The Price of Dissatisfaction (1)
Early morning.
"Hah! Hah!"
Hwang Jiwoo was running laps around the outer edge of the training ground, while nearby, Pokryongi practiced her magic as she kept watch over her.
These days, even Jiwoo was doing physical conditioning.
It all stemmed from Baek Jinwoo's guiding principle that a player's stamina and self-care mattered just as much as anything else.
"Miss Jiwoo, you can do it!"
Pokryongi, who had grown quite close to her by now, waved and cheered her on.
Even at this very moment, the clock on Pokryongi's quest was ticking away.
As mentioned before, all she had to do was make contact before the hour ran out.
"Hhk— haaah—!"
About ten minutes into the run, Hwang Jiwoo crumpled to the ground, drool trailing from her mouth.
I can't do this!
Her heart was hammering out of control, and her breath had climbed all the way up her throat until even breathing was a struggle.
"Oh no? Miss Jiwoo? Are you all right?"
Pokryongi sprang to her feet.
What Baek Jinwoo had ordered was a full hour of running!
For a woman who hadn't known the first thing about exercise until recently, it was more than she could possibly endure.
Jiwoo especially — hadn't she spent the better part of her life in bed because of her constitution?
Everything's spinning.
Her eyes were open, but the view ahead had gone pitch-black.
Dizzy. The whole world felt like it was whirling in circles.
"Wow, that is some seriously trash-tier stamina."
And that was the moment.
A man appeared out of nowhere and pressed a puffed-up bag to her mouth.
It was Baek Jinwoo.
"You're hyperventilating. Breathe slowly."
"Haa— huk! Yes...!"
Feeling something press against her lips, Jiwoo exhaled in a daze.
"Slowly, I said. In for seven seconds, out for eleven. Even if it's hard, take it slow!"
Standard treatment for hyperventilation.
She had to calm herself and slow her own breathing; the bag was merely a stopgap, making her re-inhale the air she'd breathed out until she got there.
A temporary fix!
That said, rely on the method too long and you risked hypoxia, so caution was required.
Perhaps it was the steadiness of that reassuring voice.
Hwang Jiwoo quickly pulled herself together and tried to breathe slowly.
"Tsk. And this is the girl who wants to be a heavyweight player, collapsing after a measly ten-minute run."
"Hnngh! Hooooo...! I'm sorry!"
"It happens your first time. Once you've got your head back on straight, you're filling in the rest of that hour. Before the day's out. Got it?"
"Got it."
"Okay. Rest in the shade for a bit, and once you're back with us, come find me. I'll take a look at your summons."
"...Yes, sir!"
She wasn't the only one at the training ground.
The national team rankers and their summons, plus Hungyo and Baek Jinwoo's own summons — throw them all together and the vast open field felt packed to the seams.
Hungyo, gravely commanding his summons.
And then—
"Hraaagh!"
"Aja aja aja aja!"
Watching the rankers sprint with enormous tires chained to their backs, you could feel an enormous, invisible wall.
"What kind of speed is that? Gonna run properly or what?"
Baek Jinwoo had even climbed aboard the tire of Hong Ari, the slowest of the four.
"Gyaaah! You jerk!"
"Jerk? Is that any way to talk to your teacher? Ten extra laps for you today."
"Kyaeeee!"
Even mid-scream, she never once said she couldn't do it.
She simply ran until it felt like her muscles would tear apart.
Hwang Jiwoo stared blankly at the scene.
Where am I? Who am I?
Even lost in a haze, Jiwoo envied them.
I want... to train out there too, standing tall among them.
And to do that?
She couldn't afford to sit here resting.
Jinwoo said so, didn't he?
That the remaining hour had to be filled, no matter what.
"Hnngh."
Hwang Jiwoo staggered to her feet.
Her heartbeat hadn't properly settled yet.
I can't waste the hundred-day chance that finally came my way.
A heavyweight.
To become the best, she couldn't go about it the ordinary way like everyone else.
The reality was that even training herself half to death, teeth gritted, might not buy her a spot in a single major guild.
Let's run again.
Eyes squeezed shut, Hwang Jiwoo forced one foot in front of the other.
Dozens of times the urge to collapse right there washed over her, but she refused to give up.
It was the passion filling the training ground that made it possible.
Several hours later.
"Now, attack me with the combo you normally use."
Clack!
Baek Jinwoo spoke as he drew out his summon — the Combat Sheriff (C-rank).
Against Hwang Jiwoo alone, even a summon exclusive to the weekday dungeons was more than enough.
"Yes, sir!"
Jiwoo deployed all five of her summons at once.
Every one of them was an ice-attribute junk summon, E-rank or F-rank.
The kind that, back in Battle of Summoners, got tossed in as nothing but fodder the moment they appeared.
She'd shown Hungyo meaningful control with those things?
Just how would it go?
Baek Jinwoo licked his lips in anticipation.
And before long—
Flap-flap!
With a beat of the E-rank Ice Butterfly's wings, the air itself froze over.
Oho.
The Sheriff's movement speed had slowed — but the marksmanship of a summon with countless Monday dungeon runs under its belt was beyond imagination.
Baaang!
A bullet spat from the muzzle punched clean through the body of the F-rank Ice Fly.
Splat!
Blood burst out, and the Ice Fly was reverse-summoned!
Baek Jinwoo wasn't controlling the Sheriff or anything of the sort.
Even left fully on autopilot, it had taken down a summon all on its own.
That's it?
Just as Baek Jinwoo began to feel a flicker of disappointment—
Huh?
The Combat Sheriff's movements turned strange.
It wobbled slightly, and then—
Bang, bang!
Two more bullets failed to pierce the Ice Butterfly, whizzing past it instead.
Oh?
And then—
Thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack!
The E-rank Ice Heron soared up into the sky and hammered the slowed Sheriff with attacks — and the damage was beyond anything he'd expected.
"Hoh."
Baek Jinwoo let out a genuine gasp of admiration.
The synergy she'd wrung out of junk summons was considerable.
Feels a little like raw talent, honestly.
At the very least, he was starting to see why Hungyo had said what he did.
Her control itself was decent enough to stand comparison with Korea's rankers, and thanks to her Flame Body trait, the movement-slow effect and freeze damage landed even harder.
What's more, when an opponent took aim thinking, it'll slow about this much, the target turned out even slower than predicted, throwing the enemy summons off balance.
It meant she had the sense to fully grasp her own constitution and turn it into a weapon.
There's real merit here.
Baek Jinwoo nodded.
Raised properly as a dedicated ice-attribute specialist, she showed the kind of potential that could make waves even on the world stage.
Thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack!
Now that her attacks were connecting, the excited heron pecked away even more furiously.
But did you know what ice-attribute's single greatest weakness was?
Its damage output was pathetically low!
The Sheriff was on the low-HP side, yet the heron's attacks didn't leave so much as a scratch on it.
Time to wrap this up.
Baek Jinwoo reclaimed control of the Combat Sheriff he'd left on autopilot.
He began piloting it directly, and—
Bang!
Blew the heron's head apart on the spot.
Three of Jiwoo's summons remained.
Bang!
One shot, one summon!
Bang! Bang!
With the Sheriff chaining Fast Zoom after Fast Zoom at point-blank range, every last one of Hwang Jiwoo's summons was reverse-summoned.
No matter how much potential she showed, she was never going to be a match for Baek Jinwoo.
Not now, and not ever.
"...Th-that was incredible."
Hwang Jiwoo marveled.
A sight that laid bare exactly why he was the national team captain!
Baek Jinwoo tilted his head this way and that, mulling it over for a moment, then spoke.
"Mmm, okay. Let's call it here for today. Get some rest. I'll give you your feedback tomorrow."
"Yes, sir!"
My Lord.
Once Hwang Jiwoo had departed, Hungyo, who had been observing the battle, drew near.
"Mm."
What do you think?
"She's definitely worth using. I think I've got a fair idea what you had in mind."
Is that so?
"You're thinking of that infinite freeze combo from the old days, aren't you?"
As expected of you, My Lord.
The infinite freeze combo.
A composition that had once taken Battle of Summoners by storm.
An A-rank Ice Bird and a Lich crushed the field's movement and attack speeds to rock bottom, while a Frost Cat with ice resistance and two ice-buffed dealers ground out sustained damage... It was a solid enough combo that even Baek Jinwoo had run it briefly in the mid-game.
It did end up useless later on, though.
Its weakness was glaringly obvious, too.
As mentioned before, ice damage simply refused to stick.
It was serviceable up through high-level normal dungeons, but from the highest tier onward it was downright awful.
You'd be wailing on a boss for half a day just to bring it down.
But what if her Flame Body constitution were paired with Lund's graduation rune?
That lacking damage could be compensated for completely.
And if that happened?
Yeah, that would genuinely be broken.
Players with solid control and a knack for finding the right combo angles didn't grow on trees.
Hmm.
Raise her well and slot her into Yubaek?
Ah, right — Yubaek ran on single-person management.
Or else...
Should he take this chance to found a guild?
He'd need to mull that over a little longer.
Yoo Jia's opinion carried weight now, after all.
A fair stretch of time had passed.
National team training had continued throughout.
"Hmm."
"Hong Ari... and the Carpe Diem kids. Why on earth are they so strong?"
Rumors had begun to bubble up from within.
The strongest member of Korea's national team — Baek Jinwoo excepted — had always been Kang Geonho.
But at some point—
Hong Ari's win count in her duels against Kang Geonho had started climbing, little by little.
And it wasn't just Hong Ari.
Ki Jaehyeok and Kang Jiho were uncanny as well.
The very way their summons moved had changed.
Baekho executive meeting room.
"Hyung."
Kang Geonho called out to his guild master, his face full of incomprehension.
"Yeah?"
"What on earth is going on?"
"That's exactly what I'm saying. We all sat through the same consulting, so how come only those three are showing results?"
Quite some time had passed since Baek Jinwoo's disciples had begun commuting to Yubaek, but the fact had yet to be made public.
The national team members naturally couldn't help but find it baffling.
They had poured in the same hours, the same effort — and yet a gap in skill was opening up.
And not just any gap; one wide enough to feel in their own skin.
"And there's something else that's odd."
Kang Geonho rested his chin on his laced fingers as he went on.
"Since when has Hong Ari been speaking casually with Baek Jinwoo? I could buy it for Jaehyeok or Jiho — those two have been all 'hyung-nim' and 'noona-nim' from day one. But Hong Ari never liked talking to people in the first place, did she?"
It was a genuinely curious thing.
Hong Ari, who kept everyone at arm's length except Oh Seon-young, dropping honorifics with Baek Jinwoo?
Even factoring in that they were the same age, something smelled off.
"Maybe the two of them just hit it off? So she's getting private lessons on the side."
"Fine, I'll give you Hong Ari. They're both good-looking — maybe they make a decent match. But Jaehyeok and Jiho? They're charging up the ranks way too fast as well. 'Kids absorb things quickly when they're young' doesn't even come close to covering it. When we sparred last time, I honestly thought I was up against some overseas ranker."
"Hmm."
Park Ho narrowed his eyes.
It was a serious problem, no denying that.
Baekho still held the seat of Korea's finest guild.
But?
If things went on like this, Arirang and Carpe Diem would shove them right off that perch.
After all the years he'd spent building this guild, he couldn't simply take off the crown now.
"First things first."
Park Ho turned his gaze to Bok Jeonghee and Seo Sangwon, the other Baekho members of the national team, seated across from him.
"Start by finding out whether those three have some kind of... arrangement with Baek Jinwoo."
"And if they do?"
"We put a stop to it, obviously."
Park Ho said flatly.
Baek Jinwoo had received an additional fortune — one trillion won — from the government in exchange for leading the national team.
Violating his duty as captain to treat everyone fairly and impartially, and handing out special favors to a select few?
"We hold him to account. No matter what excuse he drags in."
And if that failed...
Then the collapse of Baekho's fortress would be nothing more than a matter of time.