Chapter 28

The Mountain of Mush

Mush .

The god of suffering and penance . The person who wants something after hardships, go to the Mountain of Mush . It was up to the freedom of the trainee for what penalty he or she wanted . Some didn’t take any penalties, while some did .

But the result was the same . With or without penalty, Mush brought hardships to the trainees and the trainees would suffer through them .

There were 3 ends .

Give up and leave .

Win and take the reward .

Fail to survive and die .

Every day was hell .

Sungmin opened his eyes . HIs body was heavy . He had slept a long time… but his mind was heavy as well . It made a sense of tiredness . Sungmin’s heaviness was pertaining to his mind as well .

“F*ck . ”

His curses were getting better . If he didn’t curse, he felt that his terrible state wouldn’t get better . As a hardship, he thought that Mush would give the hardships .

But no, didn’t the priest say to Sungmin before coming here . They will give nothing, no food, no drinks, no shelter .

That is true . Surviving in this mountain itself was a hardship . It was… cruelty . Too cold at night and too hot in the day . He did get the cape from Jack, but it did nothing to help him from the cruel hot and cold of the mountain .

Sungmin wrinkled his face and opened his pocket . He still had enough bread and water . But he couldn’t survive with just that .

Sungmin was going to live in this mountain for 2 more years . The trainees took hardships and suffered . The reward that Mush gave increased by how much time they stayed .

He had heard about the mountain many times before, but he had never actually been there . He thought there was no reason to . It was hard enough surviving as a mercenary, and living itself was a hardship .

There was a simple reason why he came . There was no reason to go to Behengeru, and there wasn’t a place that he could easily train . If he wanted to, he could have stayed in Jack’s inn for another 2 years .

But if he did, there wasn’t really hope that he would gain something .

It was a gamble . He didn’t know what he would get from this mountain . There were no rumors in his past life . He heard of people who went in, but he didn’t remember the people who came out .

‘It’s up to me . ’

It was different from the opportunities that he was looking for . The Mountain of Mush, it wasn’t something that could be gotten easily . Hardships must be suffered in order for the reward .

He picked up the bread .

It was a feast when compared to death .

He attempted to practiced his spear techniques with his heavy body . He tried to practice the basics ran, na, and zhe, and the steps of the High Heavens . But his body and spear was heavy . He would have to use inner strength to keep up .

So he became tired easily . .

I’m tired .

Sungmin breathed hard . Maybe he picked the wrong penalties, he thought, but it was too late .

After a week .

He still wasn’t used to the food . He thought that he would get used to it after a week, but he was stupid .

“Stupid Mush . ”

He didn’t know that bad taste would have so many categories . Everytime he ate, he retched . Everytime he drank, he retched .

‘I need more nutrients . ;

It was obvious as he had lived in this mountain with just bread and water . His food was slowly running out . He needed to hunt . Sungmin attempted to carry his heavy body to hunt .

He failed .

It wasn’t because of his heavy body . The monsters here were fast and strong, fitting to the name of hardships . When he failed twice,

Tap .

A rock fell close to Sungmin . Sungmin who was on the ground resting turned to look at where the rock came from .

A white haired woman was looking at Sungmin . She shook his right hand a few times and came close to Sungmin . Sungmin looked at the spear next to him and stood up .

No one in this mountain could hard each other . That was a rule .

The girl attempted to speak . But he couldn’t hear anything . Sungmin tilted his head and the girl sighed . She pulled out the branches that was near her waist .

[I came to help you because you looked terrible . ]

Girl wrote the letters on the ground . It was language that he had never seen before, but he realized what they meant . They were the common Eria language . Every otherworlder knew these letters when they were summoned .

“Can you not speak?”

[Speech, that is not penalty . ]

She quickly added .

[I saw you for a few days, you’re doing to die like this . ]

“ . . . I’m going to die?”

[Food without balance . Your body is heavy . That is your penalty?]

“ . . . Yes . ”

[Your body has become weak because of your lack of good balance . Your body is heavy . You’re going to fail at hunting . So you die . ]

“So you want to help me?”

[Yes . ]

The girl said and let down the branches . She scratched the back of her head and looked around . Then .

Her body disappeared . Surprised, Sungmin tried to find her and turned his head to locate her . Pwk! A sound occurred .

A deer that Sungmin had tried to catch for days was lying on the ground dead . The girl dusted off her hand and lifted the deer .

‘A master…’

Sungmin’s face turned pale . The girl let down the body of the deer next to Sungmin .

“ . . . what do you want?”

Sungmin asked . To that, the girl tilted her head .

“Don’t you want something? That’s why you’re helping me?”

Sungmin said again . To that, the girl blinked and laughed . Well, her face was laughing, but there was no sound . Her voice was blocked .

[There is nothing I want . ]

The girl wrote down .

[I just helped you because you were struggling . That is all . It’s not that hard for me anyway . ]

“ . . . Just goodwill?“

[Goodwill? It’s not goodwill but the kindness of my heart . I’m kind . ]

The girl wrote and smiled .

[It’s nothing to be said . It’s easy to catch a monster to me . I’m fast . ]

That wasn’t just it .

Sungmin was close to first rate . That Sungmin wasn’t even able to catch up with her movements . The deer… was far away . She moved there so quickly and killed the deer . It meant that the girl was a great master .

[i live near here . I see you a lot . If my neighbors die, I feel bad . So I’m helping you . ]

“ . . . And in the future?”

[If you need me to . This stuff . But you should try to do this yourself . ]

The girl advised . Sungmin nodded her head with a surprised face . Not goodwill but out of the kindness of the heart . Helping just because she was a kind person . Something like that was never seen by Sungmin .

“ . . . What’s your name?”

[Baek Sogo]

She wrote down her name . That name . His face paled .

He knew the name .

Silent Flare . Baek Sogo .

It was martial artist that spread her name around during his 13 years .

But when he died, she wasn’t even alive .

From now in 8 years, she would die .

Small Pegasus Wijihoyun would kill her .

3 weeks has passed since he met Sogo . it’s been a month since he arrived at this mountain .

Sungmin gave attention to the trainee that were also living in this mountain . Like Sogo said, she was a nice person that came out of nowhere to help Sungmin . It was definitely like her nickname, Silent Flare .

[Your penalty isn’t good . ]

She wrote down on the ground .

[Suffering is hard . To take away the pleasure of eating . That’s one of the worst peanties . ]

“Yours seems very easy . ”

[Not true . I’m used to it, but it’s still annoying having to write on the ground . ]

She made an annoyed face . Even so, it had to better than what Sungmin was suffering now .

[Is hunting still hard?]

“My body is too heavy…”

[Your speed technique’s level is too low . You have a good deal of inner strength, but … how about attempting to improve your speed technique first?]

She advised him . Sungmin was thinking about that as well . He nodded his head .

“Is there no one else other then me and you in this mountain?”

[No way . ]

She shook her head .

[The longest one stayed for 1 year . Do you know . Penalties add up as you stay longer . One was added to me when I reached half a year . ]

“ . . . Is it your left arm?”

Sungmin looked at her left arm . In the 3 weeks he has known her, she had never used her left arm once .

[Right . I lost any feeling I had in my left arm . There’s no strength in it anymore . ]

She smiled bitterly .

[It’s not a good one thinking about long term . If I continue like this, only my right arm will get stronger so the balance doesn’t fit . ]

“ . . . The others?”

[They are all taking their own penalties . To be honest, there’s no one like you who took 2 penalties when beginning the journey . It’s that much harder . But you’ll gain more out of it later . ]

She wrote and erased repeatedly .

[You’re curious about the other trainees?]

“Well… yes . ”

[Then I’ll introduce you . ]

Sogo nodded her head and wrote . She wanted to show everything . She put her branch on her waist and started to walk . Sungmin dragged his heavy body and followed .

“Can’t you teach me a speed technique?”

To that, Sogo turned her head . She looked dumbfounded and quickly wrote on the ground .

[Even if I am a nice person, I can’t give away my food supply . ]

Of course, Sungmin thought .

He only tried . But it was still a shame .