Main Quest, This Bullshit # 7
Main Quest, This Bullshit # 7
How can a person be this ridiculously stupid? I can't accept it. No matter what, I want to make him drink cola.
"Here! Look, Ryu Cheon-hwi! Does this explode or not?"
—Pssssht!
I cracked open the can of cola I'd brought.
Of course, no explosion.
Because I didn't shake it.
"Does this look like a bomb to you? Huh? To you, Ryu Cheon-hwi, this is a bomb?"
"That...!"
"What kind of moron thinks this is a bomb!"
"Who are you calling a moron?!"
"Just watch this!"
"Urgh...!"
Ryu Cheon-hwi glared at me in silence.
"Hey. Didn't explode, right? Look, this is a drink called cola. Shake it and the carbonation makes it spray. But if you open it like this and drink it—"
—Gulp.
I took a sip.
Pure bliss.
"Cola tastes incredible. Got it?"
"...You bastard."
"Blah blah, you bastard. Hey, you don't even know cola explodes. Here. Take this and try it yourself."
I pulled a cola from my pocket and set it on his desk.
"Argh! As if I'd drink a bomb-drink like this! You Taliban bastard! Put it away!"
"You put yours away."
I ignored Ryu Cheon-hwi's raving and sat down. Glancing back, he just sat there with his arms crossed in protest, refusing to touch the cola.
Treating it like a real bomb.
"What are you staring at, you bastard."
"I said, try opening the cola."
"No!"
"Little shit. So prickly."
Fine, let it sit there your whole life.
Time to get ready for class.
—Click.
"Good morning."
The door opened and Instructor Lee So-ra walked in.
"Amazingly, no one is absent today. Anyway. Today we'll do some mana-handling practice like last time, then train in the meditation method. Everyone. Push your desks back and take your positions."
"Instructor! Aren't we doing morning roll call again today?! Just straight into class?!"
"Haven't you figured it out by now, Kim Geun-cheol? Quiet down and push your desk."
Damn it!
High schoolers have a right to morning roll call!
* * *
Class began without a hitch again today.
Before starting the main lesson, Instructor Lee So-ra checked whether the students could use mana to produce superhuman strength. Barring two stragglers, everyone had succeeded.
Even clumsy-as-hell me had managed it.
My technique could use refining, but I'd grasped the method of using mana itself, so it stood to reason most could do it.
"Excellent. Most of you can already handle mana. In that case... let's learn the meditation method straight away. Cadets who still can't handle mana, I'll come help you individually later, so keep practicing."
Nice.
So now we're learning the meditation method.
I'm looking forward to this.
"Once you can manipulate mana, you need training to handle it more adeptly. A prime example is the meditation method. It's a training technique that moves the mana inside your body to various parts."
I listened closely to Instructor Lee So-ra's explanation and tried to imagine it.
Exactly how would this work?
"Kim Geun-cheol? Come forward."
"Ugh, again! It's always me! Every time! Instructor! I'm lodging a formal complaint! Why am I the demonstration again?!"
I let my guard down and got snagged!
She's making me do it again!
"Kim Geun-cheol makes excellent instructional material. His reactions are so vivid, aren't they? I can teach more intuitively using him. Well, think of your classmates learning from your example and make the sacrifice."
"Urgh...!"
With no choice, I stepped forward.
"Ooh! Kim-big-cheol! We're watching!"
"Don't scream again, Scream Man!"
Brian and Ken chimed in from behind,
"Don't worry. The Undernourished Kid Kim Geun-cheol probably doesn't even have the energy to scream."
"Leona... Geun-cheol isn't a third-world child..."
"He's hiding it...! Uwaah! Please recognize that Kim Geun-cheol is trying not to show he goes hungry! Lee Si-hoo!"
"The two of them were really going at it!"
"Now then. Everyone, watch Kim Geun-cheol closely."
"Yeah. Everyone look at me."
I feel like an Asian guy put in a human zoo.
"Kim Geun-cheol?"
—Pat.
Instructor Lee So-ra, standing behind me, placed a hand on my shoulder.
"From now on, you'll train the meditation method to control the mana in your body."
She started whispering in my ear...!
"...!"
Ah, no! My ears are sensitive, just talking near them makes my sides clench!
"First, close your eyes. Wait, why are you trembling? Surely you're not scared?"
"N-no! That's not it! Let's just start!"
"Fine. Let's begin."
"Urgh!"
Desperately resisting Instructor Lee So-ra's low voice tickling my ear, I closed my eyes.
"What do you see?"
My military life... No.
"I see 'darkness.' Very clearly, in fact."
"What's with that odd emphasis? Anyway, you'll see darkness. Assume you're inside that darkness and imagine your body turning into a rock."
"Done."
I am now a rock.
"In that state, try to feel the mana inside your body. Since you've already reached the stage where you can emit it, Kim Geun-cheol, that much should be possible."
Is this some kind of hypnosis voice?
It keeps tickling my ear, I can barely endure it.
I want to ask her to speak from a little further away, but if I mention that, she'll probably think I'm having weird thoughts and scold me, so I can't do anything.
Anyway.
Right now I'm a rock.
Rock.
And I can also feel the mana inside my body.
Since my body can even perform High Jump.
"Yes. I can feel it."
I can feel a small amount of mana inside me.
"Good. Now imagine that mana has a color. Picture the only thing shining within your dark body... that mana. That's the image."
Color, huh.
The color of the mana inside my body.
I imagined it as blue first.
Since mana is usually blue.
"I'm picturing... like blue sea-fire dancing in the darkness, kind of shimmering like heat haze."
"A slightly baffling metaphor, but quite concrete. You have talent. Everyone, keep this in mind. This is training to feel the mana inside your body more concretely. The most important part is forming an image."
The mana inside me shimmers like heat haze.
It's like smoke, squirming around. This is a real, tangible energy. Not an abstract concept, but inter-dimensional energy dwelling in my body.
"Where is that mana?"
"From what I'm imagining... it seems to be in my abdomen."
In the darkness.
Inside my stomach exists a blue sea-fire called mana.
"If you move it to the tips of your toes and release it when you jump, what happens?"
"Uruk-hai... you can perform High Jump."
"Exactly. But don't actually release it. Try moving that sea-fire toward your feet."
This also wasn't too difficult.
—Slip.
I just had to apply the knack for High Jump.
Slowly, I moved the mana toward my feet.
To describe it more concretely, it felt like the blue sea-fire settled in my abdomen was soaking through my thigh muscles, riding my bones down, and touching the soles of my feet.
"Good. You're doing well. Our Kim Geun-cheol is proceeding very smoothly. Now, move that mana back in reverse order. To your knees. To your thighs. To your lower abdomen. Then move it to the opposite foot."
As if hypnotized, I followed her instructions. Reverse order of what I'd done. As I moved the mana again, the sensation became vivid.
The blue sea-fire glowing in the darkness is navigating the dark universe that is my body.
The moment I realized that, excitement burst out on its own!
"It's moving...! Instructor! I can really feel the mana moving inside me!"
I can clearly feel the inter-dimensional energy inside me!
"Yes, yes. Good commentary. Explain it in more detail to your classmates."
"The mana that actually moved to my foot is gradually shifting and heading to the other foot...! Is this the sensation of an Awakened manipulating mana?!"
"As you say, that is exactly the sensation of mana moving. Once you master it, there's a method of concentrating mana around the heart and moving it at high speed through your blood, but that would be hard at your cadet level. Anyway. You're doing well."
Following the instructor's directions, I kept moving the mana. Since I could actually feel it, it was genuinely fun. When things go this smoothly, you get a sense of achievement and want to keep going.
But my stats aren't increasing.
"That's enough. Kim Geun-cheol? Open your eyes now."
"Yes."
"Everyone, applause."
—Clap clap clap!
—Clap clap clap!
—Clap clap clap!
"Ooh."
"He's good."
"Scream Man! You did very well!"
Right away, the classmates clapped and made approving sounds. Ah, this is embarrassing.
"Heh heh heh! Whoa! Instructor Lee So-ra! Your guidance is so skilled that I picked it up instantly! I feel like the wings of talent are spreading wide thanks to meeting a great teacher!"
"You're really good at praising people. But Kim Geun-cheol? Do you have an unusually strong imagination? Usually cadets with that trait learn quickly."
Imagination, huh.
"I used to dream of being a painter or an astronomer when I was a kid. That might have influenced it. I grew up hearing every day that I was rich in sensitivity. Heh heh heh."
"Absolutely not... never mind. Go back to your seat."
"Yes, ma'am!"
"Good. Now everyone, put into practice what you just saw and learned. I'll go around checking one by one, so stand at your places and do it."
At that, the rest of the students took their places and began meditating just like I had. That's the format: use me as a teaching aid, demonstrate, then have them practice.
Anyway, I went straight to the spot next to Si-hoo.
"Hey, Si-hoo."
"Geun-cheol. You did well. You have more talent than I thought."
Wait, Geun-cheol?
"Geun-cheol? Lee Si-hoo? Did you just call me Kim Geun-cheol?"
"Huh? What are you trying to say now...?"
"Wrong."
"What is?"
"I said wrong. That form of address, 'Geun-cheol.' From now on, call me 'Mana Master.' That's the proper expression."
"No! Geun-cheol! You're getting way too bigheaded! You just succeeded at the basics!"
"The basics are the strongest in the end. You don't know that?"
Starting today, I'm a Mana Master.
You can call me Sword Expert, too.
Now I need to relay this news to Leona.
"Leona? You heard? I'm a Mana Master now. So that 'Undernourished monsterkin' this, 'starving third-world child' that—quit it from now on."
"...A painter."
"What?"
I looked over and saw that Leona was covering her mouth with one hand.
"I see. When you were little, you... huk! You had a dream like that! But because of your circumstances, you had no choice but to give up on it...!"
"Um, Miss Leona?"
"I don't know, dammit! If you want to paint, I can at least give you a canvas! If you want to do it, just tell me! Huff!"
"Why are you crying! I said don't cry!"
Don't treat a joke like a documentary!
"You made me cry! How long are you planning to make me cry, Kim Geun-cheol! I can't take it anymore! There's no way I'm getting my meal tickets back from someone like you!"
"I'm begging you, ask for them back!"
How many meal tickets do you want to give me?!
"Shut up and go paint!!! You Hitler Geun-cheol!!!!!"
"If you can't paint, are you all Hitler?!?!"
