Chapter 5
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 5
Chapter Title: Serendipity
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“The world...”
Baek Kang-mu nodded with a deeply impressed look on his face.
It wasn’t exactly a lie. My Gang Qi wasn’t something I’d learned from a formal master; I’d naturally picked it up by peeking over the shoulders of senior Vagabonds or enemies I encountered during missions, watching how they wielded their sword auras.
“Logically speaking, I should think my insight was wrong this time. My upper dantian premonitions aren’t always spot-on, after all.”
Baek Kang-mu tapped his temple with his finger as he spoke.
“Yet it rings true somehow. I’ll believe you, kid. You really are a late bloomer.”
“Mm.”
I kept my mouth shut and nodded.
Baek Kang-mu chuckled lightly and rummaged in the pocket of his suit, pulling something out and offering it to me.
The scene oddly overlapped with the moment right before my death, which felt strange, but Baek Kang-mu wasn’t handing over some random bead.
What he gave me was a metal canteen with a lid.
A faint chill emanated from it, suggesting it was a hip flask made from expensive Coldsteel.
“That was rude of me, jumping straight to threats. It’s not much as compensation... but it’s my personal tonic. Perfect for calming the nerves, too.”
I wasn’t sure what “calming the nerves” meant exactly, but I bowed my head in thanks and accepted it.
I’d half-expected a conglomerate chairman like him—who’d unleashed killing intent at me out of nowhere, an offense that would justify a life-or-death duel in the martial world—to shove a few checks into my hands as payback.
Maybe the image of a tycoon tossing wads of cash and barking “Take this and scram” was just media fiction after all.
‘Even the priciest tonic couldn’t cost more than that car door handle. And it’s from his personal stash...’
Still, it was a tonic fit for a tycoon—had to be something special. With that hopeful thought, I took a swig, only to nearly spit the contents all over Baek Kang-mu’s grinning face.
The moment the liquid hit my throat, a burning heat scorched my esophagus.
‘This is booze...!’
And not just any booze—clearly the viciously strong stuff.
I’d avoided alcohol even in my mid-teens in my past life, so I had to grimace and fight to keep from spewing the remnants onto the seat.
As I hacked and coughed, Baek Kang-mu grinned right in front of me.
“Tastes good, right?”
“...I’m truly sorry, but you call this a taste? My insides are still burning—”
I wiped away the tears welling up as I spoke.
‘Wait. Still burning?’
A strange sense of wrongness hit me from my own words. I turned my focus inward, observing the meridians where my qi flowed.
A massive surge of energy—truly enormous for my seventeen-year-old body—was writhing in the meridians around my stomach.
Baek Kang-mu sank back into the seat and said,
“It’s sixty-year Gongcheonghwacheon from Shaolin. The name gives it away—it’s infused with Amrita. Even among Huashan’s Ziyun Tea Collection, this one’s in a league of its own.”
I didn’t need to hear more.
If it contained Amrita, it wasn’t just some tonic or booze anymore.
It was a top-tier elixir in its own right. In my past life, I’d had to grind through missions until my bones ached just to afford something like it.
Even buying century-old Hwasuo cigarettes had left my hands shaking from the price tag. Amrita was on a whole other level—something I’d only ever seen in pictures.
But no matter how potent the elixir, if you didn’t circulate and refine it into your dantian right away, the energy would dissipate into your breath.
And the inside of a moving car wasn’t exactly ideal for meditation—at least, not by normal standards.
But the man in front of me was an S-rank absolute master.
An invincible natural disaster if you faced him as an enemy, but as an ally, he boasted unbreakable diamond-body defenses stronger than any bunker.
As if reading my mind, Baek Kang-mu smiled and said,
“How many places in the world are safer than a car guarded by a Manifestation Realm expert? Relax and circulate.”
“Then I gratefully accept.”
I bowed deeply, lifted my legs onto the seat, and assumed the lotus position.
Reciting the incantation of my heart method, I guided the Gongcheonghwacheon’s energy through my Eight Extraordinary Meridians and Twelve Principal Meridians, circulating it throughout my body before gradually storing it in my dantian.
Once even the last trace was fully absorbed, I opened my eyes.
Compared to this morning, my inner power had skyrocketed. Of course, it was still a far cry from my Vagabond days.
I figured I could now sustain Gang Qi for about five seconds straight.
‘Guess Amrita’s like oil for the meridians. Circulation feels smoother somehow.’
Glancing at my watch, surprisingly little time had passed.
But looking out the window, the sun was dipping between buildings.
Baek Kang-mu’s luxury watch—worth more than an apartment—showed a different time, so mine must’ve broken.
No surprise there. Even solid metal swords wore out after a few Gang Qi infusions with cheap ones. An S-rank master’s aura would’ve been too much for the battery in my junk watch.
But I’d gained something far more valuable than a watch, so I didn’t mind.
The limousine pulled smoothly to the curb, and the door on my side opened automatically.
“We’ve arrived, Kim.”
The driver—who hadn’t uttered a word the whole time—finally spoke, addressing me with the polite deference he’d use for a young master.
“Thank you for today.”
I stepped out and bowed to Baek Kang-mu one last time.
A deal was a deal. That was one of the Vagabond’s Decalogue.
“Alright. Get home safe.”
Baek Kang-mu waved and added,
“Try to get along with Chan. I wasn’t kidding about wanting you two to be friends.”
Unlike the hearty, down-to-earth Baek Kang-mu, Baek Chan was every bit the spoiled third-generation chaebol—infamously rude even in my past life. Just look at how he’d told me to surrender early on the sparring stage today.
I hadn’t realized even his father knew about the little punk’s attitude.
I replied awkwardly,
“As I said, Baek Chan doesn’t see me as a friend. And... I’m no good at playing lapdog to build a tiger cub’s social skills.”
Baek Kang-mu stared at my face before bursting into laughter.
“I already see you as a proper tiger cub myself... Don’t hold it against him. Plenty of bootlickers already hover around that kid.”
Baek Kang-mu stroked his chin and continued.
“For martial artists, having an equal friend to fight, compete with, and grow alongside is a true blessing. It’ll be good for you—and for my son.”
Me, equals with Baek Chan? In my past life, he’d been an insurmountable wall, a genius floating high in the clouds. Hard to imagine it happening, but I nodded silently.
The door that had opened automatically slid shut slowly.
“Let’s meet again sometime.”
With those final words, the car carrying Baek Kang-mu drove off.
I looked around and muttered to myself.
“This is right in front of my place...”
I trudged toward the rooftop room where I lived.
I’d infiltrated a demon cultist den for a mission, only for my team to get wiped out; used the Demonic Cult sacred relic Son Ha-rin gave me to turn back time and live again; fought the guy who’d traumatized me as a kid, then rode around chatting with his dad for a while.
A day packed with events straight out of an exhausting dream. But precisely because of that, I no longer felt like this was all a dream.
‘I really did regress...’
Now that I was 100% sure I’d returned to the past, there was plenty to do.
First, I needed to meet Son Ha-rin, who’d sent me back. And dig up info on that Return Bead somehow—using HAO Corporation’s black market, where nothing was off-limits if you had cash, or the Beggars’ Sect’s info network if needed.
But I didn’t have the energy for any of that today.
My skyrocketing inner power had my body buzzing with more vigor than usual, but my mind was even more exhausted.
I collapsed onto the bed without even showering or taking off my socks. Only then did it hit me: I’d never told Baek Kang-mu or his driver my address after getting in the car.
I didn’t have time to ponder what that meant before irresistible sleep overtook me.