“After our martial arts match at the clan in the past, I thought we had become friends.”

“…”

“Trust me and wait for a moment. I’m not so cold-hearted as to ignore a friend’s trouble.”

“You…”

“And now it’s not just your problem. I’m not the type to sit quietly when insulted either.”

I said that as I drew my sword.

I saw the guys sneer when they saw me.

“This wench dares to step up without knowing who we are. That pathetic sympathy will invite death…”

Before they could finish speaking.

My sword moved swiftly, cutting the shoulder of the one spouting nonsense.

“Argh!”

A scream was heard as blood splattered.

“Coward!”

I replied with an expressionless face.

“Isn’t it more cowardly for many to gang up on one?”

They seemed to have lost their words to retort and started to back away.

“This wench…! If you apologize and bow your head now, I’ll spare your life.”

“It doesn’t look like you intend to spare me though?”

“Hmph, how do you intend to face me with those frail arms that can’t even hold a sword properly?”

I shrugged my shoulders.

The dismissive gazes were familiar to me now.

And the way to resolve it each time was simple.

[If you beat them up a bit, they’ll understand. Especially those blockheads.]

I very much agreed with Mr. Dagger’s words. If they didn’t believe it, I just had to show them directly.

Slash!

I cut off the arm of another guy rushing at me. Blood splattered in an instant.

“Die!”

I pierced the throat of the one who charged at me shouting.

Splash.

Blood sprayed and instantly stained the clothes I was wearing.

Shock spread across their faces.

“W-what? A master?”

“Did you see her movements?”

“N-no. I didn’t see anything at all.”

This was my first real combat after seclusion. I could clearly feel it.

‘I’ve become incredibly strong!’

My body was lighter than anyone else’s and at the same time exuding powerful strength.

In an instant, the atmosphere in the open space changed. The looks that had belittled me changed in a single breath.

Gazes that looked at me with fear, shock, and trembling eyes as if they couldn’t believe it.

It was my first intentional killing, but I felt nothing unusual about it.

“Ahhh!”

The guys screamed and rushed at me.

‘What if I had no strength?’

Then they would have dragged me off as a slave, just as they had said.

‘Then, what would have become of Shin So Gyeong and me?’

It was a future too obvious to see.

So there was no need to feel sympathy for them. There was no hesitation in my sword as I faced them.

[This is the timeline separator]

Dang Hwa Ryeong stared at Nam Gung Lin’s back. She had already defeated the assassins chasing her.

It wouldn’t have been difficult for Nam Gung Lin.

If he hadn’t been affected by the mountain poison, he could have handled them alone.

For Nam Gung Lin, who won the Cheonhaje, it would have been even easier to deal with them.

‘Friends, she says?’

The moment his father died, Dang Hwa Ryeong became alone.

He came to know what it meant to be left alone in the world.

Enemies were everywhere.

When his father was alive, he was a powerless person.

That was fine.

His father didn’t care how he lived. But he always worried about him.

“If I happen to die, you’ll be alone.”

“Poor Hwa Ryeong…”

As a child, he didn’t understand what those words meant. But he soon came to understand.

As his father said, he was thoroughly alone.

His stepmother tried to kill him, and Dang Feng ignored Dang Hwa Ryeong.

To survive, he had to appear inconspicuous and weak.

Lying flat on the ground, he waited for an opportunity. He pretended to lose interest in martial arts on purpose.

He felt more at ease outside the clan than inside. Rumors started to spread that he, once called a genius, had become dissolute.

Every day felt like walking on thin ice.

The faint joy he felt upon seeing Nam Gung Lin was probably because of that. But at the same time, he felt ashamed and angry that his situation had been exposed.

After losing the match to Nam Gung Lin, Dang Hwa Ryeong couldn’t forget the girl for a while. If the Dang clan hadn’t closed its doors, he would have gone to see Nam Gung Lin often.

Honestly, he was happy when she called him a friend.

He was glad that Nam Gung Lin remembered him too.

Stuck in a room in the clan, he often thought of the girl.

The girl who was stronger than him.

The girl who gave him a goal in this boring world.

When he heard that Nam Gung Lin had won the Cheonhaje, he felt joy for the first time in a long while.

But at the same time, he felt frustrated.

His wish to one day defeat Nam Gung Lin in a martial arts match seemed to be getting further and further away.

‘She’s strong.’

Dang Hwa Ryeong clenched his fists.

As he had imagined, Nam Gung Lin had become stronger than anyone else when they met after a long time.

That fact made his heart race, but also made him feel somewhat angry.

Had he grown as much as her?

He couldn’t be sure.

Nam Gung Lin, who had defeated all the guys, approached Dang Hwa Ryeong.

She roughly wiped the blood on her face.

Her face was indifferent even after displaying such amazing martial arts.

“What should we do with these guys?”

At Nam Gung Lin’s question, Dang Hwa Ryeong drew out the dagger in his bosom.

At Dang Hwa Ryeong’s action, one of the fallen warriors began to plead.

“P-please spare…”

Dang Hwa Ryeong pretended not to hear his plea and cut the throats of the fallen ones without hesitation.

Drip, blood flowed from his dagger. Even seeing that, Nam Gung Lin’s face remained unchanged.

Dang Hwa Ryeong felt puzzled.

He had just killed someone begging for their life without any hesitation.

But Nam Gung Lin maintained an indifferent expression even after witnessing that scene.

“Don’t I seem like a monster to you?”

“No, it’s not right to spare those who first threatened your life. That’s the way it should be.”

Dang Hwa Ryeong roughly rubbed his face. Fatigue swept over him in the current situation.

Why did he have to be chased by such worthless guys?

What did his stepmother want?

‘My death, probably.’

A sigh escaped involuntarily. Seeing Dang Hwa Ryeong like that, Nam Gung Lin said.

“I know how you feel.”

At that moment, Dang Hwa Ryeong felt a strange surge of emotion.

‘You know?’

When he visited the Nam Gung clan, Nam Gung Lin was loved.

Nam Gung Jin Cheon and Nam Gung So So cherished her, and Nam Gung Yu Cheong also considered Nam Gung Lin as his sister.

It was clearly different for him.

Nam Gung Lin must have grown up being loved.

She probably didn’t even know what it meant to spend sleepless nights.

Even now it was evident.

He had left the clan on an absurd order and ended up in a life-threatening situation.

It seemed no one in the clan wanted him alive. So Dang Hwa Ryeong unknowingly replied in a sharp tone.

“How could you understand me?”

“…”

“Every night, going to sleep was hell. I’ve never fallen into a deep sleep for fear of assassins coming like this. You grew up loved in the Nam Gung clan, didn’t you? So how could you possibly understand that?”

[Insolent brat!]

I calmed down the angry Mr. Dagger.

[After helping, he can’t even say thank you!]

‘It can’t be helped. He must have suffered a lot until now.’

I quietly looked into his eyes. After blurting out those words, Dang Hwa Ryeong fell silent again.

Rather, it was Shin So Gyeong who was angry. She glared at Dang Hwa Ryeong with a fierce expression.

“You, who are you to say such things to Lady Nam Gung!”

“…”

“How do you know what kind of life Lady Nam Gung has lived?”

I was surprised to see Shin So Gyeong.

‘Was Shin So Gyeong someone who could get angry like that?’

The Shin So Gyeong I remembered was someone who smiled no matter what happened.

I didn’t remember her getting angry so fiercely like this.

After a long silence, Dang Hwa Ryeong bowed his head with his fists clenched.

“I apologize for my rudeness. I should have thanked you first.”

Even as he said that, Dang Hwa Ryeong’s face remained expressionless.

I felt a faint sense of pity.

‘When he visited the Nam Gung clan, he wasn’t this emotionally hurt.’

Clearly, his life since then seemed to have had a bad influence on Dang Hwa Ryeong.

In fact, it had come up a few times in Cheonmajijeon as well.

‘Dang Hwa Ryeong is currently unable to find a reason to live.’

After his father died and everyone around him became enemies.

I was also taken aback by Dang Hwa Ryeong’s prickly response, like a hedgehog. But I understood Dang Hwa Ryeong.

‘I too had such times.’

So I wasn’t angry at Dang Hwa Ryeong’s sharp reaction.

“I can’t explain in detail to you. It’s also about my clan’s affairs. But you seem to misunderstand, so I’ll tell you.”

I shrugged my shoulders with an indifferent face.

“I didn’t have such a smooth childhood either.”

I saw Dang Hwa Ryeong frowning.

“Why…”

“My father went missing, and my grandfather became the head of the Murim Alliance. And for 8 years, he couldn’t visit the clan often.”

“…”

“You know Nam Gung Hwa Su, right? I’ve also seen his father. You, being perceptive, would have figured out what kind of people they are.”

Dang Hwa Ryeong’s face turned red.

“I know you’re having a hard time, but don’t assume that I didn’t have such times too.”

His gaze turned towards me.

I spoke my final words to Dang Hwa Ryeong.

“Just as you try hard to hide your unhappiness, others might do the same.”

With those words, I turned around.