Seoul can be said to be the heart of Korea. The place where all country bumpkins dream of going to. Aspiring athletes, celebrities, politicians, people who want to succeed in life have their sights in Seoul, everyone except Yoru. "I still can't understand why grandma was hell-bent on me studying in this place." Yoru complained as he looked at his new home.

Yoru made a big sigh and opened the door as if giving himself up to his fate. Upon seeing the entrance he thought, "Not only is the outside expensive looking, even the hallway of the entrance of this apartment looks grand. He changed into the indoor slippers placed in the front door and went into the living room. He turned his neck from west to east with his mouth agape. He dropped his duffle bag in surprise while feeling a little suspicious of the scene in front of him. The place was fully-furnished, a Samsung TV, Samsung refrigerator, Samsung washing machine, everything from the furniture up to the appliances was a product of Samsung.

"Did I perhaps enter the wrong room? I can't have my first day in Seoul being turned into a robber." After a few seconds of being stunned, Yoru's phone rang. He answered quickly and heard her grandma's voice, "How was the apartment? Did you like it? I asked someone to fill the place to the brim with the most expensive furniture and appliances from Samsung, so you won't need to bother buying anything else. Everything you need is in there."

Yoru, who was raised by his grandma for the whole 16 years of his life, suddenly felt that her grandma seemed unfamiliar and teased, "Who are you? Where did my thrifty, beautiful grandma go? Is this a prank? You suddenly seem like a stranger to me. I knew we were a tad richer than the others in the countryside, but this scale is a little too big to be described as tad."

"You ungrateful brat! Just be thankful and worry for yourself. Buy yourself lots of food with the credit card I gave you, and don't forget to bring rice cakes to your neighbors. Make sure to make new friends there. I'm quite busy right now. Call me if anything happens. Bye-bye!" Grandma quickly hung up on the call.

Used to the one-sided conversation of her grandma, Yoru unpacked his things and began to explore every nook and cranny of his apartment. The place was spotless. Everything was neatly arranged. Yoru took the time to search how much his various appliances and furniture cost. After finding out that most things in his apartment cost more than a million won, he just stopped searching and whispered to himself, "I didn't know we were this rich. Must be one of the reasons why my grandma was so adamant on sending me to a prestigious international school."

He walked into the room and jumped backwards to his bed to relax. Yoru pulled out his phone, opened the delivery app and searched for food that he have yet seen in the countryside. One of the major reason that convinced Yoru to go into Seoul is when her grandma gave her a list of famous restaurants. Yoru's grandma knew that her grandson was a heavy eater and would be enticed by the idea of being able to eat tons and different kinds of cuisine in Seoul.

As Yoru expected, the food delivery came fast and everything was delicious. He bought food good for four person, and the portions were big. It was kind of expensive compared to the countryside, but Yoru already knew the estimate of everything beforehand. He made plenty of research of how things run in Seoul. Especially now that he knows his grandma is most likely a tycoon, he didn't conserve on his spending in his food and his grandma would likely love the fact that he is eating to his heart's content.

After a hearty meal, Yoru was cleaning up when he suddenly caught notice of a seemingly old book in a corner of the living room. "Was it here before?" He picked up the book and looked at it. "Diary of the World Slayer." was the title of the book. At first, he thought maybe it was some sort of novel. He skimmed through the book and saw illustrations of step-by-step movements with explanations below it. "An old martial arts book." is what Yoru immediately thought. He turned over to page one and there was something akin to a poem.

Yoru solemnly read, "What can I not do if I set my mind into it? The heavens is just the heavens. The abyss is just the abyss. If I may so wish for it, I am everything. For I am the Walker, slayer of worlds." As Yoru uttered those words, blinding light flashed from the book and he blacked out. At the same time, he heard a whisper that seemed very familiar, the voice was that of hope and promise, “I believe in your choice.”

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Yoru gradually gained consciousness, he opened his eyes and suddenly felt that his body felt like it was on fire. “It’s so fucking hot in here!”, he shouted as he raised his head only to hear loud gasps of shock and horror from the crowd of people in front of him. Yoru quickly noticed that they were wearing outfits that looked like asian traditional clothes, but more importantly, he realized that he was on top of a pyre. Any idiot could tell that the crowd in front was celebrating his funeral pyre. Confused by the situation, the first thing that came into his mind was to jump off the pyre. He jumped with all of his strength expecting to land a few meters away from the pyre. But when he catapulted himself in mid-air tens of meters away from the pyre like that of an eagle flying in the sky, he could not help but say, “HUH?”

At the direction where Yoru was flying, he saw an old man’s face who was full of fear and doubt in his eyes. Unable to control his flight nor land gracefully, Yoru just closed his eyes and braced himself for impact. A loud bang resounded in the venue. Dust covered the area and pieces of wood from the table and chair littered the ground. Oddly enough, as Yoru opened his big black eyes, he felt like his landing was cushioned by something soft. Dust dispersed, Yoru felt like he was sitting on top of something that is by no means an object or ground. He turned around and saw an old man’s face being crushed by his butt. Another round of gasps and screams rang across the venue.

Due to the reactions of the soldiers with spears and swords, plus the common folk, Yoru knew right away that this old man was a person of high status. He stood up right away and with a flustered face, he asked, “Are you alright, good sir?” The old man who had his face buried into the hardwood, lifted his head, pulled out a silver sword from his waist and turned around and charged at Yoru as he roared in rage, “You bastard! Die!” Yoru stepped back out of fear, but the momentum of the charge of the old man seemed to defy the laws of physics and he quickly closed the gap between them.

The bursting killing intent coming from the old man made it clear that he was intent on sending Yoru to the underworld. At that instance, Yoru strongly thought, “I won’t die like this!” As if his body responded to his will, he stopped backing off and as if it was the most natural thing in the world, he planted both his feet in the ground as if they were the root of a great tree that has persevered countless storms for thousands of years. Instinctively, he roared akin to that of a lion, “Blank Art: Thirteen Chaos Palm!” A flurry of palm shadows distorting space came forth from Yoru. In contrast, the old man shouted, “Blazing Art: Raging Dragon!” Flames in the shape of a dragon coiled itself to the body of the old man and the sword thrust seemed to release a burst of flame breath capable of incinerating everything in the world.

The clash between Yoru and the old man caused such a large explosion that some of the onlookers who could not stand the aftershock from the clash were blown away. Yoru who barely blocked the attack had his arms slightly scorched from the attack, but for some reason, a smile was etched on his face. His eyes were determined and unwavering. He took another battle stance and looked straight into the eyes of the old man who was clearly shocked by the fact that Yoru was able to block his attack. Upon seeing the smile from Yoru’s face, veins in the old man’s face popped as his body shook in anger.

“THAT’S ENOUGH!” A roar so loud that it seemed to reach even the heavens itself shook the entire place.

A man with long hair in his 30’s donned in heavy armor jumped between the two and gave the old man a look. In front of the countless guests and onlookers, the old man knew that he had no choice but to retreat to avoid being humiliated further. Feeling spiteful, the old man snickered and simply walked away as he was accompanied by soldiers. Yoru looked at the fleeting back of the old man as he dropped his guard down. He took a deep breath and composed himself.

The red haired man approached him and said sternly, “Yoru, don’t you think you’ve got a lot of explaining to do to this uncle of yours and to the guests who are present in this venue?”

Silence reigned the whole area and the stares of the people weighed down on Yoru, but he stood firm and his voice echoed, “Who are you and where am I? And how do you know my name?”

“Wh- Wha- What did you just say?” The red haired man stuttered and was lost in disbelief.

Everyone who knew the relationship between Yoru and the red haired man, and heard that one short exchange of words all thought of the same thing, “Amnesia!”

“Call the divine doctor immediately to my palace! Everyone is dismissed!” The red-haired man declared.

Everyone bowed their heads down, clasped their hands and roared in unison, “We obey the order of the sect master!”