Hwayang Village, which I had returned to after a long time, was not much different from before.
Well, of course. Since I had memories from before the regression, it only felt like a long time had passed—in this cycle, not even ten years had gone by yet.
Had I grown too accustomed to those who lived each day fiercely, sword in hand or money in hand?
The villagers, focused on their farming, looked so leisurely.
Of course, they weren't truly leisurely. I knew this well, having once been a farmer's son and a member of this village myself.
Farming has its own hardships, and they too lived their lives diligently.
So, strictly speaking, it would be more accurate to call the atmosphere peaceful rather than leisurely…
"Hm?"
Was it just my imagination? For some reason, it seemed like every field had at least one ox.
Needless to say, oxen are quite expensive animals. It would be one thing if a village had one or two, but it was impossible for every household to raise one.
Even more so for a small village like Hwayang Village.
I blinked and watched the plowing for a moment. Tang So-wol naturally tickled my back with her index finger and asked.
"What's the matter, young hero Cheon? Is there some problem?"
"…It's nothing. It's just that Hwayang Village seems better off than I remember."
It used to be a poor rural village—it shouldn't have been this well-off.
Even considering that I exterminated the Jeoksa Faction that had been exploiting the villagers before I left, this made no sense.
Looking more closely, the houses weren't the small, shabby ones I remembered.
They were larger overall, and the materials seemed different too.
"What the hell is going on…? This village wasn't this wealthy. There's no real source of income here either."
"Hehe. No source of income? It's right here, isn't it?"
Tang So-wol giggled and poked me with her index finger, clearly amused by my confusion.
The feeling of her slender fingertip tracing up my spine made me flinch involuntarily.
Her way of touching was a little strange…
As I tilted my head, Tang So-wol continued speaking, her voice full of laughter.
"Isn't the young hero Cheon himself the very thing that's worth money?"
"Me?"
"Yes. Anyone with sharp eyes would have investigated your past the moment you began to stand out. After all, you're a master who suddenly dropped out of nowhere, even if you are the Tang Clan's live-in son-in-law."
"And they would have learned about Hwayang Village."
"Correct. Just as Father has quietly tended to the tomb of the young hero Cheon's parents, some people would have been scattering money and investing in Hwayang Village without anyone knowing."
"They're not holding a daughter hostage like my father-in-law, so they're just trying to curry favor with me, then."
"Oh my? Was I the young hero Cheon's hostage? Since when?"
"When would it have started? From the moment I was kidnapped into that cave, it's been like that all along."
I shrugged and pulled at Tang So-wol's hand, which had been tickling my back for a while now.
In an instant, she was pressed tightly against me. Tang So-wol nodded contentedly as she rested her head on my shoulder.
In the distance, an old man who had stopped mid-plow to stare at us—these sudden outsiders—widened his eyes.
"Wh-What, is that Cheon Hwi? Good heavens! You've returned! No, wait. It'd be better to call you young master Cheon now."
"Old Man Chae? You're still alive."
"I feel like I'll be going soon, but I'm still here. I mean, I am still here, sir."
"Just speak comfortably. You're fine as you are, Old Man Chae."
Old Man Chae. He's a figure from so long ago, by my sense of time, that I can't even recall his full name. All I know is that I called him Old Man Chae, and that he had more wrinkles and a more stooped back than the image in my memory.
Back when the Jeoksa Faction ruled Hwayang Village. He was one of the few people who treated me well when I joined the Jeoksa Faction to survive, only to be bullied day in and day out and often go hungry.
He was originally a servant in the household of Jang Inam, who had been fairly wealthy in Hwayang Village… When Jang Inam looked after me, Old Man Chae would lend a small hand as well.
After the Jang family's fortunes collapsed and Jang Inam left the village, it seems Old Man Chae continued to live on in Hwayang Village.
Did he catch the meaning behind my words? Old Man Chae lowers his head slightly, as if ashamed.
"Cheon Hwi. Surely you're not still holding onto that? It's not as if the others bore you any ill will."
"It's fine. There was nothing else to be done back then. I understand."
I have no intention of blaming him for prioritizing his own family over taking care of an orphan like me.
I had turned my gaze away as if I couldn't see their suffering and kept my distance to avoid getting entangled, but they never went out of their way to side with the Jeoksa Faction and torment me.
If they hadn't at least pretended not to see, I might have ended up like Jang Inam—broken somewhere and cast out of the village—or, like my parents, truly offered up my neck.
Right. I hold no blame against them. I simply choose not to acknowledge them either, nor to look after them as fellow townsfolk.
I have no intention of complaining about the current situation where they've benefited from me by chance, but there will be no further entanglement beyond this.
The old man, understanding my meaning, nodded with a bitter smile.
"Don't tell the others about this. But what brings you here?"
"I came to pay my respects at my parents' tomb."
"You thought well. Sending someone to tend the grave is already fulfilling your duty, but even so, it's not the same as visiting in person. By the way, those people behind you…"
"They're the people who will become my new family."
"…All of them?"
"Yes, well. That's how it turned out."
Old Man Chae's gaze shifted to the others.
Tang So-wol, who had been rubbing my back just moments ago. Seol Ri-hyang and Seomun Hwa-rin, who had been too busy looking around at the mention of my hometown to pay attention to anything else.
And the Illusion Witch, who, as if hometown or anything else mattered not at all, was staring at my back—which was being harassed(?)—with a persistent gaze.
At Old Man Chae's words, I gave a slight bow of my head.
…No, the Illusion Witch was actually holding her neck stiff and straight, but worrying about her one by one would only give me a headache, so let's just let it go.
After finishing my conversation with Old Man Chae, I headed straight for the house where I used to live.
My memories had certainly grown faint, and the village had changed a great deal, but my feet moved without hesitation, as if my body remembered the way.
As I made my way deeper into the village, I spotted a single abandoned house sitting alone in what could be called the very heart of it.
Was it curiosity that stirred her? Seol Ri-hyang pointed at the half-rotting building and asked.
"Cheon Hwi. What was that place originally? I know this is the countryside, but a building sitting in the best spot being left like this makes me a little curious."
"Ah, that was the building the Jeoksa Faction bastards used."
"Huh?"
"It's where the enemies who killed my parents set up their sect and lived."
"…"
Seol Ri-hyang flinched and glanced at me, gauging my reaction. She hadn't expected such an answer from a question asked without much thought.
She was about to stammer out something, her lips moving hesitantly.
Just then, the Illusion Witch, who had been watching me with a sinister gaze from behind, slipped into the conversation with a smirk curling at the corners of her mouth.
As if she were about to show Seol Ri-hyang what the model answer looked like.
"Heheh… As expected of the White Moon Sword Lord, the Great Hero… Not content with slaughtering all your enemies outright, you've declared that anyone who sets foot on this land will meet the same fate, haven't you? The people here are still so terrified of that fearsome Aura that they've left it abandoned even though they'd rather not."
"Not at all."
What on earth is the me inside the Illusion Witch's head like?
"At the time, I was just an ordinary child who knew nothing of martial arts or anything else. So how could I have taken down a grown adult? Let alone a dozen or so first-rate and second-rate martial artists."
"Ah… you couldn't? I'd have thought the Great Hero White Moon Sword Lord would have managed it somehow…"
"I thought about it countless times in my head. But reality was cold. In the end, I could only take my revenge after spending years working under those bastards, stealing glimpses of their martial arts and learning them on the sly."
"I seee… So you were a young and weak White Moon Sword Lord, then. …Heheh."
"…"
I'm not particularly curious about what she's thinking, but I have a rough idea.
Of the few possibilities I saw through the Heavenly Demon's memories where the Illusion Witch and I were connected, most of them began with me catching her eye back when I was still running rampant under the name Blood Wolf.
Seomun Hwa-rin shook her head and pushed the Illusion Witch away. The witch's cheek crumpled under the pressure of that small palm.
Even after undergoing Bone-Exchange Rebirth, it seemed there was a difference in elasticity she couldn't overcome against Rejuvenation.
"Ugh! Act your age, will you?"
"Th-that's something you're not so good at either, Clan Head of the Seomun Clan…"
"This lady did Rejuvenation, so I'm cute, so it's fine!"
"Pfft."
Now Seomun Hwa-rin was naturally saying that those who couldn't even do Rejuvenation should step aside.
In the end, the Illusion Witch, who had given up her skin in exchange for maintaining her figure, crumbled powerlessly.
Seomun Hwa-rin puffed out her chest—which had grown by just a tiny raccoon's-eye-crumb's worth lately—and continued speaking.
"You there. Could you tell me in a bit more detail? You know my past, but I know little of yours."
"Not really. Haven't you already seen all sorts of things using your tricks?"
"But I know nothing of you before you became a martial artist."
"…That's true."
I had often heard stories of Seomun Hwa-rin's childhood—of the girl who hated learning martial arts and ran away every chance she got.
And it wasn't just Seomun Hwa-rin. There were stories of Seol Ri-hyang, when she still lived with her father and went hungry.
Stories of Tang So-wol, born as the youngest daughter of the Tang Clan and doted on wherever she went.
I didn't know every detail of their pasts, but I had a rough idea of what kind of childhood each of them had lived through.
But in truth, I had never once told them the story of my own childhood.
The Tang Clan and others might have gathered information by investigating my background, but… those were all things that happened after my regression, weren't they?
Not lies I'd crafted to hide the fact of my regression, or to fit into the falsehoods I'd been forced to build because of the seal — but things that had truly happened.
Not the time when my body's age was young, but the time when I had truly been a child.
…And the story of losing my parents was something I had never told anyone, anywhere.
"Of course, if it makes you uncomfortable, I won't pry."
"It's not to that extent. It was a long time ago, and it's something I've already sorted through by reflecting on it over and over again."
The inner landscape I'd seen when I crossed swords with the Simma that had materialized from me in the Kunlun Sect. At its very bottom was filled with things I'd received from others — not my own.
Among them, the oldest was… the affection I'd received from my parents.
"Where should I even begin… First of all, I was truly ordinary as a child. I was just a kid who helped his father with the farm work, and while his mother was preparing meals, he'd sneak bites of the tasty side dishes and get scolded for it."
But then one day, the Jeoksa Faction came. Because of them, my life was upended entirely.
I was captivated by a martial art I'd only ever heard of in stories, and the moment that martial art took my father's life, my heart turned to stone.
When my mother, a woman alone, offered herself as a servant to the Jeoksa Faction just to keep me fed, I carved revenge into that hardened heart.
And after my mother collapsed and passed away as well, I hid my true intentions, joined the Jeoksa Faction, and took on all sorts of dirty work…
In the end, I was able to bring them all down.
"But after the revenge was over, what remained wasn't the relief of a task completed, nor admiration for my own sword talent."
"Then what was it that remained in your heart?"
"It was fear. After I carried out the deed that had filled my mind, the reality of it finally sank in. No matter how completely I avenged them, my parents who had passed away would never return. All that was left was me."
I had become an orphan. And an orphan, as the word implies, is one who can look to the very edge of the heavens and find not a single place to lean on.
With the completion of my revenge, I had been cast out into the world alone.
"…That was what I feared."
The small field where I had farmed with my father had long since been sold by my mother to keep me fed.
The crumbling house my mother had left behind, I sold myself, and with that money I curried favor with the Jeoksa Faction while vowing revenge.
Truly, nothing remained but my body alone. And the single sword at my waist.
Even to get a single meal, I needed to pay a price, and to borrow a place to rest my body for a moment, I had to pay a fair cost.
No one looked at my circumstances with sympathy, and no one indulged my childish pleas.
I wasn't living through each day—I had to survive.
"Before long, I hit my limit. And so, I had to make a choice."
I was hungry.
So I swung my sword. An orphan with nothing but his body had few options to choose from.
Fortunately, I had talent. Thanks to that, a kid who had never learned a single proper martial art reached Transcendent Peak—that says it all.
I swung my sword frantically, cut people down, quenched my thirst with the price of their blood, and swung my sword again…
Then one day, as those days repeated themselves, I suddenly realized something.
I was no longer hungry. And people were calling me the Sword Demon, trembling in fear of me.
"I'm sure you all know what happened after that."
I let out a snort and looked at the abandoned, derelict building. It was fair to say that I, as a martial artist, had been born here.
And now that everything was finished, I had returned to this place once more.
This gloomy, abandoned building was the origin point of who I was as a martial artist.
At the same time, it was the terminus I had arrived at after wandering the world with a single sword at my side.
In other words, it was my end of the world.