As all eyes focused on me, I felt like I was standing alone on the stage.

But I wasn’t lonely.

Behind me stood Geugak Soma, and the people looking at me were my Majeons. In truth, they were my father’s Majeons and ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ stood with him, but in my heart, they were also mine.

Of course, one fact must not be forgotten: this relationship with the Majeons was possible only because I was my father’s son.

That’s why this stage is important. I must conduct this battle well. Whether I win or lose, I too must be dignified and noble.

This stage is the first stage between my father and me.

First, in front of the Majeons, I must never damage my father’s dignity and authority. That is the principle of this fight.

‘Father, do you know that I am mindful even of that? That is why this fight is so difficult for me.’

My father’s gaze turned toward me. I could not tell how much of what I said had reached him.

The silence was broken by Chimma.

“Sect Leader, may I offer the Little Pill Master a drink?”

My father nodded at Chimma’s request.

Chimma poured liquor into the Binggung’s goblet.

“Little Pill Master, accept my drink and change your mind.”

Though on my father’s side, Chimma’s true feelings were different.

—I do not want to see the martial world become a bloodbath, so use that brilliant mind of yours to find a way!

Between my father and me, I had no choice but to side with him, but Chimma opposed war. This drink was his drink of support.

“I will drink it gratefully.”

I slowly drank and exchanged silent messages with Chimma.

—As you see, it’s not easy to turn your father’s mind.

—But the only one who can do it is you.

“I have drunk well.”

At that moment, Hyeolchendomma sent me a silent message.

—Give up. The Sect Leader’s and your dreams are like parallel lines. They will never meet.

From his point of view, no matter how hard I tried to persuade, I could not change my father’s resolve.

Hyeolchendomma was right. How could one easily change a dream nurtured for so long?

I calmly asked my father.

“I want to ask you something. Do you often think about that dream?”

My father looked at me with a question in his eyes, as if to ask what I meant.

“When we dream a dream, at first it excites and thrills us, but as time passes, that dream becomes natural, doesn’t it?”

My father’s eyes flickered slightly. That long-cherished wish must have become a ‘natural’ dream to him as well.

“Father, it’s okay to have the same dream. But can you dream it again from the very beginning? Dream it anew from a state without any dream. Not the dream you can’t even remember when it first began, but a vivid dream now.”

My father said nothing.

“I thought about this throughout meeting the Majeons today. Should I really oppose your will? Do I have the right? So I even met my soldiers. I met them to regain my resolve, but seeing you again shakes my heart.”

This was my sincere message to my father.

“I don’t want to oppose your will that much because I respect you more than anyone in the world.”

It was no flattery. It was my true feelings for my father revealed before all the Majeons. My father still listened without changing his expression.

Today, my father was not speaking but listening. Thanks to that, this stage was truly my solo show.

“I know well how important your dream, your wish, and your ideal are. The dark path I spoke of is part of my dream too. But I believe there is something as important as that.”

“What is it?”

“What we’ll eat tonight, whom we’ll meet tomorrow. I believe daily life is as important as grand dreams. The scenery we see while pursuing a dream.”

Hwamugi is the reason I try to live my life without being swallowed by even a strong enemy.

It is the principle I have kept since regression. Yet, I don’t know how persuasive my young words will be to my father. But I gave it my best.

“It’s important to win a game of Go with you, Father, and also important to fulfill the wish of taking a hot spring bath together. I sincerely wish to travel the Central Plains with you. Would I be happy to see you sitting in the Taesa Hall having achieved martial unification without fulfilling these things?”

And that’s not all. I looked at the Majeons.

“It’s important to spar with Master Geom, to train late with my teacher, to read books beside Lord Doma, to pick poisonous herbs with Dokwang, to drink with Chimma and watch Mabool’s statues being completed. I want to see Seophon Majeon grow. And I still have many pieces of furniture I want to place in Soma’s room. These things are as important as my dream. When I look back before I die, I’ll deeply miss and regret these moments.”

Though each moment was lonely and hard, in retrospect, life passed like a blink. I know this because I’ve experienced it.

What I’m about to say now must be said carefully.

“I think your long-cherished dream had too few choices. For one walking the path of Heavenly Demon, many signposts were not necessary.”

But my father’s thoughts were resolute.

“Even if there were a hundred choices, I would have chosen the same. Even if there were dozens of crossroads, I would have walked the path I took.”

“I’m not telling you to take another path.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean to look at the scenery around you as you go.”

So sometimes stop walking, sometimes be curious about another path, and sometimes doubt your own path.

To do that, I must walk with my father. Walk together, talk, and when we see scenery worth seeing, tell him, “Look there.”

I realized through talking with my father that this was the only way to change his dream. Realization led directly to action.

“Father, will you make me one promise?”

Everyone, including my father and the Majeons, looked at me curiously. With all eyes on me, I continued.

“Yes, a promise man to man. A promise between the Sect Leader and the Little Pill Master. Between father and son.”

“What promise?”

“Give me time.”

“Time?”

I thought about how many years I would need. Not too short, not too long.

The exact time to achieve my goal.

“Give me exactly five years from now.”

“If I give it?”

“I will ask you again then. If your dream is still martial unification, then I will stand at the forefront of that war.”

“!”

Everyone, including my father, was surprised. Chimma’s expression said, ‘No! What are you doing?’

On the opposite side, Geugak Soma’s eyes were smiling. Did he imagine standing beside me at that forefront?

My declaration to stand at the forefront of war was my gambit.

Within five years, I will eliminate Hwamugi’s faction and change my father’s heart. Within that time, I will make him dream a new dream.

Five years.

War is not something you can immediately fight just because you want.

Depending on the strategy, preparation might take months or even two or three years.

So five years is not an overly long time for my father.

If I win this wager, he will have me.

I who have mastered the Twelve Stars Great Success of the Nine Flames Martial Art by the Si Cheon Technique.

And it’s not only me who wins. I gain everything I’ve achieved until then as a bonus. Surely, if I lead, my father’s dream of martial unification will come closer.

This promise is an official one made before the Majeons.

“I swear this promise with my life.”

“Won’t you regret it?”

“Won’t you regret it, Father?”

Our gazes locked in midair. Everyone here knew we were both people who keep promises. Because of that, both my father and I had to decide carefully.

“Why five years?”

“Because it’s changing my father’s mind. I wish it could be fifty years.”

“This fight is one where I only need to keep my heart as it is. Five years will pass quickly. Still, will you do it?”

“During that time, I will change your mind, Father.”

A mocking smile appeared on my father’s lips. That smile, which always gave different feelings, today carried amusement. It felt like he was asking, ‘You actually want to fight, don’t you?’

That must be why he nodded readily.

“Good. I accept that promise.”

I confirmed once again before the Majeons this wager that will change everyone’s fate.

“Five years from today, I will gather all the Majeons here again and ask your dream, Father. Then we will have our contest.”

Five years later, my father’s dream will have changed. He will speak a dream that surprises every Majeon here. I will make sure it happens.

“Thank you, Father.”

The Majeons looked at my father and me with expressions of surprise at this unexpected result.

Now, relaxed, I asked my father.

“Since it’s over, may I ask — was meeting the Majeons all about preparing for martial unification?”

Unexpectedly, my father shook his head.

“You’re saying no?”

He wouldn’t lie about such a thing. Surprised, I asked again.

“Then why did you meet all the Majeons?”

“Meet all?”

“You met Soma, Chimma, and helped Dokwang with his poison making.”

“That’s only three.”

That was true. I only met three Majeons directly. Even then, he gave another reason.

“I heard furniture was brought to Soma’s room. So I went to visit once.”

If that was really the case, my father must have had some recent change of heart.

“I just drank with Chimma because the liquor poured into the Binggung’s goblet was too delicious.”

“And Dokwang?”

“I heard he needed refined empty-space elements. He failed several times without such help. So I just went to help.”

I looked at my father. I couldn’t tell if he was sincere.

“I met only those three, but you met all of them.”

“!”

I asked him, startled.

“Then why did you gather everyone today? To persuade me and unite the Majeons?”

“No.”

“No?”

“Do you think I’m a child who will change his mind just because you persuade?”

Of course, my father knew me well.

“I heard you went around meeting all the Majeons. You tried to persuade, but I thought this had to be settled.”

In other words, this was a place for me.

“Then why did I make the five-year promise?”

“You brought it up first. I said nothing.”

In fact, my father hadn’t even stated his dream clearly yet.

I shouted at Hyeolchendomma.

“You said Father might have started moving seriously to realize his dream!”

“…I said might.”

Then at Kwonma.

“You said Father is already at war?”

“A father with a son like you is always at war, isn’t he?”

“Was that what you meant?”

“What else could it mean?”

And to Mabool.

“You said Father made this stage?”

Mabool’s bright radiance faded.

“Did I? I’ve been so out of it lately. I’d better go finish making statues.”

I looked between my father and the Majeons.

“Right? I’m being played? It’s all rigged from the start? Isn’t it?”

Just as I held my head in distress, Dokwang, standing apart, suddenly sent a silent message.

—The one being played is the Sect Leader.

He read my mind exactly.

—If a war breaks out, you will join anyway. I know you will ask the Sect Leader to let you stand at the forefront. You’ll try to minimize the war damage.

I smiled back at him. That was true.

Would I close the door and refuse war because I hate it, or side with the Martial Alliance? If war can’t be stopped beforehand, I must join.

I acted as if I was the victim, but it wasn’t that. This was a favorable battle for me.

At least for the next five years, I wouldn’t have to worry about war.

—Do you think the Sect Leader doesn’t know your intention?

—I know.

I could tell just by the way my father looked at me. But he wouldn’t go easy on me.

He was giving me a chance and saying, “Let’s fight properly.”

Not just a one-day battle, but a great battle spanning five years.

The fate of the martial world is at stake.

By then, I will have mastered the Twelve Stars Great Success of the Nine Flames Martial Art and kill Hwamugi.

And I will face a battle even harder than that.

To show my father there is a better dream than martial unification. To walk with him and show him sights he has never seen.

The empty Taesa Hall.

Now, the empty Taesa Hall rising in my mind is no longer the terrifying feeling I thought before. It must be the absence of some other reason.

Father, now you must go here and there with me. Because I have a reason.

Whether or not he knows my thoughts, my father smiled faintly and said,

“You’ll be reliable if you become the vanguard.”