Yu-jun was taken aback.
‘I trained him? Does this count as training too? This wasn’t in the Infinite Tower.’
There were various ways to earn Points in the Infinite Tower, but ordinarily he had to train an Awakened directly.
‘Can I get Points just by influencing someone like this? No, wait. Are these Points for completing an Achievement?’
The notice that he had completed an Achievement caught his eye.
-[Achievement Completed]
-[Eloquent Speech] You trained someone who was not your training subject through your speech!
-Points awarded for your excellent speaking ability.
-Points earned: 5P
The Infinite Tower had this system too.
Only then did he begin to understand.
‘Ha.’
Yu-jun smiled at the unexpected Points and Achievement.
‘I got a whole five Points.’
He intended to unlock a third skill first, after Awakened Scan and Awakened Analysis.
‘If it works the way I know it......’
Among the Lv.2 skills was one that could be called the crowning skill of the Awakened Training System.
‘I might reach it sooner than I expected.’
“Thank you.”
Team Leader Kim smiled back and left the room.
‘There may be quite a lot of Points to earn from Achievements too. If so......’
It seemed worth considering training centered on completing Achievements.
“I can broaden my scope.”
***
First Woo Ha-na, and now Kim Gyo-jun.
Both Awakened Yu-jun had taken on under his contract with Sky Guild had shown outstanding results.
Thanks to them, Yu-jun had accumulated a fair number of Points.
He currently had a full 15P.
“I’ll unlock the third skill first.”
So far, Yu-jun had unlocked only two Lv.1 skills.
Awakened Scan, followed by Awakened Analysis.
‘I’ll unlock them all first, then move quickly to Lv.2.’
“Unlock skill.”
-Unlocking the final Lv.1 skill!
-Third Lv.1 skill unlocked!
-[Training Speed Increase] acquired!
“Training Speed Increase?”
-The training speed of Awakened you teach increases!
-Current increase: 10%
-Invest Points to raise the increase.
“Oh, now I see.”
-Lv.2 skill restrictions lifted.
-Invest Points to learn Lv.2 skills!
Having unlocked every Lv.1 skill, he could now learn Lv.2 skills as well.
“Thirty Points, huh.”
Unlocking the first Lv.2 skill cost a full 30P.
“I’ll take it one step at a time.”
Naturally, Yu-jun had no intention of teaching only youth trainees forever.
‘At this point, I don’t have to limit myself to youth trainees.’
His next goal was the first-team Awakened.
‘To work with first-team Awakened......’
“First, with the Points I have left.”
Yu-jun immediately opened the skill tree.
-Physical Enhancement Lv.1
Lv.2 requirement: 5P
“Physical Enhancement.”
Yu-jun invested all his remaining Points in Physical Enhancement.
SWISH—!
Vitality coursed through his entire body.
-Physical Enhancement skill level increased!
-Physical Enhancement Lv.2
“With this......”
He would not run out of stamina while training first-team Awakened.
***
“You want to try training first-team Awakened?”
The Guild Master’s office.
Guild Master Lee Hyeok-jun beamed at Yu-jun. What Kang Yu-jun had demonstrated in the recent internal evaluation was remarkable.
Kim Gyo-jun, who had been last, had come first.
He was a youth trainee whom several trainers had given up on as unfit for Sky Guild and placed on the release list.
Yu-jun had brought out that trainee’s potential.
“We would be grateful!”
As far as Guild Master Lee Hyeok-jun was concerned, he was simply glad Yu-jun would work longer at Sky Guild.
“I will not forget this favor! Thank you!”
With that, the Guild Master took out an envelope.
It looked much thicker than the bonus envelope he had given Yu-jun before.
“It is a modest amount, but I have put about ten million won in it.”
“That is far too much.”
“It is little compared with what you have accomplished. Besides, you have offered to train our first-team Awakened!”
This money was separate from the amount the guild owed him.
‘I’m still not used to this.’
Until now, Yu-jun had never earned money by doing a job.
Since becoming a youth trainee at Promise Guild, he had received a separate allowance for his activities.
‘This is the first time I’ve actually earned a large sum.’
If he kept receiving bonuses like this, his bank balance would soon reach the hundreds of millions of won.
‘I’ll have to think separately about what to do with it.’
“Thank you.”
“I will deposit your contract fee separately as well!”
The Guild Master had given up on renewing Yu-jun’s contract and changed course.
Renewal was impossible anyway.
Yu-jun was not someone Sky Guild could keep to itself.
As a freelance trainer, he could sign contracts with better guilds and stronger Awakened whenever he wished.
In that case, maintaining a good relationship with him, as they had now, would be best.
The Guild Master thought it would mean a great deal simply for Sky Guild to be where the legend had begun.
“Should you not speak with the first-team trainers?”
“I should. But do not worry about it.”
The Guild Master spoke as though to reassure him.
“They all know what you have accomplished. They will not try to pull rank on you. If they do, I will fire them.”
“You do not have to go that far......”
“I do! In any case, I will take care of it!”
After Yu-jun left the room, Chief Lee came in.
“Did he say he was leaving? That would be a real shame.”
The Guild Master shook his head vigorously.
“He wants to teach the first team.”
“The first team?”
Like Awakened, trainers had stages they passed through.
They built their careers by starting with youth trainees, moving on to first-team Awakened, and then training the higher-grade Awakened among the first team.
Of course, some trainers who had taken charge of first-team Awakened later returned to youth trainees out of preference.
But most who returned to teaching youth trainees were fleeing.
“Learning is part of a youth trainee’s daily life. They absorb whatever you teach them. But Awakened working on the front lines......”
“They have strong egos and are rough. They do not change easily, either.”
Even if first-team Awakened had problems, correcting them was quite difficult.
Youth trainees expected to learn, so a trainer could teach them with relative ease.
First-team Awakened were different.
They were particular about everything and had outsized egos. Their wealth of experience also made them highly defensive.
Trainers who taught first-team Awakened therefore needed strong nerves.
Those without them were often driven away and returned to being youth trainers.
“It would be ideal if he could teach first-team Awakened as well as he taught youth trainees. I am worried, though. Some of the first-team Awakened......”
“It will be fine. There cannot be an Awakened among them who does not know Kang Yu-jun.”
Everyone on the first team knew of Kang Yu-jun.
The problem was that they remembered the failed youth trainee Kang Yu-jun, not Trainer Kang Yu-jun.
“They will be even less inclined to listen to him. Would it not be better to put him in charge of more youth trainees and let him gain experience?”
Chief Lee had a point, but the Guild Master shook his head.
Kang Yu-jun was unlike any Awakened trainer he had known.
“Let us watch him for now.”
***
“I never thought Gyo-jun would turn out like that.”
“Can someone really change so much in an instant?”
“Yesterday’s internal evaluation ended, and he was back here at dawn today. He’s something else.”
After the internal evaluation, the youth trainees kept talking about Kim Gyo-jun’s performance.
His transformation had been that shocking.
They had never expected such skill from him, and Kang Yu-jun’s ability to teach him was just as astonishing.
“First Ms. Woo Ha-na, and now Gyo-jun. Trainer Kang only taught them for a short while, but look how much they changed.”
“Could we change like that too if Trainer Kang trained us?”
The youth trainees’ conversations spread to Sky Guild’s first-team Awakened.
“The new trainer?”
“Isn’t he a freelance trainer?”
To begin with, first-team Awakened paid no attention to trainers who taught only youth trainees.
The trainers led by Team Leader Kim worked exclusively with youth trainees; separate trainers taught the first-team Awakened.
So the first team had taken little interest in the matter.
But Woo Ha-na changed that.
“The trainer who taught Woo Ha-na turned the last-place trainee into first place?”
Woo Ha-na had been called up to the first team and assigned to Sales Team 3, the lowest team. But after a single evaluation, she had moved to Sales Team 1.
It was hard to find a precedent. The first-team Awakened learned that the newly arrived trainer was at the center of it.
Now that he had made another youth trainee first in the rankings, they could not help taking an interest.
At the same time, some of them sneered.
“It’s Kang Yu-jun, that guy.”
“He got released because he couldn’t even Awaken. Who’s he going to teach?”
“He’s supposed to be good at training?”
“Then why couldn’t he use that talent to improve himself?”
“I suppose it’s true that a monk can’t shave his own head.”
The first-team Awakened gave derisive chuckles at the ridiculous rumor.
“Youth trainees are only at the youth level. We’ll see when he comes up to the first team. First place among the youth trainees means nothing.”
Just then, Kang Yu-jun arrived at the first-team training ground and opened the door.
The first-team Awakened, who had been talking so excitedly, looked at him.
Everything they had said could be heard from outside.
‘What interesting things they’re saying.’
They did not know why Kang Yu-jun, who taught youth trainees, had come to the first-team training ground. After a glance at him, they each resumed their training.
They all had training sessions assigned by their own trainers, so they had no time to pay attention to him.
WHOOSH—!
THUD- THUD-!
The first-team Awakened were each carrying out different exercises.
Yu-jun sat quietly and observed them.
‘Sales Teams 1 through 3.’
Everything about them began to come into view.
SWISH-.
Blue light spilling over.
CRACK-.
Cracks just as severe.
‘Far worse than the youth trainees. I suppose that can’t be helped.’
All of that information entered Yu-jun’s eyes.
He walked straight forward and stopped before the Awakened whose blue light shone brightest.
“I am Kang Yu-jun. I am a freelance trainer contracted with Sky Guild to teach its youth trainees.”
“I know. But I heard you teach youth trainees. What brings you to the first-team training ground?”
When Yu-jun held out his hand, the first-team Awakened shook it before he quite knew what he was doing.
But he felt no particular warmth or trust toward Yu-jun.
Why had the man suddenly introduced himself?
“The Guild Master gave me permission to join the first-team Awakened training sessions.”
Yu-jun continued calmly.
“I have been watching, and I believe I can help you.”
There were seven Awakened in the first-team training room at present.
Being singled out among them put this Awakened in a bad mood.
“You can help me?”
“Yes.”
“Why me?”
“Because you are the strongest person here.”
“If I am the strongest here, then why......?”
Kim O-jung, the first-team Awakened, asked with a puzzled look.
His expression had softened a little, though.
“You seem to have hit a wall. I believe I can break through that wall for you.”
“Yes, well...... But everyone is the same. Does anyone not have a wall? This weakness of mine has been with me for quite some time, so it is not something that can be fixed easily. Besides......”
Kim O-jung looked at Yu-jun as if to ask whether he knew anything about him.
Were there even any Awakened who had not hit a wall?
Yu-jun grinned at that.
“I can break through it for you.”
“......Pardon?”
“Ten minutes will do.”