Return of the Sword Emperor - Chapter 8

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 3: A Future Misaligned (3)

‘Damn it. Of all memories to summon now.’

Dok Go-jin exhaled sharply, recognizing his own mistake.
His recollections of Yi Cheon-hu were already bitter enough. But when he recalled how the Bok-ma-dan, pressed during the prisoner escort, had used the Mil-geom-dan as bait and fled—his hand had moved of its own accord.

“I apologize. I was lost in thought and reacted too sharply.”

Dok Go-jin bowed his head, but Yi Cheon-hu, thoroughly humiliated, had no intention of accepting the apology.

“You little—! You call that… sensitive?”

Yi Cheon-hu’s lips trembled.
He irritably wiped away the blood that had run down his hair, and his eyes blazed with lethal intent.

“You expect me to believe that now?”

Clang!
Yi Cheon-hu drew his sword, and the Bok-ma-dan members who had followed him exchanged glances before drawing their own blades.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

Yu Geom-ha cried out in alarm.

“What am I doing? Are you blind, or did you miss what this fresh recruit just pulled on me?”
“It was an accident. He already apologized.”

Yu Geom-ha tried to placate Yi Cheon-hu, but it was no use.

“An accident? Don’t waste my time!”
“So what—are you actually going to draw blood here and now?”

Yu Geom-ha’s voice dropped to something cold and measured. The air itself seemed ready to snap into violence.

“After such a public humiliation, I’ll settle for nothing less than blood—or worse.”

Yi Cheon-hu radiated a thick, suffocating malice. He showed no sign of backing down.

“I did not intend harm, but I have committed a grave error. How might I earn your forgiveness?”

Unwilling to see the two sides clash, Dok Go-jin bowed again.

“For… give… me?”

Though Yi Cheon-hu had drawn his sword in the heat of rage, he seemed to harbor doubts about facing the Mil-geom-dan head-on. He glanced sideways at the tension around him before letting out a cold laugh.

“Cut off the arm that struck me. Then I’ll forgive you.”
“Are you out of your mind? At least talk sense!”

Yu Geom-ha lunged forward in protest, but Yi Cheon-hu didn’t even turn his head toward him.

“I don’t need anyone else’s words. You answer me directly. What do you say?”

Yi Cheon-hu smiled thinly, waiting.
Dok Go-jin stared at him for a moment, then let out a soft laugh.

“So if I refuse to cut off my arm, I receive no forgiveness. But what becomes of me then if I don’t?”
“Dok Go-jin!”

Yu Geom-ha, sensing the shift in Dok Go-jin’s demeanor, quickly stepped forward to block his path and shouted.
From Yu Geom-ha’s perspective, who had watched Dok Go-jin’s skill match Yeong-yak’s evenly, it was meant to protect Yi Cheon-hu—but Yi Cheon-hu had no way of knowing that.

“So the new blood’s lost his nerve. A hothead with the brains of a thunderbolt. Come on then. Let me show you exactly where arrogance leads.”

Yi Cheon-hu laughed coldly and began to turn.
Thud!
With a dull impact, Yi Cheon-hu, who had been moving with such confidence, tumbled across the floor.
Where he had just fallen, food scraps still littered the ground.

“Funny—who’s the one who’s lost his nerve now? A cripple who can’t even properly gauge his opponent’s strength, spouting trash like that.”
“Aaaagh!”

Yi Cheon-hu, humiliated twice over, shrieked and forced himself to his feet. Without even thinking to identify his attacker, he charged forward immediately.
But it was barely a single step.
Just as he took that step and began to draw his blade, Yi Cheon-hu’s eyes fell upon none other than Yu Seol-ran, who radiated a palpable chill.
The notoriety of the Cold-Faced Rakshasi was known not just to the Ma-do-ryeon, but to their own ranks as well.

“What? Want to try again?”

Yu Seol-ran spoke with frost in her eyes, but Yi Cheon-hu, frozen solid, could neither speak nor move.

“Instead of whining about being attacked, you should reflect on your pathetic skill that couldn’t even block a newcomer’s strike.”
“But—it was a sneak—”
“So if you tried to ambush me, you think I’d fall for it?”
……
“I’m asking if you think I’d fall for it.”
……
“You want me to twist your neck off before you’ll answer me straight?”

At the icy edge in her voice, Yi Cheon-hu shook his head.

“N-no, ma’am.”

He trembled like a mouse before a cat—a pitiful sight to behold.

“Exactly. So if you’re humiliated by your own mediocre skill, you should just slink away quietly. Why all the noise? You that desperate to die?”
“N-no, ma’am.”
“Then get out. The more you flail about with that pathetic ability of yours, the more ridiculous you make the Bok-ma-dan look.”
“U-understood.”

Yi Cheon-hu, his face and neck flushed crimson, stammered out his answer and hurried from his seat.
Yu Seol-ran watched him and the Bok-ma-dan members flee as if their tails were on fire, then turned her head to regard them with a cold gaze.

“But why did you attack so suddenly? When we came into the restaurant, it didn’t look like a simple mistake.”
“That was…”

As Yu Seol-ran asked, Dok Go-jin’s words faltered, and Yu Geom-ha quickly stepped in.

“He’s got a reputation for rudeness. He was subtly denigrating the Mil-geom-dan while comparing us to the Bok-ma-dan, even insulting us.”
“Insult…ing?”

A deeper chill settled over Yu Seol-ran’s already cold face.

“These insane bastards!”

Yu Seol-ran shot up from her seat, and Yu Geom-ha quickly grabbed her arm.

“That’s enough. They’re already thoroughly humiliated—no need for you to step in as well.”
“What did you do?”

As Yu Seol-ran’s glare fell upon him, Yu Geom-ha’s shoulders rose and fell.

“I was smashed to pieces before I could do anything.”
“Well, it certainly looked that way.”

Yu Seol-ran recalled the scene she’d witnessed when they entered the restaurant, and she acknowledged Yu Geom-ha’s excuse.

“In any case, well done. But next time you spout such nonsense, don’t stop at just that. Break at least one limb.”

Yu Seol-ran patted Dok Go-jin’s shoulder in praise.

“Understood.”

Dok Go-jin nodded with an awkward smile.

“Leader, that man said something strange, though.”

Yu Geom-ha broached the subject carefully.

“What did he say?”
“He said we’re supposed to provide support together with those Bok-ma-dan bastards for this prisoner escort.”
“Ah, that’s right. I was actually on my way to tell you all about it. Though with everyone deep in their cups, I’m not sure how much actually stuck.”

At Yu Seol-ran’s answer, Yu Geom-ha’s brow furrowed.

“Really? Our Mil-geom-dan is participating in a prisoner escort together with Bok-ma-dan?”
“That’s what was decided in the meeting. Our captain tried his best to refuse, but what good is that without real leverage? Still, we’re not deploying everyone—just one team.”

Yu Seol-ran let out a self-deprecating laugh and continued.

“Unfortunately, that team turned out to be ours.”

Yet despite her words, her expression showed little remorse.

‘The O-team… not us?’

Dok Go-jin, who had naturally assumed that the O-team under Wi Dae-bung’s command would be the ones selected, froze completely.

“Why us…?”

Dok Go-jin’s inner thoughts spilled out despite himself, and hearing them, Yu Seol-ran let out a hollow laugh and pointed at him.

“Because of you. Once our team snatched that monster rookie Dok Go-jin, on top of Nam-goong Ho no less, the other team leaders got petty. And with Bu Dan-ju siding with them, there was nothing I could do about it.”
“When do we depart?”

Yu Geom-ha asked.

“We’re set for ten days from now, so we still have plenty of time. Take it slow with the preparations. Geom-ha, make sure you look after the new recruits and gather everything they’ll need to know.”
“Understood.”

Unlike Yu Geom-ha, who answered matter-of-factly, each of the others who had thrown themselves into an operation mere moments after joining the Mil-geom-dan showed different reactions.
Nam-goong Ho and Ha Jo-gyeong’s faces bore anticipation, while Dok Go-jin’s, perhaps because his anticipated future had shifted unexpectedly, was clouded with deep foreboding.

* * *

After returning to the barracks, Nam-goong Ho and Ha Jo-gyeong followed their seniors around, eagerly asking questions about precautions and necessary supplies for the operation. But Dok Go-jin, who had confirmed that the future he’d known was definitely diverging, could do no such thing.

‘The day the escort heading to Cham-hoe-ok suffered at the enemy’s hands…’

No matter how hard he racked his brain, he couldn’t recall the exact date—but thankfully, he remembered the location with perfect clarity.

‘There had been scattered attacks, yes, but the place where the escort detachment was utterly destroyed was a river running near Jang-ga-gye. The Ye-su River—that was it.’

Dok Go-jin’s fist clenched as he recalled the site where Wi Dae-bung’s unit had been essentially annihilated.
The distance from Hyung-yang, where the Jeong-mu-maeng’s Gangnam headquarters was located, to Jang-ga-gye, where Cham-hoe-ok stood, was roughly a thousand li.
Despite the abundance of positions from which to launch an ambush along the way, they had struck when the destination was within sight—a calculated move born of meticulous planning, exploiting the escort’s complacency at the very threshold of their goal.

‘Had the Bok-ma-dan kept their wits about them and mounted a proper counterattack, things might have gone differently. Even if they’d failed to stop the enemy or lost the prisoners, the unit wouldn’t have been obliterated,’ he lamented inwardly.

Dok Go-jin’s gaze shifted toward one corner of the quarters.

‘The sole survivor of the unit.’

Ha Jo-gyeong—the only member of the Mil-geom-dan who’d lived through the escort operation that day, having lost an arm and an eye yet barely escaped with his life. His fate had changed since then; now he belonged to the Sa-jo. He stood half-hidden behind Nam-goong Ho’s back, listening to Yu Geom-ha’s explanation.

‘Ten days until departure.’

Dok Go-jin closed his eyes slowly.
The Sa-jo’s deployment was already settled.
What mattered now was deciding what to prepare and how, to guard against the enemy’s assault.

‘The journey will take at least a month. There isn’t much time until we encounter the enemy, but still—we need minimum combat readiness.’

Dok Go-jin, who’d stood at the pinnacle of the martial world by defeating the Cheon-ma, knew all too well what he lacked in his current state.

‘My inner force is critically insufficient.’

Hadn’t his duel with Jong-gak proved that—his martial arts crippled by depleted Nae-ryeok?

‘Damn. The timing is impossibly tight. I’d need at least a year to recover any significant strength. If only I could obtain the power of a Yeong-yak somewhere….’

Dok Go-jin let out a bitter laugh.

‘There might be a way to obtain a Yeong-yak after all.’

The first place that came to mind was So-yo-mun.
When he’d gained a Gi-yeon from the catastrophe that unfolded there, it wasn’t merely martial arts he’d acquired. Beyond the techniques themselves, he’d obtained the Gong-cheong-seok-yu, hidden deep within So-yo-mun’s Sim-jeo.

‘But So-yo-mun is impossible at this juncture.’

The distance was too great, and besides, So-yo-mun’s current location was firmly under the Ma-do-ryeon’s control.

‘Cham-hoe-ok has Yeong-yak as well, though.’

In the same year the escort unit had been destroyed, a major incident had erupted at Cham-hoe-ok. The prisoners held there had slain their guards and escaped, dealing a severe blow to the Jeong-mu-maeng.
The ringleader was Gwi-myeon Sa-sin, who’d been imprisoned for over two decades. It was later revealed he’d secretly obtained the Baenyeon-seok-gyun growing within Cham-hoe-ok, using it to restore his martial power.

‘But that too is beyond my immediate reach.’

Dok Go-jin exhaled sharply, knowing precisely where the Yeong-yak lay and how it might be obtained, yet finding no way to claim it now.

‘First, I must open the Im-dok Yang-maek.’

The breaking of the Im-dok Yang-maek—the first and foundational step toward becoming a Jeol-jeong Go-su.
How many martial artists had failed to cross that threshold and crumbled in the attempt?
Yet as Dok Go-jin walked toward the training hall, his steps seemed unhurried, almost leisurely—as if taking a morning stroll.

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