Even by lunchtime, Yun-Jung still hadn't appeared. Occasionally, there were thudding noises from the first floor, but that was it. I was dying to know what kind of training was going on in there, but I had no choice but to be patient.
Go Yeon-Joo reappeared around lunchtime. It seemed she planned to continue with her usual duties while also training Yun-Jung. However, she no longer joined us for meals. When An-Hyun invited her to eat, she smiled and replied:
"I'm starving the kid too. So I'm not planning to eat either."
I announced that I was entrusting Yun-Jung entirely to Go Yeon-Joo. That meant I was leaving the whole matter in her hands. The others seemed quite curious as well, but since I kept quiet and told them to just wait, no one asked further questions. Go Yeon-Joo gave me a bright smile in response and headed straight into the kitchen. And in the end, even by dinner, Yun-Jung still hadn't come out.
It was around dusk, when it was cloaked in twilight, that Lee Yun-Jung finally emerged from Go Yeon-Joo's room. I heard a commotion downstairs and went to check, only to find An-Hyun, An-Sol, and Vivienne surrounding someone.
As I got closer, I saw An-Sol holding a staff and chanting a healing spell. Lying on the floor beneath her was Yun-Jung.
Her appearance was dreadful—so much so that it was strange she wasn't bleeding. Even the visible parts of her body were covered in bruises, red and purple. Her body and clothes were completely soaked and clinging to her. It was hard to believe she was drenched in sweat alone; it looked like water had been poured over her several times. Which meant—she must've passed out during training.
The others kept raising their voices in concern, saying things like, "She's going to die at this rate," or "This is too much." But I dismissed all of their worries with a simple response: take her back to her room after healing her. I figured having an experience like this at least once wasn't necessarily a bad thing. At the same time, I could somewhat guess Go Yeon-Joo's intentions.
The way she and I trained the kids was almost polar opposite. Even considering the Hall Plain, neither of us could be called "normal" by any standard. Still, despite it being unnecessary, Go Yeon-Joo had chosen to play the villain. It wasn't just about teaching skills—she seemed intent on completely tearing down and rebuilding Yun-Jung's mindset. I felt both grateful and sorry toward Yun-Jung for doing what was truly needed.
But what surprised me more than anything was Lee Yun-Jung herself. After An-Sol had practically spammed healing spells on her, I saw her eyes suddenly snap open. And the very first words out of her mouth were: "I'm hungry."
An-Hyun, caught completely off guard, scrambled down to the first floor to get her something to eat. Yun-Jung groaned as she sat up, then began trudging toward her room, her face swollen and bruised.
I didn't ask if she was okay, and she didn't whine about how hard it was. All that remained was the expression on her face—exhausted, but laced with fierce determination. An-Sol, feeling sorry as she watched her stagger, stepped in to support her.
"Unniii... Is your body okayyy?"
"Does this look okay to you?"
"Nooo…"
"Sigh… I might seriously die at this rate. So you—make sure you're always on standby. Wherever, whenever. Keep healing me so I don't drop dead."
Yun-Jung flicked An-Sol lightly on the forehead with her finger and didn't say another word. Watching her like that, I turned away. Her awareness and acceptance of death—it was more than I expected.
And with that, the growing pains of Go Yeon-Joo joining our party finally came to an end, and the caravan once again began to move forward. Of course, it wasn't like I'd been idle during that time either. I couldn't afford to be held up by unresolved issues—I had to focus on other matters as well.
For me, training was practically a part of daily life. Unless I was unconscious or in unavoidable circumstances, I always made time to meditate at least once a day. My physical stats had already reached their limit. It was a level where further improvements through training alone were virtually impossible. Not entirely impossible, maybe—but to raise even a single point would require a staggering amount of time and effort, to the point where I couldn't even estimate how long it would take.
Every day, I wrestled with how to use the remaining ability growth points and stat points. Especially with the stat points—I still hadn't decided. Should I funnel them into Vitality to stabilize my current skill set? Or should I push other stats to 101, breaking into a higher level of mastery?
Sure, I might be able to earn a few more stat points down the line, but at most, they'd probably only add up to three or four. That made me even more cautious. So, for now, I decided to hold onto them—because I didn't know when or where a specific stat might suddenly become necessary. After all, my current stats were already more than sufficient for now.
When the conversation shifted back toward exploration, all I could do was revisit the route to the Cave Of Wailing. I went over other records just in case, but finding anything new was proving to be a long shot. No matter how full of variables the Hall Plains were, unearthing a place that had remained undiscovered for ten years just wasn't realistic. So, I decided to drop the matter altogether. Time kept ticking, and for now, the Cave Of Wailing alone was more than enough.
I was also able to settle a matter I had been pondering—equipment. In the end, I withdrew another 1,000 gold using the player shop. That brought the caravan's current funds to over 2,300 gold. However, I couldn't spend it all, as I needed to set aside enough for the clan registration.
Still, I felt it was necessary to spend enough to at least show Go Yeon-Joo something worthwhile.
This time, I had firmly set my sights on Yun-Jung. To be exact, her current armor was the weakest among the group. Having already invested significantly in An-Hyun, I now intended to invest heavily in Yun-Jung. Once she hit her stride, I wanted to give her the push she needed to grow rapidly. Moreover, since she was a close-range fighter, her gear needed to be sturdy—yet due to her class, it was ironically important that it didn't restrict her mobility.
Yun-Jung was a melee-type dealer. As long as she wielded daggers, getting close to monsters was inevitable. And as a mercenary, she needed to specialize in chaotic, close-quarters combat.
First, I had Yun-Jung take off all the gear she had been wearing. Then I started with the upper body—bought her a light beige shirt. That shirt ended up being the most expensive piece of equipment I'd purchased so far, including all the gear I had acquired up to now. I paid 520 gold coins for it.
I got it from a beginner player in Mule's plaza. Judging by the situation, it looked like they had stripped it off a dead companion. Their caravan had been wiped out, and they seemed to be in the middle of trying to join a new one. After checking the seller's stats, I gave up any thoughts of recruiting them. Their abilities made it pretty clear why no other caravan would take them in. They didn't have any money either, so it looked like they were selling gear to scrape together some funds. The moment I saw the shirt, I bought it on the spot. It cost over 500 gold, but it was worth every coin.
There are several ways to enhance the magic properties of armor, which can generally be divided into two types: applying potions and using magical effects. The latter required permanent enchantments, making it more expensive—but also far more effective. In that regard, the shirt I purchased this time had a magical effect that boosted physical defense.
It was crafted from thread spun out of magically treated ogre tendons, making it incredibly durable. Additionally, both magic and potion treatments had been applied to enhance its physical defense, meaning it wouldn't be cut by most ordinary attacks. The beginner player also mentioned it offered slight magical resistance across all elements. Using my Third Eye to inspect it confirmed that there really was such an effect—though it was very weak.
As a bonus, the shirt included a basic option that helped activate the player's mana flow, and it also made the body feel a bit lighter. On top of that, the expensive potion treatment had made the fabric extremely stretchy. For someone like Yun-Jung—who needed both defense and freedom of movement—it was the perfect piece of gear.
To top it all off, the shirt even had an auto-repair function, making it a piece of gear far too luxurious for a beginner player. I had spent nearly a quarter of my gold coins on it, but considering that something of this quality would usually go for at least 700 gold, I bought it without hesitation.
The other pieces of gear didn't quite measure up to the shirt, but they were still far better than anything Yun-Jung had worn so far. I bought her a pair of leather pants to match the shirt (treated with both physical defense and flexibility potions), a pair of long leather boots, and a leather jacket (also treated with both physical defense and flexibility potions). I also got her a women's belt to hang her daggers from.
Following a request from Go Yeon-Joo, I decided to change one of Yun-Jung's weapons. Originally, she used dual daggers, but from now on, she would use a Sculepf in one hand and a curved dagger in the other. Her previous weapon had a shape similar to a katana, but I asked the smith to narrow the blade width slightly and extend the length just a bit. The result was a curved blade with an ambiguous length—not quite a longsword, but not really a dagger either.
It seemed Go Yeon-Joo intended to teach her full-fledged dual-wielding techniques, so I custom-ordered the weapon without question. I also requested a magical enhancement to increase its cutting power. Normally, such a weapon would cost over 300 gold, but I managed to negotiate it down to 207 gold by trading in her old ringmail and two daggers.
I had spent nearly 1,000 gold on Yun-Jung alone, but I didn't regret a single coin. I still had room to withdraw more funds if needed, and profits were expected soon from the Cave Of Wailing. Besides, once we left Mule and headed for a standard or large city, we could clear the remaining dungeons and easily make back more than 1,000 gold.
Even on the day I finished purchasing all the equipment, Yun-Jung didn't wrap up her training until late at night. After receiving a healing spell from Sol, she stumbled over, clearly exhausted, so I brought her into my room. I took out the gear I'd bought and helped her put it on piece by piece. And once she was fully dressed, I could definitely see a different version of her.
Her softly red-tinted hair and the slightly tight, form-fitting gear suited her perfectly. As the saying goes, clothes make the person—she looks like a mid-tier player now. She stood in front of the mirror with both daggers hanging from her belt, then eventually turned to look at me with a sorrowful expression.
The moment I saw her face, I tilted my head slightly in confusion. This wasn't like before—back then, when I bought her equipment, she'd been overjoyed, practically jumping up and down. But now, she looked completely different. Wondering if something had happened, I quietly watched her. Then, in a cautious voice, Yun-Jung finally spoke.
"…Oppa."
"Yeah?"
"Can I… can I just get one hug?"
"…Come here."
A lot of thoughts flashed through my mind in that instant, but I said nothing and held her in my arms. Yun-Jung leaned into my chest with a face that looked somewhat relieved, rubbing her cheek against me. But after a moment, she gently pulled away on her own. Her face still held traces of longing, but it looked like she was forcing herself to endure.
Then she said, "Oppa, thanks for the gear. I'll really do my best." With that, she quickly left the room.
Later on, I found out that Go Yeon-Joo had told Yun-Jung about me focusing my equipment purchases on her. Apparently, she even told her that the reason I was investing in her now was to give her one last chance—and that if she didn't produce results beyond expectations in the next expedition, she might be discarded.
It's not that I intended to throw her away as long as she kept putting in effort, but I didn't bother explaining myself. In the Hall Plain, players with lacking skills were inevitably weeded out. And from what I heard, ever since that day, Yun-Jung had been training even harder.
An-Hyun didn't say anything anymore after seeing me buying equipment for Yun-Jung. He himself was still lacking in armor, but since he was learning physical spear techniques as a Energy Spearman, he planned to hold off on getting heavy armor for now. Plus, just the Reduction of Glove alone would be worth nearly as much as everything I had invested in Yun-Jung so far.
When we were at the Ruined Laboratory, Yun-Jung had been the one who received the least compensation, so this helped ease my conscience a bit.
Aside from that, I occasionally asked Vivienne about the status of Shin Sang-Yong. But every time, she deferred her answer. She said he seemed like a good person, but she wanted to observe him a bit longer. It seemed the contract we drafted earlier was having the intended effect. She had recognized the value I placed on rare classes and was acting more cautiously than ever.
The kids' skills were improving day by day, and I could see that the group as a whole was growing more stable with each passing moment. An-Hyun had returned to his roots, quietly focusing on his training. It seemed he had understood my warning immediately. Sol no longer allowed herself to be dragged along helplessly.
Shin Sang-Yong and Ha-Yeong were both doing well. In fact, I even told Ha-Yeong to take a break, but she shut me up with a single line—"If you rest, then I'll rest too."
Unlike in the beginning, when I had to guide them through everything step by step, the caravan was now starting to find its footing. Watching that filled me with quiet satisfaction. Slowly but surely, the clan I had envisioned was starting to take shape. Once we finished the expedition into the Cave Of Wailing and secured Go Yeon-Joo's recruitment, the first piece would be perfectly in place. Hoping that she would truly join us, I slowly lay down on the bed.
The sky had already begun to lighten—it seemed morning was coming. Still, I figured I had about an hour left to sleep, and with that thought, I gently closed my eyes.
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