007. The Agony of the Penalty

"Constellation? This is right, isn't it? Really?"

The euphoria over the number 3 billion lasted only a moment; watching it keep climbing made Kanghyuk's stomach churn.

"It's still going up! I told you it could hit 30 billion!"

"Sleep isn't the problem here. Sleep! Aigoo, what a waste. Do you know how much this is?"

Even as Kanghyuk grumbled, the stock kept climbing.

"Ah! Fine, I got it. Watching it will just make me angrier, so I'll sleep."

He tried to sleep, but the stock chart kept flickering behind his closed eyes, and there was no way he could drift off.

"Ah, it keeps going up! My money. My dough! Should I get back in now?"

"Ah, what would someone who knows nothing about stocks know!"

When the price dipped a little, Kanghyuk wondered if selling had been the right call after all; when it climbed again, he went back to agonizing over whether he should buy back in.

"Ah, if I try to buy, he'll probably block me again."

"Ugh. I'm sleeping. Sleep!"

But of course, sleep wouldn't come. It was an endless cycle of staring at the stock screen and lying back down.

"Ah, if I could just hold out a little longer!"

Just as he was pouring out complaints, all the trading windows suddenly froze.

"What is this? Trading halted? Why now of all times?"

Glancing at the clock, he saw it was already the morning of March 18th.

Not understanding what was happening, Kanghyuk scoured the internet.

"SEC Next Core Tech trading halted?"

Chills ran up his spine.

"Whoa. I almost became a beggar. As expected of you, Constellation. The light and salt of my life. I'm really going to sleep now!"

His heart was still pounding, but unlike in the early morning hours, he finally managed to fall asleep. And so Kanghyuk never saw the quest window that had appeared before his eyes.

"Constellation, what's going on here? Isn't it supposed to drop?"

Ping, who had never seen stocks before in her life, had somehow become a spectator.

"I don't know much either. All I remember is that all hell broke loose on my birthday. That's why I told him to sell everything the moment the market opened on March 17th, before the 18th arrived."

"Goodness. How could you forget such important information? What were you even doing?"

"How was I supposed to know that! If it weren't my birthday, I wouldn't have remembered it at all!"

"Kanghyuk keeps saying such rude things to you, Constellation."

"That ungrateful brat! Who does he think made him that money? Go to sleep already, you punk!"

"The ungrateful brat is you, Constellation."

Ping just had to get the last word in.

"By the way, Kanghyuk can't sleep because of the stocks."

"He's got some money left over from the Gombang work, and until the stock money comes in, all he needs to do is train. Why won't the man sleep?"

"No way is this punk getting back in! Back into what? Absolutely not! He'd end up a beggar!"

I was fuming, but Kanghyuk kept grumbling, lying down and getting up in an endless loop.

"It seems the time has come to knock some sense into him once and for all."

When I spoke, suppressing my fury, Ping asked:

"What are you planning to do?"

"Tomorrow's training will show him hell."

"Wouldn't it be hard on him, since he hasn't slept?"

"It's a quest designed for him to fail! It's about time he tasted something bitter."

"Ugh... anyone watching would think you're Kanghyuk's mortal enemy, not his future self."

"Once he's stronger, he'll be able to do it easily. Let's keep it simple: a 50km run, 1,000 burpees, 1,000 squats, 1,000 side steps, and 1,000 push-ups."

"Simple? Simple? Kanghyuk hasn't done any real training besides the Gombang work. Do you really think he can manage that?"

"Of course he can't. If he had all day, maybe, but to properly complete all that, he'd need to be at least an E-rank physical hunter. To finish it in half a day, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠he'd need D-rank. And later on, he'd need S-rank to do it all within an hour."

Ping's furrowed brow seemed to broadcast her feelings about me with her whole body.

"Ugh... a demon... begone, merciless Constellation!"

"What? That level of training is only natural! His trait makes him stronger the longer he trains compared to others."

"Come to think of it, you're hammering your own Core even while watching Kanghyuk, so you're not wrong."

Just as Ping said, I was spending all my time striking my Core. Breaker kept growing heavier and harder.

"Later, when I have some divine power to spare, I should make a copy of my divine weapon for him and create a sparring partner too."

"We can discuss that when you have more divine power to spare. By the way, when are you going to issue the quest?"

"When I fall asleep."

Seeing my grinning face, Ping covered her eyes with both hands as if she'd seen something she shouldn't have.

"Yaaah! I slept great! Good morning, light and salt of my life! I'm Kanghyuk, the 3-billion-won man chosen by our Constellation!"

Kanghyuk got up in high spirits. Then he noticed the quest window floating before his eyes.

"Whoa. Am I still half asleep? I'm seeing things."

Kanghyuk scrubbed at his dry face and blinked hard, but the quest window remained exactly where it was.

"You insane Constellation!"

"Aaargh! Just kill me instead!"

Even as he cursed under his breath, Kanghyuk started running toward a nearby training ground.

"If it weren't for that 3 billion!"

After gates appeared and awakened beings emerged, making hunter a required profession, training grounds had sprung up all across the country. With their spacious grounds and rows of exercise equipment, these facilities came to serve everyone from ordinary citizens to low-ranked hunters.

"Good idea! Good idea. I can do this. I can do it!"

Kanghyuk steeled himself.

"Fifty laps around this insane training ground!"

But it didn't last long. The 1km track was spacious — too spacious.

"Fine, I got it. I just have to run."

He did start running, but gradually other thoughts crept into Kanghyuk's mind.

Five minutes... I could probably endure that, couldn't I?

Take the penalty, or do the training? Kanghyuk's heart kept swinging back and forth.

"Whew. 50km. All done! I started late today, so how about you count the 50km run and let the rest slide?"

"Come on. I spent 4 hours just running! Let's take a break."

"This is driving me crazy, seriously. No, I'm not doing it! I'm going to eat. Why am I so hungry?"

Kanghyuk was a little scared, not knowing how bad "very extreme pain" would actually be, but he figured ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠5 minutes was short enough that maybe it would be fine.

"I'll get right back to it after I eat."

But just in case, he laid the groundwork, making sure his effort counted for something.

"Meat today. Beef! The stock money hasn't come in yet, but I've got what I earned so far, so beef it is!"

Sizzle-!

"Mmm~ nothing beats beef. Just smell that!"

Even his worry about the penalty scattered along with the rich aroma of beef that filled his nostrils.

"They say even a ghost who died eating looks the part! Come to think of it, today's my birthday! Cut me some slack today."

He ate in a daze, and before he knew it, an hour had passed.

"Goodness. I should be digesting by now, but no, I have to do what he says. Is there really any player like this?"

After saying that, he started the burpees, but it was already too late, and Kanghyuk was half ready to give up.

Time crawled by, and as midnight approached, Kanghyuk simply gave up and flopped onto his bed.

"Constellation, I really did try my best. You have to let this one slide. Please cancel the quest."

"Not prepare my heart — cancel it!"

The moment midnight struck, Kanghyuk felt every nerve in his body stand on end. The sensation of a pig with a tiger right before its eyes. The feeling of his life being threatened.

"Ughh..."

Pain that had started without warning hammered through his entire body. It felt as if every inch of him had become a pressure point, soccer balls slamming into him from every direction at once. No — it was far worse than that, a pain he had never known in his life.

...

The extreme agony stripped away even Kanghyuk's ability to think.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"Hah... hah... hah... urgh."

The 5 minutes passed, but it was over an hour before Kanghyuk could manage even a word.

"C-Constellation, you son of a..."

Having tasted the worst pain imaginable, Kanghyuk couldn't finish the curse before losing consciousness.

"Aaah! Kanghyuk! Just how powerful a pain did you have in mind when you set that penalty, to leave a person in that state!"

Ping pounded on my head without pause.

"Well, nothing came to mind right away, so I imagined pain far worse than getting hit in a bad spot during soccer, spreading across the whole body..."

It seemed I had made a mistake.

"I didn't know it would hurt that much..."

"You should be thankful Kanghyuk is still alive! When he was foaming at the mouth earlier, I really thought something had gone terribly wrong!"

It seemed his Toughness trait had kept him from passing out, forcing him to endure the full 5 minutes. A chill ran through me along with a twinge of guilt. Surely a divine body wasn't supposed to get chills.

"W-well, at least he'll train hard from now on, won't he?"

When I said that, glancing at Ping's expression, she shot me a glare.

"Hard? Hard? Have you ever felt pain like that, Constellation?"

"N-no? Even when I was injured, it was never quite that bad."

"What will Kanghyuk think when he finds out you're his future self? I don't even know what to call this — it's beyond betrayal, honestly!"

"He won't find out, will he? As long as we don't tell him outright?"

"Is that what matters right now? You Constellation!"

Ping started pounding my head again.

"Aaargh!"

Kanghyuk, who had lost consciousness, woke with a scream when the morning sun bathed him in a reddish glow.

Feeling around groggily. There was no lingering pain, but he kneaded every corner of his body to check that it was still in one piece after enduring such extreme agony.

"Insane, insane. That's not pain a human being can endure."

Kanghyuk vowed that no matter what happened, he would never take the penalty again.

"If I feel pain like that one more time, I'll just die. My 3 billion won. I can't die without even getting to spend it. No way."

"You insane Constellation! You were listening? You wretched bastard!!!"