Chapter 80
Chapter 80
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 80
Chapter Title: Final Evaluation (1)
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At the moment when Ryu Jia and Yang Woo-bin promised to reunite during the final evaluation before parting ways.
The door to the special Celestial training ground—accessible only via the black Celestial cards given to cadets in the top 10 of the rankings—swung open. Jin Se-jeong and Fuyuno Tsubaki emerged after completing their month-long training.
"......"
"......"
They had spent an entire month sleeping and waking up together every day, sweating through their training side by side. Yet the two didn't so much as make eye contact or exchange a word.
It was merely a temporary alliance formed to face an arch-enemy neither could defeat alone. Once their top priority was achieved, they'd return to being enemies.
Though they shared no closeness whatsoever, they did have one final thing to say before parting.
"Hey, Fuyuno Tsubaki."
"Yeah."
"......Let's save Woo-bin."
"......Yeah. Definitely."
The words they uttered were the sole reason these two, who saw each other as enemies, had joined forces.
Though they didn't share a glance, their gazes were fixed on the same thing. Fuyuno Tsubaki and Jin Se-jeong wordlessly advanced toward their singular goal.
To rescue Yang Woo-bin from Ryu Jia's clutches.
"Hm."
I glanced around while listening to the announcement over the speakers.
The evaluation waiting area was packed with first-year Jincheon Class cadets, but the two I was looking for were nowhere in sight.
"What the hell are they doing that they're not here yet?"
Separate from my lingering fury at those two for ditching me without a word and heading off together all buddy-buddy, I couldn't help but worry.
No contact since we met a month ago, and now, five minutes before the final evaluation even begins, they still hadn't shown up. My concern was only growing.
Did something happen? An accident? Sigh, I could roughly guess why they vanished for a whole month. That's what made me worry even more.
As my anxiety and impatience built—causing me to unconsciously bounce my leg and bite my lower lip—urgent footsteps echoed from the central door of the waiting area.
"How could you oversleep on a day this important, Fuyuno Tsubaki?!"
"It's because I slept on a soft bed for the first time in so long, I didn't realize... Wait, you overslept just like me! Why are you only yelling at me?!"
The incredibly familiar and welcome voices I hadn't heard in a whole month made my head snap toward the door.
Beyond the crowd of cadets, the little kid was piggybacking Fuyuno Tsubaki and sprinting over at an insane speed.
The kid was way faster on her feet than Tsubaki, so naturally, she was carrying her. Those two really got close.
Pabababak-!
As I wallowed in intense feelings of exclusion at the sight of them being close enough to piggyback each other, Dabcheon's first-year speedster successfully arrived at the waiting area without being late.
"Ar...rived! Not late, right?!"
"Y-Yeah! Everyone's still here!"
"Phew, good thing! I woke up, saw the clock, and thought it was all over..."
"Hm? Why'd you trail off... Uh, wh-what."
The two, basking in the accomplishment of arriving on time, scanned the area. The moment their eyes met mine, they froze solid.
"W-Woo-bin."
"Uh, ugh...... Woo-biiin......"
But only for a moment. Their stiff expressions quickly softened into eyes and faces filled with longing, joy, worry, and guilt as they looked at me.
It was like reuniting with long-lost family. Seeing them did make me happy, too.
"Tch."
But other emotions overshadowed the joy, so I clicked my tongue in clear annoyance as I approached them.
"Uh, wh-what?"
"W-Woo-bin, long time no see. H-Have you been well...?"
Sensing my foul mood, the kid backpedaled, but Fuyuno Tsubaki greeted me with barely concealed delight and tension.
I had no intention of returning the greeting.
"Hey."
"Uh, y-yeah? Wh-what?"
"You wanna die?"
Instead, I planned to vent my anger.
All the previous "You wanna die?" I'd thrown at Fuyuno Tsubaki were just forced catchphrases to maintain my thug persona. But this one? It was genuine.
Fuyuno Tsubaki, who'd heard countless "You wanna die?" from me, could tell the difference in emotion crystal clear.
"W-Woo-bin. I, well, you see......"
Facing my raw fury for the first time, Fuyuno Tsubaki paled, her face ashen as she floundered helplessly.
She was too flustered to even apologize—it was obvious.
Seeing Fuyuno Tsubaki, who always beamed and clung to me whenever she saw me, look this terrified nearly softened my heart. But I gritted my teeth and held onto my pent-up emotions.
"Shut up. Don't explain."
"Hic......"
"W-Woo-bin! We......"
"Hey, Jin Se-jeong. That goes for you too. Shut it."
"Ah...... Uh."
It was because these two right in front of me were utterly infuriating.
Vanishing without a word, no contact for a month, no way to know where they were or what they were doing. They had no manners at all.
Part of me wanted to drag them to some empty room right now and drill some discipline into their bodies and minds so they'd never pull this crap again. Unfortunately, the final evaluation was about to start.
So, I kept my sharp gaze fixed on them and did what I could for now.
"I had a rough idea while you two were gone why you suddenly ditched me together. Just nod if I'm right. Got it?"
"Uh, y-yeah."
"O-Okay......"
"Goddamn it, I said shut up. Just nod. Hearing your voices pisses me off right now."
My own voice shocked even me with how edged it was.
But no matter how I thought about it, these two were at fault for vanishing without contact for a month. Rather than hold back, I pressed on.
"You two did closed-door training this whole time to gang up on our club president during the final eval, right?"
At my words, they both nodded in unison.
As expected. They'd allied to beat down Ryu Jia and trained for it.
I'd guessed as much based on how they suddenly disappeared after the kid got wrecked by Ryu Jia. Nailed it.
Sighing deeply at being spot on, I commanded them.
"Hoo...... Hey, don't do it."
"What do you—"
"W-Woo-bin, but......"
Forgetting my order to shut up, they protested.
Hearing their aggrieved, insistent voices reignited my barely suppressed rage.
But exploding here might spiral out of control, so I forcibly tamped it down, baring my teeth as I growled.
"I said shut up."
"Eep."
"Gasp."
Fortunately, they knew they were wrong. Their eyes flashed with grievance, but they held their tongues.
"Don't touch our club president. I'm dead serious. If you do anything to her and she gets hurt, you're all dead. For real."
"......!"
"......"
To the now-silent pair, I reiterated what they absolutely had to follow.
A month's effort down the drain—they grimaced.
But knowing my anger was real, they kept their mouths shut tight.
They were obeying my "shut up" order, but their eyes brimmed with rebellion, clearly unhappy with my words.
Looking into those eyes, I felt deeply uneasy about whether they'd listen once the evaluation started.
Sigh, should I just spell it all out? But with so many ears around, I couldn't blatantly spill veteran Reverse Hero Saga gamer knowledge about future events.
It'd start with "How do you know that?" and escalate to "This Golden Sun guy's suspicious—is he a spy?"
"Seriously, don't touch our club president. Seriously."
So all I could do was keep pleading.
Even as my vision filled with white and our bodies—mine, the kid's, and Fuyuno Tsubaki's—were enveloped in white mana, I pleaded with them once more.
"Absolutely do not fight. Don't hurt the president. Got it?"
Right after I said it, my vision went completely white, and the now-familiar queasiness shook my entire body.
Woooong-!
When I opened my eyes again, dense trees surrounded me.
In this perfect forest for a survival test, I let out a sigh laden with anxiety.
"Haaa......"
I pleaded that much—surely they won't touch her? Right?
With worries about those two causing trouble, the final evaluation began.