The World's Greatest is Dead

By the time dawn had passed and morning set in, we were back on the road to Liaoning.

Adding more people to the group did not change much. The carriage was not suddenly overflowing or anything like that.

If there was one real difference—

“Ohhh... so that’s the famous Sword Peak?”

“No, hold on. If you’re Silver Moon Sword, then you’re that disciple of Moon Immortal Sword, aren’t you?”

“Ha! And how in the world is the Poison Dragon—!”

—it was that one loud human being had completely changed the atmosphere.

Bang Yuseong.

Young patriarch of the Bang Family, eldest of the Bang siblings, and just as noisy as ever even after all these years.

“Ahahahaha!!”

“...Brother.”

“Hm? Ah, yes, my little brother. Got something to say?”

Bang Yuseong asked with a bright grin.

I answered with a sigh mixed into my voice.

“Could you please, for the love of god, be quiet while we travel?”

I tried politely asking him to shut up.

“Mm! Can’t do that. My mouth gets bored if it stays quiet.”

He ignored me with infuriating ease.

Damn him.

Though honestly, I had not expected anything else.

“We’ve run into such fine company, and yet there’s no alcohol. What a terrible hardship. Ah, little brother. By any chance—”

“As if there would be.”

“Ahaha. True enough.”

He had drunk himself into a blackout, woken up, and immediately started asking for more liquor.

He really was insane.

“Ah, what a shame...”

Judging by the way he smacked his lips, he genuinely meant it.

Unbelievable.

Just then—

Tap, tap.

Someone nudged me from the side.

A weak, feeble touch.

When I looked over, I found Bow Ghost staring at me, her face gone pale.

“What is it—... What?”

I had started to speak politely, then changed gears halfway through.

Under the circumstances, I was the one who had “picked Bow Ghost up,” and she looked absurdly young at the moment.

For now, I had decided to speak to her casually.

I had informed her of that unilaterally, of course.

At first I thought maybe that was why she looked upset, but then—

“Ugh... m-motion sickness.”

For fuck’s sake.

“Hey! Stop the carriage!”

I shouted urgently to Poison Dragon.

This trip was turning into a circus.

*****

A few more days passed on our increasingly disastrous journey.

A lot happened in that time.

Mostly to me.

Bang Yuseong talking nonstop was one thing, but Bow Ghost getting motion sickness every single time she rode in the carriage was a problem too.

...That cost us some time.

About half a day, maybe?

We kept stopping, then moving, then stopping again.

Half a day did not sound like much, but the exhaustion I felt from it was nowhere near that little.

“...Ugh.”

A worn-out groan slipped out of me.

I leaned back, drained.

Something jostled beside me.

It was Bow Ghost.

She had been sleeping too.

Though calling it sleep feels wrong.

Passed out was more accurate.

She had thrown up so much from the motion sickness that she had finally collapsed.

...How is she this weak?

What kind of martial artist gets carriage sick?

She had turned into something weaker than an ordinary person.

Still, if there was one upside—

She’s been too busy dying from motion sickness to cling to me.

She had not been hanging off me, demanding that I undo the baleful force I put into her.

She was too busy trying to survive the ride.

Snnnrrrk.

From the other side came the sound of Bang Yuseong snoring.

He slept well.

Then again, after talking all day without stopping, maybe that made sense.

...Impressive in its own way.

It really was.

You had to understand just how impressive it was by looking at one thing in particular.

...He broke Yu Yul.

Even Silver Moon Sword, who was usually just as loud and overactive, had been reduced to this state.

At first the two of them seemed to hit it off perfectly, but starting yesterday, Yu Yul looked like all the life had been sucked out of him.

Yu Yeon ran for it.

Yu Yeon was not even riding in the same carriage anymore.

She had fled.

Poison Dragon, if anything, had it easier because he was out driving the horses.

I’m tired...

All I had done was come back home, and I was already exhausted.

I really had not seen this coming.

“Ughhh...”

Right as another weary sound slipped out of me—

“Young Master.”

Poison Dragon spoke from the driver’s seat.

“We’ve arrived.”

“...”

At that, I leaned toward the window and peeked outside.

“...So we have.”

We were there.

I could see it in the distance.

“Liaoning.”

The place where the Bang Family of Liaoning stood.

We had arrived.

*****

I had lived in Liaoning for no short span of time.

Other than the one stretch when I left to head for the Murim Alliance, I had always lived here.

That was true before I recovered my memories of my previous life.

And it stayed true afterward too.

Home.

Yes.

At this point, that was probably the right word for it.

“Come take a look before you go!”

“Sir! Great hero! How about a drink?”

The noise of the county town spilled into the air.

After entering Liaoning and traveling a little farther, we reached the town where I had grown up.

“The atmosphere’s nice.”

Yu Yul said it first.

“Looks peaceful.”

“It is.”

It did not just look peaceful.

It really was peaceful.

There had never been much in the way of trouble here.

Family Head Mo Yong has put in a lot of work to keep it that way.

This was territory managed by the Mo Yong Family.

Because of that, pointless friction and unnecessary incidents were rare.

It was not as if other great families did not manage their lands too, but in my personal opinion, Liaoning had always been especially like this.

“Interesting. I’d like to look around more, but are we heading to your house first, Junior?”

“That’s probably for the best.”

It was not as if we could keep dragging around a carriage like this forever.

And besides—

“...Dragging these people around any longer is also... a bit much.”

“Fair point.”

Yu Yul agreed immediately.

I was referring to Bang Yuseong and Bow Ghost.

“So where is your house, Junior?”

“Not much farther.”

“Really? If the town looks like this, your family estate must be pretty impressive too.”

“...Impressive?”

Hm.

“...Yes. I suppose you could say that.”

Impressive, sure.

In a manner of speaking.

*****

“...This?”

Yu Yul spoke the moment we arrived.

He stared fixedly at the building in front of us.

“Yes. This is it.”

“...So this is...”

“Yes. My house.”

“...Your house?”

That was where the confusion started?

Fair enough.

“This is a house?”

“...It is.”

Ridiculous.

No matter how unbelievable it looked, how many times was he planning to ask?

I get it, though.

Even to me, calling it a house felt a little questionable.

If anything—

It looks more like a ruin.

That would not be wrong.

The walls were shabby and on the verge of collapse.

The thing attached to the entrance only barely qualified as a door.

The place had clearly not been maintained.

Weeds had grown wild, and there were cobwebs everywhere.

“...A house?”

Yu Yul repeated, still unconvinced.

Just then—

“What is this wreck? Where’s the house?”

Poison Dragon had finished dealing with the carriage and walked over just in time to say that.

This bastard.

“...You really are refreshingly honest.”

“Was that praise?”

“Does it sound like praise?”

“...No.”

Poison Dragon flinched.

I clicked my tongue at him.

“Come on. Let’s go inside.”

“...Uh...”

“Oh, have we arrived?”

Bang Yuseong appeared from behind us, stretching lazily.

Someone followed right behind him.

Bow Ghost.

She looked like she had barely clawed her way back to life.

“...What is this?”

Bow Ghost looked at the Bang Family estate with the exact same expression Yu Yul had worn.

“What is this filthy building?”

That was even harsher than what Poison Dragon had said.

This woman...

“Calling someone’s house filthy is a bit much. The lot of you are unbelievable.”

“...This is a house?”

“Enough with that reaction.”

That was enough.

I did not need to hear another word.

Pressing at my brow, I walked up to the door.

Creeeak.

I shoved open the rattling door and stepped inside.

“Oh my.”

Someone greeted us from within.

An old man stood there, his hair completely white, his face lined deep with wrinkles.

“Head Steward.”

“Ohhh... now who do we have here?”

A deeply bent old man.

The Bang Family’s head steward.

“Second Young Master...!”

“You’ve been well?”

“Aigo...! Second Young Master...! You’ve finally come home!”

The head steward, who had apparently been sweeping, shuffled toward me as fast as his old body allowed.

His expression was openly delighted.

“Head Steward, I’m here too—”

Bang Yuseong tried to greet him as well, but—

“What a long road you’ve traveled...! If only you had sent word first, this old servant would have gone out to receive you.”

“Head Steward, I said I’m here too...”

“Head Steward, at your age, how could I ask you to come all the way out to meet me? It’s only right that I came here.”

“...You’re as kind as ever.”

“...Head Steward?”

Bang Yuseong stared at him like he had been betrayed.

The head steward did not care.

Then at last, when he finally looked his way—

“Ah. Young Patriarch, you came as well.”

The difference in warmth was so blatant it was almost cruel.

“...Isn’t your attitude way too different?”

“What do you mean? Ah, that reminds me.”

The head steward turned back to me with a smile.

“Second Young Master, I think you’ve grown taller.”

“Ah.”

He noticed right away.

The changes from my rebirth-like transformation had made my body larger.

“You got taller?”

My worthless older brother had not even noticed.

“Did he? I suppose he might have.”

Bang Yuseong tilted his head at me.

For the record, he was still taller than I was.

“Ohhh. Now that I look properly, you really did. Must be your growing years, then. Little brother! That’s good to see!”

“...You’re only noticing now?”

“Come on. Why would I bother checking whether another man got taller?”

He said it with absolute shameless confidence.

Right.

This was the kind of man he had always been.

“Head Steward... never mind him. Could you give us some rooms inside? We brought guests.”

“Guests?”

The head steward looked past me.

His eyes widened when he saw the others.

“Ohhh...! To think Second Young Master would be the one to bring guests home...!”

“...”

“This old servant has been worried, seeing how you were always only around the Mo Yong young lady. It seems my fears were unfounded after all.”

“What exactly does that mean...? What were you worried about?”

“I’ll have the guests shown in at once.”

“Finish what you were saying!”

The head steward vanished into the house without answering.

It was ridiculous, but—

...Now it feels real.

Seeing even the head steward like this, it finally sank in.

I’m home.

I had really come back to Liaoning.

Back to the Bang Family.

Which meant—

I should have known from that exact moment.

The moment I returned to the Bang Family, there was one thing that inevitably followed.

The most troublesome person of all would hear about it.

*****

A marble rolled across the table.

Someone’s eyes brightened as she idly nudged it forward.

Black hair. Pale skin.

A woman who had been looking through yet another pile of documents heard the report and lifted her head.

The exhaustion clouding her eyes vanished at once, replaced by light that had not been there a second ago.

“...What did you say?”

There was still fatigue in her voice.

Even so, the heat rising in it was enough to make the guard give a dry laugh.

“...Second Young Master of the Bang Family has returned.”

Bang.

At those words, the woman rose from her seat.

“...He came back?”

Heat flooded her face.

And beneath that heat, unmistakably, anger surfaced.

“He ignored every letter I sent, and now he comes back as if nothing happened?”

Crack.

The letter in front of her crumpled in her hand.

Her slim fingers crushed it flat.

“...That slippery little bastard...”

Creak.

“...”

At the grinding sound, the guard standing before her said nothing.

“...Just wait. This time, I’m really not letting it go.”

All he could do was worry for a certain young man’s safety.

Because this time, it looked like his mistress was truly furious to the very top of her head.