Monochrome Sovereign [EN]: Chapter 0

1. Overture

“Am I done for now….”

Even a Jiangshi [a type of Chinese hopping vampire] dies when its head is cut off. How much more so for a human.

Thud!

The Wind and Thunder Axe, slipping from his blood-soaked hand, fell to the ground. The axe, which he usually swung around lightly like a switch, felt incredibly heavy.

Yeon Ho-Jeong looked down at his hands.

The hands, tightly bound by iron chains, were completely crushed. It was a wonder how he had managed to wield an axe the size of a human body with such hands.

Clink!

The broken iron chains fell away.

“I knew it would come to this.”

He forgot the pain in his bitterness. With these hands, he wouldn’t be able to hold chopsticks, let alone an axe.

Still, he had traded them for the head of the leader of the Sajeum Cult, said to be the most vicious of the Three Teachings, so wasn’t that enough? Of course, both he and that bastard were now in a state where they couldn’t even eat a bowl of rice.

“Is that guy dead?”

Yeon Ho-Jeong turned his head.

He saw an old man leaning against a small rock. It was Moyong Gun, the leader of the Martial Alliance and the head of the righteous faction of the time.

“Can’t you see his head is gone?”

“I can’t see it.”

Yeon Ho-Jeong frowned. On closer inspection, Moyong Gun’s eyes were very cloudy. Excessive consumption of internal energy and severe internal injuries had blinded him.

He walked over to Moyong Gun and slumped down.

“It’s all over.”

“You’ve worked hard.”

Yes, he had worked hard.

The righteous and the dark factions had joined forces to destroy the Sajeum Cult. The Sajeum Cult’s actions were so heinous that they had managed to overcome the deep-rooted hatred and distrust between the two groups, who had been enemies for hundreds of years.

That heinousness, and the unprecedented alliance, would end today.

And so would his life.

“Are you alright?”

“…More or less.”

“Well, you are the first person to be called the Great Master of the Dark Path, so you should be at least that good.”

At least that good….

Yeon Ho-Jeong didn’t mention that the Sajeum Cult leader’s final blow had severed his heart meridian [a vital energy pathway in traditional Chinese medicine].

He was barely clinging to life with his meager internal energy, and he knew he would die soon.

“That’s a surprise. Why are you praising me all of a sudden?”

“I’m just stating the facts. If it weren’t for you, we could have crippled the Dark Path Alliance ten years ago.”

“If that had happened, you guys would have been screwed before today.”

“That’s true. It’s like the old saying, ‘a blessing in disguise.’ Who would have thought we’d benefit from you guys?”

Yeon Ho-Jeong chuckled.

Moyong Gun, who had been silent for a moment, opened his mouth.

“Why did you make that choice?”

“What are you talking about?”

“You weren’t originally from the Dark Path, were you? If you had come to our side, you would have become a renowned master of the world. Why did you go to the Dark Path and become their leader?”

“Why are you bringing that up?”

“I just want to satisfy my curiosity before I die.”

Moyong Gun’s voice was somehow hollow.

Yeon Ho-Jeong stared down at him and sighed.

“How long can you last?”

“Not even half a quarter of an hour.”

Damn it.

Normally, he would have been able to see through the condition of another person’s body immediately. His heart meridian was severed, his true energy was weakening, and even his senses were dulled.

‘Is this old man done for too?’

This is somehow bitter.

“Do you have any last words?”

“My life is my last words.”

“Typical of the Martial Alliance Leader.”

“So, what’s your answer?”

“It just happened that way.”

Of course, there was a reason. But he didn’t want to ramble about the past in front of a dying man.

Moyong Gun smiled.

The smile of a blind man made the viewer feel an unknown sense of sadness.

“That’s just like you.”

“I’ll see you off on your final journey.”

“Thank you.”

It seemed that people changed when they were about to die. Both he and this old man.

“And.”

“Hmm?”

“I’m sorry.”

“What are you talking about?”

“……”

“That’s anticlimactic….”

Thud.

Yeon Ho-Jeong’s eyes widened.

“Cough!”

Yeon Ho-Jeong coughed up blood. A foul odor rose from the blood he had vomited.

He looked down at his chest. There, a tiny needle, barely visible to the naked eye, was embedded.

‘A Hair Needle?!’

Yeon Ho-Jeong, raising his trembling head, saw the blood-soaked face of the old man. The old man’s face, gasping for breath, looked particularly dark.

Yeon Ho-Jeong’s eyes were bloodshot.

“D-Dang Gwan…!”

The head of the Sichuan Tang family and a prominent figure in the Martial Alliance, the vice-leader.

Yeon Ho-Jeong had clearly seen Dang Gwan’s chest pierced by the Sajeum Cult leader’s Yin Desolate Finger [a powerful martial arts technique]. Even if it had missed the heart, the heart meridian would have been ruptured by the force of the finger wind. How was he still alive?

No, why did he attack me?

“I won’t ask you to understand.”

Yeon Ho-Jeong glared at Moyong Gun.

Moyong Gun said in a bitter voice.

“If I die, who will stop you? The current righteous martial world… cannot stop the Black Emperor City.”

“Cough!”

“I will apologize in the afterlife. Let’s go together.”

Damn it, he would have died even if I had left him alone.

The heart meridian he had barely managed to reconnect snapped. His internal energy evaporated due to the Tang family’s extremely poisonous Intestine Severing Powder, and his internal organs began to melt. The pain was so severe that he couldn’t even scream.

You bastard, even when using poison, you use such a potent one?

Thud!

Yeon Ho-Jeong knelt down.

At the same time, Dang Gwan collapsed. Having completed his final mission, he was the first to die after his tension was released.

“Why….”

The words came out without him realizing it.

Guilt washed over Moyong Gun’s face.

“I’m truly sorry.”

Yeon Ho-Jeong’s eyes gradually became cloudy.

‘Why is the end always so terrible?’

When there was a second-best option, he ended up with the worst, and when he was about to reach the best, he faced a moment of second-best.

It was always like that. His fate, which seemed lucky yet was incredibly bad, was causing trouble until the very end.

Despite mastering legendary martial arts, he never became the greatest in the world, and just when he thought he had made a name for himself, it turned out he was the leader of the dark and evil factions.

It was a tiring life, never reaching the top but always having a mountain of responsibilities.

Still, well… he had lived diligently.

‘Leader. You have to apologize properly in the afterlife, you.’

* * *

“Every time, I seek the depths, loyalty for the Yu family, knowing a thousand years, hoping for harmony with all the gods….”

A voice, resonating with a steady rhythm, was clear and pure.

‘Huh?’

Beyond the tone that calmed the mind, a heavy fragrance was smelled.

‘What is it? Did I come to a temple or something?’

But it wasn’t the sound of chanting Buddhist scriptures?

“Please continue to watch over us and help our family’s glory last for a thousand years.”

Along with the clear voice, movements around him were detected.

Yeon Ho-Jeong opened his eyes.

‘Huh?’

All the people kneeling and bowing around him were bowing.

Yeon Ho-Jeong blinked.

‘What’s going on?’

But why? Why did this place feel so familiar? The people’s attire, the old-fashioned yet simple altar, it all seemed like he had seen it somewhere before.

Then, someone tapped him on the back. Yeon Ho-Jeong turned around without thinking.

His mouth dropped open.

“Huh?”

A boy, still bowing, with only his head sticking out, was visible. And the boy’s face was turning pale.

The boy gestured urgently. It was a gesture as if telling him to bow quickly.

But Yeon Ho-Jeong couldn’t do that.

“Ji-Pyeong?!”

In an instant, the solemn atmosphere completely subsided.

The air rapidly cooled. But Yeon Ho-Jeong was not in the right state of mind to feel the atmosphere here.

This boy in front of him.

This boy, with a lively face and striking starlike eyes, was his younger brother. His younger brother, who had died with his family twenty-six years ago in a family annihilation, had appeared before him.

‘Is this a dream? A hallucination?’

That couldn’t be. He was not a man who had lived so easily that he would confuse reality with a dream or hallucination.

Even if it wasn’t reality.

Even though their relationship had broken down, his family, whom he had wanted to see even in a dream, had appeared. Yeon Ho-Jeong felt a fierce emotion rising from deep within his heart.

“Pyeo, Pyeong-ah!”

Yeon Ho-Jeong hugged the boy tightly.

Confusion filled the face of the boy, Yeon Ji-Pyeong. He thought this guy had gone crazy.

The boy whispered small and quickly.

“H-Hyungnim! Don’t do this! You’ll get scolded!”

“You little rascal!”

This warmth and the subtle trembling reaction.

It was definitely his younger brother. Yeon Ho-Jeong’s vision blurred.

“Hyungnim! Hyungnim! Ah, why are you really doing this….”

It was then.

“Ho-Jeong.”

Yeon Ho-Jeong’s body stiffened.

His younger brother’s face and voice were exactly as he remembered. And so was the voice he was hearing now.

Yeon Ho-Jeong, letting go of Yeon Ji-Pyeong, slowly turned his body.

A middle-aged man, who had somehow appeared in front of the altar, was glaring at him with menacing eyes.

“What are you doing right now?”

It was not a harsh rebuke or a question. It was just an ordinary voice, but it carried an unbearable weight.

It was a voice he had been so afraid of and hated when he was young. It was a family he had never tried to face because he didn’t want to hear that voice.

“Father?”

The middle-aged man, Yeon Wi, frowned.

The sight of his eldest son, standing blankly and walking over, was very different from usual. His eyes were filled with emptiness, disbelief, surprise, and emotion.

It was definitely a rather impressive moment. His eldest son had never once made eye contact with him since he was young. He was a guy who had never been able to straighten his shoulders properly due to the suppressed oppression.

“A, Father!”

Yeon Ho-Jeong ran towards Yeon Wi. He looked like he was about to hug him right away.

Yeon Wi’s hand moved.

He grabbed Yeon Ho-Jeong’s wrist in an instant and applied force.

Thud!

‘Cough!’

Yeon Ho-Jeong knelt down. The energy flowing through his wrist had sapped the strength from his legs.

“How dare you cause a disturbance during the ancestral rites? Are you truly in your right mind?”

Even this chilling voice now sounded endearing.

Yeon Ho-Jeong raised his head.

A hint of bewilderment crossed Yeon Wi’s face as he looked down at his son. Yeon Ho-Jeong’s face was full of sadness as he looked at him.

Somehow, his eldest son was acting a bit strange today.

“I will question you about disturbing the ancestral rites later. Go to the office and wait.”

It was the same cold tone as usual.

But the answer that came back was different from usual.

“Yes!”

Wasn’t that too confident of an answer?

Yeon Wi, unusually flustered, turned his body away, and Yeon Ho-Jeong got up from his seat and looked around.

Everyone who had participated in the ancestral rites was looking at him. The eyes of the twenty or so people were all filled with confusion.

Yeon Ho-Jeong, who had been looking around at them with a smile, suddenly froze.

‘Wait a minute.’

He was so overwhelmed that he had only now realized that this was strange.

He looked down at his chest.

The Hair Needle was gone.

‘Am I not dead?’

That wasn’t all.

‘No, it’s more than just not being dead….’

Yeon Ho-Jeong’s face was filled with surprise as he looked around again.

‘This is my past, isn’t it?’

He examined his hands and touched his body. He ran his hand through his hair and looked at his clothes.

That’s right. This was his body, but it wasn’t his body. His body, which had been trained through countless battles, was full of scars, and his hands were covered in calluses.

The slender physique and clean hands were definitely the body he had when he was young.

“This can’t be. Is this really possible….”

“What are you muttering about!”

Yeon Wi finally became angry. Yeon Ho-Jeong lowered his head as if embarrassed and left his seat.

He left his seat and looked around again.

“…This is really my house!”

One of the Seven Great Families, known as the most prestigious families in the martial world.

A steel family that, despite only having a fifty-year history, had a presence that was no less than the other six great families.

The eldest son of the Byeoksan Yeon family, Yeon Ho-Jeong, had returned.