Episode 005
I Became the Baby Sacrifice of the Heavenly Demon
Behind me, the red-haired man burst into loud laughter.
“Kuahaha! I lost one rat, and now a Heavenly Saint Star rolls right into my hands!”
He grabbed me without hesitation.
My vision cleared for a moment—and I saw, with my own eyes, the massacre unfolding at the Yu household.
The first thing I saw was Aunt Yuk running away.
A black-clad warrior swung his sword at her—
—and her hand went flying.
My eyes widened.
A human hand… something that should be attached to an arm… was flying through the air!
But no matter how shocked I was, it couldn’t compare to her.
Aunt Yuk screamed in agony, clutching her severed arm.
The warrior swung his sword again—
She collapsed, spraying blood.
Screams echoed behind me. It was the Yu family.
Master Jang jumped up, screaming as he tried to run—
A blade flashed.
He crumpled forward instantly.
The Mistress let out a shriek. Yoo-won sobbed and clung to her.
The warriors swung their swords again.
Soon… both of them fell silent.
I screamed at the top of my lungs.
“Stop!”
But the red-haired man ignored me completely and tossed me to one of his subordinates.
Then he said—
“This is a sacrifice for the Heavenly Demon. Take her without a single scratch!”
“Yes, sir!”
I cried out desperately.
“Stop! Stop it!”
As I struggled and screamed, a warrior jabbed the back of my neck.
“So noisy.”
And then—
Darkness.
* * *
My illness. The hospital. The people I didn’t even want to call family.
I hated all of it.
But… that was my entire world.
Because I despised reality so much, I spent my days lying on a hospital bed that never felt warm, staring only at my phone.
There was barely any internet in my room, so games were impossible.
The only thing I could do… was read novels.
During the day, I would go to the lounge where Wi-Fi worked, buy and download as many novels as my allowance allowed, then return to my room and read them.
I tried all kinds of genres—but my favorite was martial arts novels.
The kind the older commenters would describe as:
“Full of blood, sweat, and the smell of iron… a real martial arts story…!”
And among them, my absolute favorite was .
As the title suggests, it’s the story of the young leader of the Heavenly Demon Cult.
The protagonist is Hyeok Murin, the son of the previous cult leader—a boy who was cast out.
To put it simply, it’s a classic revenge story where Hyeok Murin claws his way up from the very bottom of the martial world to take revenge on Ak Gunhwi, the current Heavenly Demon who killed his father and massacred his entire family.
I read obsessively.
Sure, it was filled with so many Chinese characters and idioms that even commenters joked—
“Author, please confiscate your Hanja key… this isn’t the trend anymore…”
But still.
I loved it the most.
Because…
The hardships Hyeok Murin went through were no joke.
But neither was he.
He faced every single trial head-on.
And he overcame things that seemed impossible to defeat.
And me…
This might sound strange, but—
Whenever things were unbearably hard, I endured by thinking about that novel.
I believed that, like the protagonist, I could overcome everything.
That I would eventually get better.
But in the end…
I never recovered.
And I never even got to see the ending of that novel.
Near the end, the author went on hiatus for months due to health issues.
That part always left me with regret.
I thought that was the end of it.
I really did.
But…
To think I would be reincarnated into that very martial arts novel.
* * *
When I came to my senses again, I was buried in soft cushions.
The steady clatter of horse hooves echoed, and my body swayed with the motion.
I had never ridden one before, but…
I was probably inside a carriage.
Then—
A booming voice echoed, as if shouting inside a cave.
“You’re awake!”
I gasped and shot upright.
As expected, the red-haired man sat across from me, legs spread wide.
He didn’t give me even a moment to process the situation before speaking quickly.
“I don’t like noisy people. So you’d better stay quiet. If you make a fuss…”
A terrifying glint flashed in his eyes.
So this is what they call killing intent.
He glared at me and threatened:
“I’ll make sure you can never speak again.”
I froze like a stone.
What in the world was happening?
It felt like a horrible nightmare.
I was so scared… I almost wished I could go back to this morning, rolling in the dirt and being bullied by Yoo-won.
Swallowing the sob rising in my throat, I barely managed to nod.
The man smiled in satisfaction.
“Good.”
Then he handed me a water flask.
“Drink.”
Still hiccuping from holding back tears, I took it and sat up properly, staring at it blankly.
I didn’t even have time to grieve.
Because right now—
I was on my way to the Heavenly Demon Cult.
‘So my reincarnation… wasn’t just reincarnation—it was into a martial arts novel?’
I had never imagined this.
The place I lived in before was just a small mountain village, completely cut off from the world.
No one there talked about things like martial artists or the martial world.
Naturally, I thought this was an ordinary world.
But this was a world where human lives were as insignificant as dust—a martial arts novel world.
The horrific scene at the Yu household flashed in my mind.
But if this was truly the world of …
That was just the beginning.
My hands trembled as I held the flask.
The man frowned slightly as he watched me.
“Why aren’t you drinking? Do you think I poisoned it?”
As expected of someone from the Heavenly Demon Cult—even his thoughts were terrifying.
‘If this is really that novel… then he must be one of its characters.’
I quietly studied him.
‘But who is he?’
The man barked at me.
“I hate poison more than anything! And if I wanted to kill you, I wouldn’t bother with such a troublesome method—so stop worrying and drink!”
I didn’t know who he was, but one thing was clear:
He was extremely insistent about making me drink.
I nodded and answered softly.
“Yes…”
Then I drank.
At first, I hesitated—but the water inside was cool and sweet.
I gulped it down eagerly.
The problem was the opening—it was too small.
The flask was big, but the opening was so tiny even my finger couldn’t fit.
So I pressed my lips tightly against it and sucked noisily.
“Puh… haa!”
After finishing all the water, I carefully handed the flask back, trying not to anger him.
“….”
But when he saw the saliva-covered opening, his killing intent flared again.
He tightened his grip on the flask—
Crack!
Right before my eyes, the sturdy bamboo flask turned into dust.
I gasped in terror.
“Hiiik!”
Bamboo was tough—yet he didn’t just break it, he crushed it into dust!
‘If those hands grab me… I’m dead!’
As I trembled, the red-haired man said coldly:
“Filthy.”
I screamed internally.
‘What’s filthy is your personality, you old man!’
So what if a kid got a little saliva on it?!
To destroy it like that…!
My eyes widened.
‘If I’m not careful, I could die instantly…!’
What I needed now was to assess the situation.
I cautiously observed him.
Fortunately, he had a very distinct feature.
‘A member of the Heavenly Demon Cult… with red hair…!’
