CHAPTER 07

“Phew. This should be enough, right?”

Heo Cheon smiled as he gazed at the freshly completed book, the ink having only just dried.

It was the martial arts manual for the newly completed internal cultivation technique.

Anyone could see that the new technique was an excellent high-level martial art.

He was confident that, with even a moderate amount of talent and effort, a practitioner could smoothly reach at least the Peak Realm.

‘Now that it’s changed this much, it would be hard to keep calling it the Clear Void Heart Method.’

But calling it the Unhindered Technique didn’t feel quite right either.

After some thought, Heo Cheon decided to give the completed technique an entirely new name.

‘From now on, let’s call it the Clear Void Unhindered Technique.’

淸虛無碍功.

This was the moment a new, exclusive internal cultivation technique belonging solely to the Heo Family Manor was born.

Heo Cheon savored the joy of that historic moment only briefly before suddenly looking out the window at the moon.

A full moon had risen on the day he returned to the martial world, and coincidentally, there was another full moon in the sky tonight.

‘Has it already been a month since I returned to the martial world?’

At first, he had wondered how he would ever adapt.

But considering how well he had managed to get by without any major problems, perhaps humans really were creatures capable of adapting to anything.

‘Still, it’s a shame I never got to see the finale of Squid Game Season 3.’

That wasn’t the only thing he regretted.

‘On a night like this, I should be having chicken and beer as a late-night snack.’

Just thinking about chicken and beer made his mouth water.

The cuisine of the Central Plains wasn’t bad, but there were times when he suddenly craved Korean food.

Unfortunately, unless he returned to Korea again, that wish would never come true.

Without realizing it, Heo Cheon muttered,

“Haah. If only I could go back to Korea for just a little while.”

He was voicing his regret without giving it much thought when—

Vroooom—!

“Huh?”

A strange vibration suddenly rang out beneath Heo Cheon’s feet.

Then, a gigantic bat-shaped symbol made of red light appeared on the floor.

“Wait, what?!”

Heo Cheon was startled.

He didn’t know whether it was merely a coincidence, but the bat symbol beneath his feet was identical to the insignia primarily used by the Blood Demon Cult.

‘Why is the Blood Bat Inscription beneath my feet?’

His question lasted only a moment.

The Blood Bat Inscription suddenly erupted with a brilliant flash of red light.

The intense light seemed to stab directly into his eyes, causing Heo Cheon to squeeze them shut instinctively.

Then, when the light disappeared and he opened his eyes again, Heo Cheon found himself standing somewhere completely different.

“W-Where is this?”

Heo Cheon stared blankly at the massive 100-inch television, the black leather reclining sofa, and the floor covered in artificial marble.

Everything was completely different from the Central Plains.

Yet, at the same time, they were all things that felt incredibly familiar to him.

Then he turned his head.

Beyond the transparent floor-to-ceiling windows stretched the dazzling nighttime view of a city.

The moment he saw it, Heo Cheon knew for certain.

‘Seoul…?’

This was the luxury mansion where he had stayed during the final period of his life in Korea.

And right in the middle of the living room stood an old altar that looked completely out of place with the otherwise modern interior.

“What is this…? Ah!”

Heo Cheon stared intently at the altar before suddenly remembering.

“Right! This is the thing that Blood Demon bastard used back then when he fired that strange red beam of light at Alliance Leader Namgung!”

It had happened twenty years ago, but the experience had been so unforgettable—and had such a profound impact on his life—that he could still remember it vividly.

He probably wouldn’t be able to forget it even until the day he died.

“But why is that thing here?”

He didn’t know.

No, there was simply no way for him to know.

Heo Cheon’s existing information was far too limited in the first place.

Then he suddenly remembered the Blood Bat Inscription that had appeared before he was transported here.

‘Could that have appeared because of this?’

If so, then it seemed that the altar was responsible for bringing him back to Korea.

He couldn’t think of any other explanation.

‘Wait. Then could it also be responsible for sending me back to the martial world in the first place?’

Heo Cheon had a strong intuition that the altar was indeed what had sent him back to the martial world.

After all, it was the light from this very altar that had originally sent him to Korea.

If it was capable of sending him one way, then surely the reverse should also be possible.

‘Then does that mean I can return to the martial world whenever I want?’

Just in case, Heo Cheon spoke in a low voice.

“Return to the Central Plains.”

……

Nothing happened.

It was so embarrassingly uneventful that Heo Cheon’s face flushed bright red.

“What the hell? Why can’t I return whenever I want? This thing really does whatever it feels like!”

He had absolutely no idea how the thing worked.

“This is driving me crazy.”

Heo Cheon scratched the back of his head for no reason.

In any case, there was no denying the fact that he had returned to Korea.

Unintentionally, he had once again disappeared in front of his family without saying a word.

Naturally, he was worried about the family members he had left behind.

But worrying about them wouldn’t change the situation.

So, for now, he decided to put those thoughts aside.

‘But did I return here permanently this time?’

There was no way to be certain because he had no information.

For the moment, he decided to check what was happening in Korea and immediately looked for his cellphone.

It had been left carelessly on the bed in the master bedroom, and its battery had long since died.

But Heo Cheon didn’t panic.

He found the charging cable, plugged it in, and turned on the phone.

The moment it powered up, hundreds of missed-call notifications and KakaoTalk messages flooded the screen.

—Boss, where are you?!

—Hyung, nothing happened to you, right?

—Oppa, it’s me. You’re safe, right?

—Boss Heo, please contact us as soon as you see this.

………

……

They were all messages from his acquaintances and employees.

Looking at them, Heo Cheon couldn’t help but smile.

It seemed he hadn’t completely wasted his years living among people after all.

“These guys. They’re causing such a commotion just because I disappeared.”

Heo Cheon had been running a small company in Korea.

In terms of the martial world, it was essentially a security company specializing in bodyguard work—something similar to an escort agency.

Of course, getting to that point had not been easy.

‘I really went through a lot.’

It had all started by chance.

Because he was an illegal immigrant, he had no real way to make a living other than doing manual labor.

Then, while working at a construction site, he happened to rescue a female celebrity who was filming a drama there.

Because of the tight filming schedule, the workers hadn’t finished clearing away some construction materials.

One of them ended up falling directly toward her head.

‘Later, I found out she was actually a promising rookie actress.’

At the time, he didn’t even know who she was.

He had simply saved her because he was able to.

But she regarded Heo Cheon as her lifesaver.

That incident led to Heo Cheon starting work as a part-time bodyguard.

‘There’s a reason they say you always fall back on what you know.’

Heo Cheon had once personally served as the bodyguard of the Martial Alliance Leader.

Whether it was an obsessive stalker or a nasty paparazzo, no one could escape his notice.

As his accomplishments and reputation accumulated, more and more work came his way, and Heo Cheon’s bank account grew fatter by the day.

Naturally, his workload increased as well, until it became impossible for him to handle everything alone.

So, he had no choice but to start hiring people.

‘And eventually, I became the boss.’

He was practically a textbook example of a self-made man.

By then, he rarely handled bodyguard work himself.

Even so, his salary was deposited into his bank account like clockwork every month.

‘Life was so comfortable, and I had to leave all of that behind…’

Even now, Heo Cheon couldn’t forget the emptiness and dizzying shock he had felt when he first returned to the martial world.

Of course, despite that, he seemed to have adapted to life in the Central Plains much better than expected.

But that was entirely because of his personality and circumstances.

There was no point desperately clinging to something that couldn’t be changed.

Rather than waste time doing that, he preferred to focus on what he could actually do.

That was the fundamental nature and philosophy of Heo Cheon.

Besides, this wasn’t even the first time something like this had happened to him.

‘It felt pretty similar when I first ended up in Korea, too.’

The first time was always the hardest.

When similar things happened repeatedly, people naturally adapted.

He also knew perfectly well that realistically returning to Korea again would be difficult, so he had managed to regain his composure fairly quickly.

He was lost in these thoughts when—

Grrrrrrr—

“Ah. Come to think of it, I haven’t eaten a single meal today.”

He had been so focused on completing the Clear Void Unhindered Technique that he had completely missed his meals.

Since even the most beautiful scenery was best enjoyed after a meal, Heo Cheon decided to eat first.

He immediately opened the food delivery app he frequently used.

And—

『Your order has been received.

—The restaurant owner is preparing your menu so that you can enjoy it.』

It had taken him less than thirty seconds to place the order.

That was possible because he had already decided what he wanted from the start.

“Kya! How long has it been since I last had chicken and beer?!”

The thought of finally eating chicken and beer after an entire month made him so excited that he was practically dizzy.

He had ordered from the place with the fastest delivery time, and fortunately, a delivery driver was assigned almost immediately.

Twenty-five minutes remained until the delivery arrived.

It wasn’t particularly slow or fast—a perfectly reasonable amount of time.

Yet to Heo Cheon, it felt as though time was passing more slowly than ever.

He could have killed time by eating some snacks or drinking something he had stocked at home, but he didn’t touch a thing.

‘When I’m supposed to be preparing to welcome the Chicken God with reverence, how dare I take my eyes off it and eat something else?! Absolutely not!’

Still, he couldn’t simply waste time.

So he repeatedly reviewed the formula of the Clear Void Unhindered Technique, checking once again to make sure there were no problems.

And after a while—

Ding-dong!

The doorbell suddenly rang.

Bzzzt—!

At the same time, his phone vibrated and a notification appeared on the screen.

『Your delivery has been completed at the door.

—As requested, your order has been placed in front of the door…』

“It’s here!”

It was about two minutes later than the originally estimated arrival time, but it had arrived safely, and that was all that mattered.

Heo Cheon immediately dashed toward the entrance.

When he opened the door, a plastic bag bearing a familiar brand logo was sitting innocently on the floor.

He carefully picked up the bag so nothing would spill, then brought it inside and laid everything out.

The savory aroma of oil and the sweet, spicy scent of the gochujang-based sauce immediately tickled his nose.

“Urgh! Half seasoned, half fried—that’s the true essence of chicken!”

Of course, soy-sauce chicken, cheese-seasoned chicken, green-onion chicken, and grilled chicken were all pretty good in their own ways.

But there was a reason the classic was the classic.

Compared to the long-reigning champion of the chicken industry—the half-and-half combo—they were all a level below.

Heo Cheon poured the draft beer that had arrived with the chicken into a beer glass he had chilled beforehand in the freezer.

The glass was so cold that the beer foam immediately threatened to overflow.

He casually slurped up some of the foam before downing the entire glass in one go.

“Ahhh!”

The smooth finish, intense carbonation, and overwhelming refreshment unique to beer—things that could never be experienced with white liquor such as sorghum wine—brought tears to his eyes.

Before the lingering aroma of barley had even disappeared from his mouth, Heo Cheon hurriedly picked up a chicken drumstick.

Its crispy, golden-brown coating looked dazzling enough to behold.

The mouthwatering aroma and almost offensively delicious appearance made him swallow instinctively.

He wanted to stare at it forever.

But refusing to eat it and merely continuing to look at it would have been the cruelest torture imaginable.

He was just about to take a huge bite when—

Vrooooooom—!

A strange vibration suddenly rang out, and red light began to seep from the altar like mist.

“Huh?”

The moment Heo Cheon saw it, his heart sank.

‘D-Don’t tell me… No way, right?’

The mist-like light gathered together before transforming into a single beam and shooting straight toward him.

“Ah, damn it…!”

In an instant, Heo Cheon’s entire field of vision was dyed bright red.

And when he opened his eyes again, he was back at the Heo Family Manor.

For a moment, Heo Cheon could say nothing.

He simply blinked his eyes repeatedly.

After a long silence, he finally managed to speak.

“…What the hell? Was that all a dream? Or some kind of hidden-camera prank?”

He desperately tried to deny reality.

But the moment he looked at the chicken drumstick in his hand and the cellphone he was holding, he realized beyond doubt that it had been neither a dream nor a prank.

Heo Cheon let out a deep sigh.

“Phew. First… let’s just eat first and think about it afterward…”

Although it was only one chicken drumstick, the chicken he had eaten after an entire month tasted absolutely heavenly.

So good that he could have cried.

After finishing the drumstick and finally regaining his senses, Heo Cheon reviewed what had just happened.

‘I don’t know how it works, but because of that altar from the Blood Demon Cult, I can travel back and forth between the martial world and Korea.’

Of course, it wasn’t something he could do whenever he wanted.

There had to be some kind of cooldown period.

‘I’ve muttered about wanting to go back to Korea several times before today.’

If dimensional travel had been possible whenever he wanted, he would have gone to Korea long ago.

But nothing had happened before.

Then, precisely one month after his return to the martial world, dimensional travel had suddenly become possible.

It seemed reasonable to assume that the minimum cooldown required for dimensional travel was one month.

‘Should I test it?’

To see whether his theory was correct, Heo Cheon muttered that he wanted to go to Korea.

Of course, just as he expected, nothing happened.

‘All right. Let’s assume the one-month cooldown is correct. Then what determines how long I can stay in Korea?’

Unlike in the martial world, no matter how much he called out that he wanted to return, nothing happened in Korea.

In other words, once he crossed from the martial world to Korea, he was forcibly required to remain there for a certain amount of time.

‘Was I there for about thirty minutes?’

Including the time he spent checking the accumulated messages on his phone and waiting for the chicken to arrive, it had been roughly that long.

‘Then if I spend one month in the martial world, does that mean I can stay in Korea for about thirty minutes?’

He couldn’t be certain.

Heo Cheon still knew very little about the identity of the altar.

More importantly, he had far too little information about the principles and structure behind dimensional travel itself.

‘Whatever. I’ll try again next month.’

Until then, he decided to reserve judgment.

‘Phew. Still, eating only one piece and having it end there is seriously frustrating.’

Heo Cheon stared sadly at the chicken drumstick, which he had gnawed and sucked clean until only a white bone remained.

Then he suddenly muttered,

“…Why don’t I try making it myself?”

He chuckled at his own words.

He had no ingredients or anything else needed to make chicken.

What kind of ridiculous idea was that?

“I should do it right away.”

Heo Cheon immediately ran toward the kitchen.