Chapter 42
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 42
Chapter Title: Meeting (1)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The night of the tenth day of training had arrived before I knew it.
"……."
After finishing the final training session and lying down to sleep, I slowly reviewed all the information I'd gathered on Jin Seo-won over the past days.
Jin Seo-won was a character set up as a powerful villain from the start, and true to that, she showed monstrous growth.
On the second day, she learned how to use her ability and basic lightness skills.
On the third day, she mastered two main forms.
By the fourth day, she'd already achieved all her goals, so we stopped progressing and started reviewing.
Of course, this was influenced by my coaching and the buffs from the qi-infused Peach Blossom Haven...
Even accounting for all that, it was an astonishing pace.
The problem was that the Heavenly Demon Divine Art itself was a demonic art, so every time she used her ability, she got excessively excited.
The silver lining was her naturally gentle temperament—she'd snap out of it quickly and calm down as if nothing had happened.
Since we were still in the early stages, if I trained her well, I could harness that as a pure advantage.
'This is really something to look forward to.'
As I pictured a bright future and rolled onto my side...
Weeeeeeng...
A faint vibration began to echo softly through the cave.
Jin Seo-won's "relief" session had started.
"……."
Pretending I knew nothing and heard nothing, I held my breath quietly.
Weeeeeeeng...
The bold vibration grew muffled, as if buried under something, becoming even quieter.
"...Hng...!"
Soon, Jin Seo-won's faint moan reached my ears.
'...She's holding back well today.'
Compared to yesterday, when she'd moaned openly, this was pretty decent.
"Hah...!"
'...Or not?'
Srulk...
To block out even the slightest sound, I quietly pulled the blanket over my head and prayed her relief work would end quickly.
'Please don't drag it out today...'
It was precisely the night after the fourth day of training.
I'd been tossing and turning, unable to sleep until deep into the dawn, when I accidentally stumbled upon Jin Seo-won's activities.
The girl who seemed so innocent was using a vibrator of all things, giving me quite the shock...
Whether she truly thought I hadn't noticed or not, she held her relief sessions every night without fail.
As a man myself, I'd considered giving her a subtle heads-up at first.
"...Hng... Hnght...! Haa...!"
But seeing her happy expression—which I rarely saw otherwise—I couldn't bring myself to stop her.
"...Ugh... Mmph...!"
Soon, Jin Seo-won shifted position, burying her face in the pillow and letting out stifled moans.
"……."
Like a parent who'd caught their child in a secret act, I curled up tightly, feigning composure, and waited desperately for morning to come.
Sunday evening.
After successfully completing the intensive training and returning home late, I was catching up on messages with Im A-rin.
[A-rinnie: How was the training?]
I'd told Im A-rin—the clear outsider—that I was away for a simple intensive training camp...
[A-rinnie: Nothing weird happen, right?]
Was it a woman's intuition? Her casual question about anything unusual carried a strange weight.
'Am I just feeling guilty for no reason?'
"Anything unusual..."
In truth, nothing special had happened.
I'd coincidentally witnessed Jin Seo-won's private life, but no incident occurred, and it wasn't something to spill to Im A-rin in detail.
[What do you mean unusual? Nothing at all. What about your weekend...?]
I replied casually and moved on to the next topic...
'...Why no reply?'
For some reason, her responses—which never took more than a minute—suddenly stopped.
'She read it...?'
The messenger showed she'd seen the message, as always.
Only after nearly five minutes did a reply come.
[I met up with the girls over the weekend! Because of schedules...]
'...Was I overreacting?'
I brushed it off as coincidence and moved on.
The next day.
"Producer! It feels like forever since I last saw you!"
"Tell me about it... Feels like a million years since we saw you, Hanna."
"Hehe... How was the training?!"
"Thanks to you."
After coming to the training ground for the first time in a while, I'd finished warming up and planned to show the team the results of the intensive training.
"C-rank? Isn't that jumping the gun a bit?"
"Well... I'm not one to talk, but honestly, I'm a little worried..."
Kim Jun-hyeong and Han Gyu-ri expressed slight concern as they watched Jin Seo-won enter the booth.
From their perspective, bumping up the training difficulty after just a 2-night, 3-day camp seemed abrupt, so their reaction wasn't odd.
However.
"Don't worry. At her current level, she could handle B-rank."
The C-rank dummy was purely for show; it wasn't even a real training target for Jin Seo-won anymore.
"B-rank...?"
"Even if Seo-won has talent..."
Beep─────
Right on cue, the beep sounded.
Training had begun.
Keeeeeng────
As the C-rank dummy robot in the booth activated, we fell silent and watched intently.
Jin Seo-won lowered her stance slightly, then immediately channeled her ability, wrapping herself in pitch-black internal energy.
Pzzt─! Pzzzzzt──!
"Whoa?!"
"No way, really...?"
The two jumped in surprise at Jin Seo-won's ominous aura.
Keeeeeng────!
The prepared dummy robot locked onto Jin Seo-won and charged.
Paaaaah───!
In that instant, Jin Seo-won vanished from the booth.
"!"
By the time she reappeared close to the dummy and swung her fist...
Baaaaang────────!
A heavy boom echoed through the entire training ground.
"...My god..."
"It's... real..."
Han Gyu-ri and Kim Jun-hyeong stared in disbelief, dumbfounded.
The struck dummy robot froze in place.
The boom drew attention, and people began peeking over the partitions.
Murmur... Murmur...
In the meantime, I rushed into the booth to calm Jin Seo-won.
"Seo-won!"
Then.
Whoosh─!
"Eek!"
She lunged at me like she'd been waiting, hugging me tightly.
"...Sniff... Haa...!"
Burying her face in my chest, she inhaled deeply, lost in excitement. I crouched down to help her regain control, gently patting her back.
"You were awesome. The team was totally shocked."
She was still trembling faintly, unable to shake off the high, but after hugging and patting her a bit more, she returned to normal.
"Feeling okay now?"
"……."
I released her as she nodded instead of answering, finally facing the team members who'd been waiting eagerly.
"What kind of training did you do!? How in such a short time...!"
"If it was gonna be like this, you should've stayed another week! Go back!!!"
"Seo-won! That was so cool! In an instant like that..."
Han Gyu-ri, Kim Jun-hyeong, and Kim Na-rae showered her with endless praise, unable to hide their amazement...
"...Y-You were cool...!"
Bang Han-na was the only one with a subtle reaction.
She seemed pretty shocked by Jin Seo-won's sudden growth.
"So, the longer she handles her power, the longer she loses her rationality... Right?"
"Exactly."
During lunch, I held a quick meeting and shared Jin Seo-won's data with Kim Jun-hyeong and Han Gyu-ri, outlining future plans.
"Can Hanna really handle it...?"
"She has to. I can't babysit forever."
I planned to put Bang Han-na in charge of controlling Jin Seo-won.
"Hanna's extreme defense orientation and Seo-won's extreme offense complement each other perfectly. We need to get them adapted to one another, somehow."
Bang Han-na's ultimate defense and Jin Seo-won's ultimate offense made them indispensable to each other.
For now, training let me control Jin Seo-won, but inside a gate, it'd have to be Bang Han-na.
"What if Seo-won gets stronger and shortens her activation time altogether?"
I shook my head firmly at Kim Jun-hyeong's question.
"She's just taking her first steps. I held back on extra training to minimize risks... If she grows too fast, it'll be uncontrollable."
Jin Seo-won was like a tricky nuclear bomb.
Better to handle her carefully, even if it was a hassle.
"Hmm... I'm more worried about Hanna..."
Han Gyu-ri considered Bang Han-na's side more.
"The team is important, but boot camp is another story. She's at that age."
She seemed concerned about the boot camp plan for Bang Han-na and Jin Seo-won.
"True. Living alone versus living together are worlds apart..."
Kim Jun-hyeong wasn't thrilled about the boot camp either, but with no better option, he seemed resigned.
"Let's try two weeks and hope they adapt."
As we discussed Bang Han-na and Jin Seo-won at length...
Bzzz─ Bzzz─
Han Gyu-ri's phone buzzed.
"Huh? From the lobby."
She answered immediately to check...
"...Yes? Someone's here?"
A guest had arrived, and she glanced at me, flustered.
"Yes, got it! Sending them up right away!"
After hanging up.
"What'd they say?"
Han Gyu-ri eyed me cautiously before responding to Kim Jun-hyeong.
"Uh... You might wanna head down, Producer...?"
"Me?"
"Yes... A guest is here for you..."
"For me? Was I expecting anyone?"
Even I was puzzled by the unscheduled visitor, so Kim Jun-hyeong asked curiously.
"Who is it?"
Then.
"Well..."
Han Gyu-ri glanced at me before whispering.
"Hong Yu-ra..."
"...Pardon?"