Four Thousand Deaths
“What are you?”
The words and tone were familiar.
In fact, it was the exact same scene as before.
A world so blindingly white that it was impossible to tell direction.
The white filling every corner of my vision was as dazzling as a heavy snowfall.
A sword was held in my hand, just like last time.
And.
That guy.
The youth with the Moon Eyes staring at me. The youth holding the bizarre greatsword was the same bastard I had seen before.
The bastard who had not only appeared out of nowhere, but had also killed me.
But.
Again?
He had appeared once more, just like in the previous Spiritual Dream. He looked exactly the same as he did back then.
“I asked what you are.”
Even his words were identical. He had said the exact same thing back then, and he was saying it now.
It felt like a repeating loop.
“I see you have no intention of answering. No matter.”
Yes, that was exactly how it went.
“…….”
Realizing this, goosebumps broke out across my back.
If he was repeating those words, it meant he was going to repeat the actions of that Spiritual Dream.
Which meant his next line would be...
Since you'll be an enemy anyway.
“Since you'll be an enemy anyway.”
...just as expected.
And right after that...!
Slash!
With a sickening sound, my vision tilted once again.
Just like last time, my head was severed, and my sight faded.
As my body and head drifted apart and my consciousness slipped away, a strange sense of relief washed over me.
I'm waking up.
Even though I was dying again, it didn't matter as long as I could wake up from this shitty dream.
Or so I thought.
“What are you?”
...Huh?
My eyes flew open at the voice that rang out the instant I regained consciousness.
I hurriedly clutched my neck.
My severed neck was perfectly intact.
What the...?
I definitely just died.
Why?
Why was this happening?
I couldn't understand it. Not only was I not waking up...
“I asked what you are.”
Was I experiencing the exact same situation all over again?
Unable to hide my trembling eyes, I stared ahead.
The youth with the Moon Eyes looking at me was exactly the same as when we first met. It was as if what had just happened had never occurred.
What is this...?
What the hell was going on?
“I see you have no intention of answering. No matter.”
An overwhelming sense of déjà vu washed over me.
It was bizarre and deeply unsettling.
“Since you'll be an enemy anyway.”
Slash!
Once again, my neck was sliced open.
“……Keugh……”
I gasped and stumbled. My body was completely restored, as if I had never died.
“What are you?”
The same question rang out again.
The bastard stared at me with cold, lifeless Moon Eyes.
I bit my lip at his indifferent yet oppressive aura.
“I asked what you are.”
Wiping my mouth, I shouted at the question I had already heard multiple times.
“You answer first. Who the hell are—”
In that instant, my vision went dark.
“What are you?”
“…….”
“I asked what you are.”
Suddenly, I was back at the beginning. I realized then: I had just died again.
This time, I hadn't even noticed myself dying.
“Huff... huff...”
Something had changed in the loop just now. I still died, but it was different.
“What do you care?”
I spat out, using a different tone than before.
“…….”
At that, the youth's reaction changed.
“Fair enough.”
He nodded, as if accepting my answer.
It was a different response from before.
The problem was...
“But that doesn't matter.”
Slash.
...that the outcome remained exactly the same.
“What are you?”
“……Fuck……”
I stumbled and collapsed to the ground. What was this? What did he want from me?
What could he possibly want to throw me into this kind of hell?
Even after that, the situation didn't change.
Slash.
My neck was sliced.
Slash!
Sliced again, and sliced once more.
By the time it had happened nearly twenty times...
“What are you?”
“…….”
Only then did I realize.
I didn't know about the first day, but right now, he clearly had no intention of letting me leave.
My mind was growing exhausted and battered from the continuous deaths.
What should I do?
I rolled my eyes, my mind racing.
What was the way out of here?
What on earth did this Spiritual Dream want from me?
Amidst the terror of death, I pondered it over and over again.
“…….”
At a sudden thought, my eyes turned cold.
The fear of death had long since invaded my body, but death and I were already old acquaintances.
People always die. But knowing that it wasn't the end, as was always the case...
...I chose to find a way forward rather than collapse.
“I see you have no intention of answering. No matter.”
Clang!
This time, instead of a wet slice, a sharp, metallic ring echoed.
“Hmm?”
The bastard looked puzzled. I had successfully blocked his greatsword.
Crack!
“Urgh!”
A groan escaped my lips from the intense pain. Just blocking it seemed to have broken my arm.
My sword trembled. It slowly lowered due to my broken arm.
In that instant...
...a blade flew toward my eyes.
“What are you?”
“…….”
I was back at the beginning.
Did I die after all? Right. I died again. I blocked it exactly once, and that was the end of me.
“Fuuu……”
I let out a long sigh, exhaling everything built up inside me.
“I asked what you are.”
How many times had he said that now? I didn't know. I didn't bother counting.
The numbers I had counted before were meaningless anyway.
From now on, this was attempt number one.
Clutching my forehead as I stumbled, I whispered quietly.
“……Left. Then from top to bottom…… blocking is pointless.”
“I see you have no intention of answering. No matter.”
The moment he spoke, I ducked my head.
Whoosh!
A violent gust of wind brushed past the top of my head.
“Hmm?”
A puzzled reaction. Hearing it, I thrust my sword forward.
My target was the top of his foot.
Thud!
The tip of my sword stabbed into the ground. I had aimed for his foot, but the target was already gone.
Crunch.
The sound of something shattering echoed.
“What are you?”
Hearing the words, I nodded.
It seemed the thing that shattered was my head.
“Discarded.”
I immediately scrapped the plan. Aiming for the foot was out of the question.
What now, then?
Now, the second attempt.
Just the second.
How many times would I have to repeat this?
Was there a set number of times? Or until it ended?
And when would the end be?
Hmm.
I didn't know. But at the same time, I did.
They won't let me wake up easily anyway.
Even if I woke up like this, they wouldn't stop playing these tricks on me.
Which meant, in the end, there was something they wanted from me.
Is it that guy?
The bastard gripping the greatsword.
Was he the key to what they wanted?
“…….”
I raised my sword. What a load of shit. I doubted there could be a worse nightmare than this.
“I see you have no intention of answering. No matter.”
Fortunately, if it was a repetition, that changed things.
As always...
“……Fuuu.”
...I was pretty good at memorizing things.
Seventeen.
“What are you?”
That was the number of attempts it took to completely discard the option of blocking.
If I blocked, some part of my body would shatter or get sliced off, rendering it useless.
So, should I try dodging instead?
“What are you?”
Forty-one.
I discarded the option of dodging.
Or so I thought as I attempted it.
Eighty-two.
Screeech—slash!
I succeeded in deflecting his greatsword rather than simply blocking it.
The greatsword slid along my blade and soared toward the sky.
Pain shot through my forearm and up to my shoulder, but it didn't break.
It was a success.
Except...
Slash!
...I still couldn't block his second strike.
“What are you?”
One hundred and forty-two.
I found a way.
Whoosh!
I gathered my energy and focused it into my eyes. The awakening of the Moon Eye that the old man had mentioned. Using this finally gave me a lead.
It even helped in deflecting the first strike.
I can see it.
What did he say the true function of the Moon Eye was?
The old man had definitely said something to me one night.
“It does not end with simply seeing the path of the sword.”
“By the time you see it, it is already too late. There is nothing more foolish and lazy than reacting only after you have seen.”
When I asked what it was then, Yoo Chun-gil had replied:
“You do not see it; you feel it.”
“Therefore, your body must always be faster than your eyes.”
I understood his words now.
Indeed.
Reacting after seeing is too slow.
I was already slow, so trying to think and then move left me with no chance.
That was why it took so long.
“Amusing.”
Seven hundred and sixty-two.
The youth added a new line.
And I deflected his second strike.
That was the number of attempts it took for my body to adapt to the world revealed by the Moon Eye.
Not seeing and moving, but feeling and moving.
It was a style that really didn't suit me, but...
...it wasn't like I had any other choice.
Adapt. That was always the only option available to me.
Deflect the first.
Dodge the second.
Then he says it's amusing.
And then...
...he adjusts his stance.
It was a familiar posture.
In fact, it was the exact same stance I had seen back then.
Moon Wave?
The sword form that makes a moon bloom.
The first form of the Blue Moon Sword Dance.
Moon Wave.
He was about to unleash it.
What? Where am I supposed to dodge—
Slash!
“What are you?”
“…….”
Right, of course.
I burst into laughter.
This is ridiculously hard.
I really wanted to give up.
Should I change my approach entirely?
It was a waste of all the memorization, but it felt necessary.
Three thousand five hundred and two.
No.
I was back to square one. I had tried various methods and made it to the third strike, but in the end, I kept returning to the beginning.
It's not efficient.
Other methods, unlike the first, had terrible cost-efficiency.
Of course, that didn't mean those attempts were entirely useless.
There's something strange.
I had noticed a habit of his. Since our clashes were short, it was hard to spot, but there was definitely something off.
His wrist is weird when he swings the sword.
Should I say it wasn't locked in place? I could sense a slight awkwardness.
I spent nearly two hundred attempts just confirming if I had misseen it.
Hmm.
I stroked my neck.
Was this the second time I had died this many times?
After being caught by a stray evil spirit in my past life, this was the first time in this life.
This is starting to get bad.
I was reaching my mental limit.
The goosebumps on my skin and my racing heartbeat made that clear.
“……Hmm.”
“What are you?”
“I have a question.”
I asked. I knew from trying it a few times before.
“What?”
He actually answered me. It meant he wasn't just a mindless, repeating entity.
“Why do you swing it like that?”
“What are you talking about?”
“I mean Moon Wave. Is there a reason you execute it that way?”
“…….”
I was genuinely curious. The Moon Wave he used was somehow different.
Or rather, it was different from the one I knew.
Just like with Seom Seong-gyeong, something about it was strangely grating.
“From what I've heard, if you're going to use it, you should do it properly...”
“I see.”
The youth cut off my question.
“You're from the Cheongwol Gate. I suspected as much when I saw the Moon Eye, and indeed you are.”
“……Huh?”
I tilted my head at his words.
“Those miserable bastards.”
A murderous intent erupted from him.
And then...
Slash!
“What are you?”
I had to waste another attempt.
“…….”
Ah, so that's a sore spot. I factored that variable in and moved again.
Three thousand seven hundred and four.
It's definitely strange.
Analyzing Moon Wave repeatedly only made me more certain.
What is it?
Why on earth does he execute it like that?
On the surface, it looked far faster, more accurate, and precise.
A sword form faithful to the fundamentals, like the one Seom Seong-gyeong used? It was right to view it that way, but...
Is that so-called fundamental actually correct?
I couldn't understand it.
It was somehow different from the Moon Wave Yoo Chun-gil had unleashed using my body, and the way I copied it.
How should I put it?
It has no roots.
It felt hollow.
I wondered if it was right for me to dare call that insane swordsmanship weak, but...
...to my senses, it definitely was.
Compared to this neat and clean sword, the one Yoo Chun-gil showed me was sharp and wild.
Was it simply that difference? It didn't seem so.
I wanted to know. For some reason, I really did.
Four thousand and fifty-two.
...Ah, I see.
I understood a little now. Why I felt so uncomfortable watching his sword.
The reason was...
...he is merely imitating.
Yoo Chun-gil had said:
The essence of the Cheongwol Gate is to make the moon itself rise through the sword.
But...
...that sword isn't drawing or raising the moon.
It was just imitating it.
That was what felt off.
Why?
Was there any reason for me to feel uncomfortable about it? I knew nothing about the Cheongwol Gate, let alone this sword.
He's just forcing it.
Yet, I felt irritated that he was merely copying the moon.
It was ridiculous.
Have I lost my mind from exhaustion?
My mind must have broken from the fatigue.
To fall into such useless emotional indulgence—truly.
You idiot.
Emotional indulgence is the most useless thing. I learned that lesson bitterly in my past life, and yet here I am again.
I still have a long way to go before I grow up.
The thought was so absurd I laughed.
In that instant, I raised my sword diagonally.
Screeech! Clang!
The greatsword scraped along my blade and shot upward.
I didn't even have to try to memorize it anymore. The timing was deeply engraved into my body.
“Hmm?”
Before he could react, I held the flat of my diagonally raised sword with both hands. The tip of my blade was angled slightly downward.
I held my breath and channeled all my strength into the muscles of my left arm.
Screeech—!
The descending blade slid down the flat of my sword and struck the ground.
I had deflected it again.
“Ha.”
A gasp escaped the youth. He hadn't made this sound originally, but it was a reaction added after my three-thousandth attempt.
Did a different reaction to the same move mean there was a change in my execution?
I didn't analyze it too deeply.
It wasn't like knowing would change anything anyway.
“Amusing.”
The youth bent his waist. Was it Moon Wave again?
As always, he prepared to unleash his sword, but...
“……What are you doing?”
This time, his eyes widened as he looked at me. It was a reaction I had never seen before.
And for good reason.
“Oh, nothing much.”
Because I, too, was bending my waist just like him.
“……Just, I got annoyed without realizing it.”
Watching that sword of his made my blood boil.
So, I wanted to show him.
“You know what? My old man told me.”
Squeeze! I tightened my grip. The energy residing in my body infused into the sword.
“He said your sword is a fake.”
“…….”
“Said it's completely hopeless.”
I spoke with a smile.
At that...
“He's right.”
...the youth smiled back. A deeply wicked smile.
His greatsword moved.
Even if I tried to predict it, the moment I noticed, the blade would already be flying toward my neck.
At that point, my sword wasn't even drawn.
How could he swing such a heavy sword so effortlessly?
“Fuu.”
I needed time to draw my sword.
So, I pulled a trick.
Flash!
“……!”
The youth faltered. It was because light had erupted from my body.
“This is……!”
Was it called Moonlight?
I had wondered what use emitting light from my body would have, but it turned out it could be used like this.
Clack!
The gripped sword revealed itself to the world.
Tensing my lower body, feeling as if I were pushing off slightly with the soles of my feet.
My breathing was not entirely steady, flowing gently before suddenly surging.
Keeping my waist centered and light as a feather, while my energy flowed fluidly with the swing.
After the incident at the snack store, Yoo Chun-gil had asked:
“Isn't it uncomfortable to execute it by memorizing every single detail like that?”
To that, I had wanted to ask in return:
“There are so many steps in a single movement. Is it even possible to use it without thinking?”
To me, that was even harder to comprehend.
How could one use it without knowing the vast meaning contained within each individual step?
If you were going to be like that, you shouldn't have shown me in the first place.
Why show me so much when you possessed my body if you were going to complain?
What a truly troublesome old man.
Swoosh.
“You—!”
His pause was only brief.
The youth unleashed Moon Wave once more.
Gradually, a moon rose.
And my moon did the same.
His moon was colossal.
It was so powerful that my crude energy couldn't even begin to compare.
What kind of monstrous thing was that?
Had I really gone through all this shit just to try and beat that?
The thought crossed my mind, but...
...my sword did not stop.
Because I had already seen it done.
I had seen the old man crush another Moon Wave using my own body.
Boom!
“……Ha!”
The youth's greatsword was deflected.
His Great Moon crumbled against my tiny moon.
“You should have put more strength into your wrist.”
I smirked at his exposed upper body.
And thrust my sword straight forward.
Slash!
The sword sliced through the air.
Through an empty void.
“…….”
Frozen in my stance, I stared ahead.
The bastard who had been there just a moment ago had vanished without a trace.
As I frowned at the sight...
“Haha—”
...a raspy laugh echoed from behind me.
I turned around.
In the midst of the same blindingly white space, the blue-eyed old man stood with his arms crossed.
It was Yoo Chun-gil.
“You absolute monster.”
He grinned at me, a terrifying smile spreading across his face.