The Outcast Writer of a Martial Arts Visual Novel

I remember getting hit in the back of the head while walking.

Back in my school days, after classes had ended, someone struck me hard on the back of my head. Who would hit an innocent student like that?

Could it have been that guy from yesterday? The one shouting ‘Seat.’ Ignoring him, I switched channels and left. To think he would chase me after just one encounter.

Upon reflection, he was quite persistent. Even after I switched channels, he continued to pursue me. Was it really that important? It was just a game I didn’t play much, but the intensity of that moment still scares me a bit.

Anyway, if not him, I couldn’t think of anyone else who would hit me.

“Who’s there!”

Angry, I turned around and saw a man smiling at me.

“Isn’t that Yunho! Long time no see!”

“Who… are you?”

“Don’t you remember me? I used to visit your parents’ house when you were little.”

“Sorry, I don’t recognize you.”

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t recall who he was.

“Kang Yun-ho. Are you attending high school here? You’re in the first year, right?”

“Yes.”

He even remembered my age. Who was he?

“Kid! You really don’t remember me. I’m hurt. You used to ask me to buy you snacks with your chubby cheeks.”

“Haha.”

I had no memory of someone who bought me snacks.

“How’s your father?”

“He’s healthy.”

“Good. When you go home, tell him you ran into Mr. Choi who worked with him ten years ago. Take care.”

The man who had slapped my head waved and disappeared.

After he left, I was left with a throbbing head, bewilderment, and guilt for not recognizing him. I told my father about the incident that day.

“Huh? Mr. Choi? I don’t know anyone by that name. Who could it be?”

What was that about? If even my father didn’t know.

The mystery lingered until the day I ‘stole’ someone else’s ‘Seat.’

It was resolved a few months later.

That man went to the police station.

He turned out to be a lunatic who took pleasure in smacking kids on the head.

First, he would hit them, then casually check their name tag—name, tag color. That was how he determined their age and grade. He just had to pretend to know the parents, and it was done.

Even the smartest kids found it hard to get angry at an adult who claimed to be close to their parents and to have known them since they were young.

Of course, getting struck was a natural cause for anger. In such situations, it was best to keep a calm, smiling face.

They say you can’t spit on a smiling face. With a smile and false claims of knowing the parents, he tricked the students with minimal information. This way, no student could respond with hostility.

The lunatic got caught because he happened to encounter the parents of a student he had just met.

That was the essence of fraud.

Like in movies or dramas, fraud could be meticulously planned, but even deception with minimal information, allowing the other person to fill in the blanks, was a form of fraud.

The methods I used to survive against the Heavenly Death Star were not unlike this.

“Wake up.”

Someone jostled my shoulder to rouse me.

I was on edge, but it seemed I had dozed off momentarily. I had grown accustomed to sleeping amid the nocturnal cries of animals in the mountains.

“Who? Cough!”

Quite the fiery awakening. As I turned my head, still drowsy, and peered at the Heavenly Death Star through bleary eyes, her hand was already in motion, striking toward me.

I experienced a peculiar pain, then my throat felt strange. Had she hit my mute acupoint? I couldn’t produce any sound.

Was this acupoint sealing? In the world of martial arts, humans were said to have a universal switch on their bodies that, when pressed, could render one mute or even induce deep sleep.

I stared at the Heavenly Death Star, my expression one of shock. The Heavenly Death Star pressed a cold blade against my throat.

“You know me.”

I shook my head from side to side. I didn’t know her . I had never seen this face before.

“We met at the Gapsu Trading Company not long ago.”

After staring at Cheon Sohee for a while, I tilted my head in confusion. No, I had never seen her current face before.

“Oh! Right.”

Cheon Sohee finally seemed to realize something, and her body and face began to change. She was quite a scatterbrain.

Her male face changed to a female one, and her male body to a female’s. Amazing. Was she using Bone Shrinking Technique and Face-Changing Skill together?

I pretended to be shocked as I watched Cheon Sohee’s body transform.

‘I’m just an ordinary person. I don’t understand this situation. I should hypnotize myself.’

“Do you understand now?”

Cheon Sohee’s face had returned to the one I had seen a few days ago.

I nodded vigorously. I couldn’t speak because my voice was sealed. Please unseal it quickly.

“Look at this.”

Cheon Sohee showed me the fake diary. Lucky. If she hadn’t shown it, I would have had to present it in another way. The diary did the groundwork.

I alternated my gaze between the diary and Cheon Sohee. Just need to start. Please unseal the voice seal quickly. Please.

“From now on, I’ll let you speak. But if you scream, I’ll kill you immediately, so be prepared.”

Cheon Sohee pressed a spot on my body, finding my voice switch. Fascinating. Could I learn something like this? Knowing things like a voice switch might come in handy.

I deliberately thought light thoughts to relax my body. I couldn’t be too tense, or my voice would be strained. ‘Let’s keep it natural.’

“Miss, I have misjudged people. Please spare my life.”

As soon as my voice returned, I carefully avoided the blade at my throat and bowed low. Please save me. I was so scared. I should pretend to tremble.

“Don’t lie. You recognized me.”

“It was a mere coincidence that Miss and the child I knew shared the same name. I sincerely apologize for causing such a misunderstanding. Please spare my life.”

I needed to lay more groundwork.

“Could that child and I be the same person?”

I looked up at Cheon Sohee while still bowing. Black bobbed hair and red eyes. She was definitely the Cheon Sohee I knew. But in fact, she was different.

“At night, I mistook Miss’s black hair and red eyes for someone else. But now, in the light of the room, I see you are someone else.”

“A different person?”

“Your face is different. You’re not the Sohee I remember. The Sohee I knew was going to grow up to be the talk of not just our village but all over Joseon. Now I see you look very different.”

The Cheon Sohee in front of me was the one I knew, but she looked different. Using the Face-Changing Skill and Bone Shrinking Technique, she had taken on the appearance of an ordinary woman.

Cheon Sohee said nothing for a moment.

Surprised, weren’t you?

I knew the real face of the Heavenly Death Star. There must not be many people who know your real face. But I did.

“… Wait a minute.”

Cheon Sohee touched her face, then began to revert to her original appearance. Her body started to swell in certain areas.

Right. That’s the face. That’s the figure. A beauty, as long as she keeps her mouth shut. The real Cheon Sohee appeared before me.

“So, Sohee. Are you really Cheon Sohee?”

I sat down on the floor, pretending to be shocked. And I looked at her as if I should not be seeing this person before me.

“Who are you?”

“Do you really not remember me, Sohee?”

Someone who knew the name of the Heavenly Death Star. Someone who knew her real face. It was becoming more and more mysterious.

The Heavenly Death Star seemed confused as she looked at me, who was pretending to recognize her. But she couldn’t outright deny that I didn’t know her.

The reason I devised this plan.

The reason I was pretending to know the Heavenly Death Star so naturally.

The reason why the Heavenly Death Star couldn’t discern the truth despite my confident speech.

It all stemmed from one setup.

The Heavenly Death Star, Cheon Sohee, had lost most of her memories before the age of 8.

Cheon Sohee was blessed by the Heavenly Death Star.

In Cheon Sohee’s memory, her timeline spanned only 10 years, not 18. There was an eight-year gap in her life.

Cheon Sohee had almost no memories from before the age of eight. On the day the villagers were slaughtered, she lost most of her memories due to shock.

“I don’t know who you are…”

She didn’t know. She couldn’t recall at all. This was a person who didn’t exist in her memories. Cheon Sohee found herself engulfed in confusion.

[That day, all the villagers died.]

The content was written in her diary—a fact known only to her and the people who kidnapped her that day.

“The face is different.”

Only a few people knew her original face. It would be impossible for a stranger to recognize it.

“Cheon Sohee?”

It was the only name in the world she knew as her own.

But it was a name not present in her memories.

On the day the villagers died, everyone who remembered her name perished.

Cheon Sohee was kidnapped that day and raised by a group of assassins.

Since everyone who could have called her by her name had died, nobody knew her real name was Cheon Sohee.

Not even the master of the assassins called her anything but the Heavenly Death Star. They didn’t intend to nurture a martial artist, only to create disposable assassins.

The Heavenly Death Star honed her skills and became Assassin No. 20. On her first assassination mission, she killed a martial artist whom everyone thought was impossible to assassinate. From then on, no one doubted her talent.

Time passed, and as Assassin No. 15 died, she took that rank. Then she became No. 10, and eventually No. 8. Fake identities, Assassin No. 20, 15, 10, 8, 5. Her name was constantly changing.

For an assassin, names weren’t important. The mission was what mattered.

Thus, the Heavenly Death Star buried her real name deep within herself.

Assassin No. 5.

The top-ranked assassin.

The Heavenly Death Star.

This was her current identity.

She believed she was the only one who remembered her real name.

She had lived her entire life believing that.

“Sohee.”

She never imagined someone would call her by her name.

“I don’t know who you are…”

Confusion layered Cheon Sohee’s expressionless face.

Huh?

Expressionless?

Something was strange. No, very strange.

I felt a sense of discomfort from the moment I met her. The Heavenly Death Star I knew was a lunatic—a murderess who killed without guilt, a maniac who looked her best with blood on her face and a grin.

But she doesn’t feel like that now. What was going on?

With a moment to breathe, my mind raced.

The Heavenly Death Star. In martial arts fiction, what were her traits? Madness. Murderous intent. A talent for killing. A villain or lunatic driven mad by the thrill of killing.

Driven mad by murder?

Ah! She was not insane yet.

I rejoiced inwardly. A club was the remedy for a madman, not flattery. I had played weak from the start to avoid provoking the Heavenly Death Star, but now the story changed. If she was in this state, my plan would work even better.

“Sohee.”

I called out to the dazed Heavenly Death Star as she stood up. Cheon Sohee seemed surprised.

It worked. Just calling her name worked.

Now, let’s drive the point home.

Someone who knew the Heavenly Death Star’s real name.

Someone who knew Cheon Sohee’s real face.

The only person who knew Cheon Sohee’s past.

“Sohee. Sohee. It’s Kang Yun-ho, your brother. Can’t you recognize me, your childhood playmate?”

From now on, I was the Heavenly Death Star’s childhood friend.