The next morning, Kim Raon became famous.
Not because he wanted to.
Because the footage leaked.
A shaky recording taken from a shattered classroom window showed a boy—uniform half-burned, hand tucked behind his back—casually stopping a mutated ogre's club with a single hand… and then obliterating it with a palm strike.
No magic circle. No chant. No mana flare.
Just… nothing. Clean and terrifying.
The video hit a million views in under two hours. Then ten. Then the global Hunter Guilds took notice.
Some called it a trick.
Others whispered: "A new type of Awakening."
But the martial masters of old—those few who had studied ancient qi scrolls before mana erased their relevance—knew better.
They saw it and froze.
Because that movement… that form…
It was an echo of a forgotten world.
Murim.
---
Yeongnam High - Underground Combat Hall
The next day, Raon was summoned.
Not politely.
They sent two Hunter Bureau agents with Guild-level clearance and a combat instructor who looked like he'd eaten dumbbells for breakfast.
"Kim Raon," the instructor barked, "you're being given a mandatory re-evaluation."
Raon blinked. "I already tested."
"Not anymore."
He was led into the school's underground training facility. High-grade mana shielding. Tier-4 enchantments. Observation decks with hidden guild scouts behind bulletproof glass.
They're treating me like a weapon, Raon thought.
Inside the ring stood a tall boy in sleek black armor, spinning a spear with arrogant ease.
"Let's see if you're as good as the video," the boy said, grinning.
Seo Jin.
Top-ranking senior. B-rank awakened. Provisional guild contract with Shadow Fang Association. And most importantly—Seo Yerin's cousin.
"She's been quiet ever since that Gate," Jin said, tightening his gloves. "You embarrassed her. And our family. So, I'll give you one chance to bow."
Raon stared at him.
Then looked past him.
Then walked past him.
The entire room tensed.
"You ignoring me, punk?" Jin growled.
Raon turned his head slightly.
"You're not worth killing."
Jin struck instantly, spear lashing out like a viper. Fast. Precise. Full of mana. To most students, he was a monster.
To Raon… he was slower than a Murim novice.
Raon stepped forward.
One movement. One blur.
Crack.
Jin's spear shattered mid-strike, his body flipping end-over-end from the sheer force of the impact. He crashed into the barrier wall, coughing blood, ribs broken.
Silence.
The spectators gaped.
One of the guild scouts whispered, "That movement… isn't modern. That's ancient form—pure internal cultivation style. But that's been dead for decades!"
Raon turned to leave.
He didn't need approval.
He didn't want guilds.
He just wanted quiet.
---
After School
Yerin caught up with him under the cherry blossom trees near the rear courtyard, a fire in her step and confusion in her eyes.
"Hey!" she called. "Wait!"
Raon kept walking.
"I said wait, dammit!"
He stopped.
"What do you want?"
Yerin stared at him for a long moment, like trying to read an unreadable book.
"You're not normal."
"No one is."
"You're not a Hunter."
"Nope."
"But you're stronger than them."
"Maybe."
She clenched her fists. "Then what are you?"
Raon looked at her, really looked. In her eyes, he saw echoes of the fierce Murim warriors he'd once led. Fire. Will. Pride.
"I'm someone who lived in a world before this one," he said. "Where swords cut mountains. Where power wasn't borrowed from the sky, but drawn from the soul."
"You're crazy."
"Probably."
She stared for a moment longer, then stepped closer.
"…Teach me."
Raon blinked. "What?"
"Whatever it is you did. That thing—qi, was it? I want to learn it."
Raon laughed under his breath for the first time in years.
"No one on Earth can learn qi cultivation without years of body refinement and—"
"I don't care. I'm not going to lose again."
She held out her hand.
He stared at it.
Then took it.
"Alright. I'll teach you."
---
Somewhere Else – Unknown Gate Core
Far from the city, in the depths of a broken Gate hidden from satellites and sensors, something ancient stirred.
A shadowed figure knelt before a cracked black monolith pulsing with red light.
"He's returned," the figure whispered. "The Heaven-Breaking Sovereign… has come back."
From the monolith came a voice that echoed across dimensions.
"Then so must we. The war is not over."
Yeongnam High School – Rooftop Training Grounds
The wind blew cold across the rooftop, the afternoon sun casting long shadows across the gravel floor. A steel dummy stood bolted to the ground, its surface marred with deep dents from years of punishment by awakened students.
Seo Yerin stood in front of it, fists clenched, sweat dripping from her brow.
Raon watched her silently, arms crossed, eyes calm.
Her fire affinity had always made her a rising star. She could summon flames at will, melt steel, and create barriers strong enough to resist Gate-class beasts. But now, Raon had stripped her of all that.
No mana. No fire. No support.
Just her body, her breath, and her resolve.
"You've relied on magic all your life," Raon said, stepping beside her. "So I'm going to break you of it."
Yerin glared. "You said you'd teach me."
"I am. This is lesson one: forget everything you know."
She raised a fist. "And if I don't?"
Raon gave her a small, cold smile.
"Then you die the moment you face something magic can't burn."
---
Lesson One: Breathing
He began with the foundation.
Not flashy martial arts. Not secret techniques. Just breathing.
"Qi cultivation starts in the lungs," he explained. "Not the core, not the mind. Breathe wrong, and you die before you even punch."
Yerin sat cross-legged on the rooftop, struggling to follow his pace.
"Inhale for four. Hold for eight. Exhale for four. No mana, no flame. Just feel the world."
At first, she hated it.
It felt weak. Pointless. Slow.
But Raon had endured ten years in Murim, teaching stubborn disciples who thought strength was about who could swing faster. He was patient. And more importantly, he saw the flickers of something real within Yerin.
On the third day, she stopped shaking when she sat.
On the fourth, she managed to enter the first state of Stillness.
That's when Raon began teaching her the first form of the Iron Leaf Style—a basic, but brutal internal art designed to root the body and refine qi flow.
"You think power is what lets you stand back up," he told her. "But real power is never falling in the first place."
---
Elsewhere – Murim World: Thousand Mountain Sect
In the high mountains of Murim, where snow fell even in summer, disciples gathered in the stone courtyard of the Thousand Mountain Sect. But today, there was no training. No meditation.
Today, they mourned.
At the peak of the sect's temple, three elders knelt before a shrine where Raon's name had been engraved into stone.
Kim Raon – Heaven-Breaking Sovereign
Leader. Master. Legend.
Fallen beyond the Gate.
His eldest disciple, Shin Muyeon, stood before the monument, fists trembling.
"He's not dead," Muyeon whispered. "I know it. I feel it in my bones. The Gate didn't consume him. It took him somewhere."
Beside him, the Second Disciple, Yoon Harin, pressed a hand to her blade.
"Then we'll find him," she said. "Even if we have to tear open the heavens ourselves."
From the shadows, a figure emerged—cloaked in black, carrying Raon's spare sword.
The Seventh Disciple, the youngest.
"I've already found the trail," he said. "The energy left behind—it leads to a world filled with mana. A world not our own."
The disciples looked at one another.
The hunt had begun.
---
Back on Earth – Seoul Outskirts
The gates weren't stopping.
A new one opened near the Han River. This time, it didn't just spill monsters—it dragged something through.
A man in robes of dark crimson. Hair like ash. Eyes filled with malice.
He stepped into Earth and smiled.
"So this is the world where the Heaven-Breaker hides," he murmured. "How quaint."
Behind him, three figures followed. One with a cursed glaive, another with a mask of bone, and the last carrying a flute that made the air wail with every step.
They were Murim's forbidden clan: The Crimson Specters.
And they had come not just to find Raon—but to kill him.
---
Yeongnam High – Training Rooftop (Later That Night)
Yerin stood at the edge of the roof, fists clenched, eyes closed.
She struck the dummy again.
No flames. No mana. Just her body and breath.
BAM.
The steel groaned. A dent deeper than before.
Raon smiled.
"She's ready," he said softly.
Suddenly, he stopped.
The wind shifted.
The air... trembled.
He looked to the east.
His eyes narrowed.
"They found me."