Chapter 63: Some Explanations Require More Than Just Words

After an hour's journey, I finally arrived in Haramark. Judging by the position of the sun, I could tell it was around 2:00 pm. I landed near the central plaza and concealed myself by distorting the light around me to avoid being too visible upon landing. After all, even in a world filled with magic and fantastical things, it's not common to see someone flying, and I didn't want to cause unnecessary commotion.

As I made sure no one paid attention to where I stood, I became visible again and approached a passerby to ask for directions to the Carpe Diem building. Being a famous group in Haramark, I easily obtained the directions and headed there.

While walking through the streets, I paid close attention to the buildings and architecture. From what I could see, Scheherazade was built with a plan in mind from the beginning, and the buildings and houses were quite similar in size, structure, coloration, and location. Everything there was planned to make the best use of space and roads. While I can't deny that this system works well for commerce and business, I can say that it greatly dampens the mood for living there.

In contrast, Haramark was filled with disorganized buildings and houses. They still left space for roads, but you had to take many turns to reach certain places because it seemed the construction wasn't well-planned. All this limits commerce and causes problems for businesses, but the architecture was varied and colorful. Unlike Scheherazade, where most buildings were dark brown, here there was a variety of colors like white, gray, yellow, light brown, and dark brown with a reddish hue. This adds to the liveliness, and although it may not be as good for commerce and business, it's definitely better for living. At least in my opinion.

After walking for a while, I finally reached the Carpe Diem building. The land where the building stood was relatively larger than the other plots around, and the building itself was also larger, with three floors. The building looked quite old but was well-preserved and cared for, not like an old building about to fall apart. It was white with a tiled roof, just like all the buildings I've seen in Paradise.

After contemplating it for a bit, I finally decided to enter. The entire first floor was a training facility, a gym that easily surpassed the one in the Neutral Zone. And from what I could see, it was definitely master Maldong who had prepared it entirely in his style. It reminded me of the gym he has at his house, where I trained for a while and where the members of 'The Shadow' now train.

At the moment, no one was training, and the first floor was empty, so I headed to the second floor via a set of stone stairs located at one end of the gym.

At the top of the stairs, I encountered a door that was closed. I could hear several voices on the other side, but I didn't focus much on listening. Instead, I knocked on the door and heard the voice of a young man saying, "Come in, the door is open."

I opened the door, and from what I could see, the second floor was dedicated to being a reception and entertainment area, with furniture, tables, a mini-bar, and a few board games.

At the end of the room, there was a desk and some chairs where two men and a woman were currently seated. I recognized them easily; one of the men was Master Jang Maldong.

The other man was dark-skinned with white hair and a huge physique, easily measuring 1.95 meters. His body was well-trained, and his muscles were very well developed. That man is Edward Dylan, the current leader of Carpe Diem.

And finally, the woman, she was pale as if she hadn't been exposed to the sun much, her hair was black and quite long, almost reaching the floor while she was seated, but even standing up, it surely reached her waist. When our gazes met, she quickly turned her face away, pretending she wasn't looking at me, but it was evident that every few seconds, she moved her eyes in my direction in a poorly disguised manner. That woman is Chung Chohong.

"Are you back, kid? I thought you'd take a few more days on the other side," said the master, puzzled.

"Some things happened, and in the end, I put all my affairs in order. At least I'll spend half a day on Earth and the other half, which would be equivalent to a day and a half here, I'll spend in Paradise," I explained my situation, and the master nodded in understanding.

"It's good to see you again, Mr. Jihu," said Dylan as he shook my hand.

"Yes, it's good to meet and get to know each other formally in a less turbulent situation," I replied as I returned the handshake.

Then I approached Chung Chohong, "It's also good to see you, Miss Chohong," I said, extending my hand to her as well.

She looked at me for a moment with annoyance, seemingly struggling between wanting to say something and not doing so. In the end, she just cursed softly as she shook my hand and said, "I still haven't forgiven you for last time. You may be strong and cool, but I definitely haven't given up yet."

After that, she headed towards the stairs and went down to the first floor. Shortly after, the sounds of the training machines working could be heard, indicating that she had gone to train.

For my part, I gave the master a puzzled look about what had happened, and he just laughed and said, "Forget it, the girl is kind, but she's airheaded to a level no one can understand. She gets angry for childish and unreasonable reasons and goes to train to try to solve things or take revenge with force, like now. And the funniest part of her personality is that when she feels guilty about something with someone, instead of apologizing, she behaves shyly and very kindly to the person."

"Just as the master says, she's not a bad girl, but she's a real musclehead," said Dylan, laughing.

After exchanging a few more jokes, Dylan stood up and went to prepare tea for us.

While Dylan was preparing the tea, master spoke again and said, "It's good that you're back. It's been almost six days since the attack. The subsequent cleanup was costly. Most of the Earthlings left on the first day, and the bulk of the work fell to the soldiers and the princess. If it weren't for the Golems you left, the cleanup would have been hellish, but with their help, things were made much easier."

"And from what I heard, the princess and her soldiers finally returned yesterday. You should visit her; she sent a message saying that if you returned, you should see her as soon as possible."

"I understand. It's good to know she's back. My plan was to go to the Fortress to see Teresa," I said, and master nodded with a smile.

Dylan finished the tea, served it to the old man and me, and then asked, "What are your plans, Mr. Jihu? Do you plan to join us at Carpe Diem, or do you intend to create your own group? If it weren't for the fact that you showed us your summoning date, I would never believe you just came out of the Neutral Zone."

"For now, if you'll allow me, I'll temporarily join Carpe Diem along with other talented individuals I managed to recruit in the Neutral Zone. But as I said, it will only be temporary; after that, I'll create my own group," I responded to Dylan.

"I understand. Even if it's only temporary, you and your group are welcome at Carpe Diem. I look forward to working with you," Dylan said cheerfully.

I simply nodded, and master Maldong spoke up in a serious tone, "Well, what's next, kid? Will you really continue with that idea you told me about? Are you sure there's no other option? I still think it's better to take advantage of the opportunity that the Federation is keeping the parasites at bay with the help of the three most powerful Earthlings. If you join that equation, you could do more damage to the parasites than with your plan, and the risk you run will be less."

"When I learned about the current situation of the Federation, I was extremely tempted to intervene and had that same thought. But I used my ability and saw that the result of my intervention would be catastrophic, so I gave up on that idea and will continue with my plans. It's true that the risk I'll run will be deadly, but in the end, the benefits are worth it," I said, recalling the moment I learned that Sung Sihyun, Seo Yuhui, and Seonhwa were fighting alongside the Federation and constantly facing five of the seven main armies of the parasites led by their own commanders. At that moment, I thought it was a good opportunity to join them and finish off those commanders.

But when I looked at the map I had on hand while maintaining that idea, I immediately saw how both the Fortress of Trigol and the entire territory of the Federation turned Black, representing almost certain death. That made it clear to me that if I joined that place, the Parasite Queen would most likely take action immediately, without even giving time to prepare for her move.

That's why I decided to stick with my plan, and instead of going to fight in that area and turning it into a death zone, I'll continue with the planned preparation of a trap zone where it will truly be under the conditions I want, not those of the enemy.

"Wait boy, if what you say is true, doesn't that mean that if we don't intervene, the situation of the Federation is desperate and headed for extermination?" asked master, frightened. Although Dylan does not know about my ability, it is clear that he's getting an idea of everything based on the conversation and also showed a look of fear.

"You don't have to worry, Master. The situation of the Federation is currently stable thanks to those three. Those three are not the strongest Earthlings for nothing. Moreover, with the blessing of the World Tree and the protection of the Fortress of Trigol, they actually have the situation under control," I said, trying to reassure him.

But the reality is that the parasite commanders cannot be underestimated. It's surprising that even with the five commanders present, they still have not taken the Fortress.

And when I saw that the color on the map was Green instead of Yellow or Red, it made me understand that although the five commanders are there, they are not unleashing their divinity.

This worries me a lot because if the color is Green, it means that the fortress is safe despite the scale of the attack, which means that the commanders have no plans to release their divinity during their attack.

This puts me in a difficult position. I was hoping that at least two or three of them would unleash their divinity there, which would restrict them when the Parasite Queen makes her move against me. But if they are saving their divinity during their attack, it means that they will definitely all have it available when it comes time to face them.

And if by chance I have to face the seven commanders with their divinities, I'm sure I won't be able to develop my plans properly. I have to prepare more countermeasures and contingencies accordingly.

"Alright, I'll trust your vision and your head, but from the beginning, I didn't like your plan. I always thought it was better to look for another way with fewer risks, but I understand the scale of the situation, and you have to know that you have my full support. Just say what you need, and if it is within my power, I will help you achieve it," said master with some regret but at the same time with a lot of determination.

"Why does your conversation sound so depressing, and that plan you're talking about sounds like an idea too risky to be worth it?" enquired Dylan, somewhat disconcerted.

"The master is just looking at things in the most negative way possible. As for the plan, well, let's just say I'm hunting, and to catch a huge prey, you have to deceive it and put out a very juicy bait. Master is not in favor because the bait in this case is me, but it's too late, the bait is set. I just have to make sure that the trap is as deadly as I want it to be," I said, and Dylan seemed to understand something and turned pale.

"Well, it's time for me to retire. I have some matters to attend to, and I may not return for several more days. Here is my communication sphere, Master. I'm leaving one for you to contact me in case something happens, and if I'm not in Paradise, then you can return to Earth and contact me on my cell phone," I said as I handed him one of the many communication spheres I had asked Hannah to get for me. Since they only work in pairs and I have to have many contacts, I decided to simply ask Hannah for several pairs and thus give one from each pair to my acquaintances to facilitate contact. I just hope to find a better solution to the communication problem in the short term because having to carry several spheres is driving me crazy.

But without satellites available, I could only opt to look for creating shortwave radio transmitters and receivers to create primitive phones or something similar. Well, that's if there isn't a better magical alternative. But to find out about that, I need to talk to Ian and Arbor Muto. I definitely know that with those two, it's possible that we'll achieve something better. Otherwise, I'll have to wait until phase 2 of my plan.

After handing the communication sphere to master, he and Dylan accompanied me to the exit of the building. As we descended to the first floor, I saw Chohong 'intensely' training on an abdominal chair.

While her training is 'intense', it won't be nearly enough to improve, at least not at the physical level she possesses. She is a level 4 in both Class level and Physical Stats, after all. With her current routine, she might at best maintain her shape but not improve.

"If you keep training like this, you won't get any further than where you are. It would be better to ask master to supervise your training or give it up and go earn contribution points to invest in skill points and directly improve your stats," I said. Hearing this, she became annoyed, stood up, and walked towards me.

"If it was master that had said that, at least I would listen calmly, but what do you know about hard training? All I have heard from master about you is; 'he's a genius this, he's a genius that, easily understands and learns things, has a good head on his shoulders.' People like you can't talk about people like me, who can't understand things no matter how much they're explained and can only improve by doing what you currently see me doing, training like a fool day and night to get better. So don't tell me what a genius who doesn't know what hard training is thinks, someone who just listens to two words, moves their arms twice, and already knows how to do something and improves with little effort," she said, clearly upset and indignant at my words.

Master Jang Maldong just sighed wearily and clearly did not want to say anything to her because in her current state, it seemed any other word would make her explode with anger. Dylan did the same, staying silent and on the sidelines.

For my part, I looked at her intently. In her gaze, I saw fury, but it wasn't so much at me as it was at herself. I could see it, fury and helplessness. It seems she's been treated as a fool all her life to the point that she believes it herself. It's easier for her in the end to give up trying to understand something and use that as an excuse despite hating it, than to try to make an effort to find another alternative more suited to herself.

From what I saw of her and her argument with Teresa, I knew it. She's not a fool. She may be ignorant and stubborn, but that's not foolishness. True foolishness occurs when a person has such a low Intellectual Quotient that it really prevents them from understanding things due to a lack of mental capacity, and she clearly does not suffer from that.

But she's so frustrated and angry at the moment that if I say something like that, she is sure to lash out at me.

I suppose I can take a little time to teach her a lesson before I leave.

"When I said that what you were doing didn't make sense, I was not referring to training hard, but to training lightly. You are not accomplishing anything with such a gentle workout. You might think I don't know what it means to train hard, but let me show you that you're wrong. Today, I'll make you understand that master is too kind when training someone for fear of breaking them.

You don't seem foolish to me, just a woman who focuses her will in the wrong place and has the misfortune that the old man, who is one of the few people capable of helping you, is weak when it comes to women like you. On the other hand, I believe in and am an advocate of gender equality, so let me train you properly," I said, assuming a combat stance like that of Kempo, with my hands slightly open in front of me, the left slightly ahead of the right. I crouched a bit to be in a more suitable position to move.

She finally couldn't bear it anymore and did not hesitate to attack me. I'm not trying to fight her; that won't achieve anything, but I'll use her anger and will against her.

While dodging one of her punches, I start using my [Mana Construct] ability and create a kind of elastic fabric. As I dodge and deflect her punches and kicks, I slowly wrap her arms and legs with the elastic fabric. She was watching my actions, but when she realized that the fabric was not harming her, she did not bother trying to remove it from her arms and legs and ignored it to continue attacking me.

"What's this? Aren't you going to attack me? All you do is run and dodge. Weren't you the one who said you aren't soft with women? Show me that you're not just a lying idiot who likes to show off and flirt," she said angrily, attacking me and becoming more furious because I was just dodging and deflecting her blows.

I didn't respond and just silently continued wrapping her limbs with the same fabric. After several layers, she finally seemed to feel the difference. As the fabric is elastic, with each additional layer, she will have more resistance when moving her body. At first, she might not notice it, but after so many layers, the resistance increased, and now every movement, every punch, every kick requires her to exert much more force and consume more energy to perform them.

When I saw that she was about to try to remove the layers of fabric from her hands, I immediately prevented it. Up to that point, I had not returned any attacks, just dodged or deflected hers. Finally, I attacked to force her to dodge, block, and deflect my blows, preventing her from trying to remove the fabric.

"Damn cheater, what is this? Don't play dirty and let me take it off," she said as her breathing began to be irregular, showing that she was getting tired quickly.

"Fight more and talk less, or you'll end up badly beaten. Weren't you the one who wanted to teach me a lesson and hit me? Because what I see now is a girl who's about to be thrashed," I said, continuing to attack and annoy her so that she gets angrier. She kept dodging my attacks, but as I was provoking her, she began to neglect her defense and started to attack me, even though that meant receiving several blows.

She was clearly upset and kept attacking despite being quite bruised, her lip was split, and she had a swollen eye, but she kept fighting nonetheless. Master looked quite serious, and I knew he was annoyed by what I was doing, but he had not intervened yet. Dylan, on the other hand, seemed unsure of what to do, but he did not like the situation.

However, I didn't stop and kept bothering and provoking her to keep fighting. Given the amount of resistance she had to face for each movement because of the elastic fabric and her fatigue, she was becoming slower and slower.

But that did not stop her from continuing to fight. When I saw that her energy and strength were no longer enough for her to move, I started releasing several layers of fabric, dissipating them since they are magical constructs. By doing so, she could move more freely again, and she became excited and continued fighting.

This process repeated several times for several minutes until she no longer had any layers of fabric resisting her movements. But even without the elastic fabric, she couldn't move anymore. She had exhausted all her energy in these few minutes of confrontation, but still, she didn't give up, and I kept pushing her and forcing her to attack until her limits, until she finally collapsed while trying to strike me.

"Dylan, take Chohong to her room and bed, get her some ice, and treat her bruises," master said, waiting until Dylan left before turning his gaze towards me. I saw anger and some disappointment in his eyes.

"You should not have done that. She may be airheaded and behave rudely, but she's a very good girl, and out of all people, I expected you to show her more understanding and kindness than others have shown her. I'm upset and disappointed. If you plan to come back, you better be prepared to apologize to her properly, or don't think of addressing me as your master again," he said, then turned away.

"You're too kind, master, but that kindness can hurt others. That girl clearly strives to improve, but she's being underestimated by everyone to the point that she even underestimates herself. She doesn't need the person helping her to be kind and understanding; she needs someone who won't underestimate her intelligence, talent, or condition as a woman. Clearly, she's had that her whole life. What she needs is someone to push her limits to the extreme as it should be. But if when she wakes up she's not convinced by that and shows the slightest dissatisfaction with my actions, then I'll apologize sincerely," I said, and I saw the old man flinch at my words, but he said nothing and continued walking towards the second floor.

I sighed as I left, but I don't regret it. Usually, I tend to be soft and treat girls very well, but as I said, I've always believed in gender equality. In my previous world, we were taught by facts that both women and men have very equal potential, and although there are biological differences that benefit men in some aspects, there are others that benefit women, and that's why both are equal.

And this girl seems to have had a difficult life. The novel never explained it, but someone who has been treated like an idiot by everyone around them to the point where they even believe it, how much frustration must she feel, and to be underestimated despite all the effort she puts in? Obviously, she must have given up on many things, but the willpower she has is undeniable. Perhaps she doesn't accept master's guidance because he is too soft on her and does not train her as he should, and she must have realized that, so she decided to train on her own, albeit incorrectly but on her own.

But if what I did just now really didn't work and ends up causing her any negative feelings, then I will definitely apologize to her. I don't want to antagonize her or Carpe Diem, and certainly not master. I just wanted to help that girl a little and show her that I don't underestimate her; on the contrary, I see her as a strong, brave woman with such great willpower that she'll fight until the end.

I left the building and walked towards the grand castle that loomed in the distance. I guess there's no need to ask for directions with such a sight to behold.

**

** Chung Chohong (POV)**

I was exhausted, tired, I could barely lift my arms and move my legs. Even the fury that engulfed me at the beginning had drained away. I didn't want to continue this anymore. In as much as I was angry at this guy, I knew deep down that I was really mad at myself. Sure, I had some anger towards him; after all, he's one of those know-it-alls who probably learns things on the first try, just needs a bit of exercise, and they become stronger, just as master often boasts about him.

But that just annoys me a bit. What really irks me is that no matter how hard I train, I have not improved in months, and master's training, as hellish as it may be, has not helped me achieve it either. That's why I gave up on his training sessions and always escape whenever he offers them because even though they're hellish, they're not as hellish as Hugo's and Dylan's, and that annoys me.

Not because of master's consideration to make my training not as hellish as theirs; after all, it's still hellish, just to a lesser extent. What really annoys me is that when we finish those training sessions, they do improve, and I don't. Maybe it's because I'm an idiot, as everyone says, that even hellish training sessions don't give me improvements, or maybe it's because they're less hellish. In the end, I never knew the answer because I'm an idiot.

And that's why I didn't want to fight anymore. I didn't want to continue with this. Everything hurts. This guy has not been as kind as master said he was. He has really hit me. I can barely see with one eye because the other is covered by my swollen eyelid. I'm sure if I look in a mirror, I must look terrible. This guy is hateful, to do this to a girl's face. But somehow, I prefer that to the idiots who won't even throw a punch just because I'm a girl, or so they say at first. Later, when they feel threatened, they don't hesitate to even stab you with a weapon when they think you've let your guard down.

I received another blow that snapped me out of my thoughts and reminded me that if I don't dodge or do something, this guy won't let me even think and will just keep hitting me.

I'm not a weak girl. I may be an idiot, but I'm not weak. So, I set out to at least return a blow and kept trying, again and again, no matter how tired I was or how much it hurt to move, I kept going. I don't know if it's been seconds, minutes or hours. After receiving so many blows, I can no longer perceive time correctly, but with so much exhaustion and pain I feel, it might as well have been days.

I started seeing everything blurry and distorted with my one open eye, but still, I didn't stop. At least one blow, just one, I told myself.

But I didn't know when or how; I just saw things distort, heard a voice saying something, but I couldn't make out what it was, and then I knew no more.

...

Everything hurt, but not too badly; I just felt the same as when I went through another day of hellish training with master, so although it's annoying, it's still tolerable. But remembering what brought me to this moment, I felt a bit annoyed and amused—annoyed by the beating, but amused because that guy really hit me hard despite master speaking of him as if he were the perfect man, and look how abusive he turned out.

At least now I have a way to annoy master. I got up from the bed and checked my body in the mirror; at least I don't have any marks or bruises. I guess they used some potion on me or called a Priest to heal me; otherwise, I would hardly be without marks, and the pain I feel is more muscular. I definitely fought until I fainted from physical exhaustion.

I was about to go down to look for something to eat when I remembered that I heard a familiar voice before fainting. I was too tired at that moment to identify the voice, but now I remember it clearly, and it was definitely the voice of the status screen updating.

I immediately opened my status window and was amazed by the changes in some things, changes I hadn't seen in months. In my stats, my Durability, Strength, and Stamina had each increased by one modifier.

Finally, after several months of continuous training, I achieved it. Even though I had almost given up on any improvement, even when master's hellish training yielded no results, but now, after that beating, I did it. That alone makes any annoyance I felt towards that guy diminish a lot. But seeing the other change, I was even more surprised; there's a change in my Temperament, now there's a new characteristic in my temperament. It says 'Tenacity (a deeply ingrained temperament of wanting to endure pain and struggles).'

With that, any feelings of animosity I had for that guy disappeared. On the contrary, instead of feeling animosity, I began to feel a bit of gratitude. He was right; I don't know what he wanted to explain to me, but whatever he did, it helped me improve, even if it was through a beating. It worked better than master's hellish training, which, although hellish, yielded no results.

So with this new improvement, I happily went down to look for something to eat on the second floor, even the pain in my muscles did not bother me as much as before.

When I went down to the second floor, master and Dylan saw me, and master looked a bit embarrassed, but still, he was the first to speak, "How are you? We looked for a Priest to heal your wounds, but just to check, do you feel okay? That kid went too far this time, and don't worry, I'll make sure to punish him properly."

"Eh? Why are you going to punish him, master? Well, it's true that he gave me a beating, but the result is all that matters, and it worked, so I see no reason to be upset with him. On the contrary, his help was valuable, and I can't wait for him to help me again. If that's the case, maybe in a short time, I could become as strong as a high rank," I said, somewhat puzzled by master's words, but after answering him, I did not give it any more importance and went straight to the food storage. I'm starving and want to eat something and also grab a drink; today is a good day to celebrate.

As I walked to the storage, I saw master and Dylan looking at me as if I were an alien, but I'm too hungry and in too good a mood to retort anything, so I let it go and ignored them.