Chapter 22

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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 22
Chapter Title: An Unconventional Regimen
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Meanwhile, as soon as the sun rose, a trembling Bong-gu rushed over to Kang-jun’s house.

It was the first day of his long-awaited special training.

Kang-jun abruptly handed him a pair of sandbags that looked heavy at a glance.

“Bong-gu, Bong-gu, from now on, I want you to live your life wearing these at all times.”

“What are these?”

“Can’t you tell by looking? For God’s sake, try reading a book once in a while.”

“Huh? Reading?”

“Bong-gu, Bong-gu, don’t tell me you’ve never even seen ‘Dragon B■ll’?”

Kang-jun spoke as if scolding him, his brow furrowed in utter frustration as he launched into an explanation.

“You’ve never seen the scene where Son Goku, after living in super heavy training clothes, throws them off in a critical moment and becomes unbelievably fast?”

“No, I’ve seen it, but I’m a little worried if such an old-fashioned training method will actually be effective…”

“And what about that other one, ‘Lucky M■n’? There’s a similar scene there, right? He fights wearing super heavy steel underwear, and when it looks like he’s about to lose, he just whips them off…”

Could this kind of physical conditioning really have a positive impact on the upcoming Promotion Test?

*Isn’t this training method just… too unscientific?*

There were surely a dozen papers out there arguing that this type of training only damaged your joints and didn’t do much to improve physical ability.

Even the old masters in their modernized hanboks, practicing martial arts on Mount Jiri, probably wouldn’t give a second glance to a training method this archaic…

*Besides, I’m a magic-type Awakener…*

Just then, Kang-jun suddenly scoffed, “Fine, whatever,” and began gathering up the sandbags.

“If you don’t want to, then don’t. I spent tens of thousands of won on these, and you’re not even grateful.”

“No, sir. That’s not it, I don’t mean I don’t want to…”

“There are plenty of other people dying to train under me. If I lined them up, they’d circle the globe a few times.”

“I-I’m truly sorry! I’ll do anything!”

Unable to shake his uneasy feeling, Kim Bong-gu fastened the sandbags securely to his wrists and ankles.

*Whoa, these are way heavier than I expected. Each one has to be at least ten kilograms…*

As Bong-gu stood there, stunned by the unexpected weight, Kang-jun nodded in satisfaction.

“Alright, now go play with Seol-i.”

“Sir…?”

“I’ll kill you if you make me say it twice.”

“Yessir…”

Reluctantly, Bong-gu approached Seol-i and spoke in the gentlest tone imaginable.

“Seol-i, would you like to play with your uncle?”

“Yeah! Okay!”

“Great. What do you want to play, Seol-i?”

A fresh smile on her face, Seol-i pointed a finger at the ‘Dr. Smarty’s Calculation Play Set’ and answered.

“Seol-i wanna play this!”

And so began the ‘Endless Calculation Game,’ an activity dreaded by every member of the household…

The endless calculation game that had just begun finally came to a close several long hours later.

“Seol-i doesn’t wanna play anymore.”

“C-Can your uncle take a break now?”

“No, let’s play something else now!”

Immediately following was the ‘Child Hero’s Ordeal,’ a game the family feared almost as much as the endless calculations.

“Hi-yah, hi-yah, hi-yah!”

“Hah, haah…”

“Hi-yah, hi-yah, hi-yah!”

It was a game where Kim Bong-gu played the role of a villain emerging from a Gate, and Seol-i played the child hero defending the Earth against him.

Several other games followed after that, and by the time a thoroughly entertained Seol-i was getting tired, the ‘housework training’ began.

“Bong-gu, clean the gas stove.”

“Yes, sir…”

“It’s gotten pretty greasy.”

“Yes, sir…”

“When you’re done with that, do the laundry.”

“Yes, sir…”

“You know the drill, right? Whites and colors separately.”

“Yes, sir…”

“And after that, clean the house.”

“Yes, sir…”

Of course, with a staggering forty kilograms of sandbags strapped to his limbs, it couldn’t be dismissed as simple play or housework.

*What? I’m this exhausted already?*

A profound sense of fatigue had taken over his entire body, and sweat was pouring down like rain.

*Was I always this weak?*

Deep in a corner of Bong-gu’s mind, a loathing for his own powerlessness began to simmer.

*You pathetic fool. With a body this weak, how are you going to protect your family, find the Elixir, and cure your mother…?*

But Bong-gu shook his head a few times, casting off the weak thoughts, and began to scrub the floor fiercely with the rag in his hand.

*You can do this, Kim Bong-gu. You have to endure, get stronger. Get stronger and go back to how things were, when the whole family was happy…*

The hellish hours piled up.

One day, then another, and another…

By the time a week had passed, Bong-gu was shocked to realize that absolutely nothing about him had changed.

*If anything, my body is just getting more worn out by the day!*

There’s a term often used in psychology: confirmation bias.

It’s the tendency to ignore or somehow look away from information you don’t want to believe.

Simply put, it’s the tendency to see only what you want to see and hear only what you want to hear, unable to accept that you might be wrong…

*He must have a reason…*

Lately, Bong-gu’s thought patterns seemed to be a perfect fit for the term ‘confirmation bias.’

He couldn’t accept the fact that the training he was gritting his teeth and enduring was a meaningless act…

*Right, maybe he’s testing my patience and perseverance right now.*

If that wasn’t it, he couldn’t think of any other reason why Kang-jun would order such inefficient training.

If he were practicing punches or kicks while wearing heavy bracelets and anklets, that would have been at least somewhat understandable.

But no, all he was doing was grueling ‘childcare’ and ‘housework’…

*Something about this felt strange, no matter how I thought about it.*

Completely engrossed in his own hypothesis, Kim Bong-gu continued to add more and more layers to his theory.

*Yeah, there are plenty of stories like that, right?*

Like someone who, after countless hardships, finally gets a job at a famous chef’s restaurant, only to spend years prepping ingredients without ever touching a pan…

Or someone who becomes an apprentice to a famous cartoonist, only to be forced to practice drawing a single straight line, day in and day out, for years…

Masters who have achieved great things in their fields don’t just hand over their secrets easily.

*It was a test after all…*

Just then, Kang-jun, who had been lying on the sofa scratching his stomach and watching TV, glanced at the calendar…

“What the, it’s already the end of the month?”

Having checked the date, Kang-jun turned to Bong-gu, who was neatly folding laundry on one side of the living room.

“Hey, Bong-gu. When did you say your Promotion Test was?”

“You said it was in early December, so there’s about two months left.”

“Already?” Kang-jun repeated, chewing on his lip as he thought.

*Crap, I’m screwed. I should probably start his training soon…*

He had gotten obsessed after watching the manga ‘Dragon B■ll’ and had been making Bong-gu do the inefficient training he’d always sworn he’d try if he ever got a disciple.

No.

To be honest, he had even forgotten that he’d ordered Bong-gu to wear the sandbags in the first place, and for the past half a month, he had been living the high life, lazing around while pushing all the childcare and housework onto him…

Only now, with the deadline looming, did he feel a sense of crisis and begin to think that he should provide some ‘proper training.’

“So, when did you say that medal memorial and award ceremony was?”

“Just a moment, you said ‘October 1st,’ so that would be…”

Kim Bong-gu trailed off, muttering, “Huh?” He pulled his phone from his pocket to check the date.

“Huh? It’s tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?”

“Yes, it’s tomorrow.”

Kang-jun smacked his lips with a “Tsk,” and replied in a displeased tone.

“Well then, let’s go to the award ceremony tomorrow first, and then we’ll start some proper training.”

At those words, Kim Bong-gu’s emotions surged, and he asked in a choked voice.

“S-Sir. Does this mean I’ve finally passed the ‘test’?”

Kang-jun, on the other hand, could only blink stupidly.

What test was he suddenly talking about? And what did he mean by ‘passed’?

Just then, a wide grin spread across Kim Bong-gu’s face as he spoke again.

“Sir, it’s me, Kim Bong-gu.”

“And?”

“I’m nothing if not perceptive.”

“So?”

“I knew all along.”

Finishing his sentence, Kim Bong-gu let out a soft chuckle and asked in a triumphant tone.

“You’ve been testing my patience and perseverance for the past half-month, haven’t you?”

Kang-jun stared blankly at Bong-gu for a moment, then let out a low “Ah,” and quickly replied.

“Y-Yeah, you could say that…”

With that, Kang-jun lightly patted Bong-gu’s shoulder.

“Hey, anyway, you’ve worked hard…”

“Sir…”

“And, uh, you know. Be ready starting tomorrow…”

As soon as he finished, Kang-jun fled the scene as if escaping. Left alone, Kim Bong-gu let out a quiet sob, unable to contain the complex emotions boiling up inside him…

“Well, look at him.”

The baby Doberman had been watching the scene unfold in silence.

No.

The Great Demon Marbas thought to himself, tail wagging gently.

*Immortal, you devilish bastard…*

Of course, the real devil was him.

In the three years since the Gates first appeared, several cities had vanished from the map.

They had suffered such catastrophic damage from the monsters that poured out of the Gates that reconstruction was impossible, and they were simply abandoned.

Prime examples were the Gangwon and North Chungcheong provinces, which had been reduced to ghost towns by a ‘Disaster-Grade Gate’…

The situation was not much different for the outskirts of Gyeonggi Province, which bordered the two regions.

They were, in a word, dead cities.

These places were essentially lawless zones, and as a result, they naturally attracted those who, for one reason or another, lived in the shadows.

And…

Anseong City in Gyeonggi Province, located not far from the capital, was one such dead city.

Inside one of its abandoned buildings.

A small bar was filled with the continuous sound of sultry jazz music.

A handsome man took a sip of strong whiskey and spoke in a calm tone.

“The big day is almost upon us.”

For the past several days, he had been relentlessly tailing and monitoring the organization’s target, ‘The Filial Son, Kim Bong-gu.’

Kim Do-hun.

He was a key figure within the Anti-Bureau Alliance, ranked 11th among the Twelve Executives…

And he was also once a revered S-rank Hunter who operated under the Hunter alias, the Insectmancer.

He had suddenly defected to the Anti-Bureau Alliance and disappeared, living in the shadows ever since and committing countless serious crimes.

“Aren’t you excited, oppa?”

A young-looking girl who had been clinging to the man’s side let out a crazed laugh, “Kekek,” as she spoke.

The Torture Technician, Lee Hui-ji.

She, too, was a key executive in the Anti-Bureau Alliance, ranked 12th…

She was once an S-rank Hunter belonging to the Bureau, but she became a wanted fugitive after numerous cruel crimes she had secretly committed inside Gates were exposed one after another.

Although she didn't share the Anti-Bureau Alliance's ideology, she had joined the organization simply because it allowed her to indulge in murder and torture to her heart’s content.

“The target is strong.”

At Kim Do-hun’s characteristically flat tone, Lee Hui-ji grinned.

“I know. That’s why I’m so excited.”

After she spoke, Lee Hui-ji turned her head slightly, looking around at the people scattered throughout the bar.

“Right?”

Although the deep shadows filling the room made it impossible to count their exact numbers…

There appeared to be at least thirty of them, all murderers belonging to the Anti-Bureau Alliance.

Every single one of them was someone the world called an ‘evildoer’ or a ‘villain.’

“Tsk.”

Clicking his tongue, Kim Do-hun turned his head slightly to survey his group before continuing in a nonchalant tone.

“Tomorrow, we will wait for the award ceremony to begin. We strike the moment the target, The Filial Son Kim Bong-gu, steps onto the stage.”

He paused for a moment.

“We’ll buy time by causing a blackout inside the convention hall, then create chaos by planting and detonating bombs at eight pre-designated points.”

“And after that?”

“We kill as many non-allies as possible to prove the incompetence of those Bureau bastards and sear the fear of our organization into their minds. Then…”

Kim Do-hun trailed off, then violently stabbed a dagger, glinting with a cold blue light, into the photo of the ‘target’ lying on the table.

“We abduct the target and disappear.”

As his words ended, a chorus of high and low laughter began to fill the eerie atmosphere of the bar.

Just then, Lee Hui-ji cried out in an excited voice, “Ah, oppa!” and shoved her phone right in front of Kim Do-hun’s face.

“It’s today now!”

The time had passed midnight, and the day of the operation had begun.

And so…

The day of the long-awaited memorial and award ceremony arrived.