Chapter 311: The Terrible Conclusion of the Ranking Tournament
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 311: The Terrible Conclusion of the Ranking Tournament
The morning of the second day of the ranking tournament was, quite frankly, a very pleasant one.
Why, you ask?
Well, for one, I’d spent yesterday shaking the War Demon around inside the gourd until he finally gave in and made a pledge. Plus, I’d successfully extracted a promise from him that he wouldn’t fight the kids without my permission.
When things are resolved smoothly and you gain a useful card in your hand, it’s impossible not to be in a good mood.
Since I didn’t have to worry about that War Demon bastard going on a rampage starting today, the ranking tournament would proceed normally, right?
Now, all I had to do was finish a moderate sparring session with Aisha, and then I could start preparing for the festival.
With that pleasant morning feeling, I pulled open the curtains.
“Ah, hello there, Cadet Kang So-hyun! Could we talk for a moment? I’m not a weirdo, I’m here with a scouting offer…!”
Slide.
I closed the curtains again.
Shit, this is weird.
This is definitely the fourth floor, and there’s nothing to climb up on?
Ah, they said they were a scout, so they must be a superhuman. Maybe they have a wall-crawling talent?
Well, sure. That could be the case… like hell it could!
No matter how I looked at it, this was trespassing and a crime.
Thinking I might have misseen, I opened the curtains again.
“What the!? You bastards! I claimed this spot first…?! Oh, he opened the window!”
“Hey, there’s no such thing as ‘first’! It’s survival of the strongest! Dammit! Cadet Kang So-hyun, please, just a moment of your time…!”
Slide.
I closed the curtains again and even put up a soundproofing barrier.
I didn’t know why, but the single scout had somehow multiplied into three.
“So-hyun, what’s wrong?”
“Uh, well. There are some suspicious people outside the window.”
“…Then instead of just closing the curtains, you should report them or beat them up.”
Ha-ni, who had woken up later than me—likely due to yesterday’s fatigue—spoke as if she found me absurd. However, they’d probably be caught by security soon anyway, and I didn’t want to get involved on purpose.
“They said they were here to scout me.”
“Ah… honestly, it’s enough to make anyone’s eyes spin. Think about what you did yesterday. If I were a guild master or a private hero, I’d be desperate to recruit you too.”
“What did I even do yesterday…? Was I a bit more excessive than usual?”
“…Are you being serious?”
I mean, didn’t I do about that much when fighting demons?
“Look, So-hyun. Honestly, me, Lilac, and Cheon Yu-hak are already far from normal, but you beat us by an impossibly overwhelming margin. And you beat all three of us even though we all have different fighting styles, right?”
Wait. Now that she mentioned it, did I go a bit too far just to draw the War Demon’s aggro?
“I mean, to put it bluntly, there probably aren’t many active A-rank heroes who can do what you do. I bet even the lower-tier S-ranks couldn’t pull that off.”
…Is that so?
The only ones who could probably give me a decent fight head-on right now would be heroes in the top 50, or maybe the guild masters of famous hunter guilds.
If I included villains, there’d be a few more, but there was no need to count them.
“Now, our dear So-hyun. What kind of reaction do you think people will have when a first-year cadet possesses the combat power of an S-rank hero, has a handsome face, and even knocks out a professor at the end of the ranking tournament?”
“They’ll either try to recruit me as an ally or try to eliminate me because I’m dangerous.”
That’s how it was in the 1st Timeline.
“…Huh? You’re not a villain, so ‘eliminate’ is going a bit too far.”
Ah, right. I’m not a villain anymore, so they wouldn’t go as far as elimination. I forgot.
“…Though they might try to put a leash on you.”
“Eh? Isn’t that also going a bit too far?”
…Too far? It’s something that actually happened.
After that idiot Flash defected to the villains, the non-awakened members of the Association wanted to put leashes on heroes, claiming they needed a way to truly suppress and control them.
“But since we’re on the subject, So-hyun, what are you going to do after you graduate from the Academy?”
“Hmm?”
“You don’t seem to like the Association much. Are you going to be a hunter? Or will you take over Yuseong Group?”
“Who knows. I might open an office and become a private hero. I haven’t really thought about it seriously.”
The truth was, there were still so many things I hadn’t done and apologies I hadn’t properly made, so I couldn’t really see that far into the future.
“For now…”
“For now?”
“I just want to finish the ranking tournament quickly and rest.”
“Aw, what? Changing the subject. You’re really not going to tell me~?”
“What does it matter what I’m doing? I’ll be with you guys anyway.”
“…Oh, that almost worked on me. You really have a way with words~”
Of course, that’s only if you guys allow me to stay by your side.
With that thought, I opened the dormitory door and stepped out.
“Ah, Cadet Kang So-hyun! Hello! I’m here to offer you a scout—!”
…The hallway was packed with people whose eyes began to gleam as they swarmed toward me.
I felt a pang of pity for the security guard in the distance, screaming at them to please get the hell out.
* * *
Meanwhile, as Kang So-hyun was unexpectedly held up, someone else was agonizing for an entirely different reason.
“…Should I just forfeit now?”
Aisha Livias. She was the foolish cadet who had thrown down a gauntlet just to get a bit of Kang So-hyun’s attention.
Actually, it sounds a bit funny to say it now, but when she had boldly challenged him, she hadn’t been that worried.
She knew that while Kang So-hyun was somewhat ruthless toward those he had no interest in, he was quite kind to those he was close with. She believed that, one way or another, she was one of the women who was fairly close to him.
But the sparring matches he’d actually performed were no joke.
He had easily handled Lilac and Cheon Yu-hak, whom she considered monsters, and hadn’t he absolutely demolished Kang Han-hee—the one rumored to be so close to him that they were practically dating?
Of course, she heard there was a reason for it—that it was for the sake of training—but that didn’t change the fact that she had thrown a glove in a monster’s face just to get his favor.
“No, there’s no need to think negatively, right…? He looked like he was in a good mood at the end yesterday, so maybe he’ll just let me slide…? O-ho-ho… Y-yes. In the first place, I’m not even close enough for him to personally oversee my training, right…?”
Yes, let’s calm down for now. No need to assume the worst. He might just give me a forfeit win with a smile and say his usual, ‘Huh? Training you too? Why would I?’
I mean, sure, that would feel pretty bad in its own way, but wouldn’t it be better than dying…?!
Phew, first of all, yes. There’s no point in worrying beforehand.
First, I’ll check his expression. When he appears on the other side, I’ll look at his face, and if it looks like he won’t go easy on me at all, I’ll just slam my head on the ground and beg for mercy.
Please, let him come with a smile.
As if answering that hope, the sound of his footsteps began to echo from the opposite side.
Now, will it be a smile or a blank expression?
If it’s a blank expression, I won’t hesitate. I’ll apologize first and end it right there…!
Unfortunately, both of her predictions were wide of the mark.
He had a clearly irritated, scowling face, and red sparks were strangely flickering around his body. No matter how she looked at it, he was not in a positive state!
If I hesitate, I die…!
“Don’t slam your head down. I’m not mad because of you.”
…Oh my, did it work? How did he know I was going to slam my head down?
“Ah, and just in case, don’t try to lick my shoes either.”
…Good heavens, to think he even predicted my perfect second plan. It seems we’ve become much closer than I thought.
“…Ah, yeah. Actually, I didn’t originally plan on overseeing your training today.”
Surprisingly, the first words out of his mouth were quite hopeful.
Well, only the first sentence.
“But some weird bastards have been ruining my mood since this morning. Thanks to them, I’m not feeling very great.”
“So-hyun, you’re a gentleman, so you wouldn’t take your anger out on a lady, right?”
“Is someone who tries to slam their head on the ground the moment they see me a lady?”
“So-hyun! You must let go of your anger! A cycle of rage produces nothing!”
“I think it might produce a bit of catharsis, though. Shall we test it?”
“Hieek…!”
“I’m half-joking, so don’t worry. I’m not going to torment you for no reason.”
“…If you say you’re half-joking, that means half of it is serious!”
“I just felt like, since things turned out this way, I might as well help you with your training properly.”
“No, I’ll pass! Forfeit…! Surrender…! I give up!”
“Have you ever heard of a soundproofing barrier?”
“I think this sometimes, but So-hyun, are you actually a psycho!?”
“Yeah, I am, so get ready. You won’t die, but if you don’t want it to hurt, make sure your armor is properly deployed.”
“Aaaaaaaagh! Help me…!”
Because of the soundproofing barrier, no one could hear Aisha’s screams. To an onlooker, she might have looked like a gladiator pumping up her fighting spirit before challenging a monster.
However, those who knew Kang So-hyun simply shook their heads, having a rough idea of the situation.
* * *
— I think this every time, but Boss, are you a total fucking psycho!?
Well, seeing as he’s much tamer than when I used to beat him, I guess I’ve softened up quite a bit.
It was true that I was angry because of those annoying scouts, but I had no intention of taking it out on Aisha.
I was just going to use the fact that I was already angry.
Since we were sparring anyway, it would be good to make Aisha stronger.
Aisha’s armor grows stronger in the order of colorless, green, blue, red, and black, but she was still stuck at colorless.
The purple armor she made using demonic energy after the drug incident was stronger than blue but weaker than red. Relying on demonic energy wasn’t good, so I wanted to raise her to at least red, even if black was out of reach for now.
Honestly, if I were to be greedy, I’d want her at the level of the black armor she used when we first met in the 1st Timeline.
How could I easily forget that sight—her tanking even Lee Yu-na’s ultimate move head-on?
But going that far might break Aisha, so for now, I was going to settle for red.
Hmm? What does me pretending to be angry have to do with that?
“Aaaaagh!? You demon! Save me!”
I knew the growth conditions for her armor well because I’d heard them from her myself. She said the fastest way was to stimulate stress and survival instincts.
“A demon? That’s harsh. I’m being as considerate as possible, hitting you just hard enough that your armor barely fails to block it.”
“If you were being considerate, you’d hit me just hard enough that I could barely block it!?”
“Then it wouldn’t be training. It’s fine. This is training. It’s not like I’d actually kill you, right?”
“T-that’s right? It’s just training, right?”
“Elixir.”
“…Pardon?”
“I still have some left.”
“This is training, right…?”
Oh, it’s working well.
The armor Aisha wore, which I’d been battering with Ruyi, was already starting to take on a faint blue tint.
Seeing as it skipped green and went straight to blue, it seemed I could push her a bit more.
On this day, Aisha cursed her own high endurance as she fell into shadows and was subjected to electric shocks.
“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!?”
“Hey, don’t scream. You’ll bite your tongue.”
She was caught in a storm of demonic energy, rolling pathetically across the arena floor, and was forced to focus on her training while being struck by the now-reddened Ruyi.
In many ways, she succeeded in opening a new door.
Red Armor.
It was the moment a shield capable of withstanding even a dragon’s strike was completed.
“…Huh, now that I’ve been taking this for a while, it actually feels kind of good? Something about you smiling coldly while constantly stimulating me… it’s, like, something.”
…She started talking nonsense, probably because she’d been hit too much, but well, that wasn’t my problem.
“…Could this stinging pleasure be affection? Heh, hehe. What, you just can’t be honest… how cute… hehe… hihi.”
…I think she’s broken. Did I go too far?
Well, anyway.
With Aisha’s power-up finished, the ranking tournament finally came to a close.
Ah, as a side note, while there weren’t many major changes in the rankings, Ga-eul apparently shot up to 30th place in one go.
Now, once exams are over, it’ll finally be festival season!