Those Who Face the Gods (4)
Kim Dokja and I stood face-to-face, both of us flushed red.
“…D-Dokja? Can you please calm down a little?!”
“…Didn’t I tell you I’d kill you if you did that again?”
Because right now Kim Dokja was swinging her sword to carve me up, and I was gripping the blade with both bare palms—hence the burning face.
On top of that.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
She kept trying to drive one knee straight into my groin while I desperately blocked every attempt, so the tension was cranked to absolute maximum.
“Dokja! Please spare that part! Okay?! Think of our future!!”
“…Shut up! What the hell are you even saying right now?!”
My words only made Kim Dokja’s face burn hotter. Shame and embarrassment painted her cheeks scarlet as she glared at me and poured more strength into the sword in her hands.
“N-No, it’s a real misunderstanding, I swear! This time I genuinely approached Asuka with zero ulterior motives!”
“Then why is Han Sooyoung talking like that?”
“She was just messing with me! Lying to get a rise out of me! Seriously!!”
Kim Dokja narrowed her eyes at my desperate plea, looking me up and down with open suspicion.
“Is that so? Then…”
Incarnation ‘Kim Dokja’ activates the skill Lie Detection Lv.1!
“Uh…?”
I stared blankly at the system message floating in front of me, eyes trembling.
“You’ve never once harbored even the slightest intention of seducing Asuka Ren?”
“……Of course not! Absolutely not!”
Lie Detection has confirmed that your words are partially true.
Ah… fuck.
I watched the light drain from Kim Dokja’s eyes and wore the expression of a man who had already achieved enlightenment.
Goddamn Lie Detection. The second this is over I’m learning a counter-skill…
An intangible aura of pure killing intent began pouring from every inch of Kim Dokja’s body, aimed squarely at me.
“Lying again?”
Incarnation ‘Kim Dokja’ activates White Pure Demonic Energy Lv.3!
I watched the razor-sharp white-blue energy crawl up the blade of her Unbreakable Faith and shouted in a panic.
“…Wait! Just wait a second! Really, just one second! It said partially true, right?! When I first met her I did think Asuka Ren was pretty, but the Dokja standing right in front of me is way prettier than Asuka Ren!!”
Lie Detection has confirmed that your words are true.
Before she could pick another fight or swing the blade again, I machine-gunned the words out of my mouth.
“I truly love my girlfriends Kim Dokja and Yoo Sangah!”
Lie Detection has confirmed that your words are true.
“I love Dokja’s long black hair, and her face and figure are completely my type!”
Lie Detection has confirmed that your words are true.
“My girlfriend Kim Dokja is so adorable I want to kiss her every single day, and I always want to protect her!”
Lie Detection has confirmed that your words are true.
“And someday I want to have kids with Dokja!”
Lie Detection has confirmed that your words are true.
Under a brand-new flavor of life-threatening pressure, I spat the words out like a machine gun, then steadied my ragged breathing and carefully lifted my gaze.
The Constellations in the channel stare blankly at you.
A considerable number of Constellations who hate romance begin dry-heaving!
A considerable number of Constellations who love romance suddenly start brushing their teeth after your confession assault!
Many Constellations grow confused by your words!
A considerable number of Constellations are satisfied by the manly confession attack.
A small minority of Constellations mutter that you are a beast.
A considerable number of Constellations support your love.
You have achieved a remarkable feat.
Huh?
The Constellations’ indirect messages and the brand-new system window floating in front of me made me realize exactly what I had just blurted out.
That’s right. I had unconsciously machine-gunned a string of cringeworthy lines at Kim Dokja while every Constellation in the channel watched.
You have confessed your love to your lover while countless Constellations watched.
You have acquired a new historical-grade Story.
Story, With a Lover Under the Moonlight, has been acquired!
This Story is shared with your lover. ※If the relationship with your lover is broken, the Story will automatically vanish.
Along with the messages, I realized my face was burning.
…Fuck. I just set a brand-new record for black history…!!
At twenty-six years old I had just updated my personal hall of shame with something truly insane!!
I carefully slid my trembling eyes sideways. There stood Han Sooyoung, face red, staring blankly this way, and Kyrgios, rising from the rock pile and looking at me with pure pity.
That was when I noticed the blade I was still holding had started to tremble. I whipped my head back toward Kim Dokja.
“……Y-you, you, you.”
Kim Dokja kept repeating the same word like a broken machine, staring at me in a daze. The difference from earlier was that her face had gone from simple flush to the deep crimson of a bomb about to explode, and tears were hanging at the corners of her eyes.
I felt the strength completely leave her hands, carefully pushed the sword aside, and slid my arms around her waist and back, pulling her into an embrace.
Kim Dokja offered no resistance and melted into my arms. I rested my face against her shoulder and spoke in an apologetic voice.
“I-I’m sorry. Really sorry for saying all that cringey stuff in front of everyone.”
“……………….”
Even after my apology she stayed silent, face buried in my chest. I lowered my head under the teasing indirect messages of the Constellations and the blank stares of Han Sooyoung and Kyrgios, quietly holding her.
I held her like that for roughly thirty minutes. Once she had calmed down a little, Kim Dokja suddenly shoved me away, glared at me with a still-scarlet face, and then—
Tadatadatadatada!
—bolted.
“Fuck…”
Many Constellations burst into laughter at your dumbfounded expression!
…Yeah, fuck, just laugh it up, you bastards…
I covered my face with both hands, scrubbed it once, then dropped to both knees in front of Kyrgios, who was still looking at me like I was the most pathetic creature alive.
“Master.”
「Who said I was your master? I haven’t decided yet.」
“Master. This unworthy disciple has a request.”
「I already said I never agreed to become anyone’s master.」
“I’m seriously fucking embarrassed right now. Is there anywhere quiet I can train?”
「I said I’m not your master…. Haa…. Head a little east and you’ll find a wide open clearing.」
“Thank you, Master…”
I bowed respectfully to my master (not yet) and started walking toward the place Kyrgios had indicated.
I needed to go there for a bit and take out my black-history frustration on something.
In the sixth scenario, a large number of Japanese who had chosen Disaster and become non-human species sat around chewing on the corpses of dead little people, chatting as they ate.
Crunch! Crunch!
“Mm. Not bad, actually.”
“Ichibe, you hear the news?”
The Japanese man named Ichibe turned toward the man who had suddenly plopped down beside him.
“What news, Soichi?”
“Rumor is the Wind Shadow Corps that followed Izumi got nearly wiped out by a Korean incarnation.”
“What?”
Ichibe stared at Soichi with a startled face.
“The Wind Shadow Corps are higher-ranked incarnations than us. You’re saying they got wrecked by a Korean?”
“I’ve got a friend among the second-wave arrivals. Heard it straight from him, so it’s solid.”
“Guess the Wind Shadow Corps are past their prime. Getting beaten by Koreans who arrived later than us. Wait—incarnation? Not incarnations?”
“You always did know how to listen, Ichibe. Exactly. Not incarnations—incarnation. One single person supposedly smashed the entire Wind Shadow Corps.”
Ichibe looked completely unconvinced.
“Haa… so Korea’s got some real powerhouses too. Maybe even on the level of our late leader.”
“And this is just a rumor, but one of the Wind Shadow survivors who barely made it back said the Korean who wrecked them is coming for us Japanese incarnations soon.”
“…Arrogant. We chose Disaster and we’re riding the scenario buff. And some lone bastard thinks he can take us all on?”
Right then something glittered in the sky—
KWAANG—!
—and something came screaming down behind the Japanese group, slamming into the ground hard enough to kick up a storm of dust.
“What the hell…?! Weapons out! Something unidentified just dropped!”
Shiiing!
At the calm shout, every Japanese who had been sitting or lying down for rest yanked out their weapons and glared hard at the center of the dust cloud.
“Ah, fuck. Finally made it.”
“…Hm?”
A single human voice drifted out of the dust. A few of them squinted toward the center with puzzled expressions.
Whoooooosh!
“Ugh! Where’d this wind come from?!”
A fierce gale blasted out from the heart of the dust and blew every speck of it away. The Japanese narrowed their eyes or squeezed them shut against the sudden wind, completely exposed—yet none of them took any damage.
“You idiots. There’s an enemy right in front of you and you’re standing around wide open?”
As the wind died down they hurriedly stared at its source. And then they froze in shock.
“A little person…?”
“No, look closer. That’s not the clothing the little people of Peace Land wear.”
“Is that the Korean who took out the Wind Shadow Corps?”
Park Jinwoo, standing proudly before them in the form of a little person, calmly nodded at their conversation.
“Yeah. Just like you guessed—I’m the bastard who smashed those Wind Shadow whatever nobodies.”
“Is that so? And the price was becoming a little person? So why the hell did you come here? You here to beg us to kill you?”
One Japanese man looked down at Park Jinwoo and sneered. The others joined in, snickering together.
“You think trash like you can kill me? Maybe if it was your king, but you lot don’t stand a chance.”
“What? You dare look down on us!!”
“You started the looking-down first, so where do you get off yelling? Ah, whatever.”
Park Jinwoo pulled a Giant Mushroom and a smoke bomb from My Little Hideout and spoke.
“Sorry, but you guys are gonna be my stress-relief targets for a bit. Enchant.”
He enchanted the smoke bomb, clamped the giant mushroom between his teeth, and pulled the pin.
Crackle!
Yellow sparks began dancing across the smoke bomb. He bit down on the giant mushroom and swallowed it.
“Hey, Japanese guys. I’m about to show you a famous scene from a manga that was popular in your country.”
Crunch.
Then Park Jinwoo bit his own finger.
Pachutsutsut!
The smoke pouring from the bomb erupted in yellow sparks, painting a spectacular scene.
Crunch! Crrrunch!
And from inside the smoke came the clear, wet sound of something massive twisting and expanding.
Park Jinwoo’s body, which had been a mere dozen centimeters tall, instantly became 1.8 meters—and kept growing.
“Th-this is insane…?”
The terrifying sight of the figure swelling inside the smoke made several Japanese drop to the ground, muttering curses as they looked up.
Two meters, four, six, past ten—and still Park Jinwoo’s body showed no sign of stopping.
【Hooo…. Good thing the clothes didn’t tear.】
Boom!
The golden eyes gleaming through gaps in the smoke made most of the Japanese lose their fighting spirit on the spot; their weapons slipped from nerveless fingers.
“A-a giant…?”
They tried to estimate the height of the silhouette visible through the smoke.
“At least fifteen meters…?”
In an instant the positions of the former Disasters (giants) of Peace Land had been completely reversed.
Now they were the little people standing before a Disaster. The faces of a few of them went deathly pale as the realization hit.
【I’ve heard you lot did a lot of vicious things to the natives here. So I came personally to deliver the punishment.】
At the Disaster’s declaration several of them spun and tried to flee. Clear, pale-blue, freezing cold energy began condensing in the Disaster’s palm.
【The despair the little people of Peace Land suffered.】
I’ll gift you the exact same thing.
A giant hand thrust out through the smoke. A pure-white sword appeared in that hand, and immediately a clear white-blue energy erupted from the blade.
The sheer size of the sword, perfectly matched to the giant, froze the fleeing Japanese in their tracks.
They realized too late: no matter how far they ran, they would never escape this Disaster’s grasp.
【Glacier Formation.】
Even though the giant muttered it quietly, the voice was so vast it rang clearly in every Japanese ear present.
“Fuck… this isn’t right. How the hell are we supposed to beat that…?”
“I’ve seen this in Attack on Titan…”
Most of them simply stopped where they stood, resigned, and watched the giant who was at least eight to ten times their size.
Pure-white ice began wrapping the blade, lengthening and thickening it many times over. Then the giant holding that enormous tachi slowly began to move.
The giant drew a small breath. Arm muscles swelled. The sword started to swing.
And then they saw it.
The Disaster’s blade coming down on them.
KAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG————!!!!!!
“Hoo… stress just melted right off.”
I quietly looked down at the ground that had been split in a perfectly straight line like a new canyon.
Rumbleeee!
The movement of my body, now grown to eighteen meters, made the earth and forests of Peace Land scream. Soil gouged out; trees snapped like twigs.
A small Constellation of a small planet clutches the back of its neck and faints at the Disaster you caused.
“Ah…”
I looked at the Disaster I had just created with an awkward expression.
The Japanese who had been gathered there had already evaporated under my single strike, and the land was carved in a straight line. I bought a sack of garden soil and a shovel from the regular shop.
I tore the sack open, scattered the dirt evenly over the gouged ground, and carefully tamped it down with the shovel.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
“Ah…”
Because I hadn’t been miniaturized as a penalty, eating the giant mushroom hadn’t changed my overall stats—but the overwhelming mass still meant that even a light, careful tamping left new craters.
“Ugh…”
I’m fucked, aren’t I?
Instead of lying in bed kicking the blankets over the new black history, I had charged off to beat up some Japanese kids and eaten a giant mushroom on impulse. Even I had to admit it had been way too reckless.
“……Fine.”
I’ll just pin the whole thing on the snake bastard.
Exclusive skill Miniaturization Lv.10 activates.
I used Miniaturization, returned to my original size, roughly cleaned up the Disaster I had made, and used Hiraishin no Jutsu to return to where Kyrgios was waiting.
…
…
…
Back with Kyrgios I got teased by Han Sooyoung, teased by the Constellations, smacked on the back by a returning Kim Dokja, and received thanks from a finally-conscious Asuka Ren. Time passed that way.
Exactly two hours later Kyrgios descended in front of Kim Dokja and me. He had finally made his decision.
“The White Pure Gate should have been destroyed after I left. I never expected disciples to still remain.”
Kyrgios looked back and forth between us, gave a small nod, and spoke.
“Very well. I will take you both as disciples.”
He didn’t bother asking how we had learned White Pure Demonic Energy, or how Kim Dokja knew his secret history.
In the end, after long deliberation, he decided to accept Kim Dokja and me as disciples. The two of us became the disciples of the smallest person in the world—and one of the strongest Transcendents ever spoken of.
And so our training began.
…
…
Kyrgios told us to wait a moment, then suddenly vanished somewhere.
He’s probably going to bring the bracelets and anklets made of Peace Land cold iron.
Once we put those on, the real training would start.
…Looks like the next fourteen days are going to be busy.
Yamata no Orochi would attack the royal capital Veronica in exactly fourteen days. By then we had to learn Kyrgios’s Electrification.
I’ll give up sleep for a few days.
I slowly began mapping out a fourteen-day training routine in my head.
Train from morning until night. In the early hours before dawn, attack the Japanese so the party defending Veronica and the little people could rest a little easier.
That was the point—to give them even a little breathing room.
……I’ll just catch catnaps for rest.
If I got too exhausted I could just buy fatigue recovery potions from the Dokkaebi Bag or the Story Shop.
That said, wiping out every Japanese was off-limits. If I did that, our party’s tension would slack. Better to beat them just enough—cut off arms and legs or break them—so the burden on our side dropped dramatically.
“…This is going to be rough for a while.”
Training to get stronger, looking after the party, teaching the Japanese some hierarchy with my fists, using them for thrusting practice, and if I spotted the snake bastard in the middle, giving him a few free hits too.
Perfect. Flawless routine.
“What’s going to be rough?”
Kim Dokja, leaning against my back and looking at her phone, spoke up.
“Just thinking about the training ahead.”
“That so?”
“So, Dokja.”
“Yeah.”
I carefully turned my head and asked her a question.
“When are you going to look at my face again?”
“……I don’t know.”
She sensed the moment I turned with supernatural accuracy and scooted sideways, trying to hide from my line of sight as much as possible. I gave a bitter smile.
Because of the confession I had spat out two hours earlier, Kim Dokja currently refused to meet my eyes at all.
Of course, the way she still stuck right next to me while doing it was adorable enough that I didn’t mind watching.
Just then Kyrgios came flying toward us from the distance.
“Dokja. Master’s here.”
“Got it.”
Kim Dokja and I rose from the ground. At the same moment Kyrgios landed in front of us and held out bracelets and anklets forged from Peace Land cold iron.
“Put these on.”
At his words we each fastened the bracelets and anklets.
And then—
The Training Cold Iron Bracelet restrains your body.
Thud!!
The ridiculously heavy cold-iron bracelet slammed my arm straight into the dirt.
I stared at it for a second, then looked up at Kyrgios.
“Um, Master.”
“What.”
“My bracelet feels way heavier than Dokja’s.”
“You ask the obvious. Your overall stats are higher than the Kim Dokja beside you, are they not? That is why I brought a heavier one.”
“Aha.”
Fuck. Even so, bringing a bracelet heavy enough to bury my arm in the ground is a bit much, Master…
I yanked my arm free of the dirt and put on the anklets next.
Once he confirmed we were both wearing the gear, Kyrgios drew the sword at his waist, stood in a clean stance before us, and thrust the blade in a straight line.
The basic “thrust” form.
“Did you see it?”
““Yes.””
“Then repeat what I just showed you one million times.”
“…One million times?”
“Yes. One million.”
Kyrgios looked at us and continued.
“Every martial art of the White Pure Gate begins from the basics. Opening the smallest ‘point.’ From a single, extremely condensed and restrained ‘point,’ the universe begins.”
I spoke the thought that rose immediately.
“A universe beginning from a single point—does that mean the Big Bang?”
“Correct. You have a little sense after all. The universe began from one tiny point. The martial arts of the White Pure Gate were founded on that principle.”
“So that’s why White Pure techniques specialize in thrusting?”
“Half right, half wrong. Some techniques of the White Pure Gate were indeed built upon the basic thrust, but the most important thing is never to forget the basics.”
Kyrgios clasped his hands behind his back and went on.
“That is also why I am making you perform one million thrusts. To carve into your bodies the necessity of remaining faithful to the basics, and to help you effectively understand the subtle principles, meaning, and intent contained within the White Pure thrust.”
Having finished speaking, he simply stood there and looked down at us.
“That concludes the explanation. Now draw the swords you each possess and begin training.”
“Yes.”
“Yep.”
With that, Kim Dokja and I moved a short distance away, drew our swords, and began thrusting into empty air.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
…The weight from the bracelets and anklets is making clean thrusts impossible.
I was thrusting as hard as I could, but even I could see the blade path wobbling.
Noticing that, I switched to slow, deliberate thrusts.
I remember something from the martial-arts novels I used to read.
Training that simply fills a number is less effective than slow but meaningful training.
To fix the shaky path I watched it carefully and repeated the thrust.
Focus on the movement of every muscle involved in the thrust, then drive the sword forward.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Because the wobbling bothered me I thrust as slowly as possible, and the form looked more stable than before.
…More than that, I think I’ve developed a training addiction.
My muscles were screaming and sweat poured from every pore, yet somehow I felt pretty good.
Probably the habit left over from slaughtering thousands of monsters for coins and grinding skill levels.
Unlike Kim Dokja, I couldn’t learn Kyrgios’s Electrification through a bookmark. That left only one path.
Master Electrification through pure training.
A skill that floods the entire body with lightning energy, massively boosting attack power and speed so you can pierce an enemy in a single flash—how could I possibly not learn something that cool and powerful?
Martial arts.
One of the most popular genres in Korean fiction, and now the chance to personally master its techniques was in my hands.
“Hey, Park Jinwoo. I’m hungry.”
“…………….”
The voice from beside me while I was focused on training made me turn my head. Han Sooyoung and Asuka Ren stood there clutching their empty stomachs and looking up at me.
“Hungry?”
“Yeah, we haven’t eaten anything since breakfast.”
“I-I’m sorry. Han-san said Park-san would be able to get modern food for us…”
Han Sooyoung stared at me with complete confidence; Asuka Ren, at least feeling some shame, slightly flushed and avoided my eyes.
I stopped training and looked up at the sky. The sun had definitely moved a long way from morning. It was probably around two or three in the afternoon.
“Alright, I’ll get food ready. What do you want?”
“I want jokbal for the first time in ages.”
“Sooyoung wants jokbal. Asuka, you?”
“I-I’d like some pizza…”
“Got it. Follow me for now. I’ll ask Dokja and Master too and set everything out right away.”
And that was how my chaotic fourteen-day training life began.