Chapter 20
Chapter 20
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 20
Chapter Title: A Hunch is Just a Hunch
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A hunch was just a hunch, after all.
“Haaah!!”
As expected of a promising prospect drawing considerable attention from the Association, Park Si-woo proved his skills admirably.
He crossed the swamp zone, where three leeches moved stealthily and rampaged wildly, in a mere 12 minutes and 36 seconds.
“Huff, huff, huff...!”
Climbing onto the opposite bank, Park Si-woo heaved ragged breaths as filth poured repeatedly from his mouth.
Dodging the leeches' ambushes by rolling this way and that, he'd ended up gulping down the swamp like water.
“Woooaaah!!”
“Amazing! As expected of a red-rated!”
The excited C-Class students cheered.
In contrast, the B-Class students' reactions were lukewarm.
‘Is that fast...?’
‘With monsters around, he had no choice but to move more cautiously than usual.’
‘But the leeches' movements were bigger than expected. The ripples they made when moving should've been easy enough to sense from that distance, right?’
‘True. Kang Jae-hyeok's kicks are way stealthier than those leeches.’
The B-Class students whispered among themselves.
They didn't want to rain on the C-Class students' parade.
The C-Class homeroom teacher adjusted his glasses with a smile.
“Seeing how quiet the B-Class students are, you must all be pretty tense. No need to worry. Si-woo here is one of the top talents in his class. Even if you don't match his score, no one here will mock you.”
“Ah, yes...”
One of the top talents in C-Class?
The B-Class students stole glances at Jae-hyeok.
Their looks carried the question of just what the hell he was.
The C-Class homeroom teacher misunderstood.
“It looks like the B-Class students were hoping Jae-hyeok would go first?”
Who would like Kang Jae-hyeok, after all?
A fallen noble living off his pension without fail, and his brothers were coup-plotting criminals to boot.
With his usual poor conduct, plenty of students saw him as a thorn in their side.
“Kang Jae-hyeok.”
Kim Jin-myeong said curtly.
“Go wild to your heart's content.”
“The stage is too shabby for that.”
Jae-hyeok replied indifferently as he stepped up to the swamp.
The swamp section with the leeches was roughly 300 meters—short.
But the moment you stepped in, your body sank deep, making normal movement impossible. Overcoming that intense resistance to advance was no easy feat.
The C-Class homeroom teacher smirked slyly.
‘Our class's average time to cross the swamp is 16 minutes.’
Even that was without monsters.
Crossing with three leeches loose required more than double the time.
Yet Park Si-woo had done it in the 12-minute range.
Whoever went next was bound to be compared and humiliated.
And Kang Jae-hyeok wouldn't endure that.
He'd throw a fit, accusing them of deliberately scheduling him to embarrass him.
“Heh heh heh...”
“Teacher Gu?”
‘Contribute to expelling the Yaksha's son, and debuting at Association HQ isn't a dream. I'd be in the superior position at most sites.’
“Um, Teacher Gu.”
“...?”
The C-Class homeroom teacher, lost in visions of a bright future, snapped to.
Kim Jin-myeong was staring at him.
“Who's C-Class sending next?”
“Hah, do we need to decide that already?”
It'd take at least 40 minutes for Kang Jae-hyeok to return—they could leisurely watch and then call for volunteers... Huh??
The C-Class homeroom teacher's eyes bulged.
The swamp's opposite shore.
Jae-hyeok was already standing there.
Next to the filth-covered, still-panting Park Si-woo, looking utterly serene and pristine.
“Jae-hyeok's already arrived.”
“N-No way!”
It ended while I looked away for a second?
This is cheating.
The C-Class homeroom teacher started to vehemently deny it but shut his mouth.
The reaction of the half-dazed C-Class students stopped him.
“Wasn't that more like pole-vaulting than leeches? He flew 60 meters every time he stepped on a leech head—how does that even work?”
“Is that how you're supposed to cross a swamp...?”
“No way. Don't try it. You'll get drained dry and turn into a mummy.”
‘Damn it, of all the low-level skills, Kang Jae-hyeok had to have a mobility one?’
“Teacher Gu? You don't look well—should B-Class go next?”
“Y-Yeah.”
Afterward.
The B-Class students also crossed the swamp without much trouble. Despite the three swamp leeches hounding them relentlessly, they averaged 10 minutes.
Park Hae-rin in particular succeeded in leaping off a leech mid-way, reaching the goal in just 6 minutes.
“Not bad, huh?”
Even Kang Jae-hyeok praised Hae-rin. He was always gentle with her. She had no flaws to pick at.
But Yi Jin-seong and Du Bae-su misunderstood wildly.
“That devil recognizes a pretty face, huh.”
“Park Hae-rin is cute. Good family too.”
“I'm pretty too, you know?”
“Huh? But you, Cheon Hye-ji... uh... ow! Why hit me! Are you turning into Kang Jae-hyeok or what?!”
The B-Class students bantered cheerfully.
Meanwhile, C-Class was like a house of mourning.
Their speechless homeroom teacher stood frozen like a statue, while Park Si-woo ground his teeth in humiliated fury, face flushed red.
In that atmosphere, few students could perform properly.
The C-Class students, plunging into the swamp without teacherly advice or encouragement, flailed about, faced crises from the leeches, and gave up repeatedly.
“The students aren't at fault. A good teacher makes all the difference.”
Jae-hyeok's nose pointed sky-high.
His "teacher," naturally, was himself.
He was emphasizing that B-Class's prowess was entirely thanks to him.
Even the B-Class students readily admitted it. They'd just realized during joint training how much his usual bullying had helped.
The C-Class homeroom teacher's pride was thoroughly crushed.
‘Me, from the Association, outdone by a guild-teacher washout?’
His arrow of rage targeted Park Si-woo.
This mess was your fault for botching the first button.
He shot contemptuous glares loaded with that meaning.
That scornful gaze became the trigger.
“I can't accept this!”
Park Si-woo burst out.
“If I'd known from the start you could use monsters as footholds, there's no way I'd have lost to you, Kang Jae-hyeok!”
“Yi Jin-seong.”
“Yeah?”
“What was my time?”
“1 minute 7 seconds...”
“...”
Park Si-woo's jaw dropped.
1 minute 7 seconds?
Is that a record a student could set? Even A-Class guys would struggle.
No, if that bastard did it, so can I.
Using leeches as footholds makes it simple.
And even if, just maybe, he couldn't beat Kang Jae-hyeok's record, he'd still be faster than the other B-Class losers.
‘No downside to retrying.’
“Hey! Incoming!!”
As Park Si-woo leaped toward the swamp, an urgent shout came from the forest side.
All eyes turned that way, witnessing it.
Dozens of swamp leeches swarming over en masse!
“Oh.”
Finally, the real training begins?
Jae-hyeok's eyes sparkled, while the other students screamed in panic and fled in terror. Park Si-woo was no different—he flailed in shock, missed his step, and plunged into the swamp.
“S-Save... Glub!!”
“What a handful.”
As Jae-hyeok looked at Park Si-woo pitifully.
Splash!
Kim Jin-myeong dove into the swamp. He'd reflexively thrown himself in to save the student. The hesitating C-Class homeroom teacher saw this and evacuated with the students.
“Snap out of it! Get up here!”
Kim Jin-myeong barely hauled Park Si-woo out.
The burly man's excited thrashing had sunk his own body deep into the swamp, but his sole focus on saving the student made him ignore it.
“Th-Thank you...!”
Si-woo, clutching a protruding rock, painfully dragged himself out of the swamp.
Hesitation filled his trembling pupils.
With a leech horde closing in from behind.
If he reached out to Kim Jin-myeong now, he might get drained dry and die.
In that case...
“Urk...!”
Park Si-woo squeezed his eyes shut and hurriedly fled the scene.
Then, suddenly.
“...!”
Unlike the other evacuating students, his eyes met Kang Jae-hyeok's—he stood blankly in place.
“...Damn it! Gotta survive first! If I die, Teacher Kim Jin-myeong's sacrifice goes to waste!!”
Park Si-woo yelled desperately.
As if to shake off shame and guilt, he bellowed at full volume.
“Who said otherwise?”
Jae-hyeok didn't condemn Park Si-woo.
Helping others is the privilege of the strong.
A weakling stepping up rashly isn't noble sacrifice—it's pointless death.
And Park Si-woo was weak.
So was Jae-hyeok.
Unawakened, facing dozens of monsters was impossible territory.
But.
‘Giving up like that leads nowhere.’
Jae-hyeok didn't know surrender.
For 8 years, he'd overcome limits daily.
To avenge his father.
And because he was a noble.
Noble.
One who stands above because they are strong.
Born a noble, Jae-hyeok had the duty to grow strong.
“Kang Jae-hyeok! Run already—what are you doing!”
Even weak, he had the duty to bear the responsibility of one who stands above.
“You run first.”
Jae-hyeok extended a hand to Kim Jin-myeong, too deep in the swamp to climb the cliff.
He sensed the leech horde drawing perilously close, but his jet-black eyes remained profoundly calm.
“Aren't you grabbing it?”
“Don't make me laugh! What teacher would let a student risk himself for help!”
“Think of me as the duke's son, not a student.”
“...What?”
“I have a duty to protect the people.”
He'd lived off pension his whole life—time to earn his keep.
Splash!
As Kim Jin-myeong stubbornly refused, Jae-hyeok dove into the swamp.
Spaang-!
Three streaks of sword light landed ahead of him, stripping the leeches off Kim Jin-myeong's body.
“Kang Jae-hyeok...! You fool...!”
“I know. But what can you do? It's the only thing Father taught me.”
Saving those in danger.
It was the ingrained principle etched into Jae-hyeok's body and soul like a brand.
He realized it just now, ironically.
Jae-hyeok chuckled ruefully and hurled Kim Jin-myeong up to the cliff top.
At the same time.
Kurrrrooooom!!
A massive shadow loomed over Jae-hyeok's head, and dozens of leeches poured into the swamp.
[‘Duty’, ‘Justice’, and ‘Sacrifice’ are added to your ordeals.]
[These are concepts opposing ‘Hatred’, ‘Killing Intent’, and ‘Vengeance’, over which you were the subject in your ordeals.]
[This greatly influences the awakening of your new First Skill.]