Chapter 30

Chapter 30

Chaeho was completely out of breath.

He swept his sweat-soaked bangs back and exhaled heavily.

The cool air of the spacious, comfortable advanced training room pierced deep into his lungs, but it was nowhere near enough to cool the heat radiating from his body like a furnace.

Hard calluses had formed over his palms from gripping a wooden sword for days on end.

"Shall we take a short break?"

The instructor relaxed his stance as he asked.

"Yes. Just five minutes."

Chaeho walked over to a corner and sat down against the wall.

He roughly wiped the sweat running down the back of his neck with a towel before raising a bottle of ice water to his lips.

As the cold water flowed down his throat, his head finally seemed to clear a little.

He stared blankly into the empty space before him and slowly recalled what had happened at the Association's settlement office a few days earlier.

That was quite a large amount.

The employee at the settlement office had rubbed his eyes several times after seeing the number displayed on the monitor.

"After deducting the fees, the payment for selling the purified mana crystal comes to 86 million won. If we add the regular byproducts and mana stones, your total settlement is 97.2 million won. The amount will be deposited directly into Hunter Lee Chaeho's account."

It was almost 100 million won.

But money wasn't the only thing that had surprised Chaeho.

With an excited expression, the employee had handed him another document.

"And this is the evaluation report for your latest dungeon clear. Discovering the hidden area and defeating the Stone-Armored Golem, which is classified as an upper C-rank threat, entirely on your own have both been recognized as special achievements."

"Special achievements?"

"Yes! Now that this data has been added to the Association's official records, your combat rating has risen tremendously. It's extremely rare for a hunter who has only just been promoted to C-rank to defeat an upper-tier monster alone."

The employee had been right.

After that day, word gradually spread about Chaeho, who had suddenly risen into the ranks of upper-tier C-rank combat hunters.

Scouts from established guilds who lingered around the settlement office repeatedly asked for his contact information, and messages offering attractive exclusive contracts arrived fairly often as well.

However, Chaeho blocked every one of them.

He accepted none of the offers.

The day he safely moved his parents into their new home...

An apartment with an elevator.

Flat walking paths throughout the complex.

An expensive bed that firmly supported their backs.

The moment he saw his parents finally relax in that comfortable environment, one layer of the heavy responsibility pressing down on Chaeho's shoulders disappeared.

There was no reason to become intoxicated by money or fame.

He had protected his family's ordinary life.

Now it was time to focus entirely on his own survival and growth.

Instead of relying only on his Skill, he chose to shut himself away in the training room and strengthen the weak physical foundation beneath it.

"Shall we start again?"

Chaeho put down the empty water bottle and rose to his feet.

The instructor shook his head in disbelief as he picked up his wooden sword again.

"You're seriously relentless. I've never seen anyone rent an advanced training room just to catch their breath for a few minutes before throwing themselves right back into training."

"My body still isn't moving exactly the way I want it to. Let's continue."

Training resumed.

With the instructor's sharp shout, the heavy wooden sword thrust fiercely toward him.

Chaeho deliberately refrained from activating his ability.

Instead, he narrowed his eyes and mechanically analyzed every movement his opponent made.

The slight twitch of the shoulder.

The shift in weight toward the toes.

And the direction of the instructor's gaze.

Upper right.

Before the instructor's attack had even fully begun, Chaeho took half a step backward and moved outside its path.

The instructor's wooden sword cut through empty air, barely brushing past Chaeho's shoulder.

The horizontal slash that immediately followed was also avoided with the minimum possible movement as Chaeho lowered his body.

"Huh..."

The instructor sucked in a breath and stopped attacking.

"How did you avoid that one? You moved before I even started."

"I watched the moment you put strength into your shoulder. Right before you swung, the direction of your front foot shifted slightly."

The instructor let out an incredulous laugh.

"You make it sound easy, but noticing all of that in such a short instant isn't something you learn just from working as a porter. You're predicting the trajectory before the attack even begins and taking the optimal route. It's practically an art."

"I spent so much time rolling around trying to survive that I simply got better at reading people."

Chaeho answered calmly before lowering his stance again.

It was true that he had developed sharp observational skills during his days as a porter.

But that wasn't the real reason.

He had spent countless battles observing monsters while the world around him was slowed by Time Acceleration.

Those experiences had piled up one after another.

Eventually, even while time flowed at its normal speed, he had become capable of predicting his opponent's patterns and reading the movements of their muscles.

His observation and his body were slowly becoming synchronized.

Just a little more.

Chaeho quietly steadied his breathing.

The total amount of time he could currently use his Skill in a single day was fifteen seconds.

In the beginning, whenever danger appeared, he would spend one or two full seconds at a time to escape the situation.

However, against the upper-tier C-rank monsters and stronger enemies he would encounter from now on, wasting time like that could prove fatal.

He needed to judge danger calmly and activate his ability in extremely short bursts of 0.1 or 0.2 seconds.

Micro-control.

Fifteen seconds divided into intervals of 0.1 seconds meant 150 activations.

He had already learned how to divide his usage.

Now, he needed to perfectly combine that technique with the swordsmanship he was learning.

He already knew the answer to making the most of his limited time.

All that remained was to reproduce that answer regardless of his stance or situation.

It would become the sharpest and most efficient weapon possible—

one capable of carrying him through dozens of decisive moments between life and death.

Chaeho swung his wooden sword again, engraving the exact timing of activating and releasing his Skill into every muscle in his body.

It was the final day of his swordsmanship training.

Standing across from Chaeho in the middle of the advanced training room was an unfamiliar hunter.

"This is Hunter Lee Jincheol. He's currently very active among the upper ranks of C-rank hunters. I specially invited him here to be your final sparring opponent so we can see how much you've improved."

At the instructor's introduction, Jincheol gave Chaeho a small bow.

"I've heard a lot about you from the instructor. Apparently, you used to be a porter, but you've become quite famous around the settlement office lately. I heard you defeated a Stone-Armored Golem on your own."

"I was lucky. I look forward to learning from you."

At Chaeho's calm response, Jincheol's gaze sharpened.

A newly promoted hunter who had suddenly entered the upper ranks through a solo kill.

From the perspective of a veteran hunter, it was only natural to feel competitive and want to personally determine whether Chaeho's reputation was genuine or merely inflated.

"We'll use wooden swords to prevent serious injuries. If you're both ready, begin."

The instant the instructor gave the signal, Jincheol kicked off the floor.

His speed was incomparable to anything Chaeho had experienced while training with the instructor.

There was a vicious intensity behind his movements that almost made it feel like a real battle.

Tap-tap-tap!

The wooden sword came crashing toward Chaeho without pause, alternating between his upper and lower body.

"Ugh!"

Chaeho didn't recklessly attempt to counterattack.

He endured quietly while completely concealing his ability.

His eyes followed Jincheol's gaze, the twisting of his shoulders, and the subtle angles of his wrist.

Using nothing but pure observation and footwork, Chaeho redirected and avoided the incoming attacks.

Every time their wooden swords collided, sharp numbness spread through his hands.

His breathing grew increasingly labored.

Yet Chaeho's center of balance never collapsed.

He's surprisingly solid. But this won't end if he does nothing but defend.

Jincheol's eyes flashed.

He took a large step forward and twisted his waist deeply.

All of his weight shifted onto his front foot as the rotational force of his shoulder concentrated at the tip of his wooden sword.

A finishing thrust with no apparent opening shot toward Chaeho's solar plexus like lightning.

It came at the absolute timing when dodging should have been impossible.

Just before the sword tip reached him—

Now.

Inside Chaeho's mind, the second hand of a clock seemed to stop.

Only 0.2 seconds of time slowdown.

The world permitted only to him became drastically slower.

A bead of sweat that had flown from Jincheol's forehead seemed almost frozen in midair as it slowly descended.

The wooden sword racing toward his solar plexus became a thick, clear line burned into Chaeho's vision.

Within that stretched-out world, Chaeho rapidly scanned his opponent's body.

Because Jincheol had stepped too far forward and placed too much weight on his front foot, his upper body was completely exposed.

He had no room to transition immediately into another defensive movement.

Chaeho twisted his body slightly with the smallest possible motion.

The thrust passed him by a paper-thin margin.

At the same time, Chaeho found the optimal path for his own wooden sword and extended his arm.

Then—

time returned to normal.

"Gasp!"

Jincheol sharply inhaled and froze as if struck by lightning.

His wooden sword had already shot past Chaeho's side.

Meanwhile, the tip of Chaeho's wooden sword rested directly in front of Jincheol's throat.

If he had pushed it only slightly farther, it would have crushed his windpipe.

A tense silence descended over the training room.

Cold sweat slowly ran down the back of Jincheol's neck.

He hadn't noticed at all that Chaeho had used a Skill during that brief instant.

All he understood was that his finishing move had been read with absurd ease.

And Chaeho's swift counterattack hadn't contained a single unnecessary movement.

He had been completely fooled by Chaeho's skill alone.

"...I lost."

Jincheol slowly relaxed his stiff body and lowered his wooden sword.

Instead of embarrassment, deep admiration now covered his face.

"You're incredible. I never imagined you'd be able to find an opening at that exact moment. All those rumors focusing on you being a former porter were complete nonsense."

"Your attacks were quite fierce. You made me work for it. Good match."

Chaeho calmly lowered his wooden sword.

The instructor, who had been watching everything, approached while shaking his head in amazement.

"At this point, I don't think there's anything more I can put you through. Your physical balance is firmly established, and your ability to spot and exploit an opponent's openings has completely become part of your body. You could apply for your B-rank promotion right now and I wouldn't have any objections."

Even after hearing the instructor's praise, Chaeho's expression remained calm.

"No. I'm still far from being able to handle a B-rank dungeon alone. I'll stop here for now and spend some time making my current abilities completely natural to my body."

He placed the wooden sword back on the rack and wiped his face with a towel.

He had no intention of recklessly climbing another rank.

The simple fact that he could now completely control those limited fifteen seconds according to his own will was enough.

He was now, in every practical sense, an upper-tier C-rank hunter capable of clearing dungeons alone.

No one could deny it.

Beneath his wet hair, Chaeho's eyes held no arrogance.

They were simply calm and steady—

fixed firmly on the tomorrow that awaited him.