Debut
A sheer cliff where a single misstep would send one plummeting a thousand feet into the abyss below.
A cliff so treacherous that even the mountain beasts turned away from it—yet a child was climbing it, sweat pouring down his face. And not merely climbing: he had two rather large mountain rabbits slung across his back.
"Ugh..."
Even as his fingertips tore open and bled, the child gritted his teeth and forced his legs to move, little by little.
After perhaps five more steps, he reached the midpoint and tried to catch his breath. That was when a thunderous scolding from an old man rang down from the top of the cliff.
"Are you planning to starve tonight?! Even if you go hungry, this old grandfather still needs to eat! Stop dawdling and get up here already!"
"Damn it..."
At the old man's relentless urging that gave him not even a moment to rest, the child couldn't help but glare up toward the cliff top.
As if waiting for exactly that, the old man's roar once more split the air.
"Don't you dare roll your eyes at me!"
Though not a single strand of hair should have been visible from that height, the old man's scolding seemed to pierce straight through him. The child let out a small sigh.
"I'm going. I said I'm going."
In the end he took only the briefest of breaths before starting to climb once more.
By the time the sunset painted the sky red, the child finally hauled himself onto the cliff top, gasping as if his lungs would burst.
"Haa... haa..."
As he lay sprawled on the ground, unable to collect himself, the old man approached, clicked his tongue, and shook his head.
"Tsk tsk. Putting on airs just because you climbed a little cliff? When I was your age I went up and down cliffs like this four or five times a day, you brat."
Even at the old man's absurd reprimand, the child had no strength left to retort and simply closed his eyes.
"Insolent brat. When an adult speaks, you should at least pretend to listen."
"...I am listening."
"Well, at least your answers are good."
As the old man slung the rabbits over his shoulder and turned away, the child half-opened his eyes and gazed at the sky slowly turning crimson.
A day no different from usual. A sky no different from usual. A grandfather no different from usual.
Because everything was as it always was, the child felt a strange sense of relief and closed his eyes once more. Soon a gentle breeze tickled the tip of his nose, but he was already asleep.
—Thud!
The old man's sword roughly cleaved the air and slammed down onto the child's shoulder.
The child nearly screamed from the immense pain, yet though he sank to one knee he never let go of the wooden sword in his hand.
"I told you to move your waist, not your hands! Waist more than hands! Feet more than waist! Eyes more than feet! How many times must I say it before you understand?!"
Though the old man scolded sternly, the child merely rubbed his shoulder, rose again, and adjusted his stance.
"Can't you hit a little softer? You're going to break my bones."
Even at the child's complaint the old man answered only by swinging the wooden sword once more.
—Whoosh!
It looked like a light swing, yet it was so swift and sharp that if the child had not quickly leaned his waist back he would have suffered a serious head injury.
The moment the old man's wooden sword grazed past the top of his head, the child put power into both legs and unleashed the principle of Bow-Body Springing Shadow.
—Swoosh!
Like an arrow leaving the bowstring the child charged at the old man, but the old man shifted not a full step but a half-step and fluidly deflected the blade.
Yet the instant he realized the child was gripping the wooden sword in a reverse hold, the old man could not help but smile faintly as he struck the child's side hard with his palm.
"Guh!"
The child made a sound as if his breath had been knocked clean out of him and tumbled across the ground. The old man wiped the smile away and slowly approached.
"You didn't close your eyes but watched my sword to the end, then immediately used the principle of Bow-Body Springing Shadow to recover the stance that had collapsed while dodging. Not a bad improvisation."
Still seeming unable to breathe properly, the child panted as he looked up at the old man.
"What about gripping the sword in reverse? Was that no good after all?"
"That's right. The principle of Bow-Body Springing Shadow lies in speed, so even if it felt a bit obvious you should have concentrated your power into a single point. The reverse grip did catch me off guard in its own way, but that was all. It would never work against a seasoned opponent."
At the old man's advice the child loosened his grip on the wooden sword. Then he closed his eyes for a moment and began to review the training he had exchanged with the old man that day.
"Grandfather."
"Why do you call?"
"No matter how hard I try, weaving the various sword forms into a single sword path is too difficult. Do I really have no talent for martial arts?"
At the child's voice thick with disappointment, the old man barely held back a hollow laugh.
To have completely mastered the secret manuals of the Im family that he himself had trained in his whole life, at an age not yet even fifteen, and still claim no talent? Moreover, weaving seventy-two sword forms into a single sword path was no different from saying the child perfectly understood the principle of each and every form. Even the old man, who had swung his sword half a lifetime filled with vengeance, had only reached that realm after passing the age of forty—so once again he could not help but marvel inwardly at the child's outstanding martial talent.
But arrogance eats away at a great tree from the roots. Hiding his true thoughts, the old man looked down at the child with a deliberately stern face.
"Is that so? If you think so yourself, then you may put down the sword right now. What good would revenge do? It's already a thing of the past. I'll go ahead and speak well of you to your father and mother, so you just rest easy."
When the old man mentioned the family's revenge, the child bit his lip hard and staggered to his feet again.
"That damn revenge. Now I can't give it up even if only because I'm resentful of all the beatings I've taken. The ones who burned our family and harmed my parents—I'll make every last one of them pay the price."
Meeting the child's gaze that did not match his age, the old man felt a momentary heaviness of heart, but soon turned his head as if he had not seen it.
"In your current state, even a lifetime of training would be impossible."
Even at the old man's cold assessment, the child once more gripped the wooden sword with trembling hands and took his stance.
"Then I just need to be different from yesterday."
At the energy already flowing from the child's fingertips enough to make them tingle, the old man snorted a laugh and pointed his wooden sword at the child with one hand.
"Arrogant brat. If it were that easy, everyone in the world would be a master."
With the old man's words, the child's form vanished in an instant.
—Bang!
A moment later a roar so great it was hard to believe wooden swords had clashed echoed along the cliff and throughout the entire mountain.
"I really can't drink this. It's too bitter and nauseating."
The child held out the medicinal decoction with a face on the verge of tears, but the old man shook his head with a firm expression.
"If you spill or leave even a single drop, I'll double the number of times you have to climb the cliff."
"Grandfather..."
Unlike usual the child even made his eyes well up, but the old man did not waver in the least.
"If you're done, hurry up and drink it."
"Tch."
No matter how hard he tried to look pitiful the old man did not budge, so the child eventually clicked his tongue and forced down the decoction that reeked horribly.
"Ugh."
He somehow managed to swallow it, but the revulsion made him instinctively try to spit it back up. Yet the old man merely pointed silently at the cliff as he looked at the child.
"Hoo..."
In the end, covering his mouth with both hands, the child stared up at the sky for a long while, wishing only for this terrible moment to pass quickly.
"Do you even know how precious the spiritual medicine you just swallowed is? If I put that out in the Central Plains I could easily get my hands on a whole manor."
But the child did not even know what a manor was, so the value of the spiritual medicine the old man spoke of did not register.
"What's a manor?"
"You don't even know that?"
"You should have told me if you wanted me to know."
—Thud!
"Ow! Why'd you hit me! I'm barely holding back from throwing it back up as it is."
"I hit you because talking back every single time is insolent. Anyway, a manor means a mansion and the walls surrounding that mansion."
At the old man's words the child rubbed his throbbing head and looked at him with an aggrieved expression.
"Then it wasn't anything special."
"What?"
"Our house is surrounded by walls too. Even if they're woven from tree branches."
At the child's pure words the old man wore a blank expression for a moment. Then he burst into hearty laughter and stroked the child's head.
"Yes, you're right. Since one can lie down and live with family, if this place isn't a manor, then what is? To think I'd only realize such a simple truth at this age."
Though he did not understand, seeing the old man in a good mood the child nodded vigorously and played along.
"That's right. I feel like I've realized something too, just like Grandfather said. Then I should go consolidate my enlightenment, so I'll be going now..."
"Heh heh."
—Grab
The old man stretched out his hand and caught the collar of the child who was slyly trying to slip into the room.
"Then let's see what you've realized, shall we?"
"W-wait!"
—Whoosh!
"Hyaaaaah!"
The child sensed a strange foreboding in the old man's laughter, but by the time he noticed he was already flying through the air above the cliff.
Time flowed swiftly, and before long the child had become a youth.
A small build, and features so fine that at a glance one might mistake him for a woman. Looking at the youth whose innate martial talent had finally blossomed, the old man sensed that the time to send him off was approaching.
Yet because something weighed on one corner of his heart, only after a little more time had passed could the old man finally resolve to let the youth go.
"I've thought it over many times, and you should give up on revenge after all."
"...!"
At the old man's words the youth's body trembled slightly.
"Just listen, just listen. Didn't I say that if you speak we'll both be in big trouble?"
"..."
When the youth showed signs of calming somewhat, the old man once more placed his palm on the youth's back and carefully began to pour in his own internal energy.
"Haven't you lived only according to my will until now? You should try living as your heart desires for once. If you obsess over revenge, before you know it you'll become an old and weary man like me. If that happens, with what face could I face your parents?"
Though he could not see the face, he could clearly tell what expression the youth must be making, so the old man smiled faintly.
"You said you were curious if there really were chivalrous heroes who pursue righteousness and chivalry, didn't you? Go to the Central Plains once and look for them. It probably won't be easy, though."
Speaking of chivalrous heroes, the old man recalled when the youth had still been a child. Whenever he told stories about chivalrous heroes he had picked up somewhere, how those two eyes had sparkled as he listened.
"Didn't you also say you wanted to meet those Taoist fellows who live on cliffs as treacherous as this one, and what about a lake as big as the sea? Just looking around at the things you said you wanted to see and go to would take several years in no time."
Before he knew it a faint tremor had begun to enter the old man's voice, and at the same time the flow of internal energy pouring into the youth's body gradually thinned.
"Try living as your heart desires for once. You are a child who has the right to do so."
"..."
Again the youth's body trembled finely, but the old man only smiled contentedly.
"Every moment I spent with you... seems to have been truly happy... so..."
—Thud
The old man's body, which had seemed as if it would never fall, collapsed onto the youth's back.
"Now... find your own happiness..."
His only blood relative. A strict yet excellent master. And the old man who had been parent and friend—clutching his corpse, the youth burst into endless sorrow. The fact that they could never meet again made that weeping all the more poignant and desolate.
After erecting a tombstone carefully carved from a small stone before the old man's grave, the youth quietly knelt.
"Grandfather. Thank you so much for raising me all this time. I thought about taking you to the Central Plains to bury you there... but I decided against it because I thought you'd like this place better."
Im Yu-gwang
The youth gazed at the tombstone engraved with the old man's name and smiled faintly, for he was recalling the past memories spent with him.
"I'd like to stay longer, but I'm going now. I've already delayed half a year."
The youth slowly rose and offered a final bow before the old man's grave.
"The memories I spent with Grandfather, the teachings you bestowed—I won't forget any of them. So don't be too sad that I'm leaving. No. Knowing Grandfather, would you rather get angry that I'm only leaving now?"
The youth forced a bright smile and moved his heavy steps with difficulty. Each step was so heavy, yet he did not stop walking. Because he knew better than anyone that now was the time for him to move forward as well.
Yet when he reached the edge of the cliff, the youth ultimately could not take that final step. The fear of leaving the place where he had been born and raised his whole life, of advancing into a place where he knew no one, held his ankles fast.
—Aren't you going already, you brat!
Then, astonishingly, from behind rang the old man's scolding as if rebuking the youth.
Was it an illusion? Probably it was an illusion.
Yet as if pushed by that scolding, the youth unconsciously took a step toward the bottom of the cliff.
It was the moment when Im Cheong-wol—who would later be known as the Demonic Path's Wandering Transformation—first set foot toward the Central Plains.