Chapter 20
Chapter 20
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: uly
Chapter: 20
Chapter Title: Entrance Evaluation (3)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Crunch!
"Hiiiii..."
"Fuyuno Tsubaki-nim—no, Fuyuno Tsubaki-ssi, we caught it, so quit freaking out."
"Hey, Fuyuno Tsubaki-ssi? Mind if we have a little chat?"
"Y-Yes? A ch-chat?"
Even after Sun-hee's hammer had smashed the little horn rabbit flat, Fuyuno Tsubaki huddled there trembling like a leaf. That sight turned the seed of suspicion in the two girls' hearts into cold, hard certainty.
Their minds were already convinced. All that was left was confirmation.
Having switched from the honorific "-nim" to the casual "-ssi" without missing a beat, the two exchanged glances and nodded.
Sun-hee, the one wielding the hammer, turned to Fuyuno Tsubaki, who was still quivering in the aftershocks of fear.
"L-Look, Fuyuno Tsubaki-ssi. Don't get the wrong idea. We're just curious, okay? You're from the Fuyuno family, right? So why are you so weak?"
A little horn rabbit was little more than bonus points—such a feeble magic beast. Yet she hadn't mustered the courage to even fight it, just run away. The two couldn't wrap their heads around her behavior in any rational way.
Seeing her so pathetically weak, unworthy of the Fuyuno name, they were convinced something sinister was at play.
"W-Well, it's like..."
A voice laced with certainty carried an intimidating weight.
And when the target was someone as fragile as Fuyuno Tsubaki, that effect amplified. Faced with their scolding-like questions, she trembled and spilled the truth.
Enduring their judgment felt worse than letting the mood shatter.
"Th-The truth is... I have no talent at all. They said I was dirtying the Fuyuno name, so the family abandoned me. But since I'm still the family head's bloodline, they didn't strip me of my title... Y-You won't get what you want from me, though... S-Sorry."
Fuyuno Tsubaki bowed at a perfect ninety degrees, sweat pouring down her face as she apologized. The two girls stared, speechless.
Not because her sincerity moved them, but because it was so goddamn absurd.
They'd been over the moon at the thought of leeching off a Fuyuno, only to find out she was a worthless, nutrient-free husk.
They'd been hyping themselves up alone, chugging delusion soup—and now they'd been duped. With a deep sigh, they slipped back into their usual slacker attitudes.
"Wait, hang on. I think I read some article online once. Something about a girl from the Fuyuno family who got basically disowned."
Suddenly, Fuyuno Tsubaki's words about being abandoned jogged a forgotten memory in Sun-hee's mind.
"Wasn't the real reason her shitty talent? No, wait, uh—oh yeah! She killed her own mom at birth..."
"Eek...!"
"Huh? What's with that face? Not exactly the look of someone who's sorry."
The moment "mom" slipped from Sun-hee's lips, Fuyuno Tsubaki snapped her bowed head up, brows furrowed. Sun-hee stomped right over.
Now that she knew Fuyuno Tsubaki was weaker than a little horn rabbit and had no backing, Sun-hee had no reason to hide her true colors.
"Why the wide eyes? I didn't say anything wrong. You traitor bitch from the Fuyuno family, born from devouring your own mother."
Sun-hee jabbed her collarbone rudely with stiff fingers, reciting a comment she'd seen on some Fuyuno article ages ago.
"Th-That's not...!"
The sudden shift in attitude and that ear-stinging low blow made Fuyuno Tsubaki's nose tingle with the threat of tears.
She'd endured endless scorn and abuse from the Fuyuno family her whole life. She'd thought herself numb to it.
But this sudden, vicious jab cut deep, even for her hardened heart.
"Anyway, now we know we can't mooch off Fuyuno scraps from you. So you'll repay this favor yourself, got it? We're still the ones who saved your sorry life. Right, Fuyuno Tsubaki?"
Sun-hee grinned wickedly, shadows creeping across her face.
The rough shellback they'd caught was tough and slow as hell—no real threat if you just ran. Calling themselves her lifesavers was a stretch.
They hadn't even noticed her there while hunting it, so it wasn't intentional rescue.
They'd just bagged the beast, and she'd popped up with thanks. That was the extent of their connection.
"Not answering? You saying I'm wrong?"
But facts didn't matter to Sun-hee.
She already saw herself as Fuyuno Tsubaki's ultimate benefactor, stabbed in the back by her hiding the disownment.
The epitome of shamelessness—justifying every action as righteous while pinning all blame on others. That was Sun-hee, the superhuman.
"U-Ugh... Y-You're right..."
Against such brazenness, Fuyuno Tsubaki was too weak mentally and physically. Even with her mother dragged into it by this bitch, she could only bow her head in submission.
"Right? So from now on, work hard to repay us. You're a useless disgrace to the Fuyuno name, but you'll make a perfect toy to kill time at the academy. Right, Jin-sook?"
"Yeah, same here. Can't risk poking commoners with Principal Go Yeo-ryeong around, but this bitch? No worries. Who'd care about some Fuyuno reject?"
The two eyed their lucky new toy, Fuyuno Tsubaki, with malice dripping from their grins.
'Why? Why did it turn out like this? I just said thanks...'
She'd finally escaped the nightmare Fuyuno family for a foreign academy, only to become thugs' plaything on day one.
Faced with her life of endless misfortune from birth, Fuyuno Tsubaki could only stare blankly, helpless.
'Whatever. My life's always like this... At least getting bullied by these two beats the daily 'traitor who killed the head' treatment back home...'
Resignation and surrender were her habits. In this outrageously unfair mess, she didn't even think to resist—just accepted it.
"Hmm, guess we should test our new toy's loyalty first. That look you gave earlier rubbed me wrong, so as light punishment..."
Born to nobility and schooled among commoners, Sun-hee had plenty of practice tormenting the weak. Her words flowed naturally.
But before she could spell out the "light punishment," another sound cut her off.
True to her thug nature, Sun-hee had a hair-trigger ego and hated interruptions.
But this time, she couldn't snap at whatever had dared.
Riiip—! Craaaack! Criiiackle!
"Wh-What? Why's the sky...?"
"What the hell is that...?"
No one in the world would yell at the sky itself for interrupting.
What started as a thin slit like a tear widened, growing with terrifying menace. Even superhumans would blanch at the pressure.
Modern superhumans learned from childhood what rifts meant—and the doom they unleashed. Their bodies froze like prey facing predators.
"A r-rift? No way, during entrance eval? That's too much!"
"Heard the vibe at Dabcheon changed with the new principal... But this crossed the line...!"
Ordinary humans lose grasp on reality when catastrophe hits too close, judgment failing.
Sun-hee and Jin-sook were superhumans, but ordinary at heart. As the rift—past scourge of humanity—yawned before them, they just babbled, too stunned to flee.
"R-Run! This ain't no eval!"
The one who snapped them out of it was Fuyuno Tsubaki—the only sane one there.
She sensed the ominous mana leaking from the rift.
Heavy, sinister, terrifying mana only humanity's nemeses possessed—impossible for humans to mimic.
"Snap out of it! Stay here and we're dead!"
Having lived under murderous glares laced with rage and resentment her whole life, Fuyuno Tsubaki could smell death.
The rift's mana reeked of it. That's why she'd screamed to flee.
"Hah?! Right! Run! Fuck the eval, I ain't fighting that!"
"Y-Yeah, Sun-hee! Let's go! Know your place, right?!"
Shaken awake by Fuyuno Tsubaki's bold cry, the two whipped around from the rift.
'G-Good. Now I can run too...'
Fuyuno Tsubaki was painfully frail.
She couldn't stand by and watch anyone die—no matter who.
That's why she'd rallied them. Only after they turned did she bolt after.
"Eek?! Where you going?!"
Wham!
"Huh?"
Sun-hee had spun back and shoved her. Balance lost, Fuyuno Tsubaki tumbled ass-first to the ground.
"We saved your life! So you save ours—it's only fair! Don't act hard done by! Just paying your debt!"
With that nonsense, they bolted without a backward glance. Fuyuno Tsubaki just sat there, dazed.
Step. Step. Step.
"Hm, rift opened nicely. And look, a snack dropped right in. Gobble this as an appetizer, then we get to work. You lot, scatter and do your jobs. I'll catch up after I eat."
Fuyuno Tsubaki blankly watched the rift fully tear open. Disaster monsters—mazoku for short—poured out, scattering on command.
From the moment they'd shoved her—the one who'd saved them—she'd given up on living.
'Why? Why always like this? Why's my life such shit?'
All she could do was repeat the meaningless question that had haunted her forever, never answered.
But today, even that endless loop ended.
"Alright then. Dig in."
Among the mazoku, the one reeking most of death—a purple-haired mid-rank—bared fangs and loomed over her nape.
'The end...? Like this? For real? Can life be this cruel?'
Death inches away, but Fuyuno Tsubaki felt no fear.
Just absurd hollowness at this pathetic, injustice-piled existence. Not even anger.
"...Ha."
As she let out a hollow chuckle to embrace death, someone approached from behind the mid-rank mazoku, catching her eye.
Inky black hair like midnight, skin white as snow in contrast. A face Exquisite enough to eclipse even Fuyunos—top-tier beauty—and a beastly, rugged build to match.
If a woman, he'd inspire dreams of hope. This man strode toward Fuyuno Tsubaki.
His pitch-black eyes fixed on her as he addressed the mid-rank mazoku.
"Hey! Straw away, you filthy mosquito bitch!"
His perfect looks clashed with the utter thug speech.