Don't Call Me Master
"Don't call me Master."
"Phew… all done."
Given the environment out here, there was no way I could sleep on bare ground, so the moment I arrived I pitched a tent and finished setting up camp.
"Did you go to the military at your age or something?"
Maybe the way I set up camp looked a little too practiced. Kim Jae-gyo lobbed a question that hit surprisingly close to the mark, and I answered awkwardly.
"…Haha. No way. These days the manuals are so good you can figure it out pretty quick."
Until the Gates appeared, this world had been mostly the same as the one I'd lived in, so the line landed with a certain familiarity.
"Anyway, preparations are finished. Before we start training, would you awaken my mana first?"
Whether the awakening succeeded or failed today, once it was over I might end up flat on my back unable to move — so I'd prepared camp in advance and made the request to Kim Jae-gyo.
"You know it's dangerous, then."
"Yes. I came knowing that."
Dangerous, huh.
Setting the danger itself aside, the mere fact that mana could be forcibly awakened like this was something that would turn the world on its head. That was why Kim Jae-gyo had kept it secret, and at most only four people including him knew about it.
Two of them aren't of this world anymore, so that leaves two including himself.
Still.
"If it gets dangerous, stop me midway."
"…Ha. Where the hell did this brat crawl out of."
If it really got dangerous, he could just stop. Of course the pain and fatigue would still accumulate, so it wasn't exactly all fine and dandy.
"Take off your top and sit here."
In the novel, everyone had given up under the pain — but what about in reality? Forcing down the rising tension, I stripped off my upper clothes as instructed and sat in front of Kim Jae-gyo.
Is it starting now? I squeezed my eyes shut and waited for the pain to come.
"You…"
The searing agony I'd expected never arrived. Instead, only Kim Jae-gyo's stunned voice reached me.
"Did you prepare something with that body of yours too?"
"Huh? What do you mean by that?"
When I asked back, not understanding, a rather unexpected remark came out of his mouth.
"It means your body is already ready to awaken."
"What do you mean…"
"The method I use is brutal. I force open the door blocking the mana and punch through the meridians."
Hearing "punch through the meridians" made it sound like he was going to put holes in my body, which was more than a little chilling.
"But your door is already open. Simply put, I don't need to smash the doorknob open violently — just opening and closing it lightly will be enough for you to awaken your mana."
"Why?"
"How am I supposed to know if you ask me that?"
Fair enough.
But since possessing this world, I hadn't done any special training or been injected with any unusual drugs—
Thinking that far, I recalled what had happened at the Freedom Base. Back then, Lee Yeon-ah had poured mana into me for my recovery.
Could it have been then…?
Nothing else really fit. Lee Yeon-ah had said she'd regressed, and she probably knew I'd leave to find Kim Jae-gyo. So if she'd helped me in advance so I could awaken more easily, it all lined up pretty well.
"So the conclusion is I can take it a bit easier?"
"Well, for now. But ultimately it depends on you."
"That's enough."
"Then we begin."
I straightened my posture and sat down again. From my back, I felt something large and hot, as if it were pushing me outward.
And then—
Whoooo—
Heat boiled up through my entire body, and something began to rise from within me.
"Right now your meridians are wide open. You have to catch what's pouring out. Grab it with the image of holding what flows from your body inside your body."
"I… don't… understand… what you mean…"
This was dangerous. It felt like my energy was draining in real time. I had to catch this somehow, but I couldn't get a feel for it at all.
"Hah…! Hah…!"
My breath grew ragged, and sweat poured down like rain.
"You have to image your own flow. Picture the scene of mana flowing through your body."
How was I supposed to image something I'd never done before — unless I'd opened my mana already?
Thinking that—
Mana flowing… the image…
Suddenly, the time Lee Yeon-ah had poured mana into me came to mind. Yes — back then it had flowed into me so naturally. Like sending water droplets my way. Like carrying a stream of water from herself to me.
I closed my eyes and focused, recalling that sensation.
"Not bad."
Those words came from behind me.
I thought he was a crazy bastard, but he's far crazier than I expected.
Kim Jae-gyo hadn't done this for the first time with Park Yeon-chan. He'd tried it with several others, but all they'd done was scream in pain — none of them had controlled the mana.
Of course, Park Yeon-chan was such a special case that he could enter the awakening without feeling pain.
But even so, he shouldn't be able to pull it off this instantly.
Originally, awakening meant the natural opening of mana's flow, allowing one to handle it instinctively without being taught. But artificially awakening mana like this left no time for it to settle naturally in the body. Unable to control the mana, people would drain all their energy and die — like growing a third hand and dying stabbed by it because you didn't know how to use it.
This is going to be fun to play with.
He'd ended up taking a disciple somehow, but if he was going to do it, he might as well enjoy it. As if that thought had reached Park Yeon-chan, the back he'd been concentrating on trembled.
The morning after completing the mana awakening.
"You've awakened your mana, so we move on. First, follow me."
Park Yeon-chan followed Kim Jae-gyo as he trudged along, and they arrived at the only empty clearing in a forest dense with trees.
"What are we doing here?"
"I'll teach you hand-to-hand combat."
"Hmm… can't you teach me something more special?"
Park Yeon-chan wasn't at Kim Jae-gyo's level, but he had some confidence in his fighting skills. Rather than waste time on that, couldn't they just move on? That was the thought behind his words.
"If you don't want to get the shit beaten out of you, get in stance."
Contrary to Park Yeon-chan's thinking, this was apparently a process Kim Jae-gyo couldn't skip — he completely dismissed the opinion.
"But does this even mean anything? No matter what I do, I'm just going to get hit by you, Master."
"Probably. So I'll match your physical abilities. And don't call me Master."
Matching physical abilities meant literally regulating his mana to forcibly lower his own physical capabilities — a technique only someone of Kim Jae-gyo's caliber could pull off.
"Master. Then how does this training end?"
"When you land one hit on me. Use of weapons or tools is free for you. I won't use any—"
Whoosh—!
Before Kim Jae-gyo even finished speaking, a knife whistled past, grazing his hair.
"Since our physical abilities are the same, try not to die by accident?"
"You cocky little shit. I'll fix that mouth of yours while I'm at it."
Kim Jae-gyo had already been among the strong even before Gates appeared in this world. He'd claimed championships in every notable combat sport, and taken the top spot in every weight class he could enter. So when Gates appeared and mana bloomed in people's bodies, everyone trembled in fear — but Kim Jae-gyo saw new possibilities and threw himself into studying mana.
In short, there was a madness in his pursuit of strength.
And in the eyes of that Kim Jae-gyo—
Whoosh!
Excellent.
Park Yeon-chan's movements were remarkable enough to earn that evaluation. Fast and concise. No wasted motion, pursuing only efficiency. Like—
Yes, like movements specialized for killing people.
That didn't mean he could land a hit on Kim Jae-gyo, though.
Whip.
"Whoa!"
Using the height difference, Park Yeon-chan dove low — and his body flipped upside down. But even in the sudden situation, he didn't panic. From the fallen position, he aimed a sharp kick at Kim Jae-gyo for a hit — only to go tumbling through another midair flip.
"Kid, what the hell are you really?"
"Can't you tell by looking? Just a handsome guy."
Thud!
Kim Jae-gyo closed the distance in an instant and punched Park Yeon-chan in the face.
"Weren't you not supposed to hit me?"
"When did I ever say I wouldn't hit you?"
"…Right."
Then Park Yeon-chan pulled a knife from his clothes again and swung it swiftly. But—
"Again."
"Again."
"Again."
After being thrown around a dozen times, a drained Park Yeon-chan lay sprawled on the ground, gasping roughly, staring up at the vast sky.
"Your movements aren't bad. Looks like you've learned something somewhere."
"You praise me even though I couldn't land a single hit? You're surprisingly generous."
"I didn't praise you."
"…"
After catching his breath for a while, Park Yeon-chan looked up at Kim Jae-gyo sitting in a tree and asked.
"What's the problem? Why can't I hit you?"
As Kim Jae-gyo had said he'd match Park Yeon-chan's level, his movements weren't actually that fast. And yet nothing connected. Surprise attacks, tricks — even when he created openings, they never led to a decisive blow.
"You're lacking killing intent. From the start, you're thinking about landing one hit, not about beating me. You need to come at me with more intent to kill."
"I threw a knife."
"Did you really throw it thinking you could kill me with that?"
"…"
At Kim Jae-gyo's words, Park Yeon-chan began thinking hard about something. Closing his eyes and concentrating, he seemed to be reviewing the movements from just now.
"You said you'd match my movements. Even in the worst case, there's no chance of you dying to me, right?"
Still without opening his closed eyes, he asked, and Kim Jae-gyo snorted.
"That will absolutely never happen, so relax."
Matching movement levels didn't mean all the abilities he'd built up over the years simply vanished. His sharp senses alone were still fully functional, allowing him to catch Park Yeon-chan's movements faster and more accurately.
"You'll have to take responsibility for those words."
Then Park Yeon-chan's eyes snapped open. He slowly rose and settled into stance.
And—
"I won't die."
"Neither will my opponent."
"But with the resolve to kill. What's in front of me is—"
"An 'enemy' who won't die even if I give it everything."
He muttered those words to himself.
Grin.
A chilling smile spread across Park Yeon-chan's lips.
This bastard…
Even Kim Jae-gyo couldn't help but be startled by the atmosphere that shifted in an instant.
"Well then. Shall we?"
With those words, until the match was decided, Kim Jae-gyo heard no more of Park Yeon-chan's voice.