The First Joint Mock Battle Simulation (2)
The moment Professor Ma Jin-tae declared, “Party leaders will be given fifteen minutes to think. After that, you will select your members in the order you were just called,” the forty team leaders standing on the platform descended in unison.
Fifteen minutes. In that brief window, the training grounds boiled over like a marketplace at rush hour. The leaders’ eyes gleamed like predators stalking prey, and the students’ ragged breathing pressed down on the entire field. Ordinary students scrambled to showcase their main weapons and specialties, desperate to catch a leader’s eye. Meanwhile, the leaders scattered—observing students they had already marked, whispering agreements with one another, engaged in fierce behind-the-scenes maneuvering.
I had no intention of stepping forward. I stood quietly in a corner, content to watch. After all, without a single Rank 1 weapon, rushing out first would only make me look ridiculous.
But the situation unfolded completely differently from what I expected.
“You’re him, right? That guy with all Rank 2s…”
A heavy shadow fell over me. When I turned, Hwang Seong-jae—the top student in Shield Defense—was staring straight down at me. His gaze was as solid as bedrock. He checked my name tag, gave a meaningful nod to himself, and walked away.
What the hell?
Before I could even process it, Cha Yu-na, the top student in Special Weapons, strode over with her dark brown ponytail swinging.
“Hmm… Wanna team up with me?”
“Uh… well… if you pick me, sure…”
She grinned and gave my shoulder a light punch. Her tone was casual, almost joking, but the predatory glint in her eyes as she sized me up felt strangely persistent.
And she wasn’t the only one. Several leaders lingered nearby, openly glancing my way. In the distance, clusters of leaders whispered among themselves while pointing in my direction.
Am I imagining this? Why does it feel like everyone’s watching me?
Sure, my transcript was unique—an unprecedented “all Rank 2s”—but I never expected to draw this much attention.
Well… at least it looks like I won’t be left as the absolute last pick and get stuck with the scraps.
As I secretly breathed a sigh of relief, Yoon Jung-woo elbowed me in the side.
“Hey, you’re pretty popular, huh?”
“Seems that way. Still, it’d be nice if we ended up on the same team.”
Jung-woo gave a faint smile at my answer. I wasn’t just saying it to be nice. No matter whose team we joined, having Jung-woo—who knew my situation better than anyone and had fought back-to-back with me—would make coordinating tactics far easier.
“Fifteen minutes are up! Everyone, line up!”
Professor Ma Jin-tae’s thunderous command ripped across the training grounds. The noise died instantly. Following his instructions, the forty leaders returned to the front of the platform while the remaining one hundred sixty candidates formed rows facing them. It was a suffocating standoff, meticulously separating the “choosers” from the “chosen.”
“First pick. Overall number one—Han Seol-ah, top student in Basic Swordsmanship—will now select.”
The draft had finally begun.
Han Seol-ah stepped forward from the line of leaders. Her cool, silver-tinged eyes slowly swept across our group. Every time her gaze moved, small whispers and breathless tension rippled through the one hundred sixty students.
“Who do you think she’ll pick?”
“Obviously Choi Woo-jin, the best remaining swordsman. That’d make their vanguard unstoppable.”
“No way. If she wants overwhelming firepower, she might take a Rank 1 combat mage.”
“Could be a top spearman too. Either way, she’ll definitely grab someone from the Rank 1s. She’s the first overall pick, after all.”
Everyone swallowed hard, tossing around the names of the academy’s brightest elites. The training grounds heated up with curiosity about which dazzling genius the Ice Queen would choose.
After a long moment, Han Seol-ah let out a short breath. Without a word, she raised her pale finger and pointed into the crowd. Then she simply stood there, waiting.
Her fingertip was aimed at the group standing right in front of me.
“W-wait, it’s not me!”
“Not me either. Move!”
Since she remained perfectly still, clearly indicating someone specific, the students in the front row panicked and began parting left and right. As the crowd split like the miracle of Moses, the view opened wide.
And once every layer of people had moved aside, I realized her outstretched finger was pointing directly at the center of my forehead.
Our eyes met perfectly in midair.
“I will now make my selection.”
Her clear, unwavering voice rang across the grounds.
“Kang. Do. Woon.”
“…Huh?”
A stupid sound slipped out before I could stop it. I looked around in a daze. Jung-woo, who had been standing right beside me, and the classmates who had just cleared a path—all of them were staring at me with their mouths hanging open.
For a single moment, all one hundred sixty students froze in pure shock.
“Kang Do-woon! What are you doing? Your leader is calling you!”
Professor Ma’s roar snapped me out of my statue-like stupor.
“Y-yes!”
I answered reflexively and hurried out of the line toward Han Seol-ah. She positioned me beside her, then began walking back to her spot with her arms crossed and her posture perfectly straight. I followed awkwardly behind her, forced to pass directly in front of the gathered leaders.
And that was when I saw their blatant reactions.
“Tch, she beat me to it… Sharp-eyed bitch.”
Cha Yu-na, top in Special Weapons, scowled and roughly swept her hair back. Her irritation was so intense it looked like she might punch a wall any second.
Beside her, Hwang Seong-jae—the top Shield Defense student—rubbed his face with one thick palm and let out a deep sigh.
“Haa… My entire calculation is ruined.”
Even Kwon Ha-eun, the ever-smiling top Auxiliary Magic student, wore a smile on her lips while her eyes clearly tracked me with open regret. Han Jun-woo, top in Tactics and Magic Engineering, angrily scratched a giant X across his tablet.
It was a completely different atmosphere from the ordinary students’ stunned mockery. These were the genuine reactions of frustrated Rank 1 tops who had just lost their target. My mind spun into complete chaos.
What is going on?
Even though I held Rank 2 in every subject, I never imagined I would be chosen over all the Rank 1 runners-up. And why were these top students so openly disappointed that I had been picked?
I figured I wouldn’t be dead last, but… first overall pick?
My heart began hammering wildly.
Unlike Han Seol-ah’s lightning-fast first choice, the rest of the draft dragged on noticeably. Leaders who lost their pre-selected members had to immediately revise their party plans on the spot. Eventually, some even asked Professor Ma for permission to conduct impromptu surveys or short interviews with the remaining students, just like the fifteen-minute scouting period earlier.
By the time the draft had circled back and the fiftieth pick was made, I caught eyes with Jung-woo, who was still waiting below the platform.
Shield-bearers increase a party’s stability, but everyone prioritizes firepower or utility first, so they keep getting pushed back.
When I saw the faint anxiety flicker across his usually reliable face, I glanced at Han Seol-ah standing beside me. Come to think of it, she had called me as her first member and hadn’t said a single word to me since I stepped onto the platform. Staring at her aloof, icy profile as she looked straight ahead, I clicked my tongue inwardly.
She’s unbelievably pretty, but man, what terrible social skills.
I cleared my throat lightly and spoke to her in a friendly tone.
“Hey, Seol-ah? Since we’re the same age, I’ll speak casually, okay?”
“…What do you want?”
Her reply was as cold as ice. Still, I pressed on.
“It’s nothing bad. Don’t we need a shield-bearer who can hold the front line? I have insane synergy with that guy over there—Yoon Jung-woo. Having a tank makes any party way more stable. So could you pick him this round?”
“Haa…”
Han Seol-ah let out a deep sigh at my polite sales pitch, then lightly ignored me as if my words weren’t even worth answering. She kept her arms crossed and stared forward, waiting for her next turn.
But I wasn’t about to give up. I stuck close to her side and started talking a mile a minute.
“I’m serious! I can time my attacks with him perfectly even with my eyes closed. If you want to swing your sword freely up front, you need someone watching your back, right? He looks unreliable but he’s actually super dependable, so—”
“Selecting members is my authority as leader.”
“I know that. But how about trusting my judgment too? He’d be insurance for our party.”
Han Seol-ah let out a disbelieving laugh at my shameless suggestion, then shot me a sharp glare.
“Even if you hadn’t said anything, I was already planning to pick a shield-bearer this round. So if you keep yapping next to me, I’ll pick someone else entirely—got it?”
“…!”
Her irritated shout was filled with annoyance. But the message was clear: if I shut up, she would pick Jung-woo. I immediately mimed zipping my lips and took a obedient step back.
After a long wait, Han Seol-ah’s second turn—overall pick number eighty—finally arrived. She gave Professor Ma a small bow for permission, then called out in a clear voice from the platform.
“Could anyone whose specialty is auxiliary magic please raise your hand?”
By the seventy-ninth pick, almost every essential auxiliary mage had already been taken. Even with limited options, Han Seol-ah refused to choose carelessly. She stepped down from the platform and approached the few students who had timidly raised their hands. She thoroughly inspected their willingness to join our party and exactly what kinds of buffs and healing they could cast.
A short while later, the eightieth member she brought back was a small, glasses-wearing female student. She clutched a staff nearly as tall as she was and was trembling visibly. The name tag on her chest read Song A-rin.
Then came the eighty-first pick.
“Yoon Jung-woo.”
The moment the name left Han Seol-ah’s lips, relief flooded Jung-woo’s tense face. He practically sprinted up the platform, let out a huge sigh, and came to stand beside me.
“I’m saved… Thanks, Do-woon.”
“See? I told you I’d definitely bring you over.”
We lightly bumped fists, sharing a moment of relief. We also exchanged brief greetings and bows with Song A-rin, who was still watching us nervously. With that, four of our five party slots were filled.
All that remained was the automatic last pick—the student left over after all one hundred sixty selections. The true “scrap” choice.
Well, the last member will join whether we want them or not.
Feeling one weight lift from my shoulders, I shifted into a more relaxed stance. But when I looked forward, Han Seol-ah was still standing ramrod straight, staring intently at the remaining students.
Is she taking her responsibility as leader seriously and checking who the final member will be? As expected from the top student.
I inwardly admired her leadership and followed her gaze. Then, long after the entire draft had concluded and the final, long-awaited one hundred sixtieth student stood alone on the training grounds, I finally understood why Han Seol-ah had worn such a serious expression the whole time.
“Ahahaha—! So the only vessel capable of containing this magnificent talent was the number one party after all!”
The noise across the grounds died instantly. Every eye turned in one direction.
A bizarrely oversized pair of wind goggles covered half his face. One side of his hair was charred pitch-black and curled wildly—clearly the result of a recent explosion. Standing there alone was Kwak Ki-tae, Gaon Academy’s premier weirdo and everyone’s number one avoidance target: the bomb maniac.
“Haa…”
Han Seol-ah pressed hard on her throbbing temple and let out the deepest sigh of the day.
On the other hand, Kwak Ki-tae didn’t seem to care at all that he had been left as the absolute last pick. Whatever had him so excited, he swaggered toward our platform with an odd, shoulder-rolling gait, looking immensely pleased with himself.