GHDDM 1

1
Screeeee—
20XX, Seoul. Cars defied gravity, soaring through the sky, while street signs blazed with neon light powered by Mana. A century had passed since humanity chose Mana Stones as their energy source instead of oil—a triumph beyond measure.
Until the late 1900s, magic had seemed a distant mystery to ordinary people. Mages represented less than one percent of the global population, a rare minority.
Everything changed the moment Mana Stones were discovered in Antarctica.
Mana Stones boasted efficiency far superior to oil—the energy of dreams. Even in their raw, processed form, they vastly outperformed petroleum.
And when a mage wielded a Mana Stone,
Boom-boom-boom—
even the most elementary magic could generate staggering amounts of energy. The discovery shook the world.
The efficiency exceeded all expectations.
People called it the Energy Revolution.
After the Energy Revolution led by mages, Magical Engineering—the fusion of magic with industry—was born across every sector of society.
A hundred years later.
The world had advanced brilliantly, yet that light did not reach everywhere.
Magic was no longer mystery or miracle in the modern world—it was a credential, a class. Those born with Mana Resonance, those who etched more Mana Circles into their hearts, became First Class Citizens and monopolized wealth and power.
But Cheon Do-hyeon was not one of them.
“Hey, Zero Circle! Get out of the way!”
“Ugh, the stench of a non-awakened!”
“Being around Cheon Do-hyeon tanks my Mana levels.”
He had been born unable to etch a Circle into his heart—a constitution that forbade it. In a world ruled by mages, he could never become one. So throughout his school years, he had endured endless torment and isolation.
And today, as always, he had been dragged to the schoolyard by a gang of delinquents.
Thud—
Do-hyeon tumbled pathetically across the ground.
“Listen, you worthless wretch. I told you to stay out of my sight.”
A boy with a loosely unbuttoned shirt towered over him, his voice dripping with menace. His demand, of course, was impossible for Do-hyeon to fulfill.
“But Byeong-hak, we’re in the same class. How am I supposed to—”
“What? You didn’t know?”
“Right, Byeong-hak, did you really not realize—”
“That I was about to say that? You bastard! Either don’t show up at school, or keep your head down and stay invisible. Got it?”
Crack!
Kim Byeong-hak raised his foot high, preparing to stomp down ruthlessly. With his full weight behind it, such a blow could cause serious injury.
But just as Do-hyeon’s peculiar constitution was unusual, there was something else special about him.
Since childhood, he had learned every martial art that the human body could master—from his grandfather, Cheon Woo-hyeok.
As the stomp came flying,
Do-hyeon’s body sprang up like a coiled spring.
Whoosh—
He dodged the first incoming kick with ease.
Years of grueling daily training had made this second nature.
But his opponent was a school thug with a reputation. His fighting experience showed—the moment his kick missed, he recovered with impressive speed.
“Damn!”
As Kim Byeong-hak prepared his follow-up attack, Do-hyeon did not remain idle.
‘Do-hyeon. Sufficiently advanced physical force approaches magic. Even mages bleed when struck in the head.’
Do-hyeon recalled his grandfather’s teaching and moved with purpose.
He rushed straight into Byeong-hak’s guard as the delinquent threw a punch.
He was no amateur opponent,
So Byeong-hak quickly planted his foot, desperate to close the shrinking distance, and switched to a roundhouse kick.
‘What now?’
Slip—
Do-hyeon swayed his body left and right, throwing a Feint,
And the delinquent hesitated, unable to commit to his strike.
In that opening, Do-hyeon dropped low and charged in with a Two-leg Takedown!
Thud!
But before Do-hyeon could lock Byeong-hak’s legs, his hands struck something hard as stone.
‘What the—!’
As Do-hyeon slowly raised his head, Kim Byeong-hak cried out triumphantly:
“Shield!”
The basic magic spell of mages. It was one of the reasons Do-hyeon could never overcome them, no matter how much he trained.
“Damn it, blocked again.”
Do-hyeon scratched his head awkwardly.
The delinquent stared at him, breathing hard. He didn’t want to imagine what would have happened if he’d deployed the Shield even a moment slower.
“You… arrogant, powerless bastard!”
The bully’s Mana surged as he prepared to unleash Attack Magic, but his friends quickly grabbed him, holding him back in desperation.
“Hey, hey! You know what happens if you use Attack Magic inside the School!”
“One more strike on your record and you’re expelled. Control yourself, Byeong-hak.”
Cheon Do-hyeon brushed the dust from his clothes with perfect composure, watching the bullies.
Then, as if nothing had happened, he turned away and walked back toward the classroom.
“That bastard, really! Non-awakened trash!”
His voice echoed behind Cheon Do-hyeon, but one ear heard it and the other let it go. It was far too familiar an occurrence.
“Right, I should write this down too.”
He pulled out a worn Notebook from his pocket and jotted down a brief note of what had just transpired.
“He lost focus while attacking—I attempted a Two-leg Takedown but he blocked it. If I’d skipped the Feint and gone straight for his legs, twisted his ankle instead? Hmm… I still have a long road ahead.”
#
The landscape visible on the way home from School.
As the busy commercial district gave way to high-rises, then to a barren Industrial Complex, Cheon Do-hyeon’s home came into view.
The residential areas where Non-awakened lived were naturally located in the city’s outskirts, in neglected regions.
Purple smoke billowed from Mana smelters. Mages who’d worked with low-quality Mana Stones bore skin so withered it looked corpse-like.
Walking a little further down, homeless people staggered toward Cheon Do-hyeon.
“Student… do you have any Blue Dust? Could you spare just a handful? Huh? I used to work at the Industrial Complex back then… Hey! Why are you ignoring me when an adult is talking! You think I’m funny?”
The world had advanced brilliantly since the Magical Engineering Revolution, yet shadows existed everywhere.
And Cheon Do-hyeon, a Non-awakened Mage, happened to dwell in the darkest of those shadows.
Yet the reason he could endure day after day was because of his grandfather.
Turning down an alleyway, on the second floor of a dilapidated building constructed in the 1980s, a weathered sign reading “Cheonmugwan” hung in place.
Do-hyeon’s sanctuary.
#
Cheon Woo-hyeok noticed the traces on his grandson’s clothes that hadn’t yet been wiped clean.
“Did you have another go at it today, Do-hyeon?”
Dressed in modified traditional Korean garb, he possessed a physique so robust it belied his age—well over seventy.
“Yes, Grandfather. I tried a takedown today, but they blocked it. I think I shouldn’t give them any time to react—I need to initiate faster.”
The architect of Cheon Do-hyeon as he was now. Of everyone Cheon Do-hyeon knew, he was certain no one was stronger than his grandfather.
“Hmm, you’d already set up a Feint?”
“Of course.”
“Let’s see how it worked. Show me.”
To him, his grandfather was both the strongest person on earth and the warmest. Cheon Woo-hyeok never let a word from Do-hyeon slip past him. He always considered his thoughts with equal care.
“Come on, show me how you did it.”
Cheon Do-hyeon still had much to learn from his grandfather. He had never defeated him in a sparring match—not even close. The gap wasn’t narrow; there was simply no opening where victory seemed possible.
“Grandfather. You must live long and well. Until I’m strong enough to finally beat you!”
“Heh heh heh, thanks to my weak, scrawny grandson, I’ll live a long life.”
And there followed a dialogue of flesh and bone.
Brutal fists clashed, and sounds that belonged to no modern era rang out across the space.
Bang! Crash!
And so time passed. As a dense forest of green leaves gradually turned its foliage crimson and gold,
unable to bear that weight, the lush canopy scattered across the ground, leaving only bare branches behind.
And as those fallen leaves became mulch and nourished new life,
so too did Cheon Woo-hyeok’s robust vitality pass wholly into Cheon Do-hyeon. His grandson grew stronger with each passing day, while his grandfather’s frame slowly withered.