STWW 01

Chapter 1

Hwang Soo looked down at the first floor, where music could be heard.

Among the attendees at the banquet, a particularly young-looking girl caught his attention. Despite her appearance, her playing was remarkably skilled.

“So the Great Captain has noticed as well. She’s a unique child. She was wandering without parents, and since she looked fine, we brought her in—but she truly is unusual,” said Wu Baek-ryeong, the head of Mohwalu, a high-class information network and influential group.

“Unusual?”

Baek-ryeong lightly nodded.

“She could easily be considered the daughter of a respectable family. She seems completely ignorant of dancing, but aside from that…”

Baek-ryeong paused, as if deciding where to begin.

“She doesn’t seem to have talent in composing poetry, but she knows a lot by heart. Though it seems to be mainly from foreign sources.”

“From Haedong, perhaps?”

Baek-ryeong hesitated. Something about this seemed off.

“Her calligraphy is excellent. Her painting rivals that of our top prodigy. She’s also very knowledgeable. I haven’t verified it, but I’d bet she can recite the Four Books and Five Classics. I even considered teaching her an instrument, but she specifically wanted a unique one.”

“The one she’s playing now? Looks like a type of string instrument.”

“It’s a haegeum. She said if she couldn’t play the haegeum, she preferred a gayageum. Teaching both seemed ridiculous.”

“So you brought her to me. Mohwalu couldn’t handle her?”

Soo chuckled.

Indeed, she was an exceptionally talented child. Baek-ryeong wouldn’t lie, so it had to be true. This meant the girl excelled in literature, painting, and music.

“How old?”

“She’s eight. That’s what makes her even more unusual. How could someone so young have learned all this? Even if she did, it doesn’t seem like a child meant to wander the streets.”

“Not impossible, though.”

It wasn’t impossible. Families wiped out, children barely surviving… such things happened.

If that were the case, her future would be bloody. Blood avenges blood, after all.

“Whether she’s the daughter of a fallen noble or raised this way for some reason, if we try to handle it, there’s nothing we can’t manage. But there’s no reason to take unnecessary risks,” Baek-ryeong added lightly.

“And it seems that the girl herself has some kind of plan. Once she resolves the immediate situation, she’ll leave.”

“Wise. Even if she can’t flee as a soldier, it’s better to find a place to rely on than to wander alone at that age.”

Soo thought there must be some trick involved. It wasn’t likely the fabled ‘Reverse Aging’ technique.

As he pondered, Soo nudged Baek-ryeong inward. A commotion had broken out in one of the rooms.

A heavy man crashed through the door, breaking the railing on the second floor. The lively first floor instantly erupted into screams and chaos.

Wu-ruju tried to run down the stairs, but Soo stopped him.

A rough thug was causing havoc, but the young girl, sitting calmly in the corner, let out a sigh as if the situation had nothing to do with her. She picked up a nearby chopstick with casual ease.

Dipping its tip in water, she drew something on the table and flicked it toward the chaos.

The thug, who had been bullying a servant girl, suddenly froze as if restrained, unable to move a hand or foot.

When the girl moved her lips silently, the man’s eyes rolled back, and he collapsed—though strangely, he remained standing as before until losing consciousness.

“Wu-ruju.”

“Yes?”

“Good. I’ll take her with me.”

Her former name was Kim So-hee.

Born in Seoul, Korea, she died at the age of 33. And now, she was living her sixth life—a poor, unfortunate child, to put it mildly.

The girl, roughly the size of a six-year-old, ground her teeth.

[Underworld Guide Haro: This is outrageous.]

“Outrageous! What the hell is this? That’s why I said I wouldn’t do it! And it’s martial arts?”

Her temples ached.

There was no way a child this age could have high blood pressure; it was pure rage manifesting physically.

“I’ve never read martial arts novels, you bastard!”

She finally screamed, tearing at her hair.

People nearby glanced at the wailing child, clicking their tongues as they walked past.

Already talking to herself, the girl, pitiful as she was, wiped the tears from her face.

Sob.

Tears flowed uncontrollably.

It all began on a day in her first life, her zero-th iteration, as Kim So-hee.

“So, I wasn’t supposed to die at 33? And because I defied fate, I get sent to hell?”

“Yes…”

“Damn it.”

She erupted, words tumbling out in anger.

Haro listened with one ear, accustomed to her outbursts. Basically, she was arguing why she shouldn’t have to follow fate.

She felt utterly wronged. Already dead, and now she was being punished again.

Who dies willingly? Dying was bad enough, but being sent to hell when she hadn’t asked for it?

Haro cleared his throat, as if prompting her back to reality.

“There’s a trend these days in the publishing world. It’s called…”

“I’m not doing it.”

Her tone was blunt now. She was too furious for politeness.

Soo-hee exhaled heavily, ruffling her hair. Since she was in spirit form, it was only a gesture.

“If it’s a trend, it must be one of the reincarnation stories. Realistically, it’s just possession, isn’t it?”

She continued talking, unfazed by Haro’s opinion. To her, it was trivial.

“But if they were going to possess a modern Korean, they wouldn’t need to explain all this.”

“…”

“Wrong?”

“No, correct.”

“I said I’m not doing it!”

She yelled.

Possess the original story character and live as in the original? Then maybe she could undo everything. But how many really lived as per the original?

“You have five chances. But each failure will add to your crime of defying fate, right?”

“…No one has gone past three attempts yet. Just follow the original ending, and we don’t know anything about the lives of side characters.”

“So it hasn’t happened yet.”

Her stubbornness was remarkable.

“So are you going to do nothing and get fried in hell? Koreans have a saying—‘If you can’t eat, just try!’”

“I’d rather stop than risk it.”

“But this time, you must try. We’re not just letting you go! We’re helping. If we can’t save you and punish you instead, it’s not intentional.”

Soo-hee shut her mouth.

Nothing Haro said was wrong. It was simply too unfair to be turned into a hellfire-special human fry.

After countless thoughts and a long passage of time, she finally spoke:

“…Fine.”

“Good. Then we’ll grant your wish. What do you want?”

“A magician.”

It was the choice with the highest survival potential.

“I like magicians in any story.”

That was the cause and the beginning.

And now, the fifth and final iteration had begun.

The girl grabbed her hair, swallowing her tears, staring ahead.

[Name: ――
Child Name: Dana (旦兒)
— Called so because she was born at sunrise; official name not yet given.
Age: 8
Special Note: Orphan

Though dressed as a boy, she was a girl. Presumably, this was done as a considerate measure.

Well, at least she didn’t have to deal with TS (gender swap) issues.

Boy’s clothes were wise—at her age, it was hard to distinguish genders, and girls were more vulnerable in dangerous situations.

She wished the personal information had more detail. Gritting her teeth, she turned off the floating spear that had been hovering.

A sigh escaped her. She felt pity for herself, but even more for the body she now inhabited.

A poor child, without even a name.

“Name…”

She hummed, lips moving as she thought.

Martial arts, perhaps Chinese? Or should she go Korean-style? Maybe one of her previous names would do.

A name slipped unintentionally from her lips.