“It’s as if you have a man over forty inside your body.”

Blood God enjoyed this tragic situation as he spoke those words.

“In the end, I will be the one who emerges victorious.”

It was amusing to see Nam Gung Lin unable to kill him, but Blood God wanted an even more dramatic situation.

The reason he became Blood God was to enjoy the tragedies of the world.

From a young age, he found joy in seeing others suffer.

After becoming Blood God, he experienced such situations more frequently. The martial arts of the Blood Cult further fueled his already cruel and violent tendencies.

A thrilling sensation brushed past the top of his head.

“It would be interesting to see you, who has everything, fall into despair.”

So he slowly turned his gaze.

In the direction of his gaze was Nam Gung Hyun.

Shaggy beard, disheveled hair.

Empty eyes.

The sight of a powerless father unable to take any action despite his daughter being in this situation.

Who would say that man is Nam Gung Hyun?

The Azure Dragon Swordsman of the Great Nam Gung Clan, Nam Gung Hyun.

Blood God commanded the man.

“Die.”

[This is the timeline separator] [You son of a b*tch! Doing such a filthy thing.]

The voice of Mister Dagger could be heard, filled with anger.

Blood God was a tremendous son of a b*tch, just as Mister Dagger said. He simply uttered the command for her father to die for his own enjoyment.

And… at Blood God’s words to die, her father lifted his sword without hesitation.

He was really going to kill himself.

He was trying to strike down on his own neck.

‘Why on earth?’

Her father had never pointed his sword at her even once until now.

Enduring the pain, he avoided her until the end.

Yet he lifted his sword without hesitation at the command to kill himself.

She threw Blood God to the ground and rushed out.

“Stop it!”

But he was not someone who could be reasoned with. Blood God said he had put special effort into her father.

Slowly breaking his mind.

In the end, her father lost his sanity.

But it shouldn’t be like this.

Even if it was unavoidable, like this…

She grabbed her father’s sword. She infused internal energy into both hands.

Blood God laughed loudly, as if finding that sight amusing.

“How ridiculous. In the end, that fellow will die. How long do you think you can keep blocking?”

Ji Cheon Wu kicked at the laughing Blood God.

“Shut up, cancel the command right now!”

“It’s already too late. Hehe.”

She endured while holding her father’s arm. Fortunately, she was strong.

She was able to endure somehow.

[You can’t endure forever. Moreover, this fellow is strong. Your body will tire out first in the end.]

‘If I get tired, can you endure in my place?’

[Lin…]

‘But I can’t let go.’

Time passed.

Her arms began to tremble.

[Let go. That fellow would want that too. Don’t you know he’s not someone who would want you to get hurt!]

‘That’s why, that’s why I can’t let go. Because I know he’s that kind of person.’

Plop, plop, tears fell.

Suddenly, she felt sorrowful.

8 years old, even before meeting grandfather, she was not a child who cried often.

Because she knew since then.

‘Nothing gets resolved by crying.’

Until grandfather and aunt returned, whenever she cried at the Nam Gung Clan, everyone was busy criticizing her.

So she stopped crying over most things. But strangely, tears kept flowing.

As if she had returned to that young age of 8.

“You said you would protect me.”

At a very young age, that brief moment when she met him.

She had never once forgotten his promise.

Before falling asleep, she always recalled his promise.

‘I will return tomorrow.’

Mother was already buried and gone from the world, they said. But father said he would return to me, so he would return.

When father returns, I will ask what kind of person mother was.

A day passed.

Two days passed.

The longer the days he couldn’t keep that promise…

As I grew older, I began to forget father. More precisely, I tried to forget.

At some point, I stopped recalling the promise I used to think of every night.

“You said you would return.”

Father, I swallowed those words, unable to utter them.

“When you returned, I had a lot to say. Really a lot.”

My tears fell on his face, plop, plop. If I could see father for the first time, my wish was to cry to my heart’s content.

When Nam Gung Hwa Su cried, Nam Gung Hyun Jong would fuss and comfort him.

I always thought I envied that sight when I was young.

“I really hate you…”

My arms were trembling uncontrollably now.

They weren’t trembling from difficulty.

It was from anger towards Blood God and Nam Gung Hyun Jong.

I saw Ji Cheon Wu running towards me. He tried to grab father’s hand in my place.

But I shook my head.

[Could this be…?]

At that moment, my trembling arms stopped. Father’s unmoving head slowly rose.

And my eyes met with father’s.

[This is the timeline separator]

The man tried to recall.

He had to recall.

Who am I?

Who is the girl in front of him that she is crying while looking at him?

Why am I here now?

He was tired.

He could no longer understand why he had to endure the pain and suffering.

‘Let’s try to recall.’

The man tried to recall why he was here.

He… was a warrior.

The son of Nam Gung Jin Cheon, Nam Gung Hyun.

‘There was a time I had such a name.’

But it only felt like a distant past.

The man decided to recall from further back.

The man’s wife died.

He tried to recall the words his father said to him as he was in despair.

“Hyun, do you know when a warrior becomes strong?”

The man shook his head, not knowing the answer. Tears flowed from his eyes.

“When there is something to protect.”

“You still have many things to protect, don’t you? So you must become strong. Grieve to your heart’s content and strive to overcome it.”

Something to protect, if there was such a thing, why was he here?

The man then tried to recall events a bit later.

He had an elder brother.

‘His name was Nam Gung Hyun Jong, I think.’

Yes, such a person existed.

Come to think of it, meeting Nam Gung Hyun Jong was the man’s last memory.

Nam Gung Hyun Jong’s attendant came to him.

Saying Nam Gung Hyun Jong was in a dangerous situation and asking for help.

Nam Gung Hyun rushed out to protect his elder brother.

And he encountered a strange scene.

His elder brother was not in danger.

The warriors behind his elder brother didn’t seem to have any intention of attacking Nam Gung Hyun Jong.

Nam Gung Hyun Jong smiled at him and said,

“Hyun, that’s why I told you not to be too outstanding.”

“Elder brother…?”

“The food you ate today contained Five Poisons. I personally put it in. Yes, I hated you.”

Nam Gung Hyun Jong’s eyes looking at him were filled only with hatred.

“Everything is mine! The Nam Gung Clan, and the position of the clan leader!”

Was that position so desirable? Nam Gung Hyun didn’t want it.

He could give it all to Nam Gung Hyun Jong.

“Don’t worry about Lin. She will soon follow after you.”

He felt a deep sense of despair at the betrayal.

He had no strength to do anything.

But still, he had to return.

‘Why do I have to return?’

A terrible insect burrowed into his body.

And from then on, it was only pain and suffering.

1 year, 3 years, 5 years, and 10 years… an endlessly long time.

Memories wore away in the face of pain.

‘I forgot.’

Why is he enduring this pain? Is there a way to escape?

Will this hell continue as it is?

When he occasionally came to his senses, he wielded his sword. He didn’t know the reason.

He thought he had to do it.

Why on earth am I wielding a sword?

‘To cut through.’

Cut through what?

‘The insect inside your body.’

The man couldn’t understand.

You just have to follow that command.

If he followed the command to die, he could end his suffering.

He would no longer have to suppress the urge to kill and feel pain, and he would feel true liberation.

It was as if the insect whispered in his mind.

[Then die. It would be comfortable to die as that fellow commands. Everything will be over.]

He clearly thought he should do that. He no longer had the strength to refuse the insect’s words.

It had been a long time.

Enduring this much was enough.

Let’s listen to the insect’s words one last time and be at peace. He thought so.

That’s when it happened.

Cold teardrops fell on his face.

“You said you would protect me!”

Who are you?

He couldn’t remember when he said such a thing.

The girl’s hot tears continued to fall on his cheeks, plop, plop.

With trembling arms, she was desperately trying to stop what he was about to do.

The man felt a pain in his chest that he couldn’t understand.

“You said we would be together?”

The man could remember.

The reason he had endured this terrible pain until now.

‘That reason was you.’

The reason he had to return.

The purpose of this terrible life.

So…

For you.

The man cut through the insect in front of him.