The Light Sword's Daughter
Eun Yu-ha never steps out of her castle. Part of it is to solidify her image as a total bitch, but the main reason is to minimize her personal activities and focus on controlling her puppets—like Eun Jae-min or the Black Market Chairman.
Self-imposed house arrest. The only time she shows her face is at the high-society party on her birthday. Even in the original story, she only invites truly trustworthy people to her home—those she can open up to—and reveals her true self to them: the nanny and butler who raised her since childhood, Baek Sang-woo (currently dispatched to Incheon but originally from headquarters), and Seok Ha-rang, who figured out her secret and got close to her.
So when someone like her—who barely emerges once a year—shows up right in front of me, I couldn't help but be flustered.
"Why are you here?"
"How else? You called for me, customer."
Eun Yu-ha tapped her smartwatch. Sure, I had summoned her. But that didn't mean her actual body.
"Couldn't you have sent Eun Jae-min or the chairman or some other puppet? Don't you have ones planted in the government and Hero Association too?"
"Of course I do. But I needed to rethink our contract a bit with you myself."
She pulled up a screen. The ruined Daejeon Research Complex filled the view.
"...Ah, Daejeon, huh? It's been noisy there lately, right?"
"Why play dumb when you know better? You did it, didn't you, customer?"
As expected. No half-assed excuses would fly. With the ten heroes I planted via PMC and Kang So-yeon's presence, she'd already pieced it together.
I pointed at the drinks with a finger.
"Mind if I sip while we talk?"
"Of course not."
I went straight for the strawberry yogurt smoothie. Eun Yu-ha picked an Americano—darker than usual, not your average brew.
I stirred mine with the straw and answered her question.
"Yeah. I threw down with Gwanggeom once."
"Knew it."
She took a sip of her coffee and grimaced. When she's calculating something, her left eyebrow twitches up just a bit. The moment you never interrupt.
I waited leisurely until she reached her conclusion and spoke first.
Thud.
Her coffee hit the table. Finally, she opened her mouth.
"Continuing the contract like this is too risky. Way too much liability."
"Why's that?"
I knew the reason, but I wanted to hear it from her lips.
She drummed her fingers on the table.
"If Gwanggeom falls, Korea falls. Yuseong has value because it's a Korean conglomerate. On the world stage? Just another dime-a-dozen chaebol. No matter how many cores you bring in, customer, I can't cooperate in smashing the whole country. Yuseong still needs the fence called Korea."
"Figured that was the issue."
Yuseong exists because of that structure, letting her build her assets. Her ability guzzles capital, and if Korea—the root of that capital—collapses, Eun Yu-ha and all of Yuseong vanish.
A security vacuum. Someone had to fill the void left by Gwanggeom.
"Don't you think Cheonghwadan could cover for Gwanggeom's absence?"
"Plenty of righteous armies in the Imjin War, but it was Chungmugong who saved the country. And yours aren't even that—they're bandit scum. Impossible. No go. We need a legitimate hero to rally behind. Not a villain."
I couldn't really argue. Gwanggeom's stature in current Korea was that immense.
She continued.
"International situation's the same. Japan jumps at any chance to swallow this land. China's set up an advance base at Baekdu Mountain. Russia's abandoned the Far East since the Pyongyang incident."
"So if Gwanggeom falls, they'll start a war?"
She nodded. Her hardening expression seemed to read my true intent.
"Customer. You're not wanting war, are you? Gwanggeom gone means Sino-Japanese War kicks off. Conqueror takes the whole peninsula."
"We block it, then."
At my nonchalant reply, she fiddled with her cup.
"You saying your group's stronger than the Round Table?"
"More precisely..."
I pointed at myself.
"I can kill them all myself. Gwanggeom, Unjang, Jilpung-gak."
"Such confidence. Fine. I'll concede a hundred steps—say you showed that might in Daejeon, so you could kill them."
She bit her lip.
"What if China and Japan team up? Round Table splits to different fronts—what then? You fight one, get hurt, fight the next and lose?"
"No losses, no injuries."
"Customer."
Her voice turned firm.
"I'm betting my life here. Win, I'm the tycoon ruling East Asia's money. Lose, I'm a fallen chaebol in a ruined nation. So deal with me carefully? Show me the proof you're worth betting Yuseong—everything—on. Or our deal ends today."
"I see. That's why you came in person."
Bury the giant Gwanggeom in history, stand firm against China and Japan—Korea becomes East Asia's hegemon. The dream all three nations share.
"A woman whose dream is 'world conquest' sure thinks big."
"...Dream big or go home, right? I just want the world at my feet, run it my way. Make some cash on the side."
"Mind if I ask again? You confident?"
She smiled, hand on her chest.
"Customer. Think my dream's a pipe dream?"
"......No."
"Why?"
She turned it back on me. Convinced I know everything about her.
I recited exactly what she wanted to hear.
"Because you have the ability. So of course you dream that big."
"......Customer."
Her voice trembled.
"You didn't come from some parallel dimension, did you? Where we're lovers or something. I was saving that for my future spouse. Didn't swap genders crossing worlds or whatever?"
"......Where's the world with that crap?"
Doubt filled her eyes. I cleared my throat, calming her.
"Fifth time. Wrong answer. Just know I think like you. My dream?"
She focused on my voice.
"Kill the god destroying this world, save Earth. Survive on the side."
"......And you have that ability, naturally?"
I nodded. Wild claim, but she'd deduce the truth within her knowledge.
She wet her throat with coffee.
"...Still need more proof. Gotta see at least three cards before calling all-in on a full house or straight flush."
"Yeah. Show less than three, might just be ace pair and we're bust."
Tough call. How many cards to reveal?
Turning her into a kaijin would be easy, but she needs to operate publicly as a human. Force it, and her resentment plus cunning would backstab me—Zhuge Liang or Sima Yi style.
No choice. Talk about killing Gwanggeom and filling the void.
She's smart; might suggest better plans than mine.
If she tries to use me? Kill her.
"Listen up. My plan is..."
She set down her coffee, listening intently.
* * *
"Argh, gonna lose my mind."
Seok Ha-rang tore at her white hair, pacing outside the alley. Just a normal Seoul backstreet, but something made her hesitate to enter.
"Sis has that taste?"
It made sense. Eun Yu-ha spent half her life posing as men—not one, but seven lives.
Might've shaken her sexual identity, or turned her bi. Eun Jae-min had flings with tons of women; maybe some were real.
Chills ran down her spine.
"What if... me too?"
She shook her head hard, banishing the thought. Luckily, Eun Yu-ha's charms hadn't hit her yet.
"......Eek, total creepshow."
Since Gwanggeom found her at the orphanage and became her guardian, plenty showed interest in Seok Ha-rang—but none stuck. Partly her pickiness, but whenever it looked serious, Gwanggeom swooped in like lightning to block it.
Girls' middle, girls' high. She barely attended, focusing on hero work.
If Seoul's women's colleges had survived, Gwanggeom would've shipped her there for sure.
Gwanggeom was always by her side.
"I haven't even dated once."
Not some pretty boy—pretty girl? No way.
"Right. Reject her flat-out when she comes out."
Seok Ha-rang took a deep breath. Already an hour. She'd asked for guard duty outside due to a "secret deal," but no way she'd go in. Eun Yu-ha didn't want her to either. Just signal if trouble.
Beep.
Text arrived. Eun Yu-ha's all-clear: talk over.
"Whew, okay."
Seok Ha-rang steeled herself inwardly. Opponent's dealing with ability overuse messing her sexuality. Couldn't return the love, but she could cheer her on.
Step, step.
Eun Yu-ha emerged from the alley corner. Outside, she kept the iron-willed maniac image—but now she looked utterly shaken.
"...Sis?"
Sadness, pity, condolences. The mana residue from Eun Yu-ha carried faint sympathy for Seok Ha-rang.
Flash.
Seok Ha-rang squinted in the sunlight. Eun Yu-ha couldn't step into it, melting into shadow like.
Her heels stopped at the shadow's edge.
"Harangie. Sorry."
"What're you sorry for, sis?"
"I... I really tried my best."
"What're you on about? C'mon, let's head back. People are already freaking."
Eun Yu-ha had nothing to say to Seok Ha-rang, who smiled wryly in the sun.
Seok Ha-rang grabbed her hand, grinning mischievously.
"Love ain't just here, y'know? Shin Seoul's bound to have someone for you. Your love doctor here'll hook you up with way prettier than that Busan fan when you visit."
"What kinda dog-bone bullshit is that?"
"......Weren't you dumped, sis?"
"......Quit the nonsense. Let's go. I'm beat."
Eun Yu-ha shook off her sleeve and strode away. Tears welled in her eyes, ready to fall any second.
Seok Ha-rang tilted her head but smiled meaningfully.
"Totally got rejected."
* * *
"...That's for real?"
Eun Yu-ha denied it no longer. Intel Yuseong's network—and her plants in the Association and government—couldn't touch this classified bombshell.
The one spilling world-shaking truth sipped her yogurt smoothie leisurely. Eyes closed, savoring it like decade-old heartburn finally cleared—pure relief.
"Believe it or not, your call, miss. But..."
Phoenix's hand burst into flames. Soon her arm turned black armor wreathed in blue fire.
"The gains after killing Gwanggeom—you get it, right?"
".......Yes."
She'd weighed it endlessly. Her ability's seven parallel thought circuits compared both paths from every angle.
Kill Gwanggeom, ally with Phoenix.
Cut ties with Phoenix, beg Gwanggeom.
Conclusion: Kill Gwanggeom.
For herself, Yuseong's survival, Korea's—and world peace.
That was profit, she judged.
She hardened her resolve.
"...Fine. But you'll consider my input?"
"Nah? I'll follow it straight. Puhuhu. Was just gonna kill him, but good thing I consulted. Idea bank indeed."
"...And that goes to me? Not a gift—consulting fee?"
"Yep. Use it freely."
Direction set. Now she just maneuvers Yuseong from the shadows.
Execution: May 9, Saturday.
"One thing I don't get, though."
"What?"
Eun Yu-ha asked Phoenix, who was reaching for her drink.
"Day we kill Gwanggeom—why put Ha-rang to sleep so she can't fight? Afraid she'll interfere?"
Phoenix shut her mouth. Eun Yu-ha gulped the last of her scorching coffee.
"Snow Flower Princess..."
Phoenix spoke.
"Seok Ha-rang... is Gwanggeom's daughter."
Gulp.
Coffee cascaded from Eun Yu-ha's lips like a waterfall.