Chapter 252 - Chapter 252 (1/2)

Side Story 9

5. Your daily routine (4)

Didn't someone say that the ground would harden after the rain had fallen?

Now normally, people would grow much closer when they made up after a big fight. But then, the bond between young boys created through sweat and drive to succeed was far hotter and stickier then any old saying could intimate.

"One, two! One, two!"

As the early dawn's fog thickly covered the school's athletics field, every member of the track team was energetically roaring out their rallying cries.

"Hey, Jin-Woo! How about it? Isn't this doable?"

Before anyone had noticed it, Jin-Woo was now permitted to run alongside the captain of the team, Choi Tae-Woong. The former replied in a refreshing manner.

"Yes, it is doable!"

"Very goooood! One, two! One, two!"

Choi Tae-Woong raised his speed just a bit higher and shouted out.

"Our goal is to conquer the whole country!"

"Our goal is to.....??"

The members almost subconsciously chanted after their captain's words, but they quickly caught onto the fact that their warcry had changed and began questioning their leader.

"Hey, captain! I thought our goal was the overall win in the regionals?"

"Uh-huh!! You're aiming far too low in front of our new ace! Again! Our goal is to conquer the whole country!"

"Conquer the whole country!!"

"The whole country!!!"

Glance.

The captain glanced at Woo Sahng-In, currently running behind him.

"Hey, Sahng-In-ah, are you crying right now?"

"N-no, captain!"

"Don't give up yet, ace of the second year! Although the ace of the team has changed, how can we conquer the nation without your aid?!"

"I... I shall do my best, captain!!"

"Very goooood-!! Conquer the whole country!!"

"The whole country!! The country!"

"Conquer the country! The whole country!!"

While the members of the team lapped around the athletics field, positively buzzing with a heightened fighting spirit, only Oh Young-Gil's complexion was turning blue amongst all the runners present. The poor kid ended up following after Jin-Woo and inadvertently entered the team as well.

"Pant, paaant, paaant...."

Jin-Woo, running out in front, heard Young-Gil's heavy, rough breathing and tutted inwardly.

He wanted to improve the boy's rather feeble constitution, so he said yes to the idea of one-plus-one admittance to the athletics club, but this….

….It was only a matter of time before someone keeled over at the rate things were going.

But then again, it'd not be an easy task to let Young-Gil escape in this atmosphere when the fighting spirit of the seniors had reached a brand new height that they had never seen before.

Left with no choice, Jin-Woo loaded just a little bit of Mana and sent it behind him. Like dandelion seeds being carried in the wind, the lump of Mana gently floated in the air and entered Young-Gil's nose and mouth.

".....??"

The effects of Jin-Woo's Mana were an immediate stamina recovery, as well as a temporary boost to one's muscular endurance, reaction times, flexibility, and to one's rate of stamina recovery, etc….

Basically, it was a comprehensive buff gift set, filled with his desire to help out a friend.

Since it was a gift set straight from the Shadow Sovereign who reigned over in another world as basically a god, the effects of the buffs were rather incredible.

"Eh? Uh? Uhhh????"

Young-Gil's eyes opened wider and wider as soon as he inhaled the comprehensive buff set.

'Wha-what's going on?! My body, it... It's getting hotter?!'

Thick veins rose up on the boy's legs as they powerfully kicked the ground away.

Paht, paht, paht!!

One by one, seniors running ahead of Young-Gil were left behind, and then....

"Ohh, ohh!!"

Then, Young-Gil's solo sprint began in earnest.

'N-no, hang on a minute...?'

Choi Tae-Woong was instantly impressed by Young-Gil who managed to shoot past ahead of everyone. The captain loudly shouted out in excitement.

"Look at our newbie's fighting spirit burning up like that! How can us folks calling ourselves his seniors remain lukewarm when things are like this??"

"No, we can't!!"

"Definitely not!"

"We chase after the newbie with everything we've got! Let's go!"

"Let's do it!"

"Let's go!!"

Jin-Woo was inwardly worried whether he had given Young-Gil too much energy or not, but that only lasted for a brief moment.

The bright flames of the athletics team swept across the track today, as well.

***

While performing his duties of guiding incoming students from next to the school's gate, 'Venomous Snake' Teacher Park Gi-Sool was keeping tabs on the track and field team diligently going through their morning training regime at a distance.

Contrary to his initial worries, it seemed that Student Seong Jin-Woo was getting used to the life in the track team without any problems whatsoever.

Heck, the headmaster even thanked Park Gi-Sool out of nowhere, too.

- I heard from the director of the track team that you, Park Teacher-nim, is always watching over Student Seong Jin-Woo.

- Ah, that…. Yes, more or less….

- Isn't the problem child behaving himself so well a fruit of your hard labour? With you around, Park Teacher-nim, I can truly rest easy.

- Oh, uh.....

The only thing Park Gi-Sool had done so far was to watch Student Seong Jin-Woo until he fell or lost consciousness. He became so embarrassed that he'd rather become a potted plant that the headmaster was watering at that moment.

That happened earlier in the morning.

Park Gi-Sool tasted this bitterness deep within his core whenever he thought about the headmaster's high expectation of him versus his own pathetic situation where he couldn't even look Student Seong Jin-Woo straight in the eye.

And that was why... Because of his circumstances, he ended up getting p*ss drunk and unloaded all the useless stuff off his chest to a couple of people he'd never even seen before in his entire life.

'Now why did I have to go and do something like that....?'

Just from recalling that night's events, Park Gi-Sool felt like tearing out all of his hair.

A few days ago, in a certain diner he stopped by out of sheer frustration….

"T-those ant monsters, are they monsters with the heads of ants, but bodies that look like humans??"

With their conversation being interrupted rather rudely like this, the two men shifted their curious gazes at the same time towards Park Gi-Sool, and that helped the school teacher to sober up real fast.

"Ah…. What on Earth am I saying... I'm very sorry. Looks like I must be really drunk. Both of you, please don't mind me and carry on."

Park Gi-Sool politely bowed his head and turned around to head back to his own spot, but then, Woo Jin-Cheol actually called out and stopped him in his tracks.

"Excuse me."

The school teacher turned his alcohol-reddened face behind him and saw that Woo Jin-Cheol had gotten up from his seat to pull a chair closer to his own table.