Chapter 390
Chapter 390
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 390
>Chapter Title: The Converging Paths
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Shin Yoo flinched upon hearing the shocking truth from Shin Hyun.
It was a story he'd never heard before—that Shin Hyun and Shin Rip didn't have much time left.
- …Why didn't you tell me?
That their bodies would vanish, leading to true annihilation… true death.
Why hadn't they told him?
Shin Rip closed his eyes and replied.
“That was… better.”
“…Brother's right. We thought it would be better for both of us not to say anything.”
- Why!
Shin Yoo scribbled irritably.
“We had to, so we could send you away.”
- ….
“We figured you'd only leave with peace of mind if you thought we could meet anytime. But… that judgment was wrong.”
The reason they hadn't said anything until now.
They didn't want Shin Yoo crushed by unnecessary guilt, tormented by their deaths in the labyrinth.
“…Do you get it now?”
At Shin Rip's words, Shin Yoo froze.
Soon, he began scrawling words laboriously.
- How much… time is left?
Heh…
Shin Hyun grinned.
“The time we had left is already gone. We didn't know you'd cling so stubbornly, so the god of the underworld took even that away.”
- …Don't go.
“Huh?”
- …Don't die.
Shin Hyun burst into laughter.
“Hahaha! You fool! Does life work like that, where you say 'don't die' and it obeys? Death is natural. Even you couldn't escape it, right?”
Death was inevitable.
Accepting it was the burden of the survivors.
“Yoo-ah, we're fine.”
“Brother, I've told him a million times, but he just pretends not to hear.”
- …I hate being alone.
“…….”
- I hate… being the only one left.
“You think our dead brothers would come back just because you say that? Wrong, you fool.”
- ….
After waiting for Shin Hyun to finish, Shin Rip spoke quietly.
“There is… still a chance.”
It was a gentle admonition to a brother who had strayed.
“Chase after Kang Seol. He'll take you out of the labyrinth.”
“Yeah, to you, Seol is like a savior fallen from the sky. No, I really do think that.”
Hesitating for a moment…
Shin Yoo wrote this.
- …Kang Seol doesn't need me.
“Why? What are you talking about? Who in this world doesn't need Shin Yoo's help….”
- I lost.
“…What?”
- I gave it everything, and I lost clean.
“…….”
Memories from the dream.
His talents had fully blossomed, advancing him even beyond his previous self. Yet he was defeated.
By Kang Seol and Yurin.
Whether he escaped the dream or not didn't matter—the fact was, he had lost to Kang Seol.
“Come closer.”
Shin Yoo, who had been writing across from them, wriggled over to Shin Hyun's side.
“I heard bits from Kang Seol, but not the details from you. Tell me everything.”
Shin Yoo poured out his emotions and story without hesitation.
After confirming it all, Shin Hyun said this.
“Now that I think about it, there was another guy who said he didn't need you. That Shin Kang fellow.”
Shin Yoo dredged up old memories.
He still vividly remembered the place where Shin Kang had sent him away.
“That Seol guy… he really takes after Kang, doesn't he? Right, Brother!”
“…You're right. The essence is the same.”
Shin Hyun was correct.
Sometimes, the two overlapped in his mind.
“…Yoo-ah. In this world, there are beings you can't reach no matter how hard you try.”
- …Is Kang Seol one of them?
“Why wouldn't he be? Even your talents lost to him.”
- But….
“No buts. The result is out—why dwell on it? A loss is a loss.”
- ….
Heh…
Shin Hyun grinned.
“Hard to accept, huh?”
Nod…
He nodded with the back of his hand.
“When you first experience someone superior to you, despair is inevitable. Helplessness and emptiness come too. It feels like everything you've done until now… was a worthless life.”
He quietly gazed at Shin Hyun.
“To me, that was you.”
- ….
“No matter how hard I tried, I lamented never reaching even your heels.”
Someone advancing toward the light was, to another, the light itself.
- But… how did you get over it?
“It was tough. The method is simple, but executing it… well.”
Shin Rip provided the answer instead.
“By acknowledging your opponent.”
- ….
“Struggle isn't the only way forward.”
“Right, I acknowledged you. That you're a stronger swordsman than me.”
Yet there was something he couldn't accept.
- If you acknowledge it like that… isn't it all over?
“…Heh heh, who said it's over? Do you really think so?”
- ….
He'd never thought deeply about it.
He just figured it meant he'd hit his limit.
“You talk like the path ahead suddenly vanishes.”
- …Ah!
“The path is always there. Still. Someday, you and I… we'll reach it. That's an irrefutable truth. Yes…”
Shin Hyun looked at Shin Rip, who smiled faintly.
“The path is still there.”
“Hahaha! Looks like we have to show you right now, Brother! That thing we prepared to show Kang Seol—is it ready?”
“Anytime.”
“Great!”
Shing…
They drew their swords in unison.
And swung toward the mountain.
Whoooosh…
Baaaaang-!
Dozens of thrusts erupted from Shin Hyun's sword.
They merged into a single sound.
“Haa… haa….”
The mountain was riddled with holes like a beehive.
“How's that? That's Shin Hyun's Downpour.”
Shin Yoo pondered.
It was definitely the three-stage Downpour of the Heavy Rain Sword.
But it was vastly different from the one he knew.
How to describe it.
- …Not fast. No, it is fast, but something….
“Heh, you saw it right. Now Brother's turn.”
Rumble…
Thunderclap Roar.
Swordsmanship like a bolt of lightning.
That was the Thunderclap Sword.
Kiiing…
A gentle breeze blew as the sword was drawn.
Fwoooooosh-!
The first time witnessing the Thunderclap Sword's three stages.
Convergence, Barley Burn.
- ….
The hill, pocked with holes, scattered away. Without special destruction or vibration.
Soft, like Shin Kang's Divine Wind Sword.
- Something… something's… different.
Their three stages differed from the swordsmanship Shin Yoo had known.
Not ultimate speed, not ultimate weight.
“Different, right?”
“It is.”
“Because… it had to change.”
Shin Hyun said.
“A sword that's only fast is bound to trip.”
Shin Rip said.
“A sword that's only strong is bound to break. Got it?”
- ….
Shin Rip summed it up in one sentence.
“All paths connect.”
Crackle!
Crackle!
Lightning sparked from Shin Rip and Shin Hyun's bodies.
A familiar energy.
That was it.
- Storm Sword!
“Haha, correct.”
“The Storm Sword you comprehended.”
Unbeknownst to him, his brothers' prowess had advanced terrifyingly.
“My Thunderclap Sword, Hyun's Heavy Rain Sword… and Kang's Divine Wind Sword… they're all just stages.”
Indeed.
“They all meet at the crossroads.”
They hadn't revealed the Storm Sword's secrets until Shin Yoo mentioned it, so he hadn't despaired.
“Shin Yoo, we brothers were waiting for you here.”
“You've grown.”
- Why….
“Because it's your sword. The one you must carry.”
“I was jealous, but it suits you perfectly.”
The brothers' swords were connected.
“Our swords are the brothers' swords, and that sword is…”
“Yours, Shin Yoo.”
Shin Rip and Shin Hyun sat with Shin Yoo between them.
“Now, all that's left is to move forward.”
Though he grasped his brothers' will, Shin Yoo couldn't respond immediately.
- But this sword… lost to Kang Seol and Yurin. I'm worthless to him….
“Tch, after all that with Kang Seol, you still don't get it? No, you don't even know yourself properly.”
“Shin Yoo, Kang Seol is special. You know that. He resembles your brother Shin Kang.”
- Brother Kang….
“The guy whose talent lagged, who failed endlessly.”
Even he defeated the Storm Sword.
“But the guy who spins tales. Why does his path keep going?”
“Because he dusts himself off after every fall. Fate can't help but favor such people.”
Again.
Again.
Kang Seol's endless cries of "again."
That was the difference.
“Talent alone can't pass the crossroads.”
“What matters is imagining beyond it.”
Imagination beyond the crossroads.
The path not yet visible.
Why?
Why had the crossroads been invisible?
Why had the Storm Sword lost?
No, why couldn't it even be completed?
- Why… Is the Storm Sword wrong? Or… is Kang Seol just stronger?
“Both, you fool.”
“Wait… did you just….”
Shin Rip sprang up and demonstrated his swordsmanship.
Crackle…
Kwaaaaaaaa-!
A sudden burst of immense energy.
“Urk…”
Shin Rip wobbled, head spinning.
“Ah! I see. Did you just use the same sword as Brother?”
Nod…
Shin Rip and Shin Hyun exchanged looks and roared with laughter.
“Hahaha! I knew it!”
“…Shin Yoo, that's so you.”
“I told you? This guy's so innocent, he believes written words at face value.”
Shin Yoo still didn't grasp what they were talking about.
“Yoo-ah, our ancestor was a madman. Or so it's said. And that's why the Storm Sword was lost.”
Nod.
“Doesn't that strike you as odd?”
Odd how?
“How could a madman leave such detailed records, and why do we believe they're accurate?”
- ….
No way—the records were fake?
Then why leave such records?
“Think, you fool. Ponder it! The ancestor wanted us to think for ourselves.”
He lied on purpose.
‘Why?’
If the madman was a lie, the content might be too.
He had to doubt the content.
‘Doubt… the content?’
In that moment, something clicked.
Unnatural movements.
Whether the madman was real or fake… one thing mattered.
“Don't follow the set path. Follow your own thoughts! Your own judgment!”
Shin Hyun's shout snapped him alert.
My thoughts, my judgment.
Someone came to mind.
Kang Seol.
Kang Seol's actions and judgments clashed with his own.
Even though he, the ally, was far more trustworthy than the yacha, Kang Seol chose the yacha.
Because he believed it was right, even in opposition.
The reason his sword felt unstable began to take shape.
What he'd wielded wasn't the Storm Sword.
It was clumsy swordplay, far short and prone to stumbling.
‘Ah… Aah-!’
Shin Yoo trembled as he moved.
Then wrote vigorously.
- I'm going!
“…….”
- I have to go! Me, I!
To where he belonged.
To where he was needed.
The words etched into the ground were what his brothers had longed for.
He needed Shin Yoo.
- I'm going to Kang Seol!
* * *
The black knight swung his sword.
Whoooosh…
Pat-!
A probing strike disguised as exploration.
Yet swift.
Clang-!
He parried cleanly with precise swordsmanship.
Everything about the yacha was now his. Sparring was effortless.
The labyrinth's master watched from afar. Not due to any special power, but because without using the night ravens, joining the fight wouldn't yield results.
That was Kang Seol when he first entered the labyrinth.