Chapter 37

The owner’s words came pouring out as Mi-jeong stared back in confusion.

“Apparently, some huge corporate investor bought this entire building. Then they told me to open a restaurant here and said they’d finance it themselves.”

Up to that point, it sounded plausible.
Owning your own restaurant was no easy thing.
Many restaurants were opened with investment from people who had money to spare.

“But there was exactly one condition in the contract. Full authority over this restaurant’s operations and kitchen has to be given to you, Park Mi-jeong.”
“What? T-They’re putting me in charge of everything? Why me…?”
“Because the food at our restaurant comes from your cooking, of course. Here, take a look at this first.”

Mi-jeong pulled the papers from the document envelope in her arms and looked through them.
They were neatly prepared corporate documents.
But the moment she reached the final page and saw the neatly handwritten special provisions, her breath stopped.

[Special Provisions]

• The security deposit and rent for this establishment are fully waived.
• However, whenever the building owner visits, meals shall be accepted in lieu of rent.

Mi-jeong looked up.

“Does that mean meals are supposed to cover the rent?”

The owner nodded.

“Yeah. That’s right.”

In other words, according to the contract, the investor was providing the restaurant without charging either a deposit or rent.
At the same time, Mi-jeong could not help tilting her head.
This was an investment in Mi-jeong, not something that directly benefited the current restaurant owner.
If anything, it was closer to a loss.
After all, Mi-jeong would be leaving her kitchen.
No matter how kindhearted the owner was or how fond she had grown of Mi-jeong, there was no obvious reason for her to be this excited about losing her.
Then the owner continued.

“I thought it was ridiculous at first too. But here’s the thing.”

She looked around the restaurant.

“In exchange for putting you in charge here, they’re also going to solve the lease-renewal problem with our current restaurant and even connect us with a food-supply distributor.”
“…”
“Honestly, now that business has picked up, the landlord’s started talking about running a restaurant there himself. I was getting nervous, but they said they’d take care of that too.”

The owner tightened her grip on Mi-jeong’s hand and met her eyes.

“For a small business owner like me, it’s a dream come true. And more importantly…”

The owner released Mi-jeong’s hand and gently wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

“You’re good enough now to run a restaurant under your own name.”

The owner’s embrace felt incredibly warm.
Or perhaps what felt warm was the recognition itself, and the care behind it.

“Thank you, ma’am.”

The owner shook her head.

“Don’t thank me. Thank the investor. If they ever come by, make them something delicious. Not that I need to tell you that.”

She gave Mi-jeong a few pats on the back.

Unexpected good fortune had continued coming her way ever since Yeon-hui left.
Warm tears ran down her cheeks.

‘Yeon-hui. I think Mom really can be happy…’

At that same moment,
far away in the training hall, the corners of Jun-gyeong’s mouth curved upward as he sat meditating with his eyes closed.

Within his mindscape, beside the small lotus bud floating gently atop the surface of his ink-dark internal energy, a second White Lotus took root and began to bloom brilliantly.
It held a warmth far brighter than before and began releasing pure spiritual energy.
Mi-jeong’s heartfelt happiness reached him from afar and filled Jun-gyeong’s soul.
Jun-gyeong slowly opened his eyes.
An unfathomably deep gleam of internal energy flashed through them.

“Looks like everything is ready now.”

CRRRRACK-

The floor beneath him cracked and began changing color.
In an instant, the marble floor transformed into a massive expanse of green stone.

[Everything is prepared.]

It was the Seonghwangsin, who watched over Sajik-dong and the earth veins running through it.
He had gathered the Mana Stones in the area and drawn them beneath Jun-gyeong’s training hall.

“Good work.”
[It was nothing, Your Majesty.]

Jun-gyeong closed his eyes and began circulating the energy within his body.
The Mana Stones beneath the floor hummed as they radiated green light that enveloped his body.
The Mana entering his body through his breathing was drawn at tremendous speed toward the White Lotuses floating atop the calm surface of his internal energy.
The White Lotuses shone brightly as they began mingling with the Mana.
Passing through the White Lotuses, the Mana transformed into ink-dark true Qi.
The Qi meridians already branching finely to the tips of his fingers and toes trembled as though excited by the influx of new power.

‘The energy is still too weak.’

Rather than forcing his way through the Ren and Du Meridians, Jun-gyeong focused on widening the already opened pathways of the Twelve Primary Meridians.
The channels of Qi that had once resembled narrow streams expanded until they were wide and sturdy like great arteries.
After completing a circuit through his body, the true Qi returned to his dantian and calmly blended into the ink-dark internal energy gathered there.

Thump-

With a small thump from within his body, the internal energy settled in his dantian swelled and slowly curled in upon itself.

Jun-gyeong opened his eyes and looked down at his hand.
When he opened his fist, a white orb rested in his palm.

“The time has come. Good.”

Karmic flames engulfed his fist.

HISSS-

The Nether Core melted away in an instant, releasing black smoke that seeped into his body.

CRRRACK-

His internal energy moved once more.

WHOOOOSH-

Internal energy surged through his markedly widened vital pathways.

BANG-BANG-BANG-

His vital pathways were not being opened again.
The violently surging internal energy hammered against the widened pathways, making them even stronger.
At the same time, internal energy began seeping through those pathways into his skin.
After racing through his body in an instant, the internal energy settled back into his dantian, and Jun-gyeong slowly opened his eyes.
His eyes flashed brightly.
A broad smile spread across his face.

As both White Lotuses disappeared, his internal energy increased, and his Body Synchronization rose to 35%, reacting with that internal energy to strengthen his skin.
It was not yet the completely bladeproof body he had possessed in the past, but ordinary attacks would no longer be enough to damage his skin.
His organs had been strengthened as well. He was not yet immune to all poisons, but most ordinary toxins would clearly no longer be able to harm him.

Feeling as though he had donned a sturdy suit of armor, he gave his chest a few taps.

Mukhwa’s transformation into a Spirit Sword.
Jun-gyeong blinked and carefully read through the system window.

“So it can transform into any kind of weapon?”

Jun-gyeong looked at the wooden swords lined up along the wall.
He reached into the air and drew Mukhwa.
Mukhwa settled into his hand, but it felt different from before.
It had become a wooden sword with perfect balance.
He had wanted a wooden training sword made in Mukhwa’s form rather than using the actual blade, but that had not been easy.
He could hardly ask Smith to make him a wooden sword, so he had simply used ordinary training swords in this hall.
He had been as cautious as possible about training with a real blade.
He did not want to damage the training hall Hyeon-seok had gone to such lengths to build for him.

“Now I can swing Mukhwa as much as I like.”

As long as he did not infuse it with internal energy, he no longer needed to hold back while practicing his martial arts.
How could he not be pleased?

His Body Synchronization had risen as well.
He stood, moved to the center of the training hall, and raised the wooden sword.

Hummm-

Mukhwa trembled faintly in his hand.
Though it had taken the form of a wooden sword, it was unmistakably Mukhwa.
Even the way it settled into his grip was different.
It felt as though the sword he had wielded for decades had found its own perfect balance.
Jun-gyeong gave his wrist a light flick.

SWISH-

A single technique.
Nothing more.
But in that instant.

WHOOOOSH-

The air inside the training hall was pushed apart along the wooden sword’s path as though it had been cleaved open.
The dust that had settled across the floor was swept away to either side, leaving a long line behind.

Jun-gyeong’s eyes narrowed.

“Sword pressure?”

He had not infused it with internal energy.
Nor had he used blade energy.
He had simply swung.
Yet it was different from before.
The strength moving within his body.
Muscles and joints.
Breath and Qi meridians.
And Mukhwa.
Everything connected into a single flow.
Jun-gyeong raised the wooden sword again.
This time, he went a little deeper.

SHRING-

As the wooden sword moved, the tip of the blade momentarily blurred with an ink-dark hue.

At the same time.

CRRRACK-

The upper half of a thick ironwood training dummy standing at one side of the hall slid diagonally to the floor.
Jun-gyeong silently looked down at the severed surface.
The corner of his mouth slowly rose.

Only now.
Only now did he truly feel that his body in the present world, rather than the martial body he had possessed in his previous life, had become capable of bearing his martial arts.

When the Majang-dong slaughterhouse was demolished in 1998, everyone believed the Livestock Soul Monument, which had spent decades appeasing the blood and souls of millions of slaughtered animals, had been removed and discarded.
In truth, however, a group of old-timers from the merchants’ association, afraid of the blood staining their own hands, had hidden the monument in a dark corner of Majang-dong and continued holding secret rites there.
They were quiet, clandestine rites attended by only a handful of people.

Deep in the farthest reaches of Majang-dong, beyond the lively noise of the nearby livestock market.
There was a narrow, dark clearing surrounded by rusted shipping containers and high concrete walls that blocked out the sun even at midday. Hidden from every direction and invisible from outside, it was a vast pocket of shadow within Majang-dong.
At the center of that secluded clearing stood an enormous stone monument stained with moss and dark-red traces of blood.

The Livestock Soul Monument.

Damp yin energy poured from the monument as though it could freeze even the air above the ground, while bluish moonlight finally broke through the clouds and shone straight down upon it.

“…O beasts who have become lonely wandering souls, please set aside your wrath and pass peacefully onward…”

Three white-haired elders from the merchants’ association burned incense and recited the ritual prayer in trembling voices.
The enormous severed head of a freshly slaughtered cow rested raw upon the altar.
They were butchers who had spent their entire lives wielding knives and carving meat, yet before the monument glowing blue beneath the moonlight, they bowed their heads like sinners.

RUMMMBLE-

As though answering them, the sky flashed and light growled between the black clouds.
Yet no rain had begun to fall, nor had lightning struck.
Instead, the overcast sky was packed with dark clouds, and between them a cold blue moon illuminated the ground.

“What the hell is the point of doing this every year?”

In-cheol kicked irritably at the ground as he watched his father offer the ritual prayer.
The whole ritual made no sense to him.
People who had truly received their ancestors’ blessings and the help of spirits did not bother with things like this.
As far as In-cheol was concerned, the rich people who spent the holidays vacationing overseas were the ones who had really benefited from their ancestors and whatever spirits might be looking after them.

“Damn it. Ptui-”

When he spat roughly onto the ground, Dae-hun, standing behind the elder leading the rite, glared at him with a deep frown.
In-cheol stared back with an expression that plainly said, ‘What are you going to do about it?’
Dae-hun slowly shook his head, clasped his hands again, and bowed.

“Fucking lunatic. Cozying up with those beastfolk bastards, and now you’re here making a damn spectacle of this too. What a fucking joke.”

In-cheol had his reasons for speaking so harshly.

RUMBLE-

The sky seemed to rumble again, and In-cheol looked up.
But the sky held nothing except dark clouds, with no sign of movement.
His gaze slowly lowered, then stopped.

“…Huh?”

A childlike figure was crouched atop the Livestock Soul Monument.
It was the size and shape of a small child, but its eyes were something else entirely.
They gleamed like the eyes of a beast.

With that bestial gaze, it looked down upon the people performing the rite below.