West
"They say people never truly change."
Why did I only come to understand those words after a blade had been driven into my back?
Thud!
The sword pierced straight through.
"Ghk!"
A fountain of blood erupted.
I sneered at the empty, meaningless end that was rushing toward me.
I had devoted my entire life to the clan.
And the reward I received—
was a blade run through my back.
'Is this all that loyalty is worth?'
My past life flashed before my eyes.
Nameless (Anonymous).A man without a name.
Taken in by the head of the Cheon Clan, I was called Nameless instead of being given a true name.
"Protect this child. That is the reason for your life."
Nameless trained relentlessly.
All of it was for one purpose—to become the bodyguard of the Cheon Clan's eldest young master, Cheon Mu-ryang.
'Why didn't I realize back then that he was such a monster?'
Cheon Mu-ryang was a brute.
The clan head did nothing but harshly pressure the wayward Mu-ryang.
Perhaps out of resentment toward that pressure,
Mu-ryang became a brute.
Even after becoming the clan head, that nature never changed.
'Clan Head, are you watching? You should have abandoned that brute instead…'
Even by the time Nameless became his bodyguard, it was already too late.
Mu-ryang's depravity had long since taken shape.
At first, it was bearable—
because the clan head was still alive.
Then, suddenly, the clan head died.
'After that, Cheon Mu-ryang became the clan head…'
Amid great chaos, Mu-ryang ascended to power.
But nothing changed.
The clan's fortunes declined rapidly, and those who had devoted their loyalty to the Cheon Clan were all driven out.
In the end, only flattering jackals remained.
'If only I had left back then…'
I should have left.
And yet, Nameless stayed by Mu-ryang's side.
He tried, somehow, to support the collapsing Cheon Clan.
But there was very little he could do.
In the midst of it all, Mu-ryang made an irreversible choice.
'He brought in the Demonic Cult.'
Even now, I didn't know why.
But Cheon Mu-ryang joined hands with them.
'It was something that should never have been done.'
By the time Nameless realized it, the Demonic Cult had already revealed its true colors.
In an instant, the Cheon Clan was engulfed in flames.
The clan he had sworn to protect all his life was wiped out so meaninglessly.
"So this is the reward for devotion… this sword."
The flash of memories ended.
Time resumed its flow.
Clang.
The sword fell to the ground.
When I turned my head to see who had stabbed me, a hollow laugh escaped me.
Tremble. Tremble.
There stood Cheon Mu-ryang, the trembling head of the Cheon Clan.
"I did everything to save you, Young Master… yet it's you who kills me. Was it that if you brought my head, they'd spare you?"
I understood.
He wanted to live.
And yet, I couldn't understand him.
Nameless smiled coldly.
"You thought that was how you'd survive?"
If you truly wanted to live,
you should never have brought them in.
"You were wrong."
Cheon Mu-ryang didn't know.
To them, all of this was nothing but entertainment.
Slash.
Cheon Mu-ryang's head fell.
It was an inevitable end.
The demise of the eldest young master I had tried so desperately to protect was utterly pathetic.
"I was foolish."
I sneered.
That mockery was directed entirely at myself.
"From the very beginning…"
I should never have served that young master.
Hack!
I spat out a mouthful of blood.
Perhaps even my blood had died—there was not a trace of red, only pitch-black liquid.
"No… who is there left to blame?"
At this point, whom could I accuse, whom could I resent?
"I only have regrets."
Because I never realized my lofty ambitions.
Because I never fulfilled my dream of standing tall as a master of the martial world.
And because I regretted the deaths of the innocent people who would perish here today.
Surrounded by black shadows closing in, Nameless gave one final sneer.
"In my next life, I don't want to be born nameless again."
Thud!
Dozens of swords pierced through him.
Drip.
Blood flowed.
And so, the man without a name died.
Chapter 1: Reincarnation
'Cold.'
Death was cold.
I thought that was the end.
Trickle, trickle.
But suddenly, I heard the sound of running water—and felt something cold against my feet.
"Ah! That's cold!"
I opened my eyes.
This didn't seem like the afterlife.
"Am I… alive?"
The sword through my back.
The sensation of dozens of blades piercing my flesh and stealing my life—
it was still vivid.
Then what was this ticklish feeling?
"Y-Young Master?"
A strange voice came from below.
I instinctively looked down.
A young maid was massaging my feet.
"W-What?!"
"W-Why are you reacting like that? I-I'm sorry! Young Master!"
"N-No, it's nothing. I just felt a little dizzy…"
I quickly calmed my racing heart.
'It doesn't feel unfamiliar.'
Even my voice didn't feel strange.
And the maid washing my feet—she was someone Nameless definitely knew.
"Aren't you Wol-young?"
"Yes, Young Master. That's right. If I've done anything wrong, please forgive me."
Wol-young was the maid who served the eldest young master.
And she was also the child who was constantly abused by him.
Tremble.
Though she tried to speak calmly, her shaking hands betrayed her fear.
Seeing this, Nameless felt a sense of unease.
'She's different from the Wol-young I remember.'
The Wol-young in his memories was as cold as ice.
No matter how much she was mistreated, she never showed emotion.
'She's still young.'
Right now, she was nothing more than a frightened young maid.
Her fear was unmistakable.
'What on earth is going on?'
Nameless asked her,
"Then why do you call me Young Master? Where is Young Master Cheon Mu-ryang?"
"Huh?"
The fear vanished in an instant, replaced by confusion.
"Y-You are Young Master Cheon Mu-ryang, aren't you?"
"W-What did you say?"
Nameless instinctively looked at the basin beside his feet.
Reflected in the water was the face of Cheon Mu-ryang—the coward who had stabbed him.
"T-This is impossible…!"
It couldn't be.
I tried to dismiss it as a dream, but I knew better than anyone that this was real.
"Wol-young."
"Yes?"
"How old am I?"
"You are fifteen this year—jihak."
"…I see."
Fifteen.
On the day Nameless died, Cheon Mu-ryang was only thirty.
That meant—
I had gone back fifteen years.
'This makes no sense. How could I have become the eldest young master?'
And yet, reality was undeniable.
So I asked,
"One more thing."
"Yes?"
"Is there anyone in the clan known as Nameless (Anonymous)?"
Wol-young thought for a moment.
No matter how she searched her memory, such a name didn't exist.
"No. There isn't."
"I see…"
My existence had vanished.
A strange feeling washed over me.
'I became Cheon Mu-ryang… and because of that, I—Nameless—disappeared?'
A hollow laugh escaped me.
'I did say I didn't want to be born nameless again… but still.'
To be reincarnated as the very lord I once served—
what kind of irony was this?
Crunch.
Cheon Mu-ryang clenched his teeth.
The life Nameless had lived was far too vivid to dismiss as a dream.
In the future that awaited, the one who would lead the Cheon Clan to ruin was Cheon Mu-ryang himself.
'I couldn't stop it.'
Nameless hadn't been able to stop it.
The chilling sensation of death was still burned into his mind.
'Yes… maybe this is a chance.'
A chance to fix the Cheon Clan that Cheon Mu-ryang had destroyed.
'I don't know why this happened. I don't know how. And it doesn't matter.'
No matter the reason.
No matter the principle behind this reincarnation.
It didn't matter.
'I will protect the Cheon Clan.'
That was both protecting himself—
and protecting Cheon Mu-ryang, the eldest young master whom Nameless had once sworn to guard.
'I must accept this.'
Nameless was dead.
And Nameless had to accept that he was now Cheon Mu-ryang.
'I am Cheon Mu-ryang.'
Thus, Nameless's consciousness became Cheon Mu-ryang.
Wol-young looked at him nervously and asked,
"Y-Young Master?"
"Yes, Wol-young."
Cheon Mu-ryang smiled at her.
She had suffered greatly under the brute that the eldest young master once was.
And yet, even at the moment of his death, she never left the clan.
Because he knew this, Cheon Mu-ryang trusted her.
"Let's get along well from now on."
He smiled and gently patted her shoulder as she stood there in bewilderment.
"…?"
Wol-young couldn't hide her confusion.
Before she could even compose her expression, Cheon Mu-ryang began thinking about what needed to be done immediately.
"What about my martial clothes?"
"Ah—here they are."
Wol-young opened the wardrobe.
Inside, neatly arranged, were crisp martial robes with sharp creases.
Seeing them, Cheon Mu-ryang clicked his tongue.
They looked as though they had never been worn.
"Tsk."
"Shall I prepare something more comfortable?"
"No. There's no need. From now on, I'll only wear these."
The Cheon Clan was a martial clan.
Martial robes should be everyday wear.
Cheon Mu-ryang then told the still-unadjusted Wol-young their destination.
"I'm going to the Cheon Mu-ryang Library."
"The Cheon Mu-ryang Library?"
"Yes. Is there a problem?"
"N-No! Of course not."
"And bring another set of martial clothes."
"Yes?"
"I plan to go to the training grounds after the library. It'd be good to have something to change into, wouldn't it?"
"Ah… yes!"
Wol-young nodded, remembering that other maids often carried spare martial robes.
"I'll prepare everything."
"Good. I'll leave it to you."
After Wol-young left,
Cheon Mu-ryang removed his clothes.
Then he examined his body.
"Hmmm…"
Cheon Mu-ryang had been born with a silver spoon in his mouth.
From the moment he was born, he had been fed not only body-refining treatments but all kinds of elixirs as well.
"That was the problem. For a wastrel like that eldest young master, it all became poison…."
Cheon Mu-ryang let out a bitter smile.
Despite being born into an environment blessed beyond measure for a martial artist, that foolish degenerate had kicked those blessings aside.
Whether it was elixirs or body-refinement, once one accepted external energies, they had to make them their own through relentless effort.
"I should have refined the elixirs' energies through cultivation. Because I didn't, I had to give up so many things."
Each elixir contained a different kind of energy.
Naturally, clashes between those energies were inevitable.
To prevent that, one had to dissolve the elixirs' energies through internal cultivation techniques. But since Cheon Mu-ryang had done no training at all, his body had begun to collapse from the inside.
"Hoo… So the signs were already there at such a young age. It must have been quite painful…."
After observing his own body—
The energies of multiple elixirs were clumped together, locked in a fierce struggle.
The backlash had already manifested.
His bloated flesh was proof of that.
"Tsk."
Perhaps his increasingly degenerate behavior as the days passed had been his way of trying to forget that pain.
"Eldest Young Master, I have no intention of living the same life as you."
He did not want to see the Cheon Clan fall.
Nor did he wish to meet a miserable end.
This was not merely his own problem.
'The countless people who died for the sake of the clan.'
Wolyoung was the same.
So many members of the Cheon Clan had had to die.
'I will protect them—including myself.'
To do that, he had to become strong.
Clench!
He wanted to become strong.
"So please do not think this is unjust. I am merely walking the path you were meant to walk in the first place."
Glance.
A sword entered Cheon Mu-ryang's field of vision.
The Heavenly Light Sword (sky light sword), bestowed upon the eldest young master of the Cheon Clan, was a famed blade.
Yet because of its owner, in his previous life it had been mocked as pearls on a pig's neck, and the sword itself had been harshly criticized.
"You too—don't be sad just because your master has changed."
Hwoooong!
Cheon Mu-ryang grasped the sword.
For the first time ever, a clear and pure resonant hum rang out.
The sword's will was conveyed to him.
"Thank you. First, I should tend to you."
Before heading to the Heavenly Dragon Library.
Cheon Mu-ryang first had to clean the Heavenly Light Sword, which had been left neglected for so long that it was covered in thick dust.
Then, wearing the restored Heavenly Light at his side, Cheon Mu-ryang stepped outside.
"Ah…."
Sunlight poured down.
A sensation he thought he would never feel again tickled Cheon Mu-ryang's skin.
"So I really have been reborn…."
There was no time to linger in sentiment.
Cheon Mu-ryang headed straight for the Heavenly Dragon Library.
"Young Master!"
Wolyoung was already there, waiting in front.
"Yes. Since only I can enter the library anyway, rest comfortably around here."
"What?"
Wolyoung's eyes widened.
She had thought the degenerate eldest young master had been strange since morning, but something really did seem different.
"Y-Young Master."
"Hm?"
"Perhaps… was yesterday's mushroom stir-fry not to your taste?"
In other words, had he eaten something wrong?
Cheon Mu-ryang shrugged.
"I don't know if you'll believe me, but it seems that mushroom stir-fry is the reason I was reborn."
"Yes?"
It only made less sense.
Leaving the confused Wolyoung behind, Cheon Mu-ryang tried to enter the Heavenly Dragon Library.
Clank!
That was, if not for the guards blocking his way.
"What is this?"
"Unauthorized individuals are not permitted to enter the Heavenly Dragon Library, Young Master."
"Do I lack the qualifications?"
"You do. The Clan Head revoked them. Have you forgotten?"
"Ah, is that so?"
Only then did he remember.
Since he had shown no intention of learning martial arts, the Clan Head had gone so far as to strip him of even the right to enter the Heavenly Dragon Library.
The intention had been for him to realize his mistakes and seek forgiveness—but how could a once-in-a-generation degenerate understand that?
'He probably just rejoiced and went drinking.'
Now that things were different, Cheon Mu-ryang decided he would first meet the Clan Head.
To ask for forgiveness, and to reclaim his right to enter the Heavenly Dragon Library.
"The Clan Head has gone out on external affairs."
"When will he return?"
"That, we do not know."
What could be done?
He wasn't in the clan.
Cheon Mu-ryang lightly praised the guards for their diligence.
"It can't be helped. Then, keep up the good work."
"..."
He pretended not to notice their slightly startled expressions.
'What—did they think I'd cause a scene?'
The stigma of being branded a degenerate was greater than he'd thought.
Cheon Mu-ryang approached Wolyoung.
"They say I lack the qualifications."
"Ah…."
Wolyoung quickly grasped the situation.
She assumed he would demand alcohol again and head back.
"Well, until the Clan Head returns, I'll train instead. I do know the basic martial arts, after all."
"Yes?"
The only martial arts ever permitted to him were the Cheon Clan's basic techniques.
Even that had been enough to qualify as a bodyguard for the eldest young master.
"Did you mishear? We're going to the training grounds. You're coming too."
"Ah—yes, yes!"
Wolyoung had no choice, so she hurried after Cheon Mu-ryang as he strode ahead.
'Please, let nothing happen….'
She hoped nothing would happen.
There were many training grounds within the Cheon Clan.
Originally, the one closest to the Heavenly Dragon Library had been reserved solely for Cheon Mu-ryang—but that privilege had also been revoked, and it had become a shared training ground.
Whoosh!
Whoosh, whoosh!
Countless trainees were swinging their swords, honing themselves.
Day and night, they immersed themselves in martial arts, aiming to become official warriors of the Cheon Clan.
To them, Cheon Mu-ryang was nothing more than the clan's eldest heir—a degenerate they did not wish to acknowledge as their lord.
"Is there any space?"
Hesitation.
As Cheon Mu-ryang, the infamous degenerate, appeared, everyone's movements froze for a moment.
All eyes focused on one spot.
Yet whether he noticed or not—
Cheon Mu-ryang took a place in the corner of the training ground.
"Sit there and rest."
"Ah, yes!"
Cheon Mu-ryang drew the Heavenly Light Sword from its scabbard, now fully cleaned.
"Mmm. As expected, a famed sword is different."
Compared to the cheap iron blade he had used in his previous life, it was incomparable.
"No more excuses about the sword being bad."
Clench!
He gripped the sword.
It wasn't the callus-covered body of his past life—his hands felt rough in a different way.
'Feeling the weight of a sword like this… how long has it been?'
A sword held in a new body.
It felt unfamiliar, yet somehow thrilling.
'I…'
Whooong!
A clear sky.
The Heavenly Light shot up toward the heavens.
'I can become strong.'
Filled with that desire, the Heavenly Light plunged straight down toward the earth.