Chapter 1
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 1
Chapter Title: I Was Happy Because You Were My Master
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Jin Sang-ho retied his torn clothes and looked around.
A pile of corpses was stacked in the middle of the village, covered anew by snow.
The snow mingled with the blood flowing from the corpses, creating pale pink crystals.
“Haa… Where is that sound coming from?”
Amidst it all, a faint cry could be heard.
With hands flushed red, Jin Sang-ho pushed through the snowdrifts, searching for the source of the sound.
Even though the cry broke the silence of this quiet village filled with the dead, Jin Sang-ho's martial prowess was too meager to pinpoint the sound or the presence immediately.
Third-rate.
The Righteous Alliance had recruited even unproven warriors to supplement their forces. Thanks to that, Jin Sang-ho, a third-rate warrior from the countryside, was able to join the Righteous Alliance.
That he had survived the battlefield with all his limbs intact was purely due to good luck.
The reason he had returned to the battlefield so late was because of that single cry.
“Where are you? Where are you?!”
The baby's cry did not answer Jin Sang-ho's call.
As the sound gradually faded, Jin Sang-ho barely managed to find its source.
“Here! It's here!”
A baby wrapped in cheap cloth was hidden within the pile of corpses.
The person holding the baby was a woman who looked to be barely twenty.
‘They weren't remnants of the Blood Demon Cult.’
Why did the Righteous Alliance burn this village? Doubt washed over him once more.
Jin Sang-ho pressed his lips together and took the baby into his arms.
It was to share even a little of his body heat with the frozen baby.
“It wasn't the Blood Demon Cult! The Righteous Alliance deceived me! Deceived us!”
Holding the baby, Jin Sang-ho cried out in the middle of the village.
On this day, the War of Righteousness and Evil, where blood washed away blood, came to an end.
* * *
“This one… is a child born under the Star of Heavenly Slaughter. This child will surely bring blood to the world.”
At the words of an old woman from his hometown, Jin Sang-ho frowned.
Children born under the Star of Heavenly Slaughter possessed extraordinary martial talent but often couldn't control their killing intent and became demons.
The old woman before him was spouting nonsense about a child who had just turned five being born under the Star of Heavenly Slaughter.
“Star of Heavenly Slaughter, my foot… Have you gone senile, granny?”
The child he had rescued from the battlefield had thankfully grown up healthy.
That was already five years ago.
And during that time, Jin Sang-ho had opened the sword school he had always dreamed of. For him, who had wandered the martial world as a third-rate warrior without affiliation, he finally had a place to belong.
The old bachelor Jin Sang-ho still hadn't started a family even after returning to his hometown.
Instead, he gained a young disciple.
An incredibly cute one.
“Granny, if you're just going to spout nonsense, get going. Honestly, the things you say to a child.”
Jin Sang-ho ordered the old woman to leave.
As the old woman grumbled and left the school, one of his disciples came out shouting.
“Master!”
It was A-mun, a young man who had come of age this year.
Unlike his master, he had talent and a passion for the sword.
It was almost apologetic that all he could teach was the Three Talents Sword Art and the experience he gained on the battlefield.
But in Sinnae Village, with fewer than fifty households, there was no one else besides Jin Sang-ho who could teach martial arts.
“To what do I owe the pleasure of my brilliant head disciple seeking out this unworthy master?”
“Master, I think we need to find a new master to teach Je-yong.”
“My boy, no matter how unworthy I may be, isn't it a bit harsh to say we need to find another master to my face?”
Jin Sang-ho was dumbfounded by his head disciple A-mun's absurdly harsh words.
A-mun scratched his head awkwardly before steeling himself and speaking again.
“No, it's Je-yong. I think his talent is truly exceptional.”
“A-mun, he's only five. It's too early to tell if he has talent or not. Why are you being like this too?”
“No, really! Master, I just had a duel with Je-yong.”
“Hey! How old are you, dueling with Je-yong? Are you crazy? No, is the kid okay?”
Jin Sang-ho scolded his head disciple in surprise. A-mun then glanced around and mumbled his words.
“Well, Master. Je-yong said he wanted to try dueling too, so I taught him the sword for a bit.”
“Hey, I knew you were crazy about the sword, but you made a five-year-old hold a wooden sword? Don't tell me you hit our Je-yong?”
“No. I lost.”
“Right, how could you win against a kid… What?”
A-mun let out a sigh.
“I said I lost, Master. I lost to Je-yong, the five-year-old youngest disciple!”
Seeing A-mun getting angry instead, Jin Sang-ho was bewildered.
“So you're not completely insane. Right, of course you should let him win.”
“No. The kid pointed out my vital points precisely, so I admitted defeat. If it had been a real sword instead of a wooden one, no, if he had a little more strength, I would have been a goner.”
Jin Sang-ho watched A-mun with suspicious eyes before asking just in case.
“Did you… by any chance… have a drink?”
“Am I crazy?! Drinking during training in the sacred school?”
“Then why are you seeing things?”
“Ah, damn it! Seriously!”
A-mun grumbled and ran outside.
“A-mun! We're having duck for dinner! Don't be late!”
Jin Sang-ho shouted after the running A-mun.
“Ah, damn it! Forget it!”
* * *
“…There's nothing left to teach.”
Five years had already passed since the head disciple, A-mun, ran out of the school.
Ten-year-old Je-yong had already acquired skills that not only the school but even Jin Sang-ho could no longer match.
“I only had the Three Talents Sword Art to teach in the first place, so what do I do now?”
Jin Sang-ho went outside the school and clutched his hair.
In truth, he never had much to teach.
The only martial arts Jin Sang-ho had learned were the Three Talents Sword Art and a few moves he picked up while rolling through battlefields as a shield for the Righteous Alliance.
“Haa… I have no choice. Let's go with theory.”
Martial arts weren't composed solely of swordsmanship and internal arts.
Besides, Jin Sang-ho was forty-five this year. As a master, there were things to teach other than martial arts.
“Maaasteeer!”
Je-yong ran out energetically from the school. The way he swung his wooden sword was extraordinary, even to Jin Sang-ho's untrained eye.
Jin Sang-ho cleared his throat and set the mood.
“The sky is the sky. The earth is made of soil…”
It was complete nonsense.
But it was more than enough to fool a ten-year-old.
“Master?”
Jin Je-yong looked at Jin Sang-ho with sparkling eyes.
Reflected in those round eyes was the image of Jin Sang-ho, who now had more white hair than black.
“Je-yong, from now on, let's learn something new.”
“I love new things! What kind of form is it? I think my slashes and thrusts are perfect now.”
“Hoho, how can one speak of perfection on the path of martial arts? Only when your sword can slash the heavens and split the earth can you say it is somewhat complete.”
“Woooow… The heavens! The earth!”
“Ahem! That is why the path of the sword is difficult.”
“Wow, wow! I want to do it too. A sword that slashes the heavens! A sword that splits the earth!”
From the wooden sword he swung excitedly, streams of sharp energy poured out.
It was a power that made Jin Sang-ho wonder if he could even receive a single blow.
“Yes, and to do that, it's helpful to try teaching others.”
The thought that he might meet an untimely end at the hands of a ten-year-old swordsman prompted Jin Sang-ho to quickly change the subject.
“Teaching?”
“There's a saying that you learn as you teach. Reflecting on one's own sword from a teacher's perspective is of the greatest help to a swordsman.”
“Reflecting…”
Jin Je-yong mumbled, repeating Jin Sang-ho's words.
Looking at Je-yong, Jin Sang-ho recalled his head disciple A-mun, who had left five years ago and never returned.
The boy had been right. Jin Sang-ho wasn't qualified to teach Je-yong.
At that thought, he felt incredibly sorry for A-mun who had left.
It was around the time Jin Je-yong had just turned ten.
There was an incident where Jin Je-yong gouged out the eye of his fourth senior, Je Yung-geon.
Jin Sang-ho, who grasped the situation late, had a hard time stopping Je-yong from slitting the fourth disciple's throat altogether.
The reason was that Yung-geon had insulted their master.
Jin Sang-ho never dreamed that Je-yong would gouge out his senior's eye for such a reason.
‘The Star of Heavenly Slaughter…’
Jin Sang-ho smacked his lips.
And he steeled his heart.
‘How should I raise this child?’
The deliberation was short.
There was only one answer anyway.
To raise him with love.
That was all he could do, as a master and as a father.
* * *
After that, more time passed.
The child instructor was now a young man of twenty, and Jin Sang-ho was over fifty.
Jin Je-yong, now a grown young man, watched another disciple leave the school with a look of disappointment.
“Everyone is leaving like that.”
A deep sense of disappointment was evident in Je-yong's voice.
Jin Sang-ho stroked the head of the young man, who was now a head taller than him.
As the wrinkled hand ruffled his hair, Jin Je-yong smiled.
“They're all leaving to find a way to make a living. You have to understand.”
“My head understands, but my heart feels differently.”
Jin Je-yong grumbled softly.
Jin Sang-ho smiled. His body had grown so much, but inside he was still a child.
“Still, now we master and disciple can have some quality time together, can't we?”
“That's true. It's just the two of us now.”
Jin Je-yong grinned and looked around the school.
The old school, already twenty years old, bore the unaltered marks of time.
Jin Sang-ho touched the graffiti Jin Je-yong had carved on the wall, reminiscing.
“But what's my disciple going to do with his life? You need to bring home a daughter-in-law as stout as a toad for me to close my eyes in peace.”
“A daughter-in-law stout as a toad? If you mean Sister Gyeong-ae, I'll pass. She really is like a toad.”
Gyeong-ae was the only maiden left in Sinnae Village, which was now mostly inhabited by the elderly.
“Ahem! A person's looks aren't everything.”
He wasn't wrong.
“She's ten years older than me.”
“She'll show you the composure of an adult.”
“She eats three times as much as I do.”
“She has a generous hand, so my disciple will never go hungry.”
“…You don't really want your beloved disciple to marry Sister Gyeong-ae, do you?”
Jin Je-yong asked, testing the waters.
“Alright, if you understand this master's heart, then go out and bring me back a daughter-in-law as cute as a bunny! Stop burying yourself in the school every day.”
“I don't want to. I love our Sinnae Sword School, and I love you, Master… so much.”
“Je-yong!”
Jin Sang-ho yelled.
Jin Je-yong yelped as if burned and fled into the school.
It was a scene no different from any other day.
“Cough!”
Jin Sang-ho's cough, which had started a while ago, didn't stop even after several days.
* * *
Another five years passed.
‘Master couldn't get up again today.’
I muttered as I lit the fire in the furnace.
Perhaps it was the smoke from the furnace stinging my eyes, but tears kept welling up.
I pushed in a few more logs and got up.
“Master, is the room warm?”
I poked my head through Master's door and asked.
The room was filled with a mixture of medicinal smells and the distinct, nauseating scent of the sick. Even with daily ventilation, the smell wouldn't go away.
No, I was desperately trying to ignore the fact that this smell coming from my master was the indelible scent of death.
“Cough! Cough! Yes, my back is warm. It feels good.”
From under the blankets, my master let out a dry cough.
Five years ago, my master, who had said his cold just wouldn't go away, collapsed shortly after. He hadn't been able to get up since and grew weaker by the day.
‘Master…’
“Je-yong, come here. Cough!”
At my master's call, I quickly went to him.
Master stroked my head with his wrinkled, stiff hand. Even in that hand, which had lost all its warmth, affection remained.
“I'm sorry.”
“What are you sorry for?”
“If it hadn't been for me…”
Master's eyes filled with tears.
From the day he collapsed until today, my master had confessed to me every time.
“I was truly happy because you were the one who took me in.”
At my words, my master's eyes reddened.
He said in a trembling voice.
“My disciple is truly a good disciple. Probably the kindest in the world.”
“Isn't that how you taught me, Master?”
“Hoho! I'm so happy to hear you say that. Cough, cough-cough!”
“Master!”
My master suddenly burst into a coughing fit.
His chest grew soaked and red with the blood he coughed up.
“Je-yong, I… I think if someone else had taught you, you would have become the greatest sword under heaven. I fear that my foolish self has been holding you back.”
Did they say that when the body weakens, the mind weakens too?
After being confined to his bed, my master repeated the same words several times.
I shook my head firmly.
“I have never once regretted learning the sword from you, Master.”
“Hoho! My good disciple, thank you. But the day will come when you enter the martial world and regret your own weakness.”
Master said he had tasted hell in the War of Righteousness and Evil twenty-five years ago.
He also said that seeing warriors thrown away like trash on command made him realize his own level.
That was why he decided to return home, and how he was able to meet me.
“This disciple has not regretted your teachings in the past, does not regret them now, and will not regret them in the future.”
“Yes, I hope that's true.”
My master's hand, which was about to stroke my head once more, fell limp in mid-air.
I cried out in shock.
“Master… Father!”
Did he hear my voice? My sleeping master smiled faintly.
* * *
My master passed away, but the sky didn't fall and the earth didn't crumble.
I could still eat well and shit well.
I thought the world without my master would surely end, yet the sky is still blue and the world is still peaceful.
Even my throat, hoarse from sobbing, could now swallow food smoothly.
“Master, don't you think this gravestone is too shabby?”
It was a gravestone I had made myself, buying a stone slab and carving his name on it.
-Grave of the Divine Sword, Jin Sang-ho
“You said that if I had learned from someone else, I could have become the greatest sword under heaven, didn't you?”
My master always lamented it.
Until the very, very end.
“That's not true. It is because I learned from you, Master, that I became the greatest sword under heaven.”
The sword was drawn, and in a single breath, it cut only the weeds growing on the burial mound.
If I willed it, I could cut anything.
Be it the earth, or the heavens…
“And from now on, this disciple of the Divine Sword will prove it.”