Chapter 12: Just Ordinary

Three hours later.

I arrived at the foot of a 130-story skyscraper in the heart of Yeouido. It was the headquarters of the Shinwa Guild, one of the three major guilds leading South Korea after the Great Cataclysm. This massive guild boasted three S-class hunters and twenty A-class hunters among its ranks.

And one of those twenty A-class hunters was waiting for me.

“Taejun-ah, over here!”

Lee Seonah, my former Hunters Den classmate and a seven-year friend, waved to me from the lobby entrance.

Oh, so that woman knows Mr. Lee Taejun? Management Mi asked, as I walked toward Seonah, who was waving.

“Yeah, she’s a friend. Though she’s three years younger than me.”

Don’t lie.

”?”

No way such a gorgeous woman could be friends with a middle-school-level fireball master like Taejun!

“Can’t you just shut up?”

Is this guy trying to get fired too? Why the sudden attitude?

I lightly dismissed him and approached Lee Seonah.

“You didn’t have to come out.”

“Hey, it’s your first time here. Of course I should guide you from the entrance.”

“That serious?”

“Totally. I wandered around the lobby for an hour when I first came to the headquarters.”

Well, with 130 floors, it was definitely possible to get lost inside the building.

As I nodded, Lee Seonah grabbed my sleeve and pulled me along.

“Let’s go inside first.”

As we passed through the opulent lobby, filled with marble floors, fountains, and sculptures,

Seonah cautiously spoke up.

“I heard you left the guild?”

“Yeah. Choi Jinho must have told you.”

“Right. So, did you take care of the Venom Spore on Yanghwa Bridge a few days ago?”

“He didn’t mention that part?”

“I should say he told me about it?”

Lee Seonah gave a vague answer with a bitter smile.

Well, given Choi Jinho’s personality, there’s no way he properly explained the situation.

Ding.

Just as I pressed the button for the elevator and the doors closed, Lee Seonah’s eyes turned to me again.

“You gained a new skill, didn’t you?”

Her words echoed Kim Kyungtae, the leader of the Bicheon Guild, from a few days prior.

But the nuance and atmosphere were completely different.

Back then, Kim Kyungtae had seemed consumed by greed and hypocrisy.

Now, Lee Seonah radiated genuine curiosity and support, with a hint of joy.

“Well, something like that.”

In response, Lee Seonah offered a faint smile instead of words.

After a moment’s hesitation, she opened her mouth to speak.

“Then, perhaps…”

But before she could continue, an announcement chimed as the elevator doors opened.

“Here we are.”

“Didn’t you want to say something?”

“It’s nothing important. I’ll tell you later if the opportunity arises.”

With a casual wave of her hand, Lee Seonah stepped out of the elevator.

I followed her into a long, wide hallway.

Training rooms lined both sides of the corridor, their doors labeled with plates reading “B-1,” “B-2,” and so on.

As a group of hunters emerged from one of the training rooms, they spotted us and immediately bowed deeply.

“Oh, Hunter Lee Seonah! Good morning!”

“Good morning!”

“Good morning… ah, it’s lunchtime now. Senior!”

“Hello, you’re working hard today too.”

Lee Seonah returned their greetings with a warm smile, accepting each bow as she continued walking.

A few hunters glanced at me with curiosity, but they didn’t show any further reaction.

Following Seonah, I opened my mouth casually.

“You can definitely tell the difference with a seven-year guild member. Even just walking by, you get respectfully greeted by all the juniors.”

“Are you teasing me?”

“No, I’m actually jealous.”

“There’s nothing to be jealous of. I don’t particularly like the whole ‘senpai-kohai’ hierarchy.”

“Hey. Juniors don’t just blindly follow their seniors. If a senior’s incompetent or lacks presence, they’ll be treated like air without mercy.”

Then Lee Seonah struck a nerve with a playful glint in her eye.

“Speaking from experience?”

“Acting like you’re any different.”

“My unpopular phase ended with Hunters Den.”

“Oh really?”

“Truth is, I was popular even then. Kids just couldn’t show it because it was a training camp.”

“If axe-phobia were a disease, you’d be in critical condition, seriously.”

We exchanged such light banter as we walked down the long corridor.

“Here it is.”

Seonah stopped in front of a training room marked with the plaque “[S-2]”.

I stared at the solid steel door and asked, “Isn’t this room only for S-rank users?” As we passed by earlier, I noticed plaques like “A-1” and “B-4,” which seemed to suggest that’s how the rooms were classified.

Lee Seonah nodded. “That’s usually the case, but the director made an exception for me.”

Hmm, she’s one of the most promising talents likely to be promoted to S-rank after the next assessment. It’s not unreasonable for her to receive special treatment.

Still, using an S-rank exclusive training room just to practice casting Fireball feels a bit extravagant.

“Only Yoon Sihu and I use this room. Since he’s currently deployed to Japan, you’ll have it all to yourself today without any interruptions. I’ve already secured the necessary permissions.”

As expected of Lee Seonah, she executes every task with perfect precision.

If no one were watching, experiencing the S-rank exclusive training facility might be worthwhile.

Nodding, I opened the door to the S-2 training room.

The door swung halfway open.

Just as I stepped into the training ground—a surreal space impossibly vast and tall, thanks to subspace technology—

”?”

My gaze collided with someone standing far across the room.

His skin was so pale it looked like freshly fallen snow.

His mouth was as cold as the white martial uniform he wore, his expression equally icy.

In his hand, he held a sword that gleamed with a chilling light.

The moment our eyes met, I awkwardly scratched the side of my head.

Wait, wasn’t this supposed to be a training room reserved for me alone?

“Hey, who’s already using this?”

I turned around with a sour expression.

Lee Seonah stood there, her face inexplicably flustered.

And then, from her lips:

”…Director?”

The identity of the martial artist gazing at us finally emerged.

Shinwa Guild had two distinct characteristics that set it apart from other guilds.

First, it was established directly by the head of a long-standing martial arts family, a lineage that predated the Great Cataclysm.

Second, it was the only guild in the world to operate under a dual-leadership system, co-headed by a brother and sister.

The younger sister, Che Yerim, served as the public face of the guild, handling external affairs and media appearances as the company’s CEO.

Her elder brother, Che Soohyun, never appeared in public. Instead, he acted as the field commander, responsible for training guild members and leading expeditions to gates and dungeons.

And the leader I encountered in the training hall was the latter.

After all, I recognized Che Yerim’s face, which appeared in the media almost daily.

So that’s what Che Soohyun looks like.

Out of pure curiosity, I stared at the man in martial arts attire standing in the center of the training hall.

Surprisingly, he bore no resemblance to his sister, Che Yerim.

If her younger sister had a friendly, puppy-like appearance, Che Soohyun felt sharp enough to slice through skin with a single glance.

To be frank, he was exactly the kind of boss I’d never want to work for.

People like him could kill you with polite, quiet remarks before the presentation even started.

“Director, what brings you here…?” Lee Seonah, who was standing behind us, finally spoke, her voice thick with panic. She clearly hadn’t expected the director’s arrival either.

Che Soohyun sheathed her katana and replied, “Today’s expedition was postponed due to scheduling conflicts with the collaborating guild, so I dropped by since I had some free time. I’ll be on my way now, so you can use the space comfortably.”

“No, no! We’ll move to another training room. You can have this one!”

“It’s fine. I have to leave for my next appointment soon anyway. But…”

Che Soohyun’s eyes turned toward me again.

“I don’t recognize you.”

“Ah, yes. I’m a friend and classmate from Hunters Den. We rented the training room to practice my newly acquired skill.”

“Is that so? You’re Seonah’s classmate?”

Swish.

Che Soohyun seemed to move deliberately, yet he closed the nearly 50-meter distance in an instant, as if he’d used some miraculous teleportation technique. He calmly looked at me and asked, “What’s your name?”

“Lee Taejun.”

“Lee Taejun.”

Che Soohyun smiled enigmatically.

“Ah, so you’re Lee Taejun. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

I felt a surge of confusion. How could the representative of the three major guilds have heard so much about me, someone who had been a porter just a few days ago?

For some reason, Lee Seonah’s pupils were trembling beside me.

Well, with such a notoriously fastidious boss standing right in front of her, it was understandable.

I remembered hearing she was even formally learning swordsmanship from Che Soohyun.

In every way, this boss must be a difficult superior for her.

Even a top A-rank hunter like her couldn’t escape the grueling reality of office life.

Hang in there.

As I gave her an understanding look, Lee Seonah’s expression grew even more flustered, and she bowed her head deeply.

My empathy had clearly been received.

Seven years of working as a porter in the Black Guild were finally proving useful.

Meanwhile, Che Soohyun, still wearing that enigmatic smile, said, “Anyway, I understand. You’re free to use the training room as much as you like. But if it’s not too much trouble, may I ask you one question?”

“Yes.”

“What skill are you training?”

At that question, even Lee Seonah turned to me with a curious gaze.

Come to think of it, I hadn’t told her I’d acquired any skills either.

There was no point in hiding it anyway.

“Just an ordinary Fireball.”

Of course, the skill name wasn’t simply ‘Fireball,’ but ‘Archmage’s Fireball.’

“Fireball, huh?” Che Soohyun nodded.

Obviously, using an S-rank training room to test such a basic skill was completely inappropriate. It was like using a multi-billion-won supercomputer to play Minesweeper.

If it had been Kim Kyungtae, the guild leader of Bicheon, he would have burst into laughter right there.

But there wasn’t a hint of mockery on Che Soohyun’s face as he listened to my answer.

“Fireball is the most basic fire skill, but precisely because of that, it requires constant repetition and training to be used freely in any situation.”

Whoosh!

Suddenly, blue mana condensed in Che Soohyun’s hand. He raised her hand, the mana shimmering, and swept it through the air like a painter wielding a brush.

Then, something astonishing happened:

The vast training hall transformed into a snow-covered tundra.

This is incredible.

Of course it’s special. Ordinary hunter training rooms don’t have this function.

Conventional training rooms were limited to simple space expansion.

No one possesses the ability to create an entire environment using their personal mana.

This training room, befitting an S-rank facility, seemed to have been enhanced with numerous additional functions.

“Fireballs are typically less effective in snowfield and underwater dungeons,” Che Soohyun said, watching her boots crunch through the snow.

“Naturally, it’s also difficult to time them properly in such conditions. In other words, a training environment like this is necessary for proper drills.”

Well, that’s technically true.

It was true, but honestly, I didn’t know if such extremes were really necessary.

“Ultimately, the fundamentals remain the most important,” Che Soohyun continued, her eyes burning with an odd intensity. “Hunter Lee Taejun seems to be a martial artist who understands this well.”