Surviving Among the Letters

[Day 1]

[This is the research journal where I will record the entire process toward awakening my powers.]

“Isn’t this just a diary disguised as a research journal?”

“Huh? Huh?? When did you get in, Remy?”

“Well, I saw you concentrating so hard, so I got curious and came in.”

“Ugh… Get out!”

“You’re acting all important even though you haven’t written anything yet… Alright, alright, I’ll leave, I’ll leave. Stop hitting me.”

I was trying to write it in a cool research journal format, but the moment I wrote the first line, Remy caught me.

How did she come in at just that timing?

Well, since it turned out like this, I decided to just quit writing.

So I threw the journal… I mean, the research journal, straight into the trash.

Anyway, there wasn’t much to gain today.

No matter how much I memorized the original settings, I wasn’t memorizing each and every sentence.

Who’s crazy enough to memorize every line just because a martial arts book mentions a “Guyeol”?

Besides, this isn’t even a martial arts novel.

It just borrows the setting of martial arts.

And another problem is that most of the martial arts are useless.

Most of the martial arts in the original were physical-based, while the psychic abilities I’m looking for were very rare.

“Sigh…”

I guess I’ll be focusing on remembering the original for a while longer.

[Day 2]

“Remy, what are you doing right now?”

“I’m saying it’s Day 2, literally.”

“Then why are you doing that?”

“It’d be too mean to throw away the journal after just one day… So, I’m doing it instead.”

Somehow, Remy had the journal in her hand.

She must have taken it from the trash after I carefully threw it away.

“Hey! Why! Give it back!”

I should’ve shredded it directly instead.

I quickly snatched the journal back from Remy’s hands.

“Ugh… Why are you so obsessed with it when you didn’t even write anything?”

“Well, it’s just… something.”

I was already trying to avoid using the journal and was putting everything in my head, but at this rate, I’ll never be able to write anything.

Anyway, today I managed to come up with something.

I came up with a martial art that’s somewhat like psychic powers.

The user is Gray Peller.

He’s the final boss from Chapter 6 of the original.

Gray Peller is a completely physical powerhouse with extraordinary physical abilities.

So, his martial art shines with his fists.

But what caught my attention wasn’t that, but the side effects.

Whenever he throws a punch, black and white energy is released, and it also causes physical damage.

I thought this most closely resembled psychic powers.

However, the issue is that the author didn’t elaborate on this much.

After all, when the protagonist fights him one-on-one, the focus is on the punches, and there’s no space to describe whether the shockwave or skill effect is involved.

Honestly, the author probably didn’t plan for any special settings for this.

They probably just added it for flair.

Anyway, thanks to that flair, I found the way to survive, and now all I have to do is remember the “Guyeol” of that martial art.

Hmm.

Of course, I can’t remember it.

I’m screwed.

[Day 3]

Fortunately, Remy didn’t pry into the journal today.

But the most dangerous time is when you think everything is calm.

So, I’ll spend today organizing my thoughts in my head.

Today, I tried to recall Gray Peller’s black-and-white martial art (tentative name).

There was definitely a flashback earlier in the story.

A flashback that lasted for two episodes, and there must have been something mentioned about the “Guyeol” of the black-and-white martial art.

After thinking about it all day, one thing finally came to mind.

[Focus on the Danjeon and─────]

Where the hell is Danjeon, damn it?

[Day 4]

Since the story takes place in the 21st century, I had the thought that martial arts might have been digitized and provided as audiovisual material.

Why would they still pass on techniques through books in this day and age?

So, I rented a laptop and began researching.

They had said before that it wasn’t possible, but now it is.

Well, good enough.

Hmm…

As expected, everything was at a low level.

Even someone with no knowledge could tell these weren’t the right techniques.

[World’s Surprise K-Martial Arts! The Knights are amazed, and the Mage Tower is shocked!]

Stuff like this.

I searched the internet for a long time but didn’t find anything useful.

It seems like martial arts are still passed on through books… or maybe the files are strictly controlled.

[Day 5]

Last night, I slept in the same bed as Remy for the first time.

Until now, I’d been bringing my blanket and pillow to the floor to sleep, but of course, that day I spilled water.

That’s how I ended up sleeping in the same bed.

And, unsurprisingly, I didn’t sleep well.

Two people sleeping on a cramped single bed, especially with Remy?

But in stark contrast to me, Remy slept soundly.

How does she sleep so well?

Anyway, today, I finally had an epiphany.

It came from something Remy said.

“Um… wouldn’t it be okay if it’s just somewhat similar? The author didn’t know martial arts when they wrote the novel, right?”

After I brought up the idea by loosely referencing the novel, Remy completely shifted her perspective.

It’s true that the original author didn’t know martial arts.

What did they know? They just wrote what seemed cool and impressive.

So, I can do the same.

As long as it looks cool and impressive, that’s good enough.

Forget about Danjeon and all that. Let’s just jump straight into enlightenment.

Thanks to that thought, I felt better and spent the rest of the day playing with Remy.

We rented the laptop and played two-player flash games together.

It felt like we were returning to our childhood.

[Day 6]

Finally, the “Look Impressive and Gain Enlightenment” project was underway.

Just me and Remy, the only participants.

We spent the entire afternoon working together to come up with something that looked impressive.

But really, something with no substance would be meaningless.

So, I took important lines, settings, and other elements from the original and combined them to make something.

The main basis of it was Gray Peller’s life story.

Since I was aiming for his martial art, I focused on his life to try and find a similar epiphany.

What I came up with was a ten-line poem.

I don’t know about the quality, but it definitely looks impressive.

Now, I’ll read through it and make gradual revisions.

And if this doesn’t work…

I really don’t know what to do next.

[Day 7]

Is this actually happening?

[Day 8]

“What do you mean you’re feeling something?”

“Um..?”

“Look! Like this! Phew! and Tsss! and Pow! all at once!”

“But honestly, I don’t see much difference…”

“No, Remy, look. When I do Tsss!, it goes like this…?”

“…”

“Did you see? Did you see it? It works, doesn’t it? You saw that white something flying, right?”

“Why is this happening…?”

[Day 9]

I had a feeling I was getting closer, so I spent the whole day adjusting my understanding and practicing.

But there was a big problem.

The more I adjusted my understanding, the more my anxiety grew.

It felt like if I went any further, I would cross a point of no return.

Like I wasn’t worthy yet…

Is this the Juhwaipma (mental breakdown) effect?

Or is this a trial the plot is giving me for skipping the middle process and trying to achieve enlightenment too early?

Speaking of which, Remy has also started having trouble sleeping recently.

Am I finally starting to disturb her sleep?

Hmm… I’m a little worried.

[Day 10]

This morning, Remy actually woke up after hearing the Good morning, Ding Ding Ding.

Should I be happy about this, or worried?

Has her sleep pattern finally returned to normal?

Anyway, today I decided to test my enlightenment a little further.

As soon as I did, I felt pain in my chest.

It really felt like I couldn’t go any further now.

Should I work on building my physical strength?

Is this like the martial artists who have strong, muscular bodies that can endure this?

If that’s the case, this is the worst scenario for me.

It would mean I just wasted 10 days of effort.

[Day 11]

“Remy. Wake up! Remy?”

Last night, Remy must have slept well because even the Good morning, Ding Ding Ding didn’t wake her up.

This is the normal Remy.

Now, she just needs to wake up like usual, wash up, and change clothes.

“Remy!”

When Remy didn’t get up, I slapped her on the calf.

But still, she wouldn’t wake up.

I had no choice.

I had to use my last resort and toss her blanket.

“Wake up!”

The blanket was tossed with a loud thud, and Remy half fell out of the bed.

But for some reason, she still wouldn’t wake up.

“Remy?… Remy?”

It was then that I realized something was wrong with Remy.

Lately, she hadn’t been sleeping properly.

This was a sign of something more serious.

I quickly pressed the emergency button and laid Remy back down on the bed.

“Remy? Remy? Can you hear me? Sigh… Why now…”

I knelt by the bed and sat quietly.

Why now? And why Remy?

It must be because of the experiment.

There’s no other reason for Remy, who was fine just a moment ago, to suddenly be like this.

Then the door opened, and the researchers stormed in.

I tried to say something, but as soon as Director Messier appeared, I froze.

Then, Director Messier looked at me and said a single word.

“Why?”

I froze at that one word.

While I was frozen, the researchers loaded Remy onto a stretcher and began heading out.

“Why… Remy is like this because of the experiment!”

“You should pay attention to your surroundings.”

“Surroundings…?”

Are they talking about the messy state of Remy’s room?

What could that mean?

I turned my head to look around, and the Director let out a sigh.

“Sigh… No matter how much of a genius you are, you’re slow in this area.”

“…What do you mean?”

“What do you think the death rate for the other test subjects was while you were trying to awaken your abilities for 11 days?”

“…?”

“See? You didn’t even think about it, did you? 22 of them. 22 people. Two deaths per day. Didn’t you notice the change in the atmosphere around you?”

“…”

“If you keep living like that, you’ll end up like us—completely mad. And I absolutely despise seeing children end up like that. That’s why I treated you and Subject 14 differently.”

“Different… treatment?”

“Wasn’t the intensity of your experiments much lower? Didn’t it barely hurt? You even had plenty of free time. Right?”

“…Does that mean…?”

“I guess Subject 14 didn’t tell you. Let’s see. Should we take a look at Subject 14’s physical exam results? Drumroll… Oh! A brain tumor?”

“What…?”

The words coming from Director Messier’s mouth were shockingly disturbing.

A brain tumor? Remy?

“Looking at the progression, it seems like it was already there when she was brought in. I told them to check the tests carefully to avoid defective subjects, but this is the result… Sigh. She probably knew about it, considering she came here with it.”

Remy… knew?

“She didn’t show any signs of pain. No, she probably wasn’t in pain. The medication we injected had painkillers, so she wouldn’t have felt it.”

So, that’s why…

I told Remy it wasn’t hurting, and then she pouted, probably because the pain didn’t show up right away but came back after a while?

“After you went to the Director’s office, we treated Subject 14 a bit. If Subject 14 had died, you would have been finished. I don’t want to see a young, budding flower wither in despair. But it looks like it’s already too late.”

“Ah… Ah… Ahhh…”

“…When you calm down, go to the infirmary. You know where it is, right?”

“Ahhhhhh!!!! Uuugh!”

“I guess you can’t hear me anymore.”

“Ahhh──────!”

And just like that, I cried uncontrollably until I lost consciousness.