Chapter 93. You're Still a Noob
Chapter 93. You're Still a Noob
She went home.
"Hero, did you do it because of Miss Chaeyeon's story?"
"No."
It wasn't out of pity for her tragic past.
Everyone's got a story.
And it's not like she had some exceptional talent, either.
'Not that I could even see that sort of thing in the first place...'
If I had to give a reason...
"Just because she's close to us?"
"Huh...?"
Laila tilted her head like I'd said something baffling.
An ordinary person awakening to become a hunter.
That's the greatest power and ability in society today.
I wasn't about to hand that kind of opportunity to a complete stranger.
"By that logic, Hero, you donate to and help complete strangers all the time."
"Those people truly needed help... but when it comes to awakening, ordinary people are just hoping for the 'luck' of it."
"It won't be easy..."
It might be difficult in many ways.
I'll grant the awakening, but her growth would depend on her own ability.
"Still, if you push hard enough, growth does happen..."
Of course, anything beyond that was the realm of talent.
She should at least be able to reach B-rank somehow.
Or if she fights on life-and-death battlefields, she could aim even higher.
"She doesn't seem all that ambitious, either."
"Definitely... there was no sense of greed."
"Well, that should be enough."
---
"...It won't work, will it?"
"No, the repercussions are too big."
After a long deliberation with Laila, I decided to keep artificial awakening hidden from the public for now.
"Right now there's a certain balance, but the moment this becomes known, it'll collapse. Being able to produce hunters... means you can mass-produce soldiers."
No matter how well we hide it, there's a high chance the intelligence agencies of each country would notice.
I was prepared for that to some extent.
The most important thing was to keep the public from finding out.
Even if they did, as long as we flatly denied it, it would just be another conspiracy theory.
"So that's why you're not awakening her right away?"
"Yeah. It's not even possible with her body right now anyway. It's a way to build up her stamina and buy time."
Building stamina was something she could do on her own.
And it's very common for people hoping to awaken to spend time at the gym.
'Of course, I thought it's absurd too...'
We mention awakening, and then a few months later, she just happens to awaken?
'It doesn't matter. Whatever they think, we just have to deny it.'
The government would also have to cover it up because of the chaos it would cause.
"She needs to build up her body. To the point where it won't break even when we inject mana."
We'll quietly and slowly release the orthodox awakening method to the public.
"Of course, what we're doing to Lee Chae-hyun right now is a forced method."
There were people who tried the method we're attempting.
And they all failed.
Because there was no one who could control mana with such extreme precision.
"Haa... how can they clumsily shove mana in like that..."
They just brutally slammed mana in, when it needed to seep in finely at the cellular level.
"So how would the internal organs not melt?"
Lee Chae-hyun contacted us regularly.
Stamina, heart rate control, endurance, muscular endurance, VO2max...
She was continuing high-intensity training.
"I'm curious to see how far the newbie I've marked will grow."
"Hero, this isn't a game..."
"I'm joking."
"And Emir also said he'd be willing to help."
"Oh, really?"
Actually, when we decided not to reveal the awakening right away, I was going to pull Emir's security detail.
"If Miss Chae-hyun starts growing unreasonably fast, someone will get suspicious."
Whether it's an individual, a group, or a nation.
To prepare for that, we decided to keep the security in place.
---
In the meantime, we put together some real tear-jerking build-up with Lee Chae-hyun.
After returning, I picked up the papers I'd left behind and put on a hell of a show reading them again.
'Never thought I'd ever read a paper about awakening in my life...'
I had her periodically post on the 'Saintess's Foot Wiper' account, subtly hinting that she was experiencing prodromal symptoms of awakening.
"Ah, my eyes hurt..."
"Will people really believe it?"
A line from a movie came to mind: 'Fact-checking was the foundation of a lie.'
"At least if we build it up like this, we'll have something to point to later..."
The fact that her whole family was awakened also helped.
"And in the first place, the viewers don't believe it."
I consistently did an 'ego search', but it was full of negative opinions about artificial awakening.
Most were dismissive, like 'nonsense', 'impossible'.
"But why are they writing things like 'This guy is ridiculously strong but has zero intelligence'..."
---
Time passed again, and before we knew it, winter had arrived, requiring thick clothes.
"Wow, we're really busy..."
"Yeah, we are..."
I scouted for unclearable gates worth visiting, and a certain game company had reached out for an ad inquiry.
"They're asking us to cosplay at an event, what the...?"
"Well, Hero, you love that kind of subculture."
Actually, I'd already poured quite a bit of money into that game to fully max it out.
"There's another year-end party...?"
"You're going this time too, right?"
Speaking of which, I'd gotten messages from streamers I got close to back then, including Nudungji, with whom we do occasional collaborative streams.
"Anyway, when is she getting here?"
The long-awaited D-day.
We were currently at the Hanul Guild's sparring hall.
At a time when no one else would be here.
─ Bang! Crash!!
"They say speak of the devil..."
"S-sorry! The traffic was bad...!"
After all her training, she was bursting with health, unlike before.
As instructed beforehand, Lee Chae-hyun lay down in the center of the sparring hall in comfortable clothes.
"You're going to hurt so much you'll wish you were dead."
"But I won't die, right!?"
"Uh, right...?"
Lee Chae-hyun nodded and began to relax her body.
I stared quietly at her back.
'She's really going to hurt like hell...'
Laila gently rubbed the seated Lee Chae-hyun's shoulders.
"I'll alleviate the pain to some extent... but it really will hurt."
"..."
When Laila explained seriously, she nodded as if she had already made up her mind.
"I'll begin."
As Laila slowly inhaled, a faint blue light bloomed at her fingertips.
"From now on, I'll be very carefully inserting it into Miss Chae-hyun's body."
Lee Chae-hyun closed her eyes, bracing for the coming pain.
And as instructed beforehand, she breathed slowly and steadily.
Laila lightly placed her hand on her abdomen.
And gradually pushed it under the skin.
Gently, like water soaking into dry earth, she guided the flow of mana.
"Ug..."
Lee Chae-hyun's eyebrows twitched slightly.
Though it was a faint pain, she squeezed her eyes shut and endured.
"I'll put in a little more."
Laila let the mana flow deeper, near the neural network around the spine.
From that moment, Lee Chae-hyun's heart began to pound heavily.
Her body sensed the foreign substance and raised an alarm response.
─ Bzzzt...
The mana inside her began to activate.
"Guuuuuuh...!!!"
Sweat poured like rain, and she clenched her teeth, beginning to endure the pain.
'I've been through it too, so I knew...'
She was probably feeling hundreds of ants crawling inside her body, along with a burning, searing pain.
"Hoo..."
Laila increased the amount of mana and began gently wrapping the vital organs, including the heart and lungs.
─ Tak-tak-tak-tak-tak...!!!
Her eyes rolled back, and under the immense pain, her jaw trembled violently, her teeth chattering nonstop.
Cold sweat already streamed down, and veins bulged under her eyelids as if about to burst.
And Laila once again breathed more mana into her.
─ Grind...!
She clenched her teeth so hard her molars felt like they'd shatter.
Yet she absolutely didn't scream.
No, to be precise, she was in so much pain she couldn't even scream.
"Miss Chae-hyun, this is the last."
And finally.
Laila withdrew her hand.
"Huaaaaaaah...!"
She began gasping for breath all at once as the pain disappeared.
─ Thud...
Her head lolled to the side and she passed out.
"Is it done?"
"Yes, the mana has settled stably inside her."
"Laila, are you okay?"
At my question, Laila shrugged.
"Well, Miss Chae-hyun was the one who had it hard."
And so, the forced awakening that had lasted for several hours concluded safely.
---
"Ugh... Uaah..."
Lee Chae-hyun, who'd been lying on the mat, began to open her eyes.
Trembling, she placed her hands on the mat and started to get up.
─ Splat...
"Huh?"
She looked down beneath her body.
There, sweat.
And some unidentified... substances...
"Kyaaaaaaaah...!!!"
Her face turned as red as a ripe persimmon, and her eyes were on the verge of tears.
"P-President...! You mustn't look...!!!"
'I already saw everything...'
I nodded and stepped outside for a moment to wait.
After a short wait, I heard Laila's voice from inside calling me in.
"How was it?"
"It was the worst pain I've ever felt in my life..."
"Right?"
"Yes... enough to want to build that secret base I never had and blow it up..."
Still, aside from her body aching, there was no lingering pain in particular, so she let out a sigh.
"If I could go back in time..."
"?"
"I'd track down my past self who wanted to awaken and slap her senseless."
She must have really been in a lot of pain.
"Still, I'm glad it's all over..."
"What do you mean?"
"Huh?"
To compare Lee Chae-hyun to a game, she was still only at her first job advancement.
"You're still a newbie."