Seonu Clan (3)

“Brother, how is your martial training? Since you entered the Clan Head’s private library, why not show us how much you’ve improved?”

It seemed he had chosen me as a sacrifice to impress the beauties.

Truly, he had a quick and cunning mind.

But I too was filled with anger.

Though I was weak now, in my past life I had reached the pinnacle of first-class mastery. That experience and understanding could not have vanished.

So watching this immature brat flaunt himself before me was unbearable.

‘It is hard. Hard indeed….’

The problem was my body was even harder to trust.

I couldn’t even walk without panting.

It pained me that calling me more pig than man wasn’t entirely wrong.

So I clenched my teeth and chose to endure.

Wasn’t it said that a gentleman’s revenge is not late even after ten years?

It was wiser to wait until I regained my human form.

I smiled foolishly and tried to soothe him with gentle words.

“How could I change overnight from a single day of study? I can only make the effort. Even now, I should go back, ahk—!”

Thud!

But he had no intention of giving me a choice.

My forearm throbbed as if it were breaking.

I had barely managed to block his sudden punch.

“What?”

He looked at me in shock.

It seemed incredible to him that I had blocked his surprise attack.

But I too was astonished.

That one block hurt this much?

My untrained arms ached fiercely.

I could have easily dodged, but my body wouldn’t respond. I had no choice but to block.

I felt despair at my body’s condition.

“You blocked? My third brother blocked my punch?”

Even that was enough to shock Seonu Gi.

He stood frozen, muttering blankly.

Then, as if they had been waiting, my older brothers burst into laughter.

“Puhaha! Gi, even a pig blocked you? Were you that slow?”

“It seems when that fellow goes, the shame of Seonu Clan will pass to you, Gi! Hahaha!”

I knew exactly what they were thinking.

They had wanted to outshine me before Lady Zhuge, but when Gi embarrassed himself, they seized the chance to mock him instead.

Naturally, Gi’s state was pitiful.

To be humiliated before the woman he wanted to impress—his face flushed red as he assumed a stance and charged at me.

“How dare you!”

His fists blurred like wind, leaving afterimages.

Whap-whap-whap!

“Ugh!”

I barely blocked again, but my bones tingled with pain.

I wanted to beg him to stop.

And yet… something was strange.

His movements looked oddly familiar.

‘That’s… surely?!’

It was none other than the Seonu Clan’s fist art, the Thirteen Storm Strikes.

Though I had never practiced it, the moves looked vivid and familiar.

Forgetting the pain, I focused on his movements.

His fists and feet flew like a gale, weaving together seamlessly, small gusts merging into great winds to break through defense—a high-level set of forms.

And what I saw matched perfectly with the manual I had just read.

My mind cleared.

What I could not understand from text and diagrams, I suddenly grasped in practice.

It was like ecstasy.

Without thinking, I exclaimed.

“Excellent!”

He flinched.

“W-what? Excellent?”

When he stopped, I panicked.

The sequence in my mind had frozen.

“N-no! That just slipped out. Why stop? Attack me! More! Keep going!”

His expression twisted.

As if he were staring at a pervert.

My brothers mocked again, seizing the chance.

“Puhaha! Gi, he says he likes it?”

“He wants more? Seems he enjoys your punches, hahaha!”

Grinding his teeth, Gi’s eyes blazed as he rushed me again.

“Die!”

“Yes, come! Hahaha!”

I was exhilarated.

In my past life, I had only stolen glimpses of Mount Emei’s spear arts and Qingcheng’s sword arts—mere shells without true mastery.

But now, for the first time in two lives, I was truly learning martial arts.

The martial arts of my own clan.

As Gi stormed at me, I absorbed every form and matched it with memory.

It was as if a clear bell rang in my head.

And then he struck with a move I now saw plainly.

From fists like storm winds, he suddenly shifted into kicks to exploit my guard—Storm Wave.

Through my crossed arms, I saw his fists rain down like a shower, then transition into a kick.

At that instant, I stepped forward unconsciously.

His unpolished movements exposed a flaw so clearly.

I thrust my palm as he came, and his chest slammed into it.

Thud!

The pressure tingled through my hand.

“Guhhak!”

He was thrown back at his own speed, spitting blood.

Thump!

He landed heavily in the grass.

I too collapsed, drained.

“Huff, huff!”

I had spent all my strength.

Even my mocking brothers fell silent.

They stared in shock at the unconscious Gi.

Then, regaining themselves, they advanced on me with savage eyes.

“Lucky pig.”

“Show us that trick too.”

This was dire.

I had no strength left to rise.

‘Damn. This is bad.’

Cold sweat ran down.

I didn’t care about being beaten, but their eyes now carried killing intent. If I were crippled and barred from the library, nothing could be worse.

I tried to defuse it.

“B-brothers! Gi is gravely injured because of me! Shouldn’t we tend to him first?”

But they sneered.

“Hmph! Since when did you care for him?”

“Gi probably wants us to avenge him!”

Just then—

An unexpected savior appeared.

It was none other than Lady Zhuge, who had dragged me into this situation.

“Your brother is injured, and instead of tending to him, you harass one too exhausted to rise? I am disappointed. Don’t you agree, Cheong-yeon?”

The girl with long bangs hiding her eyes nodded stiffly, and the situation ended abruptly.

Flustered, my brothers scrambled for excuses and ran to Gi.

“N-no! Of course not! We were just about to tend to him!”

“I am already tending! Gi, are you alright?!”

I let out a hollow laugh.

Truly pathetic.

That I had suffered under such fools all my life.

Pathetic indeed.

If they had been decent, we would have been close already.

Like my friend Dan Hasang.

His face, wrongfully slain, flashed in my mind.

Even after returning to the past, I could only see his death.

I vowed once more.

‘Hasang, I will find the culprit who killed you. And I will make him pay.’

While I resolved, my brothers carried off the unconscious Gi, disappearing like the tide.

Only the young lady called Cheong-yeon by Lady Zhuge lingered, gazing at me with meaningful eyes.

Once they were gone, I lay flat on the grass, panting.

White clouds drifted across the blue sky.

Then a shadow fell over my face.

My father, Seonu Jung, stood over me.

Startled, I cried out.

“F-Father?!”

My heart sank.

Would he think I had lazed, despite granting me entry to the library?

“I-I was only just…!”

Strange.

I had never yearned for him in my past life, yet now, disappointing him felt worse than any beating.

But his gaze was not disappointed.

It held tenderness—an emotion I had never seen from him.

So unfamiliar, I could hardly believe it.

He spoke softly.

“You’ve done well, Jin. And….”

Words I had never heard from him, almost impossible to believe.

“I am proud of you.”

Something surged within me.

I didn’t know what expression to make.

I only struggled to suppress it.

Then Father looked skyward and murmured.

“Did you know? Of my four marriages, only one was of my own choosing.”

I had never heard this before.

“Back then, I thought it was my duty for the clan. But… now, I am not so sure.”

His voice was so sorrowful it hurt my chest.

At the same time, confusion clouded me.

No—disbelief.

‘Then… of the four, the one he chose… could it be?’

I didn’t know what to say, so I only looked at him with pained eyes.

Then he suddenly smiled, changing the mood.

“Did you read the manual of the Seonu Thirteen Swords?”

“Yes? Y-yes, I did.”

He walked slowly toward the clearing.

“I think I’ll practice sword forms for the first time in a while. You rest and return later.”

And he began the forms.

The Seonu Thirteen Swords.

From start to finish, very slowly.

Then again, a little faster.

Over and over, faster each time.

Again and again.

Until I stopped watching.

By the third viewing, I had already understood every form.

Still, I kept watching.

Entranced, endlessly.

This moment felt unforgettable.

When his breathing grew rough, I bowed deeply and returned to the library.

The thought of stopping my reading was long gone.

I read with even greater focus than before.

I didn’t want to waste a single moment.

After the martial manuals, the last books were diaries of ancestors.

They recorded events and insights.

But I could not understand them yet.

‘Well, if even forms were difficult, it’s no wonder insights are beyond me.’

At last, I reached the final book.

As I replaced it, I felt something strange.

One side of the cover was too thick.

From my time at the front, I knew what this meant—hidden messages.

I carefully split the cover.

“As I thought!”

Inside was a folded paper.

It held drawings and words on both sides, with titles written at the top.

“Fourteenth Form,” “Fifteenth Form.”

Fourteenth, Fifteenth Form….

“…Could it be?”

It seemed I was the first to discover them.