Chapter 92
Chapter 92
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 92
Chapter Title: Green Dream (1)
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This won't blow up into something bigger later, will it?
I was on high alert, but the seniors seemed to think the opposite.
Barbie and Asil's reactions were especially telling. Their faces relaxed, and they loosened their stiff bodies.
Barbie even came over to me and asked,
"You don't do SNS at all?"
I honestly didn't get why I should take selfies.
When I said as much, Barbie blinked and scrutinized my face.
Fortunately, the senior seemed to have recovered somewhat from the shock. She blinked a few times, then clicked her tongue once.
"What a shame. With a face like that, you'd rack up followers in no time. You have this face and don't want to take pictures?"
"Uh? Well... not really... It's my face anyway."
"Doesn't it make you feel good to see photos of yourself?"
"Photos of my face?"
I see my face in the mirror every day—what's so special about that?
I gave her a puzzled look, and Barbie snorted.
The senior let out a disappointed sound as she took a step back.
"It would've been nice to see at least one photo of you up there."
Why?
There are plenty of other good-looking people besides me...
I was about to say that when the announcer's voice cut me off.
[The highlight matches will be held last!]
Boooo.
Despite the torrent of boos, the announcer just grinned happily. I really wanted to go up there and punch him.
The audience sitting there wasn't any different.
I turned my head back to the empty arena. The announcer reined in his cheerful laughter and continued his explanation.
[And these matches will proceed in a slightly different format from usual!]
What?
[Since you've all come to the arena together, we'll have you compete together as well. Ah! Of course, the four of you won't all be in the arena at once. That wouldn't allow for proper focus.]
Team battle?
Hildebert Talib meat shield strategy viable? I craned my neck forward at the promising words.
The announcer gave a simple explanation.
[The order of entry into the arena will follow the order of introduction!]
That means Barbie, Asil, Ricardo, and me last.
[Also, a contestant who goes first may forfeit their match and pass their opponent to the next contestant—if they so choose!]
Jackpot.
It felt like a brilliant light was shining down on me. This posed no problem at all for the meat shield plan. Especially since I was luckily assigned last.
It seemed I'd been selected last because I'd provoked Mix.
Scratching that guy's nerves back then had really paid off.
I broke into a bright smile.
I pretended not to notice Ricardo glaring at me.
[As you know, the last batter is the fresh-faced rookie. The newbie who joined the Black Badgers with convictions in tow. That's right! We're going to see just how much the Black Badgers love their juniors—up close and personal!]
Perfect!
I cheered inwardly along with the roaring cheers.
Then I turned my head with a satisfied look.
I spotted Ricardo smiling radiantly.
...A bit scary.
But having rolled under a master who wanted to gut me open had toughened me up lately. Besides, this wasn't something I could stay quiet about out of fear. The lives of three seniors were on the line right now.
I flashed a bright smile back at the beaming Ricardo.
"Senior."
"Yeah~."
[The matches will resume after a 15-minute break!]
The announcer's words cut off, and chaotic music blared out.
Barbie and Asil, who had been watching the arena, approached.
We ignored the other players in the waiting room and gathered near the bench. I dragged my still-wobbly body over and propped one knee on the bench.
Standing awkwardly, I spoke to the seniors beside me.
"I have a proposal."
"What, spit it out..."
The senior pulled a lighter from his pocket.
He looked annoyed, but I ignored it. At least my mood was good. Better than before, anyway.
I declared it without hiding my good spirits.
"It's the Hildebert Talib meat shield plan!"
Whoosh.
Ricardo blew cigarette smoke right in my face.
How rude.
But since I'm a cigar smoker, I didn't even blink at the cigarette smoke. Instead of coughing, I took in Asil staring blankly at me, Barbie with her eyes wide open, and Ricardo grinning menacingly.
"If things look dangerous during your match, just pass them back!"
"A half-baked kid with some confidence~."
"If I may be so bold, aren't you all less than half-baked right now, Seniors?"
I pointed it out, bracing for a hit.
Fortunately, no one struck me. But Asil's shocked expression crumpled.
He glared at me with a furrowed brow.
"Who's your master?"
"Choi Yoon."
Asil was momentarily speechless.
When he couldn't press the attack, Ricardo joined in.
"Then you have to face at least four of them... You think a guy who struggles with one can handle four at once-?"
"I've improved a lot lately. Trust me just this once."
"You're not asking us to trust you?"
Ricardo shot back coldly.
I'd expected something like that. But I had no intention of backing down.
The situation had worsened due to Jae-yeon's interference. I knew I wouldn't die here. But these three's lives weren't guaranteed.
Amid the blaring chaotic EDM, flashing lights, and acrid cigarette smoke, with my senses still unsteady, I spoke calmly.
"I'm the one who recovers the fastest here, aren't I? This is the most rational approach."
"Your master didn't teach you to be this reckless."
"Yoon always taught me to think rationally."
I shot back swiftly at Asil's curt words.
I wasn't yielding an inch. I could concede anything else, but not this.
No.
It's about sparing your lives!
"I really did think this through rationally."
"Conviction speech."
Barbie, who had been silent amid the hostile atmosphere, raised her right hand.
We all turned to look at her.
Her blonde hair, tied back up again, caught the eye.
Barbie blinked and spoke slowly.
"I think the maknae has a point."
"Senior!"
Genius!
I let out a cheer, while Asil furrowed his brow deeper. Ricardo let out a heavy sigh and pressed his brow with his thumb as if his head hurt.
I grinned brightly at Barbie, who was making a strange expression as she lowered her hand.
"Excellent judgment."
"No, I plan to hold out as long as I can, okay?"
She grabbed my shoulder with her chin, smiling brightly.
The lack of strength in her grip made the reality sink in once more. No matter what, I had to drag these people out of the arena alive.
Whether she knew my thoughts or not, Barbie gripped harder.
"But if I really can't hold out to the end, I'll leave it to you. I can trust you, right? Don't go dying on me alone and haunting my dreams forever after saying that?"
"Yes. I absolutely won't die, Senior. No matter what."
"Does it work that way?"
Asil cut into the conversation, his face still etched with anger.
The emotion in his tired eyes was clear. I was aware that my words had scraped at their nerves. I didn't fail to understand why the seniors were angry.
But I thought this was a situation worth getting angry about too.
Especially since I knew—though I couldn't explain why—that I wouldn't die alone. It stung that they wouldn't trust me. Were they telling me to just watch them die?
"I don't want to see you only in my dreams either, Seniors."
I replied quietly, and Asil pressed his lips into a straight line.
I'd seized the momentum decisively.
"This isn't me showing off. It's just the most rational method. You all know that deep down."
A sinking silence.
The assaulting unpleasant noise. The waiting room flashing blue, then white, then red. Standing in that loathsome place, we didn't move for a long while.
Until Ricardo, who had been smoking with his head down, exhaled with a whoosh.
The snake-shaped ring on the man's finger melted away.
"Hildebert."
Ricardo looked up at me.
"What sword do you use?"
No sooner had the eerie voice ended than silver liquid approached me.
I watched it form into a sword at my feet. Slowly, meticulously stacking up, the shape-shifting weapon took the form of a sword complete with a silver hilt.
An elegant longsword.
Its graceful blade resembled the swords used by Ricardo and his friend Jonathan Kudo.
I reached out with a faint smile.
"I've always used a slightly thicker one."
I lifted the sword embedded in the floor.
Taking in the surprised Asil and Barbie, and Ricardo scrutinizing me thoughtfully.
"But a longsword will do just fine."
You can't choose your weapon on the battlefield.
Hildebert meat shield strategy commencing.
***
We weren't dragged out immediately.
We were the main course. Only after everyone else in this waiting room was hauled out would it be our turn.
There were three illegal Enhanced Body owners in the waiting room. The woman messing up her hair in the corner, the man inhaling what looked like drugs off the floor, and the man sitting motionless on the bench.
Their matches would have been plenty thrilling in the past.
But now, they were just sideshows.
We were the core. The audience was eagerly awaiting the sight of Black Badgers, neutralized by Green Dream, being dragged into the arena.
They hated us.
Because we didn't age and die.
The Black Badgers didn't have to feel the despair they did. At least, that's what those people thought. The powerlessness and fear of daily life. The impatience and emptiness that came with a finite lifespan—they believed the Badgers were oblivious to it all.
And they couldn't accept that fact. They felt deprived looking at the Badgers, and that deprivation turned to loathing.
The eternal youth everyone had coveted.
The thing we'd claimed for ourselves.
I knew this would become a problem...
"Prometheus."
As I was stretching in the center of the waiting room, a familiar word reached my ears.
I whipped my head toward the man on the bench.
"Let's talk."
I spotted the owner of the voice.
Disheveled silver hair and blue eyes.
A former elder expelled by my long-time bad blood acquaintance.