Chapter 142: A Harsh Lesson (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 142: A Harsh Lesson (1)
The second semester final exams had begun.
It was the last exam of the year, held just before the year’s end.
As a crucial test measuring how much we had grown over the past year, new subjects that weren't on the midterm exam were added.
Namely, individual and team matches.
As the names suggest, it was an exam where students were scored by fighting one-on-one and team-versus-team.
The team matches were just battles between the currently formed teams, so that was straightforward.
The individual matches, however, involved grouping students with similar grades and having them fight one-on-one against a randomly assigned opponent from within that group…
“If you get a bad matchup, you’re screwed.”
It seemed to me that a fair bit of luck was involved.
For example, what if I, a Mage, was matched against an Assassin?
Mages and Assassins were generally known to be a terrible matchup for each other.
An Assassin who can swiftly get behind their opponent, and a Mage who needs time to cast their spells.
You can already picture how that would go, can’t you?
“They say winning or losing doesn’t affect the score, but…”
The school, aware that matchups between positions could be starkly one-sided, had made it clear that the outcome of the match would not affect the score.
The evaluation would depend entirely on the content of the fight.
In other words, a Mage could earn a high score just by holding their own against an Assassin, while an Assassin, despite having the advantage, would get a lower score if they couldn't end the match quickly.
But even that was ambiguous.
That example only applies if the Mage actually manages to hold out against the Assassin.
What if they get their throat slit by the Assassin without even casting a single proper spell?
With nothing to evaluate, they’d get the minimum score.
Thinking about it that way, the scales were already slightly tipped to one side.
“Well, it has nothing to do with me.”
Whether the playing field was tilted or flat, it was completely irrelevant to me.
Why?
Because I’m flying.
The tilt of the field only affects the ones who have to run around on it.
For someone flying without their feet on the ground, it’s not even on their radar, is it?
They said our opponents for the individual matches would be announced three days before the duel, and that day was today.
“It’ll come when it comes.”
Thinking it would arrive when the time was right, I headed to my personal practice room as usual.
Normally, I would have gone straight in, but…
“That’ll be 880,000 won.”
“Ah, yes.”
…before entering, I had to pay for the practice sword I’d destroyed last time.
I had tried to get it repaired, but I’d shattered it so completely that they said replacing it was the only option.
Since it was 100% my fault, I paid on the spot without a word of complaint.
“Ah, and this…”
After I paid, the practice room equipment manager handed me an object wrapped in a white cloth.
Wondering what it was, I lifted the cloth…
A sword hilt lay there by itself.
“We sent it for repairs, and they said the hilt was the only part they could salvage…”
“Ah.”
So… since I paid for the practice sword, he was telling me to at least take the salvaged hilt.
Technically, since I paid for it, ownership of the broken sword was now mine, so I had the right to decide what to do with it. It made sense for him to give it to me.
But why did I feel strangely bad about it?
A moment ago, it felt like I was compensating for what I broke. But now that I had this, it felt like I’d just spent 880,000 won on something completely useless.
“If you don’t need it, we can dispose of it for you…”
I stared down at the lone hilt in my palm for a moment before shaking my head.
“No, I’ll take care of it.”
It might be a useless hilt to anyone else, but I had one perfect use for it.
My super-omnivorous slime, Kkamseul-i, would surely devour even this with relish.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
I finished practice around dinnertime and returned to eat with Shin Yu-jeong and Jeong-hee.
Now that my stomach was full, it was time to fill Kkamseul-i’s.
“Dinner time, Kkamseul-i!”
Boing, boing!
As if it had been waiting, Kkamseul-i started hopping up and down on the spot.
I took the sword hilt out of my bag and placed it in front of the little guy.
“Hehe! This is an 880,000 won meal, Kkamseul-i.”
Of course, I couldn’t guarantee it tasted like 880,000 won.
Kkamseul-i quivered in front of the hilt.
“Go on, eat up.”
The moment the words left my mouth, it leaped up and landed on the hilt.
It used to eat anything and everything, so I had to teach it a harsh lesson. Since then, it wouldn’t eat anything until I gave the command.
The way it held back its instincts in front of food, waiting for my order, was admirable and cute, but… honestly, it was puzzling.
“Is this thing really just a slime?”
Slimes were known to be monsters that moved purely on instinct, but this one clearly had intelligence far beyond the norm.
Even its digestive ability was strange.
Boing!
How could a slime melt and devour a sword hilt in just thirty seconds?
Even the acid slimes from B-rank dungeons probably couldn’t dissolve a sword that quickly.
“I should probably look into it at some point…”
For now, it was small and cute, so I was raising it like a pet, but the more I thought about it, the more unsettling things there were.
I felt like I should set aside some time to study it properly one day.
Just as I was watching Kkamseul-i hop around after finishing its meal…
Vzzzzt-
A message arrived.
The sender… was the school.
“Ah, this must be it.”
It seemed my opponent for the individual match had been decided.
“Let’s see…”
I opened the message and checked the basic information on my opponent in the attached file.
“Huh.”
It was a familiar face.
[Individual Match Opponent Information]
Name: Baek Ji-hoon
Age: 20
Position: Assassin
Baek Ji-hoon.
He was the Assassin I had partied with once at the beginning of the second semester because of Shin Yu-jeong.
He was the guy who made it painfully obvious he liked Shin Yu-jeong and looked at me with disapproval.
“Ha, to think we’d get tangled up like this again.”
We didn’t have any classes together, so I hadn’t seen him in a while and had forgotten about him. Who would have imagined we’d cross paths like this again?
“Hmm, life really is interesting.”
I really didn’t like the look in his eyes last time. I guess this is my chance to put him in his place.
* * *
Baek Ji-hoon was one of countless others.
During the first-year freshman orientation.
“Nice to meet you, everyone! I’m Shin Yu-jeong. Let’s get along!”
He was one of the many classmates and upperclassmen whose hearts were completely stolen by her as she introduced herself boldly, her bright blonde hair shimmering.
The one thing that set him apart from the others was that he didn’t join the daily flood of confessions she received.
And unlike the guys who bolted when they saw her wild side—beating up a senior without hesitation—he, on the contrary, fell even deeper for her.
He also took a different route from the moths who, unable to hide their feelings, flew straight into the flame.
“Shin Yu-jeong wins. Good work, you may step down.”
Shin Yu-jeong had claimed an overwhelming victory against a student from the Warrior class with similar grades.
As if he had been waiting, Baek Ji-hoon approached her with a towel and a cold bottle of water in his hands.
“Congrats.”
“Oh, thanks.”
He smiled as she naturally took the water and towel.
Baek Ji-hoon had decided it was better to become her friend than to confess in an unripe atmosphere.
So he approached her as if he had no particular interest, treating her just like one of his male friends, and slowly closed the distance… The plan was a success.
By the time the first semester was almost over, they had become close enough to sit next to each other and chat on days they had the same class.
He believed that with just a little more time, it wouldn't be impossible to cross the line from friends to something more.
And so, he greeted the second semester, dreaming of a hopeful future.
But from the very start, he faced a crisis.
The problem was a special admission student from the Magic Department who had appeared out of nowhere.
After quenching her thirst with the water Baek Ji-hoon had given her, Shin Yu-jeong asked.
“Your opponent was Kim Do-jin, right?”
He replied with the brightest smile he could muster.
“Yeah, that’s right.”
At that, Shin Yu-jeong’s expression darkened slightly as she murmured in a low voice.
“This is going to be tough…”
The smile on Baek Ji-hoon’s lips twisted slightly.
He thought she was worried about Kim Do-jin.
His position was Assassin.
For a Mage like Kim Do-jin, he was a natural predator.
Then, as if nothing had happened, Shin Yu-jeong patted Baek Ji-hoon on the shoulder and said.
“Well, good luck.”
Contrary to his expectations, the person Shin Yu-jeong felt sorry for wasn’t Kim Do-jin, but Baek Ji-hoon.
She knew by now.
‘That bastard is no ordinary Mage.’
She knew that Kim Do-jin was not an ordinary Mage.
It was hard to pinpoint exactly what was different, but she was certain he was hiding much more than he let on.
Otherwise, it would be impossible for a Mage to enter a dungeon alone and clear it without so much as a scratch.
Worried for him, Shin Yu-jeong left him with one last piece of advice.
“Don’t overdo it.”
She meant that if things got tough, he should just forfeit.
However, Baek Ji-hoon interpreted it differently.
He thought she was telling him not to bully Kim Do-jin too much and to end it at an appropriate time.
“Yeah, I’ll be careful.”
That’s what he said to Shin Yu-jeong as she walked past, but his heart felt the complete opposite.
Just then, the speaker announced the next match.
[Baek Ji-hoon, Kim Do-jin, please enter the dueling arena.]
His turn had finally come. Baek Ji-hoon strode confidently into the arena.
By the time he reached the center of the arena, Kim Do-jin was walking up from the opposite side at a slow pace.
Looking at him, the killing intent that he had managed to calm began to bubble up again.
In Baek Ji-hoon’s eyes, Kim Do-jin was ‘the guy who rained on his parade.’
He had no intention of letting the man who had stolen the spot that should have been his walk away unscathed.
‘I’ll make sure you leave on a stretcher.’
As his mind filled with thoughts of breaking him, meaningless words flowed past his ears.
The usual perfunctory warnings about not using excessive force since this was a duel to measure growth passed by.
[Begin Duel.]
Finally, the duel began.
Having neutralized Mages several times before, he knew exactly how to handle their kind with ease.
You close in from behind with a speed they can never match, then pressure them so they can’t even breathe, let alone cast a spell.
Baek Ji-hoon immediately drew daggers in both hands and launched himself forward.
His Agility stat was a whopping 45.
In terms of Agility alone, he was on par not just with first-years, but even with second and third-years.
With a swift movement that embodied his skill, Baek Ji-hoon got behind the blankly standing Kim Do-jin. A cold smile formed on his lips as he became certain of his victory.
‘Die!’
He thrust his dagger.
It was a blunted dagger, designed not to seriously injure the opponent, but it didn't matter.
He didn’t need a sharp blade to break arms and legs.
The next moment, as he anticipated the feeling of his opponent’s bones breaking…
A thick wall shot up right in front of Baek Ji-hoon’s eyes.
「Stone Wall.」
At the same time, Kim Do-jin’s voice reached him.
“I’ve thought this for a while now, but Assassins… they seem to lack a bit of creativity, or maybe originality?”
“What…?”
While Baek Ji-hoon asked back with a bewildered expression, the wall that blocked him crumbled away.
Kim Do-jin slowly turned to face him.
Then, with an incredibly smug grin, he continued.
“You guys all think you’ve won the moment you get behind someone.”
The fact that you mindlessly aim for the back every single time is proof of your shortcomings, isn’t it?
At Kim Do-jin’s mocking tone, Baek Ji-hoon’s face twisted into a scowl.