Chapter 166: The Meaning of a Second Life
Chapter 166: The Meaning of a Second Life
While Seonwoo Jin was desperately recovering his body, the taciturn warrior Jong-woo, who had a sturdy physique, was running with all his might carrying a sack filled with earth.
'Am Hyeol-hyang, huh....'
Death still didn't feel real.
But it seemed clear that this would likely be his final end.
To be hunted by Am Hyeol-hyang, the king of assassins—wasn't that something he'd never even dreamed of his whole life?
There was no way someone like him could survive.
'Brother Jang, Brother Gong, Brother Yang, Brother Lee.'
Perhaps because he'd steeled himself for death, the days he'd spent with his comrades suddenly flashed through his mind like a lantern show.
The day he first picked up a sword, the day he ran away from home vowing to become a warrior.
The day Warrior Jang, Jang Dae-ryong, now his sworn brother, saved him when he nearly died due to his lack of experience.
And the day he finally visited his parents again at his comrades' urging, only to learn of their wrongful deaths, and the days he took revenge for his parents alongside his comrades.
Though there had been more hard and sorrowful days, it was a life without regrets.
And he knew well that this was all because he'd met good people.
'For the life of a ronin as common as weeds, I've been pretty lucky.'
So he'd always thought:
If he had to die, he wished that death would be for the sake of those good people in his life....
That if only he could put a period on the fleeting life of a ronin—a life that so often fades away with no worth at all—for the sake of precious bonds, he could ask for nothing more.
And today.
That day had finally come, it seemed.
So he felt he could go joyfully.
Even in the underworld, he'd be able to boast to his parents.
That he'd lived a fairly impressive life and died just as impressively.
That among the insignificant lives of ronin, his had been the most magnificent.
Suddenly, the face of the gisaeng Yoo-hyang, whom he'd only exchanged glances with for years and had finally, just recently, promised a future with, came to mind.
Her face was his one and only remaining regret.
He'd dreamed, just for a brief moment, of a life where he had children with her and raised them.
But it seemed that such a life wasn't meant for him after all.
Regret was not entirely absent.
But he thought it was okay.
Where in the world was there a life that set with not a single regret?
So for someone like him, this was already a life that had achieved more than enough.
Jong-woo, with his final thought, apologized to her in his heart.
'I'm sorry, Yoo-hyang. If there's a next life....'
That was the moment.
Puuuk!
"!"
An iron ball that flew from behind like a beam of light pierced through Jong-woo's chest.
It happened before he could even finish his apology to Yoo-hyang.
***
Jong-woo's body, his chest pierced through, rolled across the ground like a doll.
Then, a ghostly shadow appeared beside him. It was Am Hyeol-hyang.
Am Hyeol-hyang swept his gaze over Jong-woo and the sack he'd been carrying, muttering.
"A sack filled with dirt, is it?"
Then, with ghost-like movement, he departed without any lingering attachment.
He headed in the direction Warrior Jang, Jang Dae-ryong, had fled earlier along the middle route.
At the same time, Jang Dae-ryong, who had fled in the middle direction, and Gong Oh-mal, who had fled left, were both running as hard as they could.
But it was only natural that they could not shake off Am Hyeol-hyang's pursuit.
A short while later, Am Hyeol-hyang, having finally caught up to the fleeing Jang Dae-ryong's figure, muttered.
"Two."
The time it took him to catch up to Jang Dae-ryong, who had fled in the middle direction, was barely a quarter-hour after he'd caught Jong-woo.
His finger flicked an iron ball powerfully.
Ting!
The iron ball shot out savagely and pierced through Jang Dae-ryong's chest once more.
Puuuk!
"Khuk!"
Leaving behind only the sound of his dying groan, Jang Dae-ryong had no choice but to collapse helplessly.
Confirming that Seonwoo Jin was not with him either, Am Hyeol-hyang vanished like a ghost again, heading toward Gong Oh-mal, who had gone left.
Now, catching the third and final man was merely a matter of time.
***
At that moment.
At the exact time Jang Dae-ryong's chest was being pierced through.
Within the water, Seonwoo Jin's eyes, who had been in the middle of circulating his energy, abruptly snapped open.
He immediately thrust his head out of the water and let out a deep breath.
"Puuuuu!"
The energy circulation wasn't completely finished.
Moreover, just moments ago, Seonwoo Jin had caught a glimpse of the possibility of breaking through yet another wall.
Not long after surpassing the wall of eighty years of internal energy, he'd reached the point where he could break through the ninety-year wall.
But as soon as he was certain his body was in a state where he could move, he stopped circulating his energy without any regret and emerged from the water.
He'd kicked away the chance to break through the ninety-year wall.
For a martial artist, such opportunities did not come easily.
In fact, it was more common for people to wait their whole lives without it ever coming.
So Seonwoo Jin might have just kicked away an opportunity that would never come again in his lifetime.
But he thought it didn't matter.
"Something like that."
Seonwoo Jin smiled fiercely as he looked toward the direction the three ronin warriors would have led Am Hyeol-hyang.
Warrior Jang had clearly told Seonwoo Jin to finish circulating his energy and flee in the opposite direction.
But Seonwoo Jin had no intention of following his words.
Instead, he threw himself without hesitation toward the direction they'd gone.
Paang!
His figure, leaping out with Explosive Step, became a beam of light and began to sprint.
In that state, without a moment's hesitation, he unfolded the third form of the Moonlight Illusion Sword Dance.
The third form of the Moonlight Illusion Sword Dance.
Hyeonmangwol.
Immediately, the world was draped in a veil of vivid colors.
Hwaaaaaak!
It was an incredibly dangerous thing to do.
Unfolding Hyeonmangwol, the third form of the Moonlight Illusion Sword Dance, was still a realm too difficult for Seonwoo Jin to bear.
But that was probably no more dangerous than charging toward the direction where Am Hyeol-hyang was lurking.
So Seonwoo Jin's actions at this moment could have been incredibly foolish.
Because he was throwing away the chance the three ronin had created with their very lives.
But Seonwoo Jin's heart was resolute.
'I will never again lose the people precious to me so helplessly!'
This resolve was the very meaning and oath of Seonwoo Jin's second life.
So breaking it and preserving his life meant nothing at all, at least to Seonwoo Jin.
Of course, there might be the question, 'At best, I only met them briefly; aren't they not the precious bonds from my past life?'
But Seonwoo Jin could now answer with confidence.
That they were, indeed, his precious people.
Hadn't he clearly told them before?
'Since our hearts have connected, and we've crossed the line of death together, are we not friends?'...
And this time, they'd repaid those words back to him in kind.
So what Seonwoo Jin had to agonize over wasn't whether he should go rescue them or not.
It was only whether he could save them, and how to save them.
Seonwoo Jin flew like a beam of light, beginning to think of a way to deal with Am Hyeol-hyang.
'If we clash head-on, there's naturally no chance of winning.'
That was an obvious statement.
Charging back in after getting crushed like that would truly be a fool's choice.
So the only method Seonwoo Jin could choose was to draw him in and then flee.
Of course, he couldn't be certain if even that was possible.
'Because back then, too, I was ambushed and struck from behind while running.'
But at least back then, he was running without knowing Am Hyeol-hyang was pursuing him, wasn't he?
Nor was he in the state of having unfolded Hyeonmangwol, the third form of the Moonlight Illusion Sword Dance.
So Seonwoo Jin thought and hoped that if he fled with all his might while Hyeonmangwol was in effect, he might be able to dodge Am Hyeol-hyang's sniping.
And that was probably the only possibility.
'Because my greatest strength, no matter what anyone says, is my movement technique.'
Having concluded thus, Seonwoo Jin immediately gathered his internal energy and shouted.
- Am Hyeol-hyang! I am here! Where are you, Am Hyeol-hyang!
His thunderous voice, laden with internal energy, spread out in all directions.
And that moment was precisely when Am Hyeol-hyang had just caught up to Gong Musa, Gong Oh-mal, and was about to fling an iron ball at him.
"Oh?"
Upon hearing Seonwoo Jin's voice, Am Hyeol-hyang suddenly smiled faintly.
Then he withdrew the iron ball he'd been about to throw at Gong Oh-mal.
Killing him would have been far too easy, but as a commemoration of having found Seonwoo Jin so quickly, he felt he could let him live.
Wouldn't they need at least one person among them to collect their comrades' corpses?
Having decided thus, his figure became a ghost once more and began moving toward the direction Seonwoo Jin's voice had come from.
Seuseuk!
At the same time, the nine-section whip coiled around Am Hyeol-hyang's waist unwound as if alive, beginning to writhe around his body.
Charreureuk!
He hadn't needed the nine-section whip just to snipe the ronin warriors.
But if Seonwoo Jin was the opponent, it seemed he should give him at least this much.
***
Seonwoo Jin was advancing like the wind.
And even in that situation, he was concentrating his entire perception, on guard against all directions.
His current movement technique speed was about fifty percent of his maximum; at this rate, Am Hyeol-hyang would surely catch up before long.
And that thought was correct.
In an instant, his eyes flashed.
'He's coming!'
Seonwoo Jin's senses were warning him of danger.
The moment he felt that sensation, Seonwoo Jin didn't even check his surroundings but unfolded Explosive Step, veering diagonally.
Paang!
Then, an iron ball that he hadn't even perceived grazed past his head, which had suddenly accelerated.
Swaeaeaeaek!
The sound of tearing air only reached him after the iron ball had passed.
It was an incredible speed.
If his movement had been even a little delayed, it felt like it would have pierced straight through his heart.
Dodging instinctively without confirming the projectile's existence had been the brilliant choice.
Seonwoo Jin immediately changed direction and used Explosive Step in the opposite direction from where the iron ball had come.
Paang!
And then he began flying away at the fastest speed possible.
From now on, it was a battle of movement techniques.
***
Am Hyeol-hyang was mildly impressed.
Because they had already clashed once, he'd thought a single iron ball thrown at full power would be enough to catch him.
But Seonwoo Jin's movement in dodging it, and the speed of the movement technique he was displaying now, were at a surprising level Am Hyeol-hyang hadn't anticipated.
'Hmm, was he hiding his skills back then? Or did he grow in that short time?'
He couldn't know which was the correct answer.
But it didn't matter.
He'd dodged once, but he didn't think he could keep dodging.
After all, he himself hadn't given his all yet, had he?
Am Hyeol-hyang smiled faintly and thought.
'Should I raise my speed a bit, too?'
Paang!
Am Hyeol-hyang, who had always moved like a ghost, for the first time kicked off the ground and began to fly forward with propulsive force.
It was a tremendous speed that exceeded Seonwoo Jin's maximum.
"!"
Seonwoo Jin, who had been focusing his perception toward Am Hyeol-hyang, gritted his teeth at that moment.
The distance between them was shrinking steadily.
Am Hyeol-hyang's movement technique was far more outstanding than he'd expected.
It seemed the plan to reach the place where Master Gwanggeom was, just like this, was a failure.
A short while later, Am Hyeol-hyang, deciding the distance had narrowed suitably, fitted an iron ball onto the tip of his nine-section whip while running.
Then he twisted his body again and swung it with all his might.
Chwaaaaak!
The iron ball, faster than sound, was once again hurtling toward Seonwoo Jin in the blink of an eye.
Swaeaeaeaek!
Chwaaaaak!
After throwing the iron ball, Am Hyeol-hyang, who was watching the outcome, slightly furrowed his brow.
"Hmm."
Because this one hadn't hit either.
The moment the iron ball was launched, Seonwoo Jin had immediately unfolded Explosive Step in a diagonal direction; the iron ball only grazed his flank heavily before passing through.
Am Hyeol-hyang nodded.
'Truly magnificent, indeed.'
But he wasn't too disappointed.
Because if it grazed his flank at this distance, closing the gap a bit more would surely be enough to land a direct hit.
In the end, it was merely a matter of time.
Am Hyeol-hyang's legs kicked off the ground once more.
Paang!
Then, accelerating further, Am Hyeol-hyang began closing the distance to Seonwoo Jin again.
And a short while later, when the distance between them had narrowed to about ten jang,
Am Hyeol-hyang moved his nine-section whip again.
At this distance, it seemed certain that the iron ball would pierce straight through Seonwoo Jin's body the moment it was thrown.
Am Hyeol-hyang moved the head of the nine-section whip forward and fitted three iron balls onto it.
He'd never done this much before, but for Seonwoo Jin, who had earned his admiration, giving this degree of deference seemed appropriate.
He sent his final words to Seonwoo Jin within his heart.
'Seonwoo Jin, you have been thoroughly magnificent. I shall forever keep your name in my memory.'
Thinking thus, Am Hyeol-hyang again fiercely twisted his body and swung the nine-section whip.
Chwaaaaak!
Then, from the nine-section whip swung like a whirlwind, the three iron balls burst forth.
Tuwoong!
And as if they'd teleported, they were hurtling toward Seonwoo Jin's back at that very instant.
"!"
Seonwoo Jin could feel the sensation of Am Hyeol-hyang launching the iron balls.
So he immediately unfolded Explosive Step at that moment.
Paang!
But he could feel it himself.
That he could no longer dodge with just this.
He had to use some other method.
If he couldn't, it would be the end.
That was when.
A voice echoed inside Seonwoo Jin's head.
- Now seems to be the most dramatic moment to appear. Don't you think so?
It was the cheerful voice he was hearing for the third time, a voice that was like salvation to the Seonwoo Jin of now.