Episode 4
Cheon Ubin’s expression was so stiff it showed no signs of relaxing.
That was how considerable the shock he had received was.
‘To think I spent twenty-five years rolling around in that damn rift…’
Of course, he had suspected as much.
That a considerable amount of time had passed.
The world must have thought him dead.
It was all within expectations.
He simply hadn’t known that time would amount to a staggering twenty-five years.
‘I feel like shit.’
The void created by twenty-five years.
He didn’t regret the severing of human connections.
Cheon Ubin was an orphan, after all.
There was no one he had been close enough to to miss or reminisce about.
However, if there was something regrettable…
‘So this is how my youth went.’
The time of his youth that had slipped away felt like a waste.
He hadn’t seen a mirror even once during that time, so he was afraid of how his appearance might have changed.
And the man who had made him fall into the rift.
He also worried about what he would do if the bastard who was supposed to die by his own hands had suddenly dropped dead somewhere.
‘Ah, don’t tell me I’ve become a bald old man?’
Cheon Ubin urgently ran his hand through his hair and let out a sigh of relief.
‘Thankfully, I still have hair.’
Come to think of it, he had always roughly cut and tied up his long, flowing hair.
Even recalling faint childhood memories, both his parents had abundant hair, so he figured he didn’t need to worry about balding.
‘Not being bald is fortunate in its own way… but I don’t know what to do from here on out.’
He felt strange.
Suddenly dropped into a world twenty-five years later.
Without a single acquaintance.
Without any assets left behind.
If he had been processed as dead, the remaining assets would have all been donated according to his will.
He didn’t regret it, but he couldn’t help feeling it was a waste.
Who could have predicted such a situation?
While thinking this way.
A voice was heard from beside him.
“Hey, you. Didn’t you hear? I told you to get out.”
He raised his head and saw a welcome emblem.
So that’s why he had felt a familiar energy.
He seemed to be a contractor of a constellation he knew.
“Huh? Isn’t this the Mad Dog?”
Go Damdeok.
Commonly called Gwanggaeto the Great.
Go Damdeok was a constellation who had built a strong force since the days when Cheon Ubin had been active.
And he was also a constellation deeply entangled with Cheon Ubin.
The symbol of Go Damdeok was emblazoned on the armor of the burly man.
“What did you just say?”
The burly man’s voice dropped even lower.
Cheon Ubin smiled brightly.
‘I was already feeling like shit. This is perfect.’
***
Believers who trust and follow a Constellation are largely divided into three classes.
Apostle – Saint – Ordinary Believer.
Here, both ‘Apostle’ and ‘Saint’ refer to Hunters and Contractors.
Park Hyeonseo could tell clearly.
‘That emblem. He’s a High Saint.’
A Saint is a Hunter contracted to a Constellation.
Saints are further divided into High, Intermediate, and Low, but the man before her was a High Saint.
‘If he’s a High Saint of Gwanggaeto the Great, I absolutely shouldn’t touch him…’
Park Hyeonseo was also a High Saint, but the quality was different.
A High Saint of Go Damdeok—currently called one of Korea’s Four Great Constellations—would be treated with respect anywhere in the world.
That meant he was that strong.
Then the beggarly man scratched his head and continued.
“I said Mad Dog. Or is it not? It’s been so long, even I’m a bit fuzzy.”
This crazy beggar was escalating things when he should be apologizing.
Park Hyeonseo felt tears spring to her eyes.
‘Please stop, you crazy bastard…’
She wanted to jump up and shout that she had nothing to do with this beggar, but the atmosphere wasn’t right for it.
Grrrrrr…
A terrifying aura burst forth from the High Saint of Go Damdeok.
An energy so strong that even Park Hyeonseo, a fellow High Saint, broke out in a cold sweat.
His already fierce face was completely contorted; he seemed very angry.
‘Sigh, and the Gwanggaeto guys are famous for having nasty tempers.’
It wasn’t for nothing that they had earned the nickname Mad Dog.
It was an open secret that Hunters belonging to Gwanggaeto the Great had foul tempers.
Had this not been the territory of the Constellation Dangun, he would have already flipped the table.
‘Please, let’s just apologize and move on even now. Maybe it’ll be resolved nicely!’
Park Hyeonseo held onto a sliver of hope.
This was the territory of Dangun, Korea’s greatest Constellation.
If they got on their knees and apologized now, even this Mad Dog Saint would let it go, saying all’s well that ends well.
However, Park Hyeonseo’s hope was shattered miserably by Cheon Ubin’s following words.
“Strange. Are there others with a red background and a pigeon drawn on it besides the Mad Dog?”
He called the three-legged crow a pigeon!
‘Ah, it’s over.’
Park Hyeonseo instinctively predicted this was the end.
Sure enough.
The High Saint of Go Damdeok grabbed the table and flipped it over.
“You filthy bastard! This isn’t a pigeon, it’s a three-legged crow!”
Crash!
The shouting High Saint.
The flipping table.
The bowl of gukbap on the table went flying, broth and chunks splattering in all directions.
Park Hyeonseo saw all of it in slow motion.
‘Let’s just get beaten into a bloody pulp right here and be done with it.’
She knew the gukbap beggar before her was strong.
But could he win against a High Saint of Gwanggaeto the Great?
Even if he won, it would be a problem.
Because she didn’t know what would happen the moment they were marked by the Church of Gwanggaeto the Great.
They might really be dragged away without a trace and tortured to death.
So getting beaten here and ending the situation was the best option.
At that moment.
“This bastard spilled my gukbap!?”
The gukbap beggar snatched the flying gukbap bowl out of the air.
And swung it with all his might toward the burly man’s face.
Whack!
Almost simultaneous with the table being flipped, the burly man collapsed to the floor.
The entire process took less than two seconds.
Just one hit.
The High Saint of Go Damdeok had collapsed, foaming at the mouth from a single blow of the earthenware bowl.
“What the…”
Park Hyeonseo couldn’t believe the situation even though she saw it with her own eyes.
Did he actually win?
That gukbap beggar?
Against a High Saint of Gwanggaeto the Great?
And he knocked him out with a gukbap bowl?
“Tch. Worthless guy.”
The gukbap beggar, Cheon Ubin, carefully set down the bowl and grinned.
Park Hyeonseo immediately grabbed his wrist.
“Huh? What’s this?”
“Don’t talk, just run!”
“Run? Flee? Why would I?”
“Just run!”
Cheon Ubin followed Park Hyeonseo out in a daze.
How long did they run like that?
They saw a swarm of people rushing by.
“The boss got beaten!?”
“Which bastards dare!”
“He said he was going ahead to order gukbap, what the hell happened?”
“Which little shits did this!?”
“They say they don’t know!”
“Doesn’t matter who it is, catch them first! Today’s lunch is intestine soup!”
Nearly a hundred Saints of Go Damdeok were rushing along.
Cheon Ubin and Park Hyeonseo pointlessly looked up at the sky, whistled, and passed by them.
***
On ‘Monster Hunter,’ Korea’s largest Hunter community.
An interesting post went up.
[Breaking! Gwanggaeto High Saint K.O.’d with a cracked skull from a gukbap bowl!]
A High Saint of Go Damdeok.
A strong individual who would rank in the top five percent of all Hunters.
That such a person got his head cracked and fainted over a mere gukbap bowl.
It was a provocative title impossible to resist clicking.
-…so he flipped the table, and that barbarian grabbed the gukbap bowl and whacked the High Saint’s skull. Seriously, it was so fast you couldn’t even see him swing it lollll and the sound went whack!, and that High Saint went down in one hit.
The content was nothing special.
It was merely a dry narration of what had happened inside the gukbap restaurant.
However, the content itself was the problem.
Who dared to send a High Saint of Go Damdeok down in one hit?
And with a gukbap bowl at that.
Everyone tried to brush it off as some novel-like tale, so the poster attached a photo.
[Attaching photo since you keep asking for proof. I don’t know when it’ll be taken down, so look carefully.]
The photo was blurry and hard to see clearly.
However, one could tell there were three people.
Someone in bizarre clothing held a dark earthenware bowl.
At his feet, a burly man had collapsed.
On the man’s back was a black three-legged crow on a red background, symbolizing Go Damdeok.
The fact that a short-haired woman sat calmly in her chair despite this was also a highlight.
-Is this real? Not a novel?
└If you’re going to troll, at least put in this much effort. I’ll acknowledge it.
└There’s a photo, would it be a troll?
└That kind of photo is totally fakeable if you set your mind to it.
-Honestly, I wish it were real. Those Gwanggaeto guys always pick fights, so it’s annoying.
└I wanted them to get taught a proper lesson. Always acting high and mighty since they’re one of the Four Great Constellations.
└Agreed, they’re the most arrogant of the Four Great Constellations.
-Impressive! A 21st-century barbarian warrior!
└Lollll Bowl Barbarian!
└Ooga!
└Ooga ooga!
└You guys are crazy lollllll
Everyone laughed and chatted, but up to this point, almost no one seriously believed the post’s content.
The content was so absurd, and faces didn’t appear in the attached photo.
With identities hidden, it was the kind of photo anyone could take if they set out to fake it.
It was lacking in many ways to be called evidence.
But not long after, a new post went up on Monster Hunter.
[I am Sin Seonggi, Apostle of the Church of Gwanggaeto the Great, Go Damdeok.]
A plain title introducing himself.
However, its impact was incomparable to the previous post.
None other than an Apostle had appeared directly.
-Hello. I am Sin Seonggi, Apostle of the Constellation Go Damdeok. Regarding the unsavory incident today, our position is….
The beginning was very calm.
But as it went on, the content gradually became more brutal.
-The bounty is one billion won. Bring them to any branch of the Church of Gwanggaeto the Great, and we will pay cash on the spot. Additionally, a bounty of one hundred million won for the woman who appears to be with them….
As expected of an Apostle of the Four Great Constellations.
Overwhelming momentum with an overwhelming bounty.
An individual doing such a thing might violate the law, but no one could object.
These days, an Apostle of a great Constellation wielded more power than the president.
As if proving that authority, the comment section was quiet, and the breaking news post had been taken down before anyone knew it.
People gathered in threes and fives to talk about this incident.
-I’m worried about the poster from earlier. The Gwanggaeto guys will flip out trying to find them.
└For real, the poster who uploaded it should prepare themselves too.
└They might already be dragged away and getting beaten…
-O Barbarian Warrior… did you really take down a High Saint with a bowl…
└It’s even harder to believe that the content was real. At that level, he must be some Constellation’s Apostle.
└Most Apostles of ordinary Constellations couldn’t do that. The Four Great Constellations are called that for a reason.
-Bowl Hunter. You did a good thing by taking down one Mad Dog. Rest in peace where you are.
└You’d better watch your fingers if you don’t want to get dragged away.
└Yes sir.
-By the way, who was the woman with him? Is she the Barbarian Warrior’s girlfriend?
└Barbarian Warrior! I thought you were a friend, but you were an enemy!?
└Grab the spear!
Having read this far, Park Hyeonseo let out a deep sigh and put down her smartphone.
‘What do I do now?’
She had gotten caught up in an enormous incident in a daze.
She wanted to pull out even now, but that was difficult too.
Because mentions of herself were coming up frequently.
‘I must be crazy! Why did I take him out of there!’
Park Hyeonseo glanced toward the back seat of the car.
The man was taking a nap with a smile on his face, as if something pleased him greatly.
Sunlight filtering through the glass shone on his splendid face.
Having eaten gukbap to bursting and now taking a nap.
It was the height of peace.
“Hey!”
“Mmm…”
“Wake up! Now is not the time to be sprawled out sleeping!”
“…What is it.”
The man slowly opened his eyes.
“What are you going to do!”
“About what.”
“Gwanggaeto the Great! How could you beat up a High Saint like that!”
“Why. Are the Mad Dog guys coming in a group?”
“If only they were just coming!”
Park Hyeonseo shouted while forcibly holding back tears that threatened to burst.
A nationwide bounty had been issued.
Even a bounty of one hundred million won had been placed on her.
Honestly, she was terrified.
She couldn’t shake the image of being dragged to Daejeon, the headquarters of the Church of Gwanggaeto the Great, being tortured in a basement, and losing her life.
Despite this crisis.
“It’s fine. It was like this in the past too.”
The man waved his hand and tried to fall back asleep.
Park Hyeonseo struck the man’s abdomen with all her might.
“Keok! What are you doing!?”
“Take responsibility already! Do you think the situation will be resolved if you just sprawl out sleeping!?”
“I said it’s fine!”
“What exactly is fine!?”
“Isn’t the Mad Dog Apostle Sin Seonggi?”
“…So what.”
“Then it’s settled. Lend me the phone for a second.”
At the man’s confident attitude, Park Hyeonseo absentmindedly handed over her smartphone.
“This is a phone? It looks amazing.”
The man turned the smartphone around.
Park Hyeonseo gulped.
‘Don’t tell me he knows Apostle Sin Seonggi…?’
Sin Seonggi, Second Apostle of the Constellation Go Damdeok.
What relationship could this man have with him?
Come to think of it, with such power, he couldn’t be an ordinary person.
“Let’s see… I vaguely remember Seonggi’s number…”
The man thought for a moment, then dialed the number without hesitation.
Ring, ring, ring— Ring, ring, ring—
A classic ringtone played.
Park Hyeonseo gulped.
Was the number he just dialed really Sin Seonggi’s?
“He’ll understand if I talk to Seonggi. That guy isn’t so narrow-minded.”
“Ha ha… that’s a relief…”
A smile of relief gradually bloomed on Park Hyeonseo’s face.
As expected, this man was acquainted with Apostle Sin Seonggi!
‘Right. No matter how thoughtless he is, he wouldn’t start something blindly!’
If he knew Apostle Sin Seonggi, the man’s actions could be sufficiently overlooked.
How long did the signal go like that?
-Who is this.
Park Hyeonseo clenched her fist.
The voice coming from the phone was familiar.
It exactly matched Apostle Sin Seonggi’s voice that she had heard on broadcasts.
“Long time no see, Seonggi. Have you been well?”
-I asked who this is. How do you know this number?
“You bastard, you forgot my voice already? It’s me. Cheon Ubin.”
-I’m not in the mood for jokes right now.
“Huh? You don’t remember? You got beaten like a dog by me, and we decided to be friends. You gave me this number then too.”
-Whoever you are, this joke is excessive. Wait. Someone will visit you soon.
Click-
The call ended like that.
Simultaneously, Park Hyeonseo’s shriek burst forth.
“Shiiit! We’re all dead! We’re going to die!”
Now it was really certain.
At minimum, it was a guaranteed death sentence.