Chapter 86 – Heavenly Demon’s Disciple (8)
To understand the wuxia novel <Is This Heavenly Demon for Real?>, you first need the basics—
The common “murim terms” and general knowledge.
What is murim (æ¦æž—)?
A dangerous world ruled by physical violence.
A brutally unfair world where the strong take everything.
Wealth, rights, power, beauty, reputation…
Even if you kill people or destroy towns, as long as you have strength, you’re forgiven.
In short—
Strength is everything.
And to gain strength?
Martial arts (æ¦åŠŸ).
A superhuman power that doesn’t exist in reality.
The method of improving martial arts varies by novel, but generally, you learn it through a sect or a clan:
Sect (문파) = association by academic lineage
Clan (세가) = association by bloodline
Simple enough.
Other methods include picking up a rare secret manual, or learning from some eccentric hermit—
Basically, cheating.
That’s it for the basics.
The rest?
If someone annoys you, kill them.
If someone blocks you, kill them.
If someone acts arrogant, kill them.
If someone is dangerous, kill them.
If someone is suspicious, kill them…
You just keep killing stronger and stronger enemies until eventually no one is left.
That’s when the novel ends.
<Is This Heavenly Demon for Real?> follows the same overall structure.
Except—
“I should never run into the Heavenly Demon.”
The “Heavenly Demon” in the title is a being so powerful he could destroy the world by himself.
And the protagonist is the disciple of that Heavenly Demon.
This… is dangerous.
If the patient, Mao Zhai, turns out to be the Heavenly Demon or the Heavenly Demon’s direct disciple…
That’s a threat on the same level as Choi Kang-min, the magical nuke boy.
Ding-dong!
“Huh? Who’s that?”
I had just finished reading the entire <Is This Heavenly Demon for Real?> and was lying on my bed, planning my strategy.
The dorm doorbell suddenly rang.
The only person who would come here was my junior, Choi Kang-hoon.
But he wouldn’t skip class.
A delivery?
I hadn’t ordered anything recently. Unlikely.
Then what…?
Ding-dong!
The bell rang again—
This time sounding irritatingly impatient.
“I’m coming!”
I rolled off the bed, still in my underwear, and opened the door just a crack—
BANG!
“Ow?!”
My forehead slammed into the suddenly flung-open door. I staggered back, rubbing the bump.
An armed intruder?!
But instead, a familiar fiery voice shouted:
“You’re late!”
“No way… Sun-young?”
“Who else would it be?!”
Song Sun-young, hands on her hips and eyes blazing, glared at me.
Why was she angry?
Anyway—
“Miss, this is the boys’ dorm. Girls aren’t allowed in here.”
“I came last time, didn’t I?”
“You weren’t allowed then either. You barged in.”
“So what, you gonna report me?”
“I’m not insane.”
The consequences would be terrifying.
And honestly… I didn’t dislike it.
“This place still smells awful as ever.”
“Watch your mouth! Just get inside before someone sees you.”
“Too late. A bunch of people already saw me—because you took forever to open the door.”
“My fault, my fault!”
As soon as Song Sun-young stepped inside and took off her shoes, I shut the door.
Swish—
Then I hurried over and yanked the curtains shut to block the sunlight.
“What’s with the attitude? Don’t act like you’re trying to hide that I came.”
“I’m the one who’s gonna get lectured later!”
“Isn’t closing the curtains the more suspicious option? No one can see what we’re doing behind them.”
“That’s… true.”
Swish—
Convinced by her logic, I opened the curtains again.
“Calm down. We even slept together before. Why are you freaking out over something this small?”
“But back then…”
“Back then?”
“…I didn’t know it was a dream. Damn it. This isn’t any different.”
Even I thought I looked ridiculous.
I slumped onto the edge of the bed.
Why was I so nervous just because she came?
The excuse “girls aren’t allowed in the boys’ dorm” wasn’t enough to explain it.
“Feeling calmer now?”
“…No.”
Soft.
She sat right next to me on the bed—so close that calming down became impossible.
Her hair carried a soft floral scent.
I knew that scent.
“Hyacinth, huh.”
“Right. How’d you know?”
“It’s nothing impressive. It’s the only flower scent I recognize.”
A salesperson at a department store once told me, “This is hyacinth.”
That’s the only reason I knew.
“Really?”
“But… why did you come?”
“Do I need a reason?”
“Well… this is the male dorm. If you’d told me first, we could’ve met outside campus—”
“Are you stupid? If I cared about people staring, I could’ve never become a model.”
“Yeah… fair enough.”
Someone like me—who gets flustered over this—could never be a model.
Wait, is this different…?
Maybe it wasn’t about rules—
Maybe I was just overwhelmed because of her.
I stayed calm when assassins tried to kill me.
But one girl shows up and I fall apart?
Ridiculous.
“I wanted to show you this.”
Song Sun-young tapped her phone and sent me a file.
Ping♪
<Song Sun-young: Core Summary>
“Core… summary? What is this?”
“……”
“Sun-young?”
“It’s my summary of the wuxia novel <Is This Heavenly Demon for Real?>. I also attached photos of the bonus paper maps that weren’t included in the e-book.”
She explained while avoiding my eyes, cheeks faintly flushed.
“……”
“At first, I didn’t even know what wuxia was, so I asked my dad. He calls himself a ’32-year veteran wuxia expert.’ I added his explanations for settings the novel skipped.”
“……”
“And also—ah! You said you died in the dream recently, right? And you lost to that girl who only cares about luxury bags. So I noted all the hidden locations from the novel where powerful martial arts appear.”
“……”
“Hey. Say something. I’m doing all the talking like an idiot.”
Her neck and ears were burning red as she snapped irritably.
“…Thanks.”
“That’s it?”
“Sorry. It’s just… this is so far outside anything I imagined that I don’t even know what to say.”
“What did you imagine?”
“Well… we broke up before. So you have no reason to go this far for—AACK?!”
“You idiot…!”
Song Sun-young stomped down on the top of my foot.
She genuinely looked furious.
And it hurt.
Like, unbelievably.
“Don’t exaggerate. My heel hurts too, you know?”
“Ugh… seriously…”
My danger sense—sharp enough to dodge invisible snipers—was completely useless against Song Sun-young.
Why?
Why was she the exception?
Made no damn sense.
“Why do you think I became a model? Did you already forget?”
“Of course I remember. You snuck out in the middle of the night to try to kill yourself again, and I convinced you not to.”
“Forget that useless part! What did you say to convince me?”
“Uh… something like ‘If everyone looks like mannequins, you won’t feel embarrassed… and since you’re pretty, you could be a model.’”
“Want another stomp?”
“……”
Guess that wasn’t the answer.
“I’ll ask again later. Try remembering properly.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“You said that I was already pretty, but when I wore a bikini, you literally couldn’t take your eyes off me.”
“I said that?”
“Yeah.”
Was I really that bold?
“And I told you I didn’t like the idea of someone staring at my body like I was merchandise.”
“Oh! I remember that part.”
After that, I gave her my bed and slept on the floor—until her phone call woke me up.
“On the rooftop, you told me this too. That unless you—the exception—everyone else looked like mannequins, I could handle being a model. That old me couldn’t do it, but now I had experiences that can’t even be measured by P’s aptitude tests.”
“I remember that too.”
But what was the point she was making?
“Don’t tell me… you still don’t get it? Even after all that explanation?”
“…Sorry.”
I apologized, mentally preparing to get stomped again.
“I’ll give you one last chance.”
“Yes.”
“What is my current job?”
“Swimsuit model.”
“And the reason I was able to become one?”
“Because everyone looks like mannequins to you except—oh!”
“You idiot. Finally figured it out?”
“Yes. This idiot has finally figured it out.”
My heart was pounding like crazy.
“Say it.”
“Because to Song Sun-young, the only man who looks like a man is Kang Moon-soo, which is why she can model without any—AAAGH?!”
She stomped on me again.
So that was wrong too?!
“Idiot! Don’t say it so bluntly! That’s embarrassing! You have zero sense of delicacy toward women!”
“Ughhh…”
No matter what I said, she got mad.
And yet… I didn’t hate it.
“Stop smiling.”
“Are you embarrassed when you’re with me?”
“Keep spouting crap and it’ll be bad for your health. I’m extremely irritable right now because I haven’t slept.”
“How little did you sleep?”
“I don’t know. I even used a virtual-reality library—something I didn’t use even during exam season. I feel like I could pass out any second.”
“Then hurry and…”
“No! Turn on your computer. Now. Do you think summarizing 215 volumes was easy? If I’m not next to you explaining everything, you won’t understand a thing even if you read it.”
“……”
“Why aren’t you turning it on yet?”
Only then did I finally notice the dark circles under her eyes—like a tired cat.
A model, whose entire career depends on her appearance…
Looked like this?
Even when she helped me with that 100 km marathon, I didn’t think about it.
‘I really am an idiot.’
If she smashed my whole body with a club, I’d deserve it.
“Sun-young.”
“Just turn on the com—”
“I like you. I really like you. And I’m really sorry for being such an idiot.”
“…Idiot. Close the curtains first.”
“Yeah.”
Shff—
We went through her summary file until dawn.
***
“So you ended up going to the police station?”
“Yes. I never imagined someone would actually report us.”
At first I thought it was just the dorm security guard, but when a police officer rang my doorbell, I nearly passed out.
“What about Sun-young?”
“She was sleeping on my bed.”
“So you were caught red-handed?”
“I think it was a neighbor who fell into simma.”
“Simma?”
“‘Heart demon.’ Another martial arts term she taught me. When someone loses themselves to negative thoughts and goes crazy, it’s called falling into simma.”
“…What about you?”
I tilted my head at Chief Seo’s question.
“What about me?”
“To me, you also look like someone who’s fallen slightly into simma…”
“Right now, I’ve transcended all worldly attachments and reached the realm of talma—freedom from all demons.”
“…Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Of course!”
I was brimming with confidence—like I could overcome any hardship thrown in front of me.
Today, I would enter the dream of our fifth Ranuvel patient, Mao Zhai.
It was probably the world of Is This Heavenly Demon for Real?, but nothing was certain yet.
‘So what?’
I felt reborn.
Worry? Fear? I didn’t have any.
“I realized something about people today.”
“So suddenly?”
“On my way back from the police station, I ran into the neighbor who reported me. He greeted me with this cheerful smile like nothing had happened.”
“Maybe he really didn’t know?”
“No way. The report said he heard a girl moaning in my room.”
“…Is that true?”
“Yes. Sun-young did groan a bit because she was sleepy.”
“……”
Chief Seo gave me a look of deep suspicion, then sighed like she’d given up.
“Don’t cause trouble.”
“Of course.”
“Everything’s ready. You can go in anytime.”
“I’ll be back.”
Until now, Jeon Ji-eun had been silently listening. Then she finally asked:
“So… how do you actually enter?”
“First, I lie down on the bed right next to the patient.”
Slide—
I lay down straight beside Mao Zhai, who was in a deep sleep.
“…No prayer? No ritual for the spirits?”
“Nope. My aptitude unfortunately doesn’t support wireless communication.”
“…What?”
“It’s wired communication. Like this.”
Grab.
And just like that—
Our dreams were connected into one.