Surviving Among the Entities

Chapter 76 - The Martial Artist



Having become the 18-year-old girl Park Chun-ja born during the Japanese occupation, Kim Mi-ri immediately took action.

[I cannot live in peace after the nation’s destiny has been robbed by the Japanese invaders. I shall leave home to pursue the greater cause, so please do not seek me out.]

First, she tidied herself up, left a single note, and departed from home.

If the question had been ‘Achieve an independent Republic of Korea’, it would have been impossible through individual effort. However, she had accurately grasped the conditions of the question.

‘The condition is to become the Gwangbokgun (Liberation Army) and alter history.’

As long as the degree of alteration was over 50%, it would be considered correct.
It wasn’t about achieving Joseon’s independence. She just needed to alter history, and 50% or more would suffice, so it was worth attempting.

‘The Gwangbokgun was founded in 1940, so I have 30 more years.’

While acting alone could satisfy the conditions, the opposite was also possible.
A situation where she had to test the waters before crossing, or rather, no bridge at all.

“I just need to found it myself, right? I can call myself a one-person Gwangbokgun without needing to gather people! If the Gwangbokgun hasn’t been founded yet, the one who founds it first gets to be the leader!”

Then she just needed to build the bridge.
After declaring herself the Gwangbokgun, she set out to alter history.

“How can I change it?”

Unfortunately, her knowledge of history was limited to what she had learned in school and heard in passing.
Under the influence of her master, Kim Go-deuk, she had recently been reading martial arts novels, but she had never delved into alternative histories.

“I don’t know.”

So she chose a simple but certain method.

“If I just keep killing people, things will change!”

She headed for Japan.
Thanks to the foreign language training during agent education and the entities’ assistance, communication was not difficult.

“Are you Tojo Hideki?”
“Who?”
“Cheonmahyeonggong-to!”

Tojo Hideki.
Terauchi Masatake.
Yamagata Aritomo.
And even the Emperor – she assassinated numerous historical figures.

“Catch the fox demon!”

As she wore a white fox mask when carrying out assassinations, the Japanese called her the fox demon.

“This isn’t enough.”

She needed to kill more people.
While she said this, she was not a psychopathic killer consumed by murder.

“Ah, it’s mind technique time.”

She simply did not hesitate in her actions as a martial artist.

[For a martial artist, the act of killing is an unavoidable karmic burden. However, one cannot practice martial arts without distancing oneself from that burden. Therefore, one must tame the act of killing and make it one’s own.]

The mind technique of the Five Elements Inner Cultivation, ‘Sunggi-danggcheon-mok’, cultivated not only internal energy but also an unperturbed mind.

[Do not fear in your actions, and do not hesitate in your fears.]

She killed out of necessity.
To protect the world from entities, to escape from this place, she repeated the act of killing.

“Japan alone is not enough.”

She headed for Russia.

“Are you Lenin?”
“Who are you?”
“Cheonmahyeonggong-to!”

She killed Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin, and numerous other historical figures.

“Not enough.”

Next, she went to Germany.

“Are you Hitler?”
“Who are………”
“Cheonmahyeonggong-to!”

She killed Hitler, Goebbels, Goering, and many other historical figures.

“If I’m going to do it, I should do it thoroughly.”

She headed for France.

“Are you de Gaulle?”
“Who are………”
“Cheonmahyeonggong-to!”

She set foot on British soil.

“Are you Churchill?”
“Who………”
“Cheonmahyeonggong-to!”

While she was at it, she crossed over to America as well.

“Are you Roosevelt?”
“Who………”
“Cheonmahyeonggong-to!”

By that point, 30 years had passed, and the world had completely diverged from its original history.

“Hmm, a Third World War, it seems.”

Had she killed too many?
She was momentarily stunned by the drastic changes brought about by the intertwining historical shifts.

[Degree of Alteration: 99%]
[Pass]

In the blink of an eye, she returned to the original classroom.

‘Ugh!’

There were aftereffects. The memories of living through the Japanese occupation period for 30 years remained vivid in her mind.

“Ughh!”
“Wh, where is this!? Joseon’s independence was right around the corner!”
“Uwaaah! Honey? Honey!? Where is this place!”

The other agents were no different.
Those who had become immersed in that 30-year period could not regain their senses.

‘There’s no helping it.’

Kim Mi-ri swiftly struck the backs of their necks.
After knocking them all unconscious, she took the exam alone.

‘As long as one person passes, we all pass. I just need to succeed.’

She was confident.

‘I was a bit shaken, but I could endure it, couldn’t I?’

For some reason, an unreasonable confidence welled up within her, as if thinking, ‘It’s not like I had to repeat it billions of times, so this much is nothing.’

‘There couldn’t possibly be such a terrifying entity, right?’

She moved on to the next question.

[2. Prevent the emergence of the nuclear bomb.]

She was possessed by the United States of the 1940s.

“Oppenheimer?”
“Hm?”
“Cheonmahyeonggong-to!”

She resolved the problems solely through offensive means.

[3. Become the ruler of Joseon in place of your ancestors and resolve the Imjin War.]

“Konishi! Here stands the ruler of Joseon!”
“What! Seize him!”
“Cheonmahyeonggong-to!”

She did not always succeed.
No matter how much martial arts she had learned, there were limits to an individual’s power, and she could not single-handedly stop a massive war.

[4. Become a soldier who participated in the Spanish Civil War and unify Spain.]

Particularly in battlefields involving modern weaponry rather than assassination, the slightest mistake led to death.
Fortunately, death there was not real, but since her attempts failed, she was considered to have failed those worlds and was expelled from them.

[5. Participate in the American Civil War and lead the Union to victory.]

Instead, as she progressed through the questions, she continuously grew stronger.
The latent potential acknowledged by Kim Go-deuk had been fully realized upon joining the Foundation and receiving the entity known as a “vigor”, allowing her to unleash her power at any time.

[6. Become part of the German Wehrmacht in World War II, expel the Nazis, and restore normalcy.]

The only thing lacking was time, and the question-solving provided that time.
When she broke through the sixth question, she had surpassed her master’s abilities.

[7. Become a warlord of the Warring States period and claim more than half of the realm as your territory.]

In the seventh question, she advanced the Five Elements Inner Cultivation to the next level.

[8. Become a child of Tsar Nicholas II and revive the Russian imperial household.]

In the eighth question, she opened her upper and lower spirit channels, reaching the ascendant realm that Kim Go-deuk had so coveted.

[9. Become a child of Emperor Gojong and revive the Joseon imperial household.]

In the ninth question, she succeeded in replicating some of the techniques from martial arts novels.

[10. In the Three Kingdoms period when the foundations of Wei, Shu, and Wu were laid, establish your own nation and unify the Central Plains.]

And now, with only the final tenth question remaining before graduation.
Having landed in a wasteland, Kim Mi-ri gazed up at the azure sky.

“Not the Unification of All Martial Arts, but the Unification of the Central Plains.”

A gentle breeze caressed her as she smiled.

“Let me resolve this through force.”

She possessed that kind of power.

“Should I name my nation the Celestial Horse Cult? I should practice my self-introduction in advance. Hmm.”

The aura of subjugation filled her steps as she walked across the wasteland.

“I am the Celestial Horse.”

[Do-jo!]

Admiral Yi Sun-sin’s sword sliced through the air. Kim Go-deuk narrowly evaded it, but his already exhausted footsteps lagged by half a beat.

“Umm!”

His right shoulder was torn open. His tattered, blood-soaked clothes provided no respite as another statue launched an attack from behind.

[Let us think!]

Evading the Thinker statue, he moved behind the main building.
There, he finally spotted the girl reading the book he had been searching for and unleashed a series of secret techniques.

[Kukahaha! You’re caught again!]

Just as his fingertips brushed her, the girl reading the book vanished once more.

[Then I’ll hide! Try finding me again! You have 3 minutes this time too!]
“Kkulleok!”

Kim Go-deuk coughed up blood. His reckless usage of internal energy and the relentless onslaught without recovery time had long since reduced his insides to rags.

“Whew, this is really tough.”

Without a moment’s rest, he ran again.

“I suppose it’s time to use that.”

He recalled a lesson from his Foundation training.

[While entities are generally impossible to physically destroy, using another entity or mystical means has a relatively higher probability of success.]

The term “mystical” refers to the supernatural abilities or psychic powers manifested by humans.
The Foundation even had entities that could artificially bestow such mystical powers, and there were agents who had indeed used those powers to destroy entities.

[In my view, Agent Kim Go-deuk’s martial arts are also one such mystical power.]

His first attempt failed.
The statue of King Sejong remained unscathed, and his martial arts did not work.

“But what if I do this?”

He brought up his lower inner energy.
Following the internal energy coursing through his body, another surge of energy rushed through him.

“Gwangeumbakryu (Raging Sound Explosive Flow).”

The ultimate secret technique of the Five Elements Inner Cultivation.

“Fire.”

An extreme skill that involved burning one’s innate primordial energy, the root of human life itself, to temporarily unleash all of one’s power – simultaneously the life-risking skill and the boundary-crossing skill.

“Using it for just 1 minute is the life-risking skill, but any longer becomes the boundary-crossing skill. I won’t be so arrogant as to claim I’ll defeat you all within 1 minute.”

Power surged forth.
He lightly fired off a palm strike.

“Cheonmahyeonggong-to.”
[To think……]

The Thinker statue’s arm was severed by the direct hit of his palm strike.

“However, I will definitely depart along with you.”
[…You wish to die?]

The Thinker statue asked while looking at its severed arm.

“I do wish to die.”
[Are you not afraid of death?]
“Not at all.”

Kim Go-deuk, with firm legs and clenched fists, took a stance and smiled.

“I came forth to practice martial arts for the greater good, and I will sacrifice my life for that cause. That is the way of the martial artist.”

The unleashed secret technique.
His strike technique struck the Thinker statue’s chest.
The statue, previously indestructible, shattered from the single blow and scattered across the ground.

“And I have already passed on my will to my disciple. All that remains is this aged body. Is it not only proper for a senior to sacrifice themselves for their juniors?”

Vivid crimson blood trickled from the old man’s lips.

“I’m out of time.”

His gaze turned towards the statue of Admiral Yi Sun-sin.

“Let me deal with you before it’s too late.”

‘Truly an entity, then.’

This was certainly an ordinary gymnasium.
However, whenever the entity prepared an event, the gymnasium’s appearance continuously transformed.

‘Freely altering the space like that.’

Sometimes it became a swimming pool.
Sometimes it became a massive track, and sometimes it became a field for throwing metal balls.

“So, what was the result?”
『Hueukk…….』

I approached the sobbing entity and asked.
The moment I passed the 8th event, the entity had thrown a fit, claiming this was unacceptable, leading to a brief physical scuffle which fortunately got resolved.

『You, you….. You’re not human?』
“I am human.”
『How can a human run 100 meters in 1 second!』
“Why do you assume it’s impossible? Just because you cannot do it does not mean all humans are incapable. That’s a narrow-minded view.”
『It’s not narrow-minded, it’s common sense! And how could an ordinary human strike me like that!』

The physical education teacher, shedding tears, trembled with an emotion that could not be discerned as anguish or rage.

“Ah, I didn’t purely use my own strength. I consumed this.”
『Do, doping!? I should have known!』
“Would you like to have some as well?”
『Really!?』
“In exchange, tell me where the club room is located.”
『The club room is on the 5th floor of the main building!』
“Here, have some.”

The physical education teacher swallowed the “Dried Friendship”.

『Kuhuhuh! So this is the source of your power….. Tch, tch, tch!』

The one who had been stuttering soon collapsed and convulsed violently.

『Bbwik! Kkwak! Ssak!』
“What a pity, it seems aside from Ho-mun, there is no one who can truly appreciate my art.”

Anyway, the 5th floor of the main building, then.

‘Currently, the Ghost Story Club room is highly likely to be the eye of the storm.’

After smoking a cigarette, I left the gymnasium.

“Speaking of which, they were weak.”

Judging from the entity’s strength and reactions when struck, they were far weaker than the judges of Hell Train.

‘If they’re just this weak, I don’t need to worry about the agents.’

‘They’ll kill us if we can’t draw?’

The six trapped in the art room trembled in fear.

‘I’m not hallucinating, am I?’
‘This is a dream, a dream! If I close my eyes tightly and open them again, I’ll be in my bedroom!’
‘I, I have to draw. I, I want to live!’
‘But what kind of picture do I have to draw?’
‘Ah, I’ll never enter an abandoned school again! Please forgive me!’

Gripped by primal terror, no one dared to speak.

“Ddeu……”

Except for one person.

“Ddeuddaei.”

Lee So-hee.
She deftly gathered the brushes, palettes, and paints arranged in the art room.

“Ddeuddaei.”

Having directly experienced the bizarre hidden side of the world, she could swiftly recover.
This was the second time, and she still possessed the gift bestowed upon her by the bizarre.

“Ddeuddaei!”

The TS pretty girl internet broadcaster was skilled at drawing.
Having built a following among viewers through her drawings on her broadcast, she now unleashed the seal.

“Ddeuddaeddaei!”
『What are you saying? You’re not going to draw?』
“Ddeuddaei!”

On her broadcast, her drawings had only involved creating anime using a tablet.
She had drawn that type of art because the viewers enjoyed it, but her artistic skills were not limited to that level.

“Ddeuddaeddaeddaei.”

The talent bestowed by Dr. Janus was a talent that would be remembered throughout human history.
So-hee began painting with her brush.
To perfectly impress the art teacher and save her colleagues.

『!?』

The art teacher’s eyes grew wider and wider.

『Im, impossible!』

When she finished painting, not just the art teacher but everyone else was left in awe.

“Wow……”
“Incredible……”
“In this world……”
“No way……”
“Waaah……”

A timeless masterpiece destined to be remembered throughout history was born.

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