Chapter 62: Finally Establishing the Name of a Rascal (2)
The rain became heavier and heavier.
The raindrops falling overhead felt like iron beads.
“…”
Oh Ja-woon was recalling a memory of the past.
On that day, it rained just like now.
His wife Kang-ah, whom he had welcomed after winning the martial arts competition.
On the day he spent the first night with her, it had rained like this as well.
A quiet night, the sound of rain echoing in the darkness, the flickering wedding candles.
On that day, he had resented the passing of the night.
It was a youthful day when he had only wished that the rain beating the world would last forever.
“…”
On the night he sent her away, it also rained like this.
His wife, who had departed while vomiting blood.
The night of that day when they could not even say goodbye.
In the thatched cottage built in front of his wife’s grave, Oh Ja-woon made up his mind and made up his mind again.
Even if he had to devote all of his remaining life, he would find the culprit who poisoned his wife.
He would surely take out the guy’s heart, chew it, and avenge her.
On a certain night when he was grinding his teeth like that.
Someone pulled aside the straw mat of the cottage and stepped inside.
When she took off and threw away her bamboo hat soaked wet by the rain, the face revealed was that of Junior Sister Maeng Yeong.
She spoke.
To forget the dead person. That the living must live.
If he had been an ordinary man, just hearing this peerless beauty weeping and pleading would have made him lose his mind in sorrow and ecstasy.
However, Oh Ja-woon was different.
He said that unless it was his wife, there was no one in this world that he would love.
At that, the junior sister wept even more sorrowfully.
She confessed her heart toward Oh Ja-woon.
She asked him to give up on revenge, if only out of pity for her.
She wept, prostrating at his feet, asking him to give her a chance as she would replace his deceased wife.
Oh Ja-woon rejected her heart.
Not only had it not been long since his wife Kang-ah departed, but accepting another woman’s heart in front of her grave was also preposterous.
However, the junior sister had not come with a light heart either.
She took off the clothes she was wearing layer by layer.
And at some point, she hugged Oh Ja-woon’s body with her naked body exposed purely white.
The man’s body, cooled by the wind and rain, was like a coldly forged blade.
The woman’s body, hot like a furnace, wrapped around and melted it gently.
……However.
There was a certain blade that was different from any other blades in the world, and it did not melt even in a furnace.
Oh Ja-woon pushed away his junior sister’s body and mind to the very end.
A night when the wind and rain raged.
He kicked open the thatched cottage and left, never to return.
And on that night when the man did not return.
The woman also ended up becoming a guest of no return (不歸) who could never return again.
Junior Sister Maeng Yeong had been violated by someone and even had her life taken.
“…”
As if to remind him of the days gone by, the rain poured down.
Oh Ja-woon did not say anything.
Only the sound of raindrops hitting the leaves resounded loudly instead of his voice.
Oh Ja-woon could not distinguish whether the things he was seeing now were fragments of the past or a bitter reality.
The last appearance of the junior sister he saw in the cottage that night flickered before his eyes.
The body that had hugged him.
That hot weeping.
However, he himself, who had shaken it off and rushed out alone into the cold and dark road.
If he had hugged the junior sister’s body in return in the cottage back then, would something have been different?
No, before that, if he had chosen to remain by the junior sister’s side instead of leaving Mount Hua, would the future have changed?
No, no, before that, what if he had not entered the Mount Hua Sect?
No, no, no, what if he had entered the Mount Hua Sect first and met his junior sister before his wife in the first place?
Countless assumptions became entangled between the past and reality, and everything became muddy.
“…”
And now, Oh Ja-woon stood alone on the grass, getting hit by the cold rain.
Amid the heavy rain, Bi Mu-geuk’s voice resounded calmly.
“…As you also know. Junior Sister loved you.”
“…”
“She also knew that you rejected her because of the wife you had welcomed earlier.”
“…”
“So Junior Sister did something unlike herself. That is all. Just that.”
Bi Mu-geuk’s words ended.
After that, another long silence followed.
Crash! Rumble—
After the thunder passed a couple of times in the night sky, Oh Ja-woon’s mouth opened.
“Let’s say that the one who killed my wife was Junior Sister.”
“…”
“Then who is the one who made Junior Sister like that?”
Until now, Oh Ja-woon had thought that the person who killed his wife and the person who killed his junior sister were the same person.
It was just relying on his instinctive feeling.
However, Bi Mu-geuk only frowned as if he were hearing some bizarre story.
“What nonsense are you talking about? Wasn’t the culprit who made Junior Sister like that you yourself.”
“I did not do it. Betting it on my left arm that I cut off myself.”
“Haha—what value would there be in a lecherous demon’s left arm? Bet your remaining right arm as well. Then, even if the whole world does not believe you, I alone will believe you.”
Bi Mu-geuk let out a hollow laugh.
Oh Ja-woon raised his sword once again, knowing that conversation would no longer work.
Klang!
As iron and iron collided, sparks flew.
Amid the heavy rain, red and blue plum blossoms were blooming once again.
Seventh Stance: Plum Blossoms Falling in Profusion (梅花頻紛).
Plum blossoms bloomed in a chaotic manner.
If there had been some rules to the plum blossoms that bloomed all around until then, there were no separate rules for the petals they began to drop.
Eighth Stance: Plum Blossom Blood Rain (梅花血雨).
The petals scattered like that fell like a shower of blood.
A single petal was sharp enough to easily slice off a handful of human flesh.
Ninth Stance: Nine Transformations of the Plum Blossom (梅花九變).
The plum blossom changed its appearance through nine transformations.
It began to bloom like a fresh sprout and take on a color like a ripe fruit, soon becoming a bud where splendor and freshness coexisted, and then transformed into a voluptuous adult form.
Tenth Stance: Plum Blossom in Full Bloom (梅花滿開).
The plum blossom finally showed its complete form and spread its petals.
From this point on, the flowers slowly began to exude a fragrance as well.
Eleventh Stance: Plum Blossom Enduring Winter (梅花忍冬).
The plum blossoms that were fading in the winter seemed to suddenly turn into buds, and then gained an opportunity to bloom once more.
The trajectory of the sword, which was thought to be severed, became clear again, presenting despair and fear once more to the enemy who had breathed a sigh of relief after saving their life.
Twelfth Stance: Plum Blossoms Gradually Opening (梅花漸開).
Plum blossoms gradually bloomed.
More and more, redder and redder.
They were continuously scattering in full bloom one after another.
Bi Mu-geuk shouted.
“How is it! How does it feel to know that the culprit you searched for so desperately has already died long ago! How does it feel to know that the reason the culprit committed the crime was ultimately to win your heart!”
His sword moved fiercely.
The razor-sharp plum blossom petals blooming from the tip of Bi Mu-geuk’s sword bloomed, aiming at Oh Ja-woon’s neck.
“I… I…”
The light in Oh Ja-woon’s eyes lost its strength.
A single gap created while his sword tip hesitated.
The experienced Plum Blossom Swordsman did not miss it.
Spurt—
Bi Mu-geuk’s sword flew.
Slash!
It lodged in Oh Ja-woon’s abdomen.
Splash!
At that moment, due to the scattering blood and the pouring rain, Bi Mu-geuk ended up losing sight of Oh Ja-woon.
“…!?”
However, there was no need to worry.
Because he had certainly avoided the guy’s right arm, and the left arm had already been cut off long ago.
‘It is done.’
Bi Mu-geuk cheered inwardly.
A splitting sensation was definitely felt in his hand.
In fact, Oh Ja-woon’s body flew like a kite with its string cut, heading toward the dead tree behind him.
Crash!
Oh Ja-woon bumped against the tree stump and collapsed powerlessly.
He hung his head while leaning his back against the tree, looking like a person waiting for someone to cut his neck.
“Heave… gasp…”
Bi Mu-geuk gasped at the hot sensation felt in his waist.
It felt as if the wound cut earlier had opened up even larger, but it did not matter.
There was a feeling.
Just now, the tip of his sword split Oh Ja-woon’s ribs and cut the heart inside in half.
It must have been so.
As proof of that, a tingling sensation was still felt at the tip of his fingers.
It was the characteristic sensation when a sword blade split a hard bone and entered.
‘…Is he dead?’
Bi Mu-geuk gasped and checked the front.
Oh Ja-woon did not budge while leaning against the dead tree.
‘…He must be dead, right?’
Bi Mu-geuk swallowed his saliva.
It was stiff, as if swallowing a lump of lead.
‘…He must be dead.’
There was no doubt since the sword strike entered properly and the feeling of splitting something hard also came.
‘…He must have died.’
Bi Mu-geuk grit his teeth.
Then, he used his sword as a cane to raise his body.
Squeeeze…
When he applied strength, the muscles of his waist tightened the wound to prevent further bleeding.
‘I must cut off his head. Otherwise, he is a guy who won’t even die.’
He manifested superhuman patience and will to raise his body, and soon took step after step toward Oh Ja-woon’s corpse.
Because it felt like the anxiety would never fade unless he cut off his head.
Eventually, Bi Mu-geuk stood in front of Oh Ja-woon.
“…My brother. It was a truly tedious pursuit.”
Toward the colleague who was a year younger than him, Bi Mu-geuk raised his sword high.
“Let’s end our connection now.”
And taking a big step forward, he swung his sword from top to bottom.
……No, he intended to swing it down.
Crack—
He would have done so if not for the sudden sharp pain felt in his front foot that had taken a big step.
“…!?”
Bi Mu-geuk desperately suppressed and endured a scream,
Then he hastily lowered his head to look below.
Oh Ja-woon’s sword.
It was stuck in the mud among the grass.
The blade lay fallen in the mud with its sharp side facing up, like a straw cutter.
Bi Mu-geuk, who had stepped down hard right above it, ended up in a state as if he had stepped barefoot on a straw cutter.
All the toes of his right foot, including the toe of his shoe, were sliced off.
“Aaargh!”
Bi Mu-geuk fell into the muddy water while clutching his right foot.
A foot gushing blood out of the sliced shoe was seen.
Only the pinky toe remained halfway, while all the rest had been cut off.
“Ugh…”
Bi Mu-geuk began to retreat hesitantly.
When he raised his head, Oh Ja-woon’s figure was seen.
Was it just his imagination?
His body, sitting leaning against the old tree, suddenly felt as massive as Mount Tai.
It felt like the guy would leap up at any moment and strike down with his sword toward him.
“Ugh… uuurgh…”
Bi Mu-geuk continued to retreat.
The blood gushing from his waist and right foot did not lose its redness at all even while spreading in the heavy rain.
Right then.
“Bi Mu-geuk.”
From beyond the darkness, someone’s voice came.
“Bi Mu-geuk.”
A strange echo resounding in his ears.
It flickered like an auditory hallucination, barely audible as it mixed with the sound of the rain.
“Bi Mu-geuk.”
When his name was called for the third time, Bi Mu-geuk realized that something was standing behind him.
Black hair. Black cape. Black staff.
A single boy, whose eyes alone were bright red, was looking down at Bi Mu-geuk while getting hit by the rain.
Unrivaled Spear Ghost