Vol. 1 Chapter 1.6
by izza* * *
The unconscious body of Peng Dong-hu was promptly handed over to his retainers.
Though the retainers desperately wanted to protest the outcome of the duel, they completely lacked any logical ground. They had witnessed the entire sequence of events from start to finish with their own eyes. Capitalizing on the momentum, Hwangbo Jeong-gun issued a stern uncompromising order of expulsion, kicking them off the estate grounds.
Immediately following their departure, Hwangbo Jeong-gun moved with remarkable efficiency, drafting a formal missive to the Peng Clan that detailed the entire incident. Naturally, the letter included an official declaration that the engagement was null and void.
It was the very first action of Hwangbo Jeong-gun that actually earned Yeon’s respect. Then again, if he couldn’t even manage that much, he wouldn’t deserve to be the Head of the Hwangbo Clan.
Meanwhile, the mastermind behind the entire catastrophe…
“Man, beating that trash to a pulp really cleared my head!”
Yeon was currently sprawled out across her bed, rolling around in sheer satisfaction.
Curious if she had sustained any injuries, she inspected her knuckles, only to find a faint flush of blood beneath the skin. Despite lacking any proper calluses, her skin hadn’t torn or bled in the slightest. This body was durable down to its very marrow.
Honestly, it felt like she belonged to an entirely different species. It was a bizarre realization, considering they were both Asian.
Her skin looks so incredibly pale and delicate on the surface, yet it’s this sturdy…
Feeling the lingering, dull ache in her hands, reality finally began to sink in. This wasn’t a dream or a fleeting hallucination.
She had truly tumbled into a martial arts novel. She had no certainty regarding whether she was stuck here forever or if a way back to the modern world even existed.
Now that her deepest desire to experience a novel possession had actually been granted, a wave of helplessness washed over her. A delusion was just a delusion, even if she had landed in a romance fantasy world, the existential dread would have likely been exactly the same.
If I can never go back… am I supposed to just live out the rest of my days as Hwangbo Yeon?
Right at that moment, a familiar voice called out to her from beyond the doors.
“Yeon-ah may I come in for a moment?”
“Yes Father.”
It was Hwangbo Jeong-gun. As he opened the door and stepped inside, his expression was remarkably composed, a stark contrast to his earlier panic. He had clearly spent the last hour sorting through his thoughts.
“How is your body feeling?”
As he took a seat, the gaze he leveled at her was deep and solemn. Recognizing the heavy shift in the atmosphere, Yeon chose to play it safe and answered nonchalantly.
“I’m perfectly fine. Though I can’t say the same for Peng Dong-hu.”
“…Is that so? I am glad to hear it.”
An awkward silence settled between them.
The underlying reason for his visit was obvious. The man undoubtedly possessed a mountain of questions. However, because Yeon was also dealing with her own complex web of emotions, she uncharacteristically held her tongue.
Twitching his lips in hesitation, Hwangbo Jeong-gun finally forced the words out with great difficulty.
“Where did you learn those martial arts?”
“Martial arts?”
“Yes. The techniques you displayed when you fought Peng Dong-hu earlier.”
“Ah, that…”
Unable to look him in the eye and say, ‘Actually, it’s called boxing pops’ Yeon scrambled for a plausible excuse. Incorporating Hwangbo Yeon’s actual knowledge of martial arts, she subtly integrated a comment she had overheard from the crowd earlier.
“It’s just something I practiced on my own. I simply altered the form of the Five Elements Fist a little.”
“I see.”
Hwangbo Jeong-gun didn’t look entirely convinced but he didn’t openly voice his skepticism either. Instead, his index finger traced the corner of the side table, rubbing the wood until it practically wore thin.
He was trapped in a whirlwind of conflicting emotions, relieved that his daughter had risen from her deathbed, yet utterly bewildered by the stranger sitting before him. The girl was starkly different from the daughter he knew.
By all accounts, it would have been entirely natural for him to demand to know if she was truly his daughter. Yet, Hwangbo Jeong-gun never asked. Instead, he forced his rigid expression to relax, letting out a hollow chuckle.
“Haha. To my eyes, it seems our Yeon-ah has changed quite a bit. But then, you were bedridden for a very long time. I have heard of rare instances where a prolonged illness alters a person’s nature.”
He was desperately trying to rationalize her transformation, grasping at any excuse to accept her. Watching this fiercely doting father try so hard to protect his daughter’s dignity, Yeon felt her remaining reservations begin to thaw. Ultimately, overthinking was never her style.
Having made up her mind, she threw a direct question right at him.
“To be completely honest, I haven’t just changed a little. I’ve changed a lot.. haven’t I?”
Hwangbo Jeong-gun’s eyebrows twitched. He clearly hadn’t expected her to address the elephant in the room so bluntly.
“…That you have.”
A flicker of primal fear danced in the depths of his eyes. He was terrified that the beloved daughter he knew had vanished entirely.
However, Yeon had no intention of keeping him in suspense, nor did she want to spin a web of elaborate lies. Instead, drawing upon Hwangbo Yeon’s deepest, most vulnerable memories, she wanted to offer him a raw piece of truth.
The words she was about to speak were the exact words the original Hwangbo Yeon had never possessed the courage to say.
“Do you remember when I was a child?”
“Hmm?”
“I used to cry because I hated practicing martial arts so much. Back then, you told me that martial arts training was a necessity and that it was the only way I could ever protect myself.”
“Ah… you still remember that?”
It was a memory from a lifetime ago, a sacred piece of history shared exclusively between father and daughter. Hwangbo Yeon’s mother had passed away when she was just a toddler.
“You also told me that if I truly detested it that much, I could just stop. You promised that you would always be by my side to protect me.”
“……”
“Telling your own child to abandon martial arts… that is certainly not something the Head of a Great Martial Clan should ever say to his sole successor. I was too young to understand it back then, but as I grew older, I realized the staggering weight of the love behind those words.”
Compared to her father from the modern world, Hwangbo Jeong-gun was an extraordinary parent. In this single regard, Yeon actually felt a pang of envy toward the original owner of this body. Her biological father had never uttered a sentiment even remotely resembling unconditional warmth.
“That is precisely why I forced myself to keep training, day after day. Even when people mocked me behind my back, wondering why a girl who couldn’t even strike an opponent bothered to learn martial arts at all. Even knowing I might never break free from that ridicule, I kept going.”
In reality, the original Hwangbo Yeon had bled and wept in secret, desperately trying to overcome her fragile psychological barrier. But in this world, there are certain aspects of a person’s core nature that simply cannot be rewritten by sheer effort alone just as the modern Yeon could never force herself to live a passive, submissive life.
“Yeon-ah… I had no idea you carried such a heavy burden…”
Hwangbo Jeong-gun lowered his head, a tumultuous storm of emotions crashing through him at her unexpected confession. But Yeon’s next words caused him to snap his head back up instantly.
“There is no need to look so sorrowful, Father. Because from this moment on, everything changes.”
“What?”
“I refuse to live that way anymore.”
It was the exact phrase the original Hwangbo Yeon had screamed internally tens of thousands of times while practicing alone in the empty courtyard, drowning in her own tears. That resentful cry which encapsulated the entirety of her tragic repressed existence, finally found its voice through Yeon’s iron will.
Simultaneously, Yeon gained clarity regarding the path she had to walk.
If fate dictated that she must live out her days as Hwangbo Yeon, she would do it with conviction. This gentle, soft-hearted father and daughter had been destined for total annihilation simply because they were too kind for a ruthless world. She would tear that tragic script to shreds and rewrite their future entirely. That would be her ultimate compensation to the girl whose life she had inherited.
The moment that resolution solidified, the boundary separating Yeon and Hwangbo Yeon collapsed into nothingness.
Absorbing his daughter’s declaration, Hwangbo Jeong-gun gave a slow, deliberate nod.
“So that is your decision.”
His eyes grew heavily bloodshot as he fell into deep, silent contemplation. Finally, a gravelly, emotionally raw whisper broke through his lips.
“…….I understand completely. Thank you, Yeon-ah.”
He had omitted the vast majority of his thoughts, but Yeon could feel the aching sincerity vibrating beneath his words.
At that moment, the hearts of the father and daughter which had tragically drifted apart in the original timeline were firmly intertwined. Though Yeon didn’t realize it yet, this was a seed of change far more significant than her petty retribution against Peng Dong-hu.
Blooming anew within this altered reality, Yeon looked at Hwangbo Jeong-gun and replied.
“No Father. Thank you.”