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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 8
Chapter Title: Return (1)
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"Sigh. What on earth is he thinking?"
Yang Jeon sighed, surveying the quiet estate.
"Where in the world did he go?"
It had been a year since the master of this estate vanished.
'At this rate, this place might be gone soon.'
A sigh never seemed to leave Yang Jeon's lips.
'But the Young Master really is a pitiful man.'
A man disappears for a whole year.
No one knows if he's dead or alive.
Yet, not a single person was worried about him.
Even the people working at this estate were the same.
'Sigh. It's only because it's me that I'm still by this Young Master's side.'
Anyone else would have left this place long ago.
'Should I start looking for another place soon?'
Still, thanks to being here, he'd lived comfortably without having to work hard.
But with the master of the estate gone, it was only a matter of time before this place disappeared too.
'The Cult Leader's youngest disciple. But an abandoned disciple.'
Those were the words used to describe the master of this estate.
"I'm telling you, I'm the master of this place."
"Tsk. If a young man is going to go mad, he could at least do it gracefully. Who would believe someone who looks like a beggar is the Cult Leader's disciple?"
Yang Jeon thought it was noisy outside the main gate.
As he walked over, he saw a gate guard arguing with a filthy young man dressed in rags.
"What's going on?"
"Ah, Steward Yang?"
At Yang Jeon's appearance, the guard looked flustered and pointed at the young man before him.
"Well, this beggar-like young man keeps insisting he's the master of this estate."
"Hmm."
Only after hearing that did Yang Jeon realize the guard before him had just recently started working here.
He was someone they had to hire in a hurry because the number of staff kept dwindling.
"You probably don't know the Young Master's face, so I'll check."
Yang Jeon said as he approached the young man and examined him.
The young man, whose face was obscured by a shaggy mane of brown hair, carried a wooden tube on his shoulder.
Inside the tube were several swords, and at a glance, they all looked to be of exceptional quality.
"The hair and skin color are definitely..."
It was a look that couldn't help but bring the master of this estate to mind.
"Huh? Young Master!"
And just like that, Yang Jeon immediately recognized the filthy man as the master of the estate, Jinmyeong.
"So you do recognize me."
"O-of course I do! More importantly, where have you been?"
"We'll talk details later. I'd like to go inside."
At Jinmyeong's words, Yang Jeon hurriedly led him into the estate.
Seeing Yang Jeon treat the beggar-like man with such respect, the guard who had tried to chase him away could only stare blankly at the two of them.
"You'll be fine."
If Yang Jeon hadn't said that, the guard would have had to immediately go looking for another job.
Or his head might have rolled.
'They said he had a bad personality, but maybe that's not the case?'
The guard watched Jinmyeong and Yang Jeon's backs, then stroked his own neck and let out a sigh of relief.
"Where did you go?"
Yang Jeon asked the moment they entered the estate with Jinmyeong.
"There were circumstances."
"What circumstances? Are they something you can't even tell me?"
As Yang Jeon pressed him again, Jinmyeong sighed and looked at him.
"First, I'd like to go somewhere private."
"There's hardly anyone around now, is there?"
As Yang Jeon said, there weren't many people in Jinmyeong's estate.
Jinmyeong's estate was already small compared to the others, and with its master gone for a year, most of the staff had left.
"Somewhere completely empty."
"Hmm. Well, let's head to your chambers for now."
The two ended up heading to Jinmyeong's chambers.
"So, please tell me now. What's so important?"
"Indeed."
Watching Yang Jeon grumble, Jinmyeong sighed.
"Our relationship must not be too bad, huh?"
"Pardon? What do you mean by that?"
"Well, I feel like I should want to kill you for talking to me like this, but seeing as I'm not angry, I guess not."
Even at Jinmyeong's words, Yang Jeon was still smiling cheerfully.
"It's not like we've only known each other a day or two. Didn't you say there was no one you could trust but me, who grew up with you like a brother?"
Jinmyeong stared at Yang Jeon for a moment before shaking his head.
'I don't know this guy at all.'
Like Jinmyeong himself, this guy hadn't appeared in the original novel.
So Jinmyeong couldn't judge whether he could trust him.
'But I have to tell him.'
In any case, he had to tell this guy about his current situation to get advice on what to do next.
"What is it?"
"To put it simply, I've lost my memory."
"What? What does that mean?"
Yang Jeon looked bewildered by the blunt statement that he'd lost his memory.
How could a person with amnesia find his way back to this estate and remember him?
"I haven't lost everything. There are things I remember, like my name and yours, and that this is my home."
He could recall some things, but there was far more he didn't know.
It was as if he only knew a few pieces of information necessary for being here.
"Who would believe you if you show up after a year and say you've lost your memory?"
Yang Jeon still looked like he didn't believe Jinmyeong.
In fact, he was frowning as if he didn't even want to hear it.
"When I first woke up, I was being attacked by someone."
"Attacked?"
Only after hearing the word "attacked" did Yang Jeon's expression change.
"I have something to ask. When I was attacked, where was I?"
"You were probably drinking at a tavern, as usual."
"Hmm. Did no one accompany me when I went to the tavern?"
He was a disciple of the Cult Leader, the Heavenly Demon.
So it was strange that he would be drinking at a tavern without any guards.
"Yes. Do you think anyone would be around you, Young Master? It's only because it's me that I'm still here."
But Yang Jeon answered with a nod, as if it were obvious.
"Since you truly say you've lost your memory, I'll tell you. There's no one around you, Young Master. It's because of that personality of yours."
In reality, there was no one in Jinmyeong's estate who could be called a martial artist.
The martial artists didn't leave because Jinmyeong disappeared.
There were no martial artists in the estate even before he vanished.
"Of course, it's not just because of your personality."
"Hmm."
Jinmyeong had the least presence among the Heavenly Demon's disciples.
It would have been fine if he only lacked presence, but he also lacked ability.
"Everyone left because they had no expectations for you, Young Master."
As it became known that Jinmyeong's body was incapable of learning martial arts, and as even the Cult Leader, the Heavenly Demon, began to ignore him, Jinmyeong became more and more isolated.
"They probably thought that staying by your side would get them nowhere and only lead to their deaths."
At those blunt words, Jinmyeong sighed.
"It's sad that I can't kill such an insolent subordinate."
"Haha! Who else but me would say such things to you, Young Master?"
Even while hearing all this, Jinmyeong didn't feel offended.
"But you didn't leave."
"I have nowhere else to go anyway. And I'm not looking for success or anything like that."
Jinmyeong watched Yang Jeon for a moment and sighed.
"Anyway, according to you, I was attacked while drinking at a tavern? Alone, without any guards."
"Yes. You always drank alone."
So Jinmyeong must have drunk alone without a care in the world.
'Who would have thought someone would try to kill a guy like me?'
A body abandoned by the heavens.
A body with no talent for martial arts.
A disciple given up on even by the Heavenly Demon.
Naturally, he had already fallen behind in the competition with the other disciples.
So the attack couldn't help but feel strange.
"I have a question."
"What is it?"
"Was my body always like this?"
Jinmyeong's question was a valid one.
He was a disciple of the Cult Leader.
If he had no talent, the Cult Leader would never have accepted him as a disciple.
"Hmm. So you're curious about why you became the Cult Leader's disciple."
"Yes."
"To put it simply, it was thanks to your father..."
Jinmyeong's father was the commander of a rather famous martial brigade.
"So you often went to watch their training, Young Master."
It was only possible because the commander was his father.
Anyone else would have probably lost their head.
But it was there that an incident revealed Jinmyeong's genius.
"There, you instantly grasped the weaknesses in the martial arts the brigade members were practicing."
"Weaknesses?"
"Things like, 'if you pull your foot back one step, your attack will be sharper.'"
It was just a few trivial things.
But because of that advice, the martial arts they practiced grew stronger.
Their attacks became sharper, and their defenses more solid.
"When that talent became known, the Cult Leader took an interest."
"Hmm. It's certainly outstanding, but..."
Still, he wondered if that alone was enough to become the Heavenly Demon's disciple.
'My body is such a mess.'
What he was curious about was whether his body had been this unathletic from the start.
But it seemed Yang Jeon didn't know the specifics of that.
'It feels like someone made my body this way.'
As if someone didn't want him to learn martial arts.
Otherwise, it wouldn't make sense.
The Heavenly Demon, the closest to being the strongest under heaven, couldn't possibly have a poor eye for disciples.
'The Heavenly Demon wouldn't have taken me as a disciple just for having a good eye for martial arts or a high level of understanding.'
He thought so, and he hoped so.
That was the only way he could hope to make this wrecked body normal again.
"So, what about my parents?"
"Um."
At Jinmyeong's question, Yang Jeon looked troubled.
"Your mother passed away quite a long time ago. Your father also passed away when you were young, Young Master."
"Hmm."
"Your father passed away not long after you became the Cult Leader's disciple."
It didn't solve all his questions, but he was still able to learn quite a lot about the person named Jinmyeong.
"More importantly, please tell me now. What were you doing for a year? I understand you disappeared, but..."
It was impossible to know what Jinmyeong had been doing during that one year.
But Yang Jeon felt that Jinmyeong was completely different from before.
It couldn't be just because he had lost his memory.
"I learned martial arts."
"You learned martial arts?"
"Yes. I learned martial arts. For a whole year."
Yang Jeon, who knew of Jinmyeong's constitution, still had a look of disbelief in his eyes.
Even under the disbelieving gaze of his subordinate, Jinmyeong was composed.
"So."
"What are you going to ask now?"
"It's nothing difficult. I was just wondering how I can get my master's attention."
Yang Jeon stared at Jinmyeong for a moment, then slowly shook his head.