The World’s Greatest is Dead

I opened my eyes in a daze.

Then, a blurry scene came into view. It was as if I was looking through a thick fog.

Beyond that, I saw something.

Upon confirming it, I gasped sharply.

The ground was filled with corpses.

The bodies, mercilessly slashed and murdered, covered every inch of the ground.

Swords, spears, and countless other weapons, including daggers, were scattered everywhere.

Blood from the victims flowed profusely across the ground.

If there was such a place as hell, this must be it.

It was a place that made me think so involuntarily.

‘What is this place?’

It was a location I could not recognize.

At least, not from my memories.

Was it a nightmare?

As I pondered this and looked around.

I saw someone standing atop the heaps of corpses.

A lone person breathing amidst the sea of death.

There, standing with a broad back, was a figure.

His entire body was filled with scars, and blood flowed from wounds scattered here and there.

Clearly, he was in pain, but the figure stood as if unaffected.

‘Who is he?’

I felt puzzled as I looked at him.

The body was somewhat familiar.

A massive, muscular build.

Though obscured by blood, the scars were also familiar.

My gaze was drawn to him.

Why was that person alone in this place?

Moreover, why did he seem so familiar to me?

As I wrestled with these questions.

Sssss.

‘Huh!?’

The man standing still slowly began to turn his head.

And he turned toward none other than where I was.

His eyes met mine.

Beyond the blood-soaked face, I saw a pair of blue eyes.

The moment our eyes met, I stopped breathing. A wave of terror hit me.

RATTLE RATTLE.

My body, buried in emotion, started to shake uncontrollably.

I needed to escape.

If this was a nightmare, I had to find a way out.

Such an instinct began to dominate my thoughts.

But even that was beyond my control.

Even though I tried to turn my head, for some reason, it felt fixed in place as if glued.

“……”

As we continued to stare at each other.

The man opened his mouth and spoke to me.

“Now, wake up.”

With those words.

My tightly closed eyes sprang open.

* * *

“Huff-!”

I abruptly woke up, my upper body shooting up.

“Huff… Huff…”

Panting hard, I wiped my forehead with my hand.

My body was drenched in a cold sweat for some reason.

“… What… What was that?”

I thought, still in a confused state.

What was that just now…?

‘I don’t remember.’

Despite waking up feeling terrible, I couldn’t recall anything.

Given how much I was sweating, it must have been a terrible nightmare, but why couldn’t I remember anything?

“… What was it?”

My mood grew increasingly unpleasant.

Could there be another morning as wretched as this? I raised my body in an utterly irritated state.

“Ahh-!”

“Kkeu-euuk!?”

Feeling the sensation in my body, I immediately bent my knee.

But just as I was about to.

“Zzrr-rit-!”

“Kkeu-eooorak!”

This time, pain surged from my lower body.

My upper and lower body both wreaked havoc simultaneously.

I collapsed to the ground, groaning in disgrace.

“Haa… haah…”

What was this now?

Holding back tears, I checked my condition.

Only after looking around did I realize.

My upper body was completely wrapped with bandages, and so was the thigh where I felt the pain.

What on earth had happened?

Just as I harbored doubts, I remembered.

“Where am I now?”

Why was I here? I clearly remembered…

‘There should have been that cave…’

The day I had departed to search for the Mountain Sky Demon.

After discovering remnants scattered around the mountain, I shortly found a cave.

And then…

‘The squad leader had thrown me…’

I had met the Mountain Sky Demon inside.

I then tried to resist in any way possible.

‘Then Yun Sochun’s guard had suddenly betrayed…’

Yu Hyung-In’s stomach had been pierced, leaving him on the brink of death, it seemed.

‘Yes, the wounds align with that incident.’

Thigh and back… the painful areas were the exact places I had been attacked back then.

If so, then it wasn’t a dream…

“…Then where is this place?”

The place I had woken up in was not a cave, but a rather luxurious room.

Unlike the quarters where members stayed, the furniture and even the materials of the walls were of the highest quality I’d ever seen since being reborn in the Central Plains.

“What the…?”

What was going on? Seriously, what happened?

As I barely managed to sit up and glance around.

Click-!

The door in front of me opened.

“……!”

The sudden sound made me tense up immediately.

Wondering if I had been kidnapped, I tried to find something to grab.

“Hah!”

But a startled sound broke out first.

The person who opened the door widened their eyes at me.

It was a middle-aged woman… a face I felt I had seen somewhere before.

“Ah.”

It came to me.

It was the medical officer from the Anhui branch, the head of the medical team.

A woman I had barely seen since she only treated the branch’s executives.

But why was she opening this door…

“Y-Young master Bang has awoken! Prepare for a check-up, immediately!”

“What?”

“Inform the branch leader now!!”

At her words, noisy sounds echoed from beyond the door.

-I will prepare warm towels at once!

-Get the medical tools immediately…

-Contact the chief as well!

“What…?”

Suddenly, a commotion broke out.

I rubbed my eyes at the inexplicable situation. What was this madness? Was I still dreaming?

Thinking it was a dream, I slapped my own cheek.

Smack-!

“Ouch!”

“Hah!?”

It hurt. It hurt a lot.

This didn’t seem to be a dream. With this level of pain, I was sure of it.

The problem was that when I slapped myself, the head doctor gasped in shock.

“Young master! What are you doing……!”

Startled, she rushed over to me, reaching out with her hand.

Then, as if it was too cautious to touch my skin, she began to express her emotions through her facial expressions.

“Oh, my. I’m terribly sorry for not examining you more thoroughly… If you were unsatisfied, please forgive me. Please, just kill me instead……!!”

“……Why are you like this, head doctor?”

Why was this lady acting so strangely?

Whenever I asked her for treatment, she would usually snort and pass me off to the junior doctor.

Even the last time I had injured my head while capturing a lustful demon, she had acted the same way.

“I, I didn’t recognize your esteemed presence, and I’ve caused you trouble until now…… I deeply apologize. Please, just kill me instead……!”

“No…! Really, why are you doing this!”

This was genuinely scary.

Something felt terribly wrong with the world.

If this lady was here, at least it meant I was at the right branch.

What on earth was this situation?

“I’ll immediately conduct a thorough examination to find any discomfort. Please, temper your anger for a while……”

“……”

I wasn’t angry.

Could she not see that I was trembling in fear?

As I stared at the head doctor with a dumbfounded expression,

“Please, kill me instead……!”

“I’ll lie down. I’m lying down. Please, stop…….”

Lying down seemed to be the only option. It was better than her continuing to freak out.

* * *

Half an hour had passed as I layed bewildered in the soft bedding, staring at the ceiling.

“……Fortunately, it seems there are no significant anomalies. The regeneration is progressing well too. You should be fully recovered before two months pass.”

Not only the head doctor, but several other people had come into the room.

Most of them were doctors, assisting the head doctor during the examination.

It was a strange sight.

‘Were doctors always like this…? Did they always work in pairs?’

I could recall receiving treatment from a single doctor rotating turns.

Having four doctors attending to one person felt incredibly luxurious.

The oddities did not stop there.

“Then, it means there isn’t a major issue.”

“Yes……. That is correct.”

The head doctor nodded at the man’s words.

Satisfied with the answer, the man also nodded.

“That is such a relief, Young master Bang. We’ve been very worried.”

It was hard to respond as the man looked at me earnestly, as if he genuinely cared.

This was someone who usually looked at me as insignificant as passing dust. Now, suddenly, he had such concerned eyes.

‘……Was this man even capable of having such eyes?’

The man was none other than the branch manager of the Murim Alliance’s Anhui branch.

After spending a year there, this was only our third meeting. He was the branch manager, a figure that low-tier members like me could rarely see.

Yet this man was,

“I was so worried; I couldn’t sleep at night……”

He was floundering, speaking respectfully to me.

“……Ah, yes……”

How was I supposed to react to this? I didn’t know. So I couldn’t respond properly.

If this wasn’t a dream, what on earth was it?

I couldn’t understand at all.

“Is there anything else you’re uncomfortable with? If this room is unsuitable, I can offer you my quarters……”

“……There’s no need for that.”

I replied hastily, flabbergasted by the head doctor’s words.

I had learned that this room was reserved for important guests of the branch.

No wonder…… that explained why I had never seen it before.

Even after living as a member for a year, I hadn’t known such a room existed.

No wonder the room felt so luxurious.

The bed was so soft, too……

‘No…… Now’s not the time to think about the room.’

How long had it been since I felt such softness?

It nearly distracted me. Shaking my head, I barely managed to snap back.

“Branch manager.”

“Yes. Please speak.”

I never got used to this formal speech.

I asked, trying my best to ignore it.

“Why… am I here?”

I had narrowly escaped the cave and somehow returned to headquarters. So, I should have woken up on a bed in the medical unit, or in the quarters where other members stayed.

Why was I here, and why were the surrounding people’s attitudes and reactions so strange?

I had to ask the branch manager about this inexplicable situation.

“What is this…?”

“Ah… that… thing.”

The branch manager looked troubled, as if he found the question difficult to answer.

Did he mean it was hard to answer, or was there another meaning? I couldn’t tell.

If this wasn’t a dream, there had to be something that explained the situation.

‘I’m still curious about how I escaped from the cave.’

Yu Hyung-In had been injured, and Pungyeon, the bodyguard, had betrayed us.

Because of that, even Yun Sochun had been in a crisis.

How had I managed to escape and end up here under such circumstances?

Moreover, hadn’t I been at the brink of life and death from an attack as well?

‘… So, at that moment, indeed.’

After Pungyeon had attacked my thigh and then gone after Yun Sochun.

Then… and then…

Zing.

“Ugh…!”

As I tried to recall, a headache surged through my skull.

When I clutched my forehead with my hand, the people around me flinched.

“Y, Young master Bang!”

“Are you alright?!”

“Doctooor!”

“The doctor is right here, branch manager…!”

“…I’m… fine.”

They were so alarmed that I said I was fine, but it felt like I was going to vomit from the shock instead of the headache.

“Never mind the pain. Just explain… first.”

“I will provide that explanation.”

The reply came from the entrance.

When I turned my gaze, a young man was coming in.

A handsome youth with black hair tinged slightly with blue and white hair.

It was Yun Sochun.

But,

“… Member Yun?”

I had to be taken aback when I saw him.

His appearance was drastically different from usual.

He wasn’t wearing his typical martial outfit but was dressed like a noble’s Young master.

He was already good-looking, and now he was even more striking. So infuriatingly handsome.

“…”

Yun Sochun smiled faintly at being called.

Then he moved closer and suddenly knelt down before me.

“… Sorry for the delayed introduction.”

“Member Yun? Why are you suddenly-”

“I am… Chun Uijin of Blue Moon Sect.”

“What?”

I froze at Yun Sochun’s words.

Did he just say… Blue Moon Sect?

Just hearing the name had me on the verge of fainting.

Was it the Blue Moon Sect I knew? That alone would be jaw-dropping.

The next words were even more shocking.

Yun Sochun… no, Chun Uijin didn’t stop talking and clasped his hands while bowing to me.

And then he added,

“This humble disciple of our sect greets the Sword Saint’s true heir.”

Hearing those words, my world momentarily stopped.

… Who was whose heir, exactly?

TL’s Corner:

What the heck happened?