A drop of sweat fell from the tip of his chin.
The veins on his forearms stood out clearly due to the intense training pushing his limits.
"Huff, huff."
Jung Siwoo.
His drenched hair covered his fierce eyes.
His upper body, undressed and breathing heavily, was the complete opposite of his usual self. He was always standing in the center of his academy peers, laughing.
Chief (首席).
A gold-plated word was attached next to his name tag.
The weight of the word was not as light as it was written in one stroke.
Thud.
Siwoo fell to the ground as if collapsing, furrowing his eyebrows as if his vision was blurry.
A broken wooden sword, traces of effort bleeding out.
At a young age, after losing his parents and his newborn younger sister, he swore to become the strongest man to find his lost family. It had been 5 years.
Jung Siwoo brushed up his hair. The system window appearing before his eyes was making his next path.
"This quest is… the top grade in the midterms. The reward is…"
His eyes suddenly widened.
[Quest Reward]
Location Tracker
[Quest Failure]
No penalty.
His only younger sister.
He found a way to find her.
[Main Quest 3. Reach Higher Grounds]
▶ Good connections are important. Now it's time to prove your skills.
▶ The number of tasks assigned to you is [2].
Enter the top 20 rankings in Korea.
1st place in the written exam
[Quest Reward]
Top-grade potion x 5
[Quest Failure]
Death.
He thought it was time for a new quest to arrive.
Reading the quest that appeared, the square blocks covering the letters in the middle of the sentence were annoying.
They were now hiding the content of the quest itself.
He sighed and spoke to Cheondo next to him.
"The quest has arrived. First place in the written exam and entering the top 20 rankings in Korea, of course, if I fail, I die."
"Is that so?"
They were in the dormitory.
Cheondo, who was wearing a Gonryongpo (traditional Korean clothing) that seemed a few sizes too big for her body, tapped out the burned tobacco from her pipe. Looking out the window, her emotionless face seemed to shine more in the sunlight.
"There's not much time left."
As she said, there wasn't much time.
My current ranking was 153rd.
To reach the top 20, I needed to at least make it to the finals in the practical exam.
But this was El Academy. A place filled with many skilled individuals.
No matter how high my potential was, the time gap was not something that could be easily narrowed.
I might actually die this time.
I muttered bitterly as my heart started to tremble.
"I thought you fought quite well, considering you even caught an Ent."
"What are you talking about? At that age, you are strong. Who in the world would get captured in a dungeon and come back alive?"
Cheondo's words were entirely correct.
Yes, I was indeed strong. The only problem was how far it would take me.
My growth was too fast, and I couldn't even grasp the depth of the academy, a well with a single path.
No matter how much I was growing, if you asked me if I could beat monsters like Jung Siwoo and Sansuyu… Well, I guess.
I might be ahead of Sansuyu in terms of skills, but I lost in a fight of magical power.
Jung Siwoo was such a monster that there was no need to say anything more.
To take advantage of them, I needed a weapon that was a step ahead of everyone else.
A sharp blade forged meticulously…
"I guess you need skills."
At Cheondo's words, I nodded bitterly.
"Trust me. A teacher is supposed to guide their students to endure hardship."
"Is that so?"
"Do you know that phrase?"
I turned my eyes and looked at Cheondo.
"Peach and Plum Do Not Speak, but a Path Forms Below Them (桃李不言 下自成蹊)."
"What does that mean?"
"It means that a person with virtue doesn't need to say anything, and people will follow them."
Cheondo dropped another tobacco leaf into the ashtray and gently stroked my chin with her hand.
My head was slightly lifted.
"Who is the person with virtue?"
"Well, isn't it obviously me? I've raised such a virtuous disciple."
Cheondo, trying to ease my tension, was picking only the nice words to say today.
"And there's also a saying that 'birds of a feather flock together.' Shiheon, next to a person with virtue, there's always another person with virtue who comes and holds their hand."
She continued.
"I am the best (第一)… And you've grabbed onto such a teacher. In this adversity, isn't it right to welcome it?"
She showed a gentle smile, and I responded with a satisfied smile.
"That's true."
The touch of Cheondo's palm on my chin felt like a pair of tights.
I reached out and pulled Cheondo's hand down, then held it tightly, but Cheondo's expression still remained unchanged.
"That's a nice thing to hear."
"There's something I'm preparing. Enjoy your life at the academy until then."
"Do I have to go somewhere else?"
Cheondo squeezed my hand tightly as if looking at a clever kid.
"The training will be tough but don't think about giving up. I'm the type who doesn't let go of a disciple once I've decided on them."
Cheondo's hand was cool, and it felt good.
There was someone to rely on right next to me.
I felt that anew and smiled playfully.
"Did you pounce on me because you didn't want to lose me?"
"How many times do I have to deny it for you to stop saying that?"
Cheondo made a teasing face and then pushed my shoulder with her hand.
As expected, Cheondo didn't let it slide this time, either.
"Hey, do you want to train with me?"
Jin Dallae approached me and asked me during personal training time.
She was wearing a tight-fitting combat uniform and tying her hair, and it was quite a sight to see.
"Sorry. Let's do it later."
"Ah…"
I wanted to, but I politely refused since I had a promise with Sansuyu.
I scratched my itching neck under the gaze of Dallae and grabbed the shoulder of Sansuyu, who was spacing out.
"?"
As I stretched out my index finger while grabbing his shoulder, Sansuyu turned her head, and her cheeks were squished.
"…What are you doing?"
"It's a trending prank these days."
"Is it fun to do this?"
It was a prank that Guseul once played on me.
As I tilted my head teasingly, Sansuyu stared at my finger and then opened her mouth wide and bit it.
-Aaang
"Ouch!"
A sharp pain made me jerk my hand back. A clear bite mark was left on the second joint of my index finger.
"These are the trendy pranks these days."
Sansuyu awkwardly followed my laughter, copying my words. If she pranked me twice, my fingers wouldn't survive.
"So, are you going to train?"
"That's why I came."
I roughly wiped off the saliva on the hem of my clothes and blew on the wound to cool the pain while Sansuyu picked up a wooden sword from nearby. She looked lively with quick movements and a gleam in her eyes, perhaps because it had been a while since our last training session.
"Have you been training hard?"
"A lot… And I also found a master, a teacher."
It had been quite some time since I had properly sparred with Sansuyu. Given her talent, she must have grown significantly since then. If she had found a new master after our last training with the white sword, this spar could be more challenging.
We moved to a 1vs1 training room.
The opaque reinforced glass door opened, and in came Sansuyu, taking her stance. Despite being tightly confined in her combat uniform, her large chest proudly displayed itself with a single shake.
"Watch closely."
Sansuyu lifted one foot and raised the sword above her head, pointing its tip towards me. This was a stance I had never seen before. I stretched my body to gauge her skills while quietly observing her.
The first round would be without magic. Let's see what I've got.
-Click.
I pressed the timer set for 10 seconds and came to the center of the training room, facing Sansuyu.
-Wobble.
Sansuyu's stance seemed quite shaky. Her saffron hair and chest swayed to the rhythm of her tilted body while the tip of her sword seemed to lose direction, wobbling left and right.
Could we have a proper fight like this?
Just as I was about to speak,
"…Cooey cooey."
A terrible sound erupted from Sansuyu's mouth. She tilted her head cutely and mumbled.
"Um… Detchat?"
Oh no.
"Sansuyu."
"?"
"You went to Tree Inside again, didn't you?"
"How did you know? I met the master there, Siljanggeom Method."
"What kind of master did you find in that damn place… Never mind that I told you not to visit that site. It ruins people, doesn't it?"
At my words, Sansuyu opened her eyes wide, puffed up her cheeks slightly, and scolded me in a blaming tone.
"After our last training session… Shiheon didn't get along with me culturally. We didn't train. So…"
So, because I didn't play with her, she went back to that den of iniquity?
"…"
"Spicy rice cake with cheese…"
That seemed to be the case. I pressed my forehead and let out a tired sigh.
"Why would you choose that path? What is this Siljanggeom Method anyway-"
-Brrrring.
Before I could finish, the alarm rang, and Sansuyu's body tilted sharply towards me.
A messy strike with the sword.
But her footwork was not to be underestimated.
Just when I thought she would go left, she twisted to the right, and her off-balance center of gravity suddenly straightened up.
Despite its silly name, the Siljanggeom Method had quite complicated movements. A genius even modified the method to suit her taste. This horrifying talent was something I already knew from experience.
-Swish!
In one hand, a long sword. In the other, a hidden dagger held in reverse grip. Sansuyu approached me.
Closing the distance with a martial artist was an attack on their pride.
I blocked the side of the long sword approaching my neck with my right hand and finally dove into Sansuyu's embrace.
-Whirr.
In a brief moment, as a second passes, my body intersects with Sansuyu's.
A fist and a sword cut through the air. Far from landing a valid hit, we couldn't even aim for each other's bodies.
But as it went with attacks, another wave came crashing in.
Sansuyu accelerates her body and aims for my neck with the dagger she holds in reverse grip.
Executing unconventional swordsmanship by continuously changing her stance, it was already expected that she would drastically increase her speed.
I did the same, turning back while tilting my center and extending my leg.
Legs rotated and pushed through the air, and the dagger came piercing swiftly towards my forehead.
-Clunk- Both attacks halt right before they make contact with each other's bodies.
We then collapsed as if crumbling down, our thighs intertwining.
"Heok, heok."
"Hoo… hoo."
After catching our breaths for a while, Sansuyu and I faced each other and presented our own arguments.
"…I won."
"That's not true."
It was a close call. If it were a real fight, would we not have killed each other?
Lying sprawled on the floor, the hard and cold ground touching the back of my head felt surprisingly good.
"…Spicy rice cakes with cheesy topping."
At Sansuyu's words, I absentmindedly scratched the sweat off my jaw.
"You trained hard."
"Yeah, let's go eat till our stomachs burst."
Thanks to this training session, I was able to realize one thing.
I was far from beating Jung Siwoo. And for the quest, I shouldn't be picky about the means.
I stood up and took Sansuyu's hand to help her up.
Oh, right.
"TreeInside is off-limits."
"...Eh."
If there was anything, that was the one thing I couldn't tolerate.
Sansuyu sulked and lowered her head.
Was it because her mood went down?
She seemed to have lost her appetite, but Sansuyu gobbled up three servings of spicy rice cakes that day.
She even cracked open the yolk of a boiled egg and savored it.
"You know the word for this situation. Belly chubby!"
"Pfft."
If there was one thing, she was excellent at knowing internet slang.