Chapter 5: The Phantom Demon Worm

20 minutes later, master bedroom.

Kim Joo-hyuk, a 45-year-old middle-aged head of the family, finished his shower and collapsed onto the bed, exhausted.

It was past 9 PM.

Yesterday, the day before, and for many days prior, he had never returned home before 10 PM due to overtime work.

At least today, his direct supervisor, Go Tae-hwan, unexpectedly left work early, which reduced the amount of trivial tasks, allowing Kim Joo-hyuk to leave an hour earlier.

“Why does every single day feel so tiring…”

Kim Joo-hyuk was lost in such thoughts.

Knock knock.

A knock on the door broke his reverie.

The only person who would knock and come into this house was his son, Kim Seo-jun.

“You can come in.”

Kim Joo-hyuk said, and the door opened as Kim Seo-jun stepped inside.

“Sorry for disturbing your rest.”

“It’s alright. Being at home itself means resting, doesn’t it? But is there something wrong? Why do you look like that?”

Despite being his son, Kim Joo-hyuk noticed something unusual in Kim Seo-jun’s expression.

Kim Seo-jun was extremely excited since this was the first time in 20 years that he was face-to-face with his father.

“Um… well… if you’re feeling uncomfortable anywhere, I thought I could give you a massage.”

“A massage? Have you been secretly going to a massage academy without your mother knowing?”

Kim Joo-hyuk, being a Hunter unlike Baek Yeon-ji, knew well that massage was not taught at the academy.

“Just… self-taught. I tried it on Mom, and she said it felt good. So, I thought maybe you’d like it too…”

“Hah. Will a rift open in the Seoul sky tomorrow? To think I’d be receiving a massage from my own child at my age. Alright, go ahead and give it a try. But if you don’t do it properly, next month’s allowance increase will be frozen. How about that, deal?”

Perhaps grateful for his child’s caring heart, Kim Joo-hyuk even joked, which was rare for him.

“So if you like my massage, the allowance goes up, right?”

“5%.”

“Come on, stingy.”

“Look at you calling me stingy? How dare you say that to such a magnanimous father! Hmph. Fine, then 10%, how’s that?”

“Lie down.”

Kim Seo-jun said with a bright smile, and Kim Joo-hyuk chuckled softly.

Immediately, Kim Joo-hyuk lay face down.

Kim Seo-jun climbed onto his father’s back, starting above the waist.

He quickly massaged from the head to the neck, shoulders, and arms.

As a Hunter, Kim Joo-hyuk naturally possessed spiritual energy.

Moreover, during his prime, he had a fairly solid body, so more delicate care was required for the acupuncture points.

Too much pressure could trigger a rejection reaction to his inner energy, while too little would have no effect.

After examining his father’s body, Kim Seo-jun was a bit surprised to find that his father’s condition was far worse than his mother’s.

“I knew it wasn’t good, but I didn’t expect it to be this bad.”

Putting aside the stagnation in the meridians, several key acupuncture points were completely blocked, preventing the flow of inner energy.

The nerves between the bones had weakened significantly due to overwork, and the internal organs—especially the liver and kidneys—were not functioning properly.

“But why is his liver like this when he doesn’t even drink?”

The biggest problem was the visceral fat.

After more than seven years of sitting in a chair doing office work, a tremendous layer of fat had accumulated around his organs.

If this continued, the fat would crush the organs and block blood flow, leading to every conceivable illness.

Yet, it was very strange.

Since being demoted to a desk job, his father had never stopped exercising.

Even now, he woke up early to run on the treadmill and strengthened his muscles with bench presses and pull-ups.

Weight gain and obesity due to age were inevitable, but this was beyond severe.

And such a complete blockage of important meridians was almost impossible without artificial force.

“Could it be… Closed Meridian Technique?”

In the world Kim Seo-jun lived in, more than half of humanity knew how to use martial arts.

There were dojos everywhere to easily learn martial arts, and countless internal energy cultivation techniques existed to build inner strength through breathing.

Various martial arts had been derived, and unique martial arts with special characteristics had also appeared.

One of those was the Closed Meridian Technique (폐맥공).

When afflicted by the Closed Meridian Technique, important meridians get blocked, disrupting the flow of inner energy.

In severe cases, it could even deteriorate inner energy or damage the body so much that further inner energy cultivation became impossible.

Kim Joo-hyuk’s symptoms closely resembled those of this technique.

Except for the rapid increase in body fat leading to severe obesity, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say he was affected by the Closed Meridian Technique.

“Maybe this is why his spiritual power isn’t increasing.”

But how could the Closed Meridian Technique exist here?

Perhaps it was a ‘mystery’ with a similar effect.

“No, that can’t be. If it was a mystery, my father wouldn’t be unaware.”

His father had no idea he was suffering from something with the effects of the Closed Meridian Technique.

“Then… could it be a drug?”

If he unknowingly ate food containing some special drug?

The thought crossed his mind.

There was a special monster known to produce effects similar to the Closed Meridian Technique.

‘The Phantom Demon Worm?’

The black flower called “Ghost Flower” only grew beyond the rift in another world.

The Phantom Demon Worm was a huge worm, as thick as an arm, that fed only on the Ghost Flower.

If a human absorbed the Phantom Demon Worm’s bodily fluids, symptoms resembling the Closed Meridian Technique occurred.

Blocked meridians, loss of vitality, increased physical fatigue, and so on.

Most importantly, the worm’s fluid rapidly increased body fat in a short time and contained a strong hallucinogenic component.

Thus, in this world, there were often cases where someone used the Phantom Demon Worm’s fluid to deliberately harm others’ health.

So, who and why injected the Phantom Demon Worm’s fluid into his father’s body?

Kim Seo-jun was certain that his father had unknowingly ingested the worm’s fluid, which caused the halt in his spiritual power growth.

“How dare they…!”

Strength surged through Kim Seo-jun’s body.

After barely reuniting with his father beyond death, an unknown party was trying to harm him.

Suddenly, the memory of that day 20 years ago flashed before his eyes.

That day, Kim Seo-jun’s parents took him out to a busy district in Seoul to celebrate his birthday.

Coincidentally, Cheon Kang-woo, who came to Korea to negotiate with the Dangun Martial World, was passing through the same place at the same time.

Cheon Kang-woo’s special SUV was guarded by numerous police and martial artists, traveling along an eight-lane road.

At that moment, nine-year-old Kim Seo-jun accidentally dropped a toy onto the road while playing.

The toy rolled into the road, and the innocent boy instinctively ran after it.

Unfortunately, he ran right in front of the vehicle Cheon Kang-woo was riding in.

As the vehicle approached, Kim Joo-hyuk and Baek Yeon-ji threw themselves forward to save their son.

Luckily, the car stopped while crushing them on the road.

But inside the car was Cheon Kang-woo.

With a heart more evil than anyone else, Cheon Kang-woo stepped out of the vehicle and glared terrifyingly at the family who had stopped his car.

Kim Joo-hyuk recognized him.

Since Cheon Kang-woo was a martial artist affiliated with the Korean Dangun Martial World, Kim Joo-hyuk knew exactly what kind of person he was.

Cheon Kang-woo drew his deadly weapon, the Tragedy Moonblade.

Knowing what this meant, Kim Joo-hyuk immediately knelt down.

Apologizing for the disrespect, he bowed his head.

Begging for mercy, he pleaded to spare the lives of his wife and child.

But Cheon Kang-woo completely ignored him.

With a single gesture, Kim Joo-hyuk’s arm was severed; with a second, one of his legs was cut off.

Not satisfied, Cheon Kang-woo stepped closer to Baek Yeon-ji and Kim Seo-jun.

Crawling on the floor, missing limbs, Kim Joo-hyuk clutched his wife and son.

Just then, as the Tragedy Moonblade pierced through Kim Joo-hyuk’s torso and Baek Yeon-ji’s chest, Kim Seo-jun, caught between them, appeared to be fatally wounded as well.

Many people were around, but no one dared to intervene.

The police and martial artists all just watched.

After brutally murdering the family, Cheon Kang-woo smirked and licked the blood on his Tragedy Moonblade.

But Kim Seo-jun did not die.

Though suffocated by his parents’ tight embrace, he narrowly avoided being pierced by the blade.

Despite being soaked in his parents’ blood, Kim Seo-jun clearly witnessed Cheon Kang-woo’s malicious smile.

That was the last image of his parents he remembered.

“If anyone tries to harm my parents again, I will kill them with my own hands!”

Kim Seo-jun’s rage boiled toward whoever injected the Phantom Demon Worm’s fluid into his father.

“Ow, you little brat.”

Kim Seo-jun pressed down too hard in his emotional outburst, causing Kim Joo-hyuk’s body to be pressed firmly.

“Sorry. Got a little carried away.”

“It’s fine. Your grip has gotten quite strong. Feels good to see you grown up.”

Kim Joo-hyuk laughed lightly as if nothing was wrong.

Watching his father, Kim Seo-jun hardened his resolve once more to handle this problem properly.

“I’ll solve this no matter what.”

Since he had already started, he wanted to see it through.

Kim Seo-jun activated the Solar Divine Technique.

One of the Solar Divine Technique’s advantages was the ability to freely control heat as hot as the sun.

Just as he oxidized the pure oxygen generated within his cells using the Solar Divine Technique’s heat, he thought it might be possible to push that heat into his father’s body to burn the fat.

However, if he blasted the heat all at once, it could burn not only fat but also important cells, so he had to take his time and burn it gradually.

“No strain on the body, once a week for three times should be enough.”

Kim Joo-hyuk’s condition was so poor that several sessions were necessary.

As the heat of the Solar Divine Technique surged, sweat beaded on Kim Joo-hyuk’s body.

Even though it must have felt burning hot, Kim Joo-hyuk, trusting his son, didn’t utter a single complaint.

“So stubborn… you could just say it’s a little hot, but you endure it.”

Knowing his father’s heart, Kim Seo-jun cautiously controlled his inner energy.

Time passed in an instant.

One hour passed, then two.

Baek Yeon-ji knew what Kim Seo-jun was doing in the master bedroom and deliberately stayed out to wait.

After about two hours, Kim Seo-jun successfully completed the first session of the Acupuncture Meridian Technique.

Both Kim Joo-hyuk and Kim Seo-jun were drenched in sweat.

To be factual, Kim Seo-jun, who performed the Acupuncture Meridian Technique, was the one who overexerted himself unnecessarily.

“Phew… Father, how do you feel?”

Kim Seo-jun asked, but there was no response.

“Father?”

“… Hmm? Oh, looks like he fell asleep from how relaxed he feels.”

“That’s good to hear. It’s over now.”

Only then did Kim Seo-jun release his strength and get off the bed.

The room was filled with the heat radiating from both their bodies.

Yet, both wore satisfied expressions.

Following Baek Yeon-ji’s success, Kim Joo-hyuk’s Acupuncture Meridian Technique treatment was a great success.

He had burned 30% of his visceral fat, significantly reducing his weight, and the diseased cells damaging his body vaporized in the heat of the Solar Divine Technique.

The blocked meridians that hindered the flow of qi were all cleared, so within a day, qi would flow smoothly throughout his body.

As Kim Seo-jun felt proud, Kim Joo-hyuk tried to hide his astonishment.

He had just received a massage, but the results were astonishing.

It was as if he had undergone major surgery by the best medical team—the fat vanished quickly, and his skin became firm.

His creaky joints moved smoothly as if lubricated, and the thick dark circles under his eyes disappeared without a trace.

The accumulated physical fatigue was completely washed away.

The heavy, stone-like feeling that had weighed on his chest vanished cleanly.

Kim Joo-hyuk was truly happy in this moment.

Not just because of the excellent results, but because his son, Kim Seo-jun, had created this outcome himself.

So he promised to increase Kim Seo-jun’s allowance by 20% starting next month.

Kim Seo-jun was back in his room.

Kim Joo-hyuk and Baek Yeon-ji sat in the living room, chatting excitedly about how their bodies had changed, what felt different, and how light they felt.

“This feels good.”

Although utterly exhausted from using all the inner energy he barely generated while performing the Acupuncture Meridian Technique on his parents, he felt elated.

When he was young 20 years ago, he had never done or even thought about filial piety.

By the time he was old enough to think about it, his parents were no longer alive.

That had been a huge regret and guilt as a child.

That was why he wanted to at least repay his parents, who had sacrificed their lives to save him.

Now, he felt somewhat relieved.

There was still much to do for them, but this moment—seeing them happy and joyful—felt even more fulfilling than when he defeated Cheon Kang-woo, the Heavenly Demon General.

“Today feels especially long.”

With a proud smile, Kim Seo-jun cultivated the Solar Divine Technique once more.

It was already past midnight.

Though late, rather than falling asleep now, cultivating inner energy with the Solar Divine Technique would restore spent energy and relieve much of his fatigue.

One, two… five times.

After completing seven total major circulations, Kim Seo-jun felt a significant surge of excitement.

Was it the joy of accomplishing something?

A heavy power stirred in his chest and dantian.

“This… is strange.”

Kim Seo-jun unfolded his legs and looked down at his hands.

When his information popped up before his eyes, he flinched in surprise.

[Kim Seo-jun]

– Spiritual Power: 6 (+10) / Inner Energy: 5

– Mystery: Reverse Radiation Ki Generation (11%) / Solar Divine Technique (1%)

His stats had suddenly changed.