Growth Pains
The news about the orphanage incident, which had been so loud and chaotic, gradually faded into silence. The children were each being adopted into new families or transferred to other orphanages, slowly adjusting to their new environments one by one.
By the time Tiss was wandering through Area 7 with Mary, Siwoo and Sia had already become full members of the Secret Society.
“It’s tough.”
“I’m worried if they’re taking on too much by expecting so much from them.”
The agents who had been watching the training of Siwoo and Sia all shook their heads, their faces filled with concern for the two children.
The Secret Society selected talented children from among the trainees and subjected them to special intensive training.
Siwoo and Sia had also entered that special program and received grueling training.
But Siwoo and Sia felt it was still not enough. They split their sleeping time and poured everything they had into personal training.
They struck iron dummies and sandbags made from monster leather with their bare hands, again and again.
“Ugh!”
“Endure! You have to endure!”
The pain of a child’s small hands hitting steel was never meant to be endured.
Hands torn apart, skin split open, bones cracking.
Even in the midst of that brutal pain, Siwoo and Sia swallowed their tears and endured their screams, refusing to stop.
“Stop! You kids, it’s too much now. If you keep pushing your bodies without rest, you’ll hit your limits. If you really want to grow faster, you must rest when you rest.”
“No. We don’t have any time to rest.”
“We’re doing this because we want to. Please stop interfering and go away.”
“Tsk. Tough kids. Eyes full of determination. Alright! Do as you please!”
Because of their resolute will, the Secret Society agents also shook their heads but could not hold back their support.
In normal circumstances, this would have been impossible. But this was the Secret Society.
Here, where they raised future prophesied heroes and prepared for the return of the coming disaster, there was a way to make the suffering of hidden heroes and hunters feel like nothing but suffering.
The resident ability user skilled in healing, countless superior-grade potions, and various forbidden books and secret techniques from the vanished nations of the past all supported Siwoo and Sia.
After learning to fight in the Secret Society, a hundred days had already passed.
With a loud bang!
Crack!
The specially made sandbags and iron dummies for trainees, crafted from monster byproducts, shattered and flew apart at the same time.
Equipment that had never been damaged by trainee hands before was now recorded as a first in history thanks to Siwoo and Sia’s hands.
The agents of the Secret Society, including Chris, could not hide their astonishment at the growth of the two children.
“After all, they’re the Children of Prophecy.”
“It’s the legendary return.”
The members of the Secret Society were left speechless at how far beyond their expectations the growth of the two children Chris had brought had surpassed everything they had imagined.
“Even without awakening abilities… this is something else.”
“Is this the difference in talent?”
Perhaps because they were holding too much inside?
Or maybe because countless possibilities were still waiting to bloom?
Siwoo and Sia still had not awakened their abilities.
The Management Bureau generally believed that abilities awakened between the ages of twelve and fourteen, and the legal age to register them was fifteen. By those standards, it was nothing strange that the two children had not yet awakened their abilities.
However.
The simple fact that they had not awakened abilities was not a hindrance to either of them at all.
Bang!
“We’re losing! We’re surrendering!”
“I thought using full-power abilities would somehow work.”
“The winner is Siwoo and Sia!”
Even in matches against trainees who possessed abilities, Siwoo and Sia mostly emerged victorious.
Even if they lost, in the next match they would always analyze the opponent and never repeat the same mistake.
“Siwoo Leader! What are you doing today?”
“Training.”
“Sia Leader?”
“Training too.”
Over the past time, they had repeated the same results in matches several times.
It was not that the other children were not growing.
It was simply that these two were growing far faster than everyone else.
At first treated as the ones who had rolled in, Siwoo and Sia were now naturally recognized as leaders among the trainees.
“They learn everything quickly, like a sponge absorbing water.”
Whether it was martial arts or theory.
There was nothing Siwoo and Sia struggled with.
“If this power supports it, it doesn’t matter what ability awakens.”
“These two children will definitely become heroes of the new era.”
Everyone was happy with their growth, congratulating them on becoming the new leaders of the Secret Society as expected.
But.
Only Chris, the agent who had brought the two children, watched Siwoo and Sia with a dark, troubled expression.
“Why are you making such a gloomy face, Chris?”
“These kids still need their parents’ embrace.”
Chris was worried that because of their dazzling achievements, their mental growth might be flawed.
“In this world, becoming an orphan isn’t strange.”
“Don’t you know how big a blessing it is to grow while receiving all the support you want? They know that, so they’re desperate, right.”
Other Secret Society members did not consider the hearts of the two children.
The reason the two children were so desperate was not for such simple calculation.
Chris had once asked why they were so desperate after seeing the two children always covered in wounds.
The answer that came back was simple and clear.
“Tiss told us. If we want it, anything can happen.”
“So, we’re going to get stronger. Because we can do it. Because Tiss believed in us… We’re just responding to that expectation.”
Even in the short conversation where they swore they would not stop until all monsters were exterminated and Tiss was found, they swung their fists with blood on their hands.
Only Chris knew that sincerity.
“I have a proposal.”
A crucial decision was made in that meeting.
Siwoo and Sia became beings specially treated even within the Secret Society.
After the meeting ended, Chris called Siwoo and Sia separately as usual while they were still training.
“Siwoo. Sia. Pack your bags.”
“Chris Uncle, what does that mean!”
“Chris, we still have a long way to go to become strong. Please let us train more!”
When Siwoo and Sia, surprised by the sudden notice of departure, asked as if questioning him, Chris took them to a place other than the usual training location where the trainees gathered.
Creak.
When the door opened, in front of their eyes appeared a training room that only formal heroes and formal hunters belonging to the Secret Society could use.
“Here…?”
“This is the training room for members, not trainees.”
When Siwoo and Sia heard that, they immediately understood why they had been brought here.
“From today onward, Siwoo and Sia, you are no longer trainees but formal members.”
Chris, following the tradition, tore off the badge he had and attached it to their clothes.
“Polish your skills as much as you want here.”
The two, who had no interest in the delicious food, toys, cool clothes, and shoes that children their age loved, were happy like children because they could now do higher-intensity training.
“Really, really thank you, Chris Uncle!”
“Now we can become stronger!”
Chris stroked their heads with a bitter expression.
“I have one more thing to tell you. From today, I will be in charge of guiding you. Please take care of me in the future.”
“We’ll take care of you!”
That night.
With excited faces talking about tomorrow’s training, Siwoo and Sia barely entered the bedroom at the late hour when everyone else had already fallen asleep.
Just as they were about to drift off.
Huff! Huff!
Sia suddenly sat up from her seat, panting heavily.
“Are you okay?”
“I-I’m okay. I just had a dream.”
Siwoo held Sia’s hand tightly, sweat pouring down his face as he comforted the trembling girl.
“Oppa… In the dream, Tiss unnie came out… But.”
Sia could not continue, remembering the nightmare of the orphanage exploding and Tiss dying. She buried her face in her brother’s arms and cried.
The two, who usually showed poisonous appearances, were just little children before sleep.
“Oppa, I want to see Tiss unnie.”
Sia showed her weak heart only in front of her brother.
Siwoo showed his sincerity only in front of Sia.
“Me too. Yeah. I want to see…”
“Huaang! Where is Tiss unnie… Please… Come back.”
Siwoo hugged his sister and comforted her quietly.
“Don’t worry. If it’s Tiss, she must be alive.”
Pat pat.
The two gritted their teeth every day and tried to forget Tiss’s absence.
They trained until just before breaking, and even slept depending on medicine and abilities.
They experienced abnormal growth faster than their peers, growing stronger too quickly for their bodies to handle.
It was not just to become strong.
It was the way to prove what Tiss had said, and the only escape route to focus on training while forgetting everything.
In the joy of growing through effort, to forget for a moment that Tiss was not by their side.
That was all.
Even that night, the two who slept with tear marks on their pillows began training again before sunrise the next day.