No Time for Games
Good was good. "I'll post the dungeon practice groups on the bulletin board right away, so make sure to check before you head out." That was all the announcements. I hope you all keep striving today as well. With those words, Gainard left the classroom, and the students all rushed over to the bulletin board beside the blackboard. In the short time they'd grown close, some were happy to be in the same group while others showed disappointment at being separated.
"...Not the same group." Among those wearing disappointed expressions, Meiri stood out the most. She was blatantly alternating her gaze between me and the group assignment chart. 'Of course not.' It was impossible for the 2nd and 6th ranks to end up in the same group. The professors had to balance the teams as evenly as possible—they wouldn't cram all the top students together. Besides, the top ranks naturally had to take on the role of group leader, so overlapping them was out of the question.
'Benras is the last one.' Five people per team, seven groups total. That left three people, neatly resolved by pulling one each from groups 1, 2, and 3.
"We're not in the same group, Seokhyun." Even though I'd clearly heard her, Meiri repeated herself, apparently annoyed that I was lost in thought.
"Of course not. They wouldn't put group leaders in the same group."
"..." Even though I'd said the right thing, I couldn't understand the sharp glares coming from all around. Meiri had firmly established herself as the S-class mascot within a week and was receiving unintentional overprotection. Just look at Mi Juran right now, hugging Meiri tightly while calling her cute—Meiri's position was... what could you even call it? 'Like the class rabbit everyone raised together in elementary school?' The more you thought about it, the more it felt exactly like that.
"Commoner, this time I'll finally have a proper match with you. Let's see who clears the dungeon faster!"
"Me too! I want in on that!"
"Seokhyun, I want to have a fair competition too." Velos took the lead, followed by Mi Juran and Woo Dohyun each chiming in, but the last one caught my attention. A fair competition? We'd always fought fair and square, so hearing that kind of phrasing from him felt unfair. Though in Woo Dohyun's case, I had landed the finishing blow during the survival exercise.
'Don't tell me he's still holding onto that.' As the protagonist of Final Destiny, he shouldn't be dwelling on something so trivial. Then again, if I hadn't appeared, he would've lived without ever knowing defeat, so I could understand. Even a humble, non-arrogant, textbook righteous protagonist would grow stricter with himself after constantly hearing people call him a genius. And at his young age, emotions would naturally play a bigger role, so that level of competitiveness was understandable.
But still—
"Is dungeon practice really something to bet on like it's a game of who clears it faster?" Wrong was wrong. This applied not just to Woo Dohyun but to the entire class that was getting carried away. When Gainard had mentioned dungeon practice, he'd pressed his lips shut while imagining death, yet the moment he left, this was the atmosphere. Being cheerful before a big event was fine, but there was no need to turn it into betting.
'People could actually die.' Approaching dungeon practice with thoughts like Mirinae Academy wouldn't give us anything too hard or We'll manage somehow could lead to real disaster.
"Sorry for suddenly killing the mood, but what we need to do right now isn't making bets." Even if the class rep role had been forced on me, I had to fulfill the responsibility that came with it. 'Kinda like that one guy at a drinking party who can't enjoy himself and starts getting all serious about life.' When I tried to objectively look at myself, shame crept in, but I decided to finish what I had to say. It was better to be the guy who couldn't read the room and got serious than to watch injured classmates after the dungeon practice.
"We need to discuss who's in each group, what everyone can do, and how we'll assign positions. It'll be too late later. Are you really going to scramble to share information only after the dungeon type is revealed? By then it'll already be too late. That's when you should be researching what monsters might appear and studying countermeasures. It's good to be happy, but I hope you don't forget what position you're in right now."
"..." The cheerful atmosphere cut off, replaced by silence. I couldn't suddenly act embarrassed or awkward here. I had to maintain a face full of conviction—like what I'd said was obvious and they were the strange ones.
"Share information with each other and either memorize it or write it down. But if it leaks outside, the information gets exposed, so never show it to anyone else—keep it within your group. Group leaders should coordinate these details among yourselves. Got it?" With that, I quickly left the classroom.
A life that only came once. In this moment where everything would vanish meaninglessly if I died, I wanted to take it seriously. 'Hmm, I might get cursed out from behind.' I'd shattered the mood so suddenly, so I was prepared to take some verbal abuse. But after leaving, another problem occurred to me. 'I haven't even introduced myself to my group members yet.' I'd been so focused on my duties as class rep that I'd forgotten my role as group leader. Though I already knew everyone's names, abilities, and skills from the information, so it wasn't a big issue. That was the rational side of things—emotionally, it would've been better to greet each other and get acquainted.
'I'll do it tomorrow.' If I went back into the classroom now, the atmosphere would just get awkward again.
"Seokhyun, let's go together."
"Ah... yeah." Just as I was about to head to class, Meiri followed after me. Since most of her classes overlapped with mine after she saw my timetable, we usually went together like this.
Step, step, step. We'd usually chat a bit while walking, but after everything that just happened, it wasn't easy to open my mouth. As if she could read my mind, Meiri spoke first.
"Everyone pulled themselves together after hearing you. They didn't curse you out, so you don't have to worry too much."
"That's a relief." Meiri must've thought that wasn't enough, because she continued.
"Still, everyone's already discussing things while forming their groups." I gave a small nod at her last words. 'Yeah, that's enough.' If it meant even one fewer person would get hurt, I could do this as many times as needed.
"I did wonder if you really had to say something while everyone was trying to relax and laugh a little, but the result turned out well."
"..." At her final remark tying everything together, I gave an awkward smile. 'As long as the result is good, that's what matters.' Good was good.
+++++++++
"So you're doing dungeon practice?"
"Yes." After finishing all my morning schedule, I was having a light conversation with Akasa at the training ground as usual before starting my real training.
"Has the dungeon been decided yet?"
"Today's the first announcement, so it hasn't been revealed yet."
"With your year having the most outstanding talent among recent batches, it'll naturally take time to select the dungeon."
If the level was low, they'd just have us fight goblins and slimes in a field instead of a dungeon. If the level was appropriate, they'd send us to a dungeon mainly populated by orc tribes. But if the level was high? That was where the problem arose.
"It's too ambiguous. They're still first-years who haven't learned much, but they're S-class and have good grades. So what should we have them fight to match their level?" Dungeons of appropriate difficulty wouldn't involve death, but the higher the level, the more similar dungeons had to be found, making increased difficulty inevitable. That brought the risk of injuries, and in the worst case, death—which was why selecting the dungeon became such a headache. A dungeon difficult enough to require cooperation to break through, yet not so hard that anyone would get seriously hurt. It was like finding a needle in a desert.
"Aren't you helping choose it, Master?"
"I have to teach you." That alone kept me busy enough. Akasa looked at me like she was wondering why I'd even ask something like that. Faced with her confident expression telling me not to ask stupid questions, I was the one who ended up flustered.
"By the way, you're speaking quite casually now. Guess you've gotten used to the weight."
"Yes, I suppose I have." They said humans were creatures of adaptation. After repeating high-intensity training for five days and pushing my body to the limit, I could now easily handle an additional 200kg.
"Then let's increase the weight." Tap! Akasa flicked her finger with a bright smile, adjusting the weight. "5kg per one, so it'll be exactly 20kg added." 20kg might sound manageable, but the total came to 220kg, which was no joke.
"From now on, every time you get used to it, we'll keep increasing the weight." Then we'll begin training. With those words, the training ground slowly began to move. 'Here we go again.' As if seeing right through my thoughts, Akasa's voice reached me.
"Until you obtain Infinite Orbit, there's no helping it." That wasn't exactly encouragement. Whiiiiiiir—the sound of wind cutting through the air could be heard. Hell had begun.