Chapter 33 – Starting from Day One (2)

Kim In-ho put on protective gear for the sparring match. He wore headgear, put on gloves, and bit down on a mouthpiece.

“Shouldn’t you warm up first?”

“It’s fine. I ran on my way here!”

Kim In-ho was full of fighting spirit.

Kim Tae-yang, sitting in a chair, had been muttering prayers and was now making the sign of the cross.

‘Still, if he sees me do it, he’ll probably cheer up.’

Kim In-ho and Lee Hyunbin stood on the ring.

“First, let’s see how much your person-to-person combat skills have improved.”

“Yes, sir. I’m coming in.”

Kim In-ho took his stance and rushed toward Lee Hyunbin.

He threw a one-two jab at Lee Hyunbin. Hyunbin easily dodged it with a sway. Kim In-ho pressed forward more aggressively, initiating an infight.

He attacked again, but Lee Hyunbin casually parried Kim In-ho’s jab.

“Good stamina. Good reflexes. You’ve been training diligently.”

Kim In-ho landed a clean hit on Lee Hyunbin’s face. But the sensation in his fist felt empty.

“But you’re lacking too much power. Your balance is definitely good, but it’ll be hard to deal any damage even if you land a clean hit, won’t it? Of course, it’d be different if you were using a weapon.”

Kim In-ho suddenly attacked the body of Lee Hyunbin, who had been speaking leisurely.

*Thwack!*

Then, something flashed past him. Despite the headgear, it felt like he’d been hit with a hammer.

“First, you need to build up some muscle.”

*Pow! Whack!*

Kim In-ho blinked as he was hit by a series of jabs.

“D-did you use a skill?”

A probing jab couldn’t possibly be this heavy. On the off chance, Kim In-ho suspected a skill was used, even though he knew it was unlikely.

“Why would I use a skill?”

Only then did Kim In-ho realize how Kim Tae-yang must have felt.

“Uh, it felt like I just got hit by a car.”

“Hey, don’t be such a baby over one low kick. You need to build up your lower body, too.”

Another fist flew toward his face.

Kim In-ho read the attack in advance and dodged it.

In that moment, a memory from the past suddenly surfaced.

Middle school. Gym class.

It was a day they played dodgeball, and he remembered a girl with a bob cut who always threw the ball at him.

-Why do you only throw the ball at me? There are other people here.

Thinking he had done something wrong to the girl, Kim In-ho had asked her.

A sound like escaping air came from the girl’s curt lips.

-Idiot. You don’t know why?

He hadn’t known back then.

Thinking about it now, the girl might have been expressing her embarrassed feelings in that way.

Now, he understood.

“Uh, are you okay? Was that too much?”

Hyunbin asked Kim In-ho with a flustered look. With blood trickling from his nose, Kim In-ho managed a bitter smile.

“Thanks to you, Team Leader, the mystery of my first love has been solved. I now know that she actually liked me.”

“Uh, hold on. I’ll go get a healer… No, don’t move. I think you took a bad hit to the head…!”

In the end, Kim In-ho had to spend a good while explaining to Hyunbin that he was perfectly fine.

Kim In-ho stepped down from the ring to rest, and it was Kim Tae-yang’s turn to spar.

“Aaargh!”

“Hahaha. Our Hunter Tae-yang’s endurance has improved a lot, hasn’t it?”

“Gyaaaargh!”

“Oh my! Your punches have gotten a lot quicker, too.”

“You’re a devil! A devil!”

“Hahaha. Hunter Tae-yang is definitely fun to hit. Thanks to your regeneration ability, you recover right away.”

“Just kill me!”

“Kill you? Hey now. Don’t say such hurtful things. It’s all out of affection. This is training to keep you from dying, so you can’t ask me to kill you.”

“*Sob*. *Ugh*……”

Even the aggressive and combative Kim Tae-yang was getting beaten one-sidedly by Lee Hyunbin.

After the one-sided beating—no, sparring—was over, Lee Hyunbin had the two of them sit down. His face looked strangely relieved of stress.

***

It’s been a while since I sparred. I feel like my body and mind have been cleansed.

Honestly, I figured Kim Tae-yang would be fine since he’s been through this with me before. But Kim In-ho is a bit surprising. He even got knocked out from a bad hit, but he’s showing no signs of trying to run away yet.

He’ll be able to endure, right?

From now on, we’ll have to do at least three sets of sparring.

Frankly, there’s no better training than sparring. You have to get hit a lot and hit others a lot to not get nervous in a real fight.

Not all Hunters are monster hunters who catch beasts.

There are also criminals who hunt other Hunters. I myself was ambushed by a criminal guild.

A normal Hunter would have been helpless.

“First off, you both have talent. We just need to hammer in the basics at the start, and you’ll be good to go.”

“Team Leader, I’ve already been through training…”

“Hey now. There are no exceptions. You need to rebuild your body. I heard you couldn’t even go on dungeon raids and just rested at the Hwarang Guild. I also heard you were lazing around and drinking because you had nothing to do.”

I had already looked into Kim Tae-yang’s story. When this guy trained with me, he put his heart and soul into it, but I heard he slacked off as soon as he joined the Hwarang Guild.

“No, that’s, I…”

“So why do you go around hitting people?”

“Should you really be the one to say that to me…?”

It was time to get back on the ring.

Seeing my reaction, Kim Tae-yang quickly apologized.

“Regardless of the reason, resorting to your fists is a bad thing. Unless, of course, you’re training with the heartfelt wish for your teammates to succeed, like I am.”

“……”

“Yes, sir!”

Kim In-ho sat with perfect posture, his eyes sparkling at my words, while Kim Tae-yang stared at me with dead eyes.

These two really have different personalities. How did they even become friends?

“First, Hunter Kim Tae-yang, let’s change your hair color. Your gaze is already sharp, and the blond hair makes you look like some kind of delinquent. You shouldn’t just go around dyeing the hair your parents gave you…”

“My mother is a foreigner…”

“That’s just how other people see it. I knew there was a reason the color was so radiant.”

“You just said I looked like a delinquent…”

“Did I? Surely not.”

That was a close call.

Kim Tae-yang’s face looked purely Korean. I never would have guessed he was of mixed heritage.

Kim Tae-yang and Kim In-ho are quite a well-matched pair of friends.

Kim Tae-yang is a slacker, and Kim In-ho is diligent.

Kim Tae-yang has good power, and Kim In-ho has good balance.

I put the two of them through the necessary basic training.

Most Hunters don’t understand the importance of basic training, thanks to the benefits of the game-like system.

That’s because there are stats, and all abilities get weighted according to those stats.

But quantified abilities aren’t everything.

Someone experienced like me can display power beyond their stats. That’s because it’s not combat that relies on stats, but rather a combat ability that comes out reflexively.

“Let’s start every day at dawn with a run. Whoever comes in last will have a secret and special lesson with me… Hey, no tripping!”

Training begins with a run of about five kilometers.

Running is the most basic of all basics in training. It builds stamina and lung capacity.

If you’re panting after swinging your sword a couple of times, you’ll be the one getting hunted, not the other way around.

“My, my. You eat so heartily. I bought plenty of lunch boxes on purpose, so eat up. The kid at my place eats 15 servings a day. This is nothing to me. You have to eat a lot to get put through a lot… Ah, don’t mind me, just eat.”

“Alright, it’s the sparring time you’ve all been waiting for. Starting today, we’ll do three sets. Wow, our Hunter In-ho. Your body has changed into one that’s perfect for hitting.”

“Ah, you can go to the restroom.”

“…Hunter In-ho. Is this the restroom?”

“Hunter Kim In-ho. I see a record of an outgoing call to the Tushin Guild…? May I hold onto your phone for a while?”

“Hmm, Hunter Tae-yang. Why did you call 112? Ah, you have a friend on the police force you wanted to see after a long time? I believe you. I do. Hahaha. By the way, how much time is left on your phone contract? Oh, I was just thinking of smashing it. It’s my job to eliminate the ‘evil’ that hinders our dear Hunters from getting stronger. Oh, no need to be so moved you cry.”

We started at 5 AM with a run, followed by three sets of sparring, four hours of strength training, and cardio exercises.

Excluding meal times, we were completely engrossed in training, and I felt a sense of satisfaction watching the two of them quickly build up their bodies.

One day, the two of them said they were tired of lunch boxes and asked if they could have grilled pork belly. So I told them to go eat, but four hours had already passed, and they showed no signs of returning.

“They’re not picking up their phones?”

I trusted them and let them go, and it seems they’re taking full advantage to go play.

I was contemplating whether to use Olivier to search for them when I heard the door open.

I thought it might be Kim Tae-yang and Kim In-ho, but it was Seo Hyun-ji.

It’s been quite a while since she’s shown her face.

“Hello.”

“Hi.”

Has it been a week since she last showed up?

Honestly, I wasn’t too pleased. Messages had been relayed through Seo Hyun-ji’s manager as if he were reporting to me: she had a commercial shoot, a packed variety show schedule, a business trip to the provinces.

‘An S-Rank. Definitely good to have.’

For a company, the S-Rank Seo Hyun-ji card is undeniably attractive. It can improve the corporate image and is advantageous for dungeon bidding.

“I heard from my manager that you were looking for me everywhere?”

Seo Hyun-ji lowered her eyes and gave a meaningful smile.

“I guess you missed me?”

This girl. Her face is perfectly fine, but it seems like she has a screw loose in her head.

“What training should I do?”

“You can run on the treadmill and then go home.”

“Can’t I do something else?”

“You can do that water-parting exercise from last time.”

I could feel her gaze on me as I responded nonchalantly.

If she wants to remain just a doll, I have no intention of forcing her or dragging her along. What good is talent if she has no will to use it herself?

“Oh, that. It was super easy, you know? I tried it once while taking a bath at home, and it just worked.”

Seo Hyun-ji said, lifting her chin confidently.

When I asked her to show me, she confidently filled the bathtub with water. Then she lightly put her hand in the water and drew a vertical line.

A faint blue film controlled the water’s movement. It was so simple, so easy.

“How much did you practice?”

“What are you talking about? I didn’t practice. It just happened.”

Honestly, I hadn’t expected much from Seo Hyun-ji.

I could have explained the principle and given her hints. From the start, I thought she wouldn’t be able to do it properly and wouldn’t even try.

‘This is surprising.’

I started to see the girl who had seemed so insincere in a new light.

“Try using your ability.”

“Should I use Igni, like last time?”

I nodded.

The fire spirit, Igni, is easy to use, but its intense mana movement results in high mana consumption.

For her, lacking both stamina and mana, maintaining it for a few seconds was her limit.

Seo Hyun-ji placed her bag on the table and rolled up her sleeves. Then she muttered something under her breath.

Red patterns branched out from her, forming a single character. It took less than a second.

*Fwoosh!*

With the sound of flames devouring the air, Igni was summoned. But it was different from the one she had summoned last time.

Igni, which had been the size of a person, was now no bigger than two palms put together.

Seo Hyun-ji glanced my way. Then she mumbled, as if making an excuse.

“Summoning it the usual way was too exhausting. So I decided to reduce its size instead…”

“Yes, that’s the correct answer.”

I was a little surprised. In truth, the water-parting training was a means to increase her mana sensitivity. As sensitivity increases, unnecessary mana consumption can be reduced.

That’s what I had intended to teach Seo Hyun-ji, but she had figured it out on her own.

“Well done.”

I could see singe marks on her fingers. Traces of repeating the process over and over again.

“Wh-who asked for your praise?”

Seo Hyun-ji grumbled, mumbling her words.

Kim Tae-yang and Kim In-ho. And if I add Seo Hyun-ji to the mix, this picture might turn out better than I thought.

If only I had one decent healer.