Chapter 73: A Talent That Cannot Be Hidden (7)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 73: A Talent That Cannot Be Hidden (7)
He was well over 180cm tall, with bluish-gray hair that looked difficult to manage. A friendly, handsome face topped with a cheerful smile.
A man armed with all the elements that would make anyone think he was a good person.
“Ah, you scared me.”
Shin Yu-jeong jumped, spinning around.
The moment she saw the man’s face, her expression instantly softened.
It seemed they knew each other well.
“Don’t sneak up on me like that, you psycho.”
“Haha, sorry, sorry.”
The atmosphere between the two as they talked seemed quite friendly.
“Hey, but I already found a party.”
“Oh, really?”
The surprised man’s gaze shifted past Shin Yu-jeong to Im Na-eun and me.
“I haven’t seen you two before.”
“They’re special admission students who enrolled this semester.”
“Ah, is that so?”
The man turned toward us, smiling as he extended a hand.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Baek Ji-hoon. A fellow freshman.”
I stared at his outstretched hand for a moment before shaking it and introducing myself.
“I’m Kim Do-jin. It’s a pleasure.”
I didn’t particularly want to greet him, but I couldn’t just refuse a hand that was already offered.
After a brief greeting with Im Na-eun, he turned back to Shin Yu-jeong and asked.
“Is the party just the three of you for now?”
“Yeah. We were about to look for the others.”
“Then I’ll join!”
“…Didn’t you say you already found a party?”
“I’ll just quit. I’m most comfortable teaming up with you, Yudaengi.”
His tone was one that seemed to flaunt their closeness.
At this, Shin Yu-jeong glanced at me before raising a fist at him.
“Hey, I told you not to call me that.”
“Aw, why? It just rolls off the tongue.”
“Well, I don’t like it.”
“Alright, alright. I’ll try to cut back. Give me a break.”
Listening to them, I got a rough idea of their relationship.
One side treated the other as just a friend, while the other was constantly looking for a chance to be more. A precarious relationship.
Why precarious?
Because Shin Yu-jeong had already given me everything.
All that was left for him was a bitter end.
“Anyway, I’ll go tell the others, so wait here! I’ll find one more person, too.”
“Uh, hey…!”
Before she could say anything, Baek Ji-hoon vanished in a flash.
Im Na-eun, who had been watching quietly, commented.
“He seems to really march to the beat of his own drum… right?”
“I guess so.”
Such a goody-two-shoes.
Trying to wrap up the word ‘selfish’ in a nice package like ‘marches to the beat of his own drum.’
Meanwhile, Shin Yu-jeong hesitantly approached and whispered in my ear.
“Hey, um… don’t get the wrong idea, okay? We’re just friends.”
The way she started making excuses the moment he was gone brought out my mischievous side.
“You two seemed pretty close for ‘just friends’… even using a nickname like Yudaengi.”
“Hey, that’s just what he calls me. You saw! I told him firmly not to use it.”
She must have felt deeply wronged.
She was practically pleading her case, even thumping her chest.
“Yudaengi! I’m back.”
At the perfect moment, Baek Ji-hoon returned with his arm around some other guy.
The way the other guy’s shoulders were slumped made him look less like a friend and more like a lackey.
“You’ve seen him a few times, right? It’s Hyeon-seok.”
“Ah… that archer?”
“That’s him.”
The fact that she knew him just by his name suggested the three of them had partied together a few times.
“Ah, hello.”
After a brief exchange of greetings, we went to Professor Im Cheol-woong to inform him our party was complete.
“Sit and wait. You are Group 10.”
It seemed we were the last party, having wasted some time waiting for Baek Ji-hoon and his friend, Hyeon-seok.
“We will now begin the practical training. The method is simple. You will enter a mock dungeon in the form of a cave, kill the monsters placed intermittently, and reach the end. Any questions?”
Someone shot their hand up as if they’d been waiting.
“I’m curious if this training will be reflected in our midterm grades.”
“As this is the first practical training, it will not be. However, if you’re thinking of slacking off, you’d best get that idea out of your head. If I see any such behavior, that student’s grade for this semester will be fixed at a D-.”
“Th-thank you for your answer.”
The questioner, intimidated by his chilling voice, sat back down.
A D- is truly the worst possible grade.
You can retake a class if you get an F to try and improve your score, but you can’t with a D-.
In short, it was a warning that if we slacked off, he would tank our grades.
“Since there seem to be no more questions, we will proceed directly to the training.”
Professor Im Cheol-woong pointed to a door behind him.
“Through this door is the armory. Choose your desired weapon there, and once you are ready, enter the dungeon.”
“Yes!”
“Ah, one last thing. To boost the students’ motivation, I have prepared a prize. It will be given only to the first-place team, so I expect you to do your best. Understood?”
“Yes—!”
Would you look at that.
The mention of a prize made their voices twice as loud.
“Group 1, enter.”
The five people sitting in the front row passed through the door one by one.
Simultaneously, a large screen that took up most of one wall showed Group 1 choosing their weapons in the armory and heading into the dungeon.
The eerie sounds of monsters echoed from the dark cave.
Tension crept onto the faces of the Group 1 members as they advanced step by step.
Before long, they encountered an orc.
Kweeeeeeek!
The creature’s roar blared from the large speakers in the waiting room.
Just from the sound, I could tell what state it was in.
It’s pissed.
Well, it made sense, being let out after being cooped up for so long.
The leader of Group 1 issued an order to his party members.
“St-stay calm and respond!”
…That was a zero-point order.
A party leader must be skilled at maintaining a poker face.
They have to be able to act as if they aren’t nervous or afraid, even if they are.
Why?
Because that’s the only way the party members will trust and follow them.
If the person telling you to be calm is trembling, who could possibly remain calm?
The enraged orc broke through the front line, which had frozen up from excessive tension, and began to tear through their formation.
“…It’s over.”
Once things got to this point, it would be difficult to get a good evaluation, even if they managed to kill the orc.
“U-uaaaargh!”
“Keuk!”
Professor Im Cheol-woong shook his head as he watched the five students get tossed around by the orc.
“To be thrown around like that by a single special individual… How pathetic.”
With a disappointed tone, Professor Im Cheol-woong pressed a button on the remote in his hand.
Mechanical hands shot out from the dungeon walls, restraining the rampaging orc’s arms and legs.
[Emergency Rescue System Activated.]
[Isolating monster.]
Kweeeeeek!
The monster was dragged away somewhere, and the five scattered students were similarly grabbed by mechanical arms and disappeared.
They were probably transported directly to the infirmary connected to this place.
“Next, Group 2, enter. I certainly hope you’re different from those morons.”
“Understood!”
Group 2, carrying the professor’s small hope, certainly showed a different performance.
They stably killed the first orc, only to be taken down by the two goblins that appeared afterward.
Unlike the orc, which just charged forward with brute force, goblins are quite cunning.
Unable to adapt to the completely different behavior pattern, Group 2 was also eventually sent to the infirmary.
“…Next.”
Group 3, 4, 5, and 6.
One after another, they became sacrifices to the dungeon.
Although there were slight differences in their progress, none of them reached the end.
“Waaaaah!”
After numerous failures, the first party to reach the end was born.
“Group 8, cleared.”
It was none other than Group 8.
The group that included Kim Yun-sik, the guy I saw in the Basic Flame Magic class.
With the solid defense of a double tanker setup and Kim Yun-sik’s fire support, they advanced steadily with a simple but effective strategy and reached the end.
“Next, Group 9.”
Group 9… was the group Seo-yeon was in.
She had a sword fastened at her waist.
“Tsk.”
I couldn’t help but click my tongue at the sight.
A dagger would have been better for self-defense, so why choose a heavy longsword and saddle herself with a penalty…
Their progress was smoother than I expected.
Seo-yeon’s magic skills were excellent, just like her mother’s, and the others’ movements weren’t bad either.
The problem occurred in the latter half of the dungeon.
Around the midpoint, the front line made the mistake of letting a monster slip past, and signs of division began to show. Eventually, they started fighting amongst themselves.
It didn’t come to blows, but with their teamwork shattered, I wondered if they could handle the final combination of an orc and a goblin.
“Aargh…!”
A party is an organic entity.
If the members don’t help each other and fulfill their roles, it can’t function properly.
In that sense, their party was already finished.
When they saw each other as bitter enemies, there was no way they’d have the will to help one another.
One by one, they were knocked down until finally, only Seo-yeon in the rear was left standing alone.
“Ah…”
A bitter taste suddenly filled my mouth.
Even if she wasn’t my daughter anymore, watching her get beaten up by a monster… it just didn’t feel right.
Facing the charging orc, she drew her sword.
I liked her never-give-up attitude, but with a sloppy stance like that, she couldn’t even kill an ant… huh?
“Oh… that sunbae’s stance is pretty good.”
“You’re right. She’s a mage, when did she learn swordsmanship?”
Baek Ji-hoon and Shin Yu-jeong were right.
Her stance as she held the sword was surprisingly decent.
No, to be honest, it was more than that.
What… did she learn swordsmanship behind my back?
That couldn’t be right…
Regardless of her own wishes, Han Ju-hee would never have allowed it.
I could still clearly picture her face when I once said I’d teach the now-healthy Seo-yeon swordsmanship, and she stopped me, saying a girl’s hands shouldn’t get calluses.
As the orc’s fist flew toward her, she dodged it with a single step and swung her sword.
Once, twice, three times… seven times.
Watching her, I was so startled that I shot up from my seat.
I couldn’t help it.
“How does she know that…?”
Seven strikes that flowed like water.
It was one of the sword techniques I favored when I was in Son Si-woo’s body.