Chapter 33
Chapter 33
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 33
Chapter Title: Sparring (2)
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Zzzzt-!
With an ominous sound, blue light flickered. Instinctively, I leaped backward to dodge, but a few strands of electricity still grazed my arm.
A stinging sensation came, but the smell of burning flesh...
...didn't follow.
"...?"
My arm was fine.
Even though that powerful bolt of lightning had just brushed past it, only my clothes were singed.
There wasn't even the slightest scratch on my skin.
'This too... because of my stats?'
I might have been mistaken.
I'd assumed the Strength stat only affected pure physical power.
But after that experience, I started considering other possibilities.
Maybe the Strength stat influenced not just muscle power, but bodily durability or resistance as well.
That was common in games, after all.
Plenty of them made Strength boost not just physical attack power, but health too.
I needed to rethink what the stats really meant.
At the same time, I let out a wry chuckle at myself.
Come to think of it, raising my Intelligence stat hadn't turned me into a genius or given me vast knowledge overnight.
Intelligence must affect other aspects of me too.
So what exactly was my high Intelligence stat influencing?
I shook off those fleeting thoughts. This was no time for it—we were in the middle of a spar.
Through the thick smoke rising from the aftermath of the thunderbolt talisman, I stepped toward Bora without a moment's hesitation.
She probably thought the lightning had knocked me down, or at least left me stunned.
But I was fine.
And fast.
"...!"
Her eyes widened in shock as I burst through the smoke in an instant.
Before she could make her next move, I pressed the tip of the practice sword in my hand right against the nape of her neck.
Her body froze at the cold touch.
Bora looked up at me in disbelief. A moment later, she slowly raised both hands.
A perfect surrender pose.
She pouted and said,
"...I lost. Cleanly. But you're really not hurt at all? I figured even if I couldn't win, I'd at least leave a mark..."
She muttered, sounding genuinely frustrated—and a bit disappointed that I was unscathed.
I gave her a wry smile.
"That was dangerous."
"...Liar. It wasn't dangerous at all. I used the thunderbolt talisman figuring you'd be fine too."
"..."
'Was Bora weak?'
No, absolutely not.
That final thunderbolt talisman she'd unleashed was more intense and threatening than any item or monster attack I'd experienced directly or indirectly so far.
A normal person would've been charred to a crisp.
Yet I'd taken it almost bare-handed and come out unscathed.
'I see.'
Now I had to admit it.
Arrogant as it was.
I seemed strong.
Strong enough that I didn't need to fear monsters.
"Supervisor Kim Minjun."
Shun, who'd been watching our spar from afar, had approached without me noticing.
His eyes were far more serious than before, gleaming with a hunger for something.
"Let me have a turn—"
He'd just opened his mouth to speak when,
"Hold on, Shun."
Park Soyoung—no, Park Sunja, as I'd firmly registered her in my mind now—lightly blocked his arm and addressed me.
The awkwardness and fear from before were gone from her expression, replaced by a resolute seriousness.
"Kim Minjun, I need a word with you."
Shun looked displeased for a moment, but at Park Sunja's "It'll just be a minute," he nodded without further protest and headed back to Hanbit and Bora.
I followed Park Sunja, putting some distance between us and the others.
Once we'd reached a spot a little ways from the training ground, she suddenly stopped and faced me directly.
Her gaze was astonishingly calm and intense.
She no longer seemed like the girl who'd trembled in fear every time our eyes met.
"Kim Minjun... You know, don't you? About my true identity."
It was a blunt question.
I was caught off guard for a second but kept my expression neutral.
All I knew was her real name was Park Sunja, and she might be a key character from the original Monster Tale Record game—that was just a vague hunch.
Nothing else.
But spilling that outright here would be foolish.
If she was misunderstanding me, that could be useful.
I met her gaze steadily and nodded slowly, meaningfully.
As if I knew everything.
Her eyes flickered slightly at my reaction.
She let out a small sigh, then opened her mouth as if she'd made up her mind.
"...I figured. Ever since I let slip my real name back then, I suspected you knew everything."
She paused, as if choosing her words.
"I'll be straightforward. My current name, Park Soyoung, is an alias. My real name is Park Sunja. And..."
She looked me straight in the eye.
"...I'm a spy sent by White Tiger. I infiltrated to investigate Dongto."
A spy. My guess was right.
But her next words were even more shocking.
"Kim Minjun, as you probably know, there's something suspicious about Dongto."
"..."
Her voice was low and firm.
"You've felt it too, but there's something off with Dongto's exploration teams right now."
I'd already felt it?
For now, I nodded silently.
"First, that practical interview test we saw. Compared to White Tiger's interviews I've been through or those from other companies... honestly, it was way too lax."
"Lax?"
"Yes. Not the labyrinth's quality or the supervisors' skill—yours was an exception, of course... But the overall difficulty and evaluation standards were weirdly low. It felt like they weren't testing real ability, but something else. Do you know the pass rate for that practical we did?"
"..."
Pass rate.
No clue.
All I knew was that the eight teams I oversaw all passed and merged into Team 16.
"Half passed. Half."
I was stunned. First I'd heard of it.
Back in the car after the practical, most of my teammates had said the applicants overall were disappointing.
Yet half passed?
"The pass rate's too high... If you'll excuse me, I felt it watching Team 15, the one you're on."
"...Watching our team...?"
She glanced cautiously at my reaction before continuing.
"From my brief time with them, Team Leader Park Cheolwoo seems good at listening to his team's input, Seo Ji-hyun is always calm with great analytical skills, and Han Sora's always bright and upbeat, keeping morale high. They're all great people."
I agreed so far.
"But... purely as an 'exploration team,' their capabilities feel a bit lacking, honestly."
She stated it firmly.
I couldn't find a rebuttal. I'd sensed it vaguely myself.
Truth be told, if any one of us encountered a monster alone, I wouldn't bet on a good outcome.
Park Sunja pointed toward the training ground, where Bora, Hanbit, and Shun were training with their teammates.
"Look at them. Hanbit, Bora, Shun. By White Tiger exploration team standards, that's just a slightly above-average team. Each has a clear specialty and solid combat ability. But Team 15... honestly, without you, Kim Minjun, I'm not sure they could even function as an exploration team."
Her words cut deep, but they weren't wrong.
Comparing them to Hanbit, Bora, and Shun...
Our team did fall short.
And that was White Tiger's average?
"...But Dongto's lower teams are just for monster management anyway... They probably factored that in..."
"Dongto's at the top of the monster-handling industry. No reason for a company like that to lower standards just to hire grunts for lower teams."
"..."
I was speechless at Park Sunja's sharp point.
If she was right, Dongto really was off.
And that mystery hinted at an unhappy future for me and my teammates.
"Why tell me all this?"
"...White Tiger is waiting for talent like you."
Park Sunja pulled a simple business card from her pocket.
It had a sleek tiger logo and a contact number.
"If you want better treatment and environment, give us a call. ...Any other Team 15 members would be welcome in desk jobs too."
I took the card.
Scouting, huh.
My mind reeled, and my vision blurred again.