#4

Chapter 1

Those Chosen by the Stars (3)

“I particularly detest bastards who go around bullying people who are just minding their business, trying to live their lives, just because they got a bit of strength.”

“Ugh…”

The vagrants groaned. Even as the middle-aged man drew closer, they couldn’t read his qi presence at all. It was proof that an insurmountable gap in skill existed between them and him.

The middle-aged man walked right past the mercenaries.

Even as he passed right under their noses, they could do nothing.

Suddenly, the middle-aged man spoke.

“Don’t even try it. I went easy on that fellow as a bit of ‘cute’ fun, but the moment you draw your sword, you die.”

“……”

The vagrant, who had reflexively reached for his hilt, flinched.

As he helped the sprawled-out Hyeong-un to his feet, the middle-aged man remarked,

“Still conscious after all that? You’ve got some real grit, kid.”

“Ah…ugh….”

“Don’t talk. Your mouth is torn up inside; it’ll be hard to speak.”

Hyeong-un’s mouth was torn and puffed up from the brutal slaps the hulking man gave him. Even two of his teeth were cracked.

At that moment, one of the remaining vagrants made a move. Perhaps it was because the middle-aged man looked so utterly defenseless as he turned his back to support Hyeong-un. Hyeong-un’s eyes widened in shock as he saw the man charging forward with a guttural scream. But before Hyeong-un could even voice a warning, something incredible happened.

BOOM!

A thunderous crack echoed out, and the rushing vagrant just… Stopped dead mid-air.

“You really don’t listen, do you?”

The middle-aged man clicked his tongue. He swung his hand through the empty air. Even though his hand never touched the vagrant, the man took the impact, jerked to a halt, and then crashed violently to the floor.

His body twitched violently for a moment before going limp, then he passed out on the spot. His condition looked severe.

The middle-aged man turned back to the remaining vagrants and asked.

“Do you all want to die?”

“……”

They froze. The middle-aged man muttered to himself.

“I don’t know who it was, but it looks like they must have been spreading information dirt cheap. Seeing how every kind of low-life is swarming in here… well, whatever. Hand over all the money you have and get lost.”

“W-what?”

The vagrants were taken aback by his words. The middle-aged man gave a thin smirk.

“Punk, that’s some short talk you’re using.”

“A-ah, no… I mean, what did you just say, sir?”

The vagrant instantly corrected his tone. The middle-aged man continued.

“I said hand over all the money you have and get lost. If you caused trouble, you should compensate for it, shouldn’t you? The price for hitting this kid is every last coin you currently possess.”

“What kind of bullshit that doesn’t even make…….”

“My words not sounding like words to you? Fine, you all want to die instead?”

“…….”

“Ah, wait. I can’t go around killing people recklessly inside the city walls. In that case, how about I just break all your limbs? I can at least tolerate that much trouble.”

The vagrants gulped audibly. They could feel that the middle-aged man was being dead serious.

“…Understood.”

Finally, the leader—the man in black—nodded. As he pulled a money pouch from his robes and signaled to his subordinates with a sharp look, they all followed suit, albeit with great hesitation.

“Then… May we take our leave?”

“Get lost.”

The vagrants gathered their fallen comrades and hurriedly fled the tavern.

Once they had vanished, the owner, who had been hiding beneath a table, sneakily poked his head out.

“Ah…”

He let out a long sigh of relief. Even though a fight had broken out between such bloodthirsty individuals, not a single piece of property had been damaged.

“Tsk.”

The middle-aged man clicked his tongue at the reaction. To think the owner was worrying about his property when the boy he employed had just been beaten to a pulp—what a pathetic excuse for a human being.

“Innkeeper.”

“Y-yes, sir!”

The owner snapped to attention, almost reflexively, as he answered. The middle-aged man spoke,

“Bring some cold water and a towel. And some medicine to apply to these wounds. This should cover it, right?”

The middle-aged man tossed a silver coin to the owner, then picked Hyeong-un up and headed toward his room.

In silence, the middle-aged man tended to Hyeong-un’s injuries. He wiped away the blood, applied the salve, and placed the cold towel over the swollen areas. Then, he took Hyeong-un’s hand in his, and said.

“This might hurt a little. Try to bear it.”

He soon understood what that meant.

The hand he was holding began to feel hot, and the heat spread rapidly.

In an instant, it felt as though his entire body were set ablaze, a sharp, searing pain coursed through him.

Hyeong-un groaned, his body writhing in discomfort. But soon, the heat that had surged through his entire frame began to subside, replaced by a sense of languid, cozy warmth.

“You should recover a bit faster now.”

“Th…thank you.”

Hyeong-un stammered out his gratitude.

If it hadn’t been for this man, he might have been beaten to death by total strangers for reasons he couldn’t even comprehend. Since he had rarely experienced such genuine human kindness in his life, tears began to sting his eyes.

The middle-aged man gave a short, dry chuckle.

“Getting thanked just for dealing with a few pieces of trash makes my skin crawl. Still… with word about the Star-Fated Prodigy flooding the world, even worthless lowlifes start crawling out of the woodwork.”

“The… Star-Fated Prodigy? What is that?”

Hyeong-un asked cautiously. He had a feeling it was connected to the ordeal he was suffering through, but he couldn’t quite grasp the meaning.

The middle-aged man replied.

“Well, I suppose you’ve earned the right to know. Then again it’s not as if it’s some precious secret anyway, given how widely the information has already spread.”

The Star-Fated Prodigy.

It was the title given to a being who possesses peerless talent that borders on the unreal, having been graced by the energy of the stars.

To lay claim to such a person—said to be capable of altering destiny itself—countless people from every corner of the continent are flocking to this small city. Some sought a genius who could propel their sect’s swordsmanship to a higher plane; others desired a talent capable of reaching the ultimate peak of the illusionary arts.

“I assume you know of the Sword Sovereign of No-Thought, Na Yun-geuk, and the Phantom-Art Demon Sovereign, Lee Hyeon?”

“Yes.”

Na Yun-geuk, the Sword Sovereign of No-Thought, who crushed the alliance of Phantasmal Demons and established the Yun-geuk fortress in its wake, he was a legendary figure popular even among children. And the Phantom-Art Demon Sovereign, Lee Hyeon, was a mysterious being said to have lived for over a hundred years.

“They, too, are Star-Fated Prodigies. That’s why so many different factions covet anyone bearing that fate.”

From small bands of vagrants to massive organizations directly under the Imperial household, there was no shortage of groups seeking to claim a Star-Fated Prodigy for themselves. And…

“According to what is known, that child is the same age as you. Born in the same year, on the very same day. That is why everyone is pestering you so relentlessly.”

“……”

At those words, a surge of resentment welled up inside Hyeong-un. Was it for something so trivial that they had made his already difficult life a living hell? Just what kind of “circumstances” did they have that allowed them to…

The middle-aged man continued.

“Furthermore, even if it isn’t the Star-Fated Prodigy themselves, there are those who’d still kill to get their hands on anyone who has absorbed even a fraction of the stars’ power.”

Among those born on the same day as the Star-Fated Prodigy, many possessed outstanding talent. Phantom Diviners claim this is the result of those individuals possessing the fragments of power left over after the Star-Fated Prodigy received their share.

Even if he wasn’t the Prodigy himself, they had prodded and poked him, hoping he might at least possess the mere dregs of that celestial power. When Jin-gyu, the Fool’s Strike, had called him a Star Fragment a few days ago, that was exactly what he meant.

From Hyeong-un’s perspective—as the one suffering all the one-sided abuse—it was enough to drive him to the brink of madness.

Hyeong-un let out a long sigh.

“So… I wasn’t even that, then.”

“It appears so.”

Hyeong-un was nothing more than an ordinary child who happened to be born on the same day as the Star-Fated Prodigy. He possessed no special talent for martial arts, nor for illusionary arts.

It would have been better if he had known nothing at all. Hasn’t this incident stripped him bare, revealing him to be nothing more than a trivial, insignificant existence destined to live a mediocre life at the very bottom?

He had been living in resignation to his reality, harboring no grand ambitions. Yet, like any other kid, he used to spread the wings of his imagination, picturing himself living a life different from the one he had. Even while enduring his grueling reality, there were times he dreamed that perhaps a different future awaited him—but now, even those naive daydreams had been utterly denied.

The middle-aged man silently watched Hyeong-un as the boy wept in silence. Then, he asked.

“Kid, what’s your name?”

“…It’s Hyeong-un.”

“Do you have parents, by any chance?”

Hyeong-un looked up at the man blankly for a moment, then shook his head. At that, the middle-aged man seemed to ponder something briefly before speaking again.

“You…how would you like to become my disciple?”

“…what?”

For a moment, Hyeong-un thought he had misheard. What on earth was this man talking about now?

“But I am…”

“You are not the Star-Fated Prodigy, nor are you someone who received even a portion of the star’s power. That is precisely why I am asking.”

The middle-aged man cut him off before he could finish.

“Let me be clear: I am nothing like those bastards swarming all over this place.”

Of course, Hyeong-un had never once lumped him together with the others.

From the very beginning, this man had treated him with basic human courtesy. He had never once tried to oppress him with strength or authority.

Hyeong-un was sick and tired of everyone who looked down on people just because they held high status or power.

“Those bastards came here to get their hands on the Star-Fated Prodigy. But me? I just came to watch the show.”

Hyeong-un’s face was colored with bewilderment. Wait, so that’s the “reason” he said he was different?

The middle-aged man continued.

“Everyone is making such a fuss, babbling about how the Star-Fated Prodigy has received a gift from the heavens or is a being who will change destiny. I simply came because I wanted to get a look at that talent before it fully blossoms. It’s a spectacle that only comes once every fifty years; wouldn’t you say it’s worth a look?”

“……”

“I have no intention of taking the Star-Fated Prodigy as my disciple. I have no desire to bother myself with squabbling against all those lowlifes just to get my hands on one.”

Even after everything had been revealed, the ones who had persistently harassed Hyeong-un were nothing but small fry. While such thugs are barely worth a punch, there were bound to be some truly troublesome individuals among the pack as well.

“A storm of blood is about to sweep through this place.”

Powerful figures had converged from every corner of the continent, all seeking to claim the Star-Fated Prodigy. There was no chance it would end peacefully.

Regardless of the prodigy’s own wishes, the ground around them would soon become a battlefield.

“I should see the show and be on my way before that happens.”

“Ha… Hahahaha!”

Before Hyeong-un could realize it he burst in laughter. Then, without a moment’s pause, he gave his answer.

“I’ll do it.”

The middle-aged man grinned, a flicker of amusement in his eyes.

“You don’t know who I am. You don’t know my name, or what faction I belong to. And you’re still willing? For all you know, I could be a villain from some truly depraved sect.”

“I don’t care.”

Hyeong-un had already made up his mind.

Until now, he had lived a grueling life without a single opportunity.

In the adventure stories children loved, the protagonist would catch the eye of a reclusive master and learn peerless martial arts, or they would possess such innate talent that they could shock the world using only crude swordsmanship learned at a cheap local dojo.

But Hyeong-un had nothing.

No one to teach him martial arts, no one to take care of him in place of parents, not even coin to learn basic swordsmanship from a cheap back-alley dojo.

That was why he didn’t want to let this chance slip away. The character the man had shown him thus far was reason enough to trust him.

The middle-aged man asked.

“Will you not regret this?”

“I won’t regret it.”

“It will be incredibly difficult. And you might not even get what you want.”

“Even so, it is still better than it is now.”

“I will not lie to you. If you become my disciple, you will learn how to fight and kill. And your life will become one of conflict. When that time comes—even if it is sad and painful now—there may come a day when you think that the quiet struggle of your old life was a kinder fate.”

“……”

The middle-aged man spoke calmly, explaining that Hyeong-un’s choice was one that mortgaged his future with blood.

If he did not follow this man, Hyeong-un would never get another opportunity; he would live as a struggling loser at the very bottom until the day he died. He would have to live his entire life in fear of the harassment and cruelty of those with power.

And yet, even that might be better than a life where one’s own life is constantly threatened, and one must kill others to survive.

Hyeong-un spoke.

“So that’s why they… didn’t even see me as a person.”

“……”

Those who had oppressed him were people who lived their lives dancing upon the edge of a blade. To them, the powerless Hyeong-un wasn’t even worth being treated as a human being.

“I never want to go through something like this again.”

He never wanted to experience being treated like an object or livestock by someone who refused to recognize his humanity. He wanted power. A power so great that he could reflect the deeds of those who treat people like animals back at them like a mirror, making them burn with regret.

“I want to make the people who spoke as if it were my fault that I wasn’t the Star-Fated Prodigy… I want to make them regret it.”

Hyeong-un grit his teeth to suppress the tears surging up within him. Until now, he had simply cursed them while suppressing his feelings, but now, he truly, deeply hated them. It was the first time he had ever hated another human being this much.

“…Our thoughts are the same.”

“What?”

Hyeong-un looked up at the middle-aged man’s sudden, low murmur. The man was smiling, looking genuinely pleased.

“I feel the same way. I want to show them all that the ‘Star-Fated Prodigy’ is nothing special. I want to brag to their faces that this child—whom they treated like a pebble on the side of the road—turned out to be someone truly extraordinary…”

“Very well, Hyeong-un. From this moment on, you are my disciple. You made this choice yourself—so even if you regret it and try to back out later, I will not let you go.”

“Yes.”

“My name is Gwi-hyeok. You will call me Master.”

“I understand… Master.”

And so, Hyeong-un—who had been a mere ordinary boy—became the disciple of Gwi-hyeok, a man of unknown origin but possessed a dangerous kind of power.