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Chapter 26: Training Grounds of the Dawn (2)

But as he passed three hundred, he tasted metal, and after five hundred, his arms lost sensation. Now, reaching seven hundred, he was barely managing a push-up every few minutes, while his head spun and nausea surged.

"Tsk tsk...."

During the past three hours, Huey did nothing but click his tongue and mock Kai, offering no teaching or encouragement.

"When I was your age, I did three thousand a day."

"How can a man not manage one thousand push-ups?"

"Do you even have one there?"

Despite the mockery and scorn, Kai responded with his actions and kept his mouth firmly shut.

Gritting his teeth he thought, I’ll get it done.

It had always been like this for Kai. No matter how great the injustice in front of him, he faced it head-on. Some called it stubbornness, venom, or fighting spirit, but Kai had always had these qualities since he was young, and that spirit shone intensely even now.

"Nine... hundred... eighty... four...."

If this had been reality, it would have been impossible to do push-ups for so long purely on mental strength alone. His muscles would have torn and been damaged, leaving him unable to move even a finger. However, as much as the pain felt real, this was a game!

I\'ll show him.

Eventually, Kai, as a strong-willed Korean, managed to complete the one thousand push-ups after four hours.

"I-I did it...."

Kai looked up at Huey with defiant eyes.

Faced with Kai’s rebellious gaze, Huey couldn\'t help but smile even as he said, "How dare you look at me like that?"

Thud.

Before Kai could hear all of Huey’s words, he lost consciousness and collapsed.

Looking down at Kai, who was logged out forcefully, Huey\'s nose slightly twitched. "Hmm, his perseverance is so-so... A pass, I guess."

A strange expectation began to shine in his eyes.

***

[You have entered a severe unconscious state. Please log in again after 8 hours.]

"Oh, I got disconnected."

It seemed the capsule had judged his brainwaves to be unstable!

Han Jung-Woo, having given his all, muttered with a dazed expression, "Well, with my body in this state, I couldn\'t have continued the game anyway."

He felt too lethargic to even move a finger. Then, unaware of its owner’s state, his stomach gurgled as it cried out for food!

Eventually, Han Jung-Woo got up and walked out of his room, and his mother, who had been reading a magazine, glanced at him and said, "Oh my, why does our jobless son, who doesn’t even go to school and only plays games, look so tired?"

"Ugh...." Already exhausted, Han Jung-Woo shuddered at the additional mental attack. "I\'m just really tired right now."

"Why?"

"I was busy learning something today."

"...Hm?"

But after hearing those words, Kim Hyun-Jung rushed over as if she had heard shocking news.

With her eyes wide open, she asked in a gentle voice, "Oh, my darling son. Are you starting to study again? Are you listening to lectures in your room?"

"Lectures?"

After thinking for a moment, Han Jung-Woo nodded. "Yeah, I guess. Starting from today."

Of course, it was a swordsmanship lecture, but a lecture was a lecture, after all.

At those words, Kim Hyun-Jung\'s face brightened significantly.

She patted the dust off her son\'s shoulder and said, "Oh, you should have told me earlier. Then I would have given you some allowance and made delicious food for you."

"Oh, no, it\'s not that big of a deal to talk about."

"Haha. Silly you."

Kim Hyun-Jung looked proudly at her jobless... no, lovely son.

Our Jung-Woo finally seems to be quitting being a game addict!

In that case, as a mother, she couldn\'t just stand by. She immediately rolled up her sleeves and said, "Jung-Woo, what do you want to eat? I\'ll show off my cooking skills for once."

"Mom, you know you can\'t cook. What skills are there to show off...." Mid-sentence, Han Jung-Woo backed down seeing his mother\'s stern gaze. "Ah, I was actually craving food made by you lately. What\'s good when my shoulders are sore and my neck is stiff?"

"Then it\'s nourishing food you need. You want ginseng chicken soup[1]? Or maybe eel over rice[2]?"

"Mmm... let me think for a bit."

"Take your time." As Kim Hyun-Jung prepared to cook, she chuckled as she was proud of her son, and asked, "By the way, what are you suddenly studying for? A certification exam? Or the TOEIC?"

To her question, Han Jung-Woo said without thinking, "There\'s this place called the Training Grounds of the Dawn where I\'m learning some swordsmanship skills."

Kim Hyun-Jung\'s eyes turned cold as she was about to take out a knife. "Dawn... what?"

"Training Grounds of the Dawn."

"Is that an academy in Seoul?"

"It\'s in Glendale of the Rashion Kingdom." Tilting his head while replying, he then smiled broadly, and continued, "Oh, and I\'d like eel over rice."

"...Eel over rice?" Realizing the murderous intent in his mother’s voice, Han Jung-Woo\'s eyes darted around. He was like a mouse in front of a cat, utterly powerless!

"You said...."

Eventually, shaking her head in disbelief, his mother just returned to the living room.

Meanwhile, his stomach roared again. After resorting to cooking ramen, Han Jung-Woo, under the glaring eyes of his mother, went back to his room.

I\'ll definitely make it up to you.

He harbored feelings his mother wouldn\'t know.

"Hmm."

Back in his room, Han Jung-Woo immediately turned on his computer.

Training Grounds of the Dawn. Has anyone actually even learned swordsmanship there?

He intended to investigate this.

"Oh, there are more posts than I thought. There’s forty-one of them."

Luckily, it didn\'t seem to be some strange training ground that no one attended. Relieved, Han Jung-Woo slowly browsed through the titles of the posts.

[Training Grounds of the Dawn? An unheard-of trashy training ground with a swordmaster\'s pride sky-high.]

[The Training Grounds of the Dawn in Glendale. Never go there.]

[Training Grounds of the Dawn should be called Training Grounds of Bullshit.]

[A candid review of a week\'s training at Training Grounds of the Dawn.]

“....”

The relief he had just felt quickly disappeared.

Han Jung-Woo moved the mouse with trembling fingers.

Click.

[Title: A candid review of a week\'s training at Training Grounds of the Dawn]

[Content: Yup, a trash training ground. Paid 5 gold to learn basic swordsmanship, what a waste.]

There were comments below the shocking content.

-Is this for real?

?100% real. So shabby I thought they would teach some hidden swordsmanship skills lol But let me say it again, it\'s trash.

-Huh, I also went there.... It’s amazing you lasted a week. I escaped after three days.

-Even NPCs try hard to dissuade you from going there, so why go when they say not to.

-Summary. Only go if you have a lot of money and even more time.

"Oh...."

He was truly doomed.

Han Jung-Woo hung his head with a look of despair.

***

"What a weakling. I can’t believe you fainted just from doing a few push-ups." As soon as Kai logged into the game the next day, he was met with a wave of scolding. Huey, with a stern expression, threw a wooden sword at Kai. "Take it."

"What\'s this?"

Kai barely caught the wooden sword thrown at him, to which Huey briefly commanded, "From today, you will perform ten thousand horizontal swings and ten thousand vertical swings."

"...."

Kai made a dumbfounded face at the sudden hell-like training.

Old man, you don’t like me, do you?

Seeing Kai’s expression, Huey furrowed his eyebrows and yelled, "You don\'t have time to stand around if you want to complete twenty thousand swings."

"A-are you serious about striking twenty thousand times?"

"If you don\'t finish today, you\'ll have to do additional counts tomorrow for what you didn\'t complete."

"...."

Kai swallowed his frustration. It was his first time at a training ground, but he could tell this training method was not normal. But what could he do, he had already paid and couldn\'t back out.

...Can I really not back out now?

With a heart of hope, Kai cautiously asked, "Is there a refund policy here...?"

"Nope. Not happening."

"...."

A quest window popped up as if to firmly nail down his words!

[The Importance of Basics 1]

Difficulty: E-

Swordmaster of the Training Grounds of the Dawn, Huey, believes that the basics are the most important part of swordsmanship.

Make 10,000 vertical and horizontal strikes, showing your mastery of the skills that underlie all swordsmanship.

Quest Reward: +1 Strength, +1 Stamina, +1 Agility.

Failure Penalty: Expulsion from Training Grounds of the Dawn.

The reward is better than I thought.

Surprised by the decent reward, Kai did some quick calculations in his head.

If I swing fifty times a minute... would that be 500 times in ten minutes, and 5,000 times in an hour and forty minutes?

In theory, he could swing ten thousand times in three hours and twenty minutes.

This might be easier than I thought.

Kai, standing with his legs shoulder-width apart, gripped the wooden sword tightly.

It’s just swinging a sword, how hard could it be?

He swung the wooden sword without much thought!

Whoosh!

[Posture incorrect.]

[Lacking understanding of horizontal strikes.]

[Failed at horizontal strike. Completed 0/10,000.]

"Huh?"

Kai blinked with a dumbfounded face. A horizontal strike was the most basic skill that even three-year-old kids in the neighborhood knew how to do!

"Is it even possible to fail at this?"

"It is," Huey clicked his tongue and shook his head as he approached. "First of all, your posture is trash." He tapped Kai\'s body with the stick he was holding to correct his posture. "Even if it\'s the same action, there\'s a difference between an apple being peeled by a top chef and a child doing it. The same goes for the horizontal strike."

"That’s true."

"Be true to the basics. Even a farmer tills the land before sowing seeds. If you\'ve decided to wield a sword, you must at least properly know how to perform vertical, horizontal, and diagonal strikes, and stabs before learning advanced swordsmanship."

"...!"

As Kai realized the deeper meaning in Huey’s words, Huey gestured with his chin, “Now try it again.”

"Yes, sir!"

Kai took a deep breath and gripped the wooden sword firmly.

Every swing should be made with the intent to give it my all!

If he had to swing it ten thousand times anyway, it was much more beneficial to concentrate and finish quickly rather than swinging carelessly and failing.

Swoosh!

The wooden sword, cleared of distractions, made a cleaner sound than before.

[You have successfully performed a horizontal strike. Completed 1/10,000.]

"I-I did it!"

"Hm. Now just do the horizontal swing like that 9,999 more times."

"....”

Kai shut his mouth firmly and swung the wooden sword like a robot. Though the movement seemed simple, even a single swing consumed a tremendous amount of mental energy.

[You have successfully performed a horizontal strike. Completed 2/10,000.]

[Failed at horizontal strike. Completed 2/10,000.]

[You have successfully performed a horizontal strike. Completed 3/10,000.]

"Haah! Haah!"

The training ground arena that was usually filled with silence became noisy for the first time in a while with Kai\'s energetic shouts.

***

[You have successfully performed a vertical strike. Completed 9,999/10,000.]

"Haa, hah...."

Kai\'s body was drenched in sweat. Not only his body but also the floor where he stood was soaked with sweat.

Still one more to go.

After completing all the horizontal strikes, Kai had also succeeded in 9,999 vertical strikes. Even though the training took a whopping nine hours, Kai eventually accomplished it.

"Haah!"

Whoosh!

The wooden sword cleanly sliced through the air. Then, the message window Kai had been anticipating popped up.

[You have successfully performed a vertical strike. Completed 10,000/10,000.]

[The Importance of Basics 1 quest completed.]

[+1 Strength.]

[+1 Stamina.]

[+1 Agility.]

"Yes!"

He had finally done it. Only those who endured hard times and reached the peak of the mountain could feel such exhilaration! A tremendous sense of achievement and a rewarding feeling enveloped Kai completely.

Huey approached Kai, who was wearing a bright expression.

"You done now?"

"Yes, sir! I\'ve completed 10,000 vertical swings and 10,000 horizontal swings each."

"Good. Now go straight to the room at the end of the corridor and sleep."

"...Pardon?"

"You need to rest so you can withstand another tough training session tomorrow."

Kai was pushed toward the room at the end of the corridor by Huey. It was a room without even a single desk and only a hard bed placed in it, making it look desolate.

Kai lay down on the bed immediately and grumbled while staring at the ceiling, "If I could just fall asleep right away when I wanted to, then I would be a bear, not a human."

Shortly after, Kai\'s steady breathing filled the room, overwhelmed by fatigue.

1. Ginseng Chicken Soup ☜

2. Also known as Unadon - steamed white rice, and topped with fillets of eel grilled in a style known as kabayaki, similar to teriyaki ☜