The Patriarch of the Northern Heavens - Chapter 1

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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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Master of the Bukcheon Sword Family – Chapter 1

“Hah… hah… hah…”
Scorching breath rose through my lungs and spilled forth in ragged gasps.
My heart hammered against my ribs as though it might burst through at any moment.
My inner energy had already bottomed out, leaving me utterly depleted.
I leaned upon my blade and barely managed to rise, surveying the desolation around me.
‘How utterly tragic.’
The place could scarcely be described as anything other than a field of corpses.
Everywhere I looked, the dead lay strewn across the Battlefield.
And most of those bodies were the final warriors of the Bukcheon Sword Family.
“Hah… hah…”
A hollow laugh escaped my lips, though there was nothing remotely amusing about the situation.
After all, it was I who had driven them to their deaths.
My name is Jin Muyeol.
I am the seventh patriarch of the Bukcheon Sword Family, and a tyrant who became nothing more than a puppet of the elders and the Dark Shadow Force, bringing ruin upon my own house.
Though it had not always been this way.
I had genuinely tried to do right by them.
From the moment I was appointed acting patriarch to lead the family in my father’s stead as he lay upon his sickbed, I had devoted myself entirely to revitalizing the Bukcheon Sword Family.
But my strength proved woefully insufficient.
Lacking experience, martial prowess, and backing, I was forever dragged about by the elders who held true authority over the family.
I could do nothing but serve as their instrument, fulfilling their every whim.
At times, I attempted to rebel against such a fate, driven by desperation.
I defied the elders with harsh words, and I gritted my teeth through isolated cultivation to strengthen my martial abilities.
It was all for naught.
By then, it was already far too late.
During my seclusion, the elders seized control of the family and manipulated public opinion as they pleased.
They branded me as a selfish leader who had abandoned the family to pursue my own desires through isolation.
And my training bore no meaningful fruit.
Though I did not know it then, the Dark Shadow Force had already been slowly poisoning my body, accumulating toxins within me.
As a result, I came perilously close to suffering demonic possession multiple times.
Attempt after attempt. Failure after failure.
With each cycle, I grew increasingly powerless.
My will to resist gradually withered away entirely.
‘Yet even then, there had still been a chance.’
Yes, there had still been an opportunity to remove the elders drunk on power and save the family from its descent into ruin.
But in the end, I let go of everything.
I came to my senses only after discovering the existence of the Dark Shadow Force that had been manipulating my family from the shadows all along.
From the moment my father fell ill to his sickbed, once I realized that every calamity befalling our clan was their doing….
I made my final stand against them.
I exhausted every stratagem I could devise to drive those wretches out.
And this is the result.
The annihilation of the Bukcheon Sword Family, which had barely clung to existence.
They deemed us no longer useful and mobilized all their strength to erase every trace of themselves.
They dispatched countless masters to sweep away the Bukcheon Sword Family.
Only a handful survived, myself included as the family head.
But it seemed my own time was running short as well.
I could see the enemy commander, Hellblade Demon, approaching.
“Heh heh. I thought you were dead, but you’re more tenacious than expected. If I hadn’t nipped you in the bud since childhood, you would have been quite the troublesome foe.”
“You bastard….”
“Well, I’ll give you credit for surviving this long. Though you’ll be dead soon enough anyway. Hahahaha!”
Hellblade Demon laughed mockingly at me as he swung his great sword.
Clang!
I managed to raise my blade and block the attack, but my palms were torn to shreds.
Blood flowed freely, and agony flooded through me.
Yet I gritted my teeth and thrust my sword forward, desperate to drive the blade into the enemy’s chest.
But.
Shing!
“Ugh!”
Some things simply cannot be done.
My chest was slashed deeply, and I fell backward.
Thud.
I felt blood pouring out in quantities I could not afford to lose.
At the same time, my consciousness began to fade.
“That was rather entertaining. Jin Muyeol.”
Through my dimming vision, I could see that wretch’s sneering face.
Damn him.
If I could, I would have severed his neck….
But now I could barely twitch a finger.
Yet at my fingertips, I felt the family head’s seal ring.
A seal ring crafted from an unknown metal.
I had worn it constantly since becoming the head of Bukcheon, never once removing it from my person.
‘At least you remained with me until the very end.’
Just as that thought caused my consciousness to blur.
[Begin anew. My… heir.]
Suddenly, a warm energy flowed from the seal ring, enveloping my entire body.
I stared at it in astonishment.
The seal ring, which had been nothing but dark until now, shimmered with five brilliant colors.
[So that you may set everything right.]
Start over again?
What in the world did that even mean….
There was no time to dwell on the confusion.
An overwhelming wave of drowsiness crashed over me.
I couldn’t resist the pull of sleep and closed my eyes.
And when I opened them again.
‘What is this?’
I realized that a miracle had occurred.

* * *

“….”
In the polished mirror, the reflection of a young man appeared.
Could he be barely in his late teens?
Though pallor clung to him like a shroud, it couldn’t conceal his handsome features.
I knew his name.
How could I not?
The young man in the mirror was none other than myself.
‘How did this happen?’
I clutched my throbbing head and sank into the chair.
I remembered much, but everything was too chaotic to make sense of.
The most vivid memory was that voice I’d heard at the end.
[Start over. My… one. So that you may set everything right.]
Those words had been etched into my mind, letter by letter.
Though part of it had been unclear, I was certain that the owner of that voice had sent me back to the past.
There was proof, naturally.
Given what I’d experienced at the end, there was no other possibility.
“Sigh.”
I exhaled softly and surveyed my situation.
‘From the timeline, it seems this must be after I became the acting family head and minor patriarch.’
It was certain.
A body weakened by poison accumulating gradually.
And this persistent, throbbing headache.
Along with the seal ring on my index finger—proof of my role as acting family head.
All of it confirmed that I had returned to after becoming the minor patriarch.
‘Of all times to come back to.’
I couldn’t help but click my tongue.
Had I been able to turn back time just a few years earlier, I could have accomplished so much more.
But what has already come to pass remains as it is.
Lamenting over it would change nothing.
So I had no choice but to steel my resolve.
‘Perhaps this is fate itself.’
The voice that sent me back to the past told me to set everything right.
Then surely I must do exactly that, mustn’t I?
It was while I was lost in such thoughts.
“Young Master. Are you present?”
A middle-aged man appeared in the Administrative Office, cluttered with numerous documents.
His name was Wang Ho.
From what I recalled, he was one of the stewards working for the Bukcheon Sword Family.
And furthermore….
‘He’s one of the parasites gnawing away at the Bukcheon Sword Family.’
Wang Ho was a man who, after I became Young Master, steadily embezzled funds, only for the truth to be revealed years later.
But because of the protection of Elder Wang Jin, his uncle, he was never properly punished and the matter was swept aside.
‘That’s why I had to suffer from helplessness for so long.’
Even after becoming the Family Head, I couldn’t punish a man who had committed crimes.
Recalling memories from the past, I furrowed my brow.
But perhaps he didn’t notice my reaction?
Wang Ho set down the documents and spoke.
“These are the documents that require your attention today. I humbly request your approval, Young Master.”
I had been handling affairs as the Young Master’s proxy since my father fell ill and took to his bed, and I continued to do so even after becoming Family Head.
So I quietly examined the documents Wang Ho had presented.
They contained details of dispatching martial artists under the guise of escorts to merchant guilds contracted with the family, and receiving contract fees in return.
Up to that point, there was nothing unusual about the documents.
But when I examined the other papers together, an irregularity became apparent.
Even after deducting the individual payments to each contracted martial artist and the family’s share, there was money left over.
In other words, there was money being siphoned off somewhere.
‘The me of this time would never have noticed something like this.’
Because I had been sickly since childhood, resembling my father the Family Head, I never properly learned the administrative duties required of a Family Head.
So I often failed to fully comprehend documents where the truth was hidden through clever wordplay.
‘Well, later on he would even manipulate the documents themselves to embezzle the family’s funds….’
But Wang Ho before my eyes didn’t seem to be acting out of such underestimation.
He probably thought I would simply stamp the Family Head’s seal without even properly reviewing the documents.
I spoke to Wang Ho.
“Steward Wang.”
“Yes? Young Master.”
“Prepare them again.”
“Prepare them again, you say?”
Wang Ho’s face betrayed his bewilderment.
He clearly never imagined hearing such words from me—his expression made that painfully obvious.
And why wouldn’t he be shocked?
What kind of person had I been until now?
Sickly, timid, unable to raise my voice even to my subordinates—a pathetically weak figure.
Moreover, my abilities as acting family head were nothing short of incompetence itself.
So it was natural that Wang Ho and many others had secretly looked down on me.
But hearing such words from someone I’d always been beneath—that was genuinely unsettling.
“Did my words not reach your ears?”
I asked quietly, my gaze fixed upon Wang Ho.
He flinched slightly at that stare, as if feeling a chill, but quickly recovered his usual composure.
“May I ask the reason for such a statement, sir?”
“Obviously because there are errors in these documents. Surely you checked them?”
“I believe there may be a misunderstanding, Acting Family Head. There are no errors whatsoever in these documents.”
“Is that so? You truly believe that?”
Our eyes met.
Very well. If he insists on playing it this way, I’ll have to show him properly.
I raised my finger and pointed to a specific location.
“Then allow me to explain, one by one. The sum of salaries for the dispatched warriors listed here, plus the amount the family takes, plus the amount paid by the merchant guild—these three sums don’t match.”
“That is to say….”
Did he never expect me to pinpoint the exact error?
Wang Ho was flustered.
But he feigned composure and continued speaking.
“It seems you may be misunderstanding something, Acting Family Head.”
“Oh? You think I’m misunderstanding?”
“Yes. It is only natural that the total of those amounts does not match.”
“And why is that?”
Wang Ho blinked for a moment.
He was likely scrambling to concoct an excuse.
And indeed, he soon began spouting the explanation he’d hastily devised.
“It is because the actual money going to the family’s warriors is greater than what is shown. However, since it is distributed as special compensation rather than base salary, it is not recorded.”
“I see.”
Hearing this, I twisted my lips into a smile.
“Special compensation? Why would you do such a thing?”
“Well, naturally it is to boost the warriors’ morale and make them work harder….”
“So you’re saying some receive special compensation while others don’t? That’s strange. There should be money left over then.”
“That is to say….”
“Moreover, even if that were the case, any remaining funds should be accounted for within the family’s finances, should they not? Why are you managing that money separately? This almost seems….”
I paused deliberately before continuing in a meaningful tone.
“Like you’re embezzling the surplus funds.”

Master of Bukcheon

Author │
Sanghyun
Publisher │
Choi Won-young
Editorial Director │
Lee Ho-jun
Editor │
Kwak Won-ho
E-book │
Park Han-sol

Published by │
D&C Media Co., Ltd.
Registration │
April 25, 2012 Registration No. 20-260
Address │
1301-8, Coloron Digital Tower Villant 1st, 30 Digital-ro 32-gil, Guro-gu, Seoul
Main Phone │
(02)333-2513 Fax (02)333-2514
Email │
[email protected]
Homepage │
blog.naver.com/gnpdl7

UCI G720:N+A092-20260316093

*This book is published by D&C Media Co., Ltd. (Papyrus) in accordance with a contract with the copyright holder. No part of this content may be used in any form or by any means without permission from the publisher and author.

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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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