The Nameless Technique
“The martial art you're learning... well, whether you can call it a martial art is debatable, but anyway, it's Moomyeonggong. It means a nameless technique—no formal name, no systematic forms or stances. I came up with it ages ago, after contamination gave me the regenerative power of a Lyposaurus.”
Kim Jun listened in tense silence. Opening his mouth would shatter his focus.
“The core of Moomyeonggong is that Lyposaurus regeneration. So if someone without that power tries to learn it... they'd be on a one-way trip to the afterlife. You've already endured training that would've killed an ordinary person dozens of times over. Even a Raider would've died a few times in the process.”
“...Really...?”
Curiosity flickered in Kim Jun, but suspicion lingered.
“And you've died at least twice. I killed you twice myself. You know your heart stopped, right? You came back thanks to the Lyposaurus regeneration.”
The old man explained with a grin.
Kim Jun wanted to smash that smug face with his fist.
He held back for one reason: he probably couldn't win anyway, and showing an opening might land him under that finger again.
“You've gotten ridiculously strong. Nothing like when you first showed up. Why? Because the training was brutal? That's partly true, but training has limits. The human body itself sets those boundaries. But if you break the body down... push it to the brink of death... and let the Lyposaurus regeneration rebuild it... you surpass those limits. You're no longer the man you were.”
It was the truth, so Kim Jun stayed quiet.
His breath-holding time had jumped past five minutes to nearly seven without much strain. If he pushed, maybe eight, even ten.
“You're undergoing Bone Transformation right now.”
Kim Jun's jaw dropped in an involuntary gasp.
Bone Transformation?!
This con artist's full of it!
“Hard to believe, huh? But it's real. Once it's complete, you'll feel a completely transformed body.”
Kim Jun gritted his teeth.
The moment had come.
I have to run!
Now he understood the old man's long-winded lecture. It was all to lure him back to that island.
I'm not going! I don't want to die.
The old man sighed at Kim Jun's intensified glare.
Without taking his eyes off the man's hands, Kim Jun rose and backed toward the Chinese restaurant door.
“Yeah, that might not be so bad. Living as an ordinary carrier.”
Kim Jun froze.
He turned slowly, glaring fiercely at the old man.
The man opened his mouth with a shameless smile.
“Don't you want to break the carrier's limits?”
“Not if it means dying.”
“Heh heh, what's so scary about death?”
“......”
Kim Jun clenched his fists tight.
“If death scares you that much, why do you even enter dungeons? Scared of dying, yet you call yourself a carrier fighting monsters? I thought you'd transcended that fear, but was I wrong?”
“I, I'm...”
“That's it. Go back or climb up—your choice.”
The old man walked out.
Left alone, Kim Jun lost his appetite. The leftover jajangmyeon looked unappetizing now.
In the end, Kim Jun returned to the rocky island.
“That old gentleman's a good man.”
The fisherman Kang, who had ferried him to Yeongun Island, said as Kim Jun leaped onto the rocks without a word. He watched the boat fade away, his heart yearning to escape this hellish island for the comfort of Seoul, where his family waited.
But the old man's words held him back.
Go on. If you want to live as an ordinary carrier.
Bone Transformation or real death—he'd face it head-on.
Damn it, for real...
The fear remained.
The first time, he'd been clueless. The second, caught off guard.
Now... he knew.
What was coming.
The old man would kill him with a smile.
Try it! I'll come back tougher every time!
The old man, standing on the cliff overlooking the sea, bellowed.
“Time to eat.”
Kim Jun sighed and began scaling the towering cliff like it was a gentle hill trail.
“My name is Nam Eung-ryeol.”
The old man said.
Stunned, Kim Jun stayed silent. He pondered why reveal it now, but no answer came.
This man defied all logic.
“If you die here, haunt me as a ghost for life. I'll gladly be your vengeful spirit's prey.”
Nam Eung-ryeol grinned.
A joke like that in this moment. Kim Jun wasn't even mad anymore.
“Damn, can't wait.”
“Don't want to? Then skip it.”
“I do! I said I do. Come on, get to it!”
Kim Jun shouted through gritted teeth. He wanted to rip off his shirt, but his hands shook too much.
“You're the toughest bastard I've met in my life.”
“A compliment?”
“Yeah. It is.”
The finger touched his neck.
In that instant, Kim Jun plummeted into hell.