Chapter 71
December 26th.
The day after Christmas, a holiday celebrated around the world.
South Korea had to endure the hell known as war.
Someone once said…
War doesn’t break out when anxiety and tension are high.
Rather, it happens on a quiet, ordinary day…
===
June 14th.
In front of the Wind Cave near Bongnae Falls on Ulleungdo Island.
A quiet, ordinary day where four middle-aged couples were on a tour, listening to their guide.
Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.
The seeds of a war that would become hell were stirring, unbeknownst to anyone.
“If you look here, you can see a cave, right? The name of this cave is the Wind Cave.”
Since the area had been decorated like a tourist spot, the cave had an artificial feel to it.
Still, since you couldn’t see caves in the city, the middle-aged couples followed the guide, looking around as they walked.
“Alright! This is the cave entrance. It acts as a natural air conditioner in this warming weather. How about two people go in at a time?”
“It’s a pain to wait, can’t we all just go in together?”
At the middle-aged man’s words, the guide gave an awkward smile and scratched the back of his head.
“The cave isn’t that big, so if more than two people go in, it’ll feel very cramped. How about you go in two at a time for a brief experience?”
“Then let’s go in order. Hyun-yi’s mom and dad, you go first. We came all this way, we should at least try it.”
“How about you do that?”
With the help of another middle-aged man, the guide’s face bloomed into a bright smile as he stood before the cave entrance.
Leading the couple at the very front, the guide walked into the cave.
“As you can see, the cave isn’t very big…”
“What’s this? It’s spacious.”
“It’s huge, isn’t it?”
Contrary to his words, the cave was so deep that it wouldn’t have felt small even if ten people had entered, let alone two.
At that, the middle-aged couple smiled, seeing an interior that, unlike the artificial exterior, was brimming with a natural feel.
“That’s strange… It definitely wasn’t this big before…”
As the guide tilted his head, looking puzzled, the middle-aged man burst into laughter.
“What’s with you, Mr. Guide? Is this your first time in here too?”
“No, I’ve been in a couple of times. It definitely wasn’t this big back then.”
At those words, the middle-aged woman laughed and said.
“Someone must have dug the cave out more in the meantime. You don’t think the cave grew on its own, do you? Hohoho.”
“Was I mistaken? No way. This is weird…”
Finding it fascinating, the middle-aged couple tried to go deeper into the cave.
Just then, the guide clapped his hands and called them to a halt.
“We don’t have much time. Shall we stop here and let the next people have their turn?”
“What a shame. I was curious about what’s at the very end.”
At the mention of the people waiting outside, they found it intriguing but were about to head back toward the entrance.
Squelch.
With a strange sound, the middle-aged man who had just turned to walk outside grimaced.
“Aish, what is this.”
As if he had stepped on a bug, a sticky blue liquid stretched out before dripping off.
Seeing the hot-tempered man’s face flare up with irritation, the guide bowed his head and approached.
“Since it’s a cave, there are bound to be a lot of bugs and things like that. Now, now, the rest of your party is waiting. Let’s hurry on out.”
“How annoying.”
As if the word ‘party’ was a cure for his temper, the middle-aged man who was about to lose it simply spat on the ground and walked out of the cave.
After sending the couple out, the guide stared for a moment at the now-longer cave.
Inside the silent cave, not a sound could be heard.
He looked down at the bug that had burst on the floor, spewing blue liquid.
A bug he’d never seen before, and a cave that had gotten longer.
It was all strange, but the guide soon shrugged as if it were nothing and shouted.
“Alright~ Next two people, please come in~”
The moment the guide stepped out to bring in the next couple—
Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.
As if it had been waiting for the guide to leave, the once-silent cave was filled with the sound of something gnawing.
= = =
In the city of Leshan, located in Chengdu, Sichuan, China, there was a very famous place, though it wasn’t a tourist destination.
Great Buddha Temple.
A temple whose name was written with the characters for ‘great,’ ‘buddha,’ and ‘temple.’
The reason the temple was famous was that it housed an enormous Buddha statue.
A colossal stone Buddha statue, as large as the cliff it was situated on, grand enough to fill an entire towering cliff face.
The sight was so beautiful that the word ‘spectacular’ came to mind, even when viewed from a distance.
“Whoa, how did they even make that?”
On the way to the Great Buddha Temple, No Death, who had been gazing at the giant Buddha statue from afar, let out a sound of admiration.
“Are you sure people made that? Wow~ I’m not even religious, but this makes me want to believe in Buddhism.”
As if agreeing with him, Hyun-jung, who was beside him, nodded her head vigorously.
The pressure from the giant Buddha statue, the likes of which she had never seen before, was like the pressure from nature itself, making her palms sweat for no reason.
“Be quiet from now on.”
Hyuk-min’s party stood before the massive gate.
Along with the giant plaque hanging above the wooden gate, a monk standing guard below greeted Hyuk-min.
[Tai Fo Temple]
“We’re here? Whoa, was the calligraphy on that plaque also written by that Chang-kyung guy?”
“Shh.”
At the mention of Chang-kyung, the two monks who had been standing still like stone statues twitched their eyebrows.
As if on cue, the two monks, who stood confidently with their legs apart and holding staffs, descended the stone steps and stood before Hyuk-min.
“Did you say Chang-kyung?”
“I am here to see the head monk.”
“Are you perhaps an acquaintance of the head monk?”
“If you tell him it’s the person who was seated next to him on the plane earlier, he will come out.”
At the mention of an acquaintance, the two monks’ expressions finally relaxed.
“We will deliver the message.”
The two monks began to ascend the stone steps again.
However, one of the two monks stopped his ascent, turned around, and spoke with a murderous glint in his eyes.
“Even if you are an acquaintance, please do not speak the head monk’s esteemed name so freely. Especially not here at the Great Buddha Temple.”
“My apologies. Ah! Please relay this message as well.”
“Please speak.”
“That I have cut the lotus flower.”
The massive wooden gate was now wide open.
“We will relay it as such. Would you mind waiting for a moment?”
“Of course.”
“Then.”
One of the two monks quietly brought his feet together and performed a fist-and-palm salute toward Hyuk-min.
As soon as Hyuk-min returned the salute, the monk ran toward Chang-kyung at high speed.
“He’s incredibly fast.”
“These aren’t monks to be taken lightly. Each one of them is probably equivalent to an entry-level B-rank hunter in our country.”
“The gatekeepers are that strong? Whew~”
“At the Great Buddha Temple, you have to pass a test to even become a gatekeeper.”
“They say the world is wide and full of masters… Is this place like a gathering of hidden masters?”
“You could see it that way. The gatekeepers are just guys who’ve received basic training.”
“They get that strong with just basic training? What is this place?”
A snort escaped.
He might have just thrown the words out there, but it was the correct answer.
A place full of hidden masters.
No, a place that cultivates hidden masters—that was the Great Buddha Temple.
To the extent that they directly selected and taught the executives of Unrivaled Guild.
Though that was only until Chang-kyung died…
“But will they let us in? It seems absolutely impossible…”
Considering what happened at the airport earlier, just showing up at the Great Buddha Temple was a stretch.
“What if we end up having to fight those strong-looking gatekeepers?”
“If things go wrong, we might.”
“We can’t kill them, though.”
“You won’t lose to the gatekeepers. At the very least, I’ll make sure you and Hyun-jung don’t get involved. So forget about fighting.”
“Does that mean you’re going to fight? What kind of plan do you have, and when are you going to share it with us?”
Just as he was talking with No Death—
“You bastard!!!”
A tremendous roar echoed from within the Great Buddha Temple, where the entrance wasn’t even visible.
The voice was so loud that the necks of No Death and Hyun-jung, excluding Hyuk-min, recoiled like turtles before returning to normal.
“Jeez, that scared me…”
“He hasn’t changed.”
The moment a smirk curled his lips, Chang-kyung appeared at the top of the stone steps.
His form shimmered with blue mana—no, inner energy—as if he was filled with rage.
Hyuk-min quietly wrapped his left hand around his raised right fist and performed a fist-and-palm salute toward Chang-kyung.
Then he shouted to No Death and Hyun-jung.
“No Death, take Hyun-jung and fall back.”
Just then, when they couldn’t grasp what was happening at all—
“[Regression Mode].”
“Ah, fuck.”
Using [Regression Mode], stunned by Hyuk-min’s unexpected reaction, No Death quickly caught on and snatched Hyun-jung.
No Death’s hands grabbed both of Hyun-jung’s arms as he kicked off the ground with all his might.
As soon as he confirmed that the distance between him and the sliding pair of No Death and Hyun-jung had grown considerably, Hyuk-min moved his mana with all his strength.
The moment he crossed his arms and lifted his head, he met the eyes of Chang-kyung, who had already closed the distance and was thrusting his palm forward.
CRAAACK!!!!
‘His personality really hasn’t changed.’
The collision of powerful mana shook the area for a moment, creating a strong gust of wind.
The tremendous impact, enough to crack the ground, was not the end of it.
Thud! Rat-a-tat-tat! BOOM!!
The clash of the two manas, strong enough to whip up wind, struck the hearts of many.
A powerful reverberation, like listening to the drums of a rock band at high volume!
The ensuing offense and defense between Chang-kyung and Hyuk-min was so fast that those who had not reached a certain level of mastery could not dare to follow it with their eyes.
And for those who had reached a level where they could follow the speed, it was a source of astonishment.
Shhlick! Sh-sh-shlick!
It was clearly an unarmed fight, with fists meeting fists and kicks meeting kicks.
But for some reason, the fragments of mana scattering from their attacks carved sharply into the earth and the stone steps.
A series of attacks that seemed like they would make a body explode or shatter with a mere graze.
BOOM!
The end, unfortunately, came with Hyuk-min’s body being thrown back and tumbling to the ground.
“Cough, cough!”
No Death’s eyes widened as far as they could go.
“What, Hyuk-min in [Regression Mode]… lost? In a one-on-one…?”
“Uncle!!”
Hyuk-min held out a hand toward Hyun-jung, who was about to run over, as if telling her not to come.
He pushed himself up, coughing.
‘I only took that one last hit, and this is the damage…’
It wasn’t even an attack that had touched him.
It was a blast of inner energy, released with a palm strike as if detonated from a distance—the final secret technique that had been denied to the Hyuk-min of his past life.
The final form of the Cloud Flow Sword Method, Flowing Strike.
“Haha… Hahahaha.”
He laughed heartily and looked at Chang-kyung.
“…”
Chang-kyung just stood there, silently watching the laughing Hyuk-min.
‘He must be very surprised.’
Slowly, Hyuk-min got to his feet.
At that, Chang-kyung’s eyebrow twitched.
‘He must be even more surprised now.’
Because Hyuk-min’s skill was not high enough to get up this unscathed after being hit by the Flowing Strike.
It could be blocked.
It could be parried.
But at least the Hyuk-min that Chang-kyung had confirmed with his own eyes and body did not possess such an ability.
‘Even with [Regression Mode].’
Even with [Regression Mode], which brought back the power of his past life, in Chang-kyung’s eyes, he was just a master who was on the slightly stronger side.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
The long distance closed as Hyuk-min approached.
Unable to wait, Chang-kyung asked.
“Who in the world are you?”
“What about me?”
“Who are you! To have learned the Cloud Flow Sword Method, to know of the secret technique, Flowing Strike, in advance, and to have been prepared to block it!!”
The words Chang-kyung threw were by no means light.
All the monks of the Great Buddha Temple, who had come out to watch, looked back and forth between Chang-kyung and Hyuk-min in surprise.
“How would I know? If I knew how to use it, I would have countered with a Flowing Strike of my own. Not get hit and sent flying like this.”
“Are you toying with me? What you’ve used so far…”
He was about to mention the Cloud Flow Sword Method, but he frowned at the sight of Hyuk-min getting closer.
It was because he looked completely different from the person he had seen from the airport all the way to the bus stop.
“Master—no… Chang-kyung, how do I look to you right now?”
“The same as before. Like red blood falling from a dark sky.”
“Are you curious about my identity? Then let us into the Great Buddha Temple.”
Chang-kyung’s special eyes scanned Hyuk-min, as well as No Death and Hyun-jung.
Then he looked straight at Hyuk-min and shouted.
“Absolutely… not. Absolutely!”
Then he turned away.
Chang-kyung, who had been staring intently at No Death, turned his head aside with irritation.
‘So that was the reason…’
Realizing it, Hyuk-min looked at No Death and shook his head.
‘It’s because No Death was an assassin. The kind of person Chang-kyung despises.’
No Death shrugged as if he didn’t know the reason, while Chang-kyung strode up the stone steps.
“Sigh… I guess there’s no other way.”
Hyuk-min decided to use his last resort.
“Chang-kyung!”
But Chang-kyung, as if he had completely made up his mind, paid him no mind and returned to the Great Buddha Temple.
Hyuk-min shouted at Chang-kyung’s back.
“On December 26th!! A war will break out in South Korea!!”
Thud.
For the first time, Chang-kyung’s feet stopped.
He didn’t just flinch; he came to a complete halt.
“Countless people will die. Bodies will pile up like mountains, and blood will flow like the sea.”
Chang-kyung’s steps stopped, and his ears opened.
Seeing this, one of the monks approached Chang-kyung and asked.
“What should we do?”
“…”
“I want to protect my country, my land. I want to save people!”
At the words ‘save people,’ Chang-kyung’s head slowly turned toward Hyuk-min.
However…
“What are you all doing? Hurry up and come inside.”
“Yes!”
“Yes!”
Chang-kyung’s footsteps eventually disappeared completely into the Great Buddha Temple.
The monks of the Great Buddha Temple rushed inside.
Creeeak! THUD!
The gates of the Great Buddha Temple finally slammed shut, and the empty, wind-swept street was left with only Hyuk-min’s party.
“Uncle, it’s okay. We can do it on our own.”
Hyun-jung approached and carefully took Hyuk-min’s hand.
No Death’s hand patted Hyuk-min’s shoulder.
“Let’s just keep going like we have been, looking for Hiddens. Whether what you said is true or not, we can do it. What’s there that we can’t do?”
Fwoosh.
[Regression Mode] ended.
He returned to his present-day form and silently stared at the closed gates of the Great Buddha Temple.
“It’s done.”
“Right… It’s all done. So… Huh?”
The word ‘done’ has two meanings.
Failure and success.
What distinguishes these opposite meanings?
It was the tone of voice.
“Wait… what did you just say?”
But the tone of Hyuk-min’s ‘done’ just now was a little different.
A ‘done’ that felt somewhat bright.
The moment No Death looked at Hyuk-min’s expression to be sure, he understood the meaning of that ‘done’ at once.
Hyuk-min was smiling.
“It’s done. We’ll be able to get in by tomorrow.”
At Hyuk-min’s brightly smiling face, both No Death and Hyun-jung shrugged, their expressions showing they had no idea what was ‘done.’
“Has he lost his mind?”
“Ahjussi! Uncle is happy, do you really have to talk like that?”
“How is that ‘done’ in any way? Ah~ Is he calling getting kicked out ‘done’?”
“Ahjussi!”
“There’s not a single sane person here. Not the kid, not the adult. Sigh.”
Just as he turned around, as if certain of his conviction—
A strange System window appeared.
“Why is this…”