SYM 1

“Master! Master!”

He saw the face of his disciple running towards him.

Your pretty face is all messed up. Don’t cry.

Seo Eun-hyeon swallowed the words he didn’t speak out loud and muttered to himself.

“Those who harmed you, Master, I’ll kill them all! I’ll kill them all!”

Eun-hyeon shook his head and wiped the tears from Un’s eyes as he shouted. Un gripped Eun-hyeon’s hand tightly. Seeing the face of his disciple Un, covered in tears and snot, made him smile a little even in this situation.

“Master! I, your disciple! I’ll bring a doctor. I’ll somehow save you, Master…”

“…Un. Don’t cry. You know… it’s already… too late.”

“That can’t be! It can’t be!”

“Shh… Un. I don’t want to spend my last moments like this.”

Eun-hyeon gasped for breath as he held Un’s hand. Terror spread across Un’s face.

It was the fear of losing his only master, his sky, his everything, and being left alone.

“…Don’t think about revenge… Live happily… That is… this master’s last wish.”

“Master!”

As Eun-hyeon closed his eyes, he heard Un’s anguished cry.

Death itself wasn’t frightening.

The death of Un’s master, Seo Eun-hyeon, was a predetermined fate.

Because that was the content of the novel <Descent of the Heavenly Demon> that he was reading.

***

“Ha Eun-hyeon! Hey, did you submit all your assignments? Huh? Your angelic Teacher Assistant is talking to you and you’re not answering?”

“Ah, get lost, TA Oh. Can’t you see I’m in the middle of an assignment?”

“No, you should do your homework at home. You’re doing this on the submission day? I’ll give you until tomorrow, so submit it then.”

“Huh? Really? You’re taking responsibility for this, TA Oh?”

Ha Eun-hyeon, who had been burying his nose in his laptop, suddenly lifted his head. His classmate in front of him nodded with an arrogant expression.

“If you’re grateful, buy me food. I’m hungry now.”

“You little…”

“What? Did a mere undergraduate just say something to his angelic TA?”

“No, I was just thinking about buying you kebab.”

Eun-hyeon grinned as he closed his laptop and put it in his bag. Then he saw his friend’s face with dark circles reaching down to his nose.

“But why does your face look so rotten? Did Professor Kim get angry at you again yesterday?”

“Ha, while you were lying down, this big brother was rotting away doing terrible military service and dirty social life. Professor Kim suddenly texted me last night to send materials right away. Ah, social life is really dirty.”

“Come on, TA Oh Chang-soo. Is a working adult asking a student to buy them food? Huh?”

Eun-hyeon and Chang-soo were classmates who entered university in the same year.

“Phoenix Eun-hyeon. Today, this body is craving some sweet and sour pork.”

“Just eat jajangmyeon, you brat.”

The nickname ‘Phoenix’ was given to Eun-hyeon when he woke up from a coma.

In the summer of his sophomore year in college, Eun-hyeon was hit by a car at a crosswalk in front of the school and fell into a coma.

The one who didn’t give up on Eun-hyeon and protected him was Eun-hyeon’s older sister, Eun-mi. Despite spending a considerable amount of money on Eun-hyeon’s hospital bills, Eun-mi didn’t give up on him. After losing their parents in a car accident, the siblings only had each other. It would have been impossible to give up.

“Are you still thinking about moving out?”

“Yeah. I’m getting older, and I can’t keep living in their newlywed home forever.”

“Is Eun-mi telling you to leave?”

“No, she’s adamantly against it, but I’m uncomfortable now. Since I woke up, she’s been treating me like I’m even younger than Ha-neul.”

“Well, it’s not that I don’t understand Eun-mi’s feelings. You might not know this, but… when you were in the hospital, Eun-mi was really scared. I thought she might end up hurting herself, but then you woke up just in time… It was really fortunate.”

“Yeah… It was fortunate.”

Eun-hyeon agreed and smiled bitterly.

For the past five years while in a coma, Eun-hyeon was in the world of martial arts novels.

In the world of the last martial arts novel he read, ‘Descent of the Heavenly Demon’.

There, Eun-hyeon was Seo Eun-hyeon, a Taoist of the Kunlun sect and the master of the protagonist, the Heavenly Demon(Cheonma). He was initially interested because the character had the same name as him but soon learned that Seo Eun-hyeon in the novel was a vile character who tormented children.

Seo Eun-hyeon was an insignificant extra who tormented and abused the young boy who would become Cheonma, only to be eventually killed by him.

However, unlike the original story, he took Cheonma as his disciple and raised him with all his heart.

Educating young Cheonma was more rewarding and fun than he expected. The young Cheonma believed everything he said. Seeing him following behind with sparkling eyes made him want to scrape up an extra rice crust to put in his hand, despite their meager circumstances.

The martial arts world, which might have been lonely if he were alone, became enjoyable thanks to his disciple.

Although he regretted not being able to feed and clothe him well due to being a poor Taoist, he still did his best. When they ran out of food while traveling together, they would hunt or beg in villages. Still, it was fun. Even the smallest things became the most enjoyable in the world when done together.

In this way, he had created a master-disciple relationship different from the original story. However, it seemed he couldn’t escape the main flow of the original plot. When it was time for the Cheonma’s master to die in the novel, he too died.

And then Eun-hyeon opened his eyes in the real world after five years.

He didn’t tell anyone about it, knowing they would likely dismiss it as just an interesting dream.

He lived as if nothing had happened, as if he had just forgotten about it.

But there were times when he suddenly missed the food he ate there, the martial arts training he did with his disciple.

… Could it be possible to miss a dream world like this?

“How’s Ha-neul?”

“Oh, I can’t handle Ha-neul anymore. He’s like a flying squirrel.”

Eun-hyeon said while throwing a tissue to Chang-soo, who had black bean paste on the corner of his mouth.

After waking from the coma, Eun-hyeon learned that his sister had postponed her marriage because of taking care of him. After learning this, he prioritized his sister’s marriage above all else. When the wedding finally began, he insisted on holding his sister’s hand. It was a small wedding with only close acquaintances, but by the end, everyone was in tears.

Afterward, Eun-hyeon got a nephew who was like a flying squirrel. Seeing his sister, who had sacrificed her 20s because of him, start a family made him feel a bit lighter.

‘Everything is so happy, but why do I still feel empty in a corner of my heart?’

Even though he was living a peaceful daily life, the disciple he abandoned would occasionally pop up in his dreams.

When he recalled his disciple clutching at his clothes and whimpering, “Master, have you forgotten me? he wanted to go back immediately.

Would that young disciple who only knew him be living well, following his last wishes?

Eun-hyeon wanted his disciple to live happily without becoming a devil or something.

Today, he found himself thinking about his disciple, Un, more than usual.

Eun-hyeon closed his eyes, hoping Un was doing well, as he lay down to sleep at home.

And the next day, when he opened his eyes again…

Eun-hyeon slowly raised his hand in the air. It was a soft, small hand that he could hardly believe was his own.

He reached out and tried to grab the hair. Long, jet-black hair fell before his eyes.

It was a length he couldn’t believe was his hair from yesterday.

“…What’s this? Don’t tell me I’ve been reincarnated again?”