Chapter Content
Chapter 1: Neo-Joseon (1)
I thought that once you died, everything ended.
Or rather, I just didn’t care.
Life was more important—what did the world after death matter?
That was what I thought.
Until I died myself.
At twenty-five, in the prime of my youth, I, Lee Hajin, died.
Pointlessly, in a traffic accident.
Just as I had thought, I believed that everything ended there.
But…….
‘What the hell is this?’
I couldn’t believe what had happened to me.
I had clearly died, yet I had suddenly opened my eyes, and on top of that, I was in a place called ‘Joseon’.
This wasn’t Gojoseon from the opening chapters of Korean history, nor the old Joseon founded by Yi Seong-gye.
This place was a nation where the resurrected Sejong ruled as emperor, and a newly born Joseon of the future.
At first, I simply couldn’t believe it.
But the hologram video that appeared before my eyes was showing proof of that insane claim.
[……I take pity and thus establish a nation…….]
Sejong the Great clad in a splendid dragon robe—no, Emperor Sejong—delivered his speech.
Then the majestic view of Gyeongbokgung Palace, transformed into the imperial palace, appeared, followed by a historical documentary of the New Joseon.
The footage was far too vivid and detailed to be fake.
“Now do you understand, Your Excellency.”
As the playback ended, the woman who had shown the hologram prostrated herself and bowed.
“Then, may this maiden ask the honored ancestor a few questions…….”
“Honored ancestor……? Me?”
“Yes. Your Excellency. This maiden is…….”
“No, wait just a moment.”
I calmly organized what I had understood so far.
‘So…… that woman revived me through Confucian ‘Miracles’?’
It was hard to believe, but I had no choice but to accept it.
After all, I, who had definitely died, was alive and breathing perfectly fine in this world.
“Then you are…… some kind of scholar?”
“It is embarrassing, but you may see it that way. However, this maiden is merely a Confucian student who follows the path of the noble man in order to use Confucian principle (理) and vital energy (氣).”
“Anyway, you’re saying you performed some kind of ritual and summoned me, who was dead?”
“You have understood correctly.”
I glanced down at my own body for a moment.
It felt somewhat unfamiliar, but it was clearly a body that could move and be touched.
“Your Excellency. You seem somewhat confused due to the aftereffects of taking on a physical body, so please look at this…….”
The woman extended her slender hands and pointed toward the table in front of me.
As if to prove the word Confucianism, various foods were laid out there in the form of ancestral rites.
‘Is this my ancestral offering table……. Seeing it in person feels strange.’
However, the menu was a bit unusual.
Hamburgers, French fries, fried chicken…….
All foods from the era when I had been alive.
As I looked at the food, saliva suddenly began to gather at the corner of my mouth.
‘What’s wrong with me. This isn’t the situation to be eating.’
I shook my head to shake off the temptation.
But then my stomach growled, and hunger surged uncontrollably.
Noticing the change, the descendant who had been prostrating herself spoke up.
“We prepared these especially with the foods Your Excellency favored most, so please enjoy them to your heart’s content.”
At her words, I pretended I couldn’t help it and carefully picked up a hamburger.
As I unwrapped it, the appetizing scent of sauce stabbed at my nose.
Just as she said, the hamburger was the cheeseburger I loved most.
The fries were crispy, the chicken lightly spicy seasoned chicken—every dish hit my preferences perfectly.
And lastly, the most important thing to drink…….
‘Khh……. Right, of course soda is the best.’
If the soda still tasted the same even after more than a hundred years, then my palate must not have been wrong.
After finishing the meal like that, the woman who had been bowing the whole time slowly lifted her body.
“Did the food suit your taste.”
Realizing I had been far too absorbed in eating, I felt awkward and nodded instead of answering.
“I am glad. Then may this maiden ask a few questions now?”
“Yes……. Go ahead.”
The moment my answer fell, questions flew at me as if she had been waiting.
“Are you the son of Lee Tae-baek, the 26th generation descendant of the Taeseong Lee clan, correct, Your Excellency?”
Lee Tae-baek.
It was a name I hadn’t heard in a very long time.
My father’s name, which I had lived while forgetting for so long.
“That’s right.”
At that answer, the woman’s face brightened.
She immediately stood up and met my eyes.
“This maiden is Lee Hyena, the 31st generation descendant of the Taeseong Lee clan.”
Pronouncing her name clearly, Lee Hyena continued with a bright smile.
“This great-great-granddaughter formally greets her great-great-grandfather.”
She then offered a deep bow with full courtesy.
But as I watched, I wore an expression as if something felt off.
“Great-great-grandfather? Me?”
“That is correct. In my opinion, especially around the eyes, you resemble Grandfather quite a bit—what do you think?”
“That can’t be right.”
“Yes?”
“I’ve never had children.”
At those words, Lee Hyena’s smiling face froze in place.
“……Your Excellency, what do you mean by that……?”
“Children, what children—I died without even getting married.”
“……?”
“At twenty-five. In a traffic accident.”
Her face gradually crumpled.
Then, from that distorted face, she forced herself to form a smile again.
“……Please wait just a moment.”
She then pulled out a terminal with a screen, searched for something, and asked,
“I apologize, but let me ask once more. Your Excellency is the 27th generation descendant of the Taeseong Lee clan……. Your honored name is…… Lee Hamin, is that correct……?”
“Lee Hamin……. That’s my Older Brother. I’m the younger brother, Lee Hajin.”
At the returned answer, she sucked in a faint, trembling breath.
From that brief breath alone, I could clearly sense her flustered state.
“Then, then this food…… isn’t this the cheeseburger that Great-Great-Grandfather Lee Hamin liked during his lifetime? With no tomato and extra cheese and one extra patty…….”
“No. My Older Brother didn’t like hamburgers. He was a hot gukbap kind of person.”
“But I heard he liked crispy French fries…….”
“He did like French fries. But not crispy ones—he liked soggy ones.”
“The drink was soda…….”
“We fought a lot about that when we were young. I was on the soda side, and my brother was on the cola side.”
“What is this…… no, that’s not it. It’s clear that Your Excellency is mistaken about something due to the aftereffects of the ritual. There’s no way I could have made a mistake…….”
She began frantically manipulating the terminal and digging through information.
But as time passed, her expression only grew more distorted.
I could roughly guess what kind of situation she was in.
She was supposed to summon my smart, capable Older Brother, but some completely wrong person had appeared instead.
And not just anyone, but a useless younger brother who had accomplished nothing in life and died young.
In short, it was this.
‘Total failure in ancestor gacha.’
“This was such a carefully prepared opportunity…….”
Lee Hyena wore a blank, devastated expression.
She no longer seemed to have the energy or will to hide her emotions.
I could understand her feelings to some extent.
I too had once desperately prayed to some transcendent being, only to receive disappointing results.
‘So what happens now.’
Since the wrong person had been revived, would they send me back to the underworld?
I looked down at my body.
‘Well, if they tell me to go back, I guess I’ll have to.’
I had been someone who was already dead to begin with.
I had no particular interest in this world, where I had no ties whatsoever.
Thinking that way, I was planning to cooperate with the words of a distant descendant.
That was, until I heard what came next.
“Ha…… tsk, what kind of damn suffering is this. Money wasted, time wasted.”
She pulled out something like a long pipe from who knew where, stuck it in her mouth, and flick—flick, lit it.
Then, without even looking at the ancestor she had been respectfully attending to just moments ago, she casually spat out her words.
“Hey, you finished all of this, right?”
It wasn’t a question.
She started clearing the table before I could even answer.
‘Hah…….’
While I was left speechless by the sudden change in attitude, Lee Hyena puffed out thick clouds of smoke and neatly cleared away the food on the table.
“This…… your attitude changed so suddenly that it’s kind of shocking?”
“Please understand. I’m on a pretty tight schedule.”
I frowned slightly, wondering how a person could change like this.
“Didn’t you just go on about Confucianism and all that? You said you were a Confucian girl—are you really allowed to act like this?”
At that, Lee Hyena let out a soft snort of laughter.
“Confucian girl? Is that a word you used back when you were alive, Your Excellency?”
“No, you said something about following the footsteps of the noble man and all that. Then what about the Three Bonds and the Five Relationships, or stuff like that?”
“I think you’re misunderstanding something. Modern Confucianism today is very different from that old, fossilized Confucianism of the past.”
For some reason, she refused to yield a single word.
In that back-and-forth, I felt a strange sense of déjà vu.
This bickering feeling I’d experienced countless times somewhere before.
‘This is totally…….’
Someone who smiled brightly and acted sweet when they needed something, only to turn cold the moment their business was done.
A blood relative born from the same mother, yet somehow different in every single way.
My Younger Sister, Lee Hayun.
“The more I look at you, you seem less like my Older Brother’s line and more like my Younger Sister’s. Are you sure you checked the genealogy properly?”
Now that I looked closely, aside from her hair being a bit longer, she actually resembled my sister quite a lot.
“Younger Sister…… Lee Hayun, Great-Grandmother? You do know that’s a huge compliment, right?”
“A compliment? How does that make any sense? Do you know how much of a deadweight my sister was?”
“My goodness…… you really don’t know anything. Tsk, I should’ve noticed sooner……. Well, I suppose it’s only natural that you wouldn’t know. You passed away before the world changed like this.”
With that, she took out the hologram projector she had put away earlier and activated it.
[Lee Hayun. The world’s first Archmage, and the inaugural Chief of the Imperial Secretariat under the Seungjeongwon. Archmage Lee Hayun exerted tremendous influence not only on Joseon, but on the global magical academic world.]
Lightning poured down from the sky, and flames erupted from the ground.
Scenes straight out of a movie unfolded in holographic form.
And at the center of that dazzling spectacle stood a woman.
My Younger Sister, whom I knew all too well.
“What the…….”
Was that really my sister, who used to sit at home watching dramas and giggling?
Unable to believe it even as I watched, I rubbed my eyes.
“And Great-Great-Grandfather Lee Hamin was even more incredible. The person who should have been standing here right now, originally.”
The hologram shifted, and this time the silhouette of a man appeared.
[Supreme Swordsman Lee Hamin. A major in the Special Operations Department who protected Joseon amid the flames of the Third World War, and the commander of the Grand Exorcist Allied Forces who saved the world from horrific spirits.]
“Great-Great-Grandfather didn’t even leave behind a single digital photograph. That’s why he’s treated almost like a legend now, a mysterious figure shrouded in secrecy.”
As if to prove the absence of photos, images of my brother rendered in paintings and graphics appeared.
Scenes of him rescuing people through artillery fire, of cutting down gigantic monster-like beings with his sword.
“What on earth…… what happened to the world after I died……?”
At my question, Lee Hyena openly wore an annoyed expression.
But soon, she relaxed her face slightly and spoke.
“Well, fine. They say even the wishes of the dead get granted, so a few words of explanation won’t hurt.”
She blew a long stream of smoke to the side and continued.
“A few years after you passed away, things like magic and miracles suddenly appeared in the world. And then a small number of people began to undergo something called ‘awakening’.”
“Awakening……?”
“Magic can be used by anyone as long as their mana core is opened, and miracles can be performed by anyone who practices a religion’s doctrines. But awakening is an ability that manifests only in very special people.”
Lee Hyena flicked the ash from her pipe and went on.
“Among those awakening abilities, there was one extremely powerful ability that appeared in only two people worldwide. Fortunately, both of them lived on the land of Joseon. One of them was Great-Great-Grandfather Lee Hamin, and the other was…….”
Lee Hyena paused.
Then, with a solemn expression, she pointed upward.
“The one who resides up high.”
“Up high…….”
When she didn’t answer, I asked what I had guessed.
“Don’t tell me…… Sejong?”
“That’s right. His Majesty the King, who watches over us from on high.”
Lee Hyena puffed on her pipe again.
Soon, the smoke from her mouth slowly filled the surroundings.
“So I hope you’ll understand. I don’t just need the power of any ancestor—I need someone with abilities like Emperor Sejong’s.”
“And what exactly is that? The ability my brother had.”
At that question, Lee Hyena gazed steadily at me.
She removed the pipe from her mouth and spoke in a calm voice.
“The eyes that perceive.”
“…….”
“Don’t ask what it is. You wouldn’t understand even if I explained.”
She put the pipe back in her mouth, and before I knew it, the room was filled with smoke.
“So, this is very rude of me to say, but I’ll need to take back the body you’re inhabiting. It’s extremely expensive, you see.”
Put nicely, she was taking it back.
Put bluntly, she was sending me back to the other side.
That was how I understood it.
Under normal circumstances, I would have agreed without resistance.
But…….
“Please don’t think too badly of it. Still, I summoned you like this, even if only briefly, so you could eat the foods you loved in life, didn’t I?”
That tone.
That irritating way of speaking that felt exactly like talking to my Younger Sister—it made me not want to obediently go along with her words.
As I was thinking that, Lee Hyena suddenly began gesturing at something in the smoke-filled air.
“The afterlife of unbelievers is an incomprehensible place made of pure subconsciousness, you know. Since I let you taste delicious food, even briefly, while you were there, I hope you won’t be too angry.”
She muttered to herself while continuing incomprehensible motions with her hands.
It looked like she was writing characters with a massive brush.
“Normally, ancestral rites are held only up to the fourth-generation ancestors, but I’ll take special care of you. So please don’t hold today’s events against me.”
Then, as if placing a period, she made a large dot in midair.
With that, she dipped her head slightly in a perfunctory bow.
“Then, please return safely. Your Excellency.”
But contrary to her expectations.
Nothing happened.
“……?”
Lee Hyena blinked, wearing a look of confusion.
Murmuring something about whether there had been a minor mistake, she began gesturing at the air again.
After a little time passed.
She placed another period—but again, nothing happened.
That was when Lee Hyena’s expression changed.
“What is this…….”
Every time she wrote the script of a miracle, something was interfering.
Was it sabotage from outside?
No, that was nearly impossible.
‘Do you have any idea how much money was poured into this facility.’
On top of that, the room was filled with smoke that blocked interference, making this space completely isolated.
Even if, by some one-in-a-million chance, something like that happened, there shouldn’t exist anyone capable of interfering with the miracle Lee Hyena was trying to invoke.
The pinnacle of Confucian miracles, the ‘Manifestation Rite (現身祭)’, which alone took years just to understand the principles behind it.
This time, Lee Hyena summoned a spirit to assist her.
When she placed a period in the air, a red light flickered.
The light became flame, and the flame became a living spirit.
“Oh, what’s that supposed to be?”
I asked in awe, but my voice didn’t reach her ears.
With her lips tightly sealed, she used the spirit’s help and began writing the miracle with all her strength.
“…….”
Only after trying not once, but two more times.
Did she finally have no choice but to acknowledge that something utterly absurd was happening.
With trembling pupils, she stared at the ancestor before her.
‘This is impossible…….’
My hand moved.
A motion as if writing something in the air.
That wasn’t the reckless flailing of someone who didn’t know what they were doing.
‘How on earth…….’
In a way, this was the kind of situation where immediate action was required.
Yet trembling, excitement, fear, curiosity…….
With all those emotions mixed together, she could only watch what would happen next.
This time, the one placing the period was me.
And with it, flames began to bloom in the air.
The same kind of flames as the spirit Lee Hyena had summoned.