Episode 17: Mock Dungeon (1)
“What’s this?”
Since I’d unintentionally skipped my morning workouts for the past few days, I decided to head out earlier than usual today and increase my exercise routine.
‘I’m not out of breath.’
Was this the effect of the elixir?
Normally, running at this intensity would leave me gasping for air, making it tough as a morning workout, but now it felt easy.
Or, could it be…?
I glanced at the vitality-boosting bracelet on my wrist.
Was it because of this thing? Honestly, I hadn’t felt much of an effect from it until now, but maybe it was finally starting to kick in.
“Hoo…”
Yu Hana, who had been keeping pace with me, stopped to catch her breath.
Her breathing was strangely soft.
She was always composed, but today, she seemed a little more intense.
Her body, warmed by the exercise, emitted a faint heat that contrasted with the chilly air around us.
“Feeling good today?”
I turned my head to look at her and answered.
“Yeah, not bad.”
As I caught my breath, I asked her,
“By the way, did I miss anything important in class while I was gone?”
She touched her chin lightly with one finger, as if in thought.
“Hmm… just some theory lessons? But you’re good at that stuff, right?”
“…Yeah.”
She was right, but how did she know that?
‘Don’t separate theory from practice.’
That was what my mentor always used to emphasize. At first, I’d scoffed at it.
‘All these settings were created by me, though?’
But that mindset didn’t last long.
‘Due to a dungeon break, high-density mana is released into the environment, causing spatial distortion. If you need to rescue civilians trapped in a phase space, what’s the minimum mana threshold required to prevent spatial collapse?’
“…Excuse me?”
From that day on, I studied the settings I’d created like my life depended on it.
‘It was grueling.’
Oh, right.
Talking about settings reminded me of something.
“Yu Hana.”
“Yeah?”
It was about time for Yu Hana’s main story to unfold.
The foreshadowing needed to start soon, and this seemed like the perfect moment. We’d established some rapport, and the atmosphere wasn’t bad. I casually threw out a question.
“Do you have any concerns or issues lately?”
“No, not at all? …Oh.”
Yu Hana had firmly denied it at first, but then she stopped. A mischievous smile spread across her face. Then, as if switching gears, her expression turned somber.
“Actually… yeah, a little.”
Just as I expected. It seemed to have already begun.
“My heart keeps racing, and my face gets hot. Do you know why?”
She took a step closer to me. The heat radiating from her exercise-warmed body subtly reached me. As her face drew nearer, her breath tickled my ears.
‘Huh?’
I wasn’t sure about that.
Yu Hana was originally the daughter of a prestigious martial family.
At this point in the timeline, she was supposed to start interacting with strong students, feeling a new sense of ambition and encountering fresh challenges.
So I thought whatever was bothering her would be related to swordsmanship.
How should I respond to this…?
As I hesitated and replayed her words in my mind, Yu Hana watched my reaction and let out a playful laugh.
“Actually… it’s not that. Lately, I’ve been having a lot of concerns about swordsmanship.”
Oh, right. That’s it.
I sighed in relief and nodded.
“Then how about we switch up our morning routine? Instead of just running, we could do partner training.”
I asked her directly.
My suggestion was a common training method in this world—two partners with different martial arts and weapons work together, identifying and compensating for each other’s flaws while growing stronger together.
I used a spear, and she used a sword. It was an ideal combination.
Plus, the effectiveness of this training grew over time, so the sooner we started, the better. I had to make it happen.
She knew who I really was. My alias, Silent Ghost, likely stirred her ambition and curiosity.
Otherwise, she wouldn’t show up for morning workouts with me every day like this.
‘Accept it.’
I urged silently in my mind.
Yu Hana seemed to ponder my words for a while.
“No.”
It was an unexpected rejection.
Just as I started to think I’d been too hasty, the corners of her lips curled into a small smile.
“Morning workouts are for exercising. So…”
She tilted her head slightly, meeting my eyes with a clear yet deeply intent gaze. A faint smile lingered on her lips.
“Let’s meet separately, just the two of us. The time….”
Her eyes gleamed with intensity.
“Evening would be best. Late evening.”
***
I finished washing up and checked my watch. A message notification popped up.
[Jung Haein, the item sent from the Japanese side has arrived. Feel free to visit anytime.]
“Already?”
The process was faster than I’d expected. That worked out perfectly.
I had already planned a training regimen for the future owner of the Camellia Sword.
The problem was figuring out how to give such an invaluable relic—practically priceless—to Yu Hana.
Honestly, I’d just hand it over if I could. But knowing her pride, I doubted she would accept it so easily.
‘I’ll think about it some more.’
I sipped warm water while switching the screen on my watch to check the stock prices for Glory, which I hadn’t monitored for a few days.
-Scrolling-
The moment I saw the screen, I nearly spat out all the water I’d been drinking.
“What the… what is this?”
[Your purchase amount: 1,245,242,186 KRW]
My balance, which had been sitting at 1.2 billion won.
[Current valuation: 2,132,143,167 KRW]
Had suddenly jumped to 2 billion.
I quickly checked what had happened.
[Glory Hospital partners with the Arcadia Church… Large-scale deployment of healing priests planned.]
[Glory Pharmaceuticals achieves breakthrough in drug development… Anticipation skyrocketing.]
As it turned out, the day after I made my purchase, Glory had been bombarded with a streak of positive news.
‘Pharmaceuticals… Hospitals… Electronics….’
Every one of them was a subsidiary owned by Kang Arin.
Her abilities weren’t limited to combat; she excelled in management as well.
Judging by the nature of the good news, her trademark decisiveness seemed to be at play.
With her brother Kang Yuseong gone, her responsibilities in management had significantly increased.
“Nothing beats more money than even more money.”
This was a good development. I couldn’t always personally obtain every elixir and artifact.
Eventually, a situation would arise where I’d need to solve problems with money.
In that sense, things weren’t bad at all right now.
‘Time….’
When I checked my watch again, I realized it was almost time for school.
“Damn it.”
I still couldn’t get used to this. Not at all.
***
In the morning, we had a brief theory class.
I was planning to confront Cheon Yeoul about something. I was purely curious about her intentions.
However, by the time the morning class ended, she hadn’t shown up.
Meanwhile, Yohan, who had been beaten up by Kang Arin, was already sitting in the lecture hall.
‘He’s tough.’
As expected of a Hero, his recovery seemed unusually quick.
The afternoon class was to be held in the training grounds, as a joint session with another class.
Lost in thought, I arrived at the training ground before I knew it. I was cutting it close, so everyone’s attention shifted to me as I walked in.
‘Sion?’
Sion, sitting in the waiting area on the other side, waved at me.
It seemed today’s joint class would be with Class A, the class Sion belonged to.
She patted the empty seat beside her, signaling for me to come over.
However, given her naturally sociable personality, a crowd had already gathered around her.
‘How am I supposed to get through there?’
I shook my head and sat in the nearest available seat instead. Sion’s expression immediately turned sullen.
A moment later, the door opened, and an instructor walked in. It was someone I hadn’t seen before.
“Hello, everyone. My name is Choi Eunha, and I’ll be leading the Mock Dungeon Strategy class. Nice to meet you.”
A light round of applause followed as she continued.
“In this Mock Dungeon class, you’ll undergo training unlike anything you’ve experienced before.”
At the mention of “Mock Dungeon,” murmurs spread among the students.
Mock Dungeons were notoriously inefficient to create and difficult to maintain or repair unless you were at an academy on the level of Gaon.
As such, even the students here had rarely, if ever, had the chance to experience one.
“For that reason, not everyone will be participating in today’s first session.”
“The eight ‘Seed’ students selected based on their performance in the previous unit will lead the teams in this exploration.”
“The rest of the students will observe and use this as a learning opportunity.”
Because Mock Dungeons were so challenging, today’s session would revolve around the eight most outstanding students.
“Now, I’ll call out the Seeds. Please note that Cheon Yeoul will not be participating today.”
“The first Seed: Class B’s Yu Hana, ranked 5th.”
“The second Seed: Class B’s Yohan, ranked 2nd.”
Each time a name was called, the students’ gazes turned toward the person named.
“The third Seed: Class B’s Kang Arin, ranked 1st.”
“The fourth Seed: Class A’s Han Iri, ranked 13th.”
The announcements continued for several more names.
All the selected Seeds were well-known, highly skilled students.
“The seventh Seed: Class A’s Ma Haejin, ranked 29th.”
Before the final name was called, the training field fell silent.
“The eighth and final Seed: Class B’s Jung Haein.”
A moment of stillness swept through the training field.
Then, all eyes turned to me.
“There is no ranking.” the instructor added.
Some students looked confused at this clarification, others smirked, and a few openly showed their displeasure.
‘This is already exhausting.’
I silently endured all the attention directed at me.