The Man Who Lives by Dying

My fading consciousness snapped back into focus. It was as if the crushing weight of sleep had suddenly fled a thousand miles away. Even so, I knew with absolute certainty that I had just experienced death.

A man who had died and come back. I'd set another record. Not getting a glimpse of the afterlife was a little disappointing, but being alive again mattered far more, so I wasn't about to complain.

Dying set a checkpoint. That's... honestly kind of ridiculous.

I started to check the notification window that had appeared, but the people around me were murmuring and closing in, so I got to my feet first.

"Young man. Are you unwell? I know a skilled physician — do you need help?"

An old beggar shuffled up to me. He was a filthy wreck, his face caked in soot, and his eyes were greedily fixed on my pockets. If I'd stayed down, he probably would have helped himself to whatever he could find.

"No. I'm fine."

I slapped the dirt from my knees and looked toward where Sa Geomyeong had gone. He had already vanished into the crowd. Good.

I spat a few choice curses at the beggars still eyeing my pockets, then headed home. The entire walk back, my chest was tight with the fear that I might run into Sa Geomyeong again. Fortunately, I didn't.

Once I was inside, I checked the new title I'd acquired. Given that I'd earned it by dying — a rather extreme experience — my expectations were high.

The new title, The Man Who Lives by Dying, packed a hell of an effect. It didn't boost my stats or help me farm experience, but it let me see the conditions for setting a checkpoint — and that was going to be invaluable every time I traveled to a new world.

Until now I had no idea what triggered a checkpoint. It was infuriating. This is a huge relief.

A world like this one, where dying itself was the checkpoint condition, would be a nightmare to figure out blindly. Thanks to this title, I could cut down on a lot of wasted effort going forward.

And it wasn't just a title. I picked up a new skill, too.

The new skill was staggering. SSS-Rank, for starters.

The only SSS-Rank skill I already had was Elemental Mastery — a power so vast it barely fit inside a single skill slot, which was exactly why it sat at that grade. This new one dealt with death itself, the hard limit of every mortal, so the SSS ranking made sense. Even Time Mastery, which governed time, had stalled at SS-Rank.

The ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Branch Skill, Resurrection of the Dead, was just as broken. One extra life every twenty-four hours. In a world of fiction where simply staying alive was a miracle, was there a more reassuring skill than this? Sure, dropping ten points from every stat as the resurrection cost stung — but compared to the price of a life, it was nothing.

I hit the jackpot. Dying might've actually been the best thing that could've happened.

I'd gained a great deal from this death. I'd needed to die once anyway to set the checkpoint, so there was nothing to regret. The old saying about blessings in disguise had never felt more apt.

That didn't mean I was going to start dying left and right. The new skill had given me a certain tolerance for death, yes, but not dying was still the best option by far. Which meant I needed to sit with the lesson this death had taught me.

What had gone wrong? No — I already knew. The world I'd chosen, Supreme Sword Heavenly Immortal, was a slaughterhouse crawling with countless masters. I'd picked a battlefield where an ordinary person had worse odds of surviving than a nameless extra in a historical drama. In a place where lasting a single day might have been a miracle, of course I'd died.

I'd considered the possibility of dying. What I hadn't expected, even with my knowledge of the original story, was an end this hollow. Looking back, Supreme Sword Heavenly Immortal was packed with absolute masters who'd been glossed over in a handful of lines.

Combat-driven fiction had a phenomenon called power creep: as the story progressed, the rate at which ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠characters' fighting strength increased became exponential. Supreme Sword Heavenly Immortal followed that pattern faithfully. Characters ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠described in a few sentences late in the story routinely possessed the skill of absolute masters. In other words, there were far more unbeatable experts I didn't know about than I did. Standing here now, I could feel just how thin the ledge I'd been walking had been.

Sa Geomyeong, of course, was described plenty in the novel, but...

Sa Geomyeong was a different problem. He appeared often, but his nature made him nearly impossible to identify. He was a character who countered my original-story knowledge with surgical precision. Every time he showed up in the source material, the description was different, so you could never pin him down. Even if I ran into him again, I wouldn't recognize him.

I'll have to keep things like that in mind from now on.

Freeze because I was afraid of dying? Then I'd gain nothing. I already risked death every time I worked as a Dungeon Hunter in the real world. Death wasn't going to stop me. I'd just be more careful from here on out.

I returned to reality first. After nearly a month in the murim, I'd started missing the convenience of the modern world. With the checkpoint set, I could now travel to the world of Supreme Sword Heavenly Immortal whenever I wanted.

The familiar walls of my room appeared around me. I changed into the clothes I'd stashed in my inventory. Murim garments were crude compared to modern ones, and they didn't feel as good against the skin. They weren't so rough they'd raise welts, but mass-produced fabric from this world was simply better.

I walked out into the living room. Sujin and Yeonji were sprawled on the sofa watching TV. Some drama that was popular lately — a fantasy romance, except the fantasy was that abilities, dungeons, and monsters didn't exist. An ordinary office worker falling for a chaebol's son. That kind of thing was in vogue these days.

Both of them were wearing dolphin shorts and tank tops. No panty lines, which meant they had nothing on underneath — or they were wearing thongs. Either way, it was insanely hot. Dolphin shorts really were the truth.

I'd had my fill of Dan Yuha and the servants in the Supreme Sword Heavenly Immortal world, but this was different. This was home. My cock responded immediately.

"Raaah!"

I dove onto the massive sofa and tackled Sujin. True to the fortune I'd dropped on it, the thing was as plush as a bed. Sujin arched her back and let out a little shriek.

"Aww, come on! I'm watching this! Later~"

Sujin pouted, laying on the cute.

"Watch it while we do this."

I didn't bother arguing. I just peeled her dolphin shorts off. The way it looked — like I was forcing her — got me even more worked up. Sujin whined, but she lifted her legs to make it easy for me.

"Hey! This is a really important scene!"

"You can watch it on demand."

"Drama's only good if you catch it live!"

I pulled the shorts off. Just as I'd guessed, there was nothing underneath. I buried my face between her legs without wasting a second.

"Nngh~! You're being aggressive all of a sudden. Like a man who hasn't eaten in a month."

"I'm always aggressive!"

I hadn't had Sujin in nearly a month, so she wasn't wrong. I hooked my hands behind her knees, lifted her, and settled her down onto my cock.

I arranged us in reverse cowgirl so we were both facing the same direction, then adjusted so she could still see the TV. Not that it mattered. Sujin's eyes had already left the screen. She looked down, greedily studying my cock buried in her pussy, and ran her fingers along the shaft.

"Hnnngh~! This is way more exciting than the show! I can feel your cock twitching against every fold."

"I'll take care of everything. Just watch your drama."

"How am I supposed to concentrate on television with this thing inside me? Haaahn~♥"

She had a point. Nobody was focusing on a TV with a cock that thick splitting them open. Next to us, Yeonji had already pulled her eyes off the screen to stare at where Sujin and I were joined.

"Yeonji. If you're not watching, how about some rimjob."

I lifted my hips a little as I said it. Yeonji's face was flushed. She gave a small nod.

"Heh heh~! That's my boyfriend. Fucking filthy."

I sat on Yeonji's face like it was a chair. My weight plus Sujin's on top of me would have been a lot for anyone else, but Yeonji was a tank. She could take a boulder on her face, let alone the two of us. Her tongue, thick and clinging as a tentacle, worked over my asshole.

"Kh—!"

The stimulation to my sphincter made my cock even harder. After so long without Yeonji's tongue back there, I came on the first round, embarrassingly fast.

A thick, pulsing spurt.

"Hnnn~! Already? You're a little quick today."

Sujin rolled her hips in a slow spiral, teasing me. I pinched her nipple and twisted it clockwise.

"Don't worry. Today I'm fucking you until you drop."

"Hiiiing~♪ I like it when you're aggressive...!"

I slammed into her, pounding her pussy like I was laying down a highway. Three loads in her cunt, three in her ass, then I swapped her out for Yeonji, who'd been rimming me. Three more in Yeonji's pussy, three in her ass, and I finished by painting both of their faces.

Nothing beat a home-cooked meal.

I was in the middle of recruiting a new party member, and it was turning out to be harder than expected. I needed a dealer and a tank — or two dealers, if it came to that.

Dealers were common among Dungeon Hunters. Pretty female dealers who actually appealed to me were not. I already had Lina locked in, so I only needed one more person. That one person was proving impossible to find.

All the attractive dealers already have parties, or they're signed to clans. Maybe I should've staked my claim earlier.

Lina might end up joining someone else, too. So I decided to lock her down first. I had her number from our days at the training institute. I called and told her I wanted her on my team.

"I do. But it's a temporary one. We only agreed to run dungeons together through the end of this month. If the terms are good, I'll come over. Um... is Sujin unnie with you?"

"Of course. Right now it's me — dealer, tank, and healer — plus one dedicated dealer and one tank."

"Oh. You already found ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a tank. So if I join, that's two dealers and one tank. If you handle healing, that'd be a very stable party."

"Yes. I'm planning to pick up one more person after that. Either a dealer or a tank."

Fortunately, she took the offer well. She agreed to come by for an interview right away.

The interview was a formality. She was really coming to look over the contract terms, which meant I was the one being evaluated. I intended to take very good care of Lina. Once she was mine, the contract terms wouldn't matter anyway.

"Now I just need one more."