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EPISODE 3
Baek-seon’s voice dripped with murderous intent, making their bodies tremble violently.
“P-Poison Prince, what are you doing right now?”
“What am I doing? Opposing you, of course.”
He answered briefly, his gaze full of hostility.
He knew that opposing them here would greatly disrupt the original story. If Man Yu-gang’s corpse wasn’t taken away by their hands, Cheon-rang would lose the reason to leave the cave.
Yet even so…
“Hhhk… huff… No… nooo… Master, hhhff, Master… Master… Master!”
He could not bear to see Cheon-rang crying his heart out like that.
The image of him screaming that he had failed not only to protect his master during the Demonic War, but even his corpse—
That scene from the novel had been seared into Baek-seon’s memory for ten years, refusing to fade.
“There are many rules in the martial world…”
Baek-seon murmured as he stepped forward.
He swung his sword a few times, gauging the distance. Unlike the large frame of Man Yu-gang, Dang Baek-seon had a smaller build and shorter reach.
“Young Master Dang, don’t tell me… you intend to oppose us?”
“And why wouldn’t I?”
At his reply, the intruders flinched. Then, lowering their voices, they began whispering furiously to one another—
“You fiend! You must be a demonic cultist wearing human skin! What have you done with Young Master Dang?!”
“…What?”
“Kill him at once!”
Before Baek-seon could say anything, they raised their pickaxes and rushed forward.
Startled by the sudden attack, Baek-seon immediately drew on his inner energy and moved to block the strike aimed at him—
“Kuhhk…!”
A sickening twist of his vital energy struck, and black blood spewed from his mouth.
He dodged the pickaxe and clutched his lips, but the sensation was as though his dantian had been shattered.
“N-Now! Kill him!”
As Baek-seon staggered, the intruders pounced, eyes bloodshot with killing intent.
Despite twisting his body to dodge, the constant onslaught was too much for his injured state.
“…Tch!”
Eventually, a strike landed on his shoulder, sending sharp pain through him as he collapsed to one knee with a shrill cry.
It hurt.
Perhaps because he had lived nearly ten years in comfort, far from pain—
The searing stab in his lower abdomen, the crushing impact of the pickaxe—all of it felt unbearably excruciating, enough to make him faint.
“I… hhff… didn’t expect this…”
Even though his whole body screamed with pain, he still had to fulfill his goal—
If he could just drive these intruders out, then at least one future where Cheon-rang wept in despair would no longer exist.
His trembling hands tightened around the hilt of his sword.
He might die the moment he swung it, but that no longer mattered.
‘If I die now and escape this possession… that might even be a good thing.’
Baek-seon gave a faint, bitter laugh at the thought—
“I thought you’d be stronger, being a young master of one of the Five Great Clans. But I guess not.”
A deep voice came from behind the intruders.
Startled, both Baek-seon and the invaders turned toward the cave entrance—
There stood a man with a massive greatsword slung across his shoulder.
“…Ch-Cheon-rang!”
The intruders raised their pickaxes toward him, wary. But Cheon-rang merely gazed at Baek-seon standing among them.
“Judging from the state you’re in, you didn’t bring them here. And I certainly didn’t invite them.”
Cheon-rang pointed his blade at the intruders, ready to strike.
“R-Rang-ah…!”
Baek-seon cried out, only for sharp pain to shoot through his abdomen again. With his qi in disarray, standing upright was already a miracle.
‘Careful… be careful…’
He mouthed the words silently toward Cheon-rang.
Cheon-rang frowned as he caught the lip movement.
“I’m sure I told you not to pretend to be my master.”
“……”
“Guess you really don’t understand words.”
With that, he swung his greatsword in a wide arc. A violent gust of energy swept through the cave, shaking Baek-seon and the intruders alike.
“Khhhk…!”
The sheer force of it made Baek-seon’s whole body tremble. He instinctively gripped his sword like a lifeline, but still stumbled back.
‘…To think his aura alone is this strong. He’s grown so much.’
When Baek-seon died, Cheon-rang had been nowhere near this level.
While he thought this, Cheon-rang cut through the intruders with swift, decisive movements.
‘His movements…’
Were flawless.
Baek-seon wanted to watch longer, to see how his disciple had grown during the lonely years after his death.
But his vision blurred, darkening further.
As his knees buckled and his head began to fall toward the ground, Cheon-rang flicked the blood from his sword and darted forward to catch him by the waist.
“……”
His black eyes, tinged with crimson, shimmered with strange emotion.
Flashback
“Master! Look, pretty flowers are blooming over there!”
A small boy, no taller than his master’s waist, ran over holding a bundle of flowers in his arms. Cheon-rang smiled brightly and offered them up to Yu-gang.
“Are these… for me?”
“Yes! B-because Master is so kind to me… I like it so much…”
Unable to meet Yu-gang’s eyes, the boy fidgeted with red-tipped ears.
“They’re beautiful. I can’t tell which is prettier, the flowers or you.”
“…R-really?”
“Of course.”
“M-Master… if I’m really that pretty… could I… become your partner when I grow up?”
Yu-gang’s eyes widened at the innocent question.
He didn’t want to wound the child’s heart. He couldn’t bring himself to say, “By the time you’re grown, I’ll no longer be in this world.”
His expression softened as he spoke gently.
“If you grow into a fine man who can protect me, then perhaps choosing you as my partner wouldn’t be so bad.”
“…!”
“But that means you can’t slack off in your training, right?”
Cheon-rang nodded vigorously, then ran across the field, shouting with joy.
“I’ll get stronger! I swear I’ll marry Master!”
Yu-gang merely smiled softly.
Present
“Hhuff… hff…”
Baek-seon opened his eyes, panting.
Moments ago, he had been in a vast meadow holding flowers. Now his whole body ached like it was breaking apart.
“Khhk, ahh…”
Clenching his teeth from the pain, his body shuddered as if rejecting any movement. Fever burned through him, only to be replaced by freezing cold.
“Don’t move.”
A deep voice reached his ears. It was lower and rougher than the one he had heard since awakening in Dang Baek-seon’s body, yet undeniably Cheon-rang’s.
‘Then what I just saw… was…?’
Ah. A death-flashback.
It meant he had brushed close to death, enough to make Rang cry for him, perhaps even shed tears over his pitiful state.
Half-delirious from fever, Baek-seon mumbled words without thinking—telling Cheon-rang not to worry, that his master was strong and would be fine.
“…What?”
With ragged breath, he stared at the cave’s ceiling, unaware of where he was.
“It’s… so late already. I’m… fine. Go to sleep now, hmm?”
Still unaware he was in a cave, Baek-seon muttered deliriously through his pain.
“…I told you not to pretend to be my master.”
“Rang-ah…”
“Can’t tell if you’re hard of hearing or just eager to die.”
Despite his harsh words, Cheon-rang didn’t say more. Instead, he pressed a hand against Baek-seon’s lower abdomen.
“Hhhff…”
The sharp pain began to ease. Cheon-rang was channeling his qi into Baek-seon’s body.
But Baek-seon, barely conscious, couldn’t even realize it.
“Rang…”
“Shut up and sleep.”
Cheon-rang’s other hand came up to cover Baek-seon’s eyes.
Everything felt hazy, dreamlike.
Baek-seon parted his lips as if to say more, but sleep claimed him before he could speak
