Chapter 40: Make an Offer

M E M O R I Z E

The day after entering the training facility, the instructors fired the starting pistol for a grueling training regimen. And just one week after that signal, the Northern Continent User Academy proved its notorious reputation. A staggering 17 people, more than 10% of the initial 130, gave up on the training and left. One peculiar detail was that 15 of them were close-range or long-range combat users.

To reiterate, the Northern Continent is under the jurisdiction of users from the Republic of Korea. If there's one thing that differentiates it from nations governing other continents, it's that Korea has a mandatory military service system. As such, it wasn't uncommon to find adult male users who were reservists or had military backgrounds.

Perhaps for that reason, the Northern Continent User Academy, which boasted being the first of its kind on any continent, was strongly reminiscent of the military. Forget the training; even daily life, including food, clothing, and shelter, was controlled during duty hours, often suppressing personal freedoms.

"The training is just too hard." If that were the only issue, one could persevere with sheer grit. But what truly exhausted the new users was the content of the training itself. The drills were so intense that they made actual military boot camp look like child's play. Most of the users who had proven their qualifications ended up vomiting on the first day, showing they couldn't handle the training and were ready to quit.

The highlight of it all was undoubtedly the special weekend training. Hall Plain's calendar followed the same system as Earth's. The weekend training, held every Saturday and Sunday, was the true reason new users left the academy. It was also why the majority of those who left were combat-type users.

That training was 1-on-1 combat between users.

Of course, this training excluded Mages and Priests. The basic principle for mages is to draw out their mana, manifest it in reality, and then strike. However, in the beginning, both drawing out and controlling it are difficult, and there's a vast amount of knowledge they need to learn besides that. It was so much that mastering even the basics within the full 13 weeks was a distant goal. Priests were exempt for similar reasons, but also because they had few offensive spells and primarily focused on healing and combat support magic.

It would be a grave mistake to think this user-on-user combat was a gentle sparring match. The rule was to take a weapon with a cold, sharp edge and actually fight your opponent, inflicting injuries beyond a certain threshold. Of course, vital areas like the head and heart were protected by sturdy armor, but other parts were left completely exposed as they entered combat.

Naturally, full preparations were made for every battle. Renowned users acted as instructors, always ready for unexpected blows, and skilled priests were constantly on standby.

Even so, the mock combat training was generally hard to accept. No, it was beyond hard to accept; most users cursed it as insane. But I held this training in high regard. It was a regimen that compensated for the one thing I had been worried about for An Hyeon's party during the Rite of Passage.

In Hall Plain, no one knows when, where, or what will happen. Once you venture a certain distance outside a city, no place can be considered safe. You could fall into a trap or be attacked by monsters or vagrants. If this was true even in areas under user influence, it was needless to say what uncharted territories would be like.

Such situations demand split-second judgment and reflexes from users. How quickly one reacts could mean the difference between life and death. In that moment, if you're holding a sword and fumbling around thinking, "I can't stab a person, how could I stab someone?" the situation becomes incredibly frustrating. That's why this was a crucial training process, a way to accustom the body to the acts of stabbing, being stabbed, and being wounded.

My only concern was that I absolutely could not get injured in these mock battles. In other words, I had to win every single fight. It was impossible for users who were still novices to break through my endurance.

I defeated weaker opponents without issue, but I felt it was a bit of a burden to win against stronger opponents in the same manner. For example, when I fought Woo Jeong-min, I focused entirely on defense throughout the match, keeping it even until I landed a counter-attack at a crucial moment to claim victory.

Given the circumstances, gaining some level of fame was inevitable. It wasn't anything grand, as I was just a new user. The instructors and other users around me were merely saying things like, "The new users this time are high-level," and "Among them, Kim Su-hyeon is particularly outstanding, quite capable." This was within my acceptable range, so I readily accepted it.

There's a saying, "a thorn in a bag." It means that a person with outstanding ability and talent will naturally make themselves known. At first, due to an obsession stemming from my old habits and patterns, I thought I had to hide myself at all costs.

"If you keep this up, Oppa, you'll just do the same thing in the same situation. And there's a chance things will repeat just like they are now."

"User Kim Su-hyeon. You can't do anything alone."

Repeating the same actions. Being unable to do anything alone. The words from Han-byeol and Seraph had shaken my heart. This time, I didn't want to lose Yu-hyeon and her, Han So-young. I wanted to step boldly into the light and be of help to them. This time, I want a happy ending together, not a sad one.

In Hall Plain, strength can be measured by how many comrades you have who you can trust and watch your back. History, and my own experience, proves this. Even the peerless user who achieved 101 Strength and dominated an era was ultimately crushed by the power of allied forces. Therefore, to gather such comrades, one needs a certain level of ability and fame.

I could feel that my way of thinking had changed slightly from the beginning. And now that I had entered Hall Plain, I was willing to do what was necessary. From the moment I made that decision, my actions began to change.

No matter how tough the training, I participated with passion and without a single complaint. I obediently complied with even the stricter controls of the instructors and maintained a polite attitude. As these things combined with my excellent training results, I soon saw instructors looking at me with favorable eyes. (As an aside, the user who was initially my dorm instructor had now become my cigarette shuttle.)

As word about user Kim Su-hyeon began to spread, my relationships with the surrounding users naturally improved as well. The number of users who wanted to become my friend or build a good relationship with me steadily increased. Instead of bursting onto the scene all at once, I was climbing one step at a time, showing room for growth. In other words, I was advertising myself as a promising prospect.

Humans are animals that adapt to their environment. While the time it takes may vary from person to person, the fact of adaptation itself holds significant meaning. The survival rate between a user who has adapted and one who has not is vastly different.

In the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th weeks, there were still a number of people who dropped out. But as we progressed through the 5th, 6th, and 7th weeks, the number dwindled, and by the 8th week, not a single person left. This meant the remaining users were the cream of the crop, sifted through a sieve.

Of course, just because they remained didn't guarantee their survival, nor did leaving guarantee their death. The variables in the world of Hall Plain were too diverse to judge life and death solely based on the user academy. It was merely a matter of probability and possibility.

It was so significant that if you looked at the recruitment conditions for clans after graduation, you would find one common requirement: graduation from a user academy. I even heard that some clans on other continents would give you extra points if you graduated from the Northern Continent's user academy.

The people who left would probably be kicking themselves in two years if they survived, regretting the 4 stat points they failed to receive.

An Hyeon's party overcame my initial worries splendidly. Not a single one of them, not even Sol, fell behind, and they were all completing the training course. It seemed their experience from the forced march after leaving the Trap Point city had been of some help.

Contrary to my expectation that An Hyeon would become a Swordsman since he handled a sword, he chose the spear as his main weapon. When I asked about his class, he said he had chosen Lancer, just as I suspected. With his considerable base physical stats, excluding magic, he would look good with any weapon, but I still felt a hint of regret.

Back in the clearing when Sol was in danger, he had thrown a sword and cut off one of the Deadman's arms. Since then, I had held his sense for the sword in high regard. If he had chosen the same path as me, a Swordsman, I could have been of considerable help in him becoming a Sword Master, but since he said he was more interested in the spear, there was nothing I could do.

Still, I was curious, so I asked why he chose Lancer, and his answer was a masterpiece.

"I thought you were dead back then, so I couldn't think straight. Honestly, those guys were so frustrating. I asked them to tell me if you were alive or dead, but they kept avoiding the question and talking about user settings and other weird stuff... That thing told me to become a Swordsman, so I told it to get lost. I said I'd use a spear out of spite."

An Sol, who was listening beside him, added that at first, her brother had stubbornly insisted he would become a Mage. She giggled, saying it was the first time she had ever seen an angel look flustered. I sighed inwardly at their nonchalant words.

An Sol did not stray from my expectations. As I thought, she chose to be a Priest. According to An Hyeon, it took him a long time to set his class, but it took Sol less than a quarter of that time. Given her reluctance to wield a weapon and her aversion to hurting others, Priest was a perfect fit for An Sol's aptitude.

Yu-jeong chose the same type of weapon she used in the Rite of Passage: daggers. What was unique was that she chose to dual-wield them, not just use a single one. When I asked her class, she proudly said she had chosen Mercenary.

Certainly, with all her stats, including magic, being well-balanced, Yu-jeong would be above average with any close-combat class. I probably would have recommended Assassin, but I thought Mercenary, which allows for the use of various weapons, was a decent choice as well.

Now that the new users' information was unlocked and accessible, it was common at the academy to ask about each other's stats. I gathered my party and strictly warned them never to tell anyone, including the instructors, their detailed stats or abilities.

I warned Sol in particular, two, three times. She didn't even know why I was doing it, just smiled blissfully. I could definitely feel that the party's attitude towards me had subtly changed since we faced the boss monster.

However, one person seemed to be changing in a way that distanced her from us. When I started making a name for myself at the academy, An Hyeon, An Sol, and Yu-jeong all showed subtle signs of pride. The fact that they acted that way, even though they hadn't done anything themselves, was proof that the three of them no longer thought of me as an outsider. Han-byeol, however, was an exception.

Han-byeol was gradually distancing herself from me and the rest of the party. When we first gathered after training began, I asked her what class she had chosen, and she replied coldly.

"Didn't you just tell us not to share our information with other users, Oppa?"

I said not to reveal detailed information, not your class. That's something that can't be helped but revealed. I smiled awkwardly on the outside, but I couldn't help but feel a little hurt by her words. Perhaps sensing my mood, she quietly added a little later that she had received a Mage-type class, but I just nodded in response. Of course, I could have used the Third Eye to see, but I deliberately chose not to activate it. Since she was in the magic talent category, I already had a good idea.

Han-byeol was often absent from our gatherings. The reason given was that mages had a lot to study, memorize, and practice, but it was similar for other classes. The party only met once a week, and even then, only for an hour or two at a time. I often heard through Sol that even that was difficult for her to attend.

"Oppa, just don't worry about someone like that. Her dorm is different from mine and Sol's, and she barely talks to us anyway. Just let her do whatever she wants. And honestly, Kim Han-byeol... I never liked her from the start."

"That's a bit harsh. Still..."

"What do you mean, 'still'? Rumor has it that someone saw her talking to... who was it? That one user who was explaining things in front of the inn when we first came out. That male user. A damn traitor."

I smiled bitterly as I watched Yu-jeong curse Han-byeol as a traitor. It seemed my initial premonition was becoming a reality. Honestly, receiving an offer from the Golden Lion Clan wasn't something to be criticized for. Now in our 8th week, I myself had secretly received offers from over five clans. Among them, of course, was the Golden Lion Clan.

Still, her act of distancing herself from us definitely bothered me. She occasionally participated, but she rarely opened her mouth. Only once did she speak to me first, and that was to ask what I planned to do after graduation. I dismissed the question by saying I was still thinking about it.

From that day on, I was able to see Han So-young and Kim Han-byeol as separate people. And I decided not to worry about Han-byeol's issues anymore. I wanted her to be with us, but it was fine if she didn't follow. I won't hold on to those who leave, and I will thoroughly vet those who come. I aim for a small, elite group. I wanted to pass on having a large group just for the sake of numbers.

There is a word, 'in-yeon' (connection). It refers to the relationships formed between people. I believe that connections are not a matter of chance, but a field one can cultivate for oneself. That is why I believe in the word 'connection.' I was a living witness who had experienced the powerful force that the bonds formed through connections could exert.

I decided to treat Kim Han-byeol as a matter of connection. If our paths were meant to cross, we would meet, but if not, I would just let her go. I have the ability to create many more connections; I think it's foolish to cling to an uncertain one.

Once I peeled away the shadow of Han So-young, things I couldn't see before began to appear rationally. Looking at it coolly, it was more advantageous to secure users who were already proven in the first timeline than to bet on Kim Han-byeol, who was only a possibility. Besides, while not numerous, there were surely other new users with similar potential somewhere out there.

============================ Author's Note ============================

Hello. This is Ro Yu-jin. I hope all you readers got through the gloomy Monday?

In chapter 39, I discussed the issue with the afterword, and fortunately, I was able to speak with a Joara staff member. The conclusion is that while attaching the afterword to the chapter content could be a big problem, there is no issue at all with how much I write in the afterword section. I feel so relieved.

However, I felt I need to be a bit more careful about the content of the afterword. I've mentioned upcoming content before, and I saw a comment that it could be a spoiler that diminishes anticipation for future developments. Putting myself in their shoes, I think I would feel the same way.

So, from now on, I will not write anything in the chapter content other than the story itself. And I will think twice before writing the afterword and my replies to comments. For questions that could be spoilers for future developments, I plan to give no comment. Some of you might be frustrated, but these are questions that will be naturally answered as you read future chapters, so I can only ask you to wait. If you are really curious, please send me a private message. Then I will tell you. (But you can't tell others, okay?)

I had a lot of mental anguish and couldn't sleep for a day, but I feel much more at ease now that it seems to have been resolved in a positive way. Please continue to show a lot of interest in Memorize!

『Replies to Comments』

1. Yeo-ok-a-nolja: There are various ways to increase stats. You could say it's through training, elixirs (potions), fortuitous encounters, and mission rewards. And although extremely rare, there are cases where equipment has stat boosts. However, aside from training, you can think of the rest as plucking stars from the sky. And... it would certainly be fun to utilize Sol in that way. :)

2. GradeDown: Honestly, at first, I also wanted to make the user academy part similar to a school-life story. I came up with a lot of fun ideas related to the college entrance exam (individual performance) and the English Premier League (joining a clan). However, that would have required a volume of about 200k-250k characters, so I decided to skip it quickly.

3. Aillilia: Whoa. You're re-reading from chapter 1 to better understand the story... You seem to have a passion that I'm truly grateful for. (Honestly, I was touched. Sob sob.) As much interest as you've shown in the work, I will also repay you with even more substantial content in the future. Thank you. (__)

4. Rati-in-hyeong: Those are the basic rules. However, as you can see from today's chapter, you can assume the training is unimaginably difficult. As an aside, you can think of the knowledge as basic background on Hall Plain and specialized knowledge for one's major.

5. Chic-han-galchi: Hahaha. You had a very unusual dream. If you don't mind my asking, do you remember your stats and class from that time? I'm curious. :)

6. CrossDie: They said it's totally fine to write in the afterword section. Honestly, that's why I think I had a lot of fun writing this 40th chapter. Yesterday, I was struggling with revisions until 11 PM, but today I have a bit more leeway.

7. zjekfksqlc: Thank you for your valuable advice. It's difficult to satisfy the tastes of all readers, but I still intend to move in a direction that the majority desires, while accommodating the opinions of the minority as much as possible. To me, each and every one of you is truly precious.

8. Saram-insaeng: Saram-insaeng-nim, you always help me so much. I'm always grateful for that. Things like 'this should be answered' or 'just summarizing the questions' are naturally included in my replies, but I also want to include other small comments. It's a shame to miss any of them. :)

9. Yu-un-cheoreom + Blami: It's been a while! Did you have a good trip? Hahaha. Rather than being humble, I felt the need to listen more closely. In fact, many people have pointed out things I hadn't thought of.

10. dsdqwe: NO. I'm not upset at all. Really. The afterword has been a constantly discussed issue for a while, so I wrote about it in the last chapter because I wanted to settle it completely. I am deeply grateful to people like you, dsdqwe-nim, who always give valuable advice. I will pay more attention to the length from now on. Thank you. (__)

11. Toranoanal: Hmm. The ranking is low. I was thinking that being within the top 20 was good enough. Hahaha. I'm not yet knowledgeable about how the best-seller index is calculated, so I don't know the details, but... in conclusion, it seems my work is less fun and interesting to readers than higher-ranked works. I myself have about five works that I read on my smartphone as soon as I wake up in the morning. And the fact that I don't do mass releases and have few chapters published yet also seems to play a part. I think these are homework assignments that I need to work harder on in the future. I will do my best not to betray Toranoanal-nim's discerning eye.

12. yji5502: You must have had a hard time writing such a long message on your phone. And thank you for your valuable advice. I felt a lot after reading your comment. As I mentioned earlier, I will refrain from anything that could be a spoiler or break immersion. Please look forward to it.

13. Ae-dok-ja-C: Thank you-dayo? :)

14. hohokoya1: If you don't mind being spoiled, please send me a message.

15. Criacen: Yay. The last comment is from Criacen-nim. I laughed for a long time after seeing your comment today. Hahaha. You used to recommend Han-byeol as a heroine, but you've changed your mind. :) Han-byeol is not a one-off character. As such, there are several episodes planned for her in the future. I hope some of your questions were answered by reading this chapter. Of course, this isn't the end. Since I've laid the groundwork, I need to tie up the loose ends properly, right? :)

Well then, I will take my leave for today.

I hope you can always read the story with a comfortable heart.

Favorites, recommendations, comments, critiques, and questions are always welcome.