Chapter 22

Seol Jungcheon.

He was no fool. In fact, if he were, there’s no way he could have reached that level.

He’d sensed it from the very beginning.

That Seol Unwi had no interest in things like meetings.

It was a curious thing.

Even though the topic of that meeting was as grave as the possible annihilation of the Everlasting Snow Palace, his attitude treated it like something trivial.

Anyone would think that kind of reaction went beyond strange and into madness. But Seol Jungcheon wasn’t like that.

If anything, he found it intriguing.

“You looked like you had something to say. Go ahead, then. Let’s see what matters to you that much.”

“I’ll be direct.”

“Good. I prefer that.”

“I’m going to take Yangnyeong.”

“...You?”

“Yes.”

Again, it was strange.

Was that really all he came to say?

But that thought changed with what Seol Unwi said next.

“Wasn’t that the reason you sent me to the Snow Compression Branch in the first place?”

“Not exactly.”

“Is that so? I thought it was the same, in the sense of proving myself.”

“You’re saying... you intend to prove your worth that way?”

“I’m a bastard son, aren’t I.”

“...”

“For someone like me to be recognized, it’s only natural that I have to build achievements. And you’ve been giving me constant opportunities to do so.”

There was something about Seol Unwi’s words that gave Seol Jungcheon a strange feeling.

It wasn’t just a back-and-forth of arguments. There seemed to be something else layered within those words.

He read it immediately.

“How much do you know?”

“I know most of it. That you’ve been giving me chances. That you assigned someone to either protect me... or watch me. That you kept throwing trials my way.”

The Everlasting Snow Palace wasn’t full of fools. There’s no way they didn’t know that the Snow Compression Branch leader had been hollowed out and turned into a puppet by the people beneath him.

There’s only one explanation.

They knew—and allowed it.

And they had good reason.

“You wanted me to prove myself. So now I will.”

“You really... have changed.”

“I had to. And if I manage to take Yangnyeong, I’ll have exceeded your expectations—so I’d like to ask for something, if I may.”

“You want something?”

“There are two things. But if I achieve that much, I believe you’ll give me the first without needing to ask.”

“And the second?”

“I need a core from a Ten-Thousand-Year Flame Carp.”

As the name suggests, it’s a carp that has lived ten thousand years.

It’s treated as a spiritual beast. Any creature that lives over a thousand years naturally forms a core. And that core releases energy that no elixir can ever compare to...

“And what would a martial artist even do with something so rare?”

“What do you think a martial artist would do with it?”

Seol Unwi raised both arms slightly.

“This body’s too damn weak. I need to consume something like a Flame Carp’s core just to break through and start over. What else can I do?”

It was strange.

Truly strange.

“You sound like someone else entirely.”

“Someone else, huh... Palace Lord. I had a very long dream recently.”

“The same dream you spoke of before?”

“Yes. In that dream, I ruled the world... and yet I regretted one single moment from the past. Obsessively.”

“Regret, is it...”

“It held me down my entire life. I couldn’t see opportunities for what they were. I locked myself away in a prison I built with my own hands, lived a meaningless life, ignored what mattered, ran away... I never want to live like that again. I imagine you must’ve had regrets of your own too, Palace Lord.”

“You think I have?”

“You did father a bastard, didn’t you?”

“That I did.”

“Even after giving him countless chances, hearing report after report about how that fool didn’t even recognize them as chances... I imagine you regretted it. Didn’t you?”

Surprisingly,

Seol Jungcheon didn’t even take time to think. He spoke with unwavering certainty.

“No.”

“...I see. I thought you might say that.”

Seol Jungcheon rose from his seat.

“Do you think I’m a cold man?”

“You are the Lord of the Everlasting Snow Palace. It only makes sense that your martial arts—and your heart—are cold.”

“Even so... if I’m cold as a Palace Lord, then how do I seem to you as a father?”

“...”

“The title of Palace Lord... it’s ultimately just a role. A matter of governance.”

Seol Unwi quietly listened to his words. Seol Jungcheon descended from the platform with heavy, deliberate steps and stopped right in front of him.

“You can’t lead a force this great with strength alone. You need relationships, justification—legitimacy. Those come first. Strength only matters after. You have three older brothers and one older sister. All of them have backgrounds. And those backgrounds support this palace.”

“So you’re saying... I have the least value.”

Seol Jungcheon let out a short chuckle.

Unexpected.

It was the first time Seol Unwi had ever seen his father laugh like that.

“I won’t deny that your value is low. Coldly speaking, you’re not someone anyone in the palace pays attention to. Nor do you show much promise.”

He paused briefly, looking down at his son.

“You asked me before—whether I had regrets.”

“Yes.”

“I’ll answer you now. I did. Your mother, Iryeong, was a woman who loved not the Palace Lord... but the man named Seol Jungcheon.”

“...”

“And I loved her. I could’ve given her everything. You... were the gift she left behind. Regrets? Of course. If I had brought her here to the palace, I might have noticed she had sealed her own meridians. She used martial training as an excuse, but she was suppressing her own flow of energy. I was too blind. I missed my chance. And I lost her.”

“...”

“When you asked if I had regrets... what you really meant was, do I regret bringing you into this world? Isn’t that right?”

“Yes.”

“Then I’ll speak plainly. I don’t regret it at all.”

“...”

“Even if you were a bastard. Even if you’d been born without eyes, without arms... even without a dantian. I still would’ve smiled the moment you came into this world.”

“...”

“I wanted you to realize it on your own. To understand my position. I never said these things to you because I truly believed... that one day, you would.”

“...”

“I won’t deny that either. I wanted too much. Not one thing, not two—three, then more. And the more I wanted, the more isolated you must have felt. Even so, I waited. Do I seem cold to you?”

“You seem a little... harsh.”

“Harsh, huh... You’re welcome to resent me. Call me heartless if you like. I’ll accept it without complaint. I’ve done enough to deserve that.”

He wasn’t wrong.

But there was one thing that had to be made clear.

Seol Jungcheon cared about Seol Unwi.

And what was it that Seol Unwi had come to realize—too late?

This.

His father’s heart.

How could someone as weak as Seol Unwi have run away from within the territory of the Everlasting Snow Palace?

How could he have entered a secret realm—alone?

That secret realm...

It was Inspector Seong who had told him about it. But was he really the only one who knew?

Of course not.

It was Seol Jungcheon who knew. And Seol Jungcheon who let it happen.

It was in that place that Seol Unwi cultivated strength and stepped back into the world. Afterward, he shook up the martial realm and became a powerhouse.

And throughout that entire path, Seol Jungcheon silently supported him.

Until the day he died.

That part—was real.

After Seol Jungcheon’s death, the Everlasting Snow Palace began to rot. And Seol Unwi couldn’t just stand by and watch it happen.

At first, he tried to persuade them. Then again. And again, a third time.

But when words no longer worked, by the fourth time—he stopped speaking.

He was no dutiful son. But he didn’t want to be an unfilial one either.

He wanted to honor what his father stood for.

If the Everlasting Snow Palace chose to walk “that kind of path,” then it deserved to collapse.

So Seol Unwi started a war—alone.

And in the end, the palace fell. At the hands of the bastard son, Seol Unwi.

That was the truth.

And not for a single moment does Seol Unwi regret what he did.

Because he firmly believed that if it had been Seol Jungcheon, he would have made the exact same choice.

With unwavering eyes, Seol Unwi said,

“I won’t point fingers. I won’t resent you.”

“...Hmm.”

“On the contrary—I’m only grateful.”

“Grateful...”

“I’ve never been good with words. I don’t know if I get that from you, or from my mother, who’s passed... but I do know how to speak from the heart.”

Seol Unwi took a step back—and clasped his hands in a martial salute.

“Your boundless grace, Palace Lord... I realized it far too late.”

“...”

“I intend to repay it. But if you wish to cast me out... I’ll leave, without a shred of regret.”

Seol Jungcheon reached out and gently wrapped both of Seol Unwi’s arms—with a single hand.

That’s how large Seol Jungcheon’s hands were. No exaggeration—inhumanly large.

“Even if you become a ‘Blood Seal,’ I would never cast you out.”

Seol Unwi let out an awkward smile.

“So... you knew.”

“I was informed. More than that, you already killed the Ice Snow Sword Mark, didn’t you? There’s no way Inspector Seong could have kept quiet after that.”

“I understand.”

“Never forget. You are my son.”

“I know that. Pal... no. Father.”

For the first time—

It was the first time he’d ever said those words, with Seol Jungcheon standing right in front of him.

Father.

So close, and yet so distant. The most difficult person in the world to face.

“...That’s good. Hearing you call me ‘Father’ like that.”

“If we ever meet privately again, I’ll say it every time.”

Seol Jungcheon burst into laughter.

A deep, satisfied laugh—and while laughing like that, a sudden question came to him.

“Just now... You said there were two things you wanted. One was the Flame Carp’s core. So what’s the other?”

There was only one answer.

“The Complete Snow Codex.”

A martial manual containing the full history and legacy of the Everlasting Snow Palace, passed down only to the direct bloodline of the Palace Lord.

You could call it a ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) scripture—or, as the name says, a complete codex.

Upon hearing this, Seol Jungcheon responded without hesitation.

“If that’s what you want, I could show it to you right now.”

Seol Unwi shook his head.

“That’s not what I want.”

“...Hmm...”

“I intend to prove I’m worthy.”

“...”

“Only if I prove myself will there be no resistance to me learning from the Snow Codex. And if there is resistance—then that resistance itself will justify what comes next.”

“You mean... you’re ready to draw blood.”

“No matter which path you choose to walk from here, Father—I’m certain it won’t be the same path I take.”