Disaster-Class National Treasure

"I don't know which bastard stole it, but he's got some serious guts. Gotta give him that."

"...Right."

"If they catch him, this won't end with just an execution. The high-and-mighty have completely lost their minds—why would they let him die easy? They'll probably torture him so badly he'll beg to be killed, and they won't even leave a body behind. Man, if it were me, I'd bite my tongue off the moment they caught me."

"..."

"Seriously, that might actually be better. You've heard what imperial interrogators are like, right? Once they get their hands on you, you won't come out in one piece! Ugh, it makes my skin crawl."

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

Damn it. Kael barely swallowed the curse that had surged up to his throat.

"Huh? Kael, why's your face looking like that? You feeling sick or something?"

"...Ah, no, it's nothing. I just didn't sleep well last night."

At that, Max shot him a look full of sympathy.

"Tsk, tsk... Well, can't blame you. If you want to sleep, you at least have to go home first, right? What's the point of making you run around all day? The higher-ups are hopeless, that's what."

"Haha..."

"Anyway, take care of yourself. You're not even married yet. When you live alone, nothing feels lonelier than getting sick. If it's too much, why don't you just clock out early today? I'll cover for you with the captain."

"I'm really fine. If I get tired, I can always find a corner and sneak in a little nap."

"Come to think of it, there are a lot of people who start shaking the moment you show up on the street. Sometimes you feel scarier than the captain, you know that?"

"Aw, come on. That's a huge exaggeration."

"...You really think I'm exaggerating? Ah, whatever. Bottling it up only hurts you, you know? All right, I'm off. See you."

Max groaned as he stood, then gave Kael a few reassuring pats on the shoulder.

"Oh, hey. What, did you change swords or something? I've never seen that one before."

Kael flinched.

A chill ran straight down his spine. His heart thudded so hard it felt ready to burst, but he absolutely could not let it show.

If he slipped even a little, Max would be staring at him with suspicion.

The moment Kael opened his mouth, Max's eyes narrowed.

"...Wait a second. Don't tell me?"

Shit.

Had he finally been found out?

Just as the world in front of Kael began to turn blue, Max snorted and waved a hand.

"What, you think I'm gonna take it from you? Relax, I won't, you little punk. What do you take me for?"

"Haha... Did I show it that much?"

"It was more than 'a little.' Anyway, there’s no way you bought that on the pittance they pay us in the guard..."

Max rubbed his chin and chuckled.

"I can make a rough guess. It's fine to take a little on the side, but don't get greedy—just enough that it doesn't come back to bite you, all right?"

"...I will."

"Yeah, I figured you'd know what you're doing. All right, I'm off to go suffer through another shift. Hang in there."

"Take care."

"Yep~"

Max waved carelessly as he walked off.

He looked less like a guard and more like the friendly older brother next door.

Once Max vanished from sight, Kael let out a long, deep breath.

...That just shaved ten years off my life.

For a second there, it had honestly felt like his heart was going to leap out of his mouth.

As the saying went, the thief was always the first one to panic. Kael was exactly that kind of man right now.

If Max had asked to take a closer look and even touched the sword once... there would've been no coming back from it.

With a troubled expression, he looked down at the sword hanging from his waist.

This damned national treasure bastard.

Balmung, the Empire's national treasure. It was with Kael now.

Yoo Sunho.

Twenty-nine years old.

Aside from the fact that his job was being a UFC ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠fighter, he was an ordinary man by any standard.

That day had been no different from any other ordinary day.

He'd finished his afternoon workout as usual and was showering at home when something suddenly appeared in front of him.

...What the hell is this?

Yoo Sunho frowned and stared at the window floating before his eyes.

His eyes stung, since he was in the middle of shampooing his hair.

It was a translucent hologram, almost exactly like a game system window, suspended in midair.

...Did I take too many hits to the head during sparring earlier?

That was a perfectly reasonable suspicion.

Given the nature of the sport, brain damage was simply part of the job for a fighter. If you were unlucky, you could end up with memory loss or hallucinations.

...Weird. I don't think I got hit that hard.

Today's sparring had been at a moderate pace, and he hadn't taken ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠any clean shots. So why was he suddenly seeing things?

He rubbed his eyes, just in case, but the window showed no sign of disappearing.

Hmm. I guess I'll have to go to the hospital tomorrow.

A heavy feeling settled over him on its own.

Brain problems were practically a fighter's fate, but to be seeing hallucinations already in his bright twenties...

He was about to finish the shower he'd started when the system window in front of him became a serious nuisance.

"Ah, would you just shut up already?"

Yoo Sunho waved a hand in irritation, and the display, as if responding to the motion, flipped to the next screen.

"A, come on!"

Can I at least finish showering first?

Now genuinely getting irritated, Yoo Sunho swatted at the air again.

At that moment, Yoo Sunho's vision went black.

As if he'd been knocked out.

After that, Yoo Sunho was dropped into a world he'd never seen before.

In a completely different body.

His new name was Kael.

He wasn't of noble birth, so he didn't have a family name.

If there was any small mercy in the middle of all that misery, it was that he didn't have to job hunt.

An imperial guard.

That was Kael's profession.

Just as that damned message window had said, Yoo Sunho—no, Kael—had become an imperial guard in another world.

Of course, it hadn't been easy to accept at first. Who could stay calm after suddenly being dumped into another world with no warning?

He'd naturally thought it was a dream.

A truly awful dream. A nightmarish, impossible dream. He'd figured he'd wake up eventually, but no matter how long he waited, the damned dream never ended.

Damn this other world.

Only then did Kael realize it.

This wasn't a dream. This was reality.

For him, someone who had lived in modern Seoul, life here was brutally hard.

This primitive world had none of the morality or ethics modern people took for granted. What more could you expect from a place where slavery was openly practiced?

On top of that, the hygiene was a disaster, and if you suffered some injustice, there was nowhere to complain about it.

A life turned upside down by one hundred and eighty degrees had left him feeling nothing but wronged and hollow.

Looking back now, it really wasn't easy.

It had been hellishly difficult to adapt, and yet once he actually lived through it, he found that he could survive after all.

People called human beings creatures of adaptation for a reason.

Kael kept himself going by brainwashing himself into thinking he'd simply been thrown into a horribly crappy army.

Strangely enough, that was enough to make him endure it.

The imperial guard had its similarities to a real military unit.

Of course, it was so crude that it almost felt insulting to compare it to the modern military... but it did have one unmistakable advantage.

Here, fists mattered more than law.

Violence wasn't allowed in modern society, but here it was the complete opposite.

These bastards didn't understand a damn thing if you talked to them.

Only after getting the hell beaten out of them did they start to understand words, little by little.

Once he realized that, life here became a little easier.

Primitive bastards.

Of course, for someone with a modern moral compass, it wasn't easy to use violence without hesitation.

But just as they said, when in Rome, do as the Romans do.

If he wanted to survive in this damned other world, there was no helping it.

Yeah, whatever works works... At least it's better than nothing.

Thinking back on all the choices he'd seen in the shower, he still felt a chill crawl up his spine.

If he'd chosen something like a black mage or a gang underling instead of an imperial guard back then, survival would've been much harder than it was now.

Maybe he'd have died on the roadside already.

This wasn't the Republic of Korea. This was a fantasy world.

Human rights here weren't just bad; they were practically nonexistent.

People died here every other day.

If you were low-born or poor, you were treated worse than livestock. That was the kind of damned world this was.

"...A lot has happened."

Walking down the street, Kael drifted into memory.

It hadn't been all that long, but this street had collected its own share of memories for him.

It should have been packed with people at this hour, but the road was nearly empty.

That was because of the national emergency declared not long ago.

Once the Empire had erupted into chaos, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠people had stopped going out and cut their chatter to a minimum.

Unless you were eager to be dragged off by a terrifying imperial interrogator, you had no choice but to keep your head down right now.

"Hmm."

The empty street stirred up all kinds of thoughts.

They called it a national emergency, but all of this chaos was just because they were tearing the place apart looking for that thing called Balmung.

Rumors had been flying in every direction.

There were already more than ten people under suspicion.

And it's right here, by the way.

The thing that had thrown the Empire into an uproar—and the reason countless kingdoms across the continent were on edge—was dangling from Kael's waist.

Not that I stole it.

People were making a huge mistake right now.

They believed someone had slipped past the Empire's ironclad security and stolen Balmung.

But that wasn't what had happened. It was just a misunderstanding.

Kael had never stolen Balmung.

Balmung had come to Kael of its own accord.

"...Damn."

Of course, saying that wouldn't make a single person believe him.