Chapter 124
Chapter 124
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 124
Chapter Title: Grueling Training Begins
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"Having fellow hunters from other countries grow stronger is a good thing. We're all hunters protecting Earth together, so their growth makes me very happy. On the other hand, it's regrettable that we're falling behind. Once this gap widens like this, can we ever catch up later?"
"No, sir!"
The hunters shouted back loudly once more.
"Really? Can you give it your all?"
"Yes, sir!"
"I've heard your resolve loud and clear. From today onward, I'll be assisting with your training."
"Is this for real?"
"Oh my god, training under an S-Rank Hunter!"
"It's an opportunity you couldn't buy for any amount of money!"
"I heard Yang Sang-heon became A-Rank after training under Lee Ji-seok Hunter."
Everyone could barely contain their excitement.
"I hope you hold onto that passion for a long time."
Sang-heon watched the hunters from behind me with a look of pity.
I pulled out my training assistant cap and put it on.
"Alright! Stand straight! We're starting training right now!"
As I switched attitudes and raised my voice, the hunters flinched in surprise. I hadn't even used any intimidation, but ever since becoming a beastkin, just my loud voice alone was enough to make anyone with a weak will buckle at the knees.
"First, we'll do a light warm-up. From now on, gear up with your packs and run the obstacle course. No skills or special abilities today—just pure basic physical prowess. Execute!"
"Execute!"
The hunters responded energetically, shouldered their weight-adjusted packs, and dashed off.
"Hmm? Isn't this the same as usual?"
"Yeah, nothing special."
I confirmed that all the hunters had set off.
"Now, give it everything you've got. For anyone slacking off, I'll personally inject some spirit and motivation."
"Spirit? Motivation?"
"What does that mean?"
"Less wondering and more running!"
The hunters picked up their pace.
But it wasn't full throttle. From the movement of their muscles, their expressions, breathing, and heartbeats, I could tell they were trying their best in their own way, but not squeezing every last bit out of their physical limits.
I ran to the back and kicked the rearmost hunter in the back.
"Ugh!"
"What the—?!"
The hunter I kicked flew forward, colliding with others like bowling pins and knocking out. Seeing that, the other hunters halted.
"Who told you to stop?"
As I glared at them, they all bolted at full speed again.
"Huff... huff... I heard it was just a rumor that he trained inmates beyond human limits!"
"You already knew about that? Word travels fast, then. From now on, I plan to push you all to the absolute limit. Don't worry—you'll definitely get stronger as long as you don't die."
"As long as we... don't die?"
"Run!!!"
I started moving leisurely—at least by my standards. To these hunters, who were top B-Rank at best, it must have felt like an arrow whizzing by.
"Kegh!"
"Kyaaak! Mommy!"
A chorus of colorful screams echoed out.
"You bastard!"
One hunter even cursed. He still had plenty of energy left, so that one needed extra training.
The obstacle course featured all sorts of hurdles—climbing walls, scaling ropes, crawling on the ground—and the whole thing was basically a mud pit.
This alone drained stamina, but with the heavy packs weighing them down and an S-Rank monster chasing from behind, the pressure was immense.
"You're under the World Tree's shade! Squeeze out everything you've got! No one's ever died running here yet!"
"Hic... ka-hic... hic... today... I'll be... the first casualty..."
The first straggler appeared. He face-planted into the mud and didn't get up.
The hunters looked at me with eyes full of anticipation. With one down, training would stop, right? That shallow hope was plain on their faces.
"Who told you to stop? If one falls in a gate, do monsters wait politely?! Run!"
"Damn it..."
"Fuck... Being S-Rank doesn't make you all that."
"I'm quitting his fan cafe when I get back."
The hunters, on the verge of tears, started running again.
In just over ten minutes, most had been kicked by me at least once. I adjusted the force each time to hit just shy of their breaking point.
"If you're recovered, stop lying there and get up! Monsters don't wait for you to rest!"
"Who was excited that Lee Ji-seok Hunter was coming?!"
The hunters' wails filled the air.
Over three hours, we pushed beyond human limits. Even hunters could only sprint full-out for tens of minutes at most, yet we kept it up for three hours.
No matter how hard I pushed, it would have been impossible without the World Tree's shade.
The World Tree healed the hunters' damaged bodies and relieved their fatigue. But their consumption outpaced recovery, leaving everyone exhausted.
"Alright, now that we've warmed up lightly, on to the next course."
I said to the hunters sprawled on the ground. Even if wounds healed, mental fatigue lingered, and their stamina was shot.
"No break...?"
"W-What about... food?"
"Near the World Tree, you won't die from skipping a day or two of meals. If you don't move..."
As I approached the hunters, they all shot to their feet.
"See? You're moving just fine. Head to the cliff course."
The cliff course featured artificial cliffs bent at over 120 degrees from vertical. Of course, a 40-meter cliff was no big deal for hunters.
If they were unburdened.
Every hunter had weights strapped to their wrists, ankles, and waists, adjusted to their levels and abilities.
"Aaaaaah!!!"
One hunter flailed in the air before splashing into the artificial lake at the base. A water column several meters high erupted.
The impact was minimal in the lake water, but the weights made climbing out a nightmare.
I'd deliberately placed only tiny holds on the artificial cliff—most only fit two fingers, some just one. They had to support their body weight plus weights with those. Gaps between holds were wide, requiring jumps in places.
Hunters kept falling like autumn leaves from barren trees.
One hunter with especially heavy weights gave up swimming, held his breath, and walked along the shallow lake bottom to exit.
"Come on! Climb up! Laggards get extra training tonight!"
At the mention of extra training, they scaled the wall like cockroaches. Hunters, ever adaptable beasts, quickly climbed smoothly.
"See? Too easy, right?"
From below, I grabbed a fist-sized rubber ball—not squishy, but dense like a tire, hard enough to snap wood.
Thwack!
"Guheok!"
A hunter near the top plummeted from the 40-meter cliff.
Splash!
A massive water column dwarfed all previous ones.
"Kuhak... I'm dying... glug glug..."
I dove into the lake.
I grabbed the sinking hunter, kicked off the lake bottom, and burst out of the water.
The hunter spat out water once ashore.
"I can't! I won't!"
Another hunter waiting to reclimb yelled at the sight.
"Oh? Giving up?"
"..... This isn't training. It's just torture."
As I approached and asked, his tone turned polite under the pressure, but his will was clearly broken. The hunters behind him had the same look in their eyes.
"Do this, and you'll definitely get stronger. As long as I'm watching, you won't die. Hunters from other countries are growing stronger—don't you want to as well? Can't you endure this much for that?"
".... I'm not as strong as you, Lee Ji-seok Hunter."
"True. This is a free democracy. I have no right to force anyone who wants out."
Hope finally lit the hunters' eyes—they could end the training now. As an S-Rank, I'd kept them silent through the pain.
"I'll quit too."
"Me as well."
Hunters sequentially dropped their weights to the ground.
"One hundred million."
"Pardon?"
"One point up, and I'll give you one hundred million."
"One hundred million..."
Currency had devalued, but one hundred million was still a fortune.
"Ten points up gets you one billion."
"......."
"Plus, vouchers to buy Regen items at cost."
I'd collected their level info before training.
"......."
Gulp.
I heard swallowing.
"You know the scoreboard point system, right? A level 30 hunter gains 3 points per level up. So, how much?"
"....Three hundred million?"
"Correct. Of course, being a democracy, I can't force..."
"Outta my way if you're quitting!"
The first one to try quitting was already reweighted and clinging to the cliff.
"Two hundred million! Two hundred million! Ten levels is two billion! Apartment in Seoul! Apartment!"
He hummed a tune as he climbed, signaling the rest to swarm the cliff again.
"Alright, training ends here for today. Eating and resting well is part of training too, so eat up and sleep soundly."
Ji-seok said to the hunters sprawled like wet rags on the ground.
* * *
"..... Money... Do I need money? I've lived fine without it."
"I'll die before I get paid. What good's money then?"
Even after Ji-seok left, the hunters lay motionless. He'd fairly drained every last drop of stamina, tailored to each one's level and ability.
"But we're getting stronger, right? Isn't that good?"
Hee-cheol, still lying down, raised an arm and flexed. Already tall and muscular, his veins stood out more after just one day.
"Yeah. Don't you know how lucky it is to have Lee Ji-seok Hunter personally train us? Today's session was worth way more than several gate runs—no death risk either."
Jeong Jang-mi, somewhat recovered and dressed in her suit, dusted herself off and added to Hee-cheol's words.
As the only daughter of Jeong Min-gi Hunter, she was already wealthy—money wasn't why she stayed. Having overcome trauma and grown from prior training with Ji-seok, she wanted another round to leap to the next level.
"But..."
Still, most hunters were skeptical. Tempted by cash, they'd endured day one—but two weeks?
"If you don't wanna, don't. Then I get Lee Ji-seok Hunter all to myself."
Jang-mi, the Oh brothers, Ye-seul, and Hee-cheol—who'd trained under him before—left the field first. The rest staggered toward the cafeteria one by one.
"I... I'm done. I can't do it. And what's a mage supposed to gain from this anyway?"
In the cafeteria, D-Rank mage Han Byeong-hyeon polished off his tray and said.
"But you leveled up once today? And your stamina stat too, right?"
"Well... yeah."
Mana settling in the body helped mages too, obviously. Higher stamina just made gate runs easier.
"Ah, Lee Ji-seok Hunter always emphasizes stamina, so it's just day one like this. Tomorrow we'll do skill training too."
Ye-seul, who'd been listening, chimed in.
"Hmm. Still too tough. No need to rush like this, right? We're young—plenty of time later."
Other Korean hunters nodded. Young as they were, was this suffering necessary? Slow training and gates would level them up eventually.
"Ha! Must be nice having all the time in the world as Korean hunters. We shell out massive fees monthly just to be here—gotta train hard. Lucky bastards with a good hookup."
Passing American hunter Peter scowled at the Korean hunters' complaints.
"Those punks calling themselves hunters... Tch."
"Hey, Peter, watch your mouth."
Fellow American Tyler grabbed Peter's shoulder.
"What?"
"What if Lee Ji-seok Hunter hears and comes running? Heh heh heh."
The two burst into roaring laughter.
"Those guys..."
Han Byeong-hyeon, the biggest complainer, shoved his chair back and stood.