Chapter 1: The Young Master of Gu Family (1)

The Young Lord of the Nine Houses. 1

What in the world is going on? How should I even classify this situation…?

I was currently in the middle of a bustling marketplace.

I slowly raised my head and looked at the sky.

The sun, unseen for ages, was blindingly bright, naturally making me squint.

The sun, which I hadn’t seen in a long time, was blindingly bright.

I noticed the passing crowds and numerous street vendors.

Some places were filled with delicious smells and billowing steam from cooking dumplings.

The merchants hawking their wares were loud, and the excited chatter of the onlookers mingled with their voices, making it all even louder.

The marketplace in the area where I lived when I was young used to be just like this, long ago.

How long has it been since I saw such a lively marketplace? It’s probably a sight I haven’t seen in nearly ten years.

‘Is this a dream?’

I definitely died from my heart exploding.

So what is this situation?

Could this be some fleeting vision after death? Was I, perhaps subconsciously, longing for this peaceful past?

Maybe my miserable life made me crave something as mundane as this.

“How ridiculous.”

I jumped at the word I’d just blurted out. I could speak. Naturally, since I couldn’t speak after my throat was injured.

But that wasn’t the only reason I was surprised.

My voice was thin and high-pitched, like a young boy’s. Only then did I look down at my smooth, unblemished hands.

They were thin and delicate, far too small to belong to an adult man.

My field of vision felt a good handspan lower than usual. I was definitely in a child’s body right now.

‘Is this a memory from my childhood?’

If so, when could this be? I rarely ever came to the marketplace this freely.

Scanning the vicinity, I spotted a young man nervously surveying the area.

If memory serves, that man must have been my escort.

And it was precisely when I’d snuck out like this that I first met that child.

I’d bumped into them by chance while barging through the marketplace.

There was this kid who, upon claiming they’d randomly met someone their age on the street, greeted me, a complete stranger, with overwhelming enthusiasm.

They’d somehow filled a gourd-bigger than their own head, apparently-with piping hot potatoes and shoved it right at me.

“Wanna eat potaato?”

Just like this.

“Huh?”

Before I realized it, someone was talking to me.

How mortifying that even this has been recreated.

What did I say back then?

‘Do you even know who I am to shove this pathetic thing in my face!’

That was likely my response.

Or maybe I said something harsher. I don’t know if it was the child’s ragged clothes or if I simply disliked the potatoes they were holding.

Truthfully, it was probably just my immaturity and lack of manners. What other excuse do I need?

If I had known who that child was, if I had known what would unfold later, wouldn’t I have acted differently?

Honestly, I’m not entirely sure. That’s just how reckless and immature I was.

“Uh… uh… you… don’t like potatoes?”

Seeing my lack of reaction, the child hesitated, nervously gauging my response.

Their clothes were covered in dirt, clearly from rolling around everywhere.

What’s more, their unkempt hair, grown excessively long without any grooming, completely obscured their face.

They looked so ragged, one might mistake them for a child from a beggar’s den. Seeing them, I let out a chuckle.

“…To think even this is being shown… I must have had so many regrets.”

“Huh?”

The child tilted their head at my muttered words.

Could illusions like this possibly erase even a single regret?

‘As if.’

Still, I reached into the gourd the child held and took out a potato.

Upon seeing me take one, the child beamed.

One of their front teeth was gone, leaving a noticeable gap.

I looked at the child’s smile and said,

“Thank you, I’ll eat it well.”

It was certainly different from what I remembered saying back then.

“Uhh…! Grandpa dug that u-up!”

They answered energetically, then pulled another potato from the gourd and took a massive bite.

I followed suit, taking a bite of the potato.

The issue was, the potato was piping hot, making it searingly so.

It felt strangely dissonant.

‘Hot… in a dream?’

Is that even possible? Or is this just an unnervingly realistic dream?

Meanwhile, the potato was so hot I was stuck, unable to do anything.

“Ahaha! Your face is all red!”

The child laughed again, clearly amused by my predicament.

Even the potato they’d eaten must have been hot, yet they managed it without breaking a sweat.

After floundering for a bit, I endured the heat and finally managed to swallow the whole potato.

“It’s good, right?”

“Yeah… It’s delicious.”

It wasn’t a lie. The potato was genuinely delicious.

I couldn’t fathom why it tasted so good even in a dream, but surprisingly, the potato was delicious.

As I diligently ate the remaining potato in my hand, I noticed the young man who appeared to be my escort approaching.

“Young Master…?”

The approaching escort frowned upon seeing the child before me.

He then casually rested his left hand on his sword hilt.

“Who dares… lay hands upon my Young Master…”

“Do you have yakgwa?”

“Yes?”

“I asked if you have yakgwa.”

He wore a perplexed expression when I cut him off.

Asking my escort for yakgwa out of the blue? Surprisingly, he had some.

With a look of resignation, the escort pulled a wrapped yakgwa from his inner pocket and handed it to me.

“Want to eat this?”

I offered the yakgwa from my escort to the child.

Though their hair hid their face, I could tell the child was quite surprised.

“R-really? Are you giving it to me!?”

“You gave me delicious potatoes, and this is all I have to give in return.”

It was my childhood habit to always crave sweets. Perhaps because of that, my escort would even stuff yakgwa into my mouth like this to calm me down when I threw a tantrum.

Having to carry yakgwa for escort duty… He must have felt self-conscious and miserable, wondering if this was why he learned martial arts.

‘Thinking about it now, it was quite a shameful thing to do.’

Oblivious to my thoughts, the child accepted the yakgwa and began hopping excitedly.

With every energetic hop, I worried they might drop the potatoes from their gourd.

“Thank you! I’ve never eaten anything like this before!”

“Oh? Do you happen to have more yakgwa?”

“…That was the last one.”

I asked if there was more, hoping to give them, but alas, it was the last.

Meanwhile, my escort was watching me with surprised eyes, likely finding my actions quite peculiar.

“What are you looking at like that?”

“Nothing, sir.”

The child had already set the gourd down and was now carefully holding the yakgwa, taking a bite.

As they bit into the yakgwa, their small shoulders quivered slightly.

“It’s… so delicious…”

“I’m sorry, I wanted to give you more, but that was the last one.”

At my words, they vigorously shook their head.

Were they saying it was okay, or were they disappointed?

Perhaps because this was the same child who devoured fist-sized potatoes in the blink of an eye, the yakgwa disappeared after just a few bites.

As if disappointed, tears welled slightly in their eyes.

“I’ve never eaten anything like this before…”

“I’m glad you found it delicious.”

They picked up the gourd again with a hint of disappointment and ate a potato, but their face wasn’t as content as before.

Had they already developed a taste for sweets?

The child fidgeted before asking.

“Thank you, what’s your name?”

Unlike when offering the large potato, they seemed rather shy now.

Was asking for a name somehow more embarrassing?

“Gu Yangcheon. My name is Gu Yangcheon.”

I stated my name clearly and distinctly.

It was the first time I had uttered my own name in a very long time.

“Gu Yangcheon…”

Hearing the name, the child smiled shyly. Then, with a mumbling mouth, they tried to say something, but…

An old man suddenly appeared, pushing through the crowd, and enveloped the child in a hug.

“Wi-ah!”

“Oh, Grandpa!”

“Didn’t your grandpa tell you not to wander off carelessly!”

Though they should have been startled, the child instead burrowed deeper into the old man’s embrace.

Then, they smiled brightly at the old man who seemed poised to scold them.

“Wi-ah is okay! I took good care of the potatoes too!”

The child proudly showed the old man the gourd bag they clutched.

Setting aside the still-steaming potatoes, the old man held the child and looked at me with trembling eyes.

Their face looked terrified.

Perhaps it was their neat clothes, so out of place, that made them worry they had offended a child from a noble family.

The old man spoke with a trembling voice.

“My granddaughter doesn’t know the ways of the world yet… Did I perhaps do anything that might have offended you…?”

I knew that the old man’s shabby appearance and his pitiful face-glancing nervously at the small child who wasn’t even near his chest-were all an act.

That old man was undoubtedly a singular master whom even the current Murim Alliance Leader couldn’t treat lightly, someone positioned far above countless martial artists-a celestial being.

“It’s alright, Elder. I happened to be hungry, and gratefully accepted the potatoes you offered, eating them deliciously.”

Perhaps it was my unchildlike manner of speaking? The old man looked at me with slightly surprised eyes.

I wondered if I might have been a bit excessive, but oh well, it’s just a dream anyway.

“Since the only thing I could offer in return was a small yakgwa… it’s rather paltry compared to what I received, so I apologize.”

Along with my words, I performed a formal fist-and-palm salute as politely as possible.

The old man remained silent.

Unlike before, he just kept staring at me with eyes that seemed a bit more serious. Was something displeasing him?

A brief silence fell between the old man and me amidst the noisy crowd.

Soon after, it was none other than my escort who broke the short silence.

“…Young Master, it is time for us to return now.”

Ironically, though the escort spoke calmly, his eyes betrayed his confusion, as if he couldn’t properly grasp the situation.

Hearing him, I slowly relaxed my posture.

“Already?”

“Yes, if we delay any further, we won’t arrive until after sunset.”

“Right, then we must return.”

When I turned my head back to look at the old man, he had reverted to the same clueless gaze as before.

“Elder, I must take my leave now.”

The old man tried to say something in response to my greeting, but the child spoke faster.

“Leaving already…?”

The child, held in the old man’s arms, looked at me regretfully, but this was as far as it should go.

The memory of the past I tried to embellish, however crudely, the stories I sometimes recalled with regret – it was all up to this point.

‘Now, I must wake from this dream.’

This should be enough.

If you ask what has changed, nothing. If you ask if I feel any relief, not at all, but…

That too, I had to stop there.

Hiding my true feelings, I smiled at the child and said,

“Let’s meet again if we get the chance next time. And again, the potatoes were truly delicious.”

I waved casually, and the child responded with a wide smile and open arms.

The old man repeatedly bowed his head, murmuring apologies, but knowing his true identity, I found that display even more terrifying.

The apologizing old man soon scooped the child into his arms and disappeared into the bustling crowd.

“…Whew, that was intense.”

The old man’s name was Wi Hyo-gun.

He was the symbol of the righteous path, the first in the long history of the martial world to unify the unorthodox sects and pierce the heart of the Black Dragon Sword, which sought to swallow the lands of Sichuan.

Until just over a decade ago, he held the position of Murim Alliance Leader, striking fear and dread into the hearts of those from the unorthodox sects.

Furthermore, another title the old man was known by was Sword Master (劍尊).

In the past, upon relinquishing his position as Murim Alliance Leader, the old man vanished without a trace.

How such a man ended up here, raising a child in such a shabby guise, is beyond my understanding.

In the first place, no one would ever suspect that such a ragged old man was one of the Three Heavenly Lords of the martial world.

After staring for a long time at the spot where the old man had disappeared, I turned away at my escort’s urging.

The problem is, whether he was the Sword Master or not isn’t the most important thing.

The young girl, held in the Sword Master’s arms and waving vigorously at me, kept catching my eye.

Her bashful smile as I offered the potato, and the way she looked as happy as if she owned the world upon receiving a single yakgwa…

It was a completely different image from her later self, who, with cold, settled eyes, cut down demons and ultimately severed the neck of the Heavenly Demon.

The Divine Sword, Wi Seol-ah.

That child was none other than her.

That moment was the very first meeting between Wi Seol-ah and me.

Of course, in my memory, our parting wasn’t this amicable.

In the past, I had hurled insults and thrown away the gourd filled with potatoes.

I had laughed cruelly at the young Wi Seol-ah, who was crying tears of hurt, before leaving the spot.

It was too wicked a disposition to excuse as mere immaturity.

“…Now, I must go too.”

What weighed so heavily on me that I’m seeing this even as I’m dying?

Moreover, since I’ve embellished it for my own satisfaction, there should be no regrets left.

I can’t be sure myself, but it had to be that way.

“Yes, you must return.”

At my escort’s reply, I let out an involuntary wry smile. It seemed he mistook my words for wanting to go home.

In reality, I couldn’t even recall where ‘home’ was.

‘By the way, why aren’t I waking up?’

I felt like I’d done everything I needed to; shouldn’t this illusion, this dream, end now? It felt unusually long.

“Young Master? You shouldn’t go that way.”

Following my hazy memories, I kept veering off onto the wrong paths.

Each time, I used my escort’s corrections as a guide to head home.

‘I don’t know. It’ll probably end soon.’

Although I had mentally prepared myself, I resented the dream for not ending when it felt like it should, but there was nothing I could do.

Resigned, I just let myself go with the flow. I figured it would end soon anyway.

It took several days before I belatedly realized.

“…Shit, why isn’t this ending?”

That the situation I was experiencing wasn’t a dream.

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