Chapter 10: Let's Test Your Skills

"Was it you who was the Pickaxe Warrior?"

"Yes... but really, I just got divorced yesterday..."

"Never mind that. Let's check the items."

Jeo Eun-woo pouted and put the items on the floor. The people who had been glancing around turned their heads in shock at the items that spilled out.

Considering she's only a few years older, I can understand that.

A sword, a shield, leather armor top and bottom, gloves, and shoes.

Completely different from the photos.

"You're good at Photoshop..."

"What are you talking about? I can't do that."

"But it's different from the photos."

"It's the same. It's just a good shot. Since you just awakened, it's perfect for you, so just take it."

"Free of charge?"

"Are you kidding? Here's my bank account."

Jeo Eun-woo handed over the account number.

Until he pressed the transfer button, Oh Bi-hwan alternated between looking at the equipment and his phone, conflicted.

'But it's more economical than buying new ones.'

"I've sent it."

"Okay. I've confirmed it. But did you eat yet?"

"No. Buy me some."

"There's a place that makes delicious ramen. Let's go."

I need to get something to eat to wash away the feeling of loss.

Chororor.

Oh Bi-hwan poured water into two cup noodles and took a seat at a parasol chair outside the convenience store.

In the meantime, Jeo Eun-woo bought two triangle rice rolls and handed one to him.

"Koreans have to eat."

"This is going to make me burst."

Placing the triangle rice roll on the lid of the cup noodle, they waited for the noodles to cook. Watching Jeo Eun-woo twirl the wooden chopsticks with her fingers, Oh Bi-hwan asked,

"Since you're the guild master, do you even do second-hand trades?"

"What's the big deal about being a guild master? I do what's necessary."

"That's true. But how many guild members does Ohjang Guild have?"

"Many."

"How many exactly?"

"Five, including me."

So, the guild members I saw at Olympic Park that day were all of them. If that's the case, it's more like a party than a guild, isn't it?

I can understand why the guild master does second-hand trades.

There must be a lot of expenses in running a guild, so they must face financial difficulties. This is a common concern for small guilds.

'How did she become a guild master at her age?'

There were members older than her.

Even if skill comes first, a guild master needs experience and wisdom.

After eating the cup noodles and triangle rice rolls,

"I'll buy the coffee."

If you get a free meal, you should at least buy the dessert as a courtesy.

"Really? I know a good place. Let's go there."

"Where are we going? I meant canned coffee."

"It's going to rain soon. Let's go inside somewhere."

It's so sunny, how can it rain? But Jeo Eun-woo was already standing up and walking.

The place she led him to was a franchise café called Moonbucks.

"I'll have a Nitro Choco Cloud."

'Even though she's broke, she wants to drink this?'

With a wry smile, she finished the payment, and they took a seat in a corner.

"Since you need equipment, you're planning to do a raid alone, right?"

"Yes. I want to gain some experience by clearing free dungeons."

"You'll get backstabbed by other hunters. Do you have any bad feelings towards the guild?"

"No, I don't."

"Then why do you dislike joining a guild?"

"Organized life doesn't suit me. I hate stress."

"So, you want to be as free as possible? You're an E-rank, but you want B-rank treatment."

"So, I want to work hard on my own."

Sipping her drink, Jeo Eun-woo looked Oh Bi-hwan over from head to toe, lost in thought.

Awakening as a sales representative for Naru Corporation and an E-rank Hunter.

He's about 186 cm tall with a well-proportioned body, suggesting he exercises quite a bit. His second-hand equipment and clothing suggest he's not well-off.

Yet, his mindset of disliking guilds and wanting to do raids alone is incomprehensible.

'Judging by his quick calculations, he doesn't seem crazy. To recruit him as a guild member, I need a reason...'

Ohjang Guild needs more Hunters.

The government's dungeon bid conditions require at least 10 guild members. But increasing the number of members is not easy due to financial constraints.

F-rank members need money and time, and D-rank and above demand high salaries.

On the other hand, E-rank members can be quickly trained for raids and require less maintenance, making them less demanding.

In this regard, Oh Bi-hwan, who received an E-rank upon awakening, is a necessary presence for Ohjang Guild.

"Have you ever learned swordsmanship?"

"No."

"Then learn from me. Remember that time? When I killed the monster with one strike. You can do it too."

"Where are you selling drugs? How can I learn that and do a raid in a week? I want to do it on my own."

"Just one week. Learning basic sword movements will help a lot."

'A week?'

This is tempting. I bought a sword because I needed a weapon suitable for continuous attacks.

With a critical hit from the sword and a finishing blow from the pickaxe, I can improve my proficiency.

"Really, in a week?"

"Of course. But the tuition is a bit expensive. It's different from regular people."

"...... How much?"

"Soft or hardcore?"

She seems to be talking about the training curriculum...

Oh Bi-hwan, who had a strange thought, cleared his throat and spoke.

"If I can get stronger in a short time, I'll go with hardcore...?"

"Then, 100 for a week."

"I'll go with soft."

"That's 90."

"What, it's only a 100,000 won difference?"

"What difference does it make in training? It's all hard."

Why divide them then? Oh Bi-hwan's fists clenched as he looked at Jeo Eun-woo.

'Maybe I'll just do it on my own.'

That was his original plan. But with his current skills, he can't handle multiple monsters.

He needs investment, and this is a way to earn money quickly.

Tapping his fingers on the table, he did some mental calculations.

A sales representative can't make a loss.

"Hardcore for 90. Any more is impossible."

"Alright. Let's do it."

Jeo Eun-woo's response was disappointingly quick.

Although he felt taken advantage of, they agreed to pay the tuition later, a bold move.

"Enjoyed the coffee. See you at the academy tomorrow."

'Academy?'

A 5-member guild with an academy?

After parting ways with Jeo Eun-woo, Oh Bi-hwan headed home.

On the bus, he checked his account, and his brows furrowed.

After paying off his credit card debt and buying equipment, his balance was less than a million won.

In times like these, I need Jang Won-beom.

"Where are you?"

- Why?

"I need to sell something. I'll drop by your place in the evening."

*

- You can't be planning to do a raid already. Where did you get this? With this much mana stone, even I would have trouble handling it, damn it.

Despite the nagging, that night, he sold the mana stones to Jang Won-beom for 14.5 million won.

His account balance increased again.

When his siblings were asleep,

Oh Bi-hwan entered the dungeon through the dimensional door, tried on the equipment he bought from Jeo Eun-woo, and swung the sword.

It looked old, but there were no problems using it.

However, the blade was rusted and needed to be sharpened on a whetstone.

*

The place early awakeners went to learn how to fight monsters was a martial arts dojo. It was the only place to learn swordsmanship, spear techniques, and martial arts.

Looking at the history of large guilds, many had roots in dojos for this reason.

In modern times, many guilds also run academies for profit.

'You never know when you'll awaken.'

'You need to protect yourself,' they lured the incompetent. The academy has long been a mandatory course for students, like a cram school for national exams.

In the back of a food street in Bangi-dong, Songpa-gu.

The basement of an old building is the office and academy of Ohjang Guild.

Just by looking at this, you can tell the guild's financial state.

Like a typical dojo, the floor was covered with thin mats. A sandbag hung from the ceiling, and exercise equipment and wooden swords were neatly arranged on the wall. In the center, elementary school students in martial arts uniforms were training for the summer vacation.

"Left hand thrust!"

"Yah!"

Their cute little hands stretching out were adorable.

Smiling, Oh Bi-hwan was approached by a guild member. He was shorter than Oh Bi-hwan, thin, and looked frail.

"I heard from the guild master. Let's go to the office."

Knock knock.

"Come in."

Opening the door, Jeo Eun-woo, who was sitting on the sofa, quickly swept away the things on the table with her hand. Most of the things that fell to the floor were bills and collection notices. She opened her mouth calmly as if nothing had happened.

"Coffee? Green tea?"

"Coffee, please."

Standing up from the sofa, Jeo Eun-woo kicked the bills aside and headed to the coffee machine.

"How many academy students do you have?"

"Many."

"How many exactly?"

"They'll increase soon."

"You can't mean the elementary school students outside..."

"There are more. It's crowded in the evening."

You need to make sense. Oh Bi-hwan narrowed his eyes and asked.

"How many awakeners do you have?"

"Meaningless numbers. It's one-on-one lessons anyway."

"But if they all come at once, it'll be hard to teach, right?"

"Not at all. Why are you worried about that? Here, drink."

Handing him the coffee, Jeo Eun-woo then shouted, opening the office door.

"Bring a new uniform for the new member!"

Surprisingly, she uses polite language with the guild members. The guild master does too, and Ohjang Guild's identity is hard to grasp.

A moment later, a guild member handed Oh Bi-hwan the uniform and pointed to a partitioned area in the office.

"Change your clothes. I'll come in for the skill test."

"Where's the changing room?"

"Why? Do you have something to show?"

The partition is enough to block the view.

Anyway,

It's all going so smoothly from registration to the test.

I like the speed.

Wearing the white martial arts uniform and stepping out of the office, the elementary school students were gone. There were only three guild members.

"Where are the kids?"

"It's time for their English class. One of them went to drive them. Introduce yourself to the guild members first."

"I'm Oh Bi-hwan. Nice to meet you."

"A new member? Why here of all places..."

"Are you crazy? Anyway, I just awakened a few days ago. I registered for the hardcore one-week course, so keep that in mind."

The guild members tilted their heads.

"Hardcore? One week? There was such a course..."

"Come on, now that the new member is here, we need to test him. Who wants to do it?"

At Jeo Eun-woo's words, a man stood up. It was Kim Won-gyu, who had guided Oh Bi-hwan to the office.

"This is my job. Ha ha."

"Junior... Are you okay? He's huge."

The senior guild members spoke with concern.

"I may look like this, but I'm E-rank. If I lose to a newly awakened rookie, I should die."

"Show your resolve."

Kim Won-gyu's face was full of confidence.

Hearing that Oh Bi-hwan was an E-rank Hunter, he opened his mouth with a troubled expression.

"Actually, I got my license a few days ago."

"You already went to the evaluation center? You were in a hurry. You could have trained for a few months and gotten a higher rank. You wasted money."

"To spend 1 million won just for an F-rank. Tsk, what a waste."

"I got an E-rank."

"....What?"

All eyes turned to Oh Bi-hwan.

"You just awakened, right?"

"Junior... Are you okay?"

"Y-Yeah. Ha ha."

Kim Won-gyu forced a smile and continued.

"You can't get strong just by relying on the numbers from the evaluation center. There's a clear difference even among E-ranks. Without combat experience, you're no different from an F-rank."

"Look at the junior. He seems experienced."

"That's why they need to learn by getting hit."

Kim Won-gyu, with a bitter smile, widened the distance and said,

"Go ahead and attack."

"...... Without any protective gear?"

"Don't worry about that. Just attack."

His confident smirk was full of confidence.

As an E-rank Hunter, he can't be unable to block a newly awakened rookie's attack.

"Alright. I'll do my best."

"Of course. That way, I can accurately gauge your skills. Don't hold back."

Taking a stance, Oh Bi-hwan moved back and forth, gauging the distance. Kim Won-gyu, despite his wobbly appearance, watched him with sharp eyes.

'His footwork is not ordinary...'

He seems to have learned something. A chill ran down Kim Won-gyu's spine.

But he has been awakened for two years. The time he spent swinging a sword and training his body is a significant difference. Thinking this, he felt at ease.

But.

The moment Oh Bi-hwan closed the distance and aimed a kick at Kim Won-gyu's face, the movement was smooth and... fast.

"!"

Kim Won-gyu hastily raised his left hand to protect his face, but with a crack, something broke. Kim Won-gyu, who was sent flying, landed on the mat about 2 meters away.

"Hey, Won-gyu!"

"Are you okay?"

"Damn... If you knew Taekwondo, you should have said so..."

A guild member ran over and slapped his cheeks to wake him up.

'Why did an E-rank attack you...'

When Oh Bi-hwan had a troubled look on his face,

A large shadow appeared in front of him.

"Let's try it with me."

A giant man. He was slightly taller than Oh Bi-hwan, but his bulging muscular body was like a gym instructor.