The First A-Class Wall
“What are you doing here?”
“I have some connections with Guild Leader Lee Hyeokjun, so I come and go pretty often. Your name came up while I was here.”
“I see. It’s been a while!”
“It really is you. I thought I must have been mistaken.”
“There were some circumstances. I’ve switched to being a trainer now.”
Kang Yujun smiled and gestured with his hand.
“Let’s grab a cup of coffee.”
The subtle, complex expression on Lim Seokjae’s face.
And the massive cracks running through his body.
Yujun had a pretty good idea why the man had approached him.
Yujun recognized him the moment he saw him.
‘He grew up exactly like he looked back in his youth days.’
Lim Seokjae was a friend Yujun had met back when he was a youth trainee at the Promise Guild.
Seokjae had belonged to the Sky Guild’s youth division, and they had first encountered each other during a youth exchange event.
‘The memories are still vivid.’
Back then, Lim Seokjae had been a promising talent just like Yujun. He had been evaluated as the top youth prospect in the Sky Guild, and everyone said he would definitely reach A-class the moment he joined the main team.
‘I was the first one to give him advice.’
While everyone else was busy praising him, Yujun had noticed quite a few flaws in Seokjae’s form. So he had offered guidance from time to time.
‘I guess I had a pretty meddlesome personality back then.’
Yujun gave a bitter smile and once again examined Lim Seokjae’s body.
‘At this level, he looks like an A-class awakened.’
An A-class awakened was an extremely high rank. Even in the Sky Guild, there were only five of them.
The government issued free pass cards that allowed unrestricted access to towers, and the requirement for receiving one was precisely A-class.
‘To reach such a high level with a body in this condition…’
It was genuinely surprising.
He had certainly grown properly, but his current physical state looked far from good.
In fact, it was quite bad.
‘He’s just pretending to be normal.’
The countless cracks visible across his entire body proved it. The fractures were even denser than most people’s, making it seem like his whole body had been shattered into pieces.
“Have you been well?”
“I’ve been fine. What about you?”
“You already know my story, don’t you?”
At Yujun’s words, Seokjae’s face clouded with slight discomfort.
“Don’t worry. I’ve properly switched paths now. I’ve reset my mindset too. So what brings you here?”
“Well…”
Lim Seokjae explained his current situation.
“So right now I’m with the Lightning Guild.”
“Lightning Guild? Weren’t you a Sky Guild youth?”
“There were circumstances, so I transferred.”
The Lightning Guild was quite a unique organization. While most high-ranking guilds tried to recruit as many members as possible, the Lightning Guild operated strictly with a small number of elite personnel.
“They only recruit mid-to-high rank awakened, right? The fact that you went there as an A-class means…”
It meant he had been overflowing with potential to reach the upper tiers of A-class.
“That’s true, but… earlier, why did you ask if my heart was in bad shape?”
Lim Seokjae couldn’t stop thinking about those words.
‘Because the cracks around your heart looked severe.’
Yujun slightly furrowed his brow and focused his gaze on the area around Seokjae’s heart.
Starting from a massive crack in the heart, fractures spread across his entire body as if it had been split apart.
“It didn’t look good.”
Yujun answered simply.
“……”
Seokjae, who had thought Yujun had figured something out about him, let out a deep sigh and opened his mouth.
“Actually, I just saw your training session. It was incredible. To think you could train a main team awakened in just ten minutes. So… I don’t know if you remember, but I broke through a wall thanks to your advice back then.”
“Of course I remember.”
That memory was intense for Yujun as well. It had been the first time his advice had completely changed someone’s life.
“The truth is, I’m currently stuck against another wall. I managed to join the Lightning Guild, but I’ve hit my limit.”
Lim Seokjae looked extremely frustrated.
“And you were right. My heart isn’t in good shape. More precisely, my mana circulation isn’t working properly. So…”
After hesitating for a moment, Seokjae spoke with difficulty.
“Could you… train me?”
“You want personal training?”
“Yes. I heard you’re a freelance trainer now. You’re not under an exclusive contract, right?”
Even setting aside their personal connection, personal training for an A-class awakened wasn’t a bad offer at all.
‘It would enrich my career, and I could grow the Awakened Training System too.’
Plus, through this job, there was a chance he could build connections with the Lightning Guild, which ranked far higher than the Sky Guild.
But more important than either of those reasons was one thing.
‘I want to test it.’
Training Kim Ojung had been similar to the previous session. But that hadn’t been enough to objectively gauge his current abilities.
‘But an A-class awakened is different.’
Would his training work on someone at that level too?
‘I’ll be able to see exactly what I’m lacking and how much.’
When Yujun remained silent for a moment, Lim Seokjae spoke first.
“Don’t worry about the money. I’ll give you the best treatment I can offer.”
Seokjae was that desperate.
Two thousand per month.
That wasn’t an amount one would offer a rookie trainer. At the outrageous figure, Yujun immediately nodded.
“Alright. Let’s write up a contract.”
“Ha, this is ridiculous. Kang Yujun? A rookie trainer? You think that newbie can fix what even I couldn’t? You’re really going to listen to someone who couldn’t even awaken and ran away to become a trainer? Tsk!”
After returning to the Lightning Guild office, Lim Seokjae immediately called for his trainer and explained the situation.
He had decided to go with a new trainer.
The reaction was predictably fierce.
Lee Dongjae, the personal trainer assigned to him by the Lightning Guild, turned red in the face with anger.
It was a natural response.
“I’m going to file an official complaint about this!”
“I’m sorry.”
Lim Seokjae bowed his head.
He understood Lee Dongjae’s anger and his doubts.
It was true that Kang Yujun had given him sharp advice with those keen eyes a long time ago. But so much had happened since then, and Kang Yujun had failed to awaken.
And now he had become a trainer.
“Ha… Seriously, why are you doing this?”
Lee Dongjae asked.
“I saw a spark.”
However, Lim Seokjae trusted his instincts.
That spark he had seen in the training room—it was the same Kang Yujun from the past.
It was still vivid. It was the same spark he had felt back then, when his life had been completely turned around.
The memories from his younger days overlapped. So he had no choice but to believe.
Right now he stood at a crossroads. Every moment felt like walking on the edge of a blade.
One misstep and he would never be able to climb back up to this point.
Would he end his career at A-class?
Or would he break through to something greater?
For that critical choice, he needed training unlike anything he had experienced before.
“Don’t come crying to me later!”
Lee Dongjae spat coldly before storming out of the room.
Lim Seokjae headed to the Lightning Guild training ground.
“You’re here?”
Kang Yujun was already waiting for him.
“The Lightning Guild seems to have pretty high expectations for you.”
“They’ve invested a lot in me.”
“Really?”
Yujun first used the Awakened Scan on Lim Seokjae.
[Lim Seokjae] Overall Rank: ?
Body: [A]
Mind: [A]
Stats: [Strength ?/?] [Stamina ?/?] [Agility ?/?]
Awakened Ability: Superhuman Strength
Potential: ?
Special Notes: ?
This time, far too many things were hidden from the Awakened Scan.
‘It’s not easy. Maybe because he’s A-class, the scan isn’t working properly.’
Still, he had expected this much.
‘For now, I’ll train him based on what I can see and what I already know.’
He immediately handed Seokjae a VR device.
“Let’s try it like real combat.”
‘Just like back then, his direction is completely off in many ways.’
Yujun checked the information on Lim Seokjae through his smart pad.
‘He grew exactly according to the advice I gave him when I was young. But…’
The advice Yujun had given him back then was simple: he was too obsessed with the concept of superhuman strength.
‘I told him not to use all his power, but to control it.’
After that advice, Lim Seokjae had grown rapidly. Of course, that had given him enough confidence to transfer to another guild.
The situation now was similar.
‘This time he’s too obsessed with controlling his strength.’
It was exactly the same.
‘Just like with Mr. Kim Ojung.’
The situation was quite similar to Kim Ojung, who had been unable to exert his full power due to an old injury.
Perhaps the advice he had given back then had caused this obsession.
If so, that was fine.
‘Let’s tear everything down and start over. I’ll give him a proper overhaul.’
“Seokjae, from now on, stop trying to control your strength.”
“Stop controlling my strength?”
“Yes. You’ve been focusing a lot on controlling your power until now. Just try using your full strength for once.”
Yujun gestured as if to say, go ahead.
Monsters were lined up in front of them. If he stepped forward just a little, they would charge at him with full force, just like during the Sky Guild’s internal evaluation.
“That doesn’t work. I’ve tried it countless times.”
Lim Seokjae frowned at Yujun’s request.
He couldn’t stop controlling his strength. In simple terms, it meant he couldn’t let go of everything and deliver a killing blow.
He had tried it again and again. No, hundreds, thousands of times.
Even though countless trainers from the Lightning Guild had worked with him on personal training, this issue had never been corrected.
“I even received hypnosis therapy.”
“Seokjae.”
Yujun patted him on the back.
“It’s okay if it doesn’t work. Just try it.”
Seokjae let out a sigh.
Right. Hadn’t he decided to trust him?
“Alright.”
Lim Seokjae stepped forward.
Shaaaaaaaah—.
Superhuman strength.
His powerful force surged forth.
“Kiiiiiiik—!”
The monsters before him were bizarre birds that appeared from the 25th floor and above. These creatures didn’t fly in the sky but moved across the ground as their stage.
With their sharp claws, beaks, and petrification attacks shot from their eyes.
The monsters swarmed Lim Seokjae in an instant.
He stomped hard on the ground and charged forward.
In towers, he always stood in the center. While the vanguard tanks endured the monsters’ attacks, his role was to deliver powerful strikes.
In simple terms, he was a close-range dealer.
However, Lim Seokjae had never been able to properly fulfill that dealer role.
It was fine on lower floors.
“Hup!”
But as the floors grew higher.
Shweeeeeeeeeee—!
“Damn it.”
His fists began to lose their effectiveness.
The precise strength control he had always considered his greatest advantage had become the problem.
On higher floors, a single overwhelming strike was far more important than controlled power.
The tanks could only hold out for a limited time. The monsters had to fall before the tanks collapsed.
Yet Lim Seokjae’s restrained attacks couldn’t deal effective damage to the high-floor monsters.
It was the same now.
Even after being told to use his full power, he still couldn’t unleash it…
Shwaaak—!
At that moment, Kang Yujun moved.
“Relax your strength. Pour out your full power naturally, like flowing water.”
Linguistic Correction
The moment Linguistic Correction activated, Yujun’s staff lightly tapped Lim Seokjae’s shoulder.
Seokjae’s body tilted forward.
But the correction wasn’t perfect.
‘As expected, a main team awakened isn’t easy.’
A sculpture that had been carved and refined over more than a decade.
He had to reshape a piece that already possessed its own level of completion with his own hands.
For that, he needed to use a different method than what he had used on the youths.
‘So I need to look even more closely.’
And correct it even more powerfully.
Yujun opened his eyes wide.
He stared at Lim Seokjae as if trying to pierce straight through him.
Awakened Scan ability has improved!
You can now see more information!
Proficiency has increased!
Yujun’s mind began spinning rapidly.
Awakened Analysis ability has improved!
The moment he scanned and analyzed Lim Seokjae, Yujun placed a hand on his shoulder.
There was a crack on the shoulder that hadn’t been visible before.
‘A red crack was hidden here. I need to get rid of this.’
The red crack was blocking the blood flow leading to the heart.
‘It’s similar to Woo Hana.’
Woo Hana had also suffered from poor mana flow to her heart.
‘The mana isn’t flowing. If I fix that, it should work. But there’s more to the problem.’
Unlike with Woo Hana, Lim Seokjae had additional issues.
“Relax like a corpse. Imagine you have no joints. Don’t resist my power. You know that, right? I’m a non-awakened. If you keep applying force, I’ll get blown away.”
Linguistic Correction has been strengthened!
Thud. Thud.
He struck five precise points simultaneously.
Lim Seokjae’s posture changed dramatically.
And then—
Shaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah—!
An enormous wave of mana burst out from his shoulder area.
The superhuman strength that had been blocked for so long exploded forth without restraint.
Kwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah—!
Immense power.
It was truly a force worthy of the name superhuman strength.
“Ughhhhhhhhh!”
Lim Seokjae, unleashing his full power for the first time in a long while, let out a groan.
But soon his eyes widened as he looked at Yujun.
Yujun was grinning.
“How’s that for correction?”