Surviving in a third-rate martial arts world
Vol. 1 - Ch. 1

One day, I opened my eyes only to replace myself possessing a third rate warrior’s body.

It happened one winter night, when I, an ordinary office worker, suddenly fell asleep while leafing through the murim magazine which I had by laying around at home for the weekend.

I thought ‘this is strange’ because the heat was so much that it felt like I was seated in a steaming room, unlike in the middle of a normal winter. From the moment I woke up with the thought, ‘Did I end up sleeping on the electric mat last night?’

“Oh my, Eun-ri! Ju Eun-ri!”

“Now, Eun-ri wake up!”

“Eun-ri! Are you awake?”

“… Uh?”

I was surrounded by people wearing these strange clothes and was called by the name ‘Ju Eun-ri’.

This is because Ju Eun-ri is the supporting character in the murim magazine novel which I had watched last night, the <Return of the Heavenly Demon>.

That meant that I wasn’t possessing a real person, but one in the virtual person who existed in print alone.

If I had possessed a ‘real human’. I would have gone to a church, temple or a shaman and asked for help saying ‘I am possessed’…

This is the world inside a book, and I couldn’t go around bragging about being from a world-outside the book.

Well, there is nothing I could do about this.

All of it happened so suddenly that I was even in shock on what to do.

When I woke up, I realized that I had become a character from a murim book.

‘Ju Eun-ri at that…’

I groaned.

Ju Eun-ri, from the <Return of the Heavenly Demon> is neither the protagonist nor villain, just a supporting character destined to die after a lot of struggles.

‘I must have been dreaming all sorts of things.’

Naturally, for a while I thought this was a dream too.

Even though I criticized the novel for being a third rate one and low quality, I did enjoy reading it. So, why not have a dream which feels real? I believed in that.

It hadn’t been long since Ju Eun-ri, the real owner of the body, had suffered the wound and was lying down in shock, the people around me also didn’t replace it strange that I was dazed.

A day passed, and then two.

After about a week, the body’s memories began to return to me.

Thanks to that, the difficulties I experienced in the past life completely vanished.

Sometimes, Ju Eun-ri’s younger sister looked at me as if I was a stranger…

“Unnie (elder sister) seems a bit like a stranger….? She seemed fine for a few days.”

Like a 4-year old kid quickly cleared her doubts by hearing the words of adults around.

Time went quickly, and before I knew it, a month had passed.

At that point, I had no choice but to admit it.

Now I know that this isn’t a dream and that I have become a person who had no role in the book.

“So long, Eun-ri.”

However, weeping every night from the overwhelming sadness and endless despair only lasted for a moment.

When one person appeared, I had no choice but to stop escaping from reality and look straight at the rough path spread out for me.

Ju Eun-ri, whose body I stole, and Ju Eun-young, who lost her only sister without knowing, and maybe… I had to get my mind straight, even for the sake of me getting out of here.

There was just one reason.

Ju Cheol-rim. Uncle of the two sisters.

It occurred to me that the man who smiled kindly and said he would take responsibility for the 2 nieces in place of his dead brother was a very trashy bastard who thinks of selling us.

“I saw Eun-young briefly when she was in my sister in-law’s stomach, but it seems like I am seeing her for the first time since she came out. Right, Eun-young. Your uncle has something to say to your unnie, so please leave us for a moment.”

Look at this.

He kicked Eun-young out and stood right next to me, gently trying to persuade me to hand over to the guesthouse for someone he knew.

He had no regard for the fact that the guesthouse was one which had been handed down from his grandfather's time and it was a legacy left for his brother and niece.

‘Bastard.’

I cursed under my breath.

This was because the way he pretended to care for the sister’s said how disgusting his thoughts were.

‘What kind of family is this? You didn’t even come to see your brother’s face when he died…’

There was a lot I wanted to say, but I didn’t speak as it was obvious, speaking would only hurt me.

Instead, he just looked listless and bowed his head.

“Right, maybe I was pushing too much, I am sorry. Eun-ri. Let us talk later about it.”

Only then, conscious of other people’s eyes, and being held in the arms of Ju Cheol-rim, who pretended to comfort me, did I make a promise.

It will not improve my situation compared to the original novel, but it wont make it any worse. I will do whatever I can to save the poor girl, who is still 17, from the worst situation. Just like this.

For your information, the worst situation here is where my uncle sells the guesthouse to someone.

If he sells the guesthouse, I will not be able to meet the protagonist, and if I don’t meet the protagonist, I will not be able to easily overcome the hardships which will come my way in the future with the help.

Fortunately, the people here in the village of Jang-yang, remember Ju Cheol-rim, who got driven out by his father for his foolish behavior.

If they hadn’t paid much attention to us like now, Ju Cheol-rim would have taken the guesthouse from his niece and sold it to someone else.

‘No matter how evil this guy acts, we must protect the guesthouse.’

Finally, I had something to call for my life, and I began to move, even though it was clumsy, to set up a guest house based on the memories Ju Eun-ri had.

The work assigned to me wasn’t only guesthouse management.

I had to act as a cook, take care of Eun-young, whom I left in my neighbor’s house, watch out for the schemes of Ju Cheol-rim, who clearly wants this guesthouse, and even give instructions to the stupid handyman who was introduced by him.

‘I will die….’

Without exaggeration, there continued to be days where even bodies were lacking to help me.

Still, if there is any advantage of being alone… as I was thinking that, I thought carefully about the loneliness which comes from the fact that I am the only human in the world and anger rose ‘why me?’, and the feeling of despair of ‘Will I ever be able to return home?’, the point was that I didn’t have time.

3 years passed as quickly as a flowing water.

“Master, I will stay here for a few days.”

Early summer when I was 20.

The original novel finally began to show signs of progressing.

—-

I woke up to the sound of my neighbor’s chicken crowing.

I forced my eyelids, which were barely closing, to open.

With my half-open eyes, I could see the dim dawn light stretching all the way to the bedside.

Next, the jet black hair, which was disheveled on the bed, shone bluish in the light.

‘Is it morning already?’

I sat on the chair next to the bed and dozed off, stretching and straightening my stiff back.

It was a mess. I planned to go back to my room and have a comfortable sleep. Getting some shut-eye for a moment ended up being a waste of time all night.

‘… what can I do though? I haven’t slept well for a few nights now.’

Yawn, it came out of my mouth.

I wiped my face repeatedly to chase away the drowsiness.

For the past five days, I have had to work in the guesthouse, take care of my younger siblings, and nurse the patients. It felt like I never had the time to rest, except when I was sleeping.

Because the patient I was looking after was between life and death, I had to be in the patient’s room once or twice in the wee hours of the morning and take a nap.

It would be strange if my body didn’t feel exhausted after such a schedule.

As I listened quietly, I could hear colorful breathing coming from the side of the bed.

Unlike the last few days, when the sound was faint and low, the breathing seemed stable now.

I leaned over and stretched out my right arm.

This dark shadow fell over the boy’s body. I put away the dried wet towel and placed the back of my hand on the forehead, which was swollen.

‘Hmm.’

Although it was faint, the patient still had a slight fever.

‘But the fever did drop a lot.’

At this level, I didn’t have to change the wet towel anymore.

I unfolded the blanket that had been rolling around at my feet, covered it all the way to the boy’s neck, and slowly straightened my bent back.

‘Looks like he will wake up sometime today or tomorrow, right?’

Instead of getting up from the chair, I looked down at the bed with strange eyes, filled with anticipation.

A small white face, which was more like a pear flower, was clearly visible.

It was difficult to make an accurate judgment because the lower body was covered and the eyes were closed, but by looking at the flawless skin and the straight nose, one could guess that his handsomeness was extraordinary.

Indeed, should we say that he is the main character of the harem novel and has made countless women laugh and cry?

‘Ah, this isn’t the time to be like this.’

I was just admiring the face in fascination, then grabbed a wet towel and the basin at the feet and got up from the chair.

The time to open the guesthouse was slowly approaching. Before that, I have to start the flame, boil the broth, and prepare the ingredients.

There was a mountain of other things to do.

In case I woke up the MC, I walked out with cautious steps.

I walked along the dark hallway, which had identical looking doors.

Of the eight rooms in the guesthouse, only three are occupied now.

One of them was unavoidably tabled by a patient, and the other was a man called my uncle, staying without paying a penny, and the other one.

A monk who, Ju Cheol-rim owed a large gambling debt, was staying in our guesthouse for free in exchange for the reduction of the debt.

This was the end.

As I stepped on the stairs to the 1st floor, I thought of the unknown man who had rescued the MC of the <Return of the Heavenly Demon> from the river 5 days ago instead of a fish.

The man’s name was Mu Myung.

In the original, it was a one scene extra who only gets mentioned in passing by Eun-ri.

‘Of course, I am just saying that I did it to the fullest extent, and there is a high possibility that he would appear again later, but…’

I knew nothing about the man. Moreover, I don’t even know the name.

He introduced himself as a ‘learning warrior who wanders the world and supports the teacher's vision’; he was one who grew hair like a mop and would drink strong alcohol every night.

Seeing him as such, I couldn’t help but wonder if that character was really a monk.

Looking back, he was an unusual one from the moment he appeared.

He burst into the guesthouse with the hair slicked back and dressed in tattered monk’s robes, looked at me instead of Ju Cheol-rim, and said,

“Owner, I will stay here for a few days. Keep the meal and bath water ready, and please send them to me quickly.”

Even after 15 days, the question remained as to why he visited the Jang-yang village.

He couldn’t have come here to sight-see nor come to meet people. But it didn’t seem like he had anything special to do.

I once asked him the question, but he only smiled vaguely and never answered.

‘Anyway, he is a suspicious person. There cannot be some dark plot happening around, right?’

As I took the last step to the 1st floor, I recalled the day, 5 days ago, when the protagonist of <The Return of the Heavenly Demon> first stepped into our guesthouse.