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Chapter 4
“Alright! Hit me more, please!”
“……?”
He had to have misheard. That had to be nonsense.
Logically speaking, his son wasn’t exactly made of stern stuff. If taken hostage, he’d be the first to betray them.
“Harder! Stronger! Harder, please!”
“……?”
The warmth of his father’s hand, steeped in love, delivered through the strike.
How long he had yearned for it.
Ah, it was sweet.
To Mujin, his father’s beatings were nothing short of a warm, affectionate fruit of love. He’d been stabbed countless times on the battlefield without flinching, but this? His father’s blows brought genuine emotion.
He nearly teared up.
‘Has this kid actually gone insane?’
You’d have to be out of your mind…
Was just one strike not enough?
Kang Woo-gyeong began to feel a flicker of fear at his son’s bizarre behavior. If this went too far, his wife wouldn’t just sit back. But backing down now would crush his pride as a father.
Fine.
If that’s what you so dearly want, then have it.
Smack! Smack!
“Yes! More! More! More!!”
Lee Seon-mi could only stand there in stunned disbelief as her husband and son passionately indulged in something that looked like familial bonding but was truly a horrifying contradiction.
The father was going all out, and the son, rather than writhing in pain, was delighted.
Twenty strikes.
For Kang Woo-gyeong, it was well over the limit.
He genuinely started to worry that his son’s backside wouldn’t survive.
A regular person could die just from ten strikes because of his use of martial arts power.
“Now you know your sins!”
“I don’t! Not yet! So please, keep going! This foolish son has let his father down again and again. Punish me thoroughly so I never repeat it!”
“……?”
Why is he suddenly speaking so… properly?
Are you even my son?
Still, trying to stop now would go against the kid’s “wishes.” A creeping doubt began to stir: Had he misunderstood his son this entire time?
But he couldn’t back down and lose the upper hand.
The son he knew was a master manipulator. This could just be some elaborate scheme, take the hard hits now and avoid punishment later.
Kang Woo-gyeong wasn’t about to fall for it.
Despite the pain in his heart, he didn’t stop.
And the more he hit, the more Mujin relished in the long-lost warmth of his father’s strikes.
The bond between father and son, it seemed, bloomed most vividly through physical conversation. Like the closeness shared when bathing together, scrubbing each other’s backs.
‘I think I’m getting addicted!’
Like overdosing on opium, there was no need for drugs.
Were father’s beatings always this sweet?
With each layer of pain, he felt more and more of his father’s care and love. Like this moment might be the last.
Humming~ Humming~
He found himself lightly singing. Somewhere out there, surely a beauty awaited in Cheongsan-ri.
SMAACK!
Pop!
Lee Seon-mi, who had been watching in silence, yelped in shock.
“Honey, he’s bleeding!”
“…Ah! Damn!”
Mujin’s backside was now stained crimson. He had taken the beating cheerfully until he bled.
‘This much is nothing.’
He had lived through the hellscape of Sisan Blood Sea.
A little bleeding from the butt? Spit on it and you’d be fine. If anyone dared complain about a bit of blood, he’d fold their spine so their back and butt met in a “miracle.”
He was the War king, called the Grim Reaper of the battlefield. He’d be soaked in blood from head to toe and still laugh heartily as he tore through demonic beings.
Well… everything except gold, he never chewed that.
“You foolish boy! If it hurts, you should say so! You waited until you were bleeding?!”
“You should’ve controlled yourself! What are we supposed to do about my son now?!”
“He’s my son too, you know.”
“My precious boy’s bleeding from his butt!”
Usually, Lee Seon-mi would let things slide, but she was the real power behind the family of Songho Sect.
When she was mad, even Kang Woo-gyeong didn’t dare cross her. He’d learned to stay quiet during those moments. In a way, she probably played the biggest role in their son turning out this way.
“Mom, I’m fine. I can handle it. Don’t worry, Dad—keep going!”
“…Don’t come near me, you psycho! Ah!”
“Dear!”
At this point… it was terrifying.
Even Kang Woo-gyeong no longer saw it as bravado. Despite blood dripping onto the floor, his son was smiling. That confident face, begging to be hit more, was genuinely unnerving.
“If you hit him one more time, we’re sleeping in separate rooms!”
“Wait, I—!”
The son was begging for beatings, the wife threatening punishment for the beatings.
Damn it. How did it come to this?
Kang Woo-gyeong wavered in the middle of this crumbling patriarchal disaster. He no longer had the heart to hit a son whose butt was literally bleeding.
He’d hoped for a little groaning and wailing after three decent strikes, but instead, the kid was desperate for more.
‘This brat is messing with me in the most twisted way!’
A pool of blood formed where his son stood. If he died from blood loss, it’d become a straight-up case of parental abuse.
“That’s enough. You’ve made your point. Don’t ever do it again.”
“Father~~~! I’ve been so wrong!”
“…Don’t come closer!”
“I told you, I’m fine.”
As Mujin stood up, blood ran down his legs from his backside, soaking his pants. Yet he kept smiling, walking forward brightly. Kang Woo-gyeong instinctively stepped back again.
There’s messed up, and then there’s this.
Still, why the hell is he acting like this to me?
Just go back to being my old son… no, just go away! Get lost!
“Mujin, you’re bleeding. You need treatment.”
“Mom, a little blood won’t kill me. I’m not missing limbs, my guts aren’t spilling out, and my brain isn’t leaking, right?”
“……!”
Losing a limb on the battlefield was nothing. You think it ends with losing an arm? If you want to live, you use everything you’ve got. Throwing your severed limb like a weapon was normal.
Even with your leg cut off, you’d cling to the enemy and drag them down with you.
Only when your skull was crushed and your brain was leaking did death finally come. In the heat of combat, death often seemed more peaceful than life. Especially when you remembered the faces of your comrades who had to clean up your corpse.
It was Mujin’s usual sunny demeanor, as if nothing had happened.
Lee Seon-mi nearly had a mental breakdown. There was no way her son could act like this unless he had completely lost his mind after being beaten so hard.
“Dear!”
“Why is it always my fault again?!”
Kang Woo-gyeong felt deeply wronged, facing his fiery wife. He’d only disciplined his son to knock some sense into him. Now she was pushing all the blame on him? As a husband, it felt grossly unfair. Especially since she had been the one yelling at him earlier to “go teach that boy a lesson!”
But the true culprit behind all this…
“Ehehehehehe!”
…was giggling without a care in the world.
“You two still get along so well!”
Is this really my son, or my sworn enemy?
You need to be alive to argue with your spouse. If you’re dead, even that option’s gone. Watching his parents quarrel, Mujin felt nothing but warmth in his heart.
‘You both still look so young.’
They were younger now than he had been before his regression. He sincerely wished for their long lives and good health. From this moment on, he promised never to cause them any more pain. Just as they wished, he would live quietly and responsibly.
“Father! Mother! Did hyung do something again—?”
Pause.
Kang Mu-ho entered the room.
He had come to comfort his parents after hearing his older brother had gotten into trouble again, but was instead met with the sight of that very brother, smiling at him with blood-soaked pants and a brutalized butt.
‘What the hell is going on?’
And what’s worse, he’s smiling.
Flinch.
Kang Mu-ho, known as the Emotionless Sword, was always calm and sharp, never showing an ounce of hesitation. He was their father’s pride and the future strongest swordsman of the Songho Sect clan.
But even he…
His younger brother had true talent. Unlike Mujin of this age, Kang Mu-ho was born gifted, perhaps even more so than the best heirs of the great orthodox sects.
Yet Songho Sect didn’t have the resources to let that talent fully bloom.
No matter how great your ability, if you don’t have the backing to support it, your life becomes a tragic tale. Trying to revive a crumbling clan had led to an end so dark, Mujin didn’t even want to remember it.
‘I won’t let that happen again.’
“Mu-ho!”
“……”
Kang Mu-ho was stunned.
His older brother bleeding out onto the floor, approached him with a bright, affectionate expression. It wasn’t just unfamiliar. It was terrifying. The shock left him completely disarmed, turning him into a statue, just like their father earlier.
Squeeze!
And just like that, Mujin pulled him into a tight, emotional hug.
“I missed you.”
“……?”
****
Mujin lay face-down on the bed he shared with his wife, in their shared sanctuary.
Just being able to see his father, mother, and brother again, that alone made him feel like the happiest man in the world. He never imagined such a blessing would come his way again. From now on, he was going to make sure their path was filled with flowers.
It’s true what they say, sometimes you need to be reborn to finally become a good son.
A big dopey smile spread across his face.
In contrast, a deep crease formed in Yu-jin’s lovely brow, shaped like the Chinese character for river, 川.
“You’re seriously smiling right now?”
“Why not? It’s a good day.”
“Father-in-law really went overboard. Look at your butt—what is that?”
“It’s my fault.”
“Still, you could get a scar. Tsk… hoo~ hoo~ Does it hurt?”
“Hurt? Nah, it tickles.”
The mighty War King lay there with his rear exposed.
His wife carefully applied medicine to the wounds, gently blowing on them with every touch.
“You used to have such a nice butt. Why treat it like this? And by the way, this butt belongs to me, you know.”
“…That sounds kind of weird.”
“What does?”
“Ahem… What exactly made you fall for me, anyway?”
“You didn’t know? You’re my prince who saved me. And I’m the lucky one who got to marry him.”
‘When did I do that?’
Mujin honestly couldn’t remember. Had he ever saved her before? Was she confusing him with someone else?
What bastard—?!
‘Did he look like me?’
‘If I ever meet him… fine, I won’t kill him.’
Though her husband had forgotten, Yu-jin remembered it all clearly.
When she was just eight years old, she had foolishly followed her father somewhere and ended up in danger. It was a boy who had saved her, and that boy had grown into the man she married today.
It was that one moment, that bond, that had led to their marriage.
‘God, I was seriously crazy back then.’
His wife was the very embodiment of a wise and virtuous woman. She had always believed in him, supported him no matter the situation.
And yet, back then… it had felt like she was mocking him.
“I was so blinded by comfort, I kicked over my own meal with both hands.”
He had no idea what kind of wealth or glory he thought he’d gain by abandoning someone so good. In hindsight, it was all nothing but meaningless illusion.
Now then…
“How long do I have to keep my butt exposed like this?”
“The wound needs ventilation if it’s going to heal properly.”
“It’s fine. You already put ointment on and wrapped it.”
“Even so, we have to be careful it doesn’t get infected.”
As Mujin looked at her, a flood of emotions surged through him, so overwhelming, he couldn’t hold it back. He couldn’t wait another second. Without a single rational thought, he pulled her toward him.
Drip.
Blood trickled from his backside.
And yet, the War King didn’t even flinch.
‘It’s just blood.’
‘I’m in love.’
After a long moment of shared ecstasy, his wife had to leave the room for an errand related to the main plot of their lives. Mujin lay there, staring blankly at the ceiling, a soft smile on his face.
‘This is a miracle I’ll never be granted again.’
If life could continue like this, he’d never ask for more. Just one reckless mistake had been more than enough.
But as his heart settled, a question returned: How did I come back?
If “regression” was simply granted to anyone who desperately wished for it, then wouldn’t everyone be running around in their second life?
Hm?
A strange feeling crept over him.
A peculiar sense of dissonance.
Something felt… wrong within him. As the internal presence began to fade, he turned his awareness inward.
And the moment he focused in on its essence—
—“Did you enjoy that?”
‘What?’
A voice spoke directly into his mind.
‘Have I completely lost it?’
Sure, everything happening right now defied logic. But he hadn’t broken to the point of hallucinating. Even without having formally practiced the War King’s Art, his seasoned soul had been tempered enough to perceive reality clearly.
That voice… sounds familiar.
It wasn’t the first time he’d heard that tone.
The cadence. The smugness. It brought to mind a long, entangled grudge.
Following the trail of memory, he gradually reached the very moment his regression had begun. And finally…
‘You?’
—“You haven’t forgotten after all.”
The Demonic King Cheon-gyeong.
Mujin frowned deeply. He’d been so drunk on the joy of returning to the past that he hadn’t even noticed the presence of the Demonic King, still lingering within his consciousness.
It was no different from a squatter forcibly taking residence without permission.
If the true owner of the house starts shouting, that’s only natural. The Demonic King should count himself lucky he hadn’t been beaten to a pulp the moment he showed up.
‘What the hell do you think you’re doing?’
—“I don’t really know myself.”
‘And that’s supposed to be an answer?’
—“Anyway, I granted your wish, didn’t I?”
‘Wow. The audacity.’
Hiding inside someone else’s consciousness, actively risking a mental breakdown, and yet here he was, brushing it off like it was all good since Mujin got to go back to the past.
That twisted rationalization… it was so very Demon King of him.
But Mujin wasn’t someone who fell for such nonsense.
‘If you don’t know, who the hell does?’
—“I told you, I didn’t expect this either!”
‘Then get lost, you bastard!’
—“You telling me to off myself? Why would I? If you’re so mad, go ahead and kill me.”
‘You son of a—!’
—“Didn’t you say you were going to cut me down? Where’s that sword of yours, huh?”
‘You don’t even have a neck, asshole!’
---The End Of The Chapter---
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