Chapter 66

Step. Step.

Each time the young man took a step, people hurriedly moved aside.

His sculpted, handsome features were part of it, but more than that, they were overwhelmed by the intense presence radiating from him.

He stood out even from a distance.

“Wow, he’s handsome.”

At the thoughtless remark from a maid who had joined the household the previous year, an old servant gave a quiet laugh.

“Wake up from your dream.”

“Who said anything? It’s just because I’ve never seen his face before.”

“Didn’t you see him earlier? When the Third Young Master’s pavilion collapsed?”

“With all that chaos, do you think I only saw one or two people? Still, I don’t think I’d ever forget that man, even if I’d seen him in the middle of a war. Hehe.”

“True enough. His appearance was a complete disaster back then.”

The maid thought about it for a moment, then her eyes went round.

“Oh, no way?”

“That’s right. He’s the Second Young Master. So stop dreaming nonsense and go do your work.”

Jin Mukyung ignored the whispers around him with an indifferent expression and continued walking.

When he reached the stately, traditional pavilion, the martial artists guarding the entrance opened the doors for him. The looks of awe came free of charge.

“The Lesser Family Head is waiting for you.”

“Thank you.”

The moment Jin Mukyung entered the Lesser Family Head’s office, he was greeted by the rich scent of tea—and by his older brother, Jin Wikyung, charging toward him with heavy, pounding footsteps.

“Little brother!”

Jin Wikyung spread his arms wide and pulled Jin Mukyung into a tight embrace.

For a moment, Mukyung considered dodging, but if he did, he would have to watch that hulking body whine like a child.

“I can’t breathe.”

His tone was as stiff as a wooden puppet’s.

“Is that what you say to your brother after not seeing him for three years?”

“Even if we had not seen each other for thirty years, my answer would be the same.”

“You’ve grown cold. You’ve changed so much.”

“Yes. I’m a cold-blooded man without blood or tears.”

“That’s all right. I naturally run hot.”

“……Let go.”

A short while later, the two brothers sat across from each other and began to talk.

“Sir Wipeng is nowhere to be seen.”

Wipeng, who was supposed to remain at the Lesser Family Head’s side like a shadow, was absent.

After taking a sip of tea, Jin Wikyung answered.

“I put him in charge of a pursuit team and sent him out. It’ll take at least half a month to go all the way to Three Questions Gorge and back.”

“That far?”

If Taiyuan, where the family was located, was the center of Shanxi, Three Questions Gorge was practically at its entrance and far edge. It was also a crossroads leading to Shaanxi and Henan, so even fifteen days was a tight schedule.

“It’s only a formality anyway. Aren’t you making him work too hard?”

“Why? Feeling sorry for him?”

“I didn’t expect things to get this big.”

“Neither did I. I didn’t expect you to cause such an incident the moment you arrived.”

“That’s not—”

“Mukyung.”

Unlike before, Jin Wikyung’s eyes held a light reproach. Jin Mukyung sighed.

“I didn’t intend to take it that far. At first, I only meant to exchange a few moves.”

“And then?”

“He was pretty good. I got heated and used too much force.”

“Of course you did. He wasn’t the youngest brother you remembered.”

Jin Mukyung nodded reluctantly.

He had personally exchanged blows with Jin Taekyung only an hour or two earlier. By now, he could no longer refuse to acknowledge the truth.

“Since we’re on the subject, what on earth happened?”

“The youngest?”

“Everything. The letter I received only said that the Mount Heng Sword Sect bastards were invading.”

A carrier hawk had been sent immediately after the Mount Heng Sword Sect declared war, so there had been no way for him to learn the details.

The rumors he had heard on the way to the Jin Family of Taiyuan were all he knew.

“Is it true that the Head Elder betrayed us?”

“Yes. It’s a long story.”

“How long?”

“It goes all the way back to the Great Faction War forty years ago.”

Jin Wikyung’s expression hardened as he began to speak.

“Then never mind.”

“Back then, the Head Elder… Wait, what did you say?”

“Never mind. It’s already over. What good would hearing about it do me?”

Jin Mukyung emptied his teacup in one gulp, and Jin Wikyung’s face filled with disbelief.

“You little bastard!”

It was, after all, the hidden history of the family. Jin Mukyung had always been a man who cared about nothing but martial arts, but Jin Wikyung had never imagined he could be this bad.

“You need to know! The direct line of our family—”

“The Head Elder betrayed us. Then he died. The Mount Heng Sword Sect was destroyed in the process. The Jin Family of Taiyuan was the final victor. Did I misunderstand anything?”

“No, that’s right, but…”

Jin Wikyung began to wonder which of them was the abnormal one.

Then he suddenly remembered something.

“You were the one who said you wanted to hear everything!”

“Ah, I take that back. If I listen to things that happened before I was even born, I’ll grow old and die right here. I’d rather spend that time swinging my sword one more time.”

“……”

“Then I’ll be going.”

“You’re leaving? Where?”

“To train, obviously.”

“Training? Right now?”

“I came to spar with Sir Wipeng after so long, but he’s gone. Shouldn’t I train by myself, at least?”

Jin Wikyung was speechless.

Is that how a younger brother is supposed to act after seeing his older brother for the first time in three years?

His heart ached with betrayal.

“Mukyung!”

Jin Mukyung answered the heartfelt call coldly.

“The tea was good. Thank you.”

He left the office without even looking back.

Jin Wikyung stared at the back of his departing younger brother, stunned.

After everything I did to raise you…

Both his second and youngest brothers had grown up so much. He was proud of how wonderfully they had each matured, but sometimes, moments like this still hurt.

Yes. This is the natural order of things.

Jin Wikyung let out a sigh that seemed to drain the earth itself, then sat down in front of his worktable.

He carefully began piecing together the unfortunate masterpiece that had been torn apart earlier: The Birth of a Hero.

“We haven’t found a single trace.”

“He left behind no witnesses or footprints. He’s an elusive bastard.”

At his subordinate’s report, Wipeng swallowed a bitter smile.

There had never been an assassin in the first place. Naturally, there would be no traces to find.

I have to put on an act I was never meant to perform.

A conversation he had shared with Jin Wikyung an hour earlier flashed through Wipeng’s mind.

An assassin? Haven’t you made this affair too big?

An opportunity has presented itself. We have to use it.

You don’t mean the opportunity to rebuild the Third Young Master’s pavilion even more lavishly, do you?

Oh, that’s a good idea. Make it happen.

My lord!

I’m joking. Just joking.

Then what opportunity are you talking about?

That was when the smile disappeared from his lord’s face.

An opportunity for our family to encompass all of Shanxi Province.

……!

I spent the past five days searching through every record in the family. There was a name I needed to find. You know what it is, don’t you?

Dark Heaven.

Don’t you want to know what I found?

You didn’t find it.

Clouds are gathering. Clouds that have never shown themselves before. We need to prepare before they appear.

Give me your orders.

I’ll assign thirty elites to you. Head south immediately. The official objective is to capture or kill the assassin, but your true mission is something else.

Wipeng unconsciously touched his chest. His fingers brushed against the thick bundle of papers Jin Wikyung had handed him.

What is this?

On the coming New Year’s Day, I intend to summon every sect in Shanxi Province to our family.

This was no invitation. It was a summons.

Wipeng was not foolish enough to misunderstand what that meant.

Are you trying to become the Alliance Leader?

If necessary.

Until recently, Shanxi Murim had appeared to the outside world as two towering peaks: the Jin Family of Taiyuan and the Mount Heng Sword Sect.

But the reality was different. Shanxi Murim was shaped like a three-legged cauldron.

The Jin Family of Taiyuan, the Mount Heng Sword Sect, and the smaller sects.

The Jin Family of Taiyuan held the central region, and the Mount Heng Sword Sect held the north. The south belonged to more than twenty mid-sized and small sects.

The Five Gates of Shanxi, which had vanished in the recent war, was merely the name given to the five especially powerful sects among them.

Their alliance is strong. They may refuse to comply.

They might have, if this had been before the war.

The three-legged cauldron had begun to tip.

And the Jin Family of Taiyuan had both the strength and the justification to support Shanxi Murim’s cauldron alone.

Can you do it?

The answer had already been decided.

Wipeng muttered in a low voice.

“I shall obey.”

At that same moment, Jin Wikyung was piecing together The Birth of a Hero and cursing Wipeng.

System

Status Window

Lv.50 Jin Taekyung

Job: First Rate martial artist

Fame: 1,180 (+150)

Titles: 4 (Title effects active)

• Sleeping Dragon of Shanxi (All Stats +10, Fame +100)

• Scion of a Prestigious Family (All Stats +5, Fame +50)

• Novice Trainee (Training speed +10%)

• Gambler (Combat-related stats +10% in one-on-one combat)

Strength: 135 (+15)
Stamina: 142 (+15)
Agility: 180 (+15)
Intelligence: 25 (+15)
Charm: 25 (+15)
Internal Energy: 15 years

Remaining Points: 50

• Distribute your remaining points.

I stared at the Status Window and regretted it.

Damn it. I spent too many points.

While fighting Jin Mukyung, I had dumped no fewer than fifty points into Agility. The balance between my stats, which I had worked so hard to maintain, had collapsed. Naturally, it left a bitter taste in my mouth.

I thought twenty or thirty points at most would be enough.

The wall posed by a Peak master was high.

No—perhaps Jin Mukyung was simply stronger than I had expected. The title of genius was not something people handed out easily.

“When I lasted fifty exchanges, even the assassin looked visibly flustered. I had devoted myself to training until recently, so I was an unknown master in Shanxi—”

Smack!

“Ghk!”

Hyuk Mujin, who had been struck on the back of the head, let out a scream.

“What was that for?”

“Stop filling the kids’ heads with nonsense. Unless you want to croak.”

But Socheon was waiting for the rest of the story with shining eyes.

“I’m fine.”

“What does ‘croak’ mean? Soyul wants to croak too!”

“……You’ve still got a long time before that.”

I stroked Soyul’s head as she tugged on my sleeve and pestered me.

My connection with these little siblings had grown fairly deep. As I watched them quietly, someone suddenly came to mind.

“How is Great Hero Gong these days?”

Gong Yacheong—the middle-aged man Socheon and Soyul called their uncle.

Even now, Murim terminology felt awkward to me, but whenever I addressed Gong Yacheong, I always called him Great Hero. He was someone who deserved it.

“He’s recovering smoothly. He still has trouble moving around, though.”

“Really? That’s good to hear.”

“He said he wanted to see you before he left.”

I was about to nod without thinking when I stopped.

“Before he leaves?”

“Yes. He’ll be put in charge of the Sakju Branch, which is being rebuilt this time.”

“Then…”

“We’ve decided to go with him.”

War took many things away.

Socheon and Soyul had lost both their home and their parents in the Mount Heng Sword Sect’s attack. They could not turn back the years that had passed, but now that everything had been settled, they would return to the place steeped in precious memories.

“Thank you for everything, Benefactor.”

The sincerity in his farewell made something tickle in a corner of my chest. There was still a reality far too cruel for these young siblings to bear.

What was worse, Soyul did not even know that her parents were dead.

She’s five…

She was far too young to recognize and accept the present for what it was.

I suddenly recalled a memory from twenty-two years ago.

It was hazy.

“……I hope it will be that way for you, too.”

Soyul only smiled shyly at the words she did not understand.

I turned toward Socheon.

“Would it be all right if I came to see you from time to time?”

Socheon beamed as if he had been waiting for me to ask.

“You’re always welcome, Benefactor.”

Hyuk Mujin, who had been listening quietly, broke through the warm atmosphere between us.

“Then when are you leaving?”

“Half a year from now.”

“……”

There went my touching moment. I should’ve saved it.