Chapter 400: Why Did You Do That?

Kim Si-Hun's mother was a barmaid, and one at a luxury bar that only served VIPs, at that. She had caught the attention of Si-Hun's father, and they ended up sleeping together. That was how Si-Hun was born.

Si-Hun had no idea why a man like his father did not force his mother to abort the baby that had been an accident. Whatever the case, Si-Hun and his mother used to live with his father when he was very little.

He remembered being fairly close to his older brother at the time. He did not remember when, but he had once made a bet with his older brother about who would be able to juggle a soccer ball longer. At the time, his older brother had been full of confidence, but Si-Hun had ended up winning the bet by about five times the length of time. That had been his first time touching a soccer ball.

On that day, his older brother changed and the endless harassment began. At the time, Si-Hun had no idea why his older brother tormented him. He was just frustrated and sad. Only after he grew up did he realize that his brother tormented him out of jealousy. After realizing that fact, Si-Hun did everything worse than his brother on purpose. Whether it be studying, sports, or art, he praised his older brother for being good at everything.

The harassment then turned into mockery. His older brother called him the son of a prostitute. Si-Hun had no idea what that word meant when he first heard it, but the day he learned what it meant, he beat up his older brother to the point that his teeth fell out. A while after the incident, Si-Hun learned that his older brother's cheekbones had almost shattered.

That incident marked the beginning of hell. Si-Hun and his mother were kicked out of the house. His mother tried her best to find a workplace to earn money, but she was not able to because of his father's interference. Poverty was more despairing than all else, but Si-Hun was happy just to be together with his mother. Although he was hungry and tired all the time, he was happy. Or at least, that was what Si-Hun had thought.

One day, Si-Hun saw his mother sneaking out of the house. He followed after her and saw that she had come to his father's house and was begging for her and Si-Hun to be forgiven. His older brother came out of the house and laughed while kicking her. He spat on her while cackling. Si-Hun was not able to do anything to stop it.

On that day, his mother came back home with her face all bruised up and a handful of bills in her hand. She cried as she looked at Si-Hun and apologized to him while bawling her eyes out.

"I'm sorry... for giving birth to you."

Si-Hun found those words hurtful. They hurt so badly that he thought he would never be able to forget them.

"Cough..."

Si-Hun heard someone coughing up blood. He could feel the trembles of the person that he stabbed through the sword. He looked up.

Riiing.

[Assimilation with Martial God Tian Taihuang has reached 87%.]

[You have mastered Formless Sword!]

[You have realized a portion of the principle of Mind's Sword!]

"Haaa, haaa," Si-Hun panted heavily.

He felt like his head would explode. The Qi surging from his dantian and the principles of martial arts filled his brain. He twisted the blade. The wound widened along with the cracking of bones, and black blood flowed out from it.

"Why?" Tai Wuji looked down at the sword that had pierced his heart and then back at Si-Hun.

His eyes were wide open as if he couldn't understand.

Si-Hun shut his eyes tightly without answering.

"In the end, you've decided to remain as a puppet," Tai Wuji stated coldly.

He raised his sword as he stared at Si-Hun in disgust. Si-Hun did not answer this time either.

"Pathetic."

Tai Wuji grabbed the blade that pierced his heart. Cracks formed on Holy Sword Ludwig, and it completely shattered in his hands. Tai Wuji turned around and swung his sword.

Slash!

"Kurgh!"

The sword blazing with dark blue flames cut Si-Hun from his collarbone to his stomach, spewing dark red blood like a fountain. As Si-Hun fell to the ground like a bird that had lost its wings...

Tap.

Someone raced across the sky and caught Si-Hun.

"Ah..." Si-Hun expressed.

He raised his head and saw Oh Kang-Woo.

Kang-Woo was looking down at him with deeply sunken eyes. Si-Hun could see an endless black sea within Kang-Woo's eyes.

"Why did you do that?" Kang-Woo asked.

Si-Hun smiled faintly as he looked up at Kang-Woo. "I guess... you knew."

Kang-Woo had known that Si-Hun had regained his memories. Si-Hun couldn't help but laugh after finding that out. He felt the heavy emotions weighing down on his heart lifting.

"Why did you do that?" Kang-Woo asked again.

Si-Hun organized his thoughts to come up with an answer. He slowly raised his trembling hand and grabbed Kang-Woo's arm.

"Even if... everything you've shown me until now was a lie..."

Even if Si-Hun was nothing more than a puppet...

"To me..."

Tears flowed down Si-Hun's cheeks. He recalled the day that Layla was captured by Satan's subordinate, and what Kang-Woo had said to him back when he was on the verge of losing his sanity and becoming a demon.

"Thanks... for staying as my little brother."

Kang-Woo probably had no idea how much those words had saved him. Even if those words had been a lie and had been nothing more than a trick to keep him as a puppet...

"Your lies were more precious to me... than any truth."

Kang-Woo remained silent. He feigned laughter. "You dumbass."

Si-Hun was truly an incorrigible dumbass.

"You're making me cringe, dude," Kang-Woo mentioned.

Classic Si-Hun; he was an expert at saying cringe lines.

"Haha," Si-Hun laughed brightly.

He looked satisfied as if all his weights had been unloaded off his shoulders. Kang-Woo lightly smacked the laughing Si-Hun on the back of his head.

"Why are you laughing, dumbass?" he asked.

Si-Hun was truly a dumbass. He was thanking the one who had used him after turning him into a puppet while laughing. Kang-Woo wondered if Si-Hun even had a brain in that head of his.

"Seriously..." Kang-Woo slurred.

Si-Hun was so idiotic that Kang-Woo was boiling with rage.

"You've tamed him well. He doesn't bite his master even without a leash on him," said Tai Wuji as he looked at Si-Hun in contempt.

Kang-Woo said in a low tone, "So you were the one who restored Si-Hun's memories."

"That's right." Tai Wuji smirked. "How utterly pathetic. I did not expect the one to inherit the Heavenly Dragon's martial arts to be this moroni—"

"Hey," Kang-Woo said as he turned to Tai Wuji. "I get it, so shut up for a second."

Tai Wuji frowned. Kang-Woo turned his head back to Si-Hun. He gathered some of the blood spewing from his severed right arm with his left hand and poured it into Si-Hun's mouth.

"Hyung."

"You shut up too."

After administering first aid with the Authority of Regeneration, Kang-Woo lightly patted Si-Hun's body. A golden barrier enveloped him, and he was lowered slowly to the ground.

"Haaa," Kang-Woo sighed deeply.

He closed his eyes. For some reason, his irritation was through the roof, to the point that he could barely handle it.

"I mean, I was gonna kill you anyway even without this, but..." Kang-Woo slowly opened his eyes to reveal black scleras, yellow irises, and horizontal black pupils filled with fury. He turned to Tai Wuji and remarked, "You just gave me another reason to tear you apart."

Tai Wuji raised his sword in silence. Kang-Woo could feel unconcealable anxiety in Tai Wuji's eyes. Kang-Woo took a deep breath to the point that his lungs could burst. And...

"Raaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!!!"

The king's roar shook the earth. Angels, demons, demonic beasts, and humans all held their breaths.

Kang-Woo bent forward and shot explosively toward Tai Wuji.

"Hup." Tai Wuji positioned his sword forward.

Kang-Woo ended up right in front of Tai Wuji in the blink of an eye and extended his remaining left arm. Tai Wuji raised the sword to cut off the left arm.

"Move," Kang-Woo spoke in Soul Speech.

The words imbued with power distorted the laws of physics, allowing Kang-Woo to overcome space itself and move behind Tai Wuji. He grabbed Tai Wuji's neck, raised his right leg high, and swung it down as hard as he could.

Boom—!!!

The repelling force caused Tai Wuji and Kang-Woo to shoot toward the sky. They passed the blue sky and the clouds as the scenery changed rapidly. In the end, they went past the atmosphere and reached outer space. The two monsters ended up in a dark void where no life could survive.

"Kurgh!" Tai Wuji turned and swung his sword, cutting off Kang-Woo's left hand that was holding him by the back of the neck. Red blood poured out from both of Kang-Woo's arm stumps, but they stayed floating in space due to the absence of gravity.

"Did you think anything would change if you came all the way here?" Tai Wuji snorted.

Any normal life form would die as soon as they reached outer space, but Tai Wuji was a god, one who possessed Top-rank Deific Essence, no less. It was possible to breathe, speak, and move freely in outer space with the power of Divinity.

"Something does change," Kang-Woo replied.

He looked up and saw only darkness. He tried to take a deep breath but naturally, nothing entered his lungs. Having his breathing cut off was slightly unpleasant, but such trivial issues did not matter.

"Here..."

The corners of Kang-Woo's mouth rose. No, they did not just rise; the corners ripped, and his cheeks tore open as if they had been sliced with a knife. Sharp teeth of a beast protruded out from between them.

"I can go as wild as I like."

Kang-Woo cackled. The red blood flowing out from his arm stumps slowly turned black.

"Haaa." Kang-Woo exhaled what remained of the air in his lungs and then chanted, "First Door, open."