The Root Cause
Oh Yunseok fell silent at Kang Yujun’s sudden question.
Am I okay?
What kind of question was that, out of nowhere?
But Yujun simply smiled, his eyes shining with the quiet certainty that he already knew the answer.
“I’m also injured, as you can see. That’s why I’m doing rehabilitation training alongside you.”
Yujun nodded once.
“Your eyes seem exceptionally sharp. You must have felt a sense of discomfort during training. Even though you were doing the same exercises, you instinctively hit the brakes whenever the other awakened moved at full power.”
Yujun spoke quietly. He had meant the words only for Oh Yunseok, but every awakened in the room had keen enough senses to hear them clearly.
For a moment, Oh Yunseok’s face filled with shock.
The confidence in Yujun’s tone made it impossible to dismiss his words as a mere guess.
“Let me ask again. You’re relatively fine, aren’t you?”
“……Yes.”
Just as Yujun had said, among all the injured awakened undergoing rehabilitation, Oh Yunseok was the one in the best condition.
“But how did you… just by looking…”
Oh Yunseok was genuinely stunned.
The severity of their injuries varied from person to person, but he wasn’t completely unharmed either. Still, his condition was noticeably milder than the others’.
“He’s… fine?”
“I thought he was injured too…”
“He doesn’t look injured at all.”
The existing Neverland trainers had no idea, so they were visibly flustered.
“Yunseok does seem a bit better off than the rest.”
“Wait, how did he know?”
“Even the trainers didn’t notice, right?”
And yet this newcomer, Kang Yujun, had seen through it instantly.
As Kang Yujun took charge, Lee Suyeon stood beside him, looking incredibly proud.
The guild’s situation had spiraled into the worst possible state, but Kang Yujun had come to fix it. And the person who had brought him here was none other than herself!
That fact made Lee Suyeon feel extremely good.
More than anything, she had absolute faith in Kang Yujun because he had already solved her own problem.
Oh Yunseok stared at Yujun in astonishment.
How on earth had he figured him out so quickly?
His greatest strength was exactly what Yujun had mentioned—his eyes. Thanks to them, he had also sustained relatively light injuries during this incident.
In response to Oh Yunseok’s question, Yujun smiled and answered.
“I knew from experience. I could tell your eyesight was excellent, and your movements were noticeably different from the other awakened.”
Yujun tapped his own eyes lightly with his index finger.
“Sharp eyes tend to awaken keen senses. You weren’t the first one to train, were you? That means you watched the others train first. So you must have instinctively felt that something was off.”
“……”
“And during your own training, you applied the brakes according to that feeling.”
“All of that… in such a short time…”
Oh Yunseok let out a helpless chuckle, completely dumbfounded.
At this point, the man seemed less like a trainer and more like a master detective.
“You’re exactly right, Trainer Kang.”
When training first began, Oh Yunseok had already noticed something strange about it. More precisely, the mana condition of the awakened who had trained before him felt wrong.
The bizarre flow was so clear to his eyes.
Because of that, Oh Yunseok had only partially accepted the training. Thanks to that caution, he had avoided serious injury.
“I’ll need your help a little, Mr. Oh Yunseok.”
“My… help?”
“Yes. First, we need to find the cause. I plan to identify the source of the injuries and then proceed with rehabilitation.”
Yujun looked around at the other awakened as he spoke.
“You all underwent the same training, yet each of you developed different problems. So we must identify the root cause first. Only then can I rehabilitate everyone who has been affected in various ways.”
That was exactly why the trainers had been struggling so much.
Yujun glanced at his smart pad.
If the training method itself had been flawed, everyone should have suffered the same injury. But that wasn’t the case. Each person had been hurt in completely different areas.
I’ll find the clear cause through Oh Yunseok, who was injured the least.
Yujun’s eyes widened.
Activating Awakened Scan!
Analyzing B-Class Awakened Oh Yunseok's information!
An odd note was listed under Oh Yunseok’s special remarks.
Mana road collision state?
Yujun examined Oh Yunseok’s physical condition with his own eyes.
Concentration skill proficiency has increased!
Shaaaaaah—.
As he focused, the internal state of Oh Yunseok’s body began to appear clearly.
It’s distinctly different from the other awakened.
The other awakened currently had unstable mana inside their bodies, making it impossible to properly observe the state of their mana roads. But Oh Yunseok’s mana roads were crystal clear.
Slightly swollen.
Yet unmistakable. He could see the mana flow colliding where the mana roads were swollen.
Thud. Thud. Thud—.
It wasn’t completely blocked, but sediment was accumulating in that section.
This is dangerous.
Oh Yunseok’s condition was worse than he had thought.
After thinking for a moment, Yujun asked him.
“Mr. Oh Yunseok, could you use Wind Slash for me?”
“I’m still injured. Using it will cause severe pain.”
“It’s all right. Trust me and try it once.”
“……”
The gentle voice and absolute confidence made Oh Yunseok unconsciously obey.
Linguistic Correction has been used!
Of course, that was the effect of Linguistic Correction.
Shaaaaaah—.
Wind began to surge from his body.
Yujun quickly pulled out his cane and struck Oh Yunseok’s side.
Body Reinforcement skill proficiency has increased!
Thanks to his reinforced body, he could strike the mana road traveling along the waist toward the heart area with speed.
Guiding it.
Yujun guided Oh Yunseok’s mana while simultaneously canceling out the pain.
Then it became clearly visible.
The mana that couldn’t circulate properly accumulated and turned into residual mana.
This was a textbook case of training failure.
I saw this often in the Infinite Tower. But I need to understand the exact reason before I can rehabilitate them.
He never imagined he would witness this phenomenon in reality.
It’s such a basic thing.
Suddenly, Yu Jena’s face flashed through Yujun’s mind.
This training method… she said she used it and saw results, right?
Then it might be a matter of intensity.
Because Yu Jena is an S-Class awakened.
Training designed for an S-Class awakened could be highly effective for that same S-Class individual.
Their bodies themselves are on a different level.
It wasn’t just their physical abilities that were powerful. Their internal physiology was different too.
I didn’t fully understand what that meant when I was clearing the Infinite Tower.
The Infinite Tower had incredibly detailed historical accuracy, but not everything was perfectly recreated. Some things had only been explained in text.
Now that he had awakened and could directly observe the bodies of other awakened, he finally understood.
It connects with all the information I gained over more than ten years of rolling around in the tower as a user.
Until now, the pieces of information had been scattered like puzzle pieces.
It was the same picture all along.
It had been a connected image, but because he couldn’t see the complete frame, he hadn’t recognized it as a single picture.
But at this very moment, everything was becoming crystal clear.
Shaaaaaah—.
Cracks appeared inside the body.
The cracks connected like arrows.
Mana.
The speed of mana.
The paths.
Every awakened has incredibly strong internal and external bodies.
For S-Class awakened, the power inside was beyond imagination.
None of the trainers here can see that far.
But to Yujun, it was painfully obvious.
I’ve identified the problem.
The reason residual mana had formed.
The reason the mana roads had swollen.
The mana is accelerating too much. Excessively so.
That was the true culprit behind this entire situation.
Yu Jena, being S-Class, endured the shock caused by mana acceleration.
The only difference was that these people couldn’t endure it.
If that was the case, rehabilitation would be simple.
“I’ve found the problem.”
Yujun spoke with a satisfied smile.
“Thanks to you, I found it easily.”
“……Pardon?”
Oh Yunseok asked in confusion.
“You found it…? I didn’t do anything…”
And so quickly?
Yujun gave a light laugh, then turned to the head team leader and said.
“I’ll begin correction now.”
“……?”
“Begin what?”
“What do you mean by that?”
The head team leader looked at him with disbelief, and the other trainers asked again, unable to understand what kind of correction he was suddenly talking about.
“You need to know the reason before you can correct or train them…”
“I found it. The reason.”
Yujun answered simply.
“That’s why I’m saying I’ll begin.”
“……?”
“……?”
“……?”
Three question marks appeared at the same time.
The faces of the trainers and the head team leader were filled with doubt.
He found it?
They had been working overtime for over a week and still couldn’t find it. They hadn’t even caught a single clue and were on the verge of being sued for damages by the guild master.
Yet this man claimed he had found it after just a brief look?
“You’ll understand once you see it.”
Yujun had no intention of explaining in detail.
Showing them will be faster.
“Everyone! Please don’t worry. I’ve found the cause. I’ve identified exactly why you were injured and how you can overcome those injuries. I’ve even prepared the rehabilitation methods. I will examine each of you one by one. There’s no need to worry.”
Yujun spoke in a loud, clear voice.
The awakened immediately began murmuring among themselves.
“He found it?”
“Our trainers couldn’t find it even after days of observation…”
“Wait, how…?”
“Then how long will it take!?”
“We need to return as soon as possible!”
The Neverland awakened knew very well just how serious the current situation was.
If they didn’t return quickly, the guild would suffer a massive blow. And that wouldn’t be good for the awakened who belonged to it either.
Yujun held up all five fingers on one hand.
“Five days!?”
“Five days… yeah, that’s incredibly fast.”
The head team leader and the trainers thought the same.
But Yujun shook his head.
“Surely… five weeks?”
That couldn’t be. When they hadn’t known the cause of the injuries, they had no idea how much longer rehabilitation would take. Finding the cause and reducing it to five weeks would have been a tremendous achievement in that situation.
But it needed to be even faster.
Yet Yujun shook his head once more.
“Then…?”
“Five hours.”
