EFME 30

The next place they headed to was the training room. Unlike the other places they had toured so far, the training room was in the basement.

“The main training facility is somewhere else. Do you know where?”

“A dungeon?”

“Oh. You know. That’s right, a dungeon. After all, if you use a big skill, the surroundings get completely destroyed……. It doesn’t matter if a dungeon gets wrecked, right? It gets restored after the stabilization period ends. So we practice there. Of course, we’re not going to use skills that big, so we’ll do it here.”

Sunyul followed Dakyung into the training room.

Seeing the inside of the training room brought back an unpleasant memory. It was the memory of when he had faced a monster one-on-one at the Supernatural Agency. If the monster hadn’t suddenly disappeared back then, Sunyul would have been mauled without a chance to escape.

‘That… the Guild Leader must have done it, right?’

Muyoung’s skill could make a target vanish in an instant, and that monster had also disappeared suddenly.

Come to think of it, it was also Muyoung who had awakened Sunyul, who had been sleeping as if dead in a box. It was impossible to know if the box would have disappeared and Sunyul would have opened his eyes even if someone other than Muyoung had touched it.

It was Muyoung who had gotten him out of the Korea Supernatural Research Institute, and Muyoung who had continued to look after him. Sunyul had received so much kindness from Muyoung so far.

“Is the training room that awesome?”

“Huh? Oh?”

At Dakyung’s words, Sunyul turned his head in surprise.

“You had such a deeply moved expression on your face.”

“No, I was just… thinking about something else.”

“What, were you thinking about the Guild Leader or something?”

Having been hit spot-on, Sunyul’s face turned red. Dakyung made an awkward expression.

“Hyung, you really like the Guild Leader a lot. Is this that imprinting effect or whatever it’s called?”

“……What’s that?”

“You know, how a baby bird thinks the first thing it sees is its mother and follows it around. Seems like it fits?”

“No, I just respect the Guild Leader.”

“Same difference.”

Dakyung half-listened to Sunyul’s excuse and started to reserve a spot in the training room.

“Huh, Bada hyung is here.”

Dakyung, who was operating the touchscreen, found Bada’s name. Bada was in the middle of training in the training room on basement floor 11. Dakyung stopped the reservation process as if it was a good thing.

“Let’s go see Bada hyung.”

“But he’s training… is that okay?”

“That hyung, the only thing he does these days is train anyway, so it’s okay to interrupt him once in a while. Besides, Bada hyung is the expert when it comes to physical stuff. My skills are all like magic. A bit far from weapons like these… Bada hyung uses all sorts of weapons, you know? You should learn from an expert.”

Sunyul was grabbed by Dakyung and half-dragged away. As soon as they arrived on basement floor 11, Dakyung found Bada without difficulty.

Bada was standing in a training room with a ruggedly uneven floor. With a rather long staff in one hand, Bada stared into the empty air. He was so focused it felt hard to interrupt him.

“Looks like he just started. Let’s wait a bit.”

Though he didn’t know what it was, Sunyul decided to wait quietly for Bada.

A moment later, something shot up from the empty training ground. The amorphous form soon changed into the shape of a giant monster. Sunyul froze in surprise at the sight of a monster in such an unexpected place.

“Da, Dakyung.”

“Yes?”

Turning back at the trembling voice, Dakyung saw that Sunyul’s face had gone pale. Realizing his mistake, Dakyung quickly explained.

“It’s a golem made with a skill. It’s used for practice instead of a real monster.”

“Ah…….”

“Sorry. I thought you’d know, of course.”

“I-it’s okay. As long as it’s nothing serious, it’s fine.”

Sunyul said, trying to calm his pounding heart. Dakyung apologized over and over again.

While the two were talking, Bada dodged the golem’s attack as it brought its fist down on him. Stepping on the protruding terrain and the wall in succession, Bada leaped up and jumped above the golem’s head.

Thwack, with a loud noise, the staff was embedded in the golem’s head.

The golem didn’t break even from the powerful blow. Instead, as if thoroughly enraged, it raised its hands above its head and tried to snatch Bada.

Bada let go of the staff, dropped onto the golem’s shoulder, then used the golem’s moving hand as a foothold to jump up again and pull the staff out.

A series of attacks that were like a thrilling stunt continued. Bada skillfully landed one attack after another without getting hit by the golem even once.

After about 10 minutes had passed like that, the golem’s body stopped. Bada came down to the floor and kicked the golem’s body with his foot. Then, the golem crumbled back into dirt as if it had never been there in the first place.

“Hyung!”

As soon as the spar with the golem ended, Dakyung called out to Bada. Bada turned around, scowling.

“Why are you here? And you brought baggage with you.”

Sunyul, who had been turned into baggage in an instant, gave an awkward laugh.

“Hyung, I’m going to tell the Guild Leader about those mean words.”

“Go on and tell him, you little brat. You think I have to live with my mouth shut because I’m scared of that guy?”

“Then, not for the Guild Leader’s sake but for Sunyul hyung’s, say only nice things.”

“Why should I…….”

Bada’s mouth, about to ask why he should have to do that, clamped shut like a clam the moment he saw Sunyul’s sullen eyes. Looking like a pathetic puppy, he had a way of shutting people up.

Bada coughed, ahem, and looked back and forth between the two.

“So, why are you here?”

“Sunyul hyung is going into the dungeon this time, you know.”

“Ah, right. I heard.”

“Because of that, the Guild Leader lent him a weapon and told him to at least learn how to use it, so we came to the training room. But an expert would be a better teacher than me, right? So I came as soon as I saw your name.”

“You mean you came to dump him on me, you bastard.”

“No, not at all. This is seeking out an expert… ah, ow ow ow ow!”

As Bada grabbed Dakyung’s ear and twisted it mercilessly, Dakyung screamed. Sunyul flinched and covered his own ears, and seeing that, Bada clicked his tongue.

“I won’t do it to you, so don’t worry.”

“……Okay.”

Bada looked at the slightly frightened Sunyul and let out a short sigh.

“I just finished training anyway, so teaching you a bit won’t be hard.”

“Tsundere.”

Dakyung, who muttered from the side, quickly hid behind Sunyul before Bada could attack him again. Instead of catching the fleeing Dakyung and punishing him, Bada held out his hand to Sunyul.

“What weapon did you get? Let me see.”

Sunyul handed [Flash Blossom] and [Shooting Silver] to Bada.

“You borrowed some good stuff. As for the gun, we can just go to the shooting range and try it out later. The dagger… I guess actual combat is best, right?”

Bada smiled belligerently and returned the dagger.

“Actual combat?”

“Yep, try to attack me with that.”

“What?!”

As Sunyul freaked out, Bada shrugged.

“I’m wearing a stat-weakening item right now so I’m weaker, so you should be able to somewhat keep up with my movements.”

“That makes it an even bigger problem!”

“What, are you worried I might get hit by you?”

Bada sneered at Sunyul.

“Hey, even before I awakened, I could beat someone like you easily. Don’t worry and just come at me.”

“Can’t we do this with something other than a real weapon?”

“No. You need to get used to the item.”

“…….”

“I’m not dumb enough to get hit by you, so hurry up.”

While egging him on, Bada thought Sunyul wouldn’t be able to attack until the very end. From Bada’s perspective, Sunyul was a total pushover.

But contrary to his expectations, Sunyul soon gripped the dagger and rushed at Bada. Bada was inwardly surprised by the rather fast attack but dodged it with ease.

One might expect his body to collapse after being dodged from an all-out attack, but Sunyul used the shift in his center of gravity to turn his body lightly. Just like that, he stabbed toward Bada once again.

A strange light appeared in Bada’s eyes. Sunyul’s subsequent attacks were precise, with no wasted movements.

Sunyul’s attacks continued. Bada, while dodging the attacks, was inwardly impressed. His form was much better than those who just brandished weapons after crudely obtaining a weapon-related skill. The movements without any excess were incredibly fluid.

Bada sparred with Sunyul for quite a while. Then, confirming that Sunyul’s movements had become noticeably slower, he grabbed Sunyul’s wrist.

“Alright, that’s enough for now.”

“Whoa.”

The exclamation of awe came from the side.

“Hyung, you fight really well, don’t you? I think I’ve fallen for you.”

“……Don’t flatter me.”

“I’m not flattering you, I’m serious. Bada hyung dodged with his agility, but if he hadn’t, he would have had a hole somewhere by now.”

“I wouldn’t have gotten a hole, but you did pretty well. Your movements look like you’ve fought before.”

“No way.”

Sunyul laughed awkwardly, but he also felt that he had done well. His body moved more naturally than he thought. It felt like he was putting something he had learned into practice.

“If you’re interested, try learning self-defense later. I think you’d be pretty good at it.”

“I will.”

“Alright, then let’s do a little more and then go to the shooting range too.”

Tossing aside his initially irritable attitude, Bada began to teach Sunyul quite proactively. Sunyul followed Bada’s teachings well.

Bada felt a little strange watching Sunyul.

‘It’s weird, his movements are kind of similar to mine.’

As if he had learned hand-to-hand combat directly from Bada.

‘Of course, there’s no way that happened.’

But it was too similar to dismiss as a mere delusion.