TRDS 07

Chapter 7

Return of the Sword 

“Phew. This should be enough, right?”

Heoncheon smiled as he looked at the freshly completed book, the ink barely dry.

It was the secret manual for the new cultivation method he had just finished.

The new method was undoubtedly an excellent advanced martial art.

As long as the practitioner had enough talent and put in the necessary effort, Heoncheon was confident they could reach at least the Peak Realm without much difficulty.

‘It’s changed so much that it’s hard to call it the Cheongheo Heart Method anymore.’

But calling it the Wuae Technique would not be quite right either.

After some thought, Heoncheon decided to give the completed cultivation method a new name.

‘From now on, I’ll call it the Cheongheo Wuae Technique.’

The He Family’s very own cultivation method had been born.

He was happy about this historic moment, but only for a little while.

Heoncheon suddenly looked at the moon outside the window.

There had been a full moon on the night he returned to the Murim world, and tonight, exactly one month later, there was another full moon.

‘Has it already been a month since I returned to the Murim world?’

At first, he had wondered how he would ever adapt.

But seeing how well he had managed to get by without any major problems, perhaps humans really were creatures of adaptation.

‘Still, it’s a shame I never got to watch the finale of Squid Game Season 3.’

That was not the only thing he missed.

‘On a night like this, I should be having some chicken and beer for a late-night snack.’

Just thinking about chicken and beer made his mouth water.

The food in the Central Plains was not bad, but every now and then, he found himself craving Korean food.

Unfortunately, unless he went back to Korea, that wish would never come true.

Without realizing it, Heoncheon muttered,

“Haah, I wish I could just go back to Korea for a little while.”

It was just a casual complaint, but then—

Wooooong—!

“Huh?”

An unknown vibration suddenly rang out beneath Heoncheon’s feet.

A gigantic bat-shaped symbol made of red light appeared on the floor.

“No way, this is?!”

Heoncheon was startled.

Whether it was a coincidence or not, the bat symbol beneath his feet was identical to the emblem commonly used by the Blood Demon Cult.

‘Why is the Blood Bat Script beneath my feet?’

Before he could even think about it any further, a flash of red light burst from the Blood Bat Script.

The sudden, blinding light stabbed into his eyes, and Heoncheon instinctively squeezed them shut.

Then, when the light disappeared and he opened his eyes again, he was no longer standing in the He Family Estate.

He was standing somewhere completely different.

“W-Where is this?”

Heoncheon was momentarily speechless when he saw the huge 100-inch television in front of him, the black leather recliner sofa, and the floor covered in artificial marble.

Everything was completely different from the Central Plains.

And yet, all of it was incredibly familiar to him.

Then he turned his head.

Beyond the floor-to-ceiling glass windows was a dazzling city nightscape.

The moment he saw it, Heoncheon knew for certain.

‘Seoul……?’

He was inside the luxurious mansion where he had lived during his final days in Korea.

And right in the middle of the living room stood an old altar that looked completely out of place with the otherwise modern interior.

“This is…… Ah!”

Heoncheon stared at the altar and suddenly remembered.

“Right! This is the thing that Blood Demon bastard used when he fired that strange red beam at the Murim Alliance Leader!”

It had happened twenty years ago, but the experience had been so striking, and had affected his life so profoundly, that the memory was still vivid.

It was probably something he would never be able to forget, even until the day he died.

“But why is that thing here?”

He had no idea.

No, he simply could not know.

There was far too little information for him to work with in the first place.

Then he remembered the Blood Bat Script that had appeared beneath his feet before he was transported.

‘Could that have appeared because of this?’

If so, then he had to assume that the altar was what had brought him back to Korea.

There was nothing else he could think of.

‘Wait. Then does that mean I returned to the Murim world because of this thing too?’

Heoncheon had a strong feeling that the altar had also been responsible for sending him back to the Murim world.

After all, the light from this very altar had been what sent him to Korea in the first place.

If it could send him there, then it should theoretically be capable of doing the reverse as well.

‘Then does that mean I can return to the Murim world whenever I want?’

Just in case, Heoncheon lowered his voice and spoke.

“Return to the Central Plains.”

……

Nothing happened.

Absolutely nothing.

It was so embarrassing that Heoncheon’s face turned bright red.

“What the hell? Why can’t I go back whenever I want? This thing just does whatever it feels like!”

He could not figure out how it worked at all.

“This is driving me crazy.”

Heoncheon scratched the back of his head for no reason.

Regardless, one thing was undeniable.

He was back in Korea.

And once again, he had disappeared in front of his family without saying a word.

Naturally, he worried about the family he had left behind, but worrying would not change the situation.

So for the time being, he put those thoughts aside.

‘But did I come back permanently this time?’

With so little information, he could not say for certain.

First, he decided to check what had happened in Korea and immediately went looking for his phone.

It had been left carelessly on the bed in the master bedroom, and its battery had long since died.

But Heoncheon did not panic.

He found the charging cable and plugged it in.

The moment he turned on the phone, hundreds of missed-call notifications and KaTalk messages came pouring in.

—Boss, where are you?!

—Hyung, nothing happened to you, right?

—Oppa, it’s me. You’re safe, right?

—Mr. Heo, please contact us as soon as you see this.

………

……

They were all messages from his acquaintances and employees.

Looking at them, Heoncheon could not help but smile.

Maybe he had not done such a bad job of building a social life after all.

“These guys. You’d think the whole world had ended just because I disappeared.”

Heoncheon had been running a small company in Korea.

In Murim terms, it was essentially a security company specializing in bodyguard work.

Of course, getting there had not been easy.

‘I really went through a lot.’

It had all started by chance.

As an illegal immigrant, he had not had many options for making a living besides construction work.

Then, one day, he happened to save a female celebrity who was filming a drama at a construction site.

Because the filming schedule had been so tight, the workers had not had time to completely clear away some construction materials.

One of them ended up falling directly onto her head.

‘Later, I found out she was actually a promising rookie actress.’

At the time, he had not even known who she was.

He had simply saved her because he could.

But she considered Heoncheon her lifesaver.

That incident led to Heoncheon starting to work part-time as a bodyguard.

‘There’s a reason people say you fall back on what you know.’

Heoncheon had once personally protected the Murim Alliance Leader.

Whether it was an obsessive stalker or a nasty paparazzo, no one could escape his notice.

As his achievements and reputation accumulated, more and more work came his way, and Heoncheon’s bank account grew fatter by the day.

Naturally, his workload increased along with it, until there was simply no way he could handle everything alone.

So he had no choice but to start hiring people.

‘And eventually, I became the boss.’

He was practically the textbook example of a self-made man.

These days, he rarely handled bodyguard work himself, yet his salary still landed in his bank account every month without fail.

‘Things were so sweet. And I left all of that behind…….’

Even now, Heoncheon could not forget the emptiness and shock he had felt when he first returned to the Murim world.

Of course, despite all that, he seemed to have adapted to life in the Central Plains much better than expected.

But that was simply because of his personality and circumstances.

There was no point desperately clinging to something that could not be changed.

It was better to spend that time focusing on what he could actually do.

That had always been Heoncheon’s basic nature and way of thinking.

Besides, this was not the first time he had experienced something like this.

‘It felt pretty similar when I first landed in Korea, too.’

The first time was always the hardest.

When something similar happened repeatedly, people naturally adapted.

He also knew perfectly well that returning to Korea again would be difficult in practical terms, so he had been able to pull himself together fairly quickly.

He was lost in thought, reminiscing about the past, when—

Grrrrrrr—

“Oh. Right. I haven’t eaten a single meal today.”

He had been so focused on completing the Cheongheo Wuae Technique that he had completely missed his meals.

Since even the most beautiful scenery was best enjoyed after a meal, Heoncheon decided to eat first.

He immediately opened the delivery app he used frequently.

And then—

『Your order has been received.

—The owner is preparing your menu so you can enjoy a delicious meal.』

He had finished placing the order in less than thirty seconds.

That was possible because he had already decided what he wanted before opening the app.

“Whoa, how long has it been since I last had chicken and beer?!”

He was so excited at the thought of eating chicken and beer for the first time in a month that he was practically dizzy.

He ordered from the restaurant with the fastest delivery time, and fortunately, a delivery driver was assigned almost immediately.

Twenty-five minutes remained until the food arrived.

It was neither especially fast nor particularly slow.

A perfectly reasonable amount of time.

Yet to Heoncheon, time seemed to be moving more slowly than ever.

He could have killed some time by snacking on food or drinking something he had stocked in the house, but he did not touch a thing.

‘When I should be preparing to receive the Chicken God with the utmost reverence, how dare I get distracted by other food? Not a chance!’

Still, he could not simply waste those precious twenty-five minutes.

So he reviewed the formulas of the Cheongheo Wuae Technique again, checking carefully for any problems.

And then, some time later—

Ding-dong!

The doorbell suddenly rang.

Bzzzt—!

At the same time, his phone vibrated, and a notification appeared on the screen.

『Your delivery has been completed at the door.

—As requested, your order has been placed in front of the door……』

“It’s here!”

It was about two minutes later than the original estimated arrival time, but it had arrived safely, and that was all that mattered.

Heoncheon rushed straight to the entrance.

When he opened the door, a familiar branded plastic bag was sitting shyly on the floor.

He carefully picked it up so nothing would spill, brought it inside, and spread everything out.

The savory smell of frying oil and the sweet, spicy scent of the red pepper paste-based sauce immediately tickled his nose.

“Ahhh! Half seasoned, half fried. That’s the true essence of chicken!”

Of course, soy sauce chicken, cheese-seasoned chicken, green-onion chicken, and roasted chicken were all pretty good in their own ways.

But there was a reason the classics were classics.

Compared to the legendary half-and-half combination that had dominated the chicken industry for so long, they were all still a step below.

Heoncheon poured the draft beer that had arrived with the chicken into a beer glass he had chilled in the freezer beforehand.

The glass was so cold that the beer foam quickly threatened to overflow.

He instinctively took a quick sip from the foam and then downed the entire glass in one shot.

“Ahhh!”

The smooth finish unique to beer, the intense carbonation, and the overwhelming refreshing sensation were things he could never experience with baijiu like kaoliang.

His eyes nearly teared up from the sheer pleasure.

Before the lingering aroma of barley had even faded from his mouth, Heoncheon quickly grabbed a chicken leg.

The crispy, golden-brown coating was dazzling just to look at.

The mouthwatering smell and almost violently appetizing appearance made him swallow hard without even realizing it.

He wanted to stare at it forever.

But simply looking at fried chicken without eating it was torture of the highest order.

Just as he was about to take a huge bite—

Wooooooooong—!

An unknown vibration suddenly rang out, and red light began to seep from the altar like mist.

“Huh?”

The moment he saw it, Heoncheon’s heart sank.

‘D-Don’t tell me…… No way, right?’

The mist-like light gathered together.

Then it transformed into a single beam and shot toward him.

“Oh, for fu—!”

In an instant, Heoncheon’s entire field of vision was dyed bright red.

When he opened his eyes again, he was back at the He Family Estate.

Heoncheon stood there blinking for a while, completely speechless at what had just happened.

After several moments of silence, he finally managed to speak.

“……What the hell? Was that all just a dream? Or some damn hidden-camera prank?”

He desperately tried to deny reality, but the moment he looked at the chicken leg in his hand and the phone he was holding, he knew without a doubt that neither a dream nor a prank was responsible.

Heoncheon let out a deep sigh.

“Phew. First things first…… I’ll eat, then think about it.”

It had only been one chicken leg, but after a whole month without chicken, it tasted absolutely heavenly.

He could have cried from how good it was.

After finishing the chicken leg and barely managing to regain his composure, Heoncheon went over everything that had just happened.

‘I don’t know how it works, but because of that Blood Demon Cult altar, I can travel between the Murim world and Korea.’

Of course, it was not something he could do whenever he wanted.

There had to be some sort of cooldown period.

‘I mean, today wasn’t even the first time I’d casually muttered that I wanted to go back to Korea.’

If he had been able to travel between dimensions whenever he wanted, he would have gone back to Korea ages ago.

But nothing had happened until today, exactly one month after his return to the Murim world.

That suggested the minimum cooldown required for dimensional travel was probably one month.

‘Why don’t I test it?’

To see whether his theory was correct, Heoncheon muttered that he wanted to go to Korea.

As expected, nothing happened.

‘All right. Let’s assume the one-month cooldown is correct. Then what determines how long I can stay in Korea?’

Unlike in the Murim world, shouting that he wanted to return while in Korea had done absolutely nothing.

In other words, once he crossed from the Murim world into Korea, he was forced to remain there for a certain amount of time.

‘I was there for about thirty minutes, wasn’t I?’

Including the time he spent checking all the accumulated messages on his phone and waiting for the chicken to arrive, it had been roughly that long.

‘Then if I spend one month in the Murim world, does that mean I can stay in Korea for about thirty minutes?’

He could not be certain.

Heoncheon still knew very little about the identity of the altar.

More importantly, he had almost no information about the principles or structure behind dimensional travel itself.

‘Forget it. I’ll try again next month.’

He decided to postpone judgment until then.

‘Phew. Still, eating just one piece and having it end there is really frustrating.’

Heoncheon stared sadly at the chicken leg, which he had gnawed and sucked clean until only a white bone remained.

Then he suddenly muttered,

“……Should I try making it myself?”

He chuckled at his own words.

He had no ingredients or anything else needed to make chicken.

What kind of ridiculous idea was that?

“I should try it right now.”

Heoncheon immediately ran toward the kitchen.