Homecoming (2)

The retired life of a martial artist who'd come home was monotonous in the extreme.

In fact, "monotonous" didn't even begin to cover it.

Baek Woohyeok simply did nothing. He quit the training he'd kept up every single day of his life, and he didn't take up anything else in its place. A man of the murim who'd spent his entire existence killing people had never learned how to do anything else.

Fortunately, money wasn't a problem. He had the fortune the Heavenly Dragon Sword Hero had pressed into his hands under the pretense of a retirement bonus.

Then, a little over a month into this existence that was barely distinguishable from a corpse's, someone appeared before him.

"Why the hell hasn't he moved after receiving my letter? Can the orphan not even read?"

It was the person who'd been watching Baek Woohyeok in secret for the past month.

"Ah. So you've finally given up on lurking. Quitting after a mere month? Your patience is thinner than I expected."

"And you are... who, exactly?"

Whoever he was—

"Ha. You don't know who I am?"

The stranger snorted as if the very idea that someone might not recognize him was an insult of the highest order. I tilted my head and looked him over.

He looks vaguely familiar...

The man carried an unusually turbid aura — the kind you didn't come across every day.

Not a demonic cultivator, though.

It felt different from the practitioners of demonic arts.

"Hmm. Can't say I do. Were we acquainted?"

"Ha. As if I'd ever associate with a worm like you. Know your place."

The reply was strangely familiar.

Someone said something like that to me a long, long time ago...

Ah.

"Namgung Cheon?"

"That's right, you worm."

He was a classmate from Cheonryong Academy — the rightful heir of the Namgung Clan.

Once hailed as one of the rising stars who would carry the future of the Orthodox Murim. And yet, throughout the long Orthodox-Demonic War, he had left behind not a single footprint. A martial artist forgotten by history.

Not that his absence from the war was surprising.

"Weren't you disowned by your clan and vanished without a trace?"

After all, he'd committed an offense during their academy days, been expelled from Cheonryong Academy, and subsequently stricken from the Namgung family register.

"That's right! I am Namgung Cheon, the true master of the Namgung Clan!"

My former classmate — the one who'd never graduated — was looking a little unhinged.

"I was the sacrificial lamb whose everything was stolen by that garbage Danmok Jin. Just like you!"

Maybe "a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠little" was putting it mildly.

Baek Woohyeok regarded the furiously ranting Namgung Cheon with a queasy expression.

In a way, Namgung Cheon was lucky he'd come now. Had he shown up right after Baek Woohyeok's homecoming, his limbs would have been torn to shreds. Over the past month, Baek Woohyeok had managed to settle his mind, more or less.

Tch. He's loud. Should I just rip an arm off and then we can talk?

Namgung Cheon's prospects were still looking pretty dicey.

"So. What's the reason you sent me that cryptic letter in secret and spent a month watching me?"

"...Ahem. I got carried away. I apologize."

Watching Namgung Cheon cough and actually apologize, Baek Woohyeok's expression turned peculiar.

That arrogant bastard is apologizing without a fuss? Where did he get his information about me?

In the murim, the reputation of Ghost Shadow Blood Rakshasa Baek Woohyeok had spread primarily around his brutal methods. The precise extent of his martial prowess was known only to a handful of people. Most had heard nothing more than vague rumors that he was somewhere near the far edge of the Peak Realm.

And yet he knows?

Which meant...

Even after being abandoned by his clan, this bastard still has connections to the Murim Alliance's upper ranks.

And further...

He needs my strength for something...

What that something was, Baek Woohyeok couldn't guess.

Not that I'd ever do this guy a favor. We weren't that close to begin with.

There was probably a reason Namgung Cheon had written "victims of fate" in that letter. And Baek Woohyeok's hunch was dead on.

"Ghost Shadow Blood Rakshasa Baek Woohyeok. You and I were both victims of the fate that Danmok Jin twisted."

Namgung Cheon's face contorted with rage as he launched into a shocking tale.

For a moment, Baek Woohyeok found himself genuinely concerned about Namgung Cheon's mental health.

Just how badly has this asshole been living since his clan kicked him out?

Well, it wasn't an entirely unbelievable story. Anyone close to Heavenly Dragon Sword Hero Danmok Jin had sensed there was something off about him.

He had an uncanny knack for stumbling upon fateful encounters, and he knew far too much about the Demonic Cult that had been hidden behind a veil. None of that was information the young master of the Danmok Clan — a family that didn't even rank among the Five Great Noble Clans — should have possessed.

Sword Queen of Heavenly Wisdom Jegal Hui had assumed the Danmok Clan had been secretly cultivating a capable intelligence network for a very long time. Dark Thousand Poison Hand Dang Ryun had speculated that excessive consumption of spiritual elixirs had opened Danmok Jin's upper dantian. Fierce Tiger Blade Paeng Muhan had claimed Danmok Jin inherited the will of a Sword Immortal and gained the Thousand-Li Eye.

Those close to Danmok Jin had offered countless other theories besides.

I figured he'd come back from the future, myself.

So.

If you treated Namgung Cheon's rambling as just another hypothesis, it was perfectly understandable.

"Earning the title of Heavenly Dragon Sword Hero! Taking the Heavenly Demon's head! Being revered as the Martial God! All of it should have been mine!"

Coming from a madman, it was the least credible hypothesis of the lot.

But I have a feeling that's actually the right answer.

For some reason, I found myself thinking Namgung Cheon ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was telling the truth. Because I remembered something Danmok Jin had muttered once, drunk, as the war with the Demonic Cult was intensifying.

"You too! The Black Tiger Unit you led! All of you were sacrificed because of Danmok Jin's schemes!"

At Namgung Cheon's deranged shout, I cocked my head to one side.

"So what."

It's already over.

The Orthodox-Demonic War was finished. The Heavenly Demon was dead. I had retired. At this point, whether Danmok Jin was an otherworlder and whether this murim was a world inside a novel didn't matter in the slightest.

"Keheheh... You have no idea how much of a shock it was when I learned the truth."

I wasn't particularly curious about how Namgung Cheon had discovered that truth. This was the murim — bizarre and complicated as it was. He'd probably stumbled onto some fateful encounter somewhere.

"Yeah, I don't care about that. Why did you come looking for me?"

I just wanted to know what Namgung Cheon was after, coming all this way to dump this on a retired man.

"Ghost Shadow Blood Rakshasa Baek Woohyeok. Don't you want revenge on that damned Danmok Jin?"

Ah. The answer was as predictable as they came.

"You'll avenge your subordinates, and I'll reclaim the place that should have been mine!"

Hold on. Was this bastard under some kind of misconception?

"Do I look like I think Danmok Jin is a pushover?"

Even with one arm ripped off by me, the Heavenly Demon had been, without question, the greatest under heaven. And Danmok Jin, who'd taken that Heavenly Demon's head, was the martial artist in the current murim who most deserved the title of Martial God.

"You're what, the tail end of the Peak Realm? How exactly are you planning to take down Danmok Jin?"

If an ant bites a man's heel with everything it's got, do you think the man even flinches? That's the gap between a martial artist who's crossed the wall of the Transcendental Realm and one who hasn't.

"Heh heh. I have people helping me. Even Danmok Jin, hero of the murim, turns out to have plenty of enemies."

"Yeah... I figured as much."

I'd expected that the moment I realized he had detailed information about me. Danmok Jin had spent his entire career butting heads with the hidebound old men of the Murim Alliance, after all.

"I also obtained a fateful encounter he discarded. And there are still several more of those left."

"Oh?"

"And if you — the one who dealt the Heavenly Demon a grievous wound — join me... we can certainly deliver a miserable end to that fake hero!"

"Mm-hmm."

"And on that day, the murim will welcome its true hero!"

I almost felt a little sorry for Namgung Cheon, spinning this grand speech with such conviction.

"Yeah, give it your all. Don't mind me."

I'd never had any intention of taking him up on the offer.

"Why the hell not?!"

If he wanted to know why.

"I think you ought to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠learn how to ask someone for a favor first."

Namgung Cheon's attitude had thoroughly rubbed me the wrong way. And besides—

My subordinates wouldn't have wanted me returning to the murim either.

"...Tch."

Namgung Cheon, who'd been watching me in silence, clicked his tongue.

"Persuasion seems hopeless."

"At least getting kicked out of your clan taught you how to read a room."

"Well, you were nothing more than Danmok Jin's loyal dog even back at Cheonryong Academy."

I thought we were just friends, actually. Not that I know the truth of it.

The more I listened, the worse my mood got. I drew in a long breath, considering whether to make Namgung Cheon a cripple like me.

"Forget it. Just go."

Using force after declaring myself retired would've been a joke, so I let it go.

"Hmph! So even the Ghost Shadow Blood Rakshasa has become a living corpse waiting to die."

Namgung Cheon didn't shut his mouth even as he left.

He must have been terribly lonely since getting thrown out of his house.

...Should I warn the others?

No need. They'll handle it.

I don't owe him any loyalty. Let him suffer a bit.

Well. That was just me taking out my frustration, too.

Even after the loudmouth Namgung Cheon's visit, Baek Woohyeok went on living the same days as always. And in the course of that routine, he would occasionally catch news of Namgung Cheon from the marketplace.

They said a group calling itself the Heaven-Reversal Society had attacked the Namgung Clan. They said the Namgung Clan had been wiped out less than a year after the new clan head had stabilized the family. They said the leader of the Heaven-Reversal Society that had erased the Namgung Clan — the overlords of Anhui Province — was none other than Namgung Cheon, the clan's disgraced prodigal son. They said that after the Heaven-Reversal Society's continued atrocities, the Murim Alliance had finally issued a kill order on Namgung Cheon, the Evil Sword Demon.

"...But the Heaven-Reversal Society is as ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠good as finished now. He's finally drawn his sword!"

The last thing Baek Woohyeok heard was a rumor that Martial God Danmok Jin had moved to punish the Heaven-Reversal Society. After that, he heard no further news of the Society or of Namgung Cheon.

So he failed in the end.

If Namgung Cheon had succeeded in killing Danmok Jin, things wouldn't have been this quiet. His desperate struggle had apparently ended in failure.

Should've just lived quietly.

Having neatly filed the thought away, Baek Woohyeok stretched out on his comfortable bed.

"Provisional cadets assembled here! Seize your last chance to enter Cheonryong Academy!"

A booming voice startled him awake.

Namgung Cheon's parting words flashed through Baek Woohyeok's mind, and his brow furrowed violently.

"...You've gotta be fucking kidding me."

It was far too young a voice to belong to the martial artist who'd once borne the terrifying title of Ghost Shadow Blood Rakshasa.