Chapter 144: Race (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 144: Race (3)
“Haaah…”
The office of Yu Serin, sub-guild master of the Lotus Guild.
Through the floor-to-ceiling glass window, the reflections of several packing boxes could be seen scattered around her office.
She was endlessly scrolling through the news articles displayed on the hologram screen above her desk.
With every flick of her finger across the screen, sensational headlines flashed by.
[The Saint, Jung Hae-in. Conquers Bulgaram's Trial!]
[The Youngest Successor in History? A Tectonic Shift Foretold for Korea's Hero Community.]
[Two Successors? The Truth Behind the Relationship Between Yoon Chae-ha and Jung Hae-in?]
Yu Serin let out a long sigh and leaned back deep into her chair.
“He’s gotten too famous~”
Jung Hae-in's stock hadn't just hit the ceiling; it was soaring into a realm beyond measure.
Of course, she tried to console herself by thinking he wouldn't have joined Lotus anyway, no matter how hard she tried, but… the reality of the situation remained unchanged.
‘Failed to buy low.’
That was Yu Serin’s conclusion.
“Or is it?”
Could this still be the low point?
Yu Serin pondered this. Surely, with the potential he’d shown back then…
A faint smile touched her lips.
Knock, knock.
A knock came from the office door.
“Come in!”
The door opened, and her faithful secretary entered with a bow.
“Sub-guild master, all preparations are complete. We can move at any time.”
Yu Serin slowly rose from her seat.
She gestured toward the screen, and all the articles about Jung Hae-in vanished without a trace.
Now, the look of regret and anxiety on her face was replaced by one of pure resolve.
“Excellent.”
Yu Serin looked down at the moving boxes piled in the corner of her office and said.
“Shall we get started, too?”
If Jung Hae-in was a blue-chip stock…
Then Lotus was an insolvent one.
*
Gaon's vacation was set to a length somewhere between that of a typical high school and a university.
In the original story, the only event scheduled between the first semester’s vacation and the second semester… was training.
The message was clear: since the story had just begun, it was time to grind and raise my stats.
So, I hadn’t really done anything special.
Or rather, is it right to say I hadn’t done anything?
If anything, it was a series of training sessions more hellish than my time at the academy.
“Wait, just a second.”
"Says who."
CRASH!!
It was the same even now.
By the time I came to my senses, my body was already embedded in the reinforced wall of the underground training ground.
My head rang from the impact.
The cause of this whole mess was that damn old geezer, who had attached himself to me as my personal coach.
“Hmm…”
Getting beaten by the Old Man's Fist Reinforcement, the thought I'm seriously going to die would cross my mind several times a day.
Beyond the cloud of dust, the Old Man stroked his chin, lost in thought.
In truth, everything he was doing was for my sake.
I had already told the Old Man about acquiring the Fragment.
‘Please help me.’
I was the one who’d asked for his help a week ago to obtain an Expanded Authority.
I must have been crazy.
It might have been better to just bash my head against a wall on my own.
Since I wasn't one to usually ask for his help, he seemed thrilled.
Still… this was too much.
“Let me rest for a bit…”
The Old Man casually ignored me and came to a conclusion.
“No matter how much mana we draw out, there's no significant change. This approach must be wrong.”
The damn genius of training, as expected.
Was he actually thinking while he was beating the crap out of me?
“You’re only realizing that now…?”
I shuddered at the conclusion he’d reached after beating me for three days and nights.
“Tomorrow, we’ll try a different method.”
With those parting words, the Old Man left the training ground without a second glance. A satisfied smile was plastered on his face.
Fundamentally, his approach might not have been entirely wrong.
The act of wringing out every last drop of mana from my body, completely emptying it.
It was his way, I suppose, of making me find a clue to a new awakening in that state of emptiness.
Right to the brink of Mana Depletion.
Until I recovered even a small amount of mana, it was impossible to so much as move a finger.
Thus, long after he left, I remained lying on the cold floor of the training ground, doing nothing but panting raggedly.
…And then, as always, the door to the training ground would quietly open.
Beep.
Click.
Clack.
With the sound of buttons being pressed, the door was double- and triple-locked.
Vreeeeeee.
THUD.
The heavy sound of a massive steel bulkhead closing echoed throughout the training ground.
The area was now a sealed room, completely cut off from the outside.
In the silence, footsteps approached me.
I knew it was Sion without even having to turn my head.
She gave my limp form a faint smile, then carefully crouched down beside me.
“You worked hard.”
“……”
I didn’t even have the energy to reply.
Her excuse was always the same.
That she would help tune my mana.
The first few times, I thought she was genuinely trying to help.
She would help me sit up and pretend to carefully infuse mana into me from behind.
But not anymore.
Now, Sion slid her soft body right under mine, into the narrow space between me and the floor.
Then, she would hug me tightly from behind.
After a few minutes of tuning, she would always get up and leave. As if nothing had happened.
This had been going on for the past week.
Is this really okay?
Ever since I’d glimpsed her true feelings, she had been coming at me relentlessly.
Under the plausible excuse of ‘tuning,’ the intensity of her physical contact was escalating day by day.
Sion nuzzled her face against my shoulder and whined.
“How much longer do you have to do this training? Isn't Grandpa being too harsh? It's making me so upset…”
“Today’s the last day.”
“…Really?”
Probably. Since the Old Man said he was changing his approach tomorrow, this would be the end of it.
“I made dinner. Come out and eat.”
Sion, who had already stood up, looked down at me and spoke gently.
She smiled, then quietly brushed past me.
I thought she would just walk past, just like that.
But Sion leaned her upper body down. The subtle scent of her shampoo washed over me.
A pair of soft, hot lips pressed against the nape of my neck and then pulled away.
When I turned my head in surprise, she gave me a bright, innocent smile and said.
“You said it was the last time, right?”
As if nothing had happened, Ha Sion smiled brightly, waved, and left the training ground.
“……”
I sat there for a long time, just staring blankly.
*
Moonlight settled silently upon the Yu Family's seclusion training hall.
It was a space that, for generations, only the family head and their successor were permitted to enter.
CLANG!
With the sound of the final clash of swords, Yu Hana swept past Yu Mujin.
“Hah… heok…!”
She barely avoided collapsing by bracing herself with her Dongbaek Sword against the ground.
Her entire body was drenched in sweat, and ragged breaths escaped her lips.
Her mana, her stamina—both were now at their limit.
Across from her stood her father and the current family head, Yu Mujin, completely motionless.
Still holding his sword, he gazed down quietly at his daughter.
The outcome of the battle seemed clear.
However.
A satisfied smile graced Yu Mujin’s lips.
Slowly, he raised his own sword.
The blade, bathed in moonlight, gave off a cool light. Then, in the next moment…
Fshhh….
His sword, the very symbol of the Azure Cloud Sword Emperor, the greatest sword under heaven, scattered into a handful of blue dust beneath the moonlight.
Yu Mujin stared down at his empty hand for a moment before raising his head to look at his daughter.
His eyes were filled with immense pride.
“Your sword has surpassed mine.”
His voice was calm.
“Daughter, this means the path you seek to walk has gone beyond the end of the old road I have traveled.”
Amidst the scattering blue dust, he declared to his daughter.
“Now, the next Sword Emperor of the Yu Family… no. The Sword Empress (劍后) is you.”
After those words, he said no more.
He simply squeezed his daughter’s shoulder once, firmly, before letting go.
Then, without a second glance, he turned and walked silently out of the training hall.
Yu Mujin, too, was simply following the example his own father had set for him in the past.
After he had completely disappeared, silence once again fell over the training hall.
Yu Hana dragged her exhausted body and slowly made her way out.
The moment she stepped outside, a crowd of female attendants who had been waiting anxiously rushed toward her.
“My lady! Are you alright?!”
“Good heavens… I can’t believe it.”
They quickly escorted Yu Hana to her room.
One attendant wiped the sweat from her body with a fluffy towel prepared in advance, while another offered her a cup of warm tea.
“I am fine. You may all leave.”
Even amidst the commotion surrounding her, Yu Hana spoke in a calm voice.
The attendants bowed their heads, almost unconsciously, and quietly withdrew.
Once her surroundings were quiet again, Yu Hana paused for a moment.
The succession… was a success. It hadn't been easy for her, either.
…Now, Yu Hana’s mind was filled with only a single thought.
Very quietly, she turned on the watch she had taken off before her seclusion training.
Vrrrm.
As the watch powered on, Yu Hana swallowed dryly and opened the group chat room.
Then, she slowly scrolled up through the chat history.
[1000_y]: (Photo)
[1000_y]: (Photo)
“Ah…”
Her heart plummeted. It was Cheon Yeo-wool, smiling seductively with only a towel wrapped around her, and… Jung Hae-in, looking tense on the bed.
Yu Hana collapsed right where she stood.
In the end, with her own hands…
She had thrown away her chance to be with him.
A heart-wrenching sense of defeat and jealousy wrapped around her entire body.
And yet.
Thump, thump, thump.
Her once-calm heart suddenly began to beat uncontrollably fast.
Her cheeks flushed for no reason, and she unconsciously wet her dry lips with her tongue.
Yu Hana stared blankly, her gaze shifting back and forth between Jung Hae-in's tense face on the screen and Cheon Yeo-wool's seductive smile.
And then.
With a trembling hand, she carefully touched the corner of her own mouth.
“Huh…?”
But the corner of Yu Hana's lips…
Had clearly, minutely…
Turned upward.
