WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Ceaseless
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Martial Arts Survival Guide ◈
Chapter 13: Shall We Go?
──────
There was a little cash in his wallet, and thankfully, his card hadn't been suspended either. His phone's battery was dead, and since it was five years old anyway, he found a nearby phone shop and bought the latest model. He had quite a bit of money saved up, and a phone was essential for life in the modern world.
While waiting for his new phone to be activated, he ate ox-bone soup at a nearby soup-and-rice restaurant. It was a rather humble choice for his momentous first meal back in the modern world, but Baek Hyun liked ox-bone soup.
By the time he returned from his meal, his phone had been activated. Baek Hyun left the shop and browsed the internet on his phone as he wandered aimlessly around the neighborhood. Enjoying the modern conveniences he had forgotten about in the Peach Blossom Realm brought a fresh wave of emotion.
“Seo Min-sik...”
He searched for his friend's name. The profile that popped right up left Baek Hyun speechless. There was a photo of Min-sik wearing a bright smile. Below it were his full name, date of birth, height, and weight. No guild affiliation... Baek Hyun let out a disbelieving laugh at the long list of related searches.
“That bastard really made it.”
Muttering to himself, Baek Hyun searched for the Abyss's location, his original goal. The Abyss had appeared four years ago in locations scattered across the world. In Korea, it was in Hwacheon, Gangwon Province.
‘Hwacheon... I've never been there. Should I run?’
The Abyss didn't turn anyone away. But while the location didn't really matter from the second visit onward, anyone entering for the first time had to go to the site of the Abyss itself. Without much thought, he searched for how to get to the Abyss.
There were buses. Quite a lot of them, too. One left the terminal about every thirty minutes, and there were even late-night buses.
“I'll take the bus.”
He had never been there before. Turning on a map app and using his lightness art might have been faster than taking the bus, but Baek Hyun simply hailed a taxi to Dong Seoul Bus Terminal. He had returned to this world after twenty years, so he wanted to enjoy its modern conveniences.
He boarded the next available bus, sat by the window, and stared at his phone. Since he knew nothing, he needed to look things up and fill his head with information. The Abyss didn't turn anyone away, but there were Abyss Administration Bureaus around the world. First-time visitors had to stop at the bureau and register before entering the Abyss.
‘It says I only need my ID, so that's no problem.’
What Baek Hyun found fascinating was the actual method of entering the Abyss. He had imagined jumping into that enormous hole, but the real method wasn't so crude.
Looking at the Abyss.
That was how people entered. As they looked into the deep hole, they would feel as though something were drawing them in... Then, if they wished to go, they would naturally be transported into the Abyss.
‘The tutorial.’
Everyone entering the Abyss for the first time had to go through a tutorial, without exception. It involved moving forward while fighting randomly appearing creatures, or monsters. Depending on how they handled the tutorial, they could be chosen by one of the Abyss's Thirteen Monarchs. Of course, not everyone was chosen. Someone who performed terribly in the tutorial might not be chosen by any monarch at all.
And being chosen by a monarch didn't always mean the same thing. There was a difference between merely being “chosen” and receiving a portion of a monarch's “Authority.” If someone managed to receive a portion of that Authority, their life would truly change.
They only had one chance at the tutorial. The monarch they chose there could never be changed.
‘This really is like choosing a class in an RPG.’
Baek Hyun chuckled at the thought. Perhaps that was why the internet was overflowing with tips for getting a particular monarch to choose you. People even sold online lectures and guidebooks about it. The bestselling book was an autobiography titled Pure Saint's Lowly Servant, written by Drave, who was not only the most famous American hunter but also the first person to become a monarch's “apostle.” Curious, Baek Hyun looked it up and found countless reviews claiming that reading it had helped people secure Pure Saint's selection in the tutorial.
“...The Thirteen Monarchs...”
Baek Hyun murmured as he looked out the window. Ever since Yeo-hwi first told him about the Abyss, he had wondered just what sort of beings these Thirteen Monarchs who ruled it were.
After the Abyss appeared, people around the world had struggled to discover what it was, why it had appeared in their world, and why it poured out monsters on the last day of every month. They also wanted to know why the Thirteen Monarchs who ruled it gave power to people who entered.
But even after four years, they had learned almost nothing about the Abyss. The Thirteen Monarchs remained unknown beings. No one had discovered why they gave power to humans, why the Abyss had appeared in this world, or even why monsters poured out of it.
“Ahem.”
At the sound of someone clearing their throat beside him, Baek Hyun turned his head.
“Oh, hello.”
“What is it?”
“Nothing, really... I just thought we could chat on the way.”
A man in horn-rimmed glasses smiled at Baek Hyun as he spoke. He must have heard Baek Hyun muttering.
“How old are you?”
“Uh... Let's see... Twenty-six.”
“Really? And you're only going to the Abyss now?”
The man in glasses looked a little surprised.
“I'm just twenty. That fucking law saying you can't enter the Abyss before you're twenty kept me out until now. I'm going to give it a try this time.”
He grumbled on, volunteering information Baek Hyun hadn't asked for.
“Who are you planning to make a contract with? I want Tempest. Seo Min-sik is fucking awesome, right?”
“Oh, sure.”
“I've looked up all the tips and lectures on getting Tempest to choose me. If I can just get some Authority, seriously... I wouldn't ride a crappy bus like this even if someone paid me.”
“What would you ride if you didn't take the bus?”
“There are plenty of options. A supercar, or I could hire a private driver... Which star hunter was it again? One of them built a vacation home right near the Abyss and throws parties there whenever the monsters come out at the end of the month. It's even got a pool... Oh, some guys buy helicopters or private planes and fly to the Abyss on the last day of the month. Isn't that a bit much? There's a limit to pissing away money.”
Baek Hyun gave the man in glasses an unenthusiastic look. Faced with his silence, the man found himself at a loss for words, then asked with an awkward smile.
“...So what have you been doing all this time instead of entering the Abyss?”
“Nothing much.”
“...Is there a monarch you want?”
“No.”
“...So you're fine with just anyone?”
“Just go to sleep.”
Baek Hyun grumbled under his breath. As soon as he finished speaking, the man's head drooped forward. Without even moving a hand, Baek Hyun had sent out a flick of qi to strike his energy points. He glanced at the man, who was now sleeping peacefully, then looked back down at his phone.
“Finally, some quiet.”
While Baek Hyun crammed the information he needed into his head, the bus continued toward the Abyss Entry Station in Hwacheon.
After more than two hours on the road, the bus arrived at the station.
The Abyss was an enormous hole five kilometers across. The Abyss Administration Bureau had built several rings of high walls around it. At a glance, the structure brought to mind an incredibly tall dome. The Abyss Entry Station was inside those walls.
“Baek Hyun. Twenty-six.”
The Abyss Administration Bureau employee behind the counter looked him up and down with an impassive expression.
“What have you been doing all this time instead of entering the Abyss?”
“I was busy.”
“Really?”
It had been four years since the Abyss appeared. Anyone could enter, even without special abilities, and people who died to monsters in the tutorial came back to life. That made entering the Abyss for the first time at twenty-six fairly unusual.
“And you haven't done your military service... Lucky you. Conscription was abolished because of the Abyss.”
“The timing worked out.”
Muttering his reply, Baek Hyun accepted his ID and the paperwork the employee handed him. The forms were packed with requests for basic personal information and what looked like a psychological test.
“I have to do this, too?”
“We need to know at least what sort of people are going in. Whatever trouble you cause inside the Abyss isn't our concern, but if you cause trouble outside, it becomes a headache. This is meant to prevent that. Though I don't know how effective it is.”
Baek Hyun filled out the psychological test as honestly as he could.
“You haven't ever felt any strange urges, have you?”
“What kind of urges?”
“Wanting to kill someone walking past, for example. Or seeing people as monsters.”
“No.”
“Common sense doesn't apply in the Abyss. It's full of real monsters, not computer graphics. Dying in the tutorial isn't really dying, but after the tutorial, if you die, you're dead for real.”
“I looked that up, too.”
“I'm telling you that since you haven't gone in yet, you can still choose not to enter at all. Do you know how many people die in the Abyss? Everyone gets carried away because everyone else is going in, and now there's no one left to work...”
“If people want to go in, that's their choice.”
“...Well, yes. But TV and places like that only show the people who enter the Abyss and do well. The reality is different. More than half the people who enter the Abyss and become hunters earn five hundred thousand won a month. Some don't even make that. Yet they waste their time and risk their lives dreaming of becoming the next Seo Min-sik, Park Jun-hwan, or Jeong Su-a.”
Baek Hyun kept writing as he listened.
“...I'm not saying that trying is a waste of effort in itself. Monsters keep coming out on the last day of every month, and the reality is that there's no guarantee the successful hunters we have now will stay alive. So we do need a steady stream of newcomers, but... at your age...”
“It's not like I'm some old man. Isn't twenty-six the prime of your life?”
“I mean there are plenty of younger kids who can go in instead of you.”
“There might be plenty of kids who can go in instead of me, but I doubt any of them are on my level.”
With that reply, Baek Hyun handed over his completed paperwork.
“We're done now, right?”
“...Uh... Yes.”
At the employee's reluctant answer, Baek Hyun stood up.
He took an elevator to the entry floor. People who had finished their paperwork like him stood there, their nerves plain on their faces. They would all be entering the Abyss for the first time.
“Please, please, Tempest...”
“Pure Saint... Pure Saint...”
People murmured the aliases of their desired monarchs, swallowing nervously. Some stared wide-eyed at guidebooks, autobiographies, or their phones. Once they completed the tutorial, that was it. This was their first and last chance.
Baek Hyun had no interest in any of that. He strolled past the others and stopped in front of the enormous glass wall they were trying not to look at.
Beyond the glass wall lay the vast abyss that had suddenly appeared in this world four years ago.
The layers of high walls were meant to stop any monsters that emerged on the last day of each month from escaping outside. Of course, the walls weren't built right against the Abyss. Baek Hyun glanced down. There was quite a lot of open space between the Abyss and the walls. When monsters emerged, the hunters waiting below killed them. Not just Korea, but the entire world had been doing things that way for the past four years.
Apparently, when the Abyss first appeared and monsters began pouring out, armies fought them with modern weapons rather than hunters. But as more hunters gained power from the Abyss, fighting monsters became their job instead of the military's. Deploying military units and using their weapons cost enormous amounts of money. Hunters were relatively cheap by comparison.
‘I need to earn some money, too.’
Seo Min-sik had paid his hospital bills for five years. Baek Hyun had no intention of refusing to pay him back just because they were friends. He planned to repay all of it, with interest.
There was a reason people risked their lives to enter the Abyss. In the end, it was money.
“...All right.”
Baek Hyun took a deep breath and looked into the Abyss.
“Shall we go?”
With neither nerves nor fear, armed with interest and curiosity, Baek Hyun headed into the Abyss.
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried
