Chapter 21….
Good Things Should Be Shared (2)
As soon as Ralph finished speaking, two figures emerged from the forest.
Rustle—
The first to push through the bushes was Johan.
He looked almost no different from six months ago.
But the one following behind him was another story.
His height, once much smaller than his peers, had shot up to 170 cm in just half a year.
His previously slender body had filled out with firm muscle.
His face was still that of a youthful pretty boy—but below the neck, Yuri had become a completely different person.
Clink—
A sword at his waist swayed as he walked out of the forest, and his pale sky-blue earring glittered in the sunlight.
Step— step—
As the tardy pair, Yuri and Johan, approached calmly, Ralph frowned.
“You’re late.”
“Ahem, I was busy teaching this brat the ultimate winning strategy for this spar…”
At Johan’s words, Yuri snorted.
“Winning strategy, my ass. We’re late because I had to wait for the old man to finish taking a dump!”
“You little—!”
“What?!”
“…Do you have any idea of the suffering of a constipated man?!”
“Nope. Don’t care.”
“Only those who understand this pain may throw stones at me!”
“Old man, if you can’t even poop properly anymore, what can you do?”
“What did you just say, you punk?!”
Watching the two bicker noisily despite being late, Ralph lost the will to get angry.
He’d been seeing this every day for six months—he was thoroughly sick of it.
With a sigh, he waved his hand.
“Enough already. Let’s just start. How many months has this children’s sparring match been dragging on?”
“You’re the one who proposed the bet.”
“How was I supposed to know it would take this long?! I thought it’d be over in a few days at most!”
At Ralph’s outburst, Johan simply gave him a look that said, So what do you want me to do about it?
Ralph’s raised brows slowly drooped.
“…Fine. Let’s just begin already.”
This time Yuri stepped forward and cut into the conversation.
“Let’s use real swords this time.”
“Real swords?”
When Yuri nodded, Ralph turned with a slightly worried look.
Sure enough.
Muchi was blinking in shock.
“Y-Yuri hyung?”
He hadn’t even been comfortable with normal sparring, and now Yuri was suggesting live blades?
Muchi was flustered.
Ralph was about to refuse—
“Hey, scaredy-cat.”
It was the nickname Yuri had been using for Muchi over the past six months.
Muchi stared at him with wide eyes.
Yuri met his startled gaze and grinned.
“You said you didn’t get it, right? Why I work so hard to learn techniques meant to hurt people.”
“Ah…”
Muchi’s lips parted as he recalled what he’d once said.
Meanwhile, Yuri placed his hand on the sword hilt.
Shrring—
The silver blade slowly revealed itself.
Six months ago, Yuri handling a wooden sword had looked somewhat awkward.
Now, there wasn’t a trace of that left.
Shing—
Yuri fully drew the sword and pointed it at Muchi.
The moment Muchi’s flustered face appeared at the tip of the blade—
A memory from the past flashed through Yuri’s mind.
Three Months Ago
The sun had clearly begun to set in the west.
“Uwaaaack—!”
Somewhere in the forest, the loud sound of someone emptying their stomach echoed.
Gag— gag—!
Clutching a tree as he retched, Yuri staggered forward.
After walking a short distance, he reached a nearby stream, rinsed his mouth, and slumped against a rock.
“Ughh…”
A groan escaped him.
More precisely, he didn’t even have the strength to hold it in.
His appearance was a mess.
Disheveled hair. Heavy dark circles.
His clothes were so caked with sweat and dirt that their original color was unrecognizable.
“Ugh—”
Thud— thud—
Yuri slapped his thighs.
His legs trembled like those of a newborn fawn.
He had to loosen them while he rested.
But after a few slaps, his entire body began aching, so he gave up.
Completely sprawled out, he stared at the reddening sky.
The world spun.
“I… I’m dying…”
He said that, but Yuri knew.
He was only this exhausted—not actually dying.
If he were really about to die, he would’ve been gone before he even had the energy to complain.
It was something he had learned firsthand over the past three months, repeatedly brushing against death.
How long had he been staring at the sky?
Haa… haa…
His breathing gradually evened out.
Right then—
“Gah!”
Yuri suddenly shook his head and forced his upper body upright.
His face had gone pale, like he’d just had a nightmare.
‘I almost went back without finishing today’s quota.’
If he had fallen asleep like that, he definitely would’ve woken up tomorrow.
And then he wouldn’t have completed today’s training.
The old man would notice instantly.
‘And that’s when the real hell starts.’
He used to curse the cart-pulling that was supposedly “physical training.”
But once the real training began, Johan had turned into a demon and drove him mercilessly.
To the point that he almost missed the cart days.
Still, Yuri didn’t complain once.
He simply followed Johan’s training schedule in silence.
“Ugh.”
As he grimaced and tried to stand—
His head suddenly snapped to the side.
“Hey. What are you doing over there?”
Where Yuri’s sharp gaze landed—
A tuft of hair was sticking up from the bushes.
Yuri clicked his tongue in exasperation.
“Tsk. Hey, live up to your size. You think I can’t see you?”
At the scolding, the bushes rustled, and the large figure revealed himself.
“Hehe.”
Watching Muchi scratch the back of his head sheepishly, Yuri sighed deeply.
Haah… I really lost to this guy, huh.
Every time he saw him, a wave of self-disgust washed over him.
What did it matter if the guy was built like a mountain?
What did it matter if his skill was unofficial first-rank?
Mentally and behavior-wise, he was just an ignorant thirteen-year-old kid.
“Ah!”
Thud—
“…”
Seeing Muchi trip over a vine while stepping out of the bushes, Yuri revised his thoughts.
…That bastard definitely lied about his age. No way someone’s this slow otherwise!
Thirteen, my ass.
Big body, sure—but he acted worse than a ten-year-old.
“Ah…”
“Hey, if you fell, get up already. What are you doing?”
“Mm.”
“Brush yourself off!”
“Okay.”
“Ugh, you’re so frustrating!”
He sounded annoyed, but Yuri didn’t push him away as Muchi approached.
Despite his appearance, the guy was unbelievably gentle.
And after Yuri had helped him a few times, Muchi had started following him around calling him hyung, hyung…
…which was, admittedly, a little cute—
Flinch!
Yuri startled and shook the thought away.
Have I gone crazy from getting beaten up by the old man…? Cute?! That bear?!
No matter how you looked at him, he was not cute.
If anything, he looked perfect for a bandit.
As Yuri quickly shook his head, Muchi, now sitting beside him, asked:
“Hyung, are you sick?”
“Hey. Don’t call me hyung.”
“Then what?”
“Call me hyung-nim.”
“Why?”
“Don’t ask—just do it!”
“…Okay. Hyung-nim.”
“Good. That suits you better.”
Yuri let out a small sigh of relief.
Muchi looked at him oddly and asked hesitantly,
“Yuri hy—”
“Hiss!”
“H-Hyung-nim!”
“What?”
“Um… what do you think about when you train?”
It was something Muchi had been curious about while watching Yuri.
For the past three months, Yuri had been pushing his body to brutal extremes.
To Muchi, it looked less like training and more like torture—self-harm, even.
Yet Yuri himself always seemed completely calm.
Muchi couldn’t understand it.
Yuri, however, looked equally puzzled.
“What are you talking about? What do I think about? I just do it.”
“Isn’t it hard?”
“Nope. Not hard.”
“R-Really?”
“Yeah. Not hard at all. Feels like I’m dying, though.”
“Th-Then why do you do it?”
“Because I just do.”
“…?”
Seeing Muchi tilt his head in confusion, Yuri answered in an extremely matter-of-fact tone.
“Because I set a goal.”
“A goal?”
“Yeah. I want to get stronger. Stronger than anyone. I don’t want to lose. That’s why.”
“…”
“If you’re training to get stronger, why would you need some grand reason? You just do it every day.”
“Don’t you get sick of it? Don’t you get tired?”
“I get sick of it. But…”
Yuri trailed off briefly, then his eyes sharpened.
“I don’t get tired.”
It was something Yuri was telling himself.
Back when he first started training—
Grinding his teeth through the agonizing full-body muscle pain—
He had made a vow:
The one who does not grow weary of repetition wins.
He would endure this repetition and become the victor.
Having reaffirmed his resolve, Yuri asked:
“What about you? Why did you learn martial body techniques?”
“My grandpa made me…”
“You didn’t want to?”
“At first I didn’t. He made me lift heavy stuff and climb cliffs.”
“You climbed cliffs?”
“Yeah. At first I kept falling while climbing.”
“Did you hit your head when you fell? Was there something below?”
Yuri’s eyes sparkled—
As if he had just discovered Muchi’s secret.
I knew it! This guy must’ve been a genius as a kid but hit his head falling off a cliff! Otherwise there’s no way he’d be this slow!
Yuri became convinced.
“Hmm… there was a fist-sized rock down there.”
“That means your fist size, right?”
“Yeah.”
“So about the size of my head. Anyway—did you hit it?”
“Yeah.”
“I knew it!”
“It broke.”
“Your head?”
“No. The rock…”
“…”
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“…Just thinking you’ve got one hell of a skull.”
What a thick-headed idiot.
If he fell off a cliff, hit a rock, and the rock broke instead…
Just how hard was his head?
Yuri stared at him in disbelief.
Muchi, unfazed, continued cheerfully.
“Anyway, I didn’t like it at first… but now it’s fun! Moving my body, lifting heavy things!”
“Then what’s the problem? If you enjoy learning it, that’s all that matters.”
“But… I don’t like it.”
“Huh?”
“Learning it is fun… but using it to hurt other people… I don’t like that.”
“…”
“Hyung-nim… I really don’t get it. Why work so hard to learn something that just hurts people…”
“Hm… hey.”
“Hm?”
“Why don’t you like hurting others?”
“Well… because I feel sorry.”
“Then what if someone attacks you first? Would you still feel sorry after hurting them back?”
“…Hmm.”
Muchi thought for a moment, then answered.
“They just shouldn’t get hurt.”
“What?”
“I’m tough, so I don’t get hurt easily. Even if I do, I heal fast. But… if I hit other kids even lightly, they get hurt a lot.”
Yuri’s expression stiffened.
At the same time, Johan’s past words flashed through his mind.
[Do you know why I made you fight Muchi even though you hadn’t learned anything yet?]
The defeat Yuri suffered against Muchi—
It had been the first loss of his life.
Even if he hadn’t used his incarnation, the shock of defeat didn’t fade easily.
That day, something he had known in his head was carved into his bones.
He was not invincible.
Without his incarnation, he was just an ordinary orphan kid.
Realizing that made the sense of defeat hit even harder.
Johan had sneered, as if he’d expected it.
[Someone who has never lost doesn’t understand how filthy defeat feels!
You think you learn a lot from losing? Bullshit. The only thing you learn from defeat… is misery!]
The more firmly someone believed in themselves, the more miserable defeat felt.
Johan knew it well.
And Yuri, who had lost to Muchi, knew it too.
[Only those who feel that misery become desperate—and grow, fueled by the desire to never lose again.]
Because Yuri possessed overwhelming talent, he would grow explosively with even a little training.
That was why Johan wanted him to experience defeat now—
Before Yuri reached a level where he could no longer lose.
Better to take the hit early than suffer a far deeper wound ten years later.
Johan’s intention had reached Yuri perfectly.
And through that defeat, Yuri had fully awakened.
That was why, during this conversation with Muchi, Yuri realized something new.
He may be a bit slow… but he’s definitely kind.
But the fact that Muchi could feel sorry even after hitting an opponent—
That he could hold back to avoid hurting others—
…It’s because Muchi is strong.
The composure of the strong.
A mindset possible only because he had never tasted defeat.
An ideal that could only exist for someone like him.
Is that so?
Yuri’s lips slowly curled upward.
Thanks to that day’s defeat, he had opened his eyes.
He had tasted the greatest misery of his life.
And you don’t know how good this is?
Muchi still didn’t know the misery of defeat.
That won’t do.
Thanks to you, I woke up.
Now it’s my turn to wake you up.
That’s only fair, right?
He was genuinely curious.
Even when faced with a situation where he might lose—
Would Muchi still feel sorry for his opponent?
Would he still hold back?
Would he really?
A smile spread across Yuri’s lips as he looked at Muchi.
The smile Yuri wore three months ago carried into the present.
He flicked the tip of his sword and said:
“The thing you said you didn’t understand… I’ll show you today. Why I learned martial body techniques—and what I’ve been swinging my sword to the death for.”
