The Spear and the Arrow

There are moments in life when a person simply has to swallow their shame and humiliation.

I'd always considered myself comparatively lucky in that regard.

Back in my delinquent days, I didn't even know what shame felt like, and after the world ended, such emotions were a luxury I couldn't afford.

The only real exception was the time I cried in front of Baek Seo-ha.

In that spirit, I can say this with full confidence.

"Ha... damn it..."

Today is the single most mortifying moment of my entire life.

I have no idea how many of those banners I've seen today alone.

I tear them down every time I spot one, yet they keep sprouting up like weeds.

Bizarre Shin Guild anthem lyrics poured out of passing billboards and car radios.

On the advertising screens draped across department store buildings, footage of me lifting the guild war championship trophy played on an endless loop.

"Aaaaargh!"

A groan of pure agony escaped me of its own accord.

Was this a nightmare?

Had I actually failed to regress and died at the Iron Blood Monarch's hands after all?

'There's only one person who could pull something like this.'

I stormed into the Cheonseong Group headquarters building at a dead run.

And there, displayed with grand ceremony in the central main hall, was the guild war championship trophy.

At the center of an artificial lake with water trickling down its edges, a golden trophy glittered beneath a chandelier encrusted with every kind of gemstone imaginable.

'...There was definitely no lake ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠or chandelier here yesterday.'

How on earth had all this happened in a single day?

Anyway, that wasn't the point.

"Faaatheeeer!"

Without another word, I kicked open the door to the chairman's office.

What greeted me was a hellscape where everything I'd seen outside had been condensed into a single room.

The Shin Guild anthem, blasting from premium surround speakers at maximum volume.

Roughly seven different screens replaying the moment I hoisted the trophy aloft.

Banners strung across every corner of the room like spiderwebs.

"Oh, Tae-hyun, you're here!"

My father, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠who had been gazing at the screens with a contented smile, shot up from his seat.

"I'm so sorry, Young Master... we did everything we could to stop him..."

Secretary Kim, standing rigidly nearby, bowed his head.

"Father... everything out there... that was all you?"

"Kwahaha! Of course! Who else would do it?"

"...The anthem production and the billboard blitz too? All of it?"

"That anthem is really something, isn't it? I hired the most expensive composer money could buy."

"Ha... hahaha..."

Figures.

An operation on this scale — no, a tribute this extravagant — would've been impossible for anyone short of the entire Cheonseong Group.

Every fiber of my being wanted to scream at him to take down the anthem, the ads, all of it.

"Who would've thought I'd live to rewatch the guild war footage this many times at my age? Kwahaha!"

But seeing my father laugh like that, I couldn't bring myself to open my mouth.

"Tae-hyun."

"Yes, Father."

"I'm proud of you."

The words I'd always wanted to hear.

Once upon a time, I'd believed I would never hear them again — and now the reality of them bored straight into my chest.

"Becoming a proper hunter. Becoming an excellent guild leader. Becoming a man of Cheonseong — all of that makes me happy, but..."

His hands came to rest on my shoulders.

"The fact that my son has finally come back to me. The fact that you can look me in the eye again. That is what makes this father happiest of all."

"......"

There was so much I wanted to say.

Which was exactly why nothing came out.

Every time I tried to force something out, it didn't feel like the right answer.

So I dredged the truth up from the heavy ache in my chest, sifted through it again and again, and pared it down to a single sentence.

Only then did the sound finally scrape its way out of my throat.

"I'm home."

"Welcome back, son!"

Turning back the hands of time —

I had finally returned to my father.

God, it took far too long.

"Oh! And I was thinking of compiling all of Shin Guild's tournament footage and screening it in theaters—"

"Do that, and I'm genuinely moving out."

Comfort was nowhere to be found.

"Congratulations on the win!"

The moment I stepped into the Hunter Bureau, Seong Ju-ah thrust a lavish bouquet into my arms.

"I honestly never expected you to actually win. You have no idea how shocked I was."

"You should've seen it coming. I'm the guild leader, after all."

"...You know, sometimes you're genuinely insufferable?"

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"Pffthaha!"

I set the flowers aside as we traded light banter.

"...Am I just decoration here?"

Kim Jin, who'd been wearing a constipated expression behind us this whole time, finally chimed in.

"Looks like your body's fully healed?"

"Hmph. Your pathetic attacks heal up with a bit of spit and a good night's sleep."

"Funny, for someone so resilient, you looked half-dead every single time you showed up for treatment."

"J-Ju-ah...!"

Kim Jin stammered and stamped his feet in a fluster.

The guy whose speech turns all stiff and formal the moment he's around me becomes pure tofu the second he's next to Seong Ju-ah.

"Anyway, I'm not here just to celebrate."

"The acquisition process is finally complete? That took longer than I expected."

"Well, it is a national-treasure-grade item. Everything that needed doing was handled on my end, so it's now fully and officially yours, Tae-hyun."

At Seong Ju-ah's signal, Kim Jin carried out a large box from the next room.

A black lacquered surface embroidered with shimmering mother-of-pearl inlay.

'The word "treasure chest" was made for this thing.'

I opened the box slowly.

"Once again — sincere congratulations on your guild war victory."

Inside lay a bell of breathtaking beauty.

The kind of item that drew an admiring gasp from you just by looking at it.

An out-of-specification item discovered on South Korean soil.

Performance so extraordinary that the title of "national treasure" almost felt like an understatement.

'I expected it, but it's secondhand.'

Only two of the bell's four charges still glowed.

Meaning the nation had already used two.

"Tsk."

A little disappointing, sure.

But two would be more than enough.

'What matters most is that the national treasure known as the Bronze Bell stays in Korea.'

With this, I'd prevented the bell from ever crossing over to Japan.

And with it, the future of international conflict that would have followed.

'Well then, shall we get to it?'

Toward the most luxurious employee benefits package imaginable.

"I-is it really, really, really okay to use something like that on someone like meeee?!"

The moment Shin Yeon-hee laid eyes on the Bronze Bell, her words dissolved into a stuttering stammer.

"What kind of question is that? I brought it here for you, Shin Yeon-hee."

"That's right, sis!"

Shin Min-woo took his sister's hand.

"You said you wanted to be a hunter, didn't you? Compared to your dream, a national-treasure-grade item is nothing."

"......"

Whose item is this, exactly?

"Is... is it really true?"

"I don't make bad investments."

...Well, Shin Min-woo wasn't wrong.

I'd decided from the very beginning to spend one charge on healing Shin Yeon-hee's legs.

If a single use bought me an archer of once-in-a-generation talent, one who could stand toe-to-toe with an S-rank — the returns were enormous.

"Then let's begin."

I shook the bell in my hand.

♪~

An astonishingly beautiful tone rang out.

Not even worth hesitating over. Yes.

A luminous, crystal-clear energy enveloped her.

It gradually shifted into a warm glow, seeping into her body.

"Oh... oh......?"

"What, what is it, sis?! Don't tell me it didn't work—"

"No, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Min-woo."

Shin Yeon-hee spoke softly.

"The feeling... it's coming back..."

Unable to believe it, she prodded her thigh and her calf with her fingertips.

Her breathing quickened, and her voice began to soak with tears.

"My legs... they're really..."

"Why don't you try standing up?"

I extended a hand toward her.

"Ah...!"

She took my hand.

And then —

Whoosh!

She left her wheelchair behind and planted both feet on the ground.

Leg muscles long unused trembled and quivered beneath her.

"I'm moving! The sensation's all the way back!"

But that small frame of hers held firm, upright on its own two feet.

Shin Yeon-hee's legs — once declared beyond recovery — were moving again.

"Hic... sob! Hnnnggh...!"

The tears that had been welling in her reddened eyes came pouring down.

Droplets formed from years of emotion and seasons of despair, all compacted into sediment.

"They're really back... I thought I'd never walk again... sob! I'd given up on everything — the dream of being a hunter, the guild, all of it... It was so hard, so painful..."

"Sis...!"

Shin Min-woo stepped closer and gently patted her back.

"Thank you, Tae-hyun... truly... sob!"

After a long while of hiccupping sobs, she wiped her eyes and lifted her head.

Then, with the steely resolve carved into her face, she made her declaration.

"From this moment on, I will become your arrow, Guild Leader. I will draw my bow for you and you alone, and every obstacle that dares stand in your path — I will shoot it down myself."

She would become my arrow.

"Now that's reassuring."

And I meant every word.

Because I knew exactly how skilled she was.

With proper training and backing, hers was archery that could hold its own on the world stage.

"Let me say this, though — I'm a genuinely rotten bastard of a boss? You'll get back everything you receive from me, with interest, so brace yourself."

"Pff! I've received so much already, I doubt a lifetime would be enough to repay it."

"Then sign a lifetime contract."

It was meant as a joke, tossed out with a playful grin.

"Ooh, I like that. Lifetime contract."

"...Sorry?"

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

I felt the grip around my hand tighten.

Wasn't there an old saying about archers and their strength?

CRUNCH!

She clamped down like she'd never let go again.

"The life you saved — I want to spend all of it in service of you and Shin."

"R-right. That's, um, good."

"So... you will give me that lifetime contract, won't you?"

"Oh! Me too! I want one as well!"

Who on earth volunteers to be first in line for a lifetime contract?! Both of them, apparently!

"F-fine, fine. But no backing out later, deal?"

"Of course not."

"I already told you, hyung — I'm with you all the way to the end!"

And so it was.

That a brother and sister promised their eternity to Shin Guild.

A perfectly clear sky, without a single cloud.

It was the early morning hour when dew gathered on the foothills dripped down to wet the earth.

Buzz buzz!

The disciples of the Sword Sect had risen at the crack of dawn and were bustling about.

"Hey! The banner's crooked!"

"Three more steps to the left... okay, good!"

A small stage was being hammered into completion piece by piece.

The man directing them all was the sect's head instructor and acting sect leader.

"Hurry it up, everyone! We're starting soon!"

Seong Gyu-ho.

"You all know today has to be perfect, right? This is an important day!"

"We know better than you do, Master!"

"Stop barking orders and lend a hand, will you?!"

Yes — today was a special day.

The most momentous day in the history of the Cheongnyong Sword Sect.

Today was the day of Baek Seo-ha's inauguration as Sect Leader.