Episode 15
The next day.
Before falling asleep from exhaustion, Jonghyeon—who had been training his internal energy until then—received a call from Chairman Lee.
He rubbed his sleepy eyes, but upon confirming it was Chairman Lee, he composed his voice and answered the call.
After all, they were in the middle of a deal.
“Hello.”
“So, did you get some sleep?”
“Yes, I just woke up.”
“Come over to my place for now. Let’s talk over lunch.”
Seeing that he was clearing his schedule and suggesting a meal at home because of Jonghyeon, it was clear that Jonghyeon’s deal had succeeded.
“Yes, then I’ll see you shortly.”
Click.
Jonghyeon washed up quickly.
And among his clothes, he put on quite a neat suit and timed his departure.
*I have to arrive at exactly the right time—not too late, not too early.*
He was in the position of making a deal.
Therefore, though he had never done so before, now was the time to make a good impression on Chairman Lee.
“You’re here. No matter how often I see you, it’s a pleasure.”
Walking into the dining room, Jonghyeon found himself growing more nervous as he saw the Chairman greeting him with a hearty laugh.
*Just what is he going to ask me to do?*
“Haha. Is that so? I hope I wasn’t late.”
At Jonghyeon’s politeness, Chairman Lee waved his hand dismissively and said,
“Ah, don’t be like that with me now. If you act that way, I’ll be too embarrassed to even speak.”
As the Chairman continued to tease him, lunch was served.
It was a menu that showed what a bourgeois meal truly was.
A perfectly cooked lobster and a beef steak rich with aroma.
Centered around those were various salads, bread, pudding, soup, and more—the number of dishes alone seemed to exceed twenty.
Though Jonghyeon didn’t show it, he looked at the food with slightly burdened eyes, and the Chairman, missing nothing of that gaze, said,
“Ah, don’t feel too burdened. I don’t always eat like this either. Since you were coming, I told them to put some extra care into it for the first time in a while.”
Those words made him feel even more burdened.
Before he knew it, Yujinseong had arrived and sat down, and the three of them began their meal.
*Ah… it’s so delicious.*
While keeping an eye on Chairman Lee’s mood and trying to only appear to eat moderately, the food was simply too delicious.
Given his high level of activity, Jonghyeon devoured two to three times what an ordinary person would eat.
But since there were so many types of food, Jonghyeon took a little of each dish and waited only for Chairman Lee to speak.
But even while eating, Chairman Lee didn’t say anything of particular note.
The meal ended fairly quietly.
And then tea time.
“You looked like you had much to ask. Why didn’t you ask?”
Chairman Lee said, stirring with a teaspoon.
“The food was delicious.”
Jonghyeon answered only that and quietly sipped his tea. There was no need for him to unnecessarily open his mouth first anyway; Chairman Lee would speak on his own.
Opening his mouth first in this situation for no reason could only lead to losses.
It was true that he was entering a contract relationship, but he had no intention of becoming Chairman Lee’s lackey.
“Heh heh. You speak as if you know everything already.”
“Not at all. But I have proved my worth for a long time. I merely trust in the Chairman’s insight.”
At Jonghyeon’s clean answer, Chairman Lee smiled as if satisfied, took a sip of tea, and spoke.
“Yes, well. I know the help you’ve given me all this time.”
Chairman Lee paused.
“Please speak.”
“Good. I’ll let you come under me. That’s what you want, after all. However, I have a condition too. Have you perhaps heard of the Red Talisman?”
Red Talisman.
It was a type of talisman.
Among the monsters that emerged from B-grade dungeons, there was a tribe called the Ifrit, and among them, only the Shaman Ifrit possessed this talisman.
There were various types of talismans, but the Red Talisman in particular had quite an outstanding effect: when the bearer was attacked, a barrier of fire would manifest.
“Yes, I know of it.”
“Bring it to me within a month. Of course, I’ll pay separate compensation for it as well. Even if you don’t bring it, I won’t reject you. You’re quite useful. But you won’t be able to come under me.”
It was a test as much as it was Chairman Lee’s consideration.
But the difficulty was B-grade.
Even if he took the world examination right now, he didn’t know if he would make B-grade.
The selection criteria for the examination were also lengthy.
Moreover, even if he took the examination as quickly as possible and became B-grade, when calculating the time needed to find a B-grade dungeon, it was incredibly tight.
“But Jonghyeon is not yet a B-grade ranker. Furthermore, you need time to find a dungeon as well.”
It was a single remark from Yujinseong, who had been quiet until now.
Feeling as if Yujinseong was speaking on his behalf, Jonghyeon felt grateful toward him.
“I can look into dungeons for you. Well, isn’t that enough?”
“But Chairman…”
It was rare for Yujinseong to continuously oppose the Chairman’s opinion.
He didn’t want to throw away a talent like Jonghyeon so carelessly.
The Chairman continued with a solemn expression.
“It’s true that I’ve received much help from Jonghyeon. At the same time, I’ve given him proper compensation. But isn’t that merely a contractual relationship? My fondness for Jonghyeon is genuine as well, but to come under me, his abilities must be proven accordingly. Once you start doing things based on sentiment, you end up ruining the work.”
Having spoken at such length—a rare occurrence—Chairman Lee let out a deep sigh and asked Jonghyeon,
“Are you not confident?”
But Jonghyeon answered with a smile.
“No. I will do it.”
At that, even Yujinseong looked at Jonghyeon in surprise.
“Hoh. Is that so? I look forward to it. Jinseong, have the car wait outside. I should be heading to work now too.”
Chairman Lee’s figure walking out, leaving those as his last words to Jonghyeon.
But even seeing only his back, Jonghyeon could tell.
That he was smiling.
That was how much expectation he had placed in Jonghyeon.
★ ★ ★
After stopping by the bank, Jonghyeon arrived in front of his home.
A man was standing near the entrance on the first floor of the officetel.
“I’m from the Korean branch of the Red Rose Guild. I was told there was something to collect.”
Jonghyeon confirmed the man’s guild member identification badge and handed over a bag containing 200 million won.
“Thank you. Then I’ll be going.”
“Hey, hey. Wait a moment!”
Jonghyeon briefly stopped the man who had received the bag and was turning to leave.
The man, who had been about to get in the car, looked at Jonghyeon.
“Tell that damned cocky bastard that he’d better pray we meet again.”
At Jonghyeon’s words, the man hesitated for a moment, but soon shrugged his shoulders, got in the car, and started the engine.
Jonghyeon didn’t seem to expect much of an answer either and went up to his home.
It didn’t matter whether the man delivered the message or not.
It was merely a declaration to himself, and once more to those who had done this to him without fearing the consequences.
“Now, now. Revenge is revenge… but first, to catch the Ifrit tribe, I absolutely must master internal energy manipulation.”
He had one month.
If he calculated the time needed to clear the dungeon as well, it was an absurdly short time to learn internal energy.
But Jonghyeon had to do it.
A deep breath.
And he tried to control the qi spread throughout his body.
Falling gradually into a trance, Jonghyeon felt that today was different from usual.
Normally, a martial artist’s internal energy gathered in the dantian and spread along the meridians.
That process had never gone smoothly for Jonghyeon.
*I’ve always poured and circulated the qi in my body to one place. But now I have to spread it evenly throughout my whole body.*
As the qi began to move smoothly even if only slightly, Jonghyeon was overjoyed.
*Not yet. I need to focus a bit more.*
Feeling nothing else, Jonghyeon began to focus solely on the qi in his body.
It was then.
There was another existence watching Jonghyeon through the window.
*Shall I help him a little?*
It was Yujinseong.
Though Yujinseong always had to protect the Chairman, today the Chairman had given a special order.
“Go and check on Jonghyeon. That child spoke boldly, but aren’t you curious what method he’ll use to resolve this?”
The usual Yujinseong would have found it bothersome. But quite interested in Jonghyeon as he was, Yujinseong had come immediately to check on him without a word of complaint.
Instead, he had left two of his disciples by the Chairman’s side.
The Jonghyeon Yujinseong saw was in a trance.
He was so defenseless that he wouldn’t know if someone approached.
Suddenly, Yujinseong wondered if it was right to help Jonghyeon in this manner.
*This is a method I haven’t even used on my disciples.*
Grasping the flow of qi.
In the martial world, it was quite a significant task that one would only perform for their direct disciple.
*Suddenly, my qi is starting to circulate smoothly.*
Jonghyeon was quite surprised.
Just moments ago, he had felt that scattering qi into his meridians was extremely difficult, but suddenly it was going well.
He gathered his qi, scattered throughout his body, back into his dantian.
From now on, he had to use the qi accumulated in that dantian to increase efficiency.
How much time had passed?
Eventually, qi began to accumulate bit by bit in Jonghyeon’s dantian.
Only then did Jonghyeon feel it.
That something foreign, not his own qi, was guiding his qi.
*But that doesn’t mean I can stop here. I don’t know if this is a fortunate encounter, but I must finish accumulating qi in my dantian like this.*
Qi was stacked up neatly in Jonghyeon’s empty dantian.
Like water filling an empty vessel, it was accumulating steadily with constant intervals.
Having opened the path for qi to accumulate, Yujinseong quickly withdrew his hands and muttered,
“This should be enough. By the way, this has become rather troublesome.”
Yujinseong went outside just like that.
With just this much help, he should reach the realm where he could draw forth Sword Qi in no time.
Because to Yujinseong, Jonghyeon was undeniably a genius.
Leaving Jonghyeon training hard behind him, Yujinseong headed back to the Chairman.
When he awoke from his trance, Jonghyeon saw the morning sun.
Not knowing how many hours he had been in that state, Jonghyeon suddenly felt hungry.
Along with hunger, he felt the energy of his dantian.
His qi had completely gathered and accumulated in his dantian.
“I will eat well.”
Though no one answered, Jonghyeon sometimes greeted like this before eating alone.
Partly because he thought it alleviated his loneliness even slightly, and partly because it was a habit from mealtimes in his childhood.
Jonghyeon emptied about two to three servings of kimchi fried rice.
After finishing the dishes, Jonghyeon smoked a cigarette and thought.
*If I can just reach the realm where I can draw qi from inside my body to use externally, a B-grade dungeon won’t be impossible.*
Even among C-grades, quite a few had learned martial arts.
But they were basically weaker than Jonghyeon.
He hadn’t known why at first, but now that he had accumulated internal energy, he understood.
The difference in their basic vessel capacity.
Jonghyeon felt he could display the martial might those C-grade rankers showed for two days, even three days straight.
If he properly trained his internal energy to draw out that martial might beforehand.
*By the way, why did it go so well yesterday? It felt like someone was guiding me.*
From America until now, Jonghyeon had never succeeded in gathering his body’s internal energy into one place.
No, to be precise, he could gather it, but he couldn’t accumulate it like pouring it into a vessel.
Whenever he gathered qi somewhere, it always ended up scattering.
But now he could clearly feel the qi accumulated in his dantian.
*So qi circulates through my entire body based on the dantian. I feel like my body has become cleaner.*
Having felt that much, he couldn’t help but test it out.
Jonghyeon opened the training room and went back into Room 4.
★ ★ ★
Swish—
Though it was still impossible to coat his sword with qi, his movements had become cleaner.
He had already thought that through his training with the watch, he had reached a realm ordinary mortals absolutely couldn’t follow.
*This is beyond imagination.*
Internal energy manipulation.
Before, he had used a method of slightly gathering the scattered qi in his body to use it, but now he drew the already gathered qi straight to one place.
The difference in efficiency was enormous.
Jonghyeon still didn’t think he could clear the 4th stage.
He could now slaughter the roughly 250 giant scorpions and snakes, but—
*The problem is the boss. I need to meet the boss today. Even if I can’t clear it, I have to learn its patterns.*
He needed experience against the boss.
Jonghyeon quickly dealt with the scorpions and snakes and began walking toward the pyramid tomb where the boss was.
---------= Author’s Note ---------=
I, too, would like to try a luxurious meal.
I definitely didn’t write down what I wanted to eat.