Chapter 2
My life really isn’t going smoothly.
I only read my friend’s practice novel once, got reincarnated into a martial arts story, tried to make a happy ending—and now this… again.
What’s even more unfair is that “It’s a Martial Arts Story, I’m Telling You!” wasn’t even good!
More importantly… what story is this now?
There was a reason I was sure this wasn’t time travel, but reincarnation.
First, the name Klone felt familiar. And my instincts—this being my second reincarnation—told me clearly:
Yeah… this is reincarnation.
The problem was, I had no idea which story I was in.
Looking around, everyone looked like they had come straight out of a Western movie.
Feels like a movie.
You know—that one movie that was popular in Korea, with an ugly creature obsessed with a ring.
Wait… a ring…
No way.
I hesitated for a moment, but then shook my head.
No, it couldn’t be. The ones working in mines in that movie were monsters, not humans.
More importantly, why did I end up in a completely different story?
Because I got a bad ending?
I had a lot to say about that.
In most reincarnation stories, people go back in time to get a happy ending.
Then why didn’t I go back? Why was I thrown into a whole different story?
No matter how I thought about it, it didn’t make sense.
As I sat there, frustrated, I remembered Dana’s last words:
“Miss, in your next life… please be someone who is truly loved.”
Could it be because of her? Because I couldn’t be happy in the martial arts world?
Even though I became the strongest, living as a swordsman meant a life where blood always led to more blood.
In the end, everything I built with blood was destroyed by blood.
Heuk-hwi, you bastard. If I ever see you again, you’re dead.
My anger rose as I remembered my unfair death.
But this wasn’t the time to sit around being angry.
I calmed myself and returned to the real problem.
Why was I reincarnated again? And where was I?
No matter how much I thought, I couldn’t find an answer.
I don’t know! I really don’t! Whoever is doing this—why do you keep throwing me into these terrible situations?!
One thing was certain:
I kept getting reincarnated into different stories, and my situation was always bad.
If I ever catch whoever is doing this…
I’ll show them the true power of the Ice Flame Sword.
I’ll freeze and melt them over and over again.
Thinking that, I let out a small smirk.
“Why are you being so slow? Move!”
A whip cracked beside me.
Startled, I quickly moved my hands.
That’s when it hit me again—
I was working as a laborer in a mine.
The mine produced shiny pink stones. They were more valuable than gold here.
But they were delicate. Even a small удар could crack them and lower their value, so we had to dig them out by hand.
And digging with bare hands wasn’t easy.
Anyone who has ever dug the ground knows—it’s hard labor unless the soil is soft.
And we had to do this all day after eating nothing but thin porridge.
I’m going to escape. I have to.
I clenched my teeth, remembering my decision from last night.
Just then—
“Focus on your work!”
A loud voice roared.
“Ah!”
A rough hand grabbed my hair.
It was the guard.
He pulled hard, forcing my head back.
His face came close to mine, his breath disgusting.
So gross.
If I still had my martial arts, someone like you would be nothing.
But Klone’s body was weak.
No strength. No energy.
Where internal power should have been, there was nothing.
Well… this world probably doesn’t even have the concept of energy.
Looking at these soft hands and clean skin, it was obvious this body had lived an easy life.
“Tired? Want me to make it easier for you?”
His breath stank.
I struggled.
“Oh? You’re resisting? Guess you haven’t been beaten enough.”
He shoved me.
My body flew and hit a pile of rocks.
My skin tore on the sharp edges.
But instead of pain, anger filled me.
There’s no strength in this body! Do you know how hard I trained before?! Give me my old body back!
It was so unfair.
I had trained for ten years—even risking my life—and lost everything.
The frustration was even worse than being betrayed by Heuk-hwi.
If I just had my martial arts…!
The guard raised his hand to hit me.
As it came down, I curled up instinctively and thought:
I have to train again—no matter what!
…
I sat cross-legged in the middle of the prison and looked at my hands.
They were pale and thin—like they had never seen sunlight.
“I don’t like this.”
“Klone, are you okay?”
Arte spoke carefully.
She thought I was upset because I got beaten.
I forced a smile.
Seeing I wasn’t crying, she continued:
“That’s what happens when you do things you normally don’t.”
“Things I don’t normally do?”
“You’ve been acting strange lately.”
She applied crushed herbs to my face while talking.
I picked up the herb.
This smells like mugwort.
“Usually you never talk to me, but now you do. You always followed orders, but now you resist. You even asked your own name. And your way of speaking is weird.”
She kept talking nonstop.
“I told you—I lost my memory.”
“Yeah, I’ve heard that can happen after high fever… but even your way of speaking changed. It’s too different…”
I had tried to avoid unfamiliar or formal words, but ten years of habits don’t disappear easily.
I needed to be more careful.
“Does that matter?”
In a place like this, survival was all that mattered.
Whether someone changed or died—it didn’t really matter.
My life is harsh… survival again, in every world.
“Not really, but…”
Arte muttered.
I removed the herb from my face and looked at her.
“Arte, is it impossible to escape from here?”
Her eyes widened.
“What if someone hears you?!”
She quickly covered my mouth.
Honestly, who would hear?
Of course I had already checked the surroundings.
Even without martial arts, my senses were still sharp.
Good thing that didn’t disappear.
After living for years on the edge of death, your senses naturally sharpen.
That hadn’t changed.
Still… how pathetic.
I used to rule the martial world, and now I was using my senses to avoid guards.
“Is there a way or not?”
I asked directly.
Arte had been here for over a year.
Unlike me, she worked with the guards—fetching water and washing clothes—so she moved around more.
Maybe she knew something.
I looked at her with hope.
“…Do you want to die?”
Her answer crushed it.
“It’s impossible. There are knights outside guarding the mine.”
She swallowed nervously.
“Even if you escape, they’ll catch you. And then you’ll die.”
That was… very negative.
I lay down.
So there’s no hope?
Do I just stay here and wait for someone to save me?
Or hope for some disease to wipe everyone out except me?
Why is everything so depressing?
“Did you even try escaping?”
She shook her head.
“You don’t have to try to know something is impossible.”
“That’s like saying you have to taste poop to know it’s poop.”
She wasn’t wrong—but I didn’t want to accept it.
There’s no hope.
And that made me angry.
“So annoying!”
I shouted.
“Be quiet! What if the guards come?!”
She covered my mouth again.
Once I calmed down, she fixed the bedding.
It was just damp straw, but she arranged it carefully.
“You’re not in your right mind after being sick. Just rest.”
She pulled me down.
“Good night, Klone.”
Her voice trembled.
“I don’t want you to die,” she whispered softly.
She had already seen many people die here.
She didn’t want to lose another.
Her voice overlapped with Dana’s.
“Be happy.”
Happy? In prison?
No.
Escape was the only answer.
I sat up.
“Not sleeping?”
“I need to think more.”
Arte muttered, “You’re really strange,” and fell asleep.
I sat cross-legged again and stared at the moonlight through the bars.
Slowly, sounds became clearer.
Insects. Wind through grass.
My senses were still alive.
If only my martial arts were too.
I looked at my hands.
What did you even do with your life, Klone?
I clenched my fists.
It wasn’t time to give up.
If muscles could be trained, then so could martial arts.
Even if this was a different world, they must have something like energy.
Martial arts weren’t special.
It was about using internal power and drawing energy from nature.
There were four ways to gain power:
Receive it from someone, consume special medicine, absorb others’ power, or train through breathing.
Right now, only one was possible.
Breathing.
Even if Klone’s body had no energy, I could draw it from nature.
Trees, wind, sunlight—those exist in every world.
Maybe… just maybe.
I closed my eyes and focused on my breathing.
Slowly inhaling through my nose.
I focused on the area below my navel and tried to gather energy there.
I felt something entering my body.
It’s working!
I could draw energy from nature!
But it didn’t settle.
It scattered before reaching my core.
I need to open my energy points first.
There were two ways:
Force them open—or slowly open them through breathing.
A master isn’t going to appear out of nowhere…
So I kept breathing.
All night.
And by morning—
A drop of clear energy formed in my core.
It worked.
I could train again.
I could regain my power.
I could build strength in this body.
I trembled with excitement.
