The Shield and the Spear
“A past life?”
“Yes.”
“So you’re saying this old man was my past life?”
It was too absurd to believe at a glance. A past life? What, was he trying to scam a kid or something?
Seeing Hyun-jun shake his head with a look of utter disbelief, Carthago took up a battle stance with a grave expression. Shield raised to cover his body, he leveled the spearpoint at Hyun-jun. A chill murderous intent spilled out and seized the dark space.
“Believe it or not, it makes no difference.”
And then he vanished.
“Huh…?”
“You’ll come to your senses after you’ve been turned into a skewer about ten times.”
Carthago’s voice came from behind him. Hyun-jun tried to look back, but his body wouldn’t obey. The moment he tried to take a step, a crushing pressure hit his chest. The instant his gaze dropped, a wave of excruciating pain surged through him like a tsunami.
“Kraaaah!”
He could see the spear shaft piercing straight through his chest.
“Only once.”
Carthago withdrew the spear with practiced ease. Hyun-jun collapsed, blood spraying from the wound.
“D-dream… Ah, it hurts! Gghhh!”
It had to be a dream, and yet the pain was painfully vivid. Hyun-jun gasped through it.
“Don’t play it up. Your wound has already healed.”
Carthago’s voice reached him again. When Hyun-jun came to his senses, the pain was gone. He put a hand to his chest. The place where a hole should have been was perfectly intact. He moved his legs.
I can move?
The instant he realized that, he shot to his feet and ran for the door. Dream or not, he wanted out of this insane place.
“Running away?”
Carthago asked, casting a glance at Hyun-jun’s back. Hyun-jun ignored him and grabbed the doorknob instead. He hated pain. He wanted to run right now.
“Whether I’m your past life or not doesn’t matter.”
Carthago hurled the shield. It landed at Hyun-jun’s feet.
“What matters is that I can make you stronger.”
It was a line as sharp as a dagger driven straight into his heart. Hyun-jun’s hand froze on the knob. Carthago’s words struck a nerve. But only for a moment. Hyun-jun turned the knob anyway.
“How long do you plan to keep running? Are you going to live a humiliating life like this forever, just like today? Are you a coward, a fugitive? If you don’t deny it, then open that door and leave! I have no intention of training some useless fool like you!”
Hyun-jun bit down on his lip. A thin thread of blood ran down his chin. He couldn’t refute the words. Up until now, he had been a coward and a fugitive. That was how he had lived, how he had been today when he broke up with Hye-jin, and how he would keep being if nothing changed.
“But!”
Carthago’s booming voice shook the dark space.
“If you want to be different from this moment on, then pick up that shield! We will help you!”
“Help me…?”
His heart wavered. If he opened the door now and walked out, he would go back to the life he had always had. But that was all. He would live at the bottom. There was no other way. The label of F-Class would cling to the name Hunter for the rest of his life.
With no dream, forever.
The hesitation lasted only a moment, a brief, trembling urge to shake his head and give up. He wanted to abandon everything and run right now, his hands trembling with the thought. And yet, the miserable memories of his past kept hammering at the back of his skull.
So what was the decision? Yes. It had already been decided from the start.
“I’m not running anymore!”
As if to deny every step he had taken until now, he shouted with something close to desperation. In his left hand was the shield, he wasn’t even sure when he had picked it up, and his eyes were fixed on Carthago.
“Good. Then you are no longer a fugitive or a coward. You are our proud reincarnation, Kang Hyun-jun.”
Hyun-jun only thought that he had merely expressed his refusal to give up by lifting the shield, but he still didn’t know that that small action would turn his fate inside out.
“From this moment on, I will train you.”
Carthago leveled his spear at Hyun-jun.
“You’d best steel yourself. This is a space where time does not flow… you will have to experience thousands of deaths.”
“What…?”
“The first lesson. I don’t care if you only manage it once. Nullify my attack. Evade if you like, or defend with that shield.”
A brutal lesson began.
“Kraaaah!”
He was pierced by the hundredth spear. A scream tore out of him. He couldn’t see anything. At some point pain hit, and when he came to himself, Carthago was right in front of him.
“Ghk!”
He was pierced by the three-hundredth spear. Blood splattered as he rolled across the floor. Just a little, but he could see Carthago’s movements. A fleeting afterimage lingered in his vision.
“Guh!”
He was pierced by the five-hundredth spear. By now he had grown used to the pain. It felt as though even his dynamic vision had sharpened. Faintly, but clearly enough, he could see Carthago moving. And how much time had passed?
He was pierced by the eight-hundredth spear. By then, he could predict Carthago’s movement to a certain extent. Whenever he vanished from sight, Hyun-jun found himself instinctively raising the shield. Of course, that was all it did. The result never changed: he was still skewered by the spear.
“Kraah!”
From the moment the thousandth spear pierced his abdomen, he realized counting was pointless and gave up. Perhaps because he had experienced so many deaths in so many forms that it was impossible to tally them anymore, Hyun-jun felt his mental strength wearing down at a frightening speed.
“Gah!”
The fifteen-hundredth spear smashed his skull apart. His mind was so thoroughly broken that “he had lost his emotions” almost seemed like the right way to describe it.
“You can become stronger.”
Every time he was exhausted and ready to collapse, Carthago steadied him. He was a superb instructor. Hyun-jun gathered himself again and raised the shield.
“You should be starting to see my movements by now.”
No answer came. His blurred eyes were so unfocused it was impossible to tell where they were looking.
“I-I think so.”
When Carthago asked again, Hyun-jun finally nodded and answered. Slowly, but little by little, he could see. At first it had been vague, but gradually it had grown clear. Every time that happened, Hyun-jun could barely hold back the rush swelling in his chest.
“It’s nearly time for the first lesson to end.”
Carthago wore a satisfied smile. Then he raised his spear again and spoke.
“You might be thinking, what’s the point of only defending against a one-sided assault? But there is no better training than actual combat…!”
He vanished. When Hyun-jun came back to himself, he was right in front of him. Hyun-jun hurriedly lifted the shield.
No! Too late!
Defense was impossible. Then attack it was. He didn’t know why, but right now it felt like he could succeed.
“Aaaah!”
With a shout, he swung the shield and knocked Carthago’s spear aside. It was only possible because he had caught a glimpse of the movement for that brief instant.
“Hahaha! Did you see it?”
Carthago answered as he stepped back. Hyun-jun nodded instead of replying.
“The first lesson is over.”
“But I…”
“Up until now, you’ve been skewered by my spear 2,450 times. I attacked using twenty-four basic spear techniques. Do you understand what that means?”
Hyun-jun shook his head. Carthago lifted his spear.
“I don’t need to explain it to you. Your body remembers. I made sure of that.”
Carthago smiled.
“I can say this without hesitation: when you wake from this dream, a great deal will have changed.”
At first, he didn’t believe it. Later, he had no choice but to believe it.
*
“Huh—!”
He woke with a choking gasp. Hyun-jun turned his head anxiously and looked around. He was in his narrow one-room apartment. Empty soju bottles lay scattered across the floor.
Was I dreaming…?
The sensation of being pierced by Carthago’s spear was still vivid. It felt as if the sight of himself thrashing around in a spray of blood had happened only moments ago.
Had it really just been a dream? Hyun-jun raised both hands.
“Doesn’t feel like anything changed…”
Carthago had said he would make him stronger, but nothing seemed different. So it really had just been a weird dream? Just as he sighed and shook his head, a smartphone lying beside him vibrated.
[Management Bureau Fossil.]
It was An Seok-gyu. Hyun-jun brought the phone to his ear.
“Ugh… Seok-gyu?”
It still felt as though pain lingered through his whole body. This wasn’t a hangover. Even his muddled mind seemed to be clearing up a little. Why, or by what principle, he couldn’t have explained.
“Hey, did you drink? We’ve got a schedule set up right now. Can you make it?”
“I’ll go.”
“Get out here now.”
“Got it.”
There was no need to hear more. He hung up. A message arrived shortly after. Fortunately, it was close to the one-room apartment where he stayed. He gathered the gear set in the corner. Sword in hand, he was just about to leave when the crude shield he had been issued when he first registered as a Hunter caught his eye.
“...No idea.”
In the end, he took the shield too.
The dungeon was less than a ten-minute walk away. After hurrying along, he arrived in front of it. Seven people were gathered there, and one of them carrying a large bag looked like a porter.
So there are about six people in the assault party…?
As Hyun-jun slowly scanned the faces of the party members, his eyes stopped. His expression twisted. Perhaps she felt his stare on her cheek, because the woman with the brown bob turned her head. Their eyes met.
“What are you doing here?!”