Chapter 4
Chapter 4
Chapter 4
Reincarnation (4)
A six-year-old's morning.
I wake up at 6 o'clock, go to the kitchen to drink water, and use the bathroom.
After coming out of the bathroom, I go to the front door to collect the newspaper and milk.
I turn on the TV to a news channel and sit in front of it with the newspaper spread open. In that position, I drink milk while watching how the world turns.
The best thing about this world is precisely TV and newspapers. Being able to see the world while sitting still is truly amazing.
There's no need to send reconnaissance teams around the world, and no need to tame thousands of carrier pigeons.
However, the content itself wasn't excellent.
'This really doesn't sit well with me.'
I now understand most of this place.
It's a world where money and power are most important, not martial arts.
Those who have nothing being looked down upon was no different from where I used to live. It was just peculiar that the standard for everything was money.
'Easy to understand, though.'
Scholarship and medicine have become means to earn money, and it's a world where respect and knowledge are bought with money.
'But it all ends when you die anyway.'
Even in the place where I lived, wealth was an object of desire.
However, having wealth didn't mean you could disregard everyone. If you didn't keep appropriate boundaries, you couldn't preserve your one and only life.
That's why even those with much wealth were careful around martial artists.
They strived to maintain relationships through exchanges, and to show their magnanimity, they would release parts of their accumulated wealth.
Martial artists also didn't disregard the wealthy because wealth was essential to operate a sect.
'There's no such balance here.'
It exists on the surface but not underneath.
It's established by law, but if you have enough money, you can even surpass that.
Just watching newspapers and news, such incidents were commonly reported.
Yet the fact that nothing changes was a truly incomprehensible part.
'The humans are too weak.'
The humans in this place don't strengthen their bodies and are obsessed with things called weapons. And the state manages these weapons, which also become competition and power.
Meanwhile, individual strength is determined through sports.
Sports were regarded as vicarious satisfaction and excellent performances, and were also connected to money.
Those who stepped outside the framework of sports became criminals, and police managed them.
'There's no reason to leave scoundrels alone.'
The problem is that this isn't properly implemented.
There were many who colluded with those who escaped the law, and if you had power backing you, they couldn't touch you—that was this world.
'It would be simple to just kill them.'
The method from where I lived in my past life. And it seems like the best method in this life too.
'Just keep doing that a little longer. Soon I'll have it all.'
When I've been watching the news and newspaper for a while, Mother and the Witch come out to the living room.
"Son, you're up?"
Mother always comes over to give me a kiss before leaving.
Two years ago, when I refused saying I was an adult now, Mother sulked all day. Since then, I haven't refused.
Mother kisses the Witch too before preparing breakfast.
The Witch sits on the sofa watching the news while reading a book. Math or chemistry books full of complex formulas. I know it's magic knowledge training.
"Little brother."
The Witch sitting on the sofa calls me.
It's a tone dripping with superiority. And she emphasizes the word ‘little brother’.
Because she knows I hate it.
We haven't had direct fights since 270 days after birth because of our parents.
Not only that, I absolutely never did anything that would worry our parents.
Because I didn't want to see them cry.
That doesn't mean my relationship with the Witch improved. Rather, the war of nerves became even more intense.
"Milk."
I ignored her.
Then I felt a piercing glare. Mother in the kitchen is looking at me.
I feel silent pressure.
I had no choice but to place the milk on the table in front of the sofa.
"Our Uram is so kind."
"Little brother, cup."
I almost slapped her.
The Witch looks at me with a shameless face and gestures for me to hurry and bring it.
I endured and brought the cup too.
"Yuri, you can't be too mean to your little brother."
"Yes, Mom."
The Witch only makes me run errands like this when our parents are around. It's getting on my nerves by using her position as the older sister.
The Witch lowered her voice to speak so only I could hear.
"Little brother, don't forget. I'm the older sister. I'm above you in the hierarchy."
"Should I kill you? Then the hierarchy won't matter either."
"Try it if you dare. Acting like you only use your body mindlessly."
My insides are boiling.
They say words can kill people, and the Witch has that talent. If I keep facing her any longer, I feel like I'll fall into Qi Deviation.
I left the Witch alone and sat back down in front of the newspaper.
The 17-pyeong rental apartment in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi-do where our family lives has a structure with 2 small rooms, a kitchen with no space for a dining table, and a living room that gets packed when you put in a TV and sofa.
With Father's monthly salary of 2.3 million won, we live tightly, so Mother had many worries.
Mother said she would work too, but Father strongly opposed it, so she couldn't.
—How can you work while raising twins? And when your health isn't good. I'll work harder, so just take care of the children. I'll help out whenever I can too.
Father cherished Mother dearly. He was a father who well maintained the essential conditions for a harmonious family.
After that, Father even did car washing part-time jobs at dawn and earned an additional 300,000 won.
'I'll take care of the money myself. Father is suffering for no reason.'
Our parents weren't very healthy.
Even considering his middle age, Father's muscles and bones were badly damaged from working at the factory for a long time. Mother was originally weak, and she had aftereffects from the process of conceiving and giving birth to twins.
'I should start soon now.'
I can fix our parents' health just by touching them a few times.
I've been observing until now, but it's time to begin.
"Kids, let's eat."
When I finish reading the newspaper, breakfast begins.
"Oh my, our son eats so well. Eat a lot."
I must eat a lot. This is a type of training.
You have to consume plenty of nutritious things for your body to become healthy too.
Even in the Demonic Cult in my past life, they beat people to death but didn't starve them to death.
Food is that important.
"Son, eat more."
Mother likes watching me eat. If I smile once while eating for a while, she strokes my head.
I think of it as filial piety and smile for her often.
After the meal, free time.
I go into my room and train in the first movements.
Heavenly Demon Divine Art fist techniques.
I can't imbue internal energy yet, but I must train repeatedly so my body remembers.
The Heavenly Demon Divine Art has fist techniques and sword techniques as basics, and you must master all of these to use the Heavenly Demon Divine Art consisting of 18 forms.
Each form of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art is destructive, so it required that much internal energy to back it up.
'It should be at least 3 Jiazi.'
Currently, I'm at a level slightly over 1 Jiazi.
1 Jiazi means 60 years of internal energy, and compared to my past life, it was a level that entered the ranks of top 100 masters.
"Uram, it's time to go to kindergarten."
I hear Mother's voice.
I stopped training in the forms and put on yellow clothes. When I pressed on the hat too, I absolutely couldn't bring myself to stand in front of the mirror.
'The Heavenly Demon dancing with kids in this state...'
I decided to attend for just one month.
—Mother, there's nothing to learn there.
—It's not just a place to learn knowledge. It's also a place to make friends and experience social life.
—Then I'll try attending for just one month.
We reached that agreement, and today was the fifteenth day. Once I complete one month, I will definitely quit.
I came outside wearing clothes like a yellow chick. When I hold Mother's hand and go to the apartment entrance, a yellow bus comes.
I now hate the color yellow. I sincerely hate it.
"Uram, listen well to the teacher, and Yuri, take good care of your little brother. Okay?"
I let go of Mom's hand and go to the bus. But then I feel that burning glare again.
"Yuri, Uram. What did I tell you to do when Mom's not around?"
This is a truly hateful moment.
I moved my trembling hand. It touched the Witch's hand. And I gripped it tightly.
I have to board the bus like this. Mother likes this sight.
Once we board the bus and the door closes, I immediately let go. We also sit far apart.
'Whew, this is a waste of time.'
Due to the two Dantians, my internal energy is increasing rapidly. If I enter closed-door training for about 100 days at a time like this, I can achieve explosive growth.
'I need to think of a method.'
First, I need my own space. To do that, I must escape from the current rental apartment.
'I can't just rely on the Witch.'
Two years ago, the Witch said this:
—In 2 years, there won't be money worries.
Now it's been 2 years, but our family is still living in a rental apartment.
I could no longer just rely on the Witch.
'Should I rob a bank?'
It didn't seem very difficult.
'Mother would dislike it.'
This is the problem.
What I want to do is all illegal here.
'Should I enter a fighting competition?'
I can't do this because it's embarrassing.
Getting paid for martial contests—the Heavenly Demon can't do that.
My martial arts aren't for showing off or physical training. They're solely for killing.
"We've arrived. Get off slowly in order."
While thinking about this and that, we arrived at kindergarten.
When we get off the bus, there's grass inside a white fence and a yellow building.
Yellow.
I really hate it.
Anyway, there are 15 days left, so I endured and went inside.
But just before entering the building, I felt something strange.
'What are those guys?'
Across the road where the bus left, there was a white sedan. Through the window, I could see 2 young men.
I don't know about other people, but to my eyes, their expressions were clearly visible.
'An expression I've seen often.'
Scoundrels of the martial world occasionally cause big incidents. Since their martial arts are lacking, they target weak people.
Eyes and expressions filled with dirty determination.
The face I hate most.
I ignored them for now and entered the kindergarten. That's how the agonizing daily routine began.
I don't understand why I have to dance and sing with kids who have strange pronunciation and play with rubber balls.
Moreover, what's more agonizing is because of a child named So-yeon.
This little one sticks to my side like a leech once we enter kindergarten.
She had chubby cheeks and always tied her hair in pigtails. She naturally had smiling eyes and upright bone structure.
She was a child who would become a beauty when grown.
"I'm not interested in little kids."
"I'm one year older than you. I'm seven years old."
"I'm actually 900 years old."
Precisely 966 years old.
Since I lived 960 years in my past life.
"Hoot, you're both little kids."
The Witch next to me sneers.
So-yeon asked the Witch curiously.
"How old are you then?"
"Over 2,000 years old. I forgot after that."
I'm the only one who believes those words are true.
"You're all liars!"
So-yeon yelled at the Witch, then came to my side and linked arms.
"You said I'm a liar too. But why are you sitting here?"
"Because I like you."
I'm going crazy.
In my past life, I quite liked women. Even if not a womanizer, I didn't reject women who approached me.
"You're really not my type."
I'm not interested in young girls.
If I had to choose a woman here, it would be about the level of the Flower Class homeroom teacher. Of course, even that teacher doesn't compare to the women I embraced in my past life.
The agonizing routine left me with only patience.
'Let's think of it as training.'
I had to endure both mental and physical torture there.