Testing the Test (2)
Strictly speaking, the Clear Mirror Mind I learned wasn’t the genuine article but an improved version. It wasn’t an illegal modification, though. It was a genuine improved edition that the Great First Sword had created specifically for me. Truth be told, it had been made less for my sake than for my wife at the time, Cheon I-hwa. She had been terrified I might simply drop dead because I was too weak.
The effect was only half that of the original, but it was far easier to learn. I still remembered her saying it was because I looked like an idiot.
When the Great First Sword taught me the Clear Mirror Mind, he had delivered a stern warning along with it.
In my previous life, I had kept that promise. I died without ever teaching it to another soul.
So in this life, I’ll be putting it to use, Master.
After securing that tacit consent, I took Winter’s small hand in mine.
“This might be hard to follow, but try focusing on the inside of your body.”
A heart method, if translated literally, meant “the way to govern the mind,” but in practice it referred to the method of circulating and accumulating qi within the body. Normally, mastering internal energy required memorizing all three hundred and seventy-two acupoints, but Winter didn’t need to go that far.
“Do you feel a warm mass at your fingertips? That’s your internal energy. It flows through your blood vessels just like blood, so focus on that current. Closing your eyes might help.”
I circulated the internal energy from the Clear Mirror Mind in one full loop from my lower abdomen to the crown of my head. I paused briefly at the important pressure points to give him clear markers.
“Did you feel the energy make one complete circuit? We call that the Small Heavenly Circulation. It’s probably hard to grasp in one go, so I’ll show you two or three more times.”
“I’ve memorized it.”
“Understanding it in your head is one thing. Actually doing it is another. Try it yourself. If you slip up, I’ll guide you again.”
If learning a heart method were that easy, everyone would be a martial artist. Asking someone to sense the blood vessels inside their own body? Even ordinary people could spend their entire lives trying and fail.
It took me a full year to learn this.
Still, since I was the one teaching, six months should be enough.
“I did it.”
“……”
“Did I make a mistake…?”
“Ah, no. You did well. Yeah. Can you do it again?”
“Yes.”
Winter performed the Small Heavenly Circulation flawlessly. There wasn’t a single flaw. …Wait, was I the one with no talent for martial arts?
“Good job. It was perfect. Just try to breathe out more comfortably. Your breathing’s a little irregular right now.”
“Okay……”
“Honestly, I expected it to take a lot longer… At this rate, you could practice on your own without any problems.”
“…Oh.”
He looked strangely disappointed. Probably because he felt like he was being left alone again.
“I can’t stay right beside you all the time, but if you call me I’ll come running immediately, so don’t worry.”
“What about the room getting cold?”
“From what I saw, the temperature doesn’t drop that drastically. As long as you don’t stay in one spot constantly it should be fine, and when you sleep you can just turn the heater up high. Class dismissed!”
For now, these simple measures were more than enough.
Of course, if he starts leveling up the story will change, but that’s not something to worry about yet.
If I worried, Winter would worry too. So I casually called Yeo-ul and Min-ji back in.
“Send minor questions or casual chat by text. For urgent matters, call. Unless I’m inside a dungeon, I’ll pick up right away.”
I also took the chance to explain that electronic devices stopped working inside dungeons, then stood up.
“You all worked hard today. Dismissed!”
Thanks to Winter learning the Clear Mirror Mind in one go, I suddenly had time to spare. That meant I could handle the task I had planned for tomorrow right now.
It’s almost dawn. Perfect timing.
I changed into a suit in my room on the upper floor and was about to head out when—
“Where are you going? It’s the first day. Aren’t we going to hang out together?”
Min-ji had come upstairs at some point and was blocking the front door.
“I rested a lot already. We’ll play together later.”
“Are you going to a dungeon? Take me with you.”
“After training camp ends, you’ll get sick of going with me. So hold back just for today.”
“What if I don’t want to hold back?”
“And what exactly can you do if you don’t?”
“I can stop you from leaving.”
She even used her signature weapon, a massive hammer, to block the doorway. There was literally no gap to slip through. To my eyes, though, it just looked adorable.
“Min-ji. You need to let go of the fixed idea that you can only leave through the door.”
Creak.
I opened the window and jumped. From ten meters up.
Thud!
Just from the sound, it seemed like my knee bones should have shattered, but I was fine. I had absorbed the impact with magic power rather than bone and muscle. The applications of magic power were truly endless.
I could see Min-ji poking her head out the window along with the Yeo-ul siblings.
If it weren’t for the company, I would’ve played with them. Can’t be helped.
Even though I had received help from my parents, I still had a mountain of things to do. Once I established the hunter management agency, it was bound to draw public attention. Some of it would be positive, but there would definitely be negative interest as well. And those people would mostly come in groups to pressure us.
At that time, I needed to make one thing very clear: that our hunter management agency was not alone.
Creating a business partner is something only I can do.
This was one task I couldn’t ask my parents to handle. It was something only I could accomplish.
Ranked 886th guild, HowLongCanWeMakeTheGuildNameAnExperimentButItTurnsOutYouCanWriteItLongerThanExpected. Even a tiny guild with only four members had its own hideout.
The four of them sat around a table that could hardly be called a proper one. The mage holding a lightning-shaped staff spoke first.
“The next raid target has been set as the Temple of Light in Yeongjongdo. If anyone objects, raise your hand.”
The man with slicked-back hair made an OK sign with his hand. The woman sitting on a coffin instead of a chair raised her middle finger. The muscular man in a squat position simply held up a 100kg dumbbell without moving.
“One vote in favor, two against. Im Soo-jeong, why are you opposed?”
“There’s no fun in shooting them.”
“I cannot accept that as a reason. Provide a more concrete basis.”
“The compatibility is terrible. They’re all shiny and bright, so aiming properly is difficult, and since they don’t have physical bodies, damage barely registers. Using special bullets for them would be a waste. Do I need any more reasons?”
“That was within expectations. However, exploring the Temple of Light without your reconnaissance abilities would be a significant burden for us as well. Even if you skip the regular monster hunting, I’d appreciate it if you could participate in the scouting at least.”
“If that’s the condition, then fine.”
Next was the muscular man’s turn.
“Putting aside the fact that the Temple of Light itself is classified as S-rank exploration difficulty, is there really a reason to save Yeongjongdo?”
“Yeongjongdo has Incheon International Airport. It’s also the primary gathering point for monsters landing from the West Sea. If we recapture Yeongjongdo, the safety of the inland area will increase dramatically.”
“Turning Yeongjongdo into a coastal defense line is the government’s job, not ours. If they have no intention of doing so, we’d just be wasting our effort.”
“The government is incompetent, not stupid.”
“The Temple of Light’s conquest difficulty is too high to proceed based on speculation alone. Wouldn’t it be better to take down the Stone Dragon that’s isolating Sejong City?”
“On the contrary, the Stone Dragon……”
Just before their debate could fully ignite, the slicked-back man raised his hand.
“I meant to bring this up last time but didn’t. Aren’t we recruiting any new members? It’s already been two years since that incident.”
“What A-rank hunter would be desperate enough to join a guild like ours?”
At Im Soo-jeong’s jab, the slicked-back man looked genuinely puzzled.
“Then what are we?”
“We’re a bunch of idiots, so I bet my middle finger that we’ll never find a new recruit.”
Im Soo-jeong fired off double middle fingers with both hands and stormed out of the hideout. The slicked-back man muttered “Is that so?” and followed her out.
The two left behind continued their debate as if they had heard nothing.
“To defeat the Stone Dragon, we’d inevitably clash with certified hunters. I’m not particularly fond of either requesting their cooperation or cooperating with them.”
“Who cares if you’re not fond of it? Just do it. Why do we always have to bleed ourselves dry every single raid?”
Bang.
Right as their voices were about to rise in earnest, the hideout door opened and both heads turned.
“Hello?”
A man they had never seen before had suddenly walked in. Drunkards occasionally stumbled inside by mistake, but this was the first time a sober person had done so.
“You’ve got the face of someone who knows exactly what this place is.”
The muscular man strode over and looked down at him threateningly. The mysterious visitor, Chae Mu-jin, gave a polite half-bow.
“My name is Chae Mu-jin. This is the HowLongCanWeMakeTheGuildNameAnExperimentButItTurnsOutYouCanWriteItLongerThanExpected—”
“It’s embarrassing, so just state your business.”
“I saw the recruitment notice on HuntNet. You specialize in boss raids, correct?”
“Hmm?”
The muscular man glanced behind him. The mage nodded and muttered.
“I did upload it because we absolutely needed to include a guild introduction, but I never expected anyone to actually come after seeing it.”
“New members are always welcome. But no matter how I look at you, you don’t seem qualified. Have you even passed level 100?”
“I haven’t even passed level 10.”
“The lowest level here is me at 307.”
“Does higher level necessarily mean stronger? Do you agree with that statement?”
Chae Mu-jin directed the question not at the muscular man but at the mage. Choi Beon-gae did not answer. Instead, he fired a magic bullet.
The public believed magic power was “blue,” but that was a misconception. In reality, magic power was transparent; the blue was purely for promotional purposes. Therefore, when directly manipulated and fired like this, not only ordinary people but even fellow hunters usually could not detect the magic attack.
That is, if they were ordinary hunters.
Right now, Choi Beon-gae was testing Chae Mu-jin. Testing whether he was even qualified to hold a conversation with them.
“If it’s a test, you could do it a bit more properly.”
But Chae Mu-jin proved himself at a level far beyond imagination. He tilted his head at the exact timing as if he could see the magic bullet’s trajectory and dodged it cleanly.
Choi Beon-gae’s eyes widened. He had deliberately slowed the bullet out of consideration.
“That movement just now. It went beyond simply detecting the magic power. It looked as if you could see it.”
“I served in the Anti-Magic Special Forces. So my magic sensitivity is rather high.”
“That is a convincing reason. Which makes it even more suspicious.”
Despite his words, Choi Beon-gae gestured for the muscular man to step aside. The muscular man had also sensed that Chae Mu-jin was no ordinary person and made way.
Since Chae Mu-jin had no business with Choi Beon-gae, he stopped in front of the whiteboard behind him. The board was covered in traces of their heated debate over whether to attack the Temple of Light or the Stone Dragon. It hadn’t been written for others to read, so readability was zero, but Chae Mu-jin roughly grasped the situation.
“Let’s go with the Temple of Light.”
It wasn’t even a question. The decisive tone left both Choi Beon-gae and the muscular man dumbfounded.
“Who are you to decide that?”
“Because it seems like the perfect place for a test.”
“What was your name again? Chae… something?”
“Chae Mu-jin.”
“What an absurd guy. Do you even know anything about the Temple of Light?”
“I’ll look up the disclosed information on HuntNet, and experience the rest firsthand. That’s what a hunter does.”
“This guy is completely insane.”
The muscular man scratched his head vigorously. If the man had seemed even moderately crazy he would have thrown him out, but no matter how he looked at him, Chae Mu-jin appeared perfectly sane. For a sane person to speak such madness meant he was extraordinarily insane.
Choi Beon-gae was struggling with the same dilemma. The suddenly appearing Chae Mu-jin was an extremely suspicious individual. But they did need a new member. And quite exquisitely, even though his level was low, Chae Mu-jin possessed extraordinary qualities.
“…Fine. We’ll use the Temple of Light as your entrance test.”
“Ah, there seems to have been a misunderstanding.”
“Do you need time to prepare?”
“No. Not that. I mean the entrance part. I have no intention of joining.”
The muscular man stared at Chae Mu-jin with an expression that clearly said, What the hell is this guy?
“Wouldn’t you like to form a partnership with our hunter management agency?”
“……”
Choi Beon-gae decided to revise his evaluation of Chae Mu-jin. From extraordinary rookie to suspicious businessman.