Chapter 136 Return

Chapter 136: Return

Shortly after, I was escorted directly to my father’s office.

Until the other warriors were present, Father had been watching me with his usual stern expression. But the moment everyone left and the office door closed, his face immediately softened with emotion as he approached me.

“Jina! You’ve returned safely! You’re back safe and sound! Thank you! Thank you so much!”

My father, his eyes brimming with tears as he embraced me, was a sight I had never seen in all my two lifetimes.

No, I had never even imagined it.

To feel welcomed home like this, to be embraced by my father with that look on his face…

Something hot surged up from my chest.

What’s more, Father wasn’t moved by my weight loss, but by my return itself.

Unlike the countless Sega people I’d met on my way to the office.

Every Sega employee I encountered on my way here had been utterly shocked by how much weight I’d lost.

But that was all. None of them showed any sign of welcoming my return itself.

Seeing my father genuinely happy about that, it finally felt like I had truly come home.

Holding me tightly, Father kept saying thank you for a long while. Only after a moment did he gently stroke my face and speak.

“You’ve lost so much weight. You’ve become so thin. How much hardship must you have endured…”

Though losing weight might be desirable for a warrior, it seemed my father’s first thought was of the suffering I must have endured.

His sorrowful gaze made my heart ache all over again.

But I forced a smile and said.

“No, Father. I met good people, learned a lot, and grew a great deal. I only deprived myself to become a monk—it wasn’t that much hardship.”

“Is that so? Well, if that’s the case, I’m relieved. Truly relieved. You went through a lot.”

After saying that, he suddenly looked at me with a distant gaze and murmured.

“Losing weight… you’ve come to look just like your mother.”

The way my father slowly scanned my face, his gaze so deep and distant, was a sad look as if he were seeing someone else, not me.

I couldn’t hold back any longer as my emotions welled up, and I spoke up.

“Father, why did Mother pass away?”

At that, my father’s gaze suddenly flickered violently, then froze solid.

Then he struggled to speak.

“Jina, that is…”

But whatever he was about to say, seeing the earnest look in my eyes, he couldn’t bring himself to speak.

And with that, I knew for certain.

“So it was because of Grandmother and Second Mother after all.”

At my words, spoken with certainty, Father instantly closed his eyes tightly.

And after a moment, he opened his eyes again and spoke to me as if admonishing me.

“Jina, no. Your mother was just…”

But I shook my head and said firmly.

“Father, I’m living a life on the front lines where I could die at any moment. I managed to get leave and come home now, but I can’t guarantee there will be another time. So please tell me the truth now. At least don’t make me die without knowing the truth about Mother’s death.”

It was a desperate move.

Speaking of death in front of my father—I was undoubtedly an unfilial son.

But even so, I had to hear the whole story.

Then my father could not bring himself to continue speaking.

After a long moment of moving his lips, he finally spoke with weary eyes.

“…It’s my fault. It’s all my fault. Back then, I should have given her up. But I couldn’t abandon either the family or her. That’s what led to this.”

The rest of the story unfolded exactly as I had anticipated.

My first mother and second mother tormented my mother as if they wanted to devour her, and unable to endure it, she wasted away and passed away.

After he finished speaking, we sat in silence for a moment.

Then, after a moment, my father asked me with a heavy expression.

“Do you want revenge?”

The way he asked made me feel like even if I said I wanted revenge, he would just nod in understanding.

But I shook my head.

“I think I understand now, at least a little, the heart with which you protected the Seonwoo family. I can’t just come now and say I’ll destroy everything you’ve protected.”

At that, Father looked at me with a startled expression.

It seemed like an answer he hadn’t anticipated at all.

But my answer didn’t end there.

I continued, my gaze as fierce as a predator’s.

“But! If there exists a threat to the Seonwoo family, which Father has worked so hard to protect, shouldn’t we eliminate it without mercy?”

Then, looking at my father with a questioning gaze, I recounted what Hao Mun Yi Bin, the branch chief, had told me.

When I asked about the Sunwoo Clan at Hao Gate, they described the clan like this: a four-legged scale barely held up by the pillar that is Clan Head Sunwoo Jung. A scale that would collapse at any moment if the weight shifted to one side.

Father looked at me with a shocked expression, then finally let out a weary sigh.

“So that’s how they see us, the Sunwoo family? The gaze of the world is too sharp. It’s all… my fault.”

My father’s sigh, acknowledging my words, carried a heavy weight of exhaustion and self-reproach.

Despite all the sacrifices made to protect it, it must have been a sense of self-reproach that it had ultimately become nothing more than a place swayed by external forces.

But I hadn’t brought this up to blame Father.

Shaking my head, I spoke as if to comfort him.

“I’ve heard about the circumstances back then. They say it was a situation you couldn’t have endured without outside help. I think that judgment itself was excellent. It’s just that now, after we’ve regained our strength, you still haven’t expelled those who should be expelled.”

“…I cast them out. Yes, that’s right. I should have done it… but it’s already too late.”

He said with a faint smile.

“No, Father. It’s not too late at all. In fact, now might be the most appropriate time.”

My father looked at me with a puzzled expression at my overly confident words.

I grinned at him and said,

“Would you hear me out?”

As I continued, my father’s eyes gradually brightened with a clear light.

***

The members of the Seonwoo family had to respond to a sudden summons from the head of the household, Seonwoo Jung.

It was a call inviting everyone to have dinner together.

Thanks to that, the Seonwoo family kids, who suddenly found themselves being dragged along to the original plan, opened their mouths with dissatisfied expressions.

“Do you know what’s going on here? Dinner together? What sudden wind blew this way?”

The eldest, Seonwoo Sung, spoke with a tone of discontent, and the second son, Seonwoo Hyuk, shrugged his shoulders in agreement.

“How would I know if even you don’t? All of us eating together? I can’t even remember the last time we did something like that.”

Then the fourth son, Seonwoo-gi, who had followed behind, chimed in.

“Could it be because the pig came back? I heard he got leave from the front lines and returned.”

At his words, the two brothers frowned and retorted.

“Pig? You can’t be talking about Jin, can you?”

“What? The third one didn’t die and came back? Does that even make sense?”

Seonwoogi shrugged his shoulders at their reaction and replied.

“Unbelievably, that’s what they say. He’s completely wasted away, like a different person altogether?”

“Wow, that’s something I never would have imagined.”

“Exactly. The front lines are a more disappointing place than one might think.”

At that moment, Seonwoo Yeonha, the fifth younger sister following behind Seonwoo Gi, flinched upon hearing those words and stopped in her tracks.

Her complexion also seemed to turn pale.

Then, the eldest brother, Seonwoo Seong, who suddenly noticed her, asked.

“Hey, Yeon-ha, why do you look so upset?”

“Huh?!”

“You always treated Jin well, feeling sorry for him, didn’t you? I thought you’d be happy?”

“Ah, no. It’s not that. I’m just feeling a bit under the weather today…”

Of all of them, she was the one most shocked by Seonwoo Jin’s safe return.

But the other brothers had no way of knowing that.

Then the fourth brother, Seonwoo-gi, approached her and asked with a worried look.

“Oh dear, Yeonha. Are you feeling unwell somewhere? Have you taken your medicine?”

Her face flushed instantly, and she gave a faint smile before answering.

“No, it’s nothing, Ki-ah. You don’t need to worry so much…”

Just then.

Suddenly, someone’s voice reached them.

“It seems everyone is being summoned by the master?”

It was a voice as clear as a rolling jade bead.

The three brothers’ heads whipped around in that direction.

And in unison, they shouted as if in chorus.

“Z-Zhuge Xiaojie?!”

Where their gazes fell, a woman stood.

Dressed in sky-blue robes, she appeared as beautiful and dignified as if descended from heaven itself—none other than the prized jewel of the Zhuge family, the Heavenly Sword Peak Zhuge Xueyu.

As soon as she appeared, the three brothers all rushed toward her with bright expressions.

Xian Wu Yihan, who had been worrying about her, did the same.

“Young Lady! It’s been ages since you stepped outside!”

“Young Lady! You look absolutely stunning today!”

“Might you be joining us for dinner tonight, Young Lady?”

Despite the blatant attention from grown men being enough to feel burdensome, Je Gal Seo-yul smiled faintly as if accustomed to it and replied.

“Lord Seonwoo invited me and my uncle to dinner for some matter. So we’re on our way there now.”

Behind her, the elder of the Zhuge family, Zhuge Zhiyong, cleared his throat uncomfortably.

“Hmm, hmm.”

He was clearly the senior present, yet the three brothers seemed to ignore him entirely, focusing solely on Zhuge Xueyu. This displeased him greatly.

Then the three brothers, who hadn’t actually seen him, awkwardly greeted him at last.

“Ah, has the great hero Zhuge also arrived?”

“We greet Master Zhuge.”

“We greet you, Master Zhuge.”

Their greetings were hardly noticeable, but Zhuge Zhiyong gave them a slight, reluctant nod.

Zhuge Xiyu, who had been watching this scene with a faint smile, suddenly asked them.

“By the way, what’s going on? Why did the master invite us all to dinner?”

Sun Woo-gi quickly answered.

“Probably because my third brother returned from the front lines.”

“Huh? Third brother, you say…?”

At that moment, Seonwoo-seong, who had been cut off from answering Seonwoo-gi, hurriedly interjected.

“You know, that pig, that fat guy who knocked Ki unconscious during their sparring match back then.”

“That’s right! He knocked Ki unconscious and then collapsed from exhaustion himself. It was hilarious, wasn’t it, Ki?”

Their efforts to expose Seonwoo-gi’s shortcomings and belittle him in front of Jeegal Seoyul made Seonwoo-gi’s face flush crimson with anger, while Jeegal Seoyul let out a quiet, pitying sigh.

And there was someone watching all that unfold with eyes brimming with hatred more than anyone else.

It was Seon Woo Yeon-ha, who had been treated as if she didn’t exist the moment Jegal Seo-yul appeared.

Sun Woo Yeon Ha’s clenched fists trembled violently as she glared at them.

‘Zhuge Xiyu, I will never, ever forgive you!’

But Zhuge Xueyu, the very object of Seonwoo Yeonha’s hatred, merely glanced at her and offered a relaxed smile.

To him, the hatred of the still-young Seonwoo Yeonha—merely the fifth daughter of the Seonwoo family—was nothing but laughable.

I’m only letting it be because I have something I want from Seonwoo Seagae. If only that matter were resolved, I was confident I could make sure he’d never dare give me that look again.

And that’s not all?

She had no intention of ever speaking to the pathetic men of the Seonwoo family again, those flies buzzing around like they were nothing.

‘Yes, if only that matter could be resolved.’

But that matter showed no sign of being resolved anytime soon.

Zhuge Seoyul smiled politely at the Seonwoo brothers, gritting her teeth inwardly.

‘If only I could somehow deal with the Sunwoo Thirteen Swords….’

The reason she sparred with many martial artists and then returned to the Sunwu Clan was precisely because of the Sunwu Thirteen Swords.

The Zhuge Clan lacked martial arts worthy of representing their lineage.

They excelled in various fields like formation tactics, mechanical devices, and military strategy, but martial arts was the one area where they lacked techniques worthy of being showcased in the martial world.

This was the Zhuge family’s long-standing weakness, a constraint that prevented them from joining the ranks of the Five Great Families.

Therefore, when the rare martial prodigy Zhuge Xuyu appeared in the history of the Zhuge family, the family head Zhuge Zhijiang resolved that, for her sake if nothing else, they must acquire outstanding martial arts.

It was precisely for that reason that Zhuge Xueyu traveled around, engaging in duels with numerous martial arts factions by leveraging the connections of Zhuge Zhijiang, a military officer of the Martial Arts Alliance.

To acquire the outstanding martial arts techniques that caught her eye.

And the martial art that caught her eye was precisely the Sunwu Thirteen Swords.

“Welcome, Grand Hero Zhuge. And Miss Zhuge.”

Zhuge Xiyu recalled that memory as she saw the rare bright smile on the face of Xianwu Zhong, the master of the Xianwu Manor, who welcomed them before the main hall.

Eight months ago, when she was about to return to her family home, disappointed by her brothers’ poor skills, the head of the family, Seonwoo Jung, personally demonstrated the Seonwoo Thirteen Swords as an apology for his sons’ lack of skill.

At that time, he had executed the techniques his sons had failed to perform properly with the ease of a dancer.

And that was…

‘It was utterly fantastic. It was almost mystical.’

It was certainly astonishing enough that he demonstrated the first to third strikes in succession, claiming he was showing the proper form of the techniques his sons had used.

But that final technique, the ‘Illusionary Sword Mirror’—it was truly…

The moment Zhuge Xueyu saw that fantastic sword dance, her heart was completely stolen away.

At that moment, she had decided.

This is it.

This was the sword technique the Zhugeliang family must possess.

Yet when Zhuge Zhiyong casually broached the subject, saying he would pay any price for the transmission of the Xianwu Thirteen Swords, Xianwu Zhong merely smiled and replied thus:

‘If Miss Zhige becomes a daughter-in-law of the Xianwu family, then I might consider teaching it.’

It was a roundabout way of saying it, but it was nothing short of an absolute refusal.

It was simply unthinkable that Zhuge Xueyu, the prized jewel of the Zhuge family and the renowned phoenix of the martial world, would become the daughter-in-law of the Xianwu family, merely one of the Guizhou Eight Clans.

Zhuge Xueyu had no choice but to swallow her regret and leave the Xianwu family at that time.

But after several months, she had to return to the Xianwu family.

For now, no other sword technique could satisfy Zhuge Xueyu’s eyes.

And now that they had returned, they were prepared to resort to any means necessary.

For now, he planned to try persuading Seonwoo Jung somehow. If he remained stubborn, he would try persuading his successor. If that didn’t work, he was prepared to recruit even the sons who had been eliminated in the succession struggle.