Episode 687
Chapter 176. Fate for Two (1)

Night.

After the executives of Kinzel, including Zephyrin, had left, only Hedoh and Sandra remained as visitors at Tikan’s place.

But now, they were no longer guests—they had to become comrades.

That was the safest way for Hedoh to protect Sandra.

Huu—

Thick smoke billowed into the moonlit night sky.

Though Hedoh was smoking the finest Mila Mountain premium Songyeon gifted by Valkas, he no longer savored its usual rich aroma. Instead, all he tasted was bitterness and astringency.

Leaning against the balcony, Hedoh’s silhouette looked every bit like a troubled father lost in thought.

“Topji.”

Jin leaned against Hedoh’s side and called out softly.

Hedoh didn’t answer right away, just exhaled smoke repeatedly.

Behind them, the warm orange glow and the lively chatter of people drifted from the restaurant.

Sandra was there, mingling naturally with all their comrades except for Valeria, as she always did whenever she visited Tikan.

Hedoh rarely saw Sandra so excited and carefree back in Ziphl.

“What could be so amusing…” Hedoh muttered to himself, still staring up at the sky.

“Do you have many moments when you laugh and talk like that?” Jin asked.

“My nature isn’t as lively as Sandra’s. But when I rest, I do try to enjoy time with those close to me.”

“I see.”

“Does Sandra not show that side of herself much in Ziphl?”

“Since childhood, she’s never stayed happy for hours on end. The only time she was somewhat normal was when she occasionally hung out with Prince Veradin, back when he was still sane. She’d laugh, then get angry, then laugh again. You know how it is—she mostly acted like a madwoman. But since meeting you…”

Hedoh winced, recalling Sandra’s room plastered with newsletters, flyers, and trinkets all related to Jin, and her giggling over them.

“…She’s improved a bit… or maybe that’s not the right way to put it. She’s still strange, maybe even stranger. But since meeting you, she’s had moments of steady happiness like this.”

“Then joining Tikan must be better for Sandra.”

“If you’d seen her room, you wouldn’t say that so easily.”

“Room?”

“Forget you heard that.”

“But, Topji, what about you?”

“What do you mean?”

“Have you ever laughed and talked like that?”

“Never.”

Jin shrugged, surprised by the quick answer.

“Is that even possible?”

“Except for the lady, I don’t experience much emotional fluctuation. I’ve never had anyone by my side except her, and since meeting her, I’ve never known loneliness. So for me, it’s natural.”

Hedoh’s transcendent power, his modest reputation, his past with Siron, and his relationship with Sandra—all of it had piqued Jin’s curiosity since they first met in the Sota Desert.

He had a feeling this conversation might finally clear up some of those questions.

“Now that I think about it, you’re the first to ask me something like this since the lady came into my life.”

“We’re going to be family, after all. We should know each other’s personalities.”

“Family, huh? I don’t recall giving you a definite answer yet.”

A night breeze swept between them and vanished.

Jin gestured toward the liquor and glasses beside the ashtray.

“I set out two glasses, so I assumed you’d already decided. Pour me a drink.”

They didn’t toast.

The two drank five shots in silence.

Jin waited patiently, while Hedoh reflected on his past.

When Hedoh finally spoke again, the first name he mentioned caught Jin completely off guard.

“Have you ever met Vanessa Olson, the former Black Knight?”

“I have.”

“I was the same kind as her.”

“The same kind…?”

“I was born a monster. Even if I just breathed quietly, trouble found me.”

In his youth, Hedoh had once crossed swords with Vanessa in the Black Sea.

Though he never heard the full story, he knew that most of the former Black Knights, including Vanessa, were born with monstrous fates.

Jin immediately understood what Hedoh meant.

“I realized this around age eight. The orphanage director’s daily beatings started to bother me, so I threw a punch without thinking. Bang! His wrist snapped. He was a warrior of about third rank.”

“Hmm.”

“The director fell, and his sword swung reflexively but only grazed me. I didn’t intend to kill him, but when I blocked the blade with my hand, it broke and bounced back, piercing his neck.”

“You must have been shocked at such a young age.”

“Not really.”

“Because he was a man who deserved to die?”

“Looking back, yes, but at the time, I just didn’t think much. I thought, ‘Ah, this is going to be troublesome.’ That was about it. I didn’t even feel that killing was wrong. It stayed that way for a long time.”

Accidents and running away.

Until he was fourteen, that was Hedoh’s entire life.

At first, he caused trouble unintentionally; later, he just dealt with those who bothered him and moved on.

“So many people picked fights with me, probably because of my unusually large frame and stiff attitude.”

Jin listened with interest, sipping his drink.

“You’d think you’d have a bounty on your head.”

“I stayed at the bottom of society, so I didn’t harm any powerful figures or famous warriors. Being so young, I naturally avoided suspicion. In fact, after wiping out a few bandit groups and hiding, a lord once came looking to reward me.”

“You went to see him?”

“He came to me. I was about to leave, thinking it’d be a hassle, but he found the abandoned house I was staying in. When I refused to come down, a fight broke out.”

“How old were you then?”

“Twelve or thirteen—I can’t remember. The lord brought about fifty soldiers…”

“Fifty against a twelve- or thirteen-year-old?”

“My size probably made it look like there were more.”

“Still, that must have caused a stir. Even if it was an order, did no one hesitate to attack a child?”

“What surprised me more was that even after the first soldier’s neck was twisted and he died, the others kept fighting me like demons.”

“That’s not surprising—it’s just cruel beyond understanding.”

“There are crueller things in this world. Anyway, among them was a trained knight. The lord’s men trusted him despite my strength and charged.”

Young Hedoh faced him and, for the first time, felt the allure of the sword.

“You’ve probably felt it too—the feeling that those who came to kill you look like nothing but wild dogs. I killed the lord and his men in an instant, and then faced him alone.”

He was the best knight in the territory but objectively average—nearly forty years old and still not a five-star warrior.

To him, young Hedoh looked like a monster or demon, not a person.

“There was blood and corpses everywhere, and I barely escaped death a few times. But what filled my mind wasn’t fear or terror—it was the desire to learn swordsmanship from him. When I asked, he made a strange face.”

“Understandable.”

“Then he steeled himself and muttered that he had to kill me here. If he didn’t, the village and the entire territory would be doomed.”

Of course, Hedoh didn’t understand his actions then, but now he did.

“He was resolved for the greater good. If it were now, he’d spare me, but back then, he had no choice. He was stronger than me, but still human.”

If that knight had defeated Hedoh, he wouldn’t be standing here now.

Jin’s expression grew somber as he listened to Hedoh’s words.

“When I killed him, I felt guilt for the first time. Somehow, I felt he wasn’t someone who should have died like that.”

Hedoh stared quietly at the Songyeon cigarette in his left hand, remembering the man.

Among the knight’s belongings was a pack of cigarettes.

He didn’t recall the knight’s face clearly.

Afterward, Hedoh took the sword and belongings and fled to another territory.

But similar incidents repeated wherever he went, and after acquiring the sword, he grew insanely fast.

He began training alone, replaying the knight’s moves and developing his own swordsmanship.

When pursuers came again, Hedoh realized something.

He was someone who could never fit into ordinary society.

“So I chose the Black Sea as my refuge.”

Hedoh downed the full glass of liquor.

“I entered the Black Sea alone when I was fifteen.”

“Did you never think to ask for help? To seek out a warrior family?”

“Do you think I was in a state to think rationally?”

Hedoh had never received proper education, and his body and mind were far from ordinary.

He had never learned to solve problems by any means other than violence.

If someone had taught him, he might have tried to find a warrior family or someone to pull him out.

But having come to his own realization, he just wanted to go somewhere without people.

“The Black Sea was said to be empty of people, filled only with monsters, so it seemed like the perfect place to train with a sword. And from my own experience, it truly was the ideal refuge. No matter how many beasts I killed, it never caused any trouble, and with every one I slayed, I only grew stronger.”

“So, could it be… that your reputation never spread because you stayed in the Black Sea all that time?”

“Just like Vanessa Olson became known early on as Sir Siron’s knight, I was the opposite. I haven’t counted exactly, but I’ve spent well over twenty years in the Black Sea since then.”

Jin found himself momentarily at a loss for words. This was no man to lie.

A man who entered the Black Sea alone at fifteen and survived for more than two decades—whether that was even possible was one thing…

But more than that, his past had been unbearably harsh.

“Your father, too, met Sir Siron in the Black Sea.”