Chapter 552

System

Synchronization begins. 10, 9, 8, 7… 1, 0.

Synchronization completed successfully. Increased stats have been applied to the body, and use is restricted for certain Titles.

Logout complete.

Ding.

Before my blackened vision had even cleared, a cool breeze swept over my entire body, as it always did.

No—it washed through me, cleansing me.

Synchronization.

It was a process I had gone through every time I traveled between Murim and reality.

Changes to my stats took effect immediately, while scars and injuries didn’t carry over. There was even a considerate feature that made changes to my physique and appearance happen gradually and naturally—probably because a sudden transformation would make people suspicious.

Fwoosh.

This time was no different.

Strength flowed into my body, which had already surpassed human limits, and I felt my muscles grow more supple. The internal energy refined through my battle with the Water God Dragon and Mungyeong’s teachings changed with it.

“Phew.”

The first thing I saw was a ceiling without a speck of dust on it. Several meters¹ above me, it was covered by an old-fashioned painting.

Is it because I haven’t seen it in a while? Or am I still not used to it?

I’d last been here before traveling along a tributary of the Yangtze toward Hubei Province. Roughly two months had passed before I returned.

Maybe that was why everything around me felt unfamiliar.

I lay under the soft blankets, staring at the ceiling for a long while. Then I asked, “What was the title of that painting again?”

A quiet answer came from nearby.

“The official title is the Sistine Chapel ceiling frescoes, but in Korea, it’s better known as The Creation—The Genesis. It’s a masterpiece created by Michelangelo Buonarroti, a sculptor and painter of the Renaissance.”

“Ah, Michelangelo. Right.”

“You’ve heard of him?”

“He’s famous. Are you looking down on me because my school grades were Level 7?”²

“What do your school grades have to do with it? You’re much more famous than that painting now, Mr. Jin Taekyung.”

Tap.

Soft leather slippers met the marble floor.

I turned my head on the pillow and saw a man crossing the vast—no, practically boundless—room.

How does he get more handsome every time I see him?

If he were merely good-looking, I might have been jealous. But once someone passed a certain point, all I could do was admire him. Especially when he had the presence to make those looks seem perfectly natural.

I grinned at the man I was seeing for the first time in two months.

“It’s been a while, Team Leader Choi.”

Team Leader Choi, handsome as ever in a silk robe, stopped in his tracks.

“You say that as though you’ve come back from somewhere far away.”

“I dreamed about a pretty distant place. It was a long dream, too.”

I’d spent more than two months in Murim, so it wasn’t a lie. Considering everything that had happened, two months almost felt too short.

“It must not have been a bad dream.”

“Not really. I had to fight a dragon right at the start.”

“A Dragon?”

“Something a little different, but close.”

“A nightmare, then. Better to wake up quickly from one of those.”

Clink.

Team Leader Choi set the cup he was holding on the bedside table.

“Have some coffee.”

“Is this made from some incredibly expensive beans?”

If it was coffee made from cat shit³—or Hyuk Mujin’s shit—like last time, I was going to refuse.

I glared suspiciously at the cup, but then my eyes widened as a familiar scent reached deep into my nose.

“Huh?”

When I looked at him with an expression that said surely not, Team Leader Choi gave a quiet laugh.

“It’s instant. Gold. Made strong.”

“Damn, Team Leader Choi. You know what’s good.”

“At least I know you and coffee brewed from beans aren’t a good match.”

“Good. Ten points to Gryffindor.”

I gave him a thumbs-up and downed the coffee in one gulp.

Mm. That’s the stuff.

Cheap and sweet. Getting a taste of modern civilization again made me feel alive.

“Ah, that’s good. I’m starting to wake up.”

“Are you? You did sleep longer than usual today.”

Like other Awakened and Murim martial artists, I had a body that had surpassed human limits. I needed even less sleep than most.

I rarely slept more than two hours a day, and even that was more to satisfy the desire to sleep than out of any real need.

Unless I’ve pushed my body too hard or worn myself out mentally, I’m fine.

So when someone like me slept like the dead for hours, people were bound to wonder why.

I yawned and stretched.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

“I get days like this sometimes. Maybe all the fatigue caught up with me at once.”

I sat up groggily and reached out. The smartphone on the bedside table flew toward me through Seizing an Object Through Empty Space and snapped into my hand like a magnet.

Maybe it’s because I haven’t seen this in a while, but it feels really strange.

It was part of the disorientation I felt every time I returned to reality.

I tapped the screen awkwardly. The time appeared.

7:05 a.m.

Seven in the morning. I’d gone to bed not long after midnight, so I’d slept about seven hours…

“Hm?”

What was this? The date looked strange.

I stared at the smartphone screen. Then a thought flashed through my mind, and my eyes widened.

“Ah.”

So much had happened that I’d forgotten what day it was—and why I’d waited until after midnight to return to my room.

Just as I remembered, Team Leader Choi spoke.

“I said this last night, but I suppose I should say it again.”

Swish.

He held out his hand, his quiet voice following close behind.

“I look forward to working with you this year as well, Mr. Jin Taekyung.”

January 1, 2047.

Right. It was the first day of a new year in the modern world. And…

“Happy birthday.”

“…!”

It was also my twenty-eighth birthday.

Damn it. Already?

The number thirty loomed so close that my vision went dark. Then two people burst in from across the room, making a racket.

“Hey, Twenty-Eight! Mom says to come eat seaweed soup!”⁴

“I hereby congratulate you on the day of your birth!”

I take it back. They weren’t people. They were two monsters.

Jin Hayeon, my old enemy on the family register, whom I was seeing for the first time in a while—and the blond foreigner beside her, the Skeleton King.

I sighed at the sight of them.

The time difference between Murim and the modern world was enormous.

From what I’d learned, whenever I crossed into one world, time in the other slowed to a crawl. Ten days in Murim amounted to about an hour in the modern world. No wonder I sometimes felt out of step.

Especially this time. So much happened.

Both worlds had changed rapidly. One of the changes was the enormous mansion where I now lived.

Step. Step.

White marble gleamed beneath our feet, and old-fashioned paintings and statues filled the halls.

More than anything, though…

“Wow. This place is ridiculously huge.”

Huge enough to leave me speechless. Even if I put together every place I’d stayed while traveling between the two worlds, the total would be nothing next to this mansion.

Its owner didn’t seem to agree.

“As you said, Mr. Jin Taekyung, it is somewhat large. It also takes a lot of work to maintain.”

“For a place that takes so much work, I don’t see anyone else around. Right, old man?⁵”

Hayeon, who’d been trailing behind us, had suddenly joined the conversation.

She wasn’t talking to Team Leader Choi.

The foreigner with hair like molten gold and strangely gleaming golden eyes frowned. At a glance, he looked like the sort of man who’d be caught up in Hollywood dating scandals.

“Surely you don’t mean me.”

“I do.”

“Hah.”

The Skeleton King—given a human appearance by Magic Johnson’s illusion magic—let out a short laugh.

“You seem to misunderstand. As I understand it, the term you used refers to a male relative of an older generation, or a middle-aged man.”

“Yes.”

“…”

The Skeleton King was silent for a moment before squeezing out his voice.

“What I mean is…”

“You said you’re over thirty. That makes you an old man to me.”

“I am over thirty, but…”

“Oh, I get it. You are an old man. You just don’t want to be called one, right?”

“…!”

His golden eyes trembled. He stopped walking and glared at Hayeon.

“They say blood relatives resemble each other. You two really are siblings.”

Hayeon and I answered together.

“I’m an only child.”

“I’m an only child, old man.”

Good heavens. Now there were two wicked humans.

That was written all over his face as he looked from one of us to the other. Finally, he shook his head in defeat.

“All right. All right, so stop it, both of you. And you, insolent human girl. If you ever call me an old man again…”

Step.

He never finished.

Hayeon had stopped walking. She was staring at him blankly.

“What did you say?”

“No. That isn’t what I meant. I misspoke.”

The Skeleton King scrambled to take it back, glancing at me. Team Leader Choi sighed as though he’d been expecting this to happen sooner or later.

“You’ve done it now. I’ll take him away, Mr. Jin Taekyung. Please calm your sister down, and be careful she doesn’t misunderstand.”

“…?”

What was he talking about?

I blinked at him.

“Why?”

“Pardon?”

“No, why? Why do I have to calm her down?”

“Why? Miss Hayeon was just insulted—”

Before he could finish, Hayeon spoke.

“‘Insolent human girl’? Is that something you say to a person, you long-nosed bastard?”

“…Huh?”

“…What?”

Here we go. I smiled warmly.

She hasn’t changed a bit.

Yes. This was Jin Hayeon.

As my capillaries swelled magnificently, I finally felt that I had truly returned to the modern world.

Hayeon whipped around to face me.

“Did you hear what that Yankee bastard just said?”

I nodded silently.

“I heard.”

“Does he have dirt on you? Did someone catch you doing a private webcam show? Why else would you hang around with a bastard like that? Someone who isn’t even human…”

That’s surprisingly accurate.

“Oh, right,” I said, impressed. “He really isn’t human.”

“He called me an insolent human girl. Does that psycho think that even counts as words?”

“Well, they are words. Just bad ones.”

“If he’d called me a crazy bitch or something normal, I wouldn’t even complain. But human girl? It feels so gross. Seriously.”

I took out my smartphone and whispered, “Siri, tell me today’s weather.”

“Today’s weather is clear.”

“You asshole. You think I’m in the mood for wordplay? Your one and only little sister just got called that by someone else!”

I hurriedly straightened my clothes and bowed politely.

“Hello. My name is Jin Taekyung, and I’m an only child.”

“You really are a lunatic.”

“That’s rather harsh for a first meeting. I’ll sue you for defamation by stating facts.”⁶

Hayeon’s eyes turned cold.

“I’m telling Mom everything.”

“What?”

“I’m telling Mom. Every last thing.”

“Are you threatening me?”

“Yep.”

“You little…”

Wham!

Eyes bulging, I grabbed someone by the collar with all my strength.

Not Hayeon’s, of course. The Skeleton King’s.

“Apologize to my sister right now! You less-than-human bastard! You monster!”

“I-I’m sorry! I was wrong! I’ll apologize a hundred times, just please…!”

“Of course she’s insolent! And human! And a girl! But you can’t put all three together like that!”

“Ugh! Grrrgh!”

“Say it properly! Put the right words together!”

“I-Insolent! Person! Girl!”

Boom.

At least, I thought I heard something like that.

It was Hayeon’s anger gauge bursting. She picked up the nearest plaster statue.

“Die. Just die, both of you!”

Whoosh! Clang!

The hallway descended into chaos, beginning with the daily clang.

Hayeon charged at us like a brave Viking warrior, while Team Leader Choi stared at the scene unfolding before him in stunned disbelief.

That was when—

“I told you to come eat. What’s all this noise…!”

The elevator at the far end of the hallway opened. A familiar face emerged and froze.

Dear Lady Kim Jeonghee.

My mother.

“…What are you doing, all of you?”

From her tiny body—not even 160 centimeters⁷ tall—I felt an aura to rival at least one of the Ten Kings.