Chapter 259. Each Person’s Const.i.tution (2)ƒre??????νℯ? ??m
An unprecedented tension filled the white s.p.a.ce. The G.o.ddess holding a scale looked down at the young man kneeling in front of her. In the midst of this heavy silence, La Bella slowly raised her scale.
—Your wish has been granted.
Her soft voice rang in his ear. His surroundings changed as soon as he raised his head. The white s.p.a.ce was quickly replaced by his house, and against the backdrop, Byeok stood with her arms crossed.
She flicked her index finger and said, “You came back sooner than I thought you would.”
At her words, Chi-Woo slowly rose from his seat.
“You did as I told you to, right?”
“…Yes.” Chi-Woo replied with a nod; he looked dazed.
“Share your user information.”
At her order, Chi-Woo turned on his device.
1. Name & Rank: Choi Chi-Woo (EX)
2. s.e.x & Age: Male & 23
3. Height & Weight: 180.5 & 73.5kg
4. Denomination: ‘The G.o.ddess of Scales’ and ‘Guardian of Balance’, La Bella
5. Tier: Iron IV
6. Cla.s.s: Exorcist
7. Heavenly t.i.tle: Three Lines
8. Disposition: Neutral
[Strength C]
[Durability C]
[Agility C]
[Stamina C]
[Mental Fort.i.tude C]
[Exorcism C]
1. [Basic Blunt Attack D]
2. [Basic Hand-to-hand Combat D]
3. [Purification Breathing E]
1. [??????te ?????lity EX]
2. [Golden Ratio S]
1. [Insight into the Unknown C]
2. [Release I – II] – Ability to lift a ban. A seal put on by the user is arbitrarily released and returns to its original state. At the user’s request, the ban has been divided into two stages.
Byeok’s demand for Chi-Woo was to put a ban on most of his abilities. Thus, Chi-Woo met La Bella and asked her to apply a seal. It would be a lie if he said he didn’t feel hesitation, but Chi-Woo didn’t ponder for long. With the sole determination to get stronger, he accepted having his abilities sealed without hesitation.
Byeok read through his user information and sharply said, “I told you to seal all your innate abilities except your Golden Ratio.”
“I asked her, and she said no.”
“What?”
“She told me that all the abilities were fine, but that one was beyond her power.”
“…Then I guess it can’t be helped.” Byeok smacked her lips and soon placed both her hands on her waist and raised one corner of her mouth. “Anyway, it looks much better now that it got all cleaned up.”
Byeok sounded satisfied, but the inside of Chi-Woo’s mouth tasted bitter. His user information, which had been full of amazing abilities and ranks, was now empty. It felt like looking at his bank account that was full of money on payday becoming empty after a few days.
“Except for these two innate abilities, this is your current state.”
Without his mysterious and special powers, Chi-Woo’s current state was that of an ordinary human being. Now that he thought of it like that, he saw his user information in a different light, and he could better understand why Philip and his brother had repeatedly told him that he had a poor foundation.
‘I…What have I been doing so far?’ His low self-esteem began to creep up. Of course, he had his excuses. Every time he tried to do something, an intense event occurred, and they had to quickly escape. However, he knew very well that Liber would not consider his circ.u.mstances; it was a waste of time to even feel regretful like this.
Although he didn’t think the path he had walked so far was wrong, he realized that he had been way too narrow-minded. Since he realized his faults, it was now time to fix it. He needed to balance out his skills.
“How will I be able to release the seals on my abilities?” Chi-Woo asked cautiously.
“When you have a solid foundation that will stay secure under any structure.” Byeok pulled out the pipe in her mouth and continued, “And when you have a strong column that can withstand any load no matter how heavy the top of the main structure is.” She spoke in a low tone. “And when a gorgeous and magnificent structure that could be embellished with colorful decorations can be built on top of your foundation.” A haze of smoke came out of her mouth and disappeared.
Although she spoke in figurative expressions, Chi-Woo understood what she was saying—it was until his natural ability could serve as a support base for the abilities that were given to him. In short, Byeok meant that he should fill his current user information more than the original user information by his own efforts. While his sealed abilities were like casting pearls before a swine right now, he needed to try his best to be worthy of these abilities. If a day like that really came, he would be 180-degree different from his current self.
“Of course, things won’t always go your way.” Byeok calmly continued, “But keep in mind, unless your life or the lives of those around you are threatened, or you’re in a situation where you have to step up, you should never remove the seal on your abilities. Do you understand?”
It was not difficult to release the seal. Since he just needed to ask La Bella again, he could basically release it whenever he wanted. Although the seal wasn’t as stringent as he thought it would be, that was all the more reason he had to do his best to keep this promise.
“Yes, I understand.” Chi-Woo, who was determined, replied with a firm voice.
“We will begin training tomorrow. If you have anything you need to quickly do, finish it by today.” With these words, Byeok strode towards his house; judging by the way she went in and out of his place as if it was hers, it seemed she was planning to stay with him.
“I can do it right no—”
“As your master, my words are absolute.” Byeok dismissed him with a single sentence, and then opened the door and entered the house.
Chi-Woo, who was now left alone, hesitated for a bit and clenched his club. He wanted to etch into his mind the skill he just learned before he forgot the feeling, so he swung the club again.
* * *
The next day arrived. Chi-Woo opened his eyes with excitement and got rebuked mercilessly as soon as he woke up. The reason for this scolding was that as a disciple, he should have woken his master and greeted her first thing in the morning, but he moved so slowly as if he had all the time in the world. Chi-Woo was sure that Byeok was just hangry because breakfast was not prepared. Chi-Woo cursed her inside his mind, calling her a boomer, but since he decided to learn from her, he tried his best to match her tastes.
After they finished their meals, Byeok called Chi-Woo to the yard. “Image representation has been activated in this house.”
Chi-Woo glanced back at his master at her unexpected words.
“I’m talking about your brother’s innate ability.” Image representation was an ability that allowed Chi-Hyun to express anything he wanted in a set s.p.a.ce.
“While you were sleeping your a.s.s off, I went and asked your brother myself.”
Chi-Woo knew very well what kind of place the image representation s.p.a.ce was, but he couldn’t help but be shocked. “And he accepted that request?”
“He made it obvious that he didn’t want to do it, but he reluctantly did it when I said you’d be using it. In many ways, he’s a funny guy.” Byeok snorted and continued, “I’ll tell you in advance, but from now on, focus only on training all day. I won’t repeat myself, but there’s not going to be any exceptions.”
“Can I train even while I’m sleeping?”
“Why not? It’s a s.p.a.ce where you can do anything in matters of experience.” In image representation, objects as well as abstract concepts could be imagined and implemented. In other words, it was possible to create a particular situation or environment for him to train.
“Now, shall we begin our first monumental training? You’re prepared to die several times, right?”
Seeing Byeok’s shady smile that revealed her white teeth, Chi-Woo gulped.
* * *
His training finally began. Although it was a long-awaited training for Chi-Woo, nothing much changed from before. Byeok lay on the verandah and read additional reports she had received this morning. From a glance, anyone could see that she was intently focused on said reports, and she showed no signs of a respected master who was strictly teaching her loving disciple.
Byeok, who was leisurely flipping paper for a while, suddenly said, “Why? If you’re going to look, why don’t you just come down and watch comfortably?” It was clear from the talk about watching that she wasn’t talking to Chi-Woo. She continued, “Why the h.e.l.l are you coming through the roof? It’s not like you’re a thief.”
Only then did the person Byeok was addressing appear into view.
Byeok asked, “Have you come to cheer on your precious and doting brother who you love so dearly?”
“Please stop saying nonsense.”
“Then?”
“This is my s.p.a.ce. I have the right to see what’s going on here.”
“Well, I guess you aren’t wrong. I don’t think you’re being sincere, but I can’t refute it either.” After a short exchange of banter, silence fell between them. Byeok continued to read the reports in her hand, and Chi-Hyun was looking down at the yard—to be more precise, he was looking at his younger brother struggling alone. Chi-Woo’s face looked very perplexed and urgent. His actions were even more desperate; from the way he was swinging his fist and kicking, it looked like he was intensely shadow-boxing.
“Aggh!” Then Chi-Woo grabbed his left arm as if he had received a heavy blow while fighting an imaginary enemy. Those who didn’t know what was going on would think he was a madman. However, that wasn’t the case for Chi-Hyun. Since this whole s.p.a.ce was created by him, he knew exactly why his brother was acting like this and what situation he was in.
He slightly narrowed his eyes and thought, ‘Why…’ He could a.s.sess Chi-Woo’s condition from a glance. It seemed that most of his abilities had been sealed. Since Chi-Hyun had gone through the same experience, he could quickly realize it. This was all fine and good, but the problem was—
As if she read his mind, Byeok got up from her seat and raised her pipe. “Since it was urgent, I’ve fixed up a temporary solution for now. As you can see, I forcibly tried to create a shape.” Byeok had relentlessly drawn numerous lines on the strange shape that she drew on the ground to describe Chi-Woo’s condition. Although it was a strange shape that could hardly be described as a shape, after Byeok drew straight lines to cut off the spiky and curly parts, something that could be called a slightly crooked shape was created inside the drawn line. Chi-Hyun understood Byeok’s intention, so he had an even harder time understanding what she was doing. Chi-Woo now finally had an environment to grow normally. Therefore, he just had to grow step by step with formal training. Why did Byeok make him do such an extreme training as his first step?
After reading Chi-Hyun’s dissent, Byeok said, “I’m changing his const.i.tution.”
“Const.i.tution…? But Chi-Woo has the Golden Ratio.”
“I’m not talking about one’s physiology or physical characteristics from birth.”
“Then…”
“Manners. Habits.” Byeok emphasized each word. “A regular tendency that is naturally formed as a result of being born and growing up in a specific culture.” She continued with the pipe in her mouth, “I need to first relieve his anxiety before he does anything.”
“Anxiety…?”
“Stupid punk. He’s still your brother. How can you be so indifferent?” Byeok clicked her tongue. “This is why geniuses lack insight. They think that since they did well on their own, everyone else would be the same. The more I think about it, the more I find people like you extremely annoying.”
Byeok had noticed there was something strange about Chi-Woo since yesterday. It was good that he was ready to learn anything, but he was way too receptive. Even when she tried to purposely provoke him or scare him, his response was always consistent. He didn’t get angry, and he neither asked her what training they were doing nor felt uncomfortable about not knowing what he was going to do. His att.i.tude was that of someone who was willing to accept anything even if he might die soon.
Although that was better than him acting like a bad student, his att.i.tude was also on the extreme side of the spectrum. After judging there was a problem with him, Byeok closely observed Chi-Woo and soon identified the cause for his extremely servile att.i.tude; she realized that there was a fundamental anxiety that lay within him.
Consider a contestant who won second place in an audition show and was able to debut expressing their uncertainty and anxiety due to not going through a trainee life like other idols. That was the situation Chi-Woo was in. Unlike other heroes, Chi-Woo had lived as an ordinary person for more than 20 years on Earth, which had a completely different culture from Liber. He didn’t even receive a systematic education about heroes from an early age like Chi-Hyun. No matter how resolved he was to make a place for himself here, no one was actually ready to die.
‘Can I do a good job?’ and ‘Can I do it like other heroes?’ Those were the kinds of thoughts Chi-Woo had when he went on an expedition to Narsha Haram with Dalgil and Ru Amuh. Moreover, unfortunately for him, the hero who he grew closest to was Ru Amuh. No matter how hard he tried to keep pace with Ru Amuh, he ended up falling back to his given abilities, and Byeok explained that Chi-Woo’s insecure and weak foundation formed as a result. This was also the reason why Chi-Woo didn’t think he was great despite making achievements that most heroes couldn’t even dream of. Considering the fact that Chi-Woo tried so hard to hide himself, Byeok’s observation was quite convincing.
“So I have to change that const.i.tution first.” Chi-Woo was currently obsessed with getting stronger; he was frantically trying to get stronger at all costs. “But how can a guy who’s not even sure about himself grow?”
“But…” Although Chi-Hyun thought Byeok was right in every way, he hesitated. “If things go wrong—”
“Oh, that’s unexpected.” Byeok snorted. “Is this the time to carefully consider and weigh every option?”
“…”
“Well, if you came here to interfere instead of watching, you can go back now.” Chi-Woo had already said he would completely trust Byeok, so in return, she needed to take responsibility for his trust. “I’m starting to feel irritated. Even if it’s you, I won’t forgive you for telling me to do this and that.”
Chi-Hyun closed his mouth at her threatening voice. As she said, his brother and Byeok had already established a master and disciple relations.h.i.+p. He had no right to intervene.
In the end, Chi-Hyun had no choice but to turn around while hoping that his brother would endure with all his grit. ‘…This is the path you have chosen for yourself.’
* * *
“Aghhhhhhhhhhh!” An ear-piercing scream rang out. Chi-Woo, who had been struggling on the floor for a while, opened his eyes wide. He looked up at the blue sky with confusion and gasped for breath. He had just gone through Narsha Haram. Of course, he hadn’t actually been there, but he had materialized it with his mind using his previous experience. Chi-Woo had to fight the monsters he encountered there, but he had to do it alone without his comrades while using only his bare hands. At first, he was somewhat confident since he had finally learned how to hit properly. However, his confidence soon came cras.h.i.+ng down in the first fight. He realized there was a stark difference between maintaining a correct posture in a safe place and maintaining it in a life and death situation in which he could lose his neck at any moment. Before Chi-Woo could even get into proper posture, he was attacked from all sides. He knew it was all in his mind, and he wouldn’t actually die. However, besides these two points, everything was implemented as if it was real. In other words, the pain he received was also transmitted 100 percent.
“Huff! Huff!” Chi-Woo gasped for breath like crazy and rubbed his neck. The sensation of getting his neck crushed by a thorn wolf still felt vivid—and this was the second time he died. The first time, he was inflicted with the immeasurable pain of getting his whole body crushed under the sole of the silver golem’s foot. If he hadn’t increased his resistance by suffering in the cave, he would have gone crazy a long time ago.
“Stop fussing around and meditate.”
He heard his master’s voice. Even though the pain seemed to linger in his body, Chi-Woo immediately got up and sat down with his eyes closed.
“What do you feel?” It was the second time he was asked this question, but Chi-Woo couldn’t figure out what to say. The first time, he answered that he could feel exorcism mana, but was told to go back to the image representation s.p.a.ce again. He couldn’t give the same answer again.
“Don’t rack your brain for an answer and tell me what you can hear from your body.”
A sound…sound from his body… “I can feel…my heart beating…”
“Stop.” Chi-Woo opened his eyes at her frosty voice. “Start again.”
He closed his eyes tightly; as expected, he had to repeat the same pattern again. When he entered the s.p.a.ce, he had to fight with his bare hands, and when he went out, he was forced to meditate and answer the same question. If he didn’t give a satisfactory answer, he had to repeat the whole process all over again. What was the meaning of all this? Byeok only read her paper without saying a word.
Chi-Woo, who was looking resentfully at her, soon stumbled and stood up. Although he wanted to scream and ask what kind of h.e.l.lish training this was…he had told her he’d trust her completely, and he needed to honor his promise. There must be a reason why she was making him do this; a reason why she kept making him do this ridiculous, mind-crus.h.i.+ng process. If he wanted to find the reason… Chi-Woo stopped thinking further and recalled his image of Narsha Haram. Soon, the view in front of him changed, and the interior of Narsha Haram unfolded.
He saw monsters crawling out of everywhere and clenched his teeth and raised both fists—while believing not in himself, but in his master, Byeok Ran-Eum.