The Seomun Clan may not be renowned for their martial arts prowess, but they were famous for their high moral integrity and reputation. It was said that the people of Unhansan Mountain, where the Seomun Clan resided, never went hungry.
Cheonohh was the child of Seomun Jeong-Hye, the family’s only daughter. After a mysterious and thrilling romance with a foreign man, she became pregnant, but her husband-to-be suddenly disappeared without a trace. Unable to find a suitable husband, Jeong-Hye raised the child on her own. However, both Seomun Jeong-Hye and her grandparents loved and cherished Cheonohh. The child was expected to grow up happily surrounded by the love of her family.
The truth about his father, a secret better left buried, was dragged into the light when Cheonohh turned seven. It was the work of the Hundred Hero Alliance, whose greed for the newly discovered Luminous Pearl Ore beneath the Seomun family’s land, Unhansan Mountain, set the chain of events in motion.
The Hundred Hero Alliance meticulously investigated every member of the Seomun family, eventually uncovering a lead about the man Jeong-Hye had been involved with. To their shock, he was none other than a notorious figure—a junior leader of the Demonic Sect, a sworn enemy of the martial world.
From there, things escalated quickly. The Seomun family was suddenly branded as traitors, accused of offering their daughter to the Demonic Sect for the sake of their family’s prosperity. They were met by a group of Execution Corps soldiers without a chance to defend themselves.
Fifty soldiers from the Execution Corps overran the Seomun household, ruthlessly dragging everyone out. They impaled them with spears, doused them in oil, and set them on fire, burning them alive. The ancient pillars of the family were shattered, the walls torn down, and the cloud-shaped roof collapsed. Poison was poured into the once-beautiful pond, and even the innocent servants were mercilessly slaughtered.
Cheonohh survived purely by chance. His great-grandparents, having once met a skilled geomancer, had secretly installed a vault beneath their house.
And it seems like the geomancer today is Cho Yun… It wasn’t even in the original story. Honestly, I swear the author throws in these unnecessary details all the time.
Cho-Yun, in the meantime, wiped the dirty silk cloth with dirt from the floor and glanced at the clothes the child had been wearing. The clothes were stained with brown vomit, and they seemed unwearable.
The cause of the vomiting was simple: the only food the child had consumed for the past week was a famine-repellent remedy, ‘Guhwangbyeokgokdan’, a concoction of crushed grains and herbs, held together by honey.
When the Execution Corps soldiers arrived, Seomun Jeong-Hye had hidden the valuables from the secret vault and pushed Cheonohh inside. She whispered to him:
Stay down here. No one will find you. When you can’t hear the outside sounds anymore, count to ten thousand. Don’t come out until then. Promise me, my child.
After pushing him into hiding, Seomun Jeong-Hye stepped out to face the soldiers searching for Cheonohh. Refusing to reveal Cheonohh’s whereabouts even as they tortured her. Eventually, she met a slow and painful death.
Fortunately, the geomantic technique kept Cheonohh’s presence completely hidden, and the soldiers, unable to find him, set the Seomun estate on fire before leaving.
When Cheonohh finally emerged after much time had passed, he was confronted with the horrific sight of his family’s destruction.
Swearing vengeance, Cheonohh willingly surrendered himself to the Demonic Sect that came for him. He immersed himself fully in their teachings, enduring the excruciating trials of the Hundred and Eight Hells—where no one had ever emerged alive.
This set the stage for his transformation into a ruthless antagonist of a wuxia novel, the one who would spread bloodshed across the world.
…This was the backstory of Ju Cheonohh, the final boss of Return of the Hero.
And Cho Yun, despite the grand setup, was nothing more than a trivial side character in the original story.
Seriously, why do they always try to kill off female characters? There’s this whole fantasy about saving a pretty girl in danger and receiving nothing but admiration and love.
Cho-Yun had served as a one-time “debuff cleanser” for one of the female protagonists, helping her when she was poisoned by a lethal toxin and then disappearing.
After that, Cho-Yun’s role in the story vanished, but since the novel was still ongoing, perhaps he would return in the later chapters. Or maybe not, considering the fact that Cho-Yun had so much power and backstory that was never fully explained.
There had been hints that the protagonist would find him later, intrigued by the fact that the protagonist seemed to know where he was. Maybe Cho-Yun would become a trusted ally.
Regardless, impulsively bringing the source of all evil, Ju Cheonohh, into the story had completely shaken the foundation of the plot.
If he had truly transmigrated into a novel, the one useful advantage he could have had was “knowing the future”—but even that was ruined by his own actions.
Wait a minute.
Cho-Yun, who had been dressing Cheonohh in fresh clothes, stopped his hand mid-motion.
Isn’t this actually a good thing? As long as Cheonohh doesn’t join the Demonic Sect and become a part of the unorthodox, maybe things can still go smoothly. If he doesn’t become the Yama King, the Demonic Sect will quiet down, and could easily overthrow the corrupt martial world, right?
Cho Yun swallowed dryly, watching the child. With black hair as dark as a crow’s feathers, the child slept peacefully, unaware of the perilous situation he was in.
Honestly, isn’t this kind of training a bit much for a child? It’s child abuse, really. Wuxia novel are getting way too indifferent about child abuse.
Sure, Cheonohh wanted revenge, but did he really need to do it by joining the Demonic Sect? He was the final boss, after all. Without the Demonic Sect, surely he could still get revenge, right?
Herbalist Cho Yun was a powerful man who reached the Mystic Realm. He was a living legend, having lived nearly two centuries while surpassing the concepts of returning to youth and returning to simplicity, preserving the appearance of his youth throughout the ages.
And now, Cho Yun’s body who was now inhabited by Jeong Ha-yoon, was a proud graduate of South Korea’s prestigious teacher’s college. So naturally, he thought,
Even though I never had any experience in teaching… I can do a better job at raising him, right?
After tying the strings of the child’s clothes, Cho-Yun stood up. Once his soft hands left the child’s body, the child, who had been silent until then, let out a soft moan and muttered in his sleep, dropping his head to the side. Cho Yun quickly grabbed the child’s wounded hands.
As he stared down at the child, Cho Yun replayed the story of Cheonohh in his mind. His thoughts were racing, and the sound of boiling medicine in the back room filled the silence.
◇
Cheonohh’s first conscious memory was of a lukewarm liquid flowing into his mouth.
His vision was blurry, but the lack of brightness suggested he was in a dimly lit room. His body swayed gently, as though being carried, the sensation reaching him half a beat later. The warmth surrounding him made it feel like someone was holding him.
He couldn’t gather his thoughts properly, but then, something entered his mouth and pressed gently against his tongue—a wooden spoon. Cheonohh reflexively swallowed the liquid.
“That’s right. Drink it like that. Don’t force yourself to wake up.”
A cool, gentle voice reached his ears, and Cheonohh relaxed, sinking back into unconsciousness. The liquid that hadn’t been swallowed spilled, but it didn’t fall at the corners of his mouth. A damp cloth was placed on his cheek.
“Sleep more. Then I’ll be able to…”
Reach there before you know it. The following words were too soft for him to hear clearly.
Cheonohh felt as though something important had slipped his mind. Where is he heading to? He wondered before falling into another deep slumber.
When he woke up again, everything around him was clearer. He realized he was inside a cart, nestled in someone’s arms. The person smelled strongly of herbs and medicine, and though they weren’t particularly tall or muscular, they had a firm grip, as evidenced by the gentle but steady swaying of the cart.
His thoughts were fragmented, and his body felt heavy, sluggish. But as he glanced around, he noticed white cloth draped around him and the fluttering of fine, white hair that seemed to shimmer like rippling water. As if the other person could sense that he’d woken up, the person gently patted Cheonohh’s back.
“It’s not time to get up yet. You can sleep a little longer.”
Hearing those words, sleep flooded back like a tidal wave. Cheonohh did not resist and closed his eyes. His mind was at peace, calm and still. He was sure something happened, he felt as though something that needed to be done…
But for some reason, it felt like everything would be fine as it was.
And Cheonohh truly regained his senses two days later.
A pleasant drowsiness, like enjoying midday sleep, spread throughout his body. The chirping of birds and the buzzing of insects filled the air, and the sound of water flowing in a stream could be heard nearby. He could smell the damp, clean air of the woods and the faint scent of herbs.
Cheonohh slowly sat up, and as he did, a sharp sensation made him look down at his hands. Both his hands were carefully wrapped in white cloth. The smell of herbs and honey suggested that some kind of medicinal paste had been applied.
Still bewildered, Cheonohh glanced around the room. On one side of the small room, there was a shelf filled with jars of medicinal herbs, stacked all the way to the ceiling. The characters on the labels were ones Cheonohh had never seen before, but the strong smell of medicine wafted from them.
Next to his head was a bamboo window with a layer of bamboo over it, and at the foot of his bed was a low table with a book and an oil lamp. The floor was covered with a simple quilt, and everything in the room was very modest. The only thing that looked valuable was a golden bell standing beside the herbal shelf.
This was a scene completely unfamiliar to Cheonohh, who had grown up in a noble and affluent household.
“Wh…”
Where is he?
He tried to speak aloud, but his voice seemed stuck in his throat. Instead, a dry, rasping sound escaped, making him panic. He immediately checked his throat, worried there was something wrong with it, but he could only feel the pain in his injured hands—there was no other strange sensation.
At that moment, the door creaked open, and an unfamiliar voice followed.
“Oh, h-he’s awake. Noona, he woke up.”
“You’re up? Hey, What are you getting up for? Lie back down.”
A boy and a girl, entered the room, each holding a basin and a tray. The two young kids were wearing a white robe, and they walked quickly to Cheonohh’s bedside.
Before Cheonohh could react, they grabbed him and gently lay him back down.
“S-Stay still for a moment. Y-You’re badly injured. We need to change your dressings.”
“It might hurt a little, but try to bear it.”
“N-Noona, should we take off all his clothes?”
“Yeah. Hey, I told you to stay put.”
In the blink of an eye, the boy quickly untied Cheonohh’s robe, exposing his thin body. They were so strong that Cheonohh tried to pull his hands away, yet they didn’t budge.
They carefully unwrapped the cloth from his hands, wiping away the sticky medicinal paste, and conversed in words only they seemed to understand.
“Wow, the Master’s medicine is amazing. He’s already much better.”
“Phew… It doesn’t look like it’ll leave be a scar. That’s a relief…”
“He woke up exactly when the Master said he would. Are you hungry?”
“I-I made some congee. Eat it. I-If you can’t hold the spoon, I’ll feed you.”
“What about his legs and knees? Should we take them off?”
As the stinging pain in his hands made him frown, Cheonohh was startled by the last question and looked at the two children. They, however, seemed oblivious to his surprise and were arguing among themselves about whether or not to undress him.
“No…”
It’s okay, you don’t have to.
Cheonohh tried to stop their playful actions as calmly as he could, despite the sharp pain in his throat. His throat felt like it was about to tear, but he tried to make a sound, even if just a little.
However, he suddenly stopped, his mouth closing as he heard another voice coming from the door.
