After the enjoyable Jade Vajra Art training session and playtime with Yongbaek came to an end.
Choi Kanghyuk began his full-fledged strength training.
“Seup. Hoo.”
A bar loaded with heavy chunks of iron.
Lying on a bench, Choi Kanghyuk lifted the bar.
The bench press, one of the big three exercises.
Yongbaek, who had been watching him, suddenly flipped onto its back.
Ppyaaaa.
Then it suddenly began repeatedly raising and lowering its forelegs, following Choi Kanghyuk.
After finishing one set of exercises, Choi Kanghyuk belatedly noticed and burst out laughing.
“Hahahaha. Yongbaek, do you want to try it too?”
Ppyaaa?
Choi Kanghyuk gladly laid Yongbaek down on the bench.
“You are a beginner, so I should still make the bar a little lighter, right? Ah. But since you are a dragon, maybe you can handle a certain amount?”
After thinking for a moment, Choi Kanghyuk removed several plates from the bar he had been using.
What remained in the end was one 20kg plate on each side.
“20 plus 20 makes 60.”
It was not as though his ancestors were lifting the bar for him.
“You can handle about 60, right, Yongbaek?”
Ppyaaaa!
Yongbaek nodded.
“Good. Then posture first! If your posture becomes twisted, it is labor, not exercise, Yongbaek.”
Ppyaa!
“First, keep your wings pressed against the bench as much as possible!”
Yongbaek had actual wings, not shoulder blades.
“Fix your legs firmly. That’s right! Now, I am lowering it. Pull it down while breathing in!”
He did not merely check its posture and stop there.
Choi Kanghyuk placed a hand against Yongbaek’s chest.
“Here! Pectoralis major! You have to focus here, Yongbaek!”
To anyone watching, it would have looked as though he were conducting a PT session.
Since Yongbaek performed better than expected, the number of plates on the bar increased.
Later, when Yongbaek’s arms began trembling, Choi Kanghyuk quietly grabbed the bar for it.
In place of its ancestors.
“You can do it, Yongbaek! Just one more! I will help you!”
Ppyaa.
“That’s right! You can do it, you can do it! Just, just one more!”
Ppyaaaa.
“It is okay, Yongbaek, you can do it. Last one. Really, just one final rep!”
After squeezing Yongbaek’s arm and chest muscles to their absolute limit like that, Choi Kanghyuk smiled in satisfaction.
“You are doing great, Yongbaek!! You have to exercise like this to grow up strong!”
Ppyaa.......
Choi Kanghyuk spoke to the exhausted-looking Yongbaek.
“Then, Yongbaek, this time can you do for me what I did for you earlier?”
This time, Choi Kanghyuk lay down on the bench.
“Put one additional plate on each side.”
Yongbaek cleverly found the plates and attached them.
“And just like I did earlier, when I ask for help, lift it together with me. Understood?”
Choi Kanghyuk’s exercise began.
At first, Choi Kanghyuk repeatedly lifted and lowered the bar by himself.
Later, perhaps because he had reached his limit, Choi Kanghyuk’s arms began to tremble.
Then Yongbaek stepped in.
It grabbed the bar with both forelegs.
Then, imitating Choi Kanghyuk, it shouted energetically.
Ppyaa! Ppyaa!
One more! One more! as though saying.
Yongbaek was returning exactly what it had received.
But Choi Kanghyuk was not offended.
No, he was extremely delighted.
“Hahahaha. Wow. Now this is a proper workout today?”
Only by squeezing the muscles to their absolute limit could it be called a proper workout.
However, there were limits to exercising alone.
If one exercised with the maximum weight one could lift, it was inevitable that one would run out of strength after only a few repetitions.
If someone assisted him by the amount of strength he had lost, he would then be able to continue lifting at maximum weight.
Of course, it was also possible to perform reverse-pyramid training, adjusting the weight by continuously removing plates whenever one lost strength.
However, because he had to move the plates every single time, it was considerably troublesome.
‘It really is great to have a workout partner again after so long.’
That was why Choi Kanghyuk was in such a good mood.
‘How long has it been since I exercised together with someone else? Ah, well, it is not a person.’
It was an unavoidable problem.
Because he was the director of a gym.
He could not ask the members to assist him with his exercises, could he?
And if he wanted to ask a trainer, there was no trainer to ask.
Because it had been a failing gym.
For one reason or another, Choi Kanghyuk had always trained alone for the past several years.
“Now. We have done enough bench presses, so shall we destroy our backs and wings this time, Yongbaek?”
Near the gate entrance.
Yongbaek and Choi Kanghyuk’s screams. No, their shouts of exertion never ceased.
And there were people watching that scene, occupied by only the two of them, from very far away. From beyond Earth.
“....... Wh-what in the world is that lunatic doing to a hatchling right now?”
At the Archmage’s question, the old monk laughed leisurely.
“Hoho. Why ask when you can see it all? They are exercising together.”
“No! Instead of teaching magic to a dragon, which is called the progenitor of magic, why in the world is he making it do such ignorant things!”
“That magic or whatever it is was an art that existed only in the dimension where you lived, so why in the world are you asking our Mujin for it?”
“Then if not magic, he should at least teach it the martial arts that you people practice!!”
“Mujin has his reasons and is doing all this for the sake of that baby dragon, so do not worry.”
“No matter how I look at it, it seems as though his head is filled with muscle and he has no thoughts at all?”
“Hohoho. That is a misunderstanding. Our Mujin may look like that, but he is a very clever child.”
“.......”
The Archmage stared at the old monk with eyes filled with suspicion.
No matter how he looked at him, he appeared to be nothing more than a grandfather hopelessly doting on his grandson.
Then, as though giving up, he let out a sigh.
“Haa. Fine, whether that dimension is destroyed or not. It is none of my concern.”
He meant it sincerely.
He had only been watching because it was so fascinating that the old monk had interfered with the law of causality.
And because it was fascinating that the young man truly had not killed the hatchling.
He had only become angry because the sight of him teaching a hatchling to lift iron was so absurd.
From the Archmage’s perspective, whatever happened to that dimension was none of his concern.
However.
“That may be true for me, but what are you relying on to remain so relaxed? I do not care what happens to that man, but you know as well. That the erosion has truly begun accelerating now.”
At the Archmage’s question, the old monk merely laughed leisurely once again.
“Hohohoho.”
***
After finishing several hours of exercise, Choi Kanghyuk exited the gate.
His clothes were completely soaked with sweat.
After washing himself thoroughly in the gym shower room, Choi Kanghyuk took out his phone.
“Even though I keep buying protein, it is never enough when I eat it together with Yongbaek.”
He ordered another box through an app.
“Should I just buy a large refrigerator too?”
After browsing the internet for a while while considering various things.
He belatedly realized something.
The internet news section was completely plastered with a particular article.
[Abnormal Phenomenon Occurs in S-rank Gate Opened in Florida, United States.]
[American S-rank Hunters. Confirmed Missing as of Present.]
An abnormal S-rank gate that had appeared in the United States.
Abnormal gate phenomena had been appearing one by one throughout the world until now.
However, this was the first time one had occurred in an S-rank gate.
If all five S-rank hunters who had entered the gate were to die, it would literally be a massive incident.
News videos from the United States poured onto the internet.
An evacuation order was issued near the area where the S-rank gate had opened.
The United States’ terrifying military equipment converged on Florida.
In the event that the S-rank hunters were wiped out. Monsters might pour out through the gate.
It was a movement intended to prepare for that possibility.
“Wow....... It really looks like they are fighting some kind of war.”
In reality, the United States had entered a state that was nearly equivalent to wartime.
The American legacy media. And internet broadcasts and social media were filled entirely with stories related to the S-rank gate.
It was not only the United States. The eyes of the entire world were directed toward the Florida S-rank gate.
And the Florida S-rank gate remained silent with its mouth firmly shut for a full two days.
Then, around the evening of the third day after the S-rank hunters entered the gate.
A change occurred at the gate entrance.
Tension rippled around the gate.
The U.S. military watched the entrance while fully prepared to launch missiles at any moment.
“P-people! They are people!”
“The heroes have returned alive!!”
The atmosphere in the United States, which had been no different from wartime, changed abruptly.
It transformed into an atmosphere like a festival celebrating the heroes’ safe return.
However, the atmosphere among the foreigners watching was somewhat different.
It was not that they had wished for the United States to fall.
‘An abnormal phenomenon can occur even in an S-rank gate.’
‘One mistake could result in the loss of five S-rank hunters.’
‘Then how are we supposed to respond to S-rank gates from now on?’
Should they abandon advance clearing of S-rank gates and station military units in front of them like the United States?
It was a problem that inevitably gave the leaders of hunter associations and governments headaches.
Of course, that was a problem for the leaders of each country to worry about.
It was not a problem for Choi Kanghyuk to worry about.
Choi Kanghyuk was spending a day not particularly different from usual.
After finishing his morning workout, he visited the Association.
And at the Association, he finished his qi treatment and rehabilitation exercise classes.
“You worked hard today as well.”
Just as Choi Kanghyuk was about to leave after finishing his business. The Association President stopped him.
“Hunter Choi Kanghyuk. Let us talk for a moment.”
“Very well.”
For some reason, the Association President wore a grave expression.
The Association President walked without saying anything.
Even after leading Choi Kanghyuk into the Association President’s office, the Association President looked around as though worried someone might overhear.
Only after perfectly confirming that no one was nearby did the Association President cautiously open his mouth.
“The American Association contacted us in extreme secrecy. They said they are asking us for help. Regarding this abnormal S-rank gate incident.”
Choi Kanghyuk tilted his head.
“Was it not resolved without any problems? Ah, is it because another abnormal S-rank gate might appear?”
The Association President shook his head and spoke.
“It turns out it was not resolved without any problems.”
***
The office of the president of the All-American Hero Association, located in New York, United States.
“What were the results?”
At the Association President’s question, the middle-aged black man who had come to report answered with a miserable expression.
“It seems that no matter what kind of treatment they attempt, it has no effect.”
Immediately after the answer ended. The Association President let out a deep sigh.
His face looked as though it had aged ten years.
They had succeeded in clearing the abnormal S-rank gate.
All five S-rank hunters had returned alive.
However, there was one truth that had not been revealed to the world.
Two of the five hunters had nearly died.
Thanks to the ability of the accompanying S-rank healing-type hunter, they had been able to make their outward appearances look normal.
However, their insides were not.
The two S-rank hunters were suffering from terrible pain.
They had even become completely unable to use their abilities.
According to them, whenever they tried to move even a little mana, they felt pain as though tens of thousands of insects were crawling all over their bodies?
It was enough to drive anyone insane.
Because when viewed from the outside, there was clearly nothing wrong with them.
It had reached the point where they appeared like patients suffering from phantom pain after an amputation accident.
For several days already. They had been enduring each day while relying on painkillers. Extremely powerful narcotic painkillers at that.
And the Hero Association and the U.S. government were working together to hide this fact.
In order to calm the public.
And in order to show that the United States remained strong.
However, secrets could not remain secrets forever.
If this continued, there was a risk that the secret would eventually be exposed.
That was not the only problem.
‘We cannot allow ourselves to completely lose two combat assets.’
Furthermore, they were not just any two people.
One of them was the greatest hero in the United States.
Those intoxicated with American national pride even called him the world’s only SS-rank hero.
It was thanks to that man’s performance that they had been able to clear the abnormal S-rank gate this time.
However, he had suffered terrible injuries as the price.
They were in danger of losing someone who was practically a symbol of American heroes.
“Find a way to treat them somehow! We cannot simply give up like this!”
At the Association President’s pressing demand, the middle-aged black man wiped the sweat from his forehead once and spoke.
“We were already searching for any possible method, and we discovered this, Association President.”
He carefully took a sheet of paper from his chest and held it out.
The Association President frowned as he examined the document and muttered.
“Qi treatment?”