Chapter 199

“Take care.”

I tossed the words out and stepped outside. It had to be a little past morning.

I walked out, feeling clammy air that didn’t match the clear weather.

‘Ugh, dust.’

There’d been so much dust and crap in that space that my mouth felt dry and gritty.

This was Henan, supposedly well managed, yet it was almost impressive how filthy it was.

‘Well, it’s the Beggar Clan, so what can you do.’

I scratched my cheek.

If it itched, I had to worry something got on me.

It couldn’t be helped.

Where I was standing was, literally, a beggars’ den.

“P-please... just one coin....”

“I’m here on business with the Beggar Clan.”

“Click.”

At my words, the beggar who’d been coming over clicked his tongue and turned around. The attitude was absurd, but I didn’t bother caring.

Beggars were all the same anyway.

‘Sent what I needed to send.’

In the first place, as long as I handled my purpose, there was no reason to stay long.

As soon as I stepped just outside the Beggar Clan’s area, a woman in a veil was waiting.

Sword Phoenix Yuyeon.

“Did you wait long?”

When I asked, she shook her head.

Then she stared at me.

I couldn’t see her eyes through the veil, but I could tell she was looking.

It was the kind of look that asked why I’d come here.

“Ah, I had something to request from the Beggar Clan.”

I had something to take care of while the schedule had a gap.

No idea if it would work, though.

“...Anyway. That’s done. You don’t have anything else on your schedule?”

“......”

Yuyeon nodded.

“Training and stuff. You don’t need to do that?”

“......”

Same answer again.

I’d dragged her out, but it bugged me a little that I hadn’t asked about her schedule.

“Yeah? Then, well....”

Is it fine?

I nodded too and started walking. Yuyeon matched my pace and followed slowly.

Since I’d stopped by the Beggar Clan, there was only one place left to go.

*****

I pushed through the crowd. Every time I walked around the county seat, eyes pinned themselves into me.

“It’s the Little Sword Saint.”

“...Blue Moon Sect....”

“The one who beat that Cloud Dragon...?”

“And beside him is....”

Maybe the aftershock from that last match had been big, because there were clearly more people recognizing me.

To the point where it felt like the veil should’ve been on me, not Yuyeon.

‘Annoying.’

I don’t exactly enjoy attention, so these stares felt like shit.

In the first place—

‘And I’m not even sure you can call it winning with real skill.’

Memorization, using information.

It was a match fought using information Moon-Thread Sword handed me. If that counted as skill, it counted as skill, but if someone asked me confidently whether it really did, I’d hesitate.

‘Honestly, if you asked whether I’m at Seven Prodigies level right now, I don’t know.’

I did grab wins against Poison Dragon and Cloud Dragon, but it still felt kind of... ambiguous.

That was my objective take.

‘Hmm.’

So I looked at Yuyeon for that reason.

‘The top junior generation....’

I’d slipped into informal speech thanks to old ties, and I’d dragged her out without even realizing it.

But thinking about it, Yuyeon really was an absurd figure.

‘Yoo Cheongil said it.’

What the hell did you even raise?

I remembered that old bastard pouring out awe and joy the instant he saw Sword Phoenix.

‘That just means she’s that incredible.’

His reaction was clearly different from when he looked at the other Seven Prodigies.

And even to me, it did.

‘...I didn’t see it.’

Sword Phoenix’s movement in the match.

I couldn’t properly see it at all. By the time I noticed, the opponent was already down.

‘Could I have reacted if it was me?’

React to what I can’t even see? It felt like it would’ve been impossible.

‘Then again, maybe.’

If I actually used my eyes properly, maybe I could scrape something together, but that was pure guesswork.

‘...What the hell happened?’

What happened over the last few years?

I’d heard about Sword Phoenix too. That meant she was that famous.

‘Genius Slayer.’

The person who trampled every so-called genius in the Central Plains.

Her overwhelming talent drove every junior generation “prodigy” into despair.

Wasn’t it said that anyone who crossed blades with her even once called her a monster?

‘It doesn’t really make sense to me.’

What did she even do to earn that kind of talk? It was hard to picture.

And—

‘How did she live?’

It hadn’t been short, but it also hadn’t been that long, the time since she left the Bang Clan of Liaoning. What did Yuyeon go through in that span?

How did she end up at Mount Hua and become one of the junior generation?

And then how did she end up—

‘Unable to speak?’

Seeing someone who used to live like a boy suddenly appear like that is jarring, but that mattered even more.

I’m sure she could speak. Meeting her again and finding out she couldn’t made it stick in my head.

‘And it’s not like I can ask.’

I’m curious, but it doesn’t feel like something you ask.

Thinking that as I walked, I reached my destination before I knew it.

“Wow, there are a lot of people.”

The destination was Main Alliance Headquarters.

I didn’t have to come today, but there was a reason I showed up anyway.

“Let’s see... the bracket is....”

I lifted my head and checked what was written on the board.

Today’s bracket, packed tight.

Yeah. I came to watch the matches today.

The schedule had opened up, and...

‘Still, I should at least pay attention.’

They’re people I half dragged into this. It felt wrong to not even watch them fight.

And watching alone would be boring, so I dragged Yuyeon along.

“Where is it....”

I checked the bracket carefully, and a bunch of familiar names showed up.

‘Cheon Eujin... he’s up against someone I don’t know.’

Cheon Eujin’s opponent was a junior fighter whose name I’d basically never heard.

Poison Dragon was the same. If there was a good thing, it was that none of our group got matched against each other.

I kept that in mind as I scanned the rest.

“Huh?”

I tightened my focus and widened my eyes.

Do Hyeong of Blue Moon Sect.

And Namgung Seong of the Namgung Clan.

Do Hyeong got matched with Little Azure Sword.

I narrowed my eyes at it.

‘...Hmm.’

It’s a tournament, so it’s not weird, but it still felt weirdly irritating.

Still, this was the “fine” kind.

The biggest problem was—

‘Cheon Hyein’s opponent.’

Moon Dancer. Her opponent caught my eye.

Her opponent was—

‘Baek Cheon-il.’

Baek Cheon-il, the one Yoo Cheongil pointed out as Demon Cult.

He was Cheon Hyein’s opponent.

*****

—Grandson.

An old man’s voice seeped into my ears. I wanted to forget it, but it was a voice I couldn’t forget to the end.

—Please don’t live buried in revenge.

At the words he wished for with everything he had, the child couldn’t react at all.

I should’ve at least nodded.

I couldn’t even do that.

Because I didn’t want to.

Even when the father and grandfather who raised me with open eyes reached death,

I still couldn’t grant my grandfather’s wish.

How could I?

A blade was still lodged in my chest, still tearing me up from inside.

How could I dare say I could?

The child became a young man.

And as the sword I’d held since I was little grew more familiar in my hands,

the blade lodged in my chest grew larger too.

HRAAAH!

KRAAAGH!

A kiai shout and a scream rang out. Then cheers exploded.

Another match had ended.

Hearing it, a young man—

a Small Moon Unit warrior from Blue Moon Sect—

Do Hyeong opened the eyes he’d been keeping shut.

“......”

Maybe it was because he’d thought of memories he didn’t want to recall. His insides felt a little tight.

He let out a breath.

At the same time, he rubbed his chest with his hand. A strange sensation settled into a place where nothing should be felt.

How long had it been?

How many years had passed since an unseen blade was driven into his chest?

Even after all that time, when he stirred at his chest with his hand, it still felt like there was a hilt there—

as if it could be drawn any time.

‘But not yet.’

Not now.

He was too weak to draw this blade now.

Too weak to reach the one this blade had to cut.

“......”

With a gaze gone cold, Do Hyeong scanned his surroundings.

The tournament stage called the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering.

Even now, it felt subtle to him that he was here.

‘How did it come to this?’

How did he end up in a place like this?

It didn’t feel like where he belonged.

‘...Did I get dragged in.’

Yeah. That phrasing fit.

Dragged in and thrown around, and before he knew it, he was here.

There was something he had to do, so he shouldn’t have been showing his face carelessly.

Even knowing his choice was wrong for his goal, Do Hyeong found it strange that he still made it.

Why? Why was it?

‘Is it because of that guy?’

The moment he thought of the reason, it came easy.

The person who dragged him here.

His junior, Bang Sungyeon—that was the problem.

‘...He’s a strange one.’

No matter how many times he thought about it, he was truly strange.

Bang Sungyeon had terrifying talent. Do Hyeong knew because he’d watched the fight in Sichuan with his own eyes.

The sword force blooming from Bang Sungyeon’s hand, holding a light so bizarre it was hard to believe.

And the sight of him using it to execute a master Do Hyeong couldn’t even touch.

Now, maybe because he was fighting junior fighters, it looked like he was controlling his strength somewhat, but from the position of someone who knew his true worth, it was nothing but astonishing.

‘How can he act without making it obvious?’

Bang Sungyeon lived in thorough pretense, like he didn’t want to reveal his full strength.

He even did that in his match with Cloud Dragon, one of the Seven Prodigies.

As if he wanted people to think he’d won by the skin of his teeth, he put on an extreme performance.

If Do Hyeong didn’t know his true skill, even he would’ve been fooled.

‘He’s impressive.’

Even though he was a junior, Do Hyeong thought well of Bang Sungyeon.

Even with that level of talent and the background of being the Sword Saint’s successor, he wasn’t arrogant.

If anything, he lived with tired, irritated eyes.

How could someone be that calm?

‘If it were me....’

If [N O V E L I G H T] he were Bang Sungyeon,

he wouldn’t be like that. He would’ve done anything, using that strength to accomplish his purpose.

Yeah. He would’ve done everything he could to find them and kill them.

But Bang Sungyeon didn’t use his strength for personal purposes.

He hid it instead, trying not to show it.

It felt like something done to carry the name of the Sword Saint, that hero, without blemish.

Is that why?

Is that why Bang Sungyeon could become the Sword Saint’s successor?

“......”

Do Hyeong accepted it like that.

Inside him, that junior named Bang Sungyeon was that kind of existence.

‘Then what about me?’

If so, what was he?

He didn’t know. He didn’t know, but Do Hyeong simply thought—

it would’ve been nice if he could be like Bang Sungyeon.

If he had been, his grandfather wouldn’t have closed his eyes like that.

As he steadied his breathing with that thought—

—Next fighters, prepare!

A voice rang out. It was his turn.

*****

“Oh, he’s coming up.”

I watched Do Hyeong climb onto the tournament stage.

I kept wondering when he’d go up, but it was sooner than I expected.

At the same time, I looked at Little Azure Sword coming up on the other side.

That guy’s face was full of dissatisfaction.

What’s his problem now?

I stared at Little Azure Sword, thinking it was weird—

[So you were here.]

At the rough voice, I turned my head. Yoo Cheongil. Looks like he was back.

‘Where the hell did you go again.’

I narrowed my eyes and looked once, then turned back to the stage.

[Hmm? Those two are fighting each other?]

I gave a small nod. Seeing it, Yoo Cheongil spoke flatly.

[Hmph. Then it’ll end quickly.]

His voice had lost all interest in an instant. What the hell?

‘End quickly?’

Both of them were warriors who had to be past pinnacle. Why was Yoo Cheongil so sure?

And who did he expect to win?

I looked at him like I didn’t get it, and then Little Azure Sword’s mouth moved.

It was too far to hear the words, but I could see Do Hyeong’s expression change after hearing them.

‘Oh?’

Do Hyeong’s expression—rarely—looked seriously uncomfortable.

What did he say to get that reaction?

I was just starting to get curious—

—Blue Moon Sect’s Do Hyeong versus Namgung Clan’s Namgung Seong.

The referee raised a hand and spoke.

—Match. Begin.

That instant—

KWAANG—!!!

—KHUH—!?

Namgung Seong took Do Hyeong’s fist to the face and planted his face into the ground.

One strike.