Trinity (1)

Plop!

Having thoroughly intimidated Shusuke, Baek Jinwoo had come home and dropped onto the sofa.

"Ahhh, this is the life."

He looked around him. The luxury penthouse was appointed in sleek, modern style, and its sprawling living room and panoramic floor-to-ceiling windows, open on every side, lent the place an overwhelming sense of space.

He hadn't realized it before, but the view here was simply the best. The Han River glittered out front, while the building backed onto the lush green forests of Geomdansan. To think an apartment like this was his home!

"Unbelievable."

A fresh swell of emotion washed over him. He had earned a cool 100 billion won in a single day — for nothing. Factor in what Yubaek had raked in separately, on top of his winnings from the wager with Shusuke, and the total grew even more staggering. Amassing this much wealth in less than a year? Living a life of this kind of luxury? Even the most gifted person alive couldn't have managed it.

Of course, Baek Jinwoo had no intention of being satisfied with this. This world had always belonged to the strong. The spread of liberal ideals and the deterrent power of nuclear weapons had ushered in a fairly long peace, but a glance at recent history told the real story. This world was a battlefield, plain and simple. And without power? Even a life like this one could be stolen away at any moment. Why, these days, with the arrival of summons, even nukes had lost their deterrent force!

Wealth without power was nothing more than a castle built on sand.

— My Lord.

"Yeah."

When Hungyo arrived, Baek Jinwoo rose from his seat and headed up to the rooftop, which lay open to the sky on all sides. A single chair stood waiting there.

— Your physical abilities have climbed as high as they can climb, My Lord. Even if they rise further, the gains will never again come as easily as they once did.

"Right."

— It is time for you to learn a breathing technique.

A breathing technique. That was a rather ambiguous proposition. Could a player really acquire skills that only certain summons could master? Baek Jinwoo's musculature was, at present, ideal — not swollen into bulky mass, yet not wanting for size either. Practical, densely compressed muscle that let him command his body with perfect control while keeping his flexibility at its absolute peak!

But? That muscle could not produce transcendent destructive power. His lifting total topped out at roughly 550 kilograms across the big three. To push past that, he would have to trade away a sliver of flexibility and pack on more mass. Such was the human limit — and even with that extra muscle, he would never surpass the ceiling of the species itself.

— Master the breathing technique and accumulate qi, and you will be able to channel that qi to exert strength beyond what muscle alone allows. You may well shatter boulders barehanded, as I do.

"Got it."

Baek Jinwoo folded himself cross-legged onto the great chair. Whoooosh! The cool wind sweeping in from every direction made the breathing an honest pleasure in itself.

"Anything's fine, so just teach me."

— As you command, My Lord. The qi density on this Earth is thin, so rather than some profound cultivation method, one that simply lets you sense as much qi as possible will serve you best. Among those, the one best matched to your constitution is called the Heavenly Clarity Heart Technique.

"Heavenly Clarity...? Sounds a little ordinary, doesn't it?"

— It takes its name from drawing into the body an energy as clear as the heavens themselves. There is none better suited to you, My Lord. Place your trust in me.

"Yeah, yeah — I'm joking."

He wasn't about to demand some ultra-secret art or supreme divine technique that took years of agony to master. Players couldn't beat summons, period. Even if Baek Jinwoo spent a hundred, a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠thousand years training the martial arts, a single year of Aso — the prodigy of martial arts — would erase the gap entirely.

'Still.'

He thought of it as part of his physical conditioning, nothing more. Mastering a breathing technique would sharpen his eyesight and hone his combat instincts along the way. All a player truly needed was masterful control of his summons.

"Whew."

— Very good, My Lord. Picture the energy of the heavens flowing in through your nostrils.

For roughly an hour, Hungyo devotedly walked him through the breathing technique.

— KWAHAHA! Been waiting long, my friend?

Noon the next day. The rune crafting was finally complete.

— Here! The Trinity Runes! Forged without a single flaw, I'll have you know. My craftsmanship got one hell of a workout in the process, too.

The Trinity set that would become Hungyo's graduation runes. Baek Jinwoo carefully accepted the brilliantly gleaming pieces.

'With just this...' It was fair to say that no one on present-day Earth could stand against Baek Jinwoo. After all, even ten straight years of farming in Battle of Summoners had never been enough to assemble this Trinity ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠set. The ultimate graduation rune, through and through!

'But.' Honestly, he couldn't be certain. Rachel? Sugoi? Xenos? The other Five Emperors had access to the very same information he did — and three years spent armed with that knowledge would operate on a completely different plane from three years inside a game. 'Just look at me, after all. Didn't I put together a full Trinity set in less than a year?' He couldn't afford to let his guard down. Power was best built as high as it could possibly go.

Baek Jinwoo nodded and pulled up the rune's information.

"Oof."

Tremendous, as expected. Think of it as the Versatile Rune's stats doubled, exactly: the all-stat bonus had risen from +500% to +1,000%, and the HP bonus from +10,000 to +20,000. What was more, with only ten in existence worldwide, just a single set could ever be made.

'Of course, if Lund crafts them himself, he can punch straight through the limited quantity.' That was precisely what made Lund such a cheat. If he equipped Hungyo now — and, someday, Aso as well — with full Trinity sets, these would become the only runes in this world used by Baek Jinwoo alone.

Runes in hand, Baek Jinwoo got busy. He bought up piles of cheap junk runes for enhancement fodder and set about reinforcing the six pieces one by one. 'The flaw with Unique runes... enhancing them devours an obscene number of runes.' His entire stockpile went up in smoke and still wasn't enough — he ended up purchasing nearly 300 billion won worth of junk runes on top of it. Not that the money mattered; he could simply expense the whole thing to Yubaek.

'And then there's the polishing agent.' Unlike ordinary runes, Trinity Runes carried six stat options, so each piece required six polishing agents — thirty-six in all. Fortunately, he had been sitting on the 45 Universal Polishing Agents he'd received as Tower of Ordeal rewards. The result:

...was this insane, game-breaking rune. And all six pieces at exactly that spec! With the polishing agents applied, no trick in existence could produce a better roll than this.

"Hungyo."

— ...Yes, My Lord.

Hungyo stared at Baek Jinwoo with trembling eyes. He already knew. He knew exactly what kind of power the runes meant for him carried.

"I'll say it again — these aren't Aso's. They're yours."

— Thank you, My Lord! As ever, I shall repay you with my unwavering loyalty!

Hungyo bowed his head, voice thick with gratitude. Clack! Baek Jinwoo opened the rune slots and seated every rune into place.

Rrrrumble...! The very presence about Hungyo changed.

— M-My Lord...! The power boiling up inside me is beyond all containing! I have never felt its like! It is magnificent!

Charmed by the endearing reaction, Baek Jinwoo grinned and pulled up the status window.

'Whoa.' Was this even possible? With the old Versatile set equipped, Hungyo's stats had sat at 1,580 — now they'd soared past double that. Even Baek Jinwoo, a player himself, couldn't begin to gauge just how strong the man had become.

'Honestly, at this World League coming up or whatever it's called... bringing Hungyo alone would be enough to steamroll the entire thing.'

'Maybe time for a field test.' He was at the Player Zone anyway. Stepping into the Battle Hall, Baek Jinwoo took out his phone. Who to call? Ki Jaehyeok? Kang Jiho? Hong Ari? Oh Seon-young? Ah, to hell with it — all of them.

The instant his texts went out, the disciples came sprinting in from every direction. Guild operations be damned — they were loyal students who would come running from anywhere the moment Baek Jinwoo called.

"What's going on, Boss?!"

"Why the Battle Hall? Morning training already ended, didn't it?"

Once all four had assembled, Ki Jaehyeok and Hong Ari stepped forward with their questions — and Baek Jinwoo laid a deal on the table.

"Let's run a match. Me against the four of you."

The disciples gaped at the proposal. Baek Jinwoo or not, did he seriously think a four-way combined assault could pull out a win? Not a chance.

"What kind of joke is that? If you went all out, forget the four of us — the entire national team could jump you and still lose."

"He's right, Boss. You've never been one for handing out free wins."

"You're too much, Boss! You just wanted an excuse to smack our summons around, didn't you? Boo hoo..."

Training under Baek Jinwoo had honed his disciples' sense of their own limitations to a fine edge.

"No — something came up that I want to measure. But in return," Baek Jinwoo flashed a grin, "if you can hold out for exactly ten seconds, I'll give each of you a cool 10 billion won. Oh, and I won't be using Ramba or Doldori. Just Hungyo, and no one else."

"...!"

The terms were outrageous. He would field not five summons but a single one — Hungyo, and Hungyo alone? And if the four of them held out together for just ten seconds, 10 billion won apiece?

"Oho. There's no reason not to take this deal."

"Boss... even granting that we're weak, aren't you being a little too careless?"

"This one's honestly worth a shot. Everyone, over here — let's hash out a strategy."

The four disciples, eyes blazing, set to plotting. Rankers or not, 10 billion won falling from the sky was serious money. Of course, there wasn't a prayer of them actually collecting it.

Pfft. Smirking, Baek Jinwoo stole a glance at Hungyo. Fists clenched tight, trembling ever so slightly — the man clearly ached to test his freshly strengthened power as soon as possible.

"Hungyo."

— Yes, My Lord.

"Finish it as fast as you can. Empty everything you have into it."

— Thank you, My Lord.

"How many seconds do you figure it'll take?"

— ...

Hungyo pondered the question in earnest. He had been training their summons all this time, so taking their full measure was old news. The only question was how to close the matter out...

— It will depend on which skill I employ, but on average... I should think two seconds would suffice.

That was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the size of the gulf. For the record, every single one of their forces was a match for the rankers of Japan, a true great power — and Hungyo proposed to finish four of them in two seconds flat. Such was his certainty!

"Good. Show me."

His strength — and the power of Baek Jinwoo himself behind it.

And so, the proving ground for Hungyo's test was opened.