Succession — Part 1
A path revealed itself.
It was the path of the sword, the path of power, and the path of war.
Without hesitation, I threw myself forward.
Black Tiger Sword in hand, its sword aura blazing, I slashed through the air.
Boom! Bang! Kwoooom!
Explosions erupted.
Sword aura—the purest manifestation of power.
A transcendental warrior’s very soul made manifest.
The violent shock transmitted through my sword.
Ordinarily, such recoil would force a pause.
However, Mars Swordsmanship utilized even explosions and recoil as part of its technique.
I moved instinctively, as if foreseeing the future, using the momentum to drive my attack forward.
Like a bolt of lightning.
Like the greatest general of an era cleaving through the battlefield.
A truly divine act of war.
“Ugh!”
“Urk!”
“Hahk!”
The Swordmasters gasped for breath.
Each of them staggered back several steps.
Their eyes, wide as if torn open, stared at me in shock.
It was only natural.
The Black Tiger Sword, its dark blade wrapped in a white sword aura, had slashed dangerously close past them.
And in the final moment, it fell upon Gu Hyungwon like a guillotine.
Kwaaaa!
The sword aura flared.
From its white core, black flames burst forth.
The contrasting streaks of light intertwined in a radiant display.
I had shifted from Mars Swordsmanship to Nephilim Sword.
Simultaneously, my stance changed, transitioning from a seasoned battle-hardened warrior to a fearsome magic swordsman.
Gu Hyungwon’s face contorted in alarm.
In desperation, he raised his sword.
What his White Tiger Sword unleashed was a sword barrier.
A supreme defensive technique among all sword arts, manifesting a shield of sword aura.
Had my attack not been Nephilim Sword, he would have successfully blocked it.
Crunch!
Nephilim Sword stood at the pinnacle of all aura-based martial arts.
The black-and-white sword aura shredded through the dark sword barrier.
Like a ravenous beast devouring a black tiger, it bared its fangs.
The condensed might of absolute power tore through Gu Hyungwon.
“Gaaah!”
The wound was shallow.
But the damage to his mana circuits was undeniable.
He wouldn’t die, but he was now completely incapacitated.
Behind me, enraged voices roared.
“You bastard!”
“How dare you?!”
“I’ll kill you!”
Swordmasters were still Swordmasters.
A few steps back meant nothing.
With a single breath, they overcame their momentary retreat and lunged at me.
Before, I would have needed to equip a defensive trait to block them.
But now, things were different.
Fwoosh!
Kalaratri activated.
My body vanished.
I transformed into a streak of lightning, slipping through the gaps between their sword aura.
“What the—!”
“What the hell?!”
In an instant, I had passed between the four of them.
A blinding flash—when they regained their sight, I was already behind the Second Division Commander.
Concentrating the power of Kalaratri, I gathered the lightning’s force and struck down hard.
“Aaaagh!”
A storming bolt of lightning.
At the peak of my attack power, Kalaratri was the strongest among all my offensive techniques.
A strike imbued with the force of a tempest.
The Second Division Commander screamed, his eyes rolling back.
The faces of the remaining three turned deathly pale.
“This… This is…”
“Impossible. This is impossible. It’s impossible!”
“How could this happen? How could this ever happen?! This makes no sense!”
They stammered in sheer denial.
I had no intention of standing by and watching.
Using Mars Swordsmanship, I charged again.
The Swordmasters tried to block me, but it was futile.
With seamless transitions between Mars Swordsmanship, Nephilim Sword, and Kalaratri, my relentless attacks overwhelmed them.
They collapsed, drenched in blood.
“Guh!”
“Kehuuuuk!”
“Ugh, aaagh!”
I didn’t kill them.
Instead, I used Nephilim Sword to burn their mana circuits.
With top-grade healing potions and holy water, they could recover.
But they would suffer for at least several months.
“Be grateful.”
I placed my sword against their heads.
“I let you live for the Legion Commander’s sake. If not for him, you’d all be dead.”
I meant it.
The Legion Commander had trained me in swordsmanship—his children were not mine to kill.
“Kh… Khhhh…”
Gu Hyungwon tried to speak.
He reached a trembling hand toward me.
I turned away coldly.
At that moment, the old man Gu let out a deep sigh and then struck them.
Thwack!
“Pull yourselves together!”
Old Man Gu’s voice rang low and sharp.
“Do you still think the world revolves around you? Don’t you realize that if you so much as harm the Sword Star even a fraction, Father will be furious? No—more importantly, you don’t even have the skill to harm him in the first place, so why are you acting so recklessly? You should be admitting your mistakes and apologizing to the victims, not making excuses!”
“But—but giving the Black Tiger Sword to an outsider in the first place—”
“You fool!”
Thud!
Old Man Gu kicked the Swordmaster who had spoken up.
“The Sword Star is Father’s true successor. Why don’t you get that yet? It’s not about blood. It’s not about DNA. Being a successor isn’t about lineage! The Sword Star is Father’s disciple—his direct student. Do you understand?”
“But—but how could he choose an outsider over his own blood…?”
“What does blood matter? Strength is what counts! With your soft thinking, your pathetic judgment that can’t even assess an opponent’s skill, and your arrogance and stubbornness, you ended up launching this foolish ambush. And look where that got you! Serves you right! How does it feel to receive a proper lesson for the first time in your life?”
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Old Man Gu kicked them a few more times for good measure.
Then, as if sensing my gaze, he turned to me with a smile.
“Sword Star, would you mind stepping aside? We need to have a deep family conversation.”
“Of course.”
Blood is thicker than water, and people naturally side with their own.
Even though he was interrogating them with violence, I decided to let it slide.
After all, the real punishment would come from the Legion Commander.
I had seen something similar happen in the game, and I already knew how this would end.
Considering the Legion Commander’s temperament, leaving their injuries untreated might actually be the kinder option.
The healthier they were, the harsher the Legion Commander’s judgment would be.
I set up a temporary office.
The duty officer brought in my computer.
Thankfully, all the data was intact—the effort I put into protecting it from the explosion had paid off.
I resumed my work.
With my traits—[Comprehension], [Brilliance], [Cold Rationality], and [Focus]—I scanned through the documents, identifying any deficiencies.
Remotely, I coordinated with Seo Woojin and Kim Chulkwon.
“Sword Star! I heard you were attacked?”
The Legion Commander barged in while I was working.
“Yes. But I’m fine.”
“Of course, you are! Does the Mountain King flinch just because a pack of jackals pounces on him? These bastards, I should just—”
“Leave them be. Instead, I’d like you to grant me additional authority.”
“More authority?”
“Yes. Oversight powers alone aren’t enough. I’d like command over a few battalions, at the very least.”
“I like it. Consider it done.”
The Legion Commander was certainly bold.
He immediately stripped the three division commanders and two staff officers who had attacked me of their ranks and sent them to the brig.
Then, he disbanded their three divisions and established a Special Oversight Brigade, placing it under my direct command.
A whole brigade.
And not just any brigade—one composed entirely of superhumans.
Though it was smaller than a standard brigade, with only a thousand members, it was an immensely powerful force.
Stronger than my previous Warrior Security unit by a long shot.
‘This is insane.’
Considering that Warrior Security had been formed from the Iron Fist faction and a segment of the First Security Group, this new brigade was an absurdly formidable force.
There was no inauguration ceremony or formalities.
We were deployed immediately.
Like an auto-expedition feature in a game, I swept through Seoul.
[Loyalty! Reporting in. We have uncovered a black market in Myeong-dong. This establishment specialized in trading corpses, and we discovered numerous missing persons on-site. Former Chief of Staff Gu Seongju is implicated in the operation…]
[Loyalty! Reporting in. We have completed the purge of the underground mage tower in Nowon District. The lab contained numerous victims of human experimentation. We also discovered a necromantic soul furnace and a tower dedicated to death magic. There is evidence that Deputy Chief of Staff Gu Miju was involved…]
Reports like these flooded in daily.
I found myself clicking my tongue in disbelief.
‘So, the Eastern Army was this bad?’
I knew it was corrupt, but I didn’t realize it was this bad.
No wonder things fell apart after the Legion Commander’s death.
For two weeks, I led the investigation.
It wasn’t perfect, but this level of cleanup should suffice.
I printed out the reports and tapped them against the desk to align the pages.
As the A4 sheets settled into place, a feeling welled up in my chest.
Satisfaction?
No—it was a new trait.
The content of the reports arranged itself in my mind with perfect clarity.
The operation plans on my monitor now stood out, each detail sharp and distinct.
[Strategy] trait acquired.
Couldn’t it have formed a little sooner?
I quietly counted my traits.
‘Command, Leadership, Authority, Strategy… Only two more to for General.’
Major General and Logistics.
Those two were all I needed.
Having sorted out my thoughts, I picked up the reports and stood.
The adjutant, who had replaced my duty officer, saluted crisply.
“Loyalty! Thank you for your hard work.”
“You too, Lieutenant. You’ve done well.”
Having an adjutant made things much easier.
They were on a different level from duty officers.
They instinctively knew what I needed and handled internal brigade matters efficiently.
I stepped out of my office.
The key officers of the brigade were waiting outside and saluted in unison.
“Loyalty! Thank you for your hard work!”
“You all did great as well.”
A lot had happened over the past two weeks.
Nothing too significant, so I decided to gloss over it.
But—this was just my intuition—I had a feeling I would be seeing these people again.
So, I made sure to greet them properly, shaking hands with each officer as I passed.
Eventually, I arrived at the Legion Commander’s office.
Everyone was already gathered inside.
Including the five who had attacked me.
Kneeling in the center of the room, their hair disheveled, their faces haggard and worn.
“You’re here.”
The Legion Commander sat in his high-backed chair at the far end of the office.
Seeing the report in my hand, the Legion Commander’s eye twitched slightly before he tapped the seat beside him.
“Sit here.”
That wasn’t where I usually sat.
The Legion Commander always occupied the head seat at the long table, with his staff officers seated to his right and his field commanders to his left. I had naturally been given a seat among the staff.
But now, he was seating me beside him, in a position just shy of the head seat…
I bowed slightly in greeting before taking the seat next to him.
The Legion Commander reviewed the documents and let out a short sigh.
Then, as if tossing them aside, he handed the papers to First Division Commander, the old man Gu.
“Read it.”
“Yes, Legion Commander. I have no excuse.”
“Oh? You actually understand that much?”
“Yes. I will accept any punishment you see fit.”
After finishing the report, Old Man Gu passed it along.
The Eastern Army was composed of five divisions. Given that the national military formed a corps with just three divisions, it was clearly an overextended structure.
When the Fifth Division Commander finished reading, he lowered his head.
“My apologies. This was all due to my negligence.”
“If you know it’s wrong, then fix it. Why are you living like this?”
“I’m sorry.”
The atmosphere grew heavier.
With each person that read the report, it felt like the room was sinking deeper into a swamp.
“You lot, read it too.”
Once it had made its way through the commanders, the report was handed to the five kneeling figures.
Their heads, already bowed, drooped even further, nearly touching the ground.
It was only natural.
Among the five, four of them were the worst of the worst.
Everyone except Gu Hyungwon.
They had committed the most severe crimes, wielded power most ruthlessly, and produced the most victims.
All of it, the very things the Legion Commander despised.
Letting out a long sigh, he stared at the five—particularly those four.
“What am I supposed to do with you?”
“Legion Commander…”
“I regret not spending more time with you when you were young. But that was the era we lived in. If I had stayed by your side to discipline you back then, perhaps this country, the Republic of Korea, might never have been founded.”
In my original world, liberation had largely been a result of the Allied victory.
But this world was different.
World War II had been less of a battle between the Allies and the Axis and more of an all-out war of every nation against each other.
The Eastern and Western Army Legion Commanders—if not for those two, independence would have been impossible.
And even after achieving independence, the struggle wasn’t over.
The Korean War had erupted, and the Eastern Legion Commander had made significant contributions, which ultimately led to the establishment of the Cheorwon State.
“There’s an old saying: ‘Cultivate oneself, then govern the family, then rule the nation, and bring peace to the world.’ Yet I couldn’t even properly cultivate myself, and here I am, trying to rule a nation. Truly, life is fleeting and full of regrets.”
“I… I’m sorry.”
“Legion Commander! It’s my fault!”
“This is all on me!”
“P-please spare us!”
“We will never, ever do anything foolish again!”
Did they sense it?
The five pleaded desperately.
But the Legion Commander’s face had already turned cold.
Paht!
A pinpoint strike in the air.
With his index and middle fingers pressed together, he formed a sword seal.
A gust burst forth.
No, it was sword energy unleashed from his fingers.
A transcendent flash cut through space.
Its destination: the lower abdomens of four people.
Their dantians.
While magical cultivation techniques usually centered their energy in the heart, warriors placed their core energy in the dantian.
And now, their dantians had been shattered.
The once-mighty Sword Masters—no, the former Sword Masters—let out screams of agony.
“Father!”
“This is too much!”
“How… how could you do this to us?!”
“Is that brat really so precious to you?!”
Their shrieks were full of resentment.
The Legion Commander roared in fury.
“You still don’t get it?!”
Thud! Thud-thud-thud!
His kicks rained down in a storm of fury.
The broken Sword Masters coughed up blood and collapsed.
Only Gu Hyungwon remained.
With a devastated expression, he looked up at the Legion Commander.
“Legion Commander…”
This time, the Legion Commander hesitated.
Unlike the others, Gu Hyungwon hadn’t committed any serious crimes.
In fact, there was ample evidence that he had tried to stop his uncles and aunts, even going so far as to help victims in secret.
After a brief moment of deliberation, the Legion Commander turned to me.
“Warrior Kim. You decide.”
Gu Hyungwon’s crime was singular.
He had ambushed me.
I could pardon him.
I could keep him alive and put him to work like a slave.
But my answer had been decided from the start.
He had threatened my life.
Set off an explosion and launched a coordinated assault.
I would never let that slide.
–TL Notes–
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sufficient punishment pls