Possessing Nothing

Through the conversation with Denir, Lee Sungmin learned a number of things. The Apocalypse and the Apostles of the Apocalypse. That is to say, he would die. When Kim Jonghyun had said that, Lee Sungmin felt puzzled. He couldn’t understand who was trying to kill Kim Jonghyun. Likewise, it was the same thing that Mush had said that was difficult for Lee Sungmin to understand.

But now, he knew. What threatened Mush and Kim Jonghyun was the ‘Apostle of the End’. If so, what was the end? It was still an unresolved question. However, unlike in the past, when it was impossible to know what to do and how to solve it, the encounter with Denir gave Lee Sungmin a clear idea on what to do.

Envirus.

He didn’t know anyone with that name. A distorted fate that was unlike Lee Sungmin. Considering how wide Eria was, it was almost impossible to find a person by name. However, Lee Sungmin, a member of Erebrisa, was able to access information more easily than others.

‘The flow is changing because of me …‘

While leaving the suburbs, Lee Sungmin had complicated feelings. He had never paid much thought to it. He felt it was the case, but never thought anything that serious. After returning, Lee Sungmin recalled the past eight years he lived since returning to his 14 year-old self. The current Lee Sungmin had to be regarded as a completely different person, only sharing the same name as his previous life.

‘My existence here… Is it great enough to change the flow?’

He didn’t know. It was because he had never thought of it that way.

Lee Sungmin’s complicated thoughts continued as he settled into a room at a nearby inn. The thought continued toward Denir’s ‘trial’. He didn’t know what Denir’s trial was. Neither Denir nor Mush were clear about that. If only Denir hadn’t been so keen to get Lee Sungmin out of his house, he could have asked him more about it. It was a pity, but it was too late to think about it now.

He fell asleep with the day’s happenings turning in his mind. It was early in the morning when he woke up.

Master Sungha had died.

When he heard that on the first floor of the inn, Lee Sungmin doubted his ears, Lee Sungmin had just had a private conversation with the leader of the Volcanic Sect yesterday. Although Master Sungha was old, he was still in good spirits and his eyes were clear with vigor and vitality.

Such a man like Master Sungha died. Only one day had passed since their meeting.

“Is Ghost Blade really that strong?”

He could not get sick and die in half a day. Ghost Blade Dok Bejun … killed Master Sungha. While listening to the conversation on the first floor of the inn, Lee Sungmin could not help but feel confused.

Memories of his previous life flashed in front of him.

Lee Sungmin of the previous life was not in a great position. There was a limit to the experts that Lee Sungmin, a C-class mercenary, could encounter. He wasn’t actively collecting information in those days, so the only experts that Lee Sungmin knew of were those who were really ‘famous’.

Ghost Blade Dok Bejun murdered Master Sungha, the leader of the volcanic factions. This was a huge scoop that would spread through Eria like wildfire. However, Lee Sungmin had never heard of such a thing in his previous life. In his previous life, Master Sungha did not die. However, in this life, Master Sungha was dead.

Lee Sungmin approached the guests that were talking and asked what had happened.

Maybe it was because Lee Sungmin’s expression was cold and his mood was unusual, but they gave Lee Sungmin a candid account of the incident from last night.

Ghost Blade Dok Bejun crossed the entrance of the volcano late at night. They said that he secretly broke into the chambers of Master Sungha and forced him to awaken.

Master Sungha rebuked Dok Bejun’s rudeness and told him to leave, but Dok Bejun didn’t listen. Eventually, he launched the first move on Master Sungha, and the fight began with a sudden attack. They both dealt severe injuries on the other, turning it into a life-or-death situation, and in the end, Master Sung-ha was killed by Dok Bejun.

The Volcanic Sect’s warriors came too late. It was already over. Master Sungha’s body had already turned cold, and Dok Bejun had escaped from there.

‘Why?’

Lee Sungmin ran out of the inn. He questioned himself thoroughly. Dok Bejun of the previous life did not kill Master Sungha. Perhaps the past life’s Dok Bejun visited the volcano, but in the end, they did not get to meet each other, and he eventually gave up on fighting Master Sungha. Then, a year later, in the dungeon, he died at the hands of Wijihoyeon. That was the original flow of events.

But it changed. What Denir said was weighing down heavily on Lee Sungmin’s mind.

-You are a variable, changing the world with the memories of your previous life. What do you think it means?

-Your existence itself is messing with the flow of this world.

‘Was it because of me?’

His thoughts paused there. It was the only difference between the past and the present. The previous life’s Dok Bejun did not meet Lee Sungmin at the entrance of the volcano. Lee Sungmin met Dok Bejun yesterday. He met Dok Bejun and told him why Master Sungha refused to see him. Is that what triggered Dok Bejun?

If it was like that.

By chance, if it was really like that.

Then Lee Sungmin was responsible for what happened to Master Sungha.

The Volcanic Sect had no intention of forgiving Dok Bejun for the murder. From the moment that Dok Bejun escaped the volcano, they declared him as the public enemy of the sect. They had already sent out requests for many of Drimoor’s guilds to cooperate and were chasing him across both sky and sea.

Lee Sungmin couldn’t explain what he was feeling. He had never felt so much emotion like this in his life. He only knew it was a very unfamiliar feeling. When he came to his senses, Lee Sungmin found he was running.

According to what he heard at the inn, Dok Bejun was going north beyond the volcano. Master Sungha’s assault and murder did not exist in the past. That would mean that Dok Bejun had not intended for it to turn out like this. It wasn’t just because there is something there that Dok Bejun is heading to the north. He was also running away from the volcano.

The Shadowless technique was unleashed with all his strength, enabling him to pass through the northern gate almost instantly. He was completely out of breath, but he did not stop.

Taking responsibility.

It was a strange feeling. To Lee Sungmin, who was a mercenary, the only form of responsibility was ‘money’. If you accept a request and do not perform it, you must spit out the commission. That was the only sense of responsibility that Lee Sungmin had at the time. If so, what about now? Now that he died and came back to life, what did it mean?

Had he ever felt so responsible?

No. He had not. He hadn’t even been aware of such a thing. He never seemed to be in a situation where he had to be held accountable. Lee Sungmin’s eight years of life had only been focused on himself. He only left his reunion with Wijihoyeon for later without a clear purpose and had lived by inserting ‘things to do’ in the meantime.

He had never felt responsible for anything in a life like this. In fact, even if he felt like he should feel responsible now, he could not bring himself to do anything about it.

But, he could not sit still.

Because ‘he’ and Ghost Blade met, Master Sungha, who should not die, had died.

The existence of ‘him’ was distorting the original flow of time.

Not just now. The memories of the past eight years he had lived so far passed through his mind. There would undoubtedly be many people whose lives had deviated from their original path because of him. He couldn’t feel responsible for all of them. Yes, Lee Sungmin was selfish. He could only think of those people within his grasp.

So, he felt a sense of responsibility towards Dok Bejun. He felt responsible for things turning out this way. At the same time, he wanted to question Dok Bejun.

There was something that he wanted to ask.

“Stop.”

Five warriors blocked the path in front of Lee Sungmin, who ran to the volcano. All were Volcanic warriors with plum blossom patterns on their clothes.

“You can’t go beyond this point.”

“… Why is that?”

“After this point, a heavenly tribulation is set to take place. I don’t know who you are, but if you don’t want to get caught up in the commotion, find another way.”

“… Are you after Ghost Blade?”

Asked Lee Sungmin. The face of the Taoist who was speaking cooled down considerably at those words.

“That’s right.”

How should one go about doing this. Which action would be the right answer? Lee Sungmin silently looked at the masters. They saw Lee Sungmin not retreating and reached for the swords hanging at their waists.

Should he stay back like this? Just because he met the Dok Bejun… Is there anything that Lee Sungmin can do? No… what does ‘he’ want to do in the first place? Is he trying to save Dok Bejun? It is impossible. Dok Bejun had already killed Master Sungha. The volcano factions will exact their debts no matter what the costs. There is no room for the Dok Bejun to escape.

What ‘he’ wanted to do.

“… Please move out of my way.”

Lee Sungmin said in a low voice. At that phrase, one of the masters who was blocking Lee Sungmin drew out his sword. The sword slid out of his sheath with a hissing sound and revealed its pale luminous glow. Starting with him, five masters pulled out their swords in unison.

Lee Sungmin bit his lower lip and grabbed the spear from behind his back.

The masters rushed forward. The fastest to approach was their leader. Lee Sungmin had never experienced a Volcanic warrior’s swordsmanship. But that did not mean he was completely inexperienced. Jihak, who learned Shaolin’s seventy-two techniques, had reached the point of mastery, and Lee Sungmin had clashed with him every day for the past 4 years.

So he knew ‘swordsmanship’. Wielding a sword as a weapon. It meant to make use of it to be more versatile and powerful. In the end, the sword cannot be completely transcended.

This was called the Ran technique. You couldn’t use that technique. If you did so, you would cross a river that there was no coming back from. That’s why Lee Sungmin didn’t practice the old-fashioned martial arts.

In fact, there was no need to use it.

The five people that Lee Sungmin was dealing with. They were all disciples who had mastered volcanic swordsmanship, but that didn’t mean they were all brilliant geniuses. They were a little younger than Lee Sungmin, and their skills were far behind his own. Hearing the sound of swords closing in from all sides, Lee Sungmin could feel the attack without seeing it.

Unlike Lee Sungmin, who aimed to suppress, the men who attacked Lee Sungmin were aiming to kill. Lee Sungmin felt a little conflicted about the situation. Maybe, if he had that ‘protection’ left. Could it have persuaded them?

He quickly discarded that thought. He didn’t want to lean on that, so he asked Grandmaster Bulyoung to get rid of it. The spear spun in Lee Sungmin’s hands, as he used it as a staff rather than a sword. The spear wielded by Lee Sungmin became a heavy blunt weapon and hit a master on the shoulder. He dropped his sword while screaming. Lee Sungmin immediately changed the target of the attack. Pavavak! The fast-paced spear caused all the masters to drop the swords they were holding.

“Enough!”

A cry ripped Lee Sungmin’s mind from it’s focus. He was so shocked that he dragged his foot back and subconsciously lifted the spear.

Kwaaang! With a tingling shock, Lee Sungmin’s body was greatly pushed back. It was a middle-aged man with a short beard who had stabbed towards Lee Sungmin at the same time he was storming in to attack. It was a good move to raise his spear and block it. His face distorted and he felt his guts getting crushed from the move.

The middle-aged Taoist who stormed in had about half as many skills as Lee Sungmin. Lee Sungmin willingly conceded and stared at the middle-aged Taoist. The Taoist who forced Lee Sungmin to step back glanced around at the young masters who were lying on the ground.

“… Who are you?”

Whether or not he recognized Lee Sungmin’s skills, the Taoist gave him some words. In fact, it was not only because he recognized his skills, but also because those who fell to Lee Sungmin were hardly hurt.

“… Ah… Lee Sungmin?”

It was at that moment that an unexpected voice was heard.

A face familiar to Lee Sungmin stood behind the middle-aged Taoist.

It was Kim Jonghyun.