Chapter 150
In the end, what moved Lee Hoin was something like that.
The reason he was still alive up to now. When he followed Yugil, a middle-aged man had asked him:
—
“At this point, you could’ve survived just fine on your own. Did you save the friend who came with you? That’s admirable.”
—
It was clearly praise, yet it didn’t sound like praise.
To get this far, all Lee Hoin had done was swing as he always did. He lived every moment swinging a baseball bat… only now, the bat had been replaced with a sword or a hammer.
He swung without thinking, out of habit. He left the thinking to someone else. Lee Hoin’s thoughts lay elsewhere.
That felt like a massive swamp of helplessness that represented him. Before he could even react, he would be pushed back, unable to land even a few proper hits.
All of it felt like helplessness. Lee Hoin wasn’t used to that. Helplessness… something like that. He had grown up strong and well-built; there was no way he’d be accustomed to it.
A leader. A natural powerhouse. That had been Lee Hoin’s position his entire life. Protecting others was only natural. Refusing to protect others… that was something only the weak would think.
The weak could afford that. They had enough on their plate just taking care of themselves. But Lee Hoin had lived differently. Protecting others and taking the lead… that kind of life was natural to him.
‘But Nam Muyeong…’
That person saved him.
That felt unfamiliar to Lee Hoin. Nam Muyeong thought it strange that Lee Hoin moved more than others. Something that was supposed to be natural… he said it wasn’t.
That was why he had lived longer.
If Nam Muyeong hadn’t stopped him, Lee Hoin would already be dead. He would have died foolishly charging in during the event where they met Cha Hyeongseo. If not that, he would’ve died somewhere on the street, unable to judge situations properly.
So Lee Hoin realized something.
Nam Muyeong was the brake, and without a brake, he himself would die. He had lived a life far too vulnerable to death, and that fact was deeply ingrained in his bones.
Nam Muyeong was the brake, and Lee Hoin’s brain.
It was selfish, but Lee Hoin didn’t want to live while thinking about such complicated things. He couldn’t do what Nam Muyeong did. By nature, he was someone whose body moved before his thoughts.
Lee Hoin had always thrown himself into danger with the belief that he would survive. Because he could survive. Because it was him.
But everything had variables.
Just like the variable named Kim Taekjin now.
Then…
With a very selfish choice, he had to keep Nam Muyeong alive.
So that he could dump all thinking and judgment onto him.
Lee Hoin charged forward. With all thoughts emptied, leaving only a single goal, his body felt lighter instead. There was no need to calculate or hesitate. His target was right there, suspended… and all he had to do was leap.
The items constricting his body fell away. Notifications appeared one after another… his strength dropped, his agility returned.
Everything he had built up until now, he didn’t rely on it alone.
Lee Hoin had always possessed a natural talent for using his body. Muscle movement, propulsion… he knew how to use all of it efficiently.
So he wouldn’t lose. Not like this. At the very least, he would struggle before losing. Losing like this was something his pride wouldn’t allow.
And if he had put his pride on the line…
“Lee Hoin!!”
Nam Muyeong’s shout, as he clutched the enemy’s wrist, sounded like a trigger instead. It was probably meant to stop him, but to Lee Hoin… who had already taken the final step and was spinning midair to strike down with centrifugal force, it only sounded like a signal to fire.
Clang!
His attack was immediately blocked. He had expected that. What he wanted to see was how it would be blocked.
Whether this monster would casually suppress him with one hand like before, or…
‘Or maybe not quite at that level yet.’
And in front of him stood a monster that was “not quite at that level yet.”
Because the man had thrown Nam Muyeong far away and immediately drawn his sword.
Acting without thought, entrusting everything to instinct, gave Lee Hoin a powerful sense of liberation. There was no need to weigh each attack. Nothing to protect. Because taking something was different from protecting something.
He stepped back once, then immediately followed up with another attack. From the ground, he launched into the purest form of attack he had seen… one that was hardest to dodge and hardest to block.
Then naturally…
It was that monster-like movement he had seen earlier. Closing the distance in an instant, then retreating swiftly, only to charge again.
If he used that same pattern against the one who originally used it, of course, it would be blocked.
And fundamentally, their physiques were different. The other had a smaller, more agile frame. He wouldn’t ignore the speed disadvantage that came from their size difference.
But…
Their muscle structure was different, and he had an advantage in raw strength due to his size.
Not that the other’s strength was weak.
But at least, in pure strength, he knew he had the upper hand.
Then he needed to use that more aggressively. Fast… but not overly forceful. Enough to push back the opponent’s strength and force them to retreat.
A rapid sword.
He couldn’t replicate everything. What Lee Hoin had learned while wielding a greatsword was how to load each attack with efficient power and turn it into destructive force.
Then he could combine them.
Lee Hoin flipped backward through the air and retreated. After a brief standoff, he dropped his greatsword.
“Lee Hoin!”
Nam Muyeong’s voice rang out as swords rolled toward him.
Lee Hoin grabbed two longswords, one in each hand, and immediately leapt forward.
He rushed in.
As if to counter that charge, the other also advanced quickly.
Right before their swords could clash, Lee Hoin twisted his body.
The two blades slipped past the opponent’s sword at a subtle angle, bypassing it entirely and slicing horizontally toward his waist.
As he twisted, he naturally exposed his forearm.
But he knew one thing:
‘My blade is faster.’
Forearm or abdomen.
If you had to choose which was more important, the abdomen.
Would that man really trade a cut to the abdomen just to strike his forearm?
If he were foolish… if he were blinded by excitement… he might.
Lee Hoin looked into his eyes.
Not once did he avert his gaze.
—
“Everything is reflected in the eyes.”
—
Just as Johanna had said, everything truly was reflected in the eyes.
Sa Jaeheon was not excited.
In this entire situation, there was no excitement… only cold, calculated judgment.
A man like that would never allow himself to be cut.
Which meant Lee Hoin’s forearm wouldn’t be cut either.
Instead, if that man stepped back, it would give Lee Hoin more time to move.
Lee Hoin was already in the middle of a spin.
If the opponent stepped back, what he would see was Lee Hoin’s back.
Then naturally…
He would charge again.
That was the problem with that man.
He assumed that someone who showed their back couldn’t do anything.
But even when showing your back, there were still things you could do.
Of course, it required more effort and had a lower success rate, so better defensive stances were usually chosen instead.
But there were always ways to attack.
Lee Hoin, still mid-turn, pressed down with his ring and pinky fingers gripping the sword, lowering the blade behind him. Then he regripped it and swung it up before slamming it down backward.
It didn’t have to hit.
This was both an attack and a defense.
A defensive move to buy time to turn his body. If it hit, that was a bonus. If it didn’t, that was fine too.
As he slammed the blade backward and felt nothing connect, he immediately completed the turn and retreated.
He gripped his swords properly again.
Again and again, they clashed. Sometimes deflecting, sometimes accepting a hit to deliver a follow-up.
If Sa Jaeheon’s blade grazed his forearm, Lee Hoin instead stepped further in, gripping his sword shorter… one stabbing inward, the other slashing.
One of them hit.
Just like how Sa Jaeheon allowed his thigh to be stabbed to avoid having his neck cut.
A relentless assault.
The other was also pressing in relentlessly.
Everything was colliding, spiraling into a storm.
Wounds increased across Lee Hoin’s body. A warm liquid trickled from his neck. He had bitten his tongue several times from clenching his teeth too hard, and blood pooled in his mouth.
Warnings about excessive skill usage flashed repeatedly.
Even so…
‘I won’t lose.’
Even if it was a fight he couldn’t win, with the mindset of not losing, Lee Hoin pushed in once more.
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