Chapter 221: One I’ll Never Forget

After confirming Yang Seonu’s death, Kim Muhyuk finally felt the tension leave him and all the strength drain from his body.

“Haaaa...”

He staggered, then sprawled flat on his back and let out a long breath.

He had crossed the boundary between life and death more times than he could count during that fight. Both his physical and mental reserves were utterly depleted. He could barely move a finger.

“Hahahaha.”

Kim Muhyuk let out a hollow laugh, closed his eyes for a moment, and reviewed the fight to the death one step at a time.

His opponent had been a villain worse than any beast, but he had also been incredibly strong and cunning.

Even though Kim Muhyuk had gone into the fight fully prepared, he had faced countless crises.

He had won in the end, but there had undoubtedly been moments when he had fallen short or made mistakes.

The outcome might have been different if he’d kept his head just a little longer. There were definitely moments when luck was on my side too...

Despite becoming a supreme master at an age that would have left anyone astonished, Kim Muhyuk did not let himself get carried away. Rather than settling for where he was, he searched for ways to improve.

His goal, after all, was to become the Strongest in the World. Yang Seonu was merely the weakest of the supreme masters he would have to defeat along the way.

“...Still, I’ve taken another step closer.”

Kim Muhyuk opened his eyes and looked up at the sky with a broad smile.

The fight had begun around sunset and had not ended until dawn.

Stars glittered across the pitch-black sky.

“Someday, I’ll be able to reach you, won’t I?”

Kim Muhyuk stretched a hand toward the heavens that had once seemed impossibly distant.

Now, they felt just a little closer.

The Strongest in the World.

Reaching toward the star shining at the very highest point in the sky, Kim Muhyuk closed his hand around it and smiled with anticipation.

“Wait for me. I’m coming to meet you.”

He slowly rose to his feet and returned to the base camp without sparing Yang Seonu’s corpse another glance.

“Muhyuk!”

Choi Geon had been waiting for his disciple with his hands clasped behind his back, anxiety written across his face.

He had flinched several times at the collisions of qi waves coming from the other side of the island.

The moment he spotted Kim Muhyuk, he rushed over, supported him, and examined his injuries.

“Are you badly hurt? What about internal injuries?”

Choi Geon did not ask a single question about Yang Seonu.

Just as he had never shown any curiosity about the countless villains who had died by his own hand.

Kim Muhyuk pulled a miserable face and shamelessly played up his injuries in front of his master.

“Ugh. I’m in so much pain I could die. I can barely find a spot on my body that isn’t bleeding.”

“That is reassuring. Judging by how lively your mouth is, you must be in better shape than you look.”

“...I really am hurt, though.”

Choi Geon carefully applied medicine to every one of his disciple’s wounds, then patted him on the shoulder and told him he had done well.

“My disciple became a supreme master at barely twenty. If people found out, they would line up at my door with fortunes in hand, begging me to take their children as disciples.”

Kim Muhyuk answered his master’s joke with one of his own.

“It wouldn’t be easy to become my junior. I’m terribly jealous, so I’d probably torment them by demanding a spar every day.”

“What did you say, you brat?”

Choi Geon lightly rapped him on the head and chuckled. Then his expression grew complicated as he looked his disciple in the eye.

“...Muhyuk. Thank you.”

Those few words contained a great many things.

Kim Muhyuk felt a swirl of emotions as he met his master’s gaze.

“Thank you, Master.”

In his previous life, an insignificant wandering martial artist had survived thanks to the swordsmanship left behind by a man known as the Sword Demon.

And in this life, the Sword Demon had accepted the suspicious boy who came looking for him and taught him with complete sincerity.

Without you, Master, I would never have become the person I am today.

Martial arts were not the only thing Kim Muhyuk had learned from his master.

He had learned the convictions a martial artist ought to hold and the path he ought to follow.

Had the person guiding him from beside him not been Choi Geon, the Sword Demon, Kim Muhyuk would have wandered in the darkness for far longer.

“You’ll keep coming with me wherever I go, won’t you?”

“Heh heh. Of course I will, you brat!”

Smiling with satisfaction, Choi Geon laid his disciple down on a sunbed at the base camp.

“I would like nothing more than to talk with you all night, but you are in a terrible state. Get some sleep first. The ship will be back tomorrow...”

The moment he heard that, Kim Muhyuk suddenly remembered something important.

“Everyone still hasn’t come back, right?”

There was no ship along the shore, so the crew members who had left to prepare the surprise apparently had yet to return.

Choi Geon frowned and nodded, sounding disappointed.

“They merely said they would return tomorrow. I cannot imagine what could be so urgent at a time like this...”

Fortunately, Choi Geon still did not seem to suspect a thing.

Kim Muhyuk gave an awkward laugh and made excuses on behalf of the others.

“Haha. Everyone’s busy. I’m sure it’s nothing serious...”

Choi Geon placed a thin blanket over his disciple as exhaustion rapidly overtook him.

“Get some sleep. Once your wounds have healed, we can have a drink to celebrate.”

“Wake me if I sleep too late. We should at least have breakfast together...”

Perhaps because he had finally relaxed completely beside his master, Kim Muhyuk’s eyes were already half closed. He did not last much longer before falling sound asleep.

Hrrrr...

Choi Geon gently stroked his sleeping disciple’s hair.

“You worked hard, my disciple.”

*****

By the time Kim Muhyuk awoke from his deep sleep, the sun had set again and the moon had risen into the night sky.

“Mmm...”

“Wow. You woke up with perfect timing.”

The first thing Kim Muhyuk saw when he opened his bleary eyes was Kim Bokja glaring at him.

She held a roll of bandages in one hand and wound ointment in the other.

“I was going to wait one more hour, then wake you by force if you still didn’t get up.”

“...Don’t tell me.”

Kim Muhyuk bolted upright and stared through the cabin window at the dark blue sea and deep night sky. He then turned to Kim Bokja with a trace of apprehension.

“Today’s still the day, right? You didn’t finish everything while I was asleep, did you?”

“We have some loyalty, you know. How could we hold the surprise without you?”

The Blue Wolves’ vice leader grinned, her eyes sparkling with anticipation.

It would not have been an exaggeration to say she had looked forward to this moment even more than Kim Muhyuk becoming a supreme master.

“Hwang Suksu is keeping him distracted right now. Since you’re awake, we’re starting immediately, okay?”

Kim Muhyuk hurriedly pulled on a zip-up hoodie lying nearby and nodded.

“I’ll head up too. Did you contact the other team?”

“Shin Kangheon and Jaechun have been standing by for hours, so don’t worry.”

The operation had already been planned out in advance, so there was no need for a lengthy discussion.

Kim Muhyuk left the cabin and went up onto the deck.

The first thing he saw was Hwang Suksu and Choi Geon competing at sea fishing.

“Wahahaha! I caught another one! Sir, your martial arts may be peerless, but your fishing is truly hopeless.”

“Hmph. What is so impressive about catching a few minnows? I will show you how to land a proper prize.”

“I could’ve sworn someone said the exact same thing a few hours ago.”

“You little...”

Hwang Suksu kept provoking Choi Geon with smug remarks. At this rate, Kim Muhyuk suspected he would soon get smacked.

Choi Geon was glaring at the sea fiercely enough to scare off every fish approaching the boat when he sensed Kim Muhyuk and turned around.

“Did you sleep well? Why did you not rest longer?”

“Ah, well...”

Just then, Kim Muhyuk spotted something like a tiny dot approaching in the distance.

He casually shifted his body to block Choi Geon’s view of it.

“I slept so long that I’m starving. Aren’t you hungry too, Master?”

“I am feeling somewhat peckish. There will hardly be anything suitable to eat on the return journey... Shall I slice this into sashimi?”

“Sir! That’s the fish I caught!”

The fish Hwang Suksu had caught had just begun to fall apart with astonishing speed in Choi Geon’s hands when—

Rattle, rattle, rattle...

The boat suddenly began making an ominous noise. With a hiss, smoke started rising from the stern.

“What is this?”

“What’s happening?”

“Did something break...?”

As everyone looked around in confusion, the captain emerged and awkwardly announced that the engine appeared to have died.

Kim Muhyuk immediately set the mood as though a disaster had occurred.

“What do we do? We still have a long way to go before we get back...”

Hwang Suksu clutched his hair with a frantic expression.

“This is driving me insane! I have an important deal tomorrow morning!”

Kim Bokja came up onto the deck as well and made a tearful scene.

“Are we stranded in the middle of the sea? Does that mean we’ll be stuck here for days?”

Choi Geon tried to calm the deeply agitated crew members.

“I am sure it is nothing serious, so settle down. They should be able to repair it soon. First, we should contact the Alliance...”

“I told you, the deal is only a few hours away! Everything’s ruined!”

“Cough, cough. If I can’t receive proper treatment at the hospital, my internal injuries might get worse...”

“I want to go home and take a proper shower! Waaaaah!”

Just as Choi Geon became more flustered by the crew’s theatrics than by the broken engine—

Hooooooooonk—

A ship came racing toward them from the distance.

It was a cruise ship large enough to carry well over a hundred passengers.

Choi Geon finally let out a breath of relief when he saw it.

“Fortunately, a ship is coming. Let us ask them for assistance.”

However, Choi Geon soon tilted his head as he sensed several familiar presences aboard the cruise ship.

“Hmm? The energies inside that ship feel strangely familiar...”

At that exact moment, fireworks launched from the cruise ship and burst brilliantly across the sky.

Boom, boom, boom! Boom-boom-boom-boom!

“Good heavens...?”

Choi Geon stared blankly at the sky as it filled with dazzling colors.

Then someone holding a microphone stepped to the front of the cruise ship.

[Ah, ah—can you hear me clearly?]

“Is that not Chanho?”

Choi Geon’s eyes widened as he stared at Kim Chanho.

Kim Muhyuk covered his face with one hand, overcome by a sudden sense of embarrassment.

His father had appeared in a party tuxedo complete with a bow tie.

[I’m Kim Chanho, your host for the evening! Now, without further ado, let us begin Master Choi Geon’s seventieth birthday celebration!]

“...Begin what?”

One of Choi Geon’s favorite old pop songs began playing from the cruise ship. At the same time, people started emerging from below deck.

“Masteeeer! Happy birthday!”

“Sir! Look over here!”

Shin Kangheon and Han Jaechun, who had gone ahead to the cruise ship under the excuse of having urgent business, unfurled banners to either side.

<Peerless Swordsman Choi Geon’s Seventieth Birthday Banquet!>

<We Sincerely Wish You a Happy Birthday!>

<May You Live a Long and Healthy Life!>

The banners, written in an unmistakably old-fashioned calligraphy font chosen to suit the disciple’s tastes, fluttered proudly in the sea breeze.

The guests who had come to celebrate Choi Geon’s birthday began appearing one by one.

“Sir, I sincerely wish you a happy birthday.”

“Hello, Grandpa! Happy birthday!”

Gu Hyeonwoo and his daughter, Gu Jiu, were there.

The two had been invited because of the bond they had formed on Jeju Island.

“Am I really allowed to be here? I’ve only met him once...”

“I told you, it’s fine. The more people there are to congratulate him, the better.”

“Hehe. Then I might eat as much as the Gluttony Anomaly...”

Jung Minhyun, a guest member of the Blue Wolves, was also present.

Park Jiyeon stayed beside the shy boy and looked after him as they came forward together.

“You ought to realize how blessed you are in your later years!”

“I’m more jealous of this birthday party than I am of you becoming a peerless master...”

Martial Alliance Leader Yeo Pilgeuk and his longtime friend No Gucheon had also taken time out of their busy schedules to attend the surprise birthday party.

And they were not the only ones.

Far more people than Choi Geon could ever have imagined were waiting for him aboard the ship.

“What in the world is all this...?”

Choi Geon still looked utterly bewildered even after transferring onto the cruise ship.

Everyone burst into laughter at the rare sight of him at a complete loss.

“You caused all this commotion merely for my birthday? Do none of you have anything better to do?”

A faint sheen of tears gathered in Choi Geon’s eyes. At the same time, an incredulous laugh escaped him, and his words came out unnecessarily gruff.

“Master.”

Choi Geon turned around.

At some point, Kim Muhyuk had appeared behind him holding a birthday cake.

“Do you have any idea how much thought we put into surprising you? Happy birthday, Master.”

“...”

Choi Geon’s eyes grew moist.

He looked at his disciple, then at the many people gathered around him, and broke into a radiant smile.

“This is the finest birthday I have ever had. I will never forget it for as long as I live.”