Chapter 616: Dragon.
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 616: Dragon.
[The youngest of the Blue Clan is cursed.]
That was the rumor spreading through the North Sea.
The cursed child.
That was what everyone called the boy who had just turned ten.
“The way he stares, as if he knows everything… it’s chilling.”
“I couldn’t tell what he was thinking at all.”
“There must be a reason the Blue Wolf keeps his own flesh and blood at such a distance, wouldn’t you say?”
“Indeed…”
A child cast out from his father’s sight.
That was the youngest son’s place in that world.
Where had it all gone wrong?
The boy sometimes wondered.
If things had truly gone off the rails, when was that moment?
Was it when he heard of his mother’s affair?
Or was it when he realized his brother’s secret?
Or perhaps…
Was it when he became aware of his father’s ambition?
It didn’t matter.
None of it was important to the boy anymore.
“...”
He stared at the sky with empty eyes.
It was snowing.
The boy’s cheeks were flushed red as he watched the flakes fall.
It was because his father had just slapped him.
[Do not look at me with those disgusting eyes!]
That was the reason. Simply for looking.
Swoosh.
The boy caressed his own cheek.
Despite the freezing weather, his skin was still hot.
But in contrast to the heat on his face, the boy’s eyes were growing colder.
He heard things others could not.
That alone had twisted the boy’s life.
When he spoke of his mother’s affair, his enraged father had caused a scene.
When he realized his eldest brother’s secret…
His brother had been sent away, abandoned to a remote region.
After those two incidents, the boy finally learned to keep his mouth shut about the sounds he heard.
But his father must have looked at the silent boy and thought:
Perhaps.
Perhaps he’ll figure out my secret, too.
Was he afraid?
The boy became an uncomfortable presence to his father.
And that became the thorn that ruined the boy’s life.
The cursed child.
The boy did not deny the words spoken about him.
How could he?
[That… y-yeah… that…]
[Bi…]
[Grrrrr… rrrrrk.]
Even in his own eyes, it was clearly a curse.
The boy covered his ears.
He tried to block it out, but the sounds still echoed noisily in his head.
The sound of crying.
The sound of anger.
The sound of screaming.
A storm of violent, tearing emotions.
Closing his eyes and covering his ears couldn't stop it.
Emotions had a sound.
Those sounds piled up into a cacophony.
And for the boy, life became hell.
Being able to perceive the emotions others wanted to hide shattered his relationships with his family.
His mother resented him.
His siblings feared him.
His father despised him.
There was no one to comfort the boy when he cried, and no shade to shield him from the falling snow.
The boy who could hear the emotions of all creation was, ironically, growing numb to his own.
That was his life.
And it was the life he would have to live from now on.
If this wasn’t hell, what was?
The boy thought so as he watched the falling snow.
He’d heard that the world had something called the four seasons.
Among them, spring.
A vibrant season when the snow melts and flowers bloom.
He had heard that such a thing certainly existed in the Central Plains.
But here, the snow fell endlessly. Spring never came to the North Sea.
It was just like his own life.
A life of being slowly buried and dying in the snow.
The North Sea and his life were one and the same.
Which meant…
‘If I die, can I find peace?’
Rather than wait for the spring of his life…
If he ended it before an even colder winter arrived…
Wouldn’t that be a slightly better way?
The sudden thought made the boy look straight ahead.
There was a half-frozen lake.
What was he thinking back then as he looked at it?
The memory was faint now.
If he strained to recall…
It was just that the young boy was helplessly exhausted.
And because of that exhaustion and the unusually loud noise, he couldn’t think straight.
And so…
There was no hesitation in his steps.
He was at an age where immaturity was an excuse, and he was mesmerized by his own choice.
Yes, that must have been why.
Splash—!
His breath hitched as he fell in.
A bone-chilling cold enveloped his entire body.
Even when he opened his eyes, he could see nothing.
So he closed them.
Do you know what was funny, though?
Amidst the suffocating pressure as his breath ran out…
The first thing he felt was not pain or fear, but comfort.
‘…It’s quiet.’
The sounds that had been driving him mad just moments ago vanished in an instant.
How long had it been since he’d experienced such silence?
In that moment, the boy felt a sense of liberation.
However…
That liberation did not last long.
“Gurgle…!”
He was suffocating.
The moment all his breath escaped, only pain remained.
His whole body began to freeze in the icy water.
He thrashed about.
It was a choice he had made himself.
But at the very end, the boy couldn't help but show such a pathetic struggle.
Did he yearn for life? That couldn’t be it.
He didn’t know.
He couldn’t remember that far back.
If there was anything he did remember…
“Grrgh… ugh…”
It was that as he was thrashing about, on the verge of losing consciousness…
Splash—!
A sound came from far away, and at the same time…
Whoosh—!
Something grabbed him.
Thin, slender arms wrapped around his body and pulled.
A short time passed.
“Puha!”
The boy was pulled out of the water.
“Cough… hack…”
His body trembling, he collapsed onto the ground, spitting out water.
As he was retching…
Something warm wrapped around his shivering body.
It was a dry fur coat.
Wondering what it was, he looked up at the person who had covered him.
“Whoa! It’s cold…!”
The first thing he saw was snow-white hair.
It was soaking wet, just like his own.
She didn’t look much older than him.
A girl his age.
As the boy stared at the girl with a bewildered expression…
The girl smiled and said to him:
“The weather’s gotten a lot colder lately, don’t you think?”
“...”
“The water is so cold. It feels way too early to go for a swim.”
It was such a pure smile.
Amidst the falling snow, the boy looked down at the coat wrapped around him.
“So, if you want to swim, let’s do it together next time when it’s a little less cold.”
“I was…”
“It’s too cold right now!”
The boy tried to say something.
But the girl cut him off.
He learned later…
That the girl had known all along what the boy had been trying to do.
But with her young mind back then, she couldn’t think of the right words to change his heart.
So that’s what she had said.
What can I say?
It was a story that only made him chuckle emptily.
Unable to comprehend the situation, the boy couldn’t open his mouth.
This was a place no one could enter without permission.
A place his father had sealed off so no one could get in.
How on earth did this girl get in?
As that question filled his mind…
“Nice to meet you.”
The girl extended her hand to the boy.
“You’re the Blue Wolf’s youngest son?”
“...”
How many people in the North Sea could refer to his father like that?
The boy was young but clever, so he knew the number was small.
You could count them on both hands, at most.
And among them, if it was a young girl like this, the answer was obvious.
Even knowing that, the boy didn’t react.
He merely stared at the girl.
Then.
Swoosh.
The girl reached her hand out to the boy.
“My name is Yuri.”
Looking into her blue eyes, he thought:
How truly radiant.
“What’s your name?”
Surely, the boy back then couldn’t have known.
That this girl…
Would become his conviction, his spring.
Drip.
Drip.
Blood flowed down the sword.
The dripping blood fell to the ground, staining the snow red.
How deep had the blade pierced?
Pain surged through me.
I tried to control it, but it seemed I made a slight mistake.
“Wow… this fucking hurts.”
I had avoided the vital spots, but it still hurt like hell.
‘How long has it been?’
How long had it been since I’d been stabbed?
I’d been cut plenty of times, but it had been a while since I’d been run through like this.
This was probably the first time since my regression.
Drip.
Blood trickled from the corner of my mouth.
I didn’t bother wiping it away.
Clunk.
I felt a sensation from the sword embedded in my stomach.
The moment I felt it, I gripped the blade tightly.
“Don’t move. If you move too much, my hand will get hurt.”
“…You…!”
At my warning, the owner of the sword…
Woo Hyuk’s eyes widened as he spoke.
“What are you doing right now…!”
“Can’t you tell by looking?”
Blood welled up in my mouth every time I spoke.
God, this tastes fucking metallic.
I forced myself to ignore it and continued.
“I’m snapping you out of it.”
“Pull the sword out now…! You need to stop the bleeding…!”
At Woo Hyuk’s words, I let out a smirk.
“A moment ago, you said I couldn’t pass unless I killed you. What’s the rush now?”
“…!”
As I repeated his earlier words, Woo Hyuk’s face contorted.
I could see him biting his lip hard.
That expression was particularly amusing.
The bastard was pretending to be calm, but seeing his expression crumble was a satisfying sight.
This much made getting stabbed worthwhile.
With a mouthful of blood, I said to Woo Hyuk:
“I’ve been thinking.”
I spoke, but Woo Hyuk just kept staring at his sword stuck in my stomach.
“You were trying to die just now, weren’t you?”
“…!”
Hearing my words, Woo Hyuk flinched.
“You were trying to die by my hand.”
No answer came.
But I already knew the answer.
Woo Hyuk had just tried to die.
He had tried to die at my hands.
That must be why he’d lessened the power of his sword at the last moment.
“What are you talking about?”
Woo Hyuk tried to play dumb.
“Don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about. You’re a smart guy.”
That wouldn’t work on me.
“When did it start? When did you decide to do that?”
“...”
“Fucking speak.”
I cursed and tightened my grip on the blade.
I was trying to push it in deeper.
“You crazy…!”
Realizing this, Woo Hyuk tightened his grip on the hilt.
It was a bizarre situation where the one who stabbed was trying to pull it out, and the one who was stabbed was trying to push it in deeper.
“Are you really trying to die!? Are you insane?”
“Of course I’m insane, what do you think? Why, is it okay for you but not for me?”
Woo Hyuk shouted, and I scowled back at him.
“You have no idea how fucked up that is, do you?”
You probably don’t know.
The choice you were about to make—what a tremendous curse it would be for the other person.
Unlike you, I knew all too clearly.
In a situation like that…
“You son of a bitch. You were trying to do that to me?”
You were trying to make me go through that again?
Grip—!
I grabbed Woo Hyuk’s collar with my free hand.
“If you’re seeing me for the first time in a while, you should have just said hello. Why create this kind of fucked-up situation!”
I could feel Woo Hyuk tensing up, probably worried the sword would shift.
I kept thinking.
What was Woo Hyuk’s intention in doing this to me?
Knowing he couldn’t win, why was he acting so irrationally?
Moreover, why, when he saw me…
‘Did he look like it was for the best?’
It’s better this way.
It’s a relief it turned out like this.
He had smiled bitterly with relief.
Why would he do that?
Why did he have to?
I found the answer to those questions just now, looking into Woo Hyuk’s eyes.
The same eyes as mine, acting that way with those eyes.
The meaning behind it all was a reason I knew all too well.
It’s just that…
‘I just resent you for trying to make me be the one to do it.’
I felt a grudge against Woo Hyuk.
It was probably the first time I’d ever felt this way.
That’s how I knew.
I looked at Woo Hyuk, who had started to tremble, and said:
“You idiot. Don’t you know how cheap that is? It’s just running away.”
I could finally, belatedly, understand why my father had acted that way toward me back then.
But now, it was a realization that came far too late.
To the words I spat out with those feelings…
“What do you know…!!”
Woo Hyuk’s voice rose.
“…You don’t know anything about me. What do you know that gives you the right to say that…!”
CRACK—!
I threw a punch.
Woo Hyuk, hit in the face, stumbled backward and fell.
Clang—!
The sword that had been stuck in my stomach was pulled out and fell to the ground.
Drip, drip.
I could feel blood pouring from my stomach.
Ah, shit… It came out too suddenly.
I ignored the pain and walked toward Woo Hyuk.
“Ugh…”
“Of course I don’t know, you bastard. You never told me, so how could I?”
I didn’t know anything.
About Woo Hyuk, including our past and present lives, there wasn’t much I knew.
Part of it was that I was never particularly curious.
And part of it was that Woo Hyuk never told me anything.
But that didn’t mean he could act like this.
“Then you should have told me.”
I approached him again and grabbed the collar of the fallen Woo Hyuk.
“Instead of acting like this, you should have asked for help.”
“...”
“You didn’t say a damn thing, so why are you pulling this shit?”
It was Woo Hyuk who had charged at me, wanting to fight the moment he saw me.
“What is it? Why the hell are you doing this?”
“...”
“Speak. I need you to talk so I can either help you or beat some sense into you.”
At my irritated words, a question appeared in Woo Hyuk’s eyes.
“…Why…?”
“What.”
“Why are you going this far for me…?”
Not just his eyes, but his words were full of confusion.
Why am I doing this?
“…It’s only been a few years at most. You have no reason to act this way toward me.”
We’ve known each other for four years at most.
I call Woo Hyuk my close friend, but that’s because of my memories from my past life.
Because he died for me.
Because I remember him supporting me when I was breaking down, I remember that and call him my friend.
However.
“Why are you going this far for me?”
The current Woo Hyuk wouldn’t know that.
And this…
“I don’t know, you bastard. Ask yourself, because I don’t really know either.”
…was the same thing the Woo Hyuk from my past life had said to me.
“What…?”
“We weren’t that close, and there was no reason for us to get close. You were the one who approached me first.”
The Meteor Generation.
The guy at the center of it all had reached out to me, who was full of nothing but complaints about the world.
Even when I cursed him out and told him to get lost, he never left my side.
Why did he do that?
When I asked him why…
What did Woo Hyuk say to me?
“Because we were similar? I think that was the reason.”
Because he was similar to him.
So he felt comfortable.
That’s what Woo Hyuk had definitely told me.
“You know what? When I heard that back then, I thought it was total bullshit.”
A genius among geniuses.
The man who was certain to become the next representative martial artist of Wudang.
A guy like that approached me, the disgrace of my clan, and said we were similar.
Was he mocking me?
At first, I thought so, and it pissed me off even more.
“But looking back now, I kind of get it.”
Now, I think I understood.
That Woo Hyuk’s words had been the truth.
You and I were similar.
That’s why you came to me.
I could understand the Sleeping Dragon who spoke to me back then a little better now.
Neither of us had any lingering attachment to life.
We wanted to obtain something, but we were empty because we knew we couldn’t.
That was us.
“You told me to live.”
Live.
Life is precious, so you must live.
That’s what Woo Hyuk used to say to me like a habit.
“Do you think you were really saying that to me? No.”
This too was a belated realization.
“You were saying it to yourself, weren’t you?”
It was a question I would never hear the answer to again.
Meaning, there was no point in hearing it from the current Woo Hyuk.
“I’m sure of it. You saw yourself in me.”
“…What are you talking about right now?”
“Shut up and listen. It’s my turn now.”
The one who supported me when I was falling apart…
Did so to keep himself from collapsing.
The one who tried to fix me when I was broken…
Did so because he himself was broken.
Was it a sense of kinship or was it pity?
Now, that too is meaningless.
What I needed to think about now wasn’t that.
What I needed to say wasn’t that.
“Live. Just fucking live, you bastard.”
I had to say the words the Woo Hyuk from my past life said to me, to the Woo Hyuk of now.
Though the words came out a bit differently.
“If you have a problem, I’ll help you out, so just try living. Stop pulling this kind of shi—ah, my stomach hurts, shit.”
The tearing pain forced me to stop talking and clutch my stomach.
I had managed to stop the bleeding a bit, but my condition wasn’t great.
My regenerative abilities were monstrous, so my stomach would probably heal in about three days.
“…Hah…”
Watching me, Woo Hyuk suddenly let out a hollow breath.
“This is absurd…”
“I should be the one saying that. We meet after a long time and you immediately stick a knife in my gut. How’s that feel?”
“That’s because you…!”
“Enough. Now talk. Why are you doing this?”
I got a hole in my stomach just to hear this one thing.
It was about time I got to hear it.
No, I really had to hear it now.
“If you don’t talk, I’ll make another hole.”
I said, picking up Woo Hyuk’s sword from the ground.
If you don’t talk, I’ll put another hole in my stomach.
It was a threat.
The problem was…
“…What kind of threat is that, using your own body? You think that’s going to work?”
“It won’t? Wanna bet? I’ll do it. I’m doing it now. Watch closely.”
I raised the sword to stab myself in the stomach.
“Stop…! I said stop!”
Woo Hyuk raised his hand to stop me.
He said it wouldn’t work, but the threat was working just fine.
“You crazy bastard…! You’re a true madman.”
“I hear that a lot.”
It felt strange hearing it from the person I heard it from the second most.
I calmly put the sword down and looked at Woo Hyuk.
I even crossed my arms, as if to say, ‘spill it.’
At that.
“Haha…”
Woo Hyuk let out a low laugh.
“…How did I end up friends with a guy like this?”
He seemed to regret it a little.
But it was too late.
‘You should blame your past-life self for that.’
Even if he complained to the Woo Hyuk of back then, nothing would change.
“I get it, so first, stop the bleeding…”
“Talk first. I’ll take care of this myself.”
My Qi was already moving rapidly inside my body.
It was a way to stop the bleeding and enhance my regeneration.
In fact, the bleeding had already stopped.
I had lost a lot of blood, so I was still dizzy, but…
At my words, Woo Hyuk staggered and pushed himself up.
The hostility from before seemed to have faded somewhat.
Seeing that, I asked:
“You going to talk?”
“Don’t rush me…”
“If you’re not, then I’ll just—.”
“I will, I’ll talk! I will… but you have other things to take care of first, don’t you?”
At Woo Hyuk’s words, I turned my head.
He was right.
Things had gotten twisted, but my purpose for coming here wasn’t Woo Hyuk.
Remembering that, I approached Woo Hyuk and held out my hand.
A gesture for him to grab on and get up.
“If you don’t tell me later, you’re really dead.”
“…Me? Or you?”
“We’ll see how it goes.”
I would check what was more convenient at the time and choose then.
“Hahaha…”
Hearing this, Woo Hyuk let out the same hollow laugh as before.
He reached out his hand to grab mine.
At that moment.
“Is it over?”
An unfamiliar voice rang out.
“That’s no fun.”
And it was right next to us.