#3

Chapter 1

 Those Chosen by the Stars (2)

He was a boy who appeared to be around Hyeong-un’s age. However, he possessed a refined look that radiated an air of nobility, as if he were the scion of a prestigious family, and he was dressed in exquisite clothing.

“Some fools searching for star fragments caused a scene.”

“Star fragments?”

The boy tilted his head clearly puzzled.

Jin Gyu explained

“When someone is born blessed with the Fate of the Stars, there are also those born nearby who receive mere splinters of that power. They are called Star Fragments. One could say they are the dregs of talent left over after your own was bestowed.”

“Ah, I see.”

“Still, that child over there clearly looks ordinary. To start a mindless brawl and turn this place into shambles without even confirming the truth….truly a bunch of hopeless fools.”

Jin-gyu clicked his tongue in obvious distaste, his gaze fixed on Hyeong-un. Amidst the wreckage of the inn, Hyeong-un—bruised and battered from the chaos—looked like a field mouse that had been dragged through the dirt.

Suddenly, the boy who accompanied Jin-gyu locked eyes with Hyeong-un. Hyeong-un stared blankly for a moment at the boy who seemed so different from him. Not only was he clearly well-fed and well-clothed thanks to good parents, but he also seemed to have been born with something extraordinary. Just by looking at him, you could feel a strange, uncanny power radiating from the boy.

However, the moment of being lost in that sensation was brief. The expression of the boy, who had been observing him with curious eyes, shifted.

Pfft.

It was an unmistakable sneer.

With that, the boy turned and walked out as if he had lost all interest in him. For a long moment, Hyeong-un remained slumped on the floor, in a daze, before clutching his chest.

Once Jin Gyu, the Fool’s Strike, had assessed the situation, he too departed with an air of total indifference, followed by his attendants. They had put an end to the chaos in the inn, yet not a single soul asked him if he was injured or if he was in pain.

“Urgh…”

Tears welled up. It was infuriating and unfair—to be dragged into something like this without even knowing why… and he was furious at those who put on airs of righteousness, yet showed him not a shred of concern or consideration.

And above all, the sting of that boy’s sneer—that boy who seemed to be born under a different fate—hurt most of all.

“Fuck.”

Hyeong-un had never felt so utterly wretched.

Ten days had passed since the first old geezer—who showed up, clicked his tongue in disappointment and left. By now, the pent-up resentment within Hyeong-un was on the verge of exploding.

“Filthy bastards. They all deserve to be boiled alive in a vat of crap.”

That morning was no different; From early on, yet another group of arrogant people had come by, harassed him and left. They had inspected him as if appraising livestock, only to click their tongues and leave in a fit of irritation, complaining that they had wasted their time. It was a humiliation he had already endured more times than he could count.

‘What the hell did I ever do wrong!’

It was so damn unfair, tears threatened to spill. Just because they’ve got power, they can do whatever? Isn’t this too much for a kid who’s lost his parents early on and is just trying to scrape by?

To make matters worse, the innkeeper was now pulling a scheme to cut his wages, claiming that he was “attracting trouble” and “neglecting his duties.” It was unbelievable—to say such things while working him like an ox day and night; the injustice was enough to make him weep.

‘Once I save enough money… No, once I grow up just a little more…!’

The moment he became an adult capable of taking responsibility for his own life, he would leave this place behind forever.

“Excuse me, Innkeeper.”

As Hyeong-un was grumbling and wiping down a table, a middle-aged man walked in. He had a refined, dignified impression, with visible streaks of gray threading through his hair. Since the owner hadn’t come out yet, Hyeong-un spoke up.

“I’m sorry, but we aren’t open for business yet. We start after lunchtime.”

Sure, they would usually sell something if a customer offered a ‘premium’, but this was the official policy.

The middle-aged man asked

“I’m not looking for food or drink. I was wondering if I might be able to get a room? Everywhere else seems to be full.”

For the past ten days, the city of Hojang had been bustling with travelers, enjoying an unexpected economic boom. This was because the crowd of people who kept harassing him had been swarming in relentlessly.

They were searching for children in Hojang born on the exact same day as him, and their numbers grew with each passing day.

Hyeong-un replied.

“We do have one vacant room left.”

“How much?”

“It’s thirty Nyang a night.”

“I’ll take it for two, then.”

The man fished some coins from his inner robe, then he pressed it into Hyeong-un’s hand. Then, out of nowhere, he fixed him with a steady stare.

“Hey, how old are you, kid?”

“Thirteen.?”

“And your birthday?”

“Why do you ask?”

Hyeong-un’s response was curt. He knew he shouldn’t treat a customer this way, but the resentment he had suppressed lately was no small feat, naturally his attitude became prickly.

Under normal circumstances, he wouldn’t dare act this way. However, unlike the people who had been harassing him until now, this middle-aged man didn’t radiate a dangerous aura. Moreover, it didn’t seem like he had come looking for Hyeong-un from the start; rather, it seemed as though he had happened upon him by chance and was merely curious.

“Hmm? Is it because you’re an orphan that you don’t know?”

“No, that’s not it!”

He was an orphan, true, but he wasn’t ignorant of his own birthday. At his response, the middle-aged man let out a short chuckle, fished out a few more coins, and pressed them into his hand.

“How about now?”

“Ah, well… you really shouldn’t have… Ahem.”

It had been so long since he’d encountered someone with such a ‘sensible’ attitude—offering something in exchange for a question, this made Hyeong-un’s heart soften instantly.

“May 2nd.”

“Oho.”

A spark lit up in the middle-aged man’s eyes.

Once he’d been shown to the rundown guest room, he asked.

“Hmm. Would you mind if I take a look at your body?”

“…You too, sir?”

“Hm?”

“Sigh. Go ahead. Even if I refuse, I’ll probably just get beaten anyway. My apologies for not recognizing your… importance.”

The middle-aged man blinked in surprise at Hyeong-un’s completely defeatist attitude. He asked:

“Beaten? Who hit you?”

“Everyone who’s come looking.”

“What?”

“Everyone who came and asked the same questions you just did—they all did.”

“……”

“I’m telling you now… I don’t know who you’re looking for, but I’m not that person. Over twenty groups already came by, and every single one of them left cursing at me, saying I wasn’t the one.”

“I see…”

The middle-aged man wore a troubled expression and spoke.

“I see. I have truly bothered you.”

Unlike all the others, he didn’t pester him any more after that.

***

Hyeong-un had no clue who everyone was all after. He just knew he was on their list of potential candidates for whatever—or whoever—it was.

Over twenty groups had already come looking for Hyeong-un, and since they had all judged him a “negative,” he should logically be dropped from the candidate’s list by now.

Yet, day after day, new faces show up and harass him in pretty much the exact same way—why on earth was this happening?

Eventually, he lost his cool and snapped.

“It’s not me! I’m telling you, I’m not the one! I don’t know who you’re looking for, but everyone else already said it wasn’t me and left!”

“I… will be the one to decide that, not you”

The one who had spoken was a man clad entirely in black. From his pitch-black garments to the dark cloak draped over his shoulders, he had this intimidating stare that inspired raw terror—he loomed over Hyeong-un and barked the order.

“Strip.”

“Wait, I…”

“I said take them off.”

“Sigh.”

Hyeong-un eventually huffed out a breath and started peeling off his clothes. Despite being the ones who barged in out of nowhere and coercively harassed him, apparently his attitude didn’t sit well with them.

“This brat has some nerve.”

The massive, muscular man standing beside the man in black stepped forward and raised his hand.

Hyeong-un, who was in the middle of undressing, was struck across the back of his head and sent sprawling to the floor.

“Ack!”

“Who does this little shit think he is, throwing a fit? Huh? We look like pushovers to you?”

The man planted a sharp kick into the fallen Hyeong-un and growled.

“Get up. Now. And from here on out, you get hit every time you act up. If you wanna die? Then keep messing around.”

“Ugh… hng…”

At those words, a torrent of tears burst from Hyeong-un’s eyes. The hulking man was taken aback.

“What the… is this brat crying?”

“U-huhu… hic… What did I ever do so wrong…?”

“What did you say?”

“I said, what the hell did I do wrong! Who do you people think you are, doing this to me!”

Consumed by pent-up rage, Hyeong-un lost all reason and screamed at the top of his lungs. The hulking man hesitated for a moment, having never expected the boy to snap back like that. But his hesitation was literally just that; momentary.

“This little shit… who do you think you’re glaring at?!”

Slap!

Hyeong-un’s head whipped violently to the side. The man had slapped him with a speed he couldn’t even track.

“You’re nothing but a lowly inn servant—what makes you think you can act tough? Huh? If I tell you to crawl, you crawl; if I tell you to piss yourself, you piss yourself!”

Slap! Slap! Slap!

Hyeong-un couldn’t even scream. The man was striking his cheeks so fast that he didn’t even have time to curl into a ball. Just as his head whipped one way, it was snapped back the other way, and then back again; his entire body was being yanked around so violently that he couldn’t even fall to the floor.

The rest of the group watched Hyeong-un being beaten as if it were mere entertainment. Eventually, the man in black spoke up.

“That’s enough. You mustn’t kill him.”

At those words, the hulking man pulled back his hand. Only then was Hyeong-un able to stagger and collapse onto the floor.

“Tch. If it weren’t for the Boss’s orders, you’d be dead right now. Do you have any idea who we are, having the nerve to…”

“Who else? But a bunch of pathetic, bottom-of-the-barrel vagrants.”

“…What?”

The entire group flinched at the sudden, calm voice that cut through the air. A man was descending the stairs from the second floor. Clad in a grey long-robe, he was a refined-looking middle-aged man who didn’t even appear to be carrying a weapon.

The middle-aged man grumbled to himself.

“Why are there so many pieces of trash among those who call themselves vagrants… Well, I suppose lowlifes always find a way to make their presence known wherever they go. How irritating.”

The middle-aged man kept approaching as he spoke those words. The hulking man, who had been staring at him blankly for a moment, suddenly flared up in a rage.

“What did this bastard just say? You’re calling us trash?”

“That’s right. Trash that does nothing but beat up an innocent child.”

He didn’t break stride, his pace remained constant—neither hurried nor hesitant.

As the distance between them closed, the hulking man roared.

“You madman! Fine, let’s see how you like being killed by trash!”

“Wait!”

The man in black raised his hand, attempting to stop him, but it was too late. The hulking man, moving with a speed that undermined his massive frame, launched himself through the air towards the middle-aged man in a furious charge.

Slap!

In the next instant, a dull thud echoed through the air. The hulking man, who had lunged with such ferocious momentum, slowly collapsed face-first onto the ground.

“Hmph. It would be a pity if you went down in just one hit, wouldn’t it? For every blow you landed on that boy I’ll pay you back—with interest.”

As the middle-aged man spoke, he snapped his foot upward. The hulking man was pitching forward, his face met the arch of the man’s rising foot, snapping his head violently upward . No—more than that; he was sent soaring into the air like a gonggi-dol {playing marble}.

Slap! Slap! Sla-la-la-la-la-la-lap!

As he hung suspended in the air, the middle-aged man’s hands rained down upon his face like a torrential downpour. His movements were so fast that they appeared only as a blurred phantom. The hulking man’s head whipped left and right at a horrifying speed, spraying blood in every direction until finally…

BOOM!

With a thunderous crash, the man was hammered into the earth.

The middle-aged man walked leisurely past him. Looking at him—his breath was not even slightly disturbed—one would have thought that everything that had just occurred was nothing more than a dream.

Furthermore, despite a man laying there in a pool of blood having been beaten into a bloody mess, not a single table or chair in the vicinity had been moved an inch. This meant that the middle-aged man had neutralized his opponent without straying a single step from their point of contact before driving him into the ground.

“You see, as for me…”

As the middle-aged man opened his mouth, the group of vagrants led by the man in black flinched. Regardless of their reaction, the middle-aged man continued to close the distance between them.

{TL Note: vagrants: are rogues or wandering swordsmen who don’t belong to any sect or faction, they are mostly mercenaries and sell-sword similar to the Japanese “Ronin”

gonggi-dol: the marble used in playing gongi a Korean children’s game used in testing hand-eye coordination}