The Terminally-Ill Side-Character Inside of a Martial Arts Novel

The pain was excruciating due to the sword pierced in my shoulder. Every time I flinched, the sharp sword stabbed my shoulder, making my whole body ache.

But now such things were no problem. At the words that had just come out of Hyuk Dojin’s mouth, not only me and Joo Hwarin, but everyone present there couldn’t help but freeze.

‘Mother.’

Hyuk Dojin clearly said that. The only Hyuk Dojin’s mother I knew was one person. Only Geum Soso.

But Geum Soso was a person who died more than 10 years ago. Then, could such a person appear in front of me now and pierce a sword into my shoulder?

No, even besides that, the woman in front of me now was at most in her late twenties, even if I greatly overestimated her age.

Cult Leader Hyuk Muhyeol didn’t take a new woman as his wife. Geum Soso was the first and last. Then what is this?

While I was filling various nonsensical thoughts with my poor imagination, the woman’s voice rang out once more.

“Why are you making such a surprised expression? It seems you’re not happy to see this mother.”

“That’s… that’s not…”

Hyuk Dojin frowned with a complicated face and retreated hesitantly.

His hand running through his hair was rough as if representing his state of mind.

Hyuk Dojin looked at the woman with furrowed eyes and spoke quietly.

“…Was it you? That gift?”

Gift? I looked up at the woman. She just smiled gently without giving any particular answer.

Hyuk Dojin looked at the woman with a complicated face and bit his lip tightly. A groan flowed between his clenched lips.

“How on earth is this…”

“There’s nothing complicated. The Young Cult Leader met this mother, and this mother met the Young Cult Leader. It’s been a very long time since we’ve faced each other. So, don’t think complicatedly and just accept it comfortably.”

“You know I can’t do that.”

“Why not?”

The woman’s head tilted slightly.

Hyuk Dojin looked at her and moved his lips a few times with a face full of confusion. Soon, he let out a groan-mixed sigh and spoke slowly.

“…Mother. Because it’s been more than ten years since you left my side and was buried in the ground.”

“…”

“Honestly, I still can’t believe it now. The person in front of my eyes is clearly the mother remaining in my memory. The manner of speaking and voice are clearly those of the person I know. I’m confused how such a thing could happen, but this isn’t right.”

Hyuk Dojin slowly moved his legs with the same complicated face. He approached slowly. Hyuk Dojin’s arm also rose slowly.

“I don’t know what that man did, but this isn’t reality. So…”

“Aaaaaaagh..!!”

While Hyuk Dojin’s words were continuing, a terrible pain was felt in my shoulder.

It was because the woman called Geum Soso pushed the sword a little more into my shoulder. It was a terrible pain of flesh being cut and muscles being torn.

After some time passed, the pain stopped and a small groan flowed from my mouth that had been screaming.

My body naturally bent forward, but I couldn’t completely collapse because of the sword stuck in my shoulder. I bit my lip and raised my head.

The distorted appearance of Hyuk Dojin was captured in my eyes. Meanwhile, a voice fell from above.

“The Young Cult Leader has only grown in body from then to now, but is still no different from a child.”

“…”

“You still turn your head away when faced with a reality that’s hard to believe or understand, just like before.”

Hyuk Dojin’s approaching legs stopped.

Geum Soso stared blankly at him, then lightly tapped the sword in her hand.

“Kuuugh…!”

“Wife!”

“Because you show such an ambiguous attitude, this is happening in front of your eyes now.”

Hyuk Dojin looked at me, then urgently raised his head and shouted at Geum Soso.

“Let Sowol go!”

“I can’t. Even if I could let her go, this mother has no reason to do so.”

“Why…!”

Geum Soso smiled gently, in contrast to Hyuk Dojin’s expression that was crumpling.

“Don’t you know that best, Young Cult Leader?”

“…”

Geum Soso turned her head from Hyuk Dojin who was biting his lip, and fixed her gaze on me.

She quietly examined me with a calm face. Blood was also oozing thickly from my hand that was forcibly grabbing the blade to push out the sword pierced in my shoulder.

Geum Soso stared blankly at me like that, then slowly opened her mouth.

“The Young Cult Leader must choose.”

The moment her voice came out, Hyuk Dojin’s body, which had moved very quietly from behind and approached close enough to reach out to Geum Soso, stopped abruptly.

Geum Soso smiled slightly at me, then turned her head and faced Hyuk Dojin with that same smile.

“That’s how you’ll be able to see again, isn’t it?”

The moment her words fell, Hyuk Dojin’s pupils shook. Hyuk Dojin stared blankly at Geum Soso from a close distance, then hurriedly shook his head.

“No, no. That can’t be. This isn’t reality. Mother. You died and I buried you. So what’s here is a corpse taking on the appearance of my mother…!!”

Geum Soso slowly covered her palm over Hyuk Dojin’s cheek, who was shouting roughly with a face as if he had made some decision.

Hyuk Dojin’s mouth slowly closed. Hyuk Dojin’s pupils shook noticeably.

“Isn’t it warm? Can the Young Cult Leader feel such warmth from a corpse?”

“…”

“Look straight. What’s in front of you is neither a corpse nor a lie, but reality. I’m very disappointed, Young Cult Leader! After crossing ten years of time to meet again, is this all you can show this mother, throwing a tantrum saying it’s nonsense?”

She stroked Hyuk Dojin’s cheek as if pitying him, then applied force to the sword and pushed it into my shoulder.

“Huuugh!!!”

I bit my lip tightly and grabbed my shoulder. Life returned to Hyuk Dojin’s pupils, who had been looking at Geum Soso with a distorted face.

He struck away Geum Soso’s hand and immediately pushed her away. Then he pulled out the sword stuck in my shoulder.

My body’s balance collapsed and I fell forward. Hyuk Dojin caught me. I looked up at Hyuk Dojin while being held in his arms. He was making an indescribable expression.

Regret for hesitating, guilt for me being in pain. And confusion at the same time.

Hyuk Dojin bit his lip tightly while pressing my acupoints to stop the blood flowing from my shoulder.

“I’m sorry… Sowol. Really… really…”

“It’s… okay.”

I shook my head painfully while suppressing the throbbing pain in my shoulder. I couldn’t make normal judgments right away because of the pain, but I could understand Hyuk Dojin’s confusion to some extent.

It wasn’t just anything, it was Geum Soso. It would be stranger not to be shaken when the mother he thought was dead appeared again and called him.

Hyuk Dojin supported me with his shaking arm, then raised his head. Geum Soso, who had been pushed by Hyuk Dojin, looked at that appearance calmly and spoke in a quiet voice.

“Is that the answer, Young Cult Leader?”

“…This is the answer. No, there was nothing to agonize over from the beginning. Even if mother were really the person I know, I can’t bear to see my wife’s shoulder pierced with a sword. So, there was nothing to choose.”

He frowned while letting out a self-deprecating voice.

“In the end, it was all my stupidity for being shaken and unable to make a decision.”

Geum Soso stared blankly at Hyuk Dojin, then let out a small sigh.

“It’s really regrettable that this is the Young Cult Leader’s choice. I thought the Young Cult Leader would surely choose this mother, but it was a vain hope.”

“No. It wasn’t vain. The person I know who used the name Geum Soso and was called mother by me was benevolent, loving, and warm. She was never cruel and vicious enough to pierce a sword into her daughter-in-law’s shoulder.”

“Are you saying I’m not the Young Cult Leader’s mother?”

“Yes. That’s what I’m saying. Mother passed away a very long time ago, and I remember such a mother. So…”

“Are you sure?”

Geum Soso’s voice covered Hyuk Dojin’s voice.

Hyuk Dojin’s brows narrowed. He tilted his head slightly as if asking what she meant. Geum Soso met Hyuk Dojin’s eyes and slowly opened her mouth.

“Did you see it with your own eyes?”

“What…”

“Think carefully. Did the Young Cult Leader see this mother’s death with your own eyes?”

“That…”

Hyuk Dojin hesitated. Come to think of it, I remembered hearing from Hyuk Dojin before.

In his childhood, Hyuk Dojin couldn’t protect Geum Soso’s death. He said the elders of the Holy Stream League, including Lee Seonghak, had stopped him. Therefore, he couldn’t see Geum Soso’s death.

“Wasn’t what the Young Cult Leader saw not this mother’s death, but a closed coffin? Can you express that as having seen this mother’s death?”

His arm supporting my body shook finely.

Hyuk Dojin was having the memories and beliefs he had held all this time completely denied. Geum Soso’s voice flowed slowly as she faced Hyuk Dojin’s coldly frozen face.

“Young Cult Leader!”

It was a low but powerful call. Hyuk Dojin’s head rose. Geum Soso, captured in his shaking pupils, opened her mouth while looking at her son.

“Do you truly not recognize this mother? Do you still believe this mother is a lie? Or are you thinking of becoming an unfilial son who betrays his mother connected by heavenly bonds, blinded by the woman in your arms? Is that it, Young Cult Leader!”

“…”

Hyuk Dojin bit his lip tightly. He was visibly shaken.

I looked up at him as he wavered and painfully exhaled while I reached out my arm.

As if representing his state of mind, Hyuk Dojin’s cheek caught on my fingertips was cold as frost.

Hyuk Dojin’s gaze returned as if he felt my fingertips touching him. I opened my mouth powerlessly while meeting his eyes.

“…Don’t listen carefully.”

“Wife…”

“Even if all the words you’re hearing now seem like facts and truth, in the end, when you look back after time passes, you can easily tell they’re lies.”

I smiled slowly while lowering my heavy arm. My whole body felt heavy. Even though only a hole had been pierced in my shoulder, fatigue that made me feel like I would collapse right away rushed in.

Is it because my body condition isn’t good? I looked at Geum Soso while fixing my shaking vision. I met her gaze directed towards me and spoke in a quiet voice.

“…Even if that person is really Dojin’s mother, forcing a cruel choice on her own child is not… what a parent does. So, don’t waver. You are… the only person in the world I trust and rely on…”

With those words, I closed my mouth. My vision faded and sounds faded too. There was a ringing in my ears. I heard Dojin’s voice calling me, but I no longer had the strength to respond. I felt Dojin shaking my body.

My body shook a few times and consciousness slowly faded away.

Like that, deep darkness came.