Chapter 377
Chapter 377
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 99
>Chapter Title: That Day (3)
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[Whoaaaaaaa!!!]
Soon, the entire training ground echoed with the cheers of the Moon Vein clansmen.
Amid their shouts, Ryu So-wol withdrew the sword aura she had formed with her sword technique and turned her gaze to the western side.
There, she saw the Moon Vein retainers and warriors rejoicing, and her father, Clan Head Ryu Gang, standing from his seat with a dazed expression.
She looked at her father and lightly thumped her chest with her fist.
-Thump thump!
At her gesture, as if proving herself, Clan Head Ryu Gang's lips twitched, and soon his eyes reddened.
He then lifted his head toward the sky and closed his eyes, a single tear rolling down his cheek.
"······."
Seeing her father like that, Ryu So-wol barely held back her surging emotions.
She had wondered what reaction he would have, what he would feel, when she finally surpassed the Heaven Vein Young Leader and broke through the limits he had set.
Would it feel refreshing? Would it release years of resentment?
But seeing her father overcome with emotion, she unexpectedly felt a lump in her throat.
'You accept that crap proposal like you've given up everything, and now you cry.'
How could she vent her past grievances like this?
Emotions were truly cruel.
Her heart softening at that one sight proved it.
Then, amid the cheers, a faint voice reached her ears.
"······This can't be happening. How······."
It was the mumbling of the Heaven Vein Young Leader, Bi Yong-hyeon.
After breaking through to the Transformation Realm, all her senses had sharpened beyond before, so his voice came clearly to her.
'Yong-hyeon······.'
His usual playful, confident demeanor was gone, replaced by someone gripped by the shock of defeat and a sense of helplessness.
Though she had endured endless effort to surpass him, seeing him like this stirred pity she couldn't shake.
She was about to say something to him when,
-Step step!
She saw the Heaven Vein Clan Head, Bi Hyeong-myeong, approaching from behind him.
Was he coming to comfort his shocked son after the loss?
Seeing him place a hand on his son's shoulder, she thought it better for them than for her, the victor, to console him, so she held back.
But then,
"!?"
For a moment, she doubted her own eyes.
'He's... smiling?'
The corners of Heaven Vein Clan Head Bi Hyeong-myeong's mouth, hand on his son's shoulder, curved upward.
It wasn't the kind, paternal smile one might expect for consoling a son after his first defeat.
It looked more like he had been waiting for this.
At that sight, Ryu So-wol felt a sudden wave of disgust.
'Why is he...'
However,
"Young Leader!"
Moon Vein retainers rushing over to celebrate her first victory forced her to bury the displeasure.
The lingering unease soon faded amid their joy.
* * *
As the sun set that day,
Ryu So-wol, ascending the peak with light steps, spotted someone and broke into a radiant smile.
She then ran to him and threw herself into his arms.
The man was clad entirely in black.
He too wrapped his arms around her warmly and smiled.
"You've finally achieved what you've longed for so much."
"I did. Thanks to the one who taught me."
"Flattery you never did before? You must be in a great mood."
"Of course. The years of endurance are bitter, but the fruit is sweet."
-Swish!
With those words, Ryu So-wol cupped his cheeks with both hands, stood on tiptoe, and kissed his lips.
He responded with a deep kiss of his own.
He was the master who had awakened her as a martial artist and the man who first made her aware of her womanhood.
They met only two or three days a year, but at some point, she had taken him into her heart.
And it hadn't taken long to realize she wasn't alone in those feelings.
For a while, under the red sunset, the man and So-wol indulged in each other.
* * *
Perched on the cliff's edge, leaning on the man's shoulder, Ryu So-wol's face was full of smiles.
Never in her life had things been so smooth and happy.
To her, the man said,
"Now that you've achieved your desire, are you closer to becoming Alliance Leader?"
"I'm not sure yet. I won this time, but who knows how they'll come next year."
"Hoo. You've grown quite a bit."
"You said complacency is the enemy."
"Satisfaction breeds complacency, and complacency leads to defeat. So savoring victory long-term is meaningless."
"······You're right. But listening to you makes it sound like you've fought nonstop your whole life."
At her words, the man smiled silently.
It felt like tacit agreement.
"Really?"
"I've lived on battlefields far longer than you imagine. Even now."
"Even now?"
Ryu So-wol lifted her head from his shoulder and looked at him.
She liked him, but there was still so much she didn't know.
His exotic features made him seem not of the Central Plains, yet sometimes he did— it was confusing.
Hard to put into words.
"You always seem so mysterious to me."
"What does?"
"Your looks, everything. You show up here every year without fail, but I don't know where you come from or go."
They met here annually, but she'd never seen him climb up or down.
Yet he always appeared in the same spot.
That had always puzzled her.
But even now so close, he shared nothing about himself.
Sometimes it felt disappointing.
As if sensing her feelings, he wrapped his arm around her shoulder and spoke softly.
"Someday I'll tell you. But not now."
"······When?"
"It's not far off. My home grows ever more desolate, war raging endlessly. That's why I've long eyed this place. But act now, and they'll move too. Then this land becomes a battlefield."
"······."
What world did this man live in?
His tales made it sound like another realm entirely.
But she soon set the thought aside.
Surely he'd tell her everything when the time came.
She firmly believed it.
Clutching the arm around her shoulder, Ryu So-wol teased playfully.
"Oh? Is that so? Didn't someone a few years back talk about making me his lady and ruling this place himself? Or am I misremembering?"
"······Rule it. Yes, that was the plan."
"Sigh. Was it?"
"You should be grateful. Many still want that. Even the one who 'trained' you for years."
The subordinate who, under guise of teaching, had beaten her soundly for years.
He hadn't changed over time.
Always treating her like worthless vermin.
Despite growing into a renowned beauty, only he treated her that way.
"How's he doing, by the way?"
"Didn't I say? For my clan, life itself is the battlefield."
"Battlefield······. Sounds more wretched than mine."
"All lives are precious. We just fail to see it easily."
"Even mine?"
"Of course."
At his answer, Ryu So-wol smiled.
He'd softened much since they met, but still gruff as ever.
Yet she felt his respect and affection more than anyone's.
That's why she loved him so.
Staring intently, she spoke in a soft, hesitant voice.
"I wish······ you'd stay by my side forever."
Her feelings had deepened, making their brief annual meetings bittersweet.
Blushing as she voiced her desire to be together, she was adorable; he stroked her hair.
"Just a bit longer······ No, it won't feel short to you, but wait."
"If I wait, can we be together always?"
"······Yes. Together. Even if just for a moment."
"A moment?"
Why say "moment" instead of eternity?
Puzzled, she heard regret in his voice.
"If only you were like me."
"What do you mean?"
"Knowing it's fleeting yet holding you pains me."
"······Why say that?"
His cryptic words stirred unease in Ryu So-wol.
He hugged her tight.
"Don't worry. Even if fleeting, my feelings for you will endure."
"Is it because our time together feels so short?"
"······Yes."
Ryu So-wol giggled at his words.
Her anxiety vanished.
With life ahead, feeling it short showed how much he loved her.
Hugging him back tightly, she said,
"Someone said shortness makes it sparkle more. We can live like that."
"Shortness makes it sparkle······ Yes, that's right."
The man smiled.
Kissing her forehead, he said,
"For me too, this moment with you is the brightest in my life······!?"
Mid-sentence, he turned his head slightly aside.
"I said not to disturb me while I'm here."
"My apologies. The situation was too urgent."
At the familiar voice, Ryu So-wol looked and saw the man's subordinate already there.
Flustered and embarrassed from being in his arms, she sprang up.
"Oh, long time no see, Tau."
But Tau ignored her greeting, glancing dismissively like at a bug before whispering to the man.
"······Can't hear."
Focusing her hearing, their conversation was blocked, likely by some energy.
The man's expression soured as he listened.
Once the report ended, he approached her with a subdued voice.
"I must go."
"······Looks serious. Can I help?"
"No need. You have things to do here."
"But······."
Before she finished, he embraced her gently.
"No worries. I'll come back, as always."
"······Okay."
Right.
He wasn't weak enough for her concern.
Stronger than anyone she knew, no one could fell him—she believed that.
"I'll wait."
Smiling sweetly, anticipating next year, she saw him off.
Never dreaming that hope would shatter.
* * *
Ryu So-wol lay in bed under covers, tears streaming endlessly.
Soaked by rain, she'd waited nearly a week in that spot, but he never came.
Worry consumed her; she barely ate or drank.
Her faith shattered by that sliver of anxiety now reality—she was tormented.
"Sob."
Tears wouldn't stop.
The one who lived amid battlefields—had he left her, departed the world? The pain was unbearable.
Lost in grief, someone knocked.
-Knock knock!
"Go! Please leave me······."
-Bam!
The door opened; someone entered.
It was her father, Moon Vein Clan Head Ryu Gang.
Gazing at his grief-stricken, gaunt daughter, he spoke pityingly.
"How long will you go on like this?"
"······Just leave me. I won this spar too, so······."
"Because you couldn't meet him?"
"!?"
Her face stiffened.
She glared at Escort Leader Hwa Yeon standing behind Clan Head Ryu Gang.
She'd only confided in her longtime confidante, begging secrecy.
Yet she'd told?
But Ryu Gang clicked his tongue.
"You like him so much, yet don't trust him?"
"Huh?"
What did that mean?
She was baffled.
She'd thought her father, seeing her only as heir Young Leader, would explode in rage if he knew.
He'd wanted her to bear a child with one of the Heaven or Earth Vein Young Leaders despite her victories over them.
Hearing this from him stunned her.
"Did you think I, your father—no, this dad—would always oppose?"
"······."
With a bitter smile and scoff, Clan Head Ryu Gang said,
"I'm damn curious what that bastard who made my daughter cry looks like."
"······Father."
Tears welled in Ryu So-wol's eyes again.
Since becoming Young Leader, he'd been stern and cold.
But for the first time since her brothers left, he treated her as his daughter.
Overwhelmed, her father approached and embraced her.
Unable to see him, stifling sobs in worry, she wailed openly now.
Ryu Gang silently patted her back, comforting her.
After a long cry, he said,
"When that punk returns, I'll give him hell, so cheer up."
"······."
"Enough already. Sigh. If you miss him that much, tell Lady Hwa to paint his portrait and hang it up."
"Huh?"
"Don't I need to know what my son-in-law looks like?"
"Ah······Father."
"While at it, get one of yourself all prettied up. Leading Moon Vein—no, Heaven-Earth-Moon Alliance in my stead, you won't doll up much as a woman."
"Pfft, only now treating me like a daughter?"
At her words, Ryu Gang smiled, face lined with wrinkles.
"Before Young Leader, you were always my daughter to me."
No words comforted her life more.
* * *
Six months later.
On the way back from Spirit Sword Mountain Manor in northern Zaoyang, Hobuk Province.
Escort Leader Hwa Yeon kept teasing Ryu So-wol.
"How furious was Clan Head to send a messenger hawk?"
"······."
"You aren't even married, so why pose in bridal attire for portraits?"
"······I wanted the most beautiful portrait, is that so wrong to enrage him?"
"Of course it is. Young Leader in bridal gown, him as groom—how could he not?"
Ryu So-wol pouted in complaint.
"Tch. All that son-in-law talk was empty."
"You went too far, Young Leader."
"Enough teasing. My head throbs because of it."
Seeing her reaction, Hwa Yeon awkwardly changed topics.
"Still, what a coincidence."
"What?"
"The sword's completion timing matches when you could become Alliance Leader."
Ryu So-wol waved it off.
"Don't get ahead. It's not certain yet."
"Yet before Spirit Sword Manor's lord, you brimmed with confidence about becoming Alliance Leader."
"Should I show doubt before outsiders?"
"Well, true."
Escort Leader Hwa Yeon nodded.
Her lady was undisputed top expert among the three veins.
She had every right to pride.
Hwa Yeon too took great pride in serving her.
"But Young Leader, naming the sword that—was it for him?"
She'd overheard her lady ask Manor Lord Gu Mun-hyeok to name it Sunyeon.
Sunyeon meant longing.
Intense yearning.
Naming her lifelong treasured sword that showed how much she missed him.
Ryu So-wol replied in a subdued voice.
"Later for that."
"S-Sorry, miss. This fool's mouth ran away."
Escort Leader Hwa Yeon pretended to slap her mouth.
Ryu So-wol chuckled at her.
Then said,
"Now, I want to focus only on the alliance sparring tournament."
"Young Leader······."
At her firm resolve, Hwa Yeon bit her lip, inwardly proud.
After pains endured, she had hardened truly.
Becoming timber to lead many.
"You'll win for sure. Become final victor in the three veins' alliance tournament, Alliance Leader, and claim the supreme manual called Breaking Thoughts Eight Forms."
Breaking Thoughts Eight Forms.
It was what split Heaven-Earth-Moon's three veins into three factions.
[Chapter 99: That Day (3)] End