Chapter 19
Chapter 19
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 19
Chapter Title: Revealing the Lost Years
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Late at night, long after dinner had ended.
Yong-un had called together every member of his family who was at home.
"What's this about?"
From his father to Myung-un.
As the five of them crowded into the narrow living room, his father, Kim Jeong-hwan, let out a burst of laughter, looking utterly delighted.
"Hahaha! I feel like I'm dreaming these days. To think the day would come when we'd all be together like this... hahaha!"
"Dad..."
At Jeong-hwan's words, his eldest sister Sena patted Jeong-hwan's back.
He was laughing, but this was truly the picture-perfect scene the family had longed for most.
The father who had been bedridden rising again, and the son who had vanished returning to sit with them...
The image of an ordinary family.
As a trace of sorrow seeped through the midst of his smiling family, Yong-un gave a bittersweet smile.
It took so long...
No, he'd actually forgotten it altogether.
The Sword Demon of the martial world, a murderous fiend, had thought of nothing but revenge.
To have forgotten something this precious...
Yong-un's head drooped.
He had completely forgotten the family that had waited only for him.
A sudden wave of guilt toward his family shook Yong-un's chest.
But.
He clenched his fist tight.
From now on, things would be different.
The lone yaksha who had lost everything and even erased his own emotions was gone.
And in its place, only the single sword that had been with him his entire life would remain.
He gripped his fist as if making a vow.
Then, as if he knew exactly what Yong-un was about to say, Myung-un snapped irritably.
"Bro, get on with it. Someone's gonna start crying at this rate."
"Right."
Perhaps because they'd spent a fair amount of time together now, or maybe because his emotions had dried up...
Myung-un shook his head wearily at the family's chatter, uncharacteristically annoyed for the youngest.
Yong-un smiled and clapped his hands sharply.
Clap.
"Alright, son. So what's the reason you gathered us? Did you get a job?"
"I've called you all here because there's something I need to reveal, even if it's uncomfortable."
"Something to reveal?"
Jeong-hwan beamed and glanced at Sena.
Sena chuckled and spoke up.
"You became an A-rank hunter?"
"...How did you know?"
Myung-un was the most shocked by Sena's words.
As Myung-un whipped his head toward her in surprise, Sena pinched and twisted his nose.
"How could I not know? No matter how grown you kids get, you're always babies to your parents. And you think you can hide something that big? It's all over the internet!"
"Ow!"
Myung-un rubbed his nose, wincing in pain.
Then Sena turned to Yong-un and scolded him too.
"Yong-un! You're just as bad. When something like that happens, you tell your family first, not keep it hush-hush. It's the best news, and you boys are acting all proud about being hunters, keeping it secret among yourselves—what's that about?"
"Urgh... Sorry."
Yong-un scratched the back of his head with an awkward smile.
The typical sight of little brothers getting chewed out by their big sister.
"Whoa... Bro, you can act like that too?"
But Myung-un was stunned by Yong-un's behavior.
"What're you on about?"
"No, Sis just doesn't know. You have no idea what kind of guy he is in our guild... Anyone seeing him like this would feel the same way I do."
"Shut it! You two gonna keep fighting even as adults!?"
As expected.
If there was a family hierarchy, the undisputed top would be their mother.
At the words of number one, Choi Mi-hwa, every family member bowed their heads—even Yong-un found himself ducking his.
"Sorry."
As Yong-un meekly apologized, Myung-un gaped in betrayal, like he'd witnessed something he shouldn't have.
"Whoa... Should take a picture or something."
"Myung-un! Quiet. Yong-un, you explain. Seems like there's more to say besides becoming a hunter."
"Yeah, son. Tell your second brother. We're dying to know."
Jeong-hwan chimed in after Mi-hwa.
Yong-un smiled and got straight to the point, loud enough for all to hear.
"I imagine you've all been wondering. How I vanished for twelve years... and how I survived."
"......"
The lively family atmosphere plummeted in an instant.
Sena's smiling face hardened, Myung-un's dazed expression darkened.
Mi-hwa and Jeong-hwan also wiped the smiles from their faces, their countenances growing somber.
"I wanted to tell my family everything, without hiding a thing. And now's the time."
The twelve years Yong-un had been missing—the twelve years he'd been away from his family.
It had been a horrific stretch for Yong-un and his family alike, so no one dared bring it up lightly.
They feared that revisiting it might shatter the fragile family harmony they'd worked so hard to maintain.
But Yong-un broached the sensitive topic.
To fill the invisible rift that had formed in the family during those lost twelve years.
And to keep no secrets from his precious family.
"I'm sorry."
"Forgive us."
As Yong-un moved to express his guilt first, Jeong-hwan simultaneously apologized to him.
Caught off guard by the unexpected apology, Yong-un's face showed surprise.
"Why..."
"I've wanted to say it someday. That you, so young, vanished because of me... and that I couldn't find you all that time... It's all this pathetic father's fault for failing to protect you."
Jeong-hwan's expression darkened.
"Should've said it the moment you came back... but the words wouldn't come. I'm sorry."
Yong-un's face stiffened at Jeong-hwan's apology.
Jeong-hwan didn't know how Yong-un had survived.
But Yong-un knew all too well the desperate efforts Jeong-hwan had made during those twelve years.
Eefforts so fervent they couldn't have been more so.
And the family breakdown they'd caused.
Looking into Jeong-hwan's apologetic eyes, Yong-un could see it.
Everything Yong-un had blamed himself for, Jeong-hwan had carried as his own fault all this time.
All because of the weight of the name "Father."
As Jeong-hwan confessed, the family's expressions grew darker.
And their faces weren't much different from his.
This... is family?
Love without strings attached, responsibility.
And guilt for failing that responsibility despite giving everything.
Family...
The preciousness of the word "family"—something he'd never properly felt before it was all stripped away—struck Yong-un's chest like a thunderbolt.
"No. You don't need to apologize. If anyone's sorry, it's me. Please, don't say you're sorry."
Their expressions and actions choked him up.
Still, Yong-un steadied his surging emotions, trying not to let them show, and continued.
"Whew... Then I'll tell you about what happened back then... and how I've lived since."
= = =
The tragedy that began in the playground.
He started with the black gate that suddenly opened.
Being sucked into the slum village of the martial world, his slum family's deaths, and his efforts to exact bloody revenge.
Finally, up to the moment he'd completed that vengeance and returned.
Yong-un poured it all out to his family.
"...And so the gate opened again, and I was able to come back here."
He revealed everything to his family, holding nothing back.
All the truths he'd never spoken since returning to reality.
As he finished, the family wept without restraint.
"Sob sob..."
"Ahh..."
Sena and Mi-hwa shed endless tears, Mi-hwa bawling openly, while Myung-un turned away to hide his.
Jeong-hwan stared at the ceiling, fighting back his own tears.
What trials he's endured.
He hadn't told them he'd been there for forty years.
That would only make it harder on them.
Even so, hearing what Yong-un had gone through, they couldn't stop their tears.
The physical and mental torment he'd suffered as a child was beyond imagination.
Yong-un smiled at his family, who wept endlessly in guilt.
"This isn't why I told you. Stop crying."
But his words didn't calm them.
So Yong-un approached his family.
It's strange. Just speaking feels so refreshing.
A first for him.
Dozens of years hiding what he wanted to say, because he was a martial artist—a demon.
Pouring it all out left him feeling oddly unburdened, wrapping around his body.
"I'm the one who feels relieved. Thanks to this, I could return to my family... and gain the strength to lift them up now."
"But..."
"The reason I shared this heavy story isn't to make you sad. It's to say that it happened, I overcame it—so laugh and move on. Because everyone here is my 'family.'"
"Sob sob... Hey!"
Perhaps his earnest plea worked.
Sena, the family's mood-maker, cried out at Yong-un through her sobs.
"Hic... hic... I'm so... hic, proud of you! Hic hic, our little brother!"
Who was proud of whom?
Sena, eyes puffy, tears streaming like chicken droppings, grinned as she lunged at Yong-un and hugged him fiercely.
"I... hic, give you... hic hic... Waaah!"
Then she burst into full sobs, unleashing everything.
As the sea of tears refused to subside, Yong-un gave a bittersweet smile and silently patted his family.
= = =
The next morning.
The family faced an awkward breakfast.
Due to the unusual atmosphere, Yong-un quietly slipped out of the house.
"It's awkward now."
He'd experienced things yesterday he'd never done in his life, all at once.
Pouring out the sincere feelings buried in his heart... comforting someone.
And vowing to protect something with his life.
Who knew opening my heart could feel this embarrassing.
It felt like hundreds of bugs crawling up his spine and around his body.
But he had no regrets.
It was something he had to do someday to bridge the invisible gap between him and his family.
Yong-un flashed a deep smile and took his first light step.
"Setojima Saki, Xiao Chang Jiang."
At that moment, Sword Tiger, who had been standing by the house wall, approached.
"You're early."
"You knew already. Still a monster through and through."
Seeing no surprise on his face, Sword Tiger shook his head.
"But what was that muttering?"
"Names. Watch out for Setojima Saki and Xiao Chang Jiang."
"No idea what you mean."
"I stopped by the Hunter Management Agency early this morning and recommended you for the World S-Rank Hunter rankings competition."
"So you decided to help after all?"
Yong-un chuckled.
Sword Tiger pointed at him with his index finger and shouted.
"I gave permission from the start. Just said no to the top ten competition."
"I see."
"But! I changed my mind. I'd like you to do the top ten competition."
"Got it."
Sword Tiger spoke seriously, but Yong-un nodded nonchalantly and tried to walk past.
"Where do you think you're going!"
"To the office. Bet you didn't tell Unwoo Guild."
"Don't you get what I'm saying?"
"I do. Top ten competition. Planning to enter."
"No! Setojima Saki, Xiao Chang Jiang!"
Sword Tiger grabbed Yong-un's shoulder as he walked casually.
Stepping in front, he bellowed.
"They're S-Rank hunter rankings 4th and 7th. Setojima Saki at 4th, Xiao Chang Jiang at 7th."
"And?"
"Those two..."
Sword Tiger's eyes changed.
"...killed two S-Rank hunters who were trying to break into the top ten."
His ordinary gaze slowly filled with fear.
"And I nearly died to those monsters too."
Yong-un's gaze locked onto Sword Tiger's unfamiliar eyes.
"I waited to warn you urgently, as you're aiming for the top ten... Will you hear me out?"