Chapter 50: In the Human World, April's Fragrance Ends (21)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 50: In the Human World, April's Fragrance Ends (21)
Am I a joke? Is that what I am to you? Is this funny?
Jeon Tae-gwang was seething.
The world had never done anything but laugh at him.
They laughed because he was the Weak Severing Sword, the most pathetic of the Four Severing Swords.
His senior disciples laughed, claiming he would never endure the hellish training they had overcome.
The common folk laughed, calling him the Resentful Dog.
And then that bastard Yeon So-wol appeared out of nowhere, insulted him and his friends, and beat them into unconsciousness...
Just stop laughing...
Jeon Tae-gwang was sick and tired of it all.
The battle had reached a temporary, breathless lull.
The Mount Cheonro Bandits and the White Dragon Gang stood on one side; the Pungryu Martial Hall and the Severing Sword Sect on the other.
Jeon Tae-gwang plunged into the dead space between the two opposing forces.
“What the—?!”
“Stop him!”
Slicing through the gap between the two formations, Jeon Tae-gwang sprinted straight for Hang In-woo.
The bandits and the White Dragon Gang members lowered their stances, their killing intent flaring like a physical weight.
“Who is this lunatic...?”
“Kill him!”
The bandits charged, blades swinging in lethal arcs.
But Jeon Tae-gwang’s movement was different. His lightness technique was far more fluid than when he had chased Yeon So-wol; he slipped past them like a ghost and kept running.
In an instant, he was within reach of Hang In-woo.
“Stop him!”
More enemies swarmed. With flashing steel, they desperately tried to bar his path.
Just then...
Thud.
Realizing he could go no further, Jeon Tae-gwang dropped to his knees.
“Huh?”
“What’s he doing?”
“Tae-gwang...?”
While the bandits and the Severing Sword disciples alike stared in stunned confusion, Jeon Tae-gwang’s voice rang out, solitary and shrill.
“I surrender! I surrender! I’ll do anything you say! Just please, spare my life!”
A plea for mercy.
The Resentful Dog of the Three Dogs of Xinxing, Jeon Tae-gwang, had chosen betrayal.
He had only befriended the Smiling Dog and the Mad Dog because being around losers made him feel normal, and he had craved that comfort.
And in his eyes, Hang In-woo was just another loser—one he could tolerate serving, as long as it meant he got to live.
“I’ll serve you well. Please, take me in!”
Thump! Jeon Tae-gwang slammed his forehead against the dirt.
“Tae-gwang! What are you—?!”
His senior disciples, who had been gripping their swords and preparing a rescue under the assumption that their youngest was making a bold play to prove his strength, stared in horror.
“Jeon Tae-gwang!!!”
As Shin Ja-eon’s first disciple, the Great Severing Sword Seong Bu-myeong, cried out in despair, Hang In-woo casually strolled up to the kneeling man.
He looked down at him with an unreadable expression.
“You surrender?”
“Yes.”
“Betraying your master?”
“...Yes. That man never fulfilled his duties as a master anyway. What kind of master obstructs his own disciple’s growth? I have no lingering attachments. Just let me live.”
A thin, cruel smile touched Hang In-woo’s lips.
“Why? Why are you so desperate to live?”
“I haven’t accomplished a single thing in my life. To die like this would be too unfair. I want to survive. I want to achieve something. I want to show them all, so that no one can ever laugh at me again.”
“Unfair? Nothing to show for your life?”
Hang In-woo mulled over the words for a moment.
“Bwahahahahaha!”
His massive frame shook as he burst into convulsive laughter.
“So Cheong! Wasn’t this guy your friend? What was his title again? Some kind of damn dog, wasn’t it?”
The Smiling Dog, still grinning despite being caked in dirt and blood, looked down at his friend.
“Yes, Third Leader. Heeh. He’s the one they call the Resentful Dog.”
“What? Bwahahahahaha!”
Hang In-woo’s thick shoulders bounced.
“It’s perfect! Absolutely perfect! The Resentful Dog! Hey, you blame-everyone-else son of a bitch. You’re afraid of dying? That’s what you’re afraid of? Puhahaha! That’s why you’ve never accomplished anything! You’ve got it all backward, you idiot! It’s all backward! Kehahahahaha!”
Head bowed, Jeon Tae-gwang’s eyes trembled as if the very ground beneath him were collapsing.
Hang In-woo smacked the back of his head with a heavy, calloused palm.
“Kehaha. You pathetic fool. The way I see it, you never would have survived Shin Ja-eon’s old training methods. He knew it, too, which is why he went easy on you. Puhaha. You idiot. You’re the most pathetic bastard in the world.”
Hang In-woo poked Jeon Tae-gwang’s chest with his foot, then kicked him hard in the ribs before shoving his back with the sole of his boot.
He sneered openly.
“The Severing Sword Sect is truly a joke. To think a piece of trash like this is a direct disciple. No, wait. Is the sect so worthless that even trash like this can become a direct disciple? Kehahahaha! And I actually offered a deal to a garbage sect like this. My mistake! That was my mistake!”
Hang In-woo laughed with exaggerated scorn, ensuring Shin Ja-eon and the disciples of the Severing Sword Sect heard every biting word.
“Keuk...”
“That bastard...”
“Jeon Tae-gwang... how could you...”
The breathing of the exhausted Severing Sword disciples grew ragged with fury and shame.
“...Tae-gwang...”
But Shin Ja-eon, the man who should have been calming them, staggered. His face was pale, struck by a shock greater than any physical wound.
“Master...”
Even his three other disciples, who should have been supporting him, had eyes that trembled with a profound sense of betrayal.
Seeing their reactions, Hang In-woo grew even more delighted. He laughed louder at Jeon Tae-gwang and mocked the Severing Sword Sect with increasing relish.
Following his lead, the White Dragon Gang and the bandits joined in, their derisive laughter echoing through the valley. The sound scattered across the water, rustled the leaves, and bounced off the jagged rocks.
Hahahaha. Haha.
Haha. Hahahaha.
It echoed. And echoed.
The entire world was laughing at Jeon Tae-gwang.
And in the center of it all, Jeon Tae-gwang remained on his knees, his head bowed low.
As the deafening laughter finally began to subside, Jeon Tae-gwang’s lips, hidden in the shadows, moved.
“...Laughing?”
Hang In-woo’s laughter died in his throat. He looked down at Jeon Tae-gwang, his expression souring.
What did this bastard just say?
Slowly, the Resentful Dog lifted his head, revealing two bloodshot eyes.
“Why? Why are you laughing? Why?!”
His eyes glinted with a manic light.
“Has he lost his mind?!”
At his insolent tone, a bandit charged, swinging a kick intended to cave in Jeon Tae-gwang’s skull.
Flash!
“Aaaaargh!”
Drawn in a heartbeat, Jeon Tae-gwang’s sword severed the man’s calf. The bandit collapsed, blood geysering from the stump as he writhed on the ground.
Against the backdrop of those screams, Jeon Tae-gwang slowly rose to his feet.
“Why? Why are you laughing at me? Gang Leader Hang In-woo, shouldn’t you be the last person to laugh? How is me betraying my master any different from you betraying Lee Yu-baek?”
“This bastard really has gone mad.”
Hang In-woo’s face flushed a deep crimson before darkening. The hem of his clothes fluttered as the killing intent of a first-rate expert locked onto Jeon Tae-gwang.
But Jeon Tae-gwang truly seemed to have snapped. His eyes flashing, he raised his sword. He could no longer endure the humiliation the world heaped upon him.
“Am I? Am I really that much of a joke? Huh? Are you laughing at me too? Even you?!”
“You crazy son of a bitch.”
Fwip!
Hang In-woo’s broadsword fell, aimed to split Jeon Tae-gwang’s skull. It was a strike that, given Jeon Tae-gwang’s skill level, was impossible to dodge.
He didn’t even try.
He just stared into Hang In-woo’s eyes until the very end, screaming at the top of his lungs.
“AM I A JOKE TO YOU, YOU SONS OF BITCHES! WHY! WHY ONLY ME! WHY! WHAT DID I EVER DO THAT WAS SO WRONG—!”
Just as the broadsword was about to cleave his head in two...
Klaaaang!
A longsword suddenly intervened, deflecting the heavy blade.
“Shin Ja-eon?”
Hang In-woo’s eyes widened. He scanned the area. There was no one else. No other expert had come to back Shin Ja-eon up.
The old man had charged in here entirely alone.
“Master!!!”
“Master! No!”
His disciples, blocked by bandits far behind him, called out in anguish. This was a suicide mission.
Hang In-woo’s eyes curved into a cruel smile.
“Sect Leader Shin. Have you lost your mind as well?”
But Shin Ja-eon didn’t even glance at Hang In-woo. He looked only at his disciple, Jeon Tae-gwang.
“Tae-gwang. Run.”
Thump.
Shin Ja-eon shoved Jeon Tae-gwang’s chest. Jeon Tae-gwang stumbled back limply, his eyes wide and vacant.
“Hurry!”
As Shin Ja-eon urged him on, a bandit’s blade rushed toward him. The blade of a first-rate expert.
Kaang! Klang!
He parried one and deflected a second, but...
“How touching.”
Krunch!
He couldn’t block the third strike—Hang In-woo’s broadsword.
Shin Ja-eon was already heavily wounded. Charging this deep into enemy territory was reckless. If he had fought cautiously, conserving his strength, he could have lasted much longer.
But the moment he plunged in alone, his fate was sealed.
Jeon Tae-gwang had always been his greatest worry. The disciple he had raised last, after three of his seven had already died. The disciple who had gone astray.
He hadn't been able to bring himself to use a harsh hand with the boy. And so, he had given him all the more of his heart.
“Keuk!”
Clutching the broadsword embedded in his shoulder, Shin Ja-eon collapsed. He looked back at Jeon Tae-gwang, his expression desperate.
Jeon Tae-gwang was still standing there like a fool, his eyes wide.
“You idiot! I told you to run!”
Shin Ja-eon’s face was a mask of agony and desperation. But Jeon Tae-gwang remained dazed.
“You fool...”
In his final moment, as if sensing what was to come, Shin Ja-eon’s face contorted into a look that was half-smile, half-sob.
“I... I was sorry. For everything. All of it.”
Thwack!
Shin Ja-eon’s head flew through the air.
“What a waste...”
Hang In-woo withdrew his broadsword, his voice dripping with contempt.
“Ah. Ha...?”
Still standing there stupidly, Jeon Tae-gwang let out a strange, choked breath. Hang In-woo glanced at him with disdain.
“Get rid of that thing.”
“Yes, sir.”
Jeon Tae-gwang swayed.
His bloodshot eyes now looked less red than black. With those pitch-black eyes, he watched his master’s head fall to the ground and get kicked aside like a stone.
He wasn’t supposed to die like that.
He wasn’t supposed to die like that.
He had resented the man his whole life. In the end, he had even betrayed him.
But not like this...
Why?
The world was spinning too fast for Jeon Tae-gwang.
“Ha. Ah. Ah. Ha. Ha...?”
He wasn’t crying. He wasn’t laughing. He wasn’t even in pain.
The bandits approaching him flinched and hesitated. They saw a man shedding tears of blood, wearing an expression they had never seen before in their lives.
“Why...”
Was it memory? Resentment? Longing? Guilt? Annoyance? Bitterness?
He had betrayed him so easily. So why now?
In a maelstrom of emotions he couldn't comprehend, with a tangled, knotted heart that refused to be unraveled, he was choking.
Jeon Tae-gwang’s tightly blocked Eight Extraordinary Meridians twitched, trembled, and then—
Gush.
At last, they burst open.
Crack.
Through the fissures in his meridians, Innate True Qi—the purest and hottest energy granted by heaven and earth—gushed forth.
Fwoooosh!
A heat haze shimmered around Jeon Tae-gwang’s entire body. No—it was a brilliant blue flame.
“You...?!”
Hang In-woo was stunned.
Thump!
Jeon Tae-gwang’s feet struck the ground, but made no sound.
“Aaaaargh!”
“Fire! Fire!”
“Aaaak!”
His sword qi blazed with brilliant blue flames, following the path of his rampaging blade. The White Dragon Gang members and bandits engulfed by it howled like dogs from the hellish heat, writhing on the ground.
“You son of a bitch...!”
Even Hang In-woo was forced to scramble out of the way, unable to face that terrifying momentum.
“Aaaaargh!”
A first-rate bandit, a step too slow to evade, was grazed by the tip of the flaming sword qi and shrieked. The flames of Innate True Qi did not go out; instead, they ate into his wound, burning ever larger.
In an instant, the scene descended into utter chaos. A portrait of hell.
Kang Mu-hyeok, the first of the Three Gentlemen of Pungryu, did not miss this chance.
“Now! This is our last chance! Kill them!!!”
“Uwaaaaaah!”
Jeon Tae-gwang’s frenzy had shattered the enemy’s formation. The Pungryu Martial Hall and the Severing Sword Sect charged into the opening.
“D-Damn it!”
“Gaaah!”
The panicked bandits and White Dragon Gang members were cut down helplessly. The scales of battle, which had been tipped completely to one side, swung back into a tense balance.
And then...
“...”
Fwoosh...
After carving a path through the enemy ranks, Jeon Tae-gwang suddenly stopped.
Twitch. Twitch.
His body trembled as if trying to move forward, but he only swayed, unable to take another step.
Fwoosh...
The blue flames that had consumed his body began to fade.
“...”
The world was spinning. Through his fading hearing, he heard terrified voices.
“Shit... Is it... is it over?”
“That... that crazy bastard...”
“Eek! D-Defend! We don’t have time to worry about him!”
“Uwaaah!”
The attention of the terrified White Dragon Gang and bandits soon left him. They had to fend off the Pungryu Martial Hall and the Severing Sword Sect, who were attacking like demons.
Crackle... crackle...
Jeon Tae-gwang listened to the last embers of the dying flames.
Thud!
Suddenly, the ground rose up and struck him in the forehead.
Slump.
The world, seen from his lolling head, was tilted—half earth and half sky.
“...”
Shadows came and went above him. The sound of shouting. Curses. Screams.
“...”
The clamor of fighting men was deafening, but through it all, he could hear the chirping of a few birds.
A sudden, final anger flared in Jeon Tae-gwang. He moved his parched lips, letting out his final breath.
“Stop... laughing...”
He was twenty-one years old.
Jeon Tae-gwang died fighting bravely for his master and his fellow disciples. In the years to come, none who had witnessed this battle would ever dispute this account.
Upon Jeon Tae-gwang’s corpse, his eyes open in death, the shouts fell once more. Drops of blood fell, and shadows swarmed and scattered.
Before the miraculous moment he had created could come to an end...
“...”
Yeon So-wol arrived.