The Bus to Power
Thanks, sis!
“Huk!!”
When I came to, I was lying flat on the sparring arena floor.
“Hmm… I didn’t expect you to go down that easily.”
“Ah…”
What the hell is this? I had no memory at all.
I’d only charged at Song Eun-chae, but my recollection cut off right there. There wasn’t even the shock or pain of taking a hit.
“Wh-what happened?”
“Hmm… I’ll go easy this time. Want to try again?”
“Yes!!”
So I pulled myself together and rushed in once more.
But of course, I got absolutely wrecked the second it started.
Even though she was openly holding back, I couldn’t land a single attack, let alone swing my sword properly.
For some reason, my danger sense wasn’t triggering well either. Or maybe it did and I just passed out too fast to notice.
After I’d been knocked down, healed by her magic, and charged back in about ten times…
“That’s enough.”
“Yes ma’am.”
Song Eun-chae finally called it quits, apparently seeing no point in continuing.
“You… don’t you have almost no mana? Aside from getting a bit stronger and tougher, there’s basically nothing else. And even that doesn’t last very long.”
“That’s… true.”
“You’re too weak… I know you’re still a cadet, but how can you be this weak? You’d probably be on the low end even in the academy, right?”
“……”
It was an incredibly rude thing to say, but I had no choice but to agree.
It was true that I’d scored two wins in the recent ranking matches and taken down two punks from my class at the same time.
I’d thought that since I was going to get insanely strong from now on, I could crush every academy cadet without breaking a sweat.
After suffering nothing but defeats, the tiniest bit of success had made me arrogant.
You know how beginners get overconfident? The Dunning-Kruger effect, right?
But I’d only been fighting the trash D-rankers in the academy, so I hadn’t realized it. In reality, I was nothing but a pathetic, incompetent villain grunt!
‘My current skill level is most accurately placed at the very bottom of C-class.’
At this rate, not only would I have no chance against the upper A and B classes, I’d barely stand a chance against a proper C-class cadet.
After the match with Nam Yeon-woo, I’d drawn massive aggro. If I got destroyed the moment a slightly stronger opponent showed up, I’d look like a complete joke.
“You’re much weaker than I expected… Hmm… Strange… Still, you do seem to have good senses… And that technique of yours is definitely…”
“……”
Song Eun-chae muttered to herself, deep in thought. Then she looked down at me where I sat and spoke.
“Hey. Want to do something I tell you to do?”
“Pardon? What kind of thing?”
“To put it simply, helping with work at the Jan-yeong Guild. I can’t give you the details yet.”
Who the hell would agree to that? It sounded insanely suspicious.
For now, I decided to politely decline without offending her.
“Ah… I’m still an academy cadet, so joining a guild and doing work for them would be difficult.”
“It’s not that. You think I’d ask a student to officially join the guild right now?”
“Well… I guess not…?”
“I’ll only call you when I need you. Just make some time then.”
“Hmm…”
Was this different from taking jobs at a temp agency?
“But I’m still really weak. Would I even be any help?”
“You probably won’t be much help.”
“Then why…?”
“There’s a reason. I can’t tell you yet. But I do think it will definitely help you get stronger.”
“Hmm… You’re not planning to sacrifice me or anything, right?”
“……Have you been reading too many manhwa?”
To be honest, it was extremely suspicious.
She knew perfectly well how weak I was, yet she needed my help? It was a perfect contradiction.
But somehow, my gut told me something else.
This felt like it would help my growth far more than grinding D-rank gates at the temp agency.
Besides, if this woman wanted to sacrifice me or do something harmful, she could do it anytime. She wouldn’t need to ask my opinion; overpowering me would be as easy as eating cake for her.
I stood up and spoke to Song Eun-chae.
“I’ll do it. I don’t know what the job is, but thank you for giving me a chance to get stronger.”
A perfect ninety-degree bow.
“Hmm… Alright… Then come again tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?”
“Yeah. Morning would be good. By ten o’clock. Is that okay?”
“Yes. No problem.”
“Do you live nearby?”
“Yes, very close.”
“Good. Then see you tomorrow. Make sure to bring your mask and weapon.”
Song Eun-chae left the training hall, leaving me behind.
She said I could keep using the facility, so I decided to do a bit more training.
‘Her movement earlier was really strange… When I thrust my sword, she moved like this, right…?’
I kept replaying the spar with Song Eun-chae, trying to come up with countermeasures.
Well. I didn’t make any progress at all.
The next day.
I arrived at Happiness’s office inside the Jan-yeong Guild, knocked, and waited. Arriving fifteen minutes early was basic etiquette.
“You’re early. Let’s go.”
“Yes.”
Song Eun-chae led me to the underground parking lot. She was dressed in the same windbreaker and bottomless fashion as yesterday.
“Sis. Where are we going?”
“Ganghwa Island.”
“Understood.”
I got into the passenger seat of her ridiculously expensive imported SUV and we headed to Ganghwa Island together.
“Can I ask where on Ganghwa Island we’re going?”
“A gate. C-rank gate.”
“What? C-rank??”
I’d only ever done D-rank gates until now. Suddenly C-rank?
“I’m not ready for C-rank yet… Isn’t that dangerous…?”
“It’s fine. I’ll take care of everything.”
“Are we really going in just the two of us?”
“Yeah. That’s right.”
“……”
Was this really okay? No matter how strong she was, was it right to enter a C-rank gate with just two people?
“From now on, wear your mask. And when you call me, you must use my codename.”
“Yes, understood. Happiness noona.”
“Then I’ll just call you ‘you.’ I don’t want to use that disgusting codename.”
“Yes… understood…”
How dare she ignore the name the class president gave her.
“Are you acquainted with the class president, Happiness-nim?”
“Yeah… well…”
While driving, she kept her eyes fixed forward and answered shortly.
“The class president taught me a lot of things.”
“I see…”
Damn it. Small talk wasn’t working at all. Look at that iron wall of a response.
‘Just shut up…’
Feeling awkward, I kept my mouth shut after that.
After driving another forty minutes, we arrived at our destination.
Happiness put on her trademark full-face helmet and spoke.
“You know that monsters in C-rank gates have intelligence, right? I’ll handle most of them, but just in case, stay alert.”
“Yes, understood.”
Monsters up to D-rank had no ego. To be precise, only their instincts remained, making them literal monsters that attacked anything hostile.
But starting from C-rank, intelligent monsters appeared. Elves formed formations to charge, and according to some records, beings that were almost indistinguishable from humans had shown up.
In other words, since the enemy could use tactics, the difficulty shot up dramatically.
“I’ve already gone in several times and thinned out their numbers, so there won’t be that many monsters. Still, be careful.”
“Yes, I’ll keep that in mind.”
And so I followed Happiness into the C-rank gate.
The moment we entered, what greeted us was a vast forest.
And in the distance, I could see a few crude buildings that looked like a primitive village.
“This way.”
“Yes ma’am.”
Happiness, taking the lead, strode confidently toward the largest settlement.
The monsters that appeared were two ogres.
‘Whoa… they’re fucking huge?’
They looked at least 250cm tall, and their bodies were proportionally massive, making their strength easy to imagine.
- #$@%#$!^!#^%.
- @$%#^%@#$^#@$!!
The ogres were speaking in some unintelligible language.
Happiness walked toward the two ogres without a word. And then—
Shwaaaaack—
In an instant, both their heads vanished. Not cut off—their heads were just gone!
“Wow…”
“If you want the magic stones, you can take them. I don’t need them, so take everything.”
“Yes! Thank you!”
I immediately pulled out my dagger and started harvesting magic stones from the ogre corpses.
Unlike senior Blanco, I had no knowledge of materials, so I didn’t know what would sell. I left everything else alone and quickly plucked only the magic stones, following after Happiness.
We continued moving, fighting, and harvesting stones.
“Whew… It’s getting hot. Hold this for me.”
Happiness took off her windbreaker and tossed it to me.
I caught it and looked at her.
“Wow…”
She was wearing a black sleeveless tank top and dolphin shorts. An extremely revealing outfit.
Her figure was so incredible that my eyes couldn’t help but widen.
And when she started fighting again, the way that assertive part of her body moved with every motion was incredibly striking. Plus, the white underarms visible because of the sleeveless top were really…
Yeah. I couldn’t look away.
‘Is she trying to show off her body?’
So I kept stealing glances without realizing it.
“Hey. Pay attention. Where are you looking?”
“Ah… Sorry.”
Damn, did she have eyes in the back of her head too?
Anyway! As we continued, a thought occurred to me.
‘I’m not doing anything at all, am I?’
Well, it was obvious I couldn’t do anything in a C-rank gate. So I was just riding the bus, looting magic stones like a leech.
But it felt like too much of a waste to leave a gate without gaining any souls. I didn’t know who I’d be matched against in next week’s ranking match, so I needed to prepare.
“Um… Happiness-nim.”
“What?”
“Could you maybe leave the last hits for me?”
“…What…?”
“I’d like to be the one to finish off the monsters, if possible.”
“……”
Happiness was silent for a moment. Then she spoke.
“Did your Outer God tell you to do that?”
“……”
“Never mind. Sorry. That was a rude question.”
There was a reason Happiness apologized.
Awakeners could communicate with the Outer God that oversaw them. And those gods sometimes taught their chosen ones methods of growth.
‘I’ve never spoken to one, though…’
Anyway, it was normal for most Awakeners to develop their abilities through communication with their Outer God.
But there was one absolute rule to keep in mind.
If you leaked any conversation with your Outer God to the outside world, the connection would be severed immediately. You’d lose all your powers and become an ordinary person on the spot.
That was the contract condition. An absolute clause that every Awakener had to obey.
In other words, what Happiness had asked me was extremely rude. If I had answered without knowing better, my Awakening itself would have been nullified.
But honestly, I didn’t think it would matter much to me.
“It’s fine. So… could you do that for me?”
“Alright… I’ll try.”
Nice!
“Thank you! Sis♡”
Overcome with gratitude, I looked up at her with the cutest, sparkliest eyes I could manage.
“If you do that one more time, I’ll really kill you. I’m not joking.”
“Ah. Yes. I’m sorry…”
She really was incredibly difficult.
Still, Happiness granted my request.
“It’s actually harder not to kill them… Ah, I killed that one too.”
Maybe controlling her strength was difficult, because there weren’t many ogres left alive. But still—
Not a bad soul acquired.
[+60pt]
Oh. I got twice as many points compared to D-rank gates.
‘Not bad at all.’
There weren’t that many monsters Happiness had left alive, but even taking that into account, this was pure profit.
Being with her meant there were no dangerous moments at all. And since I only had to finish off the ones she left, I didn’t use any stamina either.
‘This is what a real bus feels like. It’s the best!!’
We continued like that for a long time—me taking last hits, gathering points, and harvesting magic stones.
Before long, we reached the ogres’ village.
Happiness instantly slaughtered every ogre there. She kept walking, then suddenly stopped.
“We’re here. This is it.”
What she pointed to with her chin was the largest hut in the center of the ogre village.
“There’s a boss inside. It might be dangerous, so stay outside until the fight is over. And… never mind… I think you should experience this yourself in a bit.”
“Yes…”
‘What the hell am I supposed to experience…?’
Leaving behind those cryptic words,
Happiness entered the hut where the boss waited, alone.