Lately, Shin Junhyun had been feeling that something about the way Shin Kangheon treated him had changed.

More precisely, it had been ever since Kangheon came back after spending several days out handling the Black Heaven Society smuggling-goods problem.

He had apologized, saying he was sorry for breaking his uncle’s room door while drunk, and after that he had been meek as a lamb.

“Uncle!”

At the sight of Shin Kangheon smiling warmly and calling out to him again this morning, Shin Junhyun furrowed his brow.

“Heading to work now?”

For the past several days, the boy had been smiling nonstop, like he was in a ridiculously good mood. Not that Shin Junhyun particularly cared why.

“Yeah. Are you heading out too?”

“I’m going to train at the sparring hall. Give me a ride.”

“......Fine.”

The two of them got in the car together and left the house.

Sitting in the passenger seat, Shin Kangheon chattered about one thing after another.

“< cafe Naru > got a new employee a little while ago, right? But he actually knows martial arts properly. Isn’t that weird? A café employee who knows martial arts?”

“Sounds like he’s nothing special. If he’s too pathetic for even a third-rate sect to take him, he has to work somewhere like that.”

“He didn’t look that weak.......”

Shin Junhyun half-listened with one ear while driving.

He had never once found talking to Shin Kangheon interesting.

Because the boy always °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° rambled on about pointless things.

So the end of their conversations always came the same way—with a warning.

“You remember you’re meeting Great Saber Gate tomorrow, right? You’re meeting the sect leader too, so pay attention, and wear something decent.”

In the past, he would have answered coldly that he could take care of it himself, but Shin Kangheon obediently nodded.

“Don’t worry. I’ve prepared well.”

That overly compliant answer made Shin Junhyun glance at him suspiciously.

“You’re sure, right? You’re not still with the Martial Alliance—”

“Didn’t I tell you? I cursed the White Tiger Unit commander out and walked out.”

Without a word, Shin Junhyun nodded.

Because several days ago, he had already confirmed the report that Shin Kangheon had stormed into the White Tiger Unit and caused a huge scene before coming back.

“I’m going to learn Great Saber Gate’s saber art and become the best. And the bastards who used my parents...... I’m not going to let them get away with it.”

At the answer he had wanted to hear, a satisfied smile spread across Shin Junhyun’s lips.

“You made the right choice. Kangheon, you’ve finally come to understand your uncle’s heart.”

A brief silence fell.

Shin Junhyun didn’t notice, because he never turned to look, but after sitting there expressionless and saying nothing for several seconds, Shin Kangheon suddenly spoke.

“......Thank you, Uncle.”

“For what?”

“For raising me so upright. For teaching me saber art, for letting me live in a good house without worries....... Mom and Dad would definitely be grateful to you too.”

Shin Junhyun nodded casually and carelessly tossed out the thing he always said.

“Because you’re my only family. Your uncle believes in you. You just have to trust your uncle too.”

“Of course.”

A little later, the car stopped in front of the sparring hall Shin Kangheon attended. After getting out of the car, Kangheon beamed brightly.

“Then I’ll see you later, Uncle!”

Leaving behind his nephew waving at him, Shin Junhyun started the engine again.

Watching Shin Kangheon go into the sparring hall through the side mirror, he muttered in a lukewarm voice,

“He really is naïve, just like his father.”

Shin Jaehyun and Shin Junhyun.

The brothers had lost their parents in an accident when they were young and had been placed in an orphanage.

Fortunately, both of them had outstanding talent in martial arts, and with the support of the headmaster, who had noticed that, they had been able to learn saber art.

The saber art the brothers developed together through research was the very family saber art Shin Kangheon now practiced.

Thinking of Shin Jaehyun for a moment, Shin Junhyun let out a dry laugh.

“He should’ve made more money before dying.”

The brothers had both been born with outstanding talent, but their values were completely different.

Once he became an adult, Shin Jaehyun joined the Martial Alliance, while Shin Junhyun entered an overseas mercenary organization to make money.

Several years later, Shin Junhyun died on the battlefield.

Leaving behind only the secret manual of his family saber art in his arms, along with a single letter to his brother saying that he would soon come to Korea to see his nephew.

The one who recovered that corpse was a Korean mercenary from Red Worm who had been at the scene.

The mercenary, who had already been considering retiring from field work, was delighted to have found a suitable identity, and after completing plastic surgery, entered Korea.

‘The only person who could notice my identity would be Shin Junhyun’s older brother.’

As it happened, the Martial Alliance was reeling at the time from countless troubles both inside and out, and for a Red Worm mercenary, staging an accident or two was simple.

After taking care of even any possible loose ends, the mercenary found one interesting piece of spoils.

‘A newborn baby.......’

After a brief moment of thought, the mercenary left the newborn with someone he knew for a while, then sent him to an orphanage.

If useful talent showed up later, he could raise him and sell him off, or use him in various other ways.

And it had been the best choice possible.

After that, using the money he had accumulated and the inheritance Shin Jaehyun had left behind, the mercenary did business both overseas and in Korea and made even more money.

And when he went back to find Shin Kangheon again, he had been shocked beyond belief.

“He had the best frame I’d ever seen in my life.”

Recalling the moment he had discovered the treasure that would change his life, Shin Junhyun smiled viciously.

With a frame like that, he had judged it a success even if the constitution was only Level 5, so after bringing Shin Kangheon out of the orphanage, he had immediately begun teaching him the family saber art.

For a kid who had been an orphan, he hadn’t had an obedient personality, but because of his talent for martial arts, that much could be tolerated.

“Ah, damn it, one more time!”

“Uncle! Spar with me again!”

“Was that thing earlier supposed to be done like this?”

Every time the boy came charging in stubbornly, and every time he absorbed what he was taught instantly like a sponge soaking up water after seeing it once.

To be honest, there had been times he wanted to ruin him.

Because he had been jealous of the overwhelming talent that had never been given to him.

But thinking of the reward that would come in the future, he had endured for years, and just as expected, most of the Eight Great Sects had taken a liking to Shin Kangheon.

Recently, even the Cult, Red Worm’s upper organization, had shown interest.

‘At this rate, the Cult may call for him in person soon. Maybe that summons today was also.......’

After meeting that same-aged Kim Muhyuk, Shin Kangheon’s talent had started blooming even more brilliantly than before.

Thanks to that, a plan that had taken years was moving faster than expected.

Once Shin Kangheon learned Great Saber Gate’s saber art too, he would grow faster than anyone into one of the best martial artists in Korea.

The Cult would devour one of the Eight Great Sects using Shin Kangheon as a stepping stone, and......

‘The Cult also promised to make a place for me, considering how greatly I contributed to that role.’

Everything was going too perfectly.

A satisfied smile hung on Shin Junhyun’s lips.

“It’s going so smoothly it makes me nervous.”

By the time he was done imagining the rosy future stretching out ahead of him, he had already arrived at the appointed place.

An old building in a quiet rural area, with a worn [For Lease] banner hanging on it.

Shin Junhyun naturally picked the lock and went inside like someone who had been there many times before.

The other party had arrived first and was standing with the window at their back.

“You came early.”

“......It’s been a long time, Black Swallow.”

Shin Junhyun deeply bowed his head to the man dressed in a black martial robe, his face covered by a mask.

“I heard you were looking for me.”

“I called because I have something to ask of you.”

“Please, speak freely.”

The other person was the one sent from the Cult in charge here, someone in a position that could not even be compared to his own as a former Red Worm mercenary.

Black Swallow handed over the documents he had brought and said,

“A few hours from now, forces from Red Worm will arrive. Some of them are people you already know, so receive them and move them to the Black Heaven Society. The rest will handle things on that side themselves.”

It was a sudden order, but questions or refusal were not permitted when it came to the Cult’s commands.

Just because the other man used polite speech did not mean they stood on equal footing.

“Understood.”

“How is your nephew doing these days?”

At the question he had been hoping for, Shin Junhyun’s mouth curved upward.

“Everything is proceeding smoothly. If I send him to Great Saber Gate and have him learn their martial arts, I’m certain that within a few years he’ll become the sect leader’s direct disciple and start standing out.”

“His growth truly is remarkable. Expectations for your nephew are high.”

“I will never disappoint you. If you wish, I can arrange a meeting before long—”

Suddenly, he raised his head because he no longer sensed any presence.

Black Swallow had vanished without a trace.

“.......”

After waiting a little while, Shin Junhyun left the abandoned building.

‘That bastard gives me bad luck.’

He got straight into his car and entered the airport into the navigation. If he wanted to receive the Red Worm mercenaries, he had to move immediately.

But when he left the rural outskirts and entered the city, he was met with news he never could have imagined.

A breaking-news bulletin was being broadcast on every electronic board on the high-rise buildings.

[This is breaking news! Martial Alliance Leader Yeo Pilgeuk has declared full-scale war against the massive unorthodox organization Black Heaven Society. It is reported that a handpicked elite force from the Martial Alliance and the Eight Great Sects has already entered the Black Heaven Society’s main base, and movements of Eight Great Sects martial artists have also been spotted in multiple locations outside.]

[This kind of large-scale full-out war between major sects is an extraordinary event not seen in decades, and damage to nearby areas and residents is expected. Residents living near the area are urged to evacuate quickly.......]

“What?”

Feeling a surge of alarm, Shin Junhyun pulled the car over to the side.

The Martial Alliance and the Eight Great Sects had suddenly attacked the Black Heaven Society?

And on the exact same day Red Worm’s elite were entering Korea?

Feeling that something had gone terribly wrong, he turned the car around and headed back toward the place where he had met Black Swallow.

Because that was the only place where he had any way of making contact with Black Swallow.

But even after waiting over thirty minutes, Black Swallow did not appear, and no message of any kind came.

That meant either things had become so urgent there was no time even to make contact, or he had already gone into hiding.

‘Should I hide too?’

He was reeling with frustration, confused about what he should do.

“Uncle.”

At the voice that absolutely should not have been heard here, Shin Junhyun whipped around, eyes wide in shock.

Shin Kangheon was standing there, looking at him calmly.

“......Why are you here?”

“I wanted to have a serious talk with you.”

What the hell was that supposed to mean?

Shin Junhyun did not try to understand what Shin Kangheon was saying.

The Black Heaven Society was under attack, most of his businesses were tied up with them, and he was already seething because Black Swallow could not be contacted.

That irritation soon turned into killing intent and spilled out of him.

“I don’t have time to talk with you right now. Go back home quietly.”

Savage killing intent, sharp enough to scrape across the skin.

Shin Kangheon had seen him angry a few times over the past several years, but this was the first time he had ever seen him release killing intent that intense.

“That’s your problem.”

“......Your?”

And yet Shin Kangheon pulled the saber from behind his waist without the slightest change in expression.

SHING.

“Ah, sorry. I only have suspicion for now, not certainty. Until the DNA test results come back, I’ll still call you Uncle.”

“You......!”

The moment a flame-shaped image formed in Shin Kangheon’s coldly smiling eyes—

WHOOOOSH.......

Flames wrapped around Shin Kangheon’s saber.

It was a blaze of overwhelming force that Shin Junhyun had never seen even once before.

“It’s been a while since we had a real man-to-man talk, Uncle.”

In an instant, Shin Kangheon turned the area around them into a sea of fire and charged at the face that looked like his own.