Chapter 15 - Haewon Sword Style (1)

Today was the first time I had a meal alone with my father.

To be honest, it was still a bit awkward without my mother.

Although it was a clear fact that my father was a good person.

“You’re thinking of creating a sword unit?”

“Yes, Father. Of course, not right away. I’ve only just finished my first dungeon conquest.”

My father put down the spoon he was eating with and seemed to be lost in thought for a moment.

I had a rough idea of what he was thinking.

I had changed so much recently, and I knew the repercussions it was causing around me.

And my father, Seo Joon-wook, was probably more confused than anyone.

“To be honest, when you said you would pick up the sword again, I was happy, but my concern was greater. And it’s true that that feeling still remains.”

“Yes. I understand.”

“Are you really planning to approach this seriously?”

“I have never once held a sword as a joke. I know you’re still worried, but I plan to build up my achievements step by step with Ho-joong.”

“Alright. I understand. You too will need your own sword unit someday. Just like your two older brothers.”

I had two older brothers.

The first, Seo Ji-hoon, and the second, Seo Ji-won.

I hadn't seen either of their faces yet.

Seo Ji-hoon had left to conquer the Abyss and hadn't returned yet, and Seo Ji-won was currently out of the country in the United States.

“I heard my second brother is returning soon.”

“Yes. He said he’s coming on the 3 o’clock flight tomorrow. Come to think of it, time flies. It’s already been two months since he left.”

I knew what kind of person Seo Ji-won was from what Choi Ho-joong had told me.

A perfectionist with severe mysophobia, was it?

I had heard that he had many inconvenient traits.

Their existing relationship with Seo Ji-han hadn't been very close either.

“Let’s go meet him together tomorrow.”

“I’m sorry, but I’ll just meet him at home. I have to go to the Abyss at that time anyway.”

“You don't miss a single day. Still, it’s the day your brother is coming, so wouldn’t it be alright to skip just one day?”

“If my routine is broken, the recovery of my body will be slowed down.”

Of course, that was a lie.

Meeting an uncomfortable sibling was quite a hassle.

“If that’s the case, then it can't be helped. Recovering your body is the priority.”

Putting aside my father and mother, dealing with family who were not even my actual blood relatives was an uncomfortable affair.

I planned to avoid meeting Seo Ji-won as much as possible.

Whether that would go according to my intentions, I didn't know.

***

“Hoo!”

The changes in my muscles, becoming firmer with each weightlifting session, often brought me a great sense of elation.

Unlike mana training, the results of physical training were immediately visible, so there was a joy in exercising.

Also, since Seo Ji-han’s body was so poor to begin with, that joy was even greater.

Should I say I had learned the pleasure of climbing up step by step from the bottom, something I hadn't known during my Johan Raven days?

“Hoo!”

My once stick-thin shoulders had noticeably broadened, and the appropriate amount of fat I had gained through diet control was transforming into firm muscle.

His constitution was weak, but the specs of his innate body were quite excellent.

Perfect proportions and long limbs. I couldn't help but admire it every time I looked in the mirror.

After finishing my upper body workout, I moved on to my lower body workout.

The various equipment in the fitness room were the best items, optimized for training the body.

I was once again grateful for the situation of being reincarnated into the Haewon Sword Family and being able to start over in a perfect environment.

“Hoo!”

As I was deeply engrossed in my workout, an unwelcome visitor appeared.

A handsome face and long legs, much like my own.

It was a face I was seeing for the first time, but anyone could tell he was of the Haewon Sword Family's main bloodline.

“Your illness is improving?”

That was the first thing Seo Ji-won said to me.

It seemed greetings between brothers were unnecessary. I, too, just nodded my head without even a ‘welcome back.’

“You, doing physical training. You certainly look better.”

I ignored his presence and resumed my weightlifting.

Why had Seo Ji-won come to see me?

It wasn't strange for him to come see his younger brother right after returning to the country after two months, but from what I had found out, Seo Ji-won treated Seo Ji-han as if he barely existed.

A relationship that was neither friendly nor hostile, like that of strangers.

If such a Seo Ji-won had come to see me first, he must have had some business.

“Father ordered it.”

“Ordered what?”

“To teach you the first half of the Haewon Sword Style.”

As expected, there was a reason he had sought me out.

“But why from you, brother?”

“The head of the family personally teaching the beginning of the Haewon Sword Style is limited only to the firstborn son. For that reason, I also learned it from brother Ji-hoon.”

“Then, if one is chosen as the successor, does one learn the latter half directly from Father?”

“Are you really asking because you don't know?”

It was a fact I didn't know.

Choi Ho-joong hadn't told me about things like this.

“Anyway, it’s an unreasonable tradition. If you learn it through two intermediaries like this, there are bound to be parts that get distorted.”

Moreover, the brothers were in a competitive relationship for the position of successor.

It was a perfect setup for impure intentions to be mixed in during the process.

“If it’s unfair, you should have been born earlier. And you can put aside your worries. At the very least, I don't play games with the Haewon Sword Style.”

“Well, that’s a relief then.”

In truth, I didn't necessarily need the Haewon Sword Style.

The sword style of the Raven family that I already knew was likely superior.

But I was curious about the Haewon Sword Style.

The hereditary sword style of the family I was reincarnated into. I had a certain romantic desire to rise to the top once again with it.

“But are you really serious about learning the sword style?”

“The sword is not a toy, is it?”

When I retorted with the same words I had said to my father, Seo Ji-won nodded in agreement.

“You've changed a lot since I last saw you.”

“I’m not a terminally ill patient anymore, so there's no need to live like a coward, is there?”

“No, even when you were a terminally ill patient, you shouldn't have been like that! A successor of the Haewon Sword Family should be dignified for that reason alone!”

Seo Ji-won glared at me and continued to speak.

“For the next 2 weeks. From 5:30 to 6:00 in the morning, exactly 30 minutes. That is the only time I can spare for you.”

By common sense, it was an absurdly short amount of time.

If it was the swordsmanship of a prestigious family, its profundity would surely be incomparable to ordinary sword styles.

No matter how much it was only the first half, it would be impossible to learn it all in 2 weeks.

Even I, Johan Raven, the greatest genius in history, needed quite a long time to learn the Raven family's swordsmanship.

Of course, the situation was different now.

I was a body that had already experienced the ultimate of the sword.

“30 minutes a day for 2 weeks is a total of 7 hours. That should be enough time to learn the first half.”

Seo Ji-won was so dumbfounded that he didn't even reply to this.

“We start tomorrow. The place is the underground training hall.”

And with that, he left the fitness room.

***

It had now been a day since I released one of the rabble assassins who had attacked me in the dungeon.

I still needed more time to confirm if Seo Young-joon's side had taken the bait.

There was no reason to be hasty or anxious.

I had thrown the bait, so all I had to do was wait calmly for a bite.

‘I hope a big fish comes along.’

For now, I planned to wait while doing my own thing.

Even if they took the bait, if I didn't build up enough strength myself before then, I would be the one getting eaten instead.

After finishing my weightlifting in the fitness room, I began my mana training.

My mana, which had been as vast as the sun, had shrunk to the level of dust, and now it had only risen to about the level of a firefly.

Hunters on Earth used numbers from 1-star to 10-star to express their level of mana manipulation, but in truth, I was still far from that stage.

From what I heard, even Choi Ho-joong described himself as only a 3-star Hunter.

Ziiiing.

While I was training my mana, my phone kept vibrating.

It was strange.

There shouldn't be many people who would contact Seo Ji-han, who lived like a loner.

Ziiiing.

The vibration kept bothering me, so I paused my training for a moment and checked my phone.

9 messages had been sent.

The sender's number was the same for all of them.

‘Han Ye-ji?’

I did give her my number at the Cheongunhoe meeting a while ago.

Though I didn't think she would actually contact me.

Let’s have a meal together sometime. I even swept the pot thanks to you, Oppa.

She had sent this message, stretched out over 9 texts.

I didn't bother to reply.

The reason was simple.

I had too much money to be treated to a meal, we weren't close enough to eat together, and it was a waste of time to go out to eat.

‘My rhythm got broken for nothing while training.’

Just as I was about to resume my mana training, Choi Ho-joong came to see me.

“Young Master!”

“What’s wrong?”

“I heard that you will be having dawn training with the second young master tomorrow.”

“So what about it?”

“What do you mean, ‘so what’? I came to check on your swordsmanship, Young Master. The second young master is a very strict person. The moment he judges that you are not prepared, the training might be called off.”

“He’d just break a promise?”

“He is certainly capable of it. You will need to be at least at a certain level with the Muyoung Sword Style to convince him.”

“Muyoung Sword Style? What’s that?”

Choi Ho-joong looked at me with a dumbfounded expression.

Then he shook his head, and then seemed to understand on his own.

It was a habit he had developed due to my partial amnesia setting.

“The Muyoung Sword Style is…”

He began to explain it to me step by step.

The Muyoung Sword Style was a kind of degraded version of the Haewon Sword Style, made easier to learn by removing its profound parts.

Not only the direct and branch lines of the family, but anyone belonging to the Haewon Sword Family could learn and master it, and Choi Ho-joong’s swordsmanship was also based on the Muyoung Sword Style.

According to Choi Ho-joong, I had also learned it in my childhood, but of course, it was a sword style that did not exist in my memory.

“Show me.”

“Do you really not remember it at all?”

“You know too. That there’s a problem with my memory.”

“This is a big problem. Of all things, to start training with the second young master tomorrow.”

“Teach me. Who knows? My head might not remember, but my body might.”

Of course, there was no way my body would remember. But it was certainly possible for me to learn it right away.

I could probably only imitate the forms that required profound mana, but otherwise, there wouldn't be much trouble in performing the swordsmanship.

It didn't make sense for me, the greatest swordsman of the Kalia Continent, to not be able to understand a swordsmanship that was only a degraded version.

“Come to think of it, the swordsmanship the Young Master has shown recently are all…”

“All what?”

“May I speak frankly?”

“Go ahead.”

“Should I say they seem to lack a proper foundation?”

“You crazy bastard!”

“Young Master! You said I could speak frankly!”

“So your frank impression is that my swordsmanship is rootless. That's why you're a crazy bastard.”

To say that the Raven family's swordsmanship lacked a foundation. This was the most novel nonsense I had ever heard in my life.

“Then just teach me that Muyoung Sword Style or whatever it's called. Let's see how much foundation it has.”

“Understood.”

I would have to show Choi Ho-joong properly.

What true talent that surpasses the teacher immediately upon learning looks like.