Chapter 2: Chosen by the Holy Relic (2)

Gate and Monster.

Constellation and Hunter.

A hundred years linked together.

These were the words that summarized the current world.

Humans who received the power of the Constellation were called Hunters, and they fought against Gates and Monsters.

The Holy Relic was the medium that awakened humans as Hunters.

A hundred years was more than enough time for those who possessed a Holy Relic to establish a family akin to a conglomerate.

There were seven top-grade Holy Relics discovered in Korea.

Thus, the Seven Families were born.

Among them, the Nam Clan, who served the Sword God, had always reigned as number one.

It was a long time ago,

But Taehoo was the youngest, the fourth among the Nam Clan’s twin siblings.

Clack! Thwack!

A dull, heavy sound struck his ears.

Only then did Taehoo realize he was still conscious and opened his eyes.

‘Where is this? What is…?’

In front of him, a child and an adult man were clashing wooden swords.

He quickly understood he was sitting and watching the match.

On top of that, the scene before his eyes was one he’d definitely seen before.

‘Hyung…?’

A child’s familiar face. It was unmistakably his twin brother, the third, Jiho.

Taehoo hurriedly looked around.

Exercise equipment filled the spacious area.

The two stood exchanging techniques atop the pristine white Martial Arts Hall.

He sat in a chair just outside the hall, with the rest of his family beside him.

‘This is… the clan’s Martial Arts Hall, isn’t it?’

Was his life flashing before his eyes not over yet? The clan’s Training Room. Jiho standing on the ring.

Their father and brothers watching from the side.

Everything.

From Taehoo’s memories, this pointed to only one thing.

‘The Qualification Test…’

A tradition passed down for three generations.

A test where the clan’s elite Hunters judged if one was worthy to receive the Sword God’s Holy Relic.

The first and second siblings had passed the test over a decade before Taehoo and Jiho, and received the Holy Relic’s power.

Now, Jiho was about to pass the test as well.

‘I was the only one who couldn’t pass the test.’

It was the first time such a thing had happened in the clan’s history.

Because of that, Taehoo completely lost the family’s trust.

In other words, he was just about to fall out of his father’s favor.

‘But… that was already thirty years ago…?’

“Third, Jiho, passes!”

Before Taehoo could even process the situation, Namgoong solemnly declared.

“Next, Taehoo, step up.”

It was just like his childhood. The scene was exactly the same. Was this truly his life flashing before his eyes?

‘Is this the moment I regret the most…?’

For all those years, the moment before death was this?

“Are you not going to step up?”

His father, Namgoong, urged him.

‘Do the lines of others change if I act differently in this flashback?’

A random, silly thought almost made him laugh.

Taehoo grabbed the wooden sword beside him and walked to the ring.

Jiho, seeing Taehoo step up, wiped his sweat and snickered.

‘Yeah, you’re the same as ever.’

Taehoo was always overshadowed by Jiho, the twins constantly compared.

Even though Jiho was always superior, it was never enough for him.

He openly mocked and trampled Taehoo, establishing his own place by bullying him.

Even after Taehoo fell out of their father’s favor, Jiho was always at the front of the line to criticize him.

‘Will I never get a chance to hit that guy’s face, even once?’

No way something like that was possible in a flashback. Taehoo pushed away the idle thought.

He began to climb the stairs, which seemed impossibly tall to his ten-year-old self.

Taehoo now stood before a starting line he hadn’t even known existed.

Taehoo stiffly stepped onto the Martial Arts Hall.

Sangjin stood before him, showing proper respect. Everything was exactly as he remembered.

‘Why…’

Taehoo wondered, watching Sangjin bow to him.

Why show me this moment? Why this, of all things? What’s so special about it?

He’d lived like a stray, but even he’d had moments, however small, when life shone bright.

So why, of all things, was it the day he was cast aside by his family?

Countless questions of ‘why’ filled his head as he faced Sangjin.

At that moment—

[You have been chosen by the Holy Relic!]

[Regression begins!]

A message flashed through his mind like a bolt of lightning.

Taehoo’s body froze. He opened his eyes wide.

He could no longer stand there as if nothing had happened.

‘So… it wasn’t a dream?’

Jiho saw Taehoo stagger and smirked as if to say, of course.

But Taehoo no longer cared about that.

What he thought was a flashback could actually be reality!

‘Now I get it. That’s why it’s this moment.’

The Qualification Test was Taehoo’s last chance before losing the family’s favor, his final shot at recognition.

It was the perfect moment to start anew.

He had regressed.

Taehoo was sure of it.

If so…

‘I’ll earn recognition here. I’ll start over.’

He’d lived a life full of regrets, always yearning for the past.

Given a second chance, there was only one choice.

‘I’ll overturn everything that ever mocked me. Passing isn’t enough. I’ll shine brighter than anyone.’

Determination flickered in Taehoo’s eyes.

“Best of luck, Young Master.”

Sangjin bowed and took his stance, a defensive position offering the initiative.

After becoming a stray, Taehoo had always regretted this moment and replayed it over and over.

How could he have won?

What should he have done to pass the test?

How much did he have to show to be acknowledged?

He’d imagined these what-ifs countless times.

Now, he had a real chance to put them into action.

The reason for his regression didn’t matter right now. Taehoo simply moved as his long-held resentment dictated.

He put his weight behind the wooden sword and swung as concisely as possible.

‘This is real…’

The tingling sensation from the wooden sword erased any remaining doubts.

The first exchange ended. Sangjin, as if waiting for it, charged at Taehoo.

The wooden sword rained down like a storm, impossible to predict.

Clack! Clack-clack!

The sounds rang crisply through the Martial Arts Hall.

It was a close call, but Taehoo managed to block Sangjin’s attacks.

‘The Young Master’s gaze has changed. What’s this…?’

Sangjin was holding back his strength.

But the Taehoo he knew would have been knocked out in no time.

And yet—

‘Was the youngest always this capable? Did he ever have such determination?’

Sangjin murmured in awe.

Taehoo had always been the weakest among the siblings, always crying that his hands hurt after a single swing of the wooden sword.

But this… this was something else.

Still, Taehoo wasn’t satisfied.

‘My body’s reactions are about 0.2 seconds slow. Move, just a little faster.’

Immersed in the fight, his thoughts moved sharper.

Quick judgment was his deadliest weapon, honed from surviving above average as a stray.

Taehoo dodged Sangjin’s attacks just as he’d always envisioned, and counterattacked.

He compensated for the difference in reaction speed with calculation.

‘A more dazzling feat than anyone… If I can land a counter, or even just attempt one, right here!’

None of the other siblings had ever thought that.

Of course—they weren’t expected to win against Sangjin, who was an elite Hunter of the clan. The point of the test was to endure, not to win.

‘That’s not enough for me.’

Sangjin was even more relaxed than when sparring with the other siblings.

It was just a wooden sword—no killing intent, no aura. There was no reason to be tense.

‘Now!’

Taehoo suddenly reached for Sangjin’s sword.

The timing was perfect.

His hand grabbed Sangjin’s wooden sword.

‘What—?’

Sangjin’s eyes widened in shock, his movements freezing. That was the opening.

Without hesitation, Taehoo swung his sword at the now-exposed Sangjin.

But that was as far as it went.

Sangjin let go of his sword and instantly leapt back half a step.

The moment Taehoo’s attack swept through empty air—

Wham!

Sangjin struck Taehoo’s hand and elbow in quick succession, then snatched Taehoo’s sword.

Whoosh!

The stolen sword stopped just short of Taehoo’s nose.

Everyone watching, seeing Sangjin get serious, widened their eyes in astonishment.

‘For a moment, he caught me off guard…’

No one was more shocked than Sangjin.

“Fourth, Taehoo, passes.”

Namgoong, eyes wide like Sangjin, declared.

‘Yes!’

Taehoo, looking straight at Sangjin’s face, cheered inwardly.

He’d seized a chance to counterattack—something no sibling had ever done.

With sweat dripping down his face, Taehoo smiled more brightly than anyone.

Books lined the shelves that surrounded the room, and ornate swords were displayed above them.

Books and swords.

A place where two things that didn’t belong together coexisted—Namgoong’s Study.

“If it had been any Young Master but the youngest, I wouldn’t have been caught off guard like that.”

Sangjin finished his report on the earlier match.

“Such ferocity…”

“I could even feel killing intent.”

Sangjin was the clan’s elite Hunter and the martial instructor who had trained Namgoong’s children.

He knew the achievements of the Nam Clan siblings better than anyone.

Yet now he was saying the youngest was like a completely different person during the match.

He even called that determination ‘ferocity.’ Namgoong spoke.

“Perhaps his mindset changed with the clan’s test approaching.”

He couldn’t even imagine that Taehoo had regressed, so this was the only explanation he could accept.

“You’re starting to seem like real kin at last, youngest.”

Namgoong smiled in satisfaction.

“Will you show us something new tomorrow as well?”

Little by little, the way everyone looked at Taehoo was changing.

After the Qualification Test, Taehoo went straight back to his room.

Tomorrow was the day he’d receive the power of the Holy Relic.

There wasn’t much time to think.

So Taehoo hurried to assess his situation.

[You have been chosen by the Holy Relic!]

[Regression begins!]

‘The message is real.’

He’d regressed over thirty years into the past by the power of the Holy Relic. There was no other way to interpret it.

‘But aside from regressing, my body hasn’t changed at all.’

If he’d received the Holy Relic, he should at least be able to feel mana.

Yet Taehoo couldn’t sense even a speck of mana.

He’d felt it clearly during the match—no other changes in his body.

“What the…?”

Taehoo threw off his sweat-soaked clothes.

He planned to wash up and clear his mind before reassessing the situation.

“There’s really no change. But looking in the mirror, it does feel real.”

Taehoo spoke as he gazed at his much younger self.

His days as a stray had been filled with wounds both big and small.

The body that had been covered in scars was now that of a Young Master, untouched by injury.

Taehoo let out a small sigh and turned on the shower.

Warm water poured down, washing away the sweat.

“So nice…”

He couldn’t even remember the last time he’d washed up so comfortably.

He could finally feel what it was like to be home after so long.

Then, as he turned to wash his back—

“Huh?”

He could clearly see an inscription on his shoulder blade.

A pattern like a dragon’s scale, shaped like a pentagon, was engraved there.

This was the proof of having received the power of the Constellation.

‘Right, this is how it’s marked… No wonder I didn’t notice.’

The scene of the shattered Holy Relic shining before his eyes was still vivid.

At that moment—

“Wait…”

Every hair on his body stood on end.

Taehoo stared grimly at the inscription.

It was blood-red, a color reminiscent of blood—symbolizing the devil.

This meant the Holy Relic that left this mark belonged to a devil.

‘Damn! The Sword God is supposed to be a being of good! The highest good at that!’

The two powers were opposites.

Could the two coexist in one body?

‘No. Absolutely impossible.’

He’d seen people obtain the power of two Constellations from the same side, but never anything like this—not in all his past lives combined.

‘I need to find a way.’

Taehoo’s expression darkened.