Chapter 156
Chapter 156
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 156
Chapter Title: Episode 50. Eyes Looking Down from the Dark (5)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
They walked for a long time.
Just like that, after walking for a long while.
Unable to endure the continuing silence, Zhou Luxin opened his mouth.
"I'm sorry... Guardian."
There was no reply from Lun.
On the way there, the sunlight flying straight at them from ahead felt burdensome. The Lair, perched high in the stratosphere, experienced sunsets and sunrises later than the ground below.
With the guardian remaining silent, Zhou Luxin found himself watching his mood even more closely.
It was the same even after they arrived at the dorm. Lun puffed away at his cigar smack in the middle of the living room without a single word. His eyes, reminiscent of a crocodile's, brimmed with venom.
"Guardian..."
No response came to the hesitant voice.
"Guardian."
Even a clearer call went unanswered.
Fuck. Why's he acting like this? Zhou Luxin thought as he waved the smoke away with his hand.
After a long stretch of grave silence, Lun finally stubbed out his cigar in the ashtray and spoke.
"Luxin."
"Yes."
"Still, 15 seconds? 15 seconds. Huh?"
"I'm sorry..."
"If you knew it was tough to trade blows evenly the moment you saw the weapon, you should've found some kind of opening somehow. Dual blunt weapons are heavy—if you just denied her tempo, you could've held out plenty."
"......"
"The cadets all start talking nice and laughing it up ha ha ho ho, and you've forgotten your place?"
It was as if his pent-up rage had finally burst free. Lun stuck another cigar in his mouth and bellowed.
"You're a hunting dog! Even if a wolf bit you and blood sprayed, you should've endured it!"
"......"
"The video's gonna drop tomorrow and spread everywhere. What do you think the elders will say when they see you crawling around and getting your skull smashed by a hammer?!"
The scolding poured out in a heated torrent. Zhou Luxin clamped his mouth shut and bowed his head.
Regret? Shame?
No.
Fuck, he told me to grab a shield, and now he's bitching up a storm...
Zhou Luxin had opted not to bring two shields, saying he'd face her head-on instead.
But Lun had once been a recognized superhuman in the world rankings around 2000th place—he knew exactly what Yoo Yeoreum was capable of. "Winning isn't everything," he'd said, which had bruised Zhou Luxin's pride a bit. Still, he'd brought the shield because his guardian told him to.
But damn if Summer hadn't shown up with the perfect weapon matchup advantage. That was when Zhou Luxin's mentality started cracking. He'd cursed Lun plenty in his head.
The defeat after just 15 seconds stemmed from all that.
"Goddamn it, you should've endured somehow! You should've seized the rhythm! If you're both gonna be crawling around, you should've at least bitten a chunk out of that bitch's thigh! Even if she outpowered you, you needed to show your all! Huh—?"
"......"
He bellowed it out. Smoke swirled through the living room once more.
By the time the second cigar had burned down nearly to the filter.
Lun, his excitement quelled, let out a deep sigh.
"Well, what can you do. Water under the bridge."
"......!"
Lun's voice softened, and Zhou Luxin's eyes widened.
"If I'd known it'd turn out like this, I wouldn't have sent you out first."
"N-no, it's fine... It was my turn anyway. Skipping it would've been unfair."
"Tch. I've always thought that word 'fairness' was total bullshit. What fairness?"
'The party's gone soft in the head...' he grumbled.
"Anyway, don't sweat it. Get your head straight."
"Yes..."
"You're Erpan's future."
Zhou Luxin bit his lip hard and lowered his head.
Erpan's future.
No heavy sense of responsibility weighed on his shoulders.
Fucking crazy bastard...
There was no感动. He'd long known Lun's style: unload all the sticks first, then dangle a carrot.
'My score's already tanked because of him—what're you gonna do about it? Fuck... The other cadets are gonna start catching on soon too...'
The real problem was that the other cadets had begun viewing the situation through their own self-interested lenses.
For everyone, personal scores mattered more than the team. Erpan Guild was an educational institution, after all. The moment they graduated, connections became optional.
The scenario Zhou Luxin dreaded most began unfolding in reality just a few days later.
"It's your turn today, Owong. Not going?"
Jang Suyeong said with an uncomfortable expression.
Rank 23, Owong. Erpan Guild's poster boy and one of the four late-index standouts.
He was also the cadet slotted for the first duel today.
"......"
Owong stared back at Jang Suyeong with a displeased look.
"Not going."
"What?"
"Planning to take the day off."
"Says who?"
"Me."
"...You nuts?"
"Who're you calling nuts? If it sucks so bad, you go first."
"Hey. Owong."
"Shut it. You don't wanna go either, bossing me around."
"I went last week!"
"Go again then."
"You crazy fuck..."
Jang Suyeong's jaw clenched. At rank 19, another loss to Summer would drop her into the 20s.
That day, the dorm's lower-ranked cadets slyly eyed Owong.
The guardians stepped in to try persuading him.
"No thanks. Why me? I'm 23rd right now. 23rd out of 3,000 duel participants. Losing rank hurts all of Erpan, doesn't it?"
"Owong. You really wanna get smacked?"
"Yeah. Smack me. I'll take it. But I don't wanna lose points. Honestly..."
Owong turned his handsome eyes toward the other cadets. A sly smile spread across his face.
"Some guys wouldn't mind shedding a few points, right?"
Points were precious to everyone. Hoarded over three months of skimping sleep, enduring pain, clawing their way up.
Yet the lower ranks, voiceless, could only wait in disgust for the guardians' judgment.
Among them, rank 181—Erpan's lowest in the first-string team—cadet 'Wang Yuseong' seemed to tremble.
"......"
After much deliberation, Lun spat it out like chewed gristle.
"Sorry. Wang Yuseong."
"...Guardian!"
"You'll have to go."
"N-no, please. If I lose more points here, I won't get Erpan's support funds. Might get bumped to second-string..."
Tsk tsk. Lun clicked his tongue.
"Should've done better then."
The world seemed to crumble for Wang Yuseong.
The scrawny cadet was shoved out with a shield in hand for that day's first duel.
And, unexpectedly, he faced someone of similar rank and won.
Wang Yuseong was thrilled but couldn't show it.
The cadets congratulated him outwardly but seethed inwardly.
Lun cracked open another pack of cigarettes.
Coincidence, surely. At 181, plenty of similar ranks to snipe. Maybe the snipe had failed.
That was Erpan's analysis of the disrupted momentum.
And they decided to relax.
However... No matter how much time passed, Yoo Yeoreum's duels weren't updating in the competition app.
It meant the sniping schedule had shifted.
*
After that, Erpan Guild's atmosphere turned into utter chaos.
"I'm not going. Not until someone burns one of Yoo Yeoreum's duel slots."
"Jang Suyeong!"
"I don't wanna go either..."
"Lingling, you too?"
"Guardian. It's obviously walking into the tiger's mouth—are you telling me to go?"
"Then what? We need points! Your rank's slipping!"
"Why're you yelling! You think I like my rank dropping? Sob..."
Jang Suyeong burst into tears, and the guardian yelled.
Off to the side, dazedly watching the scene, chief guardian Lun felt anxiety rising from his gut.
The news must have reached them by now. But the call he expected hadn't come.
The unease doubled.
Coincidentally, that's when the phone rang.
― Beep beep.
[Feng Zhongtian, Tenshin Elder]
Seeing the caller's name, Lun clenched his fist tight.
He answered cautiously.
"Hello..."
― I've been watching the disgrace.
A soft, gentle voice.
― I'm disappointed. How is it that starting from the 06 batch, there aren't any decent ones? All half-assed. One-armed. One-eyed. Just churning out flawed kids nonstop.
But the words that followed weren't gentle at all.
The leisurely scolding dragged on for a while, and Lun had to listen with a heart ready to weep. Finally, unable to hold back, he asked.
"Uh, then... about Zhou Luxin's scouting..."
― Hey. You.
"......!"
― Gonna shape up or not? What scouting?
Humiliation and despair made Lun's hands tremble.
Just as he thought it was a death sentence. A voice came from the other end of the line. A famous one—Lun recognized it immediately. It was 'Ling,' the leader of Tenshin.
Soon after, unbelievable news followed.
― Lucky you.
Lun's heart nearly exploded.
― The boss says give 'em one more shot. Final duel ranking—third place. Think you can pull it off?
"Yes? Ah, yes! Absolutely!"
― Last chance. Make it count.
"Th-thank you!"
Even after hanging up, Lun couldn't stop his heart from pounding. A last chance from Tenshin's leader! He'd thought it was over. And now this lifeline at the end?
If they hit third.
If they could snag just third at the duel deadline. A shot at turnaround.
What was needed was obvious.
They had to block Summer's snipes somehow.
By any means necessary.
...But how?
As he floundered, a junior guardian who'd received the news from Lun bit his lip and hurriedly logged into the Lair app to rifle through guardian profiles. Then he found a name.
"Hey. Hey!"
"......"
"Kan. What the hell you doing, man!"
"Calling Yoo Ji-tae's guardian!"
The junior guardian looked tearful as he raised his head.
Lun exploded.
"Why that fucker?!"
"We beg! Say sorry!"
"Beg him here, you lunatic! Got no pride?"
"What good's pride gonna do—feed us?!"
"Even without pride, no dice. You think that fucker'd stop sniping now? With 'BM' backing his family—think he'd take a deal?!"
"Then what would you do, senior? What can you do? It's a snipe we don't even know how works—how the hell we stop it?!"
"You little shit, that open mouth of yours—!"
Lun hurled the ashtray. It smashed into the junior guardian's back cabinet like a bomb. Crash! Glass shards flew everywhere.
"Snap out of it, senior! You think yelling fixes this?!"
But the pissed-off junior bellowed right back. Then he punched in the number on the hologram and, out of nowhere, unstrapped his watch from his wrist and shoved it at Lun.
"Can't you clear it?"
"You had beef with senior, so you gotta clear it! Senior. Drop it all and think. We got time for pride or other people's shit right now?"
"......"
Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuckfuckfuckfuck...
The dorm, ravaged by two weeks of sniping. Cadets who'd grasped the situation glared at Lun like they wanted to devour him.
Right. This wasn't the time.
Suppressing a storm of emotions, Lun took the watch.
And made the call.
*
Bom and Gaeul had gone to class.
Yeoreum lounged on the sofa, with Ji-tae sitting at her feet. Winter sat on Ji-tae's lap, reading a book. Fairy tales were boring now, so Bom had bought her a novel. He'd wondered if the dense text would hold her attention, but surprisingly, she was focused.
But after three pages, she started nodding off.
"Hng~."
Yeoreum yawned languidly and grinned brightly.
Thanks to the two weeks of sniping, her ranking had climbed back to second. The gap with first-place Yong Taeha had narrowed to nearly nothing.
Zhou Luxin, sniped by her three times, had dropped to fifth. Third and fourth were American cadets from Noblesse School.
Surprisingly, Tyr Bljenk—the son of world superhuman rank one, Oscar Bljenk—had a low ranking. The boy seemed utterly uninterested in the duels themselves.
Anyway. Time to head out soon today too.
"Go get ready in your room. Let's go."
"Sure~."
Lately, Yeoreum had been in high spirits. No, beyond high—flying endlessly.
The noise woke Winter, who looked up. Yeoreum cooed, "Aww, my lil sis. So sleepy~?" and planted a kiss on her forehead. Winter's eyes went wide in horror, then she scowled and rubbed it off.
That's when Ji-tae's phone rang.
"Huh? What's that call?"
"......"
Unknown number.
"Pull up the Lair app and search this number."
"Gotcha. Lemme see... Kan Wu. Chinese-American mutt. Affiliation... Huh?"
"What."
A smile spread across Yeoreum's face.
The smile grew and grew until she started cackling like a witch.
"What is it."
"Erpan guardian."
"Yeah?"
The ringtone kept going.
"Aaah! Fucking hilarious. So damn curious. What's he calling for? To apologize? Begging on his knees bawling?"
Yeoreum snickered and piled on.
"What're you waiting for? Pick up! Power-trip his ass! Or nah, humiliation better? Make the guardians dance naked in the arena?"
Thrilled, Yeoreum spun out fun scenarios one after another.
But Ji-tae gave no real response. His expression was its usual blank.
Yeoreum's laughter cut off sharp. She went quiet for a sec, scanning his face, then realized the 'god move' far better than any power play or humiliation.
"Honey."
"......"
"No plans to pick up?"
Ji-tae nodded.
'Kyahahahaha—!' Yeoreum laughed till she could barely breathe.