Chapter 268

A little while later, thanks to the Saint clearing away all the debris, we were finally able to find Jintaedo buried at the bottom of the canyon.

And to our surprise, discovering him was easier than we had expected. But when we saw his condition, we were all utterly shocked.

Before finding him, I had honestly thought that if I could just recognize his face, that would be enough.

He had already suffered severe injuries before being buried, rendering him immobile. Then, crushed under the immense weight of the rocks, I assumed by now he would be nothing but a mangled heap.

Yet, astonishingly, after clearing the rubble, he looked far more intact than I had imagined.

No, more than intact—he was still alive.

I couldn’t help but let out a bitter chuckle and said to him, “You’ve got some incredible vitality. Honestly, it’s admirable.”

He responded with a dry laugh. “Heh heh heh. I saw a gap beneath a big rock that fell on me, so I crawled under it. Stupid move. If I’d known I’d end up like this, I wouldn’t have gone in…”

His self-mocking words left me speechless.

From what I could see, his lower thighs were horribly crushed.

The gap under the rock he hid in wasn’t large enough to shield his lower body from the falling stones, so only his upper body was spared.

“On top of that, to survive only to see your face last… this has to be the worst choice I’ve ever made in my life.”

I didn’t respond to that either.

I just silently stared at his pale, almost paper-white face.

Blood was barely trickling from his crushed thigh and the shoulder injury inflicted by Makyeong.

He had already lost too much blood.

He was dying.

Only because he was a master of the Thirty-Six Stars of the World had he survived this long. Anyone else would have died multiple times over by now.

After a moment of silence, he suddenly spoke, asking me, “That child… is he really alive?”

I knew exactly who he meant.

He was referring to the offspring of Mado Yunsak’s woman.

I nodded.

“He’s alive.”

A bitter smile twisted his lips. “Foolish. To actually keep the enemy’s son alive.”

He clicked his lips a few times, as if wanting to say more but unable to.

I sighed and said, “I’ll make sure your Jinryong Sword Technique lives on through that child. If you have any last words for him, say them now. I’ll pass them along.”

His eyes dimmed slightly, but he smiled bitterly again.

“Foolish man.”

Then, staring emptily at the sky for a moment, he spoke again.

“I have nothing to say. Just… raise him like you did me. Not like a failure… like Inparang, like you.”

His voice grew weaker and smaller.

Slowly closing his eyes, he said, “Did you know? More than half of the Haenam faction… followed me. They were selfish scum who didn’t care what I did as long as their own interests were protected… You’ll have to rule over those kinds of people…”

His voice faltered, and with a final breath, he exhaled.

He was dead.

The tragic death of Hyo-woong, who had schemed to seize the leadership of the Haenam faction and dominate the Southern Sea, and Jintaedo, the Southern Sea Swordmaster.

I let out a deep sigh.

“Whoo…”

Until his last breath, he never realized I wasn’t Inparang.

Several times I considered telling him, but I couldn’t bring myself to reveal to a dying man that the person who killed him was actually someone unrelated.

He was certainly a man who deserved to die…

But somehow, I felt sorry for him in that one regard.

I sighed deeply once more.

“Whoo…”

I decided that this would be the last time I lived under someone else’s name.

Pretending to be another person and killing in their name felt like passing the weight of murder onto someone else.

If I had to take a life, I wanted to do it as Sunwoo Jin.

To bear that responsibility, to carry the grudges and revenge—that was something I had to own.

---

The Haenam faction arrived not long after the Southern Sea Saint Siseou and the Fukken Yongga members had left.

Those who came were Jaga Ja Gaechu of the Haenam Ja family, Jaga Yoo Haeung of the Haenam Yoo family, and the warriors of Haenam Inga and Haenam Sa families whom I had met before.

Honestly, I was a bit surprised.

They had come much sooner than I expected.

It felt like they had set out just a day or two after Jintaedo’s departure.

“Because Jintaedo took all the naval soldiers away, there weren’t many followers left in the Haenam faction. And those remaining, upon hearing the evidence you provided about the Hapsanpa and Baekgyobang, as well as Jintaedo’s past misdeeds, immediately gave up resistance. Right now, their captives are under the watchful eye of Jaga O Ikdeok of the Haenam Oga.”

Hyun Cheonggun, leader of the Haenam Inga warriors, spoke with tears in his eyes.

He had shown deep loyalty to Inparang before, and seeing me unharmed moved him to the brink of tears.

I couldn’t help but smile bitterly at his face.

It was time to reveal the truth.

I felt deeply sorry that I had to disappoint him and the other warriors.

But I couldn’t delay any longer.

They needed to know the truth.

Before Ja Gaechu, Yoo Haeung, Hyun Cheonggun, and Myaoran—who had somewhat recovered from her injuries—I unpacked my bag and took out the journal Inparang had left behind.

I handed it to them and said, “This is the journal of Inparang, Master In, and the secret manual of the Southern Cross Sword.”

“…What?”

“…?”

Everyone except Myaoran stared blankly, unable to grasp what I meant.

Myaoran sighed deeply beside them.

I bowed deeply and said, “I sincerely apologize for deceiving you all. I am not Inparang. I am Sunwoo Jin, acting as him to fulfill his final will.”

“What?!”

“W-What do you mean?!”

They looked at me in shock.

I began to explain in detail how I met Inparang and what had happened afterward.

The Haenam faction members listened silently, stunned.

“That’s how it happened. Even though I acted to fulfill Master In’s last wish, I know that deceiving you and recklessly mastering the Southern Cross Sword of the Haenam faction cannot be justified. I am truly sorry.”

After finishing, I bowed deeply again and looked up at their faces.

They were all stunned, still processing the shock.

Among them, the most devastated was naturally Hyun Cheonggun, leader of the Haenam Inga warriors.

He muttered in disbelief, “Then, then Soju, Master In is…”

Tears suddenly streamed down his face.

The shock of discovering that the master he had finally found was a fake, and that the real master was already dead, was overwhelming.

“Soju, Soju! Ughhh!”

He collapsed to the ground, sobbing, and everyone else looked on with somber expressions.

My own face darkened with sorrow and guilt.

For a while, the only sound among the five of us was Hyun Cheonggun’s crying.

No one could bring themselves to speak.

After some time, Ja Gaechu sighed deeply and finally spoke.

“Whoo… Sunwoo… you say you are Master In? First, I must thank you. Thanks to you, we learned the truth about what happened ten years ago, and we were able to punish the villain Jintaedo who committed those crimes. We also recovered the Southern Cross Sword and White Tiger Sword, which we thought were lost forever. So there’s no need to apologize. Rather, I wonder how we can ever repay this debt…”

As he spoke, Yoo Haeung, head of the Haenam Yoo family, interrupted.

“I don’t think it’s something that can be so simply resolved.”

“Hm?”

Ja Gaechu looked at Yoo Haeung with a puzzled expression.

Yoo Haeung fixed me with a sharp gaze and said, “Regardless of the circumstances, an outsider has recklessly mastered the Haenam faction’s martial arts. That includes the Southern Cross Sword left by the former Sword King. Also, if you are not Inparang, then killing Jintaedo is problematic. No matter who Jintaedo was, an outsider killed the Haenam faction’s leader. So no matter what favors you’ve done, we cannot overlook these matters.”

Ja Gaechu looked flustered. “W-Well, that may be true, but, Jaga, interpreting it that way…”

Yoo Haeung looked at me gravely and asked, “I believe your apology earlier was because you were aware of this, yes?”

I didn’t answer immediately, just met his gaze silently.

From the moment I first saw him, his face had seemed as solid as a rock—and now it was as hard as stone.

I understood his concerns.

He was worried about exactly that.

Yoo Haeung was a man who could have opposed Jintaedo, the former leader of the Ja faction, if he thought it was unjust.

So he wouldn’t simply let things slide just because of gratitude.

Moreover, on the surface, his words did seem reasonable.

After all, it was understandable that outsiders recklessly learning another sect’s martial arts, or harming the sect leader, would warrant a death sentence from that sect.

It was at that moment that Myo Aran stepped in.

“Lord Yu’s words may sound plausible on the surface, but when you consider the sequence of events, they don’t hold up at all. The Southern Cross Sword technique would never have returned to the Haenam Sect if it weren’t for Master Sunwoo Gongja, and Jin Tae-do himself could never have become the sect leader if his misdeeds had been exposed earlier. If Master Sunwoo hadn’t intervened and Jin Tae-do had acted on his own will, what do you think would have happened by now? I believe Lord Yu’s argument is forced.”

Yu Hae-eung let out a heavy sigh, his expression grave.

“Hmm.”

At this, Ja Gae-chu nodded in agreement with Myo Aran’s words.

“I share Miss Myo’s view. As expected from the Divine Sword Peak, you’ve summarized the core issue well.”

Sunwoo Jin shot Myo Aran a grateful look.

He was well aware of the truth she spoke of, but he himself could not voice it.

There was a significant difference between hearing it from the person involved and hearing it from someone within the Haenam Sect.

Yu Hae-eung sighed again and said, “Miss Myo’s words are certainly correct. I too am deeply grateful to Master Sunwoo. But the fact remains that an outsider has mastered the Southern Cross Sword, the Haenam Sect’s greatest martial art. And now, there’s not a single rightful heir left in the Haenam family to pass it on, is there?”

At his words, Ja Gae-chu’s face darkened once more.

Yu Hae-eung’s point was undeniable.

Sunwoo Jin, an outsider, had mastered the Southern Cross Sword—the Haenam Sect’s most prestigious technique—yet within the sect, there was no one left who could legitimately inherit it.

And that wasn’t all.

While exposing Jin Tae-do’s misdeeds and punishing him was a good thing, the damage inflicted on the Haenam Sect was immense.

The Haenam Sect had now lost not only the Haenam family and the Haenam Temple but also the bloodline of the Haenam Jin family.

There was simply no other successor besides Jin Tae-do.

Moreover, if they held other faction leaders who had sided with Jin Tae-do accountable, the fate of their families was uncertain at best.

In the worst-case scenario, once this ordeal was over, only five of the twelve Haenam clans might remain.

For Ja Gae-chu, who had stood against Jin Tae-do for the sake of the sect, this was a devastating reality.

He sighed deeply, thinking to himself,

“Of course, I knew that such a crisis could arise if we fought Jin Tae-do…”

Until recently, he had thought it was a price worth paying.

Even if the sect suffered losses, finding the true successor of the Haenam Sect was a greater gain.

But now, in this moment, he realized that belief had been nothing but an illusion.

It was deeply disappointing.

Then, Myo Aran spoke again.

“I have a solution in mind for this problem. Would you like to hear it?”

The others looked at her with puzzled expressions.

In the midst of all this chaos, the idea that there could be a solution was hard to imagine.

Myo Aran’s eyes sparkled as she looked at Sunwoo Jin and began to speak.

Sunwoo Jin felt that her gaze carried a weight of meaning he couldn’t quite place.