novelraw Chapter 58 : Chapter 58
Chapter 58 : Chapter 58
Chapter 58: Pain (4)
Clatter-
[Stage 3 Clear]
The notification on the electric board turned off, and silence once again submerged the indoor training ground.
Gasping for breath, I lowered my head.
My lungs felt like they were burning, and the lingering sensation of the buzzing electric pain still hovered in my body.
Nevertheless, one thing was certain.
The new power gained along with the Black Fang, Pain.
Its essence was to convert into a specific pain and imprint power onto my body.
The explosive sensation felt just before, and the subsequent change in the status window proved everything.
Soon, a new notification popped up on the electric board.
[Preparing Stage 4]
Whirr-!
New disks began to fill the inside of the simulator, rotating roughly.
Now there were dozens, countless rotating bodies crossing chaotically, overlapping and superimposing each other's trajectories.
“Raise your hand when preparations are complete!”
Kang Mooseong’s booming voice echoed through the reinforced glass.
Gurgle-
I felt the strange energy flowing inside me once again.
The energy was diminished compared to before due to the previous conversion.
However, it was still crawling through my body, inducing an unpleasant sloshing sensation.
‘Should I leave now?’
Having already cleared Stage 3, the condition to avoid Kang Mooseong’s harsh training was met.
The basic training quest constantly delivered by the Tactical Manual was also achieved.
However, curiosity was stronger.
This bizarre energy circulating within me.
What if I convert all of this into the pain of electric shock?
My eyes met Kang Mooseong’s.
I slowly raised my hand.
He slightly narrowed his brows but soon nodded.
“Good. Stage 4!”
With Kang Mooseong’s words.
The surrounding air began to fluctuate violently.
The fierce wind pressure created by the disks.
And simultaneously.
[Convert: Electric Shock]
Fzzzt-!
A tremendous electric shock spread along my spinal cord.
Pain intense enough to be suffocating dug into every single nerve.
A sensation as if my muscle fibers were being smoothly forged like blades heated in fire.
At the same time, my body became terrifyingly sharp.
‘Ugh-!’
Due to the intense pain transmitted like a stab, I momentarily let go of my sword.
The sword floated in the air.
As if not to miss that opening.
Hiss-! Whoosh-!
With a piercing high-pitched sound, disks from all directions shot out simultaneously.
Regardless of up, down, left, or right, the rotating bodies closed the distance all at once.
The fierce airflow rushed in like a wave.
Before I knew it, my vision was filled with the blue light emitted by the disks.
There was no room to dodge.
Amidst the fiercely tightening pressure.
Thwump-
I grabbed the sword that had floated into the air again.
***
[Stage 3 Clear]
At the result window displayed on the electric board, the indoor training ground shook with cheers and surprise.
The spectacle Ryu Jinwoo showed just moments ago in Stage 3 was truly close to acrobatics.
Like a matador, he drew out the flow of the disks, dodging this way and that, kicking off walls, throwing his body into the air, and finally cutting down all the targets.
“He cleared it like this. Isn't that crazy?”
“Look at Instructor Kang Mooseong. He's been watching with interest since earlier.”
“I thought he was going to get hit and finish at the end, but how did he react? Insane.”
Ryu Jinwoo’s appearance tackling the mission in a way no one expected.
The atmosphere created accordingly was reminiscent of a performance hall, not a training ground.
“Why make such a fuss over clearing Stage 3?”
“Exactly, someone might think he did Stage 5 or something.”
“No matter how you look at it, he's a one-trick pony at running away. Who couldn't do that? Lee Junhyeok is much more amazing.”
Even amidst this, some spat out uncomfortable words.
As if they couldn't bear it unless they said something twisted.
Cheers, admiration, enjoyment, jealousy, and displeasure.
Various emotions erupted within the air mixed with curiosity and excitement.
And in that heat, there were two people wearing different expressions.
“Tch.”
With his arms crossed, Seo Seungbeom turned his head and clicked his tongue.
Next to him, Lee Junhyeok spoke calmly.
“He's certainly an eye-catching kid.”
“What?”
At Lee Junhyeok's words, Seo Seungbeom narrowed his eyes and retorted sharply.
“Usually, people try to cut them down. I did too. Isn't the idea of dodging that number of disks as if running away fresh in itself?”
Lee Junhyeok glanced at Seo Seungbeom and continued.
“It’s also a strategy that wouldn’t even work without exceptional reaction speed. I've felt it since before, but Ryu Jinwoo has incredible instantaneous reaction speed and sense.”
Reaction speed and sense.
Seo Seungbeom’s lips twisted.
The moment he heard those two words, for some reason, the memory of being brutally defeated in [Rooftop Fighters] surfaced.
“Hmph, so what? It's just a desperate struggle. The fact that he's struggling at merely Stage 3 doesn't change. No matter how hard he tries, he's at the bottom.”
At Seo Seungbeom's venomous reaction, Lee Junhyeok smiled calmly.
“Competitive spirit is a good emotion if it's moderate.”
“What? Are you being sarcastic right now?”
Seo Seungbeom frowned at Lee Junhyeok's calm words.
“I heard you tried to bully Ryu Jinwoo a while ago.”
Lee Junhyeok’s voice sank low.
“Although it seems you were beaten by some unknown thug in the end. I heard you’ve been lying low since then?”
“......!”
Seo Seungbeom’s face turned red.
This bastard was regurgitating annoying memories.
“I'll find that crazy bastard someday and kill him with my own hands. And Ryu Jinwoo, I'll teach that guy a lesson someday too.”
Seo Seungbeom seethed with his molars clenched tight.
“Right, I hope you win through fair competition. Instead of doing strange schemes behind the scenes.”
“This bastard, seriously......”
Lee Junhyeok’s quiet advice that followed properly pressed Seo Seungbeom's trigger button.
“You talk about fairness? You, who inherited talent for free thanks to your great father, talk as if you've transcended it all......!”
Seo Seungbeom, who was about to explode in anger at Lee Junhyeok, stopped mid-sentence.
“......”
It was because of none other than Lee Junhyeok's expression.
He was staring straight ahead with wide eyes.
Inside the simulator placed in the center of the training ground.
‘What’s with this guy?’
Following his gaze, Seo Seungbeom turned his head and saw a strange sight.
Ryu Jinwoo was standing there.
In an awkward posture, having just grabbed the sword again after dropping it.
But the strange thing was something else.
‘Stage 4 has already started?’
Stage 4 had started before anyone noticed.
But the disks were stopped.
Each occupying a spot in the air, spinning in place.
Not only Seo Seungbeom, but people around him were also sensing the anomaly one by one.
“What is it? Why did that stop?”
“I don't know, Ryu Jinwoo dropped his sword and grabbed it again by himself...... and the disks stopped with him.”
“Isn't it broken? System error?”
While bewildered reactions flowed out for a moment.
“As expected, he's amazing.”
Lee Junhyeok finally opened his mouth.
“......What?”
Seo Seungbeom’s question passed briefly.
Inside the simulator, Ryu Jinwoo began to move slowly.
After straightening his back and adjusting his posture.
Clank-
With a short but heavy sound, the sword was smoothly sheathed.
Silence flowed as if time had been cut off.
Woooo- Whirr-
The dozens of disks occupying the air began to tremble in unison.
A low sound of vibrating metal resonating in the air.
A tension that settled down as if a thread were pulled tight.
Slash-!
And soon, blue trajectories split in all directions.
The fragments of the disks cut in an instant scattered like fireworks and fell slowly like falling petals.
A feast of fragments falling fiercely like a shower from the sky.
With every fragment hitting the floor and walls, a tingling metallic sound burst out.
In front of that spectacle, the training ground was silent for a moment as if it had lost its sound.
“......”
The cadets stood frozen, unable to even breathe.
“Waaaaaaah―!”
And finally, cheers erupted explosively, shaking the room.
“How did he do it? I didn't see it!”
“No way, he cut them all in an instant?”
“Fuck! That's crazy! Insane!”
A sight utterly hard to believe.
But the result was undeniable.
The fact that all targets were cut and crashed in an instant.
“......”
Seo Seungbeom’s mouth hung wide open, having lost words.
“I guess we can't let our guard down, right?”
Lee Junhyeok shrugged and spoke quietly.
***
‘Did he cut a total of 10 times?’
Once in each direction in the blink of an eye.
The path Ryu Jinwoo’s sword took, its trajectory was clearly imprinted in Kang Mooseong's vision.
It was clean. There was no waste.
The guy who looked like a puppy performing tricks up to Stage 3.
In Stage 4, he finally revealed his sharp fangs.
‘But it felt somewhat alien. As if he momentarily awakened something.’
Kang Mooseong, stroking his chin and staring at Ryu Jinwoo.
‘Black Fang’ was caught in his vision.
Its appearance showing off its elegant form while quietly hanging on Ryu Jinwoo’s waist.
The venue was heated up.
Training must be thorough and steadfast.
But there was no need for it to be boring.
The excitement and admiration Ryu Jinwoo spread inside the training ground.
That would become a stimulant for others to grow.
Kang Mooseong, having scanned the audience with satisfaction, finally opened his mouth.
“It's not over yet! Ryu Jinwoo, prepare for Stage 5!”
Before his booming shout even ended, his brow furrowed.
“......Hmm?”
Something was strange.
Ryu Jinwoo was staring blankly into space, still standing upright.
He didn't even twitch, as if frozen in that moment.
A moment later, a red line dripped—from the tip of his nose toward the floor.
“That is......?”
Nosebleed, a nosebleed was flowing.
Kang Mooseong’s gaze sharpened rapidly.
In that brief moment, he saw the boy's pupils slowly dilating.
Kang Mooseong’s brow crumpled as he kicked off the ground.
“No!”
Crash-! Thud- Bang-!
The reinforced glass shattered into pieces, letting out a rupture sound.
Glass fragments exploded in all directions.
Nevertheless, Kang Mooseong didn't stop his feet.
Standing in front of Ryu Jinwoo in an instant, he placed his thick palm on the boy’s chest in the blink of an eye.
‘......His heart is stopping!’
Without slowing his hands, he moved both hands diligently.
Pressing down heavily with his left hand as if crushing the heart, a blue current of air burst from the fingertips of his opposite hand.
It was an emergency measure.
Kang Mooseong’s unique technique.
An emergency CPR that had saved numerous allies in combat situations.
Thump-! Thump-!
Ryu Jinwoo's chest heaved in rhythm with the echoing impact.
A fishy smell mixed with iron spread in the air along with blood.
Kang Mooseong’s heavy breathing mixed in regularly.
Just like when he forcibly grabbed and pulled up a fading heart in the middle of a battlefield.
“Damn it, hold on!”
Kang Mooseong’s eyes sank deep.
His gaze turned toward the pitch-black sword hanging at the waist.
‘Cursed sword.’
Perhaps it was the source of the explosive power Ryu Jinwoo just showed.
And Ryu Jinwoo was paying the price for it.
An unknown armament said to have driven countless swordsmen to death.
And the one who gave it to Ryu Jinwoo was none other than Kang Mooseong himself.
‘Damn it!’
He ceaselessly applied pressure to Ryu Jinwoo's chest.
Thump-! Thump-! Thump-!
As the emergency measure continued, Ryu Jinwoo's complexion slowly began to return.
Soon, his lips moved, and a breath burst out.
“Ryu Jinwoo! Are you okay!”
Kang Mooseong’s urgent shout rang out.
Ryu Jinwoo’s faintly opened eyes trembled.
Finally, he opened his mouth.
“......Stop...... Stop it...... You son of a bitch...... Stop......”
Kang Mooseong’s movement halted abruptly.
“......”
Soon, the training ground was engulfed in silence.