Chapter 2
Earth had once been doomed.
The Gates opened, monsters impervious to modern weapons poured out, and a great many countries more or less fell.
Many people died as well, and the global population plunged from eight billion to three billion.
Gates appeared over the major powers and developed nations, swallowing their capitals. As a result, China and India were declared beyond recovery and vanished into history.
A combined 3 billion people—1.4 billion and 1.6 billion—became food for monsters.
Well, it's not as if any country escaped that fate.
Just as humanity was pushed to the brink of extinction, superhumans appeared.
They wielded an unknown energy that had emerged alongside the Gates and used techniques unlike anything seen before.
They were not Awakeners, but cultivators—those who cultivated immortality—and they defeated Earth's monsters.
One punch could blow away a mountain; one sweep of a sword could split the sea.
These transcendent beings, who could withstand nuclear bombardment with their bare bodies, turned the tide, hunted the monsters in turn, and made them into pills.
The monsters, once impossible to resist, were demoted to yao beasts (妖獸) and hunted instead.
The byproducts of yao beasts were all-purpose materials, versatile enough to make magic artifacts, develop formations, and even produce consumables like talismans.
And that wasn't all. The yaodan (妖丹) drove scientists studying spiritual energy mad.
Consuming a yaodan, formed from condensed spiritual energy, could raise one's realm, and refining it into a pill doubled its effects.
If an ordinary person took one, it cured every illness; if they had spiritual roots, it raised their realm.
It was a panacea that surpassed modern medicine.
And what about cultivators?
Even reaching Qi Refining, the first step on the path of cultivation, granted a lifespan of 200 years!
People who yearned for eternal youth and longevity went wild and threw themselves into cultivation.
They hunted yao beasts, cultivated, and raised more cultivators, reclaiming Earth.
And so.
An age dawned in which superhumans tended the cities, everyone cultivated, and national borders disappeared.
Hundreds of years had passed since the Great Cultivation Era began.
The former Republic of Korea. The present-day K Sector.
Seoul, once the capital of the Korean Peninsula, had been swallowed by a Gate and disappeared, but the Korean people's love for the Han River had endured against all odds.
K Sector. A city built at the heart of the Korean Peninsula. A colossal megacity formed by combining the sites of Seoul, Pyongyang, and Gaeseong: Future Special City (未來特別市).
It was the future of the Korean Peninsula, and the pride of the now much smaller Korean people.
***
“Waa….”
Nine watched the holographic TV in the living room, marveling.
The screen was showing a documentary celebrating humanity's history and victory.
With a single sword, he cleaves through ten thousand laws.
A host of soaring spells rips the sky apart.
The roaring monster became a handful of pills and was gloriously tucked into a storage pouch.
Ever since childhood, Nine had made sure to watch a documentary every day.
The sight of heroes protecting humanity set the hearts of countless men ablaze, after all.
Though Nine was a woman now.
The documentary that aired every morning came to an end.
Nine went from the living room into the bedroom.
Nine stretched languidly.
Their short arms and legs stretched out long and satisfyingly.
Still stretched out, they snatched the floating scroll like a cat.
Flutter?
The scroll, which had been lazily drifting through the air, seemed puzzled.
But Nine paid it no mind and snapped the scroll open.
[User: Eun (銀) Nine (羅引/Nine)]
[Talent: Five Spiritual Roots 0 / 10000]
[Constitution: Talisman Dao Sacred Body (符道聖體) 0 / 10]
[Arts: Body Tempering Art 8-Star 0/15000 / Introductory Talisman Dao Art (符道入門訣) 7-Star 1300/15000 / Body Tempering Art—12th Revision 3-Star 50/200]
[Current Realm: Body Tempering Stage 80%]
Nine slowly and carefully read through the contents of the Status Window.
Soon, their gaze settled on one spot.
[Current Realm: Body Tempering Stage 80%]
“Th-this is downright pitiful.”
An unfamiliar, delicate voice escaped their lips.
But Nine was more concerned with the contents than with that.
Body Tempering Stage: 80%.
Even after fifteen years of effort, Nine had only reached eighty percent of the required amount.
That worked out to roughly five percent a year.
In other words, Nine would need to work for another four years to reach Qi Refining.
Considering that the second selection was just one year away, Nine had effectively been doomed.
They hadn't met the selection requirement of 1-Star Qi Refining, so they would have been dragged off to an off-world mine.
“Heh-heh.”
Nine's shoulders shook with laughter.
Their heart swelled with excitement.
Their future was now paved with gold!
With the Status Window by their side, immortality and eternal youth were a given!
What a blessing for someone who had devoted themself to cultivation!
They could now say goodbye to their talentless former self.
From now on, they would become a genius who made Foundation Establishment cultivators gape and Core Formation cultivators marvel.
And the first thing Nine did on this glorious new path was borrow money from their mother.
“…Heh.”
‘I drank so much, and I burned through all my talismans before that, so I'm short on money….’
The culprit was Nine.
In all their life, Nine had never touched alcohol, nor had they ever intended to.
But the price of the reckless binge they'd indulged in out of despair had been steep.
[100 credits]
Cultivation cost money. A great, great deal of it.
With 100 credits, all Nine could do was buy talisman materials and one low-grade spirit stone.
Naturally, that was nowhere near enough to cultivate.
Nine tapped the bracelet on their wrist.
It was a new-model terminal combining science and cultivation technology.
Flash!
A hologram appeared in the air.
Nine swiped through the screen and opened their contacts.
They hesitated.
Just before pressing the contact saved as [Mother].
Nine let out a long breath to release the tension they had been holding in.
“It's no big deal.”
They just had to explain the situation and ask for a little credit support.
Nine had seen plenty of bizarre things happen to people on the path of cultivation.
People growing fur all over their bodies and turning into animals, or their bodies hardening until they became inanimate objects.
Compared to things like that, changing sex was surprising, but not enough to be shocking.
“Y-you'll understand, right?”
…Probably.
She might be indifferent, but she wasn't cold even to her own children.
Nine's finger, trembling with worry and tension, finally stopped.
They pressed the call button.
“Here goes!”
Ring, ring.
The call was ringing.
Gulp. Nine swallowed.
It felt as though time stretched on without end.
Soon, a click sounded as the call connected.
A hologram appeared in the air, showing that the call had connected.
“…Hello? Nine?”
“…….”
Until a moment ago, Nine's mind had been full of thoughts about how to persuade their mother.
But the moment Nine heard their mother's cold voice, their throat locked up and not a sound came out.
Open. Close.
Nine tried opening their mouth to speak, but no words came.
They opened and closed their mouth with a vacant expression, like a deep-sea fish.
After several seconds of that, Nine's heart pounded as if it would burst from embarrassment, and their face turned bright red.
‘Ah, ngh….’
When Nine forced themself to endure, they started hyperventilating.
It felt as if someone had grabbed their heart and was threatening them to hang up immediately.
So Nine had no choice but to give in to the threat.
Click.
They quickly pressed the end-call button.
The call ended pointlessly.
Only then did the overwhelming embarrassment and shame disappear.
“Hieeek….”
Nine sank onto the bed and panted.
Cold sweat soaked Nine from head to toe, dampening their clothes.
The scroll slipped from Nine's limp hand and rolled across the blanket.
Catching their breath, Nine lifted their head.
Their gaze landed outside the wide-open window.
A clear blue sky without a cloud in sight, and the dazzling morning sun pouring down.
“Eek!”
‘I was fine just a moment ago?’
The moment Nine registered that dazzling world, goosebumps rose all over their body.
A scream burst out reflexively.
Their feet tangled, and even as they rolled across the floor, they crawled with difficulty to the window and yanked the blackout curtains shut.
Shhhk!
Warm darkness covered the room.
But that wasn't enough.
Hustle, hustle!
They leaped onto the bed and buried themself beneath the thick blanket.
In the comfortable darkness and silence, their trembling body came to a stop.
“Wh-what is this?”
Once the tension eased, tears flowed on their own.
The sudden flood of emotion was beyond Nine's control.
“Hic, hic.”
Big, fat tears plopped onto the blanket.
Nine's mind, which had been observing their body from a half-step away, was swept up in it and genuinely felt sad.
And so Nine spent an hour beneath the blanket, doing nothing but crying.
“Gasp!”
Nine hurriedly checked the time that had flown by on their terminal and was startled.
Their messaging app was full of texts from their mother.
They were messages worrying about Nine, who had abruptly hung up and wasn't answering.
Tap, tap.
[Eun Seolhwa: Nine?]
[Eun Seolhwa: Is something wrong?]
[Eun Seolhwa: Why did you suddenly hang up?]
.
.
.
There were countless messages.
After seeing them, Nine busily moved their short fingers to reply to each one.
Making up an excuse wasn't easy.
But thanks to Eun Seolhwa's usually indifferent personality, Nine managed to get through the crisis unscathed.
Ding!
[Future Bank] Eun Seolhwa has transferred 10,000 credits.
Memo: This is the last time.
Nine had gotten the cultivation allowance they'd hoped for.
“….”
But Nine's expression was dazed, like a raccoon whose cotton candy had been washed away.
Their face was vacant, as if they couldn't believe this was happening and were denying reality.
“Y-you…!”
Flutter? Flutter!
Nine clutched the scroll beneath the blanket and shook it.
The scroll only tilted its head in confusion.
“What did you turn me into?!”
Tears kept spilling out at the drop of a hat, and Nine was afraid of talking to people.
Sunlight and blue skies made goosebumps rise all over Nine's body.
The symptoms were unmistakable, weren't they?
Nine had become a severe shut-in.
A small, adorable scream echoed from beneath the blanket.