Chapter 2. An Old Man in the Mountains
He was screaming inside. He was too shocked for his voice to come out.
He was lying face down in a sea of blood.
His head, face, and even his clothes were covered in dark red blood.
A frightened Han Yibi, still lying face down, lifted his head ever so slightly.
But an even more horrific scene laid before him…
About 10 people were rolling around in their own pool of blood. Moreover, not a single corpse was intact.
A person without a head nor arms or legs…A person that died while grabbing at their own organs that had burst out of their body…
A person who died while bleeding from every hole in their body…
Lumps of meat that didn’t even have the distinct shape of a human…!
They were all miserably slaughtered…!
Han Yibi was about to throw up.
It was then.
[Thank you for choosing to (Continue)].
[Congratulations on connecting.]
He heard a voice in his head. That woman from before.
‘Wow fu-. This is crazy. I’ve finally lost my mind!’
At that moment he heard a ding and the same voice rang in his head again.
[The main objective is to eliminate the Evil Spirit and return to the original world.]
[Tip: If another player finishes the objective first you will remain in this world forever.]
‘W- What is this?’
‘Evil Spirit… wait, from the…?’
“Aaagghh-!”
He heard a horrible voice that could have been from hell itself.
People.
There were people gathered.
His instincts shook him to stay quiet for his own good.
Han Yibi watched them through squinted eyes.
A group of people wearing masks were surrounding a middle aged man.
The man was held by his arms. His whole body was stained with blood.
But…his clothes were strange.
No, it wasn’t just him, the clothes of the other masked men were the same.
It wasn’t hanbok…
TN: Hanbok – Traditional Korean clothes.
He felt like he had seen it somewhere before…
Then a thought suddenly came to mind.
‘A- Am I… in a martial arts novel?’
He was.
This was a common storyline in fantasy novels.
It was commonly used by writers who didn’t use past lives or reincarnations. A classic plot.
‘Am I… Am I dreaming?’
One of the masked men put his face close to the middle aged man and spoke.
Judging from the way he carried himself, he looked to be the leader of the pack.
“Just give up and spit it out already. You guys weren’t even able to master it, right? The Perfect Formless Art, where is it?”
Han Yibi came to his senses.
It was because he heard a word he understood.
‘The Perfect Formless Art’ in the novel, Dreams of Becoming A Snake, was a legendary scroll with a special martial art that was sought after by good guys and bad guys alike.
It was the Jongri noble clan’s martial art that was left behind by Jongri Sanhyeon, the man who dominated the murim world more than 200 years ago.
However, the book explains that the incompetent descendents of the Jongri noble clan lost the scroll and embarked onto a path of collapse.
But most importantly… the main character, ‘‘Jong Leehyuk’’, is from the Jongri noble clan…!
‘Could it be that I’m the main character of this novel?’
The middle aged man viciously glared at the masked man and spat.
A disgusting mix of saliva and blood flew in the air.
The masked man tilted his head back in surprise but it still ended up landing beneath his chin.
With a look of disgust the masked man wiped it off with his glove and said.
“I see that words won’t work on this son of a bitch. Cut it off completely.”
“Yes!”
The masked man holding the middle aged man responded. He then heard an unpleasant slicing sound.
Simultaneously, he heard the awful sound of a scream.
Something flew towards Han Yibi’s face.
Splat.
It hit his cheek and rolled off his face.
It was…
“Aagghh!”
Han Yibi unintentionally let out a scream.
It was because the thing that had hit his face was a hand that was cut off from the wrist.
Startled, the masked men looked in the direction where Han Yibi was lying down.
‘Ah! I’m f**ked.’
Then he heard the sound of a ‘ding’ inside his head.
The familiar voice of the woman resonated.
[The tutorial will now begin.]
[Job : None]
[Tip : Actively raise your level and obey the ‘mission’. If you successfully complete the ‘mission’, an appropriate ‘reward’ will be given.]
[New Quest (Difficulty ☆) : Avoid the enemy’s attack 3 times.
[Prize : Synchronization with a character will begin.]
With no time to think Han Yibi jumped up and began to run.
The masked leader shouted.
“He was playing dead! Bring me that bastard!”
One of the masked men immediately ran towards Han Yibi at a frightening speed.
Ding.
[Quest In Progress : Avoid the enemy’s attacks 3 times. (0 times/3 times)]
At the moment, Han Yibi was running with every bit of energy he had in his body.
It was a valuable time to fully experience with his own body what it meant to ‘pull out all the stops’.
‘Running, at least…’
He didn’t have much talent in anything else but ‘running’ was the one thing Han Yibi had confidence in.
He was always chosen to participate in any relay sports event.
At one point he had even considered going to a physical education university but gave up because it cost too much money.
Han Yibi, assuming that he had lost his pursuer, turned around, and was horrified.
It was because the masked man was effortlessly pursuing him with long strides.
He felt all his hairs stand on end.
‘Isn’t that the movement technique that always appears in martial arts novels?’
Han Yibi widened his strides and increased his speed but the gap between them rapidly decreased.
As soon as he turned back.
‘Eek~!’
The masked man’s sword that had been following closely behind him shone as the sun reflected off of it and in a flash was being swung towards him.
He thought he was going to die in vain when all of a sudden.
‘Tak.’
Han Yibi’s body was floating in the air.
He had tripped over a stone.
He heard the sharp sound of a ‘swoosh’ as the sword cut through the air. Han Yibi’s clothes that were floating in the air made a ‘slice’ sound as a part of it was chopped off.
‘Ding’.
The sound resonated near his ear.
[Quest In Progress : Avoid the enemy’s attacks 3 times. (1 time/3 times)]
‘Bam!’
The floating Han Yibi made a loud noise as he crashed into a cedar tree.
It felt like every bone in his body was broken.
But it was still better than getting stabbed.
Han Yibi was shaking his head to come to his senses when he saw the masked man’s sword from the corner of his eyes.
He spoke.
“You freaking rat!”
The masked man’s sword was quickly closing in on him.
There was nowhere to run behind him because of the tree. The moment the well-forged sword was about to pierce through his waist!
‘Stab!’
He heard the masked man’s sword stab into the thick trunk of the cedar tree.
‘Ding.’
[Quest In Progress : Avoid the enemy’s attacks 3 times. (2 times/3 times)]
Han Yibi looked around not knowing what had just happened. He was hanging from a tree branch as if he was doing a pull up.
He hastily climbed up the branch.
The masked man didn’t just stand there either.
He did a somersault and landed on the opposite end of the branch in an instant.
Han Yibi thought.
‘Body Lightening Art…Is that the body lightening technique that I saw in the books?’
But there wasn’t time for him to think.
It was because the masked man was already swinging his sword around.
He was on the verge of losing his head.
For a second, Han Yibi could see a pool of blood on the ground right below the branch he was standing on.
It was all falling from his body.
It wasn’t his blood but…as soon as he saw it a thought occurred to him.
In an instant, he shook his arms and upper body.
The clumps of blood that was all over his body sprayed the masked man that was charging towards him.
It was quite the filthy situation.
The masked man, appalled, tried to avoid it and his sword movements became disheveled.
‘Slice.’
The branch he was standing on was chopped off like a hot knife through butter.
Thump!
‘Ouuuch!’
Han Yibi, who had fallen together with the branch, rubbed his butt and yelled in his head.
It was then.
‘Ding!’
New Quest Completed (Difficulty ☆) : Avoid the enemy’s attack 3 times. (3 times/3 times)]
Crazy…
Even in a situation like this she was keeping track.
He was certain that she was the crazy one and not him.
‘Ping.’
He heard it again.
[For completing the quest in a creative way an additional reward has appeared.]
[Would you like to check the reward? (Yes/No)]
He couldn’t check, of course.
It was because the masked man that had nimbly landed on the ground was running towards him to give him an early death.
‘What’s going on! I thought I only needed to avoid him 3 times!’
It was then.
Han Yibi closed his eyes shut, unable to watch as the sword swung towards him violently, but then he heard a voice.
“What are you two doing?”
It was a person.
He looked to be in his mid 40’s but he had patches of white hair.
He had a stick across the back of his shoulders with two buckets of water on each end.
A skinny body with a dry facial expression.
The gray-colored clothes he wore were battered, torn, and ragged. He was a true visualization of what a beggar would look like.
The eyes of the masked man were shaking wildly as he stared at the man. He looked to be in shock.
The man spoke again.
“I said, what are you two doing?”
“Ah, mind your own business. Who the hell are you?”
Growled the masked man who had seemingly come to his senses. However, the man didn’t appear to be afraid at all.
“How dare you speak so rudely to your elders!”
Han Yibi thought.
‘Elder? That ahjusshi doesn’t even look that old.’
TN: Ahjusshi – middle-aged man
Then the masked leader yelled from the other direction.
“Stupid bastard. What are you doing? Get rid of both of them.”
“Yes!”
The masked man responded politely and quickly lifted his sword to cut the man.
Han Yibi yelled in desperation.
“Ahjusshi! Run away!”
But the man didn’t budge.
He heard the masked man’s sword slice through the air.
He was only moments away from seeing the sword cut into the man’s face!
Han Yibi shuddered at the horrific scene that was about to happen before him.
It was then.
‘Bam!’
The masked man fell backwards. The man had kicked him in the head with the buckets still on his shoulders.
In spite of the intense movement caused by the kick, not a single droplet of water fell from the bucket.
Han Yibi thought.
‘It’s not the end of the world! He must be a pro!’
The moment the masked man stood up and raised his sword.
‘Bam Bam Bam Bam!’
It was the sound of shoes in a washing machine.
The man had put down the buckets and was using the stick to thrash him violently.
Blood poured down under the mask of the fallen masked man.
I’m glad I can’t see under the mask. His face is probably all crushed. He’s brutal.
The man mumbled.
“Hmph. Look at this whining insect.”
In an instant the forest was in complete silence.
The masked men who grasped the situation quickly, flew over and surrounded the man.
The masked leader spoke first.
“I was unaware that a master such as yourself resided here. May I ask who you…”
But the man didn’t give him so much as a glance as he furrowed his brows and looked at the pile of corpses that resembled hell itself.
He clicked his tongue and spoke.
“Was it you? The bastard who dirtied the front of my house?”
The masked leader was taken aback as he spoke.
“Your house…?”
The man pointed in a frustrated manner.
“My house is right there.”
There was, in fact, a small cabin.
The masked leader spoke.
“I see now that is where you live. But may I ask who…”
(To be continued in the next chapter)