Chapter 371
Chapter 371
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 371
>Chapter Title: The 31st Horse Overturns the Game Board
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The beginning of the Shin family’s four brothers was humble. Until the hidden power of a child born with unprecedented talent revealed itself.
Up until then, all the attention had been focused on Shin Lip and Shin Hyun.
No one paid any mind to me.
“Hyung! Me too…”
“I’m busy, Yu-ya. Go tell the servants over there, and they’ll take care of whatever you need.”
“…Okay.”
Was it because my body had been frail since childhood?
I was strictly forbidden from entering the training grounds, and I couldn’t do any strenuous exercise.
There goes Second Brother.
“Hyung!”
“Oh, it’s Shin Yu. Heh heh… I have a sparring session with Big Brother, so let’s talk later.”
Even Second Brother, who always seemed full of energy, dashed off toward the training grounds.
Third Brother, Kang, wasn’t at the training grounds to begin with.
‘He’s probably there again today, right?’
It was a secret I’d only recently learned.
That Shin Kang spent his time every day somewhere other than the training grounds.
“Huff… huff…”
Maybe I shouldn’t have followed him.
…Hup! Haaaaah!
Whoosh…
Whoooosh…
Even from a distance, the resounding sounds reached me.
My heart pounded—was it from excitement at surprising him, or was my weak body making it race? I couldn’t tell.
“Kang Hyung!”
“…Yu-ya.”
“Huff… huff… Aren’t you going to the training grounds? Big Brothers…”
“This place suits me better. Why has a sickly kid like you climbed all the way up here?”
“Well…”
My gaze naturally drifted to Third Brother’s grip.
His palms were torn and bleeding, yet he had them wrapped in bandages and kept training.
“There’s blood on your hands…”
“…It’s fine. The air’s cold here. I’ll take you back down, so let’s go.”
“Can I wait…?”
“Ahem.”
“…”
It wasn’t quite a scolding, but I couldn’t go against Kang Hyung’s words.
Stagger…
“Oops…”
“Your legs gave out, huh? I told you not to push yourself. Here, hop on my back.”
Kang Hyung’s back was drenched in sweat, hot steam rising from it.
‘So comfortable…’
On that broad back, I drifted off to sleep.
When I came to, Kang Hyung had already left after carrying me back to the mansion.
Left alone in this vast estate.
‘Yeah…’
That day, I made a request to Father, the family head.
I wanted to learn the sword like my brothers.
Looking back, those words had clearly twisted our fates.
“You’re a prodigy!”
“A martial genius unlike any in the continent! Even starting now, you’ll surely achieve greatness!”
I remember the moment I first gripped a sword.
‘Comfortable.’
It felt like my hand had simply grown longer.
But others must have perceived it differently.
One year after picking up the sword.
Many things happened.
With all the brothers practicing the way of the sword, we crossed paths often. We’d butt heads, throwing in presumptuous comments about each other’s swordsmanship, voices rising.
I kept my words few.
The family members, excluding my brothers, treated my every utterance like gospel truth. It felt like I was dictating the paths they should take.
‘Scary…’
I’m not a god.
I’m human.
So, this was wrong.
A sickness of the heart came over me.
I didn’t want to hold the sword.
The moment I gripped it, a universe bloomed in my mind.
Everyone desperately strove to witness that beautiful moment. But compared to the universe in my head, Kang Hyung’s sweat-soaked back felt warmer.
It had been so long since I’d felt warmth.
Still, I didn’t abandon the sword.
Thinking of Kang Hyung climbing the mountain every day made even that laziness feel like a sin.
One day, I overheard the maids gossiping. They chattered shamelessly about the family’s flaws.
“That kid Shin Yu doesn’t know anything… right?”
Envy and jealousy always followed, but hearing it directly didn’t feel good.
‘They’re badmouthing me.’
The hurt was fleeting; suddenly, I wanted to hear more.
That’s why I didn’t stop them.
There was no more slander that day.
But every day at that time, they gossiped there.
Perhaps it was their way of relieving the stress from their labors.
“Shin Lip’s skills aren’t fit for an eldest son…”
“Shin Hyun’s carefree attitude will eventually…”
They even slandered my brothers.
And eventually, they brought up Shin Kang’s name.
“Poor Shin Kang… Stuck between all these talented brothers…”
“He can’t even enter the training grounds alone? His level’s so embarrassing he can’t show it to others… Oh no!”
“Yaaaaah!”
I couldn’t hold back and jumped in, unleashing my fury like fire. My anger must have caused a rush of blood, because I collapsed and woke up in my room.
“You’re awake?”
“Kang Hyung…”
“Big Brothers waited for you to wake but left. You okay now?”
My heart ached, and I tattled to Shin Kang about what happened that day.
Third Brother had a cold personality; he’d surely punish them harshly.
“I see.”
“…Aren’t you angry?”
“About what?”
“Well…”
“It’s all true, isn’t it?”
“…”
Kang Hyung’s response left me speechless.
“Words only reflect the present; they don’t dictate our future. Their words are just obstacles to overcome.”
He said this out of pure selfishness on my part. If Third Brother got mad, and
“Aren’t you pissed? That they say you lag behind your brothers…”
“Yu-ya.”
“…Yes.”
Third Brother said,
“Brothers are family. Not rivals.”
“…”
“Our paths are connected. In the end, we walk the same road.”
The man named Shin Kang was immense.
“At its end, we’ll stand shoulder to shoulder.”
“Hyung…”
That was the moment I started seeing Third Brother as special.
I thought he’d be my guiding light on the path ahead.
That’s what I thought…
“How can this be…”
“Spit it out! Explain it properly to me!”
“…It’s a miracle he’s even alive. All his major organs have already rotted.”
“…”
Thud…
“Family head! Family head!”
The family laughed because of me, but in the end, they cried because of me. I faced death at a young age.
“…”
“You’re awake?”
“Haven’t you said that a lot lately?”
“That’s why you shouldn’t make me say it so often.”
“…Where are Big Brothers?”
“They’re waiting outside for you to wake. I was about to…”
“Am I… going to die?”
“…”
I blurted it out.
Third Brother stared at me blankly before replying.
“Seems like it.”
“…”
“It’s some rare disease where the body rots and sensations fade.”
“I see… That’s why it doesn’t hurt…”
But I could still feel it.
“Call everyone.”
“…”
“It feels like the end is near.”
It was the first time I’d seen Kang Hyung’s eyes widen like that.
Bang…
…
Kang Hyung burst through the door, shouting something loudly.
I couldn’t make it out clearly, but I felt the family members rushing over at the sound.
They all approached lightly on tiptoe, kneeling and pressing their ears to my breath. They probably knew. That my breathing was growing fainter.
“Everyone…”
“…”
“Thank you. I wanted to repay everything I received before going…”
“Stop! Don’t say that.”
Father and Mother had already fainted, so First Brother spoke for them.
The ever-reliable First Brother.
I thought he was amazing.
“Smile, Yu-ya. It was fun, wasn’t it?”
Second Brother, trying to make me smile even on my final path.
“…”
And the silent Third Brother.
“I’m sorry… for not staying till the end.”
First Brother clamped his mouth shut before answering.
“Whoever reaches the end of this path first will be waiting for the rest. So you’re already there, Shin Yu. Your dream—no, our brothers’ dream—will keep going. As long as we don’t fall… the path continues.”
“…One last request.”
We brothers were always together.
Always—that word encompassed the past, present, and future.
As natural as flowing water and standing mountains.
So.
“Don’t cry. We’re together.”
Honestly, I don’t remember my final words.
But I must have said something.
“Goodbye, brothers…”
Splash…
Later, I learned that not a single one of my brothers kept that promise that day.
* * *
Kang Seol kept listening to Shin Yu’s story.
He’d heard most of it, but some details were new.
- Death was like a dream, and one day, I became Third Brother’s hand.
“Your brothers must have been shocked.”
- Second Brother laughed until he fainted.
“…”
- I became family again. But a corner of my heart still held doubt.
“Doubt?”
What was he doubting?
- Am I really Shin Yu?
“…What?”
- Or am I just a hand that has Shin Yu’s memories? And when that doubt reached the end of the pitch-black labyrinth…
When he reached the end of the labyrinth, he finally realized it.
Shin Yu had lost sight of himself.
- I was gone. All I thought about were my brothers. The thought of saving the brothers I left behind.
And his brothers.
The heart that cared for his brothers.
He was Shin Yu.
- I am Shin Yu. The youngest of the Shin family. I can exist as Shin Yu, not a possessed hand, because of my brothers.
“…Do you resent the departed Shin Kang?”
- Our dream continues! We can’t stop here. Someone has to move forward. Kang Hyung left for that reason.
He became a sharp sword, slashing obstacles to advance. Even though his brothers were here where Shin Yu now resided, they were also there.
Then why…
“Shin Yu, why won’t you leave… no, why can’t you leave?”
- If I leave, it becomes real.
“…”
- That my brothers… really died in the labyrinth.
Shin Yu, who had always been with his brothers even after death.
‘…Now it’s become shackles.’
Guilt, regret, remorse, denial.
All emotions tangled, Shin Yu couldn’t move forward.
Worried about his fallen brothers, he couldn’t take even one step.
Kang Seol stood abruptly.
“The choice is yours, Shin Yu.”
- I can’t choose. I’m just a hand.
“That’s just an excuse. Someday, a moment will come when you must choose. Past or future.”
Shin Yu paused, then wrote on the floor.
- Have you chosen?
Kang Seol nodded.
“I’ll leave the labyrinth. Taking you with me if possible. So…”
He burned with determination.
That determination toward Shin Yu was his last hope to save him.
“Prepare your answer.”
* * *
After his conversation with Shin Yu, Kang Seol spent the next few days preparing for the next gate.
If someone asked if he’d grown as strong as he wanted, he’d say yes—but if they asked if it was in the direction he desired, he’d say no.
He’d gained the Sword Ghost Yaksha, but it was unstable, a ticking time bomb that could explode anytime.
In that case…
‘The second gate will be crucial.’
What Kang Seol remembered about the second gate was being thrown into a boring, tedious space.
But that was info from a previous gate; for the changed one, he needed to ask Shin Lip and Shin Hyun.
“It’s a dream.”
“…Pardon?”
“Didn’t I tell you? The dream demon has taken over the gate.”
“…What’s happened to the gate?”
“Heh heh… All who enter will have their dreams mixed together. Someone you know might appear in an unimaginable situation, or it could be a completely different being with the same name.”
Shin Hyun explained briefly before passing to Shin Lip.
“It’d be better if Big Brother explains.”
“The trial there will reshape your subconscious. The moment you step into its domain, the dream begins.”
Why had Shin Hyun made Shin Lip speak?
“Hyung and I have entered its domain before.”
“I see.”
“Hyung went back once more after.”
“Pardon? Why…”
Shin Lip said,
“The dream will do anything to break your existence. It’ll drag in figures from your past or subconscious to torment you. It’ll be vivid and convincing. The moment you’re consumed, you’ll dream forever.”
“Then why return?”
“Because it’s also a chance to leap forward.”
“…Pardon?”
“Look at your shadow.”
Kang Seol checked his body.
The form created when Night Crow was devoured by darkness.
Parts of his shattered face looked pitiful.
“Your power has grown incomparable to when I first saw it here. Yet the shadow remains. It means that alone isn’t enough.”
Shin Lip held up his sword.
“If you escape the dream, you’ll gain the power you seek. That experience of total deconstruction and reconstruction is unique.”
“Is the gate’s potential that great?”
Shin Hyun elaborated.
“Big Brother’s Thunderclap Sword was incomplete. The third form was entirely lost.”
A fact Kang Seol knew.
‘No way…’
“Yes, the Thunderclap Sword was completed. Through that dream.”
A sword Kang Seol had given up on.
It ended at the second form, so he’d honed that to the limit.
“…What kind of world is it?”
When Kang Seol asked, Shin Lip answered.
“Another life… Experience it yourself.”
Kang Seol turned around.
A massive door stood there, firmly shut.
Facing the next gate.
But then, a high-pitched shout echoed.
“Waaaait—!”
Blood-red robes like they were soaked in gore.
‘…Who was that?’
The woman yelled,
“Lucia! Forgot me? We greeted each other!”
The woman who’d entered with him.
Kang Seol remembered her.
‘But where’s the man?’
She’d definitely had a white handsome guy beside her.
‘No, I haven’t even run into the others with tokens.’
He had no memory of encountering Federation personnel either.
Kang Seol frowned.
“The man?”
“He’s dead.”
“…Run into any latecomers?”
Lucia grinned.
“I killed them.”