Decision
Danri Yeon stared at the man lying motionless on the bed.
"This guy actually looks pretty normal when he’s asleep, doesn’t he, sis?"
Who could look at that face and imagine the monster hidden inside it?
Skin pale enough to catch the soft moonlight.
Beneath lashes so long they nearly shaded his eyes, the bridge of his nose fell away in a smooth, elegant line.
A face that, if nothing else, would have broken the hearts of countless women.
Danri Yeon found herself thinking he was prettier than she was.
"Maybe this is the real him? If he hadn’t been kidnapped by the Demonic Cult, he might have lived an ordinary life."
"Him? I don’t think he’d be all that different, sis. He’d just end up killing people for a living."
At her brother’s words, she imagined Lee Hyun as an assassin. It suited him disturbingly well.
"What about us? If we hadn’t come here."
"..."
A heavy silence settled over the room.
"Sis."
After a moment, Danri Myeong broke it.
"There isn’t much time left."
He was right.
Danri Yeon had the premonition that her life—no, their lives—had reached the end of the road.
"...Yeah. I guess we’ve done pretty well, all things considered. To think the trash of the Danri family made it this far."
They were nothing but wraiths with no goal left and no reason to keep living. They had simply endured on instinct.
"Sis. If we act now, we can kill him."
"Myeong, you know that killing Lee Hyun would mean nothing."
After he died in his sleep, unaware of everything...
what would come next would be a far crueler hell.
She and her brother would have to kill each other.
Only one person could become the Young Leader.
And neither of them wanted that ending.
Once they had entered Maryeongwan together, death had been their fate from the start.
"Maybe it’d be better if Lee Hyun killed us. It wouldn’t be a meaningless death, at least."
"If things go well, maybe we can even become a stepping-stone for his goal."
Lee Hyun was different from them. He was running toward a clear and unwavering purpose.
Would their deaths help him at all?
"You said there was someone waiting for him outside? I’m jealous."
Danri Yeon thought she genuinely hoped Lee Hyun would meet that person.
If he succeeded in reaching his goal, then her life would be granted value for the first time.
It had been so long since I’d dreamed.
Only one year—but it was the memory of that time when I’d lived with Yiryeong.
She was waiting for me in that old thatched house I missed so much.
Even though I knew it was a dream, the moment I saw her again I couldn’t hold back the tears that burst from me.
Yiryeong pulled me close and hugged me tight while I sobbed. It felt as if we had gone straight back to that day six years ago.
The only thing that had changed was that I refused to leave her arms, even for a moment.
I buried my face against her, unwilling to lose the warmth she gave me.
I held on until the dream ended.
"Are you awake?"
An unfamiliar ceiling. Just like when I’d first met Yiryeong. Was I still inside the dream?
The woman approaching my bed overlapped with Yiryeong in my blurred vision.
"Sis, this guy’s really out of it."
A rough voice cut in and dragged me out of that sweet illusion.
Only then did the situation sink in. I had blacked out after the Danri siblings approached my battered, half-dead body.
The only reason I was still alive was probably because they hadn’t attacked me.
But why?
Still reeling in confusion, I heard Danri Yeon say, "This is the pavilion where we’re staying. Your place was completely wrecked, so we brought you here. If you need anything, just say so. Want me to get you some water?"
"Sis, he looks like he’s wondering why we saved him."
"Why? We’re allies, aren’t we? We made a promise before, remember?"
I stared at them with a hollow expression as if their words made perfect sense.
Allies, huh. I clearly remembered making something like that. But I had never thought they meant it seriously.
"Forget that for now—do you realize how reckless that was? Those three weren’t easy opponents, even for you. Taking them on all at once was insane."
"She’s right, you know, sis. Keep acting so arrogant and you’ll die one day."
As they said, what had happened before had been the result of my own recklessness and impatience. If I wanted to meet Yiryeong, I needed to become calmer.
Maybe my thoughts had shown on my face, because Danri Yeon asked, "Lee Hyun, you want to see that person that badly?"
"Yes... We’re almost there now."
It was true. Unlike before, when the path had seemed hopeless, now I could see it. Even the person waiting for me.
Danri Yeon looked at me quietly, then got to her feet.
"Then rest up. You can keep using this room if you want. Myeong, let’s give him some space."
Even after the Danri siblings left, my head remained tangled in thoughts about them.
I couldn’t begin to understand what they were thinking, so I forced my mind elsewhere. It would be better to think back on the last fight.
I remembered the bastards who had pressed in on me without even giving me time to drive out the poison after infecting me with sidok.
My response to the poison hadn’t been bad, but I’d been too arrogant again.
The final attack, in particular, had been disastrous. Even knowing the destructive force of the axe wrapped in qi, I had still swung my sword to meet it head-on.
It was pure madness. If my body had been even a little weaker, I would have been turned into chopped meat on the spot.
But then again—what if my body had been stronger? What if I had been able to pour even more powerful qi into my sword?
When you have strength, arrogance becomes confidence. There was only one answer.
Transcendence. I desperately wanted Sword Gang, the sword technique I had only ever imagined.
Once my body had recovered somewhat, my life settled back into the same pattern of relentless training.
I couldn’t keep staying with the Danri siblings, so I used one of the empty pavilions. The servants seemed briefly flustered when their master changed, but they adapted quickly enough, so there were no real problems.
The only difference from before was that the Danri siblings no longer came to visit. They probably had worries of their own.
Days spent swinging my sword all day and revisiting the insights I had gained from the library.
One season turned, and the wind grew cold again, but my level remained exactly where it had been.
Late Peak, just one step away from Transcendence. It was the first time my growth had ever stalled, and that made it even more frustrating.
Had I been taking things too lightly?
Yiryeong had said that beyond Transcendence, a martial artist would rank among the top hundred experts in the jianghu.
Maybe the problem was that I had ever thought I could reach such a realm through training alone.
I began to suspect it was a realm only reachable through enlightenment, or after some defining event.
While I was still mulling it over, a servant approached me.
"Young Master."
"Yes?"
"Vice Leader is calling for you."
So the old man had found something for me to do. The timing was good, considering my training had been at a standstill anyway.
When I followed the servant to the old man’s study, I saw the Danri siblings already there, waiting before me.
Just as I was about to greet them, the old man spoke first.
"So. I heard you’re the only three left again. I’m not even surprised anymore. In fact, it’s for the best."
It was for the best that only three remained? Had something urgent come up in the Demonic Sect?
"The reason I called you is simple. We need a Young Leader soon. So fight it out, or do whatever else you like, and reduce yourselves to one."
For an instant, my mind went blank at those thunderbolt words. After leaving us to rot in the forest for more than a year, and now this?
"W-what do you mean by that..."
"Word has reached us that the orthodox faction is making a move. Maybe bringing you brats here seven years ago provoked them. Fine by us. We’d intended to stomp them properly sooner or later anyway."
The orthodox faction was moving? Yiryeong came to mind. Could she be coming to find me? I wasn’t ready yet.
"The cult is in desperate need of strength right now. A new Young Leader who has reached Talma would be more than enough."
The old man swept his gaze over us, then drew a chilling smile.
"So kill each other. And bring me back only one."
Only one to remain. Did that mean I had to kill the Danri siblings? I had always known this day would come, but this suddenly?
Seeing my eyes tremble, the old man’s smiling face twisted into a frown.
"If you can’t do it, I’ll do it for you."
The Danri siblings were standing there too, but he was speaking to me.
Dark qi began to throb around the old man’s hand. It was a familiar flow of energy. Was he planning to turn the rest into pills again?
At that moment, Danri Yeon, who had been listening in silence, opened her mouth.
"Give us half a month."
"Half a month? Very well. We need time to prepare as well. But if you go beyond that, I’ll make the decision myself."
"Wait, Danri Yeon, what are you—"
The old man waved a hand dismissively.
"If you’re planning to play at friendship like children, get lost."
"...!"
I had plenty I wanted to say to the old man, but the Danri siblings grabbed me and dragged me out.
We said nothing. We simply walked in silence all the way back to the pavilion in the woods. And there, right before the entrance, we stopped.
If I didn’t ask now, I might never get another chance.
"What on earth are you thinking? Why did you say half a month all of a sudden?"
Danri Yeon didn’t answer. She simply stared at my agitated face in silence.
"You’ve changed, haven’t you? Have you given up on killing us? Or do you not want to be Young Leader anymore?"
Danri Myeong looked at me with disgust.
"Then what have you been killing people for all this time? You massacred more than a hundred people for no reason?"
No. It was to meet Yiryeong. If I saw her again, I could do anything.
Then why was I hesitating? I could just kill the Danri siblings and go see Yiryeong.
Seeing my confusion, Danri Yeon said, "Lee Hyun, you said there’s someone waiting for you, didn’t you? Have you forgotten that person? Is it okay if you don’t meet them?"
Danri Yeon took a breath, then continued.
"Come back in half a month. We’ll decide then. Young Leader or whatever."
Watching them walk away, I realized I had fallen into a serious contradiction.
The problem was that I had been deliberately avoiding my thoughts about the Danri siblings all this time. I should have made a decision before things reached this point.
It was already too late. Something demonic had filled my heart.
Ever since they had saved me instead of killing me.
Maybe even since the times they had comforted me long ago.
My simma—the heart demon, the thing also called juwhaipma—had been gnawing at me.
Only then did I understand why I still hadn’t reached Transcendence. What I needed wasn’t some special enlightenment at all.
Martial arts had never meant anything to me on their own. They were nothing more than a staircase leading toward Yiryeong.
And then the Danri siblings had entered that world of mine.
They were supposed to be nothing but obstacles blocking my way to Yiryeong, yet I couldn’t bring myself to clear them away. I didn’t want to lose Yiryeong or the Danri siblings.
And because of that greed—because I wanted to keep everything I had built for the sake of one person—my martial way had finally collapsed into self-contradiction. It was only natural that my sword had lost its destination.
Knowing the problem changed nothing. How could I make a decision now, after nearly seven years of failing to do so? I couldn’t even picture myself swinging my sword at the Danri siblings.
Come back in half a month, he had said. I would probably die at their hands. We had called ourselves allies, but now that meant nothing. From the start, only one of us was ever going to walk away.
The long, ugly bond that had begun in Maryeongwan was drawing to its end. Was my promise with Yiryeong going to end unkept?
I rotted away inside that cramped room. I sent the servants away and spent my time in a daze.
And then the half-month passed in the blink of an eye. Far away, the sun rose to announce the hour of fate.
When I rose shakily and looked in the mirror, I saw a madman with disheveled hair and sunken eyes staring back at me.
The servants startled at the sight of my state and rushed over.
Were they trying to wash me? I didn’t want anything like that. Since I was going to die soon anyway, I sent them all away and headed for the Danri siblings.
Their pavilion wasn’t far, but it felt like a thousand li to me now. Like a condemned prisoner walking toward execution, I dragged myself forward one step at a time.
When I finally entered the pavilion, I sensed an eerie silence. There wasn’t a servant in sight. Had they been sent away in anticipation of a fight?
That was what I thought as I made my way upstairs, but at some point my feet stopped moving.
The stench hit me first. The smell of rotting corpses was thick in the air.
Why was that coming from the Danri siblings’ house?
My head swam. Following the stink, I found one room where the odor was especially foul.
There. My heart pounded violently. I rushed to the room and threw the door open, and something came into view.
The Danri siblings were hanging in midair, necks broken, ropes looped around their throats and tied to the ceiling.
"Ah..."
My legs gave out and I sank to the floor.
"What is this..."
It was hell. I couldn’t even die the way I wanted to.
For a long moment I could only stare blankly, and then I remembered what I had forgotten.
My world had always been like this. Since that day at age eleven, the world without Yiryeong had always been hell.
The headache that had tormented me for half a month vanished in an instant. Overwhelmed by sheer despair, even the heart demon drew back.
With the pain gone and my mind suddenly clear, I looked at the scene before me again.
And all I could do was laugh.
"Hahaha..."
The Danri siblings had saved me from a peaceful death and thrown me back onto the thorny road toward Yiryeong.
When I gripped my sword, red demonic qi surged thickly over its blade. It was the Sword Gang I had wanted so desperately, but I felt no joy at all.
When I cut the ropes, the Danri siblings dropped all at once.
Their unfocused eyes looked up at me, as if to say I had no choice, that I had to keep going to the end.
Yiryeong. Now it really was only Yiryeong. She was everything left in my life. Only she could save me.
I must never stop until I met Yiryeong again. So that nothing like this would ever happen a second time.
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