Chapter 2: The Second World.

He closed the [Demon King’s Sword King, Soul Possession of the So Ga-Ju] that he had been reading.

He couldn’t say anything.

The novel was just too frustrating.

At first, he thought it was a coming-of-age story with a boy gradually growing, like a comic book.

He thought something would eventually happen.

But there was nothing like that in the end.

“Did I see it wrong?”

“Wonderful! A strange hero…”

“Shut up…”

“You should be proud. You defeated me, after all.”

She hadn’t died, even though she lost an arm and her heart.

‘What a monster of a woman…’

“Ugh, huff…”

There was no power left in him.

But that was probably the same for his opponent.

He was the king of demons, the Celestial Demon who could tear the sky apart, but even he wouldn’t escape his approaching death.

“How frustrating… How frustrating. I was so close to completing the Breaking Heaven God Technique…”

The Celestial Demon left a final cry and stopped moving.

Countless corpses littered the ground, their ends unknown.

After immense sacrifice, he succeeded in mutually bringing the Celestial Demon down on Mount Tai.

In return, his lower body was completely destroyed.

But still… he had defeated the Celestial Demon, right?

‘Sojin, you’ve worked so hard. You never changed until the end.’

He felt the Sword King’s presence leaving his body.

That meant his death was near.

His vision gradually turned red.

The surroundings were silent. No one was there.

On the blood-soaked ground, he reveled in his victory alone.

‘But still… I achieved the code of the hero that I believed in.’

His strength left his body, and his focus grew blurry.

The martial world would become peaceful now.

Just like the sprouts that grow when spring comes, a new era would begin.

I was the foundation for that era.

He murmured this in his heart and closed his eyes.

Into eternal rest.

Cheon Sojin had finally defeated the Celestial Demon and brought peace to the martial world.

His noble intentions would live on forever in the darkness.

The End.

He closed the window again.

It was a nostalgic story, and he read it all the way to the end, but this wasn’t it.

It was fine that the incompetent protagonist had to go through struggles to get the Sword King’s soul as a fateful chance.

But his actions afterward were just too frustrating.

The protagonist was burning with a strange sense of justice.

A protagonist filled with justice?

He was always like that, and it was within the realm of understanding.

But forgiving those who betrayed him, being strong yet deliberately allowing himself to suffer, and losing the woman…

And I still don’t know why he hid his true identity while working.

If the writer thinks a hero is someone who just indiscriminately gives without reason, then maybe it’s accurate.

Because the plot tested my patience,

I was the only one who had read the final chapter.

As I slowly placed my hands on the keyboard to write,

I had a lot to say, but I didn’t bother to write it in the comments.

I already knew from experience.

Just thinking about it was terrifying.

When I looked at the clock, it was already 5 o’clock.

“Time has passed so quickly, I’m going to be late.”

I have plans with a friend today.

They said they had something important to tell me, and I couldn’t even imagine how annoyed they’d be if I was late.

I quickly changed my clothes and was tidying up in front of the mirror when—

Weeeeng—!!

A strange sound followed by a blinding light flashed from the monitor, and my body was pulled in strongly.

A massive amount of bright light, something that couldn’t possibly come from the monitor, was pouring out.

A strange feeling of anxiety overtook me!

“Is, is this really happening? No way, is it the monitor again?”

I won’t fall for an unbelievable phenomenon again.

I quickly bent down and stuck to the ground, and as expected, I was no longer being pulled.

“I won’t fall for it a second time.”

It was dangerous to stand, but thanks to my quick thinking, I managed to avoid the crisis.

Now, I just need to crawl out of the house.

After holding on like that for a while, the light gradually began to fade.

‘Thank goodness. They can go look for someone else.’

Whoooosh—!

At that moment,

The monitor floated up and flew straight toward me, who was lying on the floor!

The monitor was floating by itself?

“Does this, does this even make sense? This is reality!”

In an instant, a flash of light filled the room.

“Why me again, you bastards!”

That was the last thing I said before a strange silence filled the room.

The bright flash didn’t last long.

When the light faded, the first thing I saw was a strange ceiling welcoming me.

‘No way.’

I squeezed my eyes shut and opened them again.

It wasn’t the ceiling of a building but a cave, which was even more horrifying.

“…”

This is a nightmare.

A really awful dream.

‘Don’t mess with me, this isn’t fun.’

But even as I repeated it in my mind and waited, nothing changed.

Eventually, I realized I was on a strange altar and shook my head from side to side as I tried to stand up.

Why?

My body screamed in denial as it creaked painfully.

The pain spread rapidly, and my body, to put it mildly, was torn to pieces—badly, it was like a corpse.

Small wounds and blood flowing from various parts,

Unknown internal injuries and a broken body made it clear to me.

This is not “me.”

The pain that I felt in every corner of my body was telling me this isn’t a dream.

“Is this real…?”

My body was trembling uncontrollably.

Who could be happy about being forcefully dragged here?

If they had at least given me a cheat ability or two, I might have been happy, but there was nothing like that.

Survive with brute force and evil.

‘Again?’

You might have already guessed,

but I once ended up in a martial arts world after writing a bad review of a novel.

This time, though, I didn’t even do anything…?

Anger surged up to the top of my head, but I took a deep breath and tried to calm myself.

After shaking my hands for a while, I reached for the cigarette in the chest pocket of my shirt, but of course, it wasn’t there.

I wasn’t wearing a shirt, but a martial arts uniform.

“Shit, shittttt!!!”

Unable to hold back the rising emotions, I threw off my top.

Why is it always me?!

However, my anger didn’t last long.

“Ugh! Ugh! Cough!”

After the coughing fit ended, I spat a mouthful of blood onto the floor.

Dark red, thick blood.

“Ugh, huff… I’m going to die like this…”

Breathing heavily, I focused and quickly calmed down.

It didn’t matter how bad things were; if I was going to survive, I needed to keep my head straight.

I wasn’t sure if I could survive this time either, but first, I needed to assess the situation.

As I gazed into the water puddle on the cave floor, I saw a familiar figure reflected on the surface.

A sharp nose, a delicate face, a handsome young man who was hard to believe was a man at all.

“This guy is…”

Cheon So-jin.

No, at this point, is he still being called Jin So-jin?

Anyway, the name Cheon So-jin is more familiar to me.

He really looked just like the illustration.

I had a vague feeling, but I didn’t expect it to turn out like this.

I’ve entered the world of the novel.

And of all things, I’ve ended up as the protagonist of [The Otherworldly Sword King, Possessing the Body of So Gaju].

From now on, I’ll be rolling, getting beaten up, despised, losing all my acquaintances…

And there’s nothing but trouble ahead.

Is this my fate now?

“Shit… what kind of bullshit is this!! Gyaaaah!!”

I wasn’t one to curse often, but the profanity slipped out naturally.

It felt like when I was a private, getting hit with a rifle butt by my comrades and being punished naked in the shower.

Calm down, excitement is poison.

Next to the altar, there was a robe he had worn, and it was covered with bloodstains.

The contents were things I knew all too well.

It was about his experiences and some unknown person asking for help.

But it was written with Cheon So-jin’s regrets.

“Hu…”

I craved a cigarette, but of course, there was none.

Before my anger could escalate, a deep sigh escaped from within.

It made sense because the altar was using ‘Soul Sealing’—a forbidden magic that forcibly possesses a powerful soul into one’s body.

It’s not something you can use just because you want to; you also need a very special treasure called Cheon-ok (Heavenly Jade).

As I had expected, right beneath the altar, I could see the pulverized remains of Cheon-ok.

At that moment,

‘Could it be?’

A sudden thought flashed through my mind.

The protagonist had a tremendous ally, after all.

In a desperate attempt, I called out softly to him.

“Sword King.”

The cave echoed with only his voice in the stillness.

Nothing happened.

“Sword King?”

“Sword King!”

“World’s best swordsman, Sword King!”

I called out several times, but nothing changed.

But when I thought about it, it was only natural.

I had possessed Cheon So-jin’s body, after all.

What was even more chilling was that I couldn’t even sense Cheon So-jin.

It felt like both of us had already died…

Like we never existed from the start, I couldn’t feel anything.

If this were a game, wouldn’t it be the worst game ever?

My head throbbed, but seeing the blood trickling down, I knew there was no time to waste.

I felt strangely dazed.

In that state, I sat cross-legged and slowly attempted to regulate my breathing.

I had no idea how to perform the True Qi method, so naturally, the martial art I was about to use was the Sun-Moon Yin-Yang Divine Art (日月陰陽神功).

It was the best martial art I learned in my previous martial world.

However,

…

There were a few flaws.

Sun-Moon Yin-Yang Divine Art…

I wasn’t thrilled, but if I wanted to survive, there was no choice.

And with my experience, it would be different this time.

I began to circulate my internal energy through my body slowly,

but

“Cough…”

This damn body couldn’t even complete a full rotation of the small circulation.

‘At my age, is this all the internal energy I have?’

It was because my body hadn’t accumulated basic internal energy.

‘If I can’t do even this, I might as well die.’

The wind howled.

Reluctantly, I used the basic cultivation technique, the Heart Foundation Method, to barely finish regulating my breathing.

“Ha…”

I stood up and began moving my limbs to adjust my posture.

My body still screamed in pain, but I could move without major hindrance.

‘How will I survive from here on?’

No matter how handsome my face is, the martial world ultimately respects strength.

Power is everything.

The reason he had fallen from grace wasn’t anything else,

it was because of those bastards…

‘You assholes… it’s because of you that I’m like this. I’ll make you pay for this tenfold.’

I knew who was behind this.

“Ha…”

Letting out a big sigh, I walked out of the cave entrance.

There was no sunlight, and there was nowhere to step—just a sheer cliff.

I could see the ground far below, but falling down now would be suicide.

I didn’t have the internal energy to protect myself, let alone any real power.

It was a true deadlock.

So how did the protagonist escape from here?

“Is it really the only way…?”

Next to the altar, there was something that looked like a woman’s hand.