Chapter 71
Chapter 71
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 71
Chapter Title: To Higher Places
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A drop of sweat formed at his chin and fell.
His forearms, pushed to the limit from grueling training, had veins bulging prominently.
"Huff... huff."
Jeong Si-woo.
Wet hair covered his fierce eyes.
Topless and heaving for breath, he was the polar opposite of the guy who always stood at the center of his academy classmates, cracking jokes and smiling.
Chief.
The gold-lettered word stuck boldly next to his name tag.
The weight those letters carried was far from as light as the brushstroke that wrote them.
-Thud.
Si-woo staggered and collapsed onto the ground like he was falling over. His eyes seemed hazy as he furrowed his brow.
A broken wooden sword, traces of effort that had brought up blood.
Five years had passed since he'd lost his parents young, lost his newborn little sister, and sworn to become the strongest man alive to find his missing family.
Jeong Si-woo swept back his hair. The fire in his eyes was forging his next path.
'This quest... number one in midterms. The reward...'
His eyes suddenly flew wide open.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ [Quest Reward] Location Tracker [Quest Failure] No Penalty His one and only little sister.
He'd found a way to track her down.
*****
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ 【 Main Quest 3. To Higher Places 】 Good □□ connections—now it's time to □□□ your skills. Your assigned tasks: [2] -Enter Korea's top 20 rankings. -Written exam 1st place [Quest Reward] Supreme Potions x5 [Quest Failure] □□□□□□ -You die. I'd figured the quest was about due.
Reading down the appeared quest, the blacked-out boxes in the middle of sentences were annoying.
Now it wasn't even showing the full quest details.
I sighed and spoke to Cheon-do right beside me.
"Quest's here. Written exam first place, Korea top 20, and of course, failure means death."
"Is that so."
The dorm.
Cheon-do, draped in a dragon robe several sizes too big for her, tapped her pipe and shook out the burned tobacco leaves. Her impassive face, gazing out the window, seemed to shine even brighter in the sunlight.
"Not much time left."
As she said, time wasn't on our side.
My current rank was 153rd.
To hit the top 20, I'd at least need to make it to the finals in the practical exam.
But this was El Academy. A place teeming with powerhouses.
No matter my potential, closing the experience gap wasn't easy.
I might actually die this time.
My heart started to tremble as I muttered bitterly.
"Thought I'd done pretty well catching that Ent."
"What of it. You're strong for your age. Who else gets dragged into a dungeon and comes back alive?"
Cheon-do's words were spot on.
Yeah, I was definitely strong. The issue was not knowing where that strength would hold up.
I'd grown too fast to even grasp the depths of this academy well.
Even mid-growth, could I beat monsters like Jeong Si-woo or Cornus right now...? Hard to say.
I might edge Cornus in pure technique, but I'd lose a mana battle.
And Si-woo? No need to explain—he was a freak.
To gain the upper hand against them, I needed a weapon that outpaced everyone else by a step.
Something like a keenly honed, razor-sharp blade...
"You'll need a technique."
I nodded bitterly at Cheon-do's words.
"Trust me. A true master guides their disciple to endure the trials."
"Is that right."
"You know that saying?"
I turned to look at Cheon-do.
"Peach and plum trees need not speak—a path forms beneath them."
"What's that mean?"
"A person of virtue draws followers without a word."
Cheon-do tapped more ash into the ashtray, then lifted my chin with her hand.
My head tilted slightly upward.
"Who's this virtuous person?"
"What, me of course. Look at the fine disciple I've got."
Whether to ease my tension or not, Cheon-do was picking only the sweet words today.
"There's that saying about birds of a feather too. Si-heon, the virtuous attract more of the same—they grasp the branches nearby."
She continued.
"I am number one."
"You've latched onto a master like that. Shouldn't you welcome a little adversity?"
A gentle smile crept across her face.
I returned it with utter satisfaction.
"You got me there."
The feel of her tights against my chin, pressed to her palm.
I reached out, pulled her hand down, and locked fingers. Her expression didn't change a bit.
"Music to my ears."
"I've got preparations to make. Enjoy academy life until then."
"Gotta head out again?"
She looked at me like a clever kid, squeezing our interlocked hands tight.
"Training will be tough, but don't think of quitting. I don't let go of a disciple once I've chosen them."
Cheon-do's hand felt refreshingly cool—nice.
To think a reliable person was right here beside me.
Feeling that anew, I grinned playfully.
"That why you jumped me? Didn't wanna let go?"
"How many times do I have to deny it?"
Cheon-do shook off my hand with a pouty look, then shoved my shoulder hard.
She wasn't falling for it this time either.
*****
"Um... wanna train... with me?"
Azalea shyly approached during personal training time.
Her tight combat suit clung to her body, and she fiddled with her hair—it was quite the sight.
"Sorry. Later."
"Ah..."
I wanted to, but I had a promise with Cornus, so I turned her down politely.
Scratching my neck under her prickly gaze, I poked the shoulder of Cornus, who was spacing out nearby.
"?"
I extended my index finger alongside her shoulder poke, pressing it firmly into her turned cheek.
"...Whatcha doin'?"
"Trendy prank lately."
"This fun?"
A prank Bead had pulled on me once.
I nodded teasingly, and Cornus stared at my finger before chomping down hard.
-Aang!
Ow!
I yanked my hand back in shock from the sharp pain. A clear tooth mark marred the second joint of my index finger.
"Trendy prank."
She mimicked my awkward laugh and words to a T.
One more prank and I'd be out a finger.
"So, ready to train?"
"Came for that."
I roughly wiped the spit on my clothes, blew on my finger to cool the pain, and Cornus picked up a wooden sword nearby.
Maybe because it had been a while, her movements were snappy, her eyes full of life.
"Been training hard?"
"A lot... and Master? Got a new one."
It had been ages since I'd properly sparred with Cornus.
She was plenty talented, so she'd probably grown in the meantime.
If she'd found a new master after training with Baek-do, she might be way trickier now.
We moved to a 1v1 training room.
The frosted reinforced glass door slid open, and Cornus stepped in, assuming her stance right away. Even compressed in her combat suit, her ample chest gave a little jiggle.
"Watch close."
Cornus raised one foot, lifted her sword high, and pointed the tip at me.
A stance I'd never seen before.
I loosened up while quietly observing her, gauging her level for a moment.
First round: no mana. Time to check my skills.
-Click.
I hit the 10-second timer and stepped to the center, facing her as I took my stance.
-Wobble.
Cornus's stance looked seriously unstable.
Her bright yellow hair and chest swayed to compensate for her off-center balance, and her sword tip kept veering left and right like it had lost direction.
Can she even fight like that?
As I opened my mouth to say something—
"...Kui kui."
A creepy sound leaked from Cornus's mouth.
She adorably tilted her head and muttered it.
"Um... start?"
Oh no.
"Cornus."
"?"
"You went on TreeInside again."
"How'd you know? Met Master there too. Executive Swordsmanship."
"No way you're getting a master from there... More importantly, I told you not to go. That site's a person-ruiner."
Cornus widened her eyes, puffed her cheeks a bit, and scolded me in a reproachful tone.
"Since training... Si-heon no culture lessons. No training either. So..."
In short, I'd been ignoring her, so she'd crawled back to that pit?
"......"
"Mapkkojan tteokbokki..."
Yeah, sounded right.
I pinched my forehead and let out a weary breath.
"Why pick that path of all things. Executive Swordsmanship—what even is—"
-Beep beep beep.
Before I could finish, the alarm blared. Cornus's body lurched sharply toward me.
A sloppy thrust.
But her footwork was no joke.
Seemed to go left, then twisted right; her messed-up center suddenly snapped back into place.
Silly name aside, it was seriously tricky movement.
Genius even tweaks methods to their taste.
I knew that vicious talent from experience.
-Whish!
Longsword in one hand, she hid a dagger reverse-grip in the other and closed right up to my nose.
Closing distance against a fist fighter was suicidal.
I smacked the flat of her longsword away with my right hand and dove into her guard.
-Whirl.
In the brief moment of one exchange, our bodies crossed once.
Fist slicing air, sword too. No effective hits—we hadn't even grazed each other.
But attacks come in waves.
Cornus accelerated, aiming her reverse dagger at my throat.
Her erratic swordplay with shifting stances—I'd expected the speed-up.
I twisted back just the same, leaning to sweep my leg up.
Spinning leg shoving air, dagger stabbing nimbly at my brow.
Halt—both attacks froze just shy of contact.
We collapsed into each other like dominoes.
Our thighs interlocked and crossed.
"Huff... huff."
"Hoo... haa."
After catching our breath for a while, Cornus and I stared each other down and made our cases.
"...I win."
"No way."
It was razor-close. Real fight, we'd both be dead.
I flopped onto my back; the hard, cold floor against my skull felt pretty good.
"...Mapkkojan tteokbokki."
I scratched my sweaty chin with an incredulous look at her words.
"Trained hard, huh."
"Yeah. Let's go—eat till we burst."
One thing this spar taught me.
I was still miles from beating Jeong Si-woo. And to clear this quest, I'd have to pull out all the stops.
I got up and pulled Cornus to her feet by the hand.
Oh, right.
"TreeInside is banned."
"...Eung."
This, at least, I couldn't tolerate.
Cornus hung her head dejectedly.
Maybe her mood tanked.
She looked off her food, but that day, Cornus demolished three bowls of tteokbokki.
Bursting the yolks on her boiled eggs and all—devoured it like a champ.
"Word for this: belly pudgy pudgy!"
"Pfft."
No idea about anything else, but her internet slang game was unbeatable.