Jamma Cave Graduation 3
"I'm sorry... I messed up..."
"Whew. That finally settles it."
Shin Gi-woon's face was swollen nearly twice its normal size as he knelt on the ground. The eternity of beatings had at last come to an end.
He wondered whether he'd really done anything that deserved a thrashing this thorough — then realized three full days had passed while he was being beaten.
Yeah. He'd earned it.
[I'd have joined in on the beating if I had a body of my own.]
You too, huh...
[Do you have any idea how bored I was while you were out cold? I kept yelling and you still wouldn't wake up.]
Ahem. It's not like I can move that body whenever I feel like it.
At any rate, Shin Gi-woon did his best to look properly sorry. He'd been in the wrong, so an apology was the least he could offer.
"I'm sorry. At the time I thought it was the best option. To protect all of you—"
"Don't say that. We're comrades. If we die, we die together. None of us wants to survive on your back."
Bi So-hyang cut him off. And she wasn't the only one. In the three days since word of Shin Gi-woon had gone silent, every one of them had thrown themselves into training like they were possessed — guilt over the fact that their own lack of strength had put a comrade in danger.
If Cheon Se-hwa hadn't brought word that Shin Gi-woon was safe, things would have gotten far worse.
They weren't saying it out loud, but Shin Gi-woon could read the state they were in. They'd been driving their bodies to the absolute limit in training. And then he'd come back, so they'd put everything they had into beating him. He was in no position to tell them to rest, so he kept his mouth shut.
"I promise. I'll make sure nothing like this ever happens again."
"Obviously. There won't be a second time."
He would make sure of it. He would grow stronger than he was now, strong enough that he would never again have reason to stand alone.
A deep resolve settled in Shin Gi-woon's eyes, and only then did they nod.
"Get up. Let's go back."
"Cook me something good. I'm starving."
"My fists are pretty tasty. Want another round?"
"...Sorry."
Cheon Se-hwa beamed and raised a fist. Apparently her anger still hadn't fully burned out. Shin Gi-woon, who had no desire to get hit again, closed his mouth. One more careless word and he genuinely felt he would take another beating.
And so Shin Gi-woon returned to his own room, where for the first time in a long while he could stretch out somewhere comfortable.
"Uuugh... I can feel the exhaustion just melting away."
He had never missed a soft bed this much in his life. In his previous life he had slept rough without a second thought — but clearly the problem wasn't his past-life realm. He needed to raise this body to that level first. Especially now, with his internal energy expanded so vastly.
"It's still too early to push toward the Transcendent Realm."
In pure volume of internal energy, he was already comparable to an ordinary Transcendent. But Shin Gi-woon was not ready.
He had drawn on demonic energy to its absolute limit in the last battle — but only because Ryu-jin had activated the All-Power Realm through demonic energy. She had made it clear she could not control Transcendent-level demonic energy on her own.
The possibility of that energy running wild settled the matter. The Transcendent Realm was still premature.
The sheer volume of internal energy contained in the Heavenly Demon Pill was truly staggering. He had managed to store all of it without any dissipation — and if he had also poured the energy used to treat his internal injuries into his dantian, he might not have been able to hold back from breaking through to the Transcendent Realm then and there.
That a single elixir could decide an entire realm... it truly was a rare and precious spiritual medicine.
Honestly, at this level it casually outclassed a Great Restoration Pill. There was a real chance the rumors about it had been deliberately suppressed. If word got out and greed-driven opportunists started showing up, the headache would be absolute.
He also understood now why the Heavenly Demon Pill was bestowed only upon a confirmed Young Leader candidate. Once the Young Leader took it, they would realize the pill was far more extraordinary than the rumors claimed. But they would never broadcast that fact to the world. With the Cult Leader's seat already secured, there was no reason to manufacture enemies.
In other words, the muted reputation was a calculated advantage. And by taking the Heavenly Demon Pill, Shin Gi-woon had seen through the lie.
That the Cult Leader had awarded it despite the risk of external leakage could only mean one thing — he genuinely favored Shin Gi-woon.
"Having expectations this high is honestly a little overwhelming."
Truthfully, he had planned to race out into the martial world the moment he reached a certain level and begin his revenge. Becoming a high-level expert would free him to act outside the cult as he pleased. But with the Cult Leader taking an interest, he could hardly go wandering around at will.
Even outside the cult, the Cult Leader's gaze would likely follow him. He was grateful for the attention — but it was a little burdensome. Operating freely under the pretext of official missions would no longer be possible.
Still, for all the unease, the fact that he had built real trust was the most satisfying part of all.
The scatter of miscellaneous thoughts lasted only a moment. The comfort of the bed loosened his grip on consciousness, and for the first time in a long while Shin Gi-woon fell into a peaceful sleep.
"Aaaah... I don't want to get up..."
Morning had come. After how deeply he had slept the night before, rising felt like a crime. But the drowsiness was already ebbing from his body. Even when he wanted more sleep, his eyes opened at the usual hour — there was no fighting it.
Since he was awake anyway, Shin Gi-woon washed his face in a perfunctory fashion and opened his door. Not toward the training grounds — toward the central plaza.
This was a zone where killing was permitted, but after the third trial no one was going to pick a fight on purpose. Those who had passed the third trial were classmates now. Not rivals.
Was there any reason to split into factions and make enemies of each other? They ought to be helping one another.
Of course, some of the candidates had not returned. Either they had failed the third trial, or something else had happened. One or the other. When he asked around, only Squad Three had failed to come back. Everyone else had returned safely.
Apparently there had been no other trials of that nightmarish difficulty — the kind that involved infiltrating a secret branch. It made him think all over again what a bastard Lee Hyeong-seop had been.
"Should've slept longer. You're out early."
"My eyes open on their own. What am I supposed to do about it?"
He was wandering the empty stretches of Jamma Cave when Cheon Se-hwa approached with a sly remark. For the record, Shin Gi-woon's face was even more swollen than the day before. Judging by the way the corner of her mouth kept twitching, she was fighting desperately not to laugh.
Shin Gi-woon knew it and kept the conversation going anyway.
"Where are you planning to go after graduation? Jamma Cave graduates get priority application rights to the five brigades, right?"
The difficulty of graduating from Jamma Cave was extreme — and the benefits that came with graduation were equally substantial. First, growth through Jamma Cave was dramatically accelerated. Second, graduates received priority application rights to the five brigades of Guangming Palace. The five brigades were so different in character that securing a place in one of them through priority rights brought considerable advantages. And last, the privilege granted to the top graduate: the right to commission a weapon of their choosing from the legendary smith Ganya.
Shin Gi-woon was all but confirmed as the top graduate, so he intended to hold that commission carefully. He already had the White Fang Spear — there was no need to forge another spear just yet. When he found good materials, he would have something new made then.
Which was why he asked Cheon Se-hwa about her path. In truth, he already had a fair idea without asking. Given her identity, her destination was obvious.
"Me? I'll go to the Guangming Guard, of course."
"Sounds like you. I'm enlisting with the Manbyeon Soul-Hunting Corps, so let's see each other whenever we get the chance."
"Yeah."
Cheon Se-hwa fell quiet after that. She had probably guessed it too — that her identity had already been exposed. And yet Shin Gi-woon was treating her exactly as he always had. Not as the Cult Leader's daughter, but as his friend Cheon Se-hwa.
How much comfort that gave her, Shin Gi-woon could not have known. Somewhere along the way, the person called Shin Gi-woon had come to occupy a large place in her heart.
I figured it out during this trial.
She had gone half-mad, sobbing as she pounded on the doors of the Cult Leader's hall. The memory still made her want to die of humiliation — but that was how desperate she had been. She had simply wanted her first real friend not to be dead.
Cheon Yu had already told her that Shin Gi-woon's safety was secured. She had returned to Jamma Cave relieved — and yet a thread of fear had remained. From the moment she heard that Shin Gi-woon was staying in the Cult Leader's hall, she had expected her identity to become known to him. That they would never again be able to relate to each other the way they had before.
The thought had left a raw ache in one corner of her heart. Fortunately, the thing she had feared never came to pass.
Even so, she could tell from his eyes that he knew who she was. So she said nothing. Somehow she felt that if she brought it up even once more, there would be no going back.
"I met the Commander of the Guangming Guard. Seemed like a good person. She'll treat you well."
"I remember the Commander of the Manbyeon Soul-Hunting Corps being pretty easygoing too. You shouldn't have too hard a time."
"Don't even start. He's already fussing over me so much it's embarrassing. I'm half-worried the existing members are going to start giving me dirty looks."
"Then thrash them. You're the type who can do something like that without fretting about the aftermath."
"Haha, you think so?"
Shin Gi-woon felt a subtle dissonance in their conversation. He was treating Cheon Se-hwa the same as always — but from her side, he could sense distance. She was clearly convinced her identity had been found out.
Which was true. But he wanted their relationship to stay exactly like this. He had no desire to put her on a pedestal just because she was the Cult Leader's daughter.
Watching the natural smile that rose to her face, it seemed she wanted the same thing.
I don't know what the future holds. But I'll be rooting for you.
Shin Gi-woon reached out and ruffled Cheon Se-hwa's hair. She flinched for a moment, but she did not pull away from his hand.
No one could say what the future would bring. Even so...
They hoped the memories they had shared would remain unchanged to the very end.
Dawn light fell across a young man and woman who carried the same wish in their hearts.