“Wake up, Yun!”

‘Is that… Minho’s voice?’

‘…That’s right… I saw him die at the same time as me.’

I smiled sadly. I couldn’t help but feel relieved knowing that I wouldn’t move on to the underworld alone.

“Yun, Stop smirking and get up!”

‘Hm? You can see me?‘

When I realized something was off, I felt a chill down my spine. I shouldn’t have a body anymore… so how could I feel?

My senses slowly returned to me and I could move my fingers. I opened my heavy eyes and saw Minho looking at me with a worried expression.

My eyes widened at the sight of his young face. His grey hair, wrinkles, and scars were no where to be seen. His eyes were full of life again.

I trembled as I reached out and touched his perfectly normal right eye. Minho furrowed his brows at my touch.

“Yun… Are you okay?”

I had returned to the past again!

I had thought about the possibility of this happening, but it was so terrifying that I tried to ignore it. Now that its happened, I had to face it.

Am I stuck in a never ending time slip? Or is this the last one? If I’m back here, what happened to my second life? Is that world completely gone? 

My head filled up with questions that I couldn’t answer. 

“Yun! What’s wrong?!”

Minho shook me out of my thoughts. 

“Sorry, Minho… But where are we?”

While Minho explained to me how we ended up in this cave, I glanced around and saw the others.

Hyunwoo, Seri, Hana and Moon. They were all here the same as before.

After the group decided to sleep through the night, we all laid down on the cold ground.

I listened closely to the sound of the others breathing and waited.

Once I was certain that everyone was asleep, I snuck out of the cave and walked into the forest. I didn’t stop until I found an open field and sat on top of a large rock.

I looked up at the night sky and saw the full moon.

‘If I really got another chance at life… I know the first thing I need to do."

I crossed my legs and straightened my back. I placed my hands on my knees and closed my eyes. 

I took a deep breath in and a deep breath out. I began to circulate the ki in and out of my body, the way Minho taught me.

‘This time for sure! I’ll gather ki and reach a new level!'

While I set a new goal for this life, I felt something strange.

‘Hm?’ 

The ki in this forest was dense! At least 10 times more concentrated than in the human world. I was taken aback by the amount of ki flowing in and out of my body, when I noticed another energy deep inside. It was dark and red and flowed in the opposite direction of my ki. I flinched when I realized what it was.

'This is... the fox’s energy!’

It had followed me back to the past! I wasn’t sure how it was possible, but I didn’t despair. The fox’s energy felt different than before.

 In my second life it was just a still ball of energy that dispersed any ki that it came in contact with, but now it was flowing through like a stream. Although it moved in reverse to my ki, it didn’t affect it in any way.

‘Its like… the energy lost its will to fight.’

There was no way for me to get rid of it, so I let it flow inside my body while I gathered more ki and compressed it into a single location in my stomach.

As the sky began to light up, I finally felt a small amount of ki, about the size of a seed settle down without dispersing.

I opened my eyes and let out a deep breath.

“Hoooo”

I looked down at my body and realized my physical abilities had strengthened. I could see further than before and hear the sounds of animals a mile away.

‘This is the power of ki…’

I got up from the rock and found a long piece of wood. With a stone in one hand, I began to carve the sides of the wood. 

Thanks to my increased strength, it didn’t take long for me to create a wooden sword. 

I gripped the sword in my right hand and felt an unexplainable emotion. 

I moved the small amount of ki from the seed I created, and covered my entire body. I tried to send the ki into my wooden sword, but it dispersed whenever I tried. 

‘Hmm I guess its too early for me.’

In my second life, Minho told me that a 3rd rate Muin should be able to cover their body with ki. When they are able to cover their sword, that’s when they’ve broken into the 2nd rate.

‘Let’s not get impatient. I have a lot of time now…’

I smiled.

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

The basic movements that I had trained for years in my second life. The sword cut through the air and with each swing, my blade went faster and faster as I got used to the power of ki.

I didn’t stop until my whole body was soaked in my sweat.

—- 

When I returned to the cave, I found the others awake. Moon glared at me when he saw me, and Minho ran to make sure I was okay. Hyunwoo’s eyes glistened when he saw the wooden sword and food that I was carrying.

“Where did you go?!” Minho asked. 

I handed him the fruits, nuts, and water that I brought back and he reflexively received them. He blinked his eyes confused.

“I woke up early, so I went out to get us some food.”

“On your own?! That’s dangerous, Yun!”

I scratched the back of my head. He was right. I knew only I could have made it back safely.

Then I remembered my mistake in my second life. Minho was almost killed by the fox, because I made him believe that the forest was safe.

I trembled and grabbed Minho’s arm.

“You’re right, Minho. I made a mistake. When I went out there, I saw a terrible monster… if I didn’t run away at the right time… I would’ve died.”

As I shook my body, the mood darkened. I could read the fear in the others’ faces. Only Hyunwoo looked at me with some doubt, but it was enough that the others believed me.

“How were you able to bring back food while running? And that wooden sword… where did you find it?”

Hyunwoo asked me with a serious expression. 

I had an explanation prepared for this question.

“I found these after I got away from the monster. Thankfully for us, I think someone left them behind.”

Suddenly, Moon stomped over and reached for a fruit in Minho’s hand.

“Give me that!”

Before he could grab it, I pulled Minho back slightly and he missed.

Moon looked up and glared at me, ready to explode. 

In my second life, I beat him up when he did this... but I had an easier way now.

I released a small amount of ki from my dan and mixed my killing intent into it. I sent the energy towards Moon so that only he would feel it.

"!!!"

Moon trembled his body and looked at me in disbelief.

"We'll share with you if you ask nicely."

After I withdrew my killing intent, Moon ate his food quietly. I could feel him glancing at me from time to time, but I pretended not to notice it.

Hana and Seri were overjoyed by the sweet taste of the fruit. Compared to my second life, I noticed the way they looked at me had changed. It was filled with trust and dependency.

While I thought about the events to come, something unexpected happened.

Rumblee

It started off with a slight tremble, but eventually the ground began to shake violently.

RUMBLEE!

“Kyaaah!”

I heard Seri scream in fear while I turned my attention to the entrance of the cave.

‘Something… something is coming!’

In my second life, this never happened! 

I stood up and walked towards the entrance, with my wooden sword in front of me. I slowly circulated my ki and spread it throughout my body. 

I gripped tightly on my sword, but felt my strength leave my body when a great white fox appeared before us. I felt despair before its massive presence.

Now that I could use ki, I became more sensitive to the presense that the fox released. I knew its strength was mountains above me.

I couldn’t stop my body from trembling.

[How dare a young fox enter my territory without greeting me!]