Chapter 78
Chapter 78: Anyone unwilling to train? (3)
There was one person participating in the training with everything she had . Unexpectedly, it was none other than Doh Gah-Yun . Currently, she was facing off against the black jaguar created by Yi Ji-Hyuk .
There was not a whole lot of people in the world capable of training her, who just so happened to specialise in stealth and assassination . Even then, those folks wouldn’t have the first clue as to how to best train her .
That was why the stealthy movements of the jaguar, a creature born from the darkness, proved to be such a great boon for her .
Inside the dense forest located in the middle of the tropical island, she carefully and meticulously searched for the trace of the jaguar, hiding within the shadows . She too had blended into the darkness, as well .
‘Where?’
Even though the sunlight penetrated halfway into the forest, once the jaguar had melted into the shadows, it became nigh-on impossible to locate the creature . She closed her eyes and tried her best to sense the presence of her target, only to pick up on a low-pitched growling .
Kheureuk .
It came from right behind her .
She hadn’t sensed its movements, yet the jaguar was already behind her .
Doh Gah-Yun gritted her teeth .
Slam!
A powerful slam from the jaguar’s front paw landed on her back .
Her innards twisted and churned, and something rushed up through her throat – the bitter taste of blood trying to break out of her mouth .
However, the bitter, acrid scent of her blood got diluted by the rising curtain of dust as she fell down on the ground, hard .
It had been like this since the beginning of the training .
Even if she tried so hard to chase after her target, she couldn’t . No matter how hard she tried to find the jaguar, she continued to fail . Always, her back was exposed and she had to experience hellish pain .
Just as she was about to lose her mind over this repeating pattern, she heard a certain voice coming from the side .
“You’re wrong about something . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
Doh Gah-Yun raised her head and looked at the owner of the voice .
With a cigarette stuck to his lips, Yi Ji-Hyuk was walking towards her direction in brisk steps .
“Wrong about?” (Gah-Yun)
Doh Gah-Yun tried to stand back up . However, she lost her balance and as a result, she had no choice but to support her weight by grabbing onto Yi Ji-Hyuk’s clothes .
“Ah… . . ”
Yi Ji-Hyuk helped her up and clicked his tongue .
“If you honestly think that hard work is the only way to being successful, then let me ask you this . Why isn’t everyone else in the world successful? Use your head, will you? Your head!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
“My head?” (Gah-Yun)
Yi Ji-Hyuk let go of her hand and took a couple of steps back .
“Look . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
Then, he extended his own hand out .
Doh Gah-Yun tilted her head sideways, not getting the reasoning for his actions .
‘What’s he doing?’ (Gah-Yun)
Yi Ji-Hyuk frowned slightly, withdrew his hand, then stabbed the empty air with it . No matter how odd he looked as he repeated this motion over and over again, Doh Gah-Yun poured all of her attention in order to find the meaning of his act .
She knew very well that, even though this guy was very peculiar, he’d never do something totally meaningless . That’s what her observation of the man taught her .
She required quite some time to study his actions before she let out a gasp of surprise .
That repeated action wasn’t for himself, but for her benefit .
She finally sensed the difference of ‘presence’ when Yi Ji-Hyuk extended his hand out and when he retracted it . No, to be more precise, it wasn’t that his ‘presence’ was changing, but instead, it was actually her perception of him shifting ever so slightly every time he moved .
“And this here is the boundary . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
Yi Ji-Hyuk drew a line on the ground with his foot . She lowered her gaze to stare at it .
She could clearly see that line was bisecting the space his hand was moving back and forth until now .
“You wanna follow with your eyes? Or, with your so-called sixth sense? You think you’ll find your target with those when it’s hiding from you? You are not supposed to follow, but tofeelit . This here is the boundary of your area of cognisance . Find a way to extend it beyond this line . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
“… . My area of cognisance . ” (Gah-Yun)
“There’s no point in talking about it any further . I’ve given you what you need already . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
“… . Ng . ”
Yi Ji-Hyuk turned around to leave, and as his feet took him away, he threw out an unexpected remark .
“That Japanese healer can remove scars . That thing on your arm… . Ask him to take care of it . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
Naturally, her eyes lowered to look at her own arm, where the lengthy scar from the flying lizard incident still remained .
She raised her gaze up and fixed it on Yi Ji-Hyuk’s back as he made his way out of the jungle .
‘What an odd man . ’
*
As soon as Yi Ji-Hyuk saw the state Jeong Hae-Min was in, he began clicking his tongue .
It was indeed a pathetic and sorry sight to see the so-called idol busy convulsing on the ground while her tongue was sticking out .
“Oi . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
“Euh… . ”
“Oiii . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
Suddenly, venomous light returned to her eyes as she began glaring at him . However, even though the will to pounce and beat him up good burned fiercely in her heart, her body could only remain shuddering and wiggling on the ground .
“You… . ” (Jeong Hae-Min)
“Tsk, tsk . ”
She couldn’t really be counted on to provide direct combat support . And, even if he tried to raise her combat prowess, her limits were just too dang low for that, too . So, her training focused solely on increasing the number of people she could teleport at once, as well as the number of times she could perform it .
The methods of that were pretty simple, too . Just keep teleporting all over the place . That was all .
The only problem, though, was that seemingly simple ‘teleportation’ still exhausted a great deal of stamina and caused heavy mental strain .
“I told you, don’t just teleport to wherever! Use your brain first! Form a clear picture of where you want to go first, and set the proper coordinates for yourself!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
“Honorifics… . ” (Jeong Hae-Min)
“… . She’s beyond help . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
She’s worried about honorifics at a time like this? She’s definitely nuts .
Well, I gotta hand it to that stubbornness of hers, though .
I mean, it’s really difficult to remain so stubbornly stupid for this long, no?(Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)
Yi Ji-Hyuk lightly picked her up and tossed her into the beach chair he’d been using until now .
“I’ll acknowledge all the effort you put in before you ended up looking like now . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
Seriously, even he couldn’t dismiss her hard work after seeing her face caked with sand and mud like that .
It was unknown whether this kind of training would result in her abilities becoming more powerful . But still, he felt rather pleased to see her doing her best to follow his guidance . Especially so, if he considered how hard it would be to earn her – and other ability user’s – trust .
It was then, Yi Ji-Hyuk felt a certain emotion that was pretty hard to describe with words . Now that he thought about it, being trusted by other humans was indeed a very rare thing for him .
After all, most humans he met until now treated him like a sworn enemy .
So, what could this emotion be?
Why did it feel so… . itch, all of a sudden?
Yi Ji-Hyuk chuckled to himself and shook his head in a wry manner .
A strange sense of appreciation was beginning to bloom in his mind . Just a tiny little bit .
*
Next up, Yi Ji-Hyuk checked on the situation with Oh-Sik and his enslaved monsters still engaging in a mock battle against the ability users .
“Euh… . ”
He watched as Oh-Sik struck ‘Iron’ Park Sung-Chan and launched him into orbit . Yi Ji-Hyuk shrugged his shoulders, unsatisfied .
‘They are not really improving much, are they?’ (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
He made these users go through as many hellish battles as humanly possible in a short space of time, but he still couldn’t see any outright improvements just yet . However, that could be due to Yi Ji-Hyuk’s standard being just too high and thus making him unable to appreciate the improvements already made .
Also, it took him more than 1000 years to get to where he was . So, perhaps it was unreasonable to expect these users to improve to a level he could more or less accept in just two weeks .
‘Still, I can’t let them just be, right?’ (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
If the Gates were targeting only him, maybe the story would’ve been quite different . However, they opened up all over the world . And once the delicate balance collapsed, then it was only a matter of time before everything else collapsed, too .
And when those monsters continue to pile up, and eventually cover up the entire world… Now, that would be the day of the Apocalypse, for sure .
Even if the monster hordes were beaten back, the only person remaining would most likely be Yi Ji-Hyuk and him alone . So, without a doubt, he needed pawns who could buy him time to freely enact his plans .
These users right here, they needed to become his pawns . They needed to take the experience gained here and utilise that to enhance the overall levels of other ability users, too .
*SFX for flames erupting*
As he stood there thinking, a ball of flames flew rapidly towards Yi Ji-Hyuk’s direction . It was hard to tell whether it was accidental or not .
“Ho-oh?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
Yi Ji-Hyuk tilted slightly out of the way and avoided the flame ball .
And the person responsible for that, Seo Ah-Young, was busy licking her lips in regret, as if she had missed a terrific chance just now or something .
That girl… .
“… . She’s taking it too easy, eh . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
Jet-black magic circles suddenly rose up from Yi Ji-Hyuk’s hands . Soon afterwards, two more Mana-created monsters joined the fray .
“Uwaaaahck?!!”
“HEY!! You stinking son of a b*tch!!!!!!!!”
While listening to the unending stream of curse words and abuses, Yi Ji-Hyuk formed a content smile .
“You should’ve thought twice before flinging a flame ball around . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
How impudent these kids could be sometimes!
In any case, he was seeing the signs that the near-inexhaustible stamina and energy of the monsters were getting low as well, after going through constant battles .
It seemed that the time for Yi Ji-Hyuk to start doing his thing had arrived .
“Mister Yi Ji-Hyuk!!” (Choi Jung-Hoon)
It was then, Choi Jung-Hoon ran up to him while shouting out in an urgent voice .
“Yes?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
“We just received a request for reinforcement . A Gate is about to open up, apparently . ” (Choi Jung-Hoon)
“And why is the request coming in so late?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
“The Gate’s opening speed is apparently unstable . Its level is rated 5 as well . ” (Choi Jung-Hoon)
“Hmm… . ”
Hearing this, light returned to the eyes of the trainees .
If the Gate was rated 5, then another massive monster would emerge from it . However, that was still 100 times more preferable than facing these many monsters similar in strength over here .
“We will… . ”
“Wow, you can still speak? That is quite amazing . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
“…… . . ”
The mouths of the trainees snapped shut like bear traps right away .
“I alone will go . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
“You alone?” (Choi Jung-Hoon)
“You think me alone won’t be enough?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
“Well, if you’re personally going, then… . ” (Choi Jung-Hoon)
… . That would certainly be far more reassuring than everyone else going there, instead .
As Choi Jung-Hoon nodded his head, Yi Ji-Hyuk turned his attention towards Seo Ah-Young and barked out his orders .
“Don’t even think of taking it easy . Train hard until it’s time to get off work . Got it?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
“We will!” (Seo Ah-Young)
“Huh . Still able to speak, eh?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
“……… . . ”
Yi Ji-Hyuk spat out another long groan and added one more Mana monster to the mix before turning around to leave . From behind him, an orchestra of swearing and curse words exploded forth, but to Yi Ji-Hyuk’s ears, they sounded like the music from the heavens .
“Hey, get up!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
Yi Ji-Hyuk lightly slapped the back of Jeong Hae-Min still collapsed on the beach chair .
“M, mm?” (Jeong Hae-Min)
“Let’s go . It’s work . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
“…I really can’t move . I’m just too tired . ” (Jeong Hae-Min)
“We go now, and I’ll let you off for today . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
“Okay, where to?” (Jeong Hae-Min)
Seeing her eyes burning ablaze with renewed vigour, Yi Ji-Hyuk smirked deeply .
“Go and get the coordinates . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
Jeong Hae-Min stood right back up and ran towards Choi Jung-Hoon . After she got the necessary info, Yi Ji-Hyuk grasped her hand, and they disappeared into the thin air .
And as soon as that happened, Oh-Sik roared out even louder than before .
*SFX for a massive roar*
The trainees couldn’t help but panic when witnessing this extreme change in Oh-Sik’s behaviour . It was as if the repressed violent nature of the creature due to Yi Ji-Hyuk’s presence had finally shook off its shackles as soon as he was gone .
“N, no way… . ” (Choi Jung-Hoon)
Choi Jung-Hoon began shuddering from this unexpected situation . If those monsters were no longer under the control of Yi Ji-Hyuk, then everyone here would be massacred in no time on this tiny little island with no avenues of escape .
Kheureureu~!
Oh-Sik revealed his fangs and growled menacingly, before plopping down on his butt . Then, as if a weight was taken off his shoulders, the Ogre spat out a long sigh and lay down on the ground .
“Eh?”
It wasn’t just Oh-Sik, either . Other monsters also lay down on the ground in unison .
“H, huh?”
The ability users looked around with dumbfounded expressions etched on their faces . The huge snake,Dae-Mang, even lazily slinked off to the nearby ocean and submerged itself in it .
“… . Yeah, now that I think about it, even these guys must’ve had it hard, too . ”
“But, do monsters even need to take a break?”
“I mean, they are living creatures, right?”
“Oh . Uh, so . We can also take a break, too?”
“… . Mm?” (Seo Ah-Young)
Seo Ah-Young and Oh-Sik exchanged silent but poignant glances . The short and wordless exchange ended with them nodding their heads in understanding .
For the first time ever, humans and the monsters, who were both the victims of the category 5 tropical storm called Yi Ji-Hyuk, had formed an united front .
The horrible training regime of Yi Ji-Hyuk ended up bearing an unexpected fruit, in other words .
*
*SFX for fabrics rustling*
“Heok?!”
Colonel Jeong In-Soo’s heart nearly jumped out of his mouth when the silhouettes of two people suddenly materialised out of thin air right in front of his nose . He hurriedly pulled out his pistol and got ready .
“Hey! We were supposed to appear in the air!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
“… . Argh, I don’t care . I told you, I’m tired . ” (Jeong Hae-Min)
“Eii! Useless . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
Yi Ji-Hyuk pushed the slumped and struggling Jeong Hae-Min to the back and turned his attention towards Jeong In-Soo .
“What’s the situation like?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
“Are you here to support us? Where are the others?” (Jeong In-Soo)
“It’s me alone . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
“Alone… . ” (Jeong In-Soo)
Jeong In-Soo recalled Yi Ji-Hyuk displaying his god-like powers, and nodded his head in acceptance . If it was him, then it’d be better than the entirety of NDF’s forces showing up here .
“I’m sure you’ve reacted accordingly to the situation until now, but still, make sure to stay mindful of whatever happens . Jumping in willy-nilly will get people hurt . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
“Understood . ” (Jeong In-Soo)
Yi Ji-Hyuk was thinking of ending this real quickly and return to the island . And just as he thought of this, the Gate began emitting bright light and began opening up .
“Oh, nice timing . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
So, time to quickly… .
“Huh?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
Yi Ji-Hyuk’s expression froze up stiff as soon as he clapped his eyes on the lifeform walking out of the Gate .
That… . why the hell is that thing appearing here?!
Just what the f*ck is going on?!(Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)
As if there was an earthquake happening right now, Yi Ji-Hyuk’s eyes shook very, very hard .
< 78 . Anyone unwilling to train? -3 > Fin .
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