Heaven-Defying Hero - Chapter 3

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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#003

Ja-un-hak mentioned one year because that’s how long it would take to build a boat.

Though they originally lacked the skills, it was better than when they were studying the formation.

There was a well-made boat, though only half of it remained. And there were plenty of materials to repair that boat.

-It looks like another ship has been wrecked.

Things would occasionally wash ashore with the waves, and most were traces of broken ships. That was also why they hadn’t attempted to escape by sea.

-It seems someone came to rescue us but got swept away by the waves.

After the year Ja-gang-cheon was born, nothing more washed ashore.

“Well. Let’s begin.”

The couple, who had been researching for a long time, began the work of downsizing and restoring the boat.

Since it was originally such a large vessel, there were enough parts to make it smaller.

However, they conducted various experiments to see if it could withstand the waves.

They tried floating rafts and even went into the sea themselves.

“We’ve never once made it all the way through.”

They had no idea how far they’d have to cross those hellish waves before reaching calm waters.

They could only estimate by the thick gray fog.

They spent a year with such life-risking experiments and efforts.

Finally, Ja-gang-cheon’s fifteenth birthday arrived.

On the seashore where the waves couldn’t reach, a boat built by the couple was placed.

The boat, reduced to half its original size, was loaded with food and water for the family.

“Let’s add some weight.”

And at the bottom of the boat.

For the boat’s stable balance, appropriate weight was needed.

“We have to return them to their owners anyway.”

“What are you talking about? These are our household assets.”

“Are you planning to buy the entire world? Calling these household assets.”

They loaded the boat with 108 weapons, thirty books wrapped tightly in leaves, and twelve wooden chests.

Each item was worthy of being called a martial arts treasure, but if the family failed to escape, they were destined to disappear into the sea.

“Are we moving now?”

Ja-gang-cheon asked innocently.

“Yes. I’ll give you the world as a birthday present.”

“Son. Let’s eat really delicious food first when we arrive.”

So-cheong-bi’s greatest regret was not being able to cook delicious meals for her son.

Now it was time to go to a place where she could do all of that.

“Come. Let’s change clothes.”

So-cheong-bi distributed clothes to each of them.

“These are made from dead men’s clothes. Even the grim reaper will avoid us thinking we’re already dead.”

It wasn’t hard to guess whose clothes they were.

“Mom. They’re so pretty?”

“Our son is pretty too. Who gave birth to you so beautifully?”

“Father looks cool too.”

So-cheong-bi’s skills were excellent, and since they used high-quality fabric originally, at first glance they looked like wealthy people going on a boat trip.

“The time has come.”

After putting on clothes and enjoying their last moment of leisure, they raised their tension again.

They didn’t eat because they had to board the boat.

Swoosh!

This time when the sun was just rising had the lowest waves.

Of course, it was only relatively low, but it still roared like the gates of hell.

“Let’s go.”

The whole family pushed the boat together.

Splash!

The boat broke through the black pebbles and entered the sea.

The waves continuously tried to push the boat back to the seashore.

‘Even in the fog, the current flows toward the island.’

As if absolutely refusing to allow escape, it would return to the island even if left alone.

To break through this in reverse, they had no choice but to push with internal energy. That’s why they had been gathering internal energy for three days, even taking elixirs.

All of that was for this moment.

“Get on.”

After confirming his family had entered the cabin from the deck, Ja-un-hak pushed the stern as hard as possible without breaking the boat.

‘Please!’

The boat that Ja-un-hak pushed with his internal energy charged toward the waves.

***

Ja-gang-cheon knew it too.

‘We might die.’

How could he not know?

He had played in such seas until he was fifteen years old.

‘If I say it’s scary, it becomes really scary.’

It was his way of mustering courage.

But the moment he faced the angry sea, he realized how pathetic such resolutions were.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

The waves that hit the boat rose like white giants, then poured down as salty rain.

Bang!

Ja-gang-cheon’s body, which had been holding onto a pillar in the cabin, shot up to the ceiling.

Bang!

Without time to groan from the impact, he fell back to the floor.

Crack!

Then, the current that broke through the cabin door struck Ja-gang-cheon’s face.

Whirring!

With soul-draining tinnitus, Ja-gang-cheon’s pupils lost strength and were about to roll back.

“Son!”

His mother’s sharp voice, always warm, pierced through the tinnitus.

“Hold on!”

Ja-un-hak, who had entered the cabin from the deck, unleashed a lion’s roar.

His father’s voice, filled with internal energy, soothed his trembling heart. But the sea didn’t allow the family any respite.

‘Huh?’

The boat rose high once and then crashed down, and something struck the entire cabin.

Crack!

“Get away!”

Ja-un-hak grabbed his wife and son’s hands, leaped up, and broke through the collapsing ceiling.

Thus Ja-gang-cheon stood on the deck and saw where he was.

In the dark, gloomy fog.

It was a dark world where even the sky couldn’t be seen.

On the violently shaking boat, Ja-gang-cheon thought of one thing.

‘A nightmare.’

Walking through the nightmare, he would eventually reach death.

Beyond that fog, there must be a death god.

“Gangcheon. Come to my side.”

“Son. Don’t stray from Mom’s side.”

The two most reliable pillars in the world stood in front of and behind Ja-gang-cheon.

His mother was in front, and his father, who was pushing the boat with his internal energy from behind, supported Ja-gang-cheon’s back.

‘Ah!’

The shadow of despair that had briefly fallen over the fifteen-year-old boy disappeared.

“Hold on!”

“Son! You can do it!”

“I’m fine!”

They became one and endured.

The boat riding over the waves was precarious, and the three people gripping the deck floor were in a perilous situation.

Bang!

Once,

Bang!

And once more.

They endured the impact like that.

Swoosh!

They gritted their teeth and bore the water that roughly swept across the deck.

‘Please just end!’

The crisis continued to an infuriating degree.

That’s when it happened.

‘Huh?’

The world suddenly became dark.

The surroundings, which were already gloomy with gray fog, were cast in deep shadows as if night had fallen.

All three raised their heads simultaneously.

An enormous wave.

This was different from before.

A torrent that seemed like it would completely swallow the boat roared as it swept across the entire deck.

Approaching despair.

Then, the pillar that had been guarding Ja-gang-cheon’s back shot forward.

“Dear!”

“Father!”

Leaving behind the scream-like calls, Ja-un-hak drew up his martial power toward the approaching wave.

Kwarrrung!

Both hands, carrying all the martial power of his lifetime, collided with the torrent.

Chwarrrat!

Amazingly, the wave split and scattered to both sides as if it had been cut.

‘It worked.’

That’s when Ja-gang-cheon had that thought.

At the tail end of the wave that Ja-un-hak was splitting.

“Kuhuk!”

Unfortunately, Ja-un-hak’s internal energy couldn’t hold out until the end.

The last remnant of the splitting wave carried Ja-un-hak away with it.

“Father!”

Ja-gang-cheon rose up in shock.

He could see his father being swept away by the turbulent waves in the distance.

Meanwhile, the wave that had squeezed out its last strength began to lose power and calm down.

Along with that, the current that had been heading toward the island changed direction.

Even without Ja-un-hak pushing with his internal energy from the stern, it naturally began flowing in the opposite direction.

But no one could rejoice.

“Son. Listen carefully. Mom is going to rescue Dad and return to the island. We’ll find you ourselves, so absolutely never come back.”

“Mom?”

Crack!

So-cheong-bi tore off one of the largest deck planks from the floor.

“Son. Just trust Mom.”

Thud!

So-cheong-bi threw the deck piece that had become a wooden plank into the air and quickly used her lightness skill to land on top of it.

“Mom!”

Startled, Ja-gang-cheon ran across the deck.

When he reached the stern, his mother had already stepped on the waves several times and was throwing the plank toward the faintly visible traces of his father.

“Please…”

Ja-gang-cheon prayed for the first time.

When he was very young, he had seen his mother put her hands together and pray beside him when he was sick.

Did his earnest heart get through?

Breaking through the turbulent waves, a voice filled with internal energy could be heard.

“Son! Don’t worry!”

“We’ll come find you soon!”

It was faint because it was so far away, but Ja-gang-cheon clearly heard those words.

“I’ll wait!”

Ja-gang-cheon shouted with all his might.

***

He looked at the stars.

Not because they were pretty, but to confirm his direction.

“Look at the brightest star and go left.”

It was a method his father had taught him. If he followed the stars, he would be able to reach the mainland that his parents talked about every day.

Perhaps the fifteen-year-old boy’s hardship was pitiful?

The stars were exceptionally bright and the sea was calm.

“How can the world be this quiet?”

Ja-gang-cheon found that the most amazing.

When it was too noisy for him to fall asleep, his mother would sometimes press his pressure points.

“You’re a kind sea.”

It seemed like even the battered boat could cross such a sea.

“Mom and Father will be safe.”

Though it was disappointing that they couldn’t come together, there had been certainty in the last cry he heard.

That was enough.

Because his parents always kept their promises.

Three days later,

It was a different kind of fear.

The angry waves that devoured the body gave destructive and direct fear.

But the current fear was different.

Gentle waves, soft moonlight.

And deep darkness.

The terror given by the vast ocean was quiet and persistent.

By the time he realized it, his body was already trembling.

The feeling of being thrown alone into the world.

‘There’s no one to protect me.’

Just the fact that his parents weren’t by his side made Ja-gang-cheon’s heart shrink completely.

‘Was the night always this long?’

The night spent with sleepless eyes on the sea brought forth most of the unpleasant emotions he knew.

After another night passed like this, a magnificent sunrise followed at dawn.

What had seemed so beautiful on the first day now looked like the face of heaven judging him.

When extreme anxiety suddenly struck, Ja-gang-cheon instead straightened his shoulders and stood proudly. Then he shouted with all his might.

“Fear is an illusion created by the mind!”

These were his father’s words.

“I will fight my heart and win!”

This was his mother’s advice.

It was while he was shouting toward the sun like this.

“Huh?”

In the always identical scene, he saw a small shadow.

What was wriggling beneath the light of the rising sun was definitely an object floating on the sea.

“It’s a boat!”

And it was a very large boat at that.

Ja-gang-cheon quickly moved to the stern and extended his energy toward the sea just as his father had done.

The boat began moving through the current, and the boat that had appeared as a shadow gradually drew closer.

“Wow!”

It was an incredibly large boat.

On the railings of the boat, which were as high as castle walls, he could see people’s faces.

“Wow! It’s other people!”

At Ja-gang-cheon’s shout, the people at the railings tilted their heads.

“Who the hell are you!”

Fortunately, it was language he could understand, so Ja-gang-cheon excitedly shouted back.

“I’m Ja-gang-cheon! I’m heading to the mainland!”

At those words, a bearded man in his mid-forties shouted.

“We’ll lower a rope, so wait!”

That’s when it happened.

A small face appeared at the railing and looked at Ja-gang-cheon.

Ja-gang-cheon’s expression brightened even more at the appearance of someone around his age. But something was strange.

The skinny boy his age moved his mouth toward Ja-gang-cheon. But no voice could be heard.

‘Is his voice too quiet?’

But when the boy repeated the same words with an indifferent expression, Ja-gang-cheon focused on his lips.

‘Run away. They’re pirates.’

Just as he barely understood those words,

“You brat! What are you doing here!”

With someone’s scolding, the boy’s figure disappeared.

Instead, a thick rope came down and fell onto Ja-gang-cheon’s broken boat.

“It seems the Dragon King is finally answering our offerings all this time. The boat is worthless, so you can pay the price with your body.”

Two men descended onto Ja-gang-cheon’s boat.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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