—————————————————————–
Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: JayM
—————————————————————–
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
The Black Fog.
An unknown phenomenon that had suddenly appeared one day in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
Its basic form was truly like fog, so it was named the Black Fog, but once investigations on it began, it was clear that the Black Fog was no simple fog.
People who were exposed to the Black Fog for a long time gradually weakened, then died over time, and they would often be resurrected as beings commonly called zombies, attacking any living thing they could find.
Those bitten by these zombies, much like in the movies, died and were reborn as zombies as well, so all the zombies, including those who were first exposed to the Black Fog, were incinerated en masse.
Even those who had only been exposed to the Black Fog but had not become zombies were included.
‘If it had ended at that, it would have just been a simple incident, but…’
The problem was that the Black Fog did not remain only in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
The Black Fog, whether it moved with the wind or had some kind of purpose, gradually increased in size and headed for land.
In response, humanity urgently evacuated people living near the coast and tried to forcibly stop the fog’s advance.
Giant fans and circulators were a given, and various advanced technologies for eliminating fog were also used.
However, that Black Fog ignored the laws of physics and not only did it eventually reach land, but as soon as it did, it began to pour out monstrous creatures now called monsters.
If things had continued like that, humanity would have been annihilated by the Black Fog that ignored the laws of physics.
‘Still, there was hope.’
A genius in America analyzed the Black Fog and created something called the Awakener System.
Just as the Black Fog spit out monsters from various fantasies known to mankind, it also made it so that humanity could also use the powers from various fantasies.
Though the way it worked was unknown.
As if the Black Fog knew that the system was a threat to it, it tried to prevent the Awakener System from operating as soon as it was created, but the genius who created the Awakener System saved humanity by activating it right before his death.
This meant that what that genius had seen through the Black Fog, what he had learned, and how he had created the Awakener System from it was known only to him, who was now dead.
‘Anyway, the Awakener System, once activated like that, settled within people all over the world.’
The Awakener System settled in everyone, but not everyone was able to use the benefits of the Awakener System.
But that was enough.
Because humanity, which had begun to use various supernatural abilities with the help of the Awakener System, was able to drive the Black Fog out of the continent… and into the sea.
Of course, the Black Fog didn’t just stand by and watch.
The continent was human territory, but all the seas were practically the Black Fog’s domain, and, as if it couldn’t be satisfied with just that, the Black Fog continuously tormented humanity.
And I, Han Geon-woo, was a baby born in a world where this back-and-forth with the Black Fog continued.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
All babies in this world were made to live in a special incubator for several months after birth.
This was because these incubators were filled with mana, which was the energy from the Black Fog that mages had safely refined and converted, and babies exposed to this mana for a long time developed a certain degree of resistance to the Black Fog’s energy.
For that reason, I too was placed in an incubator right after I was born.
Inside the incubator, I thought.
‘Regression…’
It wasn’t the Samsara spoken of in Hinduism and Buddhism either.
Because that was the concept of reincarnation, of dying and being born again.
The concept of dying and going back to the past was a concept that couldn’t be found in any religion.
If one had to find the concept of regression, it was something that only appeared in creative works like games or novels.
‘But how on earth did I regress?’
It wasn’t that I hadn’t seen the Awakener System’s messages.
No, rather, because I saw them, I was even more puzzled.
From the looks of it, the Awakener System seemed to have thought that the martial art I created, the Divine Art of Harmony, would be beneficial to humanity in some way, so it tried to keep me alive somehow.
That method was ‘initialization,’ and I roughly understood that this initialization meant turning back Earth’s time to the past.
No, I still didn’t know if it could truly turn back time or if it would have sent me to a parallel world instead.
‘But in that process, the Divine Art of Harmony intervened.’
As if to prevent anything that would harm me, the Divine Art of Harmony interfered with the Awakener System’s initialization, and the Awakener System, having no other choice, left my memories and the Divine Art of Harmony as they were and initialized only the other elements.
Just what were the Awakener System and the Divine Art of Harmony thinking, to have done such a thing….
‘…Is there any use in thinking deeply about this?’
Right now, with me having almost no information, there was no point in thinking about it.
More important than that was the Divine Art of Harmony, which was completed right before I died… That is, right before I regressed.
A martial art that, with no exaggeration, contained all my techniques and enlightenment.
It was difficult to say for sure as I had nothing to compare it to, but it seemed like I had at least gotten results worth the time I had invested.
‘The problem is that it’s a martial art of too high a level.’
Naturally, it was not a martial art that the body of a newborn baby could handle.
No, the baby’s body wasn’t the issue. Rather, even if my pre-regression self had learned the Divine Art of Harmony right after becoming an adult, my body would have exploded.
…As the Divine Art of Harmony was not a simple martial art, but one that interacted with magic, aura, and even psionic powers, one had to be able to accept various energies within their body, and different energies could clash and explode.
‘In that case, what I have to do while in the incubator is simple.’
I would remodel my body into one suitable for learning the Divine Art of Harmony.
It was a baby’s body where even basic movements were difficult, but that was only about the body.
Moving internal energy was still possible.
Of course, right now there wasn’t a single wisp of internal energy in my body.
But weren’t there plenty of substitutes right next to me?
‘The clean mana filling the incubator.’
Its source was the energy from the Black Fog, but it was mana that mages had cleanly refined.
This much was sufficient to perform the Small Heavenly Circulation.
Of course, storing the mana used to perform the Small Heavenly Circulation in the Lower Dantian was a crazy act.
Because what accumulated in the Lower Dantian had to be pure internal energy, not mana.
So, I would slightly modify the process of the Small Heavenly Circulation.
‘Gokgol (Qugu), Hoe-eum (Huiyin), Miryeo (Weilu), Myeongmun (Mingmen), Cheokjung (Jizhong), Sinju (Shenzhu), Daechu (Dazhui), Okchim (Yuzhen), Baekhoe (Baihui).’
Following the Governor Vessel, the mana rode the acupoints of the back up to the Baihui point on the crown of the head.
‘Baekhoe (Baihui), Indang (Yintang), Cheondol (Tiantu), Jeonjung (Danzhong), Singwol (Shenque), Gwanwon (Guanyuan).’
And the mana that had gone up to the Baihui point along the Governor Vessel came down to the Dantian along the Conception Vessel.
Up to here was the Small Heavenly Circulation.
But I must not stop here.
Because my purpose was not to accumulate internal energy, but to build my body.
The mana must not remain in my body.
Therefore, I discharged the mana.
Beep beep beep beep beep…!
“What… What’s going on?!”
“An abnormality has occurred in the mana of incubator number 42.”
“Ah… Is it a machine malfunction?….”
As the mana that had passed through my body once was discharged outside, people who appeared to be doctors and nurses opened the incubator I was in and put me into another one.
“Ugh… What is this smell?….”
“He was exposed to this kind of mana? The baby could have died, couldn’t he?”
“Which company made this? We need to lodge a proper complaint.”
Hmm….
I felt sorry for the company that made that incubator.
In any case, this was the start of training my Governor and Conception Vessels.
It would be disgustingly boring, and it would take a disgustingly long time, but….
‘Still, it’ll become much easier once I break through the Gate of Life and Death.’
Because if I broke through the Gate of Life and Death, the Governor and Conception Vessels would be connected, and internal energy would circulate without stopping.
Then, even as I aged, the Governor and Conception Vessels would not be blocked by turbid qi.
And when I had some leeway after that, I would be able to circulate internal energy along the other Eight Extraordinary Meridians and Twelve Main Meridians.
With time, I would be able to strongly train not just my meridians, but my entire body.
‘Haha… At this point, even I’m starting to doubt if I really am a newborn baby.’
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Breaking through the Gate of Life and Death wasn’t that difficult.
This was because the Gate of Life and Death was also, in the end, referring to a part of the meridians, and because my body was still that of a young baby, the Gate of Life and Death was not that strongly blocked.
Thanks to that, the Governor and Conception Vessels were completely connected, and I entered a state equivalent to circulating qi for 24 hours a day.
Of course, for now, I had no intention of accumulating internal energy, so the mana that entered my Dantian was immediately discharged.
It was enough to start accumulating internal energy once my body was able to withstand the Divine Art of Harmony.
When a few months had passed like that, I was able to end my life inside the incubator.
Wheeeing….
“I can take him now, right?”
“Yes, you can take him after you finish filling out the paperwork.”
I was finally able to leave the incubator and live with my mother.
My mother finished the paperwork beside me, then she took me from inside the incubator and hugged me.
After that, she submitted the documents to the nurse, and then we left the hospital we were in and headed home.
‘It’s a familiar house.’
It was the house where my pre-regression self had lived alone with my mother.
I looked around every corner of the house while recalling my memories.
Though I say I looked around every corner, this was while I was being held in my mother’s arms.
“Geon-woo, this is the house where we’ll live.”
My mother said that to me and sat me down in a baby chair that was in a corner of the kitchen.
“Mommy will make you food right away, okay?”
My mother said that, opened the refrigerator, and started cutting various vegetables from inside it to make baby food.
‘…Hmm… This small body can’t eat that much….’
It was very apparent that she had studied to feed me homemade baby food, but perhaps because it was her first time, she looked clumsy while doing it.
“Steam what I’ve cut like this… and then grind it… Huh?”
“……”
No, on top of being clumsy, it seemed like it would take quite a long time for the baby food to be completed.
I let out a sigh inwardly and decided to wait quietly so she could do as she pleased, while I, for my part, would do what I had to do.
‘Now that I’m out of the incubator, I should be able to accumulate pure internal energy.’
Because in the incubator, mana would have mixed in even if I tried to accumulate internal energy in my Dantian since the inside was full of mana.
So now, I could accumulate internal energy.
It wasn’t internal energy accumulated by operating the Divine Art of Harmony, but the Divine Art of Harmony I created was a martial art that wasn’t bound by the nature of internal energy, so there was no problem in accumulating it beforehand.
“Uh… Do I just steam it like this and then grind it in the mixer?…”
“……”
It seemed like it would be quite a long time until the meal was ready.
Should I call it a classic rookie mom mistake?
I looked at my mother’s back and thought.
‘She suffered a lot because of me.’
There was the hardship of raising a child alone without a spouse as a single mother, but the problem was, above all, after I had awakened my martial arts ability through the Awakener System.
[They were the ones who didn’t just try to harm me, but even went so far as to kidnap my mother to lure me in.]
Numerous organizations that coveted me, the world’s only martial arts ability Awakener, would often kidnap my mother to lure me in.
Of course, thanks to my capable colleagues, she was usually rescued not long after, but my mother, who was an ordinary person and not an Awakener, had a hard time.
In the midst of that, it would have been natural to resent me for awakening such an ability, but….
[I’m sorry, son… I’m sorry that mom is a hindrance to you….]
My mother just thought that because of her, I couldn’t focus on creating my martial arts.
Instead of resenting me, she instead told me she was sorry.
And in the end, she chose to take her own life.
Not because it was hard on her, but so as not to be a hindrance to me.
And on that day, the day my mother took her own life, I faced my first heart-demon.
A heart-demon by the name of ‘Regret.’
‘…This time, I’ll make sure that kind of thing doesn’t happen….’
This time, I’d make sure that nothing I would regret will happen.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
T/N – Jeez, fucking dark man. I get why the mom did that, but that was a really dumb decision. Relationships can sometimes be a burden, sure, but it can also be a motivator to do better. With her suicide weighing on his mind, no wonder he got delayed by so much in creating his martial art.
Also, did you guys see those acupoint names? Yeah, I’m not translating that nonsense nor did I check their accuracy. I just kept them as is.
If you find any mistakes, feel free to point them out in the comments.
