If anything happened to Kim Ji-han, they were to call him.
That had been the substance of yesterday's meeting.
Yoon Tae-hyun hurried toward the beginner class's second-floor classroom with Instructor Kim Tae-hee.
When he arrived, he found a sword mark carved into a desk, unmistakable to anyone who saw it.
"So you're saying you made this... by scraping it with a 15 cm ruler?"
"Yes."
"And you coated the ruler in Mana?"
"Yes."
"How?"
"......?"
Puzzled by the last question, I tilted my head and answered.
"I just tried it, and it worked?"
"......"
Director Yoon Tae-hyun silently ran his fingers along the sword mark on the desk.
It looked as though it had been carved by the claws of a sharp, powerful beast.
"Could you show me?"
I nodded, picked up the ruler again, and coated it in Mana.
Then I gently scraped the desk once more.
SCRRRAPE—
"......"
Director Yoon Tae-hyun still said nothing.
He merely looked back and forth between the ruler and the desk, studying the sword mark with intense concentration.
At last, he spoke.
"It's the ability you showed yesterday, isn't it? The one that lets you make a clean cut no matter what you swing."
"Yes."
"Have you learned to control it?"
"Once I could sense Mana, I was able to control it."
"Excellent."
Director Yoon Tae-hyun merely nodded in satisfaction.
Just then, the older trainee with the short, golden-blond hair, who had been listening quietly, asked a question.
"Um, Director?"
"Yes?"
"Is something wrong, by any chance? Don't tell me we've learned some secret we weren't supposed to know?"
Her words suddenly brought an image to mind.
The director already looked like some sinister mastermind, so I imagined him suddenly chuckling and saying, "You know too much."
Naturally, it remained nothing more than my imagination.
"I'd hoped to keep it a secret for the time being, but I suppose it can't be helped."
"......?"
Wait, isn't that awfully close to what I'd just imagined him saying?
Of course, nothing like that actually happened.
"Please keep this between yourselves. I think it would cause confusion if word got out."
"Oh, okay."
"Is it something confidential?"
"Yes."
"Then what are you going to do for us in return, Director?"
The last question came from the delinquent-looking older guy.
Everyone turned to look at him with uncomfortable expressions.
Is this guy something of a troublemaker even in the beginner class?
Director Yoon Tae-hyun considered it for a moment before replying calmly.
"Hmm... How about I recommend a good restaurant I know?"
"......Tsk. Forget it."
If it was the kind of confidential information that could be kept quiet with a restaurant recommendation, it couldn't be that important a secret.
That was why the delinquent-looking guy backed down so readily.
"And as for Mr. Kim Ji-han... just carry on attending classes as usual."
"Okay."
When I answered matter-of-factly, someone flinched.
It was the instructor in charge of the lecture.
He wore the expression of someone who'd just been handed an enormous bomb.
For some reason, he looked like he was about to cry.
***
The lectures weren't as boring as I'd expected.
Most of them covered information about the Tower, rules of conduct, and other unfamiliar subjects instead of the Korean, math, social studies, and science we learned at school, so I found them interesting.
The lectures continued until lunchtime, when I followed the older trainees to a nearby restaurant.
Since the Hunter Training Swordsmanship Institute didn't have a cafeteria, it seemed all the trainees ate at restaurants nearby.
The delinquent-looking guy, however, didn't come with us.
Apparently, he didn't fit in particularly well with the beginner class either.
It was only once we reached the restaurant that I finally learned everyone's names.
"I'm Min Ji-won, this is Yang Hyang-bi, and this is Lee No-eul."
The older girl with long black hair was Min Ji-won.
The blonde with the short bob was Yang Hyang-bi.
And the brown-haired guy was Lee No-eul.
All three were twenty-two years old. Apparently, it was rare to have three people of the same age in one class.
Well, I'd heard that Awakening had nothing to do with age.
"How many months have you guys been at the Hunter Training Swordsmanship Institute?"
"Us? It hasn't even been a month."
"What about that delinquent-looking guy?"
"Delinquent-looking guy? You mean Hyeon-jung?"
As it turned out, his name was Yoon Hyeon-jung, and at twenty-six, he was the oldest person in the beginner class.
Unlike the other three, though, he'd only been there for two weeks. They also mentioned that he was a criminal, just like me.
"What crime did he commit?"
"According to the director, it was assault."
"Apparently, he was sentenced to two years in prison."
Two years in prison?
At that point, wouldn't it be better to just serve his sentence and get out rather than become a Swordsman?
"All right, if everyone's finished eating, let's get going. We need to stretch before training, too."
"Okay."
After eating with the others, I headed back to the Hunter Training Swordsmanship Institute.
The afternoon was for physical training rather than lectures, so we went straight down to the basement.
Only the advanced-class trainees were in the training hall.
From what I'd heard, most of the advanced class had completed all their required instruction, so they had plenty of time for independent training.
That was when Hyeon-jung, the last member of our beginner class, showed up.
There was a distinctly cocky swagger to his walk.
He came over yawning, his hands shoved into his pockets, as though he'd been sleeping somewhere.
Still, he apparently intended to take training seriously, because he joined the others in stretching.
While we were stretching, Hyeon-jung looked at me.
"......What?"
"......"
I shook my head and went back to stretching.
As we stretched, an instructor approached.
It was Instructor Jeong Seok-jung, whom I'd met on my first day.
"Good. Everyone's here on time."
Instructor Jeong Seok-jung nodded approvingly, then looked at me last.
"Ji-han, you're training on your own, correct?"
It seemed Director Yoon Tae-hyun had passed along the message.
When I nodded, Instructor Jeong Seok-jung said,
"Ji-han, head to a private training room. The rest of you, run ten easy laps around the training hall, and then we'll begin."
""Yes!""
Come to think of it, you'd expect the others to wonder why I was training separately, but none of them asked.
It was probably because of what had happened in the classroom that morning.
As the others started running, I made my way toward a private training room.
There was something I wanted to test for myself, too.
***
Director Yoon Tae-hyun pondered things alone in his office.
The secrets of Mana remained a mystery that humanity had yet to unravel.
Its mysterious properties could strengthen the body, enable Magic, and produce energy in ways that defied the laws of physics.
'Mana flows.'
Yoon Tae-hyun had been investigating its secrets.
As befitted the director of the Hunter Training Swordsmanship Institute, he was doing so to advance the development of Swordsmen.
'It flows through the human body like blood. But unlike blood, we can control it.'
Mana circulated slowly throughout the body, and increasing the speed of that circulation improved physical abilities.
That was Physical Enhancement, one of the supernatural abilities available to the Awakened.
'But... what was that?'
Coating an object in Mana.
That was what Kim Ji-han had claimed to do, and it was considered impossible.
Because no one had ever been able to do it.
'Mana loses its controllability once it leaves the human body.'
That was common knowledge.
Suddenly, Yoon Tae-hyun recalled something Kim Ji-han had said after clearing the trial on Floor 0 of the Tower.
-It felt as if the sword I was holding had become my hand? Anyway, something like that.
"......His hand."
Yoon Tae-hyun picked up a ballpoint pen lying on his desk.
Then he sent Mana into it.
But as soon as the Mana flowed out, he lost control of it, and it scattered in every direction.
Mana was, after all, a form of energy. Unless it had some kind of vessel to contain it, it simply dispersed like smoke.
"What is the difference between you and the rest of us?"
Yoon Tae-hyun couldn't help smiling bitterly.
KNOCK. KNOCK. KNOCK.
Just then, someone knocked on the office door.
"Come in."
At Yoon Tae-hyun's permission, the door opened.
The person who entered was Jin Gi-han, a trainee from the advanced class.
"Um, Director?"
"What is it?"
"Sang-hyeok is sparring with a guy named Ji-han, and I think you should come downstairs and take a look."
"Oh, dear."
Yoon Tae-hyun rose from his seat.
"Let's go down."
***
My private training session didn't end until six in the evening.
To be honest, it had been more practice than training.
I'd tried something new to investigate my ability further, and when it worked, I'd kept practicing it.
'And I didn't even get tired......'
It certainly seemed that something had changed in my body when I Awakened.
The most noticeable change, in particular, was my stamina.
'That's enough training for today.'
I'd gotten satisfying results, so there was no need to keep going.
I left the private training room.
But the training hall was strangely noisy.
Instead of training, all the trainees were gathered in the middle of the hall.
I approached the beginner-class trainees, whom I'd gotten to know a little, and asked,
"What's going on?"
"Hm? Oh, Ji-han, you're here?"
"Looks like Hyeon-jung got into a fight with an advanced-class senior."
"From what I saw earlier, they started arguing because he wouldn't give up the bench press."
For the record, Hyeon-jung was the one who'd refused to give up his spot.
The advanced-class trainee had apparently asked him as politely as possible, but Hyeon-jung had rudely refused, leading to this situation.
No-eul pointed toward the center of the hall and continued.
"So now he's getting beaten up under the pretext of a sparring match."
I looked where No-eul was pointing.
Hyeon-jung was being beaten by an advanced-class trainee, with the whole thing disguised as a sparring match.
Since it was technically a sparring match, each of them held a wooden sword. But the advanced-class trainee was casually beating Hyeon-jung with his free hand instead.
I glanced around, then asked Hyang-bi something that puzzled me.
"Where are the instructors?"
"After six, it's free training time. Most of them have probably gone home or are in the instructors' office."
So that was why there weren't any instructors around.
Just then, the advanced-class trainee's voice rang out.
"Listen here, you bastard! At the very least, you ought to show some respect between seniors and juniors! Hell, I'm older than the instructors here, and even I treat them with respect. So when some little bastard who's been here less than a month acts that fucking rude, do you think I'm going to get pissed off or not?!"
"Aaaagh!!"
THWACK—! THWACK—! THWACK—!
It was an entirely one-sided beating.
And the advanced-class trainee, who was beating him like a dog on the hottest day of summer, looked completely at ease.
As befitted someone from the advanced class, he could afford to be relaxed because of the difference in their abilities.
"Embarrassing, isn't it, you bastard? You came at me all full of yourself, and now you're getting your ass kicked in front of everyone! But you deserve a beating. You think this is the first time I've seen some fucking criminal bastard come into this Hunter Training Swordsmanship Institute? You thought I'd be scared just because you growled at me like some criminal bastard? You little bastard."
THWACK—! THWACK—! THWACK—!
The advanced-class trainee kept beating him.
But eventually, he stopped.
It was only when Hyeon-jung could no longer get up and lay twitching on the floor.
"How about we fucking act like adults and show some respect between seniors and juniors? Do you understand, you fucking bastard?"
"Ugh......"
The advanced-class trainee then looked around.
His eyes were like those of a hawk searching for its next prey.
Eventually, his gaze met mine.
The moment he saw me, his face twisted as though he'd just looked at a pile of shit, and he opened his mouth.
"You! Next criminal bastard, get out here!"
I looked around before pointing at myself.
It was my way of asking whether he really meant me.
Even so, I didn't think I'd done anything wrong. Wasn't this coming completely out of nowhere?
The advanced-class trainee answered at once.
"Yeah, you, you bastard. Stop standing there looking like an idiot and get out here."
With all the seniors watching, I walked into the center of the hall.
The advanced-class trainee picked up Hyeon-jung's wooden sword from the floor and held it out to me.
"Take it."
Faced with his commanding tone, I accepted the wooden sword.
Once I'd taken it, the advanced-class trainee spoke.
"Name and age."
"I'm Kim Ji-han, and I'm seventeen."
"All right, Ji-han. Seventeen. You're fucking young. But seventeen's old enough to know right from wrong, isn't it? Huh?"
"Uh... I guess?"
"Then why'd a bastard who knows better do something like that?"
I knew what he was asking without needing him to spell it out.
"It wasn't intentional."
"Bullshit, it wasn't intentional. You sliced two people's heads off, and now you're making excuses, you bastard. Get into position. I'm going to teach you some manners."
I scratched my head.
To be honest, this was pretty awkward.
"Um, Senior?"
"What?"
"You'll fight me with your wooden sword, right?"
At that, Park Sang-hyeok, the advanced-class trainee, let out a disbelieving chuckle.
There was a reason he'd chosen to pummel Yoon Hyeon-jung with his fists rather than use his wooden sword.
A wooden sword was still a blunt weapon, and a single badly placed strike could cause a serious injury.
With his hands, however, he could control how hard he hit.
That was precisely why he'd put aside the wooden sword and beaten Hyeon-jung with his fists. Did this bastard not understand that?
"Do you seriously have a death wish?"
"No. It's not that I'm looking down on you, but... if you don't use your wooden sword, you might get seriously hurt."
After I said that, the entire area suddenly fell silent.
I looked around.
The older trainees who'd been watching were staring at me, dumbfounded.
Park Sang-hyeok, on the other hand, had gone deadly serious.
"Get into position."
I took my stance with an uneasy expression.
Fortunately, the advanced-class trainee also took a stance, so it seemed he intended to use his wooden sword.
Whatever I thought, though, his expression looked as if he was about to kill someone.
"You're beyond saving."
THUD—!
With the sound of a foot striking the floor, the advanced-class trainee shot forward and closed the distance until he was right in front of me.
The arc of the wooden sword he swung as he lunged was aimed straight at my arm.
WHOOSH—!
The vicious sound made it clear he'd swung with all his strength.
It was as if he intended to smash my arm to pieces.
But I already knew he was going to swing at my arm.
Because I could see the Black Line.
This time, however, there was no need to dodge.
I swung my wooden sword as well.
WHOOSH—!
Though calling it a swing would be generous. It was closer to waving the sword around.
Like someone waving a hand to chase away an annoying fruit fly buzzing nearby.
Of course, I hadn't meant to move like that.
I'd been standing there holding my wooden sword when my opponent suddenly charged before I had any time to prepare.
To react to that threatening strike at once, I'd had no choice but to swing awkwardly from where I stood.
Even so, the path of my wooden sword was unmistakably following the Blue Line.
SLICE—
Something was cut, and a hard object fell and struck the floor.
"......?"
Fortunately, it wasn't a part of anyone's body.
It was the wooden sword the advanced-class trainee had been holding.