WeTried Translations

Translator: Joy

Editor: Joy

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◈ Damned Transmigration ◈

Chapter 6: Yuri (4)

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Yuri, a former pickpocket, had always been wary that his room might be robbed, so he had hidden money all over it.

Once he gathered it all in one place, there was enough that he wondered whether buying a safe would have been better.

In one corner of the bed, he found Yuri’s diary.

He needed to understand the personality and emotions that existed separately from the memories, so the diary was important.

It was not something Yuri had written every day.

Only very occasionally, when he could not sleep. When he hated lying blankly in bed, hated himself and his surroundings, and wanted to write something. When something filling his chest or mind needed to be poured out.

That was when he wrote in it, though it was barely a diary.

Like most diaries of that kind, it contained almost nothing about the day itself. It was mostly thick, clinging emotions.

Naturally, most of those emotions were negative and hateful.

The Yuri who wrote the diary knew he was trash. He knew that if he kept living like this, he would become trash that could not even be burned. The Black Snake Gang was not a proper organization. It would not be strange if it disappeared at any time, and no one would care if it did. To live properly, he needed to cut ties with the Black Snake Gang...

But he needed money.

Enough to leave this backwater behind. Enough to settle down wherever he went.

Yuri had been saving money to leave this city. He wanted to leave, live a somewhat better life, perhaps learn magic or martial arts properly, and if that did not work out, start some other job...

The diary went on at length about such things, revealing the insight of twenty-year-old Yuri. In the end, as Yuri had expected, the Black Snake Gang was easily wiped out, and Yuri himself was stabbed to death in the process.

Fortunately, the money remained.

At first, Lee Su-hyeok used it bit by bit while getting accustomed to this world. He bought things that seemed immediately necessary and paid for meals.

After four days, he began hovering around the communal kitchen on the first floor. He bought ingredients at the nearby market and cooked using Yuri’s memories.

It was nothing more than fried mystery meat with bread as hard as stone bought outside. Yet while eating that tasteless food, tears streamed down his face.

He missed steaming white rice and kimchi. Noodles, especially ramen. Spicy stir-fried pork. Chicken. Jokbal and bossam.

He also grew used to the bucket toilet on the first floor of the apartment building.

Not because he wanted to get used to it, but because he had to.

No matter how filthy a toilet was, no matter if finger-sized bugs crawled everywhere and the stench was overwhelming, if you ate, you had to shit. If you could not, that was a problem in itself.

Fortunately, Yuri’s body had no such problems. If anything, it was remarkably healthy.

‘Fuck.’

He grew used to dumping cold well water over his head.

He grew used to meditating every day.

Qi circulation and breath control. Mana cultivation.

The names differed according to culture, but the principles were the same. Sit still, meditate, and accumulate mana or qi within the body.

“Even if it is uncomfortable and painful, you must maintain the correct posture! Mr. Lee Su-hyeok, remember this well! My advice, Lorelia’s advice, is worth its weight in gold!”

He did not need to follow the Pungwon Heart Method or the Basic Mana Primer, both of which reeked of a scam. In his hopeless situation, Lorelia’s advice really was worth its weight in gold.

He did not know how exceptional the Heavenly Art of Annihilating Evil, which Lorelia had taught him personally, was as a cultivation method. Still, its grandiose name made it seem extremely high-grade.

‘There wasn’t any martial art with a name like that in the game.’

If it had existed in the game, he could have immediately assessed its value. But he had never heard of it before, so he had no way to judge.

Whether because the Heavenly Art of Annihilating Evil was an outstanding cultivation method or because of a Transmigrator’s mana affinity and comprehension, the increase in mana whenever he circulated his qi was extraordinary.

As long as they survived, Transmigrators had the potential to become monsters without exception. He understood why the natives of this world killed Transmigrators early on, and why Transmigrators slaughtered one another.

‘This is...’

Dangerous.

Ten days later, Yuri felt a powerful sense of crisis. He could not simply keep meditating happily and accumulating inner power. If his body was too frail, it would struggle to withstand its own inner power.

Even when he had punched Oh Bong-chun in the jaw, he had sprained his wrist and torn his skin. Inner power might reinforce the body, but he felt the need for basic physical training.

He added bodyweight exercises to his daily routine and began punching the wall beside the window.

‘I need martial arts.’

He had the Heavenly Art of Annihilating Evil as a cultivation method. He also had a technique called Sacred Flame Release, but it did not seem enough. If possible, he wanted to learn another fist art as well.

What about using a weapon instead?

‘Absolutely not!’

Lorelia would have shouted if she heard him.

“It’s not as if fist arts fall from the sky.”

Just in case, he looked through the bookstores in Oldor, but there was no way a proper fist-art manual would be available in the bookstores of a rural city like this.

‘Can’t you create a skill yourself?’

He recalled Lorelia’s golden advice again.

The powerful Transmigrators whose identities as Transmigrators had been revealed and who survived in this world had recreated skills they had used in the game. Even if they could not make them exactly the same, they combined magic and martial arts according to builds already proven in the game.

But that would be difficult for Yuri.

For one thing, his character, UrMumSpammer, did not use weapons.

Nor did he wear armor.

His build revolved around a skill that granted bonus stats based on total stats every time he sealed an equipment slot. The seals increased as the game progressed, and by the end, UrMumSpammer had become an underwear-only character with no equipment at all.

Stacking bonus stats. Blessings granted according to the flow of battle.

An evasion rate that had shattered even the system’s limits.

High-powered skills fueled by health.

The lower his health became, the more his stats were pumped up. The bonus stats based on his total stats were recalculated. At critical health, berserk status amplified his stats again. Then he endured through life steal...

He compensated for the defense he would have gained from equipment with inflated health, maintained his health threshold through precise control, and fought with the enormous bonus stats earned throughout that process. That was UrMumSpammer’s concept.

But recreating the concept of walking around in nothing but underwear, with no armor or weapon, would be impossible in reality. Not using weapons or armor would not raise his stats here.

Still, he thought he could make a roughly similar build.

For one, the Sacred Flame Release Lorelia had taught him was used bare-handed. More importantly, the build Yuri knew best specialized in unarmed combat. There was nothing he could do about being forced to wear underwear, but perhaps he could obtain other skills in the future.

In the end...

Yuri had no choice but to give up martial arts involving weapons, such as sword arts or spear arts. Humanity’s strength lay in using tools. Was insisting on bare-handed combat after giving up weapons not the same as voluntarily becoming a chimpanzee?

‘No, wait. Don’t chimpanzees use weapons too...?’

In a movie he had watched long ago, chimpanzees had been firing guns. Still, once his cultivation reached a high enough level, he would probably be able to shoot inner power with his bare hands like a gun.

Physical training through external arts. The need for martial arts he could use in battle.

There was something else that made him uneasy.

Yuri had been hopeless with mana.

He had diligently read the Basic Mana Primer and the Pungwon Heart Method, but achieved nothing. So what if he suddenly started walking around with inner power in his dantian? Anyone who did not know him might not notice, but if someone familiar with Yuri met him, would they not naturally become suspicious?

It was not only acquaintances he needed to watch out for. To avoid suspicions that he was a Transmigrator, he needed to know how to hide himself.

He recalled Lorelia’s golden advice again.

The affinity Transmigrators possessed. It allowed them to freely handle mana. Depending on the direction of their efforts, they could even create new magic or martial arts...

In truth, that advice was telling Yuri to engage in underwear play befitting UrMumSpammer. But no matter how he thought about it, that concept could not be recreated in reality. Walking around in only underwear would not make him stronger here.

What he needed to focus on was the part about being able to create something.

He went looking for a library or somewhere else that might offer a reference, but once again, he found nothing.

“You been eating something good lately?”

He truly felt the danger when he met Gordon at the general store.

“Y-Yes? Why?”

“No reason. You just look a lot healthier. Your skin is smooth, and your dark circles are gone.”

He had not eaten anything good. He had simply circulated the Heavenly Art of Annihilating Evil every day. After doing it for several hours, his mind felt clear and his body refreshed.

Sometimes black or yellow, foul-smelling sweat came out... How should he put it? On those occasions, he felt as though toxins had left his body, so he felt especially good.

“Oh, no. I haven’t been eating anything special. Maybe it’s because I’ve been resting well at home lately?”

After making that excuse, he hurried home.

‘I’m fucked.’

Standing naked before the mirror, he could clearly see the difference. His once-rough skin was smooth, his dark circles had vanished, and his hollow eyes had become bright.

He needed a countermeasure.

There was nothing he could do about the vitality in his body, but he needed to hide his inner power.

In the end, he dove in headfirst.

He examined the flow of inner power through the meridians in his body and his dantian. What if he blocked the meridians? Or twisted them to seal off his dantian? Could he make others mistakenly believe that he had no inner power?

There was no way it would work. He nearly died. He had only slightly twisted the inner power flowing according to his will, but it felt as if his entire body had been turned inside out. It hurt so much that he could not even scream.

He lay on the floor convulsing for three days. Only on the fourth day did he barely begin to recover. Even then, if not for a Transmigrator’s mana affinity and the Heavenly Art of Annihilating Evil, he would not have been able to properly restore his twisted meridians.

‘This won’t work.’

Maybe someday, but not at his current level. He tossed aside the clothes soiled with sweat and other embarrassing substances, then came out of his room five days later to wash himself.

Thud.

Something wedged in the crack beneath the door fell to the floor.

“What’s this?”

It was a letter with neither sender nor recipient written on it. Who had sent it? When? He had not heard any knocking while he lay collapsed on the floor.

There was a small error, and I was unable to convey what I needed to tell you.

Are you alive?

I believe you are alive. I do not believe you are someone who would die over such a trivial matter.

In fact, I know. If you had died, I would have learned of it somehow.

If you are worried about me, you need not be.

As I told you when we parted, I do not fear punishment. As expected, my punishment was not severe.

I wish to inform you that this is a special case in many ways.

My family objected to doing this much, but I am someone who always keeps a promise.

Whatever else may be said, it is true that my family benefited because of you. I thought repayment of this degree was necessary, and in the end, my family agreed.

My family has decided to accept the unilateral decision I made.

This is the gift I promised you.

It is called the Veil of Deception. You will know what it is.

This is a gift that I am sending personally, separate from my family.

Having treated you this exceptionally, if something goes wrong, I will have to take responsibility myself.

Of course, I am prepared to do so.

Since I am the only one who knows you, it is only right that I take responsibility.

Then I wish you peace.

P.S.

Only you may open this letter, and it will explode one minute after opening.

You need not worry about being tracked. Conversely, do not attempt to track.

The noisy way of speaking was absent.

The sender had referred to them as “family,” but Yuri immediately knew who had written the letter and who that family was.

Without realizing it, he sighed in relief upon hearing that the punishment had not been severe.

The record might someday be broken, but considering the difference in the flow of time, no other Transmigrators would cross over into this world for decades.

The Sect of Order existed to correct disorder, so it could only welcome the fact that no more Transmigrators had arrived. That was likely why Lorelia had received only a light punishment.

“That’s right...!”

He had been so busy for the first few weeks after becoming Yuri that he had forgotten.

The gift Lorelia had promised him.

“The Veil of Deception...?”

Yuri tilted his head and turned the envelope over.

Clink.

A thin necklace fell out. He did not know what material it was made from, and it bore no special decorations.

‘No, wait. It explodes?’

He set aside his thoughts about the necklace and put the letter down first.

Had more than a minute already passed? Just as that thought occurred to him, Fwoosh! The letter caught fire. It was supposed to explode, yet it merely burned into black ash.

‘Then why call it an explosion?’

It was absurd, but there was no one he could question.

The Veil of Deception.

He remembered what kind of item it was.

One inconvenience of having too great a level difference in the game was that weak monsters would not approach. In fact, they would run away from you.

Normally, that was convenient because it allowed you to avoid annoying fights. But when you needed to grind specific monsters, you had to chase them down instead, which was incredibly irritating.

The Veil of Deception was an item for such occasions. When worn, monsters would attack as usual regardless of the level difference.

It was an item UrMumSpammer often used, since he needed to keep his HP lowered.

Yuri examined the Veil of Deception from every angle. He did not understand why he needed it now, but he put it around his neck.

Crack.

“What, what is this?”

He tried to grab the necklace in alarm, but he could not. The necklace clung to his skin and burrowed inside it.

It did not hurt, but even a thin metal-chain necklace disappearing into his skin was enough to startle him.

He ran a hand over his smooth neck, where nothing protruded, then realized something and sat down.

There was an unfamiliar sensation in his dantian and meridians. After closing his eyes, focusing, and observing himself, he understood what the necklace did and how the Veil of Deception from the game applied in this world.

To others, Yuri would appear to possess not a shred of inner power or mana.

An item that deceived others, just as its name suggested.

Just as the letter said, it was an item Yuri desperately needed. He rubbed his neck and let out a hollow laugh.

“You could’ve sent it a week earlier...”

Then he would not have needed to spend two days worrying, three days lying down convulsing, and one day groaning as he recovered.

After a brief complaint, Yuri knelt.

Toward the Sect of Order, wherever it might be. And toward the Goddess of Order, who had supposedly entered a long sleep, and Lorelia, he offered a prayer of thanks.

He had been an atheist his whole life, but after receiving a gift directly like this, he could naturally believe in the existence of gods and offer a prayer of gratitude.

Once he finished praying on his knees, the floor felt different beneath him.

After cleaning up the various secretions he had spilled while lying there for five days and the ash left by the fire, scrubbing his dirty clothes because they were too wasteful to throw out, and washing himself, a whole day had passed.

Twenty-seven-year-old Lee Su-hyeok had lived as twenty-year-old Yuri for exactly one month.

* * *

Over the past several days, Yuri had begun a new challenge.

Changing his face.

There were martial arts like that in wuxia novels and comics.

He could not remember the name, but it was a kind of martial arts plastic surgery that used inner power to distort the muscles and bones of the face, creating a different appearance.

‘It seems like I could change my body too... But changing just my face would already be something.’

He had realized something after living as Yuri for a month.

If possible, he should abandon the name Yuri as soon as he could.

He did not meet Gordon often, but he had intentionally put even more distance between them. If they met too often or talked too long, someone might find a clue.

Gordon, who had lived on the same street and seen his face for years, was more troublesome than a childhood friend he had parted with ten years ago and only exchanged letters with. Furthermore, even with the Veil of Deception, continuing to live as Yuri carried risks.

If he succeeded in changing his face, he would have far more freedom. He could leave a letter for Gordon, leave the city, and then buy forged identification or something...

Knock, knock.

The problem was that changing his face was not as easy as it sounded. He could move his muscles easily enough, but he had no idea how to distort his bones. He had nearly died after interfering with his meridians a few weeks ago, so he was reluctant to act recklessly.

Knock, knock, knock.

‘Who is it?’

Yuri stopped manipulating his facial muscles as he glared into the mirror. The knocking continued. He had ignored it, thinking Gordon might have come to ask him to share a meal, but it was too persistent for that.

He stayed quiet without making a sound. Whoever it was, they would leave on their own if they thought he was not home. For a moment, he wondered if it might be Lorelia, but she did not seem like someone who would come looking for him herself.

He looked into the mirror again. Just as he moved the muscles around his eyes to create double eyelids and adjust their size...

Crash!

The door broke apart.

“...?”

Yuri hurriedly stopped what he was doing and stood.

The person who had broken down the door strode into the room, then met Yuri’s gaze.

“Why were you pretending not to be home?”

A blonde woman glared at Yuri.

Oldor was a rural city where he had lived for a month.

The woman who had abruptly broken down his door looked so out of place in the countryside that anyone could tell she was an outsider at a glance.

A wide-brimmed hat. Shimmering blonde hair. Clear, pale skin. A dress whose material alone looked expensive. Even her shoes were free of a single speck of dirt.

“I asked why you were pretending not to be home.”

The woman repeated the same question as she glared at Yuri.

Yuri could not answer. He simply stared blankly at her face. He could not understand the situation itself.

No matter how much of a rural backwater Oldor was, and no matter how terrible its security, someone breaking down a door and barging in during broad daylight was absurd in many ways.

And the one who had broken in was not some vicious-looking brute, but a beautiful woman he had never seen in this rural city. On top of that, she was the one acting as though Yuri had done something wrong.

“Don’t tell me.”

The woman’s eyebrows twitched. Between her narrowed eyelids and thick lashes, blue eyes flashed.

“You don’t recognize me?”

Her voice had gone cold to match her expression. Yuri closed the mouth that had been hanging open.

To be honest, he had not recognized her. It could not be helped. The face he remembered was that of a ten-year-old girl. Even if she had grown up normally, there had to be a huge difference between the face of a ten-year-old and that of a twenty-year-old.

Her atmosphere had also changed greatly. The only things left from the face he remembered were her blonde hair and blue eyes.

“How could I not recognize you?”

But after she put it that way, he finally thought of the name.

“Elena.”

In the last letter he had received, Elena had written that she would leave the Mage Tower for half a year to carry out a Class 4 commission.

I’ll wait for your reply.

That was what she had written at the end of her letter.

Yuri had not replied.

Neither had Elena. More than half a year had passed since then, yet no new letter had arrived.

They had both given up on each other. The shallow connection between them, held together only by a childhood memory, had been severed. That was what Yuri thought.

Starting with the letter before that one, Yuri had told her she did not need to send any more letters. Elena had refused and sent a reply, but Yuri must have wanted to end this relationship long ago.

The life Elena, Elena Heinderga, described in her letters stood in stark contrast to Yuri, an orphan without even a surname.

Elena’s letters made Yuri keenly aware of reality and became a trigger for his inferiority and jealousy.

“Why are you here?”

Honestly, Yuri never wanted to meet Elena for the rest of his life. Childhood friend or not, she did not mean anything to the current Yuri. He felt neither inferiority nor jealousy toward her shining life. He simply wanted her to remain someone far away. Or for him to go far away from her.

But he had never imagined Elena would come looking for him.

Was the Class 4 commission she had mentioned really nearby? Or had she come in person because he had not replied?

While Yuri desperately turned the matter over in his mind, Elena pressed her lips together and glared at him. She gripped the hem of her white dress tightly, then marched toward Yuri.

“Hey, wait...”

He was wary of Elena approaching without answering his question. He became needlessly conscious of his neck, which held no trace of anything strange.

The Veil of Deception. A gift sent by Lorelia and the Sect of Order. As long as he had it, Elena could not see through Yuri’s inner power.

“Stay still.”

Elena snapped at Yuri, who was backing away. Even after hearing that, he could not simply do as he was told. Should he jump out the window and run? As he backed away, even considering that, something lightly tapped against his leg.

The bed. This room was so small that he had touched the bed after taking only a few steps back. With his escape route blocked, Elena nodded as if that suited her perfectly.

Thud.

Elena lightly pushed the air with her hand. At that moment, Yuri saw the mana in the air move. But even though he saw it, he could not let himself dodge.

“Ghk.”

The mana that came straight at him shoved him in the chest. Yuri naturally dropped onto the edge of the bed, blinking in bewilderment.

“Don’t move.”

The cold voice delivered its warning.

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