Someone's Malice (4)
It was a sunny day. As usual, Cheol Sunjik was killing time at the neighborhood gambling den. People around him didn't look kindly on the second son of the Jukhyeonbang Lord wandering the back alleys like a thug, but he didn't care. He had no intention of fighting his brother over the sect in the first place; his goal was simply to enjoy the wealth and privileges he'd been given, whiling away his days with gambling and booze.
But that day felt different somehow. His kind but naive older brother showed up at the gambling den in person to drag him home.
"What? You never said anything when I skipped out before."
Even his gentle-natured brother sighed in frustration. "Have you forgotten what day it is?"
Cheol Sunjik rolled his eyes. What important thing could it possibly be...
"Ah! It's the day those Jongnam bastards come, right?"
"You little shit!"
His naive brother hurriedly glanced around, worried someone might have overheard. As if the back-alley thugs could do anything about it. Cheol Sunjik sneered inwardly but kept it off his face.
"You absolutely cannot let that kind of talk slip out!"
"Jeez."
He slung an arm around his brother's shoulder. For all his timidity and naivety, it was that side of him that made it impossible to hate the guy.
"Got it! But you're buying the drinks after the event's over."
"Hah! You brat! How long do you plan to just eat and play around?"
How long? Hmm... Cheol Sunjik gazed at his brother's face, utterly devoid of any competitive spirit, and let out a smirk.
"I'd like to mooch off you for life if possible. Leave all that Jukhyeonbang crap to you."
"God, you're...
To Cheol Sunjik, events like this—and Jongnam itself—were all a massive bore. It was an exchange held once every five years, thanks to some distant connection through his master's Jongnam lay disciple roots. When Jukhyeonbang's history stretched back three hundred years, what meaning did "lay disciple" even hold anymore?
Besides, Jukhyeonbang was a pillar of the Twelve Peaks. Considering their goal to surpass the Nine Great Sects and Five Great Families someday, these so-called exchange gatherings were nothing more than ceremonial showmanship.
And yet.
He endured the greetings.
He sat through the martial demonstrations and discussions of martial philosophy.
He had no interest, but as the second son of Jukhyeonbang, he figured he'd fulfilled the bare minimum duty to enjoy his privileges.
Then.
"You're that wastrel from Jukhyeonbang, right?"
The final event of the exchange: sparring. The Jongnam disciple facing him spat out the mockery right from the start. Cheol Sunjik tilted his head.
"Hmm... Is that the best you've got?"
"What?"
"Words like 'idiot' or 'retard' would hurt more than 'wastrel.'"
An attack with zero impact. "Trying to act all nonchalant..."
"One look tells all ten, as they say. Not pleased."
The contempt itself didn't sting, but the guy's attitude made Cheol Sunjik frown. He was a guest invited to Jukhyeonbang. To treat someone basically equivalent to the master of the house with such insolence meant he'd treat the rest of the family even worse. It was proof.
It was fine if Jukhyeonbang folks insulted him—they were family. But seeing this outsider treat his family with disrespect chilled his blood.
"He's still a guest. How about showing some manners?"
"Hmph. Let's see if your mouth matches your skill."
Maybe that's why. He hadn't planned to take it seriously, but suddenly, he didn't want to lose.
Knowing he couldn't win on pure martial skill, he used the "shift center of gravity" and "disrupt stance" tricks he'd picked up from back-alley thugs to take down the Jongnam disciple.
"Does this prove my words now?"
"..."
The Jongnam disciple clamped his mouth shut. And it wasn't just him. The surroundings fell deathly silent, not even a breath to be heard.
Cheol Sunjik slowly scanned the area. He expected applause, if not cheers. Every time a Jongnam disciple beat a Jukhyeonbang one, thunderous clapping had erupted.
But the lively atmosphere turned ice-cold, as if rain had suddenly poured down.
"Cheol, Lord of the Hall!"
With a thunderous roar, the Jongnam elders halted the event.
"How can one rooted in Jongnam stoop to such vulgar tricks to ambush his opponent?!"
Cheol Sunjik sneered. On the line between life and death, where was the boundary between cowardice and righteousness? He'd never seen anyone close their eyes to an enemy's dust cloud, die, and then complain about injustice.
Even the arrogant masters strutting with puffed-up necks got done in by thug tricks in the alleys. Do people living in ivory towers really turn that stupid?
That's when.
"...!"
The scene before him made Cheol Sunjik's eyes bulge.
"S-sorry."
""""Sorry."""
His father, his uncles, every elder in Jukhyeonbang dropped to their knees at the elder's word.
"Hmph."
The Jongnam elder took it as the most natural thing, and the Jukhyeonbang people—who prided themselves as pillars of the Twelve Peaks—acted as if it were their duty.
A dry voice floated down over Cheol Sunjik, who stared blankly ahead.
"Why aren't you kneeling?"
The moment the elder spoke, Cheol Hyeonjik rushed over and tried to force his brother down.
"Kneel quick... Sorry! Sorry...!"
But Cheol Sunjik held firm against the pressure and murmured, "Do Jongnam's enemies always charge in with perfect etiquette and rules?"
"What?"
His lips twisted into a sneer. "Even the mad dogs of the unorthodox paths snap to attention and bow before Jongnam?"
"Ha! Tsk tsk, you still haven't learned!"
A gaze dripping with contempt, like looking down at a pathetic bug. The elder, too lazy to deal with him directly, turned to the Jukhyeonbang Lord. "Lord Cheol, what will you do?"
Cheol Sunjik looked to his father as well. The man who'd always been the sturdy pillar of Jukhyeonbang. But what he saw was...
"Sorry."
"...!"
A tree trunk snapped powerlessly by an axe. His father, head bowed deep to the ground in apology.
"F-Father..."
"I deeply apologize to the elder."
His father's voice, always proud and confident to himself and others, was meek like never before. "It's my failing in raising my child."
The Jongnam elder, looking down at the prostrated lord with his head to the floor, leisurely stroked his long beard.
"Men only reflect when they pay the price for their wrongs."
"I'll personally enter the confinement chamber..."
"One who can't even raise his own child properly—how can he lead a sect?"
"..."
Conversations Cheol Sunjik couldn't comprehend flew back and forth.
And after a long silence with his head bowed, his father uttered a shocking declaration.
"From today, I step down as Lord of Jukhyeonbang."
The family members barely stifled gasps, but sighs leaked out here and there. His father volunteering for absurd punishment over an absurd reason.
"I'll inform the head sect as such."
And the Jongnam elder treating it as perfectly natural.
That's when he realized.
"Ha...!"
Even after three hundred years, Jukhyeonbang couldn't escape Jongnam's chains. Even their status as one of the Twelve Peaks, rivals to the Nine Great Sects and Five Great Families, existed only by Jongnam's permission.
Now and forever.
No matter how Jukhyeonbang thrashes, it'll never escape being Jongnam's handmaid.
The Jongnam elder seemed to say with his contemptuous gaze.
As if granting mercy, the elder helped the lord to his feet. "Choose the next lord as someone who won't tarnish Jongnam's name."
"...Th-thank you."
When he deserved curses and finger-pointing, he offered thanks instead. Powerless to even express his true feelings honestly. It laid bare how Jukhyeonbang had been dragged around like dogs by Jongnam all these years. For another sect to decide one's major affairs meant it wasn't truly independent.
The illusion of his sect—sturdy and proud, always deep in his heart—shattered to pieces.
"Father..."
"...Quiet, stay quiet."
His father's back, vast and sturdy as a mountain, looked so small sprawled on the ground. The manly, resonant voice sounded utterly servile that day.
Cheol Sunjik clenched his fists tight, eyes fixed on his father's lonely back.
It was a sunny day. Sunny enough that even Cheol Sunjik, who hated walks, suddenly wanted one.
On that sunny day, Cheol Sunjik vowed to tear down the heavens.
# Why had that past memory suddenly resurfaced?
No, it hadn't resurfaced. He'd never forgotten it, not once.
He was just replaying it. To keep from fleeing before the terrifying enemy ahead.
"Jin Sowoon!!!"
That day, he'd sworn it. No matter how much blood he shed, no matter what became of the world, he would tear down the heavens.
Offering his own precious life, the one he valued most. If that wasn't enough, his children's lives. If even that fell short, his descendants' lives.
No matter the cost, he vowed and re-vowed to topple the heavens that had dominated the world for five hundred years.
He couldn't live as a slave any longer.
So he couldn't trip over a mere pebble.
Not even if that pebble threatened to rip out his heart and crush his skull.
No—especially because it was so threatening, he had to remove it.
Because that pebble must never become the heavens.
Cheol Sunjik gritted his teeth at the steadily approaching Red Army. If things continued like this, his predictions would fail again. Jin Sowoon would overcome yet another ordeal he'd deemed impossible.
"You again, Jin Sowoon! You always..."
How could a human progress so fast? He wasn't born with genius like Yong So-a.
Then why...!
Why was the gap between him and Jin Sowoon—both mere mortals—so vast? Was it truly just the difference in effort?
He couldn't accept that.
That's why he moved himself. To seal the fates he'd scripted.
"This is the end for you, Jin Sowoon!"
He shot forward faster than any in the White Army. Red Army members blocked him, ready to sacrifice themselves, but Cheol Sunjik swung his sword even more viciously.
Slash—thud!
He yanked a collar to unbalance them, then smashed the sword's hilt into their temples.
The Red Army widened their eyes in shock at the one-move takedowns. Cheol Sunjik, losing his usual cool, bellowed.
"You thought only you trained to seal your inner energy?!"
Even before learning martial arts—and after—he'd never used inner energy in fights with back-alley thugs. Too boring. Lacked the intensity, the urgency.
Excitement peaked when his life hung by a thread. Overcoming that threat brought unparalleled thrill and satisfaction.
That's why Cheol Sunjik excelled in close-quarters brawls and grappling more than anyone in the White Army.
As if he knew exactly what to do, he scooped up dirt from the ground without hesitation and flung it into his foes' eyes.
"Argh!"
A thug's classic move. While Jin Sowoon's squad rubbed their eyes from the surprise attack, he struck their solar plexuses and chopped the napes of their necks, knocking them out.
"Gurk."
He trampled the fallen academy student and leaped forward. Others charged like beasts.
The best way to subdue those seemingly lost to rage? Show even greater frenzy. A frenzy threatening enough to pierce their rage-clouded reason.
Cheol Sunjik surrendered fully to that frenzy.
The Red Army roared back in fury. "Block him!"
Fist-and-leg experts rushed him at once. Cheol Sunjik's gaze locked on the burliest among them.
"Nam Hwaseong!"
At the snarled name, Nam Hwaseong's hands hesitated for a split second. In that moment, Cheol Sunjik hurled his scabbard to blind him.
A cold voice followed. "If you're betraying, do it right. If you see me as the enemy, show no mercy."
"...!"
Bam-bam-bam-bam-thud!
Nam Hwaseong couldn't easily counter Cheol Sunjik's acupoint-targeting swordplay. He'd already exhausted himself in prior fights and climbing Baek Mountain.
Cheol Sunjik, who knew Nam Hwaseong better than anyone, twisted the knife deeper into his chest.
"With such shallow resolve, Samwonmun's future is obvious too."
"Fuck... shut your damn mouth!!!"
The provoked Nam Hwaseong dropped his guard to counter. A lightning kick struck his throat.
"Kuhk kuhk, khek!"
The ultimate weak point, untrainable no matter the effort. Sensing crisis, Nam Hwaseong instinctively cupped his hands to protect it.
Seeing that, Cheol Sunjik lightly kicked off the ground and rose.
"Look—even Samwonmun's signature fist-and-leg arts can't match Jukhyeonbang."
He spun once and elbowed Nam Hwaseong's temple.
Crack—
The massive body flipped eyes-up from one kick and toppled backward.
As Nam Hwaseong fell, the charge faltered. Cheol Sunjik's platoon surged in with renewed courage, toppling Red Army soldiers.
"Push! Crush them!"
"They're setting blades on purpose! Fight back!"
"They're exhausted from climbing here! Don't miss the chance!"
The Red Army's relentless momentum shattered like a broken cartwheel.
Their best move now? Hold a standoff and wait for reinforcements.
But Cheol Sunjik erased that thought. Jin Sowoon wouldn't wait idly. He'd turn the impossible possible again.
And sure enough.
"Charge!"
"Charge!"
Regrouped during the lull, Jin Sowoon reformed his spearhead formation and pierced the White Army lines anew.
"Jin Sowoon..."
A mere pebble? No. He was a mountain vaster than Yong So-a.
A mountain blocking the path to the heavens.
But without surmounting this mountain, he couldn't topple the heavens.
One who couldn't fell a mountain—how could he fell the heavens?
That day, his father's tiny, prostrated back before the heavens flashed vividly in his mind.
"Jin Sowoon... I hate you."
His small voice, buried in the surrounding shouts and screams, went unheard—or so he thought. But Jin Sowoon stared right at him, as if he'd caught it.
He moved his lips in reply. No sound reached, but Cheol Sunjik knew what he said.
[The feeling is mutual]
He spat out the emotions he'd never been honest about since that day of humiliation.
"Jin Sowoon, I resent you. Because I can't look away from you."
Pent-up rage and fury poured out like a burst dam.
[Cheol Sunjik, I oppose you. Because I can't look away from you.]
He struggled desperately to keep his resolve unbroken.
"I curse you. Because we can't gaze at the same place."
He flailed to keep the mountain from crumbling.
[I despise you. Because we desire the same thing.]
He knew one sword couldn't fell a mountain, yet he charged.
This sword must one day topple the heavens.
"Jin Sowoon!!!"
"Cheol Sunjik!!!"
Plowing through the masses, Cheol Sunjik raced straight for Jin Sowoon.