Chapter 24
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 24
Chapter Title: Queen is Back
-----------------------------------------------------------------
After the Demonic Cult led its apostles and demon cultists in invading Han Mu-young.
The Korean martial world was in absolute chaos.
News outlets unleashed a barrage of articles simultaneously, and the internet buzzed with talk of the terrorist attack.
!Breaking News!
Korea Under Attack!
Unprecedented Terror Attack by Demon Cult Forces... President Kim Issues Emergency Statement
Portal sites overflowed with articles bearing the exact same headlines and content as in my previous life.
Is this for real? Wasn't our country supposed to be a safe zone from the demonic path?
That Kim bastard. We elected him president, and look what happened. Resign immediately!!!
Pathetic level of political sickness ㅉㅉ Why blame the president for an incident in the martial world? Don't you know about official non-interference?
Kospi tanked because of this mess, so they're dragging Kim into it, you dumbass.
US and China stocks dropped even more. No casualties is already good handling, isn't it?
Is that because of Kim? It was the Phoenix of Fist who did well.
Reactions from the public varied widely.
Some were shocked by the incident, others furious. The targets of that fury were diverse as well. This wasn't much different from my previous life.
However, there was one key difference from my previous life.
The Only 'Zero Casualties' Among the Three Great Martial Academies: Who is Lee Soo-young, the Hero Behind the 'Miracle of Han Mu-young'?
The Phoenix of Fist's Dazzling Soar from Obscurity... Dragon-Phoenix Tournament, 'Emergency'
In her previous life, Lee Soo-young had poured her internal energy into preventing a collapsing building from falling on the students, only to become the sole casualty of the terror attack. This time, she survived and emerged as a national hero.
A photoshopped image of Lee Soo-young serenely holding a 'Do You Know Club' meme—packed with national pride elements—on her palm like Buddha went viral across the internet.
The Phoenix of Fist is insane.... We knew she was strong as an A-rank from the last Dragon-Phoenix, but she caught the Sword Demon and a Demonic Cult apostle? Did she have some massive awakening after the Dragon-Phoenix Finals (The Olympic Games)?
She only caught the apostle. They said the Sword Demon got away.
That Murim Gallery galju prick is always pants-on-head good at escaping. Officially busted through Heaven's Net three times, the madman.
Is the galju just that good at dipping, or is Heaven's Net overhyped...?
He's ex-galju now lol. Phoenix of Fist took over as galju starting today.
Han Mu-young had held a press conference right after tending to the injured and handing over the captured demon cultists to the Murim Alliance, where they announced their official statement.
In that process, it became known that Lee Soo-young had consecutively faced the A-rank demonic master Sword Demon and the Third Apostle, routing the Sword Demon and slaying the apostle.
On the day the invasion was announced, articles framing it as "Korea under attack" spread, causing the Kospi to plummet and the stock market to descend into chaos. But by the next day, praise-filled stories about Lee Soo-young, who had "triumphed over" the terror, and a few Han Mu-young students dominated the front pages over simple terror coverage.
Since America's West Point and China's Heavenly Martial Academy—also hit simultaneously—suffered massive losses, her feats stood out even more.
The Demonic Cult, which had been a terrifying fanatic terror group threatening national security just yesterday, was suddenly mocked as a bunch of mortals shattered by teachers and students despite bringing two Fire Essence realm experts—complete with laughing emojis.
Of course, there were many factors behind this shift.
The government's decisive use of media control and the National Intelligence Service's twin blades to quash negative opinion; pressure from some suspiciously wealthy conglomerate chairman on the press; the public's psychological desire for a hero born from crisis, and so on...
As a result, Lee Soo-young was hailed as a near-savior of the nation in the public eye.
And in the shadows, she claimed an even greater status.
Your gallery is done for! This is now under the rule of the Lee Soo-young Minor Gallery.
(Lee Soo-young with cat ears photoshop)
Galju-nim looks so pretty fr.
Za~juga ja~ Za~juga ja~ Za~juga ja~ Za~juga ja~ Za~juga ja~ Za~juga ja~
O Lord! What the hell is going on here?! (Holy shit! What the fuck?!)
You small-country punks. Have you no shame?!
Lol yeah, your Heavenly Martial Academy got wrecked by Demonic Cult grunts ㅋㅋ
I can no longer stand idly by. A salvation sermon delivered with the anguish of flesh and bone severance. Warning: Fellow disciples of the East, do not click.
(!!!)
Aaah fuck my eyes!! What the hell!!!
There were no deaths, but a school closure order like in my previous life meant it had been three full days of lounging at home.
Unable to bear the boredom, I opened the Murim Gallery and found that Lee Soo-young had ascended to the new 'galju'.
That was pretty astonishing.
Even the Ming Dynasty's Divine Emperor—also called the Master of Mankind, sovereign over the world within and without—hadn't claimed the throne of the Murim Gallery's galju, yet here was Lee Soo-young taking the seat.
Truth be told, it was half a joke. The Murim Gallery's galju wasn't a position earned by martial prowess.
Just like how the previous galju, the Sword Demon, earned the title not through his Fire Essence realm strength, ruthless record as a special-grade martial public enemy, or exquisite swordsmanship, but through his legendary escape artistry.
Still, it was certain that Lee Soo-young—a late bloomer who'd faded from memory since the Olympics years ago—had gained buzz comparable to a special-grade martial public enemy through this incident.
I skimmed the posts that respawned with every refresh, deleting the gross memes as they popped up. The gallery was more lively than usual, but so were the trolls.
'Can't handle this stuff without pay, as expected.'
The Murim Gallery was a community used by martial artists worldwide.
It had an auto-translation feature, allowing communication with foreign martial peers, but the algorithm prioritized posts in the user's native language.
So the posts I saw were mostly about the Han Mu-young incident, though snippets from America and Ming occasionally appeared.
Ming imperial spokesperson declared war on the Evil Tyrant today... Can we finally exterminate the Demonic Cult bastards?
West Point dropped their statement on the attack too.
Clicking the link in the post brought up a BBC News article.
Demonic Academy Invasion: The God of War's Fury Ignited
West Point, the U.S. Martial Arts Officer Academy in New York, announced that on the 20th, it suffered an attack by a mysterious terror group clad in black garb and masks, resulting in 32 casualties and 7 missing persons.
Among the casualties, 6 faculty and 2 cadets were fatalities, and all missing are cadets.
(...)
Meanwhile, combining survivor testimonies and sword marks found during CSI autopsies points to the involvement of Dugoseong, the Level 1 International Martial Public Enemy and Heavenly Demon Cult's Pluto (), in the incident.
Among the dead is A-rank master and West Point instructor George Rogers, who earned the moniker Sword Dragon at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Dragon-Phoenix Finals. Even with a joint assault including Army College 4th-year brigade cadet and B-rank master Rooney Jordan (23), who was rushed to intensive care post-incident, students testified to defeat—raising concerns in some quarters that Pluto's arts may have surpassed the S-rank wall.
The U.S. Department of Defense, headed by modern world's greatest, God of War Desmond Kyle, stated through a spokesperson at a press conference on the 21st that they will respond 'aggressively' against any threats to America's security and peace, without regard for righteous evil, demons, or nationality.
'This is no different from my previous life.'
America's West Point, Ming's Heavenly Martial Academy, Korea's Korean Martial Arts Genius Academy. The three great martial academies, renowned worldwide, had been assaulted by one organization all at once.
The differences from my previous life were the timing and the forces invading Han Mu-young.
'Even in my previous life, the demon cultists failed to achieve their goal at Han Mu-young, blocked by Lee Soo-young and forced to retreat. But I never heard that one of the escapees was the Sword Demon.'
Aside from a few known names, the Demonic Cult's high ranks were shrouded in mystery. Even the slain Third Apostle had no notable moniker, so we just called him that.
In contrast, the Sword Demon was a special-grade martial public enemy whose appearance, traits, and arts were public knowledge.
National forensics experts examined the scene, matched the sword marks to the Murim Alliance's public enemy database, and could identify his handiwork instantly.
To begin with, if two Fire Essence realm masters had assaulted the school in my previous life, casualties wouldn't have stopped at just her.
Which meant the Sword Demon hadn't participated in this 'Three Great Academies Assault' in my previous life.
Why this divergence?
The only change from my previous life was my regression.
Could a single student's awakening on the duel stage, armed with memories from over a decade ahead, have butterfly-effected a special-grade public enemy's movements? Without more intel, it was unknowable.
But one thing I'd learned since regressing: if worrying won't solve it, handle something else first.
I decided to follow that lesson.
I grabbed the fruit basket from Coupang and headed out the door.
Destination: Tae-san Seoul White Hospital.
Time to visit my injured classmates in their sickbeds.