118. Approaching Shadow (2)
118. Approaching Shadow (2)
A red-haired girl sat atop a cliff peak, staring intently downward.
Her ponytail, roughly bound with twigs, swayed gently in the blowing wind.
Her naturally wild red eyes had sharpened further, now resembling those of a beast watching its prey.
After gazing down for a long while, she rose from her spot and brusquely dusted off her backside—pat, pat.
Then, stretching both hands upward with fingers laced and cracking her neck,
she suddenly hurled her body off the cliff.
Swooosh—!
Her hair trailed behind her fall like a red line.
It was a sight so insane anyone watching would scream, yet even in that falling moment, Kang Do-hee's expression remained unchanged.
Her gaze was fixed solely on the monster she had been watching from the start.
As the ground drew near and the trees, once smaller than a knuckle, swelled to the size of palms,
the figure of the massive, muscular monster covered head to toe in fur below—the Kroka—grew larger as well.
Whirl—
Kang Do-hee spun her body once midair.
Her fully extended leg came slamming down, carrying the full force of the fall.
And then her heel, bearing all that accumulated acceleration, struck the Kroka's head dead-on.
BOOM—!!!!
The Kroka's bulging eyes burst from the sudden impact crashing down onto its skull.
Pop.
Pop.
"SKREEEE!!!!!?"
But the death cry was much too brief.
"......."
It couldn't be helped—its brains had splattered outward, turning its entire head to mush.
THUUUD!!!
Thump.
With that, its final, short death cry, the Kroka toppled its huge body sideways, unable to offer the slightest resistance.
Kang Do-hee lightly pushed off its ruined head and landed softly on the ground.
Kang Do-hee put a cigarette she'd bought from the shop between her lips and clicked her lighter.
Flick!
Sss—
Hoo—
It was a scene from the sixth day of the Midterm Evaluation.
"Hmm, how much is this guy worth?"
Kang Do-hee murmured, staring blankly down at the corpse of the instantly-killed Kroka, its head obliterated.
That was when.
Clap clap clap clap—!
Suddenly, the sound of small applause came from next to her.
"Just as expected~! It's you! Taking down a Kroka in one hit—truly impressive!"
Even though the words were praising her, Kang Do-hee's brow furrowed deeply.
"......Flowerbed bitch."
"Yees, Kang Poppy."
Because the owner of that voice was none other than Shin Se-hee.
Tick.
The moment the humiliating nickname Jin Yu-ha had given her left Shin Se-hee's mouth,
something instantly surged up inside her.
Kang Do-hee narrowed her eyes and glared at Shin Se-hee.
Despite life on the uninhabited island undoubtedly being rough, Shin Se-hee still looked impeccably neat.
"Flowerbed. You seriously wanna die?"
Kang Do-hee growled, putting up a hostile front.
Though they were tied together as one team under Jin Yu-ha's banner of Utopia, the truth was these two still hadn't grown close.
If anything, they were practically sworn enemies.
Of course, they acknowledged each other's abilities, but totally apart from that, their personalities fundamentally clashed—they were like oil and water, unable to mix.
"Hoho, combat between cadets is still prohibited, you know? Why would someone who knows that rule so well say such a thing?"
Shin Se-hee deflected Kang Do-hee's words with a radiant smile.
But contrary to her smooth tone, the temperature of her voice was ice-cold.
"Also......."
Snap—!
The moment Shin Se-hee snapped her fingers.
Rumble rumble—
A huge number of cadets surged out from behind her.
"I haven't just been idling around all this time either, you see?"
By simple count, a situation of roughly 1 versus 100.
Unable to maintain a normal standard of living on the uninhabited island, they were a little grimy. But everyone was equipped with gear of a decent level.
After assessing their armaments, Kang Do-hee's expression hardened.
At this, the smile on Shin Se-hee's lips deepened.
"Hoho, I didn't come here explicitly to threaten you, so please relax your expression. Poppy."
"......."
"Fighting you here would be nothing but cutting off my own nose to spite my face. Would I really make such a stupid choice?"
"......Then what did you come for."
"Hmm, well. For now, the nominal reason is a proposal to handle the disposal of that Kroka you just took down. And there are a few things I'd like to discuss. Just you and me. The two of us alone."
"......Disposal?"
"Yes, no matter how strong you are, you can't haul that monster to the shop by yourself, right? If you entrust it to me, I can make it yield far more profit for you, you know?"
'This hyena-like bitch.'
Kang Do-hee clicked her tongue as she stared at Shin Se-hee's beaming face.
But at the moment, Shin Se-hee's proposal wasn't exactly bad for Kang Do-hee.
In fact, whenever she caught a giant monster, she'd been taking significant losses just pulling out the Magic Stone to exchange for Coins.
Kang Do-hee nodded, making no effort to hide how much this displeased her.
"......Do whatever you want with that. So, what's the other talk about?"
Shin Se-hee looked around them.
"Well, it's not a story to share here....... Shall we relocate for a moment then?"
Shin Se-hee took the lead, and Kang Do-hee followed behind her.
And the people Shin Se-hee had brought swarmed the Kroka's corpse like ants and began dismantling it.
Eventually, they were in a spot where they'd avoided everyone else's eyes and were left alone.
"So, what did you want to say?"
"Goodness, you're really too impatient. You jump straight to the main topic without even asking how I've been?"
"I'm not the type to chitchat and giggle with you."
"......Oh, please. We both know that when Jin Yu-ha calls, you wag your tail like a dog meeting its master. Kang Poppy?"
Grind—
A sharp noise came from between Kang Do-hee's clenched teeth.
As expected, every single word that came out of this bitch's mouth grated on her nerves.
But before Kang Do-hee could snap back, Shin Se-hee spoke up first.
"You, still don't have a party yet, right?"
"......."
"I don't have one yet either."
"......What? Then what about all those lackeys?"
"Simply a transactional relationship. They help me out, and I help them. You don't necessarily have to form a party to exchange mutual assistance, do you?"
Tap tap—
Shin Se-hee tapped the Coin display on her chest as she spoke.
[ 53130 Coin ]
A stunning result, considering only six days had passed since the exam began.
"Anyway, that's not what I wanted to say. Kang Do-hee. You, too, are waiting for Jin Yu-ha to call you, aren't you?"
Kang Do-hee gave no answer and simply glared at her.
But as if she'd expected that much, Shin Se-hee continued.
"Me, I've already pinpointed Jin Yu-ha's location."
"What!?"
This time, even she couldn't help but react.
After all, Kang Do-hee had been roaming the entire uninhabited island hunting monsters without ever finding Jin Yu-ha.
"Now I've piqued your interest, I see."
"Shut it. Where is that Yellow Dog bastard."
"......Hmm, I've located him, yes. But let's just say it's... tricky to interfere."
"......Tricky?"
"Yeees, it seems Jin Yu-ha has already formed a party with someone."
Kang Do-hee's expression hardened in a flash.
The reason this woman was telling her that Jin Yu-ha had formed a party meant it wasn't Shin Se-hee herself either.
'......Then, is it Lee Yu-ri.'
But Shin Se-hee spoke as if she'd anticipated that guess.
"Ah, it's not Lee Yu-ri, so you don't need to make such a grave face. If anything, I'd prefer it were Lee Yu-ri......."
Puff—
Shin Se-hee let out a small sigh.
"......It's a cadet I've never heard of. I thought I'd memorized the faces and names of every single first-year cadet. Where on earth did he keep picking up girls like that......."
"A girl?"
"Yes, name's Sofia. Identified position: Healer."
Immediately, Kang Do-hee's expression turned grave.
"......A Healer, huh. So, that's the chick Yellow Dog had been waiting to recruit all this time."
"Yes, most likely."
By now, both Kang Do-hee and Shin Se-hee had a good idea.
Jin Yu-ha was not the kind of person who just let anyone stay by his side.
How could they not know.
Were there only one or two people who'd tried to approach Jin Yu-ha all this time?
Some had come promising staggering wealth that would shock even Shin Se-hee, or tried to approach wielding power.
And countless others, seeing Utopia Party had no Healer, had tried to worm their way in by any means.
But Jin Yu-ha had flatly refused every single one of those offers.
With the reason that he already had someone specific in mind.
"So, why are you telling me this."
"I'm going to aim for that one remaining slot. And you'll do the same, won't you?"
"......."
"Don't say no. I can guess what you're thinking to a certain degree."
Shin Se-hee pressed her fingers firmly into the bridge of her nose as if she had a headache.
"However, my own strength is still insufficient to secure that one spot. So I'd like to propose an alliance."
"......An alliance?"
What kind of bullshit was this now.
Shin Se-hee was almost certainly holding more Coins than anyone right now.
And yet she was saying her strength was insufficient.
And there was only one spot left next to Jin Yu-ha. She said she'd compete for it, yet she was proposing an alliance?
Not understanding a single thing, Kang Do-hee's face twisted oddly.
"The way things stand now, the person who'll become Jin Yu-ha's last party member is neither you nor me. It'll be Lee Yu-ri. That woman. And my power is nothing more than an illusion that'll scatter the moment combat between cadets begins."
Shin Se-hee spoke with a more serious expression than ever before.
As she did, she extended a hand to Kang Do-hee.
'......I feel like this has definitely happened before.'
Hadn't she once said something about helping her claim the spot beside Jin Yu-ha?
But this time, the words Shin Se-hee was uttering were similar yet markedly different.
"Right now, unless we balance the scales against that woman, we stand no chance. First, let's even out our weight, then have a proper fight. How about it? A strategic alliance proposal."
* * *
"We're under attack!!!"
The orange-haired cadet, Righteousness Freak.
Lee Min-young shouted with an urgent face as she swept aside the tent flap.
Lee Yu-ri, who had been lying on a bed made of leather, rose from her spot with a rustle.
"......Under attack? Where from this time."
"It's a Rhino! A Rhino is invading our Shield Village!"
"A Rhino? That rhinoceros thing?"
"Yes! It seems one of our Shield Village tribespeople trespassed into the Rhino's territory!"
At those words, Lee Yu-ri's eyes instantly went dead.
'......I said stop calling us tribespeople, and what the hell is this Shield Village.......'
How in the world did things end up like this.
Lee Yu-ri was bewildered.
In the beginning, she'd merely built a simple shelter to live on the uninhabited island.
Then, one or two of those in danger caught her eye and she meddled just a little.
Before she knew it, those people had accumulated one by one, and the moment they exceeded ten, the influence grew exponentially.
These people wore training uniforms like primitive tribespeople, with brown plant juice smeared over their bodies like war paint.
Who would look at this and see cadets of Velvet Academy?
'......How the hell did it come to this!!!!'
Lee Yu-ri, chieftain of the Shield Village, squeezed her eyes shut.
'Still, they said an attack came.......'
She heaved a long sigh.
"So, where is it."
"Over there! The Rhino is smashing all the buildings!"
"......How dare it, destroy a building I made?"
She gripped the shield lying beside her tightly and rose to her feet in righteous fury.
"Wait there. They're all fucking dead."
That image of Lee Yu-ri was the very paragon of a chieftain, more than anyone else.
"......As expected, Chieftain Lee Yu-ri!"
Lee Min-young's eyes sparkled as she chased after Lee Yu-ri's retreating figure as if spellbound.
"I said stop calling me Chieftain!!"