Chapter 2
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 2
Chapter Title: The Scoundrel's Talent
-----------------------------------------------------------------
2.
!!
!
A commotion stirred me from a deep slumber. It had been so long since Id slept so soundly, and I opened my eyes, determined to see who dared disturb me. A middle-aged woman was shouting at the maids.
I know the Great Young Lord is so worthless he's considered a disgrace to the family, but does that mean you can be so careless? I told you to serve him well, yet not only did he steal the Family Heads horse and ride out, but he also fell off on his own and got into an accident! Do you realize how unacceptable this is?
I didnt know who the middle-aged woman was, but I found her quite remarkable.
After all, who was the Great Young Lord?
He was the firstborn son, destined to lead the Azure Sky Namgung Family, the flesh and blood of the Family Head. To speak of him in such a way should I call that bold?
But what was even more remarkable
Arrogant beyond compare and utterly violent!
His greed knows no bounds, and he has no ability!
A lost cause, trash that shouldn't be associated with!
was how the maids all chimed in, their voices united.
Why did you have to act like such a person, brother?
The middle-aged woman seemed to agree, nodding along with the maids words before catching herself and hastily shaking her head.
Even if all that is true, the Family Head would have your heads if he heard you!
So it was that bad.
I clicked my tongue inwardly.
I never imagined that the reputation of the Great Young Lordmy brother, who had been in such a frenzy to save the ailing familywas this abysmal.
Is that why he was all alone at the banquet he supposedly threw to reconnect with everyone?
As I was pondering this, I shot up from my bed without thinking.
What?!
The Great Young Lord and I had died. I was the one who had just closed the eyes of a man bleeding out.
And now he was alive?
But before I could speak,
the middle-aged woman and the maids stared at me, their eyes wide as they shouted.
...The Great, the Great Young Lord is awake!
...A-Already?
The Great Young Lord.
As I stood there, speechless at the absurdity of it all, every eye in the room was fixed on me.
Seven days and nights passed.
Gone were the gloomy military barracks that greeted me every time I opened my eyes, and gone was the parade of men whose presence made the already dim surroundings even darker.
In their place, the scent of ink and the maids powder tickled my nose, as if to announce that this was a prestigious family. Ah, and the faint, musty smell of sweat, too.
Thats right.
I had been reborn into the goddamned Namgung Family.
Not as Namgung Byeok, the fifth and youngest young lord.
But as Namgung Ban, the first and Great Young Lord.
My suspicious death in my past life remained a mystery.
Without knowing why,
we had died together, and I alone had reawakened in Namgung Bans body.
At the same time, I had regressed in age, now in a childs form.
It was something I couldn't easily understand or accept, but after seven days and nights of closing and opening my eyes, even the most stoic person would come to terms with it.
My emotionally numb and indifferent state from my past life certainly helped.
I also came to a new realization.
Despite quickly adapting to the astonishing phenomenon of becoming Namgung Ban instead of Namgung Byeok, the fact remained that the Great Young Lord Namgung Ban had been a complete wreck in his youth.
It was a novel experience for me to see that the gazes of those looking at me, the Great Young Lord, were filled with emotions far from any sort of goodwill or favor.
A so-called scoundrel.
And a rare one at that, by all accounts.
That was the current assessment of me.
If you were to ask how I knew, it was like this.
Young Lord?
It wasnt long before the expression of the nanny who served me changed drastically.
When I didnt immediately overturn the warm meal she had painstakingly prepared, she initially brushed it off, thinking the injuries from my fall had yet to heal.
But as two days, then three, then four passed with the Great Young Lord quietly eating his meals and meditating alone, the nanny sensed something was amiss and called for a physician.
To call a physician just because I was being quiet didnt that imply his past behavior had been anything but?
It seems youve suffered partial memory loss.
...Are there any other injuries?
The physician shook his head.
His recovery is progressing exceptionally well. Its just that he cant recall the events before his injury, which leads me to believe he must have hit his head, causing some shock.
How could this be! The Young Lord?
Oh, my heavens!
What do we do?
Led by the fussing nanny, numerous maids created a commotion, but for some reason, most of them seemed to welcome this development.
Great Young Lord, do you remember how you were injured?
I do not remember anything.
A boyish voice came from my lips for the first time. At the same time, with my body young but my mind old, I inwardly regretted the formal tone I had used.
...H-His manner of speaking.
Oh my. He must have been injured quite badly.
What is this
Though they all looked surprised, they also seemed to have found confirmation of my amnesia.
I truly knew nothing about the Great Young Lord. In my time as Namgung Byeok, by the time I was old enough to pay attention to family matters, my brothers were already too busy trying to build their own merits to ever be around.
From the nanny and maids perspective, since the person in question claimed to have no memory, there was nothing more to be said.
But for some reason, the expressions on their faces turned peculiar.
Just then.
The Family Head has arrived!
The physician, nanny, and maids quickly tidied my surroundings and straightened their posture. Then, they bowed their heads, showing respect to the master of the family.
First you disappear while riding a horse, and now youve lost your memory.
A middle-aged man with jet-black eyes, a dignified presence, and a long sword scar on his left cheek greeted me with a cold reprimand. He seemed to embody the spirit of a tiger, surpassing mere dignity.
He was Namgung Mubaek, the head and master of the Azure Sky Namgung Family, and a man lauded as the pinnacle of swordsmanship. He looked at least a decade younger than the man in my memory.
To think that the face I had so rarely seen in my past life as Namgung Byeok,
would show up just because the Great Young Lord fell from a horse.
A dry laugh escaped me. At the same time, I felt it was unfair.
That he would come running, worried about a mere scratch on this fourteen-year-old body.
The fact that this man, who hadnt shown his face once when my mother was wasting away, nor when I desperately sent word of my relentless efforts to achieve merit, was now appearing so easily before me, made something boil within me.
When my blazing gaze met his, Namgung Mubaek looked back at me and let out a short Hmph.
Do you still desire to be the heir? Tsk.
Clicking his tongue, Namgung Mubaek turned away, his expression cold and emotionless.
With talent inferior to even your younger brothers, you cannot lead the Namgung Family. Know your place.
Following Namgung Mubaek, a throng of warriors trailed behind him, each one exuding an aura as sharp as a well-honed blade.
With a flat gaze, I watched their backs until they disappeared from sight.
What good was an aura like a blade, or being lauded as the pinnacle of swordsmanship?
To think he would interpret the meaning in my eyes as nothing more than a lust for the position of Family Head.
I had everyone but the nanny leave the room. The nanny looked at me and let out a quiet, stifled groan.
The Great Young Lord she served was acting completely out of character, and now he was showing signs of amnesia. She must have felt at a loss for what to do.
I gave her an answer.
After staring for a long while at the door through which Namgung Mubaek had left, I let out the breath I had been holding.
There was nothing I could do right now. But I believed there must be a reason I had returned in the body of the Great Young Lord, my brother.
I sorted through my thoughts.
I was Namgung Ban, a foolish fourteen-year-old.
If I could maintain the persona of this scoundrel, this wreck of a person, to a reasonable degree, I could remain a spoiled child in the eyes of those around me, free from their wary gazes.
Leave.
The first thing I did after finishing my thoughts was to order the nanny out.
Pardon?
I said, leave.
At my words, the nanny took a few steps back with an I knew it look in her eyes.
...Yes, Young Lord. I will bring some refreshments shortly.
Leave them outside the door and do not enter until I call for you.
...Yes.
Once the nanny was gone, I immediately sat in a cross-legged position. The flabby flesh on my arms and the thick roll of fat on my stomach were a testament to a physique unbelievable for the Great Young Lord of the Namgung Family, a contender for the top seat among the Six Great Families.
What kind of life did you lead when you were young, brother?
The words rose to my throat, but I couldn't bring myself to say them. Recalling Namgung Mubaeks comment about my pathetic talent, I decided to quickly assess my bodys condition.
I just hope its not worse than my past life.
The moment I, as Namgung Byeok, had been subjected to contempt, scorn, and persecution was when it was revealed that my body was so utterly devoid of talent that it was hard to believe I was a child of the Namgung Family.
My internal energy would scatter dozens of times whenever I tried to gather even a handful.
At the time, one of the so-called elders of the Namgung Family had even sneered at me, saying, Is it because he inherited his lowly mothers blood? How can his talent be so pathetic?
But I overcame such adversity, formed a dantian, and dedicated myself madly to the Namgung Familys sword arts, eventually succeeding in honing my skills to the point where I was called not just a Slaughter Fiend, but a Sword Fiend.
I had already walked this path once; it couldnt get any more miserable.
What difference did it make now?
Having seated myself cross-legged, I closed my eyes to blossom the seed of my dantian. I opened all my senses to receive ki into my core.
Someone with overflowing talent could blossom the seed in less than two hours.
Someone with moderate talent could do it in half a day.
In my past, it had taken me not two hours, but three full days to finally set the seed in place.
Bracing myself for the possibility that this bodys aptitude was even more wretched than Namgung Byeoks, I steeled my mind, preparing to take four days, or even seven.
Whooosh.
A clear energy tickled the tip of my nose.
A cool energy flowed through my ki channels. Like a gentle stream, this energy soothed my delicate channels as it moved toward my dantian. At the same time, like my own single-minded obsession, it advanced toward its goal without pause.
All of this happened in less than fifteen minutes.
The tiny seed that had gathered in my dantian sprouted without any guidance from me.
And it was with the Great Expansion Art, the basic technique of the Namgung Family. My very own Great Expansion Art, which I had built up over and over again, never blaming my own deficient talent.
As a tingling, fulfilling sensation spread through me, I realized one more thing.
A martial talent that made me laugh in disbelief.
An intuitive sense for internal energy that felt like I could take on anyone, and a transcendent level of control.
The short time it took to form a pulsating dantian.
In that moment, something I could never have imagined in my days as Namgung Byeok, a hollow laugh escaped me.
Overwhelmed by the boiling rage I felt after meeting Namgung Mubaek and the surging sorrow from recalling my own wretched past, I shot to my feet.
The nanny and maids were wringing their hands in front of the open door, but I paid them no mind.
I pushed past them. I needed an outlet to vent these bitter emotions.
A rare scoundrel, they called me.
Then I would have to commit an act of villainy befitting that title.
The Namgung Family is sick, you say? I will become the source of that sickness.
As all sorts of worldly cares flashed through my mind,
Brother.
I froze in place.
Brother.
At the sudden voice, I couldn't help but stop.
The light, unsteady patter of footsteps approached from behind me, and a figure that would barely reach my waist crashed into me.
Hehe. Its my brother. My brother.
Infinitely bright.
More transparent than anyone.
The moment I saw that flawlessly clear smile, the wave of emotions that had consumed my entire being scattered.
A child who resembled Namgung Mubaek, and the woman I missed deep in my heart.
The child was none other than Namgung Byeok.
It was me.