Chapter 70
Chapter 70
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 70
Chapter Title: Discord in Class A
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The atmosphere in Class 1-A lately had been quite chaotic.
There were few students who trusted each other, and blame and harsh words flew easily.
The students' relationships had started to creak around the time of the Leech King raid.
The students who fought to the end with Chae Da-hee at the center, those who abandoned them and fled, and Shinra Kyung and Loren, who knew everything but stood by and watched.
The ones who fought until the end suspected or resented Shinra Kyung and Loren, while those who ran away felt ashamed of themselves or hated the student who had awakened the Leech King from its slumber.
"Are you okay, Seung-jun?"
The boy who had awakened the Leech King from its slumber.
Lee Seung-jun had been marked by the Martial Force, and now he was isolated in his class as well.
It was because many kids had faced life-threatening danger or been forced into cowardly choices due to his mistake.
Especially the latter group.
The kids who had abandoned Chae Da-hee's group and fled, only to be tormented by guilt, hated Seung-jun intensely.
"...I'm fine."
Lee Seung-jun ignored the hand Chae Da-hee offered and pulled himself up.
Blue bruises were visible on the skin peeking through his collar.
It seemed he was starting to suffer not just verbal abuse, but physical violence as well.
"Those player bastards!"
Seung-jun blocked Da-hee, who was about to chase after the gang that had just been surrounding him.
"Please! Just stop already, Chae Da-hee!"
"...?"
"Those kids are already feeling guilty because of you. They're resenting and bullying me because they're ashamed in front of you! Why don't you get that the more you make them feel ashamed, the worse it gets for me?"
"Wow, what a load of crap."
Im Yu-jin frowned and grabbed Seung-jun by the collar.
"You're subtly blaming Da-hee? Why? If Da-hee had just run away like those bastards, they wouldn't have felt guilty, and you wouldn't be getting bullied, right?"
"Yeah! Was I wrong?"
"Yeah, you were. If even Da-hee had run, the homeroom teacher might've died. Then those bastards—and even me—might've lost our minds?"
"Uh...?"
"My hammer would've smashed your head flat like a pork cutlet."
"......"
Was that something a 15-year-old girl should say?
Not just Seung-jun, but even Da-hee stared at Yu-jin in shock.
But her words weren't over yet.
"Seeing you try to shift the blame onto Da-hee, I get why the kids hate you. Seriously think about whether the bullying is really just because of the Leech King."
"Don't make me laugh! No matter what kind of person I am, no one has the right to bully me! Blaming the victim is the kind of thug thinking you'd come up with! You're all the ones in the wrong!"
"Yeah, you're right. I went too far."
Da-hee nodded in agreement with Seung-jun.
Yu-jin let out a scoff at the sight and unconsciously thought of Kang Jae-hyeok.
House Kang.
A traitorous household hated by most of Korea's citizens.
Naturally, Kang Jae-hyeok's reputation had been at rock bottom at first.
But now?
Class B was united tightly around Kang Jae-hyeok.
It was the result of his own efforts.
Perhaps that's why she felt even greater disappointment toward Seung-jun, knowing Jae-hyeok.
'Whether this kid sinks or swims isn't my business.'
Yu-jin shrugged and released Seung-jun's collar as he ground his teeth.
"Yeah, you have to handle your own problems. Let's go, Da-hee."
"Uh, yeah."
"...Damn it!"
Left alone in the empty classroom, Seung-jun couldn't hold back his anger and muttered curses.
Violence?
He could repay it in kind with the same.
He had more than enough skill for that.
But if he swung his power recklessly, he'd be even more thoroughly isolated in the class.
He had enrolled in Lion's Castle partly because he needed connections after graduation.
He needed a more peaceful way to restore his honor.
"Do you know?"
He was deep in thought when it happened.
A chilling, sinister voice suddenly seeped into his ear, sending shivers down his spine.
"Ha Kyung-su...?"
The son of Grandmaster Ha Jeong-ak of the Spear Army.
Even in Class A, full of noble heirs, he had been in the mid-to-upper caste.
Yes, past tense.
After some incident, he had become the type to live quietly, as if he weren't even there.
Why was this guy approaching him now?
"What?"
Ha Kyung-su explained to the wary Seung-jun.
"That Chae Da-hee and Im Yu-jin are best friends with Kang Jae-hyeok."
"......"
At the midpoint of the first semester of freshman year, had there ever been a case of a Class A student losing to a Class B student?
Not until recently.
In other words, Ha Kyung-su, who had lost to Kang Jae-hyeok in the first Duel Evaluation, had made history at Lion's Castle as the very first.
It was an utterly incomprehensible, deeply humiliating result.
Ha Kyung-su had analyzed two reasons for this absurd outcome.
First, National Treasure White Night.
Seol Su-ah had bestowed the Tear of the Fairy upon Kang Jae-hyeok for subjugating the Leech King.
She cited the pretext of protecting several future pillars of the nation, but it was too much.
The Tear of the Fairy was a high-grade elixir.
It was a precious treasure that even S-rank players, let alone National Treasures, couldn't obtain easily.
Perhaps Seol Su-ah had a personal connection with Kang Jae-hyeok.
It made sense that she would look after him even more, given that he was from House Kang, which probably fed him elixirs like they were rice.
That explained why Kang Jae-hyeok's stats were higher than his level suggested.
And the second reason...
"Chae Da-hee and Im Yu-jin. Those loose women, dazzled by a man's face, must have handed over all my information to Kang Jae-hyeok."
The reason Ha Kyung-su wore glasses without prescription was to hide his sharp eyes.
But right now, he had no spare energy to care about appearances.
Without the glasses, his pure white eyes gleamed with madness.
"I'll pass Kang Jae-hyeok's information to you as well. The Quick Draw he used in the Leech King raid and entrance re-examination, and the spear arts he dared to use against me. I've visualized his techniques thousands of times in my head and perfected counters. Even if your talent as a fighter is inferior to mine, you should be able to make good use of them."
"Whether it's that guy or you..."
My talent is inferior?
The talent that got me into Lion's Castle, one of the top in Korea, and placed me in Class A as outstanding among them?
Seung-jun snorted and glared straight at Ha Kyung-su.
"I'm different from you—I can easily beat a guy like Kang Jae-hyeok—but fine. No harm in thorough preparation, so I'll accept your offer."
If he achieved an overwhelming victory against the guy who beat Ha Kyung-su, wouldn't it restore some of his honor?
Sensing this instinctively, Seung-jun felt motivated.
***
"How is Class B always so close-knit?"
Evening time.
Da-hee, who had coincidentally run into Class B students at the cafeteria and joined them, asked.
Cheon Hye-ji, who had already been eyeing her with displeasure, clicked her tongue.
"Have you thrown your discernment in the gutter from blindly training with that sword like an idiot just to try once-seat? Where do you see us getting along? Can't you see the venom in the kids' eyes?"
"Kang Jae-hyeok... may he trip on the street and smash his nose..."
It wasn't just venom; it was outright poison.
Muttering to themselves.
Most of the Class B students were barely moving their chopsticks with trembling hands, cursing Kang Jae-hyeok.
"From the start, students getting along well is impossible. We're rivals, right? The ones who rack up higher grades get more elixirs and skills, advancing to higher player ranks—who's dumb enough to play friends?"
Cheon Hye-ji snorted and brushed back her luxuriously grown blonde hair.
She was flaunting her beauty in front of Chae Da-hee, who had a layered short cut emphasizing activity.
Of course, Chae Da-hee didn't catch on to her intent. Da-hee, focused solely on getting stronger, was utterly indifferent to appearances.
"But anyone can see you all look like close friends."
Chae Da-hee subtly pointed with her eyes at Jae-hyeok's tray.
A boiled egg that Hye-ji had just peeled for him sat neatly on the edge of his tray.
"W-What are you talking about? I gave it so it'd choke him and make him cough!"
In truth, it was her own way of showing gratitude.
She had received Jae-hyeok's help throughout the snowfield training, so she had yielded a bit of protein to the kid who already ate a ton.
But since it was almost unconscious, realizing it now made her extremely embarrassed.
"Well, yeah. Giving a boiled egg to someone eating isn't far from goodwill."
Du Bae-su nodded.
To him, a boiled egg was just tasteless, belly-filling protein lump.
He figured no one would be happy receiving something like that during meal time when even picking the tasty stuff wasn't enough.
Hye-ji's face flushed even redder.
"N-No way. You really think that?"
"......"
What an unpredictable kid.
Yu-jin looked at Hye-ji in bewilderment and warned Jae-hyeok.
"Anyway, be careful with your Duel Evaluation opponent this time. Fighters lack AoE but excel in one-on-one duels. Especially Lee Seung-jun—he's mastered wrestling, so if you let him close in or grab your clothes, he'll slam you into the ground. Oh, and don't let him grab your weapon either. He caught an orc warrior's curved sword in prayer hands, twisted it, and split it."
Yu-jin's face, usually carrying a strange nonchalance, turned unusually serious.
"Above all, that guy's emotionally unstable lately. He might cross the line."
"Thanks for the advice."
Jae-hyeok, who had cleanly devoured his tower of food, smiled faintly and popped the boiled egg into his mouth.
Plain, nutty, with just a hint of eggy richness.
It carried the pure taste of the ingredient itself, like the porridge Huang the steward had boiled.
His brows furrowed reflexively at the bad memory, and he fiddled with his phone, which had been silent for days.
'I hope Huang the steward found the potter well.'
The craftsman his father had served as an elder.
He likely knew about Iyargut.
His help was crucial to obtaining the clue about the soul that Iyargut had lost.
'It's a soul dwelling in a family heirloom, after all. Probably an ancestral spirit or guardian deity. Keeping it around would be a huge help.'
Deodor had called Iyargut a demon sword, but that was just the claim of an evil Death Knight.
A heirloom passed down from the founder wouldn't be a demon sword to begin with.