Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 1: Into the Martial World with an Instant Death Ability I was on my way to take the Suneung.
The bus, which had been crossing an overpass, slammed into the guardrail and plummeted twenty meters toward the asphalt below.
Was this for real?
The moment he realized he was going to die, Yeon So-wol felt more bewildered than afraid.
He was a student aiming for Seoul National University. For that single goal, he had given up gaming, put away his phone, and even resisted tteokbokki—because a full stomach made him drowsy. Everything he had done was for this one day. For the Suneung.
And I'm dying like this?
The heavy bus tilted its nose toward the black asphalt, and his body floated up from his seat. It all felt so surreal that he couldn't even feel fear.
What a crazy world.
A crazy world makes a fool out of a sensible person. A student is supposed to study. Isn't that common sense? But instead of rewarding someone who lived according to common sense, the world was handing out this kind of punishment.
If he had known it would end like this, he would have spent his time playing instead of studying. That would have been a much better deal.
It's not fair. There's nothing I can do.
The world was handing him a literal death sentence for no reason, and he was powerless to stop it. He felt pathetic. It was the ultimate humiliation the world could inflict upon a human being.
The bus fell. Through the windshield, the black asphalt rushed toward him.
CRUNCH!
Like a giant black maw, the ground ground the front of the bus to pieces. Crumpling steel plates, seats torn from their bolts, glass shattering like grains of sugar. People dancing in the air.
The pitch-black ground was now right in front of his nose.
RIIIIIIIP!
Something impossible happened.
As if a thousand layers of thin silk had been stretched tight and a knife had been plunged into the center to tear them all at once, a deafening sound of something ripping echoed in his ears.
What is this?
In front of Yeon So-wol's eyes, the world was being torn apart. It felt as if the entire world had turned into a sheet of paper. The black asphalt that had been crushing the bus was torn into tattered shreds, and even the people around him began to flutter like scraps.
Time. Space. Events. Information.
Everything that composed the universe unraveled around Yeon So-wol, its threads scattering into the air. A rift in the world was opening before his eyes.
What? An isekai gate?
Yeon So-wol recalled the anime and novels he used to enjoy until middle school. There were many plots where getting hit by a truck sent you to another world. Was this the bus version?
Yeon So-wol felt a fresh wave of absurdity.
You've got to be kidding me...
He had lived his whole life by the book, yet the world itself was this devoid of logic.
Is this really happening?
Filled with disillusionment and sorrow, Yeon So-wol fell precisely into the rift of the world. He plunged into a massive wave created by the overlapping threads that had unraveled from the fabric of reality.
Dammit... my life.
Splash!
He was in a darkness more transparent than ice. Neither the world of the living nor the world of the dead. He was unable to discern direction—front, back, left, or right. He couldn't tell if he was falling or floating.
"Uuugh!"
Inside that space, Yeon So-wol suffered excruciating pain.
This isn't a reincarnation; it's a trip to hell!
Would falling into a sea of acid feel like this? The word "hell" came to mind naturally. It was a pain beyond anything he could have imagined. It felt as if his entire body and soul were being dismantled piece by piece.
What. Exactly. Did I. Do so wrong...!
Even in the midst of pain that threatened to make him black out, Yeon So-wol gritted his teeth and forced himself to endure. He embraced the agony out of pure spite.
Even if I die, I'm going to see this through to the end.
His life had been tossed away helplessly, but he wanted to keep his eyes wide open. That was the only rebellion he could show against this garbage world.
R-r-r-rip!
The sound of tearing continued from somewhere. Like peeling the skin off the world, it was a sound that was both skin-crawling and strangely cathartic.
RIIIIIP!
Then, along with the sound of a thick curtain being torn apart—
Whoosh!
Suddenly, a blue sky unfolded.
"Gah!"
The burning, tearing pain vanished instantly. In its place, a dizzying sensation of falling enveloped his body. It felt as if his heart had dropped into his stomach. A fierce wind slapped both his ears mercilessly.
Before he could even rejoice at being free from the pain, Yeon So-wol flailed and screamed.
"Aaaaaah!"
What now? Was he just going to fall to his death anyway?
Zzzzt—
At that moment, a strange sensation caught his fingertips. As if he had snagged a thin, taut string. Yeon So-wol instinctively gripped it tight.
A white crack appeared in the sky. Like a single thread being pulled from a cotton t-shirt, the sky was pulled long into Yeon So-wol's grasp.
"Ugh!"
The more he snatched at the threads of the sky, the more his falling speed decreased. The wind that had been painfully battering his body vanished. Yeon So-wol desperately grabbed at the seams in the air.
Rip! R-rip!
His descent slowed further. Yeon So-wol felt a glimmer of hope.
Maybe... can I live?
He passed through the clouds. Just as the ground began to come into clear view—
「 It is the Heavenly Killing Star. 」
「 It is the Heavenly Killing Star. 」
「 The Heavenly Killing Star has appeared. 」
"?!"
Suddenly, damp voices whispered in his ear.
"What—what now?!"
It was empty air with nothing but the wind. Only the voices could be heard.
「 Starlight falling from the torn sky. 」
「 A foreign fate that does not belong to the Nine Heavens. 」
「 One who accidentally overlapped with the rift of heaven and earth. 」
「 Either terrible luck or terrible misfortune. 」
「 Having passed through the torn laws of nature, he brings an end to everything he touches. 」
「 It is the Heavenly Killing Star. 」
The voices swarmed him in a chorus. Yeon So-wol felt cold touches and breaths against his forearms and the back of his neck. There was still nothing to be seen.
Ghosts? Now there are ghosts too?
Like the times he had suffered from sleep paralysis while studying late at night, he suddenly couldn't move a single finger. Instead, the damp voices grew louder and clearer.
「 Now is the time. While he still straddles the line between the living and the dead! 」
「 If we consume the Heavenly Killing Star, we can escape the shackles of the Nine Heavens! 」
「 I wonder what the Heavenly Killing Star tastes like? 」
「 That power! Give that power to me! 」
Creep—
The hair on his entire body stood on end. Fishy, cold things began to burrow into Yeon So-wol's nostrils, ears, and mouth. He tried to struggle, but his body wouldn't move. He was just terrified.
Terrified. Terrified. Terrified...
Unbearable horror and indignant rage finally tore through his throat and exploded outward.
"Aaaaaah! Die! Just die, you ghost bastards!"
Snap!
Yeon So-wol felt several fishy threads that had been rummaging through his body snap.
Whoosh!
Immediately, his body felt light.
"Huh?"
A fresh breeze brushed against his cheek.
「 The Ghost Kings have been annihilated? 」
「 They have completely vanished. 」
「 It is the Heavenly Killing Star. 」
「 It is the Heavenly Killing Star. 」
「 Since his body is soaked in the rift of heaven and earth... 」
「 Nothing can survive his touch. 」
The terrified voices lingered in his ears before scattering.
"Ugh!"
Before he could even wonder what was happening, Yeon So-wol felt a sharp headache. Unfamiliar memories forced their way into his mind. Most were distorted, like trying to play a corrupted video file. However, the parts of those memories that overlapped became quite clear.
For instance, the language, the common sense of this world...
This language? These memories? Where am I? Ancient China? Murim? Martial arts? ...Was it really an isekai reincarnation?
Those were the memories of the ghosts who had tried to invade his body before being annihilated. But Yeon So-wol didn't have time for deep thought. The ground, which had grown significantly closer, now filled his vision.
"Aaaaaah!"
He reflexively snatched at the seams of the sky. Following his flailing fingertips, the threads of the sky were pulled with a zzzzt sound, and his falling speed rapidly decreased.
Now, the impact.
Thump!
Yeon So-wol landed on his back on the dirt ground.
"Gah!"
Stars exploded before his eyes, and the impact felt like his internal organs were about to come up through his throat.
"Ugh... cough! Ugh!"
As he rolled on the ground and knelt to retch, a pair of black shoe tips entered his vision.
"...?"
He looked up and saw an old man as gaunt as a skeleton. He had no beard or hair; he was just a shriveled old man who looked like skin stretched over a skull. He was looking down at Yeon So-wol with a bewildered expression.
Yeon So-wol was about to feel a surge of relief at the thought that he had survived, but—
"...Look here, Demon Slayer. This child has nothing to do with this... As a great senior of the Jianghu, why not show some mercy?"
He fell silent when he saw another old man pinned under the skeleton-like man's foot. It was an old monk. He had a smooth head, white eyebrows, and a white beard. If one had seen him on the street, they would have turned back at least once to admire his transcendent aura.
But now, his white beard and eyebrows were covered in dirt, and most importantly, his neck was being stepped on by the bald, skeleton-like old man.
The skeleton old man, the Demon Slayer, gave a simple response.
"Cut the crap."
CRACK!
Under his foot, the old monk's head snapped like a rag doll's. When the Demon Slayer lifted his foot, the monk's head rolled limply to the side.
Yeon So-wol gasped.
"Finally. Shaolin's Great Restoration Pill is in my hands."
The Demon Slayer chuckled hideously as he searched the monk's robes and pulled out a wooden box. Filled with joy, he opened the box, closed it, and stroked it. After soaking in the moment for a while, he suddenly looked back at Yeon So-wol as if he had just remembered him.
"Now then. What do we have here?"
His pupils, unusually large and black to the point of not looking human, glistened.
*
Ironically, Yeon So-wol finally had a chance to calmly reflect on his situation. At the very least, he was no longer falling. He tried to make sense of the current circumstances.
First. Where was he?
Yeon So-wol kept his eyes downcast and surveyed his surroundings. A skeleton-like old man in black robes. An old monk in yellow kasaya lying dead at his feet with a broken neck. Judging by the attire... and the way he had just stepped on a man's neck to kill him... this definitely wasn't Earth.
It really is another world...
Even looking through the flickering memories of the ghosts in his head, it was certain.
But the Heavenly Killing Star? What was that?
The damp voices of the ghosts still seemed to cling to his ears.
"A person falling from the sky. A marvel. A truly strange occurrence."
Then, the skeleton old man called the Demon Slayer suddenly approached and grabbed Yeon So-wol's wrist to pull him up. His grip felt like iron shackles.
"I've never seen such attire. Short-cropped hair... Sniff, sniff. What is this scent? Is it from the clothes? It's subtle and clean. A scent I've never smelled before. Indeed, a being from the celestial realm has fallen to earth. I've seen all sorts of wonders while traveling the Jianghu, but this is the strangest of them all. Let's see..."
The Demon Slayer's fingers dug into Yeon So-wol's pulse point.
"Guh!"
Yeon So-wol trembled. An excruciating pain surged from his wrist. It felt as if cold pincers were scraping his muscles and ligaments.
"Hmm? Huh..." The Demon Slayer's brow furrowed. "Why is your energy so disordered? This is a celestial being?"
As if he couldn't believe it, he shoved his energy in even more violently. He thoroughly scanned Yeon So-wol's entire body with his jarring energy.
"——!!"
The pain was so intense he couldn't even scream. Yeon So-wol just stood there trembling, his mouth agape.
Dammit. Dammit. Dammit.
He couldn't help but curse. How many times was he going to almost die in such a short span of time? This was some serious bullshit.
After a period of horrific pain, the Demon Slayer finally withdrew his energy. Contempt filled his eyes.
"Even a beggar who eats leftover scraps wouldn't have such turbid and blocked Qi and blood. How can a human who fell from the sky have such a filthy constitution?"
He looked Yeon So-wol up and down as if he were looking at trash.
"You're just sewage discarded even by the celestial realm. What should I do with you? Should I take you back to the sect to use as a curiosity? Or should I just kill you? It seems a waste of effort even to carry you."
The Demon Slayer's unusually large black pupils shimmered. Yeon So-wol's shoulders shook. His body, which had been ravaged by the old man's energy, felt cold and painful. But even more terrifying than the pain was the realization.
I'm going to die after all?
No. Wait a minute. I survived the bus crash, I survived falling from the sky, I somehow fended off the ghosts, and I made it this far.
And I'm going to die?
No way!
Suddenly, time seemed to slow down. Yeon So-wol experienced his life flashing before his eyes for the first time. The bus hitting the guardrail. Space tearing like taut silk. The endless fall. The ghosts. Every moment up to now flashed vividly through his mind.
Within that, Yeon So-wol suddenly focused on one fact.
...The Heavenly Killing Star!
What the ghosts had said.
「 Having passed through the torn laws of nature, he brings an end to everything he touches. 」
「 Since his body is soaked in the rift of heaven and earth... 」
「 Nothing can survive his touch. 」
The words that had felt like nonsense earlier now came back with vivid meaning. He had heard that going to another world gave you special abilities. Yeon So-wol had always thought that was just a convenient plot device, but today he realized it wasn't.
Dimensions. Having crossed one himself, he knew it was no small feat.
In Wuxia novels, people get miracles just by falling off a cliff. If I fell across dimensions, I should obviously get something.
That "something" was the Heavenly Killing Star. A power that harbored the rift of dimensions, allowing him to kill anything he touched.
The moment he realized this, Yeon So-wol felt a strange sensation. It was as if the entire world was made of threads. Just as he had snatched the threads of the sky earlier, he felt that if he just touched them, he could snap those threads.
The moment he felt it, Yeon So-wol moved reflexively. He flipped his hand and firmly gripped the gaunt hand of the old man that was still holding his wrist.
He wished for it with all his heart.
"Die."
Snap!
Along with the sensation of something invisible breaking—
Roll—
The Demon Slayer's large pupils slid upward, swimming inside his eyes until they faced the sky. The skeletal hand that had been gripping his wrist went limp. The gaunt body suddenly collapsed and slumped down as if it had turned into a heavy bag of water.
Thud.
As the Demon Slayer lay on the ground with his limbs sprawled uselessly, a warm, pungent fluid began to leak from his crotch.
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