She looked at Sinhyeok with a listless expression.
“You're the only brat who comes here. Why do you like this place?”
Sinhyeok smiled sheepishly, recalling the past.
“Well, it's because no one else comes here. I used to like it. It was the perfect place to hide.”
“Good grief, you rotten brat.”
‘So everyone is afraid of the Warrant Officer.’
Along with I Gangyeol, Gim Hyeonsuk was one of the Republic of Korea's Towers of Awakeners.
One was an Arcane Bombardier. The other was an S-Rank Awakener praised as the Martial God.
She was well-versed in martial arts, and at every opportunity, she tried to spread her unique martial art, ‘Gamgakdo,’ to the battalion members.
‘Though everyone failed to master it.’
Sinhyeok was included in that ‘everyone.’
“But Warrant Officer, did you quit smoking? Didn't you used to open the window only when you smoked?”
With a listless face, she flung the window wide open and sat on the sill.
“I'm trying to quit. My nephew kept grumbling that his aunt's breath stinks, tch.”
“Hahaha.”
“Don't laugh.”
Snap.
He immediately stopped smiling.
She looked at Sinhyeok, who had fled here again, and spoke.
“Is it going well?”
“Not very well, ma'am. The Ordnance Department test is insane. Has anyone ever passed it?”
She said with a smile.
“If there was, would the Ordnance Chief be working alone? Both that guy and the battalion commander who approved it are equally insane. Did they think the Eye of Insight was something you get that easily?”
‘She's talking about the Ordnance Chief's skill.’
The Ordnance Chief's skill, the Eye of Insight, was an overwhelming cheat.
It analyzed the root of anything simply by looking at it.
It revealed every detail of the target's information.
“Was that test related to the Eye of Insight?”
“Of course. The things the Hongik Ordnance Department does are no joke, so Captain Ryu Jihyeon said they wouldn't take anyone less than that caliber. That's why it's in such a state.”
“To dangle the Eye of Insight as a test... they're completely mad.”
“Exactly.”
Even the Ordnance Chief had acquired the ‘Eye of Insight’ after awakening.
Of course, the battalion commander had given him some advice and helped him get started, but it was almost entirely the result of his own pure effort.
“How do you think it'll go?”
Warrant Officer Gim Hyeonsuk looked at Sinhyeok, who was sitting in the shade, and spoke.
“Honestly, I don't know, ma'am. It's such an obvious scheme that I'm completely stuck.”
Gim Hyeonsuk said with a laugh.
“Of course. Do you think he'd let you transfer out? Maybe later, but not now.”
At the mention of ‘later,’ he cautiously probed.
“Then when do you think he'd feel safe letting me go?”
“Who knows. Level around 100, and maybe after about 10 years of grinding, he might say you're ready.”
“.......”
Sinhyeok leaned his head against the wall.
“Then I'll be almost forty. I'll die of old age.”
“Haha. That's exactly my point. Even I can see you're weak right now. By human standards, you're a skilled and veteran soldier, but by the standards of monsters, you're far below.”
At her words, which trampled on his pride so nonchalantly, Sinhyeok let out a sigh.
“Ewhoo.”
Sinhyeok, having let out a sigh, glanced furtively at her, still sitting on the window frame.
At that look, she opened her mouth first.
“No dice. That's cheating.”
“I haven't even said anything yet.”
“You have to do it with your own power.”
“I haven't said anything yet, though.”
“I heard everything.”
“I really didn't say anything. Tch.”
She snickered and looked at Sinhyeok, who was watching her earnestly.
“Since words won't work, are you pleading with your expression?”
“That's right. Please, Warrant Officer, just give me a small hint. You know my constitution, don't you?”
She crunched down on a candy.
“That jerk will be annoyed.”
“Warrant Officerr~”
“Shut up. Where do you think you are, trying to act cute.”
Sinhyeok flinched at the genuinely threatening tone.
“Anyway, have you heard the method?”
Sinhyeok nodded.
“Then your discharge is blocked.”
When she seemed about to say something, he straightened his posture and focused.
“It's not like there's no way. First, the nature of qi isn't fixed. In the martial art I use, I can make my qi hot or cold, let it flow like wind, or bring it down heavy like a crushing weight.”
“Does that apply to me too?”
He wondered if it applied to his constitution as well.
“It does.”
“I-it does? Huh? Huh?”
Sinhyeok's face brightened at hearing, for the first time from her, a way to solve his constitution's problem.
“B-but why didn't you tell me?”
She snickered and said.
“I did help you. Don't you remember running away while trying to learn Gamgakdo?”
“Ah. That was the method?”
“Exactly. You ran away because you didn't want to die.”
“.......”
‘Gamgakdo’ was the name of the martial art created by her, who was praised as the Martial God.
It was a martial art that honed the senses to reach a super-sensory state and realms beyond.
The entrance procedure was truly shit.
Arbitrarily controlling the senses was impossible for ordinary humans—no, for the vast majority of humans.
Awakeners included.
She had proposed one method that would allow even ordinary humans to arbitrarily control their senses.
The extreme.
The brink of one's limits.
To put it more simply, the brink of death.
The moment your life flashes before your eyes.
She said that in this moment of focus, one could arbitrarily control the senses.
‘No, this is just another path to the underworld. I have to avoid it!’
To escape the clutches of the battalion commander, he would end up in the clutches of another fiend.
“Sinhyeok. How could you not need my help?”
Sinhyeok trembled at the sinister proposal coming from above his head.
“I-I don't want to die again.”
‘My trauma is flaring up. Hiss!’
“Come on. You've awakened, you won't die~ I've refined it over 8 years. These days, I don't dangerously push people off cliffs, shove them naked onto highways, or secretly stab them with knives anymore.”
“.......”
She pressured him with a wicked expression.
“You think you can do that wave thing? With your constitution?”
“Damn it.”
She too knew all about the Ordnance Department test.
“The battalion commander must be very pleased right now. Because he knows you can't do it.”
“Of course. He's scheming to dump all the administrative work on you, saying it's a test your constitution can absolutely never pass.”
He got goosebumps.
Sinhyeok grasped the one and only hand he shouldn't have, for the one and only method.
Gulp.
“Ugh... I-I'll do it!”
She grinned slyly.
She pulled a lollipop from her pocket and held it out.
“Then you're my disciple. Come out to the training ground in five minutes.”
Sinhyeok took the candy she offered.
But for some reason, this gift felt like the last candy he would eat in this life.
‘I'm not going to the afterlife after eating this, right?’
Sinhyeok carefully hugged the candy to his chest.
“I'll eat it later.”
He placed it preciously in his pocket.
Just then, the window flung wide open.
“Hey, then come right now.”
Slam.
The window closed, and Sinhyeok laughed awkwardly.
“I'm scared. I'm so scared.”
He shed his fear as best he could and headed toward the training ground.
When he arrived, the Warrant Officer had already gotten there.
“You're slow! Are you crawling like a slug!”
At her roar, Sinhyeok immediately ran.
Seeing this, the surrounding soldiers looked at him with pitying eyes.
“Aaah, the Lord takes another young lamb as sacrifice.”
“Poor Sinhyeok... he got caught by the Martial God as soon as he got back.”
“Tch, rest in peace.”
At the condolences coming from everywhere, Sinhyeok could neither laugh nor cry.
She looked around sharply and spoke.
“You want to join too?”
Eek!
“N-no!”
“N-night duty!”
They all scrambled to run away.
She clicked her tongue.
“Pathetic bastards. You run away even when I'm offering to teach you an S-Rank martial art.”
‘Isn't it because it feels like the price is our lives?’
He couldn't bring himself to say it out loud.
She tossed two pairs of bracelets and anklets at Sinhyeok.
“What are these?”
Sinhyeok, who had once attempted Gamgakdo training in the past, was puzzled by the equipment he had never seen back then.
“The Ordnance Department made them. They're quite useful.”
“Ah, so this is the modern method?”
She smirked.
“That's right. That's the modern method. A device that drives you to the limit peacefully and gently.”
At her affirmation, Sinhyeok's heart ached for no reason.
‘I'm hastening my own death.’
Sinhyeok held up the bracelet and looked at the Ordnance Chief.
“What do you call it. It's an artifact that amplifies gravity.”
Listening to her explanation, he equipped the gear.
Upon equipping it, a system notification rang out.
[You have equipped the set of Gravity Bracelets and Anklets.]
[Gravity is amplified.]
[Current gravity: 3G.]
“Ugh! Gah!”
Along with the system's ruthless warning, his surroundings grew heavy.
‘Crazy.’
She smiled ruthlessly and equipped the gear herself.
“Now, now, Sinhyeok. What do you think we're going to do? Hmm~?”
At the uneasy question, Sinhyeok spat out.
“P-physical training?”
“That's right! Now run! With everything you've got! This is your introductory training!”
Sinhyeok, his entire body heavy, recalled the introductory training.
‘Ugh, what was it?’
Pressed down by the crushing weight, the past vividly surfaced.
‘Drive to the limit.’
The entrance to Gamgakdo was simple.
The Warrant Officer running ahead, perfectly fine and not even looking tired, had said:
‘Right before you die, if you focus with a snap! Your senses open wide with a whoosh! They call that blooming. Once that happens, it's the first step. The concentration of the senses.’
“Haha, shit.”
Sinhyeok heavily set one foot forward.
“Where do you think you're crawling, slug! Aren't you coming faster!”
At the Warrant Officer's roar, Sinhyeok began his slow gait.
“I-I'm coming! Kuaaaack!”
A yell burst out of its own accord.
She smiled broadly and shouted alongside him.
“Let's go!”
“Guaaaack!”
They circled the training ground once with amplified gravity.
She ran tirelessly, as if perfectly fine.
As she ran, she looked at Sinhyeok and spoke.
“It's been a while, so you won't be used to it~”
“Huff! I know without you saying it! Kuh!”
For some reason, the more he exerted himself, the heavier it got instead of adapting.
“Huff. Huff.”
Sinhyeok lost track of how long he had run; his mind grew hazy.
He staggered and looked at her, still energetic.
“H-how much more?”
“You have to run more. You know when you can stop.”
[Danger! Danger! Danger! Danger!]
[You are on the verge of reaching your physical limit.]
[Rest is recommended.]
Even the system was starting to worry and recommend rest.
But the Warrant Officer showed no intention of letting him rest.
‘I-I have to be driven.’
He remembered when he could stop.
‘That moment has to come.’
He seemed about to fall but didn't; the moment seemed to come but didn't.
She looked at Sinhyeok, who was staggering yet somehow still running.
“Still not enough?”
“N-no.”
Sinhyeok was startled by her question of whether it was insufficient.
He tried to avoid her reaching hand, but he was too slow.
“D-damn it.”
She smiled wickedly and tapped Sinhyeok's bracelet.
“Oh my, how did I accidentally raise the gravity?”
“D-damn.”
[Gravity is amplified.]
[Current gravity: 5G.]
“Huugh!”
Sinhyeok looked at the Warrant Officer as if his eyes would pop out.
She smiled refreshingly and ran ahead first.
“It seems like it'll happen soon?”
‘N-no! It seems like I'll die soon!’
He couldn't walk. He came to a standstill.
[Danger! Danger! Danger! Danger!]
[Immediate rest is strongly recommended.]
‘I know.’
His eyes spun. His head spun, and the world spun.
There was exactly one thing that didn't spin.
The Warrant Officer watching with a smile.
“How is it? Coming soon? That feeling is killer.”
‘I think I'm really going to die.......’
His body wouldn't move.
Vacantly, his body pitched forward.
‘Ah, I'm falling.’
His body refused to obey, and he collapsed helplessly.
But a strange sensation came over him.
He felt like he was dying, but he wasn't.
Surprisingly, his mind became clearer.
Step.
His leading foot swung forward and planted itself.
Though dazed, he felt a strange clarity and refreshment throughout his body.
“That's it! That's it!”
[In the crisis of death, the Mana Heart moves violently.]
[Mana Heart (Lv. 2) grows.]
[You have maintained a clear mind even in the moment of reaching your limit.]
[A new skill is added.]
[Sub-skill Gamgakdo is added.]