Chapter 50: The Calm Before the Storm
A rooftop of Taewoon High.
In the place where they always conducted secret training, the figures of Yoo jin and the students could be seen.
Normally it would be the time for classes to be in full swing, but to prepare for Taewoon High’s main event, the Athletic Meet happening tomorrow, the entire school only conducted morning classes.
Due to that, the training started earlier than usual.
Ye-na, who is steadily moving forward for her dream of being an assassin.
“It was a good attack.”
The dagger stopping right in front of Yoo jin’s eyes.
Although it was an invisible attack, Yoo jin blocked that attack easily.
Eyes unshaken even with a keen blade right in front of them.
“Good! With this much, even Awakened ones with a higher rank than you will be caught off guard.”
Who is Yoo jin?
A Returnee called to be on a different level even from the S-Class called Transcendents.
Among those Returnees, the one who spent a longer time in the other world than anyone else.
It was the certainty of such Yoo jin.
“Although there is still a long way to go, you improved a lot, didn't you? Compared to when your ability would dispel with just one step.”
At Yoo jin’s praise, a smile spread on Ye-na’s face.
“It’s all thanks to you, Teacher. Thank you!”
Her eyes containing orange pupils turned into half-moons.
A bigger smile spread on Yoo jin’s face containing that sight.
“Next is…….”
As Yoo jin’s gaze, which contained Ye-na, moved slightly to the side.
Clap clap!
“I am ready! Teacher!”
Seong-hyeon, who was slapping his own cheeks strongly, could be seen.
Should I say he is fired up.
Or should I say he is overflowing with confidence.
“Please use all your strength! Don’t go easy on me like you did for Ye-na! Because I want to know exactly how much my strength is!”
“…….”
Seong-hyeon looked at the sky and let out a spirited shout.
“Uwaaa!! Watch over me, Ju-hee! I will definitely become the protagonist at the Athletic Meet and get numerous girlfriends…….”
Yoo jin shook his head and snapped his fingers.
Thwack!
Behind the sound.
Flop!
Seong-hyeon collapsed just like that and fainted.
“…….”
As Ye-na’s expression paused, Yoo jin spoke calmly.
“Ju-hee in the sky asked me to hit him.”
Scratch scratch.
“Then, well…….”
Ye-na nodded as if acknowledging Yoo jin’s words.
Just in time, a cool breeze blew.
Yoo jin, who was looking down at Seong-hyeon, shifted his gaze.
The building visible on the opposite side.
Precisely to the large clock located at the top of the building.
“Thirty minutes……. Has exactly one hour passed?”
Yoo jin, muttering a monologue, moved his gaze again.
The Gourd held in his hand.
“He has become able to endure one hour as originally targeted.”
A faint smile spread on the corners of Yoo jin’s mouth, stopping his gaze there.
“Although I don’t know if he is standing well.”
***
Same time, inside the Gourd.
“Haa…… Haa…….”
The appearance of Jin-ho gasping for breath.
“One hour, I have become able to endure it.”
Although his face was full of fatigue, only the corners of Jin-ho’s mouth were soaring to the sky.
One month?
Two months?
Just when he first entered here, let alone standing, Jin-ho.
Couldn't even breathe properly.
One second felt like one year.
One minute felt like a hundred years.
The days when enduring was all he could do.
No, he couldn't even endure.
Just time suffering continuously.
Even being in here for one minute of real-time felt like dying.
Now he has come to endure for one hour.
It is all thanks to Teacher Yoo jin.
‘If I become able to stand for just one hour, I will be able to land a blow on Kang Tae-wook.’
‘A blow I won't regret.’
He endured believing only in those words.
Because it was the voice of the one who saved him, not anyone else.
He endured.
Endured.
And endured.
And soon, he became able to stand in this place for the targeted time.
Well, although it still didn't feel like one hour in reality.
Although it still felt like a few years, and it wasn't comfortable enough to see the flow of time as the same.
Even so, he did it.
Waver waver.
Orange energy wrapping around Jin-ho’s body.
He became quite used to this thing called demonic energy too.
Clench.
As the sense of elevation filled him.
Jin-ho clenched his fist tightly.
Although he doesn't know what the result will be, he did his best.
Kang Tae-wook Master Education Project.
Jin-ho thought he prepared everything he could.
There are no regrets.
That was because.
“Phew……. Since I still have a little leeway, shall I deal with them a little more?”
Jin-ho’s gaze moved.
In front of his gaze.
A group of strange creatures emitting orange energy from their entire bodies could be seen.
‘You just have to endure.’
‘If you become able to stand for one hour, it is a success.’
The goal Yoo jin set.
A task like homework given.
Because Jin-ho had already surpassed that a long time ago.
Jin-ho’s legs began to move quickly.
***
Taewoon High’s Dormitory.
Perhaps because school ended earlier than usual, the inside of the dormitory was quiet.
Most seemed to have gone to the shopping district within Academy City or were spending their own time for the Athletic Meet event happening tomorrow.
Perhaps because of that, Kang Tae-wook felt like he was left alone in a different world.
His room located in the dormitory.
The eyes of Kang Tae-wook, who was lying blankly on the bed staring at the ceiling, were losing color.
Silence―.
It was quiet.
A space where all sounds seemed to have stopped.
“…….”
However, inside the head of Kang Tae-wook, who was trapped in that soundless space, was filled with something like a completely blocked road.
He must be more perfect than anyone else.
He must become strong so no one can dare look at him.
Because that was everything left to him.
And yet…….
Clench!!
When his fist was clenched strongly, it trembled.
To the extent that the shaking of the bed was felt throughout his body.
A bitter voice flowed from Kang Tae-wook’s mouth with a crumpled brow.
“Damn it……. Why, does that guy’s face come to mind.”
Thoughts biting the tail of thoughts.
At the end of those tangled thoughts, strangely, only one guy’s face was coming to mind.
‘Jin-ho.’
Weakling.
D-Rank.
Vermin.
Earthworm.
Etc.
That guy who crawled at the bottom far removed from his world.
He was caring about him unknowingly.
No, not caring…….
Kang Tae-wook grabbed his own hair strongly.
Pluck.
Pluck.
Strength grasped strongly enough to pull out a few hairs.
Anger made him forget the pain.
“Damn it…….”
Anxiety.
Yes, this emotion was anxiety.
Why on earth?
Toward a guy like that?
Grind!
His chest felt stuffy.
He just kept exhaling rough breaths as if he forgot how to breathe.
Jin-ho’s appearance kept coming to mind.
That blue fire.
That gaze.
“A mere earthworm.”
Words spat out as if chewing.
But his trembling fingertips were saying that he was genuinely afraid.
So he couldn't bear it.
Swish!
Kang Tae-wook, who raised his body from the bed, left the room with a very sharp expression.
Although he didn't set a destination, he thought he should go outside first.
To erase that face coming to mind.
‘Tae-wook Master Education Project!’
‘Jin-ho beating Tae-wook at the Athletic Meet where everyone is watching!’
Tomorrow.
That tomorrow.
That event that hadn't even happened yet.
Because he hated imagining it.
***
Thud.
Thud.
Steps outside of his will continued.
Just to empty his head.
To shake off the anxiety.
To suppress this emotion that even he couldn't understand.
Kang Tae-wook walked continuously with dead eyes.
Without a destination.
To the extent he didn't even know where the street he was stepping on was.
Like that, he just walked for a long time.
As he did.
The sun had set.
Walking aimlessly for a few hours.
Time had passed enough for the sun to cover itself with the blanket called darkness.
“For this long….”
Suddenly his steps stopped, and Kang Tae-wook’s lips twisted upon confirming the sun had fallen.
Although there was surprise that he had entered the abyss like this.
Because the reason he did this filled his head too clearly.
He came out and walked to forget like that.
Rather.
It became even more imprinted.
Enough for a picture to be drawn in his head.
Inside Kang Tae-wook’s head, the image of Jin-ho laughing and Yoo jin making eye contact with him was drawn.
As if it was actually happening right in front of his eyes.
Straight gazes toward each other.
The iron belief contained within.
That was something Kang Tae-wook had never possessed even once.
Grind.
Kang Tae-wook clenched his teeth strongly enough for his gums to bleed.
Like that, as if pressed by sleep paralysis, Kang Tae-wook recalled the images of Jin-ho and Yoo jin in that spot for a long time.
After a long time passed.
“Phew…….”
As if the paralysis ended, the faces of Jin-ho and Yoo jin barely disappeared from Kang Tae-wook’s head.
“Why do they keep coming up…….”
In fact, he knew.
Why their faces came to mind.
Why he couldn't erase their gazes from his head.
He knew but.
He didn't want to admit it.
Kang Tae-wook, who clicked his tongue once, shook his head.
To erase the thoughts.
To suppress this blooming emotion.
As he shook his head several times enough for his brain to shake, only then did Kang Tae-wook regain his composure.
Then, it came into his eyes.
Where his feet had stopped.
“…….”
He was speechless.
He thought that perhaps he couldn't understand himself more than when the faces of Yoo jin and Jin-ho came to mind.
That was because.
“Why am I at home…….”
Because where Tae-wook was standing was his main house.
Tae-wook’s brow crumpled.
Unlike giving comfort to others, home to Tae-wook was.
Because it was the most uncomfortable place in the world.
An expression revealing hostility.
However, truly many emotions were contained in his eyes.
Enough that perhaps he would be surprised himself if he looked in a mirror.
Kang Tae-wook, who filled his eyes with the main house for a long time like that, turned his body to return to the dormitory.
At that moment.
“What, is it Kang Tae-wook?”
Clack!
Clack!
The sound of light shoes tore the quiet night.
“…….”
Kang Tae-wook’s pupils shook.
That sound.
A not unfamiliar walk that makes a corner of his memory freeze.
And…….
“It is right. Why are you here instead of being at school? No, this isn't it. Why did you come? I must have told you to return when you stop being trash.”
Along with an unpleasant smile, a man walked out from the shadows.
Kang Tae-wook’s eyes shook violently.
And unknowingly his eyes crashed to the ground.
Kang Si-wook.
One of the few S-Class Hunters of the Republic of Korea, and the future.
The Guild Master of a young guild that is currently rising more terrifyingly than any other guild.
Its status is close to the Ignis Guild, which is called a super-large guild.
And his other background is precisely.
Kang Tae-wook’s biological older brother.
But having never called each other brothers…….
“I, I just ended up here somehow…….”
“It shouldn't be a place you can come making excuses with such words?”
The words the older brother spat out were ordinary, but that tone was like a blade shaving off flesh.
Clench.
Kang Tae-wook whose expression distorted unknowingly.
Kang Si-wook approached Kang Tae-wook slowly and looked down at Tae-wook.
That gaze was light as if looking at a beast and full of contempt.
“What is it, that gaze? Could trash make such an expression too?”
“…….”
“Or what, are you saying you want to challenge me?”
At the older brother’s one word, veins began to stand on the back of Kang Tae-wook’s hand.
But soon.
The fist relaxing gradually.
Memories of a long time ago crawled up and filled his head.
A smile spread on the face of Kang Si-wook who was filling his eyes with that appearance.
“Right. Trash should act like trash.”
Cold mockery.
“Still, I’ll praise you a little. You came to make such an expression at me too. It seems you went up a rank from the Kang family’s trash to a vermin.”
Sounds of giggling rang out, but Kang Tae-wook couldn't make any reaction.
Because he knew his brother’s power better than anyone else.
And because he wanted to be like him more than anyone else.
Even if called a tool.
Because he wanted to be acknowledged by his father.
So.
Words popped out unknowingly.
“Tomorrow, at the Athletic Meet, I will show strength more overwhelmingly than anyone else.”
Kang Si-wook’s eyebrows became slanted.
“I will make it so I won't be called trash, or vermin ever again.”
Recalling Jin-ho’s face coming to mind and.
Recalling his father’s face looking at Yoo jin.
Kang Tae-wook asserted to Kang Si-wook for the first time.
The whip he gave himself for the first time.
Because he felt like he wouldn't lose only if he did so.
At that provocation that wasn't really a provocation.
The corners of Kang Si-wook’s mouth twitched.
Kang Si-wook stroking his chin as if it was interesting.
Silence between the two brothers flowed for a long time.
The wind passed by rolling a piece of trash.
In the darkness, Kang Si-wook’s one word stuck like a cold wind.
“Athletic Meet……. Then shall I visit my alma mater for the first time in a while? To also see how much the vermin has grown.”
“…….”
Kang Si-wook and Kang Tae-wook’s eyes collided in the empty air.
While doing so.
Grin.
A fishy smile was formed on Kang Si-wook’s face.
A smile hiding something.
“No matter if you are vermin, since you cannot lower Father’s and my face…… I must take out insurance.”
Saying words that couldn't be understood, Kang Si-wook took something out of his pocket.
And handed it to Kang Tae-wook.
“Use it if you think you will lose. Since this is something this brother put effort into for a very long time.”
An evil smile was formed on Kang Si-wook’s face.
.
.
.
And.
D-day.
Where things no one could imagine would happen…….
The day of the Athletic Meet dawned.