The Fruits of Training (1)
A world of dreams, wreathed in auspicious energy.
Above the clouds of the Dream Soul Talk.
Swish—!
The Heavenly Demon swept his wooden sword.
It cracked against Yu Jaewoo's skull.
Bonk—
"Ow! Why'd you hit me?!"
The Heavenly Demon clicked his tongue.
"Did This One not tell you the lower body is everything!"
Rubbing his head with a wounded expression, Yu Jaewoo soon steadied himself and took the high guard stance.
"Hah!"
Swiiiish!
The wooden sword whistled with something approaching real menace now.
Though, of course, the Heavenly Demon snorted at it.
"Tsk tsk. This is difficult? This, of all things?"
Swinging his sword from the high guard, Yu Jaewoo paid the rebuke no mind.
"I'm pretty good at League, though..."
"There he goes again with that cursed tongue of his."
In fairness, the Heavenly Demon taught martial arts with astonishing ease.
The problem was that Yu Jaewoo was a modern man, and the sum of his knowledge came from having read a handful of martial arts novels.
"Um... Master? Is martial training always this brutal?"
"Brutal! Does This One feed you every morsel by hand only for you to call it brutal!"
"No, that's not what I mean—"
When the Heavenly Demon flared up and raised his wooden sword, Yu Jaewoo nodded frantically.
"Of course! Master, you're a hundred times right!"
The truth was, the Heavenly Demon took genuine care to teach in a way that even a man with almost no knowledge of Murim could follow.
"Opened your Ren and Du meridians for you, cleared every meridian and blood vessel, instructed you in the Art with These very hands. You savor a once-in-a-millennium opportunity every single day, and you say—what? Brutal?"
"Not at all, Master!"
"Shall This One give you a rest, then?"
"No, Master!"
Yu Jaewoo threw himself back into training as if he'd never once complained, and the Heavenly Demon clicked his tongue at the sight of him.
And yet, how very strange this is.
Ever since linking with Yu Jaewoo's skill, Dream Soul Talk, the Heavenly Demon could feel himself growing clearer by the day.
A soul severed from the living world, wandering the Nine Heavens, has now settled in one place. A power that defies cause and effect. Is this the 'system' my disciple speaks of? A settled soul alone should not restore strength like this—so is this too a gift of that boy's dream? And this Tower, said to have arisen alongside him... what manner of thing is it truly?
Two months had passed since the contract with Yu Jaewoo.
The Heavenly Demon felt his soul coming back to life.
And—he had taken a disciple even after death.
Which made teaching him genuinely satisfying.
Renewal upon renewal, ever anew.
"By the way, Master—how long am I to do nothing but train?"
"Do you wish to climb the Tower?"
"Yes."
"This One already told you. Not until your Heaven-Destroying Demonic Art reaches the Eighth Stage. This One cannot permit one who claims the title of the Heavenly Demon's disciple to be seen losing to anyone, anywhere."
"Come on, the lower floors seem like something I could clear right now—"
"You dare?"
The moment the Heavenly Demon reached for his wooden sword again, Yu Jaewoo whipped his head away and started swinging for his life.
"Haha! Kidding! Just kidding!"
"Kidding? The men who joked before This One and lived to tell of it can be counted on one hand. Your insolence pierces the very heavens."
"Eep! Master! I'm training! Keep this up and I'll suffer qi deviation!"
Flinching under the Heavenly Demon's thunder, Yu Jaewoo nevertheless never once slackened in his practice.
In his dreams, he mastered the Heaven-Destroying Demonic Art alongside the Heavenly Demon; awake, he filled his hours with breathing exercises and qi circulation.
Aside from eating, bathing, and cleaning, he devoted everything to honing the martial way.
"Your blade angle has drifted. The sword must be heavier. Lower your stance further. Focus on the flow of your inner power."
"Yes, Master!"
In the Heavenly Demon's eyes, Yu Jaewoo was not without talent.
Two months into learning the martial way, and already the Third Stage of the Heaven-Destroying Demonic Art.
No mere talent could account for growth like this.
This is not talent. It is this space itself—the peculiar nature of dreams, made manifest.
The dream was, at its root, a world of the mind.
Once he thought of it that way, even Yu Jaewoo absorbing martial arts he had never once practiced in his life at such unnatural speed made sense.
"In the world This One came from, men who trained like this their whole lives and never reached the soles of My feet were beyond counting. But you are different. Press onward!"
"Yes, Master!"
Yu Jaewoo had begun to sense it himself, too.
That his rate of growth was anything but normal.
For whatever reason, when I learn a technique inside the dream, my body moves more easily in reality. And everything I train in the dream carries over to my real body, exactly as it was.
Which meant he could train day and night without pause.
I'm... not an F-Class, am I.
His growth rate had multiplied severalfold.
And Yu Jaewoo welcomed every bit of it.
This beats grinding for certifications and slaving away at the office, honestly. It feels like playing a game.
If there was a single problem, it was that his training partner was the Heavenly Demon.
"A teacher with only experience is worthless—but experience gained half-heartedly is worse than none at all. So whatever you face, face it with everything you have."
"Yes, Master!"
Swish—
The Heavenly Demon swung his wooden sword.
The wooden swords had been brought from reality.
Before falling asleep, Yu Jaewoo had cradled two of them against his chest, and he'd succeeded in carrying them into the world of the Dream Soul Talk.
Yu Jaewoo focused entirely on the Heavenly Demon's movements.
The angle of his feet, the tension in his wrists.
The line of his gaze, the direction of the blade.
He accounted for everything.
His concentration sharpened with every passing day.
And the training was, honestly, fun.
"That will be enough for today."
"Ohhh! Master, so kind! You're finally giving us a break! Your worthless disciple will go rest as well!"
"Getting cheeky again."
The Heavenly Demon turned around, but Yu Jaewoo had already slipped away.
Waking from the dream, Yu Jaewoo sat on the bed of his one-room apartment and rattled a tub of protein powder.
Rattle-rattle-rattle-rattle—
"Mix chocolate shake with water and shake it up~ tastes absolutely terrible, but~ muscles growing, dantian pumping~"
He downed the shake he'd shaken with such devotion in one go.
Glug-glug-glug—
"Ahh—! Disgusting!"
He picked up his phone for the first time in a while and checked his flooded inbox.
999+ unread messages.
Most were from group chats with friends.
And a group for everyone who'd quit his old company.
It wasn't that he never texted anyone—he answered about once a month—so by now, everyone had simply accepted it.
The problem was the family chat.
"Family... Oh, right. Dad's birthday is coming up soon."
Yu Jaewoo never let his parents' birthdays slip by.
Normally he'd visit the family home in Incheon, buy them something delicious, stick candles in a cake—but he had no room for that right now.
"A gift card will have to do."
Tap-tap—swish—
After sending a cake gift card, he told his family he'd been busy and would visit later.
It wasn't that he didn't want to see them.
But training was just more fun right now.
"And I can finally see the end of the tunnel."
Yu Jaewoo sat down on his bed and began to focus on his qi circulation.
Account Holder: Yu Jaewoo
₩2,004,216
"Forty million won, earned breaking my back, down to barely two million."
Two years had already passed since he brought the Heavenly Demon into the world of the Dream Soul Talk. Yu Jaewoo checked his account balance and sighed.
He'd given up the alcohol he loved.
He hadn't met a single friend.
Aside from grocery shopping, cleaning the apartment, and taking out the trash, he poured every waking hour into qi circulation.
And even so, after rent and monthly food costs, only two million won remained.
But.
Yu Jaewoo smiled, bright as a spring day.
"I can always earn more. Whatever."
He didn't regret secluding himself and throwing everything into the martial way.
Training under the Heavenly Demon's personal instruction? Not even a lottery jackpot could buy that.
And the money problem would resolve itself the moment he climbed the Tower. Items and mana stones solved all of life's problems, after all.
The year 2027.
The world was currently grinding through the 47th floor of the Towers.
Every so often the news would carry the tense story of some nation or other barely managing to clear a floor, but still.
"Maybe it's about time I tried climbing... no, no."
Yu Jaewoo almost launched straight into the Tower, then stopped himself.
Even so, he should pay his respects to his Master before making an attempt.
An elegant pavilion stood rooted upon the cloud-carpeted floor, and within it the Heavenly Demon sat in solitary majesty. The very air around him carried the gravitas of a man enthroned in the Heavenly Demon Palace itself, as if this place were some grand celestial court.
"Master."
Yu Jaewoo called out, and the Heavenly Demon turned his gaze upon him.
"So you'll no longer be taking beatings wherever you wander."
"Well, whose disciple would I be otherwise?"
"Heh heh. Off to climb the Tower, are you?"
"Yes. My balance is nearing its limit, I'm afraid."
Through his conversations with Yu Jaewoo, the Heavenly Demon had learned how modern society operated, and what the Tower was. He even understood that strength alone could not seize everything in this world.
"Well, well."
"It's a fairly peaceful world, all things considered."
"Hm, I suppose so—it bears little resemblance to This One's world, where mountains of corpses and rivers of blood stretched to the horizon. It seems this 'money' of yours truly does matter."
Yu Jaewoo thought the Heavenly Demon looked, somehow, a little forlorn.
"I'll come visit often, Master."
"You have a silver tongue. If your opponent proves too much for you, come running back."
"Yes, Master."
The Heavenly Demon waved his hand in a dismissive flick-flick.
And Yu Jaewoo bowed deeply toward him.
Having paid his respects, Yu Jaewoo left the world of the Dream Soul Talk—and the world he vanished from was left with nothing at all.
The Heavenly Demon, too, returned to being a bodiless soul.
It is a little lonely, I confess.
Back in reality, Yu Jaewoo reached for his phone first thing.
The first message he checked was from his mom.
"Sunday?"
Swipe— He pulled up his calendar.
"Oh no. It's today?"
Looks like he'd have to go home after all.
But.
It had been ages since he'd seen his family, and—
"I can't exactly show up empty-handed."
Yu Jaewoo thought of the Tower and its climbing, and at the very thought of it, a pale blue spear materialized before his eyes.
Climber Yu Jaewoo has been verified.
The floor currently available for entry is Floor 1.
Enter the Tower of Korea, Floor 1?
"Enter."
Fwing—
Yu Jaewoo vanished from his one-room apartment.
He hadn't stepped into a dream, of course.
Yu Jaewoo opened his eyes in a dense, verdant forest.
So this is the Tower.
He closed his eyes and stretched his qi sense outward.
Shaaaa—
The incoming wind broke against the leaves in a crisp, fresh rustle. Riding that vibration, a map of the forest painted itself across his mind. And Yu Jaewoo's perception didn't stop at the terrain.
A centipede crawling along the base of a tree.
A frog perched on the pond.
A butterfly beating its wings.
A snake flicking its tongue.
Every small creature flaunted its own quiet vitality, and Yu Jaewoo missed not a single one of their minute movements.
And then, at last, ten goblins drifted into the range of his qi sense.
Yu Jaewoo kicked off the ground and leapt.
Shaaa—
The wind blew. Wind laced with demonic energy, sweeping over the hillside brush with a low moan.
Oooooh—
A dreary, eerie air settled over the ridge, and the goblins' hair-trigger senses sounded the knell of their own deaths.
Kieeeek!
The goblins shrieked at the noise grating against their nerves.
Small in stature, but with muscles rippling beneath skin of deep green—monsters whose grotesquely gaping maws unspooled long, serpentine tongues that drooled and dangled.
Those little monsters dragged their crude hand-axes across the dirt, baring their malice.
But, in that instant—
Fwip—
A hole opened in one goblin's forehead.
It was the beginning, and the end.
Fwip-fwip-fwip-fwip— fwip-fwip—!
Every last goblin's skull sprouted a window of wind.
"Whew."
Yu Jaewoo had killed them all with projected Finger Wind.
Ding—
A notification window chimed from the Tower.
You have slain all ten goblins.
You have cleared Tower of Korea, Floor 1.
You have leveled up.
50 Skill Points have been awarded.
It was the moment Yu Jaewoo conquered the Tower for the very first time.
But the notifications were far from finished.
"A Legendary achievement, with bonus rewards?"
◈ Bonus: Additional 50 Skill Points granted
"What's this?"