Five Hours
[You have won the sparring match.]
[Conditions met — bonus reward granted!]
[You have gained 8 Exp.]
[You have obtained 「Low-Grade Random Box」.]
Leaving the rewards unclaimed for later, I pressed a spare potion to Kim Sang-ho's lips as he lay sprawled on the floor.
It was one of the free bonus potions bundled in when I'd bought the premium ones in bulk.
"Kehk... keh-hehk."
At this rate, I figured he wouldn't suffer any lasting injuries.
Turns out Lan is more effective than I expected.
What I liked most about it was that it was a counter technique — one that struck at the opponent's blind side.
Being hit without even seeing it coming always hurts more. Lan-nam-cha seizes the initiative back without granting the enemy a moment to defend, turning their own force against them, dealing damage while simultaneously opening up a dozen new avenues of attack.
Offense. Defense. And counterattack.
Lannacha was, on the whole, a beautifully balanced skill.
But it wasn't without its flaws.
It's missing a decisive finishing blow.
Cha, the attacking component, was slightly underwhelming in raw power compared to the other two. If you could pinpoint and pierce an opponent's weak point exactly, it could be quite lethal — but that was a big if.
Am I really going to get the chance to aim only at weak points in actual combat?
Absolutely not.
I had a plan to bridge that power gap for this particular gate, but I couldn't count on such lucky workarounds for everything that came after.
And so —
...This lifetime, I'm going to complete it.
Gwicheongmugeuk — the Ghost Spear Ultimate. A fragment of my past life, an art of my own making, left forever incomplete.
Lee Si-hyun rubbed his eyes again and again. The scene laid out before him was that surreal.
"Hyung... won?"
And not just won — won by an overwhelming margin. Kim Sang-ho's fists had never come within a hair's breadth of touching Lee Tae-hyun. Tae-hyun's spear, on the other hand, had shaved away Kim Sang-ho's stamina chunk by chunk with every thrust.
"Well? Can you believe me a little now?"
Setting down his spear, Lee Tae-hyun grinned.
"...What did you do?"
It was beyond belief. He would sooner believe in a whale flying through the sky.
"Did you inject yourself with illegal elixirs or something? Where?"
He'd heard of them. Illegal elixirs that multiplied one's physical abilities several times over the instant they took effect. Rumor had it such things were traded in the underworld's shadows.
"How can you be this kind of person...! Now you're even getting involved with drugs like that!"
"......"
Yeah, doesn't look like this guy's ever going to give me the benefit of the doubt.
"Good grief."
Lee Tae-hyun drew a deep breath and lifted the spear again.
"Watch closely, Si-hyun."
"...Yes?"
"Strength isn't decided by power alone. Sometimes, softness is the deadliest weapon of all."
Words his master had spoken to him during his first life.
'Tae-hyun. Honestly? Your spear is dreadful. No finesse, no talent whatsoever. But that doesn't mean you should put the spear down.'
Lee Tae-hyun began to dance the spear dance.
'Charge head-on into everything and you'll break every time. So let it flow past you instead. To flow is the privilege of the weak.'
A spear dance he had performed hundreds, thousands of times, all to grasp the principle hidden within it — Manryuwolhacheonmu, the Dance of Ten Thousand Streams Beneath the Moonlit River.
The spear flowed, soft as water.
"Whoa... whoa......"
The stiff, gnarled wooden spear now looked as beautiful as the hem of a gown woven from silk. A spear like that, he thought, could receive and redirect anything in this world with the gentlest of touches.
"So that's... how it was......"
Like a narrow stream cutting through and redirecting the current of a mighty river — Kim Sang-ho's attacks had been gently absorbed and returned to him. That explained how the duel had ended so quickly despite the gulf in raw strength.
Where on earth did he learn spearplay like that...!
Lee Si-hyun's astonishment churned on inside him.
Lee Tae-hyun, meanwhile —
I swung a spear for years on end. Did he really think he'd beat me?
He smirked and scratched his cheek.
Come to think of it, this isn't registered as a skill.
Which presumably meant his proficiency in Manryuwolhacheonmu had dropped too far. He'd be lying if he said he hadn't hoped otherwise, but honestly, even by his own assessment, it was still riddled with shortcomings.
So if I raise the proficiency a bit more, it might actually register as a skill.
The Manryuwolhacheonmu his master had performed hadn't been silk at all — it had been closer to a mirage, a miracle beyond miracle. If he ever reached that level, he might genuinely be able to unleash a spear art that let slip past all things under heaven.
"When exactly did you learn spearplay like that?"
"I had a teacher. Learned it from them."
"To drag a hopeless, beyond-redemption dullard trash like you up to this level! They must be a monumental educator!"
"......"
This little bastard.
"Anyway. Are you satisfied now?"
"...Yes. A promise is a promise."
Lee Si-hyun said it evenly.
"I won't stop you from entering gates anymore. But don't misunderstand — I don't fully trust you yet. Remember that."
"Hold on. Where do you think you're going?"
"...Yes?"
Lee Tae-hyun blocked his younger brother, who was already turning to leave, then plastered on the most capitalist of smiles.
"You lost the bet. Time to pay up."
"Th-the bet wasn't for anything!"
"Oh my, our little brother. I had no idea you were so stingy."
Stingy? The de facto heir of Cheonseong Group, the man personally running business operations worth several trillion won — and he was the stingy one?
Lee Si-hyun's face flushed crimson.
"Fine! Fine! Name whatever you want!"
"Oho~ really?"
Lee Tae-hyun smiled slyly.
"Well, then......"
"The sheer gall of that man...!"
Storming out of the gymnasium, Lee Si-hyun exhaled ragged breath after ragged breath. He never could have imagined a demand like that. Forget the money — this was something that would take an enormous amount of hands-on effort. He'd have to start moving right now if he wanted it ready in time for the raid.
"......"
He stopped suddenly and looked back into the gymnasium.
Swoosh! Hoo!
Swish! Whoosh! Thud!
Despite having just finished a duel, Lee Tae-hyun was still training without a moment's rest. A complete reversal of the man who had once looked like the living embodiment of sloth — and yet.
"...I still don't trust him."
None of that was reason enough to extend his brother any faith. Because everything Tae-hyun had done so far was no snowflake melting in a shaft of sunlight.
It was more like a glacier that would never melt at all — endlessly cold, and endlessly harsh.
Still, a request is a request. I'll get it done.
Lee Si-hyun took out his phone and dialed a number.
"Yes, Father. It's me. I've done as you instructed."
— And? How did it go?
The deep, resonant voice carried through the receiver. Chairman Lee Jin-sung.
Lee Si-hyun forced the words out through gritted teeth.
"Hyung fought Sang-ho... and won. Yes, it was overwhelming. No anomalies observed."
Chairman Lee Jin-sung answered with a single curt reply.
— I see.
And that was the end of the call.
Silence descended the moment the line went dead.
"...Whew."
What kind of expression was his father wearing right now? Lee Si-hyun found himself desperately wanting to know.
Preparations for the gate raid were proceeding steadily. Thanks to his darling little brother's cooperation, the raid was about to become a great deal easier.
Over the past few days, I'd combed through the achievement list and cleared them one after another — every last one related to exercise.
[Status Window Level: 2 (35/100) Exp]
My experience was already at 35. The 8 Exp from the sparring quest had been a sizable chunk of it.
Oh, right.
Experience wasn't the only thing I'd gotten from the duel.
「Low-Grade Random Box」
A white cube settled onto my palm.
"A random box, huh."
Seeing was believing.
[Would you like to open 「Low-Grade Random Box」?]
"Open it."
At my nod, the cube unraveled like gift wrap coming loose. The wisp of white light inside faded away, and what landed in my hand was... a single scrap of paper.
▷ A ticket that raises a skill's rank by one tier. Activate by tearing it in half.
"Oh."
Something far more useful than I'd expected had popped out.
Not all skills are created equal. The textbook example would be Fireball, the basic skill of every magic-type awakened. An E-rank Fireball was, exaggerating only slightly, a decently powerful lighter; an S-rank Fireball carried enough force to incinerate an entire forest.
Rip!
I tore the ticket in half without hesitation.
[Upgradeable Skill List]
▷ Reinforce (E)
"Figures."
In my heart of hearts, I'd hoped I might be able to upgrade Lannacha or even the Limit Break Program.
"So a D-rank ticket means it can upgrade something up to D-rank at most, huh?"
If only I could get my hands on an S-rank or EX-rank ticket...!
"Ahem, ahem."
Calming my excitement, I selected Reinforce from the list that had appeared.
[Skill rank has increased!]
Reinforce (D)
▷ Raises every performance metric of the target object by 15%.
"It really went up."
The value had climbed from 10% to a full 15%.
Reinforce was a skill I needed to keep steadily upgrading. Because this skill's true value lies somewhere else entirely.
In my past life, I had sunk into despair at the sight of this skill sitting all alone in my list. A measly E-rank skill, with a bare-bones description and even barer performance.
Use it on a sword and it got a little sharper. Use it on a bow and the arrow flew a little farther. That was all.
"But."
It was in a thoroughly unexpected place that this skill had once shone.
I picked up a bottle of premium potion from the bulk box I kept on hand.
[Premium Potion has been upgraded to Premium Potion+!]
Effect:Recovery rate increased by 15%.
A faint golden shimmer bled into the green liquid. I downed it in one go, and the fatigue that had been clinging to me like resin melted sweetly away — and in its place, a vitality I'd never felt before filled me to the brim.
"Khhah."
My body shivered of its own accord.
Body had already crossed into the twenties. These days, even if three Kim Sang-hos came at me at once, I'd win.
"Now then — time to sprinkle a little bait, don't you think?"
I pulled out my phone and dialed a number. There was exactly one piece of preparation left.
"Hello, is this reporter Choi Jin-a?"
— Yes, this is she... may I ask who's calling?
Time to build my stage.
"I'd like to report a story."
(FLASH) Lee Tae-hyun's Next Move: A C-Rank Gate Raid?
(FLASH) Lee Tae-hyun to Raid the Gate That Appeared in Daegu.
This Time, He's Alone. Lee Tae-hyun Declares a Solo C-Rank Gate Raid.
Dr. Shim Mun-hak Analyzes Lee Tae-hyun's Psychological State: "Significant Risk of Extreme, Suicidal Behavior."
The Republic of Korea was flipped upside down once more. As if it weren't enough that Lee Tae-hyun — vanished since the B-rank gate incident — had resurfaced before the public eye...
And they said he was going to clear a C-rank gate — alone.
"What is your position on Lee Tae-hyun's declared C-rank gate raid?"
The reactions were, naturally, ice cold.
"Utter nonsense! What Lee Tae-hyun is doing right now is a naked insult to every hunter working on the front lines!"
So Young-hoon, Guild Master of the Ulrim Guild.
"Rather than staging this circus, shouldn't he be apologizing for the incident that came before? My, my — must be nice being a young master, seeing things so differently from the rest of us."
Ji Yeon-ha, Branch Master of the Magic Tower Korea Branch.
"Trash not worth mentioning."
Kim Nam-hyun, Korea's rank 3 hunter.
Everyone, with one voice, condemned Lee Tae-hyun. An incomprehensible course of action. The reckless bravado of a lunatic who'd lost his grip. A publicity stunt staged by a chaebol brat. Wild speculations of every shape and flavor tangled and multiplied across the airwaves.
And just as public interest surged to its peak, the morning of the raid broke.
"It's Lee Tae-hyun!"
"He actually came?!"
The area in front of the C-rank gate that had appeared in Seongnae-dong, Daegu, was a sea of reporters and onlookers packed shoulder to shoulder. When the car door opened, a man with sharp, fierce features stepped out.
Click! Click! Click!
Camera flashes erupted from every direction amid a deafening chorus of shutters.
"Ugh."
Lee Tae-hyun furrowed his brow. It was only because the flashes were blinding him — but in the photos, he'd look nothing short of irritated.
They said the original tipster was an insider at Cheonseong, right?
Lee Tae-hyun walked down the corridor the bodyguards had carved through the crowd, offering a faint smile to the reporters clamoring for questions.
Huh? He looks better than expected, doesn't he?
One of the journalists tilted his head. The narrative until now had been everything from "Lee Tae-hyun has gone insane" to "he's marching off to die" to "Cheonseong is dragging him in against his will." And yet the man looked remarkably composed — no, he looked composed and then some, downright relaxed.
He came to a stop before the gate, which was exhaling a hazy blue mana, then turned to face the crowd.
"Quite the turnout."
People had come running from all over the country to tear into this grand feast of an issue and savor every bite. And as the chef who'd prepared the meal —
Well then. I'd simply have to serve them the finest flavor of their lives.
The average clear time for a C-rank gate is roughly 48 hours.
And that was with an ideally balanced raid team. Every member cut from the roster, every drop in the team's caliber, stretched that time out exponentially.
And the projected clear time Lee Tae-hyun had in mind for this gate was —
"Five hours."
The corners of his mouth curved upward. Slowly, he raised his right hand and spread five fingers toward them.
"Within five hours from now. I will clear this gate."
"Wh-what did he just say?"
"What did that man just...?"
In the wake of his thunderbolt declaration, a hailstorm of questions battered him from every side — but Lee Tae-hyun had already stepped through the gate.