Chapter 66

Step. Step.

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

His sculpted, handsome features played a part, but it was the intense presence radiating from him that overwhelmed them.

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.

“Stop dreaming.”

“Who said I was? I’ve just never seen him 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 could forget that man even if I’d seen him in the middle of a war. Hehe.”

“True. He was in quite a state back then.”

The maid thought for a moment, then her eyes widened.

“Oh, don’t tell me…”

“That’s right. He’s the Second Young Master. So stop dreaming and get back to work.”

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

When he reached the stately, old-fashioned pavilion, the martial artists guarding the entrance opened the doors for him. The looks of awe were a bonus.

“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 threw 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 man 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?”

“I would say the same if it had been thirty.”

“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.

“I don’t see Sir Wipeng.”

Wipeng, who should have been at the Lesser Family Head’s side like a shadow, was nowhere to be seen.

Jin Wikyung took a sip of tea before answering.

“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 based, lay at the heart of Shanxi, Three Questions Gorge was practically its gateway and outermost edge. It was also a crossroads leading to Shaanxi and Henan, so even fifteen days would be a tight schedule.

“It’s only a formality anyway. Aren’t you putting him through too much?”

“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 traded blows with Jin Taekyung himself only a shichen or two earlier.¹ He could no longer deny it.

“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 messenger eagle had been dispatched immediately after the Mount Heng Sword Sect declared war, so there had been no way for him to learn the details.

All he knew were the rumors he had heard on his way to the Jin Family of Taiyuan.

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

“Yes. It’s a long story.”

“How long?”

“It goes back forty years, to the Great Faction War.”

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

“Then never mind.”

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

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

Jin Mukyung nonchalantly drained his tea in one gulp, and Jin Wikyung’s face filled with disbelief.

“You little bastard!”

This was the family’s hidden history, after all. Jin Mukyung had always cared about nothing but martial arts, but Jin Wikyung had never imagined he could be this bad.

“You need to know! You’re a direct descendant 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 asked me to tell you 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.”

“T-Training? Now?”

“I came hoping to spar with Sir Wipeng after so long, but he isn’t here. Shouldn’t I train alone, 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.

“Thank you for the tea.”

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 fast. He was proud of the fine men they had become, but sometimes, moments like this still left him feeling hurt.

Yes. I suppose this is the natural order of things.

Jin Wikyung let out a sigh deep enough to sink the earth, then sat at his worktable.

He carefully began piecing together the ill-fated 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 were no traces to find.

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

The conversation he had shared with Jin Wikyung a shichen earlier flashed through his mind.¹

“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.”

“Aren’t you curious about the result?”

“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 to be divided between two towering peaks: the Jin Family of Taiyuan and the Mount Heng Sword Sect.

But the reality was different. Shanxi Murim was more 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, while the Mount Heng Sword Sect held the north. The south belonged to more than twenty small and mid-sized 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, 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 in regret.

Damn it. I spent too many points.

While fighting Jin Mukyung, I had dumped a full fifty points into Agility. The balance between my stats, which I had worked so hard to maintain, was ruined. Of course I was bitter about it.

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

A Peak master was a high wall to overcome.

No—maybe Jin Mukyung was simply even stronger than I had expected. People didn’t get called geniuses for nothing.

“When I held out for fifty exchanges, even the assassin was visibly flustered. Until recently, I had devoted myself solely to training, so I was an unknown master whose name had yet to spread through 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 Uncle.

Murim terminology still felt awkward to me, but I always made sure to call Gong Yacheong Great Hero Gong. He deserved the title.

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

“Really? That’s good to hear.”

“He said he would like to see you before he leaves.”

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.

I tried to recall a memory from twenty-two years ago.

It was hazy.

“……I hope it’s the same for you, too.”

Soyul smiled shyly at the words she did not understand.

I turned toward Socheon.

“Can I come visit 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.