Chapter 23. A Star Shining Again (3) (2/2)

Seol finally managed to complete all ten laps and stopped just before the finish line. He crumpled to the floor like a collapsing building, and roughly wheezed in and out. Yi Seol-Ah trotted to where he was and advised him to slowly regulate his breathing, before tilting her head a bit, looking somewhat surprised.

“I didn't expect Orabeo-nim's fitness level to be this low….”

“H, how come…. Miss… Yi Seol-Ah… can run… so well?”

“Well, I've been delivering milk in the early mornings, you see? I did that for about one year straight.”

“Sounds… rough….”

“Oh no, not at all! I've always enjoyed running, you know? Even when I was at school, I entered the athletics club and ran track and field almost everyday~.”

Yi Seol-Ah drew a victory sign with her fingers. Seol always thought her demure, shy demeanor and her good looks matched up pretty well, but as it turned out, she was a bona fide athlete, instead. He gladly accepted her extended helping hand while opening his mouth.

“Thank you.”

“Eh?”

She became flustered as his gratitude came out from nowhere.

“My mind's a lot clearer now.”

“Oh, I… It was nothing. If I was able to help somehow, then I'm glad…. Besides, you… have saved me, so…. I should be, instead….”

She quickly lowered her gaze and her cheeks reddened softly. Seeing her at a loss and not knowing how to respond, a certain streak of mischievousness tickled Seol's fancy.

“In any case, thank you.”

“N, no. It's nothing at all….”

“Thank you. I mean it.”

“No, it's really nothing at all. It's me who's….”

“I really don't know how I should repay this debt to you.”

“….Orabeo-nim.”

Yi Seol-Ah puckered her lower lip in a pout and cutely glared at him.

“You are doing this only because of what Sungjin and I did, yes?”

“Am I busted?”

Seol winked at her and stood up straight.

This was quite surprising. During the run itself, he felt like a dying man, but now that it was over, his mood had improved dramatically.

“It's not bad, this running thing.”

“Right? Running is easily the best way to increase your fitness level. It increases your lung capacity, improves the way your lungs function, and it strengthens your heart. Plus, it even improves your blood circulation!”

Seol's eyes gradually grew wider as he listened to the virtues of running. He genuinely had no idea that something as simple as running could be this beneficial.

“In that case, shall we run together one more time?”

“Mm…. I'm happy with that, but…”

Yi Seol-Ah tilted her head this way and that before she spoke to him in a low voice.

“You have to drop the honorifics, okay?”

Seol let off a soft chuckle at her unexpected request.

*

After ending the running session with Yi Seol-Ah, Seol rechecked the noticeboard, and sure enough, he could see them. Right at the bottom of the board, he found huge stacks of parchments with 'Basic' written on them. With no Survival Points offered up as rewards, everyone had been ignoring them until now.

Seol revised his plans completely. The first thing he did was to visit the VIP store again. He then ignored the pleas of the maid there and bought the remaining 59 bottles of Competence. After drinking a bottle, he began running again.

'Healthy citizens make a strong nation!'

Shouting the famous slogan that encouraged people of Korea to exercise, Seol solely focused on improving his fitness level. He figured that before he could start doing any missions, he needed to be healthy and fit.

As days passed, other survivors began to think Seol's actions were odd. After all, to their eyes, he possessed enough abilities to solo a Hard-ranked mission. Even so, he was only doing ‘Baisc’ training regimes that offered no rewards. Not only that, he was repeating them over and over, completely stopping other missions.

Seol also found it pretty hard in the beginning. His weak physique demanded rest way too often. And inevitably, he grew bored of repeating the same thing all the time. He was constantly haunted by thoughts that told him, ‘This is enough, you can stop now.’

However, when he sensed the gradual change his body was going through, he was able to throw away all doubts and temptations.

On the same track that he could barely run around ten times at the start of it all, now he could complete the distance without decreasing his speed one bit. His breathing would be ruffled only a little, too. In the end, he thought this wasn't going to be enough, so he proceeded straight into the next training mission.

And that was to run 20 laps around a slightly longer track. There was one thing different for this 'mission' than the previous one, though – there was a reward of 1 SP. Regardless, he repeated this mission diligently for a while, and he could feel his body developing ever so gradually.

Maybe it was all due to the effects of the Competence potion, he could definitely feel the improvements the more he exercised. And since the results were so tangible and palpable, he no longer found the training routine monotonous and boring anymore. They had become much more interesting and fun. Every time he succeeded when he thought he couldn't, every time he endured and achieved his goal, something within him was changing.

He got addicted to this euphoria of success. And he began pouring all of his focus on training like a madman. He spent two-thirds of a day strictly on training.

The big reason why he could continue doing this, though, was his room – the room that Maria personally declared as the 'best in the Neutral Zone for resting'. Just one hour of rest washed away all the fatigue, and he only had to sleep for four hours to recover his stamina completely.

Soon, Seol realized that time was too precious to waste on anything else and thus became interested in how to recover his stamina even faster. Since there were potions like Competence, he figured there could be something else similar to improve one's recovery rate as well.

He didn't hesitate to spend his SP in this regard. After all, he had no other place to spend these points, what with his meals and sleeping quarters being free to use. Soon, his exercise time increased to nearly 20 hours. He believed that he had finally begun making good use of the great starting conditions he was given, not just relying on them as if they were his crutch.

Yes, he felt envious of other survivors forming teams to tackle various missions. He still felt some attachment towards the Ambrosias, too.

But, when he ran around with all his might, all the negative thoughts filtered out of his system and he could control his mind better. He was determined not to take on any missions until he felt confident enough to tackle them again.

And so, two weeks went by, just like that.

For everyone else, it was 14 days, but for Seol, the past two weeks were more like 112 days, instead.

*

“He's insane.”

Cinzia concluded as so while watching the footage. She was resting her chin on one hand at the same time. On the screen, Seol was running on the track without taking a break.

“Spending half of the month only on training his basic fitness…. Hah. I really did not expect that someone like him would pop up. I'm sure the gods are really happy right about now.”

“Shouldn't we think about informing the survivors soon?”

The maid courteously waiting behind her spoke up. It was Agnes, the maid who offered to guide Seol around in the beginning, only to be kicked to the curb rather rudely by Maria.

“What? Oh, you mean the fake deadline?”

“The Neutral Zone is in turmoil at the moment. The deadline has been shortened far too drastically. If the survivors learn of the original deadline, then….”

“Then? What can they realistically do?”

Cinzia extracted a cigarette from her inner pocket. Agnes expertly lit it up.

“Don’t worry about it. We’ll just relax and wait and then tell them, 'Oh, you’re all so pitiful. I decided to generously extend the deadline’. Simple.”

“But still….”

“Enough.”

Agnes shut her mouth right away. A thin smoke slowly drifted out of Cinzia's mouth.

“There's no problem. Besides, didn't I already send the word out that the Neutral Zone's deadline will be left to my discretion?”

“There has been a debate as to whether you changing the rules as you please is wise….”

“Hmph. Well, then. Tell me, what do you think would have happened if I told them that they can stay in here for three months?”

Agnes could only sigh out after being on the receiving end of that pointed question.

“It's too obvious. They would take it bloody easy. I mean, even those with 0 points would only need to get 30, 40 points a day to pass. Don't you know just how much price we had to pay to establish this Neutral Zone? You think I'll just sit here and watch such a thing unfold?”

“That is… true, as well.”

Agnes reluctantly agreed.

“Even the most worthless fool can complete the Normal difficulty mission by the deadline as long as they build themselves up step by step. More promising eggs would be able to go beyond that. You’ve heard of Sung Shihyun who started off from the Basic difficulty and cleared the 'Impossible' difficulty on the final day, right?”

“Yes, I’ve heard the story.”

“That's right. This place is designed to speed up growth. But what's the point of telling them that it's important when they don't even bother?”

“….”

“Hearing it thousands of times is far worse than seeing it once. If they can't feel it and sense it by themselves, there's no point telling them the truth hundreds of times. At least now, with the short deadline, they’re forced to desperately give their all.”

‘But they will reach their breaking point soon’ was what Agnes was about to say, but she kept silent and just lowered her head. She didn't 100% agree with this notion of forcing people because there weren't enough of them voluntarily going for the optimal. But she didn't have any sound rebuttals to offer. The countless cases of the past Neutral Zone openings were ample enough proof of Cinzia's assertion.

Most importantly, though – the manager in charge of the summons of March 2017 was Cinzia. Besides the basic rules that needed to be adhered to, the rest was left to her sole discretion.

“Well, I shouldn't be saying those words out aloud, right? I too used to complete these missions like a loon, after all.”

Cinzia returned her gaze to the screen and licked her lips slightly. Rather than dissatisfied, she looked somewhat envious, instead. Agnes covered her mouth and smiled softly.

“If I trained as hard as he did when I came to this place…. Then, I’d be twice as strong as I am by now.”

“I also think so.”

“Ho? Even the famous Agnes thinks so?”

“Of course. Every time I’m faced with my limits, I have regrets. If I could buy a chance to start from the beginning, then I would not hesitate to spend millions and millions.”

Cinzia smiled brightly. She seemed to be really enjoying this.

“Returning in time, huh. That's an interesting topic. So, how would you do things differently?”

“Mm, first, I’d try to amass as many Survival Points as possible in the Tutorial. Then once I reach the Neutral Zone, I'd drink one bottle of Competence from the VIP store every day while fully utilizing the sleeping quarters provided to the top survivor. Since I’d have points left over even after that… well, I’d probably do the same thing that man is doing right now.”

“That's right. That's why I'm kinda envious.”

Cinzia nodded her head and shifted her gaze away from the screen. Within the eyes of Agnes busily staring at the footage, an odd desire was visibly burning bright.

“I guess your instincts as a craftsman haven’t gone away. It's fine if you wish to help him out.”

Cinzia’s sudden consent made Agnes blink her eyes in surprise.

“Pardon? Ah. But, that man is….”

“I know, he was invited by Miss Foxy…. Here's the thing, though. I've heard of something interesting.”

While still smoking her cigarette, the ends of Cinzia's lips began arching upwards.