The World’s Greatest is Dead - Chapter 152

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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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The Heavenly Supreme Has Died – Episode 152
“Don’t we have something to discuss?”
Crack.
Sochul Daeju ground his teeth harshly.
Hearing that sound, I reflected.
‘This man’s expression is quite frightening.’
It was something I’d been noticing for a while now—did everyone from the Cheongwol Sect look like this?
‘They all have such fierce appearances.’
Not quite to the level of the Dang Clan members, but these people certainly had their own intensity.
Well, more accurately, it was closer to coldness than fierceness.
In any case.
‘Do they all have to look like that?’
I wondered if one needed such a fierce or difficult-to-look-at appearance to hold a position of power here.
‘That would be quite disadvantageous for me.’
In my previous life, Kim Min-chul was counted among those with the fiercest appearance.
Thanks to that, I’d lived with nicknames like goblin and such.
‘But this body is different.’
This life was not like that.
Rather than fierce, I possessed a gentle, innocent face.
It wasn’t something I disliked. In fact, I preferred it.
‘There’s no loss in having a handsome face.’
I was satisfied with this aspect.
‘But this isn’t something to worry about now.’
In any case.
I refocused on Sochul Daeju.
“It seems I’ve properly fulfilled the conditions you mentioned. What do you think?”
As I brought up the previous matter, Sochul Daeju’s frown deepened.
Ripple—! The air trembled.
Unlike last time, it wasn’t caused by atmospheric pressure. Rather than pressure, it was more accurate to say that the outpouring of emotion had mingled with qi.
To put it differently.
‘…A realm where qi moves with mere emotional expression.’
It meant the air could tremble from even such a small change.
Tension naturally rose within me. However, I didn’t let it show.
“….”
Sochul Daeju was the same. He simply gazed at me without uttering a word.
Blue eyes met blue eyes.
And so a moment passed.
“What exactly do you want?”
Sochul Daeju asked me the question.
Hearing those words, I smiled and answered.
“As I mentioned before—”
“No, I already know your intentions aren’t that simple.”
“Hm?”
“You know better than anyone that I don’t favor you, don’t you?”
“That’s correct.”
Know it well, indeed. When you make your disdain so obvious, not knowing would be absurd.
“So why, despite knowing this, do you still reach out to me? What’s your reason?”
Sochul Daeju’s demeanor suggested he genuinely couldn’t comprehend it.
A reason?
“The reason is obvious enough.”
There was no need to elaborate.
“Your position is the strongest and most necessary within the Cheongwol Sect.”
“….”
The second most powerful figure after Moonju.
Moreover, within the Cheongwol Sect, Sochul Daeju was the one with the most solid standing after Moonju himself.
Should anything happen to Wol Seon-geom, it would be Sochul Daeju who would act as Moonju’s proxy.
While Wol Seon-geom was the practical commander, only Sochul Daeju could directly issue orders to Sowoldae.
The master of the Cheongwol Sect’s most elite force.
That alone was reason enough to borrow his influence.
“Given what my objectives are, your strength is absolutely necessary.”
“…ha….”
At my confident response, Sochul Daeju let out an empty laugh.
“So you come to me, someone who dislikes you, and say this?”
“That’s not particularly important. Liking and disliking are separate matters. What matters is—”
I narrowed my eyes as I spoke.
“Whether you lend me your strength or not. That’s all.”
“…haha.”
At my words, Sochul Daeju finally broke into laughter.
Then.
“I don’t understand you.”
He immediately grew serious and added his next words.
“So even if you ask me to lend you my strength, what makes you think I actually will?”
“I won the wager.”
So why are you saying something different now? My tone carried that sentiment.
“Yes, that trivial wager.”
Sochul Daeju’s lips curved upward.
“Since a wager is a wager, I can certainly claim with words that I’ll help you. But is that sufficient for you?”
It was entirely possible to offer help through words alone.
That much was true.
“To be honest, I was surprised you defeated the Heavenly Supreme. I was certain you couldn’t. In that regard, I was wrong.”
Sochul Daeju acknowledged this matter-of-factly.
“However, if you believed that would earn my favor, you are mistaken. I still find you distasteful.”
“Why is that?”
“You are not worthy of inheriting the Sword Saint’s name.”
“I see.”
The words struck my chest like a physical blow. I hadn’t expected him to be so blunt about it.
“To inherit his name, you are arrogant and conceited.”
Arrogance and conceit.
Words that hardly suited me, yet they revealed precisely how he perceived me.
“So you dislike me because I appear insufficient to inherit the Sword Saint’s name?”
“That’s right.”
“Hmm.”
I scratched my cheek.
I knew Sochul Daeju revered the Sword Saint. How could I not? So that was the reason he despised me.
It was already a well-known fact regardless.
‘They say Sochul Daeju began learning martial arts after witnessing the Sword Saint’s blade.’
The reason Sochul Daeju entered the Cheongwol Sect.
The words he always spoke while active in the Central Plains—I had long since confirmed and understood them.
‘All things follow the will left behind by the Sword Saint.’
What the Sword Saint had said.
What the Sword Saint had accomplished.
A figure who walked the path of all those things.
That was the Sochul Daeju I had come to know.
Perhaps no one desired to become his successor more than he himself.
‘That may be why he despises me all the more.’
Because he could not, it might stem from foolish jealousy.
So what should I do in this situation?
A brief moment of contemplation flickered through my mind.
“True, I can speak words for the sake of a wager, but they carry no weight within them—”
“But you see.”
My hesitation quickly dissolved.
“Is the Sword Saint’s name truly so heavy?”
“…What?”
At my words, Sochul Daeju’s body went rigid.
And simultaneously.
스으으으으으—!!
I felt the air sink, just as it had before.
“What did you just say?”
“I asked if the Sword Saint’s name is truly so heavy.”
My skin prickled with tension.
My hair stood on end, and an irritating tingling sensation prickled across my skin.
“Your Mentor was indeed a remarkable figure, but he has long since become dust beneath the earth.”
“You insolent wretch——!!”
The moment I dared speak of the Sword Saint, Sochul Daeju’s aura intensified ferociously.
What was strange, though.
‘I’m handling this better than last time?’
The pressure crashing down upon my body was oddly bearable.
Last time, my body felt as though it would crumble, as if I might be crushed to dust at any moment.
“It’s merely a name, after all.”
Now I could speak without such strain.
What was happening? What had changed?
It might be Yoo Cheon-gil’s doing. Last time, he shouted and freed my body from the pressure.
“The Sword Saint’s name? Certainly impressive. He is the Heavenly Supreme and a hero, so such reverence is understandable, but.”
Thanks to this, I could pierce through the aura and speak to Sochul Daeju.
“To me, it is not such a weighty name.”
“If you dare speak of him once more with that insignificant tongue of yours, I shall cut it from your mouth this instant.”
“Ha.”
I laughed. Seeing this, Sochul Daeju’s face twisted into something utterly grotesque.
“I respect your admiration, but do not force it upon me.”
Clang.
At my words, a sound rang out from Sochul Daeju’s waist.
His hand had already grasped the hilt of his blade.
At this rate, his sword would truly be drawn.
I knew this.
“The Sword Saint’s name is not something I must bear——”
My mouth did not stop.
Sochul Daeju’s shoulders tensed.
Then.
“It is merely one mountain among many that I must surpass.”
A pause.
At my following words, Sochul Daeju’s hand stilled for a moment. This was my chance.
“The Heavenly Supreme? The greatest of all ages? The hero of Cheongwol Sect? So what of it?”
I stepped forward and met Sochul Daeju’s gaze directly.
Reverence for the Sword Saint? Expressing that might earn Sochul Daeju’s favor.
But.
‘Mere favor is insufficient.’
What I needed was far more than simple approval.
‘I require.’
Something far greater than that.
So, merely establishing common ground with someone like Sochul Daeju would not suffice.
So then, what should I do?
‘Well, there’s only one way.’
I already knew what he admired.
‘Rather than forming common ground by admiring the same person.’
It would be far better to make him recall that very figure he admires.
I judged this approach to be far superior.
Yes.
Right now, I needed to.
“After all, it’s merely an achievement I will accomplish regardless.”
I had to appear before his eyes as the Sword Saint Yoo Cheon-gil would.
Recall it.
What would he have said, standing before such a figure?
Or what expression would he have worn?
I straightened my posture, recalling the ill-tempered old man who materialized behind me.
‘How did he do it?’
I lifted the corners of my mouth and fixed Sochul Daeju with an intense gaze.
He was a master who could kill me in an instant.
‘So what of it?’
If I were the Sword Saint Yoo Cheon-gil, I would not have cared about such things.
That was the kind of man he was.
“Must I heed your gaze merely because the Sword Saint’s name weighs heavy? I have no intention of inheriting his legacy.”
The Sword Saint’s name meant nothing.
That was the attitude he displayed.
“Inheriting it would be tedious.”
That is what Yoo Cheon-gil would have said.
“I will surpass him in the not-distant future.”
Heavenly Supreme?
Supreme of All Ages?
Even recalling such titles felt overwhelming.
Yet.
“Does that seem difficult to you?”
The burden was mine alone to bear.
It would have been different if I were Yoo Cheon-gil.
“No. It is not difficult. I will accomplish it. Therefore.”
Shing—!
“…!”
Before Sochul Daeju, I drew my blade.
The dark-hued divine sword revealed itself.
And.
화르르르륵—!!!
A brilliant azure light cascades across the blade’s edge.
“Daeju, you are no mere bloodstain unaware of your station—certainly not one fit to inherit the Sword Saint’s name.”
My blade found its place against his throat, yet Sochul Daeju remained motionless.
He simply gazed at me with trembling blue eyes.
“I am witnessing one who shall stand alone atop the heavens in the days to come.”
“…You….”
Sochul Daeju attempted to respond to my words.
I shifted course at that moment.
“Consider the wager merely a trivial display. So choose now.”
I extended the choice to him.
“Will you blind yourself to the Sword Saint’s name and simply ignore it? Or will you remain at my side and witness the spectacles I shall unfold?”
I held no interest in receiving the Sword Saint’s title.
I would become something far greater and more exalted.
So watch from beside me.
That was the meaning behind my words.
Cold sweat traced down my spine. Feeling the dampness seeping into my clothes, I spoke to the silent Sochul Daeju.
I had even deployed the final measure I had prepared to push him forward.
“Ah, and should you truly commit your strength to supporting me.”
I turned my gaze toward my blade.
His eyes followed, fixing upon the blade’s edge.
“I shall teach you the Third Form of the New Cheongwol Swordplay that my mentor created.”
“…!”
I placed one more weight upon the scale with utmost delicacy.
I knew not how heavy his pride and reverence might be.
Would he truly remain unmoved even after this?
In the instant such doubt began to take root.
Creak.
The scale shifted.
The change was infinitesimal, yet unmistakable.
Simultaneously, Sochul Daeju spoke to me.
“…What exactly do you ask of me?”
Upon hearing those words, I smiled.
It was a question not so different from before.
Yet the meaning contained within it was unmistakably transformed.

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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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