The first tournament bout of the main bracket ended.

It didn’t take very long. Sword Phoenix finished it in almost two exchanges, and on the other side, one of them must’ve been unusually strong too, because it ended kind of flat.

What was strange was that even so, the excitement didn’t die.

Just the fact that they’d gotten to see Sword Phoenix’s sword dance, even for a moment. That was all that mattered to people—so even after the match ended, everyone stayed focused on Sword Phoenix.

“They said Mount Hua’s a genius factory, and I guess it was true.”

“I’m telling you, I couldn’t even see the sword.”

“So Plum Blossom Single Sword praised her like that... Mount Hua’s future really is bright.”

The strongest under heaven of the next generation.

Someday, even if it took crossing eras, she might reach it.

To a lot of people right now, Sword Phoenix was being treated like that.

Of course, the person herself looked like she didn’t care about any of it—she was just wearing that blank expression.

CLICK-CLACK.

Sword Phoenix came down, making footsteps.

I glanced at her. Maybe she felt it, because Sword Phoenix looked my way too.

Our eyes met. Then Sword Phoenix walked over this way instead of toward the group she’d come with.

“......”

I watched her in silence, and before I knew it she was right in front of me.

Sword Phoenix stared straight at me.

Eyes I couldn’t read at all.

I stared back for a second, then scratched my cheek.

What the hell am I even supposed to say?

I agonized over it for a while, and the words I finally managed to spit out were—

“It’s been a while.”

“......”

At my words, Sword Phoenix’s eyes widened a little, and Yoo Cheongil reacted too.

[What is this. You know her? You said you didn’t remember.]

Yeah. I didn’t remember.

She acted like she knew me, so I tried like hell to figure out who she was, but nothing came up.

I’d always been confident about remembering faces.

How the hell did I forget someone like Sword Phoenix?

If I had to point to a reason, it was simple.

‘She’s too different...’

To remember Sword Phoenix, the person in my memory and the person in front of me were just... too different.

Back then she had been a little frail, but there was still a bright look left in her.

‘What is this?’

It was so different it was almost ridiculous, and it threw me.

Normally, I might not have recognized her at all, but—

The thing Sword Phoenix did last time. When she flipped the empty noodle bowl upside down and lifted it over her head.

Seeing that, I knew.

...From the start.

“But... you were a girl?”

“......”

In my memory, Sword Phoenix wasn’t even a girl.

That was the problem.

*****

Around the time I turned twelve.

It was when I was getting dragged into the mess my father kept causing and my head was completely wrecked.

My father, my older brother—those two were turning the world into a trash fire, and I really didn’t have my mind together at all.

Then one morning, a guest showed up.

Of course it had to be when nobody was awake, so I came out with tired eyes.

A guest who showed up early in the morning—

At times like that, it was usually one of two things.

Usually...

Either ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) Murong Yeongsun had come over in a rage.

Or—

‘People my father screwed over.’

That was the most likely.

But this time, surprisingly, it was neither.

The ones who came were—somehow—an adult woman and a kid.

A boy whose shaggy hair hid his whole face.

And a woman who looked worn out.

Those two just marched right up to the Bang Clan of Liaoning.

What is this.

What is this situation.

It didn’t make sense. Maybe I wasn’t fully awake, because I rubbed my eyes.

I rubbed them and nothing changed.

The woman and the kid were still there.

Time passed like that, and when I finally accepted it was real, the woman spoke.

“Um...”

A careful tone, like she had something to say.

I didn’t need to hear it.

“Goddamn it.”

“...Huh?”

I spat it out rough, and the woman flinched.

“What am I supposed to do about that bastard? We don’t even have rice at home—we’re dying here.”

I ground my teeth.

CRUNCH.

Then I looked at the kid. One glance and I could tell he was my age.

“Hey.”

“...Yeah?”

The kid answered my call.

I sized him up and asked.

“How old are you?”

“Me?”

“Yeah. You.”

“Twelve.”

“Is that lunatic for real?”

The moment I heard it, something inside me lit on fire. Twelve? Same age as me.

“I’m going to lose my mind. I’m already dying over here, and now I’ve got someone my age too.”

“Um... what do you mean...?”

The woman looked flustered at my words, but I spoke like it was all fine.

“You don’t have to explain. I knew this day would come. Watching that bastard use what’s between his legs however he wanted, I knew it would happen eventually.”

“Uh...? No...”

“HEAD STEWARD!!”

I screamed. I heard movement inside the house.

Feeling it, I yelled even louder.

“WAKE MY FATHER UP!! HIS THIRD SON AND HIS NEW WIFE ARE HERE!”

It had to be an illegitimate kid.

I was sure of it. Otherwise it didn’t make sense.

A boy my age and a ridiculously beautiful woman show up out of nowhere?

Then there was only one possibility.

So I’ve got another sibling.

That’s how I reacted, but—

“...Ah. N-No, it wasn’t?”

Right before I grabbed my father by the collar and beat him—

I realized everything was a misunderstanding.

She was a woman who’d once had ties with the Bang Clan of Liaoning.

She’d come to ask if they could stay here for a while.

It got awkward, but thankfully I hadn’t actually hit my father yet.

And from then on, we took the woman and the kid in as extra mouths to feed.

They stayed at the Bang Clan of Liaoning for about a year, then left.

“It’s been a while...”

I looked at Sword Phoenix and dredged that memory back up.

The woman in front of me. Sword Phoenix.

It was her.

And the boy back then was—

“Uh...”

What am I even supposed to say. Why did she change this much?

Honestly, this felt unfair.

‘You changed like that—how was I supposed to guess?’

It felt like her gender even changed. How was I supposed to remember?

At this point, it was fair that I felt wronged.

Still—

‘She looks like her.’

I understood why Sword Phoenix felt familiar the moment I saw her now.

‘She really looks like her.’

The woman who was that kid’s mother back then.

Sword Phoenix looked way too much like her.

“Have you been well? Um...”

I started to speak, then stopped. A name came to mind, but I wasn’t sure I should say it like that.

I hesitated, then just said it.

“Hong Daecheon.”

“......”

Hong Daecheon.

The name the woman introduced as her son.

At my words, Sword Phoenix reacted faintly.

“...So you were a girl?”

It was awkward. I mean, it’s not like we’d ever bathed together.

She said she had a son, so I just believed her...

“Um... you grew up.”

It wasn’t much of a thought, but it was all I had.

“......”

Sword Phoenix just stared at me without saying anything. She still didn’t speak.

People said Sword Phoenix couldn’t talk.

But—

‘Something’s off.’

If Sword Phoenix really was Hong Daecheon, then she could talk.

We’d definitely talked.

‘If her gender’s different and she can’t even talk, how am I supposed to recognize her?’

On top of that, I couldn’t even see her face back then because her hair covered it.

No matter how I cut it, it was only natural I hadn’t recognized her.

Anyway.

“...Right. So.”

It got awkward, so I tried a different topic with Sword Phoenix.

“Is Mrs. Jin doing well?”

“......”

The beautiful woman—Hong Daecheon’s mother.

The moment I mentioned the person I called Mrs. Jin, Sword Phoenix’s eyes turned sad.

‘Ah, damn it.’

That reaction told me everything. This was probably something I wasn’t supposed to bring up.

“I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to say something like that. It’s just—”

I was trying to scramble and fix it when—

“Next! Next contestants, come up!”

At the referee’s call, I turned my head.

“Damn.”

People were climbing onto the tournament stage.

And mixed in with them was a face I didn’t want to see. Seo Pyeong. He was walking up onto the tournament stage.

Which meant—

‘My turn.’

I had to go up too, as Seo Pyeong’s opponent.

Tch. I clicked my tongue and said to Sword Phoenix.

“I’ll be back. Let’s talk later.”

“......”

Sword Phoenix nodded instead of answering, and once I saw that, I hurried up onto the tournament stage.

The moment I stepped onto the wide tournament stage, the crowd’s noise washed over me.

-After Sword Phoenix, it’s Wudang Cloud Dragon... our eyes are getting spoiled all day.

-I heard Wudang Cloud Dragon is already one step away from the Taiji Sword Unit.

-Hah, already the Taiji Sword Unit? They said Wudang’s Sect Leader has huge expectations for him—guess that was true.

-But who’s Wudang Cloud Dragon’s opponent?

-I dunno, but that bastard’s insanely handsome.

In the crowd’s murmur, their attention started to tilt toward me.

Then—

“Wudang Sect’s Seo Pyeong versus Blue Moon Sect’s Bang Sungyeon.”

The moment my name was called, a massive roar poured out.

-Bang Sungyeon? Blue Moon Sect!? Then...

-Don’t tell me that young man is...

-Little Sword Saint?

-What? Little Sword Saint??

Looks like my name had gotten around, because after the call most of them seemed to figure it out.

-“Little Sword Saint”? You’re saying that young man is the Sword Saint’s successor?

-But he looks way too frail for that...

-That body killed an unorthodox absolute master...?

-Hoo. Then that means Wudang Cloud Dragon and Little Sword Saint are clashing.

-This is insane...!

Their heat surged like they were watching something thrilling. It was so suffocating I could barely breathe.

‘I’m going to die.’

With attention focusing on me, a sigh escaped on its own.

While I was smacking my lips from the frustration—

“Nervous?”

Seo Pyeong spoke to me.

“What?”

“Afraid the foam you piled up will pop. That’s what I asked.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Other people’s eyes might be fooled. Mine won’t be.”

-Ready.

SHIIIING—!

At the referee’s call, Seo Pyeong and I drew our swords.

Even then, his mouth didn’t stop.

“I don’t feel any energy from you. Your realm isn’t low, but you’re nowhere near touching the Seven Prodigies.”

‘Oh.’

That blunt, cold assessment made me admire him inside.

So he’s not clueless.

While that thought crossed my mind—

“I won’t accept it. I can’t accept you being called Little Sword Saint.”

I snorted at that. If you don’t accept it, what am I supposed to do about it.

“So?”

I asked. Seo Pyeong’s face twisted.

“Then I’ll prove it.”

“Prove what?”

“In front of all these people, I’ll smash your mask.”

“...Huh.”

It was intense emotion. Feeling that, I got honestly curious.

“Let me ask first. Why do you hate me that much?”

“What?”

“I don’t get it. I don’t think I’ve ever done anything that would make you hate me.”

“......”

That was right. I’d never done anything that would create a bad tie with Wudang Sect, so why did he hate me like this?

I didn’t understand it. If I was going to be blamed, I should’ve at least done something worth blaming me for. Otherwise it’s just unfair.

With that in mind, I asked, but—

“Hmph.”

He just snorted. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

So he’s not going to say it.

That means there is a reason.

“Fine. If you won’t say it, don’t. I’m not that interested anyway.”

I already had too much to think about. I didn’t have time to wrestle with this bastard.

“Match.”

The referee spoke.

“Begin.”

The words dropped.

SHIIIING—!!

“...!”

My sword touched Seo Pyeong’s throat.

It was instantaneous.