“Why are you doing all this for me?”
Mooyoung, who’d lowered his body in proper posture, asked with a much more polite tone.
Of course he’d act like that—I’d paid off a debt he should’ve spent his life repaying in one go.
Without particularly refusing, I told Mooyoung.
“I already told you. To recruit you.”
“That’s exactly why I’m asking. If you want to hire me, there’s no need to spend such a large sum…”
“Not hire—recruit. Don’t you understand the difference?”
I smiled slightly while watching Mooyoung pause.
“I’m not trying to assign you trivial tasks like a single commission or guarding for a certain period. Someone who will never betray me. Someone who will dedicate their life to become my hands and feet. That’s the kind of person I’m looking for.”
“…”
“And among such people, you had the best qualities.”
“…Qualities? Me?”
Upon hearing words that praised him highly, shadows fell across Mooyoung’s face as he spoke powerlessly.
“You’re overestimating me.”
Deep defeatism.
Learned helplessness and self-doubt accumulated over a long period.
It was a sickeningly familiar face.
Because that face was the very one I’d worn in my past life.
“I… probably won’t be able to meet your expectations.”
“Why do you think that?”
“I’m just… one among countless ronins.”
Though Mooyoung clenched his fist tightly while saying that, I knew.
The foundation of that defeatism he possessed.
That it wasn’t because of his martial arts or abilities.
“I’m not particularly skilled, and I’m a one-armed cripple missing an arm. Moreover…”
“Because you’re from the surrendered Japanese?”
“…!”
As if I’d struck the core, Mooyoung stopped speaking and clamped his mouth shut.
The surrendered Japanese.
Descendants of those who escaped the monster-infested Japanese archipelago and settled in Joseon.
And thanks to that origin, people living in Joseon under contempt and discrimination similar to that shown to the lowborn.
“I looked into your personal information. You applied for the royal guard selection exam, didn’t you?”
I asked while recalling the information I’d learned about Mooyoung.
“The written test results were just formalities, so I’ll skip that. The practical exam. You got perfect marks especially in the sparring section between applicants. And that was at the young age of fifteen at the time.”
“That was…”
“But even so, the royal guards didn’t accept you. No, more than that…”
I spoke while looking at Mooyoung’s empty right shoulder.
“They left your right arm in that state and didn’t give you even a single coin in compensation.”
“…”
“For the trivial reason that you’re not Joseon-born. For that pathetic reason of being of Japanese descent.”
Hearing my words, Mooyoung lowered his head without saying anything particular.
His appearance biting his lip hard, as if the resentment of the past had surfaced.
I understood.
Origin. Bloodline. Blood.
The feeling of things you can’t change no matter what you do becoming shackles that bind your life.
Because I’d felt it keenly while living as an illegitimate child.
‘That’s why he’s so easy to manipulate like this.’
“Surrendered Japanese? One-armed? Ronin? I don’t care. The reason I sought you out and made this investment is one thing only.”
I brought my hand to Mooyoung’s shoulder with a deliberately serious face.
“Because I thought you had that much value.”
“…!”
“Because I’m convinced that you, who will grow after receiving my investment, can produce value dozens, hundreds of times greater than this money in the future.”
Mooyoung’s face gradually changed as he heard my words.
Judging by his expression, the situation was no different from him already being halfway won over.
I was writhing with sordid joy.
This is it.
Ah, this is it!
Successful bottom-fishing!
“…That there will be no greater opportunity than this for me.”
Had he finally made up his mind?
Mooyoung, who’d been silent the whole time, opened his mouth for the first time.
“I know that this opportunity you’ve given me is a chance that will never come again in my lifetime.”
“…”
“So please allow me to ask just one thing.”
What are you planning to do?
Hearing those words, I looked around.
No one listening… good.
And not only Mooyoung who’d asked the question, but Taewoong too was listening attentively as if curious about my answer.
Right. At this point.
If it’s just these two people, I can start talking about it.
“Revolution.”
I spoke a short word.
One short word.
But at the same time, the faces of Mooyoung and Taewoong looking at me changed moment by moment.
“Young Master, what did you just…”
“…!”
Doubt, shock, fear.
Countless emotions surfaced and disappeared on their faces.
Something impious even to utter.
But at the same time.
That single phrase anyone living in this corrupt Joseon would have thought of at least once.
“I’m planning to incite a revolution in this Joseon.”
“Let’s start work next Monday. Both you and I will have various things to prepare.”
“Understood.”
By the time we finished the various procedures needed for hiring a guard, it was already evening.
I thought about buying him a meal, but soon gave up on the idea.
He’d already have so much happening in succession that he wouldn’t have time to breathe—forcing him to eat something now would only cause problems.
Better to give him time to collect his emotions and let him buy something delicious for his little sister.
“And lastly… here, this.”
The apartment purchase contract I’d arranged arrived right on time, so I reached out and handed Mooyoung a card.
“This is…?”
What I handed him was an access card to a medium-sized apartment located in the middle levels of the residential district.
Mooyoung’s eyes widened as he received the card.
“There’s no need to go this far! I…!”
“Whoa whoa. Hey hey, my arm’s falling off, whoooa~!”
Though Mooyoung tried to decline, I made a fuss as if I had no intention of listening.
Mooyoung, not knowing what to do, accepted the card.
Watching him, laughter flowed out naturally.
“Look at your little sister. You can’t let that little girl keep living in a place like this forever. Right?”
“But still…”
“If you’re grateful, just work hard. I’ll work you gleefully until you say you want more money. Got it?”
“…Yes. Understood.”
Declining further would be rude instead.
After adding that, the moment I was about to prepare to leave—
“Big brother!”
A small shadow ran toward me from a corner of the room.
It was Hayoung, Mooyoung’s little sister.
“Rich handsome mister, leaving? When you come again?”
“Hehehe. When you were crying earlier, you called me a loan shark, and now you’re flattering me by calling me handsome.”
“To already know how to flatter by looking at money—a child with a bright future.”
After a brief exchange with Taewoong.
I told her I’d come again if I had the chance and waved my hand at Hayoung.
“Yeah! Come play again! Okay?!”
“Yeah yeah. Next time I’ll bring more snacks too…”
But that was brief.
Thwack—
The moment Hayoung rushed to hug me, seemingly reluctant to part—
Seeing her approaching with a smile, I hurriedly pulled my body back.
“Huh? Mister?”
“…Ah, no.”
Hayoung tilted her head as if asking why I was avoiding her.
I tried to move my mouth to smile, but my stiff face wouldn’t relax easily.
“Let’s go. Taewoong.”
“Ah, yes.”
Leaving the child with a puzzled expression behind, I hurriedly turned around.
Mooyoung and Taewoong faced each other with similar expressions. (+) [1]
“…What suddenly happened?”
“I don’t know.”
It couldn’t have been that he avoided her simply because he disliked children or because she looked dirty.
If that were the case, they wouldn’t have come to this lower residential district at all.
And more than anything, what was strange was that face.
The expression he’d made before turning his back.
“It seemed less like he disliked the child’s approach… and more like he feared it.”
Muttering that, Taewoong straightened his clothes and patted the shoulder of the guard who would be his successor.
“I’m glad we’ll be working together. See you next time.”
“Ah, yes! Th-thank you.”
“Mm.”
After finishing the brief greeting, Taewoong moved his feet.
By the time he came outside the apartment complex, I was staring at the invisible sky with an unsettled expression. (+) [2] )
“What’s wrong? So suddenly.”
“…That child just tried to hug me, right?”
“Yes. Children become friendly quickly.”
Taewoong who spoke like that added with a slight smile.
“Isn’t that a good thing? Compared to crying at first, it’s much better…”
“No. It’s not good.”
But my voice answering that was stiff.
After covering my face with trembling hands, I sighed.
That appearance seemed both to hate something and to fear something.
“Not good at all.”
Before my eyes covered by my hands, memories from my past life unfolded.
Whoooosh—
A pitch-black sky.
Neon signs of a shabby city.
Scattered fresh blood and corpses sprawled everywhere.
And kneeling in the middle of it all, Mooyoung’s figure.
‘I’ll kill you… Kim Changwoon… you nobles…! Your Joseon…! All of you! Everyone…!’
The Mooyoung in my memory was shedding tears of blood.
The mechanical device attached instead of his right arm had long since been smashed.
In his intact left hand, he held the corpse of his little sister, Hayoung.
That was the Sword Demon who’d driven Joseon into terror by killing twelve nobles and phase-wielders.
That was the appearance of Mooyoung, Joseon’s first traitor.
A heinous criminal who was hunted after killing power clan members following his only sibling being sold as a power clan’s plaything and dying.
The reason he hated me in my previous life… it wasn’t anything else.
‘The trash who turned Hayoung… who turned this young child into that…! You…!’
‘…’
The corpse of his dead little sister.
The one who handled the disposal of that corpse was none other than me.
To secure my position in the power clans’ power struggle.
Because I was the very person who covered up that psychopath’s shame and concealed the incident.
“…This is really driving me crazy.”
I wondered anew.
Why was this chance of a second life given to human trash like me?
Was it really telling me to repent?
Or was it telling me to look back on the evil deeds I’d committed to maintain my position in the past?
‘Ridiculous.’
If I did that, would the things I committed in my past life disappear?
No.
Even if I turned back time and returned to childhood, the evil deeds I committed back then wouldn’t disappear.
Even if they were events that hadn’t occurred yet, the memories and experiences from that time remained intact in my head.
So what I’m doing now isn’t pathetic repentance or anything like that.
It’s just trying to grasp the most important thing I can do.
Trying to seize the most valuable thing I can obtain.
Saving Seo Taewoong, rescuing Mooyoung trapped in the slums from his destined misfortune—
It’s only for that reason.
Nothing more, nothing less.
“Let’s go.”
After roughly shaking off what was in my head, I moved my feet without delay.
I’d brought in a new guard, but the work hadn’t even started yet.
Thinking about the upcoming ‘face-to-face meeting,’ there was a mountain of things to do.
Regardless of anything else, I had to start a revolution.
Because I had to survive ostentatiously in this Joseon that would soon crumble.
- 1. TLN: Aha, I think I remember something. This author, really like to switch POV in the middle of chapter without the usual separator (* * *). I think this happens as well in the “Do Your own Revolution.” Or I could be wrong. Anyways, yeah. The next one will be POV switch to Taewoong’s.
- 2. TLN: Now back to Changwoon’s POV here.
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