Sa Mu-yeong (1)
“Urk…!”
Sa Mu-yeong spat out thick, viscous blood from his mouth. The backlash from forcing a 1st Grade relic beyond its limits.
That clown bastard… he betrayed me…
Sa Mu-yeong struggled to haul himself upright.
A chance to erase my weakness… thrown away like this. What an idiot…
His gaze swept over the students.
“...Kids, could you step aside for a moment?”
Sa Mu-yeong murmured softly. But the students staring back at him had eyes like chips of ice.
The small chest in his grotesquely twisted hand was emanating an aura that marked it as no longer of this world.
“...This is strange.”
Sa Mu-yeong muttered in bewilderment, turning his gaze carefully.
The students gripping their weapons, staring at him in utter silence. It was truly odd.
As he thought that, Sa Mu-yeong looked down at his right hand. Perched atop the grotesquely twisted flesh was…
“...?”
The Clay Ark had changed dramatically from its original form. At the center of the open lid sat an eyeball glaring right at him, with tentacles sprouting out here and there.
Was it… always shaped like this?
Suddenly, the tentacles stretched out long, coiling around his body.
All things are but the mud shaped by the ‘gods,’ so I shall return them to mud and recreate the world anew.
He knew it instinctively.
This was the ‘evolution’ that had failed for some inexplicable reason moments ago.
Sa Mu-yeong accepted the evolution. And at the same instant… KABOOOOOM!!!
A razor-sharp slash bore down on him, as if to cleave everything in two.
WHOOOOSH!!!
Flames roared alongside the slash, burning madly. From the heart of the inferno, hell-bent on incinerating the world, a monster with a deep gash across its chest burst forth.
Not bad. It's quite hot.
Something wearing human skin. It opened its mouth.
A bird that cannot fly cannot survive.
Wings sprouted from its back.
I shall grant new wings to the birds that have forsaken flight.
CRACK! CRUNCH!
With every word from the monster, its form began to change.
Ah, the sensation of returning to primordial times.
CRUNCH!!! RRRRIP!!!!
Why must ‘heroes’ exist? In this world, there are no longer humans without mana.
CRACK!
What this era truly needs is not heroes. Not overwhelming individuals, but a ‘collective.’ Thus, I shall make you all ‘heroes.’
Six radiant wings sprouted from his back.
At the same time, his flesh began to flow like liquid.
Drip… drip…
Once all impurities had drained away, no trace of human flesh remained. Only a humanoid lump of mana with six wings lingered.
CRACKLE-!
The barrier enveloping Orbis Academy thickened further. The air inside filled with the chilling scent of death.
Flap, flutter. The sound of wings beating echoed loudly.
Thin rods layered with feathers of varying textures, overlapping neatly like scales. It was as if a single bird were taking flight.
And then, he spoke.
Memories of the old days…
The winter sky, bleached white, began to paint the earth the same.
I… no, precisely, my ‘original’ met death inside a gate.
This is a tale from before heroes were called heroes. Back when mana awakeners—‘hunters’—were still few and shunned by the world.
Mana, the power to crush ordinary people with ease. Hunters with twisted minds became massive societal threats. Thus, the ‘Hunter Special Act’ was born.
A special law applied only to hunters, who were little more than living bioweapons. Many hunters voiced their discontent, but the law never changed. Gates were rare back then, and even those posed ‘manageable threats.’
That’s when many hunters began fleeing South Korea.
From the endless regulations to the utterly broken ‘ranking system,’ this country showed little interest in gates.
Mana stones held little value in those days. So despite the harsh restrictions, gates were treated with surprising laxity.
Even the Gate Rating Management Association, tasked with classifying gates, had no awakeners or hunters. Need I say more?
And ‘I’ ended up trapped in a gate misclassified by rank…
The gate’s interior was winter. Not an ordinary winter.
The howling gale that tore at flesh and the cold that blanched skin in an instant far surpassed human limits.
Did you know?
Winter is the season that swallows sound. The frigid air that freezes breath first ices over the dawn.
The breeze that lightly tapped the body soon adhered as frost to the skin, leaving white exhalations as trees along the path shed their leaves. Or rather, endured.
The chilled air clinging to every twig hung like tiny bells, desperately awaiting the tread of footsteps.
“Save… save me…!” “Aaaargh!!!!” -Kieeeek!!!!
Even sunlight treads carefully in winter. Unlike summer’s reckless pour, it settles lightly on shoulders before swiftly cooling.
“P-please… don’t abandon me…!” “...Those who can survive, must.”
People huddled in thick coats, hiding their body heat, barely confirming each other’s presence with their breath. Words came second; white mist rose first, vanishing into the void.
Winter’s conversations were always so brief and faint.
“What are you… doing right now…?” “Sur… vive…”
CRUNCH CRACK!!! Gnaw! Gnaw!
“Smack… smack…” “Wh-what are you…” “Wanna eat too?” “...” Crunch-!
Snow fell as reliably as ever today. On snowy days, the world became a blank sheet of paper.
A single footprint became a sentence; a beast’s passage left an indelible underline.
Nights stretched endlessly. Shadows of people gathered by the stove piled layer upon layer on the walls. Outside, frozen beasts caught their breath, and starlight gleamed sharp as glass—a lie.
In that silence, certain sounds finally emerged.
The sound of self-reflection, longing for family left far behind. I had no family, so I prayed for the others’ peace.
That we might all survive and escape this place.
One, two, three. And four.
The unbearable cold returned once more.
Who would vanish this time? Have you ever seen a person lose their humanity and revert to primal savagery?
I have. The sight terrified me.
Fear that I might become the same.
Like the frozen beasts outside, the body withered, arms and legs elongating unnaturally, nails sharpening. The face thinned to bone, eventually twisting into a deer’s form.
Terrifying. That grotesque shape, those screams—they chilled me to the core.
That beast terrified me utterly.
And the beasts were clever, too.
“Over here!!!! Look this way!!!!!” -Kieeeek!!!! “Kyaaak!!!”
No matter how I screamed, they targeted the wounded first. Was there ‘intelligence’ in them?
One, two.
Three…
And four.
“...”
There’s a saying: Winter isn’t an end, but a time to breathe deepest. In the cold air, all seems paused, yet unseen roots prepare underground for the next spring.
Yes, winter might just be another word for waiting, not loneliness.
I glanced cautiously at the sky. Fumbling in my pocket, I pulled something out.
“...This is the end for me.”
I had a special ability unlike others: the power to create things using ‘mana.’
Hummmm-!
“P-please…”
I prayed and prayed. Maybe a miracle would happen, impossible as it seemed…
“Ah…”
How much time passed? I witnessed a ‘miracle.’
Thud.
“...Where is this?”
Before ‘my’ eyes lay a man identical to me, collapsed. It didn’t take long to realize he was my original.
Three years. It took three years to escape the gate.
A lump of mana in human form. That was me.
…
Time flowed again. Winter passed, seasons shifted to spring.
“...”
What should I do? I had no idea.
Am I truly human?
‘Sa Mu-yeong’ was always the type who wanted to help others. Having watched him for so long, I knew it for certain.
So I decided to follow in his footsteps…
Time flowed on, seasons cycled, and winter returned once more.
Hummmm-!
And a red gate appeared in the world.
Crunch-!
Human lives are cheap. All equal before death.
“...”
But… is it really right for them to be this fleeting? Is this truly an equal death?
Demons and monsters filled sky and earth, hellfire consuming the world.
At that moment, I chose once more to follow ‘Sa Mu-yeong’s’ path.
…
I survived. And obtained a relic.
“...”
I knew its name instinctively.
Relic of Creation and Rebirth