Episode 16.
What I held in my hands was no ordinary medicinal herb or health supplement.
Each and every piece was a treasure that had undergone Transcendent Enhancement, bearing permanent effects.
Of course, Hero, this guy—
“I won’t buy it.”
—failed to recognize their true value.
“I won’t tell the Master, so if you signed up just to sell stuff, leave quietly. There’s no one here who’d buy that kind of thing.”
He was treating me openly like a street peddler.
“Ha. These are really good for the body, but there’s just no way to explain it.”
I wanted to cut open my heart and show him; it was simply frustrating that I couldn’t.
“….”
The guy ignored my grumbling and walked past, wiping his face—drenched in tears and sweat—with a towel.
But of course, I couldn’t just let him go.
I grabbed the passing guy by the shoulder and turned him around.
He furrowed his brow, looking displeased.
“Fair enough.”
A man’s gotta admit what needs admitting.
“It must be unpleasant, having me suddenly approach you like this. But I meant it when I asked if you want to get stronger.”
“That’s exactly why it’s absurd….”
“Sudden, right? I know. I know it’s impossible to trust. But you know.”
I stared straight into Hero’s eyes.
“You don’t plan to keep wasting time meaninglessly like this, do you?”
“…Meaningless time? Aren’t your words too harsh? Do you know how hard I’m trying!”
He raised his voice, perhaps having grown angry mid-sentence.
“Aah. I know. You must be trying harder than anyone. Even when everyone else has gone home, you stay behind alone practicing like this.”
Late at night, he remained alone, hitting the sandbag.
It wouldn’t have been just for a day.
Since he first picked up the gloves, he must have trained hard without missing a single day.
“But you know full well. That even with this effort, you can’t even become mediocre.”
“….”
He couldn’t answer.
Because it was the truth.
Hero’s nature was that of a late bloomer.
Simply put, he was the type who couldn’t grow quickly, only gradually revealing his presence after investing long periods of time and effort.
For such a guy, three years was far too short.
‘At this rate, he wouldn’t need 3 years—he’d need to train for 10 before barely showing any results.’
That was why he had become one of the stragglers of the Apocalypse, unable to bloom his talent.
“So.”
The look in his eyes changed.
He glared at me with eyes that seemed filled to the brim with rancor.
“So what? Are you telling me to shut my mouth and stay put because I have no talent?”
It was a known fact that a normally gentle guy becomes scary once he snaps.
Hero’s current appearance was exactly that.
“I know I don’t have talent. That’s why I’m trying so hard. Just what—just what am I supposed to do?”
It was filled with injustice and indignation.
Why wouldn’t it be?
In the past, he had been bullied so severely that he even contemplated suicide.
So he had tried to make an effort, and if even that effort was denied, he would lose his motivation to live in this world.
“Do I just have to live quietly like in the past, like trash, and then die?”
“You seem to be greatly mistaken; I’m not trying to belittle your effort. I’ve been saying it over and over. I want to make you strong.”
“But you said I have no talent!”
“Huh? When? I never once said you have no talent.”
“Word games….”
“It’s not a game.”
I cut him off.
“I’ll say this with certainty: you have talent.”
He survived almost until the very end in that damned Apocalypse.
At the very least, in the field of martial prowess, his talent was nothing short of brilliant.
“If you’re trying to mock me, I’ll be leaving now.”
Having regained his composure, he suppressed the indignation from moments ago deep within.
“You have talent. You simply don’t know how to make it bloom.”
“….”
“And I’ve come here to teach you that.”
Is this person serious?
I stared straight into the guy’s eyes, which were full of bewilderment.
“It won’t take that long to bloom your talent.”
I stopped talking and held up two fingers.
“Two weeks.”
Of course, that wasn’t for surviving the Apocalypse, but the minimum time needed to subdue a single thug.
“In two weeks, I can draw out a portion of the talent hidden inside you. What do you say?”
“….”
He still looked hesitant.
He must be confused.
Thoughts of con artists, the devil’s whispers, and all sorts of things must be swirling in his head.
I needed to instill a bit more conviction here.
“Of course, I won’t ask for money or have you sign a contract. All you need to do is faithfully follow my orders for two weeks. Think about it—it’s a mere two weeks out of the decades you have left to live. You won’t be losing anything, right?”
“….”
Still silent.
But that silence didn’t last long.
“I….”
Finally, as if having made up his mind, the guy opened his mouth.
*
Riiiiing.
On the desk, a smartphone made a sound.
“Speak.”
Chairman Gang answered before it even rang twice, as if he had been waiting.
He had good reason to, since there was only one person in the world who could contact that smartphone.
“…A gym, you say? It’s possible.”
Concentrating on the voice coming through the receiver, he scribbled something on a memo pad he had prepared in advance.
“Understood.”
Since the business was briefly exchanged, the call lasted less than three minutes.
“….”
Chairman Gang, who had been gazing at the disconnected smartphone for a moment.
Beep.
connected the internal line and called Jang Dongjin, his right-hand man.
Not long after.
Knock, knock.
“Come in.”
Jang Dongjin, with his robust physique, entered.
“You called for me.”
“I need to handle one matter urgently.”
Urgent business.
At that moment, the quick-witted Jang Dongjin could infer one fact.
“It’s regarding Yun Chan, isn’t it.”
Since that was the only matter Chairman Gang, having recovered from his illness, had to handle with such urgency.
“This place.”
He pointed to one spot on the map displayed on the monitor.
“He asked me to secure a decent gym in the vicinity.”
A gym, all of a sudden?
He felt a bit of doubt, but didn’t ask.
“What is the deadline?”
The deadline was what mattered.
“As fast as possible.”
“I will handle it.”
Jang Dongjin bowed deeply and withdrew.
Leaving the office, he took out the smartphone he kept in his left pocket.
“I’m issuing a mission effective immediately. The deadline is as fast as possible; mobilize all personnel….”
Words poured out calmly.
But the team directly under Chairman Kang who received the orders didn’t think so.
“As fast as possible.”
Because that was the most difficult mission, one that required them to unfold their full capabilities and capacity.
*
“Hey, is it really okay for us to use this place?”
Hero, looking around, couldn’t string a proper sentence together.
“Geez. So provincial. Is this your first time seeing a gym?”
On the outside, I acted tough, but.
‘What the hell? Why is it so grand?’
I was extremely surprised inside.
The day before, I had called Chairman Kang and asked if he could find a decent gym in the vicinity.
My intentions were pure.
I had simply wanted to briefly rent a nearby gym, but what awaited me was a grand facility worthy of preparing for a world title match right away.
A spacious area that looked well over two hundred pyeong.
In the center was a square ring, and surrounding it were all sorts of boxing equipment.
Each piece gleamed, clearly brand new.
‘No matter how I look at it, it seems like he bought the whole thing outright?’
Not just the space, but all this equipment gathered at once.
Truly the spending power of a chaebol family with more money than they know what to do with.
“Do you like it?”
A man in a suit who had followed to guide us.
He introduced himself as part of Chairman Gang’s direct team and asked politely.
“Yes. I only needed to rent a nearby gym, so it seems I’ve caused unnecessary trouble.”
“Not at all. As long as you’re satisfied, that’s enough.”
He bowed and withdrew.
Disciplined movements.
‘He said he’s from Chairman Gang’s direct team, right? Definitely not ordinary.’
His sharp gaze and the series of movements he made while withdrawing were enough to gauge his skill.
Agent-class personnel with professional training.
If I fought him 1v1 without the help of enhanced equipment, I’d end up getting beaten pathetically.
‘It’s about time I started preparing.’
That was why I planned to change a bit through this opportunity, too.
“…Are you from a chaebol family, by any chance?”
Hero, having warmed up to me somewhat after talking for the day, asked cautiously.
“No. I’m not a chaebol, but I am closely connected to one.”
“Wow….”
He believed it immediately.
After seeing such a grand gym prepared in just one day, he couldn’t help it.
“As I said, you’ll be training here for the time being.”
Two weeks of training. After much deliberation, Hero had accepted the offer.
If he had kicked away that opportunity then?
‘Our connection might have ended.’
It couldn’t be helped, because to execute the plan in my head, I needed his determination and resolve more than anything.
If he wished to remain complacent or feared change, it would be impossible to proceed; thus, it had been a test of sorts.
And he passed my test, standing here now.
“What should I do?”
Look at that.
His eyes were already different.
They held the same resolve he had when fighting through the Apocalypse.
“Training, of course.”
What the resolved guy needed was first training, and second, training.
“For now, start with jump rope.”
“…Huh?”
A bewildered voice.
“What? Did you think we’d be doing some amazing training?”
I tossed him the jump rope from the corner.
“There are no shortcuts in training. Steadily, continuously accumulate that Karma and complete your own tower.”
‘Think there are shortcuts in training? Steadily, with perseverance. Accumulate that Karma and build your own tower.’
These were the words Hero had said to me when I was frustrated, before the regression.
Delivering those words to the Hero of the past gave me a rather profound feeling.
“…Got it.”
Perhaps having realized something, he quickly agreed.
And.
Swish, swish, swish!
He started turning the rope quickly and jumping.
Perhaps because he had experience doing it for two years, he was quite good at it.
‘Good.’
But I wasn’t watching him.
Grabbing a blue jump rope.
Swish, swish, swish!
I started jumping rope, too.
It wasn’t only Hero who needed training.
‘It’s time I fixed this damn trash-tier body.’
Even with the Enhancement ability, in the end, it was a human who had to wield it.
No matter how much good equipment one was decked out in, if the actual flesh couldn’t support it, true power couldn’t be unleashed.
That was why I planned to build my body through this opportunity as well.
*
Fwoosh, fwoosh!
The speed of the rapidly spinning ropes decreased.
“Hah, huff….”
Hero, who had been jumping rope as easily as breathing, began to breathe roughly.
He was exhausted.
Why wouldn’t he be?
He had been doing nothing but jumping rope for over two hours.
“K-hack, k-hem—”
Of course, I was the same.
No, I, with my trash-tier body, suffered even more.
An incessant, phlegmy wheezing that sounded like my breath would cut off at any moment.
It was painful.
My hands and feet trembled, and I was so out of breath it felt like my heart would burst any second.
But.
Swish.
I didn’t stop the hand turning the jump rope.
“…Just… hah… how long… grrr… do we do this…?”
To Hero’s question.
“…K-ha… con… tinue….”
I answered with difficulty.
The training that would change the talentless guy and me was nothing special.
The high-intensity hellish training of a sweat-reeking man.
This insane training devised by Hero before the regression was the only method capable of evolving me—who couldn’t find a shred of talent to save my life—and the current Hero from a chrysalis into a butterfly.