Report
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Griffin Scans
Translator – Sleepyhead
Proofreader – Hero of death
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Chapter 9 - A Different Future
People don’t fall apart when they hit rock bottom. They fall when they realize they’ve hit rock bottom and nobody is coming to pull them out.
[Damn it…]
That’s why Samchil sat frozen in quiet despair, drowning in a loss deeper than the one I felt.
[The house… it was cozy. The blanket… was warm. The microwave… I liked it!!]
In an instant, he'd lost everything—his home, his job and was now nothing more than a homeless guy with no place to go.
Unlike me, whose reality hadn’t changed much, Samchil was shackled to an emotional wreckage born of looping futures. Over and over, he lived the same day, each time with a different outcome.
Since his ability activated, time had stopped moving forward for him. Every day reset. The world went in circles.
“But if I beat Park Jongpal, how are you still broke? Even the first time we talked, all you had was a crummy semi-basement apartment.”
A change as big as changing my whole future.
I couldn’t understand it intuitively.
[Exactly. And this time, the change wasn’t even that significant. Even without me, you would’ve eventually surpassed Park Jong-pal and ended up in conflict with Kim Woo-tae. It just happened earlier, that’s all.]
He was saying that even without Samchil’s help, I would have surpassed Park Jong-pal one day.
"Hmm..."
[I think it’s because the direction of the future is already set.]
"The direction of the future?"
[Our lives are connected, right?]
[My position is already fixed. In other words, our lives are like a huge river flowing from you to me.]
"Hmm..."
[Simply put, changes that follow the flow are more affected by small forces than those that go against it.]
"So you’re saying... it’s easier to fail than succeed?"
[That’s right. Like how it’s easier to let someone hanging from a cliff fall than to pull them up.]
“Damn.”
I got it now.
It’s easier to ruin a life than to save it.
That’s how influential Kim Woo-tae is.
Because the confrontation with him came earlier due to my victory over Park Jong-pal, my life had taken a turn for the worse.
[But don’t worry. We still have plenty of opportunities ahead.]
"I’m not the one in trouble. You are. What are you gonna do without a place to live?"
[I stopped by while you were unconscious. It’s not the end of the world. There’s a free meal center for food, and the subway station has spots to sleep. Just cover myself with a box and sleep.]
"...Just suffer a little longer. I’ll try my best to get you a decent place."
[Yeah, let’s hang in there.]
Knock knock.
As Samchil and I were reaffirming our resolve, a knock came at the door.
“Come in.”
The door opened, and someone appeared.
I assumed it would be the doctorbut it was someone I never expected.
‘Doesn’t this guy hate me?’
“You okay?”
“Yeah. I’m fine.”
That was the end of the conversation. Lee Jung-hoon stood there silently, looking at me. An awkward tension filled the room.
“Don’t just stand there. Sit.”
I pointed to the edge of the bed. Watching him stand like that made me uncomfortable.
I didn’t ask why he came. His face clearly said he had something he wanted to say.
“No, I won’t stay long. I just... came because I wanted to say something.”
“Yeah?”
He scratched the back of his head and hesitated, then began speaking with a serious expression.
“I’ve been bullied by those bastards for three years. And... not once did anyone stand up for me. Of course, I never expected anyone to help. I wouldn’t have helped either because Kim Woo-tae is behind Park Jong-pal.
I never expected anyone to stand up to them for me. I thought that was just natural. Until today.”
“.....”
His voice trembled slightly with sincerity.
In that trembling voice, I could sense, even just a little, how much he had been enduring.
“So this might sound a bit cringey, but I have to say it. I’m sorry for what I said that day... and thank you for helping me. I’ll definitely repay this debt someday! So, rest up.”
Just like last time, he said his piece and quickly turned around toward the door.
I called out to his back.
“You’ve been through a lot.”
It wasn’t much, but I wanted to offer even a small comfort to someone who had mustered up the courage.
He paused with his hand on the doorknob, then left without a word.
And that’s when an unexpected message appeared.
<A promise from the past has been kept.>
<The future is drastically changing>
<Your occupation has been changed to Day laborer.>
<Your Residence has been upgraded to Windowless goshiwon .>
—---
—---------
"Ugh."
"Uhhng..."
"Kkhup."
"Aang?"
Groans mixed with moans of men and women rose all around.
The bodies of about thirty cadets were linked together like snakes.
With both hands on the ground and legs placed on the back of the cadet behind.
We were doing group push-ups.
An endlessly wide training ground.
Under the blazing midday sun, we were experiencing a living hell.
"One."
At the instructor's command,
"One!!"
The cadets echoed back, lowering their arms.
"Kkhheung."
"Keehong."
Strange cries echoed through the air.
For cadets aiming to become hunters, push-ups are just the basics. No one fears that.
However, once basic training exceeds five hours, things change.
Our uniforms were already soaked with sweat, and water from installed sprinklers occasionally cooled our bodies.
But the instructor, seemingly enjoying our screams, had no intention of saying "two."
My arms, supporting the weight, were trembling.
"Pahhhnggng..."
As the scattered groans turned into a grand chorus—
"Two."
The instructor finally spoke.
The cadets echoed with joy, as if discovering an oasis, and pushed their bodies up.
"Two!!"
"One."
But then came the next command right away.
The cadets, barely enjoying the short moment of sweet rest, slowly bent their arms again.
“...one”
Main weapon training.
Swordsmanship F-Rank.
Instructor Jade.
He was infamously known among the cadets as the demon instructor.
Someone like him wouldn’t just sit back and watch such sluggish movements.
"Too slow. Everyone, on your feet!"
"On your feet!"
Perhaps meant as punishment, but even that brief moment of standing felt like bliss.
"10 laps around the field. First 10 finishers only."
Ten laps around this huge field?
Just thinking about it felt like standing at the gates of hell but before I could even react, my body was already moving.
The word "first" seems to cast a spell that makes the body move faster than the mind.
“Huff… huff…”
Already exhausted from two injuries, this training felt even more grueling than usual.
My throat felt like cracked, parched land.
My legs were as heavy as if weighted with lead, and my breath came in short, shallow gasps.
Still, I made it into the top ranks.
With no magic allowed, raw stamina was the key and in that, I had no rivals.
Soon, the final ten finished their laps.
"Ten left, another 10 laps. First 10 finishers."
"Gaaah!!"
With screams and groans, the cadets rushed off again.
The ten of us who had finished stood watching the brutal race. It was a battlefield.
"You ten, shoulder lock. Ready. Sit on ‘one’, stand on ‘two’!"
We quickly lined up, linking arms and responding:
"One!!"
Everyone here used swords as their primary weapon.
In this academy, main weapon training groups cadets by their weapon of choice, then ranks them into classes.
I, ranked dead last, belonged to the F-class—the lowest of the low.
And our instructor, as I said, was the infamous demon, Jade.
He was American, but language wasn’t a barrier.
These days, the entire world uses Korean as the official language.
"Weaklings like you aren’t even worthy of drawing a sword. Ten laps around the field. First ten go."
That was the first thing he said—barely a minute after meeting us.
Thus began the hell we had now endured for five hours.
At this point, we weren’t running anymore—we were crawling like worms.
"Not running yet? My grandma could run faster than that!"
His shouts lashed us like whips.
Hell ended only when froth appeared on the lips of some cadets.
"Nice to meet you. You're Yu Ji-hoon, right?"
As I barely lifted my drained body, a stranger spoke to me.
A guy I’d never seen before—small build, pale skin, and sparkling eyes.
"......Yeah. Nice to meet you."
"This training’s insane, huh? No wonder they call him a demon."
"No kidding."
He approached suddenly, acting overly friendly—a bit overwhelming for someone like me, who's not very sociable.
"I'm Kim Kwang-hyun. I saw your fight with Park Jong-pal yesterday. Still holding up? You made it to training too."
"Skipping isn't an option."
"Wow, the zombie nickname wasn't just for show, huh?"
"Zombie?"
"Yeah, you're famous now. People say we’d have to chop off your head to kill you. Seeing you get up even while drenched in blood inspired a lot of us. Me included."
Zombie, huh...
Not a nickname I was thrilled about.
"But... can you handle it?"
"Handle what?"
"Everyone knows Park Jong-pal has Kim Woo-tae behind him. Park is only B-rank, but Woo-tae is S-rank. In raw combat ability, he’s A-rank, but he’s good at using what he’s got."
"……There's a ranking system?"
I’d never heard of cadets being ranked like that.
"I made it up. Hobby of mine. You could say I'm the author of ‘Fun Academy 48th Generation Rankings’. Still gathering data. But you caught my eye."
A weird guy, creating his own rank system and applying it to peers.
[Kim Kwang-hyun, entrance rank 399th. He’s extremely well-informed about cadets. He even ends up working in the Hunter Association’s ranking department later. Be friendly with him—he’s interesting and will be helpful.]
‘When did you show up?’
[Now. Class just ended, right?]
Hearing Samchil's words made my discomfort fade, and I started to warm up to Kwang-hyun.
"So, what’s my rank?"
I didn’t expect much.
I’d probably be bottom tier anyway.
But maybe beating Park Jong-pal bumped me up a bit?
"You’re unranked."
“....”
"Didn’t even know you existed. But since you beat Park Jong-pal once, I’ll put you at D-rank. Honestly, it looked like a fluke to me."
"…Thanks."
Hearing “D-rank” stung a bit, but I had to admit—his observation skills were sharp.
Even if it was arbitrary, ranking someone’s abilities takes a keen eye.
Leaving that short encounter behind, I took a refreshing shower and headed to the second floor of the future wing—an exhibition space.
There, cadet-submitted artworks were on display.
Given the number of elite families at the academy, many of the pieces showed surprising depth and talent.
Among them, I searched for a small painting of a waterfall.
It had been created long ago, tucked away in a corner, and its colors bore the passage of time.
After looking around, I reached toward the displayed artwork.
It was a reckless act but I had a reason.
That painting was a warp point.
In a flash of light, I felt myself pulled through space and arrived in a new world.
A massive waterfall thundered down.
The waterfall frozen in the painting now flowed vividly before my eyes.
~~~~~~~~~~~Chapter End~~~~~~~~~~~
