The Promise of a Party
The world of Goddess Saga was a fantasy layered over a modern setting.
But if you looked closely, that “modern” world differed from ours in more ways than you’d expect.
One of them was the military.
That was the usual reaction whenever he described the conscription system of that “other Earth” as a hypothetical.
In the world of Goddess Saga, the military was based entirely on voluntary enlistment.
That was simply common sense: service had to come with proper compensation and respect.
Unless it was a catastrophe on the scale of a massive Dungeon Break threatening the nation’s survival, conscription was unthinkable.
Even in cases like that, there had been no shortage of disasters caused by attempts to drag people away by force.
Because of that background, military culture wasn’t something everyone knew.
Only those who needed to know knew it, and most people didn’t.
Seol Yun-ri, naturally, belonged to the latter group, so the posture she found herself in now felt utterly unfamiliar.
“Let’s start by warming up.”
She was already panting after running several kilometers as a so-called warm-up.
Then he told her to lie on her back, and at first even the cold of the ground felt welcome.
“Now raise both legs straight up. Lift your head too.”
Holding both legs in the air while lifting her head took some effort, but for the moment it still felt manageable.
“Good. Now just swing side to side ten times.”
But the real horror began after that.
She copied the exact position Sunwoo demonstrated and tried it once.
She didn’t even need to go far. Just once was enough.
Ah.
This wasn’t exercise from hell. This was torture.
Before she’d even reached five, her body had already begun to send warnings, and each rep after that brought pain crashing down on her exponentially harder than the last.
Tremble, tremble, tremble.
Her body let out a silent scream.
In an entirely different sense, Seol Yun-ri could keenly feel that she was alive.
She wanted to smack her past self for thinking ten reps sounded like nothing.
“Just a little more. Only four left! You can do it!”
And under that devilish psychological assault, she shrieked.
“Kyaaaaaaah!”
Somehow, somehow, she finished all ten.
And the moment she did, Seol Yun-ri collapsed completely.
Instead of pressing her harder, Sunwoo let her rest and said,
“You’re lacking stamina. Too much time on the computer.”
“N-no, we don’t even have a computer at home...”
“Your smartphone counts too.”
“...”
That hit a nerve, but she couldn’t refute it.
Sunwoo looked down at Seol Yun-ri, whose fists now trembled weakly because she no longer had the strength to clench them properly, and let out a quiet chuckle.
One way or another, Seol Yun-ri was following him well.
This was the kind of brutal regimen where it wouldn’t have been strange for her to flop down and whine that she couldn’t do it anymore.
After all, this was physical training meant to push her past her limits.
And unlike Sunwoo, “surpassing one’s limits” did not come easily to Seol Yun-ri.
A limit was, by nature, something meant to be observed.
A line one was not supposed to cross.
To widen that boundary, you had to keep hammering at it steadily.
And every single blow required enduring pain and hardship.
Yet from the very first day, Seol Yun-ri had somehow kept up.
She was the type who, if someone led her, would follow diligently through sheer sincerity.
“It’s hard, but hang in there.”
“...Yes.”
This was absolutely necessary.
Because if Seol Yun-ri wanted to become a Spiritist, this was something she had no choice but to do.
“Yun-ri.”
“Yes, Sunbae.”
“At this rate, you won’t be able to summon spirits. You won’t even be able to call them in order to make a contract.”
At those words, Seol Yun-ri didn’t ask why.
Because she could already guess the reason herself.
For someone her age, Seol Yun-ri possessed astonishingly high Mana and Skill stats—high enough to be almost unbelievable.
She hadn’t gotten into Seoul Hunter Academy on talent alone for nothing.
And yet, compared to those Mana and Skill values, her Physical stat sat all the way down at F-Grade.
It was a horrifying imbalance, and not in a good way.
F-Grade was below the threshold required for active hunter work, which made the situation truly serious.
She had spent nearly a full year shut inside without exercising, and her stats had plummeted as a result.
Even so, because she was still young, already Awakened, and possessed tremendous mana reserves, things had only fallen this far.
If she had been an ordinary person, her Physical stat would have dropped into the single digits.
After checking Seol Yun-ri’s stats through the shared-permissions setting, Sunwoo had summed it up like this:
It wasn’t even about opening the tap full blast—just operating her mana at all put strain on her body.
At that rate, forget fighting as a Spiritist. She wouldn’t even be able to summon properly.
Physical, Mana, and Skill were like three legs supporting a structure. If even one lagged behind, the balance collapsed immediately.
That was why physical training was so urgent, and Seol Yun-ri had nodded in agreement.
Which was why she was working this hard now.
Fortunately, Seol Yun-ri’s growth limit was exceptionally high, so results were bound to come quickly.
In Goddess Saga, the information window didn’t just show a character’s current abilities—it also showed their growth limit.
In Seol Yun-ri’s case, Sunwoo had only been able to confirm that through the codex after defeating her.
And it had been staggering.
Even stripping away every skill and special ability and looking only at raw growth potential, she still exceeded the level of an elite party member.
And once you added her skills on top of that, it was no wonder she had been the kind of boss who routinely wiped out even the protagonist’s full party.
The higher someone’s growth limit, the faster they also grew, which meant Seol Yun-ri would feel results soon as long as she put in the effort.
Up until now, she had been unable to summon spirits, so her talent had remained sealed shut.
But once training started producing results and she became capable of summoning, she would grow with explosive speed, as though a seal had finally been broken.
“Sunbae.”
“Yeah?”
“Is it because... I gave up for so long, that this is so hard for me?”
During her break, Seol Yun-ri must have gotten lost in thought, because she suddenly asked that out of nowhere.
Sunwoo smiled and answered.
“No. It’s mostly because I’m working you like a slave.”
“...What?”
“The Hunter License Exam is coming up soon. If we want to make the deadline, we have to train hard.”
“???”
Unable to keep up, Seol Yun-ri’s face turned adorably blank.
Then, little by little, she understood what he meant.
It was nearly graduation season.
Which also meant it was time for the Hunter License Exam.
Most graduates took the exam during this period before leaving school.
If they had never taken it before, they were required to take it now.
Then, with both their diploma and the license corresponding to their exam rank, they took their first step into society.
Of course, students weren’t the only ones who could take the test during this season.
Ordinary civilians could apply too.
The exam was usually held once every quarter, and if they missed this session, they’d have to wait several more months.
That would be too late.
So even if it meant rushing a little, taking it now was the right choice.
That, in plain terms, was why Sunwoo was pushing her so hard.
“I’m... taking that exam with you?”
“Yeah. Of course. That’s what’s best for you too.”
“...Yes. I guess it is.”
Seol Yun-ri had dropped out before she could finish even the second semester of her first year.
After that, she had effectively stopped attending for almost a full year, so naturally she had been expelled.
She was no longer a Seoul Hunter Academy student, and with that, every form of school-related support had been cut off.
And after briefly improving when she entered Seoul Hunter Academy, her family’s finances had only grown worse again.
“We need to get your grandmother living comfortably as soon as possible.”
“Yes.”
If you earned a high-grade license through the Hunter License Exam, a wide variety of benefits became available.
Talented hunters were among the nation’s most valuable assets, so there were plenty of well-developed support systems in place for them.
Knowing that well, Seol Yun-ri’s face hardened with resolve.
Meeting that expression, Sunwoo gave a small nod.
If he wanted to stop and change the miserable future he knew awaited Seol Yun-ri, then she needed to become a Spiritist as soon as possible.
Success Probability: 72%
The first button had been fastened properly, and the success probability of changing the story had remained high at 72%.
Now all that remained was to finish it cleanly.
And that finish line would probably be the Hunter License Exam site opening soon—beyond the Gate.
It had been the same when he first used Restart and returned to a timeline that was already off course, and it was the same now.
He didn’t have enough time.
If he had just a few more months, he could produce the best possible result with room to spare.
But he didn’t have that luxury.
So instead of regretting it, he chose to work harder.
Even so, he would keep moving forward and solve it.
That was what Sunwoo, who had come to this world as the protagonist, had to do.
“Thank you, Sunbae. For doing all this for me...”
As Sunwoo made that silent vow, Seol Yun-ri bowed her head deeply.
Her eyes shimmered with tears, full of gratitude.
No one besides her grandmother had ever done this much for her before, which made her all the more thankful.
Sunwoo accepted her gratitude with a smile.
“If you’re thankful, then I’d like you to team up with me from now on. How about it?”
“T-together...?”
“Yeah. I’m not doing all this for free. I’m recruiting. I want to bring in the future’s greatest Spiritist.”
He meant it.
This was Sunwoo changing the story to save a kind girl he had never been able to recruit as an ally—one who had instead met a far too tragic end as a boss to be defeated.
But at the same time, it was also something he needed for himself.
As he had said before, the foundation of hunter activity in this age was party play.
There were no hunters who truly operated solo.
In fact, the stronger and higher-ranked the hunter, the larger the team around them became.
For something like an A-grade Gate, it was normal for fifty or even a hundred people to move together once support teams were included.
In an era like this, even if he reached S-grade, it would still be better to have companions than to stand alone.
At the same time, considering the near future rushing toward him, casually joining just any organization wasn’t a good choice either.
That left only one answer.
Build a force of his own.
At first, his goal was simply a party.
And his first candidate was Seol Yun-ri.
A salvation he had failed to achieve even through countless repetitions of endless time.
But this time, he would succeed without fail.
He would change that tragic future, and only then welcome her at last as a true companion.
The former World Raid Boss, Seol Yun-ri.
“First, we take the exam together.”
Since party play was both the norm and a necessity, even the license exam allowed applicants to form parties if they wished.
And through that, Sunwoo intended to carve his own party just as vividly into people’s minds as the parties of Flame and Hero had been that day.
“So let’s start again from PT number eight, Yun-ri.”
“...Ah.”
Even if, for now, mere basic exercise was enough to drain all color from her face.
Even if, no matter how hard she worked before the Hunter License Exam, raising her Physical stat to E-Grade would probably be the limit.
“Kyaaaaah!”
Even as she screamed, Seol Yun-ri never stopped.
And because of that, Sunwoo wasn’t worried.
Her growth limit was astounding.
And once she finally summoned spirits and awakened the Signature Skill waiting within her, things would only go further.
Honestly, it felt like recruiting a companion who was impossible to obtain in a first playthrough—someone you could only finally recruit on a second run.
And that companion’s debut battle was not far away.
Thump.
Sunwoo’s heart pounded with anticipation.
Sunwoo devoted the entire morning to physical training with Seol Yun-ri.
Then, to make up for what he himself still lacked, he cut back on sleep and trained beside the World Tree.
Thanks to the World Tree at his side—
And thanks as well to the life force and internal energy overflowing through Elvenheim—he didn’t merely avoid exhaustion.
He was brimming with vitality.
And so a week flew by in the blink of an eye.
“Let’s go, Yun-ri.”
“...Yes.”
The day had come for them to go apply for the Hunter License Exam.