Chapter 1 – A Modern Man Crash-Lands in the Sichuan Tang Clan

Chapter 1 – A Modern Man Crash-Lands in the Sichuan Tang Clan

No matter how I looked at it, there was a problem with my life.

I really did not want to admit it, but I could no longer deny it.

Where should I start?

First of all, I was currently being chased.

It would have been nice if creditors, an ex-lover, or a parent's enemy were chasing me like ordinary people, but unfortunately, something different was chasing me.

“Roaaar!”

What on earth was a tiger doing in the middle of downtown Seoul?

“Ah, stop chasing me!!”

As my breath rose up to my throat, I felt a metallic taste of blood. However, between running out of breath and going down a tiger's throat, wouldn't running out of breath be better?

‘…Please, let's live normally, just normally!’

I frantically scanned my surroundings.

‘It was definitely around here somewhere.’

Holding onto my gasping breath as I turned into the alleyway, white and red flags and paper lanterns came into view. I had arrived just on the verge of death.

Without hesitation, I flung open the door to that place and shouted.

“Isn't this really going too far?!”

.

.

My name was Yi San-ho. The owner of a tragic fate packed with all kinds of misfortune.

How bad was it?

After returning from the military, the school I had taken a leave of absence from declared bankruptcy; after moving because my perfectly fine house collapsed, I got hit with a rental deposit fraud; and as for minor and major car accidents, I had already given up on counting them?

Moreover, look, wasn't I just being chased by a tiger a moment ago?

Accidents, eventful days. A fate with such words attached as default options was precisely my fate.

Unable to bear it any longer, I clenched my fists and said.

“I'm not asking for anything grand. I don't even dare to dream of hitting the jackpot; is my wish to just achieve moderate success too much to ask?!”

It was not that I did not know there were many problems in my life.

But now, I could no longer bear it. From some time ago, things that could not possibly exist in reality had begun to appear. I also went to the hospital, but nothing changed.

“I've had bad luck my whole life, so I just accepted it. But now, to top it all off, I'm even seeing hallucinations?”

No matter how much I repeated to myself that it was a hallucination, that it was not real… there was a tiger and a ghost right in front of my eyes, wasn't there? Determinations like that became completely useless. In the end, with the feeling of grasping at straws, I came to visit a renowned shaman. Although I had lived my entire life as an atheist, at this point, the final destination was shamanism.

“Have I finally gone mad, Shaman?!”

Clatter!

The shaman scattered rice grains on the table and immediately clicked her tongue.

“Tsk. Your fortune is fierce, indeed. In all my life, this is the first time I've seen such a fierce fate.”

“Is it that bad?”

“Since your soul hasn't found its proper place, how can your life endure? You live carrying minor and major illnesses, uh-huh. Your wealth leaks away, so nothing is left. Tsk, tsk, you have a fate to die an untimely death before long.”

“…….”

Hearing from someone else's mouth that I would die young felt really strange. But I could not bring myself to refute it.

“Looking at your state, your dreams must be a mess too. Haven't generals riding horses, tigers, or ghosts appeared in your dreams?”

Gasp, the shaman was sharp. In fact, there was actually one outside right now, you know?

I opened my eyes wide and nodded my head vigorously.

“There's no need to look any further. It's a Divine Illness.”

…Divine Illness…

Receiving a divine descent, performing an exorcism, and all that? …Am I becoming a male shaman?

“I don't want to become a shaman…”

As I muttered softly, the shaman spread her fan and said.

“Being a shaman is a profession, you punk. A Divine Illness is nothing else. It means a god has chosen you to use you where needed. No matter how much you refuse, it is useless. That is just what fate is.”

“No, but still… is there no other way?”

“Ah, what do you expect me to do about the fact that you were born with such a fate? I don't even need the fortune-telling fee, so if you don't like it, get the hell out. I have nothing more to say!”

I shook my head desperately.

There is a tiger outside, Shaman!!

The shaman snapped her fan shut with a clack, sighed, and said.

“You will be able to buy some time with a pressing ritual or a false spirit ritual. But if you want to keep your soul attached to that body, you must serve a god and receive help. Otherwise, you will just die, even in your sleep. Looking at you, you don't have much time left.”

“………”

“If you want to die, go ahead and do that.”

“…No, that's not it…”

I closed my mouth for a moment and fell into thought.

It had been thirty years.

The time I had spent struggling to endure in a world that seemed to push me to die, with all kinds of accidents as a default option.

Because the genre of my life was a survival thriller, I had never even had a proper relationship at this age. If I died like this, a bachelor ghost might be my next name.

So I really, really did not want to die.

In the end, I squeezed my eyes shut and shouted.

“…Ah, whatever! Things will work out somehow. I'll do it, I'm doing it. If I can live, what is there that I cannot do?”

“No more hesitating?”

“It's a fate that won't change just because I worry, so what's the point of thinking more. It's better to just do it instead of wasting time.”

I sighed and lay down on the floor.

Opening the calendar, the shaman counted the dates and said.

“Let's see, today is June 21st… The preparation will take four days. I'll contact you as soon as the ritual is ready, so bathe and cleanse yourself, then wait. Don't shorten your lifespan by doing something useless.”

“I understand. If I really just do that, my life will become a bit smoother, right?”

“Well, that depends on what kind of god is connected to your fate.”

Oh, yeah. Whether it was a god or whatever, I would feed them well, house them well, and serve them well, so just you wait.

I grit my teeth and muttered internally.

‘I am a man of my word.’

However, rendering such determination useless, the event of me serving the god well did not happen.

June 21st.

Because that unforgettable day became both my thirtieth birthday and the day of my death.

On the way back home after leaving the shaman's shrine, I ultimately failed to avoid one of the countless accidents I had managed to evade until now.

Crash!

The hot, metallic smell of blood, the noise that sounded like tinnitus, and finally, the blue sky I captured in my eyes…

‘…This damn piece of trash fate…’

Amidst my fading consciousness, I felt the surrounding noise gradually grow quiet.

It was four days before the ritual.

‘O God. If you truly exist…’

At the threshold of death, I made a final wish to the god who was said to be connected to my fate.

‘I'm too resentful to die like this, so please save me. Yes? I think you should at least do that much for me. Seriously.’

Something welled up from deep within, making my throat feel tight.

‘…I want to live. I don't want to die like this. How much I…'

.

.

“……struggled tenaciously to survive! I'm so pissed off, seriously!!!”

When I finally opened my eyes, spitting out my breath as if vomiting it up, I was in a completely different world.

“Gasp, Young Master! Have you regained consciousness?”

“Ack, shit! What, who, who are you? Where is this?”

“Yes? I am Sawol, and this is the annex of the inner castle.”

I thought there would be nothing more to be surprised about today, but I was wrong. A fact even more shocking than seeing the tiger or my own death was waiting for me.

“Where did you say this is?”

“The Sichuan Tang Clan, Young Master San-ho.”

So, I…

Did U-turn on the road to the afterlife, but it seemed I had taken the wrong path.

‘…I want to go home.’

Doesn't everyone think this about twelve times a day?

However, I could be sure. There was no one who wanted to go home more desperately than me right now.

It was already strange enough that I, who was thought to be dead, opened my eyes, but a boy I was seeing for the first time was greeting me with familiarity. On top of that, what? Young Master?

‘What is going on?’

As I barely managed to raise my body and sit down, I could see outside the window.

With pavilions lined up low, people in traditional attire, and even martial artists with swords at their waists. No matter how I looked at it, this anachronistic sight was not 21st-century South Korea.

“Ah, what, I really did die. It felt so real that I was almost fooled…”

Maybe because I had read a lot of wuxia novels, the scenery of the afterlife was oriental, like a customized version. At this rate, the afterlife these days was not bad to look at. Except for the fact that it was the afterlife.

“Who says you died? Of course, you almost died, but you woke up so perfectly fine like this!”

“……Yes?”

I didn't die?

“Do you really not remember? Even though you've seen me your whole life?”

There was nothing to remember or not, this was my absolute first time seeing him?

The boy who called himself Sawol began to examine my body here and there with an embarrassed face. My gaze moved along with him.

“……Huh?”

What, why are my hands so small?

Due to the sudden sense of foreignness I felt, I hurriedly looked for a mirror.

“……Eh?”

In the mirror, a strange boy was staring at me with clear eyes. A face with features so delicate that one would believe it even if told he was a girl. He was a boy with pale skin and eyes so deep they were mesmerizing. But that was not what was important.

‘Who is this again?!’

With my mouth wide open, I pinched my cheek. A stinging pain, different from what I had expected, was felt.

…Not even a dream?

If this is neither a dream nor my death…

‘Then what is it? Don't tell me I… possessed someone else's body?’

“You woke up after four days. As for your memory, it might be because your body hasn't fully recovered yet, so please do not worry too much. You have me, after all.”

I stared blankly at Sawol, then suddenly snapped back to reality.

“Me, who did you say I am?”

“Young Master is the youngest son of the Lord of the Sichuan Tang Clan. You turned fifteen this year.”

No, wait. What… where?

………That Sichuan Tang Clan from wuxia novels?

‘………This is crazy…'

When something excessively beyond common sense occurs, it is only natural to be left speechless. Unable to find anything more to say, I closed my mouth. What else could I say when I, who thought I was dead, opened my eyes in a world where Jianghu actually exists.

“This is just one thing after another, seriously…”

Don't they give even game characters a chance to choose their map? Why don't they give it to me? I did ask to be saved, but I didn't mean to be saved in the Central Plains of Martial World, you know.

If a god exists in the world, they must definitely have a grudge against me.

‘So, right now, I… possessed the body of the young master of the Sichuan Tang Clan. That thing from novels or movies?’

To think that those two damn, nonsensical characters were the only ones that could explain this absurd situation. It was so ridiculous that laughter burst out of me.

“…Ah, ahahaha! Ahaha!”

“Young Master? Are you alright?”

During that short time, my mind was in an uproar as if a war had broken out. Going from dumbfounded, to angry, to tense, denying reality, and finally… resigning myself to it.

Then, I suddenly became curious.

Why on earth did things like this happen only to me?

My past life, which was full of all kinds of misfortunes, was like walking on thin ice. A life where one wrong step would sink me deep into the water. That was why I was always careful. Because there was an expectation that a good day would come for me too eventually.

But what was the reality?

A good day did not come, and I died in vain.

As those thoughts occurred, I felt deeply resentful. I could not give up here.

‘Maybe this is an opportunity.’

Things that are waited for generally do not come to me. I only realized that now. If there is something I want, I must win it. If I want to possess it, I must take it.

Thinking like that, surprisingly, my mind cleared up. What I had to do became vivid.

I did not know I would start a new life in the Jianghu of Martial World, but what did it matter anyway. In a way, I did not die, remained alive, and obtained a second chance.

‘Well, starting a second life as the young master of a prestigious family isn't bad.’

If I had the kind of personality to be frustrated by just this level of hardship, I wouldn't have survived until now. I had a personality like a bouncy ball, bouncing back up even harder when struck down forcefully.

So what this meant was.

No matter what kind of fate shoved my life into the mud and then further shoved me into the Jianghu of Martial World, they had better keep their eyes wide open and watch.

Because I was going to show them how well a 21st-century modern man could eat and live in the harsh Jianghu.

“Sawol, will you help me?”

Though the beginning is humble, the end will be prosperous.

Isn't the beginning of all history generally personal and trivial? It was the same in my case. A grand desire for revenge, an immense ambition, or a persistent obsession was not the beginning.

Resentment.

This was the first reason why I came to conquer the Jianghu.