Awakening on Gangwon-do's Nameless Mountain

Awakening on Gangwon-do's nameless wild mountain. I glanced around cautiously. Midway up a dark mountainside that even moonlight avoided, a single shadow peeked out. No flashlight. My bank account only had 20,000 won left, so I had to strain my eyes and tough it out. I didn't even turn on my smartphone's flash. This mountain was abandoned and unmanaged. It wouldn't be swarming with monsters like it was before my regression, but if I was unlucky, I might attract the attention of some wild beast, so staying hidden in the darkness was the smart move.

"Oof."

A voice that still felt unfamiliar came out of my mouth. I tried hard not to think about it, carefully climbing the mountain step by step so I wouldn't trip on any rocks. Logically speaking, scaling a mountain without any light in such dim moonlight was suicidal. Even if this was just an ordinary peak you could finish in an hour. One slip could mean injury, or worse, getting lost in the range and stranded—that would be utterly humiliating for a former last-ditch commando like me. I wouldn't be able to face my comrades. And with this current body, it could lead to something even worse.

Thankfully, in the pitch-black darkness where I couldn't see an inch ahead, I made it to my destination without slipping or losing my way. Because it was familiar.

Before the regression, the raid team Union hadn't just stupidly stored the Hourglass of Regression. We'd spent ages planning who should use it, when exactly, and what to do after regressing. This mountain was part of that plan. I'd climbed it hundreds of times in my spare moments, enough to do it blindfolded. Thanks to that, I reached the spot without any real issues.

"Now, if I dig around here..."

I pulled a trowel from my pocket and started digging into the surrounding earth. The location wasn't precise. It relied on memory, and mountainsides shift over time.

"The Awakening Stone was discovered five years from now."

Factoring in five years of earth movement, in the worst case, I'd have to dig up everything within 200 meters. Compared to hunting monsters, though, this was easy grunt work.

Thud—! Thud—!

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

For a while, the mechanical, rhythmic sound of digging echoed down the mountainside. Exactly 37 minutes after I started.

"This is tougher than I thought?"

I collapsed onto the ground in exhaustion, sprawling out and rolling over. Roll, roll. After about three turns, I thudded into a tree and stopped. Tough? Hard? Turns out grunt work lives up to the hype?

"Ha..."

This was all because my body was that of an elementary kid. Efficiency and strain vary by physique, even for the same task. In my original body, I might've ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠gotten a cold at worst, but I wouldn't have tapped out midway. It hit me fresh how frustrating this was.

But.

"Haha... got it..."

Exhausted and rubbing my face in the dirt, my hand already clutched the item I'd wanted. What was this compared to everything else? A laugh bubbled up unbidden. Felt kinda refreshing, actually. Things had been kinda off lately.

I peered down at the stone in my hand through my blurry vision. It looked kinda like an evolution stone from those Pokémon games. Not quite, but similar. The Awakening Stone. An S-grade high-performance artifact per Union's assessment, and potentially one of our key joker cards.

Truth be told, after regressing, I wasn't the one who was supposed to use it. The info in my notebook read as follows.

It was the artifact that turned an ordinary shaman youth into an awakener. An insane effect that awakens non-awakeners. S-grade by rank, but a last-resort option. The original owner was one of Korea's top-tier hunters, even if not quite at my level. Using it meant fighting purely on your own senses and talent, no skills—just a different awakening system from standard ones. Plus, whether that talent hits S-rank in a year or bounces around F-rank for a decade? You wouldn't know till you tried. A total gamble that could wreck our plans in every way.

Even so, I had to use it.

"With my body changed, I have no idea when—or if—I'll awaken..."

The original plan was to push my guaranteed-awakening body to force it sooner. But the body changed, so the constitution did too. Awakening wasn't just delayed; it was uncertain. I couldn't sit around twiddling my thumbs waiting for it to happen by chance. If I was gonna use it anyway, sooner was better.

"Sorry, Chun-bong..."

An item that wasn't fated to be mine originally. I decided to use the Awakening Stone right here.

Chun-bong, buddy...! I'll make sure you awaken somehow. I know your constitution—beat yourself up enough, and it'll happen eventually.

Using the Awakening Stone was simple.

Gulp... Can I really eat this? But unless Chun-bong turned out to be some evil force that hated humanity after surviving all sorts of mental evaluations, the info was solid.

"Waaang."

Hesitation is a luxury. Back in the day, I'd done worse. I chomped down hard on the Awakening Stone. It was a bit big for one bite. Crunch— It wasn't as hard as it looked. Felt like chewing homemade candy. You know, the kind that breaks and melts too easily for the price? No flavor, though. Just rock taste.

"Oh..."

The effect was immediate. A familiar change stirred inside me. Hot blood-like stuff with a foreign feel coursed through my body, gathering at my heart. Probably forming the vessel to hold mana.

But.

"Hm? This."

I got a feel for it. Awakenings are easier once you've done one. This wasn't mana yet—pre-accumulation stage—but like innate true energy from wuxia novels? Anyway. I could control it.

I examined my body closely. The digested energy circulated, heading to my heart. Then some formed the mana vessel, the rest dissipating out. Efficiency sucked. Most wasted on pointless stabilization.

But who am I? Former S-rank hunter. Different energy, but the principle was like moving mana. I immediately pulled back the energy trying to escape, keeping it inside.

Sizzle—!

Intense heat lingered, veins burning. Then. I shattered the forming vessel at my heart.

Urk.

Something trickled from my mouth. Saliva? Yeah, saliva. I focused on the energy. Suppressed all stabilization portions, taking over their role myself. Redirected that energy fully to vessel formation. Made it bigger than my heart—hell, imaginatively larger than my tiny body. No clue how, but it worked. Imagination maybe? Used the leftovers to reinforce it harder than before.

"Hoo..."

Success. Awakening complete.

"Cough...!"

Capped it off by hacking up a nice mouthful of blood. Whew. My overheated body cooled in the mountainside breeze. Dizzy from anemia. Soaked in sweat—clothes too—hypothermia incoming. Ugh... skin all sticky, smells awful. The sweat from climbing had no odor, but this? Like compressed waste. Smell was an issue, sure.

But the real problem wasn't that.

"Ah. Sunlight."

The sun was up. It'd been midnight before awakening.

"Did awakening take this long?"

Normal awakenings are instant. Min-shik's with the stone was the same, per testimony.

"Because I forcibly expanded the vessel?"

Seemed like it. Y'know, like in wuxia novels? Lesser or greater heavenly circulation, almost demonic invasion, then sudden marrow cleansing: "We were all worried while you meditated for days." TL;DR: Got focused, time flew.

Anyway. Awakening successful, vessel solid. Big enough that filling it with mana is the new worry. No exaggeration: mana capacity potential alone, I've already surpassed pre-regression me. If Brazil's Anderson saw, he'd yell, "Meditating all day without guards? Are you insane, Kim?! Don't you know you're humanity's hope?!" while screaming "Gal!" But Anderson doesn't know guards or meditation. Brazilian and all.

Point is, all good.

"Wait for it, psybugi... my daily bread..."

Stomach growling, head spinning from bloodloss, but I didn't forget the important stuff.

A comment floating in my head. You're screwed. I didn't forget. Got screenshots too. Psybugi is huge for a near-starving me. S-rank hunter grudges run deep.

Perfect timing. Maybe the sun revealed me.

—Kishishik!

A monster prowled nearby.

Three-star danger. 'Caution for C-rank hunters.' Like a mantis turned bipedal humanoid, armored up and human-sized. Its massive organic blade—big as a torso—gleamed matte black in the sunlight.

I eyed its movements, gauging my mana vessel.

"Seriously, barely a speck filled."

Freshly awakened, mana was low. But with killer instinct, it'd be fine, right? I swung my hand at the Shark Cutter. Fling— A bug's death cry rang out.

Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province. Gebangsan, Hongcheon-gun's famed peak. Now so deserted it felt eerie—no amateurs survived here. Ten years since the government upgraded Gangwon to special self-governing status, reducing intervention under "autonomy enhancement." Costly regular hunter patrols grew rare; deep mountains like this were left utterly abandoned.

But even serene deserts see shooting stars. In Gebangsan's Labor Valley, holdouts still guarded their turf.

Why did they hold firm against monsters? Distrust of the government that abandoned them? Anarchism? Hometown love? Land's dirt cheap. Houses too.

"Hey, Owner Lady! Chicken stew and red cap here!"

"Get it yourself, you old coot!"

So, the village's sole restaurant packed with elders wasn't odd. Gathered here beat boredom, saved on TV electric bills. Remote decided by cards.

Anyway.

'This guy's still kicking.'

'Ugh, tough old bird.'

Grumbling but proud of sustaining the area, the Gebangsan crew faced an intruder disrupting their peaceful morning.

"Owner, chicken stew and beer."

A raspy voice... no, a childish girl's voice rang out. Hair messy like she'd tumbled in the valley once, but still... no, pretty... actually, quite cute.

'A kid in this brutal mountain?!'

In the jianghu, beware elders, women, kids. This hit two categories. The land baron elder...

"Kid! You shouldn't be here! Where's your mom?"

Didn't flinch. This was Korea, not murim.

"Shoo shoo—go play over there~"

The elder tried scaring her off with his fiercesome face. Too old for babysitting.

But.

"Hey, you!"

Ignoring the village elder's shout, the girl wedged between the old folks.

"Tastes better when hungry? Ah, feels alive."

Grabbed a drumstick without paying. Devoured it in seconds.

'This brat, a pro?!'

The elders sensed uncanny poise from her tiny frame.

Then they noticed. The "luggage" she dragged like a sack. Not trash—it was a monster from TV.

"Eek?! Mercy!"

The elder toppled backward in shock. Lucky on the floor; chair would've meant fractures.

"K-Kid, what's that monster?!"

"Oh, this? Caught it on the next mountain over."

Casual as hauling salted fish from a trap. Next mountain over. Less than a kilometer. Bigger than a person? Not two meters? Elders held back dramatics. Dignity.

Ahem. But the elder's face darkened. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠How could such a frail kid carry that menace?

I eyed his expression briefly.

"Photo, trouble."

Wagged a finger, shaking my head. Not really trouble. Just wanted to say the line.

"......"

Elder alternated stares between me and the Shark Cutter, face screaming 'what is this?' ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Sighed, sat back.

What? Not gonna snap a pic? Autograph? No 200k-follower eldergram escaping worldly vanities?

Fine then. Time for business. I pulled out my smartphone, snapped a Shark Cutter pic, posted to the community.

Not all 50 mine, but 50 tossed means a few for me. My daily bread psybugi. I watched the community update with a satisfied grin, spoon in hand.

Man, this stew. Violent visuals with floating fat layer. MSG-packed broth deep and clean. Real food.

"What’s Korea coming to... head to the capital maybe..."

A nearby elder eyed me, muttering. No worries. I'll protect Korea.

"Wow, killer broth."

A filling meal after ages. Been forever since stew. No time for slow food pre-regression.

Ate well. Chatted up the elders, probed a bit, then parted. Oh, stew cost 157,000 won. Didn't pay.

And the next day. I arrived at Incheon 2 Tower in Yeonsu-gu (old Songdo).