The World’s Greatest is Dead - Chapter 349

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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 349
Hwasan’s greatest plum tree had fallen.
That ancient tree, so steadfast and seemingly unbreakable.
Yet it collapsed without a sound or whisper.
-Ahhhhh…!!!
Wails of lamentation pierced through Hwasan, which had been forcibly silenced by external pressure.
How sorrowful.
Each voice carried its own anguish.
-How could you leave us like this….
-Sect Leader…!!
Amidst the countless cries of grief.
I gazed quietly at the one who had fallen.
Finding such peace in departure, he had left with an effortless smile.
He truly looked as though he were merely sleeping.
Perhaps he really was asleep—such thoughts crossed my mind.
‘That cannot be.’
It could not be. I knew better than anyone. There was no other possibility.
[Hehehehe, what a fitting end.]
Because the spirit of the one lying before me was right beside me.
Hwasan’s Sect Leader. The hero of the Jeongma Great War. The soul of Maehwa Ilgeom Seongheon stood at my side.
[I lived a rather good life, wouldn’t you say.]
‘….’
A sigh escaped me at the sound of his chuckling laughter.
‘This is maddening.’
Laughing while gazing upon his own corpse—how could one even describe such a thing.
Seongheon’s body had already lost all vitality. He was truly dead.
I had seen many times when a spirit departed from its vessel during my time as a Saengryeong, but this was different.
His heart no longer beat, his breath had ceased.
When I was a Saengryeong, the body remained alive, but now even that was no longer the case.
Complete death.
The spirit had lost its place to return to, and thus Seongheon’s existence in this world had ended.
-Aaahhhhh…!!!
Amidst everyone’s laments.
We too steadied our breathing within that atmosphere.
Even Cheonhye-in, who always wore a cold expression or smiled, now kept her eyes closed.
Cheon Euijin and Do-hyeong were the same. Dok-ryong was no different.
Before such people, Sochul Daeju and I also exhaled in measured breaths, bidding farewell to Seongheon’s final moment.
[Now that I think of it, bearing dignity suits one better. Would you not agree.]
[Enough of your nonsense. What dignity does an old codger possess. Speak only after you’ve removed the age spots from your skin.]
[Tsk tsk. These days the young call such things charm. You cannot keep pace with the times. Do not age like that yourself.]
[Damn it. True to form for a flower master—even his nonsense smells fragrant.]
[A flower master, you say…. This bastard.]
“….”
I desperately wished they would just shut up.
I meant it sincerely. Were these people in their right minds?
I couldn’t concentrate. One wrong move and I’d burst out laughing.
If I laughed here, it would truly be the end. I’d be socially buried without question.
-Uhhhhh….
What would happen if I laughed while everyone wept in anguish?
I had no confidence I could endure their stares.
And.
‘Even setting that aside.’
That small back before my eyes.
I couldn’t bring myself to smile while looking at Yoo Yeon.
“….”
-Ahhhhh….
Solitary silence amid the overwhelming wails.
Yoo Yeon, voiceless, remained silent in that way.
Before her master whose breath had already ceased.
She did nothing and simply sat there for a long while.
On some day when the season grew cold.
Seongheon, who had been called a hero, departed thus, leaving behind his quiet disciple.
It was such a day.

* * *
Seongheon’s funeral rites concluded before nightfall.
Among the petals. And while the sun still hung in the sky.
I discovered Seongheon’s written words expressing his desire to end things that way.
Perhaps a night I should have departed.
I missed my chance and remained at Hwasan instead.
[The night grows cold.]
Seongheon approached my side and spoke. Seeing him, already a ghost, I let out a quiet laugh.
Having just conducted his funeral, it was absurd to see Seongheon beside me.
It might have been familiar to me once, but not anymore.
“You cannot feel the cold, can you?”
[Ah, I’ve been caught.]
Hahaha. Seongheon laughs.
[Thank you.]
Immediately after, I hear his words of gratitude. Hearing that, I looked at him.
“For what?”
[For honoring my final moments.]
“I did nothing of the sort. It simply happened to be the right time, that’s all.”
I mean it. I had no intention of doing anything about his end.
If anything, I wanted to avoid being entangled in it.
Even with such thoughts, I look at him, yet Seongheon continues to smile.
[What a fine day.]
He speaks while gazing at the risen moon.
Observing his reaction, I asked.
“Are you at peace?”
[About what?]
“Whether you harbor any lingering attachments.”
[Heh. Why? Will you hear them out if I do?]
“No.”
Have I lost my mind to even consider it.
“I cannot assist you further.”
This is my limit. The matter of the Maehuajeong Sword was already dangerous—I could not move for the sake of his lingering attachments beyond this.
[Tsk tsk…. I suppose that’s true.]
“Yes. The requests of the dead become my burden. What I did last time was already a considerable effort.”
[It’s quite curious. What kind of life have you lived?]
Seongheon suddenly casts a pitying gaze upon me.
[Your dry eyes, your indifference to death—I’m curious about your life.]
“There’s no need to be curious. It was an unremarkable life.”
More precisely, it was a life I could not speak of to others.
That is simply the nature of humans.
‘Beings that deem anything different from themselves as wrong.’
Whether human or ghost, there was no distinction.
I was one who lived caught between such beings.
Someone who cowered in the shadows, belonging nowhere—that was me.
I had no desire to dwell on it.
[….]
Seongheon looked at me and asked nothing further. He seemed to have noticed that he shouldn’t.
[You’ve endured much.]
I laughed at the sudden remark.
“Yes.”
Endured, indeed. I have endured. And it seems I will continue to endure.
‘This cursed karma.’
Would things have been different if I’d been told to become a Deity?
The thought flashed through my mind.
But then.
‘Come to think of it….’
Who was it again?
Who told me to become a Deity? Who was it?
“….”
I furrowed my brow. I couldn’t remember.
Who said it? Which superior being had spoken those words?
I couldn’t recall anything.
‘What is this?’
Was the memory too distant? That couldn’t be right.
I shouldn’t be unable to remember something like this. As I was thinking that.
[Hey, why are you—]
Yoo Cheon-gil was about to ask why I looked strange when someone appeared before us.
“Forgive the intrusion, Wol-hyeop.”
It was Yeo Hyeok. His entrance broke my reverie.
“Ah, Master Yeo Hyeok.”
“My apologies for the late hour. I came seeking you as there is something I must deliver.”
“To me?”
Yeo Hyeok’s expression was grim as well. Of course it would be. But something to give me in a situation like this?
Curious, I looked up as he handed me a letter.
“It appears Jang Moonin left this for you.”
“…What?”
My eyes widened. Left by Seongheon? I glanced at his ghost, and he was smiling.
[Didn’t you say it was difficult to grant a ghost’s request?]
What did I—?
[But I thought, wouldn’t a request made while I was alive be no different?]
“….”
I was at a loss for words. So he had written a will before dying, apparently.
Was he insane? I never imagined he would leave a will addressed to me of all people, simply because he had no one else to write it to.
[Don’t worry. I wrote it to many children.]
With an awkward expression, I unfolded the letter. It contained a message that was both lengthy and brief.
First, it began with the statement that Yoo Cheon-gil’s inheritance was being transferred to me. After that, there was also a request to return the Black Robe.
However.
“The return is to be received directly by Yoo Yeon, his direct disciple…?”
There it was—a passage instructing me to deliver the Black Robe to Yoo Yeon.
What did this mean? Then.
‘Does this mean I have to take her to Hannam or somewhere?’
I wondered if that could be it, but looking at Seongheon’s face, it seemed to be correct.
“Ha.”
“Wol-hyeop…?”
“It’s nothing.”
My irritation suddenly flared at how easily this man read my thoughts.
He was truly a cunning one, there was no denying it.
‘And how did I even learn this principle in the first place?’
Remarkably, most of what Seongheon had said was accurate. Requests made while a ghost held no bearing on karma, but requests left behind in life did not affect karma either.
“….”
A cunning old man indeed. True to form as someone’s friend.
[What did you say?]
[This bastard, reading my words…!]
It wasn’t even words—it was my thoughts, yet somehow he read them again.
In any case, his perception was sharp.
I let out a deep sigh and continued reading the next passage.
However.
“Huh?”
Upon seeing the final lines, I had to tilt my head in confusion.
It contained words that Seongheon would absolutely never have written.

* * *
The Hwasan Sect had grown quiet after Seongheon’s funeral rites concluded.
Within its confines, the Old Man Maehua Daeju stirred to movement.
Clank.
The chains binding him rattled, and as the wailing that had filled the air ceased, he let out a short laugh.
“…Elder Brother. You’ve finally departed?”
Heheheh.
“If you were going to leave anyway… why not have passed it to me instead?”
The position of Jang Moonin, which I ultimately failed to inherit.
At that reality, Maehua Daeju swallowed hard.
Had I known it would come to this, would I have made different choices? No, I likely would not have.
Look at me even now. I crave better choices, yet even those lack integrity.
“…Elder Brother was right.”
There was something Seongheon had once told me. That I was not suited for the position of Jang Moonin.
From that moment, everything changed.
I acted out of spite and forced my way forward.
I wanted to prove that Seongheon’s eyes were wrong.
“In the end, Elder Brother was right.”
It seemed I was never meant to belong in that place.
“Heheheh… hehehehe.”
So this is how it ends.
Thinking thus, Maehua Daeju lowered his head.
“…Surely.”
No matter what.
“I cannot end like this.”
Rather than finish merely as a traitor, I must become something else.
With that thought, Maehua Daeju lifted his head.
Perhaps it was because Seongheon had died.
Or perhaps it was from that conversation with Wol-hyeop.
Maehwa Ilgeom’s thoughts had shifted.
The reason why I alone remained alive while other traitorous disciples had taken their own lives through the Forbidden Seal.
And another truth that even Gwima and Taema did not know.
I would reveal that to Hwasan and then die.
With that resolve, Maehua Daeju spoke toward the darkened corridor.
“You there.”
You there. You there. You there…
Maehua Daeju’s words echoed hollowly.
“Is anyone here-!”
Only echoes continued. Was there truly no one? Even if Jang Moonin had died, it was strange to have no sentries at all.
“You there, I have something to say…”
At that moment,
Thud.
Footsteps echoed from afar.
Thud. Thud.
The sound of someone walking slowly—ever so slowly—from a distance grew closer.
What was this sound?
The instant Maehua Daeju harbored the question,
Shing—!
A short blade pierced through his forehead.
“Gack.”
With a faint gasp, Maehua Daeju collapsed.
“….”
Before him now stood a figure.
The Blue-Eyed Man watched Maehua Daeju’s death unfold.
Whoosh.
Then he vanished.

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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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