The Colossus Returns
With the season opening just a week away, the raid team members who had gone on vacation during the off-season were returning to the guild one by one.
Everyone wore bright expressions, laughter blooming freely among them.
Their appearances varied. Some were wrapped head to toe in luxury brands they had never worn before, while others sported Hawaiian shirts and sun-darkened skin, practically advertising, "I went to Hawaii!"
"Hawaii was incredible. I just lay in the lounge doing nothing, staring at the sea all day, and all my fatigue melted away~!"
"I went to Bali. The water was so clean you could see the fish swimming. Totally different from the Korean sea."
"Honey~ How does this dress look? Shopping in Paris really is something else, right? The quality is on another level."
"You crazy bastards are overspending like mad. Should've gone somewhere cheap like Thailand like me. You can get massages all day for next to nothing."
Laughter filled the training ground without pause.
The team looked somewhat relaxed, but it was understandable. Hunters were human too. If they kept their senses razor-sharp at all times, they would eventually break down.
That was why it had become standard practice to give hunters vacation after a league ended, and why guilds loosened their control over hunters once the season concluded.
These members had their own unique circumstances as well.
Excluding the Mountain King, the oldest among them was only twenty-three. Most of the team was not just young—they were practically kids. They had earned massive incentives after their overwhelming promotion performance.
People who used to tremble over a single ten-thousand-won bill had, in just one year, become capable of traveling abroad without a second thought. It would have been stranger if they hadn't been excited.
While everyone was busy competing over who had the happiest vacation, Lee Hye-jung emerged from the training ground showers, towel-drying her damp hair.
"You're back?"
"Oh! Noona? What were you doing in there?"
"I worked up a sweat this morning, so I took a shower. Anyway, what's with everyone? What happened?"
"Hye-jung unni~ I missed you so much!"
"Don't cling to me like that, it's gross. Sniff, sniff—what's that smell? Did you put on perfume?"
"Noona, I'm back. Here, please accept this gift first."
"Huh? A gift? What kind of gift…… Eek?! It's a bag!"
"I just thought of you and bought it."
"Oh…… Thanks."
She was grateful, but……
The luxury bag in her hands and the perfume stinging her nose told a different story.
Are these kids okay? Lee Hye-jung tilted her head for a moment before smiling brightly.
Well, it happened sometimes.
"By the way, Hye-jung noona, you said that thing was coming today, right?"
"What 'thing'? Speak properly."
"That…… Ah! The new recruits! The new faces."
"They're really coming?"
"Yeah. They're coming today."
Whoa~! New recruits!
The already high energy shot even higher at the news of fresh faces.
"How many are there? Guys or girls?"
"What positions? Tank? Dealer?"
"Asking for a healer would be pushing it, right……?"
At that moment, a dull sound echoed as the door opened.
All eyes turned toward it.
A tall man with long limbs that made him seem even taller overall. Yet his face still carried a youthful, almost cute quality.
The team members who had been discussing the new recruits immediately assumed, "Ah! He must be one of the new recruits!" and moved forward to greet him warmly.
"Welcome……"
"Hello, noona. You got quite a tan."
"……??"
……??
……!!
"Don't tell me……"
"Su…… Su-bin?"
"Yes."
Park Su-bin smiled brightly.
The seventeen-year-old boy had become a young man.
* * *
After the fever, Park Su-bin had grown at an alarming rate. This was no exaggeration.
His father had even remarked that he was "like a bean sprout." Just like a bean sprout that would shoot up vigorously if you gave it water and kept it out of direct light, feeding him massive amounts of rice and shutting the door behind him would result in an entirely different person the next day.
Even though growing boys changed day by day, this was beyond common sense.
When faced with something they could not understand, humans instinctively felt fear.
His family had been terrified by Park Su-bin's explosive growth, only relaxing after a doctor confirmed there was nothing wrong.
"……The air feels different."
His height, which had increased by nearly twenty centimeters, had changed his life.
The old Park Su-bin had always looked up at the world. He had been afraid of people who looked down on him, and at some point he had stopped meeting anyone's gaze directly.
But now.
When his eye level rose and the world became parallel, he could see the eyes of those who had once looked down on him all at once. Strangely, it no longer bothered him.
He realized that the people who had seemed to sneer down at him were, in reality, not particularly interested in him at all.
Of course, there were still those who genuinely mocked him—like the group of kids in his class—but even they avoided his eyes awkwardly once they were at the same height, muttering, "Uh, uh, h-hi."
Lee Shin had shouted, "This is refreshing! Absolutely refreshing!!" and urged him to get revenge, but Park Su-bin had no desire to do so.
It was not because he was particularly kind, as some might claim.
It was simply that such things now seemed trivial to him.
The saying that the eyes were the windows to the soul was true. With his raised eye level, Park Su-bin's heart had grown much larger and far more solid.
Park Su-bin no longer avoided people's gazes. The world was no longer frightening. He was no longer ashamed of himself.
He had family who always stayed by his side, and someone who believed in him more than he believed in himself.
— "I believe in our Bokchi. If I didn't, would I invest ten billion won in equipment and spend billions more on medicine? I can guarantee it with my name on the line. Bokchi……"
You are incredible.
"I am incredible."
Now Park Su-bin looked forward to tomorrow.
* * *
The raid team surrounded Park Su-bin.
"I can't believe it, Su-bin."
"What the—how did our Su-bin change so much? What kind of magic did you pull? Be honest, you're not really Su-bin, are you? Our Su-bin couldn't possibly be this handsome!"
"Look at those shoulders, those long arms and legs. And that Adam's apple is really asserting itself, the little rascal."
"Hmm, I always thought he'd be handsome once he grew into that small head. Looks like my prediction was right."
Park Su-bin squirmed under the storm of compliments from his older teammates.
Unable to think of anything to say, he could only scratch his head and laugh awkwardly.
No matter how much he had changed, praise still made him shy.
To his teammates, that reaction was yet another charming point. Lee Hye-jung, who proudly called herself the one who had "raised the youngest," could not stay out of it.
"Beep beep beep. It's time for noona's in-body scan. Come here, my little one."
Lee Hye-jung waved her hands dismissively at the others and spread her arms toward Park Su-bin.
Poof.
She had hugged him often before. Back then, it had looked like Park Su-bin was being embraced by her. Now, Lee Hye-jung was completely wrapped in Park Su-bin's arms.
This…… This might require a bit more caution……
"Now that I'm hugging you, I can really feel it. Your entire frame has changed."
"Hehe……"
"You gained weight too, right? About twenty kilos?"
"Fourteen kilos……"
"You need to put on more. Straighten your back. Like this—spread your shoulders the way noona does and press here. There, see? Much better when your posture is straight. I didn't expect it, but our little one has a pretty good frame."
"Hehe…… Thank you."
"Still, it's a shame you don't fit in my arms anymore. That used to be the best part. Nope, this won't do. Give me back my little one."
"S…… Sorry……?"
"Good grief, you're still the same. Yeah, this is more like you."
In truth, since everyone gathered here was a hunter, Park Su-bin's height of just over 180 centimeters was not particularly remarkable.
Among the tanks, including Park Jeong-seok, not a single one was shorter than him.
But there was such a thing as a gap.
To them, Park Su-bin's first impression had been that of a snot-nosed, clumsy youngest member.
A tiny kid barely in the early 150s, wearing ten rings, three or four bracelets, a gold necklace, a champion belt, oversized sunglasses, and a mink coat far too big for him, running around the battlefield with a pitter-patter that brought laughter even in the heat of battle.
That youngest member had returned after the off-season as a proper young man.
The emotional impact on his older teammates was on an entirely different level.
While warm energy filled the training ground around Park Su-bin, Park Jeong-seok—the previous season's MVP who had officially become the vice-captain—opened the door and stepped inside.
He too widened his eyes at the sight of Park Su-bin.
"Whoa…… Su-bin?"
"Yes, hyung."
"You've grown a lot. Good work."
After patting his back once, Park Jeong-seok gathered everyone.
"I have an announcement. Everyone, gather around."
The vice-captain's role was to act as a bridge between the leadership—including the captain—and the hunters, and delivering advance notices was part of his duties.
"Everyone here? There's a lot to go over today, so pay attention. First, as I mentioned before, the new recruits are arriving today. There are three of them. I won't tell you to become best friends, but don't haze them either. There's a welcome party afterward. The representative and the captain will both be attending, so cancel any prior plans."
The raid team groaned at the unspoken "no absences allowed."
Up to this point, it was information they had already known, so the atmosphere remained relaxed. But that only lasted a moment. What came next from Park Jeong-seok's mouth was something none of them had anticipated.
"Next, there will be regular training under the captain's supervision."
"??!!"
Huh? Wait…… regular training……? Today? We just got back from vacation!
Park Jeong-seok answered the bewildered team in a flat tone.
"No use looking pitiful. This is the captain's decision. Now that we've reached League 3, you all know we can use the stadium. The captain wants to check out the stadium we'll be using from now on and assess the new recruits' condition personally, so he's holding regular training."
"We'll be departing soon, so get ready."
After finishing the announcement, Park Jeong-seok left through the same door he had entered.
The raid team remained silent for a long while before someone let out a hollow laugh, and soon everyone was laughing together.
"Hahaha……"
"But the stadium and all that…… Are we screwed?"
"I had a feeling. Regular training on our first day back."
"League 3 really is different. Last season, the Mountain King never paid this much attention."
"Yeah, that's true. Let's think positively."
Everyone was surprised, but the mood was not serious. In the best sense, they were overflowing with confidence. In the worst sense, they were still drunk on the high of promotion.
But one person was different.
Park Su-bin, who had been laughing just moments ago, had reverted to his old self in an instant, shrinking into a nervous wreck.
"Hm? Su-bin, are you feeling sick? Your face looks pale."
"N-noona. What do I do? I…… I haven't trained at all."
"Pfft. How cute."
Lee Hye-jung chuckled. At least this kid is normal. The youngest is better than the older ones. Thinking it was rather admirable, she whispered so only Park Su-bin could hear.
"Don't worry. They're all in the same boat as you."
The reason they were not touched during the off-season was not simply so they could enjoy themselves. It was also the only time hunters had to focus on their own personal growth.
Freedom came with responsibility. If you played hard, you had to roll hard afterward. This was exactly why Lee Hye-jung had been tilting her head at the younger members' conversations.
"Everyone's going to get scolded anyway, so you won't stand out."
"But I don't have any potions, and I didn't bring my equipment……"
"It'll be fine. Just do the middle. You can manage that, right?"
At Lee Hye-jung's encouragement, Park Su-bin swallowed hard.
Yeah, noona's right. Just aim for the middle. The middle.
Even as he boarded the bus heading to the stadium, Park Su-bin kept repeating that thought.
* * *
The stadium had been transformed into a grassland field. People lay sprawled across the green earth swaying in the wind.
One.
"Ughhh. My back……"
Two.
"Huu…… Huu……"
Three.
"I'm going insane……"
Four.
"……Right, that kid was never normal either."
And finally, the fifth.
"……Su-bin's on another level……"
All eyes gathered on Park Su-bin standing in the center. He looked just as bewildered as his fallen teammates, staring up at the empty air.
"……Why is this working?"
The old Park Su-bin had operated thirteen light orbs.
Now that number had tripled—thirty-nine light orbs revolved around him.