Turns Out I Was a Prodigy All Along
"They're really going all out..."
It was only after we'd been sitting and eating for about thirty minutes that Shin-woo finally showed up. He wasn't even directly involved—just my close friend—and he'd still taken half an hour. It confirmed I was right.
If I'd stayed, I'd have been waiting at least three times longer.
Of course, I felt bad saying that to his face, so I brought up something else instead.
"You made it?"
"Yeah... wait, is that really the first thing you say? You saw me left behind all alone and just ditched me!"
So our eyes had met earlier. Not my imagination.
"Hey, in exchange, I'll teach you a hero-grade movement technique. Call it even."
He'd been stuck there on foot without any teleportation gear, which was pretty pitiful. So I decided to teach him one of the better ones I'd seen in another world—something effective but easy to learn. Most movement techniques involved quick steps, including some divine arts. It wouldn't compare to specialized ones like the Cloud Dragon Eight Forms, but what I had in mind would be enough for him to escape situations like that one.
"For real? A hero-grade movement technique?"
Shin-woo looked stunned. Hero-grade was top 10% territory, so his reaction made sense. Unique-grade dropped to 1%, and legendary was a mere 0.01%. Even big guilds only gave newbies high-grade or below, saving rare-grade and up for mid-level vets with solid track records.
I knew a few unique-grade or higher movement techniques, but they were a pain to teach. Given Shin-woo's talent, it'd take over a week straight. Better to go with a hero-grade one—solid performance, transmissible in a day.
"Have I ever lied about something I promised to give you?"
"Nah... I'll let it slide this time."
Last year, when I'd snuck into gates without the government's knowledge to hunt, Shin-woo had made me stealth gear. I'd been meaning to pay him back someday, and now that he'd learned about my reincarnations, teaching him a skill felt right.
With Shin-woo there, we ordered more of his favorite dishes, set the table, and I started recounting my pre-reincarnation days. Naturally, I sealed the area with a barrier of qi to keep our talk from leaking out.
"I lived thirty years, and right at the end, I awakened the Five Lives ability."
Stories like this were best with drinks, which was a shame. Academy admits were treated as near-adults, so with a student ID, we could've ordered booze. But I didn't even have a uniform yet, let alone an ID.
Still, with delicious food, the joy of everyone's acceptance, good company, and the spice of my past-life tales, we got plenty drunk on the atmosphere.
"The first world was Murim. Pretty much everyone trained in martial arts, and fights between people never stopped. Hayeon was the strongest there."
She was the only one in the Manifest Realm back in that Murim. If she'd unified the Demonic Cult and attacked early, the Central Plains martial world would've been hers.
"Yu-won, you were a slave."
Hayeon, knowing the story, chimed in now and then.
"Yeah... it was insanely tough. Never thought I'd end up shoveling human shit with my own hands. I couldn't take it anymore, so I went straight to Hayeon and bowed my head."
Die or learn martial arts. I bet my silver tongue on the gamble of a lifetime.
"One dawn, I heard someone shouting from far beyond the Heavenly Demon Palace walls—too far for guards to hear. Since I was the only one who could pick up a voice from that distance, I thought maybe they were calling me and went out."
Looking back, it was a ridiculous plan. A slave complaining to someone who could crush me with a finger about how shitty life in the Demonic Cult was.
"If Hayeon had killed me then, I wouldn't have come this far."
I'd have jumped straight to the next world, learned some decent aura cultivation in a fantasy realm, trained hard, and maybe hit S-rank hunter level by my next life. That was probably my limit.
"As if this seat would kill some powerless nobody who couldn't resist. Even if you failed to convince me, I'd have just scolded you mildly and sent you back—not killed you."
Her persuasiveness dipped a bit since I'd seen her behead dozens of cheeky Demonic Cult or orthodox sect fools, but she'd never touched a commoner.
"Anyway, even someone untalented like me reaching the Manifest Realm..."
"What?"
"What'd you say?"
"Come again?"
My three wives all looked shocked and pressed me. No clue what part surprised them. The Manifest Realm bit?
"Yu-won... don't tell me you still remember what I said when you were a kid..."
"When I was a kid...? Oh! That thing I was just about to mention? You told me I had zero talent and needed to train like hell just to keep up. I never skipped a day after that."
Now it's all fond memories. Topping the magic academy entrance on martial prowess alone, kind friends and instructors, pushing myself to the limit every day. The most rewarding time of my life.
"Yu-won... the truth is..."
"Yeah...?"
"Your talent is among the best in the world."
'?'
I felt like I'd heard something absurd.
"Even I, born with the Heavenly Demon Physique that grants innate talent for demonic arts, took ten days to master the Heavenly Demon Divine Art. Yet you, with no special aptitude, mastered the even trickier Mukroe Byeokryeok Singong in just fifteen. How could you lack talent?"
"For real...? This isn't a hidden camera prank?"
The belief I'd held for 130 years was a lie? I'd grown strong on martial arts, not raw talent?
"Sure, you trained like a maniac, and I sparred with you personally, but reaching the Fire Realm at sixteen wasn't because of the arts. It was because you were special."
The truth of my power hit me, and I sank into gloom.
I thought I was a genius of effort...
I'd believed my hard work and lucky breaks let me surpass walls I wasn't meant to. Turns out, those were walls I could climb anyway—I'd just sped it up with effort and fortune.
"Oppa... are you an idiot...? Someone without talent couldn't get that strong."
Estelle's sharp words stabbed my heart.
"Darling's an idiot."
Liera's whisper twisted the knife through. My chest... it hurt so much.
"Still, reaching the Manifest Realm is impressive. Reincarnation shouldn't preserve that power... so you climbed there in thirty years?"
"Yep."
With the Brain Spirit Body trait, a thirty-year speedrun to Manifest Realm. Insights from battling the Demon King burst open in my next life.
"Yu-won-ah."
Shin-woo, munching happily, called out.
"Yeah?"
"What's the Manifest Realm...?"
Makes sense if you're not into martial arts. I thought of a simple explanation.
"In Murim terms, it's Grandmaster—or equivalent to an Archmage."
Beyond Master or Great Mage. They say you've formed your own domain. Earth-wise, level 300 was the line.
"W-Wait... so you were over level 300?! On par with the number one ranker?!"
Shin-woo's jaw dropped. Awakeners had status windows unlike Murim or fantasy folk, so they grew fast. Even factoring enlightenment, Earth had way more S-rank powerhouses. Jin Baekryong hit S-rank at seventeen, after all. I'd done it at sixteen through intense spars with Hayeon.
But domains were different. No system could hand you that—pure talent only.
Earth's only publicly known level 300+ was that top ranker. S-rank above S-rank. The so-called SS-rank guy. [First], one of the first-gen hunters dubbed the original, still alive. Manifest Realm extended life by centuries, after all. I'd died young at thirty due to my trait; Hayeon had reached half-immortal return, so she'd live ages.
"I was 341 when I died, so probably higher."
The guy's shrouded in mystery—who knows what else he's hiding? But prime me could've given him a fight.
"You're insane, Kim Yu-won... This big bro's proud of you."
I finished the Hayeon tale, then shared Estelle's and Liera's stories. Hearing each other's pasts helped us understand one another a bit more.
Shin-woo straight-up sobbed listening to all three.
"So pitiful... Kim Yu-won, you bastard..."
He wasn't wrong—I was the bastard. No retort there.
The others' gazes softened too, less hostility. We really needed this time to air it all out.
I hope every day ahead feels this peaceful and warm, like right now.