Chapter 88
Chapter 88
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 88
Chapter Title: Only Fools Here
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“Island 11.”
The cleaning lady muttered as she emerged from the bathroom. She had rubber gloves on her hands and was holding a mop. Her clothes were made of some sturdy material that wouldn't mind getting splashed.
Even so, her face was pale. The color of someone who could drop dead any second. Her dark circles were dark enough to jump rope with.
—Heard the failures are heading to Island 11 this time?
—To that place? Well, yeah. The test was super easy, so anyone who failed has issues.
—But it was all written, right? Why practical training?
—It's about discipline, probably...
She eavesdropped on the students chatting as they passed by. Amid the people laughing and walking happily, she arrived at a massive bulletin board.
Dozens, hundreds, thousands of names were listed there. The woman craned her neck, slowly scanning from the top.
A strange crack came from her bones, but she kept staring up.
“Lee Seong-hoon. Lee Seong-hoon. Lee Seong-hoon. Lee Seong-hoon.”
After muttering that for a good while as she scanned down, she spotted it. The name on the [Failure List].
She laughed. Her mouth stretched all the way to her ears. After laughing for a long time, the lady—
went limp like a puppet with its strings cut, then shuffled off to get back to her work.
“Hm. Island 11.”
The man in the black robe chuckled after finishing his meditation. Purple skin peeked from under the robe, along with an unsettling smile. He reflexively went to stroke his chin out of habit, but his fingers were all broken.
Whoops. He lowered his hand again.
“Island 11... isn't that where it is?”
He knew it well. He'd investigated Justitia thoroughly lately, so it would've been weirder if he didn't know.
“Might just work.”
A smile crept onto his face involuntarily, and he closed his eyes again. Images formed in his mind.
'A chance from God.'
Everything connected. Like a table set just for him, all he had to do was move as the picture in his head dictated.
There was that old saying about chasing two rabbits and catching none, but if you could snag both? Nothing better.
With eyes closed, he focused. The demonic energy leaking from him rode along connected threads, traveling.
Through the air, through mana, through the flows.
Leaping past barriers, he arrived—
“Today, we'll organize personnel for supplies to Island 11. Even if they're failures, they're still Justitia students, so—”
Amid the people in the meeting.
The words he heard were more than enough to make him smile.
'God must really love me.'
Bingo. The man raised his hand.
Island 11.
Literally, the eleventh island.
There were tons of uninhabited islands around Justitia.
The reason was simple: fallout from creating these artificial islands.
The islands, centered around Great Mage Rosaline, had naturally required magic on a scale no ordinary person could imagine.
In the vortex of immense mana, shifts in the earth's crust were inevitable. Countless islands formed and vanished.
That was why weird phenomena cropped up on the nearby islands.
Islands that existed but couldn't be seen. Islands with no mana at all. Islands where light never entered.
They were numbered by discovery order, and Island 11 was, naturally, the eleventh found. Nicknamed Hell Island.
Hell. The infernal pit. Where demons lived.
“And I have to go to that hellhole.”
Who’s fault? Lachesis let out a small mew at my words. Now even just looking at me made her flinch.
“What the heck is it like anyway?”
“It's hell. That's the gist.”
“That doesn't tell me anything.”
I gave the blonde making that clueless face the special rundown on why Island 11 was called Hell Island. She didn't know her own future, after all.
Calling Island 11 a training ground wasn't an exaggeration. It was like those cartoon training arcs where you collect seven balls for a wish.
The mana density was insane. Not quite Rare-level, but breathing was tough, and the concentration made mana control impossible.
And they were gonna grind people there. Under the premise they could use mana. How brutal was that?
“What? Sounds like no big deal.”
She hadn't experienced it, so her head wasn't straight yet. Truth be told, neither had I. But it looked grueling from a glance.
“You'll get it once you try. How long that cocky face of yours lasts—”
“You there!! Who said you could chat?!”
A voice like tearing eardrums made me grimace and look ahead. Some smug guy with hands behind his back was up on the platform.
Below him stood at least thirty people, lined up neatly.
All eyes were on me, of course. Annoyed as hell, with that “why are you doing this?” glare.
“I never gave you trash permission to speak!!”
Trash? Harsh. I shut my mouth for now.
“Trash? That's too— mmph!!”
I blocked the oblivious blonde. Read the room, girl.
“From now on, this training will completely rewire your empty heads—”
I let his booming voice flow in one ear and out the other. We were in hell training right now.
All these people gathered under this posturing fool? Total idiots. Failures from that easy-ass test.
Of course, me too. No. Not me. It was all our damn cat's fault, right?
A few familiar faces, some smirking at me. Ignored.
I just waited for the instructor to finish.
“First, warm-up: fifty laps around the field. No mana use. Anyone who does, add ten laps!! Anyone who lags, add more!!”
“Jesus.”
Who warms up with fifty laps? And this field wasn't normal. It was ridiculously huge.
Dizziness already hitting, I wiped tears and started moving my legs. Lagging got extras? Most ridiculous part.
“This is hell training? Off to a wild start.”
“Can't kill our cat either.”
[Nyaa, meow~]
Hearing the mew, I kept my legs pumping. Hell training sucked.
If weekdays after school were this bad, what would weekend camp on Hell Island be like?
This was already hell. Mornings: training with Shin Ga-yeon. Days: Justitia training and Shin Hak-cheol's. Evenings: hell training.
What was this triple-threat schedule? Trying to kill me? Sensing malice in the weirdly meshing events, I didn't stop my legs.
Stopping meant more laps.
“Seong-hoon.”
“What.”
“I'm starting to study tomorrow. Our God said everything in the world is karma. Is this karmic retribution?”
“That's Buddha, not God. What does your god even do?!”
“Internet addict.”
Ah. Made total sense. I nodded. Thinking about it, wasn't all this God's fault?
Felt like he enjoyed my suffering. The situation was super sketchy.
Shin Ga-yeon tagging along for morning training, forced to pair with her in Shin Hak-cheol's class.
And now—
“Finals? Don't need to study. If it was practical, I wouldn't have failed.”
“You're butting in so casually?! Who even are you?”
“Shin Chae-yeon.”
“That's not what I asked!!”
“.....?”
She tilted her head like she didn't get it. What? What's not to get?
I glared, meaning why are you here? But Shin Chae-yeon checked behind her.
Then pointed at herself and tilted her head.
“Me?”
“You!!”
“Friends hang out. Weird?”
Super weird. Obviously.
“Our first real talk was just recently, right?”
“If you decide to be friends, that doesn't matter.”
Huh. Driving me nuts. Why the sudden change? Shin Hak-cheol's orders? He'd been weird lately. Pendant hadn't pointed at him since sparring day, and he'd been oddly nice.
“You're the one who took that guy down. Thought it was cool.”
“Huh?”
Wasn't me. Where'd she get that idea? Saying “not me!” would fix it. Sure, it'd fix it.
“Feels kinda nice, right?”
Yeah. Nice getting treated like a badass for something I didn't do. I'm not that guy, though. Should I just roll with it?
Pondering what to say to the expressionless girl, something popped up beside me.
“Hi!! Idiot, I mean failure!!”
“You're one too.”
She greeted with a beaming smile. Brown short bob down to her shoulders, with braids swaying nonstop.
Flower-petal eyes glared annoyingly at me, then she hooked her arm in mine, striking a triumphant pose.
“Too bad! I'm not an idiot like you guys!! I just shifted my answers one by one. Not wrong!!”
“Why say that so proudly? That's the dumbest thing.”
“Hmph. Yang Min-ji, you don't get it. I didn't even roll my pencil—pure gut instinct on all of 'em. Not solved and wrong, so spare me among these idiots? Especially this black-haired guy next to me solved and got it wrong!!”
“For real? Pfft!! Did you mess up the Twin Head Ogre's head count too?”
It's two. I know. And she didn't solve it—cheated and flubbed. Saying that would make it worse, so zip it.
“You two are both idiots? No one's not an idiot here!! And who solves that and fails?!”
Whoosh.
“?”
Strange sound. I turned to see Shin Chae-yeon looking away. Kept facing forward even turned.
Hey. Weren't you trying to get friendly? I stared holes through her, but she ran with gaze averted.
“Shin Chae-yeon.”
“....”
“No way, you...?”
“....Not.”
What? I hadn't said anything yet.
“What? She solved it and still ended up here?”
“Don't lie. Only Lee Seong-hoon is that much of an idiot.”
“..... Close call. One right answer and I wouldn't be here.”
Close call? It was way worse. Glancing at Shin Chae-yeon, who couldn't turn her head, an idea hit.
Quietly, so no one else heard, I asked Yang Min-ji.
“Hey. Twin Head Ogre has two heads, right?”
Yang Min-ji's deadpan look stung a bit.
“Alright. I've decided.”
“On what?”
Lying spread-eagle on the bed, I snorted at the question.
“Dropping out. Tomorrow. Straight to the principal's office. Ending? Screw it. I'll drop out, live for me. Use future knowledge for stocks, start a business, become a billionaire.”
Maybe start an idol company? Hey? I even know who's gonna blow up. No regrets?
“Say something that makes sense.”
I closed my eyes at the damn blonde's jab. Exhausted. Training was that brutal—the kind where you just want to pass out.
Didn't know who made this training cycle, but if I met 'em, I'd punch 'em in the face.
Still, couldn't just sleep. Had to do a bit of the meditation training Shin Ga-yeon assigned.
Eyes closed, focus.
How long this triple hell? Why's Raphael in my room? How bad's weekend training?
Shook off the random thoughts, imagined dripping water—
Bang crash!!!
Door flew open with a lively bang. Raphael's here, so fine. Continue meditation—
—Ah, Levatein came?
—Yeah! Play with Mama!!
—I'm tired. Go play with Dad over there.
—Dad not tired?
—Yeah. Less than me.
—Okay!!
Ah.
Felt it. Levatein crawling onto the bed I was lying on. This damn blonde.
“You were waiting here to dump her on me.”
Good luck~ Her voice rang as I opened my eyes.
[Daddy. Play.]
“Can't play with Mama?”
[Mama tired!]
Ah. Losing my mind.
The time I started meditating was the deep night when Levatein finally conked out satisfied.