‘Only the gazes looking at me became a bit more sorrowful…’

I couldn’t very well ask the prisoners and the officials why they were looking at me that way.

As always, in such ambiguous matters, giving up was the easiest option. If left alone, things might revert to normal. I was able to quickly accept and dismiss the reactions of the prisoners.

…To be more precise, I realized that a significant change had occurred, making it impossible to keep worrying about such things any longer.

After a few days of rehabilitation following my departure from the medical wing, picking up a sword again marked the beginning of this realization.

After loosening up my body, which had stiffened from lying down all this time, I demonstrated the basic forms of the Six Combined Swordsmanship from beginning to end.

“What’s going on?”

I mumbled, standing in the middle of the training ground.

I would have preferred to keep such self-talk inside, but I couldn’t help but let the question escape my lips.

I reviewed the sword form I had just executed in my mind.

“What the heck is happening?”

No other questions came to mind. And that’s understandable…

‘Why… am I good?’

It would sound like nonsense to anyone who heard it.

But I was serious.

When I used to swing the sword, it felt like the result of long-standing practice, spontaneously manifesting without my conscious intent.

To elaborate further…

‘It’s like celebrities who practice their debut song for a year, and even after a decade, they can perform the choreography perfectly whenever they hear the song.’

I thought I benefited from some kind of advantage due to the body-swapping.

As if a skill I’d never practiced felt familiar after just one look, something like that.

So, every time my master demonstrated, I would think to myself, ‘I’m a fake genius.’

‘It’s definitely different now.’

The trajectory of the swinging sword, the direction of the wobbling tip.

Where and how much force should be added or removed.

The instinctive adjustment of my steps, the height of my arms, and the most efficient use of my body.

Everything was sharply and clearly different than before. Oddly enough, I understood all of it, almost perfectly.
Why did I have to do this, what was this action for, what insights were needed for what comes next.

As if a dam had burst, every step I took was filled with flashing insights that filled my mind…

I blankly lowered my gaze to my hands. A thought occurred to me right away.

‘To break the curse?’

That was the only change that had recently happened to me.

‘Could it have suppressed even the talent I had?’

It wasn’t an entirely impossible thought.

It felt like it had indeed covered my inner self like a veil. It wasn’t implausible to think that it had prevented me from fully revealing what was inside me.

So now that the curse had been broken, if ‘Ha Hyun’ could finally reveal the talents he originally had to the world.

‘This…’

In truth, I had no idea how great this talent I was currently feeling was. After all, I had only learned the sword for barely a year.

However, one thing was for sure: this was far greater than the previous ability I had referred to as a ‘possession benefit.’

I clenched my fists that I had been looking down at.

‘Even this…’

The original owner of the body’s life seemed even more pitiable.

However, this was now secondary. Instead, I felt an eerie sense of discomfort. A discomfort different from the creepiness felt when faced with something inhuman due to magic.

This was a more human and honest discomfort.

Not only did I learn the original body owner’s memories, but now I also possessed hidden talents.

‘Really, where is this possession going?’

It now seemed a bit weird to simply think of it as straightforward.

“Master.”

Speaking of which, it had been strange since the last dream I had. The memories of the original work that the curse had shown me were also puzzling. How could it have shown me something like that?

And why, why did I have to be in this body of all places…

“Master!”

“Uh, wha-?”

Startled, I lifted my head as if pulled up from deeply submerged waters. Ha Hyun, who had somehow come to my side, was looking down at me.

Due to the sunlight on his back, his slightly shaded face narrowed its brows.

“If you’re tired, take a break. Don’t just stand there blankly in the middle of the training ground.”

“Ah, yeah…”

I responded in a somewhat dazed manner. Ha Hyun’s brows narrowed even further.

“Are you really okay?”

“I’m fine.”

“It doesn’t seem like it.”
Ha Hyun softly mumbled and reached out to grab below my elbow, pulling me along. Led by him, I walked toward the shade of a tree outside the practice yard, silently watching his retreating figure.

I tried not to think about the memory of the last ‘Ha Hyun,’ but the human heart does not always move as one wishes.

Suddenly, fragments of memory floated up.

‘Is it because I saw a grim expression?’

Because I had seen a similar face in my memory.