The shrine was old. Half its roof caved in. Ivy climbed its rotted wooden walls like a corpse reclaiming its own bones.
But in the dead of night, it became a sanctum.
Jin Muyeon sat cross-legged before a rusted incense burner, his body trembling as fever gripped his still-healing wounds. Every breath was a battle, but his mind burned hotter than his skin.
His mentors—Geomryu the Swordmaster and Yook Dowon the Scholar—watched from the shadows.
"This fever… will it kill him?" Geomryu muttered, arms crossed.
"No," Dowon said. "The boy died once. He won't again. This is the body remembering pain, and the soul remembering purpose."
"Poetic," Geomryu grunted. "But if he keeps shaking like that, I'll have to train a ghost."
---
Muyeon's consciousness drifted like smoke through fire.
In his mind, he saw flashes.
His mother's scream.
The laughter of nobles.
The sound of iron driving through flesh.
The burning of books.
The collapse of walls.
His own hands—covered in blood.
Then a new voice, sharp and feminine:
> "You think you're the only one who lost something?"
A girl in royal robes stood before him—eyes like obsidian, lips trembling.
Princess Shi Yuyeon.
But this wasn't the Yuyeon he remembered. She was younger, frightened, but defiant. Her hand reached for his—only for him to pull away.
The vision shattered.
---
He awoke coughing blood into his palm.
"I saw her," he whispered.
Dowon stepped forward. "Who?"
"Shi Yuyeon."
Dowon's face darkened. "The flower of the Shi court. Innocent in face, cruel in heart."
"No," Muyeon said. "It's not that simple. She didn't want war. She wanted peace."
Geomryu scoffed. "And yet she let you burn. She watched your rise—and your fall."
Muyeon looked away.
"I don't care what she becomes. What matters is what she is now. Before fate hardens her."
Dowon smiled thinly. "Spoken like a man twice his age."
Muyeon looked them both in the eye.
> "You said I need to reclaim my blade."
Geomryu nodded. "A sword is not just steel—it is memory. And yours is buried."
---
At dawn, they journeyed north—through mist-choked trails and jagged hills, into the forgotten forest known as Ashfire Grove, named after the flames that once consumed it in rebellion.
Few dared enter.
But Muyeon knew the truth: this was where his blade—Chuhon (추혼), the Soul Piercer—was hidden.
Buried beneath ash and oath.
---
"Why here?" Muyeon asked as they reached the center of the grove.
Geomryu knelt beside a crumbled stone shrine covered in moss.
"Because this is where you made your vow. When they killed your mother, you ran here and swore vengeance under moonlight. You cried, and the trees wept with you."
Muyeon stared at the blackened soil.
"I remember…"
---
Ten years ago.
A child stumbled into the grove, barefoot and bleeding. His clothes torn. His heart shattered.
He fell to his knees before the shrine, hands clenched.
> "I will return," the boy whispered.
"I will burn their names from history."
"And if I lose myself… let this sword remember me."
He plunged the sword into the earth.
> "Wait for me."
---
Now, years later, Muyeon fell to the same knees.
And began to dig.
With bare hands.
Through mud, ash, and thorn.
For hours, he clawed until his fingers bled.
And finally—he struck steel.
A faint hum echoed through the grove.
He pulled it free.
A long, slender blade, its steel blackened by years beneath the soil—but unbroken.
Inlaid in silver at the base of the hilt: "추혼 – Chuhon"
The name whispered in the wind like a forgotten prayer.
> "Welcome back," Geomryu said quietly.
Muyeon rose, holding the blade before him.
The forest fell still.
---
That night, they camped beneath the stars.
Geomryu began retraining him, first in form. Though Muyeon remembered every swing from his past life, his body did not. His muscles screamed with each stroke. His lungs burned.
Dowon watched, occasionally reading from an old manuscript he never let Muyeon see.
"Secrets of state?" Muyeon asked.
"No," Dowon replied. "Secrets of you. Your lineage was never fully erased. I've found traces."
Muyeon paused.
"You know who my father is?"
Dowon didn't answer directly.
But the way he looked at the stars told Muyeon enough.
> "A ghost from another throne," Dowon said softly. "But that truth is a sword for later."
---
As days passed, Muyeon's strength grew.
He began remembering how to control the System.
> [System Notice: Synchronization 92%]
[New Skill Tree Unlocked – Command, Deceit, Swordplay]
[Title Acquired: The Vengeful Seed]
[Effect: Your enemies underestimate you. Until it's too late.]
---
On the sixth day, a messenger arrived.
A small boy from the nearby village. He brought whispers:
> "There's a merchant's caravan coming through Shi border tomorrow."
Muyeon and Dowon exchanged a look.
"That caravan," Muyeon said, "belongs to Jin Hayeon."
---
She was the daughter of a spice baron.
Bold. Sharp. Rich.
In the past timeline, Muyeon met her in war—when she sold food to both sides and saved thousands.
She became his chief financier. His silent dagger behind the curtain.
He needed her.
---
They reached the caravan by dawn—posing as forest guides.
Hayeon rode at the front, dressed in silk and leather, her eyes calculating.
She looked down at Muyeon.
"You don't look like a bandit," she said.
"Give me time," he replied.
She raised a brow. "What's your name?"
He hesitated.
Then smiled.
> "Jin. Just Jin."
---