Chapter 1
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 1
Chapter Title: The Prodigal Son Returns
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As the youngest son of the Namgung Family, one might think I lived like a flower in a greenhouse.
You'd probably assume I spent my days in peace, learning from brilliant masters and consuming the finest elixirs with ease.
That is a misconception.
I lived as a Killing Demon.
As the fifth and youngest son, I never once properly met my father, the Family Head. I fostered a deep resentment for him, who never even showed his face as my poor mother withered away from illness.
To save my mother, and to prove my own worth, I volunteered for the military.
And only when I had established some minor merits did the family finally seek me out.
When my achievements in the military could be of use to the Namgung Family, that is.
Namgung Byeok.
Yes, only then did they start to speak my name within the family.
I had to make myself known just to get them to turn their heads my way.
To extend my mother's life even a little, I had to burn myself out.
I vented my fury on the blood-soaked battlefield. I sharpened my sword's edge to release the emotions that had festered within me.
But by the time I earned the moniker 'Sword Demon' around the age of thirty, my mother had already passed away. When I returned to the family, not a single person welcomed me. So I rampaged on the battlefield with even greater abandon.
The military, if not your family, can certainly embrace you. Hundreds of men trust and follow your name.
The Asura Corps Commander, who held a key position in the military and had long recognized I was an outcast from my family, told me he would recommend me for the position of Commander of a Thousand.
He said hundreds lived because of me.
That dozens of missions were successfully completed thanks to my reckless abandon.
It was laughable.
The family that should have seen me never looked my way.
Yet the battlefield I threw myself into, just to be seen, now needed me.
It was nothing short of absurd.
Clutching at straws, I sent a message to the family. I told them of the military's offer and asked what I should do.
No reply ever came.
I had no choice. Even if I returned to the family, who would give me the time of day?
I dedicated myself to the military.
After rising to the rank of Commander of a Thousand, I worked day and night.
There was no greater motivation than finally having people who acknowledged me.
Sir. Someone is here to see you.
I lifted my head to see members of the family who had never once sought me out in my entire life.
And they were my own flesh and blood, my brothers, who looked at me with more contempt than anyone else.
The second son came.
Lend me your hand. I will ensure your name is etched into the family's history. I'll also give you as much wealth and as many women as you desire.
The third son came.
I will see to it that your mother is recognized as a member of the family. Of course, as long as you aren't too greedy, I'll guarantee you a good position as well.
The fourth son came.
You should be honored that I'm taking in a stray like you. No more nonsense, just follow me!
My well-being.
Brotherly affection.
Such things were not on their minds. They were all just hell-bent on becoming the Family Head themselves.
I shook my head.
I refused, stating that I could not return, and just as I expected, my three brothers spat on the ground.
Then, after some time, one person who had never come before finally arrived.
The first son, the Great Young Lord.
I was about to send him away immediately.
I figured he would be no different. What meaning was there in a brother who only sought me out now?
After all these decades.
Besides, all the brothers who came wanted the same thing.
I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for coming to you this late.
He looked haggard and worn.
The first word from this man, who perhaps looked even more gaunt than I, was an apology.
It didn't seem like a lie, but I didn't accept it. No, I couldn't accept it.
You're too late.
I know. I know things have already gone too far.
The Great Young Lord never once mentioned the family in front of me. He didn't ask me to help him in the succession.
I thought it was a strategy to evoke my pity. Just a way to win me over.
I've laid Mother to rest in a good place. Though she couldn't be placed on the family grounds, I will be sure to move her there once I become the Family Head.
What good would such treatment do now?
I'm sorry. Truly, I am.
If you were going to apologize No, enough. Say what you have to say. Are you here to ask for my help in the succession? I'm prepared to hear any sweet lies you've cooked up, so stop with the useless pity party and just say it.
My voice grew so agitated that even I couldn't control it.
It was strange.
I hadn't reacted so emotionally when the other three sons came.
The succession It's all so fleeting when you think about it. If only Namgung could remain Namgung, that would be enough.
At those words, I clenched my jaw.
Who did he think he was, spouting such nonsense in front of me?
Then, the Great Young Lord collapsed before me, bowing his head.
The family the family is sick. It's sick beyond repair, and I can no longer do this alone. Please, please come back and save our family.
Even after hearing his final words, I sent him away.
There was no way I would be swayed by such words.
sir!
Right. They were just useless words.
Commander!
The family is sick? How ridiculous.
This is the Namgung Family, after all.
Commander of a Thousand!
My deputy's voice shattered my thoughts, and I finally came to my senses.
What are you thinking so hard about? I called you several times, but you didn't answer. You've been lost in thought a lot more since that visitor came. If you have something on your mind, let's share the burden.
It's nothing.
You know there are plenty of guys here who love nothing more than to drink and listen to stories.
That's enough.
Even after my deputy left the barracks, the ripples in my heart did not easily subside.
The family... the family is sick. It's sick beyond repair, and I can no longer do this alone. Please, please come back and save our family.
Namgung Ban.
I couldn't forget the sight of him collapsing before me.
The words carried in his voice did not sound like a lie.
After agonizing for days, I rose to my feet.
Denied.
And I was met with the Asura Corps Commander's sharp shake of the head.
Do you know how many men follow you?
I know.
Is abandoning the men who have pledged their loyalty to you over some vague matter truly the best choice you can make?
If I don't go, I will regret it.
Who said you couldn't go?
What did he mean?
He said it was denied, but now he's saying he never told me not to go?
Submit a leave of absence. I will keep your position open. I, Hwang Cheonho, the Asura Corps Commander, swear it on my name. Perhaps by then, you'll be ready to be a Commander of Ten Thousand, not just a Thousand.
I looked at Hwang Cheonho. He looked back at me with a clear, steady gaze.
He was the first person in the world to ever recognize me, my master, my benefactor. And now, as I was about to leave, he spoke so calmly, without a trace of emotion.
He was the one who set me straight when I was about to walk the path of a demon, the one who took responsibility for me until the very end.
Yes. I thought of him as a father.
So I followed my body's impulse, bowed nine times, and pressed my forehead to the ground before him, even as he tried to stop me.
I begged him to let them point their fingers and curse me, this man who knew nothing of repaying his grace.
Hwang Cheonho, who had watched me with an incredulous smile, simply told me to have a safe trip.
And so, I left the military, where I had spent over twenty years of my life.
I left, and I headed for the Namgung Family estate in Anhui Province.
The Six Great Families.
The Jegal Family, the Hwangbo Family, the Dang Family, the Moyong Family, the Paeng Family.
And among them, the greatest house of the sword, known as the first among the Six Great Familiesthe Namgung Family.
I had returned after twenty years to the Namgung Family of the Azure Sky.
I returned as the Killing Demon, the Sword Demon, and as the military's finest Commander of a Thousand, who led hundreds, even thousands, of men.
Trickle, trickle.
It was cheap bamboo leaf wine, but it was the drink I had most often in the military. It trickled down the tombstone.
Though she wasn't laid to rest on the family grounds, my mother's grave had been placed in a wide, open space with a clear view of Anhui. Beside it, I saw a rusted box.
They were the letters I had sent every month, right up until I heard the news of her passing.
I could feel that this was the Great Young Lord's doing.
To think that the filial piety I had abandoned was fulfilled through another.
Something surged within me, but I didn't let it show.
After paying my respects, I returned to the estate, where I was told a welcome banquet would be held. But at this banquet, meant to welcome me back after twenty years, only the Great Young Lord was present.
It didn't matter. The past years, when not a single person welcomed me, had been cruel enough.
If even one person welcomed me, that was enough.
Little did I know that this banquet would be my last.
Gack! Khh, keuk!
The Great Young Lord collapsed before my eyes. Seeing the blood burst from his lips, I tried to move toward him, but my own strength drained away.
Who would have ever believed that someone would poison the food at a banquet with the Great Young Lord?
The internal energy I had cultivated for decades was inert, and even my finely honed muscles were useless. I couldn't even lift a finger.
Was it because the sharp, refined senses I had polished in the military had been dulled by the Great Young Lord's welcoming gesture?
No, this was simply my fault.
For a brief moment, I had been intoxicated. The feeling of finally being acknowledged upon my return to the family had washed over me, making me forget, just for an instant, what kind of place this was.
I barely managed to lift my head and saw the Great Young Lord of the Namgung Family writhing on the floor, trying to crawl toward me.
His lips moved, trying to form words.
ry.
I couldn't hear what he was saying.
So, sorry. Because of those damn bastards.
His last words, carried on a faint breath, were yet another apology. The curse that followed was likely meant for those who had made the family sick.
I had no idea why the Great Young Lord was killed, or why I was dying alongside him, but I knew one thing.
Just as the Great Young Lord had told me.
The family was sick.
The family was sick, and the Great Young Lord must have been trying to cure it.
So that's how it was.
The family was truly sick.
And what the Great Young Lord had told me was not a lie.
An indescribable emotion swirled inside me, but even that was cut short by my heavy, closing eyelids. I reached out, barely managing to extend my hand, and closed the Great Young Lord's eyes.
My end, within the family.
Perhaps to the Great Young Lord, I wasn't the worst.
Though others might see it as a dog's death, for my life and death to end in this family held a different meaning for me.
May you find peace. Brother.