Chapter 14
Chapter 14: A New Summoner Beast
"Ha, hahaha."
Baek Jin-woo, sprawled flat on his back, laughed like a man who'd lost his mind.
The Drill Instructor, and the Explosive Dragon Sorcerer.
Let's talk about those two today.
First, the Drill Instructor.
—Where is... This?
The handsome man clad in magnificent red armor, glancing around with an indifferent air—that was the Drill Instructor, shortened to Drill Instructor.
Originally, he was an E-Rank Summoner Beast, and with his negligible combat ability, he'd been an unpopular one at that. But the person who discovered how to use him had been none other than Baek Jin-woo.
He's just a training fanatic. Literally a guy obsessed with training.
[Summoner Beast: Drill Instructor]
[Tribe: Human]
[Grade: EX-Rank (Quarantine Designation)]
— Detected as a balance-breaking element under specific conditions. Quarantined.
[Level: 1]
[Stats]
Strength: 1, Intelligence: 1, Stamina: 1, Agility: 1HP: 1,000, MP: 0Critical Hit Rate: 20%Critical Hit Damage: 20%
[Skills]
— Growth: Grows stronger through training.
— Charisma: Overwhelms other Summoner Beasts.
Right now, he's nothing to write home about.
But once he properly grows and gets strong?
A skill called ‘Instructor’ awakens—and that thing is absolutely broken.
— Instructor: Unlocks the latent potential of other Summoner Beasts and amplifies their growth rate.
That's what it does.
Back in his God of Jinu days, with that single skill alone, he'd widened the gap between himself and other rankers by dozens of times over.
The Drill Instructor isn't powerful on his own—he's the kind that makes all the other Summoner Beasts stronger.
B-Rank, A-Rank—he didn't discriminate. He forced every last one of them through brutal training.
Thanks to the Charisma skill, he had a memory of every Summoner Beast falling in line behind the Drill Instructor without question.
Ha, those days.
They were good.
Just thinking about that time made his blood boil.
Right when he'd been enjoying himself, raking in the rewards all alone, the AI had gone and patched the game and deleted his Summoner Beasts on its own again.
Something about a specific player's growth rate being too steep, wasn't it?
—You are...
Stomp.
The Drill Instructor, last to be summoned, spotted Baek Jin-woo and started walking toward him.
—Who are you?
As expected.
Being EX-Rank must be why he could speak.
As mentioned before, in the original Battle of Summoners, neither Lamba nor the Drill Instructor had ever spoken.
"Drill Instructor, long time no see."
—Drill Instructor...?
The Drill Instructor turned the words over in his mind—then his eyes went wide.
A reaction similar to his first meeting with Lamba.
—You're God of Jinu?
"That's right."
—My liege!
Thwack!
The Drill Instructor dropped to one knee in a single crisp motion.
Right.
The Drill Instructor had always been like this.
With his gaze fixed solely on his player, he'd shown his loyalty in exactly that way.
—It's remarkable. After being quarantined for reasons I couldn't understand back then... I thought I'd never see you again, my liege...!
With this, it was confirmed.
Both Lamba and the Drill Instructor—they really were the Summoner Beasts he had raised, in the exact state he'd left them.
Which meant one thing: EX-Rank Summoner Beasts under Quarantine Designation could only be summoned by Baek Jin-woo, and no one else.
—Huh? God of Jinu? Are you really God of Jinu?
The Explosive Dragon Sorcerer, who had been summoned just a moment ago and was still dazed, snapped to attention at the name ‘God of Jinu’.
"Wow, I'm hearing the Explosive Dragon's voice for the first time too."
The Explosive Dragon Sorcerer.
A D-Rank Summoner Beast from the past—a young woman mage with red hair.
A dropout in magic school, who turned out to actually be a Fire-element extreme damage dealer. That was her backstory.
Sleeping within her heart was an ancient Explosive Dragon.
[Summoner Beast: Explosive Dragon Sorcerer]
[Tribe: Human]
[Grade: EX-Rank (Quarantine Designation)]
— Detected as a balance-breaking element under specific conditions. Quarantined.
[Level: 1]
[Stats]
Strength: 1, Intelligence: 1, Stamina: 1, Agility: 1HP: 1,000, MP: 0Critical Hit Rate: 20%Critical Hit Damage: 20%[Skills]
— Dragon Burst: Projects a dragon-shaped blaze forward.
She's nothing right now either.
But later, once the Drill Instructor awakens her latent potential?
A completely absurd, utterly broken skill called ‘Predation’ appears.
— Predation: Each time a Boss-level enemy is slain with Dragon Burst, Dragon Burst's damage increases permanently.
A skill so insane it made you wonder whether the game developers had given any thought to balance at all.
Even in the days of Battle of Summoners, the Explosive Dragon Sorcerer was often used as a go-to damage dealer in the early game, but not a single player had used her the way Baek Jin-woo had.
Obviously.
That Predation skill couldn't be drawn out without the Drill Instructor.
Naturally, the Explosive Dragon Sorcerer was deleted less than a week after that ability was unlocked.
That was probably when it had happened.
The moment patient, composed Baek Jin-woo first nearly hit the ‘Delete Game’ button while screaming that it was a piece of garbage.
Because I had genuinely raised the Explosive Dragon with love.
In a Summoner Beast game, visuals matter enormously.
The Explosive Dragon Sorcerer was on the cuter side among all Summoner Beasts, and for that reason, she'd been quite popular.
—God of Jinu! I... I really...! I missed you!
Hk—
The Explosive Dragon Sorcerer pressed both hands together as she said it, and the sight squeezed Baek Jin-woo's heart tight.
That's just too cute.
Damn.
Get it together.
"Same here."
Alright.
Now that he'd summoned 3 broken-tier Summoner Beasts, the summoning grind was over.
All that was left was to hunt like a madman and grow.
"For now—you two, same as Lamba. Don't speak when other people are around."
—Understood, my liege.
—Yes, God of Jinu...
"Ah, and Explosive Dragon."
—Yes!
"Don't call me God of Jinu. Just call me Jin-woo."
God of Jinu wasn't happening yet.
Once the Explosive Dragon's latent potential was unlocked?
Then, well.
God of Jinu, One Heaven—he didn't care which.
Because no one would be able to beat him by that point.
—Jin-woo? Understood!
"Then today—"
Swish.
Baek Jin-woo looked up at the sky.
The sun had already set, and night had fallen dark around them.
"—let's rest a bit, and starting tomorrow, we push hard for real."
***
Jamsil.
Baek Jin-woo's monthly-rent room.
Baek Jin-woo collapsed face-up onto the soft mattress and fell straight into sleep.
He hadn't been able to get proper rest while tearing through Summoning Scrolls.
Whatever you're doing, rest is important.
His instincts had pulled him into a deep, long sleep.
And there in his room—were Lamba, the Drill Instructor, and the Explosive Dragon Sorcerer.
—It's been a while.
The Drill Instructor greeted them first.
—Ah, ahaha. It really has been a while.
The Explosive Dragon Sorcerer scratched her head as she replied.
The Drill Instructor and the Explosive Dragon Sorcerer had spent a fair amount of time together.
On the other hand—
—You go by Lamba, then?
—Yep! Hi! We did see each other for a little while, didn't we.
—We did.
The Drill Instructor and Lamba had only been together for about 1 month.
That was because God of Jinu had deployed the Drill Instructor quite late.
By the time the Drill Instructor was recruited, Lamba had already been flying around as a broken powerhouse, and she'd been quarantined through a patch just 1 month later.
From the Drill Instructor's perspective, Lamba was a far more senior veteran.
But that didn't matter to the Drill Instructor.
The Charisma skill.
He, who could overwhelm every Summoner Beast, had mercilessly drilled Baek Jin-woo's A-Rank Summoner Beasts into the ground in the past too.
—I only have 1 thing to say.
The Drill Instructor's eyes flashed.
—Hiiiiik!
Lamba startled violently, flapping her wings and flying backward, while the Explosive Dragon Sorcerer smiled a jaded smile as though she was used to this.
—We're too weak.
The Drill Instructor continued in a grave voice.
—Even while our liege sleeps, we must continue repeating our drills. That is what it means to serve our liege.
Swish.
The Drill Instructor looked over at the Explosive Dragon Sorcerer.
—You—sit down and feel for mana first. We start from the basics. I can't help you now, but once I've awakened, I'll open Predation for you first.
—Predation... Understood.
Determination stirred in the Explosive Dragon Sorcerer's eyes as well.
Predation.
With that broken skill, she could receive Jin-woo's affection—how could that not be wonderful?
All Summoner Beasts grow on the love of their player.
—And Lamba, you—
Swish.
This time, the Drill Instructor fixed his gaze on Lamba.
—Uh, yeah. Me?
—You look like you need to work on your swing speed first. You'll be doing strength training with me.
—Strength... Training?
Lamba made a face like she'd bitten into something terrible.
—You wouldn't want Explosive Dragon and me to steal our liege's attention from you, would you?
—Th-that's not it.
—Then do as I say.
—Hiiiing, fine...
For the first time, Lamba felt grateful toward Baek Jin-woo.
At least Jin-woo buys me cream buns before he works me to the bone.
But the Drill Instructor was merciless.
And looking at him, it was obvious he was going to be grueling.
She wanted to refuse, but couldn't even manage that.
The strange, indescribable aura radiating from him was already making Lamba shrink.
And this—was good news for Baek Jin-woo.
Originally, the Level 1 Drill Instructor only enjoyed training himself.
He would never make others do it, never act like an instructor at all.
He'd only perform instructor behaviors once he'd learned the ‘Instructor’ skill!
But the EX-Rank Drill Instructor was different.
He had begun to move driven by the memories he'd shared with his former liege.
—Here.
Swish.
The Drill Instructor had been looking around the kitchen, and thrust a heavy frying pan into Lamba's hands.
—Swing it. Since it's your first day, you'll do exactly 5,000 reps.
—F-fiiive thousaaaaand?!
Lamba's jaw dropped.
—You think that's reasonable?
—Want me to make it 10,000?
—Hiiiing!
And then she looked at Baek Jin-woo, sleeping so peacefully.
With the most desperate eyes imaginable.
Jin-woo! Save me!
***
Player Headquarters.
Talent Management Team.
"Congressman."
Yu Ji-a, the employee at the monitor, had her brow furrowed.
"Something's wrong."
"What."
Park Chang-seok, who had been ambling around with his hands in his pockets since morning, cocked his head.
"What happened?"
"To be precise, something that was bound to happen has happened. The Management Bureau says they will no longer be providing Low-grade Summoning Scrolls."
"What? Why?"
Park Chang-seok snapped to attention, yanking his hands out of his pockets.
"An official notice came down. They say it's Director's orders."
"The Director...?"
The Director.
Literally the head of Player Headquarters.
A position only the congressman who had received the most votes from the public could occupy.
That's why they were also called the Grand Congressman.
"On top of that, they're demanding a detailed explanation of where all the Low-grade Summoning Scrolls taken up until now were actually used."
"These absolute lunatics."
An explanation.
Meaning they intended to review whether the scrolls had been used lawfully.
If it was ruled they hadn't?
They'd either face punishment, or have to give it all back.
"It seems Congressman Lim Hee-su had a hand in this."
"Lim Hee-su."
Crunch.
Park Chang-seok's fist clenched hard.
The two had clashed on opinions many times in the past, and their relationship was far from good.
Congressmen checking each other?
Fine by him.
But you have to pick your moments.
Baek Jin-woo is the hope of our Republic of Korea.
Obstructing that Baek Jin-woo's growth, or rubbing him the wrong way?
If that drove him to naturalize in another country, that would be nothing short of treason. Treason!
"What should we do? The explanation documents are already prepared, but the real problem is that no more Summoning Scrolls will be coming from the Management Bureau. We have nothing left to give Baek Jin-woo."
"Where's Byeong-jin?"
"He's in a screaming match with Management Bureau staff right now."
"Ha."
7 in the morning.
Under normal circumstances, he should be heading to the open lot Baek Jin-woo used, scroll in hand, by 9.
What do I do?
This was a promise with Baek Jin-woo.
If he failed to deliver support he'd pledged to provide?
It would prove his own incompetence.
Should I dip into my own pocket for now and bill it later?
Just as Park Chang-seok was agonizing over it—
Ding!
A single text arrived.
The sender was Baek Jin-woo.
"Gah!"
Park Chang-seok hurried to check it.
[Baek Jin-woo: You don't need to give me any more Low-grade Summoning Scrolls. I got what I wanted. Thank you.]
"Ha."
He let out an involuntary sigh of amazement.
Of all the timing, it had to be now.
"What is it?"
Yu Ji-a asked, and Park Chang-seok nodded slowly.
"We don't need to go and get those Low-grade Summoning Scrolls anymore. But that aside—"
Grip.
Park Chang-seok's fist clenched tight.
Lim Hee-su.
It seemed the time had come to settle things once and for all, so that man couldn't stir up any more trouble.