Chapter 1: Expelled, Killed, Reborn: Back to Seondo

I was born an orphan.

I entered the world’s most prestigious academy, far beyond my status.

And in the end, I was expelled.

The world’s most renowned academy, Seondo.

A prestigious school that gathered only the finest professors and students, excelling in Eastern martial arts and sorcery, as well as Western magic and alchemy, surpassing any other place in the world.

The World Tree piercing the sky within the campus, and the great volcano visible in the distance.

Occasionally, while walking the streets, I’d encounter great wizards and peerless masters.

Leaving behind such wondrous sights, I boarded the train.

Even the interior walls and floors of the train were adorned with gold and jewels, overwhelmingly luxurious.

Staring blankly at them, I snapped back to reality and dragged my simple luggage-filled carrier.

Drurrrrk—

After walking down the long corridor for a while, I entered my assigned cabin.

A spacious and comfortable room, despite being a single.

I hurriedly plopped onto the chair in the center, burying my face in my hands.

If I didn’t, it felt like my sanity would run away any moment.

No, perhaps it had already fled.

“…F*ck.”

Not even a high school graduate, but a high school dropout.

From being a student at the world’s most prestigious academy to just a middle school graduate.

F*ck, does this even make sense?

They accepted me, promising the best education in the world, only to kick me out in half a year for being too weak.

What kind of mentality is that?

“…F*ck, f*ck, f*ck—”

How much time passed as I repeated those curses?

Clunk.

Suddenly, my body lurched backward.

It seemed the train had started moving.

Even after that, I kept my face buried for a while, then glanced out the window.

“….”

What I saw was a clear blue sky.

Clouds floated right in front of me.

It wasn’t an airplane, the train was flying.

Since it departed from a school floating in the sky, it was only natural.

…My eye level gradually descended.

It kept getting closer to the ground.

It felt like a reflection of my own downfall, and I could only gaze at it with a heavy heart.

“…Haa.”

I tightly shut my eyes.

But through my unblocked ears, I soon heard a screech, the sound of the train stopping.

Just like when it started, a slight jolt came with a clunk.

And with that, I realized.

I had arrived on the ground.

I had crashed.

Back on the ground after half a year, everything was the same.

In a good way, it was peacefully dull, in a bad way, as an orphan, I still had no home.

For a while, I wandered from sauna to sauna, crying out, ‘Not even a high school graduate, but a middle school dropout!’

Your balance is insufficient.

“F*ck.”

I had no money.

Even eating and sleeping in saunas required some cash.

Instead of crying over my ruined academic record, I had to move my body to survive somehow.

I needed money.

So, I started working part-time, or rather, took up mercenary work, where even someone with an inadequate education could be hired fairly.

“—Raaagh! Kill them all!”

From dealing with monsters that escaped due to dungeon breaks to touring battlefields in foreign lands where gunfire flew overhead in real-time.

Why did I start such dangerous work?

Because I wasn’t someone who handled books or electronics, I was someone who lived by my fists.

Since this was all I had in my head, what else could I do?

“Die! You f*cking bastards!”

“Hey, Choi! Missile incoming! No, f*ck! Dodge it, or you’ll die!”

I never knew when I might die.

It was dangerous, but it was something even someone like me, with no foundation, could do.

And if I survived, I could live loudly and proudly.

Plus, the work went surprisingly well.

“…Ah, you’re that person’s—”

Though brief, the connections I made at the academy thankfully opened doors for me.

Even though I was expelled, just having attended the prestigious Seondo brought me opportunities.

I wondered what it would’ve been like if I had graduated, but that was a meaningless thought now.

Even so, the inevitable hardship meant I rolled in the dirt every day.

Exaggerating a bit, I rolled across the entire continent.

And somehow, I survived.

After about ten years of that grueling mercenary life, I was called a veteran.

I started being recognized as a master in the world.

I earned more money, and I got a building in my name.

I never knew when I might die, but my life became more prosperous.

Then, even I, who had secretly harbored an inferiority complex about not graduating from Seondo or the academy, started to think it didn’t matter whether I was a middle school or high school graduate.

“Yeah, this is success.”

Like a mercenary hungry for money, I earned my worth for all the rolling around I did.

The sight before me proved it.

I smiled contentedly, pouring fine wine into a glass.

The red wine danced in the crystal glass.

Sitting on the balcony, sipping it, I savored the view before me.

“Mmm, this is the Han River view?”

A lush Han River Park in the middle of the city and the wide, blue river.

People bustling around and the roads of Gangnam filled with cars.

All that fuss about the damn Han River view, and I went through hell for ten years to see it.

“What’s so great about it? It’s just f*cking expensive.”

But I didn’t feel the time I spent rolling around was wasted.

‘I succeeded.’

No matter what anyone said, I had only a prosperous life ahead.

In wealth or strength, I had risen far beyond what I imagined when I was expelled from the academy.

Having rolled across the world’s dirt, people recognized me everywhere.

If you didn’t distinguish between friend and foe, you could say I had built a vast network.

‘Yeah, I’ve succeeded this much. Isn’t it okay to take a break? I’ve worked hard. Let’s live a bit easier from now on.’

I was turning thirty soon; maybe I’d open a dojo and train disciples.

Something like Choi’s Ultimate Dojo, named after me.

“Oh, not bad?”

Nodding with satisfaction, I planned my retirement more concretely.

Where to buy a new building, which group to align with, which school district to dominate.

Yeah, no more rolling in the dirt.

I’ll be a teacher.

That’s the way.

Why keep living so precariously?

No more hardship.

I envisioned a rosy future in my mind.

“…Run a dojo, meet a cute wife, get married, have a son and a daughter. That’s life, isn’t it?”

But perhaps I drank too much kimchi soup.

—Fwoooosh!

Hearing a sudden noise, I turned to look out the window.

“…Huh?”

I tilted my head.

Something familiar, something that absolutely shouldn’t be there, appeared.

A blazing meteor shower.

The falling stars weren’t for making wishes, they were the kind of 8th-tier elemental magic, ‘Meteor,’ seen on battlefields.

“…F*ck!”

The destructive magic poured down like rain.

—KABOOOM!!!

The Han River Park exploded.

An ominous wind blew. Hot, acrid smoke followed.

Mushroom clouds rose.

The Han River view turned into a hellfire view.

Faced with the sudden catastrophe, I wondered, ‘What the hell, is this a dream?’

“…Rosy future, my ass.”

It was the start of the Third World Demon War.

The Demon King had moved.

After that, far from a peaceful life, an unavoidable war swept the world.

It was the worst of all the mercenary jobs I’d done.

No, could you even call this a job?

It wasn’t for survival anymore; I had to roam battlefields just to stay alive.

If I didn’t fight, everyone would die.

So, I fought like a dog, desperately, to survive.

To endure unfair violence, I struggled and grew stronger.

I kept fighting to the end.

I got stronger.

I became so strong that I could count those stronger than me on one hand, and I survived a long time.

And then,

I finally died.

—DRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!

With that deafening roar, my vision flipped to complete darkness.

“….”

I didn’t open my eyes.

To be precise, I didn’t have the courage to.

I had a feeling I knew where I was.

My last memory was being slammed into the ground, pummeled by meteors.

‘F*ck, is this hell?’

But since I didn’t smell sulfur, maybe it wasn’t.

If I got a bit greedy, maybe it was heaven.

I hadn’t committed any evil deeds beyond killing enemies on the battlefield, after all.

…It was a ridiculous thought, but I desperately hoped that a clear blue sky and white clouds would unfold before me.

Please, let it be heaven!

Thinking it a futile hope, I cautiously opened my eyes.

“What the f*ck.”

But what spread before me wasn’t a fiery hell or a world atop white clouds.

It was a gymnasium of overwhelming scale, unlike anything I’d seen in my life.

The only comparable thing was the one at the prestigious academy I attended over a decade ago.

And for some reason, students in familiar uniforms swarmed around.

‘…What? Didn’t I die?’

I was sure I had, but not only was my body intact, it felt rejuvenated, and I was wearing that old school uniform.

As if I’d returned to my student days.

“…F*ck.”

Stunned by the unexpected sight, I finally realized.

An unnecessarily vast and sturdy auditorium, like Jamsil Baseball Stadium.

Angels, demon lords, werewolves, cyborgs, Russian boxers—students of all races and nationalities.

A dragon vice-principal conducting the entrance ceremony with magic.

The bizarre, nostalgic scene made it clear.

—We will now begin the entrance ceremony for the world’s most prestigious Seondo!!!

I was back in my damn school days.