The Kingdom That Came to My Stomach

In a cramped studio apartment in Seoul, the sound of loud snoring echoed off the walls. The place was cheap on the deposit and monthly rent, but it sat smack in the middle of a high-risk monster outbreak zone.

Kim Hwang-je had just finished another exhausting day of manual day-labor and was sleeping like the dead.

His hand slipped under his stretched-out T-shirt and scratched his belly. Despite the grand name Kim Hwang-je, both his home and clothes were utterly shabby.

His friends teased him relentlessly, calling him “Your Majesty” because the name sounded so imposing while his life was anything but. What could he do? It was the only thing his parents had left him.

At least he deserved praise for never giving up and continuing to take any dirty job that came his way.

“Mmm…”

Then, without warning, a dull ache began to spread through his lower abdomen.

Kim Hwang-je cracked one eye open, wondering if he needed to run to the bathroom. The moment he did, a stabbing pain like ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a needle piercing his gut exploded inside him.

“Aaaagh!”

He kicked off the blanket and rolled across the floor.

“Uwaaaagh, my stomach!”

But he suddenly stopped rolling and sucked in a sharp breath.

Floating right in front of him was an unbelievable status window.

“Ugh, ow, ah! Whoa… did I just awaken?”

Even while groaning in pain, Kim Hwang-je let out a disbelieving laugh. The thought that his suffering might finally be over swirled through his mind.

“Ugh… ow. But why does it hurt?”

He had never heard that awakening was painful.

The stabbing sensation, like something sharp was poking his insides, continued.

Muscle pain?

Kim Hwang-je fumbled around in the dark room for the Tylenol he always swallowed dry whenever his muscles ached from hard labor. Without hesitation he popped two pills and forced them down with no water.

Since a status window appeared, it really must be an awakening!

He stared at the semi-transparent window floating before his eyes. This was the moment everyone dreamed of.

Yet the more he looked at it, the less sense it made. What on earth was this ability?

All he knew was that an ability caused the awakening and came with attached skills.

The ability was completely unknown to him.

A kingdom inside his stomach? Was that it? If it had been swordsmanship or magic it would have been simple!

But when Kim Hwang-je saw the rank, his eyes widened.

…EX rank? Was there even such a thing?

From what he remembered of hunter skills in newspapers and online, the highest was S-rank. So why was this written as “Transcendent (Extra)” instead of just extra? What the hell was it?

Well, it’s probably good!

This was the moment he had wished for so desperately, yet now that it had arrived he felt dazed and couldn’t quite believe it.

He was about to pinch his cheek to make sure he wasn’t dreaming when another wave of abdominal pain tore through him. This one was especially violent.

“Uwaaaaagh!”

At that moment another status window appeared before Kim Hwang-je’s eyes.

There was no reason to hesitate. Still sweating coldly and groaning, Kim Hwang-je pressed Y.

If this was because of the ability, he had to find the cause there.

The small window immediately expanded like a television screen. Inside it, a castle was in the middle of a desperate war.

“No way.”

He was at a loss for words. He hadn’t seen such a realistic fantasy scene since The Lord of the Rings.

The state of the castle, however, was utterly miserable.

The walls were crumbling and cracked. Knights with torn banners wrapped around their necks like rags were shouting at the top of their lungs to keep the soldiers in line.

Their armor was caked with dried blood and oil, and the soldiers looked like they hadn’t eaten properly in days.

It was the very picture of a destitute army you’d only see in movies.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Like a kingdom on the brink of destruction.

Yet there was still discipline. Mages stood atop the walls chanting spells that rained down hail, while knights and soldiers holding long spears stood in formation along the battlements, stabbing the insect-like monsters that crawled up the walls.

This wasn’t the work of people who had only been fighting for a day or two.

Orcs burst apart when struck by hail. The insect monsters that managed to climb up were torn open, spraying green entrails everywhere.

Strangely, every time a monster died, the pain in Kim Hwang-je’s body eased a little. And every time they killed one, a clear ding rang out.

- Ding

- Ding

- Ding

The constant noise annoyed Kim Hwang-je so much that he opened the status window again, trying to find a way to turn the alerts off. It was completely flooded, like the messenger app of a popular influencer.

Kim Hwang-je blinked. What was he even reading? This wasn’t a cryptocurrency exchange.

“Don’t tell me this is…”

He looked back at the screen. Warriors and mages were fighting desperately against the monsters.

“Is this thing doing the stat grinding for me?”

Kim Hwang-je’s jaw dropped. He had never heard of or seen a skill like this. Even calling it EX didn’t feel like enough.

He opened his personal status window.

“What is this, a pi chart? Why are my stats like this? I heard that when warriors awaken their strength and health shoot up.”

Ordinary people usually had stats between 1 and 2. Only those who had trained their bodies through hard labor like Kim Hwang-je could hope to reach 3 in strength. In that sense the numbers were brutally honest—except for the endless string of decimal places that followed.

A moment later, his gaze locked onto the job field and refused to move.

His job was Emperor.

The combination of your longing and the power of the mages has created a miracle. Your job is Emperor. Raise the kingdom inside your body into an empire.

Of course, Kim Hwang-je had been called “Your Majesty” many times. As a joke, naturally. But to have it written as his actual job?

If I apply for a hunter license, it’s going to list my job as “Emperor,” isn’t it?

Even while he was looking, the numbers kept shifting like he was watching a cryptocurrency market. Tiny, almost microscopic increments wriggled upward.

Alright, I’ll look at this later.

Kim Hwang-je cleanly closed the status window. Then he examined the battlefield from various angles.

He probably ought to look at the highest point first, right?

If the pain was linked, he might die if the castle fell. The thought made him anxious.

He peered inside the royal castle.

There, ridiculously, a grand mage was kneeling with both hands raised. The luxurious robe she wore made her status obvious.

Even more absurdly, the king was smacking the top of the kneeling grand mage’s head with his palm.

The king, who had a large scar across his face, was strikingly handsome like a movie protagonist. The grand mage was an impossibly beautiful woman with sky-blue hair.

Watching them, Kim Hwang-je was stunned.

He’s handsome. Damn, I’m jealous. But they don’t exactly look like characters from a rom-com.

He tried touching the screen in different places, but there was no volume button. Instead, another window popped up.

Kim Hwang-je gently tapped the glowing skill window beneath the quest. Several skills sparkled, but the one that caught his eye most was the trade skill.

“Tylenol? Clothes?”

Kim Hwang-je touched his stomach. The Tylenol he had swallowed earlier couldn’t possibly still be in his stomach. But he could send it? It seemed he could only send things he was wearing or had consumed.

And every time he touched something, it was added to the list of tradable items.

Looks like I can send anything I grab. Desk, table, fridge, bed. But the soldiers’ condition looks bad right now. What should I send to help?

At that moment the king finished smacking the mage’s head, clutched his own skull, and sat down. The mage glanced nervously at the king. Kim Hwang-je chuckled.

Yeah, looks like his ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠head hurts. Let’s send him some Tylenol.

He grabbed the bottle. The trade window immediately listed Tylenol as an available item.

When he placed the Tylenol in the trade slot, the blurry side of the opposite screen became crystal clear.

Who would you like to trade with?

Kim Hwang-je firmly tapped the king on the screen. The king seemed to sense something and looked up at the ceiling.

Please explain Tylenol.

“It’s a painkiller called Tylenol. Take one tablet if your head hurts. Don’t take too many. It relieves headaches. Now go fight.” (69/70)

After adding the explanation, the other side of the trade window became visible.

What would you like to request from the royal vault?

A door-shaped icon appeared. It was a thick vault door. The view smoothly moved inside.

But the vault was completely empty. Due to prolonged war, there was almost no gold or jewelry left in the kingdom’s treasury.

Still, they say even a ruined rich family lasts three generations. Kim Hwang-je drooled at the sight of the few remaining gold coins in the royal vault.

“G-gold? Real gold?”

When he pointed at the gold coins, several appeared in the trade window. Afraid that asking for too many would get the trade rejected, he carefully raised the price to ten coins while watching the king’s reaction. A button labeled “Fair Price” appeared beside it.

Yeah, this is probably the right way.

He hated going first in negotiations. The moment he pressed the button, the system spoke for him.

He pressed Y hard.

Tribute Trade skill has been used. Negotiating trade intent.

Immediately, a beautiful red scroll unfurled in front of the king and the grand mage. The mage, the king, and all the ministers gaped at the sight.

The scroll displayed the exact trade window.

They read the explanation about the Tylenol bottle and looked at the five gold coins. A heated debate broke out.

Mostly the grand mage seemed to be talking excitedly while the king simply listened. When the king finally nodded, text appeared in the status window.

Ding—

The grand mage carefully opened the box.

Clatterclatterclatter.

On the other hand, gold coins poured onto Kim Hwang-je’s table. He frantically gathered them. There were four in total.

“Gold…! It’s real gold!”

His hands trembled as he picked up the coins. He remembered the thin 1-gram gold key his father had received upon retirement; even that had been worth just over 100,000 won at the time.

In the video, the king opened the pill bottle and ate the Tylenol. Then, as if it were natural, he chewed it.

Oof, that tastes incredibly bitter if you chew it.

Sure enough, the king made a terrible face, but his eyes soon widened. The medicine’s astonishing effect seemed to shoot through his marrow; even his hair stood on end.

It’s not even that amazing a medicine. Does it get stronger when traveling back and forth?

Setting aside his questions, the status window displayed new text.

Clatter!

Six more gold coins poured on top of the four. Ten gold coins now sparkled on the table.

“Whoa… jackpot.”

Kim Hwang-je couldn’t tear his eyes away from the pile of gold.