Chapter 79

As the sun began to rise over the horizon, heavy breathing cut through the early morning air.

“Haaah, haaah!”

Hwang Jiwoo was pushing herself through laps along the perimeter of the training grounds. Not far from her, Stormy was refining her spellcasting while keeping a watchful eye on the girl.

Lately, Hwang Jiwoo had integrated intense physical conditioning into her routine. This shift was entirely due to the core philosophy of Baek Jinwoo, who firmly believed that a player’s physical fitness and personal discipline were paramount.

• You can do this, Jiwoo! Keep going!

Stormy, who had formed a tight bond with her over recent days, gestured encouragingly to keep her spirits up. Even during this grueling workout, the countdown for Stormy’s specific quest was steadily ticking away. As established before, the requirement was simple: she just had to establish contact at least once before every hour elapsed.

“Hrrgh, hrraaagh!”

Roughly ten minutes into her run, however, Hwang Jiwoo’s strength gave out. She dropped heavily to her knees, saliva dripping unconsciously from her mouth.

I can’t take another step!

Her chest was heaving violently, and her airway felt so constricted by her frantic panting that she could barely draw oxygen.

• Oh no! Jiwoo? Are you alright?

Stormy immediately leaped to her feet, abandoning her practice. Baek Jinwoo had mandated a continuous, full hour of running. For a person who had spent her entire existence avoiding anything resembling physical exertion, this was an agonizing demand. It was doubly brutal for Hwang Jiwoo, whose naturally frail constitution had confined her to a sickbed for the vast majority of her life.

Everything is spinning.

Though her eyelids were wide open, her field of vision had collapsed into total darkness. The surroundings blurred violently, making her feel as though the entire world was tilting on its axis.

“Your endurance is absolutely pitiful.”

Right at that terrifying moment, a figure materialized beside her. A plastic bag was immediately pressed over her mouth and nose to capture her breath. It was Baek Jinwoo.

“You’re experiencing hyperventilation. Regulate your breathing. Do it slowly.”

“Hrraaagh, hrrgh! Y-yes……”

Feeling the barrier against her face, Hwang Jiwoo inhaled and exhaled in a daze, trying to follow instructions.

“Slow it down, I said. Take seven seconds to breathe in, and eleven seconds to let it out. No matter how panicked you feel, force yourself to slow down!”

This was the textbook method for managing a hyperventilation episode. The affected individual needed to regain composure to steady their own respiratory rate. Until they could manage that independently, forcing them to re-breathe their own carbon dioxide using a bag served as an effective temporary fix. It was a makeshift solution, of course; keeping it up for too long risked inducing hypoxia.

Perhaps it was the steady, grounding authority in his tone that did the trick, but Hwang Jiwoo managed to snap out of her panic relatively fast. She focused entirely on extending the duration of each breath.

“Tch. You claim you want to stand among the titan-class players, yet you drop to the dirt after a mere ten minutes of jogging.”

“Hff! Fuuuuu……! I am truly sorry!”

“It’s your initial attempt, so failures are to be expected. But once your breathing returns to normal, you are still required to complete the remaining fifty minutes. Today. Understood?”

“Understood.”

“Good. Rest over there in the shade for a bit. Once you’ve gathered your wits, come track me down. I want to evaluate how you manage your summons.”

“……Yes, sir!”

She was far from alone in utilizing the expansive facility. The massive open terrain felt incredibly crowded, filled with the country’s top-tier national rankers, their respective summons, Drill Sarge, and the various creatures belonging to Baek Jinwoo himself.

Drill Sarge was currently focusing with absolute precision on directing his own entities. Meanwhile, elsewhere on the field:

“HRAAAAGH!”

“PUSH IT! KEEP THE PACE!”

Several rankers were sprinting across the grass with massive, heavy tires tethered to their waists, their expressions burning with raw determination. Watching them train created a palpable sense of an insurmountable, invisible barrier separating them from ordinary people.

“What is that pathetic excuse for speed? Are you planning to run seriously or what?”

To make matters tougher, Baek Jinwoo actually hopped directly onto the trailing tire being dragged by Hong Ari, who was falling behind the other three runners.

“GYAAAH! You absolute tyrant!”

“Tyrant? Is that how you address your Master? That outburst just earned you ten additional laps today.”

“EEEEEK!”

Though she shrieked in frustration, she never once attempted to quit or claim she couldn’t handle the load. She simply forced her legs to pump harder, her muscles straining to the absolute limit.

Hwang Jiwoo silently observed the grueling display from the shade.

What kind of place is this?

What am I even doing here?

Despite her lingering exhaustion, a deep sense of envy welled up inside her chest.

I want to be out there with them… pushing myself through the dirt without feeling like an imposter.

If she truly wanted that reality, she couldn’t afford to waste time sitting around resting. Jinwoo had laid down a direct order: finish the rest of the hour, no matter what it takes.

“Hrgh.”

Stumbling slightly, Hwang Jiwoo forced herself back onto her feet. Her pulse was still fluttering uncomfortably fast.

I wasn’t granted this miraculous, once-in-a-lifetime hundred-day window just to lounge around and fail.

A titan. To ascend to such a legendary peak, relying on standard, comfortable methods was out of the question. The harsh truth of this world was that even if a person literally worked themselves to the bone in training, it still didn’t guarantee an invitation into a prominent, top-tier guild.

Run.

Closing her eyes tightly, Hwang Jiwoo forced her lower limbs to step forward. The overwhelming impulse to collapse hit her dozens of times with every stride, but she stubbornly refused to surrender to the weakness. The electric, passionate energy radiating from the rest of the training grounds gave her the strength to keep going.

A few hours later.

“Alright. Launch an attack against me using the specific team composition you typically rely on.”

Click!

Baek Jinwoo gave the command as he summoned his C-rank Battle Warden onto the field. When it came to testing someone of Hwang Jiwoo’s current level, a standard entity from a Day Dungeon was more than sufficient to handle the job.

“Yes, sir!”

Without hesitation, Hwang Jiwoo called forth all five of her available entities simultaneously. Every single one of them was an ice-attribute creature of either E-rank or F-rank—essentially weak fodder. They were the exact type of low-tier summons that standard players would immediately sacrifice as enhancement material the moment they acquired them in Battle of Summoners.

Yet, she had supposedly demonstrated an impressive degree of control over these exact creatures to Drill Sarge. Baek Jinwoo intended to judge that for himself. He licked his lips in quiet anticipation.

And then, the battle began.

Fwap-fwap!

The E-rank Ice Butterfly flapped its wings, instantly causing the surrounding temperature to plummet and freezing the local air.

Oh?

The Sheriff’s movement velocity noticeably dropped. However, due to surviving an uncountable number of Monday dungeon raids, the Sheriff’s targeting and marksman capabilities were extraordinarily advanced.

BANG!

A round erupted from the barrel, piercing squarely through the core of an F-rank ice fly.

SPLRCH!

A spray of fluid erupted as the ice fly dissolved, forcibly unsummoned from the match. Baek Jinwoo hadn’t even bothered to issue manual commands to the Sheriff yet; he had simply left the entity on autonomous combat mode, and it had still wiped out a target instantly.

Is that the extent of it?

Just as a wave of disappointment began to settle over Baek Jinwoo, something unexpected occurred.

Hm?

The physical movements of the Battle Warden suddenly became erratic. The entity staggered slightly, and then—

Bang, BANG!

Two consecutive rounds discharged from the weapon, but they veered wide of the Ice Butterfly, striking nothing but empty air.

Oh?

THWACK-THWACK-THWACK-THWACK!

An E-rank ice heron that had previously ascended into the sky suddenly swooped down in a steep dive. It began relentlessly striking the slowed Sheriff, dealing a cascade of damage numbers that far exceeded what its low rank should have allowed.

“Ho.”

An appreciative murmur escaped Baek Jinwoo’s lips. The underlying synergy she was pulling off with such basic fodder units was genuinely remarkable.

This borders on instinctive talent.

Now, the reasoning behind Drill Sarge’s high praise became completely transparent. Her fundamental mechanical control was precise enough to hold its own alongside the official rankers of South Korea. On top of that base skill, her unique Body of Flames trait acted as a multiplier, amplifying both the movement impairment debuff and the frost-based output.

Furthermore, when an adversary attempted to aim while calculating a standard, predictable slow effect, the actual deceleration turned out to be much more severe. This unexpected drop in speed completely disrupted the enemy summon’s accuracy. It proved that she possessed an absolute grasp of her own unique physical constitution and possessed the raw battlefield instincts required to abuse that advantage to its limits.

She definitely possesses genuine worth.

Baek Jinwoo gave a slow nod of approval. If she were systematically trained to become a highly specialized ice-element competitor, he could easily foresee her holding her own on an international level.

Delighted that her offensive strings were successfully connecting, the heron intensified its aerial assault, pecking at the target with increased franticness.

However, she seemed to be forgetting the most fatal flaw inherent to the ice element: its base damage output was notoriously pathetic. While it was true that the Sheriff possessed a relatively fragile health pool, the heron’s rapid strikes were barely managing to leave a scratch on its armor.

It was time to conclude the test.

Baek Jinwoo shifted from autonomous mode and took direct, manual control over the Battle Warden.

BANG!

In a fraction of a second, the heron’s skull shattered under a precise shot.

Hwang Jiwoo was instantly reduced to only three remaining entities.

One shot, one kill.

BANG! BANG!

Utilizing rapid, close-quarters aim down sights, the Sheriff fired consecutive rounds that systematically obliterated every single one of Hwang Jiwoo’s remaining units.

Regardless of the immense latent potential she brought to the table, her current execution was lightyears away from matching Baek Jinwoo’s capabilities. Not at this current moment, and frankly, not ever.

“……A-amazing.”

Hwang Jiwoo gasped, staring in absolute reverence. It was a flawless execution that made it crystal clear to anyone watching exactly why this man held the title of captain for the national team.

Baek Jinwoo tilted his head slightly, pondering for a brief moment before breaking the silence.

“Mmm, alright. We’ve seen enough for today. Go get some rest. I’ll break down the performance and provide your detailed feedback tomorrow.”

“Yes, sir!”

• Master.

The moment Hwang Jiwoo departed from the immediate area, Drill Sarge, who had quietly observed the entire skirmish from the sidelines, walked over.

“Yeah.”

• What is your assessment?

“She is undeniably an asset. I see exactly what caught your attention.”

• Oh?

“You were visualizing that classic infinite freeze strategy from the older metas, weren’t you?”

• As expected, nothing gets past you, Master.

The infinite freeze composition. It was a particular team setup that had completely dominated the meta in Battle of Summoners in the past. The strategy relied on utilizing an A-rank Ice Bird (氷鳥) alongside a Lich to aggressively suppress both the movement velocity and attack frequency of everything on the battlefield.

Once the field was sufficiently slowed, a Frost Cat boasting innate frost immunity would be deployed alongside two ice-buffed offensive threats to chip away at the enemy. It was an incredibly oppressive setup—so effective, in fact, that even Baek Jinwoo had relied heavily on it during his progression through the mid-game content.

Eventually, though, the strategy fell out of favor due to its critical, unfixable flaws. As noted earlier, the raw offensive output of ice-type compositions was incredibly weak. It was perfectly viable for clearing standard high-rank instances, but once a player transitioned into supreme-grade content, the lack of damage became an active detriment. You would find yourself hacking away at a single boss entity for half a day just to clear a room.

But what if you introduced the unique Body of Flames trait into that equation, paired alongside a graduation rune courtesy of a Rune Dwarf? That glaring lack of damage could be completely erased. And if someone managed to successfully fuse those elements together?

Yeah, the resulting synergy would be utterly game-breaking. Finding a player who possessed both flawless mechanical control and the precise composition elements required to trigger such synergy was a massive rarity.

Hmm.

Should he focus on nurturing her development and eventually integrate her into Yubaek?

Ah.

Yubaek operated strictly as a solo management agency. Which raised another thought: perhaps it was finally time to establish a formal guild of his own? That particular avenue required a lot more deliberation, though. Especially since Yu Jia’s perspective on the matter would carry significant weight now.

A substantial block of time drifted by, and through it all, the intense daily regimens of the national squad marched forward without interruption.

“Hmm.”

“Hong Ari…… and those kids from Carpe Diem. How on earth have they gotten this monstrously powerful?”

Subtle murmurs and rumors were beginning to ripple through the ranks. Within the roster of South Korea’s national representatives, setting the anomaly of Baek Jinwoo aside, the consensus for the absolute strongest player had always fallen on Kang Geonho.

Yet, over the recent stretch of time, something had shifted. Whenever Kang Geonho and Hong Ari faced off in practice matches, the frequency of Hong Ari’s victories had begun to steadily climb.

And the anomaly wasn’t restricted to Hong Ari alone. Ki Jaehyeok and Kang Jiho were displaying terrifying progress as well. The fundamental manner in which their summoned entities navigated the battlefield had undergone a massive, revolutionary evolution.

Inside the executive briefing room of the Baekho Guild:

“Ho Hyung.”

Kang Geonho addressed the guild master, his facial expression a mix of deep confusion and concern.

“Yeah?”

“What the hell is actually happening out there?”

“I wish I had an answer for you. Every single one of us received the exact same strategic consulting from him, so why are they the only ones experiencing these massive leaps in performance?”

A significant amount of time had passed since the four proteges began making their regular journeys over to Yubaek, yet that arrangement remained entirely hidden from the public eye. Because of that secrecy, the rest of the national team members were left entirely in the dark.

They were investing the exact same hours and identical levels of exertion, yet the skill disparity between them was widening at an alarming rate. It wasn’t some minor, negligible variance either; the gap had expanded so rapidly that it was actively palpable during active combat.

“And there’s another detail that doesn’t make any sense.”

Kang Geonho locked his fingers together, propping his chin up on his hands as he frowned.

“Since when did Hong Ari start dropping formalities and speaking casually with Baek Jinwoo? I can wrap my head around Jaehyeok and Jiho doing it—those two have always been the overly familiar types to call people Hyungnim or Noonim within minutes of meeting them. But Hong Ari? She historically avoided interacting with anyone outside her tight circle.”

It was a glaring inconsistency. Hong Ari, a woman who had notoriously maintained an icy distance from everyone except Oh Seonyeong, was now conversing with Baek Jinwoo on completely casual terms. Even if someone tried to rationalize it by pointing out that they shared the exact same age, the entire dynamic felt incredibly suspicious.

“Perhaps they simply struck up a close relationship. Like, a romantic one. And he’s providing her with exclusive, private instruction behind closed doors.”

“Fine, I can accept that theory when it comes to Hong Ari. They both look like models, they’re the same age, whatever. But how do you explain Jaehyeok and Jiho? Those two are evolving at a pace that defies logic. You can’t just chalk it up to them being young and adaptable anymore; that doesn’t even begin to explain it. The last time I went toe-to-toe with them in a spar, I genuinely felt like I was trading blows with an elite international ranker.”

“Hmm.”

Park Ho’s eyes narrowed into thin slits. This situation was rapidly escalating into a critical dilemma.

Currently, Baekho firmly held the crown as the number one guild in South Korea. But if the current trajectory maintained its course, they were going to be violently dethroned by the rising power of Arirang and Carpe Diem. After sacrificing so much to construct their empire and secure the top spot, he had absolutely zero intention of letting their dominance slip away without a fight.

“First things first.”

Park Ho shifted his gaze across the table, locking eyes with Bok Jeonghui and Seo Sangwon, the other elite rankers representing Baekho on the national squad.

“Investigate this thoroughly and determine if those three have established some sort of exclusive arrangement or secret connection with Baek Jinwoo.”

“And if we find proof that they do?”

“We shut it down immediately.”

Park Ho’s declaration left no room for debate.

Baek Jinwoo had accepted an astronomical sum of an additional one trillion won from government funds specifically to oversee and elevate the entire national roster. In his capacity as captain, he was legally and ethically bound to maintain absolute impartiality and fairness across the board. If he was actively abusing that position to grant hyper-specific favoritism to a select few?

“We drag it out into the open and confront him directly. We will utilize whatever political or ethical justification necessary to force his hand.”

And if that aggressive approach failed to yield results… it would be nothing more than a brief countdown before Baekho’s long-standing supremacy shattered into pieces.