episode_0000

“My wish was to be called Daehyup.”

Don’t ask about the past. If I fell into another world, it would just be a silly story. I have always dreamed of having power and strength, and considered myself lucky to have come to a world where power is everything.

“Simple. If I call you Daehyup, will your wish come true?”

A high mountainside in the central plains. I don’t know the name of the mountain, nor do I know where this place is. When I look out the window of my guest room, the fog has piled up thickly, and there is only one thing I know. All I knew was that if I continued along this road, volcanic waves would appear.

And as if to prove that fact, right now in front of me was a young man wearing Hwasanpa uniform and possessing strong martial arts skills, sitting with his legs outstretched. He was dreaming of me, and Jeomsoy was cleaning his shoes, sweating profusely.

Jeomsoy was busy looking at the man’s thoughts. I smiled while facing the man from a different position than Jeomsoi.

“I would be very grateful if Daehyeop called me that, but how could a man live with such simple dreams? My dream is for countless people to call me Daehyup and cheer, and for me to stand on a very high platform. Power and strength. It’s about having everything.”

“Isn’t this saying that you want to achieve success and fame? Those who joined the martial arts group all have similar dreams.”

The man raised his hand. Behind him, men wearing similar clothes were standing, and at the man’s signal, they suddenly left the guesthouse. The man said while looking at Jeomsoi who was polishing his shoes.

“That’s enough. Go get me a drink.”

“Ah, ah! yes Okay!”

Jeomsoi ran to get the alcohol out of breath, as if he was evacuating a house on fire. The man stared at me. His eyes were like those of a wolf, scanning his prey.

“What is your name?”

“This is Park Do-cheol.”

The man tilted his head when he heard my name. He blinked and asked me:

“Docheol?”

“Yes. He gave me a name with a strong connotation to make me a strong person.”

The man nodded. He seemed to have understood something on his own, but I had no way of knowing what he was nodding his head in response to.

“….I see. It’s a very good name. I guess your parents have a knack for naming things. It’s good for people like that to survive these days.”

“That’s too much praise.”

“Here comes the alcohol!”

Jeomsoi came running, holding a tightly sealed bottle of alcohol. The man threw a coin to Jeomsoy and then picked up the alcohol on the table. The man looked at me and said.

“You said you never learned martial arts?”

“Yes. I just came into the world and don’t know much. I want to go somewhere and learn step by step from the basics.”

The man laughed. The smile on his face made me feel bad, but I couldn’t point out his expression from my position. I tried my best to pretend not to notice the bitter emotions in his smile and smiled at him.

If I had been stronger, I would have destroyed that face, but it was a shame.

“I hope we can arrive safely. Volcanoes are tough places, so you’ll have to be lucky.”

“I will keep this in mind. Daehyup.”

“Then I will go. I’ll be able to see you again when I get the chance.”

The man turned around. I carefully called him over.

“Daehyeop. May I ask your name?”

The man looked at me and said.

“It is called Kwak Ryong.”

He did not say his nickname. He waved his hand as if he would no longer answer and walked away. Jeomsoi sighed and started working again, and I just sat at the table and looked in the direction where Kwak Ryong had disappeared.

*******

Meals eaten at guesthouses are as similar as soup and rice wherever you go.

I gritted my teeth and left the guesthouse and entered the mountain path. The guesthouse, which seemed to be aimed at warriors enjoying hiking or herbalists, dug into the bushes and trees even though I had only walked a few steps.

“Uuuh… !”

And a moan rang out from the bushes in the direction I was heading. Rather than being obscene, the voice was a sound that extinguished a person’s life. At the sudden sound of death, I stopped and hesitated for a moment, and the two men who had been walking with Kwak Ryong a little while ago jumped out from the bushes, covered in blood.

“Huh?”

“This… .”

The two people looked extremely frustrated and exchanged glances. Through the bushes where the two men came out, I could also see a man I had never seen being hacked to pieces. I don’t know who he is, but he must be someone who has incurred a grudge against the Volcanic Sect.

But there was no time to pray for his soul.

I am not stupid.

A quick exchange of glances with the blood-covered men.

It wasn’t so confusing that I didn’t know what was going to happen next.

Killer and Extermination

The four words of killing the opponent and silencing him came to mind, and I started running in the opposite direction.

“Oops!”

I heard a voice right behind me, and a cold feeling passed over the back of my neck.

“Fuck!”

I can feel a few hairs being cut off.

“Catch it!”

I felt the fingers that were trying to grab my neck get caught in my clothes and then pushed away again.

“Oh, I didn’t see anything!”

I shouted, but they didn’t stop chasing. This is because it is much easier to silence someone by killing them than to believe that they did not see anything.

“Wow!”

As I was running, I tripped over a tree root and fell.

As I rolled around and looked up into the air, there was a sword blade crossing where my head should be.

The two men were frowning and looking down, and I, narrowly avoiding the sword, rolled on the floor and barely stopped while holding on to a tree root.

“Fuck haircut….”

The distance has widened sufficiently.

The two men were looking down at me from the uphill path where dirt and tree roots were intertwined, and I was looking up at them while holding on to the roots.

But there was no way to escape.

When I turned my head, there was a sea of fog. High cliffs and thick fog that did not know the bottom greeted me. Even if you fall, you die. However, I cannot overcome those two men with my skills that do not know martial arts.

It was a dilemma.

“The guy who was with Kwak Ryong’s brother-in-law.”

One of them seemed to recognize me. I nodded and shouted as I planted my shoes on the slippery floor.

“Oh my! yes That’s right! Please save me! I won’t tell anyone! Anyway, we might just eat one pot of rice anyway!”

“Hahahahaha!”

“Hahahahaha!”

Laughter was heard. They were blatantly laughing at me. I ground my teeth and looked them straight in the face.

The two men laughed harder when they saw my expression and said:

“What a funny guy. One pot meal?”

“There are bound to be people who don’t know the topic. Do you think the Hwasan Sect is a third-rate local sect? A guy like you can’t even come in in the first place.”

They have no intention of saving me. I also seemed to understand the meaning of Kwak Ryong’s face laughing at me.

Looking back, the fog was widespread. I looked back and forth between the fog and the guys and frowned. The two men pointed their knives at me and continued talking.

“Anyway, you either have to live as a slave in the volcano faction or get kicked out. Be thankful that your miserable life is cut short a little early.”

Then I no longer have to be servile. How long are you going to keep praying before they point a knife at you?

The sea of fog somehow looked fluffy.

It seemed like I had a much better chance of survival if I fell off the cliff than with that knife.

Isn’t there a saying that it is a coincidence?

Isn’t it possible that you could throw yourself off a cliff, gain powerful martial arts skills, and conquer the world?

I believe in fate.

If I am destined to die insignificantly, I will die miserably no matter what choice I make at this crossroads of life and death.

In that case, I’ll take a slightly cooler route.

“Are you proud of joining the fucking volcanic faction? So what made you guys so great?”

I looked straight at them and shouted.

The two men trembled and looked at me with fierce eyes. I pulled out my leg, which was stuck in the dirt, and shouted.

“So what good are these bastards who clean the back holes of volcanic waves, laughing at me?”

One of the men looked at me with a bright red face and gritted his teeth.

“This bastard… .”

“Is that what you think? Can you say that you are a disciple of the Volcano Sect? What’s the difference between you and a fly stuck in a pig’s butthole?”

I laughed. Contrary to what they were laughing at, now I was laughing. I then looked at the roots of the tree I had caught. These roots extended longer than I expected, and every time I pulled them slightly, the dirt roadside shook.

“I will kill you!”

The excited man rushed forward.

This is a downhill road.

A man loses his temper and swings a sword.

I pulled on the tree root.

A root suddenly sprouted, and the man, who had been walking forward randomly, accidentally stepped on the suddenly sprouted root and lost his balance.

“Uh, uhh!”

“Remember my face clearly, you motherfuckers.”

The man fell without even swinging his sword properly, and I rolled down the cliff at the same time.

“Aaaahhh!”

Just before entering the sea of fog, I made eye contact with a man who was falling in the opposite direction from me in fear.

I narrowed my eyes at him, and he bellowed like a pig.

“Aaaa!”

A high cliff with no bottom visible.

I fell, closed my eyes and prayed.