When winter passes, spring comes.
The screams that had filled the air gradually began to fade. It was at that moment, with a heart full of trepidation, that Shin Sang-yong realized who was gripping his shoulder.
He was about to thrash about violently, but he stopped in his tracks.
“Hyung!”
The voice that rang out again was one he knew all too well. That familiarity helped clear the chaos in Shin Sang-yong’s mind, if only a little. He blinked a couple of times, and through his slightly calmed vision, he first saw Ahn Hyun, who had his hand on his shoulder. Next to him stood Lee Yoo-jung, her eyes filled with a fierce intensity.
“Ahn Hyun… Yoo-jung… You’re all alive…”
“Yes, hyung! You’re alive too. Thank goodness. Thank goodness…”
Shin Sang-yong’s voice, barely audible, was tinged with a hint of tears. The tension that had filled him moments ago drained away like the tide, replaced by a wave of relief. He felt as if his legs might give out at any moment and exhaled a shaky breath.
“Hyung! It’s perfect timing. Something big has happened. We desperately need your help.”
“Y-yes, something big indeed. Ah, we shouldn’t be standing around here. We need to move quickly…”
Shin Sang-yong nodded hastily but stopped when he saw Ahn Hyun shaking his head vigorously.
“No, hyung. That’s not it.”
“Huh? If that’s not it, then…”
Ahn Hyun’s urgent denial left Shin Sang-yong puzzled.
“We lost Sol. We have to find my sister.”
The relief that had just begun to settle in Shin Sang-yong’s heart vanished in an instant.
“What? You’re looking for Ahn Sol? What do you mean, all of a sudden?”
“Just as I said. We managed to rescue her, but during an enemy attack, we got separated. We’ve been searching, but we can’t find her anywhere.”
Though Ahn Hyun’s words were disjointed, Shin Sang-yong understood. And with that understanding came a wave of intense reluctance.
Simultaneously, an inexplicable anxiety washed over him, and his heart, which had just calmed, began to pound once more.
After the ‘Purification Wave,’ Ahn Hyun, Lee Yoo-jung, and Ahn Sol had managed to come together in a rather dramatic fashion.
Ahn Hyun and Lee Yoo-jung had met by chance as they joined a group of conscious survivors. As they moved, they gathered allies, and in the process, they managed to rescue Ahn Sol.
Up to that point, it seemed like a stroke of luck amidst misfortune.
But when they encountered an overwhelming enemy force, the group scattered, and in the chaos of their escape, Ahn Sol’s whereabouts became unknown. Ahn Hyun had asked the few who managed to escape with them to help find his sister, but they refused, leaving only the two of them to continue the search.
From Shin Sang-yong’s perspective, unaware of these details, Ahn Hyun’s request seemed unreasonable. Even if he had known, his thoughts might not have been different.
In a battlefield where death could come at any moment, Shin Sang-yong had been running solely to survive. Yet Ahn Hyun was suggesting they wander deeper into the battlefield instead of escaping together. It was like willingly sticking one’s head into a tiger’s mouth, a request he couldn’t possibly accept.
But…
“Hyung! Please help us. You will, right?”
Ahn Hyun’s eyes, peering out from beneath the ‘Helmet of Valor,’ silenced Shin Sang-yong. Those eyes held an unfounded trust that he would help. He shivered involuntarily. He should have said it was impossible, that he couldn’t do it, but meeting Ahn Hyun’s gaze, he found himself unable to speak.
Suddenly, a memory from the clan house surfaced in Shin Sang-yong’s mind.
‘Hehe. Sang-yong hyung, could you help me with something?’
‘Uh, help you?’
‘Yes! Su-hyun hyung gave me a task, but I’m not sure how to do it… You’ll help me, right?’
‘Haha. Of course, I’ll help you.’
The memory of that moment overlapped inexplicably with Ahn Hyun’s face.
In a moment of indecision, Shin Sang-yong glanced at Lee Yoo-jung. She had been silently watching them, her demeanor different from usual. Her signature headband was gone, and her eyes held a deep, blood-red hue. Faced with her intense presence, Shin Sang-yong lowered his head.
“Hyung? What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”
Despite the urgency of the situation, Ahn Hyun’s voice was filled with concern. But to Shin Sang-yong, it sounded like a demand for an immediate answer.
It was then.
“He’s hurt.”
Lee Yoo-jung finally spoke. Ahn Hyun, startled, let go of Shin Sang-yong and followed her pointing finger with his eyes.
“Gasp. Your thigh…!”
“With this… it might be a bit difficult.”
Lee Yoo-jung’s words, suggesting difficulty, carried numerous implications. Ahn Hyun’s face darkened rapidly, while Shin Sang-yong, seeing a potential way out, lifted his head again.
“Hyung… with an injury like this… Doesn’t it hurt?”
“It’s just a little…”
“Sigh… What should we do…”
”…”
Ahn Hyun sighed deeply, biting his lip. Watching him, Shin Sang-yong swallowed hard.
Shin Sang-yong thought.
Now he had a valid excuse. With an injury like this, the kids would surely understand. No, he could use this as a reason to escape with them. If they stayed, they would surely die. So, they should move under the pretense of retreating and look for Ahn Sol later… It was a way to protect them.
After rationalizing his thoughts, Shin Sang-yong finally spoke.
“F-first, we should…”
“I can’t. I’ll have to find Sol on my own.”
But just as he was about to continue, Ahn Hyun interrupted with a determined look.
“With hyung’s condition… Wait, what?”
“I know. So, Yoo-jung, can you look after hyung for a bit? I’ll find Sol somehow.”
“Are you crazy? Don’t overdo it.”
“But we can’t just stay here. We could be discovered at any moment… And maybe we’ll find a healer while we’re at it…”
As the two argued, Shin Sang-yong watched them with a dazed expression. At the same time, he was filled with shame. Ahn Hyun genuinely cared for him, yet he felt guilty for betraying that sincerity.
It was then. As time slipped away in this deadlock with no resolution in sight.
“O-oppa!”
A sudden voice called out, and the three of them turned their heads in shock.
In the direction of the voice, four users stood.
There, as if in a dream, stood Ahn Sol, slowly closing the distance with a woman.
Thwack!
In an instant, a beautiful sword emitting a clear light sliced through the air like lightning. The tip of the sword gently pierced a man’s neck. The speed was so swift that his face barely registered surprise.
The man’s gaze slowly lowered.
”!”
And as he saw the sword embedded in his neck, he collapsed. The woman’s sword withdrew, and her long hair fluttered in the air.
Thud!
With the last enemy dispatched, a profound silence settled over the area.
Including the man who had just fallen, eleven bodies lay scattered on the ground. As the blood from their bodies began to form a single stream, the woman’s lips parted slightly.
“Let’s wait here for a moment.”
At her words, the five others, excluding the woman and Ahn Sol, quickly crouched down. They turned their backs to each other, keeping watch in all directions. The woman stood in the center, her sharp gaze scanning the surroundings.
“Um…”
“Focus. Just look ahead.”
Ahn Hyun turned slightly to speak to the woman, but her response was cold and dismissive. The unspoken reluctance in her demeanor made him turn back without a word.
He was curious about what had happened and how they had found them, but the woman allowed no questions. Perhaps it was for the best. Explanations could come later; survival was the priority now.
But as her brother, Ahn Hyun couldn’t help but glance at Ahn Sol. She stood in the center, shivering with a vacant expression.
Not long ago, Ahn Hyun had been in a difficult situation. Torn between the duty to find his lost sister and the need to care for the injured Shin Sang-yong, fortune had smiled on him once more.
Yet the joy of reunion was short-lived. Ahn Sol, upon seeing them, had burst into tears and continued to tremble ever since. It was as if she had suffered a severe shock.
Ahn Hyun thought. She didn’t seem to have lost her mind. After all, she had managed to say, “That unni saved me,” and had cast a simple healing spell on Shin Sang-yong. But her condition was far from normal, and he couldn’t shake his growing concern.
Ahn Hyun let out a sigh. As the woman had said, survival was the priority for now.
Since they began moving together, the woman’s abilities had been nothing short of extraordinary. She could sense enemies that were invisible to the rest of them, warning them in advance to avoid confrontation. And when they couldn’t avoid a fight, she single-handedly took down dozens of foes.
Watching her, Ahn Hyun couldn’t help but think she resembled Kim Soo-hyun. Ever since they met Shin Sang-yong, the surroundings had grown eerily quiet, filling him with a creeping sense of unease.
How much time had passed?
After a while, a faint sigh escaped from the woman standing in the center. Though it was barely audible, everyone heard it clearly, and their hearts collectively sank.
Finally, the woman spoke.
“Is there anyone here who hasn’t directly encountered the enemy on the way?”
Everyone exchanged puzzled glances. Most of them had faced at least one crisis, so they assumed no one would fit that description. But then, one person hesitantly raised a hand. It was Shin Sang-yong.
“I… I haven’t had a direct encounter.”
“Which direction did you come from?”
“I’m not sure. Every time I thought an enemy might appear, I quickly changed course…”
The woman fell silent after Shin Sang-yong’s explanation. Her previously calm face now bore a trace of worry. She turned to Ahn Sol with a hopeful expression.
“Priest, could you guide us like before?”
Her voice was much softer than when she spoke to Ahn Hyun. But Ahn Sol shook his head, and the woman turned away, disappointment etched on her face.
Finally, one of the users couldn’t hold back any longer and spoke up.
“Lady Swordmaster, aren’t we moving again?”
The Swordmaster looked at him blankly before shaking her head.
“We can’t move. We’re surrounded by enemies.”
The user’s face turned ashen at her response.
“But we don’t see any enemies now… Could we have just passed them by?”
“Perhaps. Or maybe we were just lucky. Though I’m not sure if ‘lucky’ is the right word… It feels like we’re caught in the eye of a storm.”
”?”
Sensing their confusion, Nam Da-eun glanced to the right.
“We did pass them, but I don’t understand why they let us. It’s puzzling.”
The Swordmaster paused, then looked to the left before continuing.
“I sense a much more dangerous presence from that direction. The enemy is definitely approaching.”
”…….”
“Anyway, I don’t know everything. Just think of it as being in the eye of a storm that could disappear at any moment.”
A few quick-thinking users let out a collective “Ah,” finally grasping the gravity of their situation. They had survived the initial attack by sheer luck, but they weren’t truly safe.
“So, are we surrounded?”
“Not intentionally, but yes.”
“And if this continues…?”
“We die.”
The Swordmaster’s answer was blunt. At that moment, Ahn Sol began to cry softly.
“Brother… Soo-hyun… Brother…”
Her sorrowful sobs echoed, but no one tried to stop her. They had barely survived, only to find themselves in danger again, leaving them feeling utterly drained.
The mercenary clan members were equally troubled. One name lingered in their minds.
If only the clan lord were here…
“Soo-hyun?”
Nam Da-eun’s head snapped up at the mention of the name amidst Ahn Sol’s sobs.
“Yes.”
Shin Sang-yong replied from beside her, but Nam Da-eun kept her gaze fixed on Ahn Sol.
“Are you talking about User Kim Soo-hyun?”
“If you mean the Mercenary Lord, then yes. He’s our clan lord.”
Nam Da-eun’s eyes widened, and she turned to look at Shin Sang-yong.
Just then.
”!”
Nam Da-eun sensed a group moving toward them and quickly turned her head. After staring straight ahead for a moment, she spoke quietly.
“The enemies are approaching.”
Ahn Sol stopped crying at her words, but it was already too late.
“It seems we can’t avoid them.”
---------------------------= Author’s Note ---------------------------=
To help readers understand the situation, I’ll take a moment to explain. (I tried including this in the story, but it became too lengthy, so I decided to remove it.)
Currently, Ahn Hyun, Ahn Sol, Shin Sang-yong, and Lee Yoo-jung are in the most dangerous part of the battlefield. They’re farthest from the defensive line and in the area with the highest concentration of enemies. Moreover, it’s a path frequented by the enemy’s leaders. That’s why the vanguard charged ahead to clear a safe path for the rear guard and the leaders.
In other words, the vanguard passed on the right, and the rear guard is slowly approaching from the left.
Enemies are spread out in front and behind them. This distribution is due to the scattered skirmishes, prompting the enemy to divide into multiple groups for suppression.
The seven of them were lucky to find themselves in a temporary blind spot.
Phew.
I won’t be logging into Joara until I finish the next chapter.