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Black Fog.
An unknown phenomenon that had suddenly appeared one day in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
At first glance, it was nothing more than fog—which is why it was called Black Fog—but when researchers began investigating, they discovered it was far more sinister.
Prolonged exposure weakened humans, eventually killing them, only for them to be resurrected as zombies—creatures that attacked any living being they encountered.
Those bitten by the zombies were reborn after death, just like in the movies. So, humanity attempted to incinerate every zombie, including the first wave exposed to the Black Fog.
Even those who were exposed but hadn’t become zombies were at risk.
If it had ended there, it would have been a simple incident…
The problem was, the Black Fog did not remain confined to the middle of the Pacific.
It grew in size, moving toward land—driven by wind, or perhaps by some unknown purpose. Humanity scrambled to evacuate coastal populations and used every means possible to stop its advance.
Giant fans, circulators, cutting-edge technologies—all tried to eliminate the fog.
But the Black Fog ignored the laws of physics. It reached land, and as soon as it did, it began producing strange creatures: monsters.
Had this continued, humanity would have been annihilated by a Black Fog that defied every law of nature.
But there was still hope.
An American genius studied the Black Fog and created the Awakened System.
Just as the Black Fog unleashed monsters inspired by humanity’s fantasies, the Awakened System allowed people to awaken powers drawn from similar sources.
The principle behind it remained unknown.
The Black Fog, aware of the system’s threat, attempted to stop it. But the genius activated the system just before his death, saving humanity.
Only the dead know what he saw through the Black Fog, and how he devised the Awakened System from it.
Once the Awakened System was activated, it spread to people around the world.
While accessible to all, not everyone could benefit. Still, it was enough.
With the system’s aid, humanity fought back, driving the Black Fog off the continents… and into the seas.
But the Black Fog did not rest. The continents were human lands, but the seas belonged to the fog, which continued tormenting humanity as if unsatisfied.
And I, Han Geon-woo, was born into this world—a world where the battle against the Black Fog raged on.
All babies in this world were placed in special incubators for several months after birth.
These incubators were infused with purified magic derived from the Black Fog. Prolonged exposure allowed infants to develop resistance to the Black Fog.
So I, too, was placed into an incubator immediately after birth.
And I thought:
Regression…
Not the reincarnation described in Hinduism or Buddhism. Those teachings spoke of dying and being reborn, not returning to the past.
Regression, as a concept, belonged to creative works—games, novels, and systems.
But how… did I regress?
I had seen the message from the Awakened System. In fact, I was more curious because of it.
The system had tried to save me, ensuring that the martial art I created—Harmony Art—would survive, perhaps to benefit humanity in some way.
I understood it roughly: it was a “reset.” Time on Earth had turned back, or perhaps I had been sent to a parallel world.
And in that process… the Harmony God intervened.
To prevent harm to me, the Harmony God’s Art interfered with the system’s initialization. My memories and Harmony Art remained intact; only the other elements were reset.
What were the Awakened System and the Harmony God thinking?
…Is it even worth pondering?
There was little information, so thinking too deeply was pointless.
What mattered was that Harmony Divine Art, completed just before my death—or just before my regression—remained.
It contained all my skills and enlightenment. Worth every second invested.
The problem? Its level is far too high.
Not a martial art a newborn could handle.
Even an adult body might have exploded if I had attempted it before regression.
Harmony Divine Art was no ordinary technique—it interfered with magic, aura, and supernatural forces, requiring the body to withstand and harmonize multiple energies, or risk catastrophic conflict.
So, while in the incubator… my goal was simple.
I had to reshape my body to be suitable for learning Harmony Art.
A newborn’s body could barely move—but internal energy could still flow.
Of course, I had no internal energy yet. But there was a solution:
Pure magic infused in the incubator.
The magic came from the Black Fog, purified by wizards. At this level, I could perform a small heavenly circuit.
Normally, storing this magical energy in the lower dantian would be dangerous; it had to be transformed into pure internal energy.
So I adjusted the process of the small vessel.
Valley bone, perineum, tailbone, life gate, spine, body, juju, jade pillow, hundred circles…
Following the Du Meridian, magic ascended the acupoints along my back to Baihui, the crown point.
Baihui, Yintang, Tiantu, Danzhong, Shenque, Guanyuan.
Then, following the Ren Meridian, the energy descended to the dantian.
This completed the small heavenly circuit, but I did not stop. My goal was not just internal energy—it was building my body.
No magic could remain within. So I expelled it.
Beep beep beep!
“What… what is this?!”
“Abnormal magic detected in incubator #42.”
“Ah… must be a machine error…”
The energy passing through my body triggered the staff to transfer me to a different incubator.
“Ugh… what’s that smell…?”
“You exposed the baby to raw magic? They could’ve died!”
“Which company made this? We need to complain…”
I didn’t care. My training had begun. Slow, tedious, painstaking… but necessary.
Once I mastered the threshold of life and death, things would be easier.
Clearing the life-and-death barrier meant the Du and Ren meridians flowed uninterrupted. Energy would circulate freely, even as I aged. Later, I could use it to strengthen all twelve meridians, refining my body entirely.
Hah… can you believe I’m still a newborn?
Mastering the life-and-death barrier was surprisingly easy. My infant body had not fully developed, so the barrier was weak.
With the Du and Ren meridians connected, I achieved a state like 24-hour energy cultivation, though I expelled magic immediately since I wasn’t building internal energy yet.
Internal energy could wait until my body could withstand Harmony Divine Art.
Months passed, and finally, I left the incubator.
“Beep… Beep… Now it’s okay to take him?”
“Yes. Just complete the paperwork.”
Finally free, I could live with my mother. She embraced me, and we left the hospital together.
Home… it feels familiar.
The house I shared with her before regression. I looked around, recalling memories, still in her arms.
“Geon-woo, this is our home,” she said, setting me in the baby chair in the kitchen.
“I’ll make you food soon.”
She opened the fridge, chopping vegetables to make baby food.
…I won’t be able to eat that much in my tiny body…
It was clear she had studied how to make homemade baby food, but her first attempt looked clumsy.
“Steam these, mash them… hmm?”
“….”
It would take her a while to finish. I sighed silently, letting her work while I focused on my own training.
Now that I’m out of the incubator, I can cultivate pure internal energy.
Before, the incubator’s magic would have contaminated my dantian. Now, I could train freely.
Harmony Divine Art didn’t care about the type of energy, so building internal energy ahead of time posed no problem.
“…Steam this, then blend it in the mixer?”
“….”
It would take some time, typical of a first-time mother. I watched her, thinking:
She suffered a lot because of me.
Being a single mother was difficult enough, but it was worse after I awakened my martial arts.
[Those who sought to capture me didn’t just threaten me—they kidnapped my mother to force me to comply.]
Many organizations tried to manipulate the world’s only awakened martial artist.
Though my allies rescued her quickly, my mother, a normal person, had suffered greatly.
She could have blamed me…
“I’m sorry, my son… I’m sorry for being a hindrance…”
She didn’t. She simply apologized for standing in the way. And eventually… she took her own life.
Not out of despair, but so I could focus.
The day she died, I faced my first inner demon—a demon of regret.
This time… it won’t happen again.
This time, I would avoid regret.
