The Youngest Master's Smile
Gwak Ho-shin, the youngest of the Seoho Gwak Family.
A famed sword prodigy of Hangzhou, and master of Samho-gak, followed by countless martial artists.
Unlike the eldest, notorious for his eccentric ways, or the second brother, dismissed as a fool, he had earned recognition through a keen mind and a razor-sharp blade.
Yet his childhood experiences with the sword had been far from pleasant.
More precisely—
Every memory involving his second brother, Gwak Yeon.
Ho-shin. Do you truly not know what you did wrong?
Why in the world did you hold back?
I—I did not hold back.
Nonsense! Lying to your master's face! Did you think I would overlook it just because you are the family head's son?
………
Speak! Why did you deliberately lose the spar against your brother?
B-Brother also—
Louder!
Brother also… Brother also has to win at least once!
That is exactly what is wrong!
It was still vivid.
Those days of being scolded by Wi Jong-geuk—leader of Biryongdang, the family's strongest martial force, and their childhood martial arts instructor.
Do you not understand that such feelings only make your brother Yeon more miserable?
Is it not better than losing?
Was holding back purely for your brother's sake? Without a shred of arrogance that you could decide victory or defeat against an older brother with your own power?
Th-That—
Is that not simply self-satisfaction?
………
Sometimes the gaze looking down hurts more than defeat itself. You must learn that!
He had been scolded so many times.
And Ho-shin. When you hold back so obviously, the one facing you notices long before any onlooker.
He still remembered it.
The moment he first saw his always-warm second brother— the one who forced a smile and ruffled his hair every time he lost a spar—weeping in the bushes behind the training grounds.
That was when it began.
When the genius Gwak Ho-shin started hiding his expressions.
………Ho-shin. Are you all right?
From around the age of ten, he no longer poured emotion into his sword.
To wound his brother less, he neither rejoiced in victory nor showed pity. Because he truly hated seeing that second brother—who always smiled bright as the sun when it was not a spar—begin to avoid him.
But.
As the applause for him grew louder, his second brother shrank further and further. His heart ached as if it would tear, yet there was nothing he could do. Young Ho-shin did not know how to conceal his skill without being obvious.
So.
He hid his feelings even more. Deeper still.
Because he believed that the more he showed delight at the cheers and expectations of others, the more that warm second brother would be hurt.
Of course, by then the attention focused on him had grown far too great for his second brother to approach.
With talent like that, is he not the best in Hangzhou?
Insane skill.
Is he not a demon mad for the blade?
Yes. It was already too late to change course.
Since things had come to this, he decided he would simply swing the sword. The martial path was a rather fine means of forgetting countless thoughts and emotions.
He succeeded on another commission?
At that age he already has more than thirty followers.
Soundless Thunder! It is Soundless Thunder!
Before he knew it, he had earned a moniker.
A life of concealing emotion turned out to be an advantage in this world.
The blank expression and reticence that had become habit made it nearly impossible for others to guess at the timid nature he had carried since childhood.
Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!
Every time a fight began, large and small anxieties filled his chest. And of all the fights he had ever fought, none had made him more anxious than this one.
What… what am I supposed to do…!
A fight against the second brother who had always avoided him.
Think about it.
This was the brother who had fled all the way to the place called Gwigok Mountain because he dreaded sparring with him. And now he had to fight that brother in public, before so many spectators?
Was this a joke? What kind of cold-blooded monster could fight as if nothing were wrong in a situation like this?
Keuhahaha! That bastard Cheon Gang actually wants to make a bet?
Is that lunatic out of his mind?
I just earned a silver tael!
The second young master? Our young master will win for sure.
It is an easy fight.
Free money.
In that situation he had thrashed every subordinate who had been thick-skinned enough to place money bets with his second brother's bodyguard.
Honestly, this was not the first time he had beaten those who spoke ill of his second brother under the pretext of sparring.
To Gwak Ho-shin, his second brother Gwak Yeon mattered far more than the subordinates who had gathered in his hall after witnessing his strength.
Of course, fearing that even that might be taken for pity, he had attached the justification of "training" to every beating instead of the honest reason.
All of it only accelerated the misunderstandings about him, but frankly he did not care in the slightest about such things.
A spar against the Jusan Baek Family? What did that matter to him?
Then and now, what mattered to him was his second brother's pride and well-being.
……Let me end this with as little hurt as possible.
To be honest, he had held back. Of course, given past experience, he had tried not to let it show. That was how the fight began. And yet—what was this?
There is… no need to hold back?!
At first he thought the early evasions were coincidence. After exchanging a few more moves, he realized with certainty. His second brother's skill had improved far beyond anything he had known before!
In that short time, a thousand thoughts raced through his mind.
How did he grow this much? Did he practice alone? Without any sparring experience? Or did he secretly receive instruction from Master or Father without my knowing? Or did he obtain some fortuitous encounter…
In truth, the reason did not matter.
Thud.
When he finally staggered several times and collapsed after that exquisite strike aimed at his jaw, Gwak Ho-shin had clearly thought this:
I am… truly glad Brother has grown stronger.
A sense of release, and relief.
He did not know why his brother had hidden his skill until now, but from this day forward he would no longer be ignored as before. The image of his second brother defeating him and earning renown—just thinking of it made sleep impossible.
He must feel good, right?
Ho-shin felt the same.
So much so that he could not contain the emotion, and his cheeks twitched.
Ah. This feels good.
Over that fierce countenance, a smile spread.
A smile that had grown awkward from years of hiding his expression for fear that his second brother might misunderstand and think he was mocking him. At the same time, a smile that had become an object of fear to everyone else.
Heh heh heh—
Together with the so-called murderous smile, the defeated Gwak Ho-shin spent the night in high spirits.
The day after the monumental spar.
A man whose face seemed to declare I feel wonderful was racing across the stone bridge over the pond.
"Keuhahahahaha!"
It was Cheon Gang.
Mouth stretched wide as a washbasin, he kept glancing back at the heavy sack on his shoulder as he headed for Gwak Yeon's quarters—his young master's bodyguard.
Tap-tap-tap-tap!
The place he had just come from was Samho-gak.
The hall led by Gwak Ho-shin, third young master of the Seoho Gwak Family.
Cheon Gang was returning with a sack stuffed full of every coin he had squeezed out of those who had looked down on Gwak Yeon.
Clink.
"Keuhaha, how much is all this worth!"
Cheon Gang laughed so hard his mouth seemed about to split.
The collection process had been surprisingly clean as well.
There had been a little noise—some who insisted "This is invalid"—but after they were suddenly dragged into spars with their hall master and beaten like dogs, he had been able to collect every last bet.
In any case.
"Young Master! Young Master! It is I, Cheon Gang!"
"Enter."
"Kahahahaha!"
Cheon Gang, whose lifetime savings had suddenly doubled, opened his mouth with boisterous cheer the moment he saw Gwak Yeon.
"Young Master! Keuhaha, do you know what this is? It is all thanks to you! Let us hit an inn today! For once I will treat you to all the wine and food! This Cheon Gang will feed you until you burst!"
Still laughing, he soon saw it.
"Keuhaha! As expected, I always believed that when Young Master sets his mind to something, he gets it done!"
"Cheon Gang."
"Yes, Young Master! Where would you like to go? You have worked hard all this time, so let us go all out—"
"Stand guard."
"Yes?"
"From this moment, I will consume a spirit medicine."
"Uh… Yes?!"
Gwak Yeon held the family's spirit medicine in his hand.
And he was preparing to regulate his breath with an utterly serious expression.
"Y-Yes, Young Master!"
Thud.
Seated in the lotus position, Gwak Yeon suddenly thought:
Now he understood.
The spar had been to lift the lifelong confinement order, yet Gwak Yeon had gained far more than that. And that gain was not merely this spirit medicine.
What a strange connection this is.
The Seoho Gwak Family, rebuilt by the child he had saved in his previous life. A family that treated his past self like a benefactor and strove to recreate the martial arts he had once used. And the current family head was hunting a great evil.
A force in the shadows.
The family head had kept his mouth shut about its concrete identity, yet Gwak Yeon was certain. If he distinguished himself as a member of this family, he would be able to obtain more information about that hidden power.
They seem to use the name Ilwolgyo… Is even knowing that much still dangerous for now?
It did not matter.
What mattered now was that the goal tied to Gwak Yeon's previous life and this family's long-cherished wish were one and the same.
There was a chance to sweep away that great evil to which the Shadowless Old Monster had belonged—those trash still remaining.
Then only one thing remained.
I have to grow stronger, quickly.
To race toward the goal.
He was still far too weak.
That thought had only grown clearer after meeting the family head yesterday.
[ Gwak Seo-ryong ]
That man was the son of the little boy Gwak Yeon had saved in his previous life.
In terms of generation he was practically a grandson, yet the internal energy he possessed was beyond any comparison.
How humiliating, to be outmatched by someone of a grandson's generation…
His vampire senses had made him feel it all the more keenly. The killing intent the man had released while recalling the past had been enough to make Gwak Yeon's legs go weak.
And that was not all.
In pure internal energy alone, he had less than the family's third young master, Gwak Ho-shin, whom he had faced yesterday.
How insolent, for someone practically a great-grandson to even hold back on me.
Thinking of that fellow brought a hollow laugh.
Because the victory had been unexpectedly easy, he had not even used his blood abilities, yet Gwak Yeon had still been able to tell.
Gwak Ho-shin.
Behind that expressionless face, judged by others as cold-blooded, countless emotions had been surging.
The sound of a dry swallow, the quickening of a heartbeat—every bodily reaction captured by his heightened vampire senses. Combined with the way the man moved during the duel, it had looked, in context, as though he carried a strange hesitation.
He does not seem like a bad person…
Of course he could not be certain.
Well. That is not what matters right now.
In any case, the goal was to grow stronger.
To accumulate internal energy, recover his martial prowess, and smash that shadow force connected to his death.
Yes. That would be enough.
Having cleanly settled his goal for this life while seated in the lotus position, Gwak Yeon brushed away his thoughts and slowly raised the spirit medicine.
"Young Master, if you intend to sleep—"
"Hap."
Immediately after he swallowed the spirit medicine.
Gulp.
His entire body began to heat up as if set ablaze.