I Was Kidnapped By The Strongest Guild
Chapter 128: A Reality That Should Not Exist

The next day.

I woke up early and made my way to the training ground.

I practiced sensory skills, shot arrows, and squeezed in some wilderness training with any time that was left.

"Graaaargh..."

I raised both hands towards the mirror in a threatening gesture.

It didn't seem like I had improved since the beginning.

I still wasn't sure.

Given that this training spans years, I figured it was too soon to be disappointed.

Without any second thoughts, I left the training ground.

Directly across was a 'Physical Fitness Room.'

It reminded me of the gyms from my previous world, and it caught my eye every time I passed by.

I knew I needed to build my strength.

Maybe it wouldn't hurt to try it out a bit?

While I loitered in front of the Fitness Room, someone approached with confident steps.

"King, let's play."

Seeing Levinas approach brightly, I was startled.

I had sensed someone during my sensory training two hours ago and now realized it had been Levinas.

She had stood still for two hours without moving.

I had wondered who it might be, but it turned out to be Levinas.

I could hardly believe she had waited just for me all that time.

"Levinas, were you waiting for me?"

"Yes! I didn't want to disturb King's training, so I waited here!"

"Don't just wait around, go play with Saebyeok."

I looked around, but Saebyeok was nowhere to be seen.

"The Dark King sleeps!"

"Still?"

"Yes! They said baby kittens need a lot of sleep! At least ten hours a day!"

"Oh..."

It seemed even her sleep patterns were influenced.

Fortunately, it didn't exceed twelve hours.

I remembered hearing somewhere that a kitten's sleep could surpass twelve hours.

Too much sleep could disrupt daily activities, so it was good that Saebyeok wasn't at that level.

"King, but why does King only sleep seven hours if she is a baby kitten?"

"Me? I'm not a baby kitten..."

"Oh...?"

Levinas's eyes widened in surprise.

I couldn't tell why she was shocked.

"What's wrong?"

"Maybe King is a half baby."

"Uh, okay..."

Levinas wasn't wrong.

I am an adult, but physically I am still young.

I nodded in agreement, and Levinas clapped her hands.

"That's right!"

She seemed to have realized something.

Not knowing what it was, I simply scratched my cheek in silence.

"King, what shall we do?"

"Well, shall we check out the Fitness Room?"

"Fitness Room?"

Levinas pressed her face against the glass door of the Fitness Room.

I did the same and peered inside.

There were machines I recognized and some I had never seen before.

"Shall we go in?"

"Yes!"

"But it's dangerous, so you must stay close to me, okay?"

"Yes! Staying close is Levinas's favorite thing!"

That staying close was her favorite thing was just like Levinas.

I felt her swaying tail as we entered the fitness area.

---

---

I knew that aerobic exercise should be done first in fitness training.

So, the first machine we approached was a treadmill.

"Hmm..."

This treadmill was very different from the ones I knew.

It had more than twice as many buttons and was large enough for four or five people to use at once.

Thanks to that, Levinas and I could get on the treadmill together.

But how does this work?

Not knowing how to use it, we just stood there, staring blankly at the buttons.

"King, what is this?"

"It's a machine for running on top, but I'm not sure how to use it."

"Is that so? Can't we just press anything?"

"Well... Should we?"

It was just a running machine after all.

Pressing something probably wouldn't be dangerous.

I followed Levinas's suggestion and randomly pressed any button.

Beep! Beep!

I tried the arrow keys, which resembled those on a keyboard.

When there was no response, I pressed several other buttons.

After a few more presses, the treadmill belt began to move.

"King! It worked!"

"Yeah."

Thud, thud—

I walked forward along the moving belt.

Just as I was considering what speed to set, the belt suddenly accelerated to an incredible rate.

"Yikes!"

"Whoa!"

The speed was tremendous.

If I stopped, the recoil could throw me far away.

Levinas, realizing this too, sprinted alongside me.

"Help, save me, King! Save Levinas!"

"Aaaaaah."

I desperately reached for the buttons but was gradually pushed back and couldn't quite reach them.

Is there no separate way to stop this?

Even in such a dangerous situation, I felt powerless.

"Stop, stop, or you're a bad snake!"

"Oh, this is bad..."

Ah. I'm going to fly off.

Anticipating the impact, I quickly pulled Levinas into an embrace.

Using my keen senses, I estimated how much harm we could come to.

At this speed, we'd likely roll over five times.

We could even break bones by hitting various parts of the machine.

"Ugh!"

I closed my eyes and protected Levinas's head.

However, even after waiting, the expected impact didn't come.

I only felt something soft.

"......?"

Carefully, I opened my eyes and saw Encia.

She had caught both Levinas and me in her arms, having saved us as we were about to be thrown.

"Are you alright?"

"Yes, thank you for helping."

At my expression of gratitude, Encia's tail wagged rapidly, and in response, my own tail began to wag.

"You really are impressive."

"What do you mean...?"

"The way you boldly engage in such risky training, I admire that."

"Uh..."

Encia, having picked up the gesture from somewhere, gave a thumbs up.

It was hard to admit it had been a mistake with her eyes shining so brightly.

"The problem is that Gyeoul's delicate body can't keep up with her spirit. Maybe you should lower the intensity?"

"Yes, I'll do that."

I nodded and glanced back at the still-spinning treadmill.

If it had been my original body, I would have been thrown off and severely injured from the start.

'This world's exercise equipment is insanely harsh.'

It was truly a brutal world.

I swallowed hard and looked back at Encia.

"But how do I lower the speed?"

"…Remarkable."

"What is?"

"That you don't know how to lower the speed is remarkable."

Was that meant to suggest I was foolish?

Embarrassment made my face flush.

"You've always pursued the highest speed, so you never bothered to learn how to slow it down?"

"No, I don't think that's right."

"And you're modest too...!"

Whirr, whirr, whirr—

Encia's tail began to spin wildly, the speed creating a noticeable air pressure.

"Uh, um..."

Encia is always so serious, but her way of thinking is a bit strange.

Still, I appreciated that Encia always took good care of me.

I followed her lead and spun my tail around too.

---

---

In the meeting room of the Yeomyeong Guild.

Three women sat in chairs, looking utterly exhausted.

Beaten, despised, harassed.

Despite experiencing these things in turns, their mental strength was already at its limit.

How on earth is Gyeoul managing mentally if she's faced this alone?

Or is there still a more terrible memory lingering?

A deep despair was etched on Jung Yu-na's face.

"Yu-na, if it's too hard, you can stop now."

"No, I'm fine..."

It's been tough and I've even had nightmares, but compared to what Gyeoul has endured, it's nothing.

Jung Yu-na steeled her will by simply opening and closing her eyes.

"This is serious..."

Tap, tap—

Chae Juyeon tapped on the mana stone.

The surface of the red mana stone crumbled, shedding fragments.

"Why is that happening?"

"It looks like the mana stone can't hold up much longer. I think one more memory might shatter it."

"What...?"

The evil spirit had been reading memories until it disintegrated, and now the source—the mana stone itself—was on the verge of breaking.

Yet Yeoreum knew she hadn't even come close to the depths of despair yet.

'Gyeoul said she was buried underground, right?'

That repulsive memory hadn't even surfaced yet.

It had only been a taste so far, and now it was supposedly the end.

For Yeoreum, the situation could only be more despairing.

"I didn't realize the trauma was this deep."

"Indeed..."

The last remaining chance.

This precious opportunity could not be squandered.

Before anyone else could react, Yeoreum snatched the mana stone.

"Yeoreum?"

"I'll handle the last one."

"You just went; are you sure you want to go again? Are you sure you'll be alright?"

"Of course."

Gyeoul was her precious family, after all.

Even if she couldn't erase the trauma, she wanted to alleviate it as much as possible.

Yeoreum knew her actions were somewhat pretentious, but she chose to ignore that.

'Please, let something come out.'

She implored a god she didn't believe in while absorbing the mana from the mana stone.

The distasteful mana of the evil spirit mixed with Chae Juyeon's divine power transported Yeoreum back into past memories.

"This is..."

Before she even opened her eyes, her borrowed beast-kin ears perked up.

The enhanced hearing unique to beast-kin informed Yeoreum what kind of world this was.

It was silent.

Upon opening her eyes, she saw a collapsed skyscraper.

Beneath it, dried blood and brutally twisted bodies littered the ground.

Where in the world was this?

Such a place couldn't have existed on Earth.

The desolate sight of the city made Yeoreum's tail bristle.

Although the sensations of unfamiliar ears and tail were new to her, she had no time to focus on them.

An even more unfamiliar, destroyed world lay before Yeoreum.

It was a world that should never have even existed.

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