I passed out after my encounter with Gaeros and woke up the next day afternoon.

I sat up and sighed at realizing that I had failed. I couldn't change anything from my previous life.

Before getting consumed by depressing thoughts, I shook my head and stood up.

'It's too early for me to give up.'

I still knew the events of the future.

‘Hm?’

While thinking about my plan, I realized that I was alone in the cave.

Minho was nowhere to be seen!

‘Did he… go out to look for food alone?!’

I ran out of the cave and started running towards the west. Minho and I have been gathering most of our meals from the west, so I was sure he went this way.

‘This is all my fault… because I knew where all the food was, I planted in Minho’s mind that it was safe and easy to find food in the forest!’

I ran with all my strength, following the path that we normally took.

I wanted to call out to him, but was afraid that it would attract monsters.

“AAHHHHHH!”

When I heard his screaming voice, I immediately turned and started running in the direction of the sound.

‘Please… please be okay…!’

“Minho!!”

When I spotted his back, I called out to him. 

Minho turned around and I saw him covering his right eye with his hand. Red blood was seeping through his fingers. He was crying from the other eye and it was filled with terror. 

When I finally reached him, I saw a monster in front of us.

It was a large white fox with 3 long tails. Its eyes were red and its fangs were sharp. It licked ts claws which dripped red with blood.

‘The guardian of the forest…!’

The fox guardian that I was supposed to meet a month later, had appeared before Minho and took his right eye from him.

‘How… how could I let this happen again…!’

I felt overwhelmed with grief, but there was no time.

I quickly stepped in front of Minho and lowered my head in front of the fox.

“Great guardian of the forest! Please have mercy on us!”

The fox stopped licking the blood off its claws and stepped closer to me.

[Hoho! You know who I am?]

“Yes, you are the great Sino that oversees this forest.”

[You knew who I was, and still intruded in my land?]

The air grew cold and the pressure from the fox seemed to grip at my heart.

[I’m already annoyed that those Chunin were coming in and out of my home… and now I have mortals looking down on me!!!!]

The forest shook violently as the fox’s voice echoed.

"Ahh!!!"

"Ugh!!"

Minho and I both fell to the ground, our eardrums completely destroyed and blood spilling out our ears. I could tell I had lost my hearing forever, but endured the pain and spoke.

“Forgive us for intruding on your lands! I swear on my soul, we did not mean to come here. We were brought here by unknown means. We only wish to leave, and return to the city. Please, help us.”

I further lowered my head until my forehead was touching the ground.

I could feel the pressure in the air lifting slightly and the grip around my heart loosened. The fox must have done something, because the pain in my ears faded and I could hear once again.

‘This fox may be more gullible than I thought.’

Just as I had a hopeful thought, they were crushed by the fox’s next words.

[Very well, I will send you out of this forest. But, on one condition. I want to eat a piece of you. His blood… it was something I never tasted before. Ah… I want to eat it again.]

The fox’s eyes shook with hunger and excitement. It drooled from its mouth as it came closer to us.

“…Okay.”

“…Yun!”

As I stepped forward, Minho grabbed me with his left hand. He was still shaking from the pain, but gripped me tightly.

I smiled at him sadly.

‘I couldn’t prevent you from getting hurt... but at the least... in this life, I won’t let you lose an arm for me.”

“It’s okay, Minho.”

I softly pushed his arm away and walked up to the fox.

“Promise me, that you’ll send us to the city if I give you an arm.”

[I promise… now give it to me… Ah…]

Unable to hold back its hunger, the fox opened its mouth wide. I closed my eyes and held up my left arm. I couldn’t stop my body from shaking and my heart was beating loudly in my ears.

‘Is this how you felt, Minho?’

CRUNCH! 

—— !

I felt an unexplainable pain coursing through me. 

Crunch crunch! 

It took the fox three bites to completely rip off my left arm from my body.

I saw my blood and bones spilling out and flying in the air, while the fox continued to chew on my arm.

When suddenly, it stopped.

[This… this is disgusting! Blargh!]

The fox spit out my bloodied arm and glared at me. Minho was crying while wrapping my shoulder with his shirt. I could feel my consciousness fading, but I fought against the urge to faint.

“Please… keep your promise.”

[…]

The fox growled with anger and clawed at the air. The space ripped open and a purple portal opened up in front of us.

[Next time, I won’t let you off so easy.]

The fox turned around and flew away.

Minho quickly helped me through the gate and I lost my consciousness.

___

When I woke up, I found myself in a familiar place. It was the same hospital that I had taken Minho in my previous life. I looked at the cup of water beside me and reached over for it. 

‘Oh right…’

Then I realized I no longer had my left arm. I looked at my left shoulder and let out a sigh.

It was a sigh of relief.

I was finally able to change something. With this, I could feel a small piece of the guilt in my heart go away.

I twisted my body and grabbed the cup of water with my right hand.

As I drank all of the water, the door to the room opened.

“Yun..!”

It was Minho. He was dressed in the historical clothes that they wore in this world and was carrying a bag of plants and herbs.

I immediately knew that he was working in order to pay for my treatment. Just like I did for him in my previous life.

But more importantly, my eyes widened when I saw his face.

“Minho…! You’re eye…!”

Minho smiled and touched the big scar right above his right eye. 

“I thought I lost it… but when the doctor treated me, they told me the cut barely missed it.”

Minho didn’t lose his right eye!

I was filled with relief. In this life… I managed to protect him.

“Thank goodness…”

“Hey hey, Are you crying? It’s me who wants to cry right now… you’re arm…”

Minho’s expression darkened as he looked at my left shoulder, while I smiled brightly. Minho sighed when he saw the look on my face.

—-

After I was healed enough to leave the hospital, I told Minho that I would help him make money now.

Minho strongly disapproved, but ended up losing against my stubornness.

Another thing I did right away, was buying Minho a book. In this world, these books were called ‘Mugongsuh’ and they taught people how to do ‘Mu’. I had never heard of anything like it on Earth, but I quickly understood that it was a type of martial arts, like Taekwondo. 

These books were filled with drawings of motions and long texts that talked about philosophical things. I couldn’t understand how these books awakened such fighting abilities in Minho, but I knew it was best for him to learn sooner than later.

Just like in my second life, Minho quickly fell in love with these books and asked me to learn with him. After much thought, I decided not to. 

I only had one arm and I knew how untalented I was in Mu. Instead of wasting time on something I was not good at, I decided to concentrate my efforts on using what I knew of the future.

5 years went by, when Minho and I had finally saved up enough money to buy a small house in the city.

We were only able to save up so much in so little time, because 3 years ago, Minho had reached a level of Mu that was high enough to get hired as a guard. 

In my prevous life, I had left Minho’s side when he started this job, but I stayed with him this time. I started studying the trades and businesses of this world, and eventually landed a job as an advisor in the same house that Minho worked as a guard.

Another 5 years later, Minho broke through another level of Mu, making him one of the strongest fighters in the city. During this time, the kingdom that we were living in fell in a state of war with the neighboring kingdoms. In order to prepare for war, the king issued an order to all the nobles in the kingdom, to send their strongest men to the battlefields. 

“Don’t worry, I’ll be okay.”

“I’ll follow behind you soon.”

As Minho left to fight in the war, I used everything I knew about the future, to climb the ranks of the army. At first, only a few listened to me, but those numbers grew as my predictions continued to come true. A year after Minho joined the war, I was apointed as chief strategist in the kingdom’s army.

“They’re going to attack from the west, I know it! We have to send our men from the south, and catch them in their blindspot!”

“Haven’t you heard what the spy said? They’re coming from the east! We need to send the army to the eastern capital to protect the nobles living there!”

“Nonsense! They are coming from the north, in order to attack the royal family. Once the royal family falls, they’ll have won the war!”

The war council was filled with only the most important people of the army. However, none of them could agree on a plan, as everyone’s predictions were different from one another. The arguing and debating continued until I slammed my hand on the table.

SLAM!

All their eyes were focused on me, waiting for me to speak.

“There’s no need to argue on this matter. Whether they come from the east, the west, or the north. All we need is to get to their royal family first.”

It was quite an obvious fact, but no one spoke a word against me. They waited for me to continue.

“I know where the royal family is. Tonight, I will send commander Minho and have him bring the king to us. Then tomorrow, we will have their surrender and the end to this war.”

The men who were with me since the beginning of this war, lit up with joy in their faces. However the ones who had joined recently, looked at me with disbelief. 

But those who didn't believe me soon realized the rumors about me were true, when Minho brought back the king of our enemy the next day. With their king as hostage, it didn't take long for the enemy to surrender. Our kindgom returned the enemy’s king, in exchange for a one sided agreement that was beneficial to our kingdom. In my city, the people celebrated for days. The people called me Yun, the all knowing strategist.

After the war, Minho and I returned to our peaceful daily lives. We no longer worried about any shortage of money and moved to a bigger house than the first one we bought.

Before I knew it, 20 years had passed since I first arrived to this city.

Minho and I were both reaching our 40s. 

These days, I would spend most of my time alone at home, while Minho traveled the world in order to hone his skills.

He wanted to find stronger people to fight against, so that he may break through the next level.

I closed the book that I was reading, and walked into Minho’s training room. I picked up a wooden sword, and began swinging it like the book was showing me.

Now that I had found peace in my life, I was able to use my time more freely. Even if it ment spending it on something I had no talent in.

I swung my sword down, up, diagonally, sideways, and straight. 

These were all basic movements that Minho had taught me and I had been repeating them for 3 years. I was starting to feel comfortable with the sword in my grip and my swings were faster and sharper than when I first started.

I practiced my swings until I had no strength left in my arm.

‘I knew it…’

I laughed sadly.

While practicing Mu for the past three years, I realized something about myself.

And it was that I loved Mu.