Genius Martial Arts Trainer

The three retired hunters, including Na Taeju, bowed their heads toward Choi Kanghyuk.

“Thank you!!”

It was hardly the reaction one would expect from people who had been screaming as though they were being tortured until moments ago.

The other hunters and the Association President, who had been watching the qi treatment, all had the same thought.

'Is qi treatment really that effective?'

'The next treatment was in two days, right?'

'I should at least try it.'

Regardless, Choi Kanghyuk spoke in an indifferent tone.

“I loosened some of your blocked acupoints with qi treatment, but you are not completely healed. You will need to manage yourselves so that turbid energy does not accumulate again.”

“How do we manage that?”

“As I mentioned earlier, your diet is important. Eat healthy food and get plenty of rest.”

Na Taeju nodded in understanding.

'So that is why Gyuchul kept going on and on about his diet.'

Choi Kanghyuk spoke to conclude the session.

“From now on, the three of you will come twice a week, on Tuesdays and Fridays. Then I will see you again in three days.”

Then Choi Kanghyuk turned his head to the side.

Toward those who had been observing.

“I will see the three of you on Thursday, two days from now.”

They would likewise receive two sessions per week.

The location for the sessions would also be this Hunter Association training room.

And it would not be limited to them.

From now on, all rehabilitation treatment for hunters would be conducted here.

'It will be dangerous if the number of hunters coming and going from the gym keeps increasing.'

The gate might be discovered.

The most alarming incident had been during the recent B-rank gate clearing.

'Who would have thought that member who only made dad jokes was a sensory-type awakened person?'

It was fortunate that his rehabilitation had not been completed yet, but what if he had already made a full recovery?

Member Park Gyuchul might have noticed the gate’s existence.

Feeling a renewed sense of danger, Choi Kanghyuk decided to move the sessions here entirely.

Using the Association President’s request as an excuse.

'Going back and forth to the Association every day will be inconvenient, but this will be over soon anyway.'

It was thanks to the tremendous increase in his internal energy.

Today alone proved it.

When he first treated Kim Jicheol, he had needed to use all his internal energy just to open a single Jianjing acupoint.

But today, he had opened more than a dozen acupoints per person.

Of course, he had not cleared them completely of all turbid energy, but after repeating the process several times, he would be able to remove it all.

Likewise, thanks to his increased internal energy, the recovery speed of his existing members had also accelerated.

After only a few more days of treatment, it seemed his existing members would no longer need further treatment.

'Now I should return to the gate and lift some iron myself.'

Once a day, he would visit the Association training room and treat the retired hunters.

Aside from that, he intended to focus on his own training.

'Just thinking about lifting iron is making my body itch again.'

Just as Choi Kanghyuk flexed his massive muscles and was about to leave the training room, the Association President approached and whispered into his ear.

“Hunter Choi. We received a reply from the Chinese side.”

Choi Kanghyuk flinched without realizing it.

“Ahem. S-shall we step outside and talk first?”

“Let us.”

The two left the training room and headed toward a conference room.

A reply from China.

'I did not expect a result this quickly.'

Choi Kanghyuk recalled the conversation he had shared with the Association President before the session began.

—Hunter Choi. May I request cooperation from the Chinese side?

The Association President was not an inconsiderate man.

No matter how much he was staking on the retired hunters’ return, he did not proceed recklessly.

First, he sought permission from Choi Kanghyuk, who could be called the key figure in this matter.

That consideration left Choi Kanghyuk deeply flustered.

—Pardon? You want to request cooperation from China?

—Did you not say that you learned qi treatment at Shaolin, Hunter Choi? So I thought I might request some assistance from Shaolin.

—.......

Choi Kanghyuk was left speechless.

It was true that he had learned it at Shaolin.

The only problem was that it had been Shaolin in that world, not the Shaolin of this one.

After awakening in this world, Choi Kanghyuk had not simply sat idle.

Just as he had visited a publishing company and searched for an author named Gagyeong, he had also traveled to China.

He wanted to find out whether there was any connection.

Perhaps genuine martial arts had somehow survived at Shaolin in this world.

He had abandoned the gym for a time, boarded a plane, and headed to China.

And the Shaolin he visited had only disappointed him.

'That old man they called the Abbot reeked of fraud at first glance.'

It was not prejudice based solely on his appearance.

Every movement they demonstrated as martial arts was meaningless.

He could not sense even the slightest principle of martial arts within them.

Naturally, he could not feel so much as a trace of internal energy either.

Perhaps because it had already become a tourist attraction, even the natural energy there was unbearably turbid.

Maybe it was because of China’s air, thick with fine dust, but honestly, it was far more polluted than Seoul.

'If someone tried cultivating an internal energy method there, a hundred out of a hundred would suffer qi deviation.'

The martial arts were fake, and the environment made cultivating internal energy impossible.

Shaolin in this world was fake.

'I do not know what it was like in the past, but it definitely was not real now.'

However, he could not reveal that fact.

He had already said that he learned qi treatment at Shaolin.

—Ah. Ahahaha. Y-yes, let us do that. I do not know whether my masters will cooperate, though. Th-they have cut themselves off from the secular world, you see. Ha. Hahahaha.

Even as he answered, he had been anxious.

'They obviously look like frauds. What if they smell money and say they will come help?'

Fortunately or unfortunately, Choi Kanghyuk’s worries had been unfounded.

“According to the reply from China, Shaolin has no such treatment.”

His sigh of relief lasted only a moment.

Choi Kanghyuk fell into thought once again.

This made it look as though he had lied.

Choi Kanghyuk’s mind began working rapidly.

Fortunately, his brain cells had not yet all transformed into muscle.

“Ahem. I-it seems my masters do not wish to involve themselves with the secular world.”

And the Association President trusted Choi Kanghyuk completely.

“Hmm. There is also the possibility that the Chinese Association lied.”

The Association President’s eyes flashed as though something had occurred to him.

“Wait. Perhaps the Chinese Association is making use of Shaolin!”

“Pardon?”

“To treat injured hunters from their own country! While keeping it completely secret from foreign nations and even the World Association!”

Choi Kanghyuk was left speechless.

'Uh....... If they entrusted hunter treatment to those frauds, there would be a real disaster.'

But there was no need to worry too much.

'Ah. They are frauds anyway. And the Chinese side said there was no such qi treatment.'

Then there was no particular reason to worry about China’s hunters.

“Yes, Association President. Perhaps that really is the case.”

“My word. Shaolin may be suffering persecution from the Chinese government. We must somehow help them......”

“Help them?”

“They are your masters, are they not, Hunter Choi? Then for your sake as well.”

Choi Kanghyuk hurriedly waved his hands.

“No, Association President! The best way for us to help them is not to interfere! Would it not cause even more trouble if they attracted the displeasure of the Chinese government?”

“Hmm. That is also true. Since they are capable people who can restore hunters, the Chinese government would have little reason to mistreat them. Their treatment is likely quite favorable. Instead, I suspect the surveillance around them is simply severe for the sake of security.”

“Haha. Yes. Th-that seems likely to me as well.”

Having escaped the crisis, Choi Kanghyuk sighed in relief inwardly.

'Whew. I should not be exposed for a while.'

At the same time, he felt a subtle disappointment.

'If even the Chinese government says it is not true, then it really must not be.'

Shaolin in this world was fake.

It had no connection whatsoever to the Shaolin of his previous world.

It felt as though even the last faint trace of lingering attachment in his heart had disappeared.

Choi Kanghyuk had no idea.

That the President of the Chinese Hunter Association was currently on his way to visit that fake Shaolin.

***

Mount Song near Dengfeng County, China.

It might once have been a famous mountain overflowing with spiritual energy, but now it was a place that had been touched far too heavily by human hands.

𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Several black sedans were climbing Mount Song along a neatly paved road.

The President of the Chinese Hunter Association rode in the sedan at the center, while those in the surrounding vehicles served as a type of bodyguard.

After traveling along the mountain road for a while, the Mountain Gate appeared.

The Chinese Association President looked through the car window at the gate.

More precisely, at the banners hanging above it.

[All Martial Arts Under Heaven Come From Shaolin]

[The Number One Hunter Training Center Under Heaven]

Beneath that gate.

All kinds of people carrying enormous amounts of luggage were making their way forward.

It was a completely different sight from when Choi Kanghyuk had visited Shaolin in the past.

At that time, the COVID-19 pandemic had only recently ended.

In other words, it had been before the gate crisis began.

Shaolin had already been popular as a tourist attraction then, but it had not been as crowded as it was now.

Shaolin had changed like this after the gate crisis.

More precisely, after one of Shaolin’s disciples awakened.

It had been nothing more than coincidence.

Statistically, there was nothing unusual about it.

After all, he had been one among hundreds of disciples.

However, the Abbot of Shaolin did not see it that way.

He launched an enormous publicity campaign.

“If you learn the martial arts of our Shaolin, you too can become a hunter like this!!”

Then, several months later, another disciple awakened.

The Shaolin Abbot went one step further.

He secretly made a deal with a hunter who had no connection to Shaolin whatsoever.

—Tell everyone that you learned martial arts at our Shaolin.

In exchange, Shaolin would hand over a portion of its profits.

The number of self-proclaimed Shaolin hunters increased.

Naturally, once people heard the rumors, they began flocking to Shaolin from everywhere.

For unemployed young people in China who struggled to make a living, awakening was a ray of hope.

Hundreds and then thousands of aspiring disciples gathered.

Naturally, through sheer probability, one among them would awaken from time to time.

Whenever that happened, Shaolin willingly launched another massive publicity campaign.

Like an academy specializing in university entrance exams or civil-service examinations advertising its successful students.

Each time, new disciples flooded into Shaolin.

The Shaolin Abbot found himself sitting atop a mountain of money.

“Wahahahahahaha.”

Strangely enough, the Shaolin Abbot did not consider himself a fraud.

“Behold! This is the power of Shaolin martial arts!!”

He believed their martial arts were genuine.

Countless disciples had handed over their entire fortunes and still failed to awaken.

But the Shaolin Abbot felt not the slightest guilt.

'They failed only because they lacked effooooort! And because they had no talent! There is nothing wrong with the martial arts of our Shaolin!'

After all, awakened people continued to emerge every year.

Those who successfully awakened were the proof.

And at this very moment.

The wealthy renegade monk, the Abbot of Shaolin, found the President of the Chinese Hunter Association standing before him.

“Hohoho. It is truly an honor that you have come to visit Shaolin, Association President. Amitabha.”

When the Shaolin Abbot greeted him with a palm-and-fist salute, the Association President nodded and spoke.

“I have heard much about the accomplishments of hunters from Shaolin. The reason I came here today is that some interesting news arrived from Korea.”

“Korea?”

The Shaolin Abbot looked puzzled.

The Chinese Association President willingly told him about the official document that had arrived several days earlier.

“That is why I ask you this. Can the martial arts of Shaolin truly heal retired hunters?”

The Shaolin Abbot smiled generously and replied.

“Yes. Of course it is possible. All Martial Arts Under Heaven Come From Shaolin. Nothing is impossible for the martial arts of Shaolin.”

His smile was filled with absolute confidence, without even the slightest doubt.