Chapter 188

CHAPTER 188

"Huh?"

The moment their early-morning gathering for sharing grievances turned into a conspiracy meeting.

Naturally, however, it began with skepticism.

"We're going to catch Seo Jun?"

"How?"

"Wouldn't appealing to his conscience be—"

"Do you really think appealing to Seo Jun's conscience would work?"

Despite Lumi's merciless statement that their teammate lacked a conscience, everyone nodded.

The past few days had been more than enough time to understand Seo Jun.

Seo Jun...

Had no conscience.

Quite a lot of none, in fact.

At least, that's how it seemed.

Of course, Seo Jun had his justification.

Making his teammates stronger was good for everyone.

That was why they'd followed along.

But somehow they all felt it.

Not just them.

Lee Dong-su, Tae-woo, even the gym owner and the gym members all felt the same thing.

Seo Jun simply enjoyed tormenting people.

It was a good thing with a noble purpose that genuinely helped others.

But it was still exhausting for the person experiencing it.

Physically, not mentally.

No matter how beneficial bitter medicine might be, could anyone really like the person who kept force-feeding it to them?

"If he were the kind of person who listened to reason, we'd have gotten some rest already. We're exercising longer than we do during normal broadcasts... and we can't even get a proper hour of rest."

Lumi continued.

"Well, technically we do get breaks."

"Only when we're on the verge of death."

"Which is exactly why I'm proposing this."

Ha Yoon-ho, once again feeling the burden of responsibility as the team leader who had drafted Seo Jun, spoke up.

"We need to catch Seo Jun."

"How?"

"Uh..."

Everyone sighed.

They'd thought he had a plan.

"Anyway, you're suggesting this as today's stream content, right?"

After some thought, Alpaca spoke.

"Oh. Inside the game?"

"Wouldn't that be the best option, Lumi?"

"What if we set a trap and make a wager?"

At Wind Sword's suggestion, Ha Yoon-ho slapped his knee.

"Oh! Let's try something like that."

As everyone contributed ideas, the meeting slowly gained momentum.

Plans seemed to be forming.

But—

"Hmm. Even if we somehow lure Seo Jun into a trap through sheer luck... how exactly are we supposed to win?"

The fundamental problem remained.

Wind Sword asked the question.

Ha Yoon-ho answered.

"Well, there are four of us. We could raid him."

"Do you think Seo Jun is something that can be defeated by a raid?"

"Then we force him to play a trash character somehow."

"Oh? So Epic and Kael weren't trash characters?"

"Kael is not a trash character."

"Wind Sword, I sincerely apologize."

"Accepted, Lumi."

"Ah! Then what about making an impossible bet?"

"Did you see Id's Trial?"

Lumi shot down another idea immediately.

"Hmm. In-game..."

There's really no answer.

Which was only natural.

Their ace was someone who could casually defeat professional players.

"Then can we stop Seo Jun in real life?"

Ha Yoon-ho muttered.

At that moment, a rough voice sounded from behind him.

"I wouldn't recommend that."

It was the gym owner.

Also the owner of the fitness center attached to the gym.

"Oh, good morning."

"Good morning."

Everyone greeted him.

They had only known him for a few days, but they'd spent hours together during those days.

Thanks to that strange sense of familiarity that developed, they'd become close surprisingly quickly.

Which was why nobody was particularly worried that he'd caught them plotting something suspicious.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

"But Coach, what do you mean by that? Why wouldn't you recommend it?"

"Trying to challenge him in real life. I really wouldn't recommend it."

"Why?"

"Hmm. I suppose I should tell you about the first time that brat came to my gym."

"Oh!"

"Seo Jun's past?"

"Was this where his power originated?"

The coach shook his head.

"No."

"Then?"

"A few years ago, a handsome high school student walked into my gym."

"Oh! High school Seo Jun!"

The coach clasped his hands behind his back and closed his eyes as if recalling old memories.

"It was after evening sparring practice. The sun had already set, and I was cleaning the gym by myself. Just like always. I've always had the habit of cleaning my own battlefield."

This gym was the only stage he had left after retiring as a fighter.

So even when the members went out for dinner after training, he stayed behind and cleaned.

Joining them would've felt awkward.

"Anyway, I recognized whose son he was immediately. I'm fairly close with his father. The two of them look alike."

"I see."

"So I greeted him warmly. Said I'd never seen him before and that he must be Seo Jun. That's how I introduced myself."

The coach chuckled.

"And then that brat suddenly said—"

"What?"

Everyone had become completely engrossed in the story.

"'Please teach me modern martial arts.'"

Question marks appeared across everyone's faces.

Then they burst out laughing.

"Modern martial arts?"

"Hahaha. Seo Jun was hopeless even back then."

"Was he role-playing in real life too?"

Meanwhile, Lumi was thinking seriously.

Martial arts... There has to be a connection.

Did he train at some dojo or martial arts school when he was younger? That's why he called it 'modern martial arts'?

"I laughed too, just like you all are now. Then I told him that if he wanted to learn, he should register first."

The coach grinned.

"Do you know what he said after that?"

"Hmm... If it's Seo Jun, I feel like he probably provoked you."

The coach looked surprised.

"How did you know? Exactly right."

He laughed.

"That brat smirked, picked up a pair of gloves that had been left lying around, and climbed into the ring."

"There's no way you could let that slide, right?"

"That's right. How could I possibly let that slide? Back then I used to personally give my gym members a proper lesson. People in our line of work communicate better with our bodies, and if you don't keep them in line, they start getting rebellious."

So he had stepped into the ring thinking it would be amusing.

He intended to lightly discipline his friend's son.

But—

"That day, I seriously questioned whether it was time for me to retire from this world."

"Why?"

"Because I got beaten before I could even do anything. No—forget beaten. I got completely destroyed."

The coach sighed.

"By a high school kid. As things kept getting weirder, I gave up on the idea of going easy on him and started fighting seriously, but he blocked everything."

Ah.

A collective groan escaped from somewhere.

"......"

"......"

"So that's why you just watch from a distance now?"

"This one's definitely Seo Jun's fault."

"Seriously."

But the coach shook his head.

"No. The day he walked out after stopping every technique I had and saying, 'Thank you, I learned a lot,' I was pretty depressed. Thought I was getting old."

"But...?"

"But then he came back the next day."

The coach grinned.

"And started beating up my students the same way."

"......"

"Then I realized something."

"What?"

"'Ah, maybe I've still got a few more years left in me.'"

"..."

"..."

"..."

The Rich-Poor Gap team stared at the coach in disbelief.

The coach only burst into hearty laughter.

"It was ridiculous. The brat started giving advice to my students, then fought them one-on-one. After that he told five of them to come at him together."

The coach shook his head.

"I couldn't believe it. Then my students lost."

"Oh..."

"A high school kid was showing movements I don't think I could've pulled off even in my prime."

"Ah."

"So no, you're not beating him in real life either. Five healthy adult men jumped him, and not one of them managed to land a hit."

"Hmm..."

The coach's gaze drifted toward Lumi and Ha Yoon-ho's limbs.

Skeletons.

There really wasn't a better word.

Or perhaps anchovies.

Either way, two skeletons, one average office worker, and a thirty-something with a beer belly weren't exactly an intimidating force.

"Even with weapons, you won't win."

The coach stated it with absolute certainty.

"If you insist on starting a rebellion, I won't stop you. If you need tools, I'll even provide them."

Then he laughed.

"But you'll still lose. You saw him burst that punching bag, didn't you? That's not something just anyone can do. Hell, it's not something a normal person can do."

Even if the bag was old.

"I see..."

"So if we can't beat him in-game or in real life..."

Wind Sword offered another idea.

"What about through streaming?"

"A viewership competition? Didn't you see Seo Jun casually surpass Ha Yoon-ho on day one? Unless you want to witness the destruction match where he takes first place in every Hero Trial, give up on that idea."

"For the sake of League players around the world, should we just endure it...?"

Lumi slumped.

"And keep doing this for several more days?"

Everyone stared blankly at the ceiling.

The coach, seeing their pitiful state, offered comfort.

"Hahaha. Still, your skills will definitely improve if you stick with it. One thing that brat unquestionably has is an eye for talent."

He smiled.

"There's nothing scarier in this world than someone who's talented and also knows exactly what they're doing."

Which was why—

You never make someone like that your enemy.

The team failed to notice the sinister smile spreading across the coach's face behind his comforting words.

"Wow. I never knew he was that kind of person."

"I'm genuinely disappointed."

"Whoa! He looked away!"

"Coach!"

Still holding their squat positions—or, as Seo Jun insisted on calling them, horse stances—they glared at the coach with resentment.

"Why? What?"

The coach shamelessly avoided their eyes.

"We thought you were on our side..."

"There's nobody left to trust."

"Ha! I thought you were one of the good ones!"

At Lumi's complaint, Ha Yoon-ho nodded solemnly.

"So you're not some honorable martial artist..."

His eyes narrowed.

"You're a court flatterer."

A lackey.

Wasn't that what he was?

Their legs trembled.

Not because they were tired.

They hadn't even been exercising for ten minutes yet.

No.

This trembling came from betrayal.

Because right now—

The coach was standing behind Seo Jun, who was seated before them, casually massaging his shoulders.

"Wait. Weren't those two supposed to hate each other?"

"Wasn't the coach yelling his head off when Seo Jun burst that punching bag?"

"Politicians yell at each other in public too. Then behind closed doors they call each other 'senior' and 'junior.'"

"We got played!"

They recalled the scene from earlier.

The moment Seo Jun arrived.

The coach had coolly greeted him—

Then immediately turned around with a huge grin and reported everything the team had been plotting.

"Hahaha! That's right, Seo Jun. Take it easy on the punching bags. And teach them properly. Also, have you considered competing professionally just once—"

"Ack! Fine, fine. Just take care of the kids. You can keep beating them up if you want."

And now this was the result.

The content of the request was strange, but it was clearly a bribe.

He had sold them out.

"To think he'd trade us away just for a favor..."

"Outside the blankets really is..."

"I want to go home."

Their mistake was not realizing that the gym owner had spent years trying to lure Seo Jun into the world of combat sports whenever he got the chance.

They simply hadn't been around long enough.

Finally, Seo Jun opened his mouth.

For reference, their horse stances had been entirely voluntary.

"Well, I'll take this to mean you still have plenty of energy left."

"I'm dying."

"Still, today's actually manageable."

"Honestly, compared to spending all day doing physical conditioning, getting beaten up like today might be better."

"Why would you say that right in front of Seo Jun?!"

Lunch time.

They had come to a nearby restaurant for gukbap, yet the team members were acting as if they had revealed some state secret.

They cautiously watched Seo Jun's reaction.

For the past three days, they had done nothing but repeat basic exercises.

The problem was that those exercises were insanely exhausting.

Today, on the other hand, most of the training involved Seo Jun personally sparring with and coaching them.

Compared to before, it was easier.

There were more breaks, too.

Of course, the fact that they got beaten up repeatedly during sparring—

They assumed that was punishment for plotting rebellion.

I was planning to do this anyway.

The previous three days had simply been posture correction.

The goal wasn't improving fitness.

If it had been, he wouldn't have pushed them all the way to exhaustion.

There just wasn't enough time.

So he had aggressively corrected their fundamentals.

Walking patterns.

Ready stances.

Stride length.

The basics.

Correction and repetition.

After that came the next step.

Making sure they could actually use those fundamentals in real combat.

That was what today's sparring had been for.

In other words, nothing had changed.

There was no reason for them to be nervous.

But—

No point explaining.

Seo Jun wasn't a teacher.

So he remained silent.

Seeing that, Lumi desperately changed the topic.

"Seo Jun?"

"Yeah?"

"When you first picked up a sword..."

Lumi asked carefully.

"Were you already good at it?"

After hearing the coach's story, Lumi had become convinced that Seo Jun must have trained at some swordsmanship school before high school.

That was the reason for the question.

Everyone except Seo Jun perked up their ears.

It was an interesting topic.

"Hmm..."

With a relaxed smile, Seo Jun searched through his memories.

For the very first moment in his life—

When he had picked up a sword.