– SLAM!
“Sword Demon? What brings you here all of a sudden…?”
“Everyone except me, leave this room immediately.”
Caught off guard by the sudden proclamation, the doctor objects.
“That’s ridiculous! The young lady’s condition is deteriorating in real-time…”
“I’ll give you three seconds. If you’re not out by then… things will get ugly.”
-GROWL!!!
“EEEK?!”
-TOPPLE!
“Is the old man losing his mind, threatening to sh**t civilians?”
But upon seeing the tumbler in his hand, one could understand his reasoning.
“To treat my disciple, who I regard like a daughter…”
Initially, it was thought to be mere boasting.
Her condition was infamous – the severe curse her disciple had succumbed to was beyond the capabilities of modern medicine, which could merely slow the progression of the disease.
Most heroes knew this incident stemmed from Lee Cheon-ma’s ambition and a faulty gate measurement.
It was a young girl he’d rescued from a burning house targeted by a crime syndicate.
Upon entering the gate recklessly to save her, his identity as the son of the Sword Demon was revealed. Abandoned intentionally by a group that had never favored him, he met a quiet d*ath in a dungeon, much like his child.
Seeing his own son reflected in that child, Lee Cheon-ma resolved to raise her.
However, there was a problem.
At that time, Lee Cheon-Ma was a colleague of the legendary swordsman Kang Jin-myung within the esteemed Guild of Blades.
Accepting this child meant he would be unable to dedicate his full time to his comrade and friend Kang Jin-myung’s guild after numerous battles.
So, he declared he would leave the Guild of Blades to raise the child, vowing to make her as strong as to never fall to anything.
Fortunately, even the swordsman understood his plight and encouraged him to ask for help if he needed it. This reassurance allowed him to return peacefully to his hometown.
With top-tier potions and healers, the fallen child could fully recover her body, but there was an issue.
The young girl’s eyes had been severely damaged by smoky and toxic gases according to a shocking medical inspection.
However, the girl possessed an uncanny, spine-tingling talent for the sword, even impressing the ‘Sword Saint.’
As if born to wield a sword, even without sight, she could roughly perceive its position. With merely verbal instructions, she could perfectly recreate swordsmanship techniques as if she’d practiced them for over ten years.
But unfortunately, she couldn’t perceive her surroundings beyond swordsmanship, so they began teaching her the Ki-detection techniques commonly used by the blind.
Luckily, a former guild member had been blind, so the ‘Sword Saint’ sent this member to teach her. This allowed her Ki-detection skills to reach a level where she could perceive her surroundings within fifty meters.
Witnessing her rapid growth absorbing knowledge like a sponge, Lee Cheon-Ma grew increasingly harsh towards her, thinking she might surpass him one day.
But the young girl never once showed signs of fatigue.
Convinced of her genius, he took her along to a mid-tier dungeon normally too dangerous even for B-rank heroes to handle alone.
To him, it was a simple dungeon he could clear with a single slash, but not many could achieve such feats except for S-rank hunters like himself.
Curious to see how much talent this young girl could display against the B-tier dungeon, the trip was somewhat unplanned.
-SLASH!
“KEEEEEEYAAHHH!”
Overwhelming the monsters with her talent, she carved through them as if slicing tofu.
This pleased Lee Cheon-Ma.
Only Thomas Andrea, the ‘World’s Strongest Shield’ in America, was known to have cleared a B-tier dungeon at a young age.
Even Thomas Andrea had achieved this feat at 19 years old. If this young girl succeeded, she would set the record at 14 years old.
Indeed, she would become the first teenager to solo clear a B-tier dungeon without help.
But had he become too overjoyed?
Lee Cheon-Ma failed to react.
A supreme A-tier monster, the High Lich, instantly targeted the young girl.
It was supposed to be a mid-level dungeon with B-tier boss monsters. Yet, strangely, the High Lich came flying towards the young girl. Even when Lee desperately swung his sword, cutting the High Lich in half…
-GULP!
The young girl had been pierced by the High Lich’s scythe.
The High Lich carried its life source, the Life Vessel, with them. But the vessel Lee had cut was not the one belonging to this High Lich.
Seeing the lifeless form of the girl, Lee Cheon-Ma immediately collapsed.
When he regained consciousness, the spectacle before him was the High Lich, slowly disappearing despite lacking its life source, and his young girl fading away in his arms.
The moment returning to the surface, Lee Cheon-Ma’s first action was to rush to the guild of his comrade Kang Jin-myung, begging to save the child.
Naturally, as his dear comrade, Kang Jin-myung gathered the best healers nationwide and even used the highest-tier potions created once a year by the Yuseong Group.
However, her condition didn’t improve but worsened.
The reason was simple.
She had been enduring the burden silently while pretending to be fine. Her body, already overworked, was pierced in the abdomen by the cursed scythe of the lich.
Thus, for four years, Lee Cheon-Ma had watched over his fallen disciple with a glimmer of hope, spending medical expenses totaling 20 billion annually.
As her condition worsened over time, Lee Cheon-Ma grew gradually weary.
While on assignment in a dungeon upon receiving a request for aid from his comrade and former academy president, Eve Meitner, he encountered a girl.
After effortlessly erasing a powerful Demon with a single spell that left even the S-rank hero Eve Meitner incapacitated, the girl collapsed.
Her resemblance to his disciple moved him deeply. Determined to save her this time, he flew at his fastest speed ever recorded.
Fortunately, the girl recovered soon after, though she started vomiting dark masses. Lee Cheon-Ma could feel his expression turning deranged.
Fortunately, she awakened safely. When he learned that she had embedded part of the mysterious creature ‘Demon King’ in her eyes inside the dungeon, his heart sank, but he relaxed when informed of minimal side effects.
Upon receiving information about the magic that erased the demon, he intended to leave, but the sight of the girl was shocking.
She drew something in the air, turning the ceiling of the hospital room into a deep night sky filled with stars. The constellation resembling an urn poured iridescent liquid into the tumbler she handed to him, initially thinking it was a thank-you gesture.
“To the disciple you regard like a daughter, this should significantly improve her condition.”
After hearing this, there was no time to ask about potential side effects or the function of the liquid.
Breaking the windows with swift action, he rushed to his disciple’s room. A message arrived mid-flight, accelerating his pace:
[Old Man]
[The potion appears effective, confirmed through <Perception>. Also, Seoa told me you must feed her all the liquid for it to work. It seems they’re trying to prevent gradual consumption or use in research… Anyway, contact me once her condition improves.]
-GULP…
He carefully poured the liquid from the tumbler into the lips of the young girl.
Though she should have been entering her second year at Raon Academy, her growth stagnated due to constant illness.
“…Seo Yoon.”
-GULP!
After the girl consumed all the liquid, Bright Light enveloped Seo Yoon lying on the bed.
The ominous marks resembling a curse began disappearing, and her complexion returned to normal.
While praying for the remedy’s effectiveness and overwhelmed by guilt for not being able to look at his disciple, Lee Cheon-ma heard…
“……Teacher? Why are you covering your eyes?”
Her voice, previously endearing and high-pitched, had matured into that of a lady, but even so, it was unmistakably hers.
“……”
-THUD, SPLASH!
“Te, Teacher?!”
“…I’m sorry… I…”
Without someone else’s help, this reunion would have been impossible.
The curtain fluttered by an incoming gentle wind, and with Bright Light entering the room, Lee Cheon-ma stood awkwardly scratching his head before Seo Yoon. It was nothing short of a ‘miracle.’
