Joint Training (4)
Joint Training (4)
"Not a single team passed."
"...You crazy bastard."
Yoon Do-sik, who had been listening nearby, shot Baek Woo-jin a sidelong glance as if at a monster at his muttered words.
Immediately after entering the rift.
Yoon Do-sik was briefly flustered by the exit missing where it should have been, but he soon regained his composure and turned to head toward the straight path ahead.
Just then, the blocked wall melted away like a mirage, and a nameless holy knight appeared and guided him to this spot where the Crystal was located.
In truth, calling it "guided" was almost embarrassing—the wall crumbled and the newly revealed path was also a single straight line.
The layout was so simple even a kindergartener could draw it, roughly like this.
┃ ↑ ┃
━╋ ━ ╋━
●┃ ┃ ┃
━╋ ━ ╋━
It was simple. Far too simple.
Which made it all the more baffling, and embarrassing.
"A slightly insane professor is better than an incompetent one, I suppose."
"......"
Yoon Do-sik fell silent.
Because, even by his own reckoning, the man was right.
Rather than wasting time on a professor with no skills, any student who wanted to learn would obviously cling to one who could teach them something, even if he was a bit unhinged.
Not just students—anyone seeking to learn something would think the same.
Still, there was one small problem...
-Did a bee sting you?
-Look at your own face before you talk, jackass.
-...Can you shut up? My head is ringing like it's about to split.
He was crazy. Absolutely, thoroughly crazy.
Who could have imagined that a hired holy knight would attack students?
And that he would even use a moss turtle—a creature whose venom alone was more dangerous than a mid-stage rift monster.
Click.
Baek Woo-jin put his pen away, closed his notebook, and tucked it into his coat.
Before long, the final tenth team followed the holy knight into the cavern.
-Whoa... did they get struck by lightning or something?
-At this rate they'll need to shave their heads.
Their hair was all fried and frizzled, and everyone had huge, pitch-black patches around their eyes, like they'd all tried to become pandas.
Everyone except one.
Baek Ha-na.
"Everyone's here."
Once Baek Ha-na's team, the last to arrive, had taken their seats, Baek Woo-jin addressed the students.
"Then I'll take questions first. Raise your hand if you have something to say."
Most students just stared up at him blankly at the sudden call for questions.
A small number raised their hands, eyeing Baek Woo-jin with hints of dissatisfaction.
Baek Woo-jin called on the closest female student.
"Jang Na-ra."
"...Yes."
The girl with the dark blue bruise around her eye, Jang Na-ra, lowered her hand and asked.
"I wanted to ask whether the process of us being chased by the moss turtle was truly necessary."
"If you're asking whether it was absolutely necessary, I'll answer no."
"Then—"
"Let me ask in return."
Baek Woo-jin cut her off, let his gaze sweep once over the faces of the students looking up at him, then returned his attention to Jang Na-ra.
"Why did you enroll in my lecture?"
"...I enrolled to learn more about the rifts I would be entering directly."
"I see."
Baek Woo-jin nodded once.
"I thought you were Enhancement-type. Were you Supernatural-type?"
"...Pardon?"
"Don't worry. I'll contact Administration and have them correct it."
"No, I... I am Enhancement-type. Professor."
"Enhancement-type, you say."
"Yes... I am an Enhancement-type Awakened."
Baek Woo-jin stroked his chin at her answer and asked again.
"Then it's even stranger."
"...I don't know what you find strange."
"Didn't you just say it yourself? That you enrolled in my lecture to learn more about rifts."
"...I did."
"As I recall, Jang Na-ra, you fell asleep 3 minutes and 29 seconds after Tuesday's lecture began and slept without waking until the moment I left the lecture hall."
Jang Na-ra's face instantly flushed red.
Baek Woo-jin addressed her directly.
"If I'm mistaken, speak up. Mistakes must be corrected, after all."
Baek Woo-jin shifted his gaze from the now crimson-faced Jang Na-ra and began surveying the other students again.
The students who had initially been holding their heads up were now lowering them to avoid his eyes.
Baek Woo-jin spoke again.
This time, not to Jang Na-ra, but to every student present.
"You asked if being chased by the moss turtle was truly necessary. I'll answer once more. It wasn't absolutely necessary—just like my lecture, which you deemed unnecessary, wasn't something you were forced to take."
Baek Woo-jin's gaze paused briefly on Baek Ha-na before returning to Jang Na-ra, who was hanging her head.
"There is far more unknown about rifts than what is known. That's why it's a place where nothing that happens should be considered strange. The terrain may not match the reports, and you may encounter monster species you've never seen before."
"Today's situation is one I arranged, so you can direct your complaints and grievances at me. But if you face a situation like today's during another exercise, or in a real rift, what will you do then?"
"You could complain like you did today, but... well. That's only possible if you're still alive. You might not even get the chance."
Baek Woo-jin observed the backs of the students' heads for a moment, then called on the girl who had first lowered her head.
"Jang Na-ra."
"...Yes."
Her earlier confidence gone, Jang Na-ra answered in a voice so small you had to strain to hear.
"Raise your head and find where the exit is hidden."
Unable to shake the heat still lingering on her face, Jang Na-ra lifted her head and slowly began scanning her surroundings.
And just as she had done upon first entering the rift, she pointed at the single wall not covered in moss.
"Over there... it is."
"Correct."
Tap.
Baek Woo-jin lightly snapped his fingers, and the wall Jang Na-ra had pointed at dissolved downward like a mirage.
Where the wall had vanished, a faintly shimmering blue exit revealed itself.
"Yoon Do-sik."
"What."
"Lead them out. And return directly to the academy."
"And you?"
"No need for you to know."
"...No manners at all."
Yoon Do-sik moved with a frown.
And as he passed Baek Woo-jin, he said quietly:
"Clear some time for me later."
How exactly he had manipulated the Crystal to alter the rift's environment.
A mountain of questions he wanted to ask.
Baek Woo-jin didn't answer, and Yoon Do-sik paid it no mind as he moved toward the students.
Just then, one of the students carefully raised a hand.
"What is it."
"...Um, what about proof...?"
At the male student's question, Baek Woo-jin reached for the Crystal floating behind him.
CRAAACK―!!
"Whoa?!"
"W-What the!!"
The floor around the students bulged upward.
-Guuaang.
Several small moss turtles revealed themselves.
They stared at the students for a moment, then moved sluggishly on their short legs to approach Baek Woo-jin's side.
"Satisfied?"
"...Ah, y-yes, sir...."
The male student nodded dumbly like someone who'd seen something he shouldn't have.
Yoon Do-sik, who had been watching, coughed lightly and barked.
"Line up in the order you arrived and exit! Wait outside!!"
The seated students hauled themselves up, and under the supervision of Yoon Do-sik and the holy knights, they slowly filed out through the exit.
"Baek Ha-na."
Baek Ha-na, who had been about to go through the exit last, stopped in her tracks.
Baek Woo-jin stared at her back for a beat, then spoke to Yoon Do-sik, who had stayed behind.
"I'll send you out with the holy knights. Leave first."
"Got it."
Once Yoon Do-sik disappeared through the exit, Baek Ha-na quickly spun around and launched herself toward Baek Woo-jin.
Thwack―!!
"Eek?!"
Clutching the crown of her head, Baek Ha-na collapsed to the floor.
Looking down at her, Baek Woo-jin said:
"I told you not just to take notes but to actually understand the content."
"Uugh..."
Apparently genuinely hurt, Baek Ha-na looked up at Baek Woo-jin with glistening eyes.
"Stop exaggerating and get up."
"...Tch."
Baek Ha-na clicked her tongue sharply, pouted, and rose to her feet.
"Haa."
"...I'm sorry."
At Baek Woo-jin's brief sigh, Baek Ha-na fidgeted with her fingers and apologized.
"You look a mess."
"Th-This happened because of Seo-hee..."
At his words, Baek Ha-na belatedly became conscious again of how unusual she looked.
Watching her desperately try to press down her wildly frizzed-up hair, Baek Woo-jin gently brought his hand to her cheek.
"Uh, uhm...?"
"Stay still."
"Uh, y-yes, sir..."
With every slight movement of Baek Woo-jin's hand, the pale nape of Baek Ha-na's neck and her earlobes flushed a rosy pink.
Slowly.
"Ah, uh, uugh..."
A large hand passing her cheek and slowly descending downward.
It soon stroked her thigh, then reached her instep.
"Uh, um, W-Woo-jin...?"
"......"
Baek Woo-jin didn't answer her call; he knelt on one knee and silently took hold of her foot, lifting it.
Her shoe, which had been damaged by the moss turtle's venom, reverted back to its original shape as if by magic.
Not just her shoe—every part his hand had touched had returned to its pre-damaged state.
Having finished his task, Baek Woo-jin straightened up.
CRACK―!!
"Ow?!"
He flicked Baek Ha-na squarely on the forehead.
"Next time, envelop your shoes in mana, not your gloves."
"...Yes, sir."
Baek Ha-na nodded, her face bright red, then edged one step closer to Baek Woo-jin and asked slyly.
"Aren't you going to fix my hair?"
Her blue eyes angled up at him cutely as she subtly pressed her body closer. Baek Woo-jin's hand moved again in response.
"Eek?!"
Grabbed by the scruff of her neck in an instant, Baek Ha-na's feet left the ground. She sailed through the air straight into the shimmering exit and disappeared.
"Ahem, then we'll be off as well."
The two holy knights in their tattered uniforms quickly turned and jumped through the exit.
**
Once everyone had cleared out, the noisy cavern fell silent again.
I placed my hand on the Crystal again.
Ruumble―!!
With a sound as if the whole cavern was collapsing, moss and debris both large and small rained down from the ceiling.
A short while later, a shadow that wasn't my own appeared.
Thud.
"Urgh?!"
The shadow's owner dropped to the floor, writhing and gasping in agony.
Black hair.
Plain features.
An unremarkable, average-looking young man.
After altering the rift and before exiting with Claire, I had set a small trap.
So that if anyone other than me entered, they would be summoned to an isolated space cut off from the exit.
If I had known the intruder's identity, perhaps it would have been different.
But with zero information, I had no way of knowing when they'd slipped in—so this was an obvious precaution.
"Kuuugh..."
Robbed of his freedom as my mana seeped through his body, the young man groaned in pain.
-Guuaang.
I settled my weight onto the shell of a moss turtle that had wandered over, then moved my mana.
The ambient mana around the young man responded to my will and delivered the small pouch tied at his waist into my hand.
Click.
I undid the latch, which was overkill for a mere pouch, and checked its contents.
It held several spheres slightly larger than a wristwatch.
Extremely light compared to their metallic-looking exteriors.
And within them, a tiny amount of mana mingled with a strange energy distinct from holy power.
'Demon God Bullets.'
The corner of my mouth twitched upward involuntarily.
Discovering things I hadn't known before pleased me more than I'd expected.
Bombs crafted using the corrupted mana of the disaster gods worshipped by Awakened operating in the underworld.
This was my first time seeing one in person, but the alien energy distinguishable from holy power inside confirmed that this was indeed a Demon God Bullet.
I placed the bullets back in the pouch and fastened the latch.
"Kuuuugh!!"
The nameless young man had regained his senses—his bloodshot eyes glared up at me.
I patted the back of another moss turtle beside me.
-Guuaang.
The creature moved slowly, stopping right in front of the young man's head.
I manipulated its mana to lock his gaze upward and force his eyes to stay open.
Interrogation prep complete, I rose and stood beside the moss turtle looming over his head.
The nameless bastard stared up at me with wide, forced-open eyes.
I met that stare and patted the moss turtle's shell lightly.
-Gwaaack.
A purplish liquid dribbled from the creature's mouth.
"Kuuuuurgh?!"
It dropped directly onto the eyes of the man glaring at me, creating an unpleasant noise and stench.
If he could still control his mana, he could have protected himself, but that would harm the efficiency of the interrogation.
I now knew he belonged to one of the disaster god factions, but that alone didn't fully satisfy my curiosity.
"Hrk, hruuugh...!!"
I splashed the Holy Water I'd received from a holy knight onto his pain-twisted face.
Hiiiisss―!!
"Kruuuuuuugh?!"
The man screamed as another burst of smoke erupted, and shortly after, his eyes returned to their original state.
In those eyes, now pooling with an unidentifiable mixture of tears and Holy Water, flickered a faint terror that hadn't been there moments before.
To start crumbling from just this much.
'Small fry, as expected.'
I had anticipated it, but the disappointment was unavoidable.
"Uuugh, uuugh...!!"
His resistance weaker than before.
I stared straight into his eyes and placed my hand on the moss turtle's back.
'He'll at least know the objective.'