# Chapter 1
The first sound I heard was the clashing of blades.
A sword? I live on the 13th floor of an apartment in Seoul. Unless my parents were having a knife fight in the middle of the living room in broad daylight, there was no reason to hear such sounds. At first, I thought Mom had turned up the volume on her drama again, so I tossed and turned, trying to fall back asleep.
But the sounds didn’t stop. I remembered my mother’s anger that had been simmering dangerously for the past few days. Having endured it until now was already beyond her limit, so perhaps this time she really had taken up a knife. Sighing, I opened my eyes to save my father’s life, when—
My entire body froze.
The ceiling of our home had changed to wood. A strong earthy smell assaulted my nose. It was the scent I’d only encounter when visiting the countryside during holidays. I turned my head to find a wooden door covered with rice paper. Through the thin gaps, I could see people moving in perfect unison. They were the ones making the noise. All of them holding swords.
“AAAAHHHH!!!”
Screaming was the natural response. Greatly startled, I threw off the blanket covering my body and instinctively crawled toward a spot far from the door. But before I could hide in the corner of the room, the unfamiliar door flung open.
“If you’re awake, please come out now. You’re disturbing the training.”
A man with a stern expression holding the door handle spoke coldly. He had dark skin and thick eyebrows, giving him a robust appearance. He wore clothes that were tightly bound at the waist, revealing his firm physique. As the man surveyed the room and found me crouching, he was visibly taken aback.
“…What are you doing?”
He asked slowly while putting away the sword(!) he was holding at his waist. I couldn’t find the words to respond and just rolled my eyes around, trying to assess the situation. A man I’d never seen before, wearing clothes I’d never seen before, seemed to know me. But would he stab me with that sword right away or not? Who was going to tell me?
“Ludin?”
“Aaah! Stay back.”
When the hesitant man took a step into the room, I flinched in surprise and naturally covered my eyes. He just stared at me with an ambiguous expression without coming any further. Cautiously peering outside through the open door, I saw dozens of men standing with their upper bodies bare. It wasn’t my imagination. Unlike the man’s somewhat bewildered expression, the people outside looked thoroughly annoyed. Like the expression you’d give to a troublemaker who only causes problems at school…
“…Ludin, you said?”
Suddenly, I recalled what he had called me. Ludin? It was a familiar name. Or rather, a name I couldn’t possibly not know. It was a character from “The Kingdom of Zendal,” a novel I had read until the pages wore thin over the past three years. While such a name could certainly appear in a fantasy novel, how could someone in South Korea in 2020 be calling me Ludin?
That’s when the incomprehensible situation started to make sense bit by bit. The man who had spoken to me was now carefully observing my behavior with a worried expression. I observed him in return. His appearance made it difficult to pinpoint exactly which ethnicity he belonged to. But his physical characteristics were just like…
“Wimu…?”
“Did you have a nightmare?”
When the name escaped my lips, he seemed relieved. Wimu quickly gestured outside, and the men who had been standing around with disgruntled expressions began moving in perfect unison again. Just like soldiers in training…
“The Kadilen Temple…!”
“You keep playing pranks, so of course your dreams are troubled. Now that you’re awake, please get ready and come out.”
It was definitely Wimu. He was also a character from “The Kingdom of Zendal.” Everything matched perfectly. The people practicing martial arts in the courtyard, the man calling me Ludin. The strange building tucked away in the mountains. It was impossible and surreal, but it seemed I had somehow entered that novel.
* * *
I first encountered “The Kingdom of Zendal” three years ago when my life had hit rock bottom. It was meant to be a light novel to pass time, but one character in it completely transformed my life.
The setting of the novel was, as the title suggested, the country of King Zendal, who had unified five nations and seized power. Zendal had three sons, and Ludin was the eldest. From a young age, Ludin had monopolized the king’s affection, showed great achievements on the battlefield alongside his father, and his mentors were busy singing praises of his intelligence.
But that was all in the early parts of the novel. Overnight, Ludin became the kingdom’s burden. Everyone clicked their tongues and whispered about Ludin’s change, and he fell to the bottom as fast as possible. All he did every day was drink, cause trouble, and inflict violence on the officials.
‘Can a man’s madness exclude woman problems?’
‘He clearly lost his mind from focusing too much on his studies.’
Various rumors circulated about his sudden change, but no one knew the exact reason why Ludin had changed.
Of course, I, as a reader, never got to know either. This was because Ludin wasn’t actually a major character in the work. He initially helped the king build the new kingdom, but was later treated as a madman and banished to an outlying temple. The place Ludin was sent to was the temple of the martial artist Kadilen. Right here where I’m sitting now. Where Kadilen’s right-hand man Wimu is.
I couldn’t believe I was really in this temple. The reason I loved “The Kingdom of Zendal” so much—
That reason was Kadilen.
The descriptions of Kadilen were always righteous and delicate. How clear a person he was, what meaning existed in the places his sword touched—all of it was understandable. It was a fresh shock to me, who had been living day by day without any life goals or values.
As anyone can stumble in life, I had fallen once, but in my case, I couldn’t get back up and had stayed down for a long time. When everything seemed hopeless, an answer came from a fictional character in a novel I had read for fun. One day, recalling Kadilen, I took action that helped me pull myself up, and my life changed dramatically. And to be honest, his handsome appearance also played a big part in fueling my affection.
What was happening was stimulating enough to cover all realistic concerns. If I had really entered “The Kingdom of Zendal,” and if this place was none other than Kadilen’s temple, then I could meet Kadilen as Ludin. And even learn swordsmanship directly from Kadilen!
There were some issues, though. First, Kadilen dislikes Ludin. That means Kadilen dislikes me now. I haven’t even seen Kadilen yet! Actually, Kadilen’s feelings aren’t entirely incomprehensible. Ludin was truly at his worst around this time.
Ludin’s wandering continued even after being banished to the temple. While the nominal reason for Ludin’s presence at the temple was to train border soldiers, everyone knew it was essentially the royal family abandoning their burden, so Ludin’s standing in the temple was at rock bottom. Yet, Ludin showed no interest in gaining anyone’s approval. His body was a mess from not exercising for a long time, but he neglected his training. At first, Kadilen tried to reason with him and even raised his voice, but nothing worked. Eventually, their relationship grew distant, and now they only had formal sword training sessions and barely spoke to each other most of the time.
The only one who looked after Ludin was Wimu, whom I just met. Wimu was Kadilen’s first disciple and right-hand man who practically managed the temple, and he knew Ludin before Kadilen did. Perhaps because he was the only person in the temple who knew Ludin when he was in his right mind, I got the feeling that Wimu still hadn’t given up hope on him.
Wimu clearly remembered Ludin’s intelligent days, so while he was endlessly disappointed in him, he wanted to know why Ludin had gone mad. But the story of Wimu and Ludin was only briefly touched upon in the novel and wasn’t the main storyline, so even I, an avid reader, couldn’t know the details.
The second problem was Kadilen’s fate. Kadilen is killed around the middle of the novel. This happens because he attempts a rebellion by gathering soldiers with grievances against the kingdom but fails.
I’ve only just met Kadilen, but soon he will die. Actually, Kadilen had very valid reasons for attempting rebellion. It was because King Zendal went mad after Ludin was banished and before the second prince Luan could establish himself. Whether due to the grief of losing his trusted Ludin or simply because he lost his purpose in life after unifying the five nations, King Zendal became greatly corrupt. Kadilen, unable to endure his tyranny, attempted rebellion but was suppressed, and the novel continued its interesting story with the protagonist Luan’s victory.
Considering all these circumstances, my goal was singular: to prevent Kadilen’s death.
I had always thought his death was unjust. If he truly became a real person living in the same world as me, I wouldn’t hesitate. This was an extra life given to me in a novel, and Kadilen was the person who had cleared a path for me when I was stuck. Perhaps this was an opportunity to repay the debt I owed him.
