Chapter 26 : Demonic Martial Divine Manual

Chapter 26: Demonic Martial Divine Manual

Jang Woo-hyun opened his eyes after three days had passed.

He had briefly regained consciousness in shock after seeing the Demonic Martial Divine Manual, but soon passed out again. Now, he had finally woken up.

“Guhhh...”

A pain like his entire body’s muscles had been torn surged through him. There were no visible wounds, but the recoil from recklessly drawing on his internal energy had left his Dantian and internal organs shattered.

“Brother Jang, are you alright?”

At the familiar voice, he struggled to turn his head. A short distance away from the bed, he saw Hwang An sitting at a table.

“Duhmuh...shing-guh...?”

He couldn’t even form proper words.

“Hmm? What are you saying? Calm down first. Your body’s in terrible shape.”

Hwang An approached, propped him up gently, and gave him some water to drink.

“This is one of the side rooms in the Shangguan Family. Thanks to your help—no, thanks to your actions, we were able to protect the auction items and avenge the fallen warriors. The Patriarch of the Shangguan Family is deeply grateful. He’s been waiting for you to wake up. He also did everything he could to aid in your treatment.”

“Demonic... ahem. Hmm. The Demonic Martial Divine Manual?”

After letting a few sounds out and loosening his tongue, his voice came out properly.

“The Demonic Martial Divine Manual? Why bring that up all of a sudden? The Shangguan Family took care of it.”

“Right, I need to… urgh!”

As he tried to sit up, a wave of unbearable pain struck, forcing Jang Woo-hyun to collapse back down.

“I told you to calm down. Why are you acting so rashly, not like yourself at all? The outside might look fine, but inside you’re in critical condition. You need more treatment.”

“Ughhh.”

Even through the pain, Jang Woo-hyun couldn’t calm himself. He hadn’t felt this agitated since falling into this world.

Not when he first learned Martial Arts, not when he first killed someone, not even when his cultivation level advanced—never had he felt this urgent.

And it was for good reason.

He had found traces of someone else who had fallen into this world.

Demonic Martial Divine Manual.

He was sure the person was Korean.

He absolutely had to confirm what was written in that manual.

Though he tried to force himself up in his excitement, the agony overwhelmed him, and he had no choice but to give up.

‘Calm down.’

First, he had to regain control of his body that couldn’t even move properly.

Changing his mindset, Jang Woo-hyun called out to Hwang An.

“Where are my things?”

“They’re over here, I took care of them.”

“There should be a small wooden box. Please bring it to me.”

Hwang An retrieved a small wooden box from among his belongings.

“This one?”

“There’s a Resurrection Pill inside. Put it in my mouth, please.”

“A Resurrection Pill from Shaolin?”

“I received it as a reward for a previous merit.”

“Oh... that’s fortunate. I didn’t know you had such a rare elixir. It’ll be a great help.”

After Hwang An placed the pill in his mouth, Jang Woo-hyun bit down and consumed it, then closed his eyes.

‘No need to rush. Stay calm. I have to recover my body completely. I never know what might happen again.’

The previous battle had come out of nowhere. He had to ensure his body was in peak condition. Just because he was within the Shangguan Family’s grounds didn’t mean he could let his guard down. After all, the Demon Cult had stirred up chaos right in their front yard.

Calming his anxious heart, Jang Woo-hyun resolved to restore his body fully before seeking out the Demonic Martial Divine Manual.

Four days later, Jang Woo-hyun, now barely able to move, arranged a meeting with the head of the Shangguan Family.

He couldn’t bear it any longer, remembering the writing inside the Demonic Martial Divine Manual. Someone other than himself had fallen into this world—how could he possibly ignore that?

Though he still couldn’t use any Martial Arts, that didn’t matter now. Since the Shangguan Family had taken possession of the Demonic Martial Divine Manual, he had to meet the family head.

“Greetings. I am Shangguan Ho, the patriarch of the Shangguan Family.”

“I am Shangguan Jung-hoo.”

The family head was a man approaching old age, and beside him sat his son, who appeared to be around Jang Woo-hyun’s age.

“The Shangguan Family owes a great debt to Great Hero Jang. Truly, we are grateful from the bottom of our hearts.”

“Thank you, Great Hero Jang.”

After their extended words of gratitude, Jang Woo-hyun cautiously brought up his reason for visiting.

“The Demonic Martial Divine Manual? It’s not difficult to show it to you, but may I ask what your reason is?”

“Since it’s a secret manual the Demon Cult was after, I’d like to take a look at it myself.”

“I see. Please wait a moment.”

Shangguan Ho gave a command to his subordinate waiting outside. Soon, two small wooden boxes were brought in.

Shangguan Ho opened the first box and pulled out a secret manual.

“This is the Heaven-Earth Yin-Yang Twin Hands. I heard you won it in the auction.”

“Ah? Yes, that’s right…”

“We’ll give this to you. It’s a token of our gratitude. Please, don’t refuse. If not for you, the damage would’ve been far worse. We would’ve lost the auction items and failed to catch the culprits. That alone would have been disastrous.”

If they had failed to apprehend those who caused chaos at the auction, it would have severely tarnished the Shangguan Family’s reputation. A person had already died during the auction, raising concerns about safety. If they had failed to capture the criminals as well, they might have had to shut down the auction house immediately.

Jang Woo-hyun had practically cleaned up the mess in their stead.

“And here. This is the Demonic Martial Divine Manual.”

Shangguan Ho pushed the other box forward. Jang Woo-hyun opened it and took out the manual.

怪魔神功

The words "Demonic Martial Divine Manual" were written on the cover. As soon as he flipped past the cover, he realized it.

‘This isn’t the original cover.’

The next page and the texture of the paper were different. Someone had crafted a cover and written a name on it. The page after the cover contained the writing he had glimpsed before losing consciousness.

He hadn’t seen it wrong.

The writing in the Demonic Martial Divine Manual was in Hangul. Written in a way only a Korean could understand.

The one before.

It meant there was another volume. Whether it was a middle volume, a following volume, or the last, this was the first—and there were more.

“Hoo...”

Taking a deep breath to calm himself, he turned the page.

There were terribly written words on the page. Though he had held a small hope, it was now certain.

‘They were really Korean.’

The author of the Demonic Martial Divine Manual—the Demonic Martial Divine—was a Korean who had fallen into this world before Jang Woo-hyun.

With his heart racing and breath quickening, Jang Woo-hyun did his best to stay calm and closed the manual.

“Brother Jang, you don’t understand it either, do you?”

Hwang An leaned in and whispered.

“Patriarch, if it’s not too much trouble, may I take the manual with me to study it further?”

“Brother Jang? Did you find something?”

At Hwang An’s surprised question, Jang Woo-hyun shook his head.

“I’m not sure yet. Whether it’s a type of writing or symbols, I need to look at it more carefully. I plan to examine it slowly—there might be something to gain from it.”

“Please do. I wouldn’t feel right if I couldn’t do at least that much for my benefactor. In fact, why don’t you just take it?”

“Father.”

Hearing his father suggest giving away an item worth thirty thousand nyang, Shangguan Jung-hoo called out to him in a low voice.

“It’s fine. It’s the least the Shangguan Family can do for our benefactor. Besides, if word gets out that the Demon Cult was after it, it won’t sell anyway.”

“Then allow me to pay for it.”

“Huh? Brother Jang? Are you serious?”

The winning bid had been thirty thousand nyang. Thirty thousand!

It was an amount they couldn’t possibly afford with the gold and silver in the chests they’d brought. They’d have to sell off the promissory notes and gemstones they had set aside.

“No, it’s something we can gladly give to our benefactor.”

“This time, I’ll have to politely decline your generosity. Even if I don’t pay the full auction price, I’ll at least offer a fair price. Didn’t you also suffer damage from the incident?”

“Hmmm, now that’s a tricky stance you’re taking. Then how about I take five thousand nyang? That should be acceptable, right, Jung-hoo? You as well, Brother Hwang?”

Both Hwang An and Shangguan Jung-hoo were satisfied with Shangguan Ho’s compromise.

Afterward, the two men from the Shangguan Family shared a meal with Jang Woo-hyun, but Jang had been so preoccupied that he couldn’t remember a single thing they talked about.

After the meal, when Shangguan Ho invited him for tea, Jang Woo-hyun declined with the excuse that he wasn’t feeling well and returned straight to his assigned lodging. Sitting down, heart pounding, he opened the Demonic Martial Divine Manual. For now, he skimmed through it.

‘Calling this a secret manual is a joke.’

This wasn’t a martial arts manual at all. It was more accurate to describe it as a journal or record left behind by the Demonic Martial Divine.

The Hangul was messily written. Some chapters were written vertically instead of horizontally, and in some cases, multiple sentences were intentionally interwoven to make it harder to read.

Whether it was done to prevent others from interpreting it or for some other reason, it was clear—only a Korean would be able to read this. There were even sections where two sentences overlapped into one, and Jang Woo-hyun had to study them closely for quite a while to make sense of them.

After reading halfway, Jang Woo-hyun returned to the first page and began reading it slowly.

The first line was a ridiculous sentence introducing the writer’s name.

- My name, put a “mieum” on “gi,” and a “nieun” on “mi”...

- My name is Kim Min-soo.

It began with the Demonic Martial Divine’s name—and from there, his story unfolded.

- If you’re reading this, you must be Korean. Like you, I’m someone who came to this world from South Korea.

Jang Woo-hyun’s heart pounded uncontrollably after reading just a few lines.

He wasn’t the only one. Someone else had fallen into this world too.

- At first, it was exciting. I couldn’t believe I’d come to another world. I felt like a character in a novel or comic.

But reality wasn’t so generous. Just like Jang Woo-hyun, Kim Min-soo had struggled greatly with the unfamiliar language, culture, and food. His life began to change when he encountered martial arts.

- I was a literal beggar. Not just poor—I was an actual beggar. I couldn’t communicate, and I didn’t have some special ability like those protagonists in novels, so there was absolutely nothing I could do. Then I got dragged off by some guys and ended up learning martial arts. In hindsight, it was barely worthy of being called martial arts, but still—I began to learn. And that’s when I realized… I didn’t have a status window, but I did have a unique ability.

Kim Min-soo had the same talent as him—a natural aptitude for martial arts.

As if he had the legendary Heavenly Martial Physique, he began learning martial arts at an astonishing speed.

- Turned out, the ones who took me were part of a fairly large underworld faction. They brought me in to use as cannon fodder, but once they saw I had talent, their treatment changed. From them, I learned martial arts, language, and their culture. Since they were from the criminal underworld, their “common sense” was a bit twisted, though.

He grew stronger while mingling with those criminals. After one year, he had become the second-in-command of their organization.

- My rapid growth came to a halt when I hit the wall of the Master Level. Until then, everything had been easy. Just by breathing, I accumulated internal energy. No matter how difficult the technique, I just had to mimic it to learn it. But the Master Level was different. They said I needed some sort of enlightenment… but how do you “get” enlightenment? Even when I became a first-rate expert, I didn’t even fully understand the meridian map. I hadn’t studied martial arts—I just did it, and it worked.

‘He got stuck at Master Level?’

Jang Woo-hyun was surprised. He himself had surpassed the Master Level wall without any enlightenment and reached his current level. Apparently, Kim Min-soo’s experience was different.

- What did I do, you ask? I just kept cultivating internal energy. Eventually, I pushed through. Enlightenment or whatever—who cares? But moving from Master Level to Peak Master Level? That’s a whole different story. That one did require enlightenment.

Blocked at the Peak Master Level, Kim Min-soo had to look for another path.