Chapter 63
Chapter 63
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 63
Chapter Title: Your One and Only Sword
-----------------------------------------------------------------
He had only followed orders.
‘Provoke Heuk Bihu. If he has regained even a sliver of his memory, he will surely react to ‘these words’.’
Just as his master had told him, not a single syllable wrong. Nothing left out!
‘And if he reacts, it's a success.’
If he was at fault for anything, it was only for faithfully carrying out his master's command.
And yet.
‘I’m… going to die…’
The foot pressing down on him felt as if it would snap his neck at any moment.
No, even if he lived, he would surely be crippled.
His master had clearly promised to take responsibility for everything.
But now, doubts crept in.
Would his master truly… spend a great sum to make him whole again?
Only then did Gongmin realize he had been deceived.
Even though he had seen his master discard countless warriors like toy soldiers.
‘To think I believed I would be different…’
He shouldn't have believed the whispers that he was cherished.
That face…!
His master had only used him as a pawn.
‘Damn that woman of the Heuk family…!’
It wasn't that he didn't know.
The direct descendants of the Heuk family were all the same.
Noble, insidious, and they treated warriors like tools to be used carelessly.
But he had thought that whatever happened, as long as he could leave this empire, it would be better than wandering from one war-torn battlefield to another.
In the end, he was the one who had clung to them like a fly, hoping for scraps, so he had no room to complain.
“Keuheuk, keuk, save me…!”
The mission was a success, but he was about to die.
“A trusted warrior does not beg for his life.”
“Keok, keoheok!”
Instead of mercy, a voice as cold as a grim reaper's reached him.
“It seems your training was flawed.”
When he barely managed to open his bloodshot eyes, he saw a face so expressionless it was chilling.
“Tell me the name of the master behind you.”
“Keuheup, ah…”
“Then I might grant you a merciful end.”
He even thought it would be better to just die than to meet those murderous eyes.
It was over.
He knew Heuk Bihu well.
The man who was once the sharpest sword of the Heuk family.
The guard dog who carried out all sorts of dirty work.
Rumors were rampant that he had lost his memory and his abilities were not what they used to be. He was the one who had believed them and accepted this task.
But a rusted blade was still a blade…
It was the moment Gongmin closed his eyes in bitter regret.
“Dada.”
A delicate voice sounded by his ear.
Heuk Bihu looked at his daughter, who had passed through the wind to grab the hem of his clothes.
His face must be radiating killing intent right now. It must be the same face he wore back when he did all sorts of dirty deeds.
He couldn't even contain his own bloodlust. If it was like this for him, it must look terrifying to the child.
But the child, seemingly unaffected by anything, spoke with innocent and calm eyes.
“Don’t.”
“…”
He had currently surrounded himself with wind so that no one could interfere, but his daughter was the sole exception.
“I mean, don’t kill him.”
He had made it so.
It was something that couldn't be explained rationally.
“I’m someone who saves people. And this… is a physician’s office.”
Heuk Bihu slowly eased the pressure from his leg.
Like a trained beast.
Not only that, but he also stepped back.
Gongmin, having barely escaped from under Heuk Bihu's foot, coughed violently as if he were dying.
The child beamed.
“Good job. Dada’s the best.”
For some reason, Heuk Bihu flinched for a brief moment.
‘You did well, my husband. You were wonderful.’
A vision of someone's smiling face flashed before him, and his chest ached.
Meanwhile, Biyu was sighing in relief.
‘Wow, I really didn't think he'd listen to me.’
She didn't know how others saw it, but from Biyu's perspective…
Her father had lost it.
There are a few external signs that appear when a person gets agitated.
‘It was enough to make me wonder if he truly had some kind of madness.’
That's why Biyu was half in doubt even as she approached her father.
She had thought that this time, he might not listen when she asked him to stop.
In the end, it turned out well, though.
“Hoo…”
Currently, Biyu and Heuk Bihu were sitting alone in an empty examination room.
With all eyes on them, they couldn't possibly have stayed.
‘Please, go inside. I'll take care of things until it quiets down! Leave it to me.’
Jeok Yunha had confidently declared she would handle everything.
Baem Baem and Raon were taken by Heuk Gyewon and Tak Minjae.
She had thought the baby animals might be in danger if her father hadn't yet calmed down.
Biyu pressed her father's hand firmly. It was a pressure point for calming him.
“Are you back to your senses now?”
“…You say that as if I wasn't in my right mind.”
“That’s what it looked like. Was I wrong?”
“…”
Heuk Bihu didn't answer.
A moment later, with an unbelievably sullen expression, he simply said this:
“I was angry, but I didn't lose my mind. What I mean is, not listening to you was never an option from the start.”
Of course, Biyu couldn't believe him entirely.
“I might have believed you if you were just preparing to step aside.”
“…Not about to kill someone in the process.”
“I wasn't going to kill him.”
Heuk Bihu stared into the air for a moment. Then he turned his head.
‘Sir Gongmin, are, are you alright…!’
‘You, support him!’
The last he saw of Gongmin, who had pulled the stunt, was a pathetic sight. He had disappeared, carried on the back of the warrior who came with him.
Even if he returned, he would never be able to serve his master as he once did.
‘He'll be disposed of.’
And the direct line of the Heuk family would discard that warrior without a second thought.
Because they would have achieved their goal of making him act.
Heuk Bihu had stepped forward knowing full well that this was all a trap to lure him out.
“Let me tell you this in advance. In the same situation, you can do whatever you want from now on. You can hit me or curse at me to stop me.”
“…Would it even hurt if I hit you?”
Biyu was serious. What good would hitting him with her cotton-ball fists do to bring him to his senses?
“I was a bad man in the past.”
It was a sudden confession, but not a surprising one.
“Everyone in the family, except for the young children, probably knows.”
“…”
“That I was the family's famous madman, its dog.”
Strangely, his words sounded like they were in the past tense, yet they also seemed to be a rebuke against his amnesiac self.
“So, do you regret it?”
“I don't know.”
Heuk Bihu answered calmly.
“Because I don't remember enough to regret it.”
In the end, it all came down to memory.
There was a time he had been sick and tired of this fact.
Heuk Bihu's clear red eyes turned to his daughter.
“I was genuinely angry a moment ago. But then a thought occurred to me.”
He had always wondered. What could a father whose mind had become a blank slate give to his daughter?
“If, in a situation where I'm acting like a madman, you, my daughter, are the only one who can calm me down.”
“…”
“Then the family will treasure you even more.”
He decided to put a leash around his own neck and give the end of it to his young daughter.
She just lacked the means to protect her frail body. She was a wise and clever child.
There was something even a father who had lost his former glory could give.
“The first day we met, you said you wanted to go to the main building. Your influence. I will give you that.”
Biyu's eyes widened slightly.
“The family still covets me and my abilities. Some persistently try to confirm my condition, and at times, someone sends an assassin to eliminate me.”
On this continent, a wind user was welcomed anywhere.
That was why they hadn't given up on him, even with his broken mind, and kept sending people.
It was a tedious time, to the point that the amnesiac him grew disillusioned with people.
“No one in this world can wield me. Unless it's you.”
As Bihu said this, he looked past Biyu.
He was sometimes curious about the woman he saw behind Biyu. Her figure would appear whenever he felt like he was on the verge of remembering something.
But he could never see her face.
On the other hand, he thought the dazed expression on the child's face as she looked at him was lovely.
Bihu finally smiled.
He had never found beautifully blooming flowers or small baby animals cute before.
He admitted that this was a special feeling.
“Until you acknowledge me as your father, I will be your one and only sword.”