The Invincible Commander – Chapter 7

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HwasanSect

[Translator: Chyluck]

[Proofreader: Chyluck]

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Chapter 7

Crack! Thwack! Bam!

Myunghwan’s wide eyes caught Cheon Sinwoo’s movements.

He could barely track them.

He vanished and reappeared, and every time he closed in, a subordinate fell.

Including Woosaeng, nine went down in no time.

“Phew.”

Cheon Sinwoo straightened up.

Myunghwan realized too late.

He’d messed with the wrong guy.

This wasn’t just a servant.

He was a martial artist, no doubt.

Numbers?

They meant nothing.

This monster servant was leagues above their boss, Huangdu.

So?

“Spare me!”

Myunghwan, sizing up the situation, gave up resistance and flattened himself on the ground.

“Hmm.”

Cheon Sinwoo looked at him with distaste.

“Hey.”

“Yes, Great Hero!”

“What? Weren’t you calling me a servant punk before?”

“I was reckless.”

“What’d you say about the lady?”

“A misunderstanding. I’ve committed a grave sin.”

Slap!

Myunghwan smacked his own cheek hard.

A desperate struggle to survive.

Slap, slap, slap!

His cheeks turned red from relentless slaps, but Cheon Sinwoo wanted something else.

He approached, picking up a dagger from a fallen thug’s waist.

“Great Hero! Please spare me! I beg you! It was Huangdu’s orders! I swear! Just say the word, and I’ll drag him to you.”

Now he was selling out his boss.

But his fate was sealed long ago.

Grab.

Crouching, Cheon Sinwoo gripped his jaw, pressing the dagger to his mouth.

And sliced.

His cheek tore open.

“Gaaah!”

He screamed, jaw held tight.

The sound was garbled, his torn mouth unable to form properly.

“Not yet.”

The cold remark sent chills.

Blood splattered on Cheon Sinwoo’s face, but his expression didn’t change.

He’d sworn to serve Sohyang for life.

She’d endured those harsh years with her son because of him.

And this scum dared insult her with filthy words and leering eyes?

Stab.

His finger pierced an eye, hooked, and yanked it out.

“Aaagh!”

Myunghwan thrashed wildly, screaming, but his jaw was still held, no escape.

Mouth torn, eye ripped out, yet Cheon Sinwoo’s face didn’t even twitch.

“One more.”

With a sneer, his hand moved.

Both eyes were gone, plucked whole and dropped to the ground.

Useless eyes, useless mouth.

Myunghwan, unable to bear the pain, passed out, silent.

Then—

“Waaah!”

“…?”

Woosaeng, kicked away earlier, charged with all his might.

His face was mangled, nose likely broken.

Last time, he’d cowered watching his comrades get beaten, but now he was relentless. Why?

And why was he fine?

Strange.

He should’ve been down.

But Cheon Sinwoo couldn’t just let Woosaeng crash into him.

Dodging such an attack was easy.

He twisted aside, grabbed Woosaeng’s collar, and tripped him.

Boom!

Woosaeng’s body spun and planted into the ground.

A human tree-planting.

A giant one.

“Waaah!”

“…!”

Beyond absurd.

The planted guy got up and charged again.

Was he really fine?

Whoosh!

Cheon Sinwoo, frowning, dodged a wild punch and drove an elbow into Woosaeng’s side.

Crack!

The sound of ribs breaking.

He shouldn’t be able to breathe…

“Waaah!”

What? This guy?

Cheon Sinwoo, certain he’d fall, stepped back quickly.

“Huff, huff, huff…”

But Woosaeng only screamed, not charging again.

His ribs were definitely broken.

He leaned toward the hit side, panting.

“My mother, my mother…”

What was he saying?

Mother?

“Waaah!”

He charged again, screaming.

The others went down in one hit…

And stop with the “waaah.” It’s annoying as hell.

Cheon Sinwoo’s fist sparked with inner energy.

Fall already.

Boom!

A serious punch hit Woosaeng’s face, making him stagger.

Yet he trudged forward.

Incredible guy.

Could anyone be this tough?

Enduring a blow infused with blade-like energy?

Grab.

Woosaeng barely caught Cheon Sinwoo’s collar but collapsed, kneeling, and passed out.

Freakish guy.

“Phew.”

Shaking his head, Cheon Sinwoo looked down at him, then snapped to attention.

Oh no, Sohyang was watching.

He’d been too angry, too brutal. Should’ve taken them elsewhere.

“My lady.”

As he approached, worried, Sohyang shouted sharply.

“You’re not a hunter—you’re a martial artist?”

“What?”

“Are you a martial artist?”

Cheon Sinwoo was speechless.

Why ask that?

He wasn’t expecting thanks, but her eyes were filled with confusion.

“I don’t know if I’d call myself a martial artist, but I’ve trained in martial arts.”

At his answer, she gritted her teeth.

“Get out. Don’t come back.”

“My lady…”

“Never…”

She issued an abrupt eviction and stormed into her room.

Click.

The door shutting echoed like a blow to his heart.

Why…

Why did she look at him like that?

It wasn’t the brutality. She seemed to shudder at the idea of him being a martial artist.

Panicked, Cheon Sinwoo didn’t know what to do.

Her cold, piercing gaze stuck in his chest, heavy and uncomfortable.

“Why does being a martial artist…”

Her words and actions were incomprehensible.

What was the reason?

“Urghhh!”

“…?”

Lost in thought, he was startled when Woosaeng’s eyes snapped open, coming to.

Incredible guy.

Born for this.

He’d deal with Sohyang later.

“Hey!”

Whack!

“You punk!”

Thwack!

Woosaeng took ten hits before collapsing again.

“Ughhh…”

Then he cried.

Lying there.

What kind of guy…

“My mother, my mother…”

“What’re you saying?”

“If I don’t catch you, Huangdu won’t leave my mother alone.”

“What?”

“Myunghwan said if I mess up again, Huangdu won’t let it slide.”

His tone…

Was he talking casually?

Come to think of it, he’d seemed a bit slow from the start.

Sohyang’s reaction had scrambled his head, so he let it slide.

He wasn’t even mad.

For some reason, he felt he’d made a big mistake with her.

But leaving this guy would mean more crying and noise.

“Hey.”

“What, man!”

“Thisessége

guy? Alright, fine.”

Sighing, Cheon Sinwoo, annoyed, asked, “Where’s your mother?”

“Huh?”

“Didn’t you say Huangdu wouldn’t leave her alone?”

“Oh, right…”

Weird guy.

His expression and tone shifted instantly.

Mother…

Now that he thought about it, he’d had a subordinate with a similar story before.

That’s how it was for thugs.

Well, details could wait.

“Bring her here.”

“What?”

He answered politely, making Cheon Sinwoo chuckle.

“Didn’t you say Huangdu won’t let her be?”

“…”

“This manor’s rundown, but with so many pavilions, there’s no room for your mother? Bring her. Before Huangdu does something vile.”

“Is that okay?”

“For now…”

He hadn’t gotten Sohyang’s permission, but her kind heart wouldn’t turn away someone in need.

“Thank you, big brother!”

Woosaeng sprang up and ran off.

What a strange guy.

Calling him big brother already.

His simplicity was beyond measure.

“What does he eat to be that tough?”

Cheon Sinwoo glanced at his hand.

…Am I getting weaker?

He’d need to train harder.

Sighing, he surveyed the courtyard.

He didn’t understand Sohyang’s reaction, but he had to clean up.

What if Chang woke up and saw this?

Such a brutal scene wasn’t good for the boy’s education.

“Damn it, should’ve told him to clean up first.”

He regretted letting Woosaeng go.

Sohyang’s Trauma

Sohyang collapsed inside her room, legs giving out.

Her heart wouldn’t calm, her body trembling like a leaf as she hugged her knees.

She was scared.

A martial artist…

She never wanted to be entangled with them again.

There was a time she’d been proud of it.

She’d even tried to learn martial arts.

But her father died. Her family’s warriors died.

Finding the enemy wasn’t hard.

Everyone knew but turned a blind eye, hoping he’d never resurface.

How could she forgive an irreconcilable enemy?

Even if the world forgave, she swore to take revenge.

She spent five years with him.

Every day imagining his death, working toward it.

With fake smiles, she earned his favor, talking to get close.

But human emotions are strange.

His stories, once ignored, piled up in her heart, revealing the pain behind his villainous life.

His struggle to survive.

A life endured through scorn and humiliation.

Seeing him try to change for her, she felt confused.

Maybe she wanted to be seen well by him. She felt his care in his gaze, his genuine happiness.

She understood.

As a martial family’s daughter, she knew from childhood that the martial world’s nature wasn’t just grudges—it was strength and weakness, killing each other.

If nothing had happened, she’d have been part of that world.

A martial artist or a merchant’s wife.

In a way, her father and the family warriors struck first.

He’d said through his own mouth that he always fought to protect himself.

The fight with her father was just one of those.

Such things happen in the martial world.

Yet his words, laughing that he’d go to hell when he died, pressed painfully on her heart.

Whenever her revenge wavered, she reminded herself.

He’s a villain.

An irreconcilable enemy.

It was pity, sympathy—she denied her confused heart over and over.

She made her choice.

The moment he rejoiced over their unborn child, when she felt he fully trusted her, when he was weakest and defenseless.

She killed him.

She wanted to glare with venom, but seeing him accept everything, she felt sadness and cried.

She cursed the martial world for their wretched fate.

If he hadn’t been a martial artist.

Her father, him, none would’ve left her side.

Her family wouldn’t have fallen.

She couldn’t abort the child.

What sin did that small life bear for her to decide its fate?

The child’s eyes resembled his.

If he had other children, she’d be remembered as the irreconcilable enemy who killed their father.

The cycle of karma is a revolving dagger.

Hoping Chang would never belong to that cruel world, she burned the family’s library.

The retainers had already taken much, but she searched the manor, leaving not a single book.

She told him nothing.

Who his father was.

What their family had been.

She wanted him to know nothing.

To have no interest.

To be free from the martial world’s cycle of grudges.

He’d learn someday, but she hoped it’d be when Chang was grown, able to judge for himself.

That night, Sohyang couldn’t sleep, staring at her sleeping son’s face.