Chapter 57
Chapter 57
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 57
Chapter Title: Escort Caravan - Escort Journey, Fate (7)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
In truth, Gwak Chil had come to this place far earlier.
More precisely, it was right before Mok Ri-won began properly employing his forms, when the two had started their conversation.
Why hadn't pinnacle realm masters sensed Gwak Chil's presence?
The answer to that question was simple.
The two were so utterly focused on each other.
Mok Ri-won was out of his mind from the prickling killing intent on his skin and Pae Ung-chu's demonic qi.
Pae Ung-chu, too, was clouded in reason by the demonic qi racing through his veins.
That life-or-death exchange in such a state was the reason.
...It wasn't anything important.
Whatever the case, the core of the current situation was that Gwak Chil had heard the entire conversation between the two.
Heavenly Slaughter Star.
Demons.
And hero.
Gwak Chil felt his mind reeling from all of it.
Of course he did—everyone knew what the Heavenly Slaughter Star was, even common folk who had never set foot in the jianghu.
That was ultimately why Gwak Chil's reaction had been delayed.
And why he had helped Mok Ri-won.
—I was deeply moved by the Demonic Hero's tale!
Only now did Gwak Chil somewhat understand Mok Ri-won.
"Gwak Daren..."
"Are you all right? Can you move?"
Gwak Chil was simply worried for Mok Ri-won.
After a quick check of his body, realizing he could at least walk, Gwak Chil let out a deep sigh of relief.
Even then, Mok Ri-won anxiously scanned Gwak Chil.
Only upon seeing no strange signs did he relax.
"...Let's head back. Judging by the signal flare the demon just fired, things should be over on their end too."
Mok Ri-won nodded at Gwak Chil's words.
The sudden calamity ended like that.
*
A total of seven escorts had died.
Thirteen were injured, seven of them seriously.
The caravan's mood was accordingly grim.
"...Still, it was the best we could do. The situation wasn't favorable at all."
Dang Hwa-seo said this to Mok Ri-won.
It wasn't mere consolation.
Dang Hwa-seo had done everything in her power to save the escorts.
Jegal San had used every jade token he had to sow chaos, preventing the demons from targeting them.
Everyone there knew the extent of their contributions.
Yet no one could readily offer thanks.
Facing the corpse of someone you'd been laughing and chatting with moments ago was no easy thing to get used to.
"...This is the jianghu, huh."
Mok Ri-won murmured lowly.
His insides ached as much as anyone else's.
'They came for me.'
The Fist Demon had clearly said as much.
Which meant this entire tragedy had happened because of him.
Clench—.
Mok Ri-won's fists tightened.
Thick despair dwelled in his eyes.
His pathetically crushed face glistened with moisture.
'Because of me...'
He, and the star he bore, had caused this disaster.
Mok Ri-won felt the nature of the Heavenly Slaughter Star once more.
This time had been lucky.
Who knew what greater calamity might strike next.
And then, the corpses lying there might include his own kin.
"Young Hero Mok..."
Dang Hwa-seo placed a hand on Mok Ri-won's shoulder.
He flinched and trembled at the touch.
His head whipped around, meeting her eyes.
Dang Hwa-seo panicked.
Tears welled in Mok Ri-won's eyes.
She could say with certainty she'd never seen him like this.
A face on the verge of crumbling, crying—it was something she'd never even imagined.
Her heart ached naturally.
Feeling her insides sour, Dang Hwa-seo reached out and pulled him into her arms.
"It's okay."
Tap.
Tap.
She patted his back.
It stemmed purely from wanting him not to cry.
There was one quality to receiving comfort from someone.
Emotions you'd suppressed without fully venting would reflux through those words and actions.
"Keuk..."
Mok Ri-won's body shivered finely.
Raw sobs began leaking from his mouth.
Soon, he wept like a child.
On his first journey into the jianghu, traveling from Gangseo to Anhui toward Wuhan, Mok Ri-won tasted his first defeat in life.
*
The caravan's load had grown.
Now, alongside the valuables, they carried seven corpses.
Dragging their wounded bodies, they arrived in Hubei after five more days.
"You've worked hard. Thank you for traveling with us."
The lead escort cupped his fists in salute.
Dang Hwa-seo returned the gesture and replied.
"We merely did what needed doing. And we couldn't even accomplish it properly."
The escort leader gave a bitter smile and shook his head.
"In a situation where we all might have died, saving this many is undoubtedly thanks to you great heroes. Take pride in it."
"What now?"
"What else? We continue the escort duty."
The escort leader said.
Though sunk in grief over lost brothers, they couldn't collapse here.
As always, they would rise again and press on.
That was the jianghu.
"You great heroes head to the Murim Alliance now?"
"That's the plan."
"I ask you this."
The escort leader looked up.
Still wearing that sad smile, he continued.
"Demons have appeared. The jianghu may fall into chaos again. So please, you great heroes—stop it."
"...We will."
"Thank you."
Only then did the escort leader's sadness ease a bit.
Hearing that conversation, Mok Ri-won felt his stomach churn.
People had died because of him.
Others grieved for them.
Mok Ri-won couldn't lift his head before them.
Even as they left the escort agency, he kept his head down.
Thus, they stepped into the streets.
"Great hero!"
At that moment, Gwak Chil called out to Mok Ri-won.
*
Since that day, Gwak Chil hadn't exchanged a single word with Mok Ri-won.
Naturally, he had his worries.
Though he understood him a little better, the Heavenly Slaughter Star was frightening.
Even aside from that, Mok Ri-won had been steeped in gloom for the remaining five days, giving off an unapproachable air.
And so they'd arrived today.
At the moment when he might never see Mok Ri-won again.
Gwak Chil hesitated to let him go like this.
It wasn't some grand resolve or conviction.
Just as he'd been lifted by someone's comfort, he hoped the same for Mok Ri-won.
Poison Phoenix and the Strange Dragon were at his side, but who knew if they knew of his Heavenly Slaughter Star.
"...I heard you're leaving."
Gwak Chil stopped Mok Ri-won and led him to a quiet alley, saying this.
Mok Ri-won smiled bitterly.
"Yes. It's time for me to go."
Mok Ri-won's face was haggard.
One might say even his haggardness became beauty given his fine looks, but Gwak Chil wasn't seeing that now.
Gwak Chil clenched his fists.
Then, fumbling, he opened his mouth.
"...Truth is, I heard it that day. Your conversation with the demon."
Flinch—.
Mok Ri-won's body trembled.
Lifting his head, shock covered his face.
And faint fear.
Mok Ri-won grasped the meaning instantly.
Step back.
His foot retreated.
In that instant, Gwak Chil stepped forward.
"I won't tell! Not to anyone, ever!"
Gwak Chil shouted louder than he had in nearly twenty years.
Truth be told, he'd prepared many words on the way here, but in this moment, none came to mind.
What he conveyed was raw sincerity.
"I swear it! On my hero's code. On my life. And..."
It was a worthless life.
Thus, Gwak Chil had little to stake.
As "Gwak Chil," little to stake.
Gwak Chil fumbled with his lips.
Then, squeezing it out, he said.
"...On my pen name, Gwak Chil-pyo."
For an instant, Mok Ri-won's breath stopped.
He didn't grasp the words at first, staring blankly, then his eyes widened as if to tear.
"What do you..."
"Me. I'm Gwak Chil-pyo. The pathetic author you praised so highly."
Gwak Chil smiled bitterly.
Spilling it out like this left him feeling empty again.
The secret he'd hidden so tightly was surprisingly easy to voice.
"I'll stake my name. I won't tell a soul about the fate upon you, great hero. So please, hear me out."
Mok Ri-won was confused.
That this like-minded companion was the author of *Tales of the Jianghu Heroes*, that he knew of his star, and that he vowed to keep it secret—all of it.
So many questions.
And hesitations.
Amid it all, one question slipped from Mok Ri-won's lips.
Not one thought out and spoken.
"...Why?"
He simply voiced the doubt that arose.
"Why say this to me? Why vow to guard my secret, even staking such an important pen name? I don't understand. I..."
The Heavenly Slaughter Star was a rejected star.
No—a star worthy of hatred.
Even Mok Ri-won knew that now.
But suppressing his killing intent wouldn't make it go away.
As Mok Seon-o had said, this star blanketed everything in his living space with killing intent.
Yet here was this man offering such words—it was incomprehensible.
Mok Ri-won's words trailed off.
He was in pain.
Gwak Chil's reply came just as the sadness rising on Mok Ri-won's face threatened to swallow all other emotions.
"Yet you, great hero, seek not to be a hero."
Gwak Chil said.
"Yet you still aspire to be a wandering hero. You've saved no one with it."
"I couldn't save them. I..."
"No, you did."
Gwak Chil straightened his back.
With a humble smile, he cupped his fists.
"You saved me, great hero. Your words pulled me from my suffering."
Doubt swirled on Mok Ri-won's face.
To that, Gwak Chil said.
"I hated the Demonic Hero's tale. I received so much criticism for it. It made me unable to pick up my brush again. I came to hate my own child."
"..."
"For that reason, I went twenty years without touching a brush. But no longer. You taught me the Demonic Hero's chapter could be loved, that what tormented me wasn't others' scorn but my own fear. So I'm no longer tormented."
Gwak Chil bowed deeply.
"Thank you for saving me. No matter what star you bear or what sword you wield, I see you as a wandering hero."
Silence hung between them.
Mok Ri-won gazed long at the bowed Gwak Chil before carefully parting his lips.
"...They died because of me."
"They died because of the demons."
"They came for me."
"There's no law that blames victims. You are a victim too, great hero."
"I might endanger those around me again."
"But it's not your fault, great hero."
Mok Ri-won's eyelashes quivered.
Suddenly, his throat tightened.
"I..."
Words wouldn't come easily.
He felt his jaw trembling.
He clenched his teeth to steady it.
Finally, in a voice like desperate pleading, he asked.
"...Can I become a wandering hero?"
Mok Ri-won couldn't know the answer.
Born bearing a star that incites killing intent, stepping into the jianghu, and ultimately costing lives with that fate—he was simply afraid.
Thus, he wanted to ask.
One of the masters who'd taught him the way of heroes.
Gwak Chil.
Light gleamed in Gwak Chil's eyes.
His eyelids lifted slightly, then softly settled into a curve.
"You are already a splendid wandering hero, great hero."
He grinned, baring yellowed teeth.
Mok Ri-won gasped raggedly.
"I'll say it again, you saved m—"
"No, no."
Mok Ri-won wiped his tears roughly with his sleeve.
Shaking his head, he soon smiled through the tears.
"Daren... Great Hero Gwak, you saved me."
Mok Ri-won cupped his fists.
It still hurt, still pained him, but somewhere in those words was unmistakable warmth comforting him.
Support lifting him up.
"You saved me, great hero. From long ago, until today."
The day he'd first realized his own killing intent, the Demonic Hero's chapter had saved Mok Ri-won.
Whenever training grew grueling, the heroes of *Tales of the Jianghu Heroes* had lifted him.
And today, when he might have crumbled, its author Gwak Chil had saved him.
Mok Ri-won bowed deeply.
"You taught me that even I could dream of being a wandering hero. You kept me from giving up. You lifted me like this."
Mok Ri-won's clasped hands trembled.
His voice carried a soaked quiver.
"Great Hero Gwak saved me. Thank you so much."
Gwak Chil bit his lip at those words.
"...You overpraise me."
As he spoke, only one image etched into Gwak Chil's vision.
A man smiling through tears.
A man walking the righteous path with boyish purity.
A man facing arduous fate, destined for a painful road.
Yet a man who seemed unbreakable.
Gwak Chil felt inspiration budding.
For some reason, he wanted to grasp his brush.
"Far too much praise."
In that moment of seeing the smile, Gwak Chil thought.
He wanted to write of a protagonist wielding a jet-black sword with a clear smile, forging through adversity.
Passion reignited after twenty years.