Chapter 105
Chapter 105: Rumor (5)
Hero Academy’s training ground.
Go Mina’s Party was conducting group training.
“Go forward!”
“Sis, over here!”
In front of them, holograms of virtual opponents were displayed.
It was a simulated battle conducted under the assumption of facing enemies as a party.
The weapons they held, except for bows, were all specially crafted for combat training.
Attacking the virtual enemies provided a feedback sensation similar to real-life impacts.
“Let’s go in!”
“This next one is the last!”
The shape of the enemy disintegrated and vanished under Go Mina’s Party’s relentless attacks.
Then the next battle began.
‘Here they come!’
Red-colored enemies molded in the shape of humans appeared before Go Mina’s eyes.
These entities had their stamina set incredibly high before starting this mock battle.
The largest among them had the letter A marked on its face instead of eyes, nose, and mouth, similar to Chilla who held a shield during the sparring with Yoo Ji-han’s party.
The positions were nearly identical to how they were configured before.
‘I’ve been waiting for this moment.’
This final battle was precisely why training was being conducted today.
Go Mina shouted as they faced off against the virtual enemies.
“Let’s begin!”
As her command was given, three warriors dashed toward the enemy dealers.
Tanker A, who was serving as the tank on the opposing side, blocked them according to the algorithm programmed to protect his teammates.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
“Ha!”
Among the three warriors charging together, two quickly darted left and right.
As the target was divided into three, Tanker A hesitated and pulled back as close as possible to his teammates.
“Not happening!”
One of Go Mina’s warriors, who had broken to the left, aimed for the enemy dealers.
Tanker A raised his shield to prevent her approach, but at the same time, a warrior charging from the front and right successfully landed a hit on Tanker A’s lower area.
“Nice job!”
The warriors succeeded in their first attack and avoided the counterattack from the enemies while preparing for another chance to strike.
They twirled around deliberately, putting pressure on the flustered enemies who were too confused to exert their strength.
Go Mina’s Party was showcasing their signature fast-paced combat.
Meanwhile, behind them, Go Mina was engaged in battle with the enemy warrior B.
‘As expected, he’s fast.’
The warrior B, marked with the letter B on his face, effortlessly dodged Go Mina’s dual daggers swiping at him.
Go Mina gulped at the anticipated outcome.
He was an enemy created by recalling Yoo Ji-han.
This warrior was set up with high stamina, strength, and incredible speed.
‘If I’m not careful, I might lose again.’
This training was so much different from the standard enemies provided.
Go Mina relentlessly attacked him, but the high-stat warrior B wasn’t easily overwhelmed.
“Now’s the time!”
“Yes!”
Go Mina deflected warrior B’s attack and sidestepped.
At that moment, her rear distance dealer unleashed a barrage of mana-crafted shurikens at warrior B.
While warrior B could effortlessly deflect shurikens with his sword, Go Mina seized the opportunity and charged towards him.
Swoosh!
And ultimately, together they could land a hit on warrior B.
“That’s it! Let’s keep going like this!”
As Go Mina’s Party faced the virtual enemies, they gradually began to gain the upper hand.
About 15 minutes later, having given their all since the battle began and breathing a bit raggedly.
[YOU WIN]
They succeeded in knocking down all the enemies.
“Wow!”
“We won!”
“Whew….”
The members of Go Mina’s Party lay sprawled on the floor after finishing the battle.
They all looked equally tired.
“So that’s one win and three losses, right?”
“Yeah.”
Go Mina nodded at her party member’s question in agreement.
They had already lost three times in a similar mock battle just a while ago.
But this time, they won.
And they would win again in the future.
‘My skills have improved in that short span.’
After being overwhelmingly defeated by Yoo Ji-han’s party in the sparring, Go Mina’s Party had been dedicating much of their time to training, abandoning their usual monster hunting.
They felt an impending sense of crisis, thinking they might truly face an annihilation the next time they encountered intruders.
And after about a week of training, Go Mina was acutely aware of the ongoing changes within her party.
‘It’s all thanks to Ji-han.’
Go Mina recalled Yoo Ji-han’s face.
He had provided her with detailed feedback during the previous sparring.
The notes she made at that time had a huge impact on the transformations happening within Go Mina’s Party.
The attacks and defenses of her party members were far more stable than before, and as a leader, Go Mina could now discern how to guide the flow of battle.
‘I should thank him soon.’
It would be remiss to overlook the changes brought about by his help.
She was planning to show her appreciation with something monetary or otherwise later.
“Hey, sis. Drink some water.”
“Thanks.”
Go Mina drank from the bottled water her party member had brought.
Only after finishing more than half of a newly opened 500ml bottle did she feel her thirst being quenched.
“Um, sis. About Yoo Ji-han’s party…”
“Yeah?”
“Rumors are still going around.”
Recent rumors exchanged among the peers in the Hero Academy.
Talks that Yoo Ji-han’s party was tormenting ordinary citizens or attacking innocent heroes—only negative stories were circulating.
“Seems like those folks are a bit different than the rumors suggest.”
“I think so too.”
“Me too.”
However, members of Go Mina’s Party did not believe the rumors.
To be precise, they found them hard to believe.
It was difficult to imagine that those who brought about such positive changes within the party would act that way.
“I feel the same.”
Go Mina regarded Yoo Ji-han as a rather extraordinary hero.
Rather than being a bad-tempered person as the rumors suggested, he seemed more like an undercover master who had not yet gained recognition in the world.
In fact, she felt a growing desire to get closer to him.
“By the way, about Yoo Ji-han…”
“Yeah?”
“He seems like a pretty decent guy, doesn’t he?”
Suddenly, Go Mina’s casual remark caught the attention of her fellow party members.
Some of them looked surprised.
“Sis, are you…”
“No way?”
“Well, maybe?”
Propping her chin and turning her head, Go Mina wore a light smile at the corners of her mouth.
Her party members fell silent as they witnessed her demeanor.
Once Go Mina sets her sights on a guy, she’d often make them hers, regardless of their current relationships.
Yet, due to her easily bored nature, she rarely kept relationships lasting more than a week.
‘Is she falling for him again?’
‘This doesn’t feel good.’
‘Another victim in the making…’
The party members who had been observing Go Mina closely could only sip their water in silence.
*
In Yoo Ji-han’s house kitchen.
A metal teapot was placed on the lit gas stove.
Chiiiii—
The water in the pot heated by the high flame began to boil, with white steam rising from the spout.
The steam carried a blend of salty and bitter scents.
Inside, there were Lucky Whiskers and White Umbrellas.
Though the flavor felt like it was gradually diminishing from boiling several times, he planned to keep at it until every bit was extracted.
“I’m nervous.”
Standing in front of the sink, Yoo Ji-han opened a box placed next to the gas stove.
Inside the box were something thickly wrapped in soft sponge and white paper.
He carefully unwrapped the packaging.
“This is… a rare ginseng…”
What was inside the box was none other than rare ginseng!
Moreover, it was high-quality six-year-old ginseng sent to Yoo Ji-han’s party from the Hero Academy.
Yoo Ji-han gently touched the surface of the ginseng as if caressing a fragile baby’s skin.
‘It’s definitely the real deal.’
The thick, dark reddish body resembled a well-grown radish.
The thin, intricate roots sprawling out beneath it seemed countless, so much so that it was difficult to estimate their number with just the eyes.
According to those who had personally counted the roots, there were said to be over a thousand of them.
When alive, those roots could walk across the ground or even attack…
In any case, it looked just like the picture of rare ginseng he had seen online.
‘The fragrance is incredible.’
Even before unwrapping, a hint of fragrance had already penetrated through the box.
Now that its true appearance had been revealed, the entire kitchen was filled with a bitter aroma.
It felt like spilling a poorly made perfume all over the house.
Now that he touched the ginseng, he figured even after scrubbing his hands with soap, the smell would linger for a while.
“I need to chop this up.”
Yoo Ji-han pulled out a kitchen knife to attempt to cut the ginseng.
However, it turned out that a regular kitchen knife wasn’t strong enough to slice through the ginseng.
Applying too much force could easily break the blade.
Ultimately, he fetched a sword used for hunting to slice the ginseng.
‘Adding some rare date fruit here…’
Next, he pulled out a red date that had transformed into a monster, a rare date fruit.
The high-quality rare dates he bought through Mongdang’s Jang Sa-im were all about the size of his fist, so two would suffice.
He also finely chopped those up and placed them in a clean, sterilized glass jar along with the ginseng.
‘Finally, adding honey will finish it off.’
He poured sweet and sticky honey into the jar holding the rare dates and ginseng.
What Yoo Ji-han was making right now was Gwaechu Gwaesam Cheong.
The process of crafting the well-known Gwaechu Gwaesam tea among the various methods of consuming ginseng.
“It’ll be ready for aging and then eating.”
With a satisfied expression, Yoo Ji-han completed the concoction.
The thought of distributing it to his party members made him feel even more proud.
‘Maybe making a Gwaegug Soup would also not be a bad idea.’
In his freezer lay some meat from a monster chicken.
It would certainly be possible to create Gwaegug Soup instead of just regular Samgyetang.
Just then, as he carefully set the glass jar down on the counter.
Ding!
A new message arrived on his mobile phone.
“From Mina?”
It was a message from Go Mina, with whom he had exchanged numbers a short while ago.
[Go Mina: Ji-han! Check this out.]
Go Mina sent several photos in quick succession.
Screenshots of a chat room from a widely used messenger in Korea, Papa Talk.
Yoo Ji-han clicked through the photos one by one, observing them.
“…?”
However, the conversation depicted in the photos was strange.
[Apple: That Yoo Ji-han guy is really garbage.]
[Peruru: I heard he tormented passing citizens too.]
[Ottodu: It’s true. There are firsthand witnesses.]
[Growl: The true nature of Yoo Ji-han’s party.png]
[Blue Dragon: As a fellow Hero Academy student, I’m so embarrassed…]
…….
……
The anonymous chat room was filled with malicious comments about Yoo Ji-han’s party.
[Go Mina: It’s a chat room where some Hero Academy students gather.]
[Go Mina: We were just invited in and saw this kind of conversation going on.]
Surprisingly, all participants were Hero Academy students.
Yoo Ji-han scratched his head after checking Go Mina’s follow-up message.
‘They’ve been doing this under the radar, huh.’
He had a pretty good idea of who instigated this.
Moon Kyung-jin from the Knife Guild or Min Ju-yong from the Nice Guild.
Among them, Yoo Ji-han had strong suspicions about Moon Kyung-jin.
“How childish.”
Were they really trying to harm him with something so trivial?
Glancing through the photos again, Yoo Ji-han replied to Go Mina.
[Yoo Ji-han: Can you invite me as a new member to that chat room?]
[Go Mina: Maybe?]
[Yoo Ji-han: Then please invite me.]
