It is said that a person's innate nature does not change easily.

The same goes for Jin Sohyun.

Jin Sohyun, who was born a lazybones, had to spend the busiest time of his life, which he would never experience again, due to the series of events that occurred at the Four Daoist Assembly and the shocking death of Bieunggaek.

And now.

He was paying the price for going against his nature.

“Ugh.”

Even though he had slept for six hours straight, Jin Sohyun found it too troublesome to get out of bed.

It was so bad that Jong Ryeo'ak had come to check if Jin Sohyun was dead or alive with an annoyed face.

“Are you alive?”

“Yeah.”

“Then that’s that. You lazy bastard.”

As Jong Ryeo'ak grumbled and left, Jin Sohyun stretched his two arms high and stretched.

“Ugh, I don’t want to do it.”

There was one more thing he had to do before Gu Yong arrived.

Jin Sohyun, who had gone down to the basement of the Cheonhwagak with slow steps, met Baekhwa there.

And Yuha, who had come at some unknown time, was also with her.

“What are you doing here?”

“At the news that Baekhwa was captured…”

Yuha looked at Jin Sohyun with eyes that seemed to ask why Baekhwa was captured.

“Baekhwa has committed a sin. At least to me.” 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

“A… sin?”

“Isn’t that right?”

Jin Sohyun stood in front of the bound Baekhwa.

Baekhwa, who had discovered him, laughed in vain.

“You’re alive. How?”

“Did you want me to die?”

“A little. Because the day you came back meant that my identity was discovered. Of course, I was already discovered and ended up in this state.”

Baekhwa asked with a face that didn't understand.

“How did you know?”

“Umi. You killed your fiancé and ran away from your hometown in Sichuan to become the flower of the Cheonhwagak. The Hao Sect was behind all of this.”

“…”

“You were the one who killed your fiancé, Umi.”

“It’s been a while since I’ve heard that name. It was the name I hated the most.”

“So that’s why your expression was like that.”

When he had first called Baekhwa Umi.

What he had seen in her eyes was not surprise or fear, but hatred.

“I was sold for money. I was sixteen at the time, and my fiancé was fifty-two. What woman would want to marry a man like that?”

“So you received help from the Hao Sect?”

“I didn’t know it was the Hao Sect at that time. I just followed them because they said they would give me a new identity. And then I met him.”

“Ok Myeon.”

“Oh my, our handsome young master knows everything, doesn’t he?”

“It’s over. Baekhwa. The branch that Ok Myeon had has collapsed, and the Hao Sect will soon collapse as well.”

“I know. Whatever happens to the Hao Sect, my life is over now that I’ve been captured like this. Do as you please… I have no intention of clinging to life pathetically.”

Baekhwa held out her neck as if telling him to cut it at any moment.

At that, Yuha, who was watching from a few steps behind, rushed over.

“W-wait a minute!”

“Miss Yu.”

“I grew up from a naive girl to a courtesan. I don’t understand the grudges of the martial world. All I know is what I’ve heard from the martial artists who came to the brothel. But… the young master is my benefactor, but…”

Yuha rambled on, shedding tears.

At Yuha’s appearance, Baekhwa let out a hollow laugh.

“You’re foolish. If you’re doing this just to save me, don’t do something useless and step back.”

“A chance… please give me a chance!”

“Step aside, Miss Yu.”

Jin Sohyun passed by Yuha and took out a flying sword that he had brought from his bedroom.

Baekhwa, who had sensed the end, closed her eyes gently, and Yuha turned her head as if she couldn't watch the tragedy that was about to unfold.

The next moment, the flying sword in Jin Sohyun’s hand was swung in an elegant curve.

Swish—!

Thud—

The thick rope was cut, and Baekhwa felt her body become free.

“Haaah…!”

Baekhwa had a bewildered expression at the freedom that had come instead of death.

“Wh-what are you doing?”

“What was the reason you followed Ok Myeon?”

“That’s… he helped me, and he gave me a new identity…”

“Not that. The real reason.”

“…Because I had to.”

She had to in order to live.

There weren't many life choices given to a murderer who had killed her fiancé and had run away.

To run away for the rest of her life.

To be caught and killed by the assassins sent by the bereaved family.

Or to go to the government office herself and live in prison.

To such a Baekhwa, Ok Myeon had given a chance.

A chance to live a new life.

And he had taken away her freedom.

By taking away the chance to live the life she wanted.

“I haven’t forgiven you. You will have to work for me here as the Cheonhwagak Master.”

“The Hao Sect…”

“Don’t worry about the Hao Sect. I will finish them with my own hands.”

If someone else had boasted that they would finish the Hao Sect, she would have spat and sneered.

Because the Hao Sect was not an easy organization.

But.

For some reason, she had faith in this man.

Along with a strength that could not be broken by anything.

“Then continue to work hard from now on.”

With these words, Jin Sohyun came up from the basement of the Cheonhwagak.

Following that, Yuha came out and asked Jin Sohyun.

“Are you… really going to let Baekhwa live?”

At her anxious voice, Jin Sohyun nodded his head.

“The name of the man who tried to make Baekhwa… no, Umi, his fiancée, was Gwang Ok. He was a trash-like bastard who used the immense wealth inherited from his parents to take young women as concubines, play with them, and then abandon them when they got older.”

“Ah…”

“Of course, if you ask if he deserved to die, I can’t say for sure… but let’s just say he paid for his sins.”

“Then! Why didn’t you tell Baekhwa about that man?”

“That’s the price Baekhwa has to pay. Murder is a grave sin.”

“What if I tell her?”

“That’s now Miss Yu’s choice. Whichever you choose, you choose, Miss Yu. Of course, you will also have to take responsibility for the consequences. Then I’ll be on my way.”

As Jin Sohyun left, Yuha stood in her place for a long time.

And then she said softly.

“It’s too difficult homework for me.”

***

“Heok! Heok!!”

Gu Yong, who had to run without a break for three whole days, felt as if his lungs and heart would burst.

Still, Gu Yong, who had finally arrived at Honggang, went to the Cheonhwagak as he had heard beforehand.

“This is not a place for a beggar like me.”

Gu Yong entered the Cheonhwagak, which had ceased its business.

As if it had already been arranged, no one stopped him.

Rather, familiar Blue Dragon Daoist Temple disciples were resting comfortably in the Cheonhwagak.

‘It’s more peaceful than I thought?’

They were the ones who should have been fighting a life-and-death battle with the Hao Sect’s Honggang branch.

But now, their appearance seemed too peaceful.

Gu Yong, who felt a sense of incongruity, went up to the top floor of the Cheonhwagak, following the stairs, and there he was able to meet Gwak Myeong.

“You’ve come.”

“It’s been a long time, Great Master Gwak.”

“Come this way.”

“Ah, yes.”

There, Gu Yong surprisingly met one of the Seven Evils, Gu Jucheol, as well as Song U and Dang Hocheol.

‘The masters of the Blue Dragon Daoist Temple are gathered in one place. Well, it’s right to pour all their strength to attack the Honggang branch. This is where the branch manager is.’

Unlike the other small branches, Honggang was where the Hao Sect’s branch manager, the Red-Faced Lord, was.

Gu Yong, who had nodded his head and had entered, came face to face with a man wearing a mask with a red spider drawn on it.

“Huh?”

“Hmm?”

The two, who had discovered each other, let out a short exclamation at the same time.

“Red-Faced Lord?”

“A Beggars' Sect member?”

The two felt a sense of kinship, as if they had met their own kind, and at the same time, a sense of wariness toward a competitor.

“What’s going on?”

As Gu Yong asked, Gwak Myeong pointed behind him and said.

“That fellow will explain.”

At Gwak Myeong’s words, Gu Yong, who had turned around, discovered a handsome man there.

“It’s been a long time.”

“Young… Master Jin.”

“Is there something wrong? You don’t look well.”

“I didn’t expect to see you here, Young Master Jin.”

“I know. I just happened to have something I wanted to ask you, Mr. Gu Yong.”

Before Jin Sohyun could continue, Gu Yong raised his hand and stopped him.

“Before that… I have something to tell you, Young Master.”

“To me?”

Gu Yong, who had nodded his head, opened his mouth with a shaded face.

“…I’m sorry.”

***

“Don’t blame yourself too much. You did your best for the righteous martial world, and there’s no one who doesn’t know that.”

“I know. But, it’s still not easy.”

“I wonder if Young Master Jin is okay.”

In Gu Yong’s confession, which followed his apology, the deal between Bieunggaek and the Beggars' Sect and the reason why Bieunggaek had to die were revealed.

And Jin Sohyun, who had heard this, asked for some time and then left the Cheonru and disappeared.

“It must be hard. But it’s something he has to overcome. The martial world is not a fairy tale written for children.”

The other martial artists quietly sympathized with Gu Jucheol’s words, which were in a way extremely cold.

The death of a master.

The death of a friend.

The death of a lover.

The death of a family member.

“It’s a pain that any martial artist who has experienced the Righteous-Heretic Great War has gone through.”

As if recalling the past, Gu Jucheol had to make a painful expression.

He was closer to a perpetrator than a victim, and he was a person who created death rather than watching it.

That’s why the karma of the unforgivable sin always followed Gu Jucheol and tormented him.

Gwak Myeong stared at the window where Jin Sohyun had left and nodded his head once.

“It’s… our role to make sure that such pain is not experienced again.”

***

The place where Jin Sohyun, who had left the Cheonru, arrived was a small mountain located a short distance from Honggang.

He entered a deserted forest, leaned against a large tree, and drooped.

“Ah… I don’t want to do anything.”

He closed his eyes quietly.

At that, old things that had now become the past came to mind.

His first meeting with Bieunggaek.

When he had become Jin Sohyun’s second master.

When he had kidnapped Oh Yoran in a large sack.

When they had laughed and laughed together for several years.

Numerous memories rushed in like a tidal wave and made Jin Sohyun’s head dizzy.

—You will one day become the number one in the world.

—Do I not have an opinion?

—Haha! Whether you want to be or not! You will become the number one in the world and prove that this Bieunggaek’s Heavenly Wind Shadowless Step is the best footwork in the world. Then I will become the master of the number one in the world! Hahaha!

“At that time, you told me to become the number one in the world, and now you’re telling me to stop. If you were going to do that, you shouldn’t have overdone it.”

Jin Sohyun slowly stood up and quickly swung the flying sword he had taken out from his bosom.

The dazzling fast sword cut, sliced, and carved the tree.

Jin Sohyun, who had created a forearm-sized wooden tablet in an instant, wrote on it like this.

[The World’s Greatest Divine Thief, Bieunggaek]

And.

[The Master of the World’s Greatest]

Jin Sohyun, who had completed the wooden tablet, picked it up and opened his eyes wide.

“Please forgive me for not being able to come and see you right now. Master. To come and see you now… I am still too shabby.”

He had never been greedy for strength even once in his life.

He just wanted to live comfortably and lazily as soon as possible.

But.

The world was not so easy on the Lazy Young Master.

“Alright, so this is how you’re going to be?”

Jin Sohyun looked up at the sky and clenched his fists.

“Even now, I’m so annoyed that I want to quit everything and go home and sleep! I’ll endure it just once! Just once!”

For the last time, just once.

Jin Sohyun was planning to endure the annoyance and fight.

And for the sake of Bieunggaek, who had sacrificed himself for him.

“Because I will become the number one in the world and destroy everything.”

It was the moment when Jin Sohyun, for the first time in his life.

Was greedy for being the number one in the world.

(End of Chapter)