Hell's Dropout Revival
The massive circular arena was packed. The 60 gathered mages stared blankly at the 60 simulation boxes.
"Wave stage again?"
"What wave? This is the losers' advancement match. Ranking war one-day tournament today?"
"Ah, simulations and I just don't mix. My spells keep fizzling out midway."
"Hah, that's just lack of practice."
A group of muttering twenty-something mages pushed through the crowd. I stepped aside to let them pass. Lee Sera and I exchanged glances.
"Have you prepared well?"
"Yeah... but I'm not confident."
She flashed a weak smile.
Guess the week's worth of internet backlash hit her hard. Public sentiment had been so vicious that Monica had straight-up banned me from the web.
"You look fine, Eunha."
"I have no fears."
"Amazing..."
As we chatted casually with Lee Sera, a warm, garbage stench wafted over from nearby.
"......"
"Ah."
A woman with black, curly hair cascading to her waist stared right at us. Her locks glistened with grease, and a hint of madness gleamed in her eyes.
"Hmm, do you know that woman? She's been staring at us..."
Especially Lee Sera—she was glaring daggers. Lee Sera met her gaze and whispered stiffly.
"She was an old fan of Oppa. After he rejected her confession, she lost it... or so I heard."
"Ah, that kind of history..."
I wrinkled my nose at the pointless gossip. Even from a distance, the trash smell invaded, and I pinched my nostrils shut with my sleeve. Her body odor screamed "dumpster home."
To think even that counts as a pro here...
I averted my eyes and headed to my assigned simulation box.
Ha Ji-eun swallowed hard at the impressive viewer count.
"Phew..."
The chat was a warzone. Long rants calling Yoo Eunha washed-up scrolled every second, mixed with chants for the Foam Mawang. If hell had a broadcast, it'd feel exactly like this.
Ha Ji-eun gave a quick greeting and dove in.
"Hey everyone, welcome to Ha Ji-eun's stream~ Today, to weed out the plants and spies in the Mawang Army, we're going subscriber-only chat~"
She switched to 3-month subscriber chat and added,
"I'll lock it for a bit while I check, then unlock."
Ha Ji-eun smiled at the occasional supportive chats—until a donation popped up.
Ha Ji-eun decided to clap back instead of ignoring it.
"Y'all seem confused. Mawang-sama hasn't crashed at all."
Question marks flooded the chat at her bold response.
"Real talk: Pro mage Yoo Eunha at 3rd level, rank 61 in the wars at age 8—versus some random drifter's life. Which one's more wrecked?"
Ha Ji-eun shook her head at the exploding donation chat.
Even before the real broadcast kicked off, the incoming donations made one thing clear to Ha Ji-eun. Even without Yoo Eunha's call, she wouldn't have wavered. Amid the barrage, her faith and trust stood rock-solid.
She arched a brow slyly.
"Our Eunha-sama beat the old Four Heavenly Kings 1v3, y'know? And that included Hong Ji-yeon, who y'all swear is legit."
"Prove what more? If she clears this losers' advancement, the whole ranking war slip-up was just a blip."
The chat surged at Ha Ji-eun's words. Even in 3-month sub-only, negativity lingered.
"Not sucking straws—y'all. What if Yoo Eunha pushes to main prelims and hits 2nd Army? Then what?"
Ha Ji-eun brushed off the donations.
"Think about it. Y'all flipping out over one prelim slip, but I've watched from junior leagues to now. Her track record's solid—way more than yours."
Ha Ji-eun bit her lip and fired up the advancement stream.
"Pros prove with results. Foam fanboys get banned now."
Ha Ji-eun smirked at that. Variables and short career make Eunha struggle? Logical on paper, but having seen Yoo Eunha up close, Ha Ji-eun knew better. She'd hold her own against battle-hardened twenty-somethings no problem. Years of watching her built that faith.
She cranked the relay volume, and the same caster duo from prelims chimed in.
"Eunha-sama, go go gooo!"
Ha Ji-eun donned a headband and caught her breath. She'd show something epic—she'd called all confident!
Staring expectantly, Ha Ji-eun's jaw dropped at the unexpected scene.
"Huh?"
*
The massive oval colosseum had a simple rule: 60 mages beat the crap out of each other.
No scores or waves—just "kill each other now."
I prepped for melee chaos, but...
"Worse than I thought from the jump."
The advancement was a total mess, beyond my expectations. I blocked a sharp spell with my hand—unavoidable—and watched points tick down.
The simulated battlefield was pandemonium. Spell-spammers, guys ganging up on one target, even sword-wielders popping out of nowhere.
Didn't know weapons were allowed... wait, no—magic-forged. Ether flow inside the blade confirmed it was a spell construct.
Why such inefficient magic?
Before I could ponder the oddity, AoE barrages rained down.
3rd Level Projectile
Shock Wave
Dodging that, more flew in.
3rd Level Projectile
Impact Wave
3rd Level Projectile
Solar Wave
3rd Level Projectile
Ether Wave
Damn...
The chaos was curse-worthy. Cram 60 pro mages into tight quarters, and this happens.
If wave stage is podium hell, this is the abyss itself.
Flying and floating mages started vanishing. Their 1,000pt allotments depleted. Just over a minute in, and outs were piling up.
"Point system same as tournament."
Hit zero on your 1,000pt, you're out. Difference: not 1v1, but 60-way free-for-all.
Simple enough.
3rd Level Reinforcement
Stella Maris
I wrapped refined ether around me, dodging incoming spells—when a sharp crack split the air, and the ground vanished.
3rd Level Special
Abyssal Bog - !
"Die! All of you! Yuhehehehehe! Get swallowed by my bog and diiiiie!"
A half-mad cackle. Up on a colosseum pillar, a woman muttered.
"Yuhehehehe! All dying, caught in my, my ma, magic, no way out, weirdos."
A warm, foul-smelling swamp. It matched that woman's stench from the arena.
"...Urk."
Stomach turned, but duty called. I moved ether to escape.
"......"
Gathered ether for casting got sucked into the bog, yanking me deeper.
"Ah. Like Eun-byeol's ether drain."
Identical to what Eun-byeol pulled in cornerstone league practice.
A mage summoning sword and armor yelled.
"Hah, dirty trick, trash bin witch!"
"Wh-who's the trash bin witch!"
I watched their spat while eyeing survivors. About thirty left... close enough.
I burst from the bog, thick ether layers shoving it back.
"Huh?"
All nearby mages gawked as I emerged unscathed.
"Whoa, a kid?"
"How'd she get out?"
"That's Yoo Eunha?"
"8 years old for real."
"Damn, ether control on point."
"Learn from her if you wanna get noticed."
"Trash witch! You ain't touching an 8yo, right?"
"Wh-what nonsense! I, I only like guys! My body's for Su-yeon Do, Do, ryeon-nim!"
I wrinkled my nose.
"Enough of this farce. Let's end it."
"End what?"
As confusion peaked, I snapped my fingers.
Reaching Light
Just like prelims, the simulation winked out.