Chapter 222: Not-so-ordinary Life 1

#1

It is a season of scorching heat, summer.

“Ugh, ugh… this is what they meant by prominent four seasons…!”

When Thor first heard the Koreans talking about the ‘prominence of each season’ in their country, he did not really understand what they meant. Frankly, he made fun of them internally, thinking, ‘do they not have anything to boast about that they boast about their seasons?’

Most of the countries worldwide have four seasons, they just differ in their degree and duration. Reaching the end of his one-month training in Korea, he finally experienced their summer and by then, the understood what the Koreans meant by the prominence of their seasons.

It was just a few days ago where the spring air still had a bit of chill, but now, he felt like he was being roasted under the sun. The stark contrast between the seasons was so prominent indeed.

“If you are so tired, you can lessen your load.”

“Aghh…argghh… I cannot… do that…”

Without a single breath, Jaehwang was running lightly beside Thor as he dragged his feet He then shook his head in Thor’s stubbornness and increased his pace.

“AHHHHH!!!”

As Jaehwang increased his speed, Thor let out something in between scream and a roar and ran after Jaehwang. For a light jog, Thor can run all year long but the reason why he was struggling so much was that the incline of hill was at almost 60 degrees and he was also carrying a heavy load.

Thor could barely find his center of gravity and the stones were also slippery.

The weight on him was a staggering 400kg, the same weight as the one Jaehwang was carrying. These specially made weights were created only to bring pressure on the carrier’s body. It had such a great heat transfer property as well that it transfers all its received heat onto the body of the carrier. As the Prince described, this was not only an equipment of physical training but also endurance training, but to the carrier, it would work out like a curse.

“Master Jaehwang does not necessarily have to slow down for Thor,” said Irumi, who was running in front of Jaehwang.

She did not like Thor since because of him, Jaehwang’s training was being disrupted. If Jaehwang was not going at Thor’s speed, he would’ve been way ahead of her. Of course, the weight that she carried was 200kg.

“They are both cute though.”

The rest of Thor’s raid team asked for a normal boot camp, but Thor specifically wanted to train alongside Jaehwang. Jaehwang tried to reject him, but he was very stubborn and although Thor gave him a condescending first impression, he was quite disciplined as a trainee. He promised that if he ever gives up during the training, he will never bother Jaehwang again and since then, Thor has been training alongside him.

Also, Emperor was training with them and Thor did not want to give up while Emperor was there too. As they were heading for downhill, Thor and Emperor passed Jaehwang for the first time.

“AAAHHHHH!”

“UGHHH”

The two fell down the hill with a loud noise and they kept going even as they were bleeding.

‘They were not globally ranked fighters for no reason,’ thought Jaehwang as he started to speed up.

“Help… me!”

Thor and Emperor’s screams continued for another hour, but in the end, they arrived at the Grand Stadium.

“Here! Ughhhhhh”

Thor held onto his knee as Emperor followed behind him by falling to the ground. He then stumbled towards Emperor and shook his shoulders.

“Come on, we have to run some more.”

“Enough is enough!” (in English) *coughing*

Emperor seemed to have lost his translator as he was rolling on the floor.

Clank. Clank.

Jaehwang took off his armor and wiped his sweat with the handkerchief Irumi gave him.

“It was difficult training so let us meet after lunch together. I will especially raise the intensity today so both of you are going to spar with me, two on one.”

“OMG!”

“Ugh… monster”

Even without the translator, they seemed to understand what Jaehwang was telling them. Emperor and Thor looked at Jaehwang with contempt. They were thankful that Jaehwang extended their break time, but they knew the nature of the two on one training so they were not too excited about it. Prior to this, Emperor’s Phoenix Raid Team and Thor’s Berserker Raid Team would take 5 volunteers and take turns in group training.

The members of the two raid teams all volunteered, looking forward to train with an Asian beauty like Irumi, but once they found out that their only opponent is Jaehwang, they were all disappointed.

Jaehwang could not face all of them single-handed either, so he started using his arrow but once he started to use his main skill, the trainees had begun to relive their nightmare. Without the beautiful lady in their reach, most of their members avoided the training after just a few sessions.

Just the two leaders, namely, Emperor and Thor kept participating out of obligation, but the intensity of this above-6-star Hunters’ games needed at least a 5-star Healers’ assistance. With such a special training, Emperor and Thor looked at Jaehwang with bittersweet faces.

“Let me know when you guys want to give up anytime. Empress left us first.”

Empress left two days after her set departure date.

On the last day of training, Empress mentioned that she just wanted to check out how a 10-star Hunter looked like. She did not have a raid as a priority in mind, just like Emperor and Thor. She thought of using her beauty to get closer to Jaehwang but seeing how he half-tortured the global rankings with Emperor and Thor, she was disgusted and set out for Europe.

“No!” Responded Thor with his determined eyes which made Jaehwang look at him pleasantly.

Jaehwang left to go to his newly assigned room. Training with the two others was actually helping him. He had been just fighting in monster raids for a long time, and his intuition in a fight between humans was getting rusty. Having several opponents to fight with was good practice for him.

Intentionally or not, Thor and Emperor were also starting to become friendly with each other. They shared a lot during their continued training. The reason why Thor despised short rangers was because of trauma from the time when he was a member of the Highlander Raid Team. There was a short ranger he was not on good terms with, and because this short ranger unexpectedly left the team, his close mentor died in his place when he tried to save thor.

It was a time when much could be learned from Emperor too. Before Jaehwang’s appearance, Emperor used to be the top hunter for a very long time. Hence, Emperor taught Jaehwang various things that the #1 must be concerned with other than the battle itself. He even connected Jaehwang to many networks around the world that even the Invincible Palace did not have.

The day they were leaving, Jaehwang went out to the airport for a goodbye, promising to do a raid 9-tier monster raid with them one day.

#2

Upon returning to the Invincible Palace, Jaehwang walked alone.

He trained for almost a month but he could not let himself out to anyone about the empty void in his heart. He walked hurriedly to his room.

The new accommodation suggested by Na Gil-Han was a palace where the Prince was residing, and it was incomparable in its size to his previous place. Of course, the palace was also quite empty. The rapid growth of the Invincible Palace was thanks to the Prince’s influence, but without the Prince, the palace felt empty.

*footsteps*

Jaehwang headed to his personal training ground located in the basement. Before, he had to walk about 5 minutes to get to his training room, but at the palace, a higher quality facility connected the main building to the basement.

Jaehwang practiced his controlled breathing in front of his training ground for a bit.

Today was a little special day. After unlocking the several security measures of the facility, Jaehwang stepped into the floor, he locked all the doors from the inside and gazed into the middle of the training ground.

A crossed-legged lady sitting came into his sight.

She was about 1-metre above the ground, floating, with her eyes closed. A streak of great red mana was surrounding her body like a wrap. The aura was expanding and constricting like a heartbeat, and the lady in the middle of it was slightly smiling as if she was enjoying her peace.

It was the woman who gave him a month of emptiness.

It could be quite stressful to live with someone on one’s mind constantly, but it would be worse if one were to be cut off from something he/she had already familiarized with.

Her smile, in the midst of the bright red wave of hair, was so beautiful that even Jaehwang has lost himself for a bit. While he was mesmerized by his magical beauty, he suddenly shed light on his eyes as he looked at his energy being absorbed into her body. It was finally over.

Once all the red energy was absorbed, she was on the ground and her eyes opened with a beam.

And her eyes were blindingly clear. It was not just an ordinary brightness. It was so deep as if it contained the entire universe inside a quiet light. It was like a jewel that was connecting all the beauty of this world into one.

Goongi opened her eyes and smiled brightly toward Jaehwang. He missed this smile.

Jaehwang wanted to say something charming, but instead, he came out quite cold. “Are you done?”

“Yes,” Goongi replied enthusiastically as she tried to come and embrace Jaehwang.

Looking at her body, he felt like he was blushing.

“Your clothes…”

“Oh right,”

As he shyly asked, she shook her hand into the air once, summoning a wave of fabric that wrapped her body before turning into a neat red dress.

“May I get the taste of my master’s embrace now?”

*hugs*

Goongi threw herself in Jaehwang’s arms.

“It took you so long.”

She was gone for three staggering weeks and at At Jaehwang’s remark, Goongi nodded and replied,

“Yes. But I found all of them now”

“I’m glad.”

“Yes.”

Jaehwang sighed. Compared to before, it took her way too long. Three weeks… the 10-tier mana stone of Oogamushi was different from the 9-tier mana stone. If the 9-tier mana stone had 2 layers, the 10-tier mana stone contained a small universe like the Goongi’s eye.

Since it took so long, Jaehwang was worried that something might go wrong. He trusted Goongi and knew that if he touched her during her session, it could be dangerous so he held himself back. And now, she was full of confidence and he could feel an endless undistilled power in her body.

“Were you able to get half of your body now?”

“Yes, and…”

“And…?”

“I can do everything a human woman can do now”

“?!”