Leo Johnson is a man in his twenties, overweight, who likes to spend his free time online.
Since today is the weekend, he wanted to indulge in his questionable online habits and chat with some acquaintances in the process.
"Oh, he really doesn't want to drop it..."
During his time on the net, he came across a... toxic or just stubborn internet user?
Doesn't matter, but the point is he's dealing with a problematic interlocutor.
This took place on a banal discussion app, specifically in a group chat.
[user421: Be realistic, Kim Young-hoon is a secondary character, he can't reach Daniel UI's level, and not even Vasco's level in the Lookism universe without qi or other supernatural energy.]
"Why didn't I read his username before this debate... *sigh*"
An unwritten rule online is to never respond to people with usernames that aren't real names.
This shows the account is throwaway or fake.
Unfortunately, Leo had the misfortune of making this beginner's mistake with user421.
"If I stop now, it'll make me look like the loser."
Something his pride can't allow.
[Leo_The_God: You talk like Kim Young-hoon had a 'dependent' ability on supernatural energy or a system, bro. 'Truth Attainment' is literally a cheat code embodying the pure Wuxia cliché.]
[Leo_The_God: He can surpass them all if the objective is difficult enough. So Daniel's monstrous talent will only dig his own grave here.]
[user421: ;) Did you see his early journey? He was a beggar in the protagonist's timeline for months, and even after reaching the martial arts summit of that world, he died against a random cultivator.]
[user421: That's your GOAT? Revise your tastes lol.]
Unconsciously, Leo wanted to block the individual and continue his route peacefully, but...
'If I do that, then it's technically an admission of weakness, right?'
[Leo_The_God: You skipped several pieces of information, you fox. Kim Young-hoon literally reached the martial summit with second-rate martial arts picked up somewhere.]
[Leo_The_God: Should we talk about his level after he got martial arts from a real martial school? The guy earned the respect of cultivators in his second timeline, and the third timeline was a slaughter.]
The character of Kim Young-hoon is potentially the saddest in the story of the novel Regressor's Tale of Cultivation along with the girl Kim Yeon, according to Leo.
A man without legendary power, but who could mark the world's history with just work and his raw talent.
When others were regressors or possessed legendary physiques, Manager Kim only had... his sword, and no master.
He literally created his own path.
A technique from the protagonist Seo Eun-hyun? It originally belonged to him, and both benefited from it.
Despite his lack of starting resources and master, Kim Young-hoon always surprised the protagonist in each timeline.
'Even a demonic path cultivator was shocked by him after killing him in a timeline. He even regretted his act a little.'
Does such a person really need supernatural energy like qi to reach the summit?
For Leo, the answer is no.
[user421: Dreamer. You've read too much Regressor's Tale, my guy. Go read other works.]
[Leo_The_God: I'd bet my hand that with his abilities, even Doo Lee could surpass Daniel Park or beat any fighting genre protagonist.]
Pause.
He probably shouldn't have written that.
Even he knew that Doo Lee was rock bottom.
Hell, even his little brother has F-level talent according to Kim Suhyeon's system.
He's a guy whose existence just served to make others shine or for comedic purposes.
But well.
It's too late, and Leo is too proud to take back his words once spoken.
He's always been too stubborn to back down, which is a character trait he shares with Kim Young-hoon.
So he clicked "send."
And that's when everything went to shit.
His PC screen turned black.
No, not a crash.
A black... fluid.
As if nothingness had decided to open a pop-up.
A line of text appeared, with a greenish glow.
Instinctively, Leo thought of hacking.
[You declared that Kim Young-hoon can reach the summit in Lookism and in any fighting universe, right? Then prove it to me.]
Leo barely had time to frown when the computer suddenly burned with an extremely bright light.
Nothing more.
Total blackness after that flash.
...
He woke up in a small cold apartment, visibly without heating.
A strong smell of cigarettes invaded his senses, while he tried to fully regain consciousness.
His skull was pounding as if he had spent the night consuming illegal substances, which didn't help at all in quickly finding his bearings.
But fortunately, all this was only temporary.
Thanks to a quick trip to the bathroom sink, he could accelerate the recovery of his bodily functions.
He even managed to recover some memory.
"Fuck. This is... the Lookism universe?"
He walked to his room staggering, but still managed to open his laptop.
Fortunately, the Wi-Fi was working.
"... No. No, no, no, no, no."
At first, he wanted to believe in a hallucination or another "logical" explanation.
But he spent a good hour online watching Newtube and Samdak's channel.
He even went so far as to pinch his cheeks from time to time, but that didn't change anything.
He was indeed in the PTJ-verse, and in the body of a secondary character with comedic purposes.
Doo Lee.
(Image)
"S... shit. I preferred my old face to this... thing."
As if the bad news wasn't enough, his phone emitted a notification.
The sender?
user421...
[You said that even Doo Lee could reach the summit with Truth Attainment? Prove it.]
He remained frozen for a moment after reading this message.
"C... calm down, Leo. You can maybe fix this... Yes, that's it. If I'm Doo Lee then..."
After a few breaths to calm down, he looked at his old smartphone again, his eyes more serene, more determined.
'I need to check Kim Young-hoon's ability.'
"Truth Attainment..."
The more impossible the objective... the stronger this ability becomes.
A power that embodies the absurdity of murim- or xianxia-style protagonists.
People who defy fate and the heavens to reach their goal.
"Yeah… I can do it."