Chapter 263. Each Person’s Constitution (6)

When she regained her consciousness, Hawa realized that she was in a completely different place. Dense weeds reached up to her chest, and thick trees surrounded her and covered the sun. She had been in front of the official residence just a few seconds ago, but she was now standing alone in a dark forest. Although Hawa had no idea what happened, she tried to be calm. She looked around and walked cautiously.

However, she had to stop walking before even a few minutes passed because she heard a strange sound near her. It sounded like a rustling of something sliding through the weed. But above all, a sticky, unpleasant sensation seemed to stick to her whole body. Hawa instinctively raised her guard and assessed her surroundings, but she couldn’t spot anything.

In the meantime, the sound continued to get closer, and she even felt a scratching sensation near her ears. Hawa was flustered by the clear bloodlust coming from all directions and turned her head from side to side as she stepped back. Her breathing became rough, and she looked clearly frightened. Eventually, she couldn't take it anymore and ran, but a huge shadow suddenly emerged and jumped on her. Hawa tilted her head back, and her eyes widened.

“Kyahhhhhhhhhhh!” An ear-splitting scream rang out in the dark woods.

“Kyah! Kyackkk!” While Hawa felt as if her whole body was being cut into pieces, she clearly heard an ice-cold voice say, “Again.”

“Kyah..! Ahh?” Hawa had to go through another bizarre experience the next moment. The heavy being that ambushed and crushed her completely disappeared, and her body, which had been split into dozens of pieces, returned to normal. She stood in the exact spot she had arrived at.

Hawa couldn’t come to her senses. It was not only because of the sudden change in situation, but also because of the pain that still clearly remained everywhere in her body. It felt like sharp blades were still digging through her organs. While Hawa gasped for breath in extreme pain, she heard the same sound again. The sound approached her like a wildcat, ready to pounce and brutally murder her. Fear twisted Hawa’s face as she sensed it approaching faster than before.

* * *

“Hmm…” Chi-Hyun looked down at Hawa as she twitched like a worm with dissatisfaction. Through image representation, he had assigned her the same scenario a total of 52 times, and Hawa wasn’t able to survive even once. By the 20th and 30th time, she at least tried with all her might to survive somehow, but after the 40th, her will gradually withered, and she completely gave up after the 50th. Her mind temporarily collapsed. Considering that she got brutally murdered 52 times in a row, it was understandable, but…

“As expected, she can’t do it in one try…” Since Chi-Woo brought her along, Chi-Hyun had high expectations for her, so he was a bit disappointed. He clicked his tongue and shook his head. “For now, I’ve authorized you to use the image representation space.”

Although Hawa’s condition was a mess, Chi-Hyun continued regardless, “I’ve also set up the barrier where my brother lives, so your authority can be applied there as well. That is if you want it, of course.”

“…”

“If you have the confidence to survive the situation just now, come back to find me.” Chi-Hyun only said what he wanted to say and turned around without hesitation. It was only after a considerable amount of time that Hawa regained her consciousness. Hawa struggled to get up and stood in the same place for a while. Then she began moving with great endeavor.

‘Crazy bastard…’ While Hawa struggled to return home, she hurled all kinds of insults at Chi-Hyun inside her mind. ‘Fucking crazy bastard…!’ She had trusted him somewhat considering his reputation, but how could he do that to her? Of course, she hadn’t expected things to be easy, but there was a limit to what someone could go through. She had no idea what powers he had used, but Hawa was sure that what he just did now was not teaching. Rather, it was more accurate to say he simply carried out his sadistic hobby as a sick pervert.

After it was over, she heard him say a few words to her, but she couldn’t properly register it in her mind. Although she did hear something about coming back to find him, there was no way she was ever going to go seek him out again. Rather than taking part of his perverted hobby with no beneficial aspect in sight, it was much better for her mental health to go on expeditions and increase her merits. While thinking this, Hawa fell many times, bumped here and there, and barely managed to return home. She had to almost crawl back home at the end. She was so tired that she lay sprawled on the yard.

While she took a breather, a familiar sight entered her vision. Chi-Woo was shadow-boxing alone, and a woman lay on the verandah while smoking a pipe. Frankly, Hawa hadn’t paid much attention to Chi-Woo. She had merely wondered what he was doing in the beginning and watched for a bit, but after seeing him shadow-boxing by himself every day, she became completely indifferent to him. Above all, she was busy trying to get stronger for her future, so she had no time to think about him. It was the same now. She was only staring at him thoughtlessly because she was still recovering from the pain that remained in her body.

After a while, she became slightly curious. She wondered what the hell Chi-Woo was doing that he would be sweating so much and concentrating so hard that his intensely focused eyes became bloodshot. While staring at him blankly like this, Hawa suddenly went through a strange phenomenon.

“?” Her surroundings changed like when she was at the official residence. Hawa, who had already developed a trauma, immediately got up. She clenched her teeth, but soon slightly frowned. She was not in a dark forest; the environment had changed, but into a place Hawa also remembered–Narsha Haram.

Moreover, she could see Chi-Woo. He was with her too, and he was fighting countless monsters—no, he was standing still while surrounded by monsters. The monsters also stood frozen. Although it seemed clear from their stances that they were aiming at each other, they looked paralyzed.

‘Why?’ After thinking this, Hawa noticed another strange aspect. Chi-Woo and the monsters weren’t the only ones frozen. ‘My body…’ Her body was in the same state. She could move, but her movement was so slow that her body might as well be frozen. Even closing her eyes and turning her head happened at a ridiculously slow pace. Hawa was really on the verge of madness. She finally managed to get out of that hellhole, and now she was in another hell…!

“What’s this?”

Then Hawa heard another voice and felt someone lightly grab her nape and pull her back. “How did you get into this space? Were you authorized to enter?”

When Hawa turned around, she saw Byeok smoking her pipe. Byeok continued, “Then that means that punk authorized you to enter the mental space here. Who are you?”

Hawa wasn’t able to answer her question. She stared helplessly at her with a stunned look. Everything had returned to normal once again. The interior of Narsha Haram morphed back into the same yard, and Chi-Woo as well as everything else moved at a normal speed.

Hawa barely managed to return to her senses and murmured, “Just now…?”

𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

Byeok smiled thinly as she saw Hawa’s reaction, “I guess it’s understandable that you’re freaked out. You entered a space where time has been slowed.”

“Time has slowed?”

“Yeah. About a hundred times?”

Hawa couldn’t believe her ears. How much did she say the time had been slowed?

“It takes less than a second for us to see him swing his fist, but—” Byeok held her nape as she continued, “for him, it takes 100 seconds.”

It was a 1 to 100 ratio. Every 1 second was 100 seconds for Chi-Woo. A minute was 100 minutes, and 1 hour was 100 hours, or four days and four hours. It dawned on Hawa what was going on. Chi-Woo was in the midst of fighting, but he was fighting in a flow of time where a day felt like a hundred days. It was unbelievable, but Hawa had no choice but to believe it since she had just experienced it herself.

“Agh!” There was a sudden groan. Chi-Woo, who had been fighting while looking exhausted, broke out of his posture and fell. “Ack! Ackkkk!” He collapsed onto the floor and cried out in pain. While screaming and struggling, he frantically swung his fists, elbows, and legs. Soon afterwards, Chi-Woo’s whole body loosened and drooped like a dead person. If Hawa had seen this sight yesterday, she would have marveled at how realistic his acting was.

However, she wasn’t the same as yesterday. Chi-Woo’s current appearance overlapped with her own at the official residence. Hawa understood at least a fraction of the pain that Chi-Woo was now dealing with. It was hard to imagine how it must feel to continuously die at a time speed hundred times slower than normal. How long had he been repeating this same situation?

“Ugh…ughhh…” As Hawa expected, Chi-Woo’s condition didn’t seem normal. His eyes were glassy, and he drooled like a madman. However, what was more surprising was that even then, he didn’t give up. It seemed he had also gotten used to this situation; after catching his breath, he immediately conjured up his mental space without anyone telling him to and began fighting again. Even Hawa, who was usually calm and collected, was shocked out of her wits. Although she had only witnessed about ten minutes, it must have been 16 or 17 hours for Chi-Woo. Hawa was sure it must have been reminiscent of hell.

After a while, Hawa unconsciously said, “…Does he really have to go that far?”

“It’s different for each person,” Byeok answered flatly. “There are people who don't have to go that far, and people who must.” A price needed to be paid to gain great strength. However, the acquired price was not fixed. A person with great potential and talent needed to pay relatively less, and the reverse was also true—a person with limited talent needed to invest more time and had to have a stronger will. However, this was no easy feat. Although it was easy to express in words, it was incredibly difficult for a person to put all their heart and energy into meeting their goal. Likewise, even if one was determined enough to die, they might act differently when facing a life-and-death scenario for real.

“That’s how humans are. They only really struggle with everything they have once their survival is threatened.” Therefore, an environment in which Chi-Woo’s survival was threatened constantly was created.

Although Hawa understood Byeok’s intentions, she couldn’t agree with her method, especially since she had just gone through a similar experience. “Isn’t that all just up to one’s mindset?”

“Well, that’s not wrong either.” Byeok replied quite sharply, but she easily agreed. “The problem is—” She smirked while looking down at Hawa. “if you’re at a level where you can match your will and action whenever you want to, wouldn’t it be unnecessary to even talk about this in the first place?” Since someone who could do everything they wanted out of their own will would already be at an unbelievably high level, a discussion like this would be futile in the first place. “It’s true for that guy over there, and for you as well.”

Hawa clenched her teeth at Byeok’s biting remarks. She clearly understood what Byeok was saying—that Hawa was all talk when she didn’t have the skills to back her words. Hawa didn’t have any comeback for that, so she said nothing for a few seconds. Although her anger had not subsided yet, Hawa then asked, “So, did he get stronger?”

Then Hawa heard a snort behind her back. Byeok thought this was a silly question. Although methods were important, the most important thing was one’s will. Even Chi-Woo did not fully understand the purpose of this training himself. However, even if other people thought what he was doing was useless, as long as Chi-Woo accurately acknowledged his current status and paid a suitable price, he would surely make progress no matter what. Since Hawa didn’t seem like the type to understand this answer until she saw it for herself, Byeok decided to let her witness it first-hand.

Byeok grabbed Hawa’s nape with even more force and said, “If you’re so curious—” Then she lifted her up and pushed her as hard as she could. Hawa dangled in the air, gasping in surprise as she got pushed to the front. Then she felt her body stop, and at the same time—

Bam! In an instant, her eyes became big as saucers. Byeok caught Hawa again and pulled her back when Chi-Woo’s fist almost hit her in the image representation space. Although the wind didn’t blow, her silver hair spread out like a fan and fluttered wildly. Her brain seemed to rattle inside her skull as well. Hawa’s eyes trembled as she stared at the fist that was about to touch her nose. For a moment, she thought a thunderbolt was going to strike her and her body was going to split and break down. It was a powerful blow that swept away even the aching pain lingering in her body. Cold sweat formed on Hawa’s forehead and streaked down. Then blood came dripping from her nose. How could this happen when his fist hadn’t even reached her…

“So.” Byeok chuckled and let Hawa go. “How was it after experiencing it yourself?”

Hawa, who fell to the floor, curled up reflexively. When she fought one-on-one with Chi-Woo on a bet in the cave, it hadn’t been this bad. At that time, his fist was weaker than even that of a local thug, but the punch just now…was scary. She felt a far greater fear than when she encountered the unknown monster at the official residence. If Chi-Woo had been in the same situation as Hawa, he would have been able to beat the monster in one shot.

‘When did he…’ A guy who couldn’t even fight became a giant tree that she couldn’t see the top of. Hawa became lost in thought. Byeok tried to instigate a couple more conversations, but lost interest and returned to her place. Meanwhile, Hawa’s confused expression gradually returned to its original state. As she calmed down, her mind began to flow properly again.

She thought about the reason why the legend made such an environment for her and threw her there without warning, and his actions finally made sense. In a world like this, there was a high probability that she would face a situation like the one at the official residence. Only then did Hawa realize Chi-Hyun’s intention, and the direction he was trying to make her grow.

‘To survive in that situation…’ Of course, Hawa wasn’t confident in surviving even if she went back to Chi-Hyun. Now that she’d gone through that situation so many times, she knew for sure that she was a hundred percent going to die again. If she had succeeded in one try, she might have caught the eyes of the legend. Despite the failure, though, the opportunity to receive his teaching remained. In order for her to accomplish her goal, she needed to obtain information; information on how to deal with the monster and ways to figure out what it was—as the strategist that would lead the team on the right path to survival in a time of crisis.

After thinking this, Hawa immediately closed her eyes and went into the image representation space. After that day, the lights at Chi-Woo’s house never went out.