Prologue - Dropped Into a Murim World
The year was 2037 AD.
One ordinary day.
Without any warning.
Without any purpose.
Gates opened across the world.
And I was thrown into a game world I knew nothing about.
………………
………
…
“It’s already been two years.”
When I suddenly came back to my senses, I was muttering to myself with deep emotion.
Two years.
That was how long I had lived in this world.
The world I had fallen into was what people called a Murim world.
The region was known as the Central Plains, the surrounding culture and clothing followed Chinese styles, and it was completely normal to see people walking around with swords at their waists. Most of all, there were masters who could wield things like sword energy.
Just like in Star Wars.
After seeing all that, I concluded this place was a Murim world.
“The problem is I don’t actually know anything about Murim stories…”
A long time ago, I think I read something similar as a webtoon.
Other than that, I had zero knowledge.
I wasn’t the type to read novels or comics anyway.
The one fortunate thing was that there were no language barriers.
I was an ordinary Korean who had been born and raised in Korea, spent my entire life speaking only Korean, and whose only foreign language experience was the exam English I’d learned for college entrance exams.
Yet I could communicate with the people here without any trouble at all.
Characters that weren’t Hangul were perfectly readable, and words that were clearly not Korean sounded exactly like Korean and were completely understandable.
On top of that, things like housing and identity had somehow been sorted out one way or another.
It really was a relief.
As for daily life here… well, aside from the toilets, it wasn’t bad at all.
It was an environment I could get used to.
There was just one single thing.
One thing that, even after two years, I still couldn’t fully accept.
“Why the hell did I turn into a woman…?”
I stared resentfully at the full, prominent chest that blocked my view of my own feet and muttered quietly.
“Descend the mountain.”
Out of nowhere, first thing in the morning, my master gave me that order.
“Sorry? Did I hear that wrong?”
“I said descend the mountain, you fool. How long do you plan to stay cooped up on this mountain?”
My master spoke with a sigh.
The place I had entrusted myself to was Cheonwol Palace.
A sect located high up on a tall mountain. Ever since I arrived here, I had never once gone down the mountain.
I had figured I’d have to go down eventually, but… this suddenly?
Is this for real?
My dazed expression must have been obvious, because my master, Yeon Hwa-ryeon, let out a deep sigh.
Then, as if to say don’t make that pathetic face, she gave me a solid thunk on the forehead.
“You silly child. I’m not telling you to go down right this instant. The Alliance sent word. They want us to send a disciple.”
“The Alliance? You mean the Murim Alliance?”
“That’s right.”
My master continued her explanation.
There was currently an academy working together with the Murim Alliance.
They had requested a disciple be sent for exchange and study.
An academy.
In easier terms, a school. Or an academy.
Setting aside my surprise that even primitive Central Plains had schools, I wondered—
Was it normal for the Murim Alliance and an academy to join hands like this?
“It’s not normal at all. That academy is special.”
“I see.”
“Indeed. Still, they say it’s a place researching effective countermeasures against the ‘Hon-goe’ creatures… so the Alliance is paying it special attention.”
She added that it had actually shown results.
I see.
In that case…
Hon-goe (weirdo).
Bizarre and grotesque calamities and monsters that were devouring the Central Plains.
The entire region was suffering because of those strange phenomena and creatures.
And… most likely.
They were the same kind of monsters that had appeared in the world I originally came from.
“Normally I would have sent another disciple. But for some reason, they specifically requested one who has reached the Peak Realm.”
“Aha.”
Now I finally understood what she meant.
“So you’re sending me—your most trusted disciple who has reached the Peak Realm! Hehe!”
“Enough with the nonsense, you brat.”
“Kyaaung!?”
I got hit with another noogie.
Her hand hadn’t even touched me.
Only the impact flew over.
In other words, an air noogie.
A mysterious long-range noogie performed using a master’s profound martial principles.
Wow, that’s what a real master can do.
Anyway.
If it was my master’s order, there was no reason not to follow it.
Besides, I had grown interested in this academy myself.
Both the world I came from and the one I was in now had been thrown into chaos by monsters called Hon-goe.
Studying them would mean learning efficient ways to eliminate them too.
Yeah. I was motivated.
‘And separately… there’s one more reason.’
Either way, it didn’t seem like a bad idea.
I still had more I wanted to learn from my master, but it wasn’t like we were parting forever.
“Understood, Master. I will go to the academy you mentioned.”
“Good, my disciple. Among all my Peak Realm disciples, you are indeed the most outstanding. I’ll entrust this to you.”
I bowed my head deeply and gave my master a full, formal kowtow.
Enroll at the Academy
📍 Objective: Enter Cheonlim Academy
As I performed the deep bow, a familiar blue window appeared before my eyes.
Anyway.
That’s how it happened.
I arrived at the academy!
‘I got here faster than I expected.’
It was still a bit early, but I had basically arrived.
This was a Murim world.
The place I lived was the primitive Central Plains.
From my shallow knowledge, people of this era had almost no means of transportation besides walking or riding horses.
Or, if they were high-level martial artists, they might use light footwork to zip around—whoosh whoosh.
However.
The academy was by no means close.
By the convenient units I was used to, it was roughly 1000 kilometers away.
Running that distance would be impossible, and whether I walked or rode a horse, the journey would easily take several months.
Wow, what the hell.
That’s way too long.
It’s gonna be so boring.
I hate camping too.
I had been worrying about exactly that.
Could I really endure such a long trip?
Or should I just give up and go back to Cheonwol Palace?
That was what I had been fretting over.
[We will now be stopping. We will now be stopping.]
[This station is Cheonhak Station. Cheonhak Station.]
[We will depart again in ten minutes.]
The announcement played.
I quickly gathered my belongings and stepped off the train.
Thankfully.
Thanks to this train, all my worries had become completely meaningless garbage.
I was genuinely shocked.
So even the primitive Central Plains had trains.
People apparently called them Iron Horses.
‘Wait, is this really a train?’
By my common sense, it was definitely something you could call a train.
But if you asked whether it was exactly like the trains I knew, the answer was no.
It felt…
I wasn’t sure, but it seemed more refined and advanced.
‘Rail cars with AI operation, plus mechanical staff.’
It was clearly more advanced than the technology I was familiar with.
It was strange, but—
‘So this is what Murim is like.’
I didn’t know anything about Murim.
I had no knowledge.
So I just accepted it.
I see.
In Murim, instead of riding horses or carriages, you ride rail trains, and robot waiters serve you. So that’s what it was.
Now that I thought about it, since Murim was basically like Star Wars, maybe there were spaceships too.
If I looked around, maybe there were smartphones.
That would be nice.
Training alone on the mountain had been pretty boring.
“Shall we get going, then?”
According to the map the Alliance had given me, the academy was only a fifteen-minute walk from the station.
I could get there quickly.
My heart was pounding a little.
.
.
.
It turned out that “fifteen minutes” was measured by Murim standards.
After gathering my things and dashing forward with light footwork for about ten minutes, I finally arrived at the academy in question.
“Whoa…”
I let out a gasp of admiration at the sight.
Wait, was this really an academy?
What greeted me was an incredibly tall wall.
It wasn’t the common Central Plains-style wall made of bricks and mud I had imagined.
It was a steel wall that reminded me of an entire continent of iron, gleaming with a metallic sheen.
I see.
In Murim, walls are made of steel and iron.
The Great Wall of this world was probably built of steel too.
But.
What truly amazed me was something else.
This towering steel wall stretched so far that I couldn’t see the end of it.
I could see what looked like a small mountain inside, yet the wall was long enough to completely encircle even that.
On top of that, there were things that looked like surveillance cameras everywhere, and what appeared to be fully automated firing systems designed to repel intruders.
Traces of futuristic technology were visible all over the place.
Just like the train I had ridden earlier.
Indeed.
Incredible, Murim.
Incredible, Murim world.
It feels more sci-fi than actual sci-fi…
“Hey, what are you doing there?”
I had been staring at the wall in awe for only a moment when a man standing in front of the main gate approached with heavy metallic clanking sounds.
Clanking?
Looking closer, the other party wasn’t a man.
Nor a woman.
It was a machine.
A robot.
Its head was covered by something like a helmet, and both arms held guns.
“Is this Cheonlim Academy?”
“It is.”
“I was referred here by the Alliance.”
I took out the letter of introduction and showed it.
The robot security guard’s eye area emitted a faint light, then—
“Authentication complete. Confirmed. I apologize for the rudeness. New students should enter through this gate. Please follow the guidance of the guide android inside.”
It gave a polite bow, then returned to its original spot beside the main gate.
Woooong—
The gate opened silently.
Oh.
Ooh.
‘It’s been a while since I’ve seen automatic doors.’
Feeling a bit of nostalgia and strange emotion, I stepped through the open gate.
Alright. I’ve finally enrolled.
-Do you understand, Do-hwa?
-I am entrusting this task to you, my direct disciple.
-Normally it would be better to send another disciple.
-To begin with, I had no intention of sending any disciple here.
-But something feels suspicious.
-I don’t know what it is. It might just be needless worry.
-So I want you to go yourself, see with your own eyes, and confirm it for me.
-If you notice even the slightest suspicious detail, report it to me. Understood?
Following the guide robot inside, I discovered that beyond the wall lay a massive city.
It really was a city.
Various buildings lined the streets, and between them moved vehicles and citizens on foot.
What was peculiar was that the vehicles were self-driving with no human operators, and the citizens walking around were all robots.
Was this also part of Murim?
Was this what Murim was supposed to be?
‘Master said this place felt suspicious.’
She had heard strange rumors about the academy.
Something about the director.
‘It really is weird.’
No matter how you looked at it, even I—who knew almost nothing about Murim—could tell this was off.
Moreover, the scenery I had seen on the way here before reaching the academy hadn’t been all that different from the Murim landscape I had imagined.
But this level of over-technology was far too strange.
Far too suspicious.
‘Or… is it not?’
If this was like Star Wars, maybe technology like this was normal.
After all, they built entire cities on spaceships.
It was hard to say.
If I had to put it in black and white, it would probably fall into a precarious shade of gray…
“I will first guide you to the director’s office.”
“Alright.”
“But before that.”
Suddenly, the guide robot stopped.
Then it held something out.
It was a headband.
“I will take a photo for your student ID. Please put this on.”
I took it and placed it on my head.
It fit perfectly.
‘Anyway. No matter what, I’ll stay suspicious and watchful.’
My master had given me a clear instruction.
So I needed to be especially cautious.
There was no harm in being careful.
“Please stand here.”
No matter what they asked, I would stay cautious.
Stay suspicious.
Make sure I didn’t make any mistakes.
“Please look over here.”
Anyway, I would stay on guard, and on guard again.
So that no trick could—
“…….”
……………
………
……
…
.
“All done, Miss Yeon Do-hwa. I will now continue the guidance.”
“Ah, yes…”
Huh…?
My head felt a little fuzzy.
The android casually retrieved the headband.
I slapped my cheeks a few times to snap myself out of it.
‘Get a grip. How can I start off like this?’
Anyway, I had to make sure I didn’t miss anything suspicious.
I continued staying alert as I followed behind the female-type guide droid.
I kept my guard up toward my surroundings and proceeded onward.
