Chapter 85: It Hurts to Be a Hero (3)

Thump! Clunk! There was a loud thumping on the ground. Chi-Woo was suddenly thrown onto the ground, and after rolling hard several times, he stopped. Lying on his back, he looked stunned. Before he could grab her, Hawa had slightly tilted her body and stuck her feet out, but that was enough to make Chi-Woo fall hard.

“Are you all right?” Hawa flicked her hair and walked leisurely towards him. “You are more hot-headed than you appear,” Hawa said while smirking. “It’s not such a good look.”

Chi-Woo turned to gaze at her and jerked his head sideways while licking his lips. He propped himself up with both hands and got to his feet. Although he was surprised, he tried not to show it and instead put on a carefree smile. Hawa shrugged and beckoned him over with both hands, taunting him. Chi-Woo’s gaze sharpened, and he rushed forward, reaching out to grab her.

Slap!

Hawa struck Chi-Woo’s elbow strongly with her hands and broke his balance. Seeing that she was about to attack his now exposed front, Chi-Woo raised both arms in fright and backed away. Hawa’s fist swished forward and stopped right in front of Chi-Woo’s face. She had purposefully stopped her attack midway, and a smile tugged at her lips. Then she took two steps back and flicked her hair again.

Blinking hard and heaving, Chi-Woo yelled, “Ahhh!” as he ran towards her with his hands outstretched. He was hoping to catch her just once, but Hawa was swift. By just tilting slightly sideways or taking a couple of steps away, she avoided all of Chi-Woo’s attacks. Just slightly out of reach every time, Hawa escaped from his clutches like a squirrel and frustrated Chi-Woo greatly.

“Kurgh!”

With a bright red face, Chi-Woo rushed forward again like an angry bull. Hawa clicked her tongue. As Chi-Woo flung his hands all over the place, Hawa threw a punch at Chi-Woo’s side.

Thud!

“Ow, ow, ow, ow!” Chi-Woo jumped. Hawa had planned to land a punch on Chi-Woo’s side at just the perfect timing, but Chi-Woo tilted his body unexpectedly and blocked her fist with his arms.

‘Oh-‘ Hawa pursed her lips and nodded. “As I thought, you do have a natural instinct.”

Chi-Woo rubbed his forearms and looked at Hawa. If it hadn’t been for his newly opened senses, he would have gotten hit mercilessly. Besides that, Chi-Woo wondered how such a small fist could pack a punch; it felt like he was hit by a rock. Chi-Woo gritted his teeth with a burning want for revenge and glared at Hawa. Simultaneously, Hawa’s expression grew icy, as if she was warning him that she was going to stop playing now. As a result…

Chi-Woo fell, rolled, toppled over, tripped, and fell again. It took smashing face-down into the ground a few times until he collapsed for him to stop tackling Hawa. His constant failure proved to him something Mimi had told him.

[Let me ask you one thing. Even if you acquire synesthesia, how are you going to use it? You said you wanted to be strong, but how are you going to be stronger with such an ability?]

It was thanks to sheer miraculous and godly fortune that Chi-Woo had been able to escape from the monsters. He didn’t even know how to use a rare ability such as synesthesia, as this fight clearly indicated. After he managed to block an attack by luck, Hawa changed up her offense style completely. She mixed in trickery with her attacks and confused his senses. While he was disoriented, Hawa played with him like he was in the palm of her hands.

Chi-Woo was frustrated. He knew where the attacks were coming from, but his body failed to keep up. It was like what Ronaldo had said when he retired from playing soccer, ‘My head is still thinking of ways to defend, but my body doesn’t match up to it.’ And besides all this, Chi-Woo also realized how impressive Hawa’s skills were; he got his ass handed to him after thinking that Hawa would be like any other girl her age.

“How did I defeat you?” A shadow cast over him, and Chi-Woo saw an upside-down Hawa looking down at him.

“…What do you mean?” Chi-Woo asked with embarrassment.

“Either you’ve purposefully lost to me, or you’ve lost your close combat senses after losing your power as a hero,” Hawa answered immediately, like she was certain that it must be one of the two. “If the answer is the former, I will tell you to stop. And if it’s the latter, don’t just rush into the fight. Maintain a good distance from your opponent and focus on evading while waiting for an opening for a counterattack, because it feels like you are able to read my movements, but your body can’t follow through.”

Chi-Woo covered his face with both arms and asked, “…What if the answer is neither?” Letting out a deep sigh, Chi-Woo spat out the truth in a moment of anger, “What if I didn’t lose to you on purpose, and I’m just an ordinary person who knows nothing of close combat?”

“Then—”

Hawa organized her thoughts for a while and spoke again, “Before learning skills, you should be prepared.

“Prepared…?”

“Yes, prepared to get hurt,” Hawa said calmly. “And prepared to hurt another person.”

Chi-Woo’s eyes turned round.

“You had an opportunity to win at least one time.”

Chi-Woo recalled the time he had luckily blocked Hawa’s attack.

“If you had attacked me when I was off guard, you would’ve beaten me easily,” Hawa continued. “That’s what sparring is meant to be. Both sides are often hurt and more uncommonly, even crippled.”

“…”

“But you keep only trying to grab me instead of hitting me.”

“Grabbing is also a form of attack.”

“That’s beside the point,” Hawa retorted. “I wouldn’t rub my elbows and jump up and down after blocking an attack. I would’ve endured the pain somehow and counterattacked.”

Chi-Woo was silent. He understood what she meant by being prepared to get hurt and hurt others now. He let out a deep sigh, unable to come up with a retort. But since he was upset that he lost, he squeezed his eyes shut.

“Let’s go another round next time with the same bet.”

“Any time. That’s more fun than fighting without anything on the line…” Hawa agreed easily. Then her face grew curious.

“If you won, what were you going to ask me to do?”

“I was going to tell you to call me oppa.” [1]

Hawa looked speechless for a moment.

“Well you know, I always use your name, but you keep calling me ‘Mr’ or ‘Sir’.”

“But Mister, you don’t like others calling your name.”

Chi-Woo was about to protest, but then he remembered how his name was supposed to be Chichibbong and closed his eyes again. There was nothing he could say.

“Hm…Well, okay. That’s no big deal.” Hawa snorted and tilted her head while still looking down at him, “Well then, you should call me nuna from now on.” [2]

Chi-Woo furrowed.

“Come on, I won,” Hawa said.

“Ah.”

“So from now on, I am dropping my formalities too. Understand?”

Chi-Woo’s mouth opened and closed again. He couldn’t even find the words to say.

“Well, since I’m your nuna…and you don’t like me calling your name or address you any other way, I’m just going to call you by saying ‘hey’.” Hawa chuckled, and Chi-Woo gritted his teeth.

* * *

After the utter humiliation he faced from Hawa, Chi-Woo focused on his training. Following Mimi’s suggestion, he changed up his daily routine. In addition to running, he made the most of his knowledge in sports and mixed in other exercises as well.

“Huff! Huff!” He sometimes stopped in the middle of running to do some burpees before resuming his run; then he stopped to run in place. That reintroduced him to the feeling of physical exhaustion. He hadn’t been feeling tired these days from running, but with this new change, his heart thumped hard, and he ran out of breath like the time he first ran around the fortress. Chi-Woo welcomed the pain and challenge. Mimi had told him this would happen.

When he first started training, he had doubted whether or not he would be able to run five laps around the fortress without resting; as he exercised more and more, there really came a day when he could. In his current state, he was confident in running not only five laps, but even ten laps around the fortress. As long as he kept pushing through, Chi-Woo believed that there would come a day when what he struggled with currently would become easy in the future.

‘I have to overcome it.’

After doing a 100 situps and 5 squats set 20 times, Chi-Woo climbed on top of hard tree branches and did pull-ups. Sweat poured down his body like rain, and both of his arms felt like they were going to burst. Still, Chi-Woo gritted his teeth and endured. And as if it was rewarding his hard work, he eventually got messages about his improvements as days passed by.

1. Name & Rank: Choi Chi-Woo (EX)

[Strength E]

[Durability E]

[Agility E]

[Stamina E]

[Mental Fortitude C]

His physical skills had been lingering around F rank, but now they had all risen rank E. Chi-Woo realized why Mimi and Ru Amuh had emphasized stamina so much. After his stamina ranked up, his other physical skills followed.

‘Awesome.’ He had gone through a physical transformation, losing the fat protruding from his body and dropping from mid-80 kilogram to mid-70. His progress filled Chi-Woo with renewed confidence. Not only did his stamina improve, but so did every one of his physical attributes. Bolstered, Chi-Woo challenged Hawa to another battle…only to lose brutally.

But how? Chi-Woo healed his bruised body parts inside the spring pool and like Mimi suggested to him, checked Hawa’s user information.

1. Name & Rank: Shahnaz Hawa (☆☆☆)

2. Sex & Age: Female & 19

3. Height & Weight: 164.8 & 47.4kg

4. Class: -

5. Heavenly Title: Eve who Didn’t Yet Eat the Forbidden Fruit [3]

6. Disposition: Lawful Evil

[Strength D]

[Durability E]

[Agility C]

[Stamina D]

[Mental Fortitude B]

‘Wow…’ Chi-Woo was surprised to see that Hawa’s dormant potential was 3 stars, and was surprised again to see that her physical stats were comparable to a hero’s.

[A diamond in the rough.]

Mimi said, equally impressed.

‘Is this supposed to happen?’

[Of course. It’s actually rare for people to be born heroes.]

In other words, there were overwhelmingly more heroes who were born normal but became heroes later on. Chi-Woo’s older brother, Choi Chi-Hyun was the exception that proved the rule. This meant Hawa had all the qualities to become a hero, and if only the circumstances in this world had been different, she might have been able to enter the Celestial Realm.

[I am surprised by her potential, but I did expect her physical attributes to be around that level.]

After all, Hawa had climbed the Evalaya mountain to spy on her tribe’s enemies since the young age of eight. And she had undergone tough and merciless training as the successor as she grew up. Considering that she had been training every day for over ten years, the level of her physical attributes made sense.

[She may be fitting to be your second star.]

‘It’s too early. I can’t even look after one person, Mr. Ru Amuh well.’

[That’s true. There’s also the trust factor…]

While Chi-Woo was busily talking with Mimi, he suddenly stopped and uttered in shock. “Huh?”

Hawa was standing in front of the spring pool with only her underwear. She hadn’t come near the water while Chi-Woo was using the spring pool before, so it was strange.

‘Is she going to take a bath?’

“W-Wait. I will get out first.” Chi-Woo tried to quickly climb out of the pool while covering his body.

“Don’t. Just turn away from me,” Hawa commanded, so Chi-Woo stopped. “I am using the wish I got from beating you just now.”

Chi-Woo almost doubted his ears. ‘She was using her wish to bathe with him? Did this mean…?’

“The holy water never listens to my wishes,” Hawa said, quickly dousing any possible misunderstandings. “So I’m gonna get some benefits while you are here.” By now, Hawa had gotten used to speaking to him like his superior.

“Why? You have a problem with that?”

“…No, please come in. Since it’s a request.” Chi-Woo spoke like there was nothing he could do since he had lost. But Hawa didn’t come in immediately and continued to look down at him; unable to evade her gaze, Chi-Woo sighed and added bitterly, “…Nuna.”

Only then did Hawa enter the spring pool with satisfaction. Chi-Woo glared at Hawa as she rubbed her body.

“What’s up with your face?” Hawa said after glancing in his direction. “Do you have a problem calling me nuna?”

If Chi-Woo said yes, he knew for sure she would tell him to beat her then or more. Unable to make a proper retort, Chi-Woo decided to voice his main complaint.

“I just think it’s unfair.”

“?”

“Don’t you think so too, nuna? I am all naked in here, but you have your underwear on.”

“Then you should have come in here with yours.”

“I didn’t think you would come in. If you had given me the heads up before, I would have worn them,” Chi-Woo said and grumbled in a quiet voice, “If you want to see my naked body so much, you should just tell me.”

“What?”

“I should have known when you forcefully took off my clothing with the excuse of applying medicine on me,” Chi-Woo murmured as he curled into himself as much as possible. Hawa’s brows rose slightly, and Chi-Woo continued, knowing that she could hear him, “You pretend otherwise, but you are quite the pervert…?” Chi-Woo stopped talking, and his eyes widened; Hawa had suddenly thrown off the cloth covering her chest. Shocked, Chi-Woo quickly bowed his head down low.

Slid.

The cloth that Hawa threw slipped down from Chi-Woo’s head. Chi-Woo took it and put it by the spring pool, all the while avoiding looking at Hawa.

“Yapping so much when you won’t even dare to look,” Hawa scoffed.

“…I apolog…” Chi-Woo mumbled quietly when Hawa interrupted him while crossing her arms.

“Hey, are you aware of how excited you look these days?”

“Did you say excited?”

“Yeah. You almost look like a completely different person. When I first saw you, you were still…” Hawa trailed off and shook her head.

“How was I when I first met you?” Chi-Woo asked, careful not to look forward.

Hawa stared at Chi-Woo hard and recalled the time when they first met. Her mind had still been muddled from the possession, but she heard a voice telling her everything was okay now, and she didn’t have to worry anymore. She clearly remembered sleeping peacefully while hearing his voice.

“…You looked a bit downcast.” Hawa answered belatedly after recalling this memory. “Like you had something going on…like you were pushing yourself beyond your limits or something like that. But now,” Hawa clicked her tongue and raised her head, asking, “You think this world is fun or something?”

“I certainly don’t think it’s fun. What gave you such an idea?”

“Sometimes, just sometimes, you look like a childish boy with no worries.”

Chi-Woo let out a short laugh. “It’s not that I have no worries, but I suppose I don’t feel much anxiety.”

“But doesn’t our situation make you anxious?”

“Of course it does, but at least there’s a clear source. It’s different from being anxious for no reason at all.”

Hawa shut her mouth, swallowing what she had meant to say. Chi-Woo seemed calmer now, and he had even turned to face her. Hawa wanted to ask what he meant, but for some reason, she felt like she shouldn’t, and didn’t prod any further. There seemed to be a story behind his response, and she knew not to inquire too deeply into such matters. An awkward silence flowed between them, and in the meantime, Chi-Woo finished healing, and the bruises on his skin faded away. That was when the water boiled audibly and became warmer.

‘Let me see. How far have I…’ Chi-Woo thought and saw a message.

[Purification process in the works…98.7%]

Chi-Woo tried to get the purification process going every day. During his first bath, the purification rate had jumped to 23.6% , but as days passed by, the progress slowed. Every bath only pushed him 2.6% further now. Still, he was almost there. Chi-Woo closed his eyes, hoping that he would reach 100% by the time he opened his eyes. As the water became warmer, he gradually felt drowsy and sleepy like he always did.

1. Korean term used by women to call their older brother or older man. ?

2. Korean term used by men to call their older sister or older women ?

3. Korean Bible follows the Hebrew name for Eve (Hawa) from the Christian Old Testament. Yet, in this description, the author uses the name ‘Eve’. ?