Prologue:Why Is This…?
"Hah, what kind of suffering is this, seriously. Haven't been home in days."
"……I know."
Max let out a deep sigh and grumbled.
He was a senior guard. Reasonably diligent, reasonably responsible, reasonably cunning.
In other words, a 100-point senior.
"No, but. The more I think about it, the more absurd it gets. Why do we have to clean up the mess those bigwigs made? If it was such an important object, they should've managed it properly from the start! We don't even know what the thing looks like, and they're suddenly telling us to find it—does that sound findable to you? Damn it, I could just quit and be done with it."
Max had clearly been bottling things up for a while, venting his frustration to the point of cursing.
It was understandable.
They'd been at this for over 2 weeks now. Barely sleeping, barely going home—it was only natural that patience was running thin.
"Kael, aren't you even angry? You've been suffering more than me."
"Ah, me……. Well, I can manage."
"You really are a stubborn bastard……."
Max stared at me with a look of exasperation.
The reason the normally tranquil empire had suddenly been turned upside down came down to 1 thing.
The national treasure known as Balmung—the Sword of Heaven's Decree—the symbol of the empire, had vanished.
True to its status as the empire's symbol, Balmung had been kept at the heart of the castle under extremely strict and thorough management.
But one day, it simply evaporated.
Literally evaporated.
It had vanished without a trace.
Dozens of security magic circles personally installed by the imperial mage had surrounded the place where Balmung was kept, with imperial guards stationed nearby as well. Yet not even a trace of an intruder was found.
From that day on, the empire was thrown into chaos. A state of emergency was declared immediately, and a full-scale search of the entire capital began, to recover the stolen Balmung.
As if that wasn't enough, a massive reward had been put up.
Enough money for 3 generations to live without working.
They even announced they'd grant a noble title to whoever brought it back—meaning the moment anyone found Balmung, it was a life-changing windfall.
From mercenaries, to bounty hunters, wealthy merchants, and even cash-strapped nobles.
Countless people were searching for Balmung and the thief, hoping to strike it rich, but no real progress had been made.
Which was only natural, since most people didn't even know what Balmung looked like.
You'd have to have seen it at least once to know. Even if the thief walked right past them carrying Balmung, no one would recognize it.
"Hah. I'm exhausted from running around. But seriously, where did it disappear to? With this many people deployed, how is it possible there isn't a single lead yet."
"Ha ha……."
To Max's complaints, Kael could only manage an awkward smile.
:……Of course they can't find it.’
Actually, finding it would be stranger.
Because Balmung was currently with him.
***
Chapter 1:The Thing Is Right Here, You Know.
"I don't know who stole it, but I'll give them this—they've got some serious nerve. You have to admit that."
"……Right."
"If they get caught, this won't end with just an execution. The higher-ups have completely lost it—there's no way they'd let them die easy. They'd probably be tortured so horrifically they'd beg to be killed, and there'd be nothing left of the body. Ugh, if it were me, I'd bite my own tongue the moment I got caught."
"……."
"No really, that might genuinely be the better option, you know? Have you heard what the empire's interrogators are like? If they get their hands on you, you're done for! Ugh! Makes my skin crawl."
‘Damn it.’
Kael barely managed to swallow the curse rising to his throat.
"Hm? Kael, why do you look like that? Are you sick?"
"……Ah, it's nothing. I just slept badly last night."
At that, Max looked at him with sympathetic eyes.
"Tsk tsk……. Makes sense. To sleep, you'd at least need to go home first. What's going to come of running people ragged all day? The bigwigs really are hopeless."
"Ha ha……."
"Anyway, take care of yourself. You're not even married yet. Living alone and getting sick—there's nothing more miserable than that. If it really gets too hard, just head home today? I'll cover for you with the captain."
"I'm genuinely fine. If I get tired, I'll just find a corner to sneak a nap."
"True, you alone showing up on the streets is enough to make people tremble. Sometimes I think you're scarier than the captain himself."
"Come on, that's too much of an exaggeration."
"……You really think that's an exaggeration? Anyway, don't just grin and bear it for nothing. Okay? I'm heading out first."
"Take care."
"Sure~"
Max waved his hand as he walked away.
He looked less like a guard and more like a friendly older brother from the neighborhood.
Once Max disappeared from sight, Kael let out a deep sigh.
‘……That took 10 years off my life.’
His heart had nearly leaped out of his chest just now.
As the old saying goes—a thief's own feet betray him. Kael was in exactly that situation right now.
If Max had asked to take a look and reached for the sword……that would have been truly irreversible.
He stared down at the single sword hanging at his waist with a conflicted expression.
"……This wretched national treasure."
Balmung—the national treasure of the empire.
The thing was currently with Kael.
* * *
Yu Seon-ho.
29 years old.
Aside from the fact that he was a UFC fighter by profession, he was a fairly ordinary person.
That day too had been one of many ordinary days.
He'd finished his usual afternoon training and was showering at home when something suddenly appeared before his eyes.
[Please select your character's starting background.]
‘……What is this.’
Yu Seon-ho squinted at the window that had floated up before him.
He'd been in the middle of shampooing, so his eyes were stinging.
Something resembling a translucent holographic display—like a system window from a game—was hovering in the air.
‘……Did I take too many hits to the head during sparring earlier?’
A perfectly reasonable suspicion.
Combat sports athletes inevitably accumulate damage to the brain over time. Unlucky ones even experience memory loss or hallucinations.
‘……Strange. I didn't really get hit much today?’
But today's sparring had been moderate in intensity with no clean shots landing. And yet he was suddenly seeing things?
He rubbed his eyes just to be sure, but the window showed no signs of disappearing.
‘Hmm, looks like I need to visit the hospital tomorrow.’
A dreary feeling settled over him.
Brain abnormalities were said to be an occupational hazard for combat sports athletes, but to be seeing things already at this age, still in his late 20s.
He tried to get on with his shower, but the system window floating in front of him was incredibly annoying.
"Hey, go away already."
When Yu Seon-ho waved his hand in irritation, the screen responded to the gesture and turned.
[Imperial Guard has been selected.]
[Please select your starting bonus.]
"Ugh, come on!"
Let me at least wash first!
Growing increasingly frustrated, Yu Seon-ho waved his hand again.
[Starting bonus has been selected.]
[Your starting bonus is 'Balmung']
[The bonus item is a bound item and cannot be sold or transferred. Please take note.]
[Then, we wish you good fortune.]
"What kind of nonsense is—"
At that instant, Yu Seon-ho's vision went dark.
As though he'd just been knocked out.
* * *
After that, Yu Seon-ho found himself dropped into a world he'd never seen before.
In a completely different body.
The name was Kael.
As he was not of noble birth, there was no family name.
The one silver lining was that he didn't need to job-hunt.
Imperial Guard.
That was Kael's occupation.
Just as the damned message window had said, Yu Seon-ho—or rather, Kael—had become a guard in another world.
Of course, it wasn't easy to accept this reality right away. Who in their right mind could stay calm after suddenly being dropped into another world?
Naturally, he assumed it was a dream.
A truly terrible dream at that. He thought he'd wake up eventually, but no matter how long he waited, this wretched dream would not end.
‘Damn this other world.’
Only then did Kael understand.
This wasn't a dream. It was reality.
For someone who had lived in the modern world—in Seoul, an urban city—life here was brutally overwhelming.
This primitive world had none of the morals and ethics that modern people took for granted. What could you expect from a place where slavery was openly practiced?
On top of that, sanitation was a disaster, and there was nowhere to turn when you were wronged.
The 180-degree shift in his life felt nothing short of unjust and hollow.
‘Looking back now, it really wasn't easy.’
It had been grueling adapting—nearly killing him—but once he started living through it, he found he could survive.
There's a reason people call humans creatures of adaptation.
Kael endured by brainwashing himself into thinking he'd been sent to an ‘unspeakably awful military’.
And somehow, that actually worked.
The empire's guard force shared some resemblances with a real military.
Of course, it was pathetically inferior compared to a modern military……but it did have its clear advantages.
Fists over law.
In the modern world, violence wasn't tolerated—but here it was the complete opposite.
These guys couldn't understand words.
Beat them half to death, and only then did communication start working.
Once he grasped that, life here became gradually more manageable.
‘Primitive bastards.’
Of course, for someone with modern moral sensibilities, resorting to violence without hesitation wasn't easy.
But as the saying goes—when in Rome, do as the Romans do.
To survive in this wretched other world, he had no choice.
‘Yeah, take the good with the bad……. This place is still better.’
Looking back at the selection screen he'd seen during that shower, it still sent chills down his spine.
If he'd chosen something like the Black Mage or the gang member instead of the Imperial Guard, the difficulty of survival would have been far greater.
He might have already died long ago, away from home.
This place was not the Republic of Korea but a fantasy world.
Human rights were not just at a dismal level—they were essentially nonexistent.
People died left and right every day.
If your status was low or you had no money, you were treated worse than livestock—that was the cursed world this was.
"……A lot has happened."
Kael walked the streets, lost in reminiscence.
It hadn't been all that long, but this street had accumulated its own share of memories.
What would normally be a time packed with people was now eerily quiet.
Because of the state of national emergency declared not long ago.
When chaos gripped the empire, people refrained from going out and kept their mouths shut.
Unless you wanted to be hauled off by the terrifying imperial interrogators, keeping a low profile was the only option at this point.
"Hmm."
Looking at the deserted streets, all sorts of thoughts crossed his mind.
They called it a state of national emergency, but all of this fuss was because of that thing—Balmung, or whatever it was called.
All manner of speculation was flying around.
There were no fewer than 10 people on the list of suspects alone.
‘The thing is right here with me, you know.’
The very cause of the empire's uproar—the thing making kingdoms across the continent nervous—was currently dangling at Kael's waist.
‘I didn't steal it, though.’
People were under a massive misunderstanding right now.
That someone had slipped past the empire's thorough surveillance and stolen Balmung.
But that wasn't how it was. It was nothing but a mistake.
Kael had never stolen Balmung.
Balmung had simply come to Kael on its own.
"……Damn it."
Of course, no one would believe him if he said that.