Chapter 17

Chapter 17 – Ability User Cultivation School (2)

As he entered the auditorium, nearly a hundred people had already gathered.

Perhaps they had heard Kang Hyeon’s shout earlier.

All eyes turned to Kang Hyeon.

“It starts at 9, so we still have about ten minutes left.”

Kang Hyeon calmly deflected people’s gazes as he looked around.

“It doesn’t seem like there’s anyone particularly outstanding...”

Most of the people who came for the training looked ordinary.

However, Kang Hyeon was a bit disappointed that most of them were men.

‘Well... It’s a job that involves bloody fights, so it might be difficult for women to rush in.’

As he was waiting with such trivial thoughts, someone stepped onto the platform.

It was the man named Kim Yi-hyeon who had been testing abilities earlier.

“Hello everyone. I’m Kim Yi-hyeon, in charge of the ability user cultivation school, Seongnam branch. Nice to meet you all.”

A ceremonial applause filled the auditorium in response to Kim Yi-hyeon’s introduction.

“From now on, you will be staying here for ten days, receiving education while having your meals and accommodation taken care of. If there are no major issues, you should all be able to safely complete the training and register as ability users.”

Kim Yi-hyeon’s voice echoed hollowly through the auditorium.

In the still unsettled atmosphere, everyone remained silent, just staring at Kim Yi-hyeon.

“As you all know, it’s only been three months since the world became like this. So even now, new information about dungeons and monsters is pouring in every day.”

Kim Yi-hyeon cleared his throat before continuing.

“In other words, the content of the training you’ll receive isn’t absolute.”

“...”

“What you learn here might become useless information after a while, or it might even turn out to be incorrect information.”

It was a discouraging statement even before they started.

People murmured, showing signs of unease.

“Therefore, for a week, I will strictly teach only what’s essential for survival.”

“...”

“There’s no set curriculum anyway. I’m just a temporary instructor on contract, but even the higher-ups told me to do as I see fit.”

Kim Yi-hyeon’s light joke elicited chuckles here and there, easing the atmosphere.

“Well then, I look forward to working with you all.”

After Kim Yi-hyeon’s speech ended, the 100 people were divided into 10 teams of 10 each.

On the surface, this was to learn teamwork, but in reality, it was because there weren’t nearly enough instructors, so the real purpose was to take turns receiving training.

“I look forward to working with you for the next ten days.”

“Yes, likewise.”

“Looking forward to it.”

Kang Hyeon also moved to his assigned team’s location.

Formal greetings were exchanged.

As Kang Hyeon was nodding lightly, a man approached him and extended his hand.

“I’m Kwak Soo-il. Let’s shake hands.”

Kwak Soo-il, who offered his hand, was visibly someone who had professionally engaged in sports.

‘Got a good one here, you little...’

In fact, Kwak Soo-il had disliked Kang Hyeon from the moment he first entered.

‘He caused a commotion from the start, and his face is full of nothing but bravado.’

Kwak Soo-il had awakened his innate ability related to strength.

And he had also invested the stat points gained from leveling up into strength.

As a result of his obsession with strength to the point of ignorance,

He had never seen anyone stronger than himself since awakening as an ability user.

‘You need to put guys like this in their place right from the start.’

Kwak Soo-il was confident.

With this strength totaling nearly 32, there wasn’t anyone he couldn’t crush in the past two months.

“I’m Kang Hyeon. Nice to meet you.”

Unaware of Kwak Soo-il’s thoughts, Kang Hyeon calmly extended his hand.

“Hmm...”

Kang Hyeon frowned at the strong pressure he felt as soon as he grasped the hand.

Looking at Kwak Soo-il, he saw a faint smile on his face.

‘What’s this muscle pig trying to do?’

Currently, Kang Hyeon’s strength stat is 23.5.

It was woefully inadequate compared to Kwak Soo-il.

‘You want to have a go, huh?’

Kang Hyeon quietly muttered a skill.

‘Giant’s Strength’

Under the skill’s influence, Kang Hyeon’s strength shot up to 35.5 at once.

Kwak Soo-il’s face also gradually contorted at Kang Hyeon’s suddenly increased strength.

“What the...”

“What’s going on...”

People started gathering, noticing the tension flowing between the two.

“You’re better than you look? I thought you were all bravado...”

Kwak Soo-il forced a smile, trembling at Kang Hyeon’s strength that was stronger than expected.

“What? Better? Are you messing with me, you muscle pig? I’ll let you live if you quietly withdraw your hand now.”

“M-muscle pig?!”

Kwak Soo-il’s reason snapped at Kang Hyeon’s words.

Muscle pig was one of the nicknames he hated the most.

“Uwaaaaah!”

Kwak Soo-il let out a roar as he squeezed out his strength.

His arm muscles swelled up as if about to burst.

‘Is this guy not right in the head either?’

But after chatting a bit, Kang Hyeon could tell that An Yu-seong was strangely unhinged.

“No, that Popeye by himself...!”

Kang Hyeon, who had been pouring out his grievances, stopped at the voice coming from the speaker.

“Ah, we will now begin the training.”

“Ah! That’s too bad. Let’s talk more next time.”

“Sure.”

An Yu-seong returned to his seat.

“This morning’s lesson is about dungeons. Please look at the screen.”

As Kim Yi-hyeon spoke, a PowerPoint appeared on the giant screen.

“Currently, there are two ways to classify dungeons. One is general dungeons, the other is incomplete dungeons.”

Kim Yi-hyeon grabbed the microphone and began his lecture in earnest.

“General dungeons are the most common type we usually see. Typically, dungeons open about 4 weeks after they’re created.”

“...”

“However, incomplete dungeons don’t have such a period. Since they open randomly, extreme caution is required.”

Kim Yi-hyeon also explained about open, closed, and other special dungeons based on their structure.

Finally, he explained about the dungeon’s clear conditions: the normal core and the main core guarded by the boss, then took a brief breath.

“Yawn...”

Since Kang Hyeon already knew all this content, he looked around while yawning.

It seemed Kang Hyeon wasn’t the only one feeling bored; scattered around were signs of diminishing concentration.

Kim Yi-hyeon must have sensed this atmosphere too, as his brow furrowed slightly.

“The content I’ve just taught you will be evaluated in the final written test, so please remember it all well.”

At the unexpected news of an evaluation, protests erupted here and there.

“What? There’s a written test too?”

“You should have told us that before we started!”

“That’s right. How can you tell us this now?”

Despite people’s protests, Kim Yi-hyeon’s attitude remained firm.

“I’ve remembered the faces of those speaking now. If caught again, you’ll be expelled.”

At these words, most people quieted down, but some became even more agitated.

“Who are you to tell us what to do?!”

The admission requirement for the Ability User Cultivation School is passing Tutorial Stage 2.

This meant that everyone here had at least experienced killing a monster.

In other words,

They all thought they were somewhat capable.

“Ooh!”

A large man in his 40s, encouraged by those around him, started shouting louder.

“Let’s be honest, what else do we need to kill monsters?! We just go and kill them, why do we need this useless training?!”

Kim Yi-hyeon came down from the podium and approached the man.

“What? What are you going to do?”

“You must have a reason to be so confident.”

As Kim Yi-hyeon spoke, it felt like a chill was rising.

The man was inwardly flustered but outwardly maintained a facade of confidence.

“What are you getting at?”

“From now on, I will only dodge and block your attacks. If you can land even one effective hit on me, I’ll let you graduate immediately.”

“That’s...”

“But if you fail, you’re expelled from the training. Will you do it? Ah, of course, you’re free to use weapons.”

At Kim Yi-hyeon’s words, the man’s face twisted cruelly.

“Ha! Don’t beg for your life.”

***

Ippotranslation

***

After going through hell for over 3 months, Kang Hyeon’s battle sense had developed tremendously.

Especially once his agility stat increased to a certain point, he could easily dodge most attacks after visually confirming and thinking about them.

‘Even I couldn’t do that.’

Kim Yi-hyeon was completely toying with the man.

“Uwaaa!”

It started with a fist thrust out without hesitation.

A mighty fist that seemed quite trained.

Judging by appearances alone, one might worry if the seemingly delicate Kim Yi-hyeon would get hurt.

But it took less than a minute to realize that was a misconception.

One step.

Without moving even a single step, Kim Yi-hyeon dealt with all attacks.

“Die, just die!”

The situation didn’t change even when the man pulled out a sword from his inventory.

“Instant acceleration!”

At that moment, with the man’s shout, his body moved so fast it became invisible.

Even Kang Hyeon momentarily lost track of his movement.

‘That’s dangerous!’

Kang Hyeon had the illusion that Kim Yi-hyeon would be cut in half.

“Ugh...!”

But that was literally just an illusion.

As if he had known it was coming, Kim Yi-hyeon dodged the sword and was somehow pressing a dagger against the man’s neck.

“Have you done everything you can?”

Please rate the series here.