DKM 1
0. The Price of Digging Only One Well
A friend and I were both transmigrated into the characters of a martial arts novel. The problem was…
“…What is the Nine Great Sects and One Union? Is it like a ‘multi-attack, single-defense’ type of thing?”
“…What is the North Sea Ice Palace? Is it like a Northern Grand Duke?”
My friend is a BL otaku, and I am a Romance Fantasy otaku. Listen, can’t we just go to some other world? We’re fine with anything except martial arts. I screamed it desperately, but nothing changed.
“…I’d rather be a ‘bottom’ who gets tormented by a crazy obsessive lead.”
“…And I’d rather be the female lead of a tragedy.”
“But don’t guys read a lot of martial arts [unauthorized copy]style="position:absolute;left:-9999px;font-size:0;">[unauthorized [Read on Read BL Novels]copy]novels? I mean, I’m one thing, but why don’t you know anything about them?”
“Since I was a kid, I’ve always preferred love fights over sword fights.”
Could we, two people clueless about martial arts, actually survive here? We stared blankly at each other.
At first, we didn’t realize this was the world of a martial arts novel. We just thought it was a generic Oriental-style setting. If it weren’t for that voice.
“Yoo Seolhwa! Yoo Seolhwa!! Where is this brat? Get in here this instant!”
Yoo Seolhwa. He is the protagonist of Tales of the Martial Arts World, a novel so famous that even we, fans of other genres, had heard of it. I had closed the book after a few chapters because martial arts were too difficult, but I remembered the protagonist’s name because it was exactly my taste. I stood up and looked out the window. The drunk man next door was screaming at the top of his lungs, searching for the protagonist.
“That ahjussi is making a scene again today.”
Turning my head, I saw my friend Kim Da-eun, who had become a child, speaking while scratching her stomach.
“Did you sleep well, Han Eun-woo?”
“You’re up already? You should’ve slept more.”
“I can’t sleep because I’m hungry. Ah, I’m seriously starving. Is there anything to eat?”
As I watched Kim Da-eun rummage through the kitchen the moment she woke up, I lowered my head.
“What’s wrong?”
“…To think my friend became my younger sister overnight.”
“I want to deny the fact that I’ve become siblings with you too. Oh, there’s some leftover porridge from yesterday. But it’s only one serving.”
“….”
“Hey, rock-paper-scissors? Let’s give it all to the winner.”
“…No, now is not the time—”
“Rock-paper-scissors!”
Instinctively, I threw scissors. Da-eun, who threw paper, stared at me silently before speaking.
“Best of three.”
“…Just eat it all yourself.”
“Yes!”
While Da-eun ate the porridge, I went outside to fetch some water. As I tried to fill a jar at the village stream, my face was reflected on the surface. Round eyes, round face—I looked as cute as a hamster. Why is this face in a martial arts world? This face should be the female lead’s younger brother in a Romance Fantasy world. A sigh escaped me out of regret.
“…Seriously, why of all things a martial arts world?”
Anything but martial arts would be fine; if it weren’t for martial arts, I could actually do well. When I struggled back home with the jar, Da-eun, who had already finished the porridge, was waiting for me. I set the jar down and sat in front of her. Then, Da-eun spoke seriously.
“Ha Myoha.”
“Huh?”
‘Ha Myoha’ was the name of this body. I asked cautiously.
“Why are you suddenly calling me that?”
“I’ve been thinking, let’s not use our original names in this world.”
“….”
True. Other people would find it suspicious. I nodded.
“Alright.”
“You should call me Myoryeong too… Oh, wait a second.”
“What now?”
“No, Myoha is a year older than Myoryeong.”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
“Then shouldn’t you call you ‘Oppa’ instead of Myoha?”
“…Oppa?!”
I immediately jumped up and moved away from Myoryeong. Myoryeong grumbled.
“Aren’t you hating this a bit too much?”
“Can’t we just use names? I haven’t eaten anything, and I feel like I’m going to throw up. Please stop that.”
“You hate ‘Oppa’? Then…”
Myoryeong looked up at me cutely.
“Orabeoni?”
And I actually threw up.
“Yoo Seolhwa! Yoo Seolhwa!!”
As always, the man next door was looking for Yoo Seolhwa. I stared blankly out the window.
“Where did this brat go again so early in the morning! Today, I’m definitely going to rip that brat’s throat out!”
A child, clumsily hiding next to the water vat, was crouching and nodding off. The moment I saw the child’s white hair, stained with filth and dust, I broke into a cold sweat. Thanks to my friend who had passionately pitched Tales of the Martial Arts World to me, I knew a few of Yoo Seolhwa’s characteristics, and one of them was that he was white from head to toe. My friend had definitely said so.
Yoo Seolhwa had white hair and skin like silk since childhood, and because he looked like a ghost, he was ostracized by people. Since there was only one white-haired child in this neighborhood, that kid was definitely Yoo Seolhwa. First, I had to tell Myoryeong about this. I ran to the room.
“Myoryeong!”
“Ah, you came at the right time, Myoha.”
Myoryeong spoke with a worried face.
“Let’s look for something to eat in the back mountain today. We’re all out of rice.”
“Myoryeong, now is not the time for that. Do you know who is in our yard right now?”
“Who?”
“Yoo Seolhwa!”
“What…?!”
We crouched down and crawled stealthily to the window, whispering with only our eyes peeking out.
“That kid?”
“Yeah.”
“Wow, his hair really is white.”
“This is no time to be impressed. What do we do?”
“What do you mean ‘what do we do’? Just leave him. He’ll go somewhere else once he wakes up.”
I looked at Myoryeong with wide eyes.
“…Just leave him?”
“Then what? Hide him?”
Myoryeong looked at me as if I were being unexpected.
“We don’t even know how we’re going to survive right now, so why be nosy?”
“But…”
“And you know. If you get entangled with unauthorized [unauthorized copy]copythe protagonist, guaranteed hardship. We have to avoid the protagonist as much as possible.”
“But…”
As I kept trailing off, a frustrated Myoryeong suddenly shouted.
“Ah, seriously, what is wrong with you? You know I hate being nosy!”
“No, I’m not trying to be nosy!”
I shouted back, not to be outdone.
“Think about all the transmigration stories we’ve seen! Most transmigration protagonists tried their best not to get entangled with the original characters!”
“…What?”
“But what happened? They ended up getting entangled anyway! You know it too. The more you try not to get entangled with the p[Read on Read BL Novels[stolen content]ont-size:0;position:absolute;left:-9999px;">]rotagonist, the more you end up entangled!”
“But that’s only in novels…!”
“We are in a novel.”
Myoryeong was speechless. I said seriously.
“In a novel world, even if you try to avoid the protagonist, you’ll definitely get entangled. Therefore, we…”
I looked at the protagonist, who was still nodding off, and said,
“Let’s actively approach the protagonist. If we try to get entangled with the protagonist, maybe we won’t end up entangled?”
It was my idea, but it was a truly genius thought. After a moment, I took a deep breath and immediately went outside. Sensing a presence, the child’s eyes slowly opened. I approached the child.
“Hey.”
The child’s body flinched. I asked,
“Do you want to come ins—”
Before I could finish my sentence, the child bolted. I looked back at Myoryeong with a ‘see’ expression.
See, I told you so, right?
1. Survival First
There is no food. Of course, there is no money. I picked up the rice bowl on the table with both hands. Not only was the bowl chipped in several places, but it was also covered in a thick layer of dust. As could be guessed from the worn-out household goods, Myoha and Myoryeong’s family situation was not good. Their parents had passed away from illness not long ago, and even the small amount of grain they left behind had run out. We looked for food in the back mountain, but there were no suitable finds. I finally made a decision.
“This won’t do. I have to find a job. Let’s go somewhere with a lot of people.”
At my decision, Myoryeong asked.
“Myoha, how old are we?”
“Twenty-two.”
“Not the old age, the current age.”
I answered weakly.
“Thirteen.”
“Even the adults in this neighborhood with perfectly healthy limbs are complaining that there’s no work; do you think they’ll give work to kids like us? Wouldn’t begging be better?”
“No begging. Let’s at least keep a minimum amount of pride.”
“But we don’t know what might happen. Wouldn’t it be better to move after understanding a bit more about what kind of place this world is?”
“I’m worried about that too, but we can’t starve to death. And you, you look really hungry.”
Myoryeong waved her hand.
“No, I’m really fine. I’m not hungry.”
“….”
“By the way, this is surprisingly tasty. Do you want one?”
I felt my eyes well up as I watched Myoryeong chewing on a weed she had plucked from the road. I definitely have to go find a job.
“Cheap, everything is cheap! Come see the goods!”
“Miss over there! I have beautiful bracelets!”
After snatching the weed from Myoryeong’s hand and throwing it far away, I asked people passing by and found a crowded area. Until I left the house, I was determined to find a job by any means necessary, but once I arrived on the street, there were so many people that my head spun. I stared at the street with devastated eyes.
Unfamiliar clothing and unknown smells. A foreign atmosphere.
I felt poignantly that this really was another world. As my breathing naturally became labored, Myoryeong whispered beside me.
“Are you okay?”
“….”
Without anyone initiating, we gripped each other’s hands tightly. It was an action we would never normally do, but we had no choice. In this world, we only had each other to rely on. We stepped cautiously into the crowd, holding hands so tightly that the blood stopped flowing.
“Be careful not to get lost.”
“Yeah.”
I looked around. There were many people, but also many shops. In my original world, I could find a job with a few internet searches, but not here. The only way was to go into each shop and ask. I entered the nearest shop.
“Oh my. What cute children. Are you here on an errand for your mother?”
“Ah, not an errand, but…”
Good, now is the time to make useful use of this cute hamster-like face. I spoke as cutely as possible.
“Would there happen to be any job openings?”
“Get out!”
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