Thursday, 10 AM – Special Training Activity
I arrived at the school bus stop, the designated meeting point for the mercenary training activity.
Even though this was an event involving the entire student body, only about 70 students were present. The reason was simple: hunting monsters or clearing dungeons was far more appealing than running errands as a mercenary.
“Oh, Kim Sunwoo’s here.”
As I looked around for Lee Seo-jun, I heard his voice calling me from a distance.
“Why’d you take your time getting here?”
“I didn’t take my time. I got here exactly on time.”
I pointed at my wristwatch, which showed precisely 10:00 AM, not even a second off. Lee Seo-jun gave me an annoyed look.
“Hey.”
At that moment, Lee Hyun-joo greeted me from behind Seo-jun.
It’s been a while since I last talked to her.
Unlike Seo-jun and Shin Young-joon, she wasn’t much of a conversationalist with others. It wasn’t that she had poor social skills like Yoo Ara, but rather that she preferred taking care of those close to her.
“Oh, hey.”
“Hello, senior!”
This time, Choi Seo-yoon greeted me with a bright, obviously forced smile. There were a lot of people around, so she was probably putting on an extra-friendly act.
“Hey.”
“Alright, everyone! Welcome. As you all know, this special training activity will take place over three days. During this time, you’ll be assigned to actual fieldwork and experience life as mercenaries.”
As the area buzzed with chatter, a teacher appeared. Instantly, the students quieted down, all ears on his explanation.
Of course, since I already knew most of the details, I just stifled a yawn.
“Now, I’ll announce the mercenary teams each group has been assigned to. Second-year Kim Taehun’s group—Black Lion Mercenaries… Third-year Jung Jinhun’s group—White Dogs Mercenaries…”
The announcements continued.
“…Second-year Lee Seo-jun’s group—Black Flame Mercenaries.”
Black Flame – A Major Mercenary Group in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province
As expected from the original storyline, Seo-jun’s team—including me—was assigned to Black Flame Mercenaries for the three-day program.
“It’s bigger than I thought.”
The Black Flame headquarters was a six-story building with a wide floor area.
At the entrance, civilians seeking mercenary services were lined up.
Most of the requests were for finding missing persons, providing security, or hiring combat mercenaries. Occasionally, someone would pay a hefty sum for a secret assassination request.
“Let’s head in.”
We pushed open the doors and entered.
As we stepped inside, a man in mercenary gear approached us.
“Hello, how can I help you?”
“We’re here from the Korean Mage Academy for the mercenary training program.”
At our response, the man’s eyes lit up in recognition.
“Oh! I heard about this. Please, follow me.”
We were led to a room on the second floor, where we sat down and waited.
After a short while, the door opened, and a man in his 30s walked in.
“Welcome, students of the Mage Academy. I’m Jung Hajun, the leader of Black Flame’s 6th team.”
Jung Hajun.
Not a particularly notable character.
Judging by how little he stuck in my memory, his role in the original story must have been close to nonexistent.
“Hello.”
We greeted him with polite bows.
With a warm smile, Jung Hajun scanned us one by one.
His gaze stopped at Lee Seojun, and his face briefly showed surprise.
“Wait… are you Lee Seo-jun?”
“Yes, that’s me.”
“Oh… wow, I wasn’t expecting such a famous person to show up. And the rest of you are well-known as well.”
Jung Hajun’s eyes darted between Lee Hyun-joo and Choi Seo-yoon, murmuring to himself in admiration.
Though they weren’t as renowned as Seo-jun, both were still considered top-tier prodigies of the Mage Academy.
Hyun-joo, in particular, specialized in summoning magic and was even nicknamed “The Hope of Summoners” within her field—a rather cringe-worthy title.
Then, Jung Hajun turned to me. His eyes held a certain expectation.
“And you are…?”
“I’m Kim Sunwoo.”
“Kim Sunwoo? What’s your rank?”
“72nd.”
“…Ah, I see.”
“……”
His anticipation instantly turned into disappointment.
I was used to it.
When you’re often around top-ranked individuals like Seo-jun and Yoo Ara, this sort of thing happens all the time. At this point, I barely even reacted to it anymore.
“Ahem. Alright, let’s get to the explanation. Over the next three days, you’ll experience actual mercenary work. You’ll also receive and carry out simple requests alongside real mercenaries.”
We were scheduled to complete two requests over these three days.
And, if things played out like in the original, two major incidents would occur during those missions.
“You’ll be assigned D- to F-rank requests. Mostly simple escort missions or search jobs. Given your level as elite students, you should be able to handle them with ease.”
Mercenary requests were ranked from F to SSS.
In the original, though, the SSS-rank request only existed in name—it never actually appeared.
If an SSS-rank request were to be issued, it would likely involve something like assassinating the ‘King’ of the Magi or taking down Chairman Kim Jin-cheol.
Of course, realistically speaking, no mercenary group could ever pull off either of those jobs.
“Now, before we begin the first request, we’ll start with basic mercenary training.”
Meanwhile, at the Incheon International Portal Gate
A massive portal gate loomed over the immigration terminal, radiating immense magical energy.
With a brilliant flash of light, six figures stepped out of the portal and proceeded down the long corridor.
Ahead of them, travelers were lined up, waiting for immigration clearance.
“Welcome to Korea. Please present your passport.”
When their turn came, the blonde-haired woman leading the group pulled a passport from her coat.
The name on it read “Charlotte.”
But that was just an alias.
Even the photograph inside and the face she currently wore weren’t real.
However, the immigration officer had no way of knowing that.
Bang!
A stamp was pressed onto the passport.
The blonde woman said in fluent Korean, “Thank you,” before continuing forward.
A man behind her spoke.
“Bert, it’s been a while since you’ve been to Korea, right?”
“Yeah, about six years?”
“What are you going to do now? Are you really taking a break for a while?”
“Yep, no official activities for the time being.”
The man nodded.
As time passed, the rest of their group, having completed their inspections, walked over.
“Phew. Why do they ask so many questions? For a moment, I thought they caught on that my passport was fake.”
“You idiot. It’s because you always get unnecessarily nervous. And stop stammering during the interview.”
“Okay, okay.”
“Hehe, but still, it’s nice to take a break.”
“Yeah, really.”
Bert turned around and looked over the group.
“Everyone’s here, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Let’s go.”
They walked straight ahead.
As they stepped out of the arrivals hall, a handsome blonde man, Jin, waved at them excitedly.
“Over here! Over here!”
Hearing Jin’s call, they smirked and approached.
“Wow, it’s been a while, guys. Bert, looks like you put on some weight?”
“Shut up.”
“But why are there only six of you? Where are the others?”
Jin looked around at the group as he asked.
Bert shrugged and answered.
“They’re resting back home.”
“Oh, I see.”
“Jin! Long time no see! Oh yeah, I gotta show you something cool. I brought this relic from Rome!”
A large-built man infused magic power into something inside his coat, attempting to pull it out.
At that moment, a woman behind him smacked the back of his head.
Smack!
“You idiot! What do you think you’re doing in a crowded place?”
“Oh, right. My bad.”
“Ugh, you blockhead.”
“‘Blockhead’? Natasha, that’s a bit harsh, don’t you think?”
Just as another fight seemed to be brewing among them, Bert intervened.
“Are you two done?”
The scuffle ended instantly.
The massive man shuddered and muttered.
“I’ll let it slide this time.”
“Shut up. Your breath stinks.”
“Hey!”
“I said, knock it off.”
“…….”
Bert let out a deep sigh and turned to Jin.
“What about Lee Seo-jun?”
“Looks like the Magic Academy has some kind of hands-on activity today. From what I saw, he seems to be doing mercenary training at a guild.”
“Mercenary training? What’s that?”
Bert asked.
“It’s like a job experience program run by the academy. They take on real requests like actual mercenaries.”
“They really come up with all sorts of things.”
Bert muttered, intrigued.
“If they’re accepting real requests like actual mercenaries, do you think they’d take our request too?”
“Probably?”
“Really? Now that’s interesting.”
After a brief moment of thought, Bert spoke.
“Let’s go see Lee Seo-jun first. It’s been a while since we’ve caught up.”
“Ughhh…….”
After nearly two hours of excruciating training on basic mercenary etiquette, they were finally given a 20-minute break.
Slumped over a long, straight desk, Choi Seo-yoon groaned, resting her face on the desk.
“Ugh, I thought I was gonna die from boredom.”
Lee Seo-jun chuckled quietly at her complaint.
“By the way, senior, when do we start taking on requests?”
“Hmm, probably soon.”
Instead of Seo-jun, Lee Hyun-joo, sitting next to him, answered.
“I wonder what kind of request we’ll get.”
“If it’s a D- or F-rank request, it’ll probably be something like finding a person or providing escort services.”
“Mm… I just hope it’s something worthwhile.”
As she mumbled to herself, Choi Seo-yoon suddenly turned to look at me.
“Oh, right. Senior.”
“Yeah?”
“Do you plan on becoming a mercenary in the future?”
A mercenary?
“No.”
“Then why did you choose mercenary training?”
Caught off guard by the unexpected question, I fell silent for a moment.
How should I answer this?
I only came along because I was worried about Lee Seo-jun.
“I want to work with people. Dungeon exploration and monster hunting mostly involve dealing with monsters, after all.”
In truth, that was Seo-jun’s reason for choosing this program. It seemed like a reasonable excuse, so I used it.
Seo-jun, who had been listening nearby, glanced at me with an odd expression.
“Hmm… I see.”
Choi Seo-yoon nodded as if satisfied with my answer.
At that moment, the door opened, and Jung Ha-jun entered.
“Alright, students. Get up. Your first request has come in.”
“Whoo!”
At last, the first request was starting.
We stood up and followed him.
“Since this is your first request, we’ve prepared something simple. Even an F-rank mercenary could handle it alone, so the four of you working together should be more than enough.”
Following his lead, we entered a room labelled “Request Office.”
Inside, an elegant-looking woman in her forties was seated.
Jung Hajun greeted her with a slight bow.
“Good day. These are the students from the Magic Academy who will be handling your request.”
We all bowed simultaneously.
“Hello.”
“Oh my, what handsome and beautiful young people.”
The client gazed at Lee Seo-jun, Choi Seo-yoon, and Lee Hyun-joo, shifting her eyes between them.
Then, she looked at me.
“And a dependable-looking one as well.”
“…….”
We took seats across from her.
Up close, she strongly resembled a client mentioned in the original story.
A woman in her forties, adorned from head to toe with expensive-looking jewelry.
She radiated the unmistakable aura of someone incredibly wealthy.
“Hmm… You’re all quite young, so I can’t help but feel a bit worried about whether you can handle my request.”
Crossing her legs gracefully, she murmured softly.
Jung Hajun chuckled.
“You can trust them. They’re elite students from the Magic Academy.”
“In that case, I suppose so.”
“Please explain the details of your request to the students.”
The woman nodded and, looking somewhat anxious, spoke.
“I want you to find my child. They suddenly ran away from home recently, and I’m very worried.”
“Your child?”
Choi Seo-yoon tilted her head before continuing.
“Could you provide some basic details or a description?”
“My child’s name is Lucy. And she’s very beautiful and well-behaved.”
The woman’s vague answer made everyone tilt their heads.
“Lucy? Is your child a foreigner by any chance?”
Choi Seo-yoon asked.
The woman shook her head.
“Lucy isn’t a person. She’s a cat.”
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