Baek Yuseong stared at the hologram window floating before his eyes, lost in deep thought.
When starting a game, character creation is a time-consuming process.
From customizing the appearance to selecting the character's traits, nothing could be decided easily.
This was even more true for a virtual reality game that, once started, would take anywhere from a few months to several years to complete.
Based on his experience with the previous game, it was no exaggeration to say that the choice of traits would determine the difficulty of his future progress.
Without any traits, it was obvious he would have to suffer endlessly, wandering the streets until he stumbled upon some fortuitous encounter. But if he started with a special trait, he could immediately enter a famous martial arts sect.
It wasn't a matter of the player begging to be accepted; the sect might even come to him, offering all sorts of elixirs and begging him to join.
"My personality usually leads me to start from the bottom and enjoy the game for a long time, but..."
For Yuseong, who had such a gaming style, it might have seemed natural to not select any traits. However, there was a reason he was still agonizing over the selection screen.
Five years ago, an incident occurred that turned all the PC games then considered masterpieces into ancient relics.
The appearance of a perfect virtual reality game.
The protagonist of that event was 'Virtual Fantasy,' the debut title from the 'Real World' company.
Virtual Fantasy gained worldwide popularity despite its extreme user-unfriendliness, providing almost no game information.
It would have been stranger if it hadn't been popular, given that it offered an extreme sense of reality, as if one were truly in a fantasy world.
Yuseong was one of the countless users who had started that game.
Having chosen to start from the bottom as was his usual gaming style, Yuseong had a hellish experience in that game.
Recalling that time, Baek Yuseong's body trembled.
"Even though it was Real Mode, I thought a few months of hardship would be enough. I never imagined it would take five years to see the ending."
It was five years in real-time, but considering the time acceleration, it took a staggering 50 years in-game.
Yuseong, who had to see things through to the end once he started, finally cleared Virtual Fantasy after all sorts of hardships and left a long review filled with deep frustration.
Submission complete.
He felt a sense of relief.
Real World, which had released a virtual reality game with a level of technology so incomprehensible it made one wonder if they had tortured aliens for it, had not released any other games besides Virtual Fantasy.
They ignored all requests, whether for adult content, other games, military training programs, or anything else.
They certainly had.
[Following News: Real World - New title 'Real Murim' has been released.]
"..."
The thought had just crossed Yuseong's mind that it was time to take a break and enjoy his real life.
The timing was so exquisite, it was as if someone had been waiting for Yuseong to clear Virtual Fantasy.
"That can't be."
Shaking his head, he fell into thought for a moment.
'Right, it's true that the past five years were the most enjoyable time of my insignificant life. I vented about 5,700 characters' worth of frustration in the review because I struggled so much to see the ending, but when you think about it, I was the first user to clear Virtual Fantasy's Real Mode.'
Thanks to that, he had gained some fame.
He appeared on various broadcasts, sharing his know-how, and earned a lot of money, so he had no worries about making a living.
Although he had suffered from choosing the wrong mode, Yuseong, a born gamer, eventually installed Real Murim and logged into the game.
"Let's take it easy this time. I'm absolutely not even going to look at Real Mode."
He had made that resolution, but the new game, Real Murim, had no mode selection.
There was only a customization and trait selection screen. And you could select multiple traits.
Would he follow the tendencies of a gamer who had played his whole life, or would he take it easy as he had just decided?
In the end, Yuseong stuck to his recent decision. He wanted to enjoy the game moderately and now enjoy his real life as well.
He made his appearance as handsome as possible.
Since he had to learn martial arts, he made his age as young as possible.
For traits, he excluded anything that looked like a debuff and greedily scooped up multiple traits that seemed good for learning martial arts.
After sweeping up all the top-tier traits, of which he had barely managed to get about three in Virtual Fantasy, he finally pressed the start button.
Yuseong was thrilled with the thought of quickly becoming a supreme master and roaming freely through the Murim.
A powerful suction force, as if he were being pulled into somewhere, enveloped Yuseong.
'Oh, I didn't feel this when starting the previous game. Is this a new feature in the new title?'
It was a refreshing start, as if only good things were to come.
***
Murim-in, or martial artists, have more reason to visit a doctor than ordinary people.
This is because, in addition to injuries sustained while training in martial arts, sparring and duels are woven into their daily lives. The Murim Alliance naturally maintains exchanges with skilled clinics.
The Luoyang Clinic was famous for being the most skilled in Luoyang, where the Murim Alliance was located.
It employed 10 doctors who had passed the clinic's notoriously difficult exam.
Among them, the one who occupied the first consultation room was a middle-aged man.
Yang Jiheon, who was on the younger side in the Luoyang Clinic where most were elderly.
Today, too, he couldn't hide his pride as he looked at the line of patients in front of his consultation room, a line so long its end was not in sight.
Compared to the tenth room, where the line gradually shortened to only a dozen or so people, one could guess his skill and prestige.
'Occupying the first consultation room in a place that could be called the best clinic under heaven, I won't tarnish my master's name.'
The respectful attitude of the patients towards him also revealed their reverence for Yang Jiheon.
A martial artist with a long sword on his back carefully unstrapped his sword in front of the consultation room before entering.
"Doctor Yang. I'm sorry to bother you again when you're so busy. My right arm, which you looked at before, was getting better but has started to feel numb again."
After taking the patient's pulse, Yang Jiheon nodded lightly.
"I administered acupuncture and gave you a prescription, but it seems you haven't taken a single dose of the medicine?"
The patient said in surprise.
"That is... I'm sorry."
"Tsk. This isn't something that can be solved with just acupuncture. I'll give you acupuncture and write another prescription, so this time, be sure to do as I say. There's a right time for treatment, and if you miss this window, it will become much harder to fix."
The patient, who had been scolded during his treatment, left, and new patients came in for consultations. There were ordinary people and martial artists.
The consultations continued until the sun set.
After smoothly dealing with patients complaining of various illnesses, Doctor Yang asked the young man who had been sitting beside him all this time, his voice dripping with arrogance.
"How is it? Do you think you understand now?"
The young man was none other than Baek Yuseong.
Whether it was because of his nearly 5,700-character-long review, or the result of ignoring the game's progression from Virtual Fantasy to Real Murim, he had been transmigrated into the game five years ago.
Baek Yuseong, who gave a bitter smile at Doctor Yang's arrogant words, replied.
"My eyes have been greatly opened by your skill, Doctor Yang. I'll be seeing patients on my own starting tomorrow, and thanks to you, I've learned a lot."
"Tsk, you're lucky. The opportunity to observe my treatments doesn't come often."
"..."
"Back in my day, I served my master for five years just to learn a single acupuncture technique, a single prescription. If things hadn't changed recently, when would a young doctor like you ever get the chance to observe my consultations?"
Baek Yuseong nodded along, hyping him up as he listened to the old-timer's self-praise, the kind often prefaced with "Back in my day..."
After Doctor Yang's self-praise ended, Yuseong saw his chance and brought up a topic.
"I believe your master, the Divine Doctor, is the greatest physician under heaven."
Doctor Yang's face lit up.
"People speak of the Divine Doctor, the Demonic Doctor, and the Life-and-Death Eccentric Doctor as the three great physicians under heaven, but in truth, the Life-and-Death Eccentric is a figure between the righteous and unorthodox who kills people on a whim, and the Demonic Doctor is only slightly well-versed in poisons and doesn't hesitate to perform human experiments. The only true physician is my master."
"I think so too. And I've heard that you, Doctor Yang, have inherited most of the Divine Doctor's true teachings."
From Yuseong's perspective, while he didn't know the full truth, piecing together everything Doctor Yang had bragged about for the past three days, he was undoubtedly the next best physician after the Divine Doctor.
He prescribed treatments for patients with confidence, and most patients seemed satisfied, so it didn't seem far from the truth.
With the Divine Doctor in seclusion, he was the best physician Yuseong could access.
"Hmph, that's right. Why else would I occupy the first consultation room in the Luoyang Clinic?"
"That's why..."
"If you have something to say, speak freely."
Yuseong brought up what was on his mind. He had been buttering him up just for this day.
"Could you please examine my dantian?"
"Your dantian?"
"Yes, about three years ago, a problem occurred with my dantian, and I became unable to practice martial arts. I tried to heal it myself, but it was difficult with my lacking skills. If you don't mind, could you take a look?"
"You used to practice martial arts?"
"I learned a little of my family's martial arts. But I've lost my martial arts now."
Doctor Yang looked at Baek Yuseong with new eyes.
He had only thought he had a good build, but indeed, his frame was magnificent, a body that seemed perfectly suited for learning martial arts.
"Hmm, very well. I'll take a look."
"Thank you!"
Doctor Yang took his pulse and sent his internal energy flowing through him.
Although he hadn't formally learned martial arts, he had learned a profound internal energy cultivation method from the Divine Doctor for the purpose of ki-based healing.
'What kind of physique is this... Even when I examined the Sword King, it wasn't to this extent. The width and strength of his acupoints are incredible. I can't even begin to identify what kind of constitution this is. A body born to learn martial arts, so what could be wrong with his dantian? If it's treatable, I should build a good relationship with him.'
Doctor Yang marveled as he moved his internal energy toward the dantian area.
However, after thoroughly examining the area around Yuseong's dantian, Doctor Yang could only shake his head.
All he found were a few shattered pieces of the dantian, making it difficult to know its original form.
'This is a symptom I've heard about from my master. It seems to be related to that place. It's better for this man if I keep this fact hidden.'
Doctor Yang no longer felt the need to build a relationship with Yuseong and only told him about his current physical condition.
"It's unfortunate, but your dantian cannot be fixed, not even if a Great Immortal came, let alone my master."
"...Is there really no way?"
Yuseong finally hung his head low.
'If only I were a healer...!'