The Silver Wolf was massive.
Not just in the "ooh, big dog" kind of way. No, this one looked like it bench-pressed trees for fun and probably ate adventurers like popcorn. Its silver fur bristled like steel wire, and its eyes shimmered like twin moons—with murder in both of them.
Bitna lunged forward, blade in hand.
Bad idea.
The wolf swiped.
Better idea: don't do that again.
She crashed into the dirt with a shout, her sword skittering away. Eora followed up, eyes blazing, ready to avenge. The wolf simply headbutted her.
Yes, headbutted.
It was both insulting and effective. Eora flew back into a tree with a scream and crumpled like a paper fan.
Seo-jin tried to backstab it while yelling something that sounded heroic—but may have just been him choking on fear. The wolf turned and smacked him with its paw like it was flicking a mosquito. He flopped into a bush.
Heechan and Hwa-jin stood at the edge of the battlefield, weapons raised, legs shaking like they were dancing on an earthquake simulator.
The wolf snarled.
They dropped their weapons.
"Let's pretend to be dead," Hwa-jin whispered.
"I already am," Heechan replied. "Inside."
Then, right before the wolf could finish the job—Byeol ha appeared.
Of course, he didn't run in like a hero. He just casually walked out from the shadows, sipping tea from a wooden cup he probably carved himself.
The Silver Wolf sensed him.
Its hackles raised. It stepped back. Smart move.
Byeol ha didn't speak. He just stared, his mismatched eyes—one gold, one void-black—boring into the creature.
A moment passed. Then the wolf whimpered.
It turned to flee.
That's when Byeol ha moved. A flicker of light, a shimmer in the air. And just like that, the Silver Wolf collapsed to the ground. Not dead. But unconscious—and perhaps emotionally wounded.
The battlefield went silent, broken only by Heechan softly whispering, "Is he married?"
--
Byeol ha looked at them.
Bitna groaned, holding her ribs. Eora tried to sit up, face pale. Seo-jin was just laying there, wheezing like a dying accordion.
Heechan and Hwa-jin looked like they wanted to dig a hole and live in it forever.
"You're all alive," Byeol ha said. "Barely. Congratulations?"
"You're insane," Bitna muttered.
"Also accurate," Byeol ha nodded.
He dropped to one knee beside them, setting down his cup. He looked serious now—no jokes, no sarcasm, no teasing.
"I'm not doing this to torture you," he said. "Not because I think it's fun to watch you scream."
"Could've fooled me," Seo-jin coughed.
Byeol ha ignored that.
"I'm doing this because one day, the thing that comes for you won't hesitate. It won't hold back. It won't give you time to cry or panic or say goodbye to your family."
He looked straight at Heechan and Hwa-jin now.
"You'll either have the strength to protect yourself and the people you love—or you'll die. That's the rule. That's life. It's cruel, unfair, and sometimes hilarious in a messed-up way. But it's still the truth."
They were silent.
Even Eora, who always had a snarky comeback, just lowered her gaze.
"That wolf is a small threat," Byeol ha continued. "There are worse things coming. Much worse. And we don't have time to be weak anymore."
-
Thus began the week of… let's call it what it was: Pain University: Dungeon Edition.
Every day, they woke up at the break of dawn—or earlier. Byeol ha didn't believe in sleeping in. "The monsters don't take naps, so why should you?"
They trained coordination drills like soldiers:
Eora learned to stop solo charging.
Bitna learned how to command and support.
Seo-jin was taught how to actually use a dagger, not wave it around like a drunk mosquito.
Heechan and Hwa-jin became the heart of formation tactics, acting as scouts and relay runners, dodging danger and delivering status updates like pros.
During battles, they'd cry less. Still scream, though. Some habits die hard.
By midweek, they'd successfully taken down their first wolf as a group. It involved five people yelling different plans, Seo-jin slipping and accidentally stabbing the wolf's leg, and Eora punching it unconscious.
It was chaotic. Ugly.
But it worked.
They cheered. Hwa-jin cried. Bitna high-fived Seo-jin and accidentally slapped him too hard. Heechan started naming the wolves they defeated, which confused everyone.
"I call this one… Fluffy Doombringer."
"No. We're not doing that," Eora groaned.
--
Between battles, they did physical training.
Pushups on sharp rocks.
Running with Byeol ha on their backs.
Crawling under thorn vines because "this builds character."
He even blindfolded them once and tossed acorns at them, yelling, "Dodge instinctively! Trust your senses!"
Seo-jin got hit in the nose and screamed, "MY SENSES SUCK!"
At night, they collapsed around the campfire. Byeol ha would cook, usually forest stew—whatever that was—and offer some quiet advice or odd god-tier insight like:
"Stars are born from chaos. So are heroes."
Bitna would stare at him like he was speaking poetry. Hwa-jin tried to write it down but got distracted halfway through by a glowing mushroom.
They were still mismatched.
Still flawed.
Still scared.
But they were growing.
Byeol ha saw it. Quiet pride glimmered behind his eyes.
This group of discarded humans, disabled and powerless once—were becoming something more.
Not bad, he thought. Not bad at all.