Chapter 45 The Dangga Sword Peak – Part 1

Chapter 45: The Dangga Sword Peak – Part 1

Myeong Sa-hyeon, the deputy leader of the Third Division, always started his day earlier than others.

He had things he needed to do first thing.

The very first thing he did upon waking was prepare hot tea.

The water boiled to a rolling boil was scalding hot, too hot to touch, but it didn’t matter.

By the time she rose to begin her morning training, it would have cooled to just the right temperature.

After preparing the tea and snacks and arranging them on a small tray, he murmured with a satisfied smile.

“Perfect again today. Just like me.”

For Myeong Sahyeon, preparing tea and a few snacks to bring to Dang Yeo-eun’s practice spot was the start of his daily routine, repeated day after day.

He had never once heard her say thank you,

but he knew well.

The fact that she didn’t refuse it was proof enough that she was opening her heart.

The reason she couldn’t say thank you was because she feared acknowledging that her heart was opening.

He believed.

Her frozen heart would someday melt away in warm tea.

He didn’t particularly worry about when that would be.

After all, waiting a few years for someone he wanted to spend his life with wasn’t such a difficult thing.

It was when he had once again brought tea and snacks to her training spot ahead of time and returned to the dormitory.

One of the male team members addressed him.

“Deputy Leader, do you know Lady Do Hee-young of the Oh Group?”

“Huh? Do Hee-young from Group O? You mean that shy, cute young lady? I know her. Never talked to her, though. Why do you ask?”

The team member then gave him a sly smile and handed him a note.

“Well, Miss Do Hee-young asked me to give this to you, Deputy Leader. She said to just pass this along, probably because she was embarrassed, and then she ran off like she was escaping.”

“Huh?”

Myeong Sahyeon opened the note with puzzled eyes and soon chuckled softly.

The note stated she had long harbored feelings for him and asked him to meet her in the western woods.

“What? Could it be… a confession of love?”

“Why not? This is… troublesome.”

At that, the squad members cheered and teased him.

“Ooooh! What’s this, Deputy Leader? You’re not planning to betray the Leader, are you?”

“As if! I feel sorry for Miss Do, who’s fallen for my charm, but I’ll have to talk to her carefully so she doesn’t get hurt.”

With that, Myeong Sahyeon moved on.

This wasn’t the first time such a thing had happened to him.

In the past, many women had approached him knowing full well he was in love with Tang Yeo-eun.

But after the rumor spread that he was a sunflower, devoted solely to one woman, such things had ceased for a while…

Receiving such a confession after so long wasn’t unpleasant.

Though he felt a bit sorry for Lady Do, who would inevitably be rejected.

***

Tang Yeo-eun, the leader of the Thirteenth Division, Third Squad, Tang Family Sword Peak, washed briefly and headed to the training grounds for morning practice.

And as always, he found a tray with modestly served tea and snacks waiting for him at the training ground.

Sipping the tea, warmed just right, and eating the modestly portioned snacks that wouldn’t burden her training, Dang Yeo-eun silently conveyed her gratitude to him.

Thank you for consistently conveying your heart with such sincerity, she thought. Thank you for making me feel a warmth I’ve never even received from my own family.

Suddenly, that unforgettable voice echoed in her mind once more.

‘A bitch like you should never have been born!’

This was the phrase Tang Yeo-eun heard most often from her mother as she grew up.

No matter how hard she tried to be a good child, or how outstanding her martial arts achievements became, her mother never stopped showering her with hateful glances and words.

It couldn’t be helped.

Her mother believed everything was her fault.

The cause of all her misfortune.

Her mother was the third wife of Tang Zhenghou, the current head of the Sichuan Tang Sect.

And she was also the most greedy person of all.

Though only the third wife, she harbored ambition.

She was determined to make her son the head of the Tang family…

Moreover, she possessed the means to achieve it.

Her family of origin was among the most prestigious in Sichuan, and she herself possessed both exceptional beauty and remarkable talent.

Therefore, she was confident that if she had a son, she could use her own abilities to ensure that child became the head of the Tang family.

However,

even her background, beauty, and abilities couldn’t change the fact that she couldn’t conceive.

Despite marrying the head of the Tang family and receiving more opportunities than the other wives due to her exceptional beauty, for some reason, she could not conceive.

The physicians who examined her all declared there was nothing physically wrong with her.

Yet, seeing the other wives conceive, it was clear the problem wasn’t with the head of the Tang family either.

This only made her more frustrated.

The physicians all advised her to simply relax her mind.

But she simply couldn’t relax.

She tried everything possible: obtaining and taking all the best medicines, having a renowned fortune teller write her an amulet, and even trying folk remedies.

But after five long years, she still hadn’t conceived.

Meanwhile, the children of the other wives were growing up. Even a wife who had entered the household after her had conceived.

Her husband, Dang Jaju, pitied her and tried to treat her well, but he gradually grew weary of her, as her inability to conceive only deepened her obsession.

Then, suddenly, she became pregnant in the sixth year of their marriage.

The reason for this sudden pregnancy was unknown.

Having tried everything considered beneficial, she couldn’t pinpoint what had worked.

Perhaps it wasn’t due to any other method, but because she had finally begun to empty her mind.

It didn’t matter either way.

It revived her, who had been gradually giving up.

Moreover, every doctor who examined her said the same thing:

There were two babies in her belly.

The children were twins.

Now, she had only one wish.

That both children—no, even just one of them—would be born a boy.

If only that happened, she was confident she could make that child the next head of the family by any means necessary.

And when the children were finally born, she realized her wish had come true.

No, she realized it had been granted.

For the children born were fraternal twins, a boy and a girl.

The only problem was that the boy was stillborn.

The opportunity she had barely managed to obtain had vanished in an absurd way.

Realizing her dream had been shattered at the very last step before fulfillment, she was furious.

She felt even more despair than when she had no children at all.

And she turned that despair toward her newborn daughter.

Dang Gajun, who had barely stopped her from throwing the infant daughter she held for the first time, had to separate the mother and child.

And that was absolutely the right thing to do.

She was constantly plotting to pour her hatred onto her own daughter and kill her.

Then she tried to get pregnant again quickly.

But…

Dang Gajoo, already thoroughly disgusted with her, refused to give her even the chance to have another child.

Her ambition to become the next Tang family head’s mother was completely shattered.

All that remained for her now was hatred.

Hatred for the other wives who bore the son she could not have, hatred for those sons, hatred for the husband who no longer sought her out, and above all, hatred for the daughter she believed was the cause of it all.

Thus, Dang Yeo-eun’s childhood was filled with memories of a mother who hated and cursed her.

And the Dang family was not a warm enough place for a daughter abandoned by her mother to grow up with a healthy mind.

Dang Ye-eun always strove to be a good and outstanding child.

She instinctively knew that if she didn’t, she would be forgotten, ignored by everyone.

She wanted attention.

She wanted to be loved.

She wanted to experience the affection that other children received simply because they were children.

But within the confines of the Dang family, it was impossible, no matter how outstanding she was.

From the outside, the Dangga appeared to be a family bound by blood, but in reality, it was a world of survival of the fittest, fiercer than anywhere else.

The reason Dang Yeo-eun abandoned her assassination skills and poison arts to focus on the sword was partly because wielding a sword felt far more satisfying than throwing daggers. But above all, it was because she realized that even if she excelled in assassination or poison, it would be utterly useless.

So when she was told to go to the front lines one day, she wasn’t surprised at all.

He had always expected to be the one sent.

With the label of being a direct descendant yet possessing a status worse than even the collateral branches, she was the perfect scapegoat to be discarded while making a show of it.

He didn’t care if he died on the front lines.

He had no reason to keep living anyway.

Nor did she believe she was a person worthy of continuing to live.

But her life, which she had come to the front lines with that spirit of complete surrender, changed completely.

She already knew her face was quite pretty.

It was only natural, having taken after her mother, once called the most beautiful woman in Sicheon.

But she had never once been grateful for that resemblance to her mother.

Instead, every time she looked in the mirror, it felt like her own face was cursing her, causing nothing but pain.

That’s how it had been.

That’s how it was, but when she came to the front lines, everyone praised and admired her looks.

It was a reaction she had never received at the Tang family.

The same was true of her swordsmanship.

Before coming to the front lines, she had already reached the pinnacle of her skill, yet only her father, the head of the family, had ever offered her perfunctory praise. No one else had ever paid it any mind.

After all, at the Sicheon Dangmen, anything that wasn’t shadow arts or poison arts wasn’t considered worthy of evaluation.

There were warriors skilled in swordsmanship, but they were all mercenaries hired from outside.

But here, it was different.

Here, what mattered most wasn’t what you had learned, but how deeply you had mastered it, and thus how effectively you could deal with the demons.

Thus, having already reached her peak in her twenties, she naturally commanded respect as the finest swordswoman.

All of this felt utterly foreign to her.

She didn’t believe she was worthy of such treatment.

And that made her afraid.

At some point, she was terrified that people would discover her true self—the self that should never have been born, the self that deserved to be hated.

So she never opened her heart to anyone.

She merely played the role of the strong, cold-hearted Dangga Geombong that they saw.

And she had resolved to live that way forever.

That was how it was.

That’s how it was…

But as she drank the warm tea placed in the training hall each morning, a thought began to take root.

Could it be that this person, rather than Dang Ga-geombong, might actually love Dang Yeo-eun—that girl who deserved to be hated?

I feared I might be mistaking the warmth of the tea for warmth in my heart, but still, I wanted to believe just once.

That there might be someone in this world who truly loved her for who she was…

So today, as Dang Ye-eun sipped her tea while thinking of Myeong Sa-hyeon, that thought suddenly came to her.

‘Wouldn’t it be okay now, just once, to tell him directly that I’m grateful, that I’ve always been grateful?’

Expressing her feelings in words was terrifying, but couldn’t she find the courage to do it for someone who had watched over her without fail for years?

That thought, you see.

And after finishing her training, she returned to her lodgings and resolved.

It might just be another empty promise this time too,

she would at least try.

She would tell him.

But as Dang Yeo-eun walked back to the lodgings, her resolve firm, she froze in place, utterly startled.

Myeong Sahyeon stood before the lodgings, his face set in a rigid expression.

“Deputy Chief?”

She had resolved to tell him herself, but wasn’t this too soon?

Her mouth felt shut tight, and she couldn’t get the words out.

Then, with an expression unusually stern, Myeong Sahyeon spoke to her.

“Team Leader, I need to talk to you. Come with me.”

Flustered, she nodded frantically.

“Huh? Yeah, uh, sure.”

Myeong Sahyeon began leading Dang Yeo-eun into the forest.

It seemed he was heading somewhere secluded.

Dang Ye-eun’s heart was pounding harder and harder.

Come to think of it, it probably was better to talk to him somewhere without people around.

Myeong Sahyeon was acting unusually, which was a bit strange, but it also made her anticipate what might happen even more.

Perhaps, today he would tell me…

And just as she was following him deeper into the woods…

Myeong Sahyeon, who had been walking ahead, suddenly stopped in his tracks.

Startled, Dang Ye-eun asked.

“Why, why? Deputy Chief, why here…?!

But when Dang Yeo-eun saw Myeong Sahyeon’s face, she couldn’t continue speaking.

His face was contorted in agony.

With his horribly contorted face, he barely managed to utter,

“No… don’t. Leader, if you follow me…”

“Huh? Deputy Chief, what’s wrong? Why?”

Then, in an instant, Myeong Sahyeon’s face became expressionless again, and he spoke stiffly.

“It’s nothing. Come with me, Captain.”

At that moment, a sudden thought struck Dang Yeo-eun like a bolt of lightning, causing her body to tremble violently.

She had recalled something too horrific, something she didn’t even want to imagine.

Her face blank with shock, she called out to him.

“Deputy Chief?”

But he still spoke with a stern expression.

“Let’s go. I have somewhere to take you.”

Tears suddenly streamed down Dang Yeo-eun’s face.

He wasn’t the Myeong Sahyeon she knew.

She muttered, her face blank.

“No. No, this can’t be. Sahyeon, please.”

Myeong Sahyeon then roughly grabbed Dang Ye-eun’s arm and said mechanically.

“Let’s go. I have somewhere to take you.”

Dang Ye-eun shook her head blankly, her face dazed.

The Myeong Sahyeon she knew wasn’t the kind of person who would only talk about his own business while she was crying.

Nor was he someone who would treat her so roughly like this.

Dang Yeo-eun had to admit it now.

That he… wasn’t Myeong Sahyeon…

Realizing Myeong Sahyeon had been possessed, Dang Yeo-eun now grabbed his arm, shaking him violently as she screamed.

“Sahyeon! Snap out of it! No! You can come back! You can come back! Snap out of it, now!”

Myeong Sahyeon’s face twisted painfully once more.

A face twisted in agony and eyes filled with desperate pleading.

He spoke with great effort.

“Kill me… before I harm you…”

The strength drained completely from his body.

To kill him.

I’d only just begun to trust someone.

Now I couldn’t imagine myself without him.

And yet, she was being told to kill him.

It felt like my heart was being torn out.

Dang Yeo-eun finally burst into tears.

Tears streaming down her face, she shook her head.

“No. No! Don’t do this! Don’t say that. Don’t leave my side, please!”

Then, Myeong Sahyeon, his face contorted, let out a bloodcurdling scream and drew his sword.

“Aaaaaah!”

Clang!

“Sahyeon!”

Even as Myeong Sahyeon raised his sword with a terrifying expression, Dang Yeo-eun couldn’t defend herself.

She couldn’t bring herself to aim her sword at him.

She could only cry like a child and call out his name.

“Sahyeon! Sahyeon!”

Then, Myeong Sahyeon, who had been holding his sword aloft, finally brought it down with all his might.

Thud!

“Gurgle!!”

Dang Yeo-eun’s eyes went blank.

Myeong Sahyeon’s sword had pierced not her, but his own heart.

“M-Myeong-sa-hyeon!”

Dang Ye-eun cried out his name like a scream, rushing forward to embrace him as he collapsed, powerless.

“No! No! Noooooo!”

Myeong Sahyeon, the sword still embedded in his heart, now in her arms, finally showed his usual smile.

With his blood-soaked hand, he gently touched her cheek and whispered.

“I’m sorry… Hao… Love…”

Then his limp hand dropped down.

“Nooooooooo!”

Holding Myeong Sahyeon, Dang Yeo-eun screamed in agony. The Thirteen Guardians, who had rushed over upon hearing the loud cry, could only stand around in a daze, watching helplessly.

No one could say a word.

Myeong Sahyeon, a man whose cheerful and easygoing nature had earned him the affection of many on the front lines, and who had been like the first salvation to come into Dang Yeo-eun’s life, breathed his last like this.

Coincidentally, his suicide occurred around the same time as the discovery of Mae Ye-gyeong’s body.