bought the place and taken too long to visit, or maybe all the nearby estates looked similar—he could not quite tell.
Well, it had to be right.
'At last.'
How moving.
A penniless orphan with nothing to his name had actually earned enough to achieve the dream of owning his own home.
His heart swelled at the thought of furnishing the house and tending the garden.
Yes, that was real life—not cleaning up after the Alliance Leader.
Just as Jin Cheong-un broke into a beaming smile and placed his hand on the gate.
CLUNK!
The door opened on its own from the other side.
"Sis?"
A sickly-looking boy poked his head out, then froze in place.
"......Who are you?"
"That's what I should be asking. Who are you, and what are you doing in someone else's house?"
"Someone else's house? This is our house."
"......Your house?"
Jin Cheong-un stared, dumbfounded, and craned his neck past the gate to inspect the walls and exterior.
'This is the right place, though?'
A chill ran down his spine.
His voice trembled on its own.
"I bought this house a few years ago."
"I've lived here my entire life, since the day I was born."
"Your entire life?"
In that instant, a memory flashed through Jin Cheong-un's mind.
—Oh my, you're getting a wonderful house at a bargain! The previous owner had to move in a hurry, so it's going for cheap.
—Oh, you're asking if you need to meet the owner? Don't you worry. The owner had business to attend to and left the contract entirely in my hands. Now then, right this way!
'No way.'
Jin Cheong-un's eyes quivered.
'A scam......?'