The World’s Greatest is Dead

“Hmm.”

I opened my eyes.

It was a familiar ceiling.

The ceiling I had diligently been seeing for the past year.

I blinked as I stared at the ceiling and then sat up.

It should have been a refreshing morning, but I felt terribly uneasy.

In fact, ever since I joined the alliance, I hadn’t woken up feeling clean and fresh even once.

“Ugh…”

Trying to get up, my head and body felt heavy. Of course, my head hurt because it was injured, but why was my body so heavy? It felt almost as if I had been held down by a-

『Child, you’re awake.』

‘…’

I had been held down.

Probably all night.

As soon as I sat up, I heard a voice in my ear.

I didn’t even have to look to know who it was.

Right beside me.

I knew the large old man from yesterday was right beside me.

Without changing my expression at all, I glanced around.

“You’re awake?”

“Did you sleep well?”

On my left, Yu Hyung-In was just getting up.

It wasn’t just Yu Hyung-In; other seniors who slept in the dormitory were also waking up.

『Sigh~』

“….”

Crazy.

The sound whispering in my ear almost made me flinch.

『Oh. To think you could bear it. Impressive.』

The old man clapped my hands in delight as if something was genuinely amusing.

Had he been here all night? That wasn’t good.

The fact that he could move between different buildings meant he wasn’t a haunting ghost.

He was the most bothersome kind of ghost.

Persistent and weird, that was exactly what this old man seemed to be.

“Hey, idiot, what’re you doing?”

A senior in front of me spoke up while I stood still for a moment.

Upon hearing that, I quickly got up.

“I’m sorry. I’ll get ready right away.”

“You punk. Everyone else is getting ready, and you’re just standing there?”

Yeah, no one could overlook that.

Holding back a sigh, I hurriedly changed my clothes.

“Anyhow, such a useless kid… tch.”

“Leave him be, what would he know? He’s useless and clueless.”

『Child, you are being treated splendidly.』

“….”

Adding to the already irritating morning, the old man’s interjection made it worse.

It was turning out to be one hell of a morning.

* * *

Most mornings at the Murim Alliance started with training.

I hadn’t experienced other organizations, but at least this was how it was at Murim Alliance.

“Two more laps!”

I frowned at the leader’s words.

How many laps had it been already?

On average, they seemed to run about fifteen laps a day.

My legs were trembling.

Even though I used my qi, my limit was nearing. What I had was already as insignificant as mouse droppings, so it didn’t help much..

Every morning felt like I was dying.

Why didn’t my qi reservoir ever increase?

Still, I ran desperately.

It used to be bearable, but now even this felt hard.

『Sweat is pouring off you like a waterfall. Shall I wipe it for you? Oh, right! I can’t touch you, hehehe!』

It was probably because of the annoying old man jabbering beside me.

『Your body is already at its limit, but you have determination. Yes, even these days, youngsters should have this kind of determination!』

‘Please shut up.’

My vision was blurry. It was already hard enough to bear; the continuous noise was driving me crazy.

『Child, not much is left. Hang in there. Show your determination.』

I still had two more laps to run, and ‘not much is left’, my foot.

I was really going insane.

‘Where did this old man even come from?’

I had identified most of the ghosts in the vicinity.

I knew their routes and had a rough idea of what they did.

‘This is the first time I’ve seen this ghost.’

The old man with the blue eyes was someone I had never seen before.

Which meant he likely hadn’t been dead for long.

‘Is he not from around here?’

There weren’t many cases where a new ghost appeared.

For a person to become a ghost, they had to have significant lingering attachments or regrets.

And if they did become a ghost and appeared in a particular area, it usually meant—

‘He died here.’

If this place was one’s hometown where they were born and raised.

If it wasn’t even that……

‘Only in cases where someone possessed by a ghost is here.’

Why, there’s that saying about being possessed by an evil spirit.

Ghosts commonly known as earth-bound spirits are mostly tied to places or buildings.

But sometimes, there were spirits that roamed around by possessing people.

Could this old man be one of those?

If that was the case,

‘Go to the possessed person. Why torment me?’

I was caught in a bad way.

That was exactly my current state.

“Hoo… Hoo… Ho…”

I constantly heaved my breath.

I couldn’t concentrate properly, making it hard to breathe right.

Due to shortness of breath, my movements were affected as well.

“Junior Bang. Are you alright?”

“… Yes… Yes…”

Worried, Yu Hyung-In approached and spoke to me.

Even answering was difficult.

“You don’t look well. Are you really okay?”

“…I’m okay…”

What else could I do if I wasn’t okay? Falling behind even a little would attract too much attention.

I had to endure.

It felt like my lungs were being crushed with pain.

My injured head ached continuously, but despite that, I didn’t stop moving my legs.

『Oho…』

The old man uttered a sound as if finding me interesting.

I felt not only that gaze. When I checked with shaky eyes, it was Yun Sochun ahead of me.

As our eyes met, Yun Sochun flinched and turned his head away.

What was that? Was it a coincidence? Or did I see it wrong? I must have misseen due to my exhaustion.

Why would that guy look at me?

“Grr… Hoof…”

Fifteen laps.

I had run exactly fifteen laps.

After completing them, I staggered and collapsed.

While others were catching their breaths without much trouble, I was still in this state. It had been a year since I started running in the mornings, yet I felt this way.

‘Ah, this incompetent body.’

Despite training so much, why wasn’t there any progress?

Was it because I took after my father? That might be the reason. No, it must be the reason.

My life was a mess anyway.

“Phew, I’m dying…”

As I panted to catch my breath, something appeared before me.

Yu Hyung-In handed me a ladle filled with water.

“Want some?”

With trembling hands, I received it.

“… Thank you.”

“You did well.”

“What do you mean well… I can’t even do this properly.”

“Haha.”

Yu Hyung-In let out a light laugh at my response.

Watching me, I carefully brought the water to my lips.

Or so I tried.

『Nyororong!』

“Pffft!”

The ghostly old man jumped in front of me, made a grotesque face, and uttered a strange sound.

Startled, I unintentionally spat out the water.

Darn it. I had let my guard down.

The spat water passed through the ghostly old man.

It was bad.

I feared the inevitable trouble, but—

“…Huh?”

I stood frozen, my gaze fixed.

The water had gone through the spirit and unfortunately doused someone else.

“….”

Standing soaked in the water.

A frozen Yun Sochun, who had not anticipated this either.

I was looking at me with a dumbfounded expression.

“… Ah… Oh…”

『Oh dear.』

The old man, as if not expecting this outcome, made a slight, awkward move with my otherwise large frame.

Finally, Yun Sochun, who had been standing frozen for a while, awkwardly moved my head.

Their eyes met once more.

“….”

“….”

I could not muster any words and swallowed hard.

What kind of situation was this? Why did it turn out like this?

‘Why Yun Sochun…?’

Why did I suddenly approach? Too flustered to speak, I hastily said,

“Oh… Oh… I’m sorry.”

First came the apology.

The explanation followed,

“Well, you suddenly got close, so I got startled…”

“Did you… just spit out water because you were startled?”

“Uh… What a coincidence. I’m really sorry. It wasn’t intentional.”

Yun Sochun wiped his water-stained forehead with the back of his hand and looked at me. To be precise, he stared at my bandaged head and then spoke.

“You’re a patient… a patient… right?”

“… What?”

As I spoke, I observed Yun Sochun. His other hand repeatedly went to the sword tied at his waist and then back again. Could it be… was he planning to draw his sword if I wasn’t a patient? At that chilly thought, I froze for a moment.

“You crazy bastard!”

A loud voice burst forth from behind.

Oh, world, of all people, why him.

“What are you doing right now!”

“Indeed. What could this be?”

Though he scratched the back of his head as he spoke, it seemed like he was furious with me and stormed towards me.

Then,

*Smack!*

He slapped my cheek straight away. My head whipped to the side. The impact made my head spin.

“If you’re useless, you should keep a low profile. How dare you cause trouble?”

I caressed my heated cheek from the shock. Fortunately, my teeth seemed unaffected. Ignoring me, he hurried over to Yun Sochun.

“Member Yun, are you alright? You’ve been through something terrible. I’ll severely punish this miscreant.”

“… No, it was just an accident. I was just approaching him because I had something to say.”

That guy had clearly hesitated because he didn’t know my name just now. Yet, saying he had something to discuss with me made him widen his eyes in surprise.

“What kind of business could member Yun have with that incompetent fellow?”

“Because of the conversation we had yesterday, I wanted to greet him properly.”

“Bang Sung-Yun.”

“I came to pay my respects to the Young master of the Bang family.”

As expected. He didn’t know my name. As soon as I introduced myself, he caught on right away. Even calling me a Young master now.

“I haven’t heard that title since I was a young boy.”

Especially after the complete ruin of my family, it was a term I hadn’t heard.

“A greeting?”

He looked even more doubtful as he eyed me, and I felt the same way.

‘What greeting?’

He seemed to be referring to our conversation last night. Maybe… had he come to put me in my place?

It made sense. I’d shown up out of nowhere at dawn and said what I did. It wouldn’t be surprising if he was mad.

‘If that’s the case, isn’t this a very dangerous situation?’

I had momentarily forgotten due to that old man’s nonsense, but I had told Yun Sochun, whose backing I wasn’t even sure of, not to act out and behave like a proper subordinate. And now I’d spit water on his face.

‘Hmm.’

Recalling that, I nodded.

‘I’m going to get fired.’

No matter how I looked at it, there was no good future in sight. It seemed even packing my bags and returning to the temple wouldn’t be enough.

Ha ha ha.

This was really messed up.

While I hurriedly came to terms with the situation and mentally prepared to leave the Murim Alliance, Yun Sochun spoke as though to dissuade the leader.

“… So, please, don’t be too harsh on him.”

I tilted my head, perplexed.

‘What’s this? Did he not come to put me in my place?’

Judging from him stopping the leader, maybe it wasn’t entirely so. Or perhaps he was going to overlook it now that I had even been slapped. Indeed, the latter seemed more likely.

“…”

The leader looked at Yun Sochun and then directed his gaze towards me.

“… Huff.”

He looked like he wanted to say something more, but due to Yun Sochun’s intervention, he couldn’t bring himself to speak.

“Just looking at you is exhausting. Disappear from my sight since your presence is infuriating.”

“I’m the one who got slapped. Why is the leader…?”

“*Grit.*”

“Yes. I’m going.”

I moved quickly, seeing another blow might come if I stayed.

“Huh…!”

Yun Sochun let out a short sound, but I immediately fled the scene before the leader could erupt in a rage.

I did have a patrol duty coming up, but it seemed better to hide away from prying eyes until then. With that decision, I slipped into a rarely frequented area within the Murim Alliance. At this time, people would likely be busy training, making it even quieter.

Is there really no one around?

After cautiously checking one more time.

“……Haa.”

I sighed and looked back.

Then I asked.

“What is it?”

『Hmm?』

“What business do you have with me?”

I asked.

The old man, who had been picking at his nose, widened his eyes at the question.

Just as I had done, the old man looked around to see if anyone was nearby.

『Oh, oh.』

Realizing I was being spoken to, his expression brightened and he clasped his hands coyly.

『You’re finally giving me your attention.』

“…….”

A captivating demeanor that contrasted with his bulky build. For some reason, watching him like that made me feel extremely unpleasant.

A build nearing eight feet tall, muscles packed tightly, making it hard to believe he was an old man.

Scars here and there with blue eyes.

He looked like a ghost with nothing ordinary about his appearance.

To be standing so coyly with such a rough body.

It made me really, really irritated.

“Hu.”

I let out another sigh and brushed my hair back.

I had intended to pretend not to know, even if it killed me.

‘Click…’

Originally, as I mentioned initially, I would have just pretended not to notice.

Even if ghosts realized that I could see them, ignoring them would have been enough.

But.

‘That feeling is troublesome.’

That old man was full of issues.

Firstly, he wasn’t impatient.

Unlike usual ghosts with lingering regrets.

Ghosts generally became angry because they couldn’t resolve their regrets and would cling desperately whenever someone appeared who seemed able to resolve them.

But that old man wasn’t like that.

It hadn’t even been a full day, yet what could I have discerned?

‘How many ghosts have I seen by now?’

Understanding ghosts took just a fleeting moment. From that perspective, that old man was quite a nuisance.

Despite having something he wants from me, he wasn’t in any particular hurry.

His gaze, filled with mischief and curiosity, was saying the same.

I had encountered ghosts with a similar feeling in my past life.

‘They were all crazy.’

Not one of them was normal… No, none of them were regular ghosts.

Just imagining them made me shudder.

Not only their mannerisms and unique gazes.

‘… They were exceptionally vivid.’

Among the typically translucent ghosts, particularly vivid ones often had that feeling.

Those who moved on their whims, true to their disorderly nature.

I had been dragged into trouble by them many times.

Based on past experiences, that old man was unsettling in the same way.

Moreover, ‘A ghost with legs?’

I had never seen a ghost with legs to the very tips.

It was the same even now.

The old man’s legs were firmly attached to the ground.

As if I were a normal human.

The only difference was.

‘No shadow.’

The old man had no shadow.

‘If I had known that earlier, it wouldn’t have come to this.’

Meeting me by chance at night led to this mistake. If it had been during daylight, this would never have happened.

I let out a heavy sigh and asked the old man.

“……What’s your business?”

『After ignoring me so long, why acknowledge me now? That’s no fun.』

“You asked me to recognize you, so why are you disappointed when I do?”

I replied, baffled.

“If you dislike it, forget it. I can just ignore you again.”

『Ahaha! I was just joking. The kid’s temper is quite short.』

“…….”

Already tired of this.

As expected, the old man was quite a nuisance.

“……I won’t listen for long. What is it you want?”

『Judging by your reaction, this isn’t the first time you’ve experienced this, is it?』

“Yeah, well…”

I’d experienced it to the point of disgust. So much that it made me shiver.

『Anyhow, now that we’re here, are you willing to listen to my story…』

“Before that.”

Before the old man could say anything, I had something to say first.

“There’s something you need to understand.”

『Hmm?』

Based on past experiences, I had to issue a warning first.