Chapter 5
The Heavenly Demon Goes to the Dungeon
A few days later, at a high-rise apartment renovation site.
Crunch!
Plaster from the ceiling crumbled and fell, scattering white dust everywhere.
Vrrrmmm. Clang! Crash!
Bathroom fixtures were being dismantled, and tiles shattered loudly across the walls.
It was the demolition phase — stripping out the old fixtures before the new interior work could begin.
Whirr! Clatter! Crack!
The deafening noise shook the floor, and thick dust clouds billowed across the site.
Then, through that haze, a dark shadow slowly emerged.
A towering man whose head nearly brushed the ceiling — wild, overgrown hair like weeds, and eyes glowing red like molten iron.
He was wearing a gray martial robe covered by a ragged work uniform.
It was none other than the Heavenly Demon.
“…How vexing.”
With his thick arms crossed over his chest, the Heavenly Demon stared gloomily at the demolition site.
“To think I, the Lord of the World, have fallen to such menial labor…”
Just then, the demolition foreman, Mr. Kim, who was holding a crowbar, spotted him and shouted,
“Hey! Mr. Cheon! Stop standing there like an idiot! Move those debris bags downstairs!”
The Heavenly Demon looked down at him with blazing eyes.
“My surname is not Cheon. That is merely a title.”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just get moving, will you? We’re short on time.”
Without even glancing at him, Mr. Kim went back to prying the ceiling plaster.
The meaning of his behavior was clear:
Disregard. Disdain. Contempt. Scorn.
The Heavenly Demon was now personally experiencing words he had only ever understood in theory.
“How absurd.”
He, who once ruled the martial world as the invincible Heavenly Demon, was now being treated like this?
“Ha… ha-ha…”
Unable to contain his incredulity, he tightened his core and burst into laughter.
“Ha-ha-ha! HAHAHAHAHA!”
His laughter shook the air — it was the Blood Demon Sky-Shattering Laugh (혈마굉천소), infused with immense inner power.
“Ha-ha… khh—ack!”
Unfortunately, with his mouth open wide, he inhaled a lungful of falling plaster dust.
Cough! Cough!
After a fit of choking, he wiped his mouth and muttered, his face flushed,
“Right… my inner energy is gone. The laugh has no effect now.”
Still mumbling, he bent down and began to gather debris into a pile.
Once he’d gathered a heap, he lifted one of his heavy legs straight up — surprisingly flexible for his size.
“Hup.”
With a sharp exhale, he stomped down.
Crack! Smash! Crunch!
Every time his leg came down, the debris shattered like it had been struck by a sledgehammer.
He looked like a video game character smashing cars in a bonus stage.
“Too slow.”
When he was done, the Heavenly Demon looked toward Mr. Kim, who was still bashing the ceiling.
The wiry man was swinging his crowbar repeatedly.
“Inefficient.”
The Heavenly Demon walked over calmly.
“Move aside. I’ll destroy it in one blow.”
“Huh? Destroy what?”
“That fragile ceiling. There’s no need to use that scrap of iron.”
Before the foreman could stop him, the Heavenly Demon crouched low, eyes glowing red.
In that moment, Mr. Kim remembered what Jang Chaewon had told him:
“Don’t let him do anything other than collecting debris. Absolutely not!”
“W-wait, Mr. Cheon! Don’t—”
“Fist Demon Seventh Form — Ascending Wind, Defying Dragon! (승풍항룡)!”
With a mighty shout, the Heavenly Demon leapt into the air, fist raised.
“What the hell—?”
The motion looked exactly like a special move from an old-school fighting game.
“Haaap!”
His body, honed to perfection, still retained immense strength despite the loss of inner energy.
BOOM!
His fist pierced the ceiling — and smashed straight through the sprinkler pipe hidden above.
SSSSHHHHHH!
“Hmm?”
Landing lightly, he tilted his head at the water pouring from the ceiling.
“Is this… some kind of congratulatory rain?”
“OH MY GOD!”
The workers screamed and ran for cover.
The foreman dropped his crowbar and clutched his head.
“Mr. Cheon! What have you done?! You broke the sprinkler system!”
“The what?”
“In high-rises, sprinklers are installed in the ceiling for fire safety!”
“Sprinklers…”
The Heavenly Demon just blinked blankly, clearly not understanding a word.
Inside Bokbok Interior headquarters.
Jang Chaewon shot up from her seat, screaming,
“How many times are you going to do that stupid ‘Hadouken’ thing? Why do you always use it at every site?!”
“You are mistaken. The technique is called Fist Demon Seventh Form—”
“When I said ‘remove the sink,’ you punched the sink! When I said ‘demolish the bathroom,’ you punched the wall! And now you punched the ceiling?!”
Her eyes bulged.
“I told you to only collect debris! Why did you destroy the sprinkler pipes?!”
“I merely offered assistance to the man attempting to break the ceiling.”
“Standing still would’ve been helping!”
“Still, we fought side by side on the same battlefield. I would never abandon a comrade.”
“This isn’t a battlefield!”
“In its intensity, it might as well be.”
The Heavenly Demon looked off into space, melancholy.
“Foreman Kim—though he looks sixty, I’d have guessed over a hundred. Hard labor must have aged him terribly.”
“What are you even talking about?”
“He works himself to the bone to support his family. How could I stand idly by?”
“…Foreman Kim isn’t even married.”
“Truly astonishing.”
His eyes widened. “At that age, and still alone?”
“I—what—stop saying nonsense!”
Jang Chaewon clutched her head in frustration.
“All the damage you’ve caused these past few days—my numbers don’t even add up anymore!”
She slammed her calculator on the table.
“And that apartment you wrecked? It belonged to Lady Hosan, the Fox Spirit Goddess, who lives with her human lover!”
“A yokai’s house, then.”
“Watch your mouth! She’s not a yokai — she’s a divine spirit! The goddess of human love!”
“So… a matchmaker.”
“Shut up! And we can’t even fix the sprinklers ourselves! We have to hire a licensed fire-safety company!”
“I see.”
His calm tone made her face go pale.
“The whole apartment’s water supply had to be shut off! Do you realize how many complaints I got? If Hosan hears about this, we’re done for! Her connections are insane!”
Her teeth ground audibly as she clutched the calculator.
“And do you even know how much sprinkler repairs cost? Huh? DO YOU?!”
“I do not.”
“….”
No matter how much she yelled, the stone-faced demon remained unaffected — if anything, her words bounced back.
‘He’s not a worker… he’s a walking disaster.’
She rubbed her temples, despair setting in.
‘Even the simplest demolition, and he ruins everything… what use is he?’
But then she remembered the broken floor tiles he’d split in two just by brushing them with his fist.
‘Wait… he is good at breaking things.’
When the Heavenly Demon turned to leave, she clapped her hands and smiled.
“Actually, I do have another job for you.”
She led him to a metal door hidden deep inside a warehouse.
It gleamed bronze, with a circular opening where a handle should be.
“What is this?”
“Our shop’s secret passage.”
“Secret passage?”
“Yeah. It’s a hidden entrance straight into a dungeon. We can’t let people find out about it, so the exit connects near a variable dungeon boundary.”
She cleared her throat.
“Official entry requires an Awakened ID, taxes, permits — lots of hassle.”
“Dungeon…”
The word was unfamiliar, yet strangely familiar. He remembered it from the knowledge that Imyeongwi (the spirit) had given him.
“The place where monsters from another world dwell.”
“Exactly.”
Her eyes glimmered faintly.
“They’re things that shouldn’t exist in this world.”
There was a trace of melancholy in her tone.
The Heavenly Demon noticed, but brushed it off.
“If it’s so dangerous, why doesn’t the government manage it?”
“They do — up to the Safe Dungeon zone.”
“Safe Dungeon?”
“You didn’t learn this from Imyeongwi?”
“He only gave me general knowledge of this world. Dungeons were merely mentioned.”
She sighed and explained.
“Safe Dungeons are areas where monster levels and patterns are stabilized. The creatures don’t wander out.”
“Stabilized?”
“Yeah. Unstable ones are called Variable Dungeons — monsters there can escape. Dangerous ones are under strict Association control.”
“Then where are we going?”
“This passage connects to the outer dungeon zone. It’s far from the city.”
She crouched and drew three circles on the floor.
“This inner one’s the city, the middle is Safe Dungeon territory, and the outer is the Variable Dungeon region.”
“So all cities are built this way.”
“Exactly. City, Safe Dungeon, Variable Dungeon.”
“And you’re taking me… into the Dungeon.”
“Yup. We’ve got a commission to fulfill.”
She pointed into the dark entrance.
“To complete it, we need dungeon materials. Usually I’d send spirits, but…”
She eyed him.
“This time, you’re going.”
“I am?”
“Yeah. I’ll guide you until you get used to it.”
He narrowed his eyes.
“So to handle this ‘commission,’ I must gather materials from the dungeon.”
“Pretty much.”
She patted his shoulder.
“You broke my spirit minions, so you’re the replacement.”
The Heavenly Demon stroked his chin and nodded.
“Understood.”
When they stepped through the portal, it felt like plunging into deep water — and then, suddenly, light burst forth.
A desolate wasteland stretched before them.
Ruined skyscrapers half-collapsed, their architecture strange and futuristic.
“What a peculiar place.”
They stood atop a crumbling building. In the distance, forests and plains mingled with floating, clouded voids.
“What is that shining veil in the sky?”
“That’s the shield — the barrier at the Safe Dungeon boundary. It’s also around the city.”
“To keep monsters out.”
“Exactly. The Awakened maintain it to protect the cities.”
“I see… so that is the shield.”
He recalled the concept from Imyeongwi’s teachings.
“Oh, we’re almost there.”
She stopped before a large ruined structure — a gas station, its roof made of translucent glass, metal debris scattered below.
“This is a dungeon?”
“Yeah. An F-rank dungeon called the Gas Station. It’s the only open-type dungeon in the Safe Zone.”
“Open-type?”
“Yup. You just stand under this roof, and Sidewinders will come.”
“Sidewinders?”
Before he could ask, a whooshing sound echoed — a massive shadow darted out.
A giant serpent with small wings.
“So, it’s literally a snake.”
“Can you handle it?”
The Heavenly Demon smirked.
“You want me to play snake-catcher.”
“Not an ordinary snake. It’s rated Danger Level 50 — skin like steel and—”
He didn’t wait.
“No need for inner energy.”
He stepped forward, eyes glowing red.
“Fist Demon Seventh Form — Ascending Wind, Defying Dragon!”
CRACK!
His fist met the serpent’s skull. It exploded in one hit.
“Whoa…”
Jang Chaewon was speechless.
“So he’s not just scary-looking… with that power, he could crush an 8th-tier Awakened!”
She sighed in relief.
“Thank goodness… he’s actually useful.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“N-nothing! Just… pull out one of its fangs!”
He pried open its jaws — but the fangs were shattered.
“They’re all broken.”
“You hit too hard!”
“I hit gently.”
They waited. Another serpent appeared.
Ten minutes later—
“Ascending Wind, Defying Dragon!”
“Ugh! Broke again!”
“Too fragile.”
“Try not hitting the face!”
“Impossible. A serpent that loses its head still moves. You must crush it completely.”
An hour later—
“Success!”
At last, a serpent’s head survived mostly intact.
“Hmm. Weak fangs.”
As he tried to pull one out, he accidentally crushed it to dust with his fingers.
“…How did you even—?”
“It’s made of soft material.”
He rubbed it between his fingers; it crumbled like sand.
‘What the hell…’
Those fangs were harder than steel — even used to forge weapons.
Yet he’d crushed it effortlessly.
“Didn’t you say you lost your power?”
“I did. All my inner energy is gone.”
Screeeee!
A horrible shriek filled the air.
A huge shadow descended.
“An Ex Chimera?!”
Jang Chaewon’s eyes widened.
It had a lion’s torso, bat wings, and a horse’s legs — a monstrosity rated over Danger Level 2000.
THUD!
It landed, glaring at the Heavenly Demon.
“What kind of hybrid is this?”
“That’s an Ex Chimera! It’s way stronger than that snake!”
He didn’t even flinch.
“Then I needn’t hold back.”
“Wait, don’t—!”
Too late. His fist struck the creature’s face.
BAM!
Its head flew skyward.
Just like that, the Danger Level 2000 monster was dead.
Jang Chaewon stared in awe, eyes shining.
‘He’s a monster himself… With this, even C-rank dungeons are fair game!’
Something round rolled out of the Chimera’s mouth.
“What’s this?”
The Heavenly Demon picked up a glowing marble-sized orb.
“It’s a relic.”
Jang Chaewon grinned.
“When dungeon monsters die, they sometimes drop artifacts — relics. That’s one.”
“A relic…”
His eyes glimmered crimson.
‘Fascinating.’
This world was beyond strange — almost laughably so.
If another martial artist had come instead of him, they’d never have adapted this fast.
“Oh, and the relic from an Ex Chimera is…”
She paused, tapping her chin.
