Chi-Hyun’s torture continued under the guise of training. The routine was the same every day, but the process wasn’t simple by any means. Each day was so tiring that Chi-Woo always felt like dying, and after only four days since he came to this place, Chi-Woo was completely knocked down. He didn’t so much fall asleep but lost consciousness, and when he opened his eyes in the morning, his entire body was screaming for help. What weighed him down wasn’t his lack of energy. When he tried to get up, he felt as if his stomach had been twisted and turned, and his trembling legs barely managed to support his body. He had muscle pains everywhere, and the craziest thing of all was that he couldn't skip training even though he was in such a state.

“You aren’t feeling good? Don’t worry. It’s going to become better after some stretching.”

Chi-Woo looked at his brother in fear as Chi-Hyun approached to help him stretch personally.

Soon afterward—Ahhhhhhh! A piercing scream rang throughout the hill near the capital.

* * *

It had been seven days since Chi-Woo came to this place. As they slowly ran out of supplies, Chi-Hyun told his brother that he was paying the capital a short visit and restocking.

“It’ll take a couple of days. I can get there in an instant, but I have things to take care of.”

Kuaaaaaah. A strange sound flowed out from inside the cave.

“Even when I’m not here, this space would be maintained. Of course, it’s entirely up to you how you are going to utilize it. Whether or not you continue to train without my supervision will be your decision as well.”

Kurrrrrgh. Another grotesque, gritting sound answered him. Someone who didn’t know the situation would’ve thought Chi-Hyun was keeping a zombie inside the cave. “Anyways, I will come back,” Chi-Hyun said and left just like that.

After a long stretch of time, a figure staggered out of the cave. His head drooped, and his arms swung loosely by his sides as he walked exactly like a zombie. After taking a couple of steps outside, Chi-Woo collapsed to the floor. Since nobody was watching, all the tension in his body had evaporated.

“Ah…” Chi-Woo thought he was dying. He wasn’t joking. He really thought he was going to die at this rate. He wished he could just rest without doing anything for four days—no, two—no, even just a single day. ‘…Yeah. I should rest today since Chi-Hyun isn’t here.’ Even training had its limits. His body could be ruined if he pushed it too far, so resting for a day didn’t seem like a bad idea.

After justifying himself, Chi-Woo closed his eyes under the warm sunlight peacefully. He felt so good that there was a slight smile on his face.

“…” However, Chi-Woo’s serene expression soon turned troubled. There was someone around. When Chi-Woo opened one of his eyes, he saw Philip looking down at him with his arms crossed. There was also a bun gazing at him silently from his side.

“…What is it?”

—Uh…well… No, it’s nothing.

Philip shrugged.

“What about you? Why are you staring at me like that?”

“Ppyu…ppyu, ppyu?” The bun also feigned ignorance.

Nevertheless, the two didn’t stop staring at Chi-Woo. Unable to bear their gazes any longer, he got up while grumbling, “…Ah, damn it. I will do it. I am going to do it. Is that what you both want?”

“Ugh….uggggh…”

Philip and bun only replaced their intense stares with a smile when Chi-Woo finished the training regime Chi-Hyun had set up for him.

“Shit…” Chi-Woo collapsed before he could step into the cave. “Shiiiiit…” He groaned and closed his eyes. He didn’t even dry the clothes soaked from swimming or have dinner before he fell asleep coughing.

* * *

Although Chi-Hyun said he would come back in a couple of days, he was taking longer than he promised. Chi-Woo didn’t know exactly how many days had passed, but ten seemed to be a good guess. Then another week passed. Since Chi-Hyun left, Chi-Woo hadn’t skipped training for even a single day and routinely finished the course Chi-Hyun had designed for him.

In the beginning, the training had been endurable. But as days passed, Chi-Woo’s body seemed to waste away. His face thinned and paled, and he walked while only staring at the ground with a dazed look on his face. It was as if he was a machine that kept training in its unconsciousness. However, a human wasn’t a machine, and all that remained in Chi-Woo by this time was grit and guts.

Philip looked at Chi-Woo, who was now lifting barbells.

“What?” Chi-Woo hesitated when he was about to do squats with the barbell resting on his neck. After getting back into position again, he blinked his dull eyes hard. For some reason, he didn’t feel the barbell’s weight at all.

“What…what’s wrong with this…?” He murmured weakly and frowned. Did his strength increase by that much? Was that why this barbell felt like a cane? To make sure, Chi-Woo opened his user information and saw that his physical attributes were the same as before.

“Then why…” Chi-Woo swung the barbell up and down and felt his body suddenly tilt sideways.

“Huh…?” He staggered, and his hands lost their grips on the barbell. While it was now weightless, his arms had absolutely no strength. In fact, his entire body felt heavier. It was then Chi-Woo realized that he was seriously out of breath even before he started running.

—Rest.

Philip finally spoke after watching Chi-Woo quietly until now.

“…Huh?” Chi-Woo responded after a beat. What was Philip saying when he had always pressured him to train before?

—The fact that you can’t feel the barbell’s weight anymore means that this space deems you unfit for training.

“Why…? Suddenly…?”

—It’s not sudden.

Philip sighed.

—Just rest for now. Don’t think about anything.

Chi-Woo sat still and nodded. His eyelids felt like lead, and at some point, it had become impossible for him to get rid of his perpetual fatigue. His body kept trembling from an unknowable chill.

Chi-Woo entered the cave and flopped down. Truthfully, Philip knew this was going to happen, but there was one reason he hadn’t told Chi-Woo—he knew Chi-Woo was in no state to listen, and moreover, he thought Chi-Woo would only come to full realization by experiencing burn-out firsthand rather than listening to him. There was no better master than experience, and Philip was right. That day, Chi-Woo groaned the entire night.

His excessive training had finally led to this outcome. “Ugh…Ughhh…” Unable to think about even getting up, it was all Chi-Woo could do to remain prone and groan. No matter how impressive his Divine Blood’s regenerative and healing power was, it was useless against a long-term illness. Similarly, magic could immediately heal surface wounds, but couldn’t fully cure a cold. Perhaps things would have been different if his Divine Blood was higher in rank, but it was impossible in his current state.

Recovery turned out to be a longer process, and Chi-Woo remained bedridden for days. He didn’t even have the energy to move his fingers most of the time, so all he did was drink a couple sips of water when he couldn’t bear his thirst at all…yet his brother was still nowhere to be found.

“Ugh…” Like that, Chi-Woo suffered day and night.

“Uh, ah…”

“Ahhhhh!” Suddenly, he burst out screaming, no longer able to keep his pent-up anger and frustration at bay. “Ah! Uhh! Ahhhhh!” While lying down, he yelled at the ceiling until his throat was raw. In this unfamiliar environment, he had continued an arduous training thinking that there would be some meaning to it even without his brother here. He did all he thought he had to do without any complaints. But this was the result of all that? Chi-Woo couldn’t accept it at all.

“No! No! Shit! Yeah! I’m going to call it quits!”

Philip stared as Chi-Woo yelled at the top of his lungs in a sudden burst of madness.

—Whoah, whoah. What is it? Are you okay?

The question seemed to calm Chi-Woo down a bit.

“Ah…” Chi-Woo closed his eyes again. “I don’t know…” As pain swept over him anew, he clenched his teeth and said, “If I really should keep doing this…if I am to continue with this boring…”

Philip wanted to ask Chi-Woo if he expected training to be fun but stopped himself. He knew Chi-Woo didn’t mean it that way. Chi-Woo was asking out of exasperation after making no clear progress after training in this place for almost a month. Philip understood how Chi-Woo felt. A human’s willpower wasn’t limitless. Like money in a wallet, no matter how strong-willed someone was, a downturn in mood was inevitable. It wasn’t like the time Chi-Woo was in the cave underneath the Evalaya volcano. Here, he saw no promise nor a clear change. He had to repeat the same routine every day all day, and it was impossible to keep himself engaged.

He couldn’t help but feel exhausted as a human. He needed to replenish as much as he spent, but from what Philip saw, Chi-Woo had given himself nothing at all so far.

—What can you do?

Philip sighed.

—You brought all this to yourself.

“…What? I brought it to myself?”

It was a reaction that Philip had expected.

—Why? Do you think you did nothing wrong?

“All I did was do as I was told.”

—Then is the person who ordered you to do this in the wrong? There’s a problem with the training itself? Is that what you’re saying?

“Isn’t that the case?”

—No.

Philip said firmly.

—Your brother did nothing wrong.

“Then what—

—Furthermore, this training regime is very logical. It’s especially perfect for someone like you.

It was the first time that Philip spoke with such firmness and certainty, and Chi-Woo was rendered speechless.

—When I read your memories during your time at the cave under Evalya volcano…you mentally grew to another level. It seems the progress in mentality you made that time has backfired. It’s now poison to you.

At that time, Chi-Woo was desperate to get stronger out of sheer survival instincts. Since he was so intent on getting stronger, his mentality had also gotten stronger. Even poison could be medicine depending on how it was used, but in this case, his past experience at the Evelaya Volcano was deadly.

—You know, there’s a reason why the word ‘standard’ exists.

Philip meant that it was not a good idea to always try so desperately to reach a goal. Even if he was getting impatient, there were times when he needed to calm down and slowly take one step at a time.

—You think you’ve been working really hard and doing well this whole time, right?

Chi-Woo still looked clueless, so Philip put more strength in his voice.

—From my perspective, I don’t think so. Do you know why?

He continued without even hearing an answer.

—All you did was force your way through the course.

“What’s wrong with that?”

—There’s something you’re mistaken about.

Philip also spoke sharply.

—Running through the course isn’t your only training. Resting, eating, and sleeping are all part of it.

Chi-Woo’s eyes slightly widened. He tried to say something, but quickly shut his mouth; everything Philip said made sense, and he knew this fact himself.

—…Think about it.

Philip’s tone slightly softened.

—Did your brother tell you to not rest?

…No. His brother had told him to stop resting and get up, but he never told him to not rest. Instead, Chi-Hyun made sure he took breaks in between before moving on to his next training.

—Or did he tell you to not eat?

Chi-Hyun hadn’t said that either. He forced Chi-Woo to eat three meals a day—breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Even when Chi-Woo collapsed after finishing his training, Chi-Hyun would wake him up and force him to eat.

—If not, did he tell you to not sleep?

It was the same for sleeping. Chi-Hyun dried him and shoved him into a sleeping bag when he was sleeping. Chi-Hyun also started a warm campfire next to him each time he fell asleep.

—Can you still confidently say that you did everything he told you to do?

Chi-Woo became speechless. He had nothing to say. Since his brother left, he had skipped meals more than once because he felt lazy. Due to sheer boredom, he also got so focused on finishing the course as fast as possible that he didn’t even take a proper break. Moreover, when he was finished with his course, he slept wherever without drying himself, using his exhaustion as an excuse. It was no wonder that he would get sick.

—It’s amazing that you didn’t get sicker sooner.

Chi-Woo’s face became bright red as Philip clicked his tongue. He was angry, but he didn’t say a word.

—…Chi-Woo.

Chi-Woo suddenly felt awkward. It was the first time Philip called him by his name, and it felt just like when his brother was talking to him.

—Let me ask you one question.

“…”

—Is the training you’re doing…really too difficult to handle?

Chi-Woo paused for a moment. He smacked his lips a few times and slowly shook his head. His training was definitely hard, but it was not to the extent that it was impossible for him to do it. The problem was he had to dig into the depth of his strength until he felt as if he was almost dying.

—Right?

This was one of the reasons why Philip regarded Chi-Hyun’s image representation very highly.

—I’m not denying that you’re having a hard time. Of course it’s exhausting for you. Training shouldn’t be easy. It’s normal for it to be hard.

What would happen if a person who could lift 50kg maximum was suddenly told to lift 200kg? Not only would they not be able to lift the weight, but they would get hurt if they forced themselves to do it. Thus, proper training required an accurate estimation of one’s limit. The space that Chi-Hyun created was quite harsh in that it forced Chi-Woo to face his limitations every moment without giving him time to feel a sense of accomplishment for his growth. However, it was the most ideal and reasonable way to train in Philip’s eyes, which was why he saw Chi-Hyun in such high regard.

—This space might be…incomparably better than the cave in the Evelaya Volcano.

The place and the training course were tailored for Chi-Woo from start to finish. Most trainers wouldn’t be able to do this even if they wanted to; it was more difficult and tiring for the trainer rather than the trainee.

—This is an opportunity that will never come again in your life.

But above all, it didn’t make sense that a person would be able to create such an enormous space. It must have been a great burden for Chi-Hyun to maintain it.

—It’s created just for you.

Chi-Hyun did this for Chi-Woo, his brother and family. For his one and only brother, Chi-Hyun endured the hardship alone without showing how much of a strain it was to maintain such a big space.

—So Chi-Woo.

Philip continued with the most serious expression he had ever shown to Chi-Woo.

—Only this once. Even if it’s not fun, endure this once no matter how painful or hard it is. Let’s train properly.

Philip cleared his throat.

—Don’t worry. I promise you that the day you get out of here, you’ll be noticeably different from who you were.

Philip was certain because he could see it with his own eyes—Chi-Woo’s body, which had been a precarious castle built on sand, was visibly stabilizing every day. Philip vaguely understood Chi-Hyun’s grand plan, and as a guardian spirit who had promised Chi-Woo to help him grow, it was a waste to let Chi-Woo give up like this.

“…” Chi-Woo stayed quiet, but he looked much calmer than before. He also knew that Philip wasn’t obligated to say all this to him, and he was looking out for Chi-Woo with the best of intentions. It made Chi-Woo think a little differently.

—Uh…Did I talk too much?

When Chi-Woo continued to stay silent, Philip awkwardly smiled and scratched his head. At that moment, Chi-Woo propped himself up with great difficulty and made his way forward with a hand on the wall.

—W-what? Where are you going?

“…To eat,” Chi-Woo murmured in a small voice. “Now that I think about it…it’s been several days since I’ve eaten…”

Philip burst into laughter.

—That’s right, punk. You should eat first. You have to eat before doing anything. That’s why I told you to eat when you were imprisoned.

Philip broke out of his serious façade and immediately returned to his lively self. That day, Chi-Woo ate the porridge that he cooked himself with great care. He dried his sweaty clothes, dressed warmly, and made a campfire. Then he went inside his sleeping bag and felt much more comfortable than before. His whole body was still sore and aching, but he felt stronger.

“…” Honestly, none of these tasks were difficult, and he knew how important it was to take care of himself. But he was so consumed by his circumstances that he couldn’t even follow the basics. ‘That’s why…’ Chi-Woo learned why his brother always emphasized food, clothing, and shelter so much. Soon, Chi-Woo fell so deep asleep that he didn’t even dream.

* * *

After eating, sleeping, and resting well for several days, Chi-Woo quickly recovered. As soon as his body became lighter, Chi-Woo carefully lifted the barbell and confirmed that its heavy weight had returned. The space deemed him ready to start training again. The rate of his progress returned to normal. Nothing had dramatically changed, and going through the set course was as boring and difficult as before. Nevertheless, Chi-Woo was no longer impatient.

This place was like a tutor; depending on how he used it, he could improve far beyond what he could achieve through normal means. After realizing this, Chi-Woo thought about everything he did in this space as training and looked at his situation with new eyes. The only concern he had was that the supplies were finally close to running out. Fortunately, Chi-Hyun returned around this time.

“It looks delicious. Give me a bowl.”

Chi-Woo, who had used up all the leftover ingredients and made a brothy porridge, turned to look at his brother. Chi-Hyun had returned without him noticing. Chi-Woo stirred the porridge with a snort as if to criticize Chi-Hyun’s shamelessness.

“You told me you’d return in a few days.”

“It’s been three days.”

“And not a month?”

Chi-Hyun replied, “It’s three days. At least on the outside.” Then he quickly scanned his surroundings and turned back. After carefully looking at the traces Chi-Woo left behind, he said, “Anyway…you seem to have done better than I thought.” He smiled and looked at Chi-Woo like he found it unexpected. “I thought you’d be fooling around and complaining about how tired you are, or be sick in bed.”

Chi-Woo snorted. “I was seriously ill a few days ago.”

“Really? You look fine.”

“It’s because I’m all better now.”

“But you never know. Don’t worry though. You’ll get better as soon as I beat you up.” Chi-Hyun twisted his neck side to side and grinned while saying, “Were you bored after not getting beaten up for so long?”

“Yeah. I was.”

“…What?”

“I think my body feels a bit stiff after not getting hit for days.”

Did he hear his brother wrong? Chi-Hyun quickly blinked.

But Chi-Woo continued nonchalantly, “Hitting is great and all, but let’s eat first. Okay?” Chi-Woo picked up the ladle and nodded after tasting his cooking. “Come to think of it, can you help me stretch a bit? I tried to replicate the position you taught me, but it’s less effective when I do it by myself than when you help me.” Chi-Woo scooped up a full ladle and put it in a bowl. “By the way, did you bring meat?”

When Chi-Hyun shook his head in a daze, Chi-Woo looked visibly disappointed. Then Chi-Woo said, “Geez, do you know how many calories I consume a day? I need to at least eat well to make up for it.” Then he pushed the steaming bowl to Chi-Hyun. “What are you doing? Aren’t you going to eat?”

“…What? Ah, yeah. Okay.” Chi-Hyun took the bowl and looked at his brother with surprise.

Chi-Woo said, “Eat first. Help me stretch after eating.”

Chi-Hyun didn’t know exactly why, but his brother seemed to have changed a little.

“You just have to help me stretch. I’ll do the rest by myself. You should go back outside and get some meat before dinner. Get a lot, okay? Parts with a lot of protein.”

Chi-Hyun thought he might have created a new gym-rat. He stole glances at Chi-Woo and put the soupy porridge his brother cooked into his mouth. “…Slurp.” It looked a bit strange, but steaming hot and delicious.