Book 1 Chapter 2: Rebirth(2)
Translator: Hwarang
Editor: ardastre
This time when I opened my eyes there was an old man by my side. He was of a pretty small stature with marks all over his face, but his eyes full of energy. This was also someone whom I had never seen before.
‘Oh, my goodness! Am I still dreaming?’
This was the first time experiencing such realistic dreams back to back.
“You should be ashamed of yourself,” said the old man.
‘Well, that’s not what I wanted to know. I wanted to know why I keeping having these weird dreams.’
Then I slowly brought myself up and stared at the mirror that was hanging on the wall. It was the youth from before. This time I observed the face more closely. Aside from all the cuts and bruises, he was a pretty handsome youth and his eyes were full of youthful vigor and playfulness.
He somewhat looked similar to the woman from before. So, that woman was this youth’s mother.
“She was…”
“She?”
“Nothing.”
“Nothing?”
The old man’s face turned ugly after hearing my words. He must have thought that my words were disrespectful.
‘Is this actually a dream? His stare feels so vivid and real.’
I took my hands out of the blanket and started feeling my body. Everything felt real.
The old man said, “I was really disappointed yesterday.”
“I can’t remember anything.”
I did not know a thing about this youth’s life.
The old man laughed at my answer, “Sounds just like you. You irresponsible rascal...”
I got mad at his words, even though they were meant for this youth.
In my previous life as the Alliance Master I upheld a set of self-imposed rules. Reward and punish people accordingly and justly. Execute revenge without holding back. Never blame the situation you find yourself in, no matter how difficult circ.u.mstances may get. Never doubt the loyalty of your men. And take responsibility for your actions.
I never pushed my responsibilities onto another person. Because I was only human, I could afford to lose a fight and to make mistakes, but I always took responsibility for my actions. This was the code that I lived by.
Seeing my face harden, the old man looked at me with a disdainful look.
“You are a disgrace to your Clan.”
The old man slammed the door shut and left.
‘What kind of incident did this youth cause for me to get this kind of treatment right after opening my eyes?’
Fatigue started to overtake me. I thought that, for sure, if I went to sleep, everything would go back to normal.
I fell asleep again.
I truly believed that once I woke up I would be the Alliance master again. However, when I woke up in the evening I was still that awkward youth. Now I was certain, ‘This is not a dream.’ Yes, this was definitely not a dream. Even if I had fallen into a deep slumber I would still have been able to distinguish between dream and reality.
Then have I fallen into Qigong Deviation? But no such powerful Qigong Deviation exists in the Kang Ho. If such deviation existed in the Murim world, then I would have been the first to know. ‘So, it must not be a Qigong Deviation, and it is definitely not a hallucination either.’ So it must mean that I have been reborn into the world as this youth. But I have retained all my past memories. The memories from my previous life as a martial G.o.d.
How could this have happened? I had lived in Kang Ho for some seventy years, experiencing many different things, but this was the first. I just blankly stared into the sky wondering how I got here.
Let’s just say that I have been reincarnated because I did a hundred good deeds. But how could I have kept all the memories from my past life? And so vividly! Even the memories from my childhood that were buried deep within.
I remember Baek Hyo’s joyous face when his son had been born. His grinning face. Even the wrinkles in his smile. I could remember everything so clearly now, but how was it possible that back then I could not even remember whether his child was a son or a daughter...?
Now that I thought about it, this was not something that should have happened. At the time of my death my head was muddy, as if consumed by some sort of a poison. In other words, it could have meant that my death was brought about by unnatural causes.
So had I been poisoned?
Did this mean that the heavens had granted me a new chance in order to seek revenge? …If not so, then...?
I sat on the balcony as I gazed at the setting sun, pondering the reasons why I was here. With a weird face, a weird body, in a weird place, with weird people. Everything was weird.
I wished for everything to return to normal when I opened my eyes. I wanted to once again see Chancellor Kal come through the door to bring me another mountain-load of work.
Suddenly, someone opened the door and walked in. This time it was a male youth in his mid-twenties. He asked, “Oh? You’re awake, sir?”
Couple of people had already visited my room, but this was the first time that someone had announced themselves before approaching me. The youth came to my side and took a seat next to me. He said, “What did I tell you, young master! I told you that you couldn’t win against her! She’s been training under a famed master for many years! Please listen to what I have to say, young master. I was worried sick that something might have happened to you when I was carrying you back home...”
“Who are you?”
“Yes, I heard, young master. You are pretending that you’ve lost your memories. Even though no one believes you, your acting skill is top notch. If not, you would have been beaten to death by Madame. When it comes to things like this, you are really good at using your head. But why did you act without thinking the other day… No, never mind. I know that you’re very ignorant.”
“Let me ask you again. Who are you?”
“Young master, please use this experience to practice martial arts properly. Isn’t it shameful to walk around after being beaten by a girl?”
“I’m going to ask one last …”
“Kw.a.n.g Du, my name is Kw.a.n.g Du. Very funny young master... Now stop pretending that you’ve lost your memory.”
“Kw.a.n.g Du? Crazy Head?”
“If you already know the answer then why are you asking me?”
“Really? You really have ‘crazy’ in your name?” I looked at him with a strange face.
He realized at this time that something was wrong.
“Of course not. My name means ‘light’, not ‘crazy’. You’ve always called me crazy-head to tease me, young master. But why are you like this today?”
“Honestly, I truly don’t remember anything.”
“Young master, it’s not even funny anymore.”
“I am telling the truth.”
“Really?!”
He looked at me with a strange face, questioning me, “A couple of days ago, do you remember that money I lent you?”
“How much did you lend me?”
“Two nyang.”
I went straight for my pocket, digging out two nyang as if I could not live with that debt.
Seeing me reach for my pocket, Kw.a.n.g Du looked at me with wide eyes and said in a surprised tone, “Oh my G.o.d! It seems that you really don’t remember anything!”
“Why?”
“Because, young master, you are a person who has never repaid his debts. What happened to you? Did she really hit you that hard on the head?”
“I think so.”
“What did Elder Jong say?”
“Who is that? The old man from before?”
“What? Even fools fear Elder Jong. It seems that you really can’t remember.”
“Just answer my questions. I might start remembering things if you tell me. Who is that old man?”
“He is the clan’s head doctor and financial officer. He is also the martial brother of the Gaju-nim.”
“The Gaju? You mean my father?”
“…Why are you acting like this? I am starting to get scared, young master.”
“Martial Brother? He seems way older then my father.”
“For martial artists, why should age matter.”
“Who said that?”
“Young master, don’t they say Sae Hae Dong Do?”
(Translator Note: Sae Hae Dong Do means to go through the sea of death with your brother. So in other words you can do anything for your martial brother.)
Sae Hae Dong Do. This was a familiar phase. It was a very common phrase used in Kang Ho. There was no other place that questioned everything like Kang Ho. They questioned your age, your sect, your skills, your gender, whether you were a junior or a senior, based you on your origins, whether you specialized in attack or defense, saber or fist, whether you were left-handed or right-handed, an internal pract.i.tioner or an external pract.i.tioner, etc.
Kw.a.n.g Du asked me, “What did he say when you told him you didn’t remember anything?”
“He didn’t believe me.”
“Well that was somewhat expected.”
“That old man had a very sour look on his face, what did I do?”
“Where should I start, young master...”
It seemed that this was not the first time this youth had gotten into trouble.
“Let’s start with the most recent events. How did I get injured like this?”
Kw.a.n.g Du stared at me with a lame face and took a deep sigh, “You went out to see Lady Song, but got rejected. Then you got drunk and got angry and caused a ruckus at their house. Then Lady Song came out and beat the living daylights out of you…Ha.”
“Who is Lady Song?”
“Her name is Song Hwa Rin. She is the scioness of the Song Family. She is the number one beauty on this mountain. She is both smart and very gifted in martial arts. She is perfect in every aspect, except for one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“She is your fiancé.”
“What?”
“The two of you were engaged before you were even born.”
There were two reasons why such an engagement would occur. One - because the parents were really close, or two - for political reasons.
“The husband is really lame and has terrible luck.”
“Do I hit you often?”
“Ahh, No. Why are you asking such a question, young master?”
“Because my hands are getting pretty itchy after hearing what you said.”
Kw.a.n.g Du replied with a slick smile, “HAHAH, young master, our relationship is even closer than that of brothers.”
‘It certainly doesn’t seem that way’
Anyway, I had no way of knowing what kind of relationship this youth had with Kw.a.n.g Du.
“Why did I get beaten that badly? If we were engaged even before birth, we should have had a fairly close relationship.”
“Yes, when you were younger. You two often played together. But five years ago the young miss went to the Blue Sea to train in martial arts. It has only been a couple of days since her return.”
“Did she have a change of heart?”
“No, it was you who changed, young master.” Kw.a.n.g Du took a deep sigh.
“And what kind of trouble did I cause before that?”
“You lost tons of money by getting scammed while gambling. You lost even more money with prost.i.tutes. Got into fights after getting drunk. Left the house saying that you wouldn’t practice martial arts…”
“Let’s stop there.”
I did not have to hear the rest to know how this youth had lived.
“But why did my mother only slap me once before calling it a day?”
‘If I had a child like this, I would have beaten him to half death.’
“In one word, could you describe what kind of person I am?”
“Can I tell you the truth, young master?”
“I am giving you this one opportunity.”
“You are sc.u.m.”
I remembered how the day that I died Chancellor Kal answered the same question. He said I was ‘Kang Ho itself’. In less than a day, I went from being the hero of Kang Ho to being no better than trash.
After saying that, Kw.a.n.g Du took a few steps back said in a quiet voice, “I guess he really must have come back from death.”
Well, he is half correct. I really died and came back.