WeTried Translations
Translator: Joy
Editor & TLC: ZEROSUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Damned Transmigration ◈
Chapter 3: Yuri (1)
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“The body, trained to its limits, is superior to any weapon. Weapons are for cowards who lack the courage to put their own bodies on the line of death.”
“But swords are stronger than fists.”
“That is prejudice. A trained fist can even break a sword!”
“But a sword can cut a fist without training it...?”
“You just have to hit the swordsman before the sword cuts you!”
Lorelia did not seem willing to yield on her beliefs. She stared at Lee Su-hyeok with a stubborn expression.
“Of course, training a weapon rather than your body may be a somewhat easier way to gain killing power. But! Once you reach a certain level, someone who trains only their body is physically superior to someone who trains both weapon and body. And mana ultimately comes from your own body, so whether it is sword-body unity or weapon-body unity, it is simply more natural, proper, and powerful to wrap it directly around your own body!”
Her rapid-fire words carried a fierce resolve that allowed no rebuttal. Lee Su-hyeok did not know much about mana or sword-body unity, so all he could do was nod.
“Therefore, I, Lorelia, will not give you weapons or armor! However, through this ‘special’ education, Mr. Lee Su-hyeok will gain something far more valuable than such things!”
“How to throw punches?”
“That is also a valuable lesson! Normally, it is forbidden to give Transmigrators this kind of education during the guidance process. There is no guarantee that the Transmigrator assigned to us will be a good person. But I, Lorelia, trust Mr. Lee Su-hyeok!”
There was a touch of smugness in Lorelia’s cheerful voice.
“What Mr. Lee Su-hyeok will receive is Lorelia’s martial arts!”
Martial arts? Lee Su-hyeok’s eyes widened.
“This is a privilege enjoyed by Mr. Lee Su-hyeok alone among all Transmigrators. The reason is...”
“Ah.”
Something suddenly came to him.
“Is it because I’m the last Transmigrator?”
The Evil God’s trap only brought over those ranked first in the Hall of Fame. That meant that, unless the number one record was surpassed from now on, no more Transmigrators could come over.
“The number one record I set will never be beaten.”
He was certain. If he had lacked that confidence, he would not have updated the Hall of Fame record in the first place. Even among the top records, which were decided by fractions of a second, UrMumSpammer’s record stood alone.
Everyone capable of taking first had already done it, and the Hall of Fame had been frozen for nearly half a year. No one new was joining that game anymore. There was no way first place would change.
“That is correct.”
A bright smile spread across Lorelia’s face.
“Transmigrators. Some of them seek to fight the Evil God to restore order. Some have adjusted to this world and live comfortably. Some have joined the Evil God and are disrupting order. And some have died.”
“...”
“I believe Transmigrators are victims with unfortunate circumstances. But it is also true that their existence and actions are causing the order of our world to collapse. In that sense, I, Lorelia... on behalf of the sleeping Goddess, wish to grant Mr. Lee Su-hyeok a privilege.”
Lorelia held up two fingers as she continued.
“There are two things I will teach Mr. Lee Su-hyeok. One is an inner energy cultivation method. The other is a technique for using your fists more ‘powerfully.’”
* * *
If twenty-seven-year-old Korean Lee Su-hyeok had committed any sin, it was only that he had diligently played a game that nobody else played, and that he had been good at it.
No matter how he thought about it, he could find no other crime.
The game’s only online feature was a ranking based on clear times, so he had never caused trouble in-game.
He had never caused any major trouble in the player community, either. In Lee Su-hyeok’s opinion, he had been a clean, passionate user who could serve as an example to other players.
So how the hell had he ended up like this?
Nothing good had ever happened in his life.
His parents had died in an accident when he was young, and he had lived under the roof of distant relatives.
He had never properly made a girlfriend, let alone a friend. The only people he had talked to enough to call friends were online acquaintances he had met through game communities.
Even if nothing else happened here, he had already lived a miserable, bitter life. If gods truly existed in this world, they should have pitied him and bestowed some sympathy instead of piling more misfortune on top of him.
‘God?’
He had never believed in gods in his life, but now he had no choice.
That damn god had kidnapped him into another world.
“Mr. Lee Su-hyeok! You must put sincerity into your fist!”
“Mr. Lee Su-hyeok! Simply extending your arm does not make it a punch! A punch means striking your opponent! Not merely hitting them, but hurting them! In particular, my Sacred Flame Release is a punch that pursues ‘one strike, one kill!’”
“Pad... Mr. Lee Su-hyeok! How many times must I tell you that merely throwing your fist is not a punch? Do not use only your fist! Your legs! Your waist! Your back! Your shoulders! Your entire body!”
“Step! Forward! Twist! Your body! Like this! Pull in the arm you are not extending! Be aware of your shoulders and back!”
“Are you going to carefully store your inner energy away and use it to make soup? Sacred Flame Release means packing inner energy into your punch and driving it into them!”
“No! Hey... Mr. Su-hyeok! Manifesting and altering inner energy comes later, so if you cannot do it, just do not! At first, you can just roughly drive it in along with the punch!”
“Yes! Just like that!”
He had no idea how many times he had swung his fist. Lorelia had seemed gentle and soft-spoken at first glance, but when it came to teaching violence, she was a strict instructor who did not overlook even a minor mistake.
Whenever he failed to correct something properly, Lorelia thumped her chest in frustration. Her word choice steadily grew harsher. Then she stepped in and demonstrated herself. If he still failed to fix it, she would grab his arm and waist and physically move him.
No matter how much he swung his fists in this waiting room, he did not tire. Even when Lorelia knocked him down, it did not hurt. That did not feel fortunate. Since he was not exhausted, he had to keep doing that shit without a break.
How much time had passed? How many times had he thrown his fists?
‘Ah.’
He felt that the punching he had repeated countless times was completely different from before. It seemed to draw itself toward Lorelia’s face.
If it hit, she would die. He would kill someone.
The fist he was personally throwing somehow seemed slow, and that thought lingered in his mind.
But he did not stop his fist. He did not want to.
This feeling was what he needed.
Thud.
That fist was stopped by Lorelia’s hand with absurd ease.
“Hmm.”
Their eyes met. Lorelia blinked her red eyes a few times, then smiled softly and nodded.
“Excellent, Mr. Lee Su-hyeok.”
“Hah...”
Lee Su-hyeok swallowed a breath and trembled.
He did not know how much time had passed in this waiting room, but he had thrown punches thousands of times while receiving criticism and scolding for every one of them.
Because of that, Lee Su-hyeok had begun to feel something like an indescribable bond with Lorelia.
She had many disconcerting and strange qualities for a priestess, but all of it was ultimately meant to keep him from dying a pointless death after transmigrating. Hearing the word “excellent” from Lorelia made his chest swell.
“Then, now...”
Rumble.
Lorelia had not even finished speaking. The floor, no, the world shook as if an earthquake had struck. Lee Su-hyeok flinched and staggered, but Lorelia did not move at all.
Her satisfied smile vanished. Lorelia turned a cold gaze toward the pure white sky and twisted her lips.
“Tsk.”
That brief click of her tongue carried thick irritation. After glaring at the sky for a moment, Lorelia looked back at Lee Su-hyeok with a radiant smile, as though nothing had happened.
“What was that?”
“Mr. Lee Su-hyeok!”
Rumble...!
The world shook again, but Lorelia maintained her smile.
“Unfortunately, it is time for us to part!”
“What?”
Rumble...
The world shook again. The tremor was stronger than before. Lee Su-hyeok looked at Lorelia with a stiff expression.
Her smile did not change. It was a fresh smile that seemed to say there was no problem at all. Her eyes were gently curved.
But Lee Su-hyeok could instinctively tell.
Lorelia was angry right now.
That was an emotion beyond irritation. Was it just his imagination? Her eyes seemed even redder.
Rumble!
The world shook again. The tremors were becoming more frequent. At the same time, Lee Su-hyeok’s vision shook violently even though he was only standing still.
“Ugh...”
Lee Su-hyeok let out a short groan and collapsed where he stood. He tried to rise again, but he could not. There was no strength in his legs. Lorelia did not look surprised. She approached him and crouched down.
Rumble!
“Mr. Lee Su-hyeok, were you satisfied with my guidance?”
“...What... is this?”
“Hmm, how should I put this...? There is no need to worry too much. My education went on for too long, and I also did something I should not have done on my own... They are trying to wake me up outside.”
“Something you should not have done?”
“I told you at the beginning, did I not? That Mr. Lee Su-hyeok would receive special education! Normally, we are not permitted to give Transmigrators this sort of special education.”
“Uh... Then... are you really all right?”
“Goodness, Mr. Lee Su-hyeok! Are you worrying about me now? I, Lorelia! To receive concern from someone I have so dearly wished to meet, I am deeply touched!”
Rumble!
Lorelia giggled and hugged her crouched knees. With a faint smile, she stared at Lee Su-hyeok.
“You do not need to worry. It truly will not be anything serious. I will be disciplined, but I, Lorelia, am not a weak woman who fears something as trivial as discipline.”
“...”
“Of course, if you had not been my assignment, Mr. Lee Su-hyeok, I would not even have risked discipline in the first place! But I will say it again. This is not your fault.”
“It sounds like you’re blaming me.”
“I am merely making a small show of it.”
Lorelia stuck out her tongue playfully.
Rumble!
“So, when will you answer me? Mr. Lee Su-hyeok. Were you satisfied with my guidance?”
“...Aside from a few mistakes. This transmigration itself is not a situation I am pleased about, but yes. I am glad that you are the priestess assigned to me, Lady Lorelia.”
Rumble!
“If only you had left out all those unnecessary words at the start, I, Lorelia, would have been deeply moved.”
Lorelia’s expression changed again. She shot Lee Su-hyeok an annoyed look.
Rumble!
“Well, the mistakes were unavoidable. I was not originally assigned to Transmigrators. Since my education was lacking, the education I could give was also lacking.”
Rumble!
“Still, was I not excellent for my first time teaching? I, Lorelia, may have been born with a dazzling talent for educating Transmigrators.”
Rumble!
In the middle of the waiting room within the collapsing mental world, Lorelia smiled faintly and whispered.
“I hope I never have cause to make that talent bloom.”
A cleric of Order was assigned to only one Transmigrator. The only time a cleric was assigned a new Transmigrator was when the previous one died.
“You do not have talent for teaching, Lady Lorelia, so you should not worry about that.”
Lee Su-hyeok snickered as he answered. Lorelia blinked her wide eyes a few times, then burst into laughter.
“You are cruel, Mr. Lee Su-hyeok. Just now, you said something that crushed one of my infinite possibilities.”
Still laughing, Lorelia pushed herself up from her knees. She helped Lee Su-hyeok to his feet, since he could not rise on his own.
He did not know how long they had spent together here, but despite all that time, he knew nothing about Lorelia.
The four syllables of her name, Lorelia. A priestess who served the Goddess of Order. The Sect’s person in charge of “violence.”
She was the first person Lee Su-hyeok had met after transmigrating. Whatever else happened, if he survived rather than dying in the world he was about to enter, it would be thanks to meeting Lorelia.
“Can we meet again?”
That was why he felt some lingering attachment. She had told him not to think that way, but Lee Su-hyeok still worried that Lorelia might be in trouble because of him. She had even personally taught him martial arts. He did not know what Lorelia thought, but strictly speaking, their relationship could be called that of teacher and student.
“Again? Hmm...”
Lorelia tilted her head and paused for a moment. The delay frustrated Lee Su-hyeok. The constant booming did not stop, the world was crumbling uneasily, his vision spun, and his body would barely obey him. It would not have been strange if he woke at any moment.
“Why are you taking so long? When you think about it, Lady Lorelia is my teacher... Well, in martial arts terms, my master, aren’t you?”
“Master? Ahahahaha!”
Lorelia flinched at the word master, then immediately burst into laughter.
“Was that enough to call me your master? I dislike that kind of relationship because it feels burdensome. I am a priestess, and Mr. Lee Su-hyeok is merely a Transmigrator. And if Mr. Lee Su-hyeok claims to be my disciple, it will create several difficulties. So do not think such things, and please treat me comfortably.”
“Seriously?”
“If fate allows it, we may meet again someday.”
“Here?”
“No. This space is for the souls of new Transmigrators, so Mr. Lee Su-hyeok can no longer come here. If we reunite next time...”
Lorelia’s lingering amusement faded as she nodded.
“It will be in reality. I will reunite with you after you have become ‘Yuri.’ Well, if I become interested... I may seek out ‘Mr. Yuri.’”
“I might seek you out instead, assuming Lorelia is not a false name.”
“How could clerics who serve Order speak false names? We clerics cannot do anything so clever. That is why fallen Transmigrators who joined the Evil God could relentlessly find and kill our brothers and sisters.”
Lorelia’s eyes stared straight into Lee Su-hyeok’s.
“I hope we do not reunite while carrying killing intent toward one another. I do not want to kill Mr. Lee Su-hyeok with my own hands.”
“What if I just come by to have a meal with you?”
“Hehe, that will not be easy. I, Lorelia, am not a woman you can meet merely because you wish to.”
Rrrrumble!
This tremor was the strongest yet. Lee Su-hyeok, who had been standing only because Lorelia held him up, flinched and drew in his shoulders.
“Within a month, my gift will arrive at Mr. Yuri’s home.”
“What gift?”
“A gift that will be of great help to Mr. Yuri.”
Lorelia spoke with a giggle.
Rrrrumble!
The pure white ground began to shatter and collapse. When Lee Su-hyeok staggered, Lorelia released his hand instead of holding him any longer.
“I look forward to our reunion, Mr. Yuri. But do not try to find the Sect of Order.”
Lorelia whispered down at Yuri as he fell.
“Then... I hope your transmigrated life is happy and enjoyable.”
Was she mocking him?
He wanted to get angry, but he could not. His mouth would not open, and Lorelia seemed too far away.
He smelled blood.
‘What...?’
He wanted to look around, but he could not open his eyes or move his body. His body felt heavy, as though he had woken from a shallow sleep. That awful scent of blood... As he continued to smell it, his senses slowly awakened.
One side of his cheek was hot. It was not from a fever. Something hot and sticky was touching his cheek...
“Hoooo...”
His body still could not move, but his breathing slowly began. Something seeped through his slightly parted lips.
‘Blood?’
Something entering through his breath. A taste on the tip of his tongue.
It was blood.
‘What is this?’
He forced his hazy mind to work.
A white room. A waiting room. The Goddess of Order. A priestess. Lorelia. Seronis. Transmigration.
Yuri.
Most Transmigrators destroyed the existing soul and transmigrated into a living body.
But Yuri was different. Transmigration was inevitable, but Yuri had died before “Lee Su-hyeok” entered his body.
Only then did Yuri realize an important fact.
He had not heard why Yuri had died.
‘Fuck, Lorelia...!’
That was how the world sometimes worked.
An unlucky person might get struck by lightning from a clear sky and die. They might trip over their own feet, crack their head open, and die.
Twenty-seven-year-old orphan Lee Su-hyeok was incredibly unlucky to be dragged into another world and transmigrated just because he was good at a shitty game. Twenty-year-old orphan Yuri was also incredibly unlucky to die from a pierced abdomen on the very day someone would transmigrate into him.
And it was also incredibly unlucky that his assigned priestess had originally been in charge of “violence,” causing several mistakes during the guidance process.
In other words, this was the synergy of three kinds of bad luck. He had transmigrated because he was good at a shitty game, the body he had transmigrated into was already dead, and he did not know why it had died...!
The one fortunate thing was that his injury healed once the transmigration was complete. Was his body unable to move because of the backlash from a dead body recovering? Or was transmigration always like this?
The more he followed that line of thought, the more his hazy mind awoke. Lee Su-hyeok, now Yuri, continued breathing as he tasted the vivid blood in his mouth.
Thump, thump-thump...
He could hear the dead heart beginning to beat again with startling clarity.
His eyes opened.
“Fuck.”
His thought slipped right out of his mouth. Yuri hurriedly sprang to his feet.
Corpses. Blood.
There were clear sword marks and bloodstains on the furniture, including the sofa and table. Perhaps they had been eating. Broken plates and food lay scattered across the blood-soaked table.
It was a sight that would have driven anyone into panic, but Yuri desperately clung to his senses. This was not a dream. It was reality. He forcibly clenched his trembling hands.
He looked at the face of a nearby corpse. A yellowish face and a bulbous nose.
His head suddenly throbbed.
Yuri let out a low groan and grabbed his head.
Fragmented memories began to come together in his mind.
‘Jang-sam.’
The name immediately came to him. A senior who had brought orphan Yuri from being an ordinary back-alley punk into an organization. Yuri’s memories, unknown to Lee Su-hyeok, came flooding in.
It made him feel like throwing up. Yuri bit down hard on his lip and glared at Jang-sam’s face for a moment. Once the memories had surfaced, they kept coming.
Where this was. Why he had died.
Yuri panted and turned his head.
He saw a framed picture of a snake drawn in wild brushstrokes. That was the symbol of the Black Snake Gang Yuri had belonged to, and this was the Black Snake Gang’s office.
Below the frame lay a huge man with one arm cleanly severed. It was Dekan, the boss. Yuri had needed to bow and scrape before him every day, make him coffee, and massage his shoulders. Now Dekan was dead with both eyes wide open.
“...”
Yuri continued taking deep breaths as he rubbed his abdomen.
The Black Snake Gang controlled a small street in Oldor, a rural city.
Like any organization of this sort, the Black Snake Gang’s main business was extorting money from merchants under the pretense of protection fees. They also worked as loan sharks with the money they collected and fought turf wars against similar groups on other streets.
Today, this common criminal organization had been attacked and wiped out.
“Come on, Brother! I told you, they’re all dead. We killed them ourselves, so why do we have to check again?”
“You idiot, you never know what can happen in this world. Say there’s some bastard we thought was dead, but they got lucky and survived. Then they might come at us with a knife on some dark street later, claiming it’s revenge for their organization.”
Voices came from outside the office.
Yuri flinched and hurriedly looked around. There were no windows. To escape, he would have to pass through the only door. And outside that door were the people responsible for wiping out the Black Snake Gang.
He grabbed a dagger lying nearby and lay flat where he had been.
Click.
The door opened.
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