Martial God of the Sun and Moon - Chapter 2

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

Chapter 2
Was it a dream or a phantom of the mind?
The years that had passed swept before my eyes like drifting clouds.
Truly, nothing in my life had ever gone smoothly.
I was an orphan.
Both my parents passed away early, and I couldn’t even remember their faces.
My parents left me the name Hyeon and the surname Dokgo, but they were hardly useful. Having a name only meant becoming a named orphan instead of a nameless one.
Besides, I was merely a distant branch of the family tree with unclear lineage, so there was nothing to resent.
Naturally, I spent my childhood in the back alleys.
The back alleys are a wretched place. Even more so for an orphan.
Because of that, I developed determination.
At fourteen, I grasped a sword, resolved to straighten out my twisted fate once and for all.
I suffered greatly.
I had some talent for fighting, but how much could a street urchin from the alleys, with only malice left in his heart, truly excel at the wanderer’s life?
I brushed with death dozens of times until I barely passed my twenties.
Yet heaven was not entirely indifferent. I managed to become an official warrior of the renowned Dokgo Clan.
I thought my life was finally blooming, that I could finally live like a proper human being.
‘That is, until I met that fool.’
A reckless bastard who trusted his own bloodline and ran amok.
Dokgo Ak.
Just when I thought my life was finally improving, it became tangled because of that one lunatic.
-How dare this half-breed block my path?
A scoundrel so vile that even a sage couldn’t endure his curses.
He relentlessly tormented me.
The more I endured, the worse the harassment became, until finally a conflict erupted.
And only I received punishment.
It didn’t matter why the conflict started.
He was of the direct line, the purest of the pure.
I was of the branch line, the most distant of the distant.
He sneered and mocked me.
-You half-breed bastard. You and I started from completely different places. Do you understand?
At those words, something in my mind snapped.
When I came to my senses, I was beating Dokgo Ak like a dog.
After that, I was given two choices.
Death or enlistment in the Demon Slaying Unit.
So I joined the Demon Slaying Unit.
That was my life, Dokgo Hyeon’s life.
‘There’s just one thing I regret.’
That I couldn’t endure it back then?
No—since I was going to end up in the Demon Slaying Unit anyway, I should have beaten that lunatic half to death without holding back!
-You little bastard! Are you out of your mind?
Suddenly, Dokgo Ak’s voice reached my ears. Whether this was a dream or a lantern of the mind, I couldn’t say, but that infuriating voice was exactly as I remembered it.
‘Even in death, the same nonsense. If we meet again in the afterlife or wherever… I’ll torment you endlessly….’
“Do you really want to die?”
Wait, hold on.
Wasn’t this supposed to be a lantern of the mind? This is far too realistic.
“Get lost! You wretched creature!”
Crack!
A sharp pain suddenly coursed through me.
Dokgo Hyeon’s eyes snapped open.
* * *
Dokgo Hyeon blinked dazedly.
“Your guts are spilling out. What the hell are you trying to do, you wretched bastard?”
A voice came from ahead.
When I turned my head, a small child’s face appeared right before my eyes.
Dokgo Hyeon’s eyes widened.
‘…Dokgo Ak?’
An unlucky disposition and spiteful eyes.
“Dokgo Ak? Are you really Dokgo Ak?”
“Has your mind gone strange too? I have no time to waste on you—get lost.”
From his manner of speech, it was definitely Dokgo Ak.
“Hehehehe!”
Laughter spilled from between my teeth.
My eyes flashed brilliantly as I grinned widely.
“You’ve fallen right into my hands!”
Crack!
Without hesitation, I struck Dokgo Ak’s face.
“Ugh!”
Thud!
Dokgo Ak collapsed and his eyes went wide.
Unable to believe the situation, he wore a dazed expression as he touched his cheek, then his face contorted in an instant.
“Y-you bastard! Whose body are you in…!”
Dokgo Ak clenched his fist and whipped his head around.
But my palm was already waiting there.
Crack!
“Argh! How dare you! I’ll kill you…!”
“That’s right, that’s right. Now that’s the real Dokgo Ak.”
I cracked my knuckles one by one.
And I laughed broadly.
“I’m so glad to see you. Truly, I’m overjoyed!”
Crack!
The sound of a log splitting echoed as my palm struck down.
“Because of me!”
Thwack!
“You bastard”
Smack!
“You caused this!”
I’ve been dragged through the mud because of you, you wretch!
Thud! Crack!
Finally, Dokgo Ak collapsed to the ground.
Twitch, twitch.
From the beating he’d taken, Dokgo Ak convulsed like fresh meat on a chopping block.
“Ugh… p-please stop…”
“Are you alright? Tsk, you look in terrible shape.”
You’re the one who hit me, you madman!
Dokgo Ak’s swollen eyes trembled slightly.
“Hmm…”
I furrowed my brow.
His eyes were already blackened, and his lips were split, his mouth corners stained crimson.
Had I beaten the boy too mercilessly?
A slight twinge of regret stirred within me.
“It can’t be helped.”
I exhaled a long sigh.
“Then let’s spare the face and move to somewhere else.”
“…!”
I grabbed Dokgo Ak by the collar with a smile still playing at my lips and hauled him to his feet.
“How’s your stomach feeling?”
“Gasp!”
The moment Dokgo Ak flinched in alarm and tensed his lower abdomen.
Crack!
“Ugh! You said you’d hit my stomach, so why did you hit my cheek again…!”
“Oh, my mistake. Then brace your stomach again.”
“P-please… spare me…!”
Thwack!
“Oof!”
I grinned widely.
Ah, ten years of pent-up frustration was finally melting away.
How viciously had this cursed wretch tormented me.
It felt so refreshing and satisfying. His plump cheeks were so soft and springy that my fist kept sticking to them.
‘Could it be that the King of Hell is showing me a fantasy because I’ve suffered my whole life?’
Well, I did save Zhongyuan, so I suppose I owe them this much.
Though it would’ve been perfect if that bastard Hyeok Wi-sang and Baek Mu-heun showed up too while I’m at it.
‘I wonder if they’ll appear once this is over?’
Then I should enjoy myself a bit more before it ends.
The moment I raised my arm again.
“Young Master!”
Someone suddenly burst into my line of sight.
“Huh?”
I flinched in surprise.
It wasn’t the sudden interruption that startled me—it was how familiar the person’s face was.
“Could it be… Brother Jang?”
“Y-yes? Brother, you say?”
“This really does feel like a lantern dream. Seeing even Brother Jang. But move aside for now. Let me beat this bastard a bit more.”
“Oh, Young Master! Why are you doing this!”
The one who had rushed in was Jang Sam, a servant of the Saheon-gak.
Jang Sam clung to my arm, trying to stop me.
“You mustn’t! What are you doing!”
“Let go of me. I said let go. And who are you calling Young Master?”
“Who else! Young Master Dokgo Myeong! Why are you acting like this!”
“Dokgo Myeong? Who?”
“You, Young Master! What on earth are you trying to do!”
“What?”
Dokgo Myeong?
Why is that name suddenly coming up?
* * *
This situation doesn’t seem to be a lantern dream or a dream from the afterlife.
That’s because I had never experienced anything like this before.
“Why is this happening?”
Inside the modest room.
A stern-faced man of middle years sat before me.
Bold, sharp eyes with a penetrating gaze.
It was Dokgo Wi-hak, the master of the Saheon-gak and the third of four children born to Dokgo Cheon, the current patriarch of the Dokgo Clan.
I knelt before him.
‘I didn’t even kneel before that bastard Baek Mu-heun…’
It was certainly a blow to my pride, but strangely, I wasn’t angry.
‘I never thought I’d see this person again.’
I gazed at Dokgo Wi-hak with eyes brimming with emotion.
My lord and superior, yet someone I had followed like a father.
“Why does the expression of one being punished look so pleased?”
Dokgo Wi-hak pressed his forehead with his hand.
“Then offer some excuse. What in the world were you thinking…?”
Dokgo Wi-hak’s reprimand was beginning again—this was already the third repetition.
I apologize, but at this moment, no words could penetrate my ears.
Reincarnation!
I hadn’t merely survived by luck—I had died and returned decades into the past, awakening in another person’s body. How could any explanation possibly reach me?
‘Reincarnation, heh.’
The face I had seen in the mirror before being brought here flashed through my mind.
In that mirror was not the scarred face of Dokgo Hyeon, but the soft, timid features of the young boy Dokgo Myeong.
‘So I’ve returned to the past… in Myeong’s body?’
The direct grandson of Dokgo Cheon, the current patriarch of the Dokgo Clan and the Sword Sage, and the son of Dokgo Wi-hak, the leader of Saheon-gak.
I had thought I would die pathetically, cast aside, but reincarnation? Such fortune was almost too much to believe—yet I couldn’t simply rejoice. Dokgo Myeong was infamous for many reasons.
Rather, it would be more accurate to say he was notorious.
‘The greatest fool under heaven, an idiot, a blockhead, a coward.’
In the Dokgo Clan of Yongdam Hohol, he was famous for his incompetence.
That was Dokgo Myeong.
-Dokgo Myeong forgets nine things the moment you teach him one!
The martial arts instructor’s assessment of Dokgo Myeong had become quite famous even within the clan.
‘How did I end up becoming Myeong?’
I pondered deeply, but thinking would yield no answers.
Then it was better to look at this favorably.
In truth… there was nothing so bad about it, was there?
Even if this situation were merely a fleeting illusion, it mattered not. Since I was already dead, I could depart to the afterlife without regret.
But what if it wasn’t an illusion?
I should be grateful merely to have died and awakened again—and though I had fallen from the patriarch’s favor, I had become a direct descendant of the Dokgo Clan.
Was heaven granting me a chance to correct the fate I couldn’t fix in my past life?
“…In any case, life is truly a strange destiny.”
Dokgo Hyeon—no, Dokgo Myeong—smiled faintly and muttered without thinking.
Dokgo Wi-hak’s eyes grew cold.
“Destiny? What are you saying before your father?”
“Ahem, it’s nothing, sir.”
“…”
Dokgo Wi-hak furrowed his brow deeply, observing the standing Dokgo Myeong.
‘What on earth happened?’
His son had been timid and meek since childhood.
And yet.
‘He actually beat that fool senseless.’
Honestly, it felt refreshing, but the problem was the method.
During an unscheduled martial arts lesson, not even a formal sparring match, he had struck the cheek of all places…
“So what exactly happened? Give me an explanation.”
“The bastard tried to bite me, so I beat him a little.”
Dokgo Wi-hak faltered.
“What did you just say?”
Dokgo Wi-hak’s eyes widened at the thick, uncharacteristic speech and behavior that could never be attributed to the usual Dokgo Myeong.
That was when it happened.
“Director of Saheon-gak, you have a visitor.”
Suddenly, Jang Sam’s voice came from outside the door.
Dokgo Wi-hak furrowed his brow.
“Tell them I’m occupied and cannot receive visitors at this moment.”
“It’s just that… the visitor is the Black Dragon Sect Leader.”
“…The Black Dragon Sect Leader?”
Dokgo Wi-hak narrowed his brow and looked at Dokgo Myeong.
“You should get up and take a seat.”
“Yes.”
“Show him in.”
Click!
The door opened, and a man with a cold expression stepped inside.
A martial robe of black fabric with red embroidery.
That robe, which evoked the scales of a dragon, was the Black Scale Robe symbolizing the Black Dragon Sect—the martial unit directly under the Family Head.
“I pay my respects to the Director of Saheon-gak.”
“Welcome. What brings the busy Black Dragon Sect Leader to visit in person?”
Dokgo Wi-hak asked with an expressionless face.
“I have come on the orders of the Family Head.”
The Family Head’s orders.
At those words, the tightly clenched jaw muscles of Dokgo Wi-hak trembled slightly.
“What instructions does he have?”
“The Family Head has summoned the Young Master regarding the incident this morning. Please proceed to the Gajubu at once.”
“…I understand.”
Dokgo Wi-hak turned his head toward his son with a sigh.
“So it has reached the Family Head’s ears after all.”
“It would be stranger if matters occurring within the family didn’t reach the Family Head’s ears.”
“What?”
“It’s probably nothing serious.”
Dokgo Myeong answered indifferently and rose from his seat.
Dokgo Wi-hak watched his son with worried eyes.
“Shall your father accompany you?”
Dokgo Myeong scratched his chin and answered.
“No, it’s fine.”
“…Are you certain?”
“Only I was summoned, so why would you?”
Dokgo Wi-hak’s eyes wavered.
“So you’re really going alone?”
“Of course. It’s my matter—why would you follow me, Gajubu? I’m not a child.”
You’re exactly a child, you brat.
Dokgo Wi-hak closed his mouth before the words could escape.
‘Under normal circumstances, he’d be clinging to me, refusing to go.’
No, if he were truly my son, he wouldn’t have beaten his cousin and caused this mess in the first place.
‘What in the world…’
Leaving the bewildered Dokgo Wi-hak behind, Dokgo Myeong turned on his heel.
Then, just before stepping through the door, he glanced back over his shoulder and spoke.
“Gajubu.”
“So you do want me to come with you after all.”
“No. Don’t worry and just wait here.”
“What?”
Dokgo Wi-hak paused for a moment. His son’s appearance suddenly felt unfamiliar to him.
No, more than that—Gajubu? Not father?
“I’ll try to repay your kindness from now on.”
Dokgo Myeong spoke those words curtly and followed behind the Black Dragon Sect Leader.
“Come on then! Let’s go, Black Dragon Sect Leader!”
Whoosh! Thud!
Dokgo Wi-hak stood frozen, blinking blankly at the closed paper door.

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