Chapter 3
Chapter 3
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 3
Chapter Title: Awakeners and Gates
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1.
A double barrier wall thirty meters high.
CCTV cameras and guards surrounding the area.
Steel gates, checkpoints, barricades.
Its security was tighter than a military outpost.
There wasn't the slightest gap to slip through.
The gate's defenses were ironclad.
'Even spreading my senses with five years of internal energy, I can't probe inside the gate.'
I let out a frustrated sigh.
It's not that I couldn't force my way in.
But that would make me a criminal, which is a problem.
Still, I could feel it.
The natural qi density was definitely higher here than in the two-room apartment or other places.
In terms of ratio, a difference from 0.001% to 0.01%. That's enough to make qi gathering meditation ten times easier near the gate.
'Inside the gate, it must be even denser. It has to be.'
By my judgment, the average natural qi density in the murim world was roughly 1%.
10% in unspoiled nature.
50% in artificial qi accumulation formations.
And dragon veins where natural qi springs forth could reach 100%.
0.01% was nowhere near enough.
At least 1%, ideally 10%, to accelerate internal energy growth.
'I have a cultivation method to speed up qi accumulation, but I can't start with an unprepared body.'
Just as an untrained body can't set records in a marathon, advanced cultivation arts require a sufficiently tempered mind and body.
Until then, I had to seek alternative means to make up for the deficiency.
"Ah. Ah. This is 313 Gate main checkpoint. Suspicious individual lingering near the outer wall. Stepping out to ID them—stand by for dispatch."
"…."
The guard must have found my loitering near the gate's outer wall plenty suspicious, because he approached me.
Should I fight and take him down?
Try communicating?
No matter how I calculated, the conclusion was the same.
Tap.
"Whoa? The suspicious person's fleeing. Standby team, request pursuit support."
Just loitering nearby had stirred the guards like poking a hornet's nest.
I quickly ducked into an alley and hid; the guard's presence faded into the distance.
I should have felt fatigued from the hasty escape, but a few breaths restored my calm.
With bone structure at 15, the built-in stamina and endurance buffs were on par with professional athletes.
This much wouldn't tire me, and even if it did, it wouldn't matter.
These were functions that granted benefits in direct opposition to restrictions.
Blessings skewed toward convenience and lewdness inadvertently aided overall physical activity.
Perfect Vitality provided constant energy and hormone supply, improved memory, and greatly extended active hours.
Perfect Purity purified surrounding air, generated clean oxygen, and supplied a steady amount to the body even without breathing.
Perverted Physics was, surprisingly, one of the best choices Hae Eung-eung had made among her blessings.
To take a man without pain?
To master all sorts of positions?
Nothing so absurd.
The flexibility from Perverted Physics increased muscle pliancy, enabling more difficult and precise movements.
This indirectly affected her nervous system and meridians as well.
Gathering three cycles' worth of internal energy after losing her right arm to achieve marrow cleansing owed much to this trait.
'Even so, this body would drop dead to a gunshot.'
I had approached too recklessly just now.
Seeing the guards' sharp reaction, I needed to be more cautious.
From a sufficient distance.
A good spot for scouting.
Somewhere that wouldn't arouse suspicion.
Scanning for a spot that fit the criteria, my eyes caught a neon sign.
[Open 365 Days]
[24 Hours]
A convenience store.
2.
A flimsy glass door that looked like it would collapse with a nudge.
Cautiously opening it set off a loud jingle-jangle from the chime.
"Welcome…?"
The clerk's greeting.
A startled expression.
Neither was familiar.
—By order of the Murim Alliance Leader. Hae Eung-eung, the Bewitching Demoness, is hereby declared a public enemy of murim.
—Fleeing the Imperial Palace's backing only to get stuck in the Divine Strength Realm? Pathetic, heh.
—Impossible! Someone branded by the Blood River Demon's seal breaking mental bondage and regaining the self.
Back when she trained her strength in the outer world, far from Central Plains murim.
The emotions directed at her were always the same.
Hostility.
Greed.
Fear.
Compared to that, the part-timer's reaction was refreshingly wholesome.
In high-level fights, even a moment's hesitation meant life or death, so experts never wavered.
If they did waver, it turned to fear instantly.
Because they realized in that moment.
They couldn't beat her.
They had lost.
The public enemy who fled to the outer murim had crossed the wall of enlightenment and returned for revenge.
"Um, excuse me… Are you an awakener by any chance?"
"?"
"Ah, sorry! I thought you might be a villain for a second… Oops!"
Like white paper yellowing with age.
The freshness soon turned to familiarity.
Terror-filled eyes.
Desperately averted gaze.
Trembling hands.
At the sight, my right arm shot out like lightning, only stopped by my left hand.
People gripped by fear instinctively lunged like dogs chasing a runner's back.
From the posture of thumbing the sword hilt upward, I lowered my thumb and sheathed the blade.
Click.
The clerk, trembling like a frightened fawn at the near-death brush.
My undue sensitivity had scared an innocent part-timer.
Feeling sorry, Hae Eung-eung decided to buy something.
'This body doesn't need food, drink, or sleep, but there's one thing it absolutely requires.'
Murim-style tobacco mixed with various ingredients in the leaves could act as painkillers, stimulants, or more.
Hae Eung-eung favored two effects.
Painkiller and cardiac stimulant.
Slow heartbeat reduced blood flow speed, directly impairing physical performance.
Finding a cardiac stimulant to artificially boost it was essential for survival.
'No high hopes for convenience store cigs, though.'
Smoking brought no real gains, but not smoking triggered addiction symptoms that prevented even training.
Yet this body.
It had more inconveniences than expected.
Trying to order, no voice came out.
A mental language disorder she had self-selected as a restriction.
Once chosen to earn points for charm stats and fit her concept.
Now it sealed her lips.
"Um… I don't know what you want."
A rookie mistake.
As a convenience store customer, she was a total failure.
'I'll seem a bit rude, but no choice.'
The cigarette rack on the wall.
Packed full of brands.
One label caught her eye.
[Marlboro Blood]
Hae Eung-eung pointed at the cigarettes that drew her gaze, scabbard and all.
The clerk wondered if she really was a villain after all, if she should report her now.
"Um, customer? I'm really sorry, but our store has a 50,000 won minimum purchase…."
"…."
"I'd need you to buy other items too to check out…."
"…."
"Ugh…."
The clerk, trembling yet saying her piece.
It seemed like absurd upselling, but few sane people would pick a fight with a sword-wielding customer.
Maybe convenience store policy had changed in twenty years.
'Gutsy one. I like that.'
Drinks, snacks, disposable lipsticks.
Tossing them into the basket pushed it over 50,000 won.
The clerk neatly bagged the items.
Her hands, glimpsed casually, were intriguing.
Marks any modern should have.
Callus on the middle finger from pens.
Mouse wrist callus.
The clerk had neither.
Instead, a more distinctive callus stood out.
'Traces of gripping something solid and swinging it long-term. That's a sword.'
At least five years, judging by the wear.
Why would a convenience store clerk swing a sword for years?
Intrigued, she looked closer: a young woman.
Slide.
The carefully proffered bag.
Instead of taking it, Hae Eung-eung's pale hand plucked only the cigarettes from the top.
To the baffled clerk, she pushed the bag back.
"For me?"
"…."
The other items were bought reluctantly just for the smokes anyway; she didn't need them.
A light nod, and the clerk grew even more flustered.
"No, I can't. It's too sorry; I can't accept."
"?"
"You were such a nice person, and I mistook you for a villain. Without knowing, I had rude thoughts…."
A good kid.
Hae Eung-eung felt a pang of nostalgia.
Rare in murim, where a snag meant blades first.
Thus, all the more memorable.
—Sis, look there. The river water's so clear! Can we play just a bit? Please?
—Buying weapons again? Sometimes get accessories. It's a waste otherwise.
—Sis, you know I like you a lot, right?
Always smiling, following her.
A kind-hearted girl.
—Want to save the girl? Come alone to the pier by midnight.
—No, sis… You know it's a trap, why come here.
—Sorry, sis. If me being alive puts you in danger… Like that, I… Sorry.
Unyielding lips.
Soundless screams.
The girl slitting her own throat on the enemy's blade.
Blood spraying before her eyes.
Accessories rolling on the ground.
One step too late.
Rage. Slaughter. Massacre.
"…Ma'am? Hello?"
"…!"
"If you're not feeling well, want to rest a bit?"
Memories thought dulled surged vividly anew.
'Side effect of lowered realm? Making uncharacteristic mistakes today.'
A woman stirring unwanted memories.
The clerk, as if forgetting her fear, now fretted over her.
Pure goodwill.
Flickering recollections.
Not great for mental health.
But ignoring this airheaded clerk's kindness felt more uncomfortable now.
'I came to observe gate infiltration chances too.'
Hae Eung-eung decided to rest a while.
Telling herself it was for that purpose.
Absolutely not to soothe her own restless heart.
Undoing the chin strap.
Placing the bamboo hat on the table.
Setting the scabbard on the adjacent seat.
Unarmed and seated.
The clerk's eyes doubled in size.
"Wow, sis… Ex-celebrity? Actress? Model? You look so young. Seriously gorgeous."
Envious gaze.
Like a pet before its owner.
A notebook thrust out for an autograph.
That pure kindness.
The innocence dredging memories.
Every gesture.
Kept bringing that girl to mind.
The fact grated now.
'Should've gone to the upstairs cafe.'
She suddenly craved the cigarettes she'd just bought.
3.
"Team leader. Lost the suspicious person."
"Search the area."
"Check convenience stores too?"
The team leader glared at his subordinate disapprovingly.
"Use your brain. You think someone in a weird hat, cloak, and sword would hide in an obvious spot?"
"My thinking was short-sighted. Sorry. Still, that guy was fast."
"Speed like that screams awakener. Stay sharp. A villain with a grudge against society could cause trouble."
The guard flipped off the team leader's back, then glanced longingly at the convenience store.
Squinting at the window.
'Knew I was right.'
The guard thought.
'That convenience store clerk's smoking hot. Next chance, make an excuse and go alone.'
The woman who swapped shifts with another clerk when he clocked out.
To approach her, he'd need to sneak away during duty.
'With her? Friends? Pretty girls stick together; even the friend's back view is no joke.'
Desire blazed in the guard's eyes.