Chapter 161
Chapter 161
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 161
Chapter Title: The Reason for Obsession
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Jegal Soon shook his head, as if he could not accept that resolute declaration.
“…No. That’s not it. Everything is for the family and the children of the future.”
“Do you truly not realize that you’re killing that future with your own hands right now!”
Geun-yeong bellowed at Jegal Soon, who kept repeating the same words like something inside him was broken.
The wrinkled face twisted in agony upon hearing it.
Faced with that hideous distortion, Geun-yeong made his demand once more.
“Hand over the ledgers. I will set things right.”
But silence was all that came in response to his demand.
Geun-yeong furrowed his brow and spoke in an even stronger tone.
“If you do not hand them over…”
“…And what will you do? Take them by force? Do you have the power for that?”
“…!”
Jegal Soon lifted the corner of his mouth.
The forced smile amid the distortion looked grotesque.
Even as he smiled, his face seemed to be crying, and Jegal Soon continued speaking.
“As I told you, the martial world is a place where the weak are devoured by the strong. No matter how good one’s intentions, without the power to back them up, one will simply be trampled.”
“…Chief Steward.”
“Do you want the ledgers? Then strike me down. Prove you have the strength, and I will hand them over.”
Geun-yeong sighed inwardly.
Their craving for power had already crossed into the realm of stubborn obsession and madness.
‘Persuasion is impossible.’
If that was the case, then as Jegal Soon had said, the only way was to take them by force.
“…Very well.”
Geun-yeong gripped the scabbard at his waist and accepted Jegal Soon’s proposal.
*
The two headed straight to an empty training ground in a corner of the manor.
Stepping onto the vacant sparring platform, they pointed their swords at each other.
The outcome was decided in no time at all.
“Keuk!”
Geun-yeong flew backward with a cry of pain.
The longsword in his hand rolled feebly across the platform floor.
-Swish
“My victory.”
“Kuh…!”
Jegal Soon’s sword aimed at Geun-yeong’s throat, where his protective energy had shattered after exhausting all his internal energy.
Staring down at the sharply gleaming sword tip, Geun-yeong gritted his teeth.
When Geun-yeong had accepted Jegal Soon’s terms and faced the old man sword in hand on the platform,
up until they had both drawn their blades, he had been reasonably confident.
He had trained without missing a single day since childhood, and that hadn’t changed even after coming to the Infinite Branch.
When work piled up, he cut back on sleep to swing his sword.
In contrast, Jegal Soon, the chief steward handling countless duties at the main house, surely hadn’t touched a sword in ages.
‘It’s not a fight without a chance of winning.’
But such thoughts were shattered from the very first clash.
-Kaang!
“Kuh!?”
A sword strike swung with unbelievable power for an old man’s blade.
It was absolutely not the sword of someone who had set his aside for years.
Jegal Soon raised the corner of his mouth as he faced Geun-yeong, who couldn’t hide his surprise.
-Did you think I had abandoned the sword?
-Kagak-!
Even as he spoke, the power in his sword grew stronger, pushing Geun-yeong back.
Jegal Soon’s cold voice drilled into his ear.
-A naive thought. How could we ever abandon the sword?
Abandon the sword? Impossible.
Hearing that, Geun-yeong immediately grasped the meaning behind the words.
A sword meant power.
Having lost someone precious due to a lack of power, they could never abandon it.
“Kraap!”
With belated realization furrowing his brow, he let out a fierce shout and deflected Jegal Soon’s sword.
He followed up immediately with a counterattack.
‘Overwhelm without giving them an opening to strike back.’
Since the opponent’s skill exceeded expectations, there was only one way to win: deny them any chance to attack.
Believing relentless offense was his sole path, Geun-yeong swung his sword without cease.
The forms of the Small Castle Swordsmanship, honed over a lifetime, embroidered the air in succession.
Seeing this, Jegal Soon couldn’t hold back his admiration.
-Splendid. No one in the family showed such attainment at the First Young Master’s age.
“Hueup!”
Instead of answering the praise, Geun-yeong let out a shout.
He poured everything into his assault, unable even to speak casually, yet Jegal Soon neither retreated nor struggled—he parried with ease.
-Kang! Kaang! Kang!
Sharp metallic clashes rang out repeatedly.
Geun-yeong attacked with every ounce of strength he could muster.
But,
‘…It doesn’t reach.’
Defeat began to creep into Geun-yeong’s heart.
It was no easy task to keep burning with will when, despite giving his all, he couldn’t even graze Jegal Soon’s robes.
Strength gradually drained from his swings, and the veteran swordsman, who had wielded a blade for more than twice as long, didn’t miss the opening.
-Kaaang!
“Kuhk!?”
Geun-yeong’s sword was helplessly flung aside in the counter.
Jegal Soon’s strikes assailed his now-wide-open torso.
“Kraaaaa-!?”
Far swifter and fiercer than Geun-yeong’s own attacks moments ago, the blade mercilessly shaved away his protective energy.
In short order, Geun-yeong’s internal energy hit rock bottom.
And this was the result.
The defeated Geun-yeong knelt, swordless, while the victorious Jegal Soon held his blade to his throat.
“Do you understand now? Without power, any attempt is meaningless?”
“Kuh…!”
Geun-yeong’s face twisted in self-loathing.
At this rate, he couldn’t take the ledgers.
Without the ledgers, the plan couldn’t even begin.
The thought that his own weakness would ruin everything filled him with a desire to die.
Looking down at him, Jegal Soon let out a small sigh and sheathed his sword.
“I had hoped otherwise, but as expected.”
“…….”
“I won’t tell the patriarch. Give up and withdraw.”
Geun-yeong rose with a groan at the quiet urging to abandon his efforts while sheathing the sword.
As he slowly raised his head, the light in his eyes had not yet gone out.
“…I can’t do that.”
“Have you still not understood? It’ll be the same no matter how many more times you try. The First Young Master doesn’t have the power to defeat me.”
No, he understood fully.
Geun-yeong, having just lost the duel, felt it more acutely than anyone.
But that didn’t mean he could give up.
They—his fathers—were losing their reason to past traumas, charging toward ruin.
Because of that, countless blood kin and family members of the sect were suffering.
Men reduced to beasts by demonic arts.
Women forced into the arms of such men against their hearts.
Until now, he had turned a blind eye.
Like them, he had deceived himself that it was all for the family.
That denial had birthed today’s crisis.
“I won’t turn a blind eye any longer.”
Geun-yeong picked up his sword from the ground and pointed it at Jegal Soon once more.
Seeing this, Jegal Soon flinched, then hardened his expression.
He realized that, for a moment, Geun-yeong’s resolve had daunted him.
‘Impossible.’
Look at him.
His internal energy depleted, barely holding his sword.
Daunted? By that?
‘An illusion.’
Dismissing his body’s reaction as mere fancy, Jegal Soon turned to face Geun-yeong again.
“…What do you think will change by picking up your sword again? What can you do without even protective energy?”
“I will take the ledgers. To save the family, I need them.”
“Ha… Like a child throwing a tantrum.”
Shaking his head, Jegal Soon wore a cold sneer.
“Do you think I can’t kill the First Young Master? Is that why you act so brazenly? If so, I’m deeply disappointed.”
Even at Jegal Soon’s insulting words, Geun-yeong did not lower his sword.
Unable to bear the unwavering, resolute gaze, Jegal Soon raised his voice.
“…I said give it up!”
-Chang!
The sword drawn roughly pointed at Geun-yeong.
Intense pressure emanated from the veteran swordsman, bearing down on him.
“Euk…!”
With neither internal energy nor stamina left, resisting that aura was naturally impossible.
Geun-yeong’s sword trembled wildly.
But even so.
He didn’t collapse.
He didn’t retreat.
Geun-yeong endured Jegal Soon’s pressure through sheer force of will.
“Kuh…Euk!”
Instead, it was Jegal Soon who let out a strained groan.
‘…Why?’
Why doesn’t he give up?
Even after showing such a vast gap in power, why doesn’t he yield?
Jegal Soon looked into Geun-yeong’s eyes.
Eyes staring straight back at him.
They seemed to accuse him.
He wanted to flee from that gaze.
“…….”
But instead, Jegal Soon raised his sword.
If he didn’t stop Geun-yeong here, he would never abandon his defiance against the patriarch.
The patriarch who had turned even his youngest son into a blood ghost.
No matter that Geun-yeong was the eldest, he wouldn’t forgive defiance.
‘If that’s the case… rather than let that happen…!’
Jegal Soon’s eyes sharpened.
He hardened his heart to protect Geun-yeong’s life, at least.
“…I won’t kill you. But you’ll never wield a sword again.”
His sharp gaze turned to Geun-yeong’s right arm.
Losing his sword arm would surely break that will.
The veteran raised the blade that had been his lifelong companion high overhead.
Lamenting that a sword meant to protect the family was now shattering its future.
At last, the sword cleaved the air toward Geun-yeong’s right arm.
A crisis that would cost him his right arm forever.
But Geun-yeong had no strength left to dodge the strike.
“Kuhk…!”
With a single groan, he squeezed his eyes shut.
Just before the sharp blade touched his right arm,
-Thud!
A powerful foot stomp echoed through the training ground.
At the same time, an overwhelming aura pressed from behind.
“Kuhk!?”
Jegal Soon’s bewildered groan came from ahead.
Geun-yeong cautiously opened his eyes.
And at the sight before him, his eyes widened in shock.
“This is…!”
Jegal Soon’s sword had halted, just an inch from the right arm that had struggled to hold it aloft.
No, it wasn’t just the sword that had stopped.
Jegal Soon’s entire body was frozen mid-swing.
“Wh-what in the world…!?”
Jegal Soon’s voice, unable to hide his bewilderment, made it clear this wasn’t his will.
Geun-yeong had seen this phenomenon before.
Hadn’t the Jade-Faced Seductress, transformed into a massive tiger, suffered the same?
Then this was…!
“That’s far enough.”
A familiar voice rang out from behind at just that moment.
Geun-yeong turned his head and called to the owner of the voice.
“G-Goon, young hero…!”
“I was wondering why it was taking so long, so I came to check—and good thing I did.”
The man who had somehow ascended to the platform.
It was Ja-seong.