Hyun sat back, the diary feeling heavier than lead in his small hands. The weight of the parchment was nothing compared to the monumental weight of the secret he had just absorbed. His mind replayed the simple, loving image of his father—the man who taught him how to ride a bicycle, who always bought him ice cream on the way home, who never missed a parent-teacher conference. That man was simultaneously a feared, high-ranking figure in a world defined by violence and bloodshed.
Taking a deep, shaky breath, Hyun turned the final pages of the survival section, which culminated in the most shocking revelation of all: Joon-Ho confessed that before he had fled to Earth, he had not just been a high-ranking member of the Unorthodox Faction, he had been the Young Cult Leader of a powerful, regional sect. He had been groomed for true power, steeped in secrets, and was poised to take over before his sudden, accidental transition to Korea.
This wasn't a hero's backstory; it was a villain's inheritance. Hyun had to reconcile the man who used to read him bedtime stories with the feared leader who commanded dark influence and had countless enemies seeking retribution. The gentle accountant had literally died to escape his own destiny.
The diary explained that the reason Joon-Ho had been so desperate to leave was a profound crisis of conscience. He had been forced to execute an innocent colleague and, faced with the horrific reality of the path laid out for him, he chose flight over fate. His escape was perceived not as a death, but as a profound betrayal, leaving behind massive unresolved grudges, stolen cultivation techniques, and powerful artifacts that his former sect still desperately sought.
Joon-Ho then dedicated a large portion of the final entries to basic Murim Knowledge that Hyun would need immediately. He detailed the critical role of the Dantian, the energy center just below the navel, which acted as the reservoir for a cultivator's Chi. He explained that all cultivation—from basic Neigong to devastating martial skills—was about refining and strengthening the Dantian.
He provided diagrams and mnemonic phrases for the most basic cultivation exercise, the Quiet Heart Meridian Flow. This technique was necessary to sustain the body's Murim core, even in the deficient air of Earth, and was why Hyun's ten-year-old body had near-instant healing and disproportionate strength now. Joon-Ho stressed that if Hyun failed to practice this daily, his Murim core would eventually decay, and he would simply become a normal, weak child again.
The father's final, desperate advice was clear: Do not trust anyone. Every smiling face, every gesture of help, was a potential trap. The Murim was a world of masks, where true power was always hidden. He urged Hyun to find a way to escape the Murim world entirely, but if that proved impossible, he needed to adopt a new, temporary identity, one that sounded weak and harmless.
He also provided a final, crucial piece of intelligence directly relevant to the current situation. He revealed that Cults like the Crimson Peak, which focused on recruiting the dispossessed, often used children not for training, but as Energy Vessels—slaves whose internal energy was slowly harvested to feed the more powerful masters. This was likely the terrible fate awaiting the children taken during the Tithing.
Reading this confirmed Hyun's deepest fears and steelled his resolve. He wasn't just walking into danger; he was walking into a place where the lives of children were literally the currency of power. He couldn't flee. He had inherited his father's strength and his father's secret, but he would not inherit his father's flight.
Hyun closed the diary, the image of his kind, gentle, ice-cream-buying father forever overlaid with the terrifying specter of the Young Cult Leader. He knew he must go to the Demon Peak, not just to save the children, but to finally confront the storm that had ended his family's peace seven years ago. He had two months until the Selection, and every second had to be spent mastering the silent power flowing within his small, inherited body.