The Choice (1)

After the Radiant Sword disappeared, Tang Yeo-eun spoke first with an urgent expression.

“Young Master, we need to move quickly. We have to clear the second gate before Mak Ujeon does.”

Seonu Jin immediately nodded as well.

“You’re right. Let’s move first.”

The two immediately launched themselves toward the burning village. Whether they chose to save the people or pursue the man who was the Radiant Sword’s enemy, they needed to reach the village either way.

As she ran like the wind, Tang Yeo-eun asked.

“Catching that man as quickly as possible must be the way to clear the second gate, right? The Radiant Sword himself said he had been foolish for losing him because he stopped to save the villagers.”

Seonu Jin let out a low hum at her words.

“Hmm.”

Considering the Radiant Sword’s disposition that they had seen so far and what he had said earlier, Tang Yeo-eun’s interpretation certainly seemed correct.

However, Seonu Jin could not bring himself to agree with her. He merely muttered gravely.

“I’m not sure.”

Tang Yeo-eun even slowed her running speed as she asked with a startled expression.

“Don’t tell me you intend to save the villagers first?”

Seonu Jin could not answer.

That was because he had not yet decided what to do.

Tang Yeo-eun spoke again with a worried expression.

“Young Master Seonu, I understand your chivalrous heart, but our lives are at stake this time. Moreover, if we fail, it won’t end with only our deaths. The Radiant Sword’s secret manual might fall into the hands of an evil man like Mak Ujeon. So I think we should prioritize the urgent matter just this once. Besides… the people in that village aren’t real people.”

That was true.

Her words were undoubtedly correct.

However, even though his mind acknowledged that she was right, his heart somehow remained unsettled.

He wondered whether this might be a warning from his intuition.

Or perhaps it was simply his aversion to turning his back on people who were suffering.

While Seonu Jin was still unable to make up his mind, the two finally entered the burning village.

Cries rang out from every direction.

“Fire!”

“Save us!”

“Mother! Please help! My mother is inside the house!”

“My baby! My baby!”

The village was truly a scene of utter chaos.

There was not a single person who was not in danger.

Tang Yeo-eun suddenly pointed toward the other side of the village and shouted.

“Look over there! I think that’s him!”

Seonu Jin looked where Tang Yeo-eun was pointing.

He saw a man who appeared to be in his thirties spot the two of them and immediately flee.

A martial artist who ran the moment he saw them.

He was most likely the man the Radiant Sword had spoken about.

Moreover, his realm did not appear low in the slightest.

Judging from his considerable speed and movement art, he seemed to be a martial artist who had reached at least the Pinnacle Realm.

They would certainly lose him if they did not pursue him immediately.

Tang Yeo-eun looked urgently at Seonu Jin and shouted.

“Young Master!”

Seonu Jin quickly took in both the fleeing man and the scene of the village before finally making his decision.

Then he spoke to Tang Yeo-eun.

“Lady Tang, there must be a reason this gate is called the Two-Person Gate. I believe it is because both problems must be resolved. So please pursue him first. I’ll save the villagers and follow as quickly as possible.”

Even as he spoke, Seonu Jin knew.

There was a high probability that this was merely an excuse to justify his decision.

However, even though time was short and he knew the villagers were not real people, he could not bring himself to ignore them.

He simply could not stomach it.

Perhaps this feeling was a warning from his intuition, or perhaps it came from his desire to take part in the Sword Saint’s ideal of creating a world where benevolence and righteousness remained alive.

But the reason no longer mattered.

He had decided not to abandon them.

“Young Master….”

Tang Yeo-eun looked at Seonu Jin with sorrowful eyes for a moment.

Seonu Jin could clearly sense the disappointment reflected in her gaze.

However, as though she had no other choice, she soon nodded.

“Understood. You must come quickly.”

“I will, my lady. If he’s too difficult to confront, you only need to slow him down. I’ll get there as quickly as I can.”

Tang Yeo-eun hurriedly turned and chased after the man.

However, Seonu Jin, who had intended to immediately begin saving people, suddenly froze in place and could not move.

‘No way.’

It was because of what he had just seen in her eyes.

With a horrified expression, Seonu Jin could not tear his gaze from her retreating back.

‘Surely not.’

What Seonu Jin had just witnessed was a crimson aura.

A faint crimson aura had gathered in Tang Yeo-eun’s eyes.

It resembled the crimson aura that had appeared in Mak Ujeon and Ga Yuak’s eyes earlier.

He unconsciously swallowed.

A desperate voice rang out again at that moment.

“Help us! Please help us!”

“Ah!”

Snapping back to his senses, Seonu Jin gritted his teeth and launched himself toward the source of the plea.

There was not even a moment to waste.

However, even as he moved, Seonu Jin’s heart churned in confusion like an angry sea.

‘I must have imagined it. It was only my imagination.’

He suddenly recalled how tenderhearted Tang Yeo-eun was, as well as how easily she had once fallen victim to Ma Yugyeom’s Suggestion Arts.

However, he shook his head fiercely and forced himself to ignore the thought.

That could not be true.

He wanted to trust her.

Seonu Jin did everything he could to save the villagers.

He rescued elderly people and children trapped by the flames, and sent out sword qi to open paths through which people could escape.

However, the village was larger than he had expected, and people in need of help were scattered everywhere.

He used his outstanding movement art to race from one place to another, but even then, he could not save everyone.

That was also why Seonu Jin had sent Tang Yeo-eun after the man and remained behind.

He had briefly considered pursuing the enemy himself and asking Tang Yeo-eun to handle the rescue, but he had concluded that her movement art would not allow her to save many people.

Even for Seonu Jin, however, quite some time had passed by the time he saved everyone he could.

“We’re alive!”

“Thank you, Great Hero! Thank you so much!”

“Thank you, mister.”

The villagers thanked Seonu Jin with tears of gratitude.

However, he had no time to accept their thanks.

He immediately launched himself after Tang Yeo-eun.

He had already spent far too much time.

His only consolation was that he no longer felt any lingering effects from his internal injuries.

‘Lady Tang, please!’

Seonu Jin raced like the wind, praying inwardly that she would be safe.

After some time, Seonu Jin finally spotted her.

‘Lady Tang!’

However, the situation was far from good.

Her appearance was disheveled, as though she had endured a desperate struggle, and she had been driven into a corner.

Perhaps she had fought the man and lost, for even her sword had fallen far away.

A weasel-faced man held a sword against her throat and gave a lecherous laugh.

“Hehehe! I’ve never seen a woman this beautiful before.”

He lightly drew the sword downward, cutting open the front of Tang Yeo-eun’s clothes.

Slash!

The fabric split to either side, and the collar covering her chest slipped downward.

“Kyaaa!”

Tang Yeo-eun screamed and clutched the falling fabric against herself with both arms.

The man swallowed and laughed greedily.

“Hehehehehe! Even your screams are thrilling.”

The man swept his greedy gaze over Tang Yeo-eun’s entire body, while unbearable humiliation filled her face.

At the sight, Seonu Jin’s eyes exploded with fury.

“You bastard!”

Bang!

His already swift speed accelerated another level.

It was the fastest he had ever moved, truly as fast as a flash of lightning.

The man turned his head, spotted Seonu Jin, and hurriedly assumed a defensive stance in surprise.

However, the instant he took his stance, Seonu Jin was already upon him.

“You son of a bitch!”

KABOOM!

He swung a thunderous blow.

The man was hurled backward.

“Ugh!”

It was an attack utterly unlike Seonu Jin’s usual style, relying solely on speed and power.

Then another followed.

He pursued the man like a shadow and brought his sword down like a bolt of lightning.

“Haaaaap!”

KABOOM!

“Ugh, you bastard!”

Then once more.

Whoosh!

When the same kind of powerful strike came for a third time, the man’s eyes flashed, and he swiftly swept out his sword.

He intended to deflect Seonu Jin’s simple attack and counter.

However, at that instant, Seonu Jin’s sword divided like an illusion.

The thirteenth form of the Seonu Thirteen Swords.

Realm of Phantom Swords.

Swoooooosh!

Hundreds of swords instantly surrounded the man.

It was a phantom sword technique unlike anything he had ever seen or heard of.

Momentarily flustered, the man gritted his teeth and swung his sword again.

He had realized they were merely phantom swords.

“Petty tricks!”

However, at that moment, the phantom swords filling the surroundings became real.

Then they poured toward him from every direction.

The fifteenth form of the Seonu Thirteen Swords.

Emptiness Becomes Form.

Shwaaaaaak!

Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud!

“Gaaah!”

Hundreds of sword-qi blades pierced through him.

His entire body was impaled like a hedgehog.

There was no possibility that he could survive in such a state.

He looked once at Seonu Jin with disbelief, then slowly collapsed as blood erupted from his entire body like fountains.

Splash!

Thud!

His realm seemed to correspond to roughly eighty years of internal energy.

He was a martial artist at approximately the same level as the current Seonu Jin.

Slaughtering such a martial artist in an instant was undoubtedly an extremely encouraging result.

However, Seonu Jin did not look at him.

He immediately ran to Tang Yeo-eun.

“Lady Tang! Are you all right?!”

Fortunately, Tang Yeo-eun did not appear to be seriously injured.

However, her expression looked extremely dark as she held her torn clothes closed with both arms.

Without properly meeting Seonu Jin’s eyes, Tang Yeo-eun quietly answered.

“I’m fine. You were… a little late.”

She looked as though she had been deeply wounded emotionally.

Seonu Jin did not know what to say.

Sending her alone had been his choice, and the delay that caused her to suffer such humiliation had ultimately resulted from his choice as well.

Moreover, Seonu Jin was now looking into her eyes.

He could clearly see the faint crimson aura within them.

What he had seen earlier had not been his imagination.

“Lady Tang….”

Seonu Jin felt as though the path before him had gone dark.

He had to deal with that crimson aura somehow, but he did not know what to say first.

He cautiously opened his mouth.

“Lady Tang, the Great Lotus Mind-Purifying Art….”

It happened then.

The environment suddenly changed once more.

The two were standing in the earlier forest again.

They had returned to the place where they had first encountered the Radiant Sword.

The Radiant Sword stood before them once again, radiating overwhelming killing intent as he watched them.

Seonu Jin and Tang Yeo-eun looked at him tensely.

They could not interpret the meaning behind the Radiant Sword’s gaze.

Had they cleared the second gate?

Had they done so before Mak Ujeon?

As the two anxiously waited for him to speak, he finally opened his mouth.

“Congratulations on passing the second gate.”

A sigh of relief instantly escaped them.

“Haaah.”

“Phew, we survived.”

It seemed Seonu Jin’s judgment had matched the answer the Radiant Sword had intended for the trial.

It was an immense relief.

Tang Yeo-eun asked the Radiant Sword in a relieved voice.

“Then did we clear the gate before the other two?”

The Radiant Sword shook his head again.

At the answer that followed, Seonu Jin and Tang Yeo-eun could only freeze once more.

“No. They cleared the gate far earlier than you.”

“…What?”

The two stared at the Radiant Sword in shock.

They had cleared the gate first?

The Radiant Sword had clearly said earlier that only two people would remain after passing the second gate.

If they had cleared it first….

As Seonu Jin and Tang Yeo-eun began thinking despairing thoughts, the Radiant Sword spoke again.

“Then the two of them fought, and only the man named Mak Ujeon remained. Therefore, only one of you may remain as well.”

“…What?”

For a moment, Seonu Jin and Tang Yeo-eun could not understand what he meant.

The two of them fought, and only Mak Ujeon remained?

And only one of us may remain?

What did that…?!

However, Seonu Jin’s sharp mind quickly deciphered the meaning.

He muttered as though groaning.

“When you said… two would remain, you didn’t mean only one of their group and ours would survive. You meant that only one person from each pair could remain….”

His mind turned as blank as a sheet of white paper.

Yet even then, Seonu Jin’s memory recalled the Radiant Sword’s original words perfectly.

‘Remember that only two people may pass the second gate. Only two among you will survive.’

That was right.

He had only said that two of the four would survive.

Not once had he said that the pair who cleared the gate first would survive.

That had merely been their assumption.

Seonu Jin looked at Tang Yeo-eun with a blank expression.

She also looked back at him with tears filling her eyes.

The Radiant Sword was directly ordering Seonu Jin to fight Tang Yeo-eun and kill her.

In other words, the reason the Two-Person Gate required two people from the beginning was so that only one of them would be left alive.

It was an utterly vicious trial.

Seonu Jin gritted his teeth and answered.

“No. We can’t. We will never kill each other.”

Killing Tang Yeo-eun with his own hands was something he would never do, even if it meant dying himself.

The Radiant Sword gave a sinister smile and asked.

“Is that so? Will that truly be the case?”

Seonu Jin was horrified by his smile.

It was the first wicked smile the man had shown since they arrived.

Seonu Jin wondered whether that might actually be his true expression.

Now smiling with the face of a genuine Demon King, the Radiant Sword snapped his fingers again.

The surrounding environment changed once more.

The sight filled both of them with despair.

“This is….”

Everything around them had transformed into a lake of violently bubbling lava.

The heat felt as though it would cook their flesh, and an acrid smell filled their noses.

Seonu Jin and Tang Yeo-eun stood upon a stone floor like a small island in the center of the enormous lava lake.

However, the small island appeared unstable, as though it might sink into the lava at any moment.

The Radiant Sword floated in the air as he watched them and spoke.

“Every time it takes to drink a cup of tea passes, the ground will gradually grow narrower. Before half a quarter-hour has elapsed, there will likely be nowhere left to stand. By then, only one of you must remain. Otherwise, both of you will die.”

With those final words, he vanished.

Now left alone, Seonu Jin and Tang Yeo-eun stared at one another with devastated expressions.

There was nothing they could do.

Tang Yeo-eun was the first to make up her mind.

Clang!

She drew her sword and shouted at Seonu Jin.

It was the sword with a red tassel that formed a pair with Seonu Jin’s sword, which she had brought to impersonate the Azure and Crimson Twin Swords.

“Young Master, draw your sword! At least one of us must survive!”

Seonu Jin looked at her sorrowfully.

The crimson aura flickering in her eyes had grown far more distinct than before.