The Golden Generation
“Haah….”
I was able to leave the hospital the very next day after regaining consciousness.
Part of it was because Awakeners heal fast, but it seemed Guildmaster Han Min-joon had also arranged things in advance before he left yesterday.
Yesterday was genuinely hell….
I had barely finished overcoming the Trial of Poison when I got swept up in something bizarre.
The secretary who kept playing strange pranks on me and making tasteless remarks started rubbing her face against my body, and a man who was practically a guildmaster tried to tease me with it.
The moment I woke up, I was hit with something enormous.
“What on earth was that all about…?”
She had seemed to get along fine with my parents when she visited our house before, too.
For some reason, it was only me she acted strangely around.
Don't tell me she's one of those forgotten childhood friends from the memories, like something out of a manga?
No way that could be it.
No matter how far back I dug through my memories, there was no woman like that secretary anywhere in my past.
Worrying about it won't get me anywhere… maybe I should just investigate at my leisure.
There was nothing I could figure out right now.
The only silver lining was that she clearly harbored goodwill toward me rather than hostility.
I had no idea why she felt that way, but for the time being, I could simply put that goodwill to grateful use.
The more variables on my side, the better.
Just as I walked out of the hospital, my phone buzzed.
A message had come directly from the Association President himself.
He wants me to come to the Association?
I couldn't tell exactly what it was about, but if the President was summoning me personally, there had to be a reason, so I headed for the Association.
Without the faintest idea of what kind of encounter was waiting for me there.
The Ice Queen, Yu Jina. The Scorching Fist, Jin Pung-rim.
They were the people who, before my regression, had been hailed alongside me as the Golden Generation.
The roster had shrunk from three to two, but these two were still called the Golden Generation even now.
“Why are two members of the Golden Generation here, of all places?”
“Have a seat first.”
The Association President replied to my question with a smile.
I didn't like it one bit, but I sat down anyway.
Getting tangled up with those two would do me nothing but harm.
The treasured jewel of Haeshin and the young master of Red Hunting.
If I got on the wrong side of these two, not even Geumgang and the Association combined could protect me.
This is the kind of situation where you pull your foot out before it's caught in the trap.
The President's intentions were plain as day.
Awakened in the same era. Peers.
Just those two keywords were enough to make a rough guess at what the old man was planning.
He was going to tie me to those two.
And then have me raise their skills.
If a stronger presence was nearby, those two would grow rapidly as well.
So I moved first.
“I refuse.”
“I haven't said a single word yet.”
“Whatever you say, whatever request you make — my answer is no.”
I declared my refusal unconditionally.
Those two were landmines.
No matter what, I had to steer clear of them.
“Don't be like that. How about you at least hear them out?”
“Even if I listen, my mind won't change. My answer will remain NO, forever.”
“Haha.”
When I made myself absolutely clear, the President gave an embarrassed laugh.
That was when Yu Jina, who had been listening beside us, opened her mouth.
“President, the strong person we asked for is someone powerful. Not this guy.”
She came out swinging from the very start.
Apparently forgetting I was sitting right beside her, she let her words fly without restraint.
“What exactly do you expect me to learn from someone who's obviously younger than me?”
“Now, now, don't put it like that….”
“What do you mean, 'now, now'! The two of us came to you, President, because we wanted to get stronger. Not to be introduced to some fraud!”
She was the treasured jewel of Haeshin, but I hadn't expected her to dare spout such insolence to the Association President's face.
And I certainly hadn't expected that dutiful soul Jin Pung-rim to be nodding along beside her.
“Haah….”
At Yu Jina's words, the President sighed and pressed a hand to his forehead.
Seeing that, Yu Jina puffed out her chest as if she'd just won some great duel.
Is this really the Yu Jina I knew?
Before my regression, Yu Jina had been considerate above all else, someone who prized courtesy more than anything.
I never imagined the gap would be this wide….
People grow as they age, I suppose.
She was only twenty.
The only thing that cast a fearsome shadow in her eyes was probably her parents.
“By the way… how old are you?”
I had been sitting quietly, but I finally spoke up.
There are things a Korean simply cannot abide.
Someone younger than you hiding their age and trying to play big sister or big brother.
Where does some kid younger than me get off….
At my sudden remark, she let out an awkward, hollow laugh.
“I'm twenty. A high. school. student.”
She declared me a high schooler with staggering confidence.
Bringing up age in the land of Eastern etiquette?
That was the same as announcing a pecking order.
She was telling me she saw me as beneath her.
“Where do you get off refusing to speak to an adult properly just because you're a high schooler?”
Jin Pung-rim beside her was a high schooler too, but he nodded along at her treatment of me as if it were only natural.
Her way of thinking was simply fossilized.
A high schooler can't address an adult.
I honestly couldn't tell which country's etiquette that was supposed to be.
This goes beyond 'treasured jewel,' doesn't it?
Her condescending attitude alone had already shot past the level of any family treasure.
That was just a brat.
A brat whose parents never taught her manners.
“I'm twenty-one. Older than you.”
“Ugh!”
The moment I revealed my age, her face crumpled.
She clearly hadn't entertained even the possibility that I might be her senior.
The President, for his part, had been watching the whole spectacle while eating popcorn ever since I opened my mouth.
Where did he even get popcorn from!
When I glared at him, the President grinned.
That old fox had obviously known exactly how this would play out.
He picked this fight with the treasured jewel on purpose….
A faint flame of vengeance toward the President ignited in my heart.
“Ha! Even if you are older than us, I hardly think we could learn anything from someone weaker than we are.”
At Yu Jina's words, Jin Pung-rim nodded with passionate vigor.
I had no intention of teaching them in the first place, but hearing them call me weaker than themselves left a bad taste in my mouth.
Maybe I had been weaker before the regression. But not anymore.
“Let me make one thing perfectly clear: I have no intention of teaching either of you.”
“Ha! Then why did you even come?”
“Because the old man sitting over there munching popcorn called me?”
At my words, Yu Jina's gaze slid over to the President.
Completely unbothered by her glare, the President savored his popcorn.
That man's nerve is something else….
I genuinely wondered how he'd handle it if that unpredictable jewel flipped his popcorn bowl over his head.
“Then how about this?”
“How about what?”
“We measure your records in the Association's artificial dungeon. And whoever posts the higher record gets to make a demand of the other.”
“President? Why is this conversation heading in that direction….”
“I'm fine with that.”
Suddenly, the conversation had started flowing in a very strange direction.
I had to stop this.
There was no reason for me to exert myself here for nothing.
“Well, I—”
“If I win, you'll get down on your knees and apologize!”
I had no idea what I was even supposed to apologize for, and I had no clue where all that confidence was coming from either.
I pinched the bridge of my nose and shot a look at the President.
President, what exactly are you planning?
Those two need to see a wall. That's all there is to it.
And if I win, what then?
Isn't covering for that mess you made last time payment enough?
The mess from last time.
He meant the incident in Japan — killing the Sword Demon and returning home without authorization.
Since the President had stepped in personally to smooth that over, I was in no position to flatly deny it.
Fine, I understand…. In exchange, that whole incident never happened.
What incident? What happened back then?
The man was a true snake.
If I'd meant to refuse, I shouldn't have just declared it while sitting down — I should have walked out of the room entirely.
“Haah….”
From the moment I took that seat, I had already fallen straight into the President's trap.
WHAM! BOOM! CRACK!
Ice magic rained down in a relentless barrage while fists wreathed in flame shattered monsters left and right.
They'd earned epithets like the Ice Queen and the Scorching Fist for a reason.
Still, they're weak.
Their techniques were lacking, and above all, their experience was far too thin.
What those two were doing right now was using sheer talent to bully weak monsters.
“In this state, even if we entered an S-rank gate — no, even just an A-rank gate — I wouldn't be able to bring out my full power.”
“Isn't that exactly why I called you here.”
“If that's the case, wouldn't their parents be better suited for the job?”
Those two's parents were S-rank Awakeners.
On top of that, they were powerhouses leading major guilds.
They would be far better suited to showing these two a wall than I was.
“And do you honestly believe those two could be serious with their own children?”
“Ah….”
The guildmasters of Haeshin and Red Hunting.
The world recognized them as powerhouses, but they were known just as well for being hopelessly devoted, doting parents to their children.
“Then what about Team Leader Woo Sang-shik?”
“He's on vacation, thanks to the trouble you caused.”
“And you, President? Or Guildmaster Han Min-joon?”
“To those kids, the likes of us are grandfather figures, you see. We tried, and they just denied it all — 'Grandpa, you're being ridiculous!'….”
The President's smile turned bittersweet.
Every strong presence around them had already tried and failed.
The problem was that nothing had worked on those two at all.
So that's why he dragged in me — a complete stranger….
If someone they'd never met crushed them outright, the two of them would finally feel the wall.
That would curb their arrogance and let them grow further.
In theory it's sound… it's completely sound, and yet….
I couldn't shake the feeling of being used.
Just then, the two of them cleared the artificial gate.
“Thirty-four minutes, hm.”
They'd materialized a low-rank gate, granted, but thirty-four minutes was a fairly quick time.
“Ha! And that is the difference between you and us.”
The moment she stepped out of the gate, Yu Jina declared it in a voice brimming with triumph.
Jin Pung-rim nodded along.
The difference between you and us.
That much was true.
Not in the sense that they were superior, of course — in the sense that I was.
“You'd better start practicing your apology on your knees!”
She spoke as though the match were already over.
Insufferably arrogant.
Keep this up and she'll turn into the very avatar of hubris.
Clicking my tongue, I sloppily threw on some equipment.
There was no need to use my footwork.
A gate of that caliber was more than manageable with daggers alone.
“Whether I kneel or not — you'll find out when I get back.”
“Ha! There's no way you're winning this.”
Leaving Yu Jina's boastful clamor behind me, I stepped into the artificial gate.