[Fairy Tale Fragment, “Walls Have Ears,” continues the story.]

The fairy tale fragment I picked up at the recycling center, “Walls Have Ears.”

This fragment, with a relatively low plausibility cost, was literally suited to eavesdropping on other incarnations’ words during the “day.”

“Who did they say is coming as a judge for this year’s festival?”

“The Namgung Clan.”

“Oh, so the prideful clan heads have finally started moving.”

“What’s the point of moving? The winner is going to be…….”

Every word spoken within a 100-meter radius sounded like someone was whispering right next to my ear.

“Buy ‘em! ……Dumplings for sale!”

“I’ve got hot chicken broth too!”

Maybe because I still wasn’t used to using the fairy tale fragment.

“Hey, did you hear that news?”

“I heard. The story that the <Twelve Branches> got wiped out.”

“……That a fragment is…….”

Some conversations came through clearly, and some didn’t.

“Anyway, next week is already the ‘Fear Commandery Expedition.’ Which sect is going to participate this time?”

“Then is the martial arts tournament canceled this year? Seems like attention will be focused on the expeditionary force…….”

Even so, there were more than enough keywords to judge the situation.

The Namgung Clan. Dumplings. Chicken broth. Martial arts tournament. And the Fear Commandery Expedition.

When I nodded, Yoo Joonghyuk, who had been silently staring at me, threw out a comment.

“You’re a suspicious bastard.”

“Please call it a cautious personality. It really is the ‘Number One Murim.’”

‘Number One Murim.’

I had come to the martial arts holy land I’d only heard about, the ‘Number One Murim.’

[In the scenario region, the ‘30s Main Scenario’ is in progress.]

A main scenario in the 30s.

Considering that the ‘Number One Murim’ was a place where groups carrying out various scenarios from the 20s through the 40s gathered, it wasn’t strange for a main scenario in the 30s to be in progress.

Tsutsutsut.

Tiny sparks jumped not only over my whole body, but over Yoo Joonghyuk’s as well. It must have been the penalty from scenario jumping.

In fact, my body had felt a little heavy and the air felt suffocating since earlier. Was this the density of the ‘story’ the 30s scenario had?

Still, maybe because I had built up some status in the meantime, my body got used to it quickly.

[Acquire a new scenario.]
[Your incarnation-body binding is weakening.]

Except for the fact that it was sending me real-time collapse teaser trailers.

I tried hard not to show it, and smiled.

“I think I know who we came to meet.”

As if it wasn’t surprising anymore how much I knew, Yoo Joonghyuk replied with narrowed eyes.

“I didn’t plan on coming to meet him in this regression.”

The ‘Number One Murim’ was where Yoo Joonghyuk’s master, the Heaven-Sundering Sword Saint, was.

One of the strongest Transcendent ones, the Heaven-Sundering Sword Saint.

Just like in the main story, Yoo Joonghyuk was probably thinking of making him join our side.

“What you need right now is ‘restoring your incarnation body’ and ‘acquiring a new scenario,’ isn’t it.”

“That’s right. How did you know?”

“Because I’ve been an exile before too. You’ll probably be able to get help.”

Honestly, I was surprised. Even if the goal was to use me, Yoo Joonghyuk was being this kind? Did he get stabbed too much by Teacher Jaehwan and his brain short-circuit?

Either way, it was fortunate for me right now.

Before Yoo Joonghyuk came to his senses, I sprang up and said,

“Good. Let’s leave right away.”

“…….”

“Yoo Joonghyuk?”

Kid Yoo Joonghyuk looked up at me with his usual troubled expression.

“What is it? Hurry up and guide me to the Heaven-Sundering Sword Saint.”

“Unfortunately.”

Only then did I realize what had happened to Yoo Joonghyuk.

One of the side effects of ‘fairy tale engraving’ was memory loss. Especially if you used excessive power to the point that you were de-aged like this, you would temporarily lose even memories you didn’t want to lose.

Which meant—

“Well, would you look at that…… You forgot only the memories you needed, perfectly.”

Until Yoo Joonghyuk recovered his original incarnation body, we couldn’t find the Heaven-Sundering Sword Saint’s residence.

Yoo Joonghyuk looked at me with brazen eyes.

“Then you find it.”

“How am I supposed to find it? It’s my first time in the ‘Number One Murim’ too. I don’t even know where I am.”

I got dropped into the ‘Number One Murim’ and even lost the way. To make things worse, Yoo Joonghyuk was a useless amnesiac kid, and I had an incarnation body that wouldn’t be strange if it dropped dead an hour from now.

Damn it, even 『Murim Life Starting from Zero』 would be better than this.

I looked over our beggar-like appearance and said,

“Should we join the Beggars’ Sect?”

“…….”

“We become members of the Beggars’ Sect, beg for food while we go around asking people. Like, hey, where’s the Heaven-Sundering Sword Saint’s place?”

Maybe deciding to ignore me, Yoo Joonghyuk stared into the # Nоvеlight # distance, lost in thought.

Grrrk.

On top of that, a sound from inside my belly.

We looked at each other.

“It’s not me, for now.”

“It’s not me either.”

We decided to deal with hunger first.

Fortunately, this was the ‘Number One Murim.’ It was a place with food even the picky-eating Yoo Joonghyuk could buy.

Come to think of it, Teacher Jaehwan, did you send us to a place with ‘Murim dumplings’ on purpose?

“There’s a place nearby that sells Murim dumplings. This is still better than the recycling center.”

When I brushed off the straw and stood up, Yoo Joonghyuk unexpectedly stopped me.

“You’re going to go like that?”

“What. If you don’t like it, then go buy them yourself.”

“I will.”

“Huh?”

To my surprise, Yoo Joonghyuk got up without complaint. I didn’t know how many times I’d be shocked today.

“This is an official scenario region. Do you know what an exile wandering around in the daytime with no scenario will look like?”

I’d forgotten for a moment.

Murim people were thirstier for enlightenment than anyone. They were the kind who would buy enlightenment even if they had to pay coins, just to make their martial arts leap forward.

And in this <Star Stream>, the easiest way to obtain enlightenment was to use a ‘fairy tale.’

If an exile came along, leaking fairy tales everywhere, it was obvious what kind of thing would happen to him.

“If you’re lucky, you might get dragged to the magistrate’s office and survive, but—”

“Then I’d be sold off to the Bureau and become a scenario’s retainer.”

“Is that what you want?”

I shrugged.

Yoo Joonghyuk walked up to me without a word and suddenly held out his hand.

“Don’t tell me you want coins.”

Damn it, what a meticulous bastard. A stingy bastard who wouldn’t even buy a single Murim dumpling with his own money.

I handed over enough coins for that stingy bastard to be fully stocked with Murim dumplings, chicken broth, and other snacks besides.

Yoo Joonghyuk counted the coins I gave him, then nodded as if satisfied.

“You’re not trying to run off with them, are you?”

“…….”

“Do you even know where the place selling Murim dumplings is?”

Was I too snippy?

An angered Yoo Joonghyuk turned to me and said,

“Looks like I forgot.”

Of course you did.

Letting out a deep sigh, I said,

“Let’s just go together.”

“But you—”

“This is how.”

I transformed ‘Thoughts About Almost Everything’ into ‘Thousand Changes Infiltration Clothes.’ Then, using the infiltration clothes, I altered my body’s size.

[The change limit of ‘Thousand Changes Infiltration Clothes’ has been reached.]
[You cannot become any smaller.]

After turning into the size of a tiny person from Peace Land, I leaped and hid inside Yoo Joonghyuk’s coat pocket.

Yoo Joonghyuk narrowed his eyes as if impressed.

“You’ve learned nothing but weird little tricks.”

“Not something I want to hear from a kid who can’t even buy Murim dumplings by himself.”

As we bickered and opened the barn door, the streets of the ‘Number One Murim’ spread out immediately. A few peddlers seemed to glance our way, but their gazes quickly scattered.

Using ‘Midday Tryst,’ I spoke to Yoo Joonghyuk while scanning the street.

—When will your body recover.

“Three or four days.”

—Buy a lot of Murim dumplings. You eat eight meals a day.

“That’s not always the case.”

It made me newly glad this place was Murim. At least here, there was food for picky-eating Yoo Joonghyuk to eat ‘eight meals.’

—That way.

I guided Yoo Joonghyuk toward the alley where I’d heard the dumpling sales cries. How long did we walk like that? I thought I smelled something delicious from afar, and then I saw old stalls lined up.

[The ‘Murim Dumpling Festival’ is currently in progress.]

Wait, there was an event like this?

Maybe it was Yoo Joonghyuk’s first time seeing this too, because he looked fairly surprised.

The signs of the street stalls all said ‘Murim Dumplings.’

「Original Murim Dumplings」
「The Real Original Murim Dumplings」
「Original Murim Dumplings Omakase」
「The True Murim Dumplings Even Goblins Acknowledge」
「New Original Murim Dumplings」
「Grandmother’s Murim Dumplings」
「Black-and-White Murim Dumplings」
…….

How many ‘Original Murim Dumplings’ were there?

—Which one is real? No, damn it. You said you forgot, right.

Instead of reacting to my grumbling, Yoo Joonghyuk was staring down the dumpling alley with an oddly hollow gaze.

That made sense. ‘Murim dumplings’ were a food with great meaning to him, too. Maybe he was recalling an anecdote with the Heaven-Sundering Sword Saint.

A warm dumpling his master, the Heaven-Sundering Sword Saint, bought for him on his birthday.

Even for a regressor, there are moments you can’t return to. And right now, Yoo Joonghyuk was briefly regressing into that moment he could never return to again.

Grrrk.

Or maybe he just looked like a dead fish because he was hungry.

—Let’s hurry and eat. Where should we buy?

At my urging, Yoo Joonghyuk slowly started looking around the nearby shops. Maybe because it was a dumpling festival, events related to Murim dumplings were being held everywhere.

Among them, two stood out the most.

[The ‘Murim Dumpling Eating Contest’ is currently in progress.]

If the prize was decent, it was a contest worth entering once.

More than anything, we had the constellation ‘Pig Who Eats Eight Meals.’

[The ‘Best Murim Dumpling Competition’ is currently in progress.]

But what Yoo Joonghyuk showed more interest in was the ‘Best Murim Dumpling Competition.’

Belatedly, I remembered that Yoo Joonghyuk was quite the gourmet.

「Even the hunchbacks famous as gourmets in the <Star Stream> raise ‘three humps’ for this legendary dumpling.」
「‘Namgung Murim Dumplings,’ taste it now.」

‘Namgung Murim Dumplings.’

Maybe because of the dumpling’s name, Yoo Joonghyuk’s steps slowly moved that way.

The dumpling shop was already bustling right from the entrance.

From the look of it, the competition judges had happened to visit the dumpling shop.

“Now, Judges. Go on and taste it!”

With a gesture, the owner brought out platters piled with dumplings. The sheen on the fluffy dumpling skin made it look like they were made fairly well.

Yoo Joonghyuk said,

“It’s franchise dumplings.”

—What? Murim dumplings have franchises too?

In fact, next to the shop, they were boxing up dumplings and selling them in bulk.

Just as I thought something about this setup was strange, the head judge stepped forward and picked up a dumpling.

“Just looking at it, it seems delicious.”

A middle-aged man with a dignified face.

The moment he opened his mouth, responses rose from the crowd.

“Namgung Jincheon!”

“It’s the King’s Sword!”

The King’s Sword, Namgung Jincheon.

I knew that name as well.

He was the clan head of one of the Five Great Clans that ruled the ‘Number One Murim,’ and one of the Ten Great Masters of the current ‘Number One Murim.’

Namgung Jincheon slowly picked up a Murim dumpling and took a big bite. Calmly chewing, he soon opened his mouth with a warm smile.

“An incredible dumpling.”

Waaaaa, a flood of cheers.

Only then did I think I understood how this dumpling contest worked.

—No, these people don’t even seem like they’re trying to hide it.

The dumpling’s name was ‘Namgung Murim Dumplings,’ and yet ‘Namgung Jincheon’ was sitting as a judge.

—Murim really has fallen.

Come to think of it, the current ‘Number One Murim’ had been heavily capitalized by the dokkaebis. There was no way an honest ‘competition’ could exist.

In other words, this ‘competition’ was nothing but a disguised festival meant from the start to promote those ‘Namgung Murim Dumplings.’

Now those ‘Murim dumplings’ would be packaged as ‘Murim dumplings acknowledged by the Namgung Clan,’ and would sell like crazy in dokkaebi bundles.

“Our Fourth Ancestor also loved Murim dumplings. I wish he could have tasted these dumplings.”

At Namgung Jincheon’s words, the surrounding martial artists let out cheers once again.

“I will announce it in the name of the Namgung Clan. The winner of this year’s ‘Dumpling Competition’ is—”

The King’s Sword, Namgung Jincheon.

At least in this ‘Murim,’ he was a figure who wielded power comparable to the 12 constellations of <Olympus>.

There was no one here who could dare oppose his judgment.

Except for one single person.

“The filling isn’t cooked evenly.”

As the entire crowd was covered in an incomprehensible silence, Namgung Jincheon widened his eyes and turned.

There was an ill-mannered brat there, spitting out the dumpling he’d been chewing.

“This kind of thing isn’t ‘Murim dumplings.’”

It was Yoo Joonghyuk.