Evening.
Just like yesterday, Dang Gyu-young sprawled out the moment she returned to the annex.
She kept letting out groans.
“Ugh, I’m done for…….”
On the first day, me and Seo Ye-in and Dang Gyu-young faced the Dang Family Twin Warriors together, but today she had to handle them alone the entire time, so it was inevitably more exhausting.
Still, thanks to that, there was decent progress in the challenge hardship quest.
[Side Quest: Stage 18 Harship] (In Progress…)
▷Objective: Reach proficiency (21/100%)
The first day was 8%, so 13% is more than 1.5 times that.
“At this pace, it should be done within a week.”
“A whole week?”
“Let’s try to stay positive.”
“When your body’s this tired, positive thoughts don’t come easy. Hurry up and get over here.”
Dang Gyu-young waved her hand lightly, calling me over.
So I began fulfilling my duty as her personal massage therapist.
Meanwhile, in one corner of the bed, there was something wrapped tightly in a blanket, like a cocoon.
That, of course, was Seo Ye-in after finishing her training.
Dang Gyu-young looked at the cocoon and said,
“She’s totally sulking.”
“Seems like it.”
“Honestly, it was kind of harsh. Getting blown here, then there.”
The number of times the “random gusts” struck throughout the day was impossible to count.
On top of that, it was just as impossible to count how many times Seo Ye-in got caught up in them or got hit by magic BB pellets she would have otherwise dodged.
Or how many times she took the -20 evasion penalty.
Dang Gyu-young spoke again,
“Still, I’m impressed she didn’t give up and stuck it through to the end.”
“She made a promise.”
She had agreed to the condition of “doing her best in training” in exchange for staying with the Dang family while risking the danger of the Blood Cult.
If she slacks off or gives up midway, she’ll immediately be dragged off to the Hye-seong Group.
So Seo Ye-in spent the entire day working on the quest, half willingly, half unwillingly.
[Side Quest – Sailboat] (In Progress…)
▷Objective: Evade while moving along the flow (283/1,000)
Despite the constant interference from the “random gusts”, she managed to fill about 30% of the target.
Of course, whether she was happy about that was a different matter.
If she could, she’d probably want to smack those random gusts around with a pot, but unfortunately, that wasn’t realistically possible.
And it wouldn’t make sense to take her frustration out on me or Ahn Jeong-mi, so she just swallowed that pent-up anger on her own.
I lightly knocked on the blanket cocoon.
Knock, knock.
“……”
“Knock, knock. Anyone there?”
“No one’s here……”
“So you are there. Young miss, come out for a moment.”
“……”
“Young miss? Let’s talk.”
“……”
The blanket cocoon rolled over to the other side.
Unfortunately, that side happened to be the edge of the bed.
With a thump, the cocoon fell to the floor and curled up even tighter.
It seemed she had completely cut herself off from the outside world.
Usually, in situations like this, I’d motivate her with bait like “Want to go to the shopping district after this?” “Want to bake cookies together?” or “Extend the Kim Ho pillow deadline?”
But using the same method every time eventually loses its effect.
Sometimes, you need a variation.
So I sat down beside the blanket cocoon and began in a deliberately heavy tone.
“Maybe I misjudged things.”
“……?”
“You’ve handled everything so far, haven’t you? Like the extraordinary absolute genius you are.”
“……!”
“I assumed it’d be the same this time, so I set the difficulty higher… but maybe I overestimated you. Let’s take it easier starting tomorrow.”
At that, the blanket cocoon stirred, and Seo Ye-in peeked her head out.
“……I can do it.”
“No, pushing yourself too hard isn’t good.”
“It’s not too hard.”
“Maybe we should reduce the number of people firing BB pellets to two. Down to the level of an average marksman.”
This time, a hand shot out from the blanket cocoon and grabbed me.
“Four.”
“I don’t know… what if you end up struggling like you did today?”
“I can do it.”
Seo Ye-in emphasized it again.
I hesitated, then spoke as if reluctantly giving in.
“Alright, then let’s decide after we see how you do tomorrow. Whether to lower it to average level… or complete beginner level.”
“Absolute genius.”
Her gray eyes were burning with rare determination.
As if she meant to prove her ability.
Meanwhile, Dang Gyu-young had been watching the exchange with interest.
She let out a small laugh and said,
“So that’s how you gently reel people in.”
“Looks like you’ve learned.”
“Mhmm. That won’t work on me anymore.”
Dang Gyu-young smiled proudly.
I stepped closer, then, just like before, put on a serious expression and began,
“Actually, there’s something I should apologize to you for as well, noona.”
“Hey, I said it won’t work. You literally just did that.”
“In high-difficulty dungeons, it’s not that rare to run them with two or three people. Even if you’re not first place, people usually still go together.”
“……”
“So I think you could aim for, say, third place and take it easy. Let’s give second place to Hong Yeon-hwa.”
At that, Dang Gyu-young’s expression hardened, and she shot to her feet.
“Hey. Bring me both the hardship and the challenge.”
***
The next day.
From the moment Seo Ye-in and Dang Gyu-young stepped into the training ground, they were already fired up.
The Dang family twins, noticing something was off, quietly approached.
“Did something happen last night?”
“Well, they both seemed to be having a hard time……”
“?”
“……So we had a bit of a mental conditioning session.”
“!!”
Dang Il-bi and Dang Han-bi were struck with shock, unable to hide their astonishment.
They looked at each other and exchanged a few words.
“They said it was tough, so they went with mental conditioning.”
“That goes beyond bold. It’s an extreme solution.”
“If you keep hammering at it, it’s bound to break.”
“Still, it worked in the end.”
“More accurately, he made it work.”
Ahn Jeong-mi was also watching from a short distance away, her eyes filled with admiration.
After all, I had evolved a sloth into an enraged chimpanzee overnight. Who wouldn’t find that astonishing?
Before long, Dang Gyu-young began training against the Twin Heroes, while Seo Ye-in started training against me and the four members of the Hye-seong Group.
Whoooooosh!
One side of the training ground was swallowed by shadow.
Meanwhile, Seo Ye-in stood at the center of a whirlwind.
Whiiiiiing—
“……”
She slowly scanned her surroundings, as if reading the flow, then took one step, then another, forward.
Keeping her eyes on Seo Ye-in as she began to pick up speed, the four members of the Hye-seong Group exchanged signals with their gazes.
Ahn Jeong-mi aimed her toy gun forward and pulled the trigger.
Ping, ping,
The Hye-seong Group members followed suit, firing magic BB pellets.
Moving with the flow, Seo Ye-in lightly evaded all of them.
▷ Evasion (284/1,000)
….
▷ Evasion (291/1,000)
….
▷ Evasion (301/1,000)
Just as three magic bullets came rushing in from three directions and she was about to slip through the gap between them,
Whooooosh—!
A sudden gust of wind erupted.
If it had been yesterday, she would have been hit by the mana magic pellets as they were, racking up -60 to her evasion. But today’s Seo Ye-in was different.
Flash!
Her gray eyes gleamed with a chilling light.
[Bullet Time] had activated.
Perceiving everything around her in slow motion, Seo Ye-in kicked off the air with Feather Step.
Then, twisting her body like an acrobat, she dodged the magic BB pellets and landed lightly.
▷ Evasion (304/1,000)
Seo Ye-in made a V shape toward me.
“…I can do it.”
“Knew you could.”
I didn’t expect her to succeed on the first try, though.
I nodded, feeling quietly pleased.
After coming up with a way to handle the “random gusts” Seo Ye-in was barely getting hit by the magic BB pellets.
Later on, it even seemed like she no longer needed Bullet Time.
Whooooosh—!
Another random gust erupted.
Even as she soared in a graceful arc, Seo Ye-in avoided every single mana pellet.
Then, as if by design, she landed right in front of me.
“…Who am I.”
“You’re an absolute genius.”
“And.”
“An unbelievably extraordinary genius.”
“I’m not average.”
“Who would dare say something so ridiculous? They must be blind.”
As I harshly berated my past self from yesterday, Seo Ye-in nodded with a satisfied look.
Then she returned to her original spot and resumed building up her evasion count.
▷ Evasion (381/1,000)
….
▷ Evasion (403/1,000)
The atmosphere on Dang Gyu-young’s side also seemed quite different from yesterday.
Whooooooooosh—!
Shadows surged like waves.
The Lab Director and the Shadow Lord charged at their opponents head-on.
Their momentum was so fierce that even the Dang Twin Heroes faltered.
Boom!
The moment the Shadow Lord’s head burst from a steel bead, another rose up and thrust forward with a sword.
Dang Il-bi deflected it like a seasoned martial artist, flicked his finger again, and as soon as the Shadow Unit leader was destroyed, another was summoned once more.
Dang Han-bi was similarly being pressured by the lab director.
Dodging the thick shadow arms, they continued their exchange.
“It seems this ‘mental conditioning’ is remarkably effective.”
“The undead’s movements have clearly changed.”
“And the summoning intervals seem shorter.”
“It must come down to a difference in concentration.”
Just as they said, Dang Gyu-young was manipulating the shadows with a frightening level of focus.
At the same time, she seemed to be muttering to herself under her breath. From what I could roughly make out,
I’m number one. I’m number one. I’m number one. I’m number one….
Even after that, Seo Ye-in and Dang Gyu-young continued their training, pushing their potential to the limit.
[Side Quest: Stage 18 Harship] (In Progress….)
▷ Objective: Reach proficiency (31/100%)
[Side Quest – Sailboat] (In Progress….)
▷ Evasion (553/1,000)
They had already filled nearly a full day’s worth of progress by the morning.
Dang Gyu-young blinked as she checked the quest window.
“…I can’t believe it, even though I did it myself.”
“Seems like nothing is impossible for humans after all.”
Dang Gyu-young narrowed her eyes.
“But it kind of feels like I got tricked, and it’s pissing me off.”
“Does it really matter whether you were tricked or not? What matters is that you accomplished this much.”
“…Hey, get over here. I need to pinch your cheeks.”
“I don’t see any reason for that right now.”
“No reason? Really?”
I ran off to protect my cheeks.
While we were unexpectedly playing a game of tag in the training grounds, we both suddenly turned our heads, struck by a strange sense of déjà vu.
The source of that feeling was Dang Eun-bi.
Just like the other day, she appeared holding a tray.
The difference was that instead of teacups, there were glasses filled with juice, and there were more of them. Enough for the Hye-seong Group members as well.
As everyone’s attention turned to her, Dang Eun-bi gave a bright smile.
“You must be thirsty, so please have some.”
Everyone casually picked up a glass of juice.
Now that it was clear Dang Eun-bi’s target was only me, there was no need for the others to worry.
I’m immune to all poisons anyway.
Still, I tossed out a half-joking question.
“Did you set up some kind of mechanism again?”
“Do you think I’d use the same trick twice?”
Dang Eun-bi replied with a huff.
Well, it wasn’t like she’d reuse a mechanism that had already been exposed and hadn’t even worked.
Unless she was a fool or thought her opponent was one.
As she handed me the glass of juice, she added,
“There’s nothing in it, so you can just drink it.”
“Alright, thanks.”
At my words of gratitude, Dang Eun-bi stuck out her tongue playfully.
Then she went over and clung tightly to Dang Gyu-yeong.
“Unniiie~”
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