Chapter 39
I’ve got the chapter and the formatting rules; now I’m translating it into polished HTML with the special system/quest moments styled properly.CHAPTER_TITLE: The Sudden Tournament for Vice Commander
At O Jimin’s words, everyone’s attention in the room turned toward him.
He had raised a hand before speaking, and now he wore an awkward smile beneath all those focused gazes.
“Ah… well. Is this one of those situations where I’m not supposed to say anything?”
Just as he started to lower his hand again—
“Say it.”
Hale Irene looked at him with interest. O Jimin cleared his throat at that and went on.
“Still, if we’re talking about the vice commander of a newly formed knight order, I thought it would make more sense to choose in a more democratic way, rather than doing something like a class president election.”
“Democratic? For example?”
“Well… a vote, perhaps. Or I think it would be right to judge whether someone is qualified enough.”
“Qualified?”
“Yes. After all, this is the role of vice commander of the new knight order. If the commander is the incomparable Hale Irene, then the one standing beside her should have the same level of qualification. For example—”
O Jimin’s gaze shifted somewhere else, toward Jin Yeonhui, who was leaning against the wall.
“Shouldn’t the vice commander be the second-strongest person here, rather than someone who’s just A-class?”
“……”
At that, Jin Yeonhui looked at O Jimin as well. There was nothing readable in her expression. A blank gaze. That was all.
“Hmm.”
At her reaction, Irene tilted her head. Then she slid the sunglasses down her nose and let out a small snort of laughter.
“...The strongest human should be the vice commander?”
“If that’s what’s most reasonable, I suppose it would be.”
“What do the rest of you think...?”
Irene asked the people around her. There wasn’t much reaction.
Then—
“An A-class could do it too. Why say it like that?”
A lazy-sounding voice, but edged with coldness, cut through the room. Everyone’s eyes turned to the owner of the voice. It was Ye Jiram, the Black Night Witch.
She looked displeased as she spoke to O Jimin, who had just made the remark.
“Huh?”
O Jimin looked flustered, but Ye Jiram continued.
“An A-class could be vice commander. What’s with the put-down?”
“No, I’m not putting anyone down. It’s just that the second-strongest person taking the vice commander position would look better, and—”
“Yeah, exactly what I’m saying.”
Click, click. With the sound of heels against the floor, Ye Jiram walked toward him.
“An A-class can damn well be the second-strongest too. Why are you setting the yardstick like that? And aren’t you A-class too?”
“...That’s not what I meant—”
“You haven’t even tried it yet. Why’re you acting all high and mighty when you haven’t tried?”
“Ha…?”
At Ye Jiram’s sharp words, O Jimin’s face finally hardened as well.
“I’m being realistic. There’s no way an A-class can beat an S-class and be second-strongest.”
“There you go again, talking down to A-classes. Anyone listening would think you’re S-class too.”
That was true. O Jimin was, in reality, an S-class superhuman. Right now, though, he was only wearing the skin of an A-class superhuman.
“...That’s…”
For a moment, he faltered, but—
“I hate it the most when people run their mouths about things they’ve never tried. Fine, maybe I can understand if the one across from me lives in a different world. But what are you, already acting like a loser?”
The other world she meant was Irene. Right. There were things that simply existed on a different scale.
“Then are you saying you have no problem with Lee Jinwoo taking the vice commander position?”
“I do have a problem with it.”
“Huh?”
“I want it too, you know. But if you just decide it like this, then the rest of us don’t even get a chance to say anything, do we?”
Ye Jiram grinned as she spoke.
“Democracy’s nice. But doesn’t democracy seem a little out of place when it comes to superhumans?”
At that, Irene was the first to react.
“Then how would you do it?”
“Simple.” Ye Jiram’s grin widened. “I think the one who becomes vice commander should be the second-strongest superhuman here. So shouldn’t we figure out who that is?”
“Figure out who?”
“The second-strongest person.”
She smiled brightly. There was something downright chilling about Ye Jiram’s smile.
“Let’s settle it with a fight. Nice and clean?”
The problem was—
“Oh….”
Like the Black Night Witch, whose temperament was already more than a little unhinged, Irene was, in my eyes, the same kind of strange.
* * *
“...What is this?”
Right after that brief uproar, I had to process the sight in front of me. I’d come to the largest training ground in the area where the knight order had gathered.
And not just a few of them, either.
“...What is going on all of a sudden?”
Jeon Yuseon approached me with a troubled look. It seemed he’d hurried over after getting a call.
“...I don’t know either.”
As if I knew. I’d stood there without saying a word, and then suddenly things had turned into this.
Apparently persuaded by Ye Jiram, Irene had suddenly rented out the entire space.
All to decide the vice commander.
...It’s not like I ever planned to do this.
I felt wronged. Irene had basically forced this on me; I had no interest whatsoever in the position of vice commander to begin with.
Why would I want that?
I’m already barely keeping up just by wearing the title of knight.
Being a knight was enough. I didn’t need anything beyond that. I had no interest in arm bands or titles.
Just becoming a “knight” should have been enough. So why was I—
dragged into this too.
I could almost let out a sigh.
“Irene.”
Jeon Yuseon called to her, presumably to get the situation explained, and she looked oddly excited.
...Excited?
She didn’t look much different from usual, and yet somehow she felt excited. Why?
Hero’s Super-sensory.
Ah, right.
It seemed my hyper-sharpened senses could even pick up on Irene’s emotions from her expression. This skill was kind of amazing.
But why would she be excited?
I still didn’t know the reason.
“We’re holding a vice-commander selection match.”
“...Vice commander? All of a sudden?”
“Yes.”
“So that’s why this happened.”
“Yes.”
Irene answered with complete confidence.
“It’s convenient, isn’t it?”
“……”
Jeon Yuseon lost for words. He looked like he had plenty he wanted to say, but facing Irene, he apparently couldn’t get any of it out.
In truth,
if Irene simply declared herself vice commander, nobody would be able to complain. Beyond the fact that this was a knight order, the current public mood wasn’t really about that at all.
It’s less like a knight order and more like Irene and her people.
Should I call them Irene and the leftovers?
...That sounds a little rude.
The knight order wasn’t weak. If anything, it was probably far from it.
There are several A-classes and even an S-class.
An S-class superhuman was a rare existence in Korea, barely enough to count on one hand. They were effectively part of the country’s national defense. And people like that...
...wouldn’t be out of place as commander of a knight order.
A-classes were no different. There were even knight orders led by A-class superhumans in the first place.
From that perspective, this knight order was—
A monster group that was absurdly inefficient on paper.
It only existed because Irene held it together. In a place like this, wanting the vice commander position...
I can sort of understand it.
Sure, that made sense. But still—
...why am I here?
Why the hell was I dragged into it? Worse, Irene seemed perfectly happy to rent out an entire training ground for this nonsense.
“...So what, are you saying you’re going to hold a match?”
“Yes.”
“If superhumans of this level fight, you can’t treat it lightly.”
When high-ranking superhumans fought, the fallout was no joke. A-classes alone were already treated like human weapons. If they put their minds to it, wiping out a small town wouldn’t take long at all.
Should I think of them as giant bombs that just happened to walk around? If S-classes were natural disasters, A-classes were that kind of existence.
If such people went at each other, there was no way the aftermath would be small. That was why—
As Jeon Yuseon pushed up his glasses and continued, he said,
“Irene… this is—”
“It’s fine.”
Irene cocked her chin and said,
“I’m here.”
She trampled over Jeon Yuseon’s concern. It was the confidence of the world’s strongest superhuman, the belief that nothing could possibly happen while she was present.
“I’ve already handled the countermeasures.”
Countermeasures? At those words, Jeon Yuseon and I both turned to look. At the corners of the space were crystal orbs set up in several places.
Those were—
“Are you putting up a barrier?”
“Something simple.”
From her perspective, simple meant—
“Something most people won’t be able to break through.”
“Most people?”
“Yes.”
Vwoooom—!
Golden energy spread out in every direction. The thin membrane that unfolded brushed lightly against the bodies of everyone gathered there.
“Roughly… well.”
Irene glanced at the barrier and said,
“Unless you’re at least the same rank of SS-class, you probably can’t break it?”
“……”
In other words, nobody here could possibly break through it. In Korea, there was exactly one person who probably could.
“Now, shall we begin?”
Thud. Irene set down a chair she’d apparently fetched from somewhere and sat down. After putting her sunglasses back on, she said,
“First, anyone who wants to be vice commander, raise your hand.”
At her matter-of-fact words, hands began to go up around the room. Ye Jiram, of course, and O Jimin as well. And then—
Swish—!
“Ah, why again….”
My hand rose on its own. Irene’s doing.
When I turned to glare at her—
-Do it.
It wasn’t a sound, but a message seemed to stamp itself directly into my brain. A rippling sensation froze my body in place.
Telepathy?
-If you lose, I won’t make you do it, but you still have to go out there.
What kind of shameless coercion is that?
It seemed she wasn’t planning to let me skip this.
I sucked in a breath and swallowed dryly—then another hand went up at the very end.
It was Jin Yeonhui. With the Lightning Empress’s appearance, everyone fell silent for a moment. At the same time, Irene’s lips curved faintly.
She twitched a finger.
“You two. Up there.”
She pointed at me and Jin Yeonhui as she spoke.
“Me…?”
“Yes. You.”
I asked again, not quite believing it, but Irene was firm.
Me and Jin Yeonhui?
Fight?
Is that really okay?
While I was still wondering whether this was even allowed, Jin Yeonhui walked forward with easy steps. So that side really was planning to fight. We were actually going to do this?
With Jin Yeonhui?
That was… pretty uncomfortable, honestly. I had to put on an awkward expression.
As Jin Yeonhui moved out ahead, I was about to follow her when—
Beep-!
Suddenly, an alert rang out.
Quest generated.
Win a duel against the Lightning Empress.
Upon success, a tremendous reward will be granted.
Upon failure, a curse will be inflicted by the disappointment of the God of War.
“...What?”
Something incredibly fucked up had just happened.