The scouts who heard the news found it hard to believe.
They knew the Promise Guild had expelled Kang Yu-jun, but they had never imagined he would become a trainer.
People had been saying for a long time that his expulsion was only a matter of time.
Failed awakening.
The Promise Guild had waited so long for Kang Yu-jun to awaken because he had considerable potential.
Even without awakening, he had impressive physical abilities, and his knowledge, judgment, and insight were exceptional.
But without awakening, he could not withstand the tower's monsters.
That was why most industry insiders and scouts had predicted his expulsion was inevitable.
“If anything, he lasted longer than expected.”
Kang Yu-jun's chance of developing further was zero percent.
Not close to zero percent. Exactly zero percent.
Yet the Promise Guild had watched and given him chances for a very long time.
Some even called the Promise Guild a Buddha for it.
But the world did not run on affection.
The Promise Guild had simply been unable to let go of its sunk costs and had wanted to earn something from him somehow.
“And now that Kang Yu-jun is an Awakened trainer at Sky Guild?”
“Did he ever receive any trainer education?”
Anyone could become an Awakened trainer, but not anyone could succeed at it.
Anyone could offer instruction.
What mattered was whether the Awakened actually absorbed it and whether it produced results.
That was why the scouts could not believe that Kang Yu-jun, a Promise Guild youth trainee until recently, had become an Awakened trainer.
“Kim Do-hun's the leader of Sky Guild's trainer team now, isn't he? Hasn't he been teaching Woo Ha-na for quite a while?”
“Isn't Trainer Kim Do-hun already in his fifth year? He must have produced quite a few Awakened by now.”
Among the Awakened who had risen to Sky Guild's Sales Team 1, quite a few had been trained personally by Kim Do-hun.
Even he had failed to improve Woo Ha-na's condition.
And Kang Yu-jun had trained her and transformed her? In such a short time?
This was major news.
News on a different level from his expulsion.
“We should check whether it really is that Kang Yu-jun.”
If it was…….
“Then Kang Yu-jun's talent was somewhere else all along!”
RING—.
While the scouts were debating Kang Yu-jun, he received a phone call.
He had come to know several trainers during his time at the Promise Guild.
Of course, he could count on one hand the trainers who liked him.
No matter how much they trained him, he did not change.
Their own careers had suffered instead, so it was only natural that they disliked him.
But there was one trainer with whom Yu-jun had remained close.
That trainer had worked with him for over a year.
“Teacher, it has been a long time.”
“Yes, it has. I heard the news.”
“I am sorry I did not live up to your expectations.”
“What is there to apologize for? You were the best when I taught you. Aptitude works that way. Do not take it too hard.”
Kim Hyeong-gu had taught Yu-jun early in his time as a Promise Guild youth trainee. He now worked as a scout.
“There is something I want to ask you.”
“Please, ask me anything.”
Yu-jun answered with a smile in his voice.
If he had to name his happiest days at the Promise Guild, they were undoubtedly his earliest ones.
To Yu-jun, Kim Hyeong-gu had been more than an Awakened trainer.
He had been an older mentor who taught young Yu-jun many lessons about life.
“Are you…… working as a trainer now?”
“Ah, yes. I suppose you heard about Trainee Woo Ha-na.”
“Surely…….”
“It is true.”
Yu-jun readily confirmed it.
There was no reason to hide it.
“I trained her.”
“I knew it! I thought so! Congratulations, Yu-jun!”
Kim Hyeong-gu was as happy as if it were his own achievement.
“Thank you, Teacher.”
Yu-jun was glad he had told him.
‘Sooner or later, everyone was going to find out.’
If that was so, it was far better to let the news spread through a good person than to hide it needlessly.
“I am going to try living as a trainer now. Even if I am starting a little late.”
“Good. There is more than one path in life. But it is a difficult one. You know that, do you not?”
“That is all right. I am used to difficult things. If anything, I feel more at ease.”
Failing once was enough.
Perhaps Kim Hyeong-gu heard that confidence, for there was a smile in his voice.
“Yes. Let us share a drink sometime. Now that my student walks the same path, I would like to play the teacher again.”
“Yes, Teacher. I will call you sometime!”
News that Kang Yu-jun had become a trainer began to spread in earnest.
***
The Basic Class was where the youth trainees gathered.
All of Sky Guild's young trainees belonged to it and received lessons from three trainers.
With Yu-jun added, there were four trainers in total.
Of course, as a freelancer, Yu-jun's position differed slightly from that of the others.
Ordinarily, he would have joined their trainer team, and the four of them would have worked together.
Instead, Yu-jun had formed a separate team.
‘Even if I'm its only member.’
In other words, Sky Guild now effectively had two trainer teams.
One consisted of the three existing trainers, and the other of the new trainer, Yu-jun, alone.
The Basic Class was currently receiving instruction from both teams.
‘Those three each have their own specialty. It's much more efficient for them to work as a team.’
But Yu-jun had no need to build one.
‘I can handle the training on my own.’
“Trainer Kang Yu-jun?”
At that moment, Kim Do-hun, the leader of Sky Guild's existing trainer team, approached.
Kim Do-hun was tall and wore his hair short.
Like other trainers, he had once been an Awakened.
What set him apart was that he had been an elite Awakened who reached A-grade.
Of course, an A-grade Awakened did not automatically become an A-grade trainer.
Yu-jun turned toward Kim Do-hun.
He had expected Kim to come looking for him.
‘I trained a student Kim Do-hun couldn't help.’
To a fellow trainer, that could be a serious blow to his pride.
“Yes, Team Leader Kim.”
“Your work with Trainee Woo Ha-na was impressive.”
But Kim Do-hun praised Yu-jun instead.
“Thank you. I have had a similar experience, so I trained her with what I learned from it in mind. I was not born with talent, but Trainee Woo Ha-na was.”
The team leader blinked.
That was right. Until recently, Kang Yu-jun himself had been a guild prospect.
He had been famous for all the wrong reasons, but still a prospect.
“That is right. I forgot for a moment.”
Team Leader Kim glanced at Yu-jun apologetically.
He had meant no offense at all. He truly had forgotten.
Yu-jun's training had impressed him so much that he had forgotten the most important fact about Yu-jun's past.
To Team Leader Kim, Kang Yu-jun was no failed prospect. He was a promising trainer.
“Well, to me you seemed a trainer through and through. Watching you train Woo Ha-na was so impressive that I must have forgotten. What am I thinking?”
A trainer through and through.
Those words pleased Yu-jun immensely.
‘To be honest, I feel the same way.’
For over ten years, he had been the one receiving training.
‘I only awakened after I was expelled, and I thought I'd have trouble adjusting.’
In practice, the opposite was true.
Being a trainer suited him better than being a youth trainee ever had.
As if he had always been a trainer.
‘My past experience helps, but even so, this fits me almost too well.’
It felt like slipping perfectly into place.
“Thank you.”
“Now that you have officially taken charge of the Basic Class, I want to share our curriculum with you. But…… I hear you asked the guild master about Trainee Kim Gyo-jun?”
“Ah, yes. When I first introduced myself, I taught Trainee Kim Gyo-jun for a short while.”
Team Leader Kim knew; he had watched it happen.
Yu-jun had briefly taught Kim Gyo-jun to show who he was and how he would instruct the trainees.
“If you do not mind my asking, why did you choose Kim Gyo-jun in particular?”
“Because he performs the worst.”
According to the Awakened Training System, Kim Gyo-jun was at the very bottom among Sky Guild's young trainees.
If the word middling could take human form, it would be Kim Gyo-jun.
“He performs the worst…… so why?”
“I saw potential.”
For now, Yu-jun gave him only a broad answer.
“Hmm…… Trainee Kim Gyo-jun is different from Trainee Woo Ha-na. I think you know that without my having to tell you. Besides…….”
Woo Ha-na had been highly rated for her potential.
Kim Gyo-jun, by contrast, was already on the list of trainees slated for expulsion.
“Trainee Kim Gyo-jun will be expelled next month.”
With that, Team Leader Kim handed him a document.
It contained the detailed information on Kim Gyo-jun that Yu-jun had requested.
“I once taught him personally, but in the end it did not work. He put in quite an effort, yet the results were poor.”
Team Leader Kim explained Kim Gyo-jun's history, including what had happened and how he had been trained.
“But now I have concluded that he has no potential.”
Yu-jun finally understood what Kim meant by saying that Gyo-jun was different from Woo Ha-na.
Sky Guild was determined to save Woo Ha-na as an Awakened.
Kim Gyo-jun, however, was someone they could expel without hesitation.
“So perhaps you should…….”
“No.”
Yu-jun cut Team Leader Kim off.
“I can see it.”
Perhaps he was the only one who could.
But he was certain.
“His potential.”
***
Kim Gyo-jun frowned in concentration in the training room.
HISSS—.
The weapon in his hand turned red for an instant.
Weapon Enhancement. That was Kim Gyo-jun's ability.
It made the weapon he held stronger.
But the ability was remarkably complex.
It could make a weapon hard or soft.
It could also extend it.
Beyond that, it could imbue it with a new power. It was an ability with many possible uses.
Yet Kim Gyo-jun could not use any of them properly.
“Damn it. Why won't it work?”
No matter how often he repeated it, he could not make it work.
He closed his eyes and thought back to a few days earlier.
“It definitely worked then…….”
The day Trainer Kang Yu-jun first instructed him.
Kim Gyo-jun had felt something strange.
“It felt exactly right.”
But he had not been able to use Weapon Enhancement that way again.
He had practiced over and over, trying to recall that sensation, to no avail.
Kim Gyo-jun picked up his phone.
-[Notice of Expulsion]
Hello, Trainee Kim Gyo-jun. This is Sky Guild. We are writing about the list of Sky Guild trainees to be expelled this time…….
The message had arrived a few days earlier.
He had sensed that he would soon be expelled.
Still, receiving the message had been a greater shock.
“Phew.”
His expulsion had already been decided.
He possessed Weapon Enhancement, yet could not use it properly.
He sighed so deeply it seemed the ground might cave in.
“My ability is lacking, and my physical abilities are pathetic too.”
If even one of the two had been decent, he would not have been expelled.
But Kim Gyo-jun fell short in both.
“Trainee Kim Gyo-jun.”
Startled by the sudden voice, Kim Gyo-jun turned around.
Kang Yu-jun stood directly behind him.
“How long have you been watching……?”
Kim Gyo-jun thought he had been caught in an embarrassing state, but Trainer Kang Yu-jun said nothing about it.
Uneasy, Gyo-jun offered an unnecessary explanation.
“I have many weaknesses, so I was doing a little training on my own.”
He had already heard about Trainer Kang Yu-jun.
He had heard how completely the trainer had transformed Woo Ha-na.
That was possible because Kang Yu-jun was a good trainer, but surely it had also been possible because Woo Ha-na had talent to spare.
Kim Gyo-jun, by contrast, had nothing.
What Yu-jun had shown him in their first session must have been like a dream.
It was already over for him.
His expulsion had been decided.
“From the beginning.”
“You saw me embarrass myself. It is all right. It is over anyway. Anything more you do for me would be a waste of your time.”
“Do you think you have no talent? That is not what I see.”
Kim Gyo-jun's eyes widened at Yu-jun's sudden words.
Not what Yu-jun saw? Did that mean Gyo-jun had talent?
It was the first time he had heard anything like that since becoming a Sky Guild youth trainee.
“I have…… talent……?”
“Yes.”
Yu-jun nodded confidently.
“If you believe you have none, I cannot force you. But I can see it. Your potential, Trainee Kim Gyo-jun.”
DING—!
-Beginning Awakened Training!