"It wasn’t always this dire from the start."
Monsters suddenly appeared at what had been an ordinary temple.
They slaughtered people within the temple grounds, dragging others into the forest. It wasn’t hard to imagine what fate awaited those dragged away—they became the monsters’ next meal.
The temple, situated high up in the mountains, was nearly impossible to escape from.
Many people died.
But.
"On the very first day the monsters appeared, one of the monks who had gone missing returned alive. And not just alive—he had discovered the Awakening method."
"...!"
"The monk standing over there, Seungju, is that very person."
At those words, the monk named Seungju gave a curt nod.
‘So he’s more significant than I thought.’
The first Awakened of the temple.
In a way, he held a similar position here as I did within our unit.
"At first, there was a lot of skepticism about Awakening. Breaking the precept of nonviolence, not to mention how dangerous it was, led to significant resistance."
"Even though delaying Awakening for just one day meant more people dying?"
"Communication with the outside world was completely cut off. Some thought if we just waited, the military might come to rescue us. It was thanks to Seungju’s persuasion that the process began quickly."
I turned my gaze toward Seungju.
"What exactly did you say to convince them?"
"...Do you know of the Seungbyeong?"
Seungbyeong—warrior monks.
Wasn’t that something from history textbooks?
"You mean the monks who fought against the Japanese during the Imjin War?"
"Something like that. When the nation was in peril, monks who took up arms to protect the country were called Seungbyeong. This temple, Myohyangsa, has a deep history in such matters. The renowned Master Yoohyeon, who fought during the war, was from this temple."
"I see..."
"The threat may have changed, but people being in danger remains the same. I simply argued that, even if it meant breaking our precepts, we had to take up arms and fight."
Thanks to that, the monks quickly began the Awakening process. Those who Awakened even ventured into the cities, rescuing people and bringing them to the temple for refuge.
That part was admirable. But.
"Most of the laypeople who sought refuge refused to Awaken."
They found it distasteful. Or they were terrified of the idea of killing monsters.
"Even among those who Awakened, many refused to fight."
That type of individual wasn’t uncommon. Our unit had seen them too—Gwangil was a prime example.
From the perspective of a group’s survival, they were the kind of people you absolutely couldn’t afford to tolerate.
"And you just let that slide?"
"Forcing frightened individuals onto the battlefield? Encouraging them to kill? How could we possibly do such a thing?"
"Hah."
"Still, there are laypeople willing to help. It’s thanks to a new benefactor who joined us just a week ago that we managed to reach the hundred-Awakened mark and officially became a guild."
"A week ago?"
"Yes."
A week ago.
I sighed, pulling my scarf up to cover my face.
‘Sanghyup said he gathered information about a northern group a week ago.’
They # Nоvеlight # hit the guild threshold just a week ago. Sanghyup’s ability must have triggered at precisely that point.
‘Well, we’re technically a guild-sized group too.’
The phrase "comparable to a legion in scale" wasn’t entirely inaccurate.
But.
That meant the problem here was far more serious.
Despite the similar starting point of discovering the Awakening method early on, we had reached our level long before leaving the mountain of the 423rd Battalion.
They had only just gotten there.
"It’s almost miraculous you’ve held out this long. But how did you manage food? Feeding that many people couldn’t have been easy."
"The Awakened warrior monks descended into the cities to procure food. But even that had its limits..."
The abbot retrieved an object from behind him.
"This is what we currently rely on."
[Hard Rye Bread]
Hard rye bread.
A cheap, tasteless, and hard-to-eat bread sold in stores for 10 points per piece.
"...You’re surviving on this?"
"Yes."
"You’re feeding thousands of people with this?"
"If rationed carefully, one piece can cover two meals. Fortunately, we’ve managed to scrape by."
"...Hah."
At this point, I couldn’t even get angry. I just let out a dry laugh, dumbfounded.
‘Rye bread... Rye bread?’
The same rye bread from the store. It was something my unit hadn’t touched in months.
I’d heard that regular Awakened often had to rely on it to survive. In a world where food was scarce, taste and nutrition were secondary to reliability.
But calling it a harmless food was another matter entirely.
‘It’s way too expensive.’
Ten points.
That might not sound like much, but saving 1,000 points would get you a stat-enhancing potion. Depending on your luck, it could raise your stats by 1 to 3 points.
So the price of 100 pieces of tasteless rye bread equaled one stat potion.
Knowing that, even regular Awakened avoided relying on it unless absolutely necessary. Rye bread was meant to be a last resort.
"There are only two ways to increase your stats in this world: leveling up or using stat potions. And yet you’re spending all your precious points on bread?"
"People can’t starve to death."
"..."
Their food supply was so dire that rye bread had become their staple.
"This is insane."
The reason for this situation was simple.
Too few Awakened compared to the overall population.
‘One hundred Awakened feeding over a thousand non-combatants? That leaves no room for flexibility.’
A hundred fighters supporting at least a thousand civilians.
In the past, such a ratio wouldn’t have been strange. Even in our own country, soldiers made up about 1% of the population.
But things are different now.
‘Even production is handled by the Awakened.’
In a world overrun by monsters, even scavenging or farming was too dangerous for regular people.
The Awakened had to handle both combat and food production. They were doing it all—and now they relied entirely on expensive rye bread bought with points.
"One thing doesn’t make sense to me."
"What is that?"
In a system like this, a certain type of problem was bound to emerge.
"Given what you’ve told me, it wouldn’t be surprising if the Awakened here acted like nobles."
They controlled everything necessary for survival. In other groups, I’d heard of Awakened treating survivors as servants or worse.
But here, it was the opposite.
‘The survivors we met on our way here—those people acted like they were in charge.’
And the monk in front of me, Seungju, the temple’s first Awakened and likely one of its most influential figures, seemed to be at the mercy of the unawakened.
"We’re aware of that risk. That’s why we take great care to ensure the idea of Awakened superiority doesn’t take root."
"That’s admirable, but..."
Our unit did something similar. We ensured no one lost their humanity or succumbed to arrogance.
"But it feels like you’re a bit too subdued when dealing with the survivors."
The issue here wasn’t just balance. It seemed like the Awakened were outright weaker in influence compared to the survivors.
"Well, the unawakened do outnumber us by a significant margin."
Seungju’s expression darkened at my words, while the abbot calmly responded.
So.
"...You’re using majority rule?"
"Yes. It’s one of the rules we established early on to prevent unfair treatment."
"..."
A hundred Awakened could wipe out thousands of unawakened if they wanted. They could enslave them or live like nobles.
But these people, who couldn’t even bring themselves to force others to Awaken, let alone fight, would never do such a thing.
So instead, they respected the majority’s opinions and ran their group accordingly.
"The result is that a handful of Awakened are feeding the majority... and have essentially become slaves."
"..."
It was a harsh thing to say.
But even Seungju couldn’t muster a rebuttal this time.
"Hah. This is more fascinating than anything else."
At this point, it was beyond ridiculous. I wasn’t even angry anymore. I decided to ask a pressing question.
"How have you managed to survive up to now?"
"Survive? By fighting diligently, of course..."
"You’ve got at least a thousand survivors, judging by the numbers, and you’re relying on rye bread for food. That means every single point earned from combat goes toward food, doesn’t it? I assume you’ve never been able to afford a stat potion, either."
If they weren’t improving their stats, they were inevitably growing weaker. Hunting enough to feed thousands could easily get them killed in the process.
"I told you about how Monk Seungju reappeared after going missing on the first day, didn’t I?"
"Yes."
"He didn’t just bring back the Awakening method."
"...?"
"I may be the abbot, but I didn’t originally study at this temple, so I wasn’t aware of all its details. However, Myohyangsa has a long history tied to warrior monks."
"Go on..."
"It turns out that the martial arts passed down from Master Yoohyeon, the renowned monk during the Imjin War, still existed. Monk Seungju rediscovered those techniques."
Martial arts.
It must be the same technique that the armored man who fought Gwangil used.
I glanced at Monk Seungju, who nodded silently.
"It’s called the *Anti-Demon Warrior Monk Technique*. You’ve seen it in action, haven’t you?"
"...The *Anti-Demon Warrior Monk Technique*."
"Is there something about it that doesn’t sit well with you?"
"No, it’s nothing."
I already suspected that these monks were using some kind of special technique.
But...
‘*Anti-Demon Warrior Monk Technique*, huh?’
Fine. Let’s go with that for now.
"I understand what you’ve told me. But, monks, if things continue like this, this temple will fall."
"Hmm. We are aware of the problems. However, we lack the means to—"
"I’ve told you over and over again!"
Suddenly, Monk Seungju interrupted the abbot mid-sentence.
"There’s only one way to fix this situation: force the survivors to Awaken!"
"Monk Seungju... we agreed not to bring that up again, did we not?"
"That soldier isn’t wrong about anything he’s said! This situation is far from normal. Why should those fighting with their lives on the line have to take orders from people lounging comfortably?"
It seemed the monks had already debated this issue extensively amongst themselves. Now, the two of them were arguing intensely in front of me.
"But forcing them to Awaken is unacceptable. Would you have us abandon our last shred of humanity?"
"I have an idea."
Monk Seungju pointed in my direction.
"The merchant who came with these soldiers."
"Yes?"
"We buy food from him, but we limit its distribution."
"Limit it? What do you mean?"
"We’re almost out of points anyway, aren’t we? Rationing will be necessary regardless. Instead, we can offer extra food to those who agree to Awaken."
Ah.
No wonder they asked us not to mention food before passing through the temple gates. They were already planning to use this situation to their advantage.
"How is that any different from forcing Awakening?!"
"So you’d rather we all starve to death together?! Please, abbot, wake up! A complete outsider took just a few moments to see how dire our situation is. I respect your character, but if we continue like this, we’ll all die!"
The argument, which had started politely, grew increasingly heated.
As I listened, a thought crossed my mind.
‘...This might actually be easier than I expected.’
The problem they faced was one I could solve without much trouble.
"Excuse me. Just a moment."
"Layperson, I’m sorry, but we’re in the middle of—"
"So, you can’t force people to Awaken, but you’re fine with encouraging voluntary Awakening, right?"
"...?"
"I think I can solve this problem for you."
Because the issue of Awakening had been a challenge for our guild once as well.
Which meant we had already solved it.
"You can solve it? What do you mean?"
"I can make the survivors voluntarily choose to Awaken. And I can also resolve the issue of them treating the monks like slaves."
"Is that... really possible?"
"It doesn’t involve any violent methods, if that’s what you’re worried about."
"That would be a relief, but..."
"It’s the least violent method you can imagine."
"But I do have one condition."
"A condition?"
"If you can truly solve this monumental problem, we’d be happy to offer compensation. But I’m not sure we have anything grand enough to match such a favor."
"You do. It’s something simple."
I turned my gaze to Monk Seungju.
The so-called heir to the *Anti-Demon Warrior Monk Technique*.
"That *Anti-Demon* technique you mentioned."
"Ah...! You’d like us to teach it to you? If that’s what you want, we’d be glad to. Though, the technique is primarily staff-based—"
"No, teaching it is a given."
"Huh?"
Don’t think you can get away with just that.
Teaching me the technique alone isn’t enough.
"First, I need to know where you got it from."
"..."
"How exactly you came by this technique, what its underlying principles are, and where it originates from. You’ll need to explain all of it."
At my words, the abbot tilted his head in confusion.
"But I already explained, didn’t I? It’s a martial art passed down from the famous warrior monk Master Yoohyeon—"
"...Do you truly believe that?"
"Excuse me?"
I shot the abbot a pointed look.
He wore an expression that said he didn’t understand my question.
"If that’s what you believe, then fine. This conversation is over."
"Hoho, please, calm down, young layperson. I’m not sure what you’re implying—"
"Maybe the abbot doesn’t know."
"...?"
I turned to face another monk.
"But Monk Seungju seems to think differently."
"What do you mean?"
The abbot’s gaze shifted to Seungju.
"Monk Seungju?"
"..."
"What’s the matter? Why are you sweating so much?"
"Ah, well... um..."
Seungju was drenched in cold sweat, looking like someone whose secret had just been exposed.
"I-I’m sorry."
"Sorry? What for? Hah."
I watched the scene unfold and thought to myself.
‘If you’re going to lie, at least make it believable.’
A martial art from a legendary warrior monk who fought during the Japanese invasions? And this technique allowed people, weakened from lack of stat potions, to fight monsters effectively?
‘Not even Shaolin kung fu could manage that.’
Besides.
Even the name was a problem.
[Ingredient Identification (Enhanced)]
[Awakened: Seungju]
[Class: Intermediate Paladin Lv.27]
[Attributes: ...]
[Traits: ...]
[Skills: ...]
[Martial Arts]
[A - Whirlwind Celestial Staff Technique Lv.6]
‘*Anti-Demon Warrior Monk Technique*? Not a single character matches, you liar.’
