Chapter 128 Growth is Surpassing the Past (4)
“Oh, I did not expect you to dive straight into it like that.”
“No point in holding back. It was a question I was going to ask eventually anyway.”
Yu-hyeon nodded in agreement at my words.
“True. Beating around the bush would only be a waste of time.”
“So, what is the answer to my question?”
“Haha. You are quite impatient, Brother. Well, if I were to give you an answer……”
Yu-hyeon thought for a moment before providing a swift reply.
“My answer is that it was the only path left for me.”
“…That is it?”
“Simply put, yes. Do you want to hear more details?”
“That is why I asked the question in the first place.”
It was not that I disliked concise answers. However, with such an abstract response, there was nothing to be gained. I needed to hear more.
“Hmm. The mood is about to get quite serious, then.”
“I do not mind. I expected as much from the start.”
“Very well. Though, even then, it is not a very long story.”
Yu-hyeon began to speak, setting the stage.
“I told you before, Brother, that I am good at teaching because I had to struggle and crawl my way up.”
“You did.”
“And just now, I said I joined the Reverse Heaven Sect because there was only one path.”
Combining those two sentences, there was only one conclusion.
“It was a gutter from the start, so the Reverse Heaven Sect was the best choice available?”
“Exactly. That was how it started.”
Yu-hyeon said this as he began to share a bit of his past.
“I do not know if you are aware, but security outside the principal cities is actually quite poor.”
I knew. It was a setting frequently explained in the novel.
“The areas outside the major cities are essentially warzones. There are frequent Gate Outbreaks, human trafficking by villains, and so on.”
“…….”
“And the place I was born was exactly that kind of warzone.”
Yu-hyeon spoke with a thin smile. However, it did not look like a smile born of genuine happiness.
“I suppose the only stroke of luck was that I had talent?”
“…If you did not, you probably would not have survived.”
“Hahat! You are right. Anyway, fortunately, I had talent, and thanks to that, I was able to survive that hell.”
“But even if you awakened, you would not have been strong enough to defeat villains right away, would you?”
“No. That is why I chose the Gates.”
Did he mean he gained real combat experience inside the Gates? However, Yu-hyeon’s following words proved my guess completely wrong.
“I lived inside the Gates so I would not be caught.”
“…You lived there?”
“There was no need to leave a Gate immediately just because it was cleared. I endured by tearing into the carcasses of monsters. When the food ran out, I threw myself into the next Gate.”
“…….”
“Then I met someone from the Reverse Heaven Sect. Well, a chance encounter somehow led me all the way here.”
With those words, Yu-hyeon shrugged his shoulders as if his answer was finished. My head, on the other hand, had become quite complicated.
‘I felt like there would be a reason, but I did not expect a story like that.’
There are villains who are simply crazed with pleasure. But as the saying goes, everyone has a story. That was why I asked, but the content was more shocking than I anticipated.
‘Scavenging monster carcasses to survive, huh…….’
It was possible. Theoretically. However, the problem was that it was a feat bordering on impossible.
‘Monster carcasses are steeped in the mana of the Gate.’
I had mentioned it before. The raw material for Blue Nightmare was mana extracted from within the Gates. And that mana slowly causes a player’s mana to solidify. Considering that, it was nothing short of a miracle that Yu-hyeon was standing here now.
‘It is probably thanks to the One Who Walks the Demonic Path.’
It was a secret from Yu-hyeon, but when I had some free time before, I had used Final Petition—the ability of my glove—on him. I did it because using Final Petition allowed me to see all of a target’s talents. One of the talents I saw back then was "One Who Walks the Demonic Path."
‘Still, it is impressive.’
The ability of that talent I just mentioned was to raise all understanding regarding mana to the absolute limit. But seeing a description and actually putting it into action are two different matters. That alone told me how tenaciously Yu-hyeon had lived. It meant he had walked a narrow path where a single misstep meant death.
‘But even so…….’
A villain is a villain. As I said, everyone has a story. In the end, the fact that he was branded a villain remained unchanged. Therefore, while I understood that the path Yu-hyeon walked had not been smooth, I could not bring myself to pity him. And Yu-hyeon was well aware of that fact too.
“You do not have to pity me. It is not as if I feel particularly wronged.”
“I know. Pity without the power to do anything is just hypocrisy in the end.”
“Hahahat! Exactly. This is why I cannot help but like you, Brother.”
I had only said the obvious, so I did not know what he was talking about. Anyway, after hearing Yu-hyeon’s story, a sudden curiosity arose.
“Then, if the Reverse Heaven Sect was just an unavoidable choice, why are you trying so hard to protect Ha Eun-ha? You could just pretend to do it.”
The point was that Yu-hyeon was sincere about protecting the Saintess. If he only joined the Reverse Heaven Sect because there was no other way, he did not really need to go that far, did he?
“Is that also a question?”
“…If you do not want to answer, then don't.”
“No. I only have one thing I am curious about anyway, so I will just answer.”
Yu-hyeon spoke as if he were granting a favor and explained the reason.
“It is simple. Even if I had no choice, our goals at least aligned.”
“Our goals aligned?”
“Yes. If I only cared about living, I could have joined any organization.”
That was true. Given Yu-hyeon’s skill and talent, there would not be a single villain organization that would turn him down.
“The truth is, the world does not change just because you kill villains. Someone else eventually just fills that spot.”
“…….”
“So, you have to eliminate the essence. The essence that created the environment where villains have no choice but to emerge.”
The doctrine of the Reverse Heaven Sect mostly involves defying the will of the heavens by eliminating the Gates, which are supposedly the "will of the heavens." The "essence" Yu-hyeon spoke of also referred to the need to eliminate the Gates. Thus, Yu-hyeon was saying he chose the Reverse Heaven Sect because their goals aligned.
“What does that have to do with the Saintess?”
“Players are also called killing machines by another name. People born to kill something.”
“…….”
“It is only natural. To eliminate the Gates, martial force is obviously necessary. However.”
Yu-hyeon stopped speaking and gazed intently at me. After staring straight into my eyes for a moment, he continued.
“Martial force alone does not guarantee overcoming a threat. Sometimes people die because they lack skill, sometimes luck, and sometimes effort.”
“That is true.”
“And I do not know if you will believe me, but I have a feeling that a massive trial will come in the future. One that cannot even be compared to the current Gates.”
That gave me a bit of a chill. What Yu-hyeon described was something that would actually happen in the future.
“If that time comes, the existence of the Saintess will be essential. Her unique healing ability will be able to make the impossible possible.”
In short, his protection was based on his prediction for the future. But it was not bad. Whatever the case, he had a proper reason rather than just passing interest. That was enough.
“I will respect your choice.”
“Haha, thank you. Most of the guys in our Sect are quite… unpleasant.”
“…Is that so?”
“Yes. Even if there is a shared goal, do you think only those who truly harbor that goal would gather?”
I suppose so. That was just how organizations worked. They were a collection of individuals who were all different. It would be stranger if everyone harbored the exact same heart.
“I understand what you mean.”
“Then, is that the end of your questions?”
“Yeah. I have asked all the core points.”
“Then it is my turn now.”
It was just as Yu-hyeon said. Since my questions were finished, it was now his turn. Part of me wished this moment would never come, but what could I do? It was a matter I had to accept. So.
“Ask away. I will answer anything.”
I humbly accepted reality. At my compliance, Yu-hyeon did not hold back and immediately asked the thing he was most curious about.
“Excellent. Then let this be my question. Why did you give up using both hands, Brother?”
He asked the exact question I had anticipated.
“…….”
Honestly, it took my breath away. To answer the question, I naturally had to recall my memories, and that was a source of great pain for me. However, I was not the type of person to break my word once it was spoken.
“My reason is simple too. Because memories I do not want to recall keep coming back.”
“Hmm……”
“Do you want to hear more details?”
“If possible.”
Yu-hyeon had also given me details at my request. A good relationship can only be maintained when both parties show consideration. Thus, I decided to comply. I dragged out the memories of the past that I had lived trying to forget, both consciously and subconsciously.
“It feels a bit awkward to say this myself, but when I first started learning the sword as a child, I was called a genius.”
Most people are led by their parents to learn some form of art or physical education at a young age, right? Taekwondo, Kendo, or maybe the piano. I was the same. The only difference was that I had a significant talent for Kendo.
“So, I used to win quite easily against people my own age, and even those older than me.”
Usually, the younger you are, the greater the difference between you and someone older. Strength, height, speed—everything. But I did not fall behind. Quick judgment, a natural reaction speed—I filled those gaps with my innate talent. Perhaps because of that.
“At some point, people stopped looking at me with pride even when I did well. Most of their gazes were negative.”
The looks of admiration had turned into jealousy before I knew it. I should have stood out moderately, but I had stood out far too much.
“That is just how humans are. So, what did you do?”
“What else could I do? I just went about my business in silence. There was nothing else I could do in the first place.”
No matter how outstanding I was, I was just a child in the end. And there were only a few actions a small child could take. Tell a guardian that it was hard, or grit one's teeth and endure it in silence. I chose the latter. Not because I liked it, but because it was the only option.
“My mother told me this: that with my talent, I could easily become the mainstay of the family. She said she was counting on me.”
“…….”
“So I just endured. Even if I was hurt inside, there was at least someone who believed in me.”
Kendo is not a major sport like soccer or basketball. But no matter how minor the field, the person at the peak is different. And I just happened to have the talent to stand at that peak. So I just gritted my teeth and endured.
“Of course, my father told me to live the life I wanted…… but my mother’s expectations were just too high.”
“So you had no choice but to endure.”
“Yeah. Even if it was a path far removed from happiness.”
I did like Kendo. But I was not happy. The jealousy I received for mastering several times more than others despite learning the same things, and the pressure of having to live up to my mother’s expectations. Those things kept me from being happy, even while doing something I liked.
“It is difficult to empathize with the pain you must have felt, but I do understand. Pain is not something to be compared with others, after all.”
“I appreciate you saying that.”
“So, is the reason you stopped using your left hand because you were crushed by that pressure? Because you did not want to show your full talent?”
“No. If it were something like that, I would have felt better.”
Crushed by pressure, so I gave up my dominant left hand…… If that were the case, there was no way I would have avoided using my left hand until now. Pressure is something that eventually dilutes as you move away from it. There was a specific reason why I still could not bring myself to use both hands. And that was……
“A single accident that happened one day. That was the problem.”
It was a single accident that came suddenly at an unexpected moment.
Starting from that accident, my life was completely upended.
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