“Teacher, what training will I do today?”
At the unfamiliar address of “teacher,” Esper Lee Suchan’s eyebrows twitched. Standing before his eyes was Park Shinui, the protagonist who had turned the Ability Center upside down with absurd test results the day before.
Dressed in comfortable sportswear, he had his large eyes wide open and was making a deliberately tense expression. His black pupils were so clear that if he stared too long, he felt like he’d be sucked right in.
How could a person look like this? The feeling of encountering him up close was clearly different from seeing him from afar at the bonding ceremony venue. In a different sense from Kang Taejun’s overwhelming charisma, it was an appearance that was hard to look away from. Not a single flaw could be found anywhere on his small face. Moreover, his Guiding ability was as high as S+ grade.
Lee Suchan’s Guide, with whom he’d formed a Pair a year ago, was C-rank. With a matching rate of 60%, which was relatively high, he had been living with sufficient satisfaction every time he received Guiding. Then what would S+ grade Guiding feel like? Lee Suchan stopped short, having been about to take a step closer to Park Shinui due to the curiosity that momentarily bloomed.
From what he’d heard, Park Shinui’s matching rate with Espers belonging to the Center was close to zero across the board. In short, he was a Guide who couldn’t affect anyone except Kang Taejun—a Guide for only one person. It seemed like just yesterday that he’d become a topic with his unrealistic matching rate, and now he’d caused a stir again with the fact that he was a Guide who only worked for one person.
“Park Shinui-ssi, your physical abilities… came out as F-rank, right?”
“Yes.”
As soon as the grade was mentioned, Park Shinui’s voice plummeted. The corners of his eyes, which had been shining with curiosity just moments ago, drooped down, and his lower lip jutted out. The disappointment at receiving a low grade was plainly displayed on his completely deflated face.
Lee Suchan’s brow furrowed slightly. According to rumors, Park Shinui had a shameless personality, publicly showering affection on Esper Kang Taejun. He was said to be arrogant and selfish, treating those inferior to him carelessly and constantly spreading scandals. But Park Shinui before his eyes now was far from those rumors. Unlike the glamorous and provocative image seen on broadcasts or in articles, the atmosphere he exuded was extremely ordinary and somehow seemed harmless.
Lee Suchan looked down at the dejected Park Shinui for a moment, then cleared his throat briefly. He wanted to stop paying attention to useless things and just start training. He brought up the examination record as a hologram in the air.
“Wow.”
Park Shinui’s mouth fell wide open as if he’d never been dispirited. He looked spellbound watching the hologram, like a child seeing abilities for the first time. The way he continuously let out exclamations of “oh” and “wow” didn’t match at all with his notorious reputation. Rather, his inability to hide his emotions felt similar to his youngest sibling who had just become an adult.
“Today we’ll start with basic adaptation training. Would you come over here and sit down?”
Lee Suchan stood in front of testing equipment placed on one side and spoke bluntly. Park Shinui walked over with quick steps, pitter-pattering, then plopped down in the chair without hesitation. With a very innocent face that didn’t even doubt what training this was.
“In a moment, when I give you the signal, you’ll hear sounds through the headset. It’s the wavelength generated from Gates converted to sound, and it’s the most basic yet essential training. First, we’ll start with the lowest level, D-rank wavelength. Try to endure as long as you can, and if it becomes too difficult, press the button in front of you.”
After putting the headset on Park Shinui, Lee Suchan distanced himself appropriately. Then he walked to the control device and lightly raised his left hand to give the signal.
“Are you ready?”
“Yes.”
Simultaneously with the answer, a sharp mechanical sound pierced his eardrums.
BEEEEEP!
Park Shinui’s body jerked greatly in that instant as he reached toward the button with a pale face. Just before his fingertips touched the button, a second wave came crashing. It was on a different dimension from the first. Something closer to vibration than sound seemed to be scratching directly at the inside of his skull. His hand stopped. His vision flashed white, and just like that, his consciousness cut off.
“Park Shinui-ssi!”
The startled Lee Suchan rushed over like lightning. Bewilderment appeared in his eyes as he looked at Park Shinui, who had collapsed limply in the chair with a face pale as a blank sheet of paper. Fainting at the start of the lowest existing training level—in over 10 years of doing this work, this was a first.
“What in the world…”
Lee Suchan recalled that he needed to report the situation to the Research Director and Kang Taejun, who were monitoring the training content in real time, and took out an emergency pill from the medicine container.
After prying open Park Shinui’s mouth and pushing in the pill, he immediately infused warmth into his palm and rubbed around his neck. Tap. As the capsule dissolved and the liquid seeped down his throat, Park Shinui’s eyelashes trembled and his eyelids lifted.
“Park Shinui-ssi, are you conscious?”
“Teacher…”
“You just fainted during training. Are you alright?”
“I… fainted?”
Park Shinui, who blinked his long eyelashes a few times, straightened his upper body with a dazed expression. He didn’t seem to even remember what had happened.
“Aren’t you dizzy?”
“No. I think I’m fine.”
“I think it would be best to stop here for today.”
“What? But I haven’t received any training yet.”
“That’s true, but… it seems impossible because there’s no lower difficulty than this.”
“What?”
“I’m saying there’s no training stage lower than this.”
“Ah…”
“For now, we’ll try the wavelength adaptation training again tomorrow, but if you immediately lose consciousness like this then too, the training itself will be meaningless.”
Behind Lee Suchan’s back as he began to indifferently wrap up the situation, Park Shinui checked the clock hanging on the wall. It had only been 10 minutes since entering the training room. To end so helplessly like this. He felt he understood even without needing further explanation. Just how powerless an existence his body was in this worldview.
Monster wavelength adaptation training was an essential gateway that all Guides and Espers had to go through. When a Gate opened, the standard for immediately assessing its grade was precisely the energy wavelength flowing from inside.
Yet Park Shinui, who had proudly declared he would go to the battlefield, had fainted at merely the lowest D-rank stage. Almost at the very start too. This meant that far from combat, he couldn’t say anything even if he was treated as a “nuisance” in his current state.
‘Even if the grade is low, this is too much. How embarrassing.’
Park Shinui rubbed his face, which had turned red with embarrassment, with his palms and let out a deep sigh. He felt like he’d been properly taught a lesson for thinking lightly that it was just a world inside a novel.
“By any chance… is this training content reported to Kang Taejun-ssi too?”
“Of course. All training processes regarding Park Shinui-ssi are being transmitted in real time.”
Lee Suchan answered indifferently as if asking what was so obvious.
“…I see.”
Park Shinui stood up awkwardly, suppressing the shame rising within him. Imagining what kind of eyes Kang Taejun would look at him with after seeing such disastrous results made anxiety wash over him already.
“You may move to the Guide-exclusive training room now.”
“Yes…”
A dispirited answer flowed out naturally. Park Shinui bowed in greeting and shuffled out of the training room.
Could he even retake that training tomorrow? At least he’d need to last longer than today to save face, but right now it seemed impossible.
Park Shinui retraced the sensation just before fainting. Since it had been so instantaneous, he couldn’t remember the exact feeling, but what was certain was that it wasn’t at a level that could be handled by human willpower. Should he say it felt like his breath was cut off first before he could even think about anything? The moment something closer to a wave than sound directly burrowed into the inside of his skull, it seemed his body had declared surrender first.
Arriving at the Guide training room, Park Shinui leaned his body against a chair while waiting for the person in charge. Hoo. A sigh leaked out.
His original self wasn’t like this. He’d had a body that wouldn’t be pushed around anywhere, yet here he was a weakling who couldn’t endure even 5 seconds of D-rank wavelength stage 1.
At this rate, he had an ominous premonition that the only moment he’d face Kang Taejun would be when Guiding was needed.
“Is there some miraculous method to drastically increase stamina…”
To intervene in events in a fantasy novel, getting entangled with the protagonist was essential. But his opponent was someone whose ability stats had a heaven and earth difference to begin with, and who even loathed Park Shinui. They were extreme opposites both in skill and emotion, making it difficult to even approach.
“At least I need to see his face to try doing something.”
Kang Taejun hadn’t come home last night either. Even though they’d formed a bond and were living in one house, he couldn’t even catch a glimpse of him.
