'Fuck, I only got 2 and a half hours of sleep last night, it wasn't even a bed'
While I was standing in line with all of the boys, on the other side, Ha-neul, despite having massive raccoon eyes, was blushing and looking very lively while humming a cheery song.
"🎶hmmmm🎵 hmmm, hmmm 🎶"
Chung-cha, looking stupid as always, Hana, stealing glances of me with smiling and Anna..... she was smiling but, it didn't look too nice. A better word would be forced smile, I guess. She was also eyeing down Ha-neul for whatever reason. But her disposition read 'Calm, Apathetic'.
At around 5:30 a.m, Ha-neul's personal maid, Shannon, found us in a panic, and told us to report to the training grounds behind the royal quarters for roll call and later, training.
Apparently, it caused quite a stir when 2 of the heroes were suddenly missing and the royal guards sent out a massive search party to look for us around the capital.
Oops.
And now, here we are. The training grounds was giant in size. Near twice the size of the royal quarters. It had a track for running, dummies for swords and spear practice, wooden-pegged punching pillars for martial arts, wrestling and fighting grounds and even some horse practice grounds with obstacles.
[now, as the personal trainer of warriors and heroes, you will respect me, you will obey me and in turn, I will train you and perfect you. UNDERSTAND?!?]
""Yes, Sir!""
[good. You may call me Dunn. Since it is your first day, I'll go easy on you guys... 25 laps around the track]
""Ehhhhhh. What the.... this is easy??""
Indeed, even for Anna, a regular runner, she can't easily running that massive of a distance. To put into measurements, one lap looked around to be 1 kilometer long. 25 kilometers is not something easily done. Much less in 3 hours.
[in addition, you will have a 3 hour time limit]
""HUUUU-""
[3, 2, 1, go] *boom*
After the large explosion from Dunn's hand, we immediately had to start running around the track to maximize the 3 hours given to us. Before we even reached the 100 meter mark, I can hear the otakus and the unfit people already complaining.
"Ughhhh, how do we even do thiss~~~"
"Sammmeee, why do we have to do thisss??"
"What the hell~~"
'.....did you think being a hero was easy? Becoming a wealthy and powerful person needs this type of training...'
Meanwhile, the athletes, regular exercisers and the generally slimmer people were jogging quietly, some even chatting.
"Ahhh, it's such a nice day for a long jog, no?"
"Haha, damn right. I feel so refreshed right now"
'...it is a very good day today... cold breeze and a hot sun...'
"Hey, dude. How fast do you think you can finish this?" (Do-yun)
"Hmmmm, I think I'll use the entire 3 hours. 25 km isn't a joke, ya'know?" (Me)
"Trueee~~. Hey, where'd Chung-cha go?" (Do-yun)
"Huh? I think she's back there with the fatties" (Hana)
As if she has a sixth sense, Chung-cha immediately speeds up and catches up to us.
"Someone chatting 'bout me?" (Chung-cha)
"...nope" (Hana)
"Hey, Min-chul. Are you doing fine?" (Ha-neul)
"Haha, are you kidding? Min-chul is barely sweating and we're already near the 1 km mark" (Hana)
'Hmmmm, I guess Hana does have a point. My stamina is incredibly high for my age and even for the average man. Add to that the boost that you get as a hero and I think I could run an entire marathon given there isn't a time limit'
"Yo, let's finish this quickly to get resting time. Last one there is dating Jung-hoon for a yearrr~~" (Chung-cha)
"Ah- damn girl. DON'T LUMP ME WITH YOU, YOU GIRL OF A FLOWERBOY!" (Hana)
'Min-chul is the only I'd date~❤️' (Anna)
"Hahaha, I guess, Chung-cha is gonna date Jung-hoon even in another worldd~~ mwahaha!!!" (Do-yun)
"That's a bit rude. However, I really don't want to date Jung-hoon" (Ha-neul)
'Shit, can't be caught dating Jung-hoon'
(A.N) Jung-hoon is the loser Chung-cha was dating in chapter 1. Don't need to remember him since this is the last time he comes up
After encouragement from Chung-cha, everyone sped up and we even lapped some of the slower people by lap 3 and by lap 5 we were ahead of the entire group, though Chung-cha and Hana were falling a little behind, they were still a lap ahead of the others.
After passing lap 10 (10 kms~) at approximately the 55 minute mark, I noticed that my body felt a little lighter and I felt a bit faster.
'Did my status go up?'
'Status'
Name: Kim Min-chul (Untitled)
Age: 18/ Race: Human Male
Titles: Playboy
Gigolo
Puppet-Master
Hero
Strategist
Skills: Squeaky Bed (Super Rare)
Appraisal (Heroic S)
HP: 2000/2000
Mana: 10000/10000
Disposition: Neutral Evil
Calculating Puppet-Master
Mental State: Apathetic, Tired
———————————————
STR: 31 RES: 23
SPD: 50 STAMI: 75
LUCK: 30 KAR: -25
INT:164
—————————————————————
'Huh, so my speed went up from 49 to 50.'
After that, it happened once more when I crossed the 20th lap around the track in 2 hours, moving my speed stat from 50 to 51..
'So, from current knowledge, to upgrade my speeds stat, I need to run 10 kms to level up my speed skill. So I'd need to run more and more to level up, huh?'
'I wonder if it's like this for the others...'
After waiting for around 3 minutes, Anna comes in 2nd with Do-yun and Ha-neul right behind some of the athletic students.
"Hey, did you guys' speed stats go up?" (Me)
"Ngahaha! Mine went up at 10 kms and the 15 kms" (Chung-cha)
"Huh? Oh yeah, I think it went up once I reached the 5 kms, 15 kms and 25 kms mark" (Do-yun)
*pant pant* "Oh, for me, it went up when I reached the 15 kms mark" (Ha-neul)
"Oh, oh! Mine went up when I reached the 5, 10, 20 and 25 kms marks~" (Anna)
'Hmmmm, so it looks like it's different for everyone. Do-yun with his skill grows quicker, Ha-neul, a more bulky, attack build goes slower and Anna with the stealthy build levels up pretty quick'
'...whereas I. I level up just in the middle and considering my magician-like build, it isn't too bad'
'Moreover, it seems like Anna isn't lying this time. Well, it makes sense because there isn't a need to lie right now as she isn't disclosing anything to important'
[okayyyyy... 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. STOP!!!]
Immediately after Dunn yelled out loud and even amplified his voice using a spell called 'Boombox', everyone's attention was on him. The total amount of people that finished the 25 laps were only around 21 in number. This includes Mrs. Chan (homeroom teacher), Anna, Hana, Chung-cha, Do-yun, Myself, the athletic kids and some of the slimmer people.
On the flip side, some of the overweight people and those who didn't exercise regularly back on earth were still on lap 20~24. They included most of the otakus, including that otaku with 'Appraisal' and some others.
[Alright! Those who didn't finish... get out]
""Huh?""
"Wait... get out? What do you mean?" (Otaku with 'Appraisal')
[I mean get out. If you can't even do this, you are not fit for hero service]
.....Silence. Dead silence. Everyone is shocked with what Dunn just said. 'What the hell???' 'huuuuhhh???'
'Well, I mean if you want to be a hero, you'd need stamina for traversing long distances. What were they expecting?'
"wait, as these children's temporary guardian, I would like to know what will happen to them. At least tell them that" (Mrs. Chan)
[rest assured, great hero. These failed heroes will be set free into the world. They may do whatever and become whatever they please as long as they don't break the law. They can join the military, work as an adventurer, get a desk job, anything is possible]
".....WHAT THE FUCK!!! We want to be heroes!"
"YEAH! Didn't you promise us?!?"
"You liars!"
'Typical human nature. Pin the blame on the accuser even when at fault, how idiotic. However, if they were merciful, it could work'
[...SILENCE!!! You fallen, disgraces of heroes. Do not lump yourselves in with those true, beautiful and handsome heroes! They are the true saviors and keeping you scum will only slow us down. NOW LEAVE!!!]
'Yikes, it is to be expected though. He looks like he's been doing this for years. It is possible for him be 100s of years old anyway with magic'
After the sudden outburst from Dunn, you could hear the sobs and the cries of those who wanted to be a hero. Some yelling and some just devastated.
*hic* *sob* *cry*
As the fallen heroes are escorted out of the premises by the royal guards, they are weeping loudly while struggling. Some are muttering 'my castle' and 'my money'.
After that shitshow, Dunn immediately turns into the strict yet kind old man persona he had from the start.
[I sincerely apologize for that, good heroes. But these steps are necessary for making of the new generation of heroes and while it may be harsh, we aren't going to just throw them out onto the street. They will have a monthly allowance of 2 gold per month for a year. To put that into perspective, 10 copper buys simple meals and the average salary is 10 silver per month. 1 gold is 100 silvers and 1 silver is 100 copper]
'Wow, talk about welfare. That's insanely good. You can live off of that for maybe a year after the allowance ended if you can spend frugally'
"I-i see. Then if that is the case, I won't pursue it further" (Mrs. Chan)
After the workout, we all were given 1 hour and 30 minutes of rest and lunchtime. They served us amazing food. Fresh meat from the 'yalno', a 3 meter tall and 9 meter long domesticated animal raised in the royal farm with a side of 'suul' and 'borut'.
The two veggies on the side named suul and borut are some of the most common vegetables found on this planet though, if cooked correctly, is able to produce a super delicious food liked by all, nobles and commoners alike.
Suul looks like a radish but is gray in color and tastes salty and savory. Apparently, a merchant named William Telk teamed up with a long gone empire to domesticate this plant around 500 years ago and they did it successfully.
Borut is like grain and is cream colored, it tastes sweet and smoky and is a favorite substitute for the calories in a meal. The biggest reason borut got so big in the first place is due to the lack of domesticated and common sugar producing plants.
And there is one place where you go to get borut grains...
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(A.N) OHOHH?!? What's this? A cliff-hyungnim? Whyyy~ I didn't expect you here... anyways, some serious talk. Whether you enjoy this novel or not, please, for the love of whatever God you believe in, review. It will help me so, so much. If you like it and give 5 stars? More people would read this novel that you so enjoy. If you hate it and give 1~2 stars? It will help me improve my writing and storytelling skills so that 1~2 can become a 3~5. Thank you again for reading 🙇♂️! Peace ✌️!