This incident occurred at a Go academy.
One day, a Taoist master visited the academy.
Despite it not being the Joseon Dynasty, a man arrived clad in peculiar attire: a traditional Korean hat (gat), a flowing robe (durumagi), and cotton socks (beoseon).
When the academy’s director, a professional Go player, came out to greet him, the Taoist master spoke.
“I have mastered the principles of Go by practicing in the mountains for twenty years,” the master declared. “Now that I’ve ventured into the mundane world, I wish to teach a few moves to its inhabitants. Please introduce me to the best player here.”
The director played a game on behalf of the academy, only to discover that the Taoist master was utterly incompetent.
Far from being a professional dan player, he wasn’t even particularly skilled among amateurs.
The Taoist master, however, seemed utterly unprepared for the outcome; he looked as bewildered as if his entire world had crumbled around him, then promptly summoned his own teacher.
“My disciple lost, you say? How could someone who has cultivated for decades be defeated by mere mortals?” his teacher boomed.
The director then played a match against the Taoist master’s teacher, who also proved to be utterly incompetent.
While slightly better than his disciple, he was still merely an amateur, and that was the extent of his skill.
After his humiliating defeat, the teacher uttered these words before departing.
“I believed the mountain where I cultivated was the entire world,” he lamented, “but the true world is vast indeed. Fifty years of cultivation, all in vain.”
The Martial God had gained many insights on her path to divinity, one of which was the immense breadth of the world.
Thus, when the Demon God succeeded her, the Martial God instructed him to create a forum for martial artists to communicate remotely.
“Communication is paramount in the pursuit of martial arts,” she commanded. “Establish a system that allows practitioners to understand each other’s levels and share their insights.”
“Do I look like some craftsman who makes toys at the behest of their seniors?” he retorted.
“Yes,” she replied bluntly.
“…”
“Would you prefer to make it after a beating, or simply make it?” she challenged.
“I’ll simply make it,” he conceded.
The Martial Arts Net, created under such circumstances, was now ablaze with a single topic across all its forums.
[I’ll Pierce Your Glabella] The Martial God’s talent actually appeared?!
: What are the odds that it’s only appearing now? Haven’t over ten billion people already tried drawing talents in the Tower?
└No idea, the newbie who supposedly drew it has disappeared.
└Everyone’s just waiting for them to return and share their story.
└They’ve become a total superstar.
└Superstar? They’re quite literally a god.
[Eleven Spears, Hundred Spears, Ten Thousand Spears] So what’s this newbie’s weapon?
: It must be a spear, the king of all weapons, obviously.
If they possess the Martial God’s talent, they would have no choice but to pick a spear, the king of all weapons.
└I heard they drew a Yodo, the Ghost Slasher?
└Sh*t, surely not *that* one, the cursed blade that can’t be unequipped?
└Yep.
└I really don’t want to see those sword-wielding bastards getting all cocky.
└I’m not coming to this gallery for a while.
[zzZl_Lord_Thrower_zz] Even if they’re stuck with the Yodo, shouldn’t throwing weapons be free?
: What are you doing? Go bring them to the Throwing Weapons gallery immediately!
Let us also welcome a talented newbie.
└Everyone’s already there trying to recruit them, what are you doing by not going yet?
└What good is a talented newbie anyway, lol? The number of shurikens I can buy is limited.
└No, I’m telling you, weapons with more users are always more advantageous.
└New weapon development, new skill development, advancement in basic weapon techniques—all of it requires a large population.
└Trickle-down effect is an illusion!!!!!! The trickle-down effect does not exist!!!!!!!
Interest in the newbie with the Martial God’s talent poured in from all sorts of galleries, including the Bow Gallery, Spear Gallery, and Throwing Weapons Gallery.
They eagerly hoped the talented newbie would join their weapon specialization, anticipating effects such as the development of new techniques, weapon improvements, or an increase in new practitioners drawn by the “Martial God’s Talent” title.
Consequently, the Katana Gallery, where she had first appeared, was on the verge of exploding with all manner of advertisements.
[Azure Sky Nineteenth Sword] Oh, possessor of the Martial God’s Talent, please, we beg you to come train at our Azure Sky Sword Sect!
: ♚♚Azure Sky Sword☆Sect♚♚ Join now$$All members☜☜100% FREE martial robes※ ?1 FREE weapon maintenance?Absolutely free💴 Special conditions §§Heavenly Martial Heart Method§§★★Chance to acquire Azure Sky Secret Sword@@
[OurMamboIsCute] How about a hunting bow as a sub-weapon? If you join now, we’ll even give you a cute hunting hawk!
(Photo of a hunting hawk)
(Photo of a baby hunting hawk)
(Photo of a hunting hawk egg)
Aren’t its bright, clear eyes just adorable?
It can scout for you from the sky and even solve puzzles in places humans can’t reach.
You can acquire such a hunting hawk by joining Forest Rangers.
You should join right away, shouldn’t you?
[Thirty Years of Swordsmanship] Hey, you bastards, stop with the ads and get back to your own galleries!
: The first page gets pushed back in less than 30 seconds; I can’t even read anything. All the natives are dying!
I can’t even browse this gallery, for f*ck’s sake! Just get out, all of you, get out!
└LOL, seriously. The natives are being massacred.
└Demon God, please block external IPs.
└They drew the Yodo, the Ghost Slasher, so why would they go anywhere but a Katana school, lol?
└I’m already excited, lol. The next Martial God is confirmed to be a Katana master, hahaha.
Yet, not all reactions were so positive and covetous.
In a dojo nestled deep within the mountains of Midland.
“The Martial God’s talent? Seize them immediately! I must steal that talent and make it my own, no matter the cost!”
Chae Hyeon-jin’s expectations were met as the mad Sword Saint, blocked by an unseen wall, began to have a fit.
“But Master,” a disciple interjected, “we don’t even know if they’re a Midlander or an Earthling.”
“So what?!” the Sword Saint roared. “Do my words sound like empty air to you?!”
“There are over twenty billion people, combining Earthlings and Midlanders,” the disciple pointed out.
“Find them! I said, find them!”
‘Ugh, this old maid’s hysteria (TL Note: A Korean slang term, ‘no-cheo-nyeo his-te-ri,’ referring to a perceived outburst of irrationality or oversensitivity, often attributed to an unmarried older woman.) is truly something. She should at least be stubborn about something plausible.’
The mad Sword Saint, still hindered by the invisible wall, was a long-eared elf who had surpassed five hundred years of age.
And she was unmarried.
She had been blocked for a long time, but her temper had grown particularly erratic recently, causing most of her disciples to flee.
The woman, left alone to bear the brunt of the hysteria, let out a deep sigh.
‘Should I run away too?’
It was summer.
****
It felt as though an immense amount had transpired, yet barely three hours had actually passed.
To someone, however, even those three hours must have felt like an eternity.
“Hey, we agreed to just draw our talents and leave!”
Young-soo, the friend who had accompanied me to the Tower’s talent drawing, shouted upon seeing me.
It was January 1st.
He and I had come to the Tower to draw talents as a celebration of becoming adults, having both decided to simply draw and then immediately depart.
Neither of us came from impoverished homes, nor were we entirely inept at academics, so there was no compelling reason to risk our lives ascending the Tower.
Thus, he seemed to have exited the Tower immediately after drawing his talent, just as promised.
Yet…
‘How did he recognize me?’
I had become a completely different person from who I was before entering the Tower.
Upon first seeing me, he had worn an expression mixed equally with relief and anger, but now his face held a profoundly ambiguous look.
Was he experiencing a disconnect between his memories and my current appearance?
“Do I look any different from usual?” I asked.
I posed the question, and he caught it.
“Were you always this pretty?”
I understood then, with absolute certainty.
The Tower’s inexplicable magic had not only altered my past but also the memories of those around me.
It made sense how my body had transformed, yet my clothes and shoes didn’t feel restrictive in the slightest.
I had somewhat anticipated this situation after opening my photo album and finding all my old pictures changed to portray me as a woman.
As I pondered whether to rejoice or rage at this peculiar reality, his face flushed crimson, and he began to stammer out excuses in a panic.
“No, that’s! I mean! It’s not that you’re usually ugly, no! Of course, I know you’re pretty! Ugh, f*ck! What is this?!”
His mind seemed to be in complete disarray.
Nevertheless, there was one aspect I still wished to confirm.
“But we used to meet in the bathhouse until we were ten, didn’t we?”
Children are typically allowed into opposite-s*x bathhouses only until around the age of five.
Yet, he and I had met in the bathhouse multiple times when we were ten.
How would that memory have been altered?
“Your father was really too much. He shouldn’t have brought such a big girl in there.”
Ah, so that was the explanation.
As I processed the outcome, his mind seemed to have utterly exploded.
“Ah… Ugh…”
His face was so scarlet that anyone seeing him would mistake him for a traffic light and stop dead in their tracks.
“Excuse me,”
A civil servant approached at that moment.
True to the Republic of Korea’s operational policy that “individuals have no secrets,” the official intended to verify what talent I had acquired.
“What talent did you acquire?”
“The talent to skip stones multiple times.”
“Pardon?”
“The talent to skip stones multiple times.”
“Such a talent exists?”
I fabricated a talent that I believed would minimally impact my daily life.
After all, I could mimic something similar with my throwing skills.
I had already decided to claim this talent if asked what I had drawn before leaving the Tower.
Since not all talents obtainable from the Tower’s draw were publicly known, no one could contradict me.
Just considering the talent I actually drew…
No one had known that the Martial God’s talent could even be acquired through the talent draw, right?
At that moment, I remained oblivious.
I was unaware that my claim of acquiring the talent to skip stones multiple times to the Tower management official would lead to me being pursued by the World Stone Skipping Association.
‘Well, I no longer need an excuse for my body changing.’
Originally, if people questioned, “Wait, why did a man go in and a woman come out?”, I had planned to lie, claiming I’d drawn the talent of “Battlefield Idol,” which caused my body to change.
However, since everyone now remembered me as always having been female, that excuse became unnecessary.
“Hey, Chae Hyeon-jin! So why did it take you three whole hours?!”
Young-soo, who had been on the verge of a complete breakdown, managed to compose himself and finally directed his question at me.
We had indeed made a promise to simply draw our talents and then leave.
And I had broken that promise.
But with the Martial God’s talent emerging, it would be absurd not to ascend the Tower.
“I didn’t originally intend to, but once I was there, I found myself wanting to climb the Tower.”
“Then you! You actually went into a monster-infested zone?!”
“Yes.”
“Even if I can overlook it, doing something like that without a word to your mother is unacceptable! You inconsiderate bastard!”
“Oh, come on. The first floor isn’t that dangerous.”
That was a lie.
I had almost died to a transparent Man-Eater.
If I hadn’t noticed its attempt to tackle me because it was invisible, I would have been devoured by the Man-Eaters there.
“Then you… you killed goblins and came out?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
I had killed about thirty goblin-like creatures.
“Are you going into the Tower again next time?”
I couldn’t answer Young-soo’s question immediately.
I wasn’t usually the type to lie.
“Your silence is an answer. I’m telling your mother everything.”
“No, I told you it’s not dangerous at all.”
“Yeah, tell that to your mother.”
Knowing that his intentions weren’t malicious, I wasn’t angry.
It felt like a natural reaction.
After concluding the talent drawing event, I returned home to find my room decorated like a girl’s room.
Yodo, the Ghost Slasher, lay on my bed.
‘Has it finally arrived?’
‘A bit late, wouldn’t you say?’
‘No, wait. Is it an Annabelle doll?’
