WeTried Translations
Translator: ZERO_SUGAR
Editor: Abstract
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Episode 50: Southern Saber Imperial Uncle (1)
──────
Countless presences were closing in.
To draw them toward himself, Grand Guardian Seo Yong-chu shouted in a voice like a Lion's Roar.
“You dare set the Mighty Conqueror Council's fortress ablaze! I, Seo Yong-chu, the Towering Giant, will punish you all!”
-Papatat!
Before his shout had even faded, the presences rushed toward him all at once.
There were too many to count, even with Ki sense. Seo Yong-chu gripped the Demonic Dragon Crescent Blade, secured with strips of torn cloth, and assumed a ready stance.
This was the grave he had chosen for himself.
* * *
Grand Guardian Seo Yong-chu's story continued for quite some time.
The more Mumu listened, the more solemn the mood became.
Seo Yong-chu had not merely known Mumu's mother, Hae Ha-rang. He had even been willing to sacrifice himself for her.
Mumu had never known such a hidden story existed.
Seo Yong-chu had done everything he could to protect his mother. Mumu was glad that the man had survived that day.
Looking at him, Mumu asked,
“Is that where you lost your arm?”
“...Yes.”
Grand Guardian Seo Yong-chu, the Towering Giant, was strong.
Still, facing countless masters of the force of justice alone just to buy time was no different from driving himself to the edge of a cliff.
“It's all right. If losing one arm saved her, it was a cheap sacrifice.”
Seo Yong-chu truly believed that.
He had been prepared to throw away his life that day, after all.
Mumu rose from his seat.
“Young master?”
Seo Yong-chu looked puzzled. Mumu bowed deeply and said,
“Thank you.”
“Young master, you don't need to do this...”
“No. That person hadn't ordered you to do it, yet you saved my mother. You're practically my benefactor.”
Seo Yong-chu's expression turned strange at Mumu's actions.
He had acted as his heart guided him then, and even if it had been the wrong choice, he had never regretted it.
He had lived satisfied that he had upheld his convictions.
Yet when Mumu, Hae Ha-rang's child, thanked him like this, his heart stirred in a way he could not explain.
‘...I've grown old.’
He had thought himself numb to every emotion.
Yet now he understood that what he felt toward Mumu was unmistakably joy.
It felt as though everything he had endured until now had been repaid.
‘Hae Ha-rang... The child you bore returned alive and thanked me for that day. I never thought such a day would come.’
There had been meaning in clinging to life all this time.
His eyes stinging, Seo Yong-chu covered them with his enormous hand, pretending to wipe his forehead.
Mumu tilted his head, then smiled.
“Are you crying?”
“...Ahem. No, I'm not.”
“Don't feel self-conscious. Just cry your heart out.”
[Why are you being self-conscious about laughing like that? You're as big as a mountain, so you should laugh heartily.]
For an instant, Seo Yong-chu saw Hae Ha-rang in Mumu.
The last small doubt in his heart vanished.
‘He is without question your child.’
He no longer needed the Jade Medallion to be certain.
Mumu then asked,
“But if you parted ways then, wouldn't that mean you have no idea where my mother is?”
Seo Yong-chu gave a faint smile.
“There is one place that comes to mind.”
* * *
A mountain valley in Datong, Shanxi Province.
In that quiet, peaceful-looking place stood a small thatched cottage.
A beautiful woman with snow-white hair had been sewing on the cottage's wooden porch. She rose and walked into the front yard, then looked toward the hill.
-Swish! Swish!
“Hah!”
On the hill, a boy who looked around sixteen repeatedly practiced what looked like a proper technique with a wooden saber.
A blind middle-aged man stood before him, his eyes covered with black cloth.
“Again. Second Horizontal Movement.”
“Yes!”
At the blind man's command, the boy swung his saber sideways twice.
The blind man's ears twitched at the sound of the blade cutting through the air. Though he could not see, he spoke as if he could.
“Your form is still unsteady. Set your forward right foot wider and put strength into your big toe. Ki must always gather at the Yongquan point.”
“Yes!”
Following the blind man's instruction, the boy widened his stance and firmly planted his foot.
Only then did the blind man nod in satisfaction.
The boy diligently swung his wooden saber until he was drenched in sweat and panting. Then the blind man asked,
“Where is the sun?”
“It's directly overhead.”
“You must be hungry. Let's rest and eat something before we continue.”
The boy gave a quiet cheer at those words.
He enjoyed practicing Martial Arts, but he was starving right now.
Looking at the blind man, who was practically his master, the boy cautiously said,
“Uncle, would you like to have lunch with us?”
The blind man shook his head.
“No. I'll go into the village and sell some firewood. You should eat with your mother.”
“You can eat with us...”
“It's all right.”
The boy smacked his lips in disappointment.
Then he grabbed his wooden saber and hurried toward the cottage.
The blind man kept his face turned in the boy's direction for a moment before tapping his cane against the ground and making his way toward the A-frame carrier he had propped up nearby.
The boy ran to the cottage and called out to the white-haired woman.
“Mother!”
“My son. You must be hungry.”
“Yes!”
“I'll prepare the meal, so go wash up.”
“Yes!”
The white-haired woman was about to enter the kitchen when the boy, walking toward the well, spoke to her.
“Mother. I don't know what happened between you two, but can't you forgive Uncle now?”
The woman stopped on her way to the kitchen.
Seeing her reaction, the boy cautiously continued.
“If that's too difficult, couldn't you at least share a meal with Uncle?”
The boy had his reasons for saying so.
Every day, the blind man gathered firewood to help support the household. Whenever the family faced hardship or something came up, he helped as though he were family.
He even taught the boy Martial Arts.
Yet despite all that, he always kept his distance from the woman, as though he had sinned against her. He avoided even speaking to her whenever possible.
That had always weighed on the boy's mind.
At her son Mu-a's words, the woman simply gave a bitter smile and entered the kitchen.
‘Did I say something I shouldn't have?’
Mu-a felt awkward and sorry for his mother.
His mother was a pitiful person.
He did not know the details, but he had heard that before Mu-a was even born, his father had died in an unexpected accident.
His mother's family, the Ha Family, once the most respected family in Datong, had also fallen because of some misfortune.
To raise him and rebuild her family, his mother had done every kind of grueling work in nearby villages to earn a wage.
Things had improved somewhat since the blind man began helping them a few months ago, but her health was still poor from all the hardship she had endured.
‘...I'll work hard, rebuild the family, and make sure you live comfortably.’
Mu-a watched his mother enter the kitchen and made his vow.
Inside, the woman poured water into a pot and began preparing lunch.
With a bitter look in her eyes, she murmured,
“Forgive...”
Her gaze was fixed on the stove, but her thoughts drifted into the past.
Approximately seventeen years earlier.
[...I'm sorry. I'm truly sorry.]
Unlike now, the middle-aged man had been whole and unharmed as he apologized to the woman, who had been screaming without pause.
That middle-aged man was Hong Hwa-yun, the Southern Blade Imperial Uncle, one of the Four Immortal Masters and a member of the imperial family.
[Cough! Cough!]
She had screamed for more than half a day, until she coughed up blood.
She had lost the person she had thought of as her husband, and then she had lost her child as well.
She had always possessed a bright nature and faced life with optimism. But after losing everything that gave her life meaning, she could not endure the grief.
[Ah!]
A cry escaped Hong Hwa-yun, who had done nothing but apologize until then.
He had seen her hair rapidly turn white before his very eyes.
Hong Hwa-yun clutched his chest, as though the sight had pained his heart.
Glaring at him, she cried out in a hoarse voice.
[You! You took everything from me!]
[...]
[How... How could you do that to such a tiny baby...]
[...]
The death of the person she had thought of as her husband had devastated her too.
That person had killed countless people and was a martial artist, so she had believed that perhaps one day, karma would catch up with him.
But not the baby.
The child had only been a few months old.
How could anyone throw such a baby off a cliff?
[I'm sorry. I know no excuse could ever justify what I did.]
Hong Hwa-yun clutched his heart and forced out the words.
Watching her hair turn white before him was almost more than he could bear.
She glared at him and screamed.
[Why did you spare me? You should have killed me with my child! Why did you leave only me alive like this?]
[...I'm sorry.]
[Stop saying you're sorry and answer me! Why? Why!]
[Because I took away the person most precious to you, I could not bring myself to do anything to you.]
That was the truth.
After dropping the baby from the cliff, Hong Hwa-yun had been tormented by unbearable guilt.
It had been his own choice for the peace of the martial world, but as someone who pursued the force of justice, it was something he could never forgive himself for.
Because of that, Hong Hwa-yun could not bring himself to take her life.
[Your resentment is completely justified. I do not ask for forgiveness. I only ask that you give me a way to atone.]
[Atonement? Hah!]
She shouted in disbelief.
[If you want to atone so badly, then die! Die before my eyes!]
She hated Hong Hwa-yun beyond measure.
That was why she wanted him to take his own life.
Hong Hwa-yun struggled to speak, his face filled with pain.
[...If that is what you want, I can do so. But please give me a little time.]
[Time? Is that even something you should be saying now...]
[I have a child.]
Hong Hwa-yun's words left her speechless for a moment before her anger flared even hotter.
How could someone with a child of their own kill another person's child?
No one wearing a human face should be capable of such a thing.
[You know your own child is precious, so how could you do something worse than a beast!]
[I know I have no right to make excuses. But my wife died giving birth, and if I die here, that child will become a helpless orphan.]
At Hong Hwa-yun's words, she bit down hard on her lip.
The veins on her forehead bulged, and her head spun with rage. She hated this person so much.
‘How... How could...’
How could he do this to her?
Speaking of his dead wife and the baby she had left behind was unbearably cruel.
She hated him beyond measure, but her heart could not turn cruel.
That made him all the more hateful.
[Madam... When that child can live in this world on their own, I will take my life before your eyes.]
[...]
She glared at Hong Hwa-yun.
His eyes, consumed by a desperate need to atone, did not waver in the slightest.
They were the eyes of someone truly willing to give up their life.
Watching him, she wept and forced out the words.
[I can't stand the sight of you, so don't look at me with those eyes.]
The instant she finished speaking,
-Stab!
She could not hide her shock.
Hong Hwa-yun had suddenly pierced his eyes with two fingers.
It should have been agonizing, yet he remained upright without even letting out a scream or a groan.
She stared at him in disbelief.
[Y-you!]
[I know... this paltry act... will not ease your resentment... even a little... Haa... Still, if it can ease your heart even slightly... I can readily cast away these rotten eyes...]
Thick blood streamed from both eyes.
They looked like tears of desperate atonement.
Footnotes:
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