Chapter 3
Chapter 3
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 3
Chapter Title: Millennium Snow Ginseng
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"Cough."
When I came to, I was shivering in the cold wind, rustling amid the straw. I'd blocked the wind with straw, but the dawn breeze still drew coughs from me bit by bit.
"...?!"
What the hell is this?!
My consciousness had cut out, and now this inexplicable situation followed. I panicked and hurriedly looked down at my chest, but all the wounds were gone. No, more than that, the clothes I was wearing were completely different, and my body size was totally off.
I'd gotten smaller.
I sat up and looked around. In the darkness, cold air flowed through the gaps in the straw barrier, carrying the stench of cow dung, with eerie shadows of trees visible. I sat there blankly for a while, but I knew this scene all too well.
'Am I dreaming or something?'
I knew it.
I knew exactly what this situation was.
It was unmistakably around age thirteen, right after I lost my parents to the plague and got dumped as an extra at the Village Chief's house. Living off the Village Chief's family like a servant, I slept in an empty barn near the stable. With trembling hands, I carefully brushed aside the straw pile blocking the wind.
There it was.
The stable.
"Uwaaaaaah...!!"
I nearly screamed.
There was only one word to explain this situation.
I'd regressed into the past!
To over forty years ago, back to my childhood!
'Can something like this even happen in the world?'
I was in a state of panic but decided to stay calm.
First, I tested moving my body. My arms and legs worked fine, and the stiff pain from huddling plus the dawn chill sharpened my sense of reality. This was too vivid to be some illusion technique.
On top of that, I sat cross-legged lightly and circulated the Small Celestial Circuit.
Then I discovered something astonishing.
"Hmm...!! My internal energy is intact."
Incredibly, even though I'd returned to a child's body, the internal energy from over fifty years of cultivating the Three Talents Heart Method was still there. Of course, a foundational heart method's shallow effects didn't just vanish, but this was sure to be a huge help in my future life. I knew better than anyone how vast the difference was with and without accumulated internal energy.
"Cough. Cough! Ugh... you damn bastards."
I coughed and spat curses.
The targets were obviously the Village Chief and his family.
Sure, they'd taken in an orphan like me with nowhere to go, but from the moment I was handed over to the Village Chief's house until I struck out on my own three years later, I was treated like a total servant. The neighborhood kids bullied me relentlessly, and I got beaten wherever I went. Even the Village Chief's son just laughed when he saw me suffering, never once thinking to help.
This situation was one of those times. My main job was tending three cows and cleaning up their dung, and I had to feed them too. Where I ate and slept wasn't a place for humans but atop a straw pile in a dung-stinking converted barn. Living like that without going mad made me feel strange about myself.
'Ha... damn it. Coming back to life is good, regressing to the past is good, but why of all times now...'
I'd stepped back into the hell of my life.
A bitter feeling welled up in me.
My life finally got on a somewhat normal track after I started as a lowly handyman at an escort agency at fifteen, then properly learned martial arts and became the lowest-grade Escort Warrior at eighteen. From now, I had to endure at least five more years of hellish life. The thought made me irritated and scared, my hands trembling.
For a moment, I sat there reflecting on my life.
Come to think of it, there'd been no real good times. After becoming a lowest-grade Escort Warrior around eighteen, life was tolerable, but escort work was never easy. I'd nearly died fighting bandits, and some young noble from the martial world had once slapped me in humiliation. Plus, as physical labor, it always left me exhausted, passing out after a drink to soothe the aches.
Why was I so pissed about my current state? Obviously, because this boyhood was even worse than that grueling low-grade Escort Warrior life! Having to live through that shitshow again was worse than death. The escort life, tiring as it was, at least let me spend my own money freely.
'What do I do now?'
I pondered deeply.
And reached a conclusion.
"Even if it's just for a day. First, I need to confirm if this is really the past."
The next day, about three hours later, I woke up and checked the stable first. The cows hadn't caught much cold wind and none seemed unhealthy. It had been decades since I'd done stable work, so I was clumsy at first, but soon the tasks came back naturally.
I stroked the nose bridge of the biggest bull among them.
"Your name was Hwanggeum-i, right? I remember."
Thinking back, when I lived in the stable eating and sleeping, the cows had been my companions. Especially this big bull—I'd named him Hwanggeum and taken extra good care of him. Cows had gentle, docile natures.
Hwanggeum-i blinked as if understanding my words, rubbing his head against my hand.
That simple action made my chest tighten a bit.
'You're better than humans.'
Having lived over fifty years, I'd learned plenty about what beasts humans really were. Living without family or friends, I'd seen countless strong-against-the-weak, merciless types. When interests clashed, betraying friends was commonplace. Thinking dumb animals were better than humans was only natural.
That was when it happened.
'It's flying at me!'
I swiftly sidestepped half a pace to dodge.
Splash!
"......"
"Uh, uh...?"
A bewildered voice sounded. He'd meant to prank me by splashing water, but I'd dodged easily, leaving him flustered. But even if the Three Talents Heart Method was basic, fifty years of internal energy gave senses and reflexes far beyond an ordinary person's. Child's body or not, dodging a bucket of water was nothing.
I stared straight at the culprit who'd tried to douse me. Rage boiled up instantly, fury seizing my veins. Unthinkingly, I clenched my fist tight, grinding my teeth to barely hold back.
"What brings you here, Young Master?"
Despite the rage, my voice came out calm and composed.
The 'Young Master' stood awkwardly, cleared his throat, and replied.
"Ahem! Hem! I was trying to dampen the ground in front of the stable this morning and slipped."
"Yes."
Even hearing that bullshit excuse, I nodded.
I wanted to jump up and beat the 'Young Master' senseless, but I held back. I'd been through enough group life to master suppressing that surge of anger over decades. To calmly judge and sort out this regression, I couldn't let myself get provoked.
Young Master: pockmarked face, pudgy fatso kid.
He was the [Village Chief's son].
Name: Geum Manjae. Flashy name for a useless guy with no talent, just like me. Same age too. Despite that, his ego and bravado were huge—he tormented me like a mouse. Later as an adult, I'd heard he'd blown through his father's fortune whoring and boozing.
"Hmm~"
Geum Manjae started waddling around the stable looking for faults. Finding none, he picked a fight with me.
"You, clean all the dung out of the stable by the time I get back from the private school."
"Yes?"
"Do it~ or you planning not to?"
Out-of-nowhere power trip.
Sudden fury shot to my brain, leaving me speechless.
'This little shit?'
I wanted to beat Geum Manjae to death right then, grab a kitchen knife, and slaughter the whole Village Chief's family. With my power, it was entirely doable—my hands shook. But recalling this level of abuse was daily life back then, I calmed my chest and spoke steadily.
"Don't worry. I'll get it all done."
"......?"
My oddly calm tone made him pause, sensing something off. But being a kid, he didn't think further—just snorted and vanished somewhere. Once Geum Manjae was out of sight, I spat on the ground.
Ptoo!
"You bastard... just you wait."
Once I gained power later, I'd avenge those three years of humiliation on top of the past ones. Slaughtering the whole Village Chief's family or crippling Geum Manjae's limbs—thinking about it thrilled me.
For now, though, wasn't the time.
I'd thought a lot yesterday.
And concluded I should 'for the time being' stick with life at the Village Chief's house. Running off into the world sounded freeing, but I had no way to eat or survive after. Better to maintain this setup that at least fed and housed me.
Instead, I decided against blindly joining an escort agency like before.
'I can't live as an Escort Warrior again.'
Even if I joined one and became an Escort Warrior, they'd only teach Six Harmonies Swordsmanship and Three Talents Heart Method.
Better to learn somewhat advanced martial arts and find a way to make it big.
I'd thought the same in my previous life, but desperation to escape the Village Chief's and lack of ability made me give up. Truth was, getting hired as a lowest-grade Escort Warrior then was pure luck.
But now was different.
I had fifty years of Three Talents Heart Method internal energy from my past life, plus second-rate sword skills. Even with a kitchen knife now, I could easily take down an average adult man.
A first-class martial world expert would kill me in one move, but my current level was stronger than third-rate riffraff warriors.
'If I show this prowess to martial world folks, they'll take me as a disciple, right?'
Becoming a disciple of a renowned martial expert!
That solved eating and living while letting me live the high-expert life I'd dreamed of. Realizing this was the best path now, I smiled contentedly.
At the same time, I felt the need to escape this twelve-hour stable life and gather info. Without knowing where martial world people lived or roamed, I couldn't even start planning.
"Ugh, damn... guess I gotta clean the cow dung first."
Grumbling, I grabbed a rake and shovel and entered the stable. Cow dung was splattered everywhere, reeking. Cows shit wherever, so full cleans were every three days; impossible daily. Yet Geum Manjae, that prick, ordered it off-schedule just to flex.
Sure, cleaning dung kept the cows healthy, but it was pure power-tripping, so no goodwill there. And I'd do the work while he'd take credit with the Village Chief.
"Ugh..."
While cleaning, soaked in dung stench, dizziness hit. I went to the bushes and dry-heaved. Nothing in my stomach, just sour gastric juices tickling my nose. I sat on a tree stump to rest, gazing at the blue sky.
"......!!"
In that instant, lightning-like realization struck my mind.
My mouth trembled.
"T-that's right! How could I forget that!!"
I was an idiot.
Why take the hard road when an easy one existed?
Millennium Snow Ginseng!
The legendary elixir said to grant world-shaking power in one dose—I'd just remembered how to get it.