Chapter 129 : The Sword Demon

At the entrance of the cemetery, the Sword Demon stood.

The first emotion Da-yeon felt when she first became aware of his presence was deep bewilderment.

Was it an illusion or a fake?

It was so hard to accept the Sword Demon's presence that such a possibility was the first thing that came to mind.

The Sword Demon.

He never left his office.

Let alone the hero-assigned district.

In the last few years, the number of times the Sword Demon had stepped outside his district in her memory could be counted on one hand.

And most of those times were part of his official duties.

This was definitely the first time he was wandering around alone like this, without any sidekicks or attendants.

But that bewilderment was fleeting.

As soon as she recognized that he was the real Sword Demon, the emotions that followed were anger and hostility.

So this is why Ho-cheol brought that up, because that man was here.

For a moment, she wondered if Ho-cheol had intentionally orchestrated this situation, but she quickly dismissed such suspicions.

Their meeting in the city was a coincidence in the first place, and accompanying him had been her own choice.

“What are you doing here?”

She burned with a more intense displeasure and hostility than when she had faced the villains who had kidnapped or threatened her life in the past.

The Sword Demon, however, ignored Da-yeon and looked at Ho-cheol.

His gaze was calm, but beneath it, a displeasure and anger as great as Da-yeon's smoldered quietly.

“I believe I told you not to approach that kid ever again.”

As far as he remembered, the relationship between Da-yeon and Ho-cheol had become irreparable.

Mortal enemies, indeed.

Yet, there was no visible discomfort between them.

Unaware of the truth of that day, he couldn't fathom how their relationship had grown so close, no matter how much he pondered it.

“Well.”

Ho-cheol smiled confidently, then pointed at himself with his thumb up.

“I apologized.”

Ho-cheol casually placed his hand on the shoulder of the tense Da-yeon.

“And she forgave me. That’s all there is to it. It’s a bit strange to tell us to keep our distance in the first place. Anyway, right now, rather than me……”

“Where do you think you’re putting your hand!”

It was already difficult enough to suppress his seething emotions, but then Ho-cheol touched Da-yeon’s body.

The moment he saw that, the Sword Demon lost his composure and, regardless of what Ho-cheol was saying, charged at him.

He drew the sword from his waist and swung.

The series of movements was so fast and natural that even Da-yeon, standing right in front, had only just registered the situation when the sword was already falling before her eyes.

The target was Ho-cheol's wrist, which rested on Da-yeon’s shoulder.

Just before the sword could cut through his wrist, Ho-cheol raised his remaining hand.

He curled his index finger and flicked it.

His finger struck the side of the sword.

Kaang!

With an impact too powerful for a mere flick, the sword was knocked away.

The sword's trajectory skewed to the side, cutting through the empty air instead of Ho-cheol's wrist.

“No matter if you’re the Sword Demon or whatever, I’m not so weak as to get sliced by a sword swung blindly in anger.”

The Sword Demon, already having lost all reason, continued his attack despite Ho-cheol's taunt.

The sword coiled around Ho-cheol’s arm like a snake and thrust toward his Adam’s apple.

Ho-cheol pulled Da-yeon’s shoulder back, pushing her to safety.

At the same time, he kicked at the hand holding the sword with the tip of his foot.

Its trajectory wavered, and the tip of the sword aimed at his neck grazed Ho-cheol’s cheek by a paper-thin margin.

He brought the sword back and stabbed at his side.

Simultaneously, he swung his foot, aiming for Ho-cheol’s ankle.

Ho-cheol lifted his foot, dodging the incoming leg, and twisted on his remaining foot to rotate his body greatly.

Bbeo-eok!

A kick, loaded with rotation and elasticity, struck the Sword Demon’s solar plexus.

At the same time, the Sword Demon’s sword slashed below Ho-cheol’s ankle instead of his side.

The Sword Demon’s body was sent flying back from the kick.

“Ouch, that stings.”

Ho-cheol winced and touched his ankle.

No blood.

If one had to say, the other guy's damage was more severe, but what hurt, hurt.

The Sword Demon, about to charge again, flinched to a halt.

Da-yeon, taking advantage of the gap that had opened between them, stepped in.

“That’s enough.”

Da-yeon stood in front of Ho-cheol.

But her back was to him.

Whose side was she on in this fight?

Her posture, her expression, everything pointed to one answer.

In the end, the Sword Demon gritted his teeth and sheathed his sword.

Da-yeon turned around and asked with a worried gaze.

“Professor. Are you okay?”

“Ah, yeah. This is nothing a little spit can’t fix. Anyway.”

Ho-cheol looked at the Sword Demon and muttered as if he couldn’t understand at all.

“You fly off the handle just because I put a hand on her shoulder, so why did you abuse her so much when she was a child?”

“Abuse? What are you talking about? I’ve never done such a thing.”

Ho-cheol once again placed his hand on Da-yeon’s shoulder.

“Sorry, but I unconditionally believe my student. As long as she says so and remembers it that way, you’re a child abuser.”

At his words and the moment his hand touched her, Da-yeon stiffened her back and trembled slightly, but then, as if to show off to the Sword Demon, she placed her own hand over the one on her shoulder.

Then she glared at the Sword Demon and said.

“You don’t care about me anyway, so why are you pretending to?”

Da-yeon’s deep hatred and anger.

The emotions that would have been directed solely at Ho-cheol had he hidden the truth and his true feelings at the Invention Day Expo, overflowed.

“That’s.”

His lips parted as if to say something, but the Sword Demon soon closed his mouth again.

“This is driving me crazy.”

Ho-cheol scratched the back of his head, looking like he couldn't understand.

“I told you. I set the table. Even with such a great opportunity right in front of you, your attention is on me? Ah, well, if you think of me as an enemy, I guess it’s not entirely out of the question.”

“Opportunity?”

Ho-cheol, who had been muttering while stroking his chin, nodded his head.

“Right. I have no obligation or reason to, but. Since you’re a victim of my past anyway, I’m giving you a chance.”

Looking at the still-wary Sword Demon, Ho-cheol let out a faint sigh.

“In the past, I was sharper than anyone, unable to be honest with my own heart and failing to express it, and I couldn't accept even the sincerity of others, believing it to be a lie.”

During his time as a villain, he wasn't just a criminal; he wasn't even human.

The indifference of society, the malice of humanity.

The result of abandoning the path of a human by surrendering his body to the flow of that malice.

“The price was miserable. No matter how many tears of blood I shed, no matter what I did, only sins that could never be undone remained.”

The hand on Da-yeon’s shoulder tightened.

To the Sword Demon, and also to Da-yeon.

He continued to speak seriously.

“This is the last signal from me, who arrived at the worst first, to you who still have a chance. If you can’t even accept this advice and simply think of it as a lecture from a former villain, then there’s nothing I can do.”

A heavy silence.

The things that had piled up for over 10 years were all so precarious that it was impossible to even guess what to bring up first.

Surprisingly, it was Da-yeon who spoke first.

“I still don’t want to.”

The only problem was that it wasn't the kind of answer Ho-cheol wanted.

“After hearing your words earlier, Professor, I was planning to at least listen to some extent. But now that I’m facing him, I just can’t stand it.”

No, until the moment she faced him, she could have managed to listen to the conversation.

But the Sword Demon hadn't even looked at her, and had gone so far as to attack Ho-cheol.

Da-yeon did not consider herself a mature enough person to have a conversation with an ‘enemy’ who had hurt one of her few people.

“Ssseup.”

Since he understood her sharp attitude to some extent, it wasn't easy for Ho-cheol to persuade her.

Still, it was something he had started, and there were still elements of unease.

Should he try to end it on a good note if possible?

Thinking that, Ho-cheol asked.

“She thinks you abused her since she was a child. You made her train excessively or something, right?”

“Yes. Because it’s nothing compared to the resentment and tears of blood the weak feel while cursing their own weakness.”

Unlike Da-yeon, the Sword Demon, perhaps having felt some change of heart, answered obediently, unlike before.

Problems and regrets born of being strong, problems and regrets born of being weak.

If he had to choose, the former was obviously correct.

“Furthermore, I regretted my own weakness. I just didn't want that to be passed down to my child.”

The Sword Demon’s wife.

The Sword Demon, who still didn’t know the full story, believed that being weaker than Ho-cheol was the cause of their parting by death.

The harsh training Da-yeon endured was by no means abuse.

The Sword Demon was certain of it.

He turned his gaze and met Da-yeon’s eyes.

“That was for the sake of raising you strong……”

“I! I was only 10 years old back then! What kind of nonsense is that!”

For a moment, Da-yeon couldn't hold back her surging anger and her voice rose.

Da-yeon always maintained a steady tone, but this she could not bear.

After shouting, she took a deep breath and returned to her usual calm tone.

“Besides, if it were just something like that, it wouldn’t be like this.”

She hesitated for a moment, her lips parting.

It wasn't easy to even speak of it.

The worst day of her life.

It was also the most decisive moment that drove a wedge between the Sword Demon and Da-yeon.

Normally, it was a past she would never bring up in front of the Sword Demon.

No, in front of anyone else.

But with Ho-cheol, it was okay.

Muttering that to herself, Da-yeon slowly recalled her most terrible memory.

“April. The 13th. 1:13 PM, when I was 11. The day the spring rain beat against the window.”

The date and time.

Even though 10 years had passed, that moment was so vivid in her memory that she could state it clearly without a moment's hesitation.

“Even that early education of yours that was close to abuse. I silently endured and endured. And the moment the palm of my hand holding the sword tore, and the sword slipped from the blood that flowed and fell. You looked back and forth between the fallen sword and me and said those words.”

“Heo.”

Only then did the memory seem to surface for the Sword Demon as well, and his lips parted slightly.

The sigh that escaped from between them was akin to a lament.

“Back then, you said this to me.”

Da-yeon bit her lip.

“You are.”

“You are.”

Their voices uttered the same words simultaneously, as if in resonance.

“Inferior.”

Da-yeon’s voice trembled pathetically.

In truth, she had heard such harsh evaluations countless times.

In fact, such whippings motivated her even more.

If he had ended it there and resumed training, Da-yeon would have picked up the sword as well.

The real problem was the single phrase that followed.

“Just like your mother.”

This time, the Sword Demon remembered the words but could not bring himself to say them.

“You crazy bastard.”

Even Ho-cheol, who had intended to interfere as little as possible in the conversation between father and daughter, was appalled.

He threw the crumpled can of coffee that was in the paper bag at the Sword Demon.

Clang.

The Sword Demon neither blocked nor dodged it, and it hit him in the head.

Even as that happened, Da-yeon’s memory continued.

“After I heard that, I ran out of the training room, and you didn't stop me. For the next 4 years. Have you ever spoken to me even once since then? No, you never even showed your face.”

After the training at age 11.

The next time Da-yeon met the Sword Demon was on her 15th birthday.

Every birthday was terrible, but was there ever a birthday as terrible as that one?

“And you just stared at me silently, and then disappeared again. I can’t forget the look in your eyes then.”

That one phrase from the Sword Demon.

It was lodged deep in her heart, far from healing or leaving a scar.

It was still firmly in place, 10 years later.

At some point, the Sword Demon had closed both his eyes.

A silence heavier than ever before flowed.

He opened his eyes again.

“That was not my intention.”

“……What did you say?”

“You just didn’t hear the rest of it.”

The criticism of being inferior.

And the part about being like her mother were completely separate sentences.

As fate would have it, Da-yeon, hearing the two linked together, misunderstood before he could finish, and there was no time to correct the misunderstanding.

“The part after that was meant to say I would protect you.”

“Then you should have explained it then. You throw away four years and say it now?”

Of course, to Da-yeon, it was nonsense that didn't even qualify as an excuse.

“Because I was having a hard time back then too.”

“What?”

The Sword Demon’s excuse was extremely selfish, and also human.

The Sword Demon had always been driven to improve, but he had lost to Ho-cheol, even if it was a surprise attack.

Believing that he would not have been bereaved if he had been stronger, he came to hold the misguided idea that overwhelming strength was the only truth, a value that surpassed all others.

And he realized.

If Da-yeon became a powerhouse who could surpass him, she would not experience the same failure.

That pain would end with him.

That's why he forced her through training that bordered on abuse from a young age.

But unfortunately, her talent was meager.

At best, only slightly better than his own.

How much sacrifice and pain would it take for Da-yeon to reach the level the Sword Demon desired?

“That’s why I stopped the training. I thought that if your talent was inferior, I just had to become stronger to protect you.”

If someone had to suffer the same pain.

That was definitely his share, not Da-yeon's.

If he worked harder to make up for his lacking talent, he would surely be able to reach the end.

His resolve not to lose her like Da-yeon’s mother led to four years of extreme training that no one could possibly fathom.

He continued such harsh training every day that it was questionable whether he would be able to open his eyes the next day, enduring serious injuries that would not have been strange if he had died on the spot.

An obsession with strength that bordered on madness.

His intentional avoidance of Da-yeon for those four years was an extension of that.

If he had met her, he might have come to his senses.

And the training at that time was of a kind that could never be done with a sane mind.

But after seeing Da-yeon after four years, he realized.

That he had nothing left to protect anymore.

“Neglect……. You might feel that way, but I was just watching from afar. Whatever choice you made, I had no right or qualification to interfere.”

That was the Sword Demon’s answer.

A past confessed for the first time.

There had clearly been a misunderstanding between them, and now that he had confessed honestly, there was some room for resolution.

But that was only possible right after the misunderstanding occurred.

Even if everything was explained, whether the other person understood and accepted it was a completely separate matter.

The emotions that had piled up and piled up could not be washed away so easily.

That is why Da-yeon.

“……It’s too late.”

With those words, she turned around.

Then, without even looking back, she ran and disappeared into the cemetery.

In the end, only Ho-cheol and the Sword Demon remained.

“You know what?”

Looking at him fiddling with his sword in silence, Ho-cheol tilted his head.

“Being honest about your feelings, and confessing the truth. It's only hard the first time.”

Did the relationship worsen?

Perhaps.

But it was clear that the distance between them had narrowed.

The 10 minutes just now were clearly a greater difference than the last 10 years, in which there had been no change at all.

“And it’s the same with apologies.”

Ho-cheol bent down to pick up the things he had dropped.

“It ended like this today because we met so suddenly, but next time, you’d better come with a clear answer.”

Leaving his own piece of advice, he too began to walk into the cemetery.

He didn’t know how far she had run; they had arrived at the cemetery entrance, but Da-yeon was still nowhere in sight.

Still, surely she hadn't gone all the way over the mountain and down the other side.

He leisurely clasped his hands behind his back and walked up the winding path.

Without stopping, he recalled the situation from just a moment ago.

Was there some progress?

In fact, the reason he had discovered the Sword Demon today and set the stage for him and Da-yeon to stop fighting and make up wasn't simply because he was the perpetrator of the past.

Those nameless villains who had approached him a few days ago.

Their offer to revive the dead wasn't a story that would only work on Ho-cheol.

After all, the Sword Demon had also lost someone precious, so wouldn't they approach him?

The Sword Demon, that guy, already has a bad personality and no friends, so he must be lonely.

What if those guys filled his head with nonsense and he rashly betrayed them?

Public sentiment is already grim because of the Eclipse incident, and now the S-rank No. 1 hero is going to backstab everyone?

It was no joke; the hero society would be utterly shattered and then some.

In order to avoid seeing such a thing, he had to have at least one decent human relationship remaining, didn't he?

Mulling over various thoughts, he walked a little further and found Da-yeon leaning against a tree at a fork in the road.

Looking at her, Ho-cheol clicked his tongue.

“You went far.”

“I’m sorry. By the time I came to my senses. I was already here.”

“Right. Anyway, take these flowers. Let’s part ways here.”

The section where Da-yeon’s mother was and the section Ho-cheol was going to were in completely opposite directions.

Unlike Ho-cheol who was heading to the C-rank hero section, Da-yeon stood still in her spot.

She scuffed the innocent ground with the tip of her flat shoe.

After hesitating for a long time, she ran over with small steps and grabbed Ho-cheol’s arm.

“Professor.”

“Huh?”

“Would you like to go up with me?”

“Where to?”

As if embarrassed to say it, Da-yeon turned her head to the side and muttered softly.

“I want to introduce you to my mom.”

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