The Rise of the Martial Titan

Chapter 1: A Soldier's Awakening

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“I was just trying to read a stupid book. How the hell did I end up here?”

Jae-Min Lee, CEO of a billion-dollar conglomerate, and an ex-soldier, looked at his surroundings in sheer disbelief. This wasn’t his sleek, modern office. This wasn’t even his bed, where he should have been recovering from his brief but chaotic military service. No, what surrounded him was dirt, blood, and the distant, gut-wrenching sounds of battle.

“This... This is a battlefield.”

He looked down at his hands, covered in grime, his fingertips gripping the cold steel of a sword that had seen far too much bloodshed. The weight of it felt foreign, yet somehow familiar. The weight of responsibility? Or the weight of inevitability?

He took a deep breath, trying to make sense of the situation. His body, now battered and bruised, lay sprawled on the cold, unforgiving ground. His mind, usually sharp and alert in business meetings, was struggling to keep up with the surreal situation he found himself in.

“I was in the year 2056… wasn’t I?” Jae-Min thought, his mind racing as he tried to recall the last moments of his life.

The cold night air struck him, sending a shiver down his spine. He had been sitting in his high-rise apartment, reading the novel Warring States of Murim, an obscure book he found fascinating, but never in a million years did he expect to wake up inside it. A historical novel, yes, but one with magical and fantastical elements. Clans, martial arts, warring kingdoms, a story that had been consuming his nights. A story that had always fascinated him—until now.

“Oh, come on. I barely finished the second chapter before this happened.” Jae-Min groaned internally. “No one told me transmigration came with full immersion into the plot!”

He forced himself up, wincing as pain shot through his limbs. His body felt sluggish, as if he had been training for days on end without rest. He looked around, trying to make sense of it all. The sounds of clashing swords, the cries of soldiers, and the occasional horse galloping in the distance—it all felt like a nightmare.

“Is this a dream? Or did I lose my mind completely? Because if this is a dream, then I need to wake up. But if this is real… then what the hell am I supposed to do?”

Before he could come to any conclusions, a shout from the distance pierced the air, snapping him out of his trance.

“Advance!” a gruff voice commanded.

Jae-Min turned, his eyes catching sight of the chaotic battlefield unfolding before him. Soldiers clashed in the mud, blood splattered across the ground, and the sound of steel ringing against steel filled his ears. The stench of sweat, blood, and death hung in the air like a suffocating cloud. This wasn’t a place for an idealist, and certainly not for someone who had never truly experienced combat.

But there he was.

“What the hell am I doing here?” He muttered again, trying to steady himself. He glanced around, his mind racing. This must be the war that defined the three states in Murim, he thought. The warring states where power, betrayal, and martial prowess dictated the flow of history.

The book. It was all starting to make sense now. Somehow, he had been reincarnated into the story, into the chaotic mess of this fantastical war-torn world.

“Lieutenant Lee! Where are you?” A voice barked from behind him.

Jae-Min whipped around, his instincts kicking in. A man, dressed in simple armor, stood there with a look of frustration and urgency. His face was smeared with dirt, and his eyes were wide, as if expecting something from Jae-Min.

“Lieutenant Lee?” Jae-Min thought, his brain scrambling to piece together who this person was.

The man raised an eyebrow, his patience clearly wearing thin. “I told you to form up with the other soldiers! Now!”

Jae-Min blinked. He quickly glanced around, taking in the chaos of the battlefield, then back at the soldier. His eyes narrowed as a flood of memories rushed in—Lieutenant Lee, a young officer in Bei, one of the weakest kingdoms in the Warring States of Murim.

This is… my body now?

The realization hit him like a ton of bricks. This wasn’t just some random soldier’s body he had taken over; it was Lieutenant Lee, a character from the novel, someone who would be caught in the middle of the struggle between the three states. The very state that Jae-Min had rooted for in his book, the one he always believed had the potential to rise from the ashes of its weaknesses.

“Well, crap,” he muttered.

Before he could act, the soldier—his soldier—grabbed his arm and yanked him towards the frontlines.

“Are you daft, Lieutenant? We need you there, now! The enemy is breaking through!” the soldier shouted.

Jae-Min, still trying to come to terms with his new reality, followed instinctively, his legs moving despite his confusion. He had no choice. He had to play along for now, at least until he could figure out what the hell was going on.

The ground beneath his boots felt different. The weight of the sword in his hand felt heavier. There was no turning back.

As they moved through the battlefield, Jae-Min’s mind raced. He knew the story, he had read it enough times. He had always dreamed of being a hero, of winning battles, of outsmarting enemies. But now that he was here, in the thick of it, reality was much more brutal than any fictional account.

He saw soldiers charging, shouting in desperation, as they were swept into the violent tide of battle. The enemy was overwhelming. And here Jae-Min was, not just an observer anymore, but a participant. His strategic mind whirred to life, calculating the movements, the patterns, the weaknesses. His military experience—both from his life on Earth and the knowledge of the novel—was starting to kick in.

“If I can just survive this…” he thought. “I need to make a name for myself, get out of this mess, and figure out how to control my own fate in this world. If I can get to the top, maybe I can take control of this situation. I’m not going to die here. Not today.”

He pushed forward, his heart pounding in his chest. The battle raged on around him, but Jae-Min had a singular focus now: Survive. Adapt. Make them all see the power of the Iron Titan.

And so, with his mind working overtime, his ego quietly smirking, and the weight of the sword in his hand, Jae-Min Lee—the youngest genius, CEO of a conglomerate, and accidental time traveler—took his first step toward becoming a legend in the Murim world.

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To be continued...