“Hey, Kim Seo-jun! Is this your damn bedroom? Where do you think you’re sneaking in to sleep? You idiot.”
A voice dripping with mockery.
Kim Seo-jun suddenly opened his eyes, wondering where that voice had come from.
The moment he opened them, all he saw was a high ceiling filled with bright lights.
‘What is this?’
He felt utterly bewildered.
Kim Seo-jun was certain he’d been hit by the laser beam from the Demon God Soldier that tore through the sky.
He should’ve died.
There was no reason to regain consciousness in such an unfamiliar place.
He pinched his cheek.
The pain confirmed this wasn’t a dream.
“30.”
A sudden, crashing headache.
In his mind, countless unknown memories surged in like a tidal wave.
One day in May, 2034.
Rift, Awakening, and Mystery.
‘What on earth…?’
Kim Seo-jun jerked himself upright and looked around.
A wide special mattress spread out beneath him, and a student was standing on it.
On one side, a line of young youths around twenty years old sat watching him with smiles.
“Is this… the practice room?”
“Wahaha! This bastard’s nuts! Now he’s talking nonsense in his sleep too?”
A bear-like guy pointed at Kim Seo-jun, chuckling.
Seeing him, another memory surfaced.
‘Go Han-seok. Nineteen years old. Classmate at the Academy.’
Memories of someone else were flooding in, so understanding the current situation wasn’t difficult.
‘My name is Kim Seo-jun, and I’m a nineteen-year-old Academy student?’
But the memories that came up were utterly absurd.
The life of the twenty-nine-year-old Kim Seo-jun—who had lived solely to avenge his parents for twenty years—felt like a fleeting dream.
Right now, he was the nineteen-year-old student, and the place was the Training Practice Room of the Hunter Academy. Moreover,
‘My parents are alive!’
Nineteen-year-old Kim Seo-jun’s parents were still alive.
No, since nineteen-year-old Kim Seo-jun was still himself, his parents living meant the same.
Memories of living with his parents since childhood flashed before him like a panorama.
In this world, martial arts did not actually exist.
Instead, Hunters, Mysteries, and Monsters were real.
On January 1st, 2000,
the world’s first Rift appeared.
Monsters no one had ever seen poured out from within.
From that point on, Rifts began occurring randomly across the world, and countless people lost their lives due to the monsters spilling out.
Starting then, people with incredible abilities began to appear.
Though they were ordinary humans, one day they suddenly awakened mysterious powers that seemed like magic from movies or novels.
They used those powers to defeat the monsters.
The world named their powers ‘Mysteries,’ and those who awakened them became known as Hunters.
“Student Kim Seo-jun, do you want to continue? I’m giving you a chance even though you messed up the midterm evaluation, but if you’re going to be so careless, then forget it.”
A voice shattered Kim Seo-jun’s thoughts.
Turning his head, he immediately recognized the speaker as Professor Shim Jae-deok, the instructor in charge at the Academy.
“You seem to have your wits about you, so I’ll say this one last time. If you intend to spar with Go Han-seok some more, stand up quickly and show your willingness to fight.”
Kim Seo-jun couldn’t respond immediately, still tangled in the confusion of his memories.
Seeing Shim Jae-deok reminded him of the words and actions the professor had shown so far, making his mind even more tangled.
Nineteen-year-old Kim Seo-jun had awakened his Mystery by chance in January and entered the Third Hunter Academy.
His Mystery had a fairly strong effect, but his innate mana was so pitiful that he was ranked only F-grade.
Because of this, even classmates and professors looked down on him.
Mana level: 6.
Even ordinary people who had not awakened any Mystery could reach mana levels of 2, but Kim Seo-jun barely had 6, essentially no different from a normal person.
Still, since the Academy didn’t want to waste his awakened Mystery, they tried their best to teach him.
But not everyone was like that.
Professor Shim Jae-deok was very selective and blatantly ignored students with low ability or insignificant backgrounds.
Because of this, the students in Kim Seo-jun’s class began to behave the same way.
This was the result.
‘Go Han-seok… was he the punk who got addicted to playing the tough guy?’
Recalling more, Kim Seo-jun remembered that Go Han-seok’s father, Go Tae-hwan, was the boss of his own father, Kim Joo-hyuk.
The Heonmu Guild, proudly ranked fourth among the top ten guilds in the country.
Its deputy guild master was Go Tae-hwan, and Kim Joo-hyuk handled administrative work there.
Although Kim Joo-hyuk said that Go Tae-hwan, who joined the company the same year, looked after him a lot, in truth, he was suffering under countless abuses disguised as friendship.
His son, Go Han-seok, was no different.
Despite being nineteen, he enjoyed playing the delinquent even in the Academy, just like he had in middle and high school.
The problem was that Go Han-seok’s games were always at Kim Seo-jun’s expense.
Kim Seo-jun decided to repay what he had endured right here.
His body was nineteen-year-old Kim Seo-jun’s, but the mind that controlled it belonged to Cheon Gang-woo, the Heavenly Demon Army Commander—an extraordinary martial artist who had defeated Cheonma Gunjang.
But his internal energy was the problem.
Facing Go Han-seok, he checked his dantian but, regrettably, found no internal energy at all.
The only thing present was a faint mana in his chest.
‘This alone is enough.’
Since he fully retained the memories of nineteen-year-old Kim Seo-jun, he quickly figured out how to use mana.
‘Use mana like internal energy.’
Immediately, he drew up mana and settled it into his meridians, starting to circulate it.
At first, it felt strange, and it seemed to leak through his vessels.
But he quickly got the hang of it and could smoothly channel mana through the meridians.
As the mana spun tightly along the meridians, vitality surged into his previously drooping body.
‘About a second-tier level.’
In this state, he could exert the strength of a second-tier martial artist.
“Student Kim Seo-jun, don’t overexert yourself out of stubborn pride. Sometimes it’s necessary to humbly acknowledge your shortcomings so you don’t end up more embarrassed.”
Professor Shim Jae-deok wanted to declare the sparring match over by his authority, but since all the students were watching, he tried to appear as fair as possible.
“If he wants to, why stop him? He needs to get hit a few more times so he can realize, ‘Ah, I messed with someone scary.’ For guys like him, it’s better to teach them a lesson with fists than words.”
Go Han-seok cracked his knuckles loudly as he spoke, and Shim Jae-deok nodded.
“If even Go Han-seok says so, I have no reason to stop you. Then, the match resumes. Get ready.”
Shim Jae-deok stepped back and stared at the scoreboard clock behind them.
“Two minutes and four seconds remaining. Show me everything you’ve got within that time.”
Though his words seemed to give Kim Seo-jun a chance, his gaze was actually fixed on Go Han-seok, even winking at him.
It was an encouragement for Go Han-seok to toy with Kim Seo-jun as he pleased.
Go Han-seok grinned slyly.
Then, Shim Jae-deok pressed the button signaling the start of the match.
Beep—
The bell rang, but Kim Seo-jun didn’t move.
After staring at Go Han-seok for a moment, he immediately lowered his gaze to his own hands.
‘If I look at my hands, I can see my information, right?’
Hunters who awaken Mysteries can look at their hands and see their own information organized like a chart right before their eyes.
Just like Kim Seo-jun was doing now.
[Kim Seo-jun]
-Mana: 6
-Mystery: Reverse Emission Burst (11%)
Such simple information floated before Kim Seo-jun like a hologram.
That his mana was only 6 and his Mystery mastery just 11% meant little to him.
If he used mana like internal energy, temporarily increasing those numbers was not difficult.
What mattered was that the Mystery called Reverse Emission Burst was quite an impressive ability.
[Reverse Emission Burst]
-Absorbs attack energy directed at oneself and stores it in the palm, then doubles that energy and returns it to the opponent at the desired moment.
-Cooldown: 5 minutes
Only the wielder of the Mystery could see this description.
Reverse Emission Burst was basically a counterattack technique, but not a simple one.
It absorbed an enemy’s attack, accumulated the energy, then amplified it twofold to blast back.
Young Kim Seo-jun had relied heavily on this Mystery.
Because he was born unable to freely control his body, Reverse Emission Burst—returning an opponent’s attack—was a perfect fit.
However, if the opponent knew exactly how his Mystery worked, it was difficult for Reverse Emission Burst to be effective.
If they crushed him with overwhelming physical power or pressured him so quickly there was no chance to counterattack, fighting Kim Seo-jun was no challenge.
‘He wasted such a good Mystery? What a damn idiot.’
Young Kim Seo-jun was an idiot, but not the current one.
He had martial arts honed for over twenty years, deadly combat experience brushing close to life and death, and above all, a strong will to smash anything that blocked his path.
“This bastard, what the hell is wrong with you? I’m right in front of you, so what the hell are you looking at?”
Go Han-seok wanted to see Kim Seo-jun’s face trembling with fear.
Even if Kim Seo-jun refused the fight, he was ready to drag him here forcibly and, if he gave up, enjoy beating him until his stress was relieved.
But this weak Kim Seo-jun just stood there like a fool, staring blankly at his own hands despite having Go Han-seok right in front of him.
“It’s on.”
Kim Seo-jun raised his head and motioned at Go Han-seok with a flick of his hand.
Everyone thought Kim Seo-jun had finally lost his mind.
The biggest loser Kim Seo-jun, with D-rank mana and C-grade Mystery ‘Concentrated Barrage’ like Go Han-seok, was actually provoking him.
Unfailingly, lightning flashed in Go Han-seok’s eyes.
“You crazy bastard!”
Go Han-seok pushed off the floor and shot forward like a bullet.
The distance between them was only five meters.
For Hunters whose physical abilities were enhanced by mana, this was a distance that could be covered in the blink of an eye.
Go Han-seok’s large fist cut through the air.
Kim Seo-jun stood still, watching the path of the fist.
The force cutting through space was impressive, and the speed was fast.
Judging by the angle of the bent elbow, Go Han-seok had prepared to quickly retract the punch if Kim Seo-jun attempted to dodge.
This was a movement showing considerable experience in close combat.
But Kim Seo-jun was no longer the Kim Seo-jun of the past.
The Kim Seo-jun who curled into a ball covering his face when an attack came was gone.
Instead, Kim Seo-jun stepped forward and kept his eyes on the incoming fist.
At the last moment, when the punch was mere inches from his face, he tilted his head, letting it slide past his cheek.
Go Han-seok flinched, surprised by the unexpected move.
He failed to retract his attack but immediately threw an uppercut with his left fist.
Kim Seo-jun’s lucky dodge was supposed to be a one-time thing.
However, Kim Seo-jun grabbed Go Han-seok’s fully extended right arm with both hands and yanked it downward.
Go Han-seok was in the middle of throwing an uppercut in that direction.
If this continued, he’d be hitting himself with his own arm—a humiliating situation.
“Ugh!”
Go Han-seok planted his right foot firmly, using the rebound to twist both arms in a cross.
Thud.
The heavy uppercut from his left hand was about to smash into Kim Seo-jun’s abdomen, but Kim Seo-jun lightly floated up and pushed the fist away with both palms.
His reaction speed was astonishing.
Using Go Han-seok’s strength against him, Kim Seo-jun sprang up, flipped in the air, and landed softly on the ground.
“What the heck was that?”
“Is that really Kim Seo-jun?”
“Since when does he do acrobatics like that?”
The students watching the fight were amazed.
Professor Shim Jae-deok was no different.
Go Han-seok’s close combat skills were considered top-tier among first-year students.
Even without his Mystery ‘Concentrated Barrage,’ many upperclassmen wouldn’t guarantee victory against him in barehanded combat.
But Kim Seo-jun—
That foolish and frail Kim Seo-jun not only dodged Go Han-seok’s attacks but even used that force to perform acrobatics, leaving everyone stunned.
“Looks like you want to die, huh?”
Go Han-seok’s mouth twisted in anger.
The guy who should have been screaming in pain like a punching bag was instead making a mockery of him.
“I’m getting sick of your mouth.”
Kim Seo-jun’s calm words made the veins on Go Han-seok’s forehead bulge.