Chapter 93

Hah, hah…

Only ragged, violent panting shattered the silence. A sickly sweet metallic tang coated the back of Eui-rim’s throat, each agonizing breath hitching into a dry retch that threatened to turn his empty stomach.

Eui-rim squeezed his stinging eyes shut, then forced them open to check the digital timer mounted on the wall. Ten seconds, nine, eight…

“Done! Great work, hyung!”

Beep-beep-beep.

The instant the electronic chime sounded from the console, Hwang Sejun pumped a fist, beaming from ear to ear. Look at him, having the time of his life. What would he have done with himself if they hadn’t appointed him my personal tormentor?

Even tilting his chin sent sweat cascading like rain onto the rubber floor. Heat poured from his pores as though a furnace burned inside his skull. He didn’t need a mirror to know his complexion was beet-red.

“Are you alright, hyung?” Sejun asked, offering an insulated bottle.

Eui-rim’s fingers shook violently around the bottle. Shaking his head in mute exhaustion, he pressed the rim to his parched lips.

“Honestly, this is pretty manageable,” Sejun remarked breezily. “When I went through recruit training, they made me run the Mount Gamak mountain loop twenty times a day. Strength conditioning was completely separate from that. And it was midwinter, on top of everything.”

“Hah… gasp… In the winter… they made you run… near the Abyssal Origin Cave…?” Eui-rim wheezed.

“Yes. It doubled as monster hunting drills,” Sejun said cheerfully. “Though Chaeyoon-noona was my drill instructor.”

Even so, that was insane. Who forces a kid to run twenty laps around a frozen mountain infested with mutated beasts in subzero temperatures? Sejun had been a legal minor when he joined Cheongho; subjecting an adolescent to that regimen bordered on state-sanctioned child abuse.

“Haa… Whew. It’s a miracle you survived,” Eui-rim muttered, sliding down against the bench. “I feel like my heart is about to burst.”

Though this was only day six of physical conditioning, the real hell had started two days ago when they escalated the load. Compared to Sejun’s ordeal, this was merely a foot in the pool. To think the boy had endured even harsher brutality until his attributes climbed… the mere thought made Eui-rim shudder.

“Still, thanks to that brutal regimen, I found my footing quickly,” Sejun admitted, his smile softening. “I couldn’t legally raid dungeons due to age restrictions, and the Moonseong bastards were constantly hunting for my location… Back then, Mount Gamak felt like sanctuary. Pushing myself to the brink of death in training cleared my head.”

“Cleared your head?” Eui-rim asked dryly.

Wasn’t your brain simply scorched blank from sheer exhaustion?

“When your muscles are tearing, useless thoughts vanish first. All I had to do was eat and survive training, which was far simpler.” Popping a glucose tablet between Eui-rim’s lips, Sejun grinned. “Honestly, my mental state was garbage back then. After the betrayal with Moonseong, I was a total wreck.”

The political firestorm that erupted when Hwang Sejun defected from Moonseong had dominated national headlines, so Eui-rim had no need to pry. Scratching the back of his neck, the boy added, “Anyway, because the Guild Master was an elite national athlete, his conditioning routines are inhuman. Chaeyoon-noona said every core member had to clear the same hurdles… Since Cheongho is responsible for sweeping Mount Gamak every month, baseline stamina is what he values above all else.”

“I see.” Eui-rim nodded.

“Yep. In that sense, the Guild Master is treating you with kid gloves, Eui-rim-hyung. You only have to train inside the indoor gym, after all.”

Framed like that, Eui-rim felt a twinge of embarrassment.

He couldn’t deny it. Jogging laps inside an air-conditioned facility was heaven compared to scaling Mount Gamak in a blizzard. Nor were the barbell weights completely out of line.

Yet this was not special affection, but pragmatic accommodation. Unlike Utopia, where only his numeric stats had nudged upward, the raid on the Isolation Ward had triggered an official rank reassessment.

…C-rank.

Eui-rim exhaled a long breath, staring into the middle distance. Confronting the milestone he had consciously avoided brought a dull, familiar ache to his temples.

Yet he had to concede the point. Just as Sejun noted, exhausting the physical vessel kept existential terror at bay. The catch was that the moment the workout ended, every postponed anxiety rushed back in force. Even so, running until his lungs burned was far better than spending the day drowning in memories of the Isolation Ward.

Come to think of it, he hadn’t suffered a single waking nightmare since beginning this high-intensity regimen. Perhaps there was wisdom in the ancient proverb that a sound spirit resides in a sound body.

Eui-rim felt vindicated for insisting on immediate training. Hae-gun had wanted him to rest for a week, but sweating until his thoughts evaporated left him far more grounded than rotting in bed.

The only immediate problem was that he wanted to skip the shower, sprawl spread-eagled on the mats, and sleep for a century.

“Whew.”

Pushing himself upright, Eui-rim surveyed the sprawling facility. Located a kilometer from the Cheongho headquarters, this private training center was three times larger than the collegiate arena used by the combat majors in his Academy days.

They mentioned an underground sparring hall as well. I wonder if I’ll ever have occasion to set foot in it.

“By the way, hyung,” Sejun chimed in, leaning forward. When Eui-rim glanced up, the boy darted a conspiratorial look around the empty gym before whispering, “You really weren’t sent by the Association, right? You aren’t an undercover foreign spy?”

Eui-rim let out a dry chuckle, snatching a clean towel from the treadmill console. Is he still dwelling on that?

“Even if I were a spy, would I confess here?” Eui-rim asked. “Considering your truth-detection skill doesn’t function on me, Sejun-ah, why would I volunteer treason?”

“…Well, that’s true, but still,” Sejun pouted.

“Besides, Hae-gun-ssi and Vice Guild Master Lee have vetted my background exhaustively. Hae-gun-ssi even showed up in person at the clinic on the day I resigned, so he knows my history down to the month.”

Voicing the memory stirred an eerie sense of temporal distance. It felt as though he were recalling events from a previous lifetime. Barely a month had passed, yet it carried the weight of a decade.

“Even so. In my case, I was a runaway with nowhere to go, but you had clean credentials,” Sejun said, rubbing the back of his neck. “Why seek out Cheongho? Our barrier to entry is impossibly high. Why come in as a contracted supporter on a temporary term?”

“Did you not want to join Cheongho, Sejun-ah?” Eui-rim asked.

“Mmm, it’s not that, but… with abilities like yours, wouldn’t an awakener hesitate?” Sejun asked.

“Why?”

“Because the Association treaty ties our hands with endless restrictions,” Sejun explained, perching on a bench press with his chin propped in his hand. “Commercial expansion is strictly capped, and whenever the ministry issues a state mobilization order, Cheongho has to deploy free of charge. Sure, our cut from S-rank dungeon drops is lucrative, but the civic responsibilities are overwhelming.”

Framed from an industry perspective, Cheongho was hardly an easy haven. Their raids were lethally hardcore, their civic obligations crushing, and their diplomatic friction with the Association perpetual.

Lee Seonha must bear an impossible burden. How does she keep this guild running?

“Anyway, that’s why everyone was completely floored when they heard you marched up Mount Gamak just to meet the Guild Master,” Sejun continued cheerfully. “Even now, it’s the hottest debate topic among the guild members.”

“A debate topic?”

“Yes!”

“…”

“Specifically: why is the Guild Master so insanely lenient only toward you?”

Even granting the mystery of his arrival, Eui-rim had no idea why Hae-gun’s attitude toward him was being debated by the staff. Just what kind of tyrant had Seo Hae-gun been for his own members to view basic human courtesy as an anomaly? The man could be sardonic and pushy, but his character wasn’t malevolent.

Besides, it was hardly unconditional leniency. Eui-rim had simply offered pieces of an irresistible puzzle. Had he failed to pique Hae-gun’s curiosity, he would have been tossed off the mountain. Even after piquing it, Hae-gun had punched him straight in the solar plexus to knock him cold!

“The circumstances were complicated, but Hae-gun-ssi knocked me out cold with a punch to the stomach on our first meeting,” Eui-rim pointed out.

“Are you kidding? That’s royal treatment!” Sejun gasped. “When he first ran into Moonhyuk-hyung on Mount Gamak, he beat him into bloody mush. Fractured three vertebrae and crushed his ribs!”

“…What?”

Fractured his vertebrae?

“The Guild Master thought Moonhyuk-hyung was an assassin dispatched by the Association,” Sejun chattered. “Healer Shim Woo-joo had to expend an entire month of high-tier heals just to mend his spine.”

To think Ahn Moonhyuk could laugh so boisterously beside Hae-gun after being dismantled like that. Eui-rim marveled at the burly hunter’s mental fortitude. Had it been him, he would have fled to another continent the second his hospital discharge was signed.

Yet because Cheongho’s internal history was shrouded from the public, hearing Sejun recount these private episodes was undeniably fascinating.

Still, is it wise to leak guild secrets to a contracted outsider? If I walked away after this term, what would he do? I promised I wouldn’t leave, but he shouldn’t be this trusting.

Studying the youth’s guileless expression, Eui-rim decided to indulge him.

Whatever. If he’s willing to tell me, I might as well listen.

“So how did the debate conclude?” Eui-rim asked.

“No conclusion yet, though Chaeyoon-noona’s theory has the most supporters.” Sejun grinned.

At Son Chaeyoon’s name, a prickle of dread warmed the back of Eui-rim’s neck. Remembering her suggestive smirks and remarks like, ‘I’m completely open-minded! Fighting!’ Eui-rim had a terrible premonition about her hypothesis.

“Her theory is that you climbed the mountain out of desperate longing to meet your ideal type, and the Guild Master fell in love at first sight.”

…I knew it.

Eui-rim planted a palm over his face and let out a miserable groan. A throbbing migraine blossomed behind his eyes.