Chapter 251
Chapter 251
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 251
Chapter Title: Why Are You Doing This?
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-Diiiing!
The alarm rang out, and I closed my eyes before opening them again.
The area around me brightened. It seemed I'd been transferred out of the dungeon now that the first trial was over.
Back in the waiting room. Instructors and church bishops surrounded us.
"...It's over."
"What? We actually made it, right?"
"Ha, I really thought we were goners."
The cadets muttered in a daze.
The end of the first trial.
Looking around, a huge number of cadets had been culled.
The space had been bustling with cadets just before the trial started. Now it felt somewhat empty.
"Si-heon."
Cornus, who had sidled up next to me before I knew it, gently tugged at my arm.
"Was that you just now, Si-heon?"
The technique that had subdued the plum blossom.
I looked down at Cornus and pinched her cheek with my fingers, pulling it playfully.
The soft texture was healing. I answered teasingly.
"Wasn't that you?"
"...?"
"It was getting impossible to fight, so some unknown power burst out of you without you even realizing it."
"You're teasing me again. How long are you gonna keep this up?"
Cornus smacked my hand away and stuck out her tongue. It didn't work anymore.
I grinned and draped my arm over her shoulder.
She squirmed like she wanted to escape, but she didn't really hate it—she drew a little closer, letting my arm stay around her.
Her soft cheek squished against my arm, which felt great. Maybe she liked tteokbokki so much that her body had turned soft like rice cake.
"Eeng..."
Her breathing got a bit labored, so she pushed at my body with her small hands.
'Let's see. The dropouts...'
I eased up to give Cornus some air and scanned the surroundings widely.
Taeyang and Aori from Seoul Academy, among others. They waved at me, so they seemed to have survived unscathed.
Most of the national trees had made it through. Marronnier was among them.
-....
Marronnier glanced around, caught my gaze, and met my eyes.
Her cute doll-like face startled, then she whipped her head away.
Even I still remembered that incident hazily.
'...I've never lost my mind and acted like that in my entire life.'
I turned my gaze elsewhere this time.
Baobab. The moment she saw me, she narrowed her eyes. I shivered a bit at the faint hostility.
All the El Academy cadets seemed to have passed. The academy's guidance on how to act to breeze through the trial had clearly paid off.
"?"
Not that one, though.
Bead waved at me with a bright, beaming smile. After a week, her body was spotless somehow.
I didn't know where she'd rolled in from, but Flower Island was the most likely bet. She had more than enough skill not just for the first trial but to go even further.
I responded to her cheerful waving with a smirk.
In any case, over half the cadets had been eliminated in this first trial alone.
Lots of them would be packing up from the dorms over the next few days.
I stretched as the bishop began his speech, signaling the safe conclusion of the first trial.
Today, I could finally get some rest.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Rest. Yeah, right.
Something always came up the moment I had some free time. It was practically inevitable now.
"Hey."
-Thud!
I got wall-slammed.
It was a bit unfair, honestly.
The speech celebrating the successful completion of the first trial had ended. I'd eaten, and Cornus had toddled off to her room, looking tired. I'd been planning to enjoy some alone time for the first time in ages.
"Got nothing to say?"
And then Baobab barged right into my room and hit me with the most charismatic wall-slam imaginable.
"...Why are you doing this? You know this is a crime, right?"
"What the hell are you on about, you lunatic."
Baobab scowled at my bewildered and fearful reaction.
"Cut the crap. You never finished telling me at the end."
I softened my tone a bit at her question.
"What?"
It was obvious she was a national tree and didn't give a damn about status anyway. So I went back to speaking casually, like always.
Baobab looked like her eyes were about to roll back in fury.
"Where's my brother?"
"Oh, that... But I really don't know."
No matter how much she pressed, I honestly had no leads.
"Phone number."
"Don't have it. Even if I did, common sense says he'd ditch it the second you started hunting him down, right?"
"......"
"Those guys don't stick around one place for a day or two. Peach Blossom Paradise blinks and they're off to another country."
Hwangdo's spatial magic and the coordinates she had memorized were leagues beyond my limits.
If I carried around seven max, Hwangdo had at least a hundred.
She knew all the dungeons convenient for sourcing materials and magic stones. That alone showed how much of an irregular Hwangdo was.
"So how do you plan to catch those guys? What's your method?"
Baobab listened to me without a word.
"If you meet one, sure, maybe you could drag that uncle along?"
"...I could drag him."
Impossible.
I'd only caught a glimpse, but Uncle Bob's strength was beyond imagination.
He couldn't even control his authority properly. If he used it right, wouldn't he swell up to the size of a building?
"Still, no way."
Give up.
That's what I meant, but Baobab's fist stayed clenched against the wall.
"Then."
Soon, her mouth opened.
"...I'll make them come to me."
"What?"
"I'll catch you, lock you up, and wait. Won't your brother come running? You're Peach Blossom Paradise, right?"
Is she serious?
"Open the door."
She was.
"I just wanna rest."
"Rest then. Next to me."
Anyone hearing that would think it came from some playboy who'd made a bunch of girls cry.
I'd felt weird stares earlier. So this was what she'd been gunning for.
She had to come all the way to my door to pull this? We'd be stuck here for the Forest Keeper selection anyway.
I wasn't going anywhere.
'Should've eliminated her back then.'
Report her to the staff?
"Don't try anything funny."
"You serious?"
"Does it look like a joke?"
Baobab brought her face threateningly close. Her massive breasts jiggled right in front of me. Her torn clothes exposed her cleavage fully.
Cadets passing by started whispering and glancing our way. Better get inside before it blew up.
I punched in the code and glared at her as the door unlocked.
-Click!
Inside, I flipped on the lights.
The faint lingering scent of Cornus's breast milk aroma startled me—I turned, but luckily Baobab seemed oblivious.
I shut the door and headed to the bedroom. Baobab still stood there, arms crossed under her chest, glaring at me.
Let's hear what she has to say for once.
I plopped down on the bed, elbow on my knee, chin in hand.
"So, why are you so desperate to find your brother?"
"Why should I tell you? You just stay put quietly."
"During the Forest Keeper selection? You're joking."
"I'm not."
Baobab's voice turned icy. She seemed to have completely forgotten how I'd ravaged her not long ago.
Did she seriously think she could win a rematch?
Big mistake.
I swallowed a sigh.
"Wandering the world is getting old anyway... And here's a real Peach Blossom Paradise guy right in front of me. Stick with you, and I'll run into him eventually."
"You're gonna hold me until then?"
"Yeah."
Baobab's curt reply.
"If I get eliminated from the Forest Keeper selection, I can just forfeit then."
"What if you get eliminated first?"
"...Won't happen, but if it does, I'll wait outside."
If not for her brother-hunting excuse, I'd think she was some pure-hearted obsessive love interest.
Selfish as hell, no reason for me to help.
"Aren't you being a bit too arrogant?"
I had to lower my voice a notch too.
"Don't like it? Then we can throw down again."
"Can't use magic here."
Baobab answered my question.
Minor mana use was fine, but anything problematic was off-limits.
"Then I'll win."
The instant it's discovered, Forest Keeper qualification revoked. Fights in the hotel would reach the higher-ups too.
"That'd be a problem in itself."
"Not if it doesn't get found out. And..."
She's a national tree.
If she really tried to cover it up, it wasn't impossible.
If she were some no-name national tree, maybe. But Baobab was S-rank renowned among them.
'Sounds like bluffing.'
I still wasn't sure if she had connections in the Forest Keeper selection.
Like Bob, her brain seemed muscle-bound, crashing in without a plan.
Which meant she probably wouldn't abuse power or anything here.
"Wait."
I stopped Baobab right before she went into combat stance.
"Can't we solve this peacefully? I'm tired... Just tell me the reason. If it's legit, I might help out."
"......"
Depends on the reason.
If it's some national crisis or family falling apart.
Something like that, and I'd recognize the gravity and make introductions.
"You come at me swinging, what am I, some saint? 'Oh sure, kidnap away'? What's the reason?"
Baobab refused to spill the reason to the end.
She clamped her mouth shut and glared. Her straight black hair swayed gently.
African descent usually meant curly hair. She just looked like a beauty with tanned skin.
'World with World Trees and elves. Dark elf wouldn't be weird.'
Anyway, hoping the persuasion worked.
In the heavy silence, I eyed Baobab's face.
Her yellow eyes still glared. Her hand crept up slowly.
"No."
She really wants to fight?
"Why should I? I can just knock you down here and do whatever."
"You really think you can win?"
Baobab smiled confidently, arrogantly, refreshingly even. Unbelievable. She still hadn't grasped what happened to her in that dungeon.
No lewd arts this time.
Time to remind her of her place properly.
I stood, loosening my fists.
'Hope the room holds up.'
No mana, so less damage, but still superhuman strength.
She knew that too. Minimize impact zones, and we could fight.
Baobab clenched her fists boldly and assumed stance instantly.
'Thinks she's got the edge without mana, huh.'
With Combat-Type Physique and high potential, I shone brighter in harsh conditions.
Fighting beasts in caves with a long sword.
Clashing in close quarters with just bow and arrows.
Areas where a rich kid couldn't leverage advantages—my abilities dominated.
Especially without mana.
"Come at me then."
The fight would end boringly quick.