“…Why… why does it feel like he’s gotten even more vicious?”
Lee Han, who had collapsed and was trembling like a newborn deer, muttered blankly. Beside him, Tae-seok, who had tried to get up several times only to faceplant repeatedly, ground his teeth, radiating killing intent. His lips, parched and cracked from rolling around brutally for an hour straight without a single second of rest or a drop of water, endlessly mumbled curses aimed at Sa-yoon.
“What did I say? I told you, these guys wouldn’t be fazed by something like that…!”
“Like I knew they’d be this okay?”
Listening to Tae-seok’s furious protest, Mi-jeong opened her fan and gave an awkward eye-smile. Though she looked relatively better than the others, her hand trembled so violently she could barely hold the lightweight fan, revealing that she, too, had suffered quite a bit during the past hour.
Her sharp, violet eyes landed on Sa-yoon, who was currently berating his guild members. Having ruthlessly drilled not just Noah but the Night Rats members as well, Sa-yoon was currently perched on the back of his executive, Jongsik, spouting nonsense like, “The Guild Leader is disappointed in you.”
“Even if I didn’t say it, if I told you a war was coming, shouldn’t you have sensed, ‘Ah, we’re going to fight to the death soon,’ and built up your skills on your own? What kind of half-assed bullshit is this? If you go into the Gate and fly around like amateurs, I’m the one who gets embarrassed. Is that why you’re doing this? You got a problem?”
“That’s unfair, Hyung-nim! How were we supposed to raise our skills in such a short time…!”
“You took all the precious items, yet you still say you can’t do it. Do you think SSS-Rank Gate rewards grow on trees?”
“No… wait, keok!”
The guild member who talked back was struck in the face by a chunk of ice and rolled backward. Sa-yoon looked down at his disrespectful guild members, ice shards condensed from his frosty aura floating ominously above his head.
“So.”
At the single word inviting them to continue, the guild members’ eyes instantly shifted from angry bulls to docile sheep. Finding even that look impudent, Sa-yoon pelted them with the ice chunks he had prepared.
While he was meeting his Original Soul, contemplating his life anew, and gaining enlightenment while agonizing over who might be sacrificed in this Gate, it seemed his guild members had been enjoying a leisurely vacation. Nothing about this pleased him.
Of course, to the guild members—who had spent Sa-yoon’s absence testing the effects of their new items, sparring to improve each other’s growth, and occasionally clearing other Gates to keep their combat senses sharp—it was an incredibly unjust scolding. But regardless, it was their fault for failing to achieve the growth Sa-yoon had targeted.
Watching Sa-yoon grill his guild members without mercy, Mi-jeong tilted her head.
“He really is… excessively fine, isn’t he?”
She had thought his heart would be quite bruised, even if he didn’t show it, after being expelled from Noah due to the controversy. But surprisingly, Sa-yoon wore a face that showed no damage whatsoever. It was quite different from the young boy she remembered, so Mi-jeong blinked, then smirked and folded her fan.
“Right, well, he couldn’t stay a kid forever.”
Because her first impression of him had been so strong, Mi-jeong, who had first seen Sa-yoon when he was a minor, couldn’t help but keep that image of him in her mind like an afterimage. That was why she couldn’t let go, no matter how vicious the world judged him to be, or how twisted his personality had become.
Mi-jeong knew, at least a little, what the original Sa-yoon was like.
Rather, she thought there must be a reason for him to change so drastically. If it was a reason he couldn’t tell her, it must be a story he couldn’t tell others, and people who lived long with such secrets often died soon or suffered great misfortune, so how could she not worry?
Thinking she didn’t know when or how something might happen to him, Mi-jeong had watched over him for a long time from a distance that felt close yet far. For the first time, in Mi-jeong’s eyes, she saw a sturdy young man instead of a young boy. As she had passed her thirties, she finally realized that the man in front of her had also passed his fragile teens and anxious early twenties.
I should have listened to Tae-seok.
From the moment the controversy broke, Mi-jeong had worried about Sa-yoon daily. From Tae-seok to Ho-cheol, Dong-ju, and even Lee Han, everyone had soothed her, saying it was useless worry and not to waste her precious heart and time. Back then, she thought they were judging too heartlessly, even if the subject was Sa-yoon, but perhaps they had noticed Sa-yoon’s growth a step faster than her.
“He’s surprisingly lucky with people.”
Stubborn and proud, she thought he would rot alone without ever confiding his secrets to anyone, but Sa-yoon, who had made quite a few trustworthy people of his own while she wasn’t looking, had a much more relaxed face. Mi-jeong looked at Jae-hee shaking his head while standing next to Sa-yoon scolding the guild members, Geon-joo massaging Sa-yoon’s shoulders as if it were familiar, and finally Jongsik, who was carrying Sa-yoon as punishment, shouldering all responsibility simply for being the most senior executive.
Befitting those gathered around Sa-yoon, each one had a distinct personality.
Laughing low, Mi-jeong approached the growling Sa-yoon and lightly tapped his head with her fan. Sa-yoon, who had been getting angry while reviewing the previous training, looked up.
“What?”
“You have a lot more people on your side now.”
“…?”
“I don’t have to be the only one on your side anymore.”
“Since when were you on my side, Noona?”
Thud!
A powerful impact sound, unbelievable for a wooden fan, rang through the training room. The guild members, who had their heads buried in the ground, blinked in surprise, and Jongsik gasped. Sa-yoon, who got hit after speaking in a lukewarm voice, rubbed his head and let out a hollow laugh.
“What are you doing, making me lose face in front of the kids?”
“Then who told you to act rude in front of me?”
“…Ugh.”
Sa-yoon frowned, seemingly frustrated that he couldn’t act as he did with others because of their relationship, and Mi-jeong felt a headache coming on.
Talking about ‘face’ at that age. Did he really grow up?
Mi-jeong wanted to retract all the thoughts and emotions she had just felt and pretend they never happened.
***
“Is the training over?”
Association staff rushed to the group, who finally emerged from the training room more than an hour and 45 minutes after entering. Sa-yoon, who had drilled them hard for an hour, let them rest for 10 minutes, drilled them again for 30 minutes, and then gave them 5 minutes to recover their stamina, nodded with a reluctant face.
“It would have been nice if we had a little more time until the Gate opened.”
Neither Noah nor Night Rats showed a level of skill that satisfied him. When Gyeongjin, unable to take any more rolling around, asked in frustration exactly what level he wanted, what Sa-yoon had in mind was overwhelming power.
So that even if someone made a mistake by chance, no one would die in the Gate.
He intended to attempt the Gate clear only after visually confirming an overwhelming martial prowess that would ensure everyone’s survival, but neither the guild members nor Noah followed his plan at all.
It was a story that would make the two organizations, who had recovered by chugging top-grade potions after rolling around until they nearly died, jump up and down in rage if they heard it. However, Noah and the Night Rats guild members, whose bodies had recovered but minds had not, simply followed Sa-yoon with exhausted faces.
“Since you’ve rested enough, we’re going straight to the Gate.”
“Enough?”
“…Did I mishear the dictionary definition of ‘enough’?”
“Crazy bastard.”
A mild commotion arose from behind, but it wasn’t a problem. Sa-yoon immediately snapped his fingers and attacked those who spoke with ice shards, silencing the noise instantly.
“Tsk tsk. Why curse where the Guild Leader can hear?”
“Leave them be, it’s all lack of experience. What would guys who were provided comfortable room and board and training rooms at Noah know?”
“Practicing in a training room is a luxury in itself.”
The Night Rats guild members whispered about Tae-seok, Lee Han, and Ho-cheol, who had shut their mouths after being hit by ice. Dong-ju, hearing the inconsiderate whispering right in front of him, stopped Chan-hee, who was walking next to him.
“Did Night Rats guild members always train like this?”
Asked the question, Chan-hee rolled his eyes upward as if recalling memories, then nodded.
“Sometimes.”
“Sometimes? …So you usually train normally.”
“Usually, he throws us directly into a Gate.”
“…”
“Surprisingly, it’s effective. Everyone comes out with unrecognizable growth after being trapped for two or three months. Geon-joo over there was similar.”
Chan-hee said with a bright smile. Hearing the voice recommending Dong-ju to try it about three times if he had hit a limit in his growth, saying it was a radical but effective method, Bae Dong-ju scanned Chan-hee’s gentle face and nodded as if accepting it.
Indeed.
No matter how kind he looked, the fact that he joined Night Rats meant he wasn’t sane in some aspect.
Unaware of Dong-ju’s thoughts, Chan-hee, touched that the other party nodded, smiled brightly.
The day Hyung-nim’s training method is recognized finally comes!
Feeling proud, Chan-hee approached Jongsik and bumped fists. Jongsik, accepting the greeting without knowing why, saw Dong-ju’s bitter expression and Chan-hee brighter than usual, and let out an exclamation.
Our Chan-hee must have been praised by Dong-ju for his improved combat skills!
Smiling brightly as well, Jongsik immediately went to Sa-yoon and reported the fact.
“Chan-hee was praised by Bae Dong-ju?”
That picky Bae Dong-ju gave a compliment?
Turning around at the absurd sound that made him wonder if he heard it with his feet instead of his ears, Sa-yoon looked back and forth between Dong-ju, who made a pathetic face when their eyes met, and the triumphant Chan-hee, then tilted his head.
I don’t think that’s it.
But since he liked it, Sa-yoon decided to leave it be and hurried to move to the Gate area. Watching them quietly, Geon-joo glanced at Chan-hee and leaned toward Sa-yoon.
“Thinking about it, I think a younger guy about four years younger than you is better than just any younger guy.”
What is this bastard saying now?
Sa-yoon, dumbfounded by Geon-joo conveying an absurd story with a straight face and serious voice, checked Chan-hee, who was still looking at them with sparkling eyes, and grasped the situation.
Press.
Long fingers pressed against his temple. He wondered if this was really something he should be hearing on the way to clear the last SSS-Rank Gate just before war arrived.