With the inevitable farewell to the kid approaching and knowing the destined downfall of the Jin family, the only thing I could do for her was one thing.
It was to make sure she could overcome the trials ahead, to make sure she could keep surviving on her own.
I didn’t expect to part ways so suddenly, but still, we had trained together every day for three years.
The kid in front of me right now is much stronger than the original little one, that’s an obvious fact.
That’s why the sword training we started now was the final adjustment in preparation for the trials that would happen later.
This was to confirm to the kid that she had properly internalized everything we had built over the last three years.
As expected, she learned well.
I can smile with satisfaction, knowing that all the hard work of training her without holding back for three years paid off.
The kid easily countered the first and second strikes of my Dragon Fang Twelve Swords.
Since I had shown the counter attacks with my body, she was able to use them naturally, even though I never directly taught her.
Teaching how to catch fish, not just giving them fish to eat—that’s what it means to nurture a newbie.
Anyone who knows this would recognize the importance of helping the kid grow, and I could smile with pride at how much she had matured.
“Wo, Woobin, you………….”
“It’s a farewell gift. You have to survive. Survive, and we’ll meet again at the Academy.”
Whether they were born into noble blood or awakened as commoners, once a person becomes a superhuman at the age of 20, they had to enter the Academy.
This was a universal law for all superhumans, and if violated, they would be marked as a criminal, and special superhuman forces would be sent to hunt down unregistered superhumans.
Since no superhuman would wish for such a thing, attending the Academy became a necessary part of life for them.
“It’s a promise. Got it?”
That’s why, as long as the kid survives, we could meet again, and I wanted to meet her again. So, I spoke to her about our reunion.
“Uuuhhh… U, okay! I’ll survive, I’ll survive and keep my promise!”
The kid and I made a promise to meet again when we’re both 20, seven years from now.
At that moment, the deep, dark gleam in her eyes was replaced by the usual sparkle.
“Good. Then, I’ll go now.”
Seeing the kid regain her vitality, I felt relieved inside and unfolded the remaining techniques of the Dragon Fang Twelve Swords to help her face the challenges ahead.
The result, thankfully, was very satisfying.
※
In the game Reversed Heroic Tales, the Jin family had already fallen by the time the game began.
The cause of their downfall and a mid-boss that appears as you progress in the game is the fallen Jin family’s spirit, Jin Yuhwa.
If the player defeats her, the hidden servants of the Jin family will appear and explain why the Jin family fell, letting the player learn the story behind it.
The reason the Jin family fell was due to Jin Yuhwa’s illness.
After giving birth to the second child, the kid, her health began to deteriorate, and eventually, she could no longer do anything due to the severity of her illness.
In a society where strength equals power, the authority of a noble family comes from its strongest member, the head of the family, and Jin Yuhwa’s illness became a huge source of fear for the Jin family.
That’s why, when the first child, Jin Soojeong, turned 11 and awakened, the Jin family quickly named her as the successor, hoping to secure their future.
But a year later, when Jin Soojeong turned 12 and it was almost certain she would be the successor, the second child, Jin Sejeong, awakened.
At only 10 years old, not only did she awaken, but after a week, she created a Mana Core, and within a month, she was able to use sword energy, making everyone see her as the genius who would lead the Jin family.
Her dazzling talent shone like a ray of sunlight in the Jin family’s bleak future.
But such brilliance was not welcomed by everyone.
The first child, Jin Soojeong, and her supporters were not pleased with Jin Sejeong’s awakening, and Jin Sejeong had to seek refuge in other families to survive.
This was the story as it unfolded in the original work.
And if things had gone according to the original, three years later, Jin Yuhwa’s illness worsened to the point that she couldn’t even participate in family meetings.
The full authority of the family would temporarily be given to the acting head of the family, Jin Yuhwa’s younger sibling and the strong supporter of Jin Soojeong, Jin Yoohee.
At this point, a request for Jin Sejeong’s return would be made to the other families.
Since the Jin family had the rightful cause, the other families had no choice but to return Jin Sejeong, and by the time she returned, the family was already firmly in the grasp of Jin Soojeong, the firstborn.
Under the leadership of the acting head of the family, Jin Yoohee, Jin Soojeong had further honed the Dragon Fang Twelve Swords.
She challenged Jin Sejeong to a duel to decide the successor, and with no choice, Jin Sejeong accepted.
In that duel, Jin Soojeong’s sword took Jin Sejeong’s life, and at that moment, Jin Yuhwa witnessed the tragedy, marking the beginning of the family’s downfall.
A tragic bloodbath, a catastrophe that should never happen.
Seeing her child kill her sibling for power, Jin Yuhwa went mad when she saw the firstborn’s corpse lying on the floor and the firstborn smiling down at the second’s body.
The head of the family is the pillar and the strongest of the family. When such a superhuman goes mad, it is inevitable that no one can stop them.
The family’s conflict for succession spirals out of control, and both the first and second children are lost.
The last remaining ghost of the fallen Jin family, Jin Yuhwa, clung to the bodies of the first and second children she had killed.
In a world where only corpses remained, she began killing anyone who entered and became the world’s enemy.
Thus, Jin Yuhwa, now an enemy of the world, was eliminated in the middle of the story, marking the ‘Jin Family’s Tale.’
※
It’s truly a horrific story, and now that I’ve become friends with the kid, it’s even more so a tragedy that should never happen.
That’s why, for three years, I had been training with the kid, teaching her the Dragon Fang Twelve Swords without fail every single day.
As a result, the kid, although still not fully grown, could easily counter the Dragon Fang Twelve Swords.
A 15-year-old kid wielding the Dragon Fang Twelve Swords couldn’t even touch our kid now.
Since I’m bound by the other family, I won’t be able to see the glorious scene of our kid teaching that power-hungry sister a lesson, but that’s okay.
After all, our kid’s victory is guaranteed.
I, who know the Reversed Heroic Tales better than anyone, have personally coached her for three years, so it’s only natural that a 15-year-old would lose to the kid now.
It was something that would be criticized as ruining the original story, a failure for a seasoned veteran, but now that the world of the game had become reality, such things didn’t really matter.
Even if, because of this, the original story’s flow changed and the knowledge of seasoned veterans became useless, I didn’t care at all.
I’m a seasoned veteran of Reversed Heroic Tales, after all.
In fact, if a new event arises because the kid survives, as a veteran, that would be a much better thing.
“Then… thank you so much for the past three years! I’ll be going now!”
On the morning the kid was leaving, I, being a man and pushed to the back of the line for some ridiculous reason about how men should stay farthest from the door, saw the kid bowing with sincerity to everyone in the family.
Since I was at the back, no one could see me, so without hesitation, I extended my fist toward the kid.
It was a gesture of support, meaning “I know it’ll be tough and hard, but you can make it, you can do it.”
“……!”
When the kid finished the bow and looked up, they saw me extending my fist, and with their mouth tightly shut, they blinked back tears.
But that was as far as it went. The kid just choked up but didn’t cry.
Instead, they smiled and lifted the corners of their mouth.
We had shared our farewells the night before, so the kid didn’t do anything further, just turning around and walking out the door.
The kid, who had been the source of energy in my life, the one I saw every day, was leaving like that, but I didn’t feel sad at all.
We would meet again in 7 years, at the Academy.
※
Kugugu………….
The door, which had been closed, opened, and a girl with blue hair walked in.
Her name was Jin Sejeong, the second child of the Jin family and once called the genius who would light up the family’s future.
But now, she was nothing more than livestock being led to the slaughterhouse.
“It’s been a while, Sejeong. I’ve really missed you. I mean it.”
Jin Soojeong, the current de facto highest authority in the Jin family and the scheduled successor, greeted her younger sister with a grin.
Her joy at seeing her sister was genuine.
Because she had finally gotten rid of the only obstacle standing in her way.
“Yes, I’ve missed you too, Soojeong unnie.”
And just as much as Soojeong wanted to see her, Sejeong wanted to see her too.