Two weeks had passed since the trainees of the Golden Guards started their training.
“Chahap!”
“Haap!”
In these past two weeks, the trainees’ abilities soared rapidly. Now, they could all keep up with the jogging at a decent pace and finish the bloody gymnastics in one go.
“Mm.”
Song An-seong, who had been observing Ho Cheon-an’s unit whenever there was a chance, felt the change in the trainees. The trainees from two weeks ago were completely different from those now.
Song An-seong smiled wryly as he watched Ho Cheon-an’s trainees. While there are indeed talented individuals who should be in other positions applying to the Golden Guards, such talent is not plentiful. In Ho Cheon-an’s Twelfth Squad, there were those with exceptional abilities, but they all had talents that lay more in areas other than martial arts, which led to them being eliminated by the Golden Guards.
‘Except for Jo Ga-ju and Jae Sang-hae, one could hardly say these people have outstanding martial talents…’
Even those were visibly improving.
“Stand and shoot!”
“Ack!”
Shushushuk!
“Lie down and shoot!”
“Ack!”
Papabak!
“Mm.”
Song An-seong wore a satisfied smile as he watched the Twelfth Squad hone their technique with unison movements. A unified shout and disciplined motions, each shot hitting the target.
“This is the Golden Guards.”
Looking around at other units revealed formations practicing array techniques or units engaged in personal training. Watching this made Song An-seong click his tongue inwardly. The array formation training, which should be the most organized and synchronized, looked just like a bunch of flailing messes. Was this really the result of two weeks dedicated to one formation?
The side of those engaging in personal training was no better. Was this a marketplace? There wasn’t even a speck of order among the trainees, who were merely wrapped up in their own training!
“Hmm.”
Ho Cheon-an nodded as he observed the results of the basic shooting practice. It couldn’t be said to be skilled marksmanship, but they had at least improved to a level where it could be useful in actual combat.
However, the trainees could not relax when they saw Ho Cheon-an’s expression. He wore a face that clearly showed his dissatisfaction.
“All of you, remove your tops!”
Suddenly, remove tops? Questions flickered, but actions were quick. The trainees of the Twelfth Squad swiftly complied.
“Oh.”
Watching, Song An-seong let out an exclamation. The bodies of the trainees from the Simbeon Squad, who had maintained a high-protein, low-carb diet for two weeks, had changed dramatically. Doing intense cardiovascular exercise helped noticeably reduce body fat, making them lighter and more agile. The full-body muscles developed through the bloody training were clearly defined.
“Can you feel the change in your bodies?”
“Ack!”
“The training has crossed the halfway point. Results have started showing in your bodies. Over the next two weeks, you will grow even more.”
The trainees’ expressions were complex. While it was true they could feel the results of their training, they also had to endure this hell for two more weeks? With complicated expressions, they couldn’t find a way to express their mixed feelings.
“What’s with those expressions? Are we going to have a mental training session?”
“No, ack!”
“Focus on your mental fortitude!”
“Ack!”
“Five seconds of energizing shouts to the front!”
“Waaah!!”
“Your voices are too quiet! Again, five seconds of energizing shouts to the front!!”
“Aaaaaaaaaaaah!!!”
“Kyaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!”
“Kkaaaaaaaaaah!!!”
After two weeks of learning to mind Ho Cheon-an’s aura, the trainees began to realize he was in a bad mood. Jo Gab-deok wondered if he had argued with his girlfriend, rumored to be the most beautiful person in the world.
“Shiiit.”
The external instructor of the Golden Guards had the job of challenging trainees, or rather, training them. Meanwhile, he lived a life after work, cozying up to his beautiful girlfriend at a fancy inn. It was more than enviable; it was maddening.
While someone’s rolling around like a dog!
“Dismissed! You all will engage in personal training until lunch!”
“Ack!”
As the echoes of Jo Gab-deok and the trainees’ pent-up frustrations resounded, Ho Cheon-an…
…was lost in another thought.
‘This is troublesome.’
With a disgruntled gaze, Ho Cheon-an looked at the other trainees from units that were not the Twelfth Squad.
The other instructors had not made bad decisions.
Following the training manual personally demonstrated by Doje-sik and blending their experiences to build competitiveness was the aim, but sadly, the training effects were not yielding as much as hoped.
‘The calculations are off.’
Adequate array training and personal training—what kind of results could be achieved in a month like that? After all, these trainees had already put in a suitable effort for years—possibly a decade already.
From the standpoint of expecting visible results within a month, Ho Cheon-an’s perspective was warped, but he was also not entirely wrong.
While Song An-seong showed interest in Ho Cheon-an’s training, feeling distaste towards the others was a completely separate issue.
Song An-seong felt displeased with the other units following the training manual because they had not garnered sufficient results. In fact, compared to past batches, the training of other units excluded the Twelfth Squad was lacking.
Unbeknownst to Ho Cheon-an, the variable was Ho Cheon-an himself. Because of him, the instructors could not lead the training too forcefully.
To instill fear in the trainees watching the red ghost from the neighboring unit, they could only resort to extreme measures.
That left them little choice but to adopt a gentle approach.
Of course, adopting a gentle stance wasn’t necessarily a bad option. It would be problematic for those lacking motivation and slacking off, but these were the trainees of the Golden Guards. They were filled with the ambition to become Golden Guards without needing someone to push them.
However, there was something the instructors had not considered.
It was Ho Cheon-an’s training.
On the surface, things like shouting commands, and repeat drills might merely seem like punishment, but the jogging, bloody gymnastics, and P.R. training.
They’d be easy to dismiss as silly trainings, but the moment the trainees began to look down on the Twelfth Squad was when Jo Gab-deok changed his weapon.
Jo Gab-deok was among the more robust experts and was counted as one of the top ten strongest throughout the training center. In the end, he could become a powerful competitor in the Golden Guards exam, making him an individual to watch closely, and that vigilance quickly turned into mockery.
An expert changing his main weapon? From the sword, which conquered all maladies, to a spear that could easily be handled by a soldier with no martial arts knowledge!
Ho Cheon-an publicly suggested to Jo Gab-deok that he adopt the spear. With Jo Gab-deok’s already unfavorable impression, the moment he took up the spear, the trainees began looking down on him entirely.
Naturally, the trainees thought the last place had been secured, so the atmosphere had to loosen up without a doubt. In previous batches, the training yard would be tense and suffocating, but now it brimmed with ease.
Without any tension in their training, it was only natural that the results would falter.
‘I can’t let this happen.’
Arriving at the same conclusion as Ho Cheon-an, Song An-seong stroked his chin. While he was indeed intrigued by Ho Cheon-an’s educational methods, he wasn’t going to lose sight of the ultimate goal. If things continued as they were, not only would they fail to bring out the potential of the Golden Guards’ trainees, but the Twelfth Squad itself could very well drop the ball.
“We need to ignite the entire unit.”
With that thought, Song An-seong headed to the admiral’s office seeking permission from his father, Song Chang-sik.
* *
“Mock battle?”
While Ho Cheon-an was pondering whether he should settle old scores with the Seventh Squad, Song An-seong gathered all the units and instructors.
“Normally, during group training tests, we don’t conduct mock battles. The possibility of competition becoming heated and causing unforeseen incidents is too great.”
Ho Cheon-an and the other instructors, along with the trainees, focused on the next words. The dangers of mock battles were something everyone understood. But what could prompt the sudden decision to hold one?
“On the day of the group training tests, Princess Yuya is scheduled to visit.”
Everyone’s eyes widened, and chatter erupted.
The princess is coming?
“Therefore, we will conduct a mock battle. I believe both instructors and trainees want to present their best selves before the princess.”
A chance to show off in front of royalty! This was an event monumental enough to excite not only the trainees but the instructors as well.
“Thus! I hope you will use this mock battle to assess the strength of your own unit and gauge the strengths of rival units. Tomorrow will be individual battles, and the day after will be unit battles. It might be a sudden mock battle, but that’s exactly why your skills honed in daily practice will shine through. That is all!”
“Chung!”
“Ack!”
Notices for individual and team battles were distributed, and all units felt the urgency.
“Unit assembly!”
“We’ll establish strategies starting from the living quarters!”
From the instructors to the trainees, everyone was fired up, preparing for the mock battle.
The Twelfth Squad under Ho Cheon-an was equally invigorated. They planned to thoroughly crush the noses of those who had looked down on them!
Ho Cheon-an, absorbing the motivated gazes of the trainees, opened his mouth.
“This mock battle will be conducted without the intervention of the instructors.”
The trainees gaped in disbelief. They had just heard the news that the princess would personally visit. What? No intervention? The first to regain their wits was Jae Sang-hae.
“I have a question!”
“What is it, trainee Jae Sang-hae?”
“Aren’t we supposed to devise strategies? It’s clear other teams will come up with theirs under their instructors’ guidance!”
“That’s true. But is it training for the instructors to simply provide the answers? I don’t make such judgments.”
What a maniac to be obsessed with this training. Does the training even matter at this moment? The princess is coming!
Trainees cursed Ho Cheon-an inwardly. The atmosphere quickly turned sour, but Ho Cheon-an remained unfazed, picking at his ears as he continued.
“My duty is to be a training instructor. My mission is to provide you with opportunities to grow in various ways. This mock battle serves as an ideal opportunity for you trainees to grow. Other than the basic training in the morning, I will leave today’s and tomorrow’s training to your discretion. You can devise strategies or work on your weaknesses.”
“Ack!”
“I believe the trainees understand how the other trainees perceive the Twelfth Squad.”
“Ack!!”
“I have no concern beyond your growth, but if your pride as trainees has been hurt, I think it would not be a bad idea to repay them during this mock battle.”
“Ahhh!!”
The trainees’ motivation erupted like a volcano. This was an opportunity to flatten the arrogance of the Seventh Squad who had clashed with them, along with the others who had pointed fingers and laughed at them while they trained.
“Well then, dismissed.”
“Ack!”
The motivated trainees of the Twelfth Squad dashed toward the living quarters to devise their mock battle strategy.
“Oh! Any trainees failing the ranged martial arts exam this Friday will inevitably be subjected to pi ralli training, so don’t forget about your ranged martial arts!”
At Ho Cheon-an’s addendum, the trainees shuddered.
