Interlude 2: Locked Cabinets and Martial Fortunes
"Mr. Jin-su, there's an error on the data room security console."
A cute, squirrel-like office lady approached him. Jin-su rolled her words around in his mind. An error on the security computer? And so?
"I'm on the development team, though? You should talk to the IT department about that."
A sharp tone slipped out unbidden. Jin-su winced even as he said it. One of the wisdoms of office life was not making enemies. It was an easy rule to follow if you just reined in your personality a bit, yet hardly anyone did. Jin-su had managed it well enough until now, but back-to-back tasks had frayed his nerves, leading to out-of-character behavior. He quickly added, softening his words to spare her feelings.
"But you came to me anyway, so I guess IT couldn't fix it?"
"Yeah. Something about a primary lock on the console. I'm just support staff, so I don't really get it."
The office lady giggled with a ho-ho. She laughs easy. It'd be nice to have someone like her on the dev team—all they had were gloomy types. Starting with himself.
"Ah, got it. I'll check it out."
"Thanks!"
She said it cheerily, humming a tune as she skipped out of the lab. Delivering a simple message from the support team, two buildings away, should've been annoying, but she seemed downright upbeat. Jin-su envied her sunny disposition for a moment.
In a company at the cutting edge of modern tech, passing info by foot felt a bit ridiculous. But this research building was completely isolated from external networks for airtight security. Only company-approved comms devices were allowed, and high-security labs had segmented networks per room, making communication a hassle. It had been hell getting used to when he first joined.
"Senior, I'll be right back."
"Mm-hmm~!"
His workplace senior, Jang Gi-woong, gave a vague reply without looking up. Technically his mentor on paper, but Jin-su had no clue what the guy actually did. And yet the company ran. Strange world.
Well, with that massive incident blowing up and barely anyone in the company even knowing—no media coverage at all—maybe poor communication is the key to keeping things stable.
Jin-su mulled over the trivial thought as he walked slowly away. The target was Building B office annex, a short distance from the research wing. The central data room was in its basement. This absurdly huge company had five data rooms just at HQ—not counting the three-digit total worldwide. The central one was especially unique: the only place storing physical paper documents, not digital.
With all the "paperless office" pushes, even regular corps had ditched paper for business ages ago (though people still used it). A paper-stuffed archive was rare these days.
Jin-su trudged down to B Building's basement with listless steps. The vast underground space was entirely a document vault. At the thick steel door, he spotted a nervous guy eyeing the console. Employee badge marked him as IT.
Fussing over the security console, probably. Looked like the door mechanism was busted.
"Dev team here. What's the issue?"
Jin-su announced himself, and relief washed over the guy's face. I'm saved!
"Ah, it's got a primary lock, but the password's not matching what I know. Pretty sure dev team programmed it originally."
"Yeah, this and the central server room have unique codes. High security and all."
He checked the console—a small panel by the steel door. Already at the admin login screen, so Jin-su punched in the code.
"Password's 000000."
"Whoa, you can set it that simple on critical gear?"
"It hasn't been cracked yet. Only our team touches it anyway. Forgetting a complex one would be worse."
A beep, and it entered admin mode.
"Ah, internal battery issue, huh. Gotta call equipment team back. Good thing it's minor."
"Yeah. Long-life battery too—this is the first replacement."
The IT guy sighed in relief and headed upstairs. Jin-su turned to the massive door. Hadn't been here in ages. Curiosity sparked.
Been a while—wanna peek inside?
Feeling like a grad revisiting his old school, Jin-su swiped his badge on the console's card reader. As the second-highest security core dev in the company, opening the data room door was no sweat.
The heavy steel groaned open to reveal rows of cabinets. Nothing else—just stark emptiness. His pounding heart eased a bit.
Jin-su scanned the room.
"Memories... nah, nightmares."
Days of round-the-clock work flooded back. Similar grind to now, but mindset totally different. Back then, it was work he loved. Couldn't grind that hard otherwise.
"Lemme see... what do I remember..."
Trailing along cabinets sorted by alphabet and Hangul, he stopped at one labeled 'ㅇ'. Inside: stacks of binders. His eyes caught "Our Battlefield."
"I digitized this one. Nostalgic."
Flipping through, past memories bloomed. Like a construction grunt eyeing bricks he laid, reminiscing on the toil.
"Ah, wonder if that's still here."
Shoving the binder back, Jin-su headed to the corner cabinet. Unlike the labeled ones—alphabets, Hangul consonants, numbers—this was blank. A spare. All docs went in indexed cabinets; this should've been empty. Even had a numbered padlock to discourage use.
Jin-su spun the dial, unlocked it. Inside: a single notebook.
"Still here, huh. Would be weirder if it wasn't."
He smirked, checking it. Corner had 'JS'—his initials. Personal stuff at work? Eh, this one belonged here.
Notebook back in, cabinet shut and locked. Leaving old memories behind, he returned to his desk.
*=*=*
I entered the Geukgeomcheonsun world.
Hadn't been in ages, and there was plenty to gain here. Truth be told, main reason: wanted to fuck women in a wuxia vibe.
I'd died once here, thanks to Yeongwol Church Lord Sa Geomyeong, but no way was I ditching Geukgeomcheonsun forever.
Now I had a spare life. Especially the new Life Vessel—no-cost extra life, 24-hour cooldown skill. Made death feel trivial, easing the pressure big time.
First, I sorted my situation and Geukgeomcheonsun's status.
I'm shacking up with Dan Yuha—one of Sapa's five overlords, total knockout. Already made her my slave. She was poisoned by Dokgung's ultimate toxin; I know the antidote.
Top priority: detox her.
My personal setup's that; murim's on knife's edge. Blame Yeongwol's Sa Geomyeong.
To sow discord between Jeongpa and Magyo, she assassinated the warden of Nakbongok prison—Murim Alliance's jail. Framed it like Magyo did it.
Murim's super tense now. One wrong move sparks war.
Neither side's dumb enough to rush in guns blazing. But grudges pile up into the massive Jeongma Daejeon war.
In canon, before reincarnation blows up, our hero Gong Wooseon exposes Yeongwol's schemes at the last second, averting it.
Plenty of time till Jeongpa-Magyo rift deepens. Even if it gets ugly, hero Gong Wooseon handles it somehow.
Wait—no! That means handing Murim Alliance's beauties to Gong Wooseon on a platter!
Playboy Gong Wooseon ain't driven by justice. Hot girls move him—and for his big contributions, he monopolizes Murim Alliance's hotties.
Can't let that happen. Not giving that punk even one girl.
Seonnyeo Gate's Baek Seolhwa, Mo Seyoung—mine. Every beauty from Murim Alliance and Magyo too. Gong Wooseon gets hookers and busboys.
I clenched my fist, vowing it.
To lead Murim Alliance, need power. Murim's a world of strength.
Clan heads earn legitimacy via martial might; Alliance Lord crushes rivals with superior arts. Magyo's dog-eat-dog obvious.
Sure, occasional intellect-based successions, but they still back it with baseline force. And insecure position guaranteed.
My power's pathetic next to murim's elites. Just a gnat in Geukgeomcheonsun, swarming with top dogs.
Need more strength.
Guess I'll have to meet that guy after all.
Options exist. This is murim—fortuitous encounters (기연) hidden everywhere in Zhongyuan.
No fortuitous murim is real. Hero Gong Wooseon and mains/subs snag 'em to power up.
I know most.
No petty ones. Only the best or most efficient!
Geukgeomcheonsun has tons, but like most wuxia, 90% useless. Non-protagonist ones just catch mains/subs to inflation or revive villains.
Prime ones limited—mostly protagonist's.
But snagging 'em means traveling far from here.
I'm in Hobuk. Wuxia says Hobuk? Wudang Sect. Like Brazil in World Cup—always shows up.
Wudang features in Geukgeomcheonsun too. Grab any Zhongyuan joe, ask top faction in Hobuk's myriad sects? Wudang.
Next? Lots pick Seonnyeo Gate.
My starting clan—all women, perfect. Eye candy: Baek Seolhwa, Mo Seyoung. Definitely fucking 'em later.