A Murim Person's Essential: The Smartphone

Raising a Martial Artist ran from age twenty to twenty-two. It was a game where you collected multi-endings based on the results of three years of character development — showing what fate awaited that character five years into the future.

Why start at twenty, of all ages?

Because this was a 19+ game. Apparently certain character routes even featured some, ahem, steamy content. So it was probably a loophole to slip past the legal net.

At any rate. Half of each year was spent attending classes at the academy. The other half was given over to a practical martial training event called the Jianghu Pilgrimage.

How well you raised your stats at the academy, and how many so-called Karmic Encounters you scored — whether at the academy or out on pilgrimage — that was the key to reaching the premium endings. That was all there was to it.

Everything before that existed solely as the character's backstory. Whether you were a Shaolin temple baldy or a former Demonic Cult assassin, nearly everything was decided by your interactions inside the academy.

But I had been thrown into Geum Si-hyeon's life two years before the game even started. When he was eighteen years old.

When I first possessed this body, the entire household was turned upside down.

You know the classic cliché. The child they thought was dead had come back alive.

Geum Si-hyeon had been on the brink of death. He might have actually died, considering that a being like me had taken up residence. So right after the possession, I spent nearly half a year laid up in a sickbed.

...Honestly, after suffering that much, I figured I had at least some stake in this body. And with that, I coolly set aside any worries about where the original soul had gone.

And then. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Time flowed like a river... no, it just went by fast. As if archaic expressions I'd never used in my previous life had stuck themselves to my tongue.

In the meantime, I adapted to Geum Si-hyeon's life remarkably well.

The secret to adapting? Nothing special. The original owner of this body — Geum Si-hyeon — had been an overwhelming gold-spoon.

"Young Master, it's time for breakfast, sir."

"Right."

My trusty personal attendant and friend, Jang Pal, strode into the room carrying a breakfast spread so lavish it looked ready to snap the table legs.

"Want to eat with me?"

"Oh my, how could this humble servant possibly do such a thing?"

"Oh, please. You'll scrape the leftovers clean anyway."

"How could those two things possibly be the same, hehe..."

Even as he said it, he pointed a finger — right at the ribs — drool hanging from his lip.

A luxurious life where even the first meal of the morning was a ten-dish banquet. This was the spirit of the continent. The power of a gold-spoon!

Of course, if that had been all, I would have been drowning in homesickness, wailing about how I wanted my computer back. No matter how much money you have, it can't fill the emptiness in your heart. How could I have imagined a life without cutting-edge electronics?

But there was something that could fill that void. The object gripped in my hand. A smartphone.

Without this, my will to live in this primitive, uncivilized ancient China would have dropped by at least fifty percent. It came with the bizarre setting of charging via internal energy instead of electricity, but that actually cracked the whip on my motivation to train.

The expression that symbolized a First-Class master. Body-Phone Unity! I had finally cultivated enough vast internal energy that I could mess around on my phone all day without it dying!

And so, today too, I worked my chopsticks with one hand while pecking away at my smartphone with the other.

There were two things I'd been mainly enjoying lately.

One was an idle raising game called Raising Baby Heavenly Demon. It was one of the few games available, and it had taken the scene by storm. Granted, it had a tragic 1.7-star rating thanks to a review-bombing campaign by those narrow-minded Orthodox Murim bastards, but it was actually quite well put together. Plus the baby Heavenly Demon character was ridiculously cute.

And the other... was the Gallery.

When I'd first evaluated the mod, I'd given it a stern, serious-business negative review — what kind of game has a damn gallery in it? But it was so vivid and realistic it even felt like I was actually browsing a real forum. It became the driving force that kept my spirit from breaking when I'd first possessed this body and was screaming in pain.

Today, as always, the Mount Hua Sect and Zhongnan Sect folks were going at it in their usual flame-war derby.

As an Xi'an local (one-year veteran), if I were to give a cold, hard assessment: they were both about the same. Personally, I wanted to side with Zhongnan a little more. Just like the OP said, the Plum Blossom punks' thuggery had gone a bit too far lately.

Besides, looking at the total amount borrowed from our Mangeum Chamber of Commerce, Mount Hua owed overwhelmingly more. For a bunch of debtors, they sure had loud mouths.

Swipe, swipe, once more.

Probably because it was morning, there weren't any posts with real substance. Still, the Shaanxi Gallery was relatively decent as these things went.

The neighborhood right below us — the Sichuan Gallery — had been occupied by the Tang Clan, and if you didn't slap a [Tang] in front of your post, they wouldn't even bother commenting. A culture purpose-built to crush new arrivals.

The neighboring Shanxi Gallery was practically a ghost gallery. Only the occasional regular post like "The stars of the steppe flow through my soul" trickled in.

As for the main hub, the Central Plains Murim Gallery, cyber Orthodox-versus-Demonic spam wars broke out there on the daily. By that standard, the Shaanxi Gallery was a place where actual human beings lived.

Still, a few posts did catch my eye.

Just like this guy throwing around wild hype — soon, the true stage of this game would open. Baekhwa Academy's entrance examination was about to begin.

I'd been adrift in this world of Raising a Martial Artist — a game whose very abbreviation had zero pedigree — for two full years. I'd devoted myself to rehabilitation to recover my body, then stuffed myself with every elixir that claimed to have no side effects and diligently ground away at my dantian.

Unlike the guy who'd posted that verification photo, I wasn't on the Nine Sects One Gang Track. But an invitation for the General Admission Track had arrived for me too. I could finally say I was ready to begin the tutorial.

Honestly, it had been a close call. The entrance exam's passing requirement started at First-Class Martial ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Artist. The original Geum Si-hyeon had picked up some ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠martial arts here and there, but even so, at the moment I woke up, he was a measly Second-Class. A total Second-Class nobody.

Excluding the half year I'd spent bedridden, the remaining year and a half had been nothing but a hellish routine of eat, shit, browse the gallery, train, sleep...!

They say patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet. At last, it was time to make the name Geum Si-hyeon resound through the jianghu in earnest.

I had two goals.

I wasn't going to be satisfied with merely getting into the academy. As long as I was here, I wanted to become the Number One Under Heaven in this life too. And of course, picking up the harem ending along the way would be ideal. ...Not that I knew if that was even possible.

And one more.

As the Doctor of Life and Death had told me. "Geum Si-hyeon" had nearly died — no, he should be considered dead. And all because of an elixir with severe side effects that someone had deliberately created.

I may forget a kindness, but I never forget a grudge. I would take "Geum Si-hyeon's" revenge with my own two hands.

"Well then. This son shall go forth and bring glory to the family name."

"Sniff, Si-hyeon. You have to take care of yourself...!"

"Mother. Please don't worry. I'm this healthy now, aren't I? Haha."

I did my best to put Mother's mind at ease. She had come all the way to the front gate to see me off herself.

"...Yes, that does put my mind a little at ease..."

She still didn't seem entirely used to the grand ceremonial bow, her words trailing off a little awkwardly. But the corners of her mouth had turned up, so I gave myself a passing grade on the filial piety performance.

I loaded Jang Pal, my human GPS, with a mountain of luggage.

"Alright. Let's go."

And I started walking, every inch the imposing young master.

Xi'an was always packed with people, but today the crowds had doubled. Well — of course they had. My destination, Baekhwa Academy, was located right here in Xi'an.

A ten-minute walk to school. The optimal commute. Of course, the moment I enrolled it would be dorm life.

I observed the pageant of humanity as I strolled along, and once again found myself forgiving the all-in-one mod pack creator a little for their crimes.

The Appearance Buff + Exposure Patch.

Women of exceedingly fine dress and exceedingly fine appearance were showing up at a far higher rate than usual. They were probably incoming students hoping to enroll at Baekhwa Academy, or seniors returning to the academy after visiting home over the break.

Sure, in the game everyone except the main characters had been AI illustrations. But watching them chatter away right in front of my eyes, scattering floral fragrance with such vivid life, I found myself thinking — so what if they were?

I was walking along in a daze, feeling boundless gratitude for being alive, when—

"...?"

A squirrel went skittering out of an alley and streaked across the main road at a dead run. I was about to tilt my head, thinking there weren't even any oak ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠trees around here, when—

"Kyaa?!"

"Ugh...!"

A woman suddenly shot out of the alley and slammed into me at full force.

This was 0-to-100 even if a traffic-cam reviewer showed up... wait, no. No, no.

I immediately shelved that useless thought that had flashed through my mind, and caught the woman's hand just as she was about to land magnificently on her rear.

"Miss, are you alri... huh?"

An unexpected anomaly occurred.

Right after the possession, no matter how much I'd shouted things like status window, stats, and every other game-system phrase I could think of, nothing had ever appeared. Now a blue window materialized before my eyes.

"Th-tha-thank you so much...!"

The moment I'd taken in all the text, the status window vanished as quickly as it had appeared. But above the head of the chestnut-haired woman who was still clutching my hand and panting—

Western letters drifted there, bobbing gently in the air.

What the hell is this.