The chamber was silent.
Ancient air clung to Kang Mujin's skin, thick with dust, age, and something heavier—like history itself was watching him.
Scrolls lined the stone walls, written in calligraphy too refined for any museum.Symbols floated faintly above a jade tablet in the center of the room.
"This is the Lotus Hall," said Un Gihyun."A place that remembers... even when the world forgets."
Mujin's hand still trembled from touching the Heavenly Cloud Movement manual.
"Where... am I really?" he asked, voice low.
"Baekje. A kingdom nearing twilight. And you—""—are not the first stranger to arrive."
Un Gihyun's eyes gleamed.
"But you may be the first to survive."
Later, under torchlight
Mujin bathed in a stone pool laced with herbs.His wounds burned, but so did his pride.
"What the hell is going on... I'm not some fantasy protagonist."
But the bruises were real.The hunger.The ache.
He dressed in robes left for him and followed a novice down dim corridors to the Inner Courtyard.
There, under a full moon, five men and women in grey stood silently.At their feet: incense, a bell, and a bowl filled with black water.
"Sit," one instructed."Breathe. Don't resist."
"Resist what?"
No answer.
The incense coiled around his face.
A sound—like a bell ringing underwater—echoed in his mind.
And suddenly—
He was back in Seoul.
Rain on a taxi roof.Blinding neon signs.His wife's voice, whispering from the other room.
"Mujin... you said you'd protect us."
He turned.
She stood at the door, face covered in shadow.
Then she screamed.
Her eyes turned to ash. Her skin peeled away.The city cracked.Reality shattered.
He fell.
"Wake."
A cold hand gripped his shoulder.
He jolted upright, covered in sweat, his breath ragged.
The Woonryong elder stood above him.
"You have guilt. And pain. Good. That means you're still human."
He tossed something at Mujin's chest.
A plain black sash, embroidered with a silver dragon.
"You passed."
"Passed... what?"
"The Gate of Reflection.Your soul did not fracture. It bent—and returned."
At dawn
Mujin sat outside the temple, staring at the mountains beyond.
"I'm trapped in the past, surrounded by sword-wielding monks...…and they just made me drink nightmare tea."
He looked down at the black sash.
"But I survived."
A breeze rustled the trees.
And in that moment, he felt it.
The Heaven's Seal on his chest pulsed once—faintly echoing with energy.
As if something… deeper… had awakened.
(Next: Chapter 3 – The Path of One Step)