Chapter 49 – 49. SSLK

Joining Seol Da-jin, we followed the map given by our aunt, Seol Mi-jeong, to visit SSLK’s training center outside the city.

‘Well?’

As soon as you set foot near the entrance, you feel a familiar and foreign sensation. The body responds before the head. My nerves were on edge and tension permeated my entire body.

“Hey, this.”

“I think I entered the gate…”

The words of Seol Da-jin and Jeong Ha-ryun continued one after another.

I agreed and took a step back. That alone changes the air. I don’t know the principle, but I made the environment near the training center similar to the gate.

‘It’s amazing.’

The surprise didn’t end there.

When I entered the training center, I saw wooden dolls engaged in sparring with the hunters. There were regular monsters as well as ones that imitated boss monsters.

It is said that one wooden doll used in the E-level exam is worth over 100 million, so those must be twice as much. Of course, it wasn’t something that money could buy.

‘The training center…Would be better to just give up.’

I was thinking of making a guild later and setting up a training center when I grew up to a certain extent, but I think I’ll have to give up on that plan.

I shifted my gaze and looked at the trainees this time. Most of them were dressed plainly, but some of them were dressed so unusually that they could be seen from a distance.

For example, trainees doing strength training while wearing full plate armor, or trainees receiving instruction while wearing costumes decorated with frills and ribbons.

All of them looked like they were looking at the status window.

‘Anyway, is that a magical girl?’

It doesn’t matter if it’s the viewer, but I think the person in question would be a bit, no, very embarrassed. Aside from that, the skills look good.

“You came early. Nice to meet. My name is Soo-ri Lee, the training center leader.”

After looking around for a while, a man called the training center came up to us and talked to us.

He has a body comparable to that of a man and his red and red muscles that can be felt even from the top of a short-sleeved T-shirt. The word pectoralis major was a better fit than the word breast.

“Nice to meet you. A D-class hunter…”

“Do not introduce yourself.”

Lee Su-ri cut off her words as if she already knew, and took us to the center of the training center.

“Fist! This is Kang Dae-woong, Seol Da-jin, and Jeong Ha-ryun, who will be training together with you guys. Everyone must have seen the hunting show, right? They are the main characters.”

Some Hunters’ eyes shine.
The sense of wonder among the gazes of interest.

Should I say that he is a trainee of a large guild? It feels different from the mindset.

As I met their gaze in response to their expectations, my eyes suddenly went to the rugged wristbands the trainees were wearing.

Is it like a symbol of a trainee?

‘I’ll have to ask later.’

After a short face-to-face ceremony, we headed to the magic attribute measurement room. A machine that looked like an MRI was placed in a room with a warning sign saying no entry except for those involved.

Even if you look at it, it looks expensive.
After all, it seems appropriate to give up the training camp.

“Lie down on top of each other.”

According to Soo-ri Lee’s instructions after entering the control room, the mana was measured one by one, and after waiting for a while, the result came out.

“This is a thing.”

Her elated look looked at me with her covetous gaze. Why does Park Do-gi come to mind? In any case, it was a very burdensome look.

“I need to do a real test.”

Lee Su-ri took us out of the building. There, wizards lined up in a row were blowing magic toward the clearing.

Watching the ice chunks fly away, flames soaring, and lightning strikes, Jeong Ha-ryun’s black magic bullets seemed boring.

“Jeong Ha-ryun, go and stand next to me.”

“Ah, four!”

“I’m going to throw the strongest magic I can over there. Got it?”

She nods her head and focuses her mind.

Quagga Gaga Gwang!

The sound of bombing continues in succession.
The test continued until her magic power ran out.

“Hmm, instead of being powerful, it consumes a lot of mana. OK, let’s go inside. Jeong Ha-ryun can rest.”

After Jeong Ha-ryun’s test, it was Seol Da-jin’s turn.

“You say you use chess? What about the bass?”

“It’s boxing.”

“Hoo. Anything else?”

“A little bit of Muay Thai.”

“Didn’t you learn jiu-jitsu and wrestling?”

“I don’t think it’s really necessary.”

The corners of Lee Soo-ri’s mouth twisted at the slightly arrogant answer.

“I get it. So when you’re ready, go for it. I’ll tell you in advance, you’d better not even think about hiding your skills.”

Thud! Dajin Seol took a step back as he stomped her feet as if he were stepping on her advance. I rubbed my eyes for a moment, wondering if I was seeing it wrong, but it only confirmed once again that she was frightened.

“…Let’s begin.”

It was the tone that made it feel like you were gritting your teeth.
As advised, the attack with all its might from the beginning pours out. Lee Soo-ri was receiving such an attack without moving a single step.

“The standing blow itself isn’t bad.”

As she spoke softly, she seemed to lower her stance, but before she knew it, her seoldajin had fallen into disarray. It happened in an instant.

‘…As expected, he’s a high-ranking hunter.’

At least B grade. No, maybe it’s class A.

“You might want to focus on grappling. It can be a trump card for martial artists like us. Next, Kang Dae-woong.”

As she trudged away as if she was shocked, as she took turns looking around, Su-ri Lee said something funny.

“Are you looking for a wooden sword? You don’t need it, so just go for it.”

What if so
I drew the sword without a word.

The opponent is a top hunter of at least B rank. It must be because it really doesn’t matter that such a talented person said such a thing.

I am very curious how you will deal with it.

“Are you going…!?”

The moment you take a stance and try to kick the ground.
The sudden intimidation forced me to stop moving. Dangerous. Body and head, instinct and reason warn.

Moving now was like reaching out to a tiger that had lowered its posture.

I grit my teeth and look at Lee Soo-ri in front of me.
A body that looks twice as big as before. It was like looking at a giant.

To put it bluntly, it looks dirty.
It was completely different from when I faced Examiner Choi in the D-class exam.

Then, at some point, the feeling of intimidation that weighed down my body disappeared. She took the momentum. It’s like starting an attack.

I swung my sword without delay.
Lee Soo-ri received my attack with her bare arms.

Caang!

‘What.’

An unimaginable sound came from the sword and arm colliding.

“Are you going to do more?”

Instead of answering, he swings his sword.
The sword strike that was blocked by the arm without fail. No matter how many times it was attacked, it was the same.

Tuong!!!

“Let’s do it like this.”

Lee Soo-ri, who dropped me by striking the sword, announces the end of the test. I squeezed the hand that held the sword. A tingling sensation that still lingers.

A sense of despair creeps in.

“Teacher Lee Soo-ri.”

“What?”

“What is your grade, by any chance?”

She sighed and laughed at my question.
I changed the question because I had no intention of answering it.

“Did you use some special technique?”

“If it’s special, it’s special, if it’s not, it’s not.”

The answer is puzzling, like taking a quiz.
It was a prank that I didn’t want to hang out with in the current situation.

In the end, Soo-ri Lee, who didn’t tell them until the end, called the other two and told them about the rules at the training center.

It was an ordinary content, such as not to discriminate between trainees of the same origin, and that weekends would always come to the training center for training.

After the explanation, Dajin Seol asked.

“But don’t you pay for something like a guild jacket?”

In response to that question, Soo-ri Lee handed over a pamphlet as if she had been waiting. There were pictures and information on various items, from jackets to T-shirts to various weapons.

Originally, I wondered if the sense of belonging to a guild was something that I paid to buy, but when I remembered that I paid to buy and wear Gwajam at a regular university, I thought it was just that.

This time I asked

“Then do I have to buy that band or something? Everyone was wearing it.”

“It is a rental item. Hmm, now that I’ve said it, it might be good to kick it.”

Just in time, a female wizard headed toward the office. Lee Su-ri grabbed her and took the band and handed it to me.

It was a bit embarrassing, but more than that, it was more about solving curiosity.
An unpleasant feeling of pressure when you put the band on your hand. It was a similar feeling to when I was suffering from magic deficiency before getting S.L.U.S.

“It’s a magic suppression band. These are the works of the Kwon family. From now on, you guys will be wearing this and training.”

“…Does this make sense?”

According to my experience, it was just like hanging a heavy lump of metal.

It’s good to improve stats, but for me who can manage the status window with S.L.U.S.

I wonder if it has any meaning.

“Yes. It helps you to properly perceive your magical powers.”

“Is it?”

“Kang Dae-woong, have you ever used magic consciously?”

At Lee Soo-ri’s question, my eyes went to the lovers without my knowledge. As both of them shook their heads, I’ve never used my magic power consciously.

When using a contract, when using a temporary contract.
I just did it because I could.

“From what I can see, you guys go up to C-level without incident. You can trust it because it is an eye that has passed dozens of people. But for Class B, it’s a different story.”

This repair picks up the dagger that was lying on her desk and strikes the blade with her fingers as if striking it with a sharp blow. Only the noise was loud, but the dagger remained the same.

“Didn’t you ever think it was strange? Why people’s attention is drawn from B-class, and why only B-class or higher hunters are recruited when the reverse gate incident occurs. Class C is also a Hunter, and Class D is also a Hunter.”

She closes her fingers to strike her dagger once more.

“It is because the difference is absolute. There’s a big wall between B-class and C-class.”

Caan!!!

“The first step to overcoming that wall is to use magic consciously.”

Fragments of the broken dagger fell to the floor.