90. Full-Scale Training (2)
One week, two weeks.
Time passed quickly.
‘Still, they’re all keeping up well.’
Standing on the rooftop of the training grounds, Baek Jinwoo looked down below with a satisfied expression.
“Ujaaaaah!”
“Run! Just a little more, hang in there!”
“Huff, huff!”
Honestly, it would not have been strange for some of them to give up, yet not a single dropout appeared.
“Keep following! Just a little more and we can reach the benchmark!”
“Big brother! You’re doing great!”
Gi Jaehyuk, Kang Jihoe.
Those two had definitely done well.
Was it because of their sense of belonging to SKY?
They did not just finish only what they themselves had to do; they helped those who were falling behind and moved forward together.
‘Yeah, that much they should be doing.’
Baek Jinwoo could not carry everything alone.
If he wanted to grow as well, he needed personal training, and there were also many summoned creatures he had to take care of.
He could not spend all his time teaching them every single time.
“Hoo.”
Baek Jinwoo tilted his head back and let out a long sigh.
Creating Yoobaek, creating SKY, and even raising the national team.
Am I really doing the right thing?
Truth be told, Baek Jinwoo was not someone with especially strong patriotism.
Honestly, what had the country ever done for him!
It was only because he had been born in South Korea, and because his family lived there……
He merely hoped it would become a great power and be safe and happy.
‘At the very least, if I’m going to keep rising and live well, I need to conquer something on the level of the world league.’
During the Cold War, nuclear weapons had been the deterrent to war.
But these days, the whole landscape had changed completely.
Having an outstanding player firmly standing in a country was now the deterrent and the peace itself.
In South Korea, Baek Jinwoo would become that symbol of peace.
For his family. And for the people he loved.
‘Now then, let’s try again.’
Sitting cross-legged on the rooftop, Baek Jinwoo emptied his mind.
Psssss….!
As he let out a low breath, his eyes slowly sank into calmness.
‘Clear Heaven Heart Technique.’
A breathing method that drew the energy of the clear sky into the dantian!
HunGyo had said so.
That his innate martial frame came right after Aso’s.
Although the distribution of qi here was sparse, making it difficult to master the breathing method…….
‘I have to do it.’
If he wanted to go further?
He had to accomplish what others could not.
Baek Jinwoo was used to that.
One Heaven, number one in the no-spending rankings, conqueror of the 100th floor of the Tower of Trials, and so on.
Whenever he piled up another achievement, users marveled, judged him like some kind of monster, and praised him to the skies.
‘Could the current me beat Rachel?’
He still did not know.
Back when he had been God Ji-nu, he had been 100% certain, but now he could not say.
‘If I had to clear the 100th floor of the Tower of Trials again, could I do it?’
Honestly, he was not confident about that.
He had challenged it countless times, and by some coincidence of luck upon luck, he had somehow managed to clear the 100th floor.
But if he had to face the 100th floor in reality?
Just the fact that he had only one life coin would already feel like enormous pressure.
More than anything—
‘No one knows how reality is going to unfold from here on.’
Just as no one knew why 「Battle of Summoners」 had turned into reality, no one knew what kind of ordeal might swallow this reality next.
Perhaps some transcendent being would appear and declare that if the 100th floor of the Tower of Trials was not cleared within a set time, it would destroy the world.
To protect his family from that unknown threat, he had to become even stronger.
Stronger than anyone else in the world!
Just because Explosive Dragon will learn Devour did not mean he intended to grow complacent.
Just because his summoned creatures were strong did not mean he would neglect his breathing method.
Clear Heaven Heart Technique?
He did not know what kind of breathing method it was, but if he could not even master something like this, how could he hope to become the strongest in the world!
HunGyo had said it.
That it was the heart technique best suited to him at present.
“Fuuuuuuu......”
Baek Jinwoo’s eyes settled into calmness.
Up above that sky.
Imagining a cool pastel-colored sky, he began breathing once more.
Thinking in order of the locations of the meridians HunGyo had taught him, he slowly inhaled and exhaled.
Distracting thoughts?
He gradually cast them away.
He forgot gravity and sent his consciousness high up into the sky.
—My lord, breathing is something natural.
HunGyo’s teaching rose in his mind like a whisper.
That was right.
Breathing was the body’s energy. In other words, the metabolic process for obtaining qi.
No living creature forced itself to breathe.
If he was consciously trying to breathe even a little better, then that was nothing more than a fake.
‘Like flowing water.’
He left it alone so that it would come in and go out on its own.
Huuuup!
He inhaled.
Fuuuu.
He exhaled.
Baek Jinwoo simply left his body as it was.
Even as he gradually sank into unconsciousness, he continued using exactly the breathing method he had learned from HunGyo.
Would simply leaving it alone somehow make it Clear Heaven Heart Technique?
It was only because of months of bloody effort that his body reacted naturally.
And at that moment.
Smirk.
The right corner of Baek Jinwoo’s lips rose ever so slightly.
‘It feels refreshing.’
It felt as though he were floating and swimming in that vast sky.
The sky was certainly cool and free. Wide, gentle, soft, and benevolent.
Baek Jinwoo’s unconsciousness roamed through it, drifting about like an immortal sage.
How much time passed like that?
Ssssssst….!
Slowly, his consciousness began to return.
‘No.’
Was this what it felt like to quit a drug?
The pleasant feeling faded away forlornly, as if it had all been an illusion.
‘What was that?’
At the unfamiliar sensation, Baek Jinwoo opened his eyes.
“Fuuuuuu.”
The hazy feeling disappeared, and his mind became completely clear again.
‘Was that it?’
If he kept doing it like this, would the qi of the Clear Heaven Heart Technique gather in his dantian?
He closed his eyes again and tried peering into his dantian to see if anything was there, but he could not get a sense of it.
Had it gathered, or had it not?
Damn it, I’d have to have gathered something before to know.
“.....HunGyo.”
As Baek Jinwoo quietly called out, before long, with a sseut! sound, HunGyo appeared.
—Yes, my lord.
“Did I succeed, by any chance? Could you check whether qi has gathered in my dantian?”
—.....
After examining him for a moment, HunGyo shook his head.
—Not yet, my lord.
“Really?”
—Please do not be too impatient. This is your first time learning it, is it not? Especially Clear Heaven Heart Technique—I understand it takes longer to master than other mental methods or heart techniques.
“Hoo.”
He was disappointed.
‘Well.’
If it were that easy, would not the other players have mastered it already?
Baek Jinwoo roughly explained to HunGyo what he had felt.
That while breathing, he had briefly lost consciousness, and it had felt strange.
That it had been too vivid and pleasant to call it a dream.
—Was that truly the case?
HunGyo’s eyes widened.
—Then that is correct. I have heard that such a phenomenon occurs while learning Clear Heaven Heart Technique. Ohh, as expected, my lord is truly overflowing with talent!
“.....But you said no qi had gathered.”
—My lord, Clear Heaven Heart Technique is an extremely pure breathing method. It is difficult to learn and hard to build up, but someday it will bring you tremendous power. Keep going! Please continue.
Right, right.
‘Hearing you say that gives me strength I didn’t even have.’
Baek Jinwoo smiled faintly.
“You must be busy, so go on. I’m going to try feeling it one more time.”
Then he closed his eyes again.
Still, it felt like he was starting to catch onto something.
* * *
Another week later.
“CEO!”
Baek Ajin opened the door and entered the CEO’s office at the top of the headquarters building.
There, Baek Jinwoo and Yoo Jia were enjoying a warm cup of coffee.
Well, not exactly enjoying coffee. It was time to receive a report about Yoobaek.
By now, he had gotten fairly close to Yoo Jia as well, enough to laugh and joke around with her.
“Huh? Oppa, you were here too?”
“What is it?”
“Good, perfect. It’s even better if you’re here too! You know those summoned creatures you mentioned before? I got them all!”
“....Really?”
Baek Jinwoo’s eyes widened.
About three weeks ago.
To reinforce the guild members, he had drawn up a list of A-grade summoned creatures.
The list looked like this.
[Black Knight (A-grade), Phoenix (A-grade), Poison King (A-grade), Goblin Master (A-grade), Mad Demon (A-grade)]
There were five of them.
He had roughly told her to keep an eye out for about a year, and that the price did not matter, just buy them if they appeared…...
And she had already gotten all of them?
They had not been available in any marketplace anywhere in the world.
“Wow, you’re actually pretty amazing, Baek Ajin?”
He had not realized it before, but maybe a merchant’s blood really did run through her veins.
How could she be that good at both selling and buying?
“I got lucky. They were all up for sale on the North Korean side.”
“N-North Korea?”
Yoo Jia’s mouth fell open.
Even though the world had become utterly bizarre, relations between North and South Korea had still not improved.
At least as long as the Kim family remained alive, unification would remain a distant dream.
“Most countries or guilds usually try to keep A-grade ones for themselves no matter what once they show up, right?”
“Doesn’t North Korea do the same?”
“They do, but things have been a bit rough over there lately. If you make good use of brokers on the Chinese side, there are a lot of officials who want to trade them for dollars.”
“Wow.......”
Baek Jinwoo clapped his hands.
My little sister.
She even used Chinese brokers just to get summoned creatures?
“Well, me? If things get dangerous, I can just summon Oppa anyway, so I moved boldly!”
Wink.
Smiling, Baek Ajin struck a proud pose.
Yeah.
This one was enough to make her shoulders rise.
She had done very, very well.
“You already finished the payment and brought them over too? Then?”
“Yep.”
The 1 trillion won that each national representative had received in support from their country had to be paid only through headquarters.
Because of that, it normally had to go through a complicated procedure…... But Yoobaek did not need that.
‘Because there’s Mister Park Changseok.’
This was why connections mattered.
If he just made a request saying he needed about this much, they would casually enter some suitable account item, process the accounting in a flash, and hand over the money right away.
In other words, advance payment was possible.
Baek Jinwoo immediately took possession of the summoned creatures.
Before handing them out, he planned to have them trained by HunGyo first.
* * *
Another week later.
When exactly one month remained before the World League.
“Hraaagh, hraaagh!”
“S-su-success! We did itttt!”
“Uahahahat! Uahahahaha!”
An Gijeong, Hwang Juwon, Kang Geonho, Song Yeonhee, and Hwang Jiwoo embraced each other and shouted in triumph.
Hwang Jiwoo, in particular, had even begun shedding tears.
At last!
Everyone had passed the minimum physical standard HunGyo had set.
It had been only a month, but all of their body fat had completely melted away.
Diet?
They had not needed one.
The training had been so intense that the calories of whatever food entered their mouths no longer even mattered.
Hamburgers, instant noodles, pizza, and so on.
Even if they stuffed all kinds of junk food into themselves, it would burn away in an instant.
Wouldn’t they get injured doing that?
It was fine because the recovery-specialist summoned creatures dispatched there were taking care of them in a comprehensive way.
“Big brother, were you always this handsome? Your jawline is completely alive.”
“And look at your stomach. This feels so weird. Since when did all of us have abs?”
“Anyway, now we can finally start learning properly, right? We’ve only got one month left until the World League.”
“.....Yeah. At this rate, maybe we have to give up on this league.”
“Exactly. If simply getting into better shape were enough to conquer the league….., wouldn’t they have picked athletes instead of players?”
That was when the guild members were all chattering away.
Clap clap clap!
“You all worked hard.”
Baek Jinwoo entered while clapping his hands.
And then—
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thuuud! Thud!
One by one.
He began summoning unfamiliar summoned creatures, one after another.
The guild members’ eyes filled with curiosity.
What are those…….
What... are all those?
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