The Five-Hour Miracle
“Five hours……?”
“Five hours, you say?”
“That’s impossible……!”
The trainers erupted in anger.
Kang Yujun raised a hand for silence, then immediately placed his palm on Oh Yunseok’s shoulder.
“Hmm.”
He had already confirmed with his staff how Oh Yunseok’s mana was erupting.
When he activates Wind Slash, his mana converts into wind.
That process stimulated his already swollen mana roads.
As a result, his physical condition deteriorated by the minute.
Nothing would work in this state.
Kang Yujun could see the entire process clearly, but the trainers without the Awakened Training System had no way of grasping it.
And because he keeps repeating the same action, the situation can only get worse.
Kang Yujun examined Oh Yunseok’s body once more.
The swelling is caused by misalignment.
The solution was simple.
If the ability simply went unused for a month or two, the condition would naturally return to normal.
The swelling would subside. It would slowly recover on its own.
But if they did nothing and waited for the injury to heal, the Neverland Guild would be driven to the brink of collapse.
They’ve already taken on too many commitments.
These hunters had to return to active duty within a week—ideally even sooner.
Kang Yujun smiled with quiet confidence.
Solutions were already forming in his mind.
Now that I know the cause, it isn’t difficult. I’ve done this countless times before.
First, realign the misaligned mana roads.
Kang Yujun began pressing points on Oh Yunseok’s body as though locating acupuncture spots.
Shoulder. Side. Heart.
Thud— Thud— Thud—!
His movements were remarkably elegant despite their speed.
“Whoa……”
One of the Neverland trainers gasped in admiration.
From a trainer’s perspective, Kang Yujun’s motions carried an unmistakable grace.
They were textbook-perfect, the kind an educator would instinctively praise—precise, beautiful, and fundamentally correct.
“Ah, my apologies.”
“……It’s fine.”
Even the head trainer had been impressed.
“The Golden Youth really lives up to the name……”
He finally understood why the Promise Guild had been so reluctant to let Kang Yujun go.
“To move like that without even awakening……”
What if Kang Yujun ever awakened, no matter what ability it was?
“His movement alone is already on the level of an S-class awakened.”
There was no wasted motion.
Every single movement flowed like water, and the trainers had to suppress the urge to shout in admiration.
That was exactly what they meant whenever they spoke of “correct” movement during training.
But now was not the time for praise.
They could only marvel in silence.
“Five hours…… I thought it was impossible.”
“It is impossible. The movement is excellent, but that’s just a massage.”
The head trainer spoke up.
“If a massage could fix this, we would have done it long ago……”
“……Huh?”
“Whoa……?”
Oh Yunseok’s surprised murmur followed.
“It…… doesn’t hurt anymore?”
The pain had vanished.
“I corrected the misalignment,” Kang Yujun explained calmly.
What he had just done was not a massage.
The massage starts now.
From this moment, he would perform an internal massage—striking the body to reduce the swelling.
Just as blood is drained to reduce swelling, he would strike to expel the residual mana.
Thud—! Thud—!
Kang Yujun’s staff moved rapidly.
Though the strikes were powerful, Oh Yunseok felt only relief, not pain.
Something inside his body was being realigned.
Thud—.
Oh Yunseok possessed excellent eyesight.
He had been watching every movement of Kang Yujun’s staff, and the sight alone felt like a feast for the eyes.
The motion was flawless.
The staff flowed naturally like water, striking the precise spots before being withdrawn with perfect speed.
It looked simple, yet it was not something anyone could replicate.
Oh Yunseok now fully believed that Kang Yujun had fixed Lee Suyeon’s flaws.
He was an outstanding trainer.
Oh Yunseok had encountered many skilled trainers before.
The Neverland trainers had made a serious mistake this time, but their fundamental abilities were solid.
Kang Yujun, however, was different.
He had never experienced anything like this.
The injury was recovering in real time.
This was not rehabilitation—it was treatment itself.
Crack—!
Kang Yujun’s staff struck the exact spot once more.
Residual mana was expelled from the body.
Shhhhhhh—.
It was on the verge of corruption.
Once all the gray-tinged residual mana had been expelled, a blue light began to flow from Oh Yunseok’s entire body.
The blue light is growing stronger.
Every crack that had been visible throughout Oh Yunseok’s body disappeared.
Of course, only the cracks caused by improper training had vanished.
There are still more cracks left. There’s still room for training.
The unique cracks remained.
Rehabilitation training for Awakened Oh Yunseok has been completed!
Calculating training score!
Training Score: 9/10
A remarkable training session!
You have received 9P!
A high score translated into high points.
Kang Yujun grinned.
That was not all.
The newly unlocked skill, Incubation, activated immediately.
Incubation effect has been triggered!
You are receiving a portion of Awakened Oh Yunseok’s growth!
Your stats are increasing!
Incubation was the skill that allowed him to receive a share of a trainee’s growth whenever an awakened being changed through proper training.
Kang Yujun was currently conducting rehabilitation training.
I receive the stats that were restored through rehabilitation training.
Shaaaa—.
It isn’t just one stat point.
The single point displayed on the status window was not a simple numeral.
It’s a compressed point.
Shaaaaaaa—.
A sense of exaltation filled Kang Yujun’s entire body.
This is it.
Kang Yujun tightened his grip on the staff.
A stronger power than before coursed through him.
When I train awakened beings, I grow stronger alongside them.
And with that increased strength, he would be able to teach even more awakened beings.
Along with the points, I can properly raise my stats as well.
Shaaaa—.
The moment the rehabilitation training ended, Oh Yunseok began examining his own body from every angle.
There had definitely been discomfort before.
Yet after Kang Yujun’s rehabilitation training concluded, he felt perfectly fine—as though it had all been a lie.
“I…… I’m all right now. This is the first time. To feel this comfortable right after rehabilitation training……”
Oh Yunseok looked around with an awkward expression.
Then he bowed deeply to Kang Yujun.
“Thank you, Trainer Kang!”
It was a heartfelt bow.
“What……?”
“He recovered……?”
“Already……?”
The five hours Kang Yujun had mentioned had seemed like an obvious lie, pure bravado.
The head trainer rushed over in a panic.
“Yunseok, may I check?”
Oh Yunseok looked at Kang Yujun.
Kang Yujun nodded, indicating it was fine.
The head trainer took Oh Yunseok’s wrist.
Unlike Kang Yujun, the other trainers could not see inside the body directly.
They had to send a portion of their own mana through and probe carefully.
Swish—.
The injected mana slowly circulated once through Oh Yunseok’s body.
“What the……”
He nearly cursed aloud.
Oh Yunseok’s condition was immaculate.
The injuries he had been monitoring had already disappeared. He had returned to a clean, healthy state.
There was no longer any resistance.
“H-how……”
The head trainer stammered.
“……Why?”
He repeated the same words like a fool. The other trainers also injected mana into Oh Yunseok and began their own diagnoses.
“Uh, uh, uh……?”
“Uh……?”
They, too, became as dumbfounded as the head trainer.
They could only stammer, unable to form proper sentences.
Oh Yunseok understood their reactions.
Even he, who had personally received the treatment, could hardly believe it.
Kang Yujun’s staff swings had been perfect.
But perfect form alone did not explain how stabbing, stabbing, and stabbing again had resulted in rehabilitation treatment.
“Are you perhaps using a technique similar to Heo Jun’s acupuncture……?”
“I am not.”
Kang Yujun answered, then immediately turned to the other awakened beings.
“You saw it, didn’t you? Awakened Oh Yunseok’s treatment is complete. If he rests for about a day in that condition, he’ll return to normal.”
“Please treat me next!”
“I asked first!”
As everyone raised their hands at once, the team-leader-level awakened beings calmed them down and had them line up in order.
Faced with their expectant gazes, Kang Yujun wore a satisfied expression.
“Then let’s begin.”
* * *
“Hah. Did I come too early?”
That evening, on the day he had entrusted the rehabilitation work to Kang Yujun, the guild master glanced into the training room on his way out.
The situation would not have changed, after all.
It had not even been a full day since he assigned the task.
“If he finishes this in just a few hours, then he really is a master healer.”
Unless the trainer was on the level of a master healer, it was impossible to treat all the awakened beings in mere hours.
Creak—.
He carefully opened the door.
“I’m sorry for hiring an external trainer without consulting you. But given the circumstances……”
The guild master knew full well that bringing in an outside trainer without prior discussion could be seen as a grave discourtesy to the existing trainers.
Yet the situation was such that the trainers needed to respect that decision.
“I just came to check how things are going…… Huh?”
Everyone turned to look at the guild master as he stepped inside.
“Has the rehabilitation training been completed?”
The atmosphere was strange.
The original trainers stood on one side with blank expressions, while the Neverland awakened beings looked remarkably well.
And at the center stood Kang Yujun.
“You arrived at the perfect time.”
Kang Yujun approached the guild master and gestured.
“The rehabilitation treatment is finished.”
“……What?”
“They’ll be ready for deployment tomorrow.”
At those words, the Neverland Guild Master wore the exact same expression the trainers had moments earlier.
“How is that possible…… Why?”
“Because you entrusted them to me.”
Kang Yujun spoke as though it were the most natural thing in the world.
“I have fulfilled the request.”