The Qualification Of A Hero

The passage was long.
The roughly carved walls looked at times like a naturally formed cave, and at times like something a giant had dug out by hand.
Torches were mounted along the walls.

“They won’t come off.”
“They may have an property on them.”
“This may be a quest-type passage.”

Ro-un and the Association employee exchanged a few words.
Cheon Su-ho hadn’t said a single word since entering the passage.

“Gulp.”

They heard the sound of someone swallowing.
When Ro-un turned reflexively, he saw Joo Hee-jun hunched over and sticking close behind him.

“What are you doing?”
“What do you mean?”

Frowning, Ro-un shook his shoulder and knocked Joo Hee-jun away.

“Don’t cling to me.”
“A-all right.”

When told not to cling to him, Joo Hee-jun grabbed the hem of Ro-un’s clothes instead.
If there was one saving grace, it was that he had at least grabbed the back hem of his shirt so he would not interfere with his arm movements.
Ro-un looked at Cheon Su-ho’s back.

‘Cheon Su-ho. You said you had to come to this passage no matter what.’
Thinking that far, Ro-un checked .
A single point at the end of the passage.
Sure enough, this was the passage Ro-un had expected.
Seeing Ro-un consult , the Association employee approached him.

“It’s quiet. Student Lee Ro-un, do otherworld residents not appear in this passage?”
“That’s right. Otherworld residents do not appear in this passage.”
“There are places like that?”
“There are. One such case was reported recently, remember?”
“Huh? Oh!”

As if that one possibility had finally occurred to him, Joo Hee-jun blurted it out loudly.
The Association employee’s eyes, buried in thick flesh, widened as well.

Cheon Su-ho’s “instinct.”
A passage where no otherworld residents appeared.
A phenomenon that had only been reported once before.

A passage fitting all three conditions came to everyone’s mind.

“This is a trial-type passage.”
“That’s right. And the one being tested is probably Cheon Su-ho.”
“Holy shit. Cheon Su-ho is the master of this passage? How does that even make sense?”
“You’re looking at it right now.”
“How interesting.”

The three of them looked at Cheon Su-ho’s back as he walked ahead.
They wore the sort of expressions that said they now understood why this passage had never been resolved.

“The place where the European Awakener Alexander was said to have received the Labors of Heracles was a trial-type passage.”
“That’s right. It was the first reported case, last year.”
“I remember there being quite an uproar over it for a while. A Constellation had assigned a task to a human. And through a passage, no less.”
“I remember too! That was when the hypothesis that passages were weapons of otherworld invasion started to lose steam. There was a lot of talk that the principles behind passage formation had to be reexamined!”
“On the other hand, there were also claims that the Constellations had finally accumulated enough records on passages to interfere with them directly.”

The two people walking on either side of Ro-un started talking on their own.
The Association employee’s eyes gleamed within the folds of flesh around them.

“Then this is probably the second case ever reported in the world.”
“Probably.”
“Holy shit! How many research points would this even be worth if I reported it to the academic society?”

Joo Hee-jun already looked excited at the thought of reporting it to an academic society.
Just look at him. Like the shut-in who does nothing but hole up in a room and run experiments that he is, the first thing he thinks of is reporting it to a society.

Step. Step.

Whether or not an academic debate had broken out behind him, Cheon Su-ho did not stop walking.
Seeing Cheon Su-ho continuing ahead, Ro-un clicked his tongue at Joo Hee-jun, shook him off, and followed after Cheon Su-ho.
The other two, now knowing that no otherworld residents appeared here, followed after them while talking excitedly.

“There have also been several reported cases where a passage’s theme resembled myths or legends from Earth.”
“I know! That’s where the talk came from that Constellations were hacking the passages too. Korea had one too, remember? The S-rank Sinuiju¹ passage based on the Princess Bari tale! Jang In-ah of the Haesong Guild cleared that one!”
“You remember.”
“Of course I do! Everyone went crazy when Jang In-ah obtained Princess Bari’s armament from that passage. It matched her trait really well too, so her domestic Awakener ranking shot way up!”
“That’s right. And because of that, analysis of passages became even more active.”

Because passages connected to Earth’s myths or legends occasionally appeared among otherworld passages, the academic world remained divided on the issue.
Scholars speculated that such passages might appear when an otherworld passage formed in a place where the power of myth or legend still remained, and that lingering force suppressed the otherworld’s energy and took its place.
Some even argued that Earth itself had created new passages in response to .

“Whatever the case, it means our world wasn’t just sitting back and watching the passages.”
“Wow! But this time it’s not a passage where a legend took form. It’s a passage made directly by a Constellation. And it appeared in the form of a dual passage, at that. How many research points would this even be worth?”

Ro-un looked at the excitedly babbling Joo Hee-jun in exasperation.
Those damned research points.
Did he even realize they were in the middle of clearing this place right now?
Ro-un gave him a flat look.
I should probably bring him back to reality.

“Either way, according to Alexander, the first recorded case, a trial-type passage can only be cleared by the one being tested. The only one who can clear this passage is Cheon Su-ho.”
“Hey, isn’t that a huge problem? Cheon Su-ho has !”
“We just have to trust that he’ll handle it.”
“Argh! You call that an answer? What if he fails and it collapses? You said the corrosion here is almost full already!”
“If Cheon Su-ho can’t clear it, then it’ll collapse.”
“Please don’t worry. I’ll make sure all of you get out safely.”

Seeing the Association employee confidently showing off his gear, Joo Hee-jun clawed at his hood.

“Seriously! I should’ve just stayed outside!”

And just a moment ago he had been thrilled at the thought of raising his research score.

‘Good grief.’

Ro-un swallowed a sigh and walked on ahead, leaving Joo Hee-jun behind.
Joo Hee-jun, outfitted head to toe in expensive gear, hurried after him.
True to a passage presumed to be S-rank, it was very long.
How long had they walked?

Grrrrowl.

At the sudden sound, the three of them turned their heads back.
There stood Joo Hee-jun, his face flushed bright red.

“What? What, what about it! It’s about time to get hungry, isn’t it?”

Ro-un checked his D-watch.
Quite a bit of time had passed since they entered the passage.
Even if they had not cleared the boss room, they had already gone nearly all the way through the C-rank passage, then walked quite a distance inside the S-rank one.

‘It is about time to get hungry. We still have a long way to go, so maybe we should rest here for a bit.’

Since Cheon Su-ho, the key to clearing the passage, also needed to be in top condition, they needed to take a break here.
Ro-un called out to Cheon Su-ho.

“Cheon Su-ho. Let’s rest a bit.”
“Understood.”

Cheon Su-ho nodded without objection.
Even though there were no otherworld residents here, they could not be sure, so they set up a safe zone and the four of them sat down.

“Clearing a passage is a battle of stamina. Eat plenty.”
“Understood.”

Cheon Su-ho had grown noticeably quieter after entering the dual passage.
Since he had entered a passage meant to test him, even someone as bold as Cheon Su-ho probably could not help but feel tense.
Checking Cheon Su-ho’s expression, Ro-un pulled out ration packs from his inventory.
As Ro-un bit into the ration while keeping his eyes on , an unexpected person spoke to him.

“Lee Ro-un. Did you already know this passage was a trial-type passage?”
“…I had considered the possibility.”
“What?! Seriously?!”

Joo Hee-jun turned toward Ro-un, spraying crumbs of ration food from his mouth.
Disgusting.
Ro-un gave him a withering look, but Joo Hee-jun either didn’t notice or pretended not to, and hurried him to explain.

“You asked me to come to this passage with you. So I had my suspicions.”
“What does asking you to come to the passage have to do with it?”
“That’s true. All academy students want to enter passages, don’t they?”

The Association employee forced up the corner of his mouth as though recalling the hot-blooded academy students.
When academy students caused trouble, it fell under the Awakener Association’s jurisdiction, so he must have dealt with quite a few of them.

‘That man has it rough too.’

Feeling a strange sense of kinship with the Association employee, Ro-un gave him a sympathetic look.

“So why? How did you figure it out?”

Unable to hold back, Joo Hee-jun impatiently urged him to answer.

“How did you know the passage Cheon Su-ho wanted to go to was a trial-type passage?!”
“Are you picking a fight?”
“N-no. I’m just curious…”
“I’m curious too. How did you guess it might be a trial-type passage just from me asking you to come here?”
“I’m curious as well.”

The eyes of all three fell on Ro-un.
Some people might have felt pressured by that, but Ro-un’s expression did not change.

“Cheon Su-ho. You’re not the kind of person who’d try to enter a passage recklessly. So I figured there had to be a reason you were asking.”

The winter that would soon come.
Cheon Su-ho, until the day you died protecting civilians from the boss of an A-rank passage, you never once broke the rule to enter a passage.
During first-semester field training and second-semester field training alike, you did not enter any passages because you couldn’t.
Because you were that kind of person, I assumed there had to be a reason for you to go so far as to make a bet with me just to enter a passage.
And what Princess In-woo had said also stayed on his mind.

‘The evolving trait . And a trial-type passage. This passage is probably the key to evolving your trait.’

The only difference was that before the regression, there had been no one willing to bring him along like this.
The me from before the regression would never have brought Cheon Su-ho into a passage with him, not when Cheon Su-ho had no way to shield himself from the otherworld’s corrosion.
Looking back on that past which had now become the future, Ro-un spoke in an indifferent tone, but those listening reacted strongly.

“Lee Ro-un…!”
“Huh? You suspected all that just from that?”
“Student Cheon Su-ho must have been very well-behaved all this time.”
“He’s a habitual truant!”
“And you’re a habitual bomber.”
“Oh?”
“No, that’s not what I meant. Experiments! It exploded while I was experimenting! I even paid for the repairs!”

At the mention of explosions, the Association employee’s eyes lit up, and Joo Hee-jun quickly started making excuses.
That still would not erase the record of you blowing up buildings.
While Joo Hee-jun sweated nervously, Ro-un and Cheon Su-ho finished their rations and stood up.

“We’re moving again.”
“Hey, hey! Wait up!”

Joo Hee-jun hurriedly stuffed the ration into his mouth and followed after them.
The Association employee rose with the effortless ease of a predator and followed the three of them.
How long had they walked?

Step.

Cheon Su-ho stopped.
The other three halted as well.
There was nowhere further to go.

“This is the end? What about the trial? Why is nobody here?”
“In Alexander’s case, his task was to slay the Nemean Lion from the Labors of Heracles. They say the Nemean Lion was waiting at the end of the passage, but this place is just a plaza.”
“Ugh. If it hadn’t been Alexander, nobody could’ve done it.”

Joo Hee-jun shuddered.
Which made sense, because Alexander was an enhancement-type Awakener with monstrous strength, like Heracles himself.
He was a mountain of muscle, built as if sculpted by a Renaissance artist.
Ro-un, who had once seen Alexander from afar during an overseas deployment before the regression, nodded at Joo Hee-jun’s words.

“Lee Ro-un. Are you sure we didn’t come to the wrong place?”
“No. This is the place.”
“This is the place.”

Ro-un and Cheon Su-ho spoke at the same time.
According to , something meant to test Cheon Su-ho should be here.

“There’s a statue here.”

At the employee’s words, the three of them gathered around him.
At that exact moment, the statue opened its eyes.

[I have been waiting.]

The giant that had seemed like nothing more than a statue began to move.

Boom!

“Hiiiiiik!”

Each time the giant with skin like white marble took a step, the ground shook as if there had been an earthquake.
Joo Hee-jun recoiled in terror and threw himself to the ground, while the Association employee steadied Ro-un.
Ro-un now understood why this passage was S-rank.

‘That statue is stronger than an ordinary S-rank boss!’

Ro-un assessed their chances of clearing it while taking into account the S-rank dual passage and Cheon Su-ho’s trait.
But that giant was something else.

‘Top-tier difficulty even among S-rank passages.’

Even Alexander, who had taken the trial known as Labors of Heracles, had apparently faced a passage presumed to be S-rank, yet Cheon Su-ho’s seemed even harder than that.

‘Can Cheon Su-ho really defeat that white giant?’

The giant took a few steps and stopped in front of Cheon Su-ho.

Grrrrrrr.

As the giant lowered its body, a sound like massive stones grinding together rang out.

[Who is the one taking the trial?]

At the giant’s words, Cheon Su-ho stepped forward.
Joo Hee-jun reflexively grabbed the hem of his clothes.

“H-hey. Think this through again.”
“This is my fight.”
“No matter how you look at it, you don’t stand a chance against that thing.”
“It’s fine. That too is something I’ll bear.”
“Argh! Lee Ro-un! Say something too!”

There was something strange about Cheon Su-ho’s attitude.
He had quietly accepted help all the way here, so why was he suddenly insisting on doing this alone now?

‘Is this Cheon Su-ho’s instinct again? Is the trial to defeat that giant? Can Cheon Su-ho as he is now really beat it?’

After thinking that far, Ro-un took one look up at the giant’s face, which was so high he had to bend his neck back just to see it, and instead of stopping Cheon Su-ho, he tried to cast a skill on him.
At the very least, he could support him.
Just as Ro-un started to raise his hand, Cheon Su-ho bared his teeth in a grin and spoke first.

“Lee Ro-un. Let me do this alone.”

At Cheon Su-ho’s refusal of even his support skill, Ro-un’s brow furrowed.
Unable to understand what Cheon Su-ho was thinking, Ro-un stared at him in silence.

“You know it too, don’t you. This is a place I have to overcome on my own.”

Alexander too had entered alongside a raid team, and with their help tying down the Nemean Lion’s legs, he cleared the passage by choking it unconscious just as Heracles had done.
Though Alexander himself had cleared the Nemean Lion, he had said that without the raid team’s help, even he could not have guaranteed passing the trial.

‘And yet he wants to do it alone? In what looks like a top-tier S-rank passage, at that?’

Knowing the damage that would follow if this passage collapsed, Ro-un could not easily accept what Cheon Su-ho was saying.
Yet after holding Cheon Su-ho’s gaze for a moment, Ro-un lowered his hand.

“Hey! Are you insane?”
“Student Lee Ro-un must have a reason.”

Ro-un did not answer.
Cheon Su-ho looked at Ro-un and smiled brightly.

“Thank you for trusting me.”

With that, Cheon Su-ho turned around.
As Cheon Su-ho walked up before the giant, the giant reacted.

[Are you the one taking the trial?]
“Yes! I will take the trial.”
[Good.]

At that answer, the giant’s body gradually shrank until it was roughly the same size as Cheon Su-ho.
If not for its skin’s white marble texture, its movements had become natural enough to mistake it for a human.

[Prove the qualifications of a Hero!]

A ring of flames rose up around the giant and Cheon Su-ho.
The other three stepped back outside the ring of flames and watched Cheon Su-ho within it.

‘The trial is tied to Cheon Su-ho’s Hero trait.’

For now, let’s watch him.
If I need to step in, I can do it after that.
Judging the right moment to use his fourth skill, Ro-un kept his eyes on Cheon Su-ho’s back.

And from the darkness, Baek Ho-yeon was watching them as well, his eyes blazing.