The forest was quiet in a way that felt unnatural.
Not peaceful watchful.
Seo Jun stood barefoot on cold earth, toes digging slightly into the soil as he slowed his breathing. Morning mist clung to the trees, thick enough to blur distance and distort sound. Somewhere above, birds remained silent. That alone was enough to set his nerves on edge.
"You feel it, don't you?" Tae Seong said behind him.
Seo Jun nodded without turning. "It feels like the forest is waiting."
"That's because it is."
Tae Seong stepped forward, his presence deliberate, heavy in a way Seo Jun still struggled to fully read. His father had changed since telling him the truth less hesitant, less restrained. As if a door long locked had finally been opened.
"An assassin doesn't fight the environment," Tae Seong continued. "He becomes part of it."
Seo Jun swallowed and adjusted his stance.
"Today," Tae Seong said, "you learn how fragile life really is."
The first strike came without warning.
A blunt impact slammed into Seo Jun's ribs, knocking the breath out of him. He crashed to the ground, coughing, vision swimming.
"I didn't say begin," he gasped.
"That was your mistake," Tae Seong replied calmly. "You assumed I would."
Seo Jun forced himself up, shaking. His instincts screamed, heightened in a way they'd never been before. Every sound felt louder. Every movement mattered.
They trained until his muscles burned and his lungs felt raw.
Unlike before, Tae Seong didn't demonstrate. He corrected when Seo Jun failed sometimes with words, sometimes with pain. He taught him how to fall without breaking bones, how to roll with strikes, how to dissipate force instead of resisting it.
"Strength is temporary," Tae Seong said as Seo jun sat panting beside a fallen log. "Endurance is survival."
"How did you survive this long?" Seo Jun muttered.
Tae Seong looked away. "By losing everything that made survival optional."
Training shifted at midday.
Tae Seong handed Seo Jun a cloth and gestured quietly.
"Blindfold yourself."
Seo Jun froze. "Now?"
"You rely on your eyes too much," Tae Seong said. "Muk Hyun lost his sight in his left eye once. He adapted within a week."
Seo Jun hesitated then tied the cloth tightly.
Darkness swallowed him whole.
For a moment, there was only silence… then fear crept in. His breath felt louder. His pulse betrayed him.
Then movement.
A sharp impact caught his shoulder. Another struck his leg, sending him down hard. Dirt filled his mouth.
"Stand," Tae Seong's voice came from nowhere and everywhere.
Seo Jun struggled back up, heart racing. His instincts screamed danger but he couldn't place it.
Again.
A strike barely missed his throat.
That time, something changed.
He felt it not through sight, but pressure. A shift in air. Intent.
He moved on impulse, twisting just as Tae Seong's strike passed where his head would have been.
Silence.
"…Good," Tae Seong said quietly.
They continued like that for hours.
By the time the blindfold was removed, Seo Jun was drenched in sweat, wounds blooming purple across his arms but his eyes were sharper than they'd ever been.
That night, as Seo Jun collapsed beside the fire, Tae Seong said softly, "They're watching."
Seo Jun didn't ask who.
He already knew.
Far above the clearing, hidden among ancient trees, Han Min Jae observed without a trace of expression.
"So this is how you're preparing him," he murmured.
His fingers clenched slightly.
"One month," he whispered. "Let's see how long blood protects you."