Chapter 305: The Dignity of a Villain. The Irregular of the Ranking Tournament.
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 305: The Dignity of a Villain. The Irregular of the Ranking Tournament.
A few minutes before Kang So-hyun checked his smartphone.
The villain who had grandly declared she would destroy the world was staring intently at her own smartphone, repeatedly letting out hollow laughs.
“Ha, wow. Unbelievable. So, he’s just ignoring my texts now? I’ve been waiting all day, wondering if he’d reply, and this is what I get? I guess he thinks he has nothing to lose.”
She made a motion as if to violently hurl the phone onto the bed, but in the end, she couldn’t bring herself to do it and fixed her gaze back on the screen.
“…He might be in class. That’s the only reason I’m letting this slide.”
For the record, since morning, she had been stuck in a loop of denying the fact that no text was coming, cycling through anger, confusion, panic, and bargaining.
“Class, my foot. Look at the time. He’s probably having some secret private lesson with that blonde female professor.”
“Shut up, Zeus.”
She was repeating every stage of grief except acceptance, drawing cold stares from the other villains, but she didn’t care.
“If he texts me right now—right this second—I’ll forgive him. This is really his last chance.”
[…Including what you just said, that makes forty-three ‘last chances’ today alone.]
The surroundings were somewhat noisy, but she didn’t give up. Just as she was passing the bargaining stage and about to spiral back into panic or anger—
The smartphone, which looked like it might sprout holes from the intensity of her gaze, let out a text notification sound. It was a custom recording of Kang So-hyun’s voice saying, “I love you.”
“It’s here…!”
Did she have any idea how she looked to those around her?
Ignoring the pitying glances, Seo-ha checked the text and fell into another state of confusion.
“…Is he asking me on a date?”
[Stop trying to save face and just tell him yes so you can start getting ready.]
The Red Butler made a preemptive strike before she could spout any more nonsense, but it didn’t have much of an effect.
“W-Wait, I need a moment to prepare myself mentally. It’s been so long since just the two of us hung out, so…”
[…Sigh. Fine, do as you wish.]
The other villains, excluding her, had already left to go about their business.
Only the Red Butler remained by her side, comforting the villain who intended to destroy the world.
* * *
While everyone harbored their own expectations for the festival—some preparing to fulfill their desires, others bracing for the incidents that would undoubtedly occur—the 2nd-semester Ranking Tournament drew near.
Let’s pause for a moment.
It’s necessary to touch upon the 2nd semester. The second semester of the first year is the period when Academy cadets are officially filtered into those who will become heroes and those who won’t.
After the precious time of summer vacation, those who were strong to begin with, and those who became strong through fortuitous encounters, intense training, or whatever means necessary, would go on to live the lives of superhumans as heroes or hunters. But that wasn’t the case for everyone.
While it was a time for some to reflect on how much they had grown, it was also the period when those destined to drop out or those who would just barely graduate to enter the entertainment industry clearly recognized their own limits.
Why am I suddenly stating the obvious?
Because I’ve received a flood of challenges for the Ranking Tournament, which could be called the first gateway of the 2nd semester.
Of course, I received quite a few challenges during the end-of-semester Ranking Tournament in the 1st semester too. Back then, most of them were just punks who wanted to trample over me, but this time, the majority are people who are determined to raise their rankings or those who still doubt my skills and want to test them personally.
Well, receiving many challenges isn’t a problem in itself.
Given the nature of the Ranking Tournament, where you only have to fight five times, I can just pick a few of the challengers and crush them.
The problem is that there are quite a few familiar names among those who challenged me.
“…Should I accept these? Or not?”
Lilac. Cheon Yu-hak. Kang Han-hee. Aisha Livias.
I was worried that Lee Yu-na or Ju Ri-ra might be there too, but fortunately, only those four among my close acquaintances had challenged me.
“But the fact that there are four of them is problem enough.”
To be honest, I don’t really want to fight them, but ignoring them is difficult because of the reactions they showed today.
First, Cheon Yu-hak bowed his head solemnly and said, “Please, let me test how far I can go against the current you,” making it awkward to refuse.
Lilac boasted his protagonist-like nature, saying, “Don’t you think your skills improve the most when you face the strongest person?”
Ha-ni said she just wanted to spar with me, and Aisha went as far as to charge in, saying, “If I win, you can’t leave me out of the group during this festival, okay?!”
— Why don’t you just accept?
Sun Wukong spoke casually inside my head, but my honest feeling was that I wanted to decline.
— Hm? Is there a problem?
“There is. Of course there is. I can’t show my full strength against them.”
Right. A casual spar that feels like practice is bound to be different from a Ranking Tournament where ranks are explicitly decided. The issue is that if I truly give it my all, it won’t even be a fight.
Currently, the maximum reinforcement I can use without straining my body is a 4-stack Reinforcement. At a 4-stack Reinforcement, I can go toe-to-toe with Professor Cathy. And I’m supposed to have a head-on match with these kids?
But I can’t just go easy on them either.
Since they’ve seen me fight before, the moment I hold back, they’ll realize I’m not being serious.
“This is troublesome.”
— Again, again. You are fretting over useless things.
“…Excuse me? No, how is this useless?”
However, Sun Wukong asserted that my worries were pointless.
— Do you see everyone around you as infants who might die if you don’t protect them?
“No, it’s not that, but…”
— It is exactly that. From what I see, you still have a tendency to distrust the people around you. Above all, don’t worry; your friends probably didn’t challenge you thinking they could actually win.
…Is that so?
— Even if they are young, a dragon is a dragon from birth, and a phoenix is a phoenix from birth. Even if they seem fragile from your perspective, aren’t they also children born with great talent? For the sake of their proper growth, it is right to accept them with your full strength rather than half-heartedly holding back or trying to avoid them.
“That sounds right, but it’s not easy to set my mind to it.”
— You rascal. Being so soft-hearted. Well, if you have to fight five people, you have one slot left. Who do you plan to pick for the last one?
“I was going to ask Jae-hee, but he said he’d rather die.”
— …I won’t tell you not to bully the weak, but why not choose someone you can actually gain experience from?
“Well, even if you say experience… I can’t really think of anyone other than the professors I’m not usually acquainted with.”
— That is true. Though it depends on the fighting style, in terms of pure strength, opponents stronger than Cathy are rare.
“I might not look it, but I know the Academy faculty inside out. Unless it’s Noona Cathy or the Chairperson, I can pretty much beat anyone.”
— Hmph, boy. You aren’t entirely wrong, but do not be so careless. You never know when or where a hidden master might appear.
“Oh, come on. This isn’t some third-rate wuxia novel. It’s not like there’s a staff member I don’t know about. How could a hidden master suddenly appear? Among heroes, there are fewer than a hundred S-ranks in the world.”
— I am just saying, it makes me a bit uneasy when you are so strangely certain.
Well, considering everything that’s happened so far, it’s hard to deny his point, but surely not this time.
Sun Wukong is just being overly worried.
“Unless the Academy suddenly scouted a Hunter as a temporary professor, it’ll be fine. I’ll think about the last opponent slowly.”
— Well, fine. Perhaps I am overthinking it.
Actually, it might be dangerous if a Calamity-class attacked, but Seo-ha seems more interested in the festival than the Ranking Tournament, so it should be fine.
“Seriously, there’s no room for variables here.”
Yes, Leilan Academy is safe!
* * *
Meanwhile.
In the Chairperson’s office of Leilan Academy, the Chairperson was handling deferred business.
“So, you are the professor who will be taking over classes starting next year, correct?”
When she offered the greeting, the burly man facing her nodded silently and gave a short reply.
“That is correct.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I should have greeted you sooner, but with several incidents overlapping, I’m only just getting to it now.”
She tried to gauge the man by maintaining a smiling face and a tone different from her usual self, but she was struggling.
“No, it was our fault for submitting the paperwork while the Chairperson… was away.”
Of all times, two new professors had applied exactly when she was absent, as if they had timed it. Not only that, they had passed the suitability tests in every category. They happened to belong to a Hunter guild but had applied because they wanted to quit the Hunter life.
Since they had indeed been advertising for recruits, there might be no need for suspicion, but a strange, lingering feeling of unease prompted her to meet them in person to verify.
‘This is bad. I can’t read him at all.’
She was naturally sensitive to the lies and emotional shifts of others, but today, her intuition was failing her to a degree that surprised even herself.
She didn’t know if he was blocking her with something or if he was such a master that he could deceive her mana sensing, but either way, it wasn’t a pleasant realization.
Still, she couldn’t exactly ask, “I’m trying to inspect you, so could you please tone down your aura?”
She pondered what to do but eventually decided to be as simple and clear as possible.
She might lose an excellent professor, but nothing was more important than the safety of the cadets.
“…To be honest, I find it a bit puzzling. With a resume like this, you could find a workplace with much better conditions than Leilan Academy. No, in the first place, isn’t there no reason to quit being a Hunter?”
“You are too humble. Better conditions than Leilan Academy, one of the top academies?”
“If you include benefits, the story might change, but in terms of pure salary, it’s not an amount that’s particularly attractive to a superhuman.”
“However, it comes with prestige.”
“This might be rude, but you don’t look like someone interested in such things.”
“How could a man not be interested in prestige?”
…Well, there was no particular contradiction in his words, but what was this? This lingering unease.
It was as if he wasn’t giving his own answers, but rather reciting a script someone else had written for him.
‘Is my suspicion excessive? Or is there really something?’
“Well, I suppose it’s only natural for you to doubt us.”
“…Yes, to be blunt, that is the case. Two people with such high specs applying at the same time is one thing, and Hunters usually avoid honorary positions, so they don’t particularly welcome being heroes or professors.”
“Furthermore, I have such a fierce appearance and a large build, so it’s only natural to draw suspicion. But everyone has their reasons, don’t they? You… I mean, the Chairperson, will understand once you hear my story.”
“…If it’s a personal matter that’s too complicated, you don’t have to force an answer.”
“Nonsense, it’s nothing like that. It’s the kind of thing I would have written in my self-introduction if the resume required it.”
The burly man took a moment to catch his breath and looked at the Chairperson with a solemn gaze.
“The reason we left the Hunter guild is…”
* * *
And at exactly this point, the burly man talking to Leilan—War Demon Seo Tae-ho—completely forgot the script Kalia had written for him.
‘…What was the reason we left the Hunter guild again? It was something about something.’
For someone like him, who basically didn’t care at all about things that didn’t interest him, the fact that he had memorized the script this far showed his effort. However, that didn’t erase the blunder of forgetting the rest.
Of course, nothing major would happen if he suddenly claimed he didn’t want to talk about it, but the Boss was scheduled for an interview after his turn. He didn’t want to cause trouble by making a mistake.
Ugh, why did he have to do this cringeworthy interview in the first place?
Shouldn’t the only thing a master needs be the overwhelming ability and power to teach their disciples?
‘…How annoying. By the way, is the Chairperson strong? Her aura feels pretty decent; I kind of want to have a go at her. Ah, I shouldn’t suggest settling this with strength, right?’
“…Excuse me?”
His reply had been delayed for too long.
At this point, there was no way to avoid suspicion no matter what he did.
…He felt sorry for the Boss, but acting and other cringeworthy things just didn’t suit his temperament.
‘I’d better just do it my way.’
The War Demon slowly turned off the sensory blocker Kalia had made for him and revealed his aura without reservation.
The Chairperson seemed startled by the sudden surge of fighting spirit, but she soon composed her expression with dignity.
As expected, she wasn’t bad.
“I like strong guys. I like competing against strong guys.”
When he grinned, tension flickered across the Chairperson’s face.
“But there aren’t many rivals in this world strong enough to compete with me. So I thought: before the seeds of strength stray down the wrong path, I’ll teach them myself.”
“…Oh?”
“Whether it’s bad education or an unsuitable method, it’s a waste to let seeds of strength be ruined. If you leave them to me, I can definitely make those who are meant to be strong, strong.”
“…And if possible, you’ll compete with them yourself?”
“Exactly.”
Unaware of Chairperson Leilan’s expression, the War Demon smiled excitedly.
“Ah, and since I’m being honest, I have one more request.”
“…A request?”
“That’s right. It’s nothing much. It’ll probably be a big help to the Academy too.”
She was uneasy, but she decided to nod for now.
“I want to see the level of the current cadets. The Ranking Tournament is coming up soon, isn’t it?”
“…And?”
“The five highest-ranking students from each year. I want to test and teach them personally.”
The moment he finished speaking.
Leilan slowly pressed her hand to her forehead and had to start worrying for a reason different from before.
If this nonsense had been a lie, she would have suspected some ulterior motive.
‘…How can all that nonsense be entirely sincere?’
Truly, her headaches had been non-stop lately.