Fighting!
Ding-dong—. Ding-dong—.
"Ugh..."
I managed to pry my heavy eyelids open. My vision stayed blurry for a while, and the ceiling above me looked completely unfamiliar. I couldn't immediately place where I was, so I just blinked blankly a few times.
...What?
As the grogginess slowly lifted, yesterday's events belatedly surfaced in my mind. Oh, right. I'd found a new place yesterday.
The air felt stuffy, so I cracked open a window, but outside was still pitch black. I picked up the phone sitting beside my bed and turned on the screen, where a large digital clock stared back at me.
5:10 AM.
...Wait.
A chill crawled up my spine. I was supposed to meet Hunter Baek Seorin at 4:30 in the morning. I was already forty minutes past our appointed time.
"...No!!"
I distinctly remembered setting more than ten alarms because I'd been worried something like this might happen. I pulled down the notification panel to check, and every single alarm I'd set at three-minute intervals starting from 4 AM had been switched off.
I don't remember doing that...
Was the new bed really that comfortable? The mattress did have a certain quality to it—the plushness was on another level entirely.
Ding-dong—.
No, that's not the point right now.
"Aaagh!!"
No matter how much of a rush I was in, I couldn't exactly show up in nothing but my underwear. I scrambled to grab a pair of pants off the floor, yanked them on, and bolted for the front door.
"C-coming!"
I fumbled the lock open and swung the door wide to find Hunter Baek Seorin standing there in workout clothes. Her eyes swept over my face once, then over my hair—which still bore the unmistakable imprint of my pillow—before the corner of her mouth twitched upward.
"Sleep well?"
"...Sorry, what?"
"You look like you got a really good night's rest."
"Ah, that's... I definitely set alarms. Every three minutes—"
"Did you now?"
"...I'm sorry, noona."
I would've preferred her to yell at me. Instead, she was smiling, and that made it so much worse.
"Hmm..."
She gave my pajamas a quick once-over, then turned away without another word. "Well, you're up. Let's get going."
"In... these?"
"Just throw on a jacket. I've got a change of clothes and a place for you to wash up ready."
"You prepared all that?"
A bit more of the sleep fog burned off. Had she actually anticipated that I'd oversleep? I swallowed nervously and was about to head out when I caught sight of my face in the hallway mirror.
Hair mashed flat on one side, eyes puffy and swollen. The pajamas were bad enough, but there was a distinct crust of sleep still clinging to the corner of my eye.
...This is probably not okay.
"Um... the clothes are one thing, but could I at least wash my face first?"
"Really? Is that what you want?"
"...No."
I'd tried to preserve the bare minimum of human dignity. It got me nowhere. In the end, I was dragged out of the apartment with nothing but a jacket thrown haphazardly over my pajamas.
The association's training facility was only a few minutes' drive from my place. Calling it dark would've been a stretch—the floodlights were already blazing across the sprawling athletic field, and aside from a handful of staff members near the entrance, there wasn't a soul in sight.
"Is it normally open at this hour?"
"Nope. Usually opens at nine in the morning. I just asked them to open it early today."
"Ah..."
No wonder the staff members' expressions had looked less than thrilled. I'd assumed they were just tired, but apparently there was more to it.
So this is the power of an S-rank hunter.
Forcing people into overtime... no, early-morning shifts. I tried imagining myself in their position, and my body shuddered involuntarily.
"What? Cold? Want me to turn on the heater?"
"Ah, no. I'm fine, noona. Not cold at all."
I had no desire to extract tears of blood from the eyes of people who already had dark circles deep enough to see from space. I waved my hands frantically and insisted I was fine.
"You sure? Okay."
Fortunately, Hunter Baek Seorin lost interest as if it were nothing. She glanced at the clock positioned along the edge of the field, then gave my back a light push, steering me onto the track.
"Start by running laps around here."
"Running? I thought we'd start with ability training?"
"You want to run before you can even walk? First, I need to get a read on your baseline fitness."
She wanted a rough estimate of how much use she could get out of me. Made sense. I nodded and started off at a slow jog.
The first few laps were manageable. Normally even a single lap would've left me gasping, but it seemed my stamina had improved since awakening—three laps went by without much trouble.
However.
"Hah... hahh..."
The running refused to end, no matter how many times I circled the track. I must have pushed the pace too hard early on, because my breathing quickly fell apart and a stitch knifed into my side. I belatedly slowed down and managed to hang on, but before long my feet started catching on each other too.
When exactly is she going to tell me to stop?
I glanced sideways. Hunter Baek Seorin hadn't moved a single step from where she'd been standing originally, watching me with two swords floating lazily around her.
...Just keep running.
Running wouldn't kill me. Probably. As far as I could tell, this option had the higher survival rate.
"Huuuuhhh..."
By the point where I genuinely couldn't tell whether I was running or just lurching forward, a lifeline finally dropped.
"Stop."
I collapsed flat on my back right where I stood. I gulped down air, and my throat tasted like copper. My heart was slamming against my ribs like it was trying to punch its way out.
"Hah... thought I was gonna die..."
"That's all you ran?"
Hunter Baek Seorin had appeared beside me at some point, checking her timer. A slight crease formed between her brows, as if the results didn't quite satisfy her.
"Jaemin. It's okay to be weak. Nobody starts out strong."
"Haaah... yeeeah...?"
"...I'll finish that thought in a minute."
I could see her expression cooling to frost, but there was nothing I could do about it. I genuinely, truly thought I was going to die.
Gradually, my breathing returned to something resembling normal, and Hunter Baek Seorin spoke again.
"Anyway, setting aside how weak you are, you need to know your body's limits. In a Gate, pacing is everything—more important than raw power. And that's what decides whether you live or die in the critical moment."
I felt like I'd heard something similar before. Even the strongest hunter won't last long if they rampage without knowing their own limits. The ones who survive to the end are the ones who know when to push and when to hold back. Because a hunter's life isn't a sprint—it's a marathon.
"So, shall we run a bit more?"
"...What? More? Right now?"
"You've rested plenty. Your breathing looks fine to me."
"..."
Right. Like I could fool her.
The second round, I paced myself from the start. My plan was to endure as long as physically possible. Of course, Hunter Baek Seorin had no intention of letting me run comfortably.
"Alright. From here to there, full sprint."
She pointed at a marker set up on the far side of the track. I squeezed out every last drop of strength and bolted for it, but the moment I arrived—before I was even told I could rest—came the next instruction: slow down and jog.
"..."
Sprint when my breath came back. Slow to a jog when my legs started giving out. Where I had reserves left, and where I broke down—Hunter Baek Seorin read those points with unnerving precision. Just before my stride collapsed, she'd have me ease off; the instant my breathing steadied, she'd have me running again without fail.
A training method that wrung every last ounce from the body's limit. Still, I figured if I looked like I was actually about to die, she'd call it. That assumption fell apart beautifully.
Run. Walk. Run again. By the end, I didn't even have the strength left to swing my arms. My thighs were stiff and swollen like overinflated balloons, and my calves seized up with every step.
I had no idea how much time had passed. When the command came to sprint again, I threw everything I had at the ground—but this time my knees buckled before I'd managed more than a few steps.
"Ugh."
Just before my face hit the track, a thread of crimson mana snatched me out of the air. Hunter Baek Seorin lowered me gently to the ground, then pressed a finger firmly into my leg.
"How's this spot?"
"Hurts a little."
"And here?"
"Same."
"Hmm..."
After prodding at my legs for a while, Hunter Baek Seorin stood up.
Is she finally going to wrap this up?
"Alright. Your muscles have taken enough of a beating, and since it's your first day, we'll stop here—"
Yes. Now I can finally rest—
"Hi, oppa! I'm here!"
Doa waved energetically as she walked in, and Hunter Baek Seorin's eyes lit up.
Ah...
Doa was supposed to pick me up at eight in the morning. It was only seven now. She must have come early to watch me train on my first day...
"That rough, huh?"
"Ah, no. Hold on a sec—"
Fwoooosh—.
Before I could get a word in, green light spread from Doa's palms and wrapped around both my legs. The knotted muscles melted into a warm looseness, and the burning ache subsided almost immediately. Strength flowed back into a body so heavy I hadn't wanted to lift a single finger.
"..."
I snuck a look up at Hunter Baek Seorin. She was checking the time on her phone.
"Perfect timing."
Oh god. Please...
I belatedly prayed to every deity I could think of, but apparently even they were afraid of S-rank hunters, because none of them showed up.
"First day or not, you put in the hours you signed up for."
"B-but you just said we were done—"
"Who was it that showed up late today?"
"..."
"Get up. You've rested plenty."
"Yes, noona."
As I was struggling to my feet, Doa gave my freshly healed leg a light tap.
"You could run another hour easy now."
Watching her beam at me, the suspicion finally clicked into place. Had she come a full hour early with exactly this in mind from the start?
"Doa... don't tell me."
"Fighting, oppa!"
Doa grinned and pumped a tiny fist in the air.
...I should be annoyed with her. But seeing that smile, the frustration that had been boiling over just moments ago drained away before I knew it.
Then Hunter Baek Seorin pointed to the far side of the track.
"Since Doa's here too, let's pick up the pace a bit for the remaining time."
"...Yes, ma'am."
And so I started running again. It was exactly one more hour—just as Doa had promised—before my legs finally gave out completely.
And that day, at the association's evaluation center, an unexpected result came in.