Cheon Suhye stood blankly in front of her family's graves.
The graves of her older brother, her mother, and her father, whose body was never even found.
What was left for her was a dilapidated, shabby house, a small, ruined farmland, and a single sword with a clumsy black paint job.
That year, not only her family but no one was left around her.
They either died from the plague or left the village.
She too sold everything she could and left the village, walking and walking.
What was left for her was the white robe her brother used to wear and a clumsy black sword.
And so, she became a wanderer.
Although she had no skills or anything, she survived by holding on tenaciously.
As the sorrow of losing her family faded, she began to take on the appearance of a wanderer.
She also learned the ways of those who lived by the sword and how to handle a sword by watching over their shoulders.
And so, after countless years had passed and even the memories of her family had faded, she heard the news of the Martial Alliance's entrance examination.
At that news, for some reason, her brother's words of being a great hero came to Cheon Suhye's mind.
Her brother who had died because of her.
She moved her feet, wanting to fulfill her brother's hope, even if it was just a little.
But now, she couldn't even achieve that.
Far from achieving it, she herself was disappearing.
'Ah, ah...'
What little was left of her shed endless tears.
Since she had even lost her body, the tears did not flow out, but she continued to shed tears.
'No!'
Death was fine.
But this was different.
She did not want such an end where her very existence was changing.
'Please, someone...!'
She was now hoping for salvation.
Although she knew from life's experience that there was no such thing as salvation, she hoped for salvation.
At that time.
Slice.
A sword cut through her.
No, it did not cut.
Although the sword had clearly cut through her, it had not cut her.
What that sword had cut was only the part of her that was not herself.
Thump.
Her heart, which had not only stopped but was no longer felt, began to beat violently.
And at the same time, all the senses of her body began to return one by one.
She could feel the air on her skin, hear the surrounding sounds, and smell.
And her eyes began to see.
And in front of her eyes.
"Are you awake?"
Baek Yoonjun was quietly looking at her.
He was standing upright with a sword in his hand, his chest pierced by Cheon Suhye's hand.
"It seems it was a success. That's a relief."
With those words, his body began to collapse backward.
Behind him was a dark cliff.
"Ah..."
At the sudden return of her senses, she could not do anything and just stared blankly as he fell off the cliff.
"Ah...!!"
Although she reached out her hand belatedly, his figure had long since disappeared below the cliff.
Thud.
Her body collapsed.
On her knees, with her hands on the ground, tears fell from her eyes.
"Ah... ah... uwaaaaah!!"
She screamed and shed endless tears.
"Wh-why on earth?!"
Although she had called him older brother, he was not her real older brother, a relationship formed out of necessity because she was learning the sword.
It was by no means a relationship worth risking one's life for.
Baek Yoonjun, added to her past, dug into her heart like a dagger.
Cheon Suhye, who had shed so many tears that she was close to exhaustion, sat there blankly.
'Why did you save a useless person like me?'
It seemed she could not do anything, nothing at all.
'What on earth can I do?'
At that time.
-...can...
Something like a hallucination was heard in her ear.
Wondering if she had misheard, Cheon Suhye just blinked and looked at the cliff, but there was nothing.
And so, her heart began to be dyed with despair again.
'A weakling like me can't do anything!'
Cheon Suhye screamed in her heart.
At that time, a hallucination was heard in her ear again.
-...is... strong.
The second hallucination.
For some reason, that hallucination sounded similar to Baek Yoonjun's voice.
An unknown hallucination.
But for some reason, that hallucination sounded as if it were comforting Cheon Suhye.
'A gentle voice like Older Brother Baek...'
It brought a light into Cheon Suhye's heart, which had been full of only despair.
'Right. I can't let Older Brother Baek's sacrifice be in vain.'
Cheon Suhye barely got up on her trembling legs.
The sun, which she did not know when it had risen, was shining brilliantly, illuminating Cheon Suhye.
As if it were blessing her path ahead.
Baek Yoonjun was falling endlessly.
Even in that state, Baek Yoonjun's reason was not just calm, but extremely cold.
'The wound is not a particular problem. The problem is.'
Even while falling, Baek Yoonjun calmly surveyed his surroundings.
'Internal energy, no, I don't know if I should call it internal energy anymore, but I don't know how to operate it.'
Baek Yoonjun's internal energy had changed its very essence into a heart sword.
Baek Yoonjun, who thought it was impossible to perform his lightness skill as usual for now, looked for a breakthrough in another direction.
'Since the operation itself is unnatural, what I can do is cut.'
Baek Yoonjun calmly drew his sword.
At that moment.
Crack.
The bolt on his heart was shattered, and all sorts of stray thoughts began to fill his mind.
"Uh, uh, uh...?"
Baek Yoonjun's eyes, who had not grasped the current situation for a moment, gradually widened.
"Uwaaaaah! I'm falling!!"
Startled, he screamed.
Fortunately, since the Baek Yoonjun with the bolt on his heart and the current Baek Yoonjun were the same Baek Yoonjun, the thoughts he had just had had not disappeared.
'R-right! Cut! I have to cut!!'
Baek Yoonjun glared at the front with all his might and gripped the hilt of his sword.
The problem was that what he could see in front of him was a rock, a rock, and a rock.
'I can't cut a rock!!'
Baek Yoonjun screamed.
But he soon came to his senses.
'Can I... do it? No! Now that I've even set foot in the second-rate!!'
Baek Yoonjun thrust his sword at the rock.
"I can cut a rock!!"
Letting out a roar close to a scream, he thrust his sword at the rock.
Slice.
The sword was cleanly stuck in the rock and began to be cut downwards.
Thanks to that, the speed at which Baek Yoonjun was falling decreased rapidly.
Although Baek Yoonjun was relieved, he felt an even greater sense of being overwhelmed.
'I cut a rock?'
An overwhelming feeling that filled his heart endlessly.
In Baek Yoonjun's mind, the scenes of the past passed by quickly.
Among them, the most intense memory.
The scene where a medicine seller in the street had shattered a rock the size of his own torso in one blow when Baek Yoonjun was working as a waiter at a tavern.
The current Baek Yoonjun had also succeeded in a similar act.
No, beyond shattering it, he had properly cut it.
"I am!! Stronger than a medicine seller!"
Baek Yoonjun roared.
That roar was filled with many emotions.
The roar, filled with the sorrow and emotion of his entire life so far, even felt as if it were shaking the heavens and the earth.
Although the rock that the medicine seller had broken was a prop for selling medicine that he had made himself, Baek Yoonjun had firmly believed until now that it was a real rock.
'Finally, finally, I've taken a step forward!!'
Baek Yoonjun's body, overwhelmed by his own progress, gradually got closer to the ground.
Cheon Suhye stood in front of the cliff.
In front of her was a small grave, a tombstone made by carving a tree, and a single staff stuck in the ground.
"Older brother, although you were not my real older brother, you gave me many things."
Cheon Suhye solemnly knelt on the ground and bowed her head.
"Older brother, you were the true great hero of this era."
Cheon Suhye slowly got up from her seat.
As she got up, she scanned the writing on the tombstone with her eyes.
[Great Hero Baek Yoonjun rests here.]
Although she had not found Baek Yoonjun's body, thinking that his will was left here, Cheon Suhye had made the grave with all her heart.
Cheon Suhye quietly closed her eyes and recalled her days with him.
A being who had given generously and had even saved her life at the end before leaving.
Cheon Suhye felt that that process resembled the plum blossoms that had scattered on Mount Hua.
"Older brother, I will live with the sword and the will you gave me in my heart."
Cheon Suhye hugged her sword tightly to her chest.
"So rest in peace, older brother."
With a final farewell, Cheon Suhye turned her feet.
Her eyes were incomparably clear and bright.
Sreung.
Cheon Suhye, who had walked a few steps, drew her sword on the spot.
Then she began to swing it.
It was similar to the clumsy movements of her real older brother in his childhood.
And in that clumsy sword form, the movements from Baek Yoonjun's teachings were imbued.
It was so beautiful that it looked more like a dance than swinging a sword.
A plum blossom bloomed at the tip of the sword and scattered.
That scattering, as if to commemorate him who had appeared and disappeared before her, scattered endlessly.
At that time, Baek Yoonjun.
"Finally!"
He reached the ground.
"It's the ground!!"
Having reached the ground, Baek Yoonjun felt the preciousness of the ground and lay on the floor for a while, catching his breath.
And so, Baek Yoonjun, who had fully enjoyed the preciousness of the ground, got up from his seat.
'First, I have to treat my wound.'
Baek Yoonjun examined the wound on his chest.
'Well, this much can be treated quickly.'
Baek Yoonjun quickly treated the wound with the medicine and needles he had.
Although it was a wound where a hand had been half-stuck, by Baek Yoonjun's standards, it was not a very big wound.
Baek Yoonjun, who had finished his treatment on the spot.
'For now, the treatment is over, and I think I need to recuperate a little.'
Baek Yoonjun slowly moved his feet.
'It's very deep.'
The area below the cliff was a valley, so it was quite deep.
'I can't climb up now.'
Now that all his internal energy had changed into a heart sword, since everything he used to do was unnatural, it seemed impossible to get out of this place right away.
'For now, should I look for a place to recuperate?'
Having given up on climbing, Baek Yoonjun moved to find a suitable place to stay.
And so, he found a cave.
Baek Yoonjun immediately examined the inside.
'It doesn't seem like a beast's den, is it a naturally formed cave?'
Although it was a cave near a valley, the water had long since dried up, and since there was little moisture inside the cave, it seemed quite livable.
Without delay, Baek Yoonjun went inside the cave, found a suitable spot, and sat down.
Swaaaa.
As soon as Baek Yoonjun sat down in the cave, as if it had been waiting, it began to rain.
'Good timing.'
Although his condition would not worsen just because he was hit by the rain and wind, it was a matter of feeling.
Baek Yoonjun, who had been sitting for a while, got up.
Then he began to go deeper and deeper into the cave.
'As expected, I can't feel at ease unless it's a corner.'
Although his realm had risen, since the disposition of a homebody introvert was still there, Baek Yoonjun walked in search of a corner.
And so, walking and walking, Baek Yoonjun, who had finally reached the end of the cave.
'I've arrived!'
He sat down in a corner and felt a psychological sense of stability.
And so, Baek Yoonjun, who was fully appreciating the corner, suddenly recalled a conversation with a friend from his past.
'Come to think of it, didn't he say that there was a fortuitous encounter in a cave in a valley below a cliff like this?'
Baek Yoonjun, who had charged up a certain amount of corner power, looked around the cave.
There was nothing particularly special.
'There's nothing.'
Baek Yoonjun was not disappointed.
Since he had had a similar experience before, he had grown to some extent.
-As expected, it's a bit disappointing if you fall off a cliff in a martial arts novel and there's no fortuitous encounter.
Perhaps because his friend's words came to mind, although Baek Yoonjun was not disappointed, he felt a little regretful.
'It's a shame.'
Baek Yoonjun looked at the end of the cave with regretful eyes.
'Although it's a little difficult to decorate it like before in my current state, should I leave behind my own enlightenment of having risen to the second-rate?'
As a consolation, Baek Yoonjun decided to leave behind his own enlightenment and drew his sword.
Since he was still not drawn to the idea of leaving his insight in writing, he held his sword, closed his eyes, and observed his inside.
And so, Baek Yoonjun, who had entered his mental image, grabbed his heart sword.
Baek Yoonjun, who had grabbed his heart sword in his mental image and opened his eyes, swung his sword at the wall.
There was no cutting sound, no sound of the sword being swung.
But on the wall, a single sword mark from the downward stroke had clearly appeared.
That single sword mark was deeply engraved with the process of Baek Yoonjun stepping into the next realm and the mystery of the heart sword that had cut but not cut.
'Although it's empty, this is the best sword strike I can do.'
Although he would have decorated it more if it were as usual because it was empty, since his body condition was not good, he was satisfied with this.
'It also looks somewhat cool with just one sword mark without any decoration.'
And so, Baek Yoonjun, who was having a mental victory inwardly, sat down on the floor again.
'Looking at it like this, I've finally risen to the second-rate.'
Only then did Baek Yoonjun realize that he had stepped into the next realm.
'Although it's still unstable, this is definitely the beginning of the second-rate.'
Baek Yoonjun began to be overwhelmed again.
The feeling of having stepped into the next realm that he had so longed for.
'It's good.'
It gave Baek Yoonjun's mind and body a stability that made him forget his big and small worries for a moment.
(End of Chapter)
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