Chiwoo: War God Reborn

[Creak! Thud]

Closing the shrine door, Min-chan stepped out into the cool night air.

[Chirp… chirp…]

The village, blanketed in darkness, was silent, broken only by the distant chirping of crickets.

With heavy steps, he slowly began to survey the village.

Everywhere he looked, there were old, dilapidated houses. Traces of attacks by wild beasts or monsters were visible here and there, and the wary expressions of the residents caught his eye.

'We need Chiyoo.'

Noya's plea echoed in his ears. But he knew. He was no longer the 'Chiyoo' they remembered.

The power that day had been anger.

But now, only heavy guilt and deep exhaustion remained in his heart, instead of rage.

He carried the shadows of a past he couldn't protect. With this powerless body, in this hopeless situation, what could he possibly do?

Min-chan looked up at the stars in the night sky. Thousands of years had passed, yet the stars were still there. Only he had changed.

Then.

[Thump. Thump. Thump]

From behind him, familiar footsteps approached.

"That's not like you… what's with the self-pity?"

A quiet voice.

[Thump.]

Before Min-chan could turn around—

a heavy hand rested on his shoulder.

"Just break everything.

Do it your way.

Becoming Chiyoo doesn't mean Kang Min-chan, the world champion, has disappeared."

It was Tae-geon.

His expression was as rigid as ever, his tone dry.

But in his hand… there was unspoken trust and concern.

"What are you talking about…

This guy, he hasn't even smelled a champion belt…"

Min-chan chuckled.

But he couldn't easily shake off the warmth of the hand on his shoulder.

Min-chan closed and opened his eyes for a moment, then spoke quietly.

"…Kang Min-chan."

Tae-geon didn't answer.

Instead, he left a short, firm remark.

"I know. It's stubborn Min-chan, after all."

Then, turning to leave, he tossed one last word.

"I'm going in first."

---

After Tae-geon went inside, dawn was breaking, and the eastern sky was faintly brightening.

Silence filled the shrine.

Dam-bi sat there, her face showing she hadn't slept a wink all night.

Beside her were Noya, Tae-geon, Sang-cheol, and Director Gab-su.

Do-yoon, Young-ho, and Young-beom had gone out to explore the village with the little girl.

"So… what's the conclusion?"

Park Sang-cheol asked in a low voice.

Dam-bi raised her head.

Her eyes, though tired, held a faint resignation.

"Min-chan… he's not ready yet.

Unless he accepts it himself, it means nothing."

Gab-su nodded.

"If we push him too hard, he'll just pull further away.

For now, we should do what we need to do first."

[Creak]

At that moment, the shrine door quietly opened.

With silent footsteps—Min-chan entered.

Everyone's gaze turned to him simultaneously.

However, Min-chan avoided their eyes and sat down in a corner without a word.

"No matter how I think about it… I am not someone meant to be a leader."

Noya, who couldn't understand Korean, looked around, observing the expressions of the group.

"Instead, I can be the sword of Guryeo. No—I should say, the fist."

At his words, delivered with a slight lift of the corner of his mouth,

Dam-bi let out a chuckle.

"That's so you. So like you."

Tae-geon watched Min-chan silently, arms crossed.

His gaze held the same quiet trust as the hand he'd placed on Min-chan's shoulder the night before.

Noya saw hope in the brightened expressions of the people.

Then, as if having made a decision, she took out an old talisman from her robes.

Her fingertips trembled slightly.

Noya closed her eyes and began chanting a spell in a low, heavy voice.

"As there is a beginning, there is an end,

As there is a root, there is fruit…

Now again, let them be connected."

The talisman glowed with a faint blue light.

And like dust oxidizing in the wind, it trembled and scattered into ash.

Noya carefully mixed the ash with water.

She scooped out a cup from a small jar with a ladle, and quietly offered it to each person.

"What is this?"

Dam-bi asked, looking at the ash water that carried the aura of a spell.

"Hwansa-nim, this water allows communication through empathy."

Dam-bi took the cup and passed it around to the others, instructing them to drink it.

"The language of this place will now reach your ears.

And your words will also reach the people of this land."

"Haha… I can hear it."

Sang-cheol, who had drunk first, mumbled, rubbing his ears.

Dam-bi quietly asked Noya.

"…Why did you only use this now?"

Noya's eyes flickered for a brief moment.

She bowed her head and answered in a low voice.

"It was a precious talisman… left directly by Hwanno.

Not knowing what would happen, I dared not use it and merely kept it.

…I apologize."

Dam-bi asked again.

"If you are Hwanno's descendant, couldn't you have made more talismans?"

Noya closed her eyes at that question, then slowly shook her head.

"Only the generations first transferred here… were special.

It was close to a miracle that the children who came with Hwanno adapted to the energy of this land and gained strong bodies and Ki.

Our generation is different.

People born here haven't inherited such power."

She paused for a moment, then added calmly.

"If we, as we are now, had been dropped here from the beginning,

in the same environment as then… we probably wouldn't have survived."

As a brief silence settled in the shrine,

Gab-su frowned and quietly spoke.

"...That makes sense.

Min-chan and Dam-bi, while you two were unconscious,

we fought against monstrous creatures—guys with green skin and sharp weapons."

He paused to catch his breath, fiddling with a lingering wound on his arm.

"One punch, one kick would break bones and kill them.

My body felt strangely light.

And my strength… far exceeded what I remembered."

He glanced at Min-chan.

"And Min-chan, you endured even after being pierced in the side.

Just before we came here, you were in a state where dying wouldn't have been strange…

But now—"

He stopped speaking and shook his head.

"…It makes no sense."

Silence fell once more in the shrine.

This time it was different.

Unexplainable, but something heavy settled in their chests.

A certainty that this unfamiliar world was clearly—'changing' them.

Then.

Footsteps approaching from outside were heard.

"Ah, Do-yoon's making me die of embarrassment."

Young-beom grumbled as he opened the shrine door.

Young-ho followed behind him, and finally, a little girl, holding Do-yoon's hand tightly, carefully followed them inside.

"Do-yoon, be quiet. You're advertising that you're sightseeing all over the village, aren't you? I'm dying of embarrassment."

Young-ho lightly slapped Do-yoon's head and scolded him,

while Young-beom, in the midst of it all, slowly matched his steps to the child's.

"Her name is Yoon-hee. She doesn't talk much yet, but she follows us well."

Do-yoon stroked the child's head and smiled.

Yoon-hee's face was still stern, but her eyes had softened a little.

She quietly looked around the shrine, then bowed her head slightly.

Dam-bi quietly stood up and approached Yoon-hee.

"I'm really sorry about your grandmother.

It's okay now. It's safe here."

Yoon-hee raised her head.

And very faintly, her lips moved.

"…Chiyoo?"

The shrine fell silent as if holding its breath.

That name, not from a child of this world—

Yoon-hee had uttered it first.

Min-chan slowly stood up.

Facing the child, he slowly raised the corners of his mouth.

"Yes. It's Chiyoo.

The name your grandmother… prayed about every day, worried about you."

At his words, Yoon-hee quietly nodded.

And after a moment of hesitation, she gently grasped the hem of his pants.

A small, delicate hand.

But at its fingertips, there was a 'belief that someone could be relied upon'.

At that moment—

[Ahem!]

With an awkward cough, Tae-geon lifted a jar.

"You three idiots, drink this too. And you, little princess Yoon-hee."

He offered the ladle to Yoon-hee with an awkward smile.

Yoon-hee stared at him, then quietly said.

"…Mister.

My uncles told me not to eat things given by strangers."

"..."

Laughter spread through the shrine.

The tension, the silence… dissolved gently with that one remark.

Young-ho, Young-beom, Do-yoon, and even Yoon-hee carefully raised the cups filled with ash water.

One sip, two sips.

It was hard to describe the taste—but amidst the alien sensation filling their mouths,

they felt a 'connection' from deep within their bodies.

Noya watched them and cautiously opened her mouth.

"I heard that Chiyoo… would become the sword of Guryeo."

Her tone was cautious.

Her eyes held both earnestness and fear.

Hoping, yet hesitating lest it be shattered again.

Min-chan slowly raised his head and spoke.

"…A sword only has meaning when it is held by someone.

Depending on whose hand it's in, and how it's wielded… its purpose will change."

At his words, all eyes in the shrine turned to him.

Min-chan lowered his gaze and continued quietly.

"I'm not saying I'll wield that sword myself.

As you've seen… in my past life, I was someone who only suppressed with force.

Iron rule, arbitrary decisions… what was the result in the end?

I lost everyone, and I fell."

He paused for a moment, then raised his head again.

"And it was the same in the future.

A leader who pushes too hard will eventually… leave behind a failed nation.

My point is—now each of us must take our rightful place."

His gaze slowly swept over Dam-bi, Tae-geon, Sang-cheol, and Noya… the entire group.

"Dam-bi might be the leader, or Coach might be the one to voice our plans.

Someone must lay the foundation from behind, and someone must wield the sword and stand at the front.

I… am just one of them. We should do what we're good at."

At his words, the shrine became quiet.

No one replied immediately.

But that silence—was not a refusal.

It was a quiet moment where each person pondered what they should do in their own place.

"Do you perhaps have anything in mind, Chiyoo...?"

Noya asked cautiously.

Min-chan was silent for a moment.

His lightless eyes gazed at something on the floor.

"…I don't know yet."

A brief answer. But his tone wasn't evasive.

He exhaled slowly, then quietly continued.

"For now… we must protect the people right in front of us, this village.

If that's the beginning, then it will be."

At his words, the air in the shrine subtly shifted.

Someone's head gave a very slight nod.

Noya opened her mouth again.

"For that beginning… it would be good if we could decide together what we should do."

At that moment, a familiar voice cut through the heavy air.

"If it's something like that, just trust me! You have Heo! Do! Yoon!, the brain of Chiyoo Gym! Hahahaha!"

Do-yoon jumped up, raising both hands in a cheer, and laughed with an intentionally exaggerated tone.

"Even though I look like this—I'm a Public Administration major from Seowoon University. Administration, planning, organization, operation, evaluation! I've done it all. Oh, of course… theoretically!"

Sang-cheol cleared his throat and turned his head,

and Young-beom groaned, "Here he goes again…" covering his head.

However, that childish joke seemed to create an atmosphere that somehow allowed them to breathe.

Tae-geon chuckled and said.

"Self-proclaimed brain, let's hear it then."

Dam-bi also smiled faintly and nodded.

"But… it might actually be true. Do-yoon's surprisingly quick-witted."

Then Do-yoon shrugged and said confidently.

"Alright! From now on, I'll explain Do-yoon's 'Five-Stage Theory of Nation-Building'."

Do-yoon's Five-Stage Theory of Nation-Building:

Stage 1: Able to eat, sleep, and rest.

"If you can't do this, you're worse than a pack of animals, let alone a nation."

Stage 2: Able to protect oneself from external threats.

"If you have no power, you're just delicious prey."

Stage 3: Everyone follows the same rules.

"There must be a consistent standard. Simple rules, dispute mediators, punishments and rewards."

Stage 4: Goods and people can circulate.

"I took a walk around the village with the hyungs… there's a lack of both people and resources.

A system for exchange and production is needed."

Stage 5: There is a 'name' everyone believes in together.

"Whether it's Chiyoo, a god, whatever. Without a flag to unite under, it will eventually crumble."

"A nation is ultimately these five things."

Do-yoon said, folding his fingers one by one.

"Live, protect, follow, circulate, believe.

If these are met… even here, now, we can begin."

After saying that, Do-yoon awkwardly sat down and scratched his head.

"Hehe… I said all that, but well, just take it as reference."

However, no one laughed.

They were just quietly, pondering his words.

Min-chan opened his mouth.

"…Plausible.

Live, protect, follow, circulate, believe."

He slowly stood up, looking around at the group.

And after a moment of hesitation, he turned his head towards the Director and Noya.

"So, Director Gab-su… and Noya.

From now on, what we need to do is—build these five stages one by one.

In a way that suits this world."

Gab-su nodded with his arms crossed.

"Hmm… then, we should do what's most urgent right away."

Sang-cheol stood up as if it were nothing.

"Alright, let's start with Stage 1 then."

Then Young-ho blinked and said.

"I… I can't remember what Stage 1 was."

"Hey, you idiot, what do you carry that head around for? I said let's eat, eat!"

Young-beom snapped,

and Tae-geon frowned, speaking in a low voice.

"It's shelter. We can find food somehow… but sleeping in the rain will give us a cold.

If you stay quiet, you'll at least get by, so stop making it obvious."

Do-yoon sighed deeply and said.

"Haah… these people, really… they'll just die if they get sick…

Field research! We need to explore the village first!"

Gab-su nodded and said.

"Yes, Do-yoon is right.

Let's explore the village, understand the current situation, and then reconvene."

Then Sang-cheol added.

"Then Tae-geon and Min-chan, you two check out the village terrain and what's around.

Young-ho, Young-beom, since you already explored the village with Do-yoon earlier, check on the living conditions."

Just as Min-chan was about to walk out the door, Dam-bi quietly called out.

"Min-chan."

He stopped without turning back.

"Are you… really okay?"

A moment of silence.

However, Min-chan slowly turned his head and replied.

"…Even if I'm not okay, I have to do it, don't I?

So, I'll be okay."

[Chirp… chirp…]

The chirping of crickets in the predawn quiet began to resonate again.

Min-chan then stepped out of the shrine.