Chapter 2

When Namgung Woo came to his senses, he instinctively realized that something had changed.

It was far from a vague guess without any basis. The moment he tried to move his body, Namgung Woo felt the anomaly.

‘Heavy.’

Even though Chasing Deer Murim was a virtual reality game, the sensation of moving his body didn’t perfectly match reality. There were technical limitations.

Even the third-generation virtual reality games, following the second-generation Chasing Deer Murim, couldn’t completely bridge the gap with reality.

However, the feeling of twitching his fingers and wiggling his toes now perfectly matched the vivid reality.

‘Did the VR capsule detect an anomaly and send an emergency protocol?’

Sending human consciousness into virtual reality, no matter how much safety was verified, couldn’t completely eliminate the anxiety of potential accidents.

Therefore, if abnormal brainwaves were detected in the user inside the capsule, the connection would be immediately cut off, the capsule opened, and a rescue alert sent.

It was the most reasonable answer Namgung Woo could think of, but the moment he opened his eyes, evidence to the contrary was presented.

‘But… the ceiling looks too familiar.’

An old-fashioned wooden ceiling that couldn’t possibly belong to a 22nd-century hospital or ambulance.

For a modern person, it would be extremely rare to see, but for Namgung Woo, it was all too familiar.

That style was identical to the architecture of Chasing Deer Murim, which he had seen countless times.

“Was it a forced event?”

A mutter that slipped out without much thought, and an answer that shouldn’t have come back did.

“What are you talking about?”

“Huh?”

“Are you finally coming to your senses?”

Namgung Woo, who had half-opened his eyes, suddenly opened them wide and turned towards the source of the voice.

A woman who looked to be just around 20 years old was looking down at him.

Her gaze was more uncomfortable than friendly or curious. In her large, clear eyes, where his face was vaguely reflected, Namgung Woo’s mind sharpened.

“Wait, where is this…?”

“You should consider yourself lucky. If Dang-ah hadn’t found you and brought you here, you might have died on the street. You should be thankful to the parents who gave you such a pretty face.”

Her sharp words were quite cutting.

In truth, the woman, Song Chaeji, wasn’t very pleased with Namgung Woo. The situation was dire for both Song Chaeji and Dang-ah. Despite her words, judging by Namgung Woo’s appearance, he seemed to come from a well-off family and would have managed somehow.

But in her anxious state, she had indeed been too harsh.

‘It’s not the time to be kind to others… Sigh, I lack cultivation too. I should apologize.’

Song Chaeji inwardly scolded herself for being too harsh on Namgung Woo.

However, what struck Namgung Woo’s nerves wasn’t her condescending tone but the content of her words.

A pretty face?

No way. Namgung Woo’s face was objectively very average.

Middle of the middle.

If divided into nine grades, middle-middle; if further divided into 27 grades, barely middle-middle-upper.

But for a woman barely in her twenties to openly call him pretty? Unless she was mocking him, it was something Namgung Woo would never experience in reality.

But if it were inside Chasing Deer Murim, it made sense. Even though Namgung Woo was a hardcore user who used his real name as his in-game nickname, he didn’t perfectly match his face to reality.

Doesn’t everyone have the desire to look good? Namgung Woo had just given in to that desire a little.

‘Then I’m still inside Chasing Deer Murim… What’s with this sense of reality?’

External information told him he was still inside Chasing Deer Murim, but the sensations he was experiencing insisted this was reality.

In that dissonance, as Namgung Woo struggled to make sense of it, a girl hiding behind Song Chaeji peeked out.

“Uh, unnie. Don’t be too harsh…”

“Hmm, Dang-ah. Unnie isn’t trying to scold, just advising you to be careful from now on. And we don’t know who this person is. It’s right to be cautious. He might be a spy sent by the Black Bear Faction…”

Namgung Woo had no time to care about what the two were saying about him.

He immediately observed his own body.

In Chasing Deer Murim, to make martial arts as realistic as possible, they had set it up so that one could inspect their body and train their internal energy through mental meditation.

The daily meditation, despite the surrounding commotion, deeply immersed Namgung Woo’s consciousness.

He felt an overwhelmingly fierce energy dormant in the Lower Dantian at the Qihai point. It was a domineering energy, like a thunderbolt that could split the sky and earth.

Since such energy couldn’t possibly exist in reality, this should confirm he was inside Chasing Deer Murim, but instead of relief, Namgung Woo was even more shocked.

‘What is this…?’

A sensation more real than reality.

Unlike in Chasing Deer Murim, where he could only visually feel his growth, Namgung Woo now perceived the existence of his Lower Dantian’s internal energy with all six senses beyond the five.

It was like a coiled thunder dragon.

Of course.

The Lower Dantian technique Namgung Woo had trained was the Heavenly Thunder Emperor Divine Art.

It mimicked the most domineering thunderous power in the world.

It wasn’t something that could be replicated in a mere game.

He intuitively realized.

The moment Namgung Woo became aware he was in reality.

Suddenly, an unprecedented flood of information rushed into Namgung Woo’s brain like a torrent.

It was a kind of knowledge. A bundle of formal, clear information far from emotional memories.

“Kuh…!”

The sensation, like downloading a file into a computer, brought both a sense of alienation and pain. Namgung Woo grabbed his head with a short groan stained with pain.

The information didn’t stop.

How to breathe, how to walk, how to move hands, how to handle internal energy…

It was a feast of knowledge that made him conscious of the forms all his previously taken-for-granted actions had to take.

Human movements, regardless of their intricacy, are close to unconscious. If asked to explain how one grabs an object, most would just say “like this.”

In contrast, a robot must go through an extremely complex process to implement each action. Considering the lengthy research and trial-and-error to make a robot walk, one can understand the difficulty of digitizing human actions.

The change happening in Namgung Woo’s mind was like that. The process of giving form to actions taken for granted daily. There was no other way to explain it.

“Kuh… Ahhh…!”

But even the fear of the bizarre sensation of flipping his brain was bearable compared to the intense pain in his eyes.

If the knowledge engraved in his brain felt like a branding iron searing his skin, Namgung Woo’s eyes felt like they were being forcibly plucked out and carved while the nerves were still alive.

The headache and eye pain were so severe that Namgung Woo couldn’t detect it, but pain signals were being sent to his brain from all over his body.

Perhaps the symptoms of Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) were like this.

In the pain of his intact eyes being mutilated, Namgung Woo could no longer hold back his screams.

At Namgung Woo’s sudden state, Song Chaeji flusteredly supported him.

“H-hey! Are you okay?”

“Unnie… what do we do…”

“We need to call a doctor. Dang-ah, I’ll be right back…”

Thud.

Namgung Woo’s hand grabbed Song Chaeji’s arm as she was about to leave to get help.

In the midst of this bewildering situation, as Song Chaeji pondered what this meant, Namgung Woo’s mouth opened.

“No need, it’s fine.”

“R-really? You’re sweating…”

Song Chaeji examined Namgung Woo’s face with concern.

Cold sweat was dripping down his face. To anyone, he didn’t look normal.

But Namgung Woo, having regained some composure, shook his head shakily.

“Really, I’m fine. Just, just give me a moment alone, please?”

For a brief moment, the thought crossed Song Chaeji’s mind that he might be faking to escape, but it quickly faded.

Song Chaeji was a genuine martial artist. For a man with no traces of martial arts to deceive her, he would have to be a master actor on par with the best in the world.

‘That can’t be.’

Song Chaeji convinced herself and gently released Namgung Woo’s hand.

“Alright. Rest up. Come out when you’re better. Dang-ah, let’s go.”

“Mm… unnie.”

Led by Song Chaeji’s hand, the girl kept looking back, worried about Namgung Woo.

Soon, the sound of the door closing was heard.

After that, Namgung Woo endured the pain alone. Fortunately, as he had told Song Chaeji, the pain was subsiding over time.

If this continued, the pain would surely disappear soon.

“Hoo… hoo…”

Instinctively, Namgung Woo took a deep breath following the breathing method engraved in his mind.

His body responded first, and then the coiled thunder dragon slowly began to swim through his body.

Time passed.

The pain wasn’t long, enough for Namgung Woo’s consciousness to briefly return as Song Chaeji and the girl were momentarily flustered.

As the pain that felt like it was branding his mind subsided, an unprecedented clarity filled him. The worry about lingering aftereffects from the intense pain now seemed laughable.

Finally, as the eye pain, far surpassing the headache, disappeared, Namgung Woo fully regained his senses.

And cautiously lifting his eyelids, the world he faced.

Had transformed into a starry realm he had never seen before.

“What on earth…”

A field of vision filled with dazzling light.

That was the world Namgung Woo would see from now on.