Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint – Side Story - Chapter 0
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Chapter 0: Dumplings Made by Others
* * *
This side story contains significant spoilers from the main story {Omniscient Readers Viewpoint}.
For those who haven’t finished the main story yet, please be aware.
* * *
“When is your birthday, sir?”
He couldn’t quite recall when he first heard that question.
Was it the second time, or perhaps the third?
At some point, he stopped answering such inquiries.
He believed that his responses did not help those who asked the question in any way.
But there was a time when he answered like he does now.
“It’s on August 3rd.”
“August 3rd? Are you sure?”
“That’s the promise we made.”
“A promise? Who decides their birthday like that?”
He began to polish his sword at the child’s puzzled expression.
The child was right.
No one decides their birthday like that.
But was that really important?
“Who did you make the promise with?”
“You don’t need to know.”
“Is it a woman?”
He raised an eyebrow, glancing at the child.
In the distance, the face of Kim Nam-woon, laughing mischievously, came into view.
He had a rough idea of what was going on.
*
As the wheels of time turned, many memories disappeared.
Some memories slipped away between the wheels, while others were deliberately thrown by Yoo Jung-hyuk between the spokes.
However, some memories did not vanish.
For example, the memory of learning the sword for the first time from the Breaking the Sky Sword Saint.
“Again? You’re a persistent one.”
Breaking the Sky Sword Saint looked down at Yoo Jung-hyuk with disapproving eyes.
Biting a large tobacco pipe, she arrogantly examined Yoo Jung-hyuk’s face, tearing it apart in various ways, then casually puffed out smoke.
“Now is not the time for disciple recruitment. You’re not fit to be my disciple.”
Yoo Jung-hyuk silently brought a piece of paper that was stuck to the wall.
.
Breaking the Sky Sword Saint frowned.
“While it’s regular disciple recruitment, it doesn’t mean anyone can join.”
“I’m not just anyone.”
“Well, you certainly don’t look bad, so if you want, I can make you my servant.”
“Teach me martial arts.”
In response to Yoo Jung-hyuk’s audacious tone, Breaking the Sky Sword Saint swiftly slapped his whole body.
Then she clicked her tongue.
“Even if I teach you, you won’t learn.”
“Are you deciding without even trying?”
“My martial arts are not for small guys like you.”
“I’m not small.”
“And it’s not a martial art suitable for a guy like you.”
Breaking the Sky Sword Saint said this while swinging the tobacco pipe in the air.
It seemed like she was casually swinging it, but Yoo Jung-hyuk could feel the profound essence entwined in the trajectory of the smoke.
“You can’t become as strong as me even if you learn my martial arts.”
“You won’t know unless you try.”
“Why are you so obsessed with my martial arts to that extent?”
Yoo Jung-hyuk slowly lifted his head, and his gaze was intense.
“Because it’s the only ‘martial art’ left in this martial world.”
It wasn’t that Yoo Jung-hyuk hadn’t tried to learn other martial arts.
He visited Namgung Sage, who claimed to have a Sword Emperor, and even went to the Jognam faction, which boasted of cutting falling seaweed.
However, they were all just novelties.
In this “First Martial World,” there were no proper martial arts left.
Once-called martial arts had all been standardized into [skills], and anyone could conveniently learn them through [skill books].
But Yoo Jung-hyuk knew.
With just those skills, you couldn’t bring down the stars from the sky.
“I need the power to kill the constellations.”
A human who could kill the constellations.
Beings named “Transcendents and Constellations” by Star Stream.
Among them, one the most powerful was the Breaking the Sky Sword Saint right in front of him.
Breaking the Sky Sword Saint, who sighed lightly, spoke.
“If you can defeat him, then think about it.”
Growling, the summoned deity, appeared and blocked Yoo Jung-hyuk’s way.
*
Looking back, it was the beginning of the tedious priestly fate.
After successfully taking away Breaking the sky sword master’s food bowl through various twists and turns, the first task she gave Yoo Jung-hyuk was as follows.
“Cut 30,000 times.”
“You can’t cut 30,000 times in a day.”
“30,000 times is nothing. In this world, there’s a guy who has stabbed a hundred billion times over 40 years.”
“Don’t lie.”
“First, you should start using honorifics.”
Throughout the smacking on his cheeks, Yoo Jung-hyuk thought.
Is it really true that you can become strong in this way?
Yoo Jung-hyuk got his cheeks smacked every day.
In this manner, another week, then a fortnight passed.
“How many stabs did you do?”
“About ten thousand.”
“And cuts?”
“I did about twenty thousand.”
“I told you to do both twenty thousand times.”
“Don’t hit my buttocks.”
Yoo Jung-hyuk got his buttocks smacked again.
Even though he didn’t get hit much, it hurt as if he had been hit twenty times.
In this way, a month passed, then two months.
To cut to the chase, Yoo Jung-hyuk did not learn [Breaking the Sky Swordsmanship].
What Breaking the Sky Sword Saint, who claimed to be his master, did was to lean against the main hall, enjoy the sculpture-like muscles of Yoo Jung-hyuk, give basic training, or assign strange errands.
“When on earth are you going to teach me the sword?”
“Go to Changcheon Peak in
and pick Bai Ling Grass.”
Yoo Jung-hyuk climbed Changcheon Peak with all his strength, pursued by the pursuit of the Nine Factions.
He slid down the cliff dozens of times, competing in swordsmanship with shamans and Taoist masters, slipping in the rain.
Finally, Yoo Jung-hyuk succeeded in obtaining Bai Ling Grass.
“I brought it.”
“Oh, just leave it there for now.”
“Why did you ask me to bring this?”
Breaking the Sky Sword Saint looked at the fresh-smelling Bai Ling Grass and smiled contentedly.
“This grass has air purification effects.”
“Are you going to teach me the sword now?”
“A bookstore has opened in
. It’s ‘Teachings of the Sage of Profound Learning.’ Go in and bring back the prescription left by the Sage.”
“What?”
The nearby summoned deity, Bongyeon, barked, “Woof, woof.”
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Breaking the Sky Sword Saint said, “Lately, this guy’s body is weak, so I should give him some medicine.”
Yoo Jung-hyuk set out to find medicine to feed the dog.
Despite the name being
, he thought there would be only weaklings, but the experts in
were formidable.
Especially those considered experts who were at a level Yoo Jung-hyuk couldn’t possibly match.
However, meeting experts and returning was a good thing.
“Go to the Devil’s Hall in
and bring back Perennial Ice. Nowadays, it’s too hot, and I don’t feel like teaching martial arts through the night.”
When he went to the Devil’s Hall, he almost died.
He encountered the Heavenly Demon Cult’s leader known as Cheonma, and even if all the experts in
gathered, it seemed they couldn’t kill him.
Even that ‘Cheonma’ was just a Cheonma from
, according to Breaking the Sky Sword Saint .
According to her, the real ‘Cheonma’ was several times stronger than him.
“Go to Shaolin and steal Dae Hwandon. Be careful of those monk guys.”
Yoo Jung-hyuk was well aware of Shaolin’s reputation.
But he thought it was just a gathering place for monks.
He had already faced murim experts and Cheonma, so there was no monk who could oppose him.
…But with a moment of carelessness, Yoo Jung-hyuk fell victim to a surprise attack by a monk and ended up in three months of repentance.
Barely escaping, he managed to steal the Dae Hwandon, but when he came out after breaking through the Eighteen Lohan Formation, he almost died for real.
“It took a bit longer this time. And why is your head shaped like that again?”
Yoo Jung-hyuk’s bald head was the masterpiece of Shaolin’s top monk, Shinseung.
Fortunately, there was a gain from handing over his head.
It was because he learned Shaolin’s [White Tiger Body Art].
In this way, three months, six months, and another year passed.
His hair grew quickly.
Since then, Yoo Jung-hyuk has overcome the danger of death several times, completing errands that were so difficult that he sometimes thought it would be better to regress and start everything again.
Star Stream is vast, and there are many experts.
How much stronger does he need to become to see the end of this relentless scenario?
Sometimes, he even tried to attack Breaking the Sky Sword Saint with a sword without any plan.
He almost died.
Breaking the Sky Sword Saint was an existence that couldn’t be defeated even if Head monk, Cheonma, and murim experts all rushed in.
Despite being smacked until his buttocks were sore, Yoo Jung-hyuk was satisfied.
Anyway, his teacher was stronger than the Head monk and Cheonma.
“Why on earth did you decide to teach me?”
“Because you’re handsome.”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“There won’t be many chances to smack the buttocks of a handsome guy like you.”
Another year passed.
During that time, Yoo Jung-hyuk met many experts, fought them, and won.
Because his fame had spread throughout
, Breaking the Sky Sword Saint’s reputation was also rising day by day.
“I don’t understand why your reputation is going up when I’m the one defeating the experts.”
“It’s because the world recognizes the shadow of an outstanding teacher.”
“A teacher is someone who imparts teachings.”
“Come to think of it, these days, there’s no crowd asking to learn the sword.”
Breaking the Sky Sword Saint, laughing lightly, sat in the main hall as usual.
The children of the three noble families who came to watch Yoo Jung-hyuk during his training gradually disappeared, and instead, the cool night air flowed in.
Two years had passed since Yoo Jung-hyuk came to the martial world.
Breaking the Sky Sword Master, panting, climbed onto the floor and lay down beside Yoo Jung-hyuk’s leg. A dog stronger than a dog.
Moreover, a dog that became the strongest in the martial world by becoming his martial brother due to joining earlier, and even more
A dog that became his martial brother but met its demise.
After eating the Vision Elixir and the Grand Revitalizing Pill of the noble clans, the dog gained the strongest internal energy in the martial world.
Woof!
Yoo Jung-hyuk sighed lightly and petted the dog’s back.
Breaking the Sky Sword Master wagged its tail happily, as if in a good mood.
The sound of water gurgling from a nearby barn could be heard.
Fireflies sang through the grass.
Yoo Jung-hyuk breathed out quietly.
The swaying leaves of the Hundred Spirit Herb (a type of grass) emitted the coolness of the perennial frost.
The daytime heat had subsided, and the night of the martial world was beautiful.
“Tell me your story.”
Normally, Yoo Jung-hyuk wouldn’t have started a story just because his cheeky teacher asked.
He was always cautious and not the type to share his own stories.
This time however, he probably spoke because he thought this life was wrong anyway, or maybe it was because of Breaking the Sky Sword Master’s smooth fur touching his thigh.
Or perhaps it was the whimsical smoke from Breaking the Sky Sword Saint’s round pipe spreading in the night sky.
Maybe he thought no one would listen to his story tonight because the sounds of fireflies and water were too loud, the icy stars of the martial world were too dazzling, or maybe it was a misconception.
Whatever the reason, Yoo Jung-hyuk spoke, unleashing a disorganized story.
The story of the day he first participated in a scenario.
Starting regression and repeating the world.
Nobody would understand this story, but Yoo Jung-hyuk rambled on alone.
Whether Breaking the Sky Sword Saint heard his story or not didn’t matter.
Yoo Jung-hyuk just wanted to talk about his story for once, and there was someone there to listen.
Like a tree that had lived for a very long time, Breaking the Sky Sword Saint listened to his story.
In the faint night air, only the clear eyes of Breaking the Sky Sword Saint shone, letting him know that she was listening to Yoo Jung-hyuk’s story.
Clear eyes.
Pupils that could peer into the emotions of others.
Facing those eyes that neither consoled nor blamed him, Yoo Jung-hyuk felt an inexplicable comfort.
And how much time passed?
Finally, Yoo Jung-hyuk’s story came to an end.
Breaking the Sky Sword Saint, spoke after pondering for a moment.
“You seemed like someone who had no parents from the beginning.”
Yoo Jung-hyuk thought for a moment and asked, “Are you mocking me?”
“You looked like someone who just fell from the sky,” Breaking the Sky Sword Saint continued.
Yoo Jung-hyuk gazed up at the sky silently.
Perhaps Breaking the Sky Sword Saint ‘s words were not entirely wrong.
In reality, he doesn’t know what his parents look like.
“When were you born?”
Breaking the Sky Sword Saint inquired.
“I don’t know,” Yoo Jung-hyuk replied.
“Has no one ever told you?”
Yoo Jung-hyuk nodded.
Although he had an assigned resident registration number, he knew it wasn’t his actual birthday.
“I know that I was born in summer,” he added.
Under the dazzling sky of the vast and beautiful martial world, at the end of the radiant Star Stream, there undoubtedly existed the entity that orchestrated all these scenarios.
“Why do you want to become a Transcendent?”
Breaking the Sky Sword Saint asked him.
Yoo Jung-hyuk remained silent, gazing at the sky. Breaking the Sky Sword Saint also looked at Yoo Jung-hyuk’s sky.
Sometimes, just by looking at the same place, emotions could be conveyed.
Breaking the Sky Sword Saint slowly stood up and drew her sword towards the sky.
It was a beautiful sword dance—delicate yet strong, graceful yet restrained.
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The sword strokes she extended toward the sky seemed to shatter the heavens.
It felt like an illusion.
It seemed as if the stars of the night sky were falling because of her.
Yoo Jung-hyuk stared blankly at the falling stars.
Even though he knew it was an illusion, he couldn’t take his eyes off it.
How long had he been watching the beautiful light scattering like fireworks?
In the meantime, Breaking the Sky Sword Saint, who had gone somewhere during this time, held a small envelope in her hand.
“Eat this. It’s my favorite food.”
In the trembling envelope, the scent of seaweed began to rise.
Yoo Jung-hyuk frowned, “I don’t eat things made by others.”
Breaking the Sky Sword Saint insisted, “I bought it just for you. Eat it.”
Yoo Jung-hyuk refused, “No.”
“Let me see. Today is…”
Amidst the bright summer starlight, Breaking the Sky Sword Saint ‘s sword drew the characters for “eight” and “three.”
“From now on, today is your birthday, my disciple.”
If only that were the end of the memories related to birthdays.
However, as always, the Star Stream does not favor happy endings.
Exactly one year after the summer night fireworks, on a sultry and humid summer night, a storm raged.
“Master.”
Breaking the Sky Sword Saint faced a combined attack from the Returnees Alliance.
Thousands of martial artists perished, and Breaking the Sky Sword Saint stood alone, facing the Returnee Alliance to protect her martial world.
Yoo Jung-hyuk carried the fallen Breaking the Sky Sword Saint and soared through the air.
The wounds they had suffered were beyond immediate recovery, a fact both Yoo Jung-hyuk and Breaking the Sky Sword Saint were aware of.
“Breaking the Sky Sword Saint!”
Despite Yoo Jung-hyuk’s shout, Breaking the Sky Sword Saint remained unresponsive.
In the safety cocoon, Yoo Jung-hyuk poured the potions he had collected into Breaking the Sky Sword Saint’s mouth.
These were the potions he had gathered: White Spirit Grass, Current Wisdom Pill, Grand Reversal Elixir, and more.
However, Breaking the Sky Sword Saint’s vitality was dwindling.
Breaking the Sky Sword Saint ‘s epic was crumbling.
Yoo Jung-hyuk cursed.
‘Please!’
The existence that seemed as vast as a forest, she too was a tree.
A tree that would fall when a typhoon raged and lightning struck.
What if he could turn back time?
What if he regressed here?
So that he could save his master.
If he turned back time, the Breaking the Sky Sword Saint he knew would disappear.
Slowly opening her eyes, the teacher looked at him.
Her large hand enveloped Yoo Jung-hyuk’s cheek.
“My disciple.”
“I haven’t learned Breaking the Sky Swordsmanship yet.”
“Don’t you already know?”
Breaking the Sky Sword Saint was aware of Yoo Jung-hyuk’s demonic talent that absorbed anything he was taught.
Even the revered Breaking the Sky Swordsmanship had been assimilated.
Yoo Jung-hyuk shook his head.
“You promised to make me a Transcendent. To make me strong enough to kill the Constellations, to break the Star Stream… If you’re not here, I can’t become stronger. I am…”
“Jung-hyuk.”
The teacher’s eyes were fixed on him.
“You are already stronger than me.”
Yoo Jung-hyuk’s shoulders trembled.
He tried to deny it.
“You are refusing to become stronger than me.”
Yoo Jung-hyuk’s head slowly lowered.
His breathing became heavy, and his fingertips convulsed.
The past year had been too peaceful, and he had forgotten this sensation.
All of it was about to repeat itself.
“Breaking the Sky Sword Saint , I…”
“I understand.”
The large hand of the teacher covered Yoo Jung-hyuk’s head.
As if truly understanding Yoo Jung-hyuk’s heart, Breaking the Sky Sword Saint faintly smiled.
“Handsome disciple, I hope you won’t learn Breaking the Sky Swordsmanship again.”
The words of the teacher echoed in his mind.
Shouldn’t have sought out Breaking the Sky Sword Saint.
Shouldn’t have tried to learn Breaking the Sky Swordsmanship.
Shouldn’t have come to the martial world.
“I hope you’ll lay on the large porch, eating dumplings made by others and live peacefully.”
The teacher seemed to know what he intended.
She knew what he wanted to achieve with her Breaking the Sky Swordsmanship.
That’s why she refrained from teaching it.
She hoped he would give up.
That’s why she gave him such a challenging assignment.
“However, you’ll go again to steal the Hundred Spirit Herb. Even knowing why I asked you to do that, you’ll stubbornly go and accomplish that task. You’ll aim to conquer the secrets of the Hyunhak No Sa, steal the Manyeonhan Bing, and the Daehwan Dan. Again and again. You’ll turn twenty-nine and then reach the age of thirty.”
Yoo Jung-hyuk’s hand trembled.
He wanted to say something, but his voice wouldn’t come out.
Breaking the Sky Sword Saint continued speaking.
“I’ll still not know anything and ask about your birthday. People will congratulate you when you turn twenty-nine and thirty. If you don’t understand the significance of that while repeating the same life…”
As if looking into the distant future of a disciple repeating the same life, the light in Breaking the Sky Sword Saint’s eyes was fading.
“But still, don’t hate people too much, my disciple.”
He was a regressor, walking alone, remembering all the lives.
“They are just happy that you were born.”
Looking at the slowly falling hand of the teacher, Yoo Jung-hyuk raised his head.
The sky of the Star Stream appeared again.
Although the gazes looking at the same sky were reduced by one, the stars there seemed different from usual.
Just as a tree grows when it receives light and water, a story grows by consuming tragedy.
In the scenario, humans must lose something to become stronger.
The night in the martial world was no longer beautiful.
Yoo Jung-hyuk gripped the sword, and finally, he was born anew.
At that moment, he wasn’t a Constellation or a Star, yet in the distant universe, Yoo Jung-hyuk appeared as a bright star.
Thus, Yoo Jung-hyuk became a Transcendent.
The video playback ended with a bright light.
Sitting on a park bench, [41] and the Secretive Plotter looked at the screen together.
[41] muttered, “Do I have such memories?”
The Secretive Plotter, a master strategist, slowly shook his head.
While it was his long-standing habit to recap his entire life by borrowing memories from various Yoo Jung-hyuk instances, seeing such memories was a first for him.
“Do you also have memories you’ve never seen before? You, who should be Yoo Jung-hyuk remembering all ‘Yoo Jung-hyuk’ instances.”
【I too, have memories I don’t know, 41. Just like you seem to have forgotten your own life.】
At that statement, [41] fell silent.
The 41st regression of Yoo Jung-hyuk was unique among all instances in that he couldn’t recall most of his life.
Even the Secretive Plotter didn’t know precisely what happened in his life.
【Perhaps this might be a newly observed memory this time.】
Having lived through 1,863 instances, Yoo Jung-hyuk’s memories were as vast as the universe.
Some memories existed without being recorded.
It might sound puzzling, but that’s how this universe is constructed.
As if suddenly remembering something, the ‘Secretive Plotter’ pulled out a book from his embrace.
『Kim Dokja’s Comment Log』
Seeing the title, [41] widened his eyes and asked a question.
“What’s that?”
【It’s a book that records the lines that guy left.】
“Why would I have something like that?”
Without answering, the Secretive Plotter flipped through the pages until he stopped at a certain point.
[Author, by the way, does Jung-hyuk know when his birthday is?]
The Secretive Plotter stared at that comment for a long time.
Kim Dokja left this comment, and the question was whether it was before or after Breaking the Sky Sword Saint talked about his birthday.
Ding!
A sound chimed, and a text message arrived.
― Commander. Are you coming at 8 o’clock today? Everyone is waiting.
The message came with a picture attached.
It showed them all making dumplings, with Lee Ji-hye, her cheek dusted with flour, making a V-sign with her hand.
Kim Nam-woon, with a puzzled expression, Lee Hyun-Sung holding burst dumplings, and Uriel shaping large sheep-shaped dumplings were also captured in the photo.
At the edge of the picture, the hands of a boy about middle school age were visible.
The Secretive Plotter sent a message.
“I don’t eat things made by others.”
The reply came promptly, “How about this?”
The image sent by Lee Ji-hye was a photo of a king-sized dumpling shaped like a person’s head.
It was undoubtedly an incomprehensibly large dumpling, even by his standards, with crooked writing on it as if using ketchup.
The Secretive Plotter stared at the photo for a while before responding.
“Still, I don’t eat things made by others.”
The Secretive Plotter deleted the entire sentence after writing, seeing this, [41] chuckled.
The dispersed remnants of [41] seemed to seep into the Secretive Plotter.
The Secretive Plotter stood up silently.
The sun was setting, and when he checked the clock, it was already 7 o’clock.
Originally, this was the time when the paid scenario would begin.
However, no matter how long he waited, the scenario didn’t start.
The blinking clock displayed the date beside it—August 3rd.
It was an ordinary day in the solar calendar.
The sun was not his puppet, and naturally, the solar calendar was not his time.
Nobody else lived in such a time, nor could they.
Nevertheless, those who remembered him referred to today as his birthday.
Now, this fact didn’t make him sad anymore.
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