The Graduation Ceremony Was Cruel (1)

May 5th. One o'clock in the afternoon.

While Jeong Hoon's party was away, supposedly clearing a dungeon—

In Yeouido...

"They're coming again! More of them!"

"It's a massive number! Mostly zombies! No—wait—they're all... every last one of them is a zombie!"

As if it had been waiting for exactly this moment, crisis swept in and threw the territory's residents into chaos.

A considerable horde of zombies was marching in formation, lining up to force their way into Yeouido. Of course, they weren't coming up from Gangnam. From Gangbuk, they pushed slowly, steadily across the two great bridges, determined to set foot on the island. Who had sent them was not hard to guess.

The one who ruled Gangbuk, shrouded in darkness—the King of the Dead... no, the one called the King of Kings.

The Vampire King had finally revealed his ambition. And of all times, he had chosen the moment when Jeong Hoon's party was absent.

And standing on the front line against that ambition were women who had risen with hope in their hearts.

"Prepare to throw!"

Like grenadiers, several women under Seo Hyejin's command locked into position with their arms drawn back. In each cocked hand was a vial—vials filled with vividly colored liquids of every eccentric hue.

Even as the zombie swarm closed to nearly fifty meters, they didn't flinch. Not even a little.

If anything, it was Jung Yun and her guild members watching from higher ground who clung to one another, trembling with fear.

"Oh my god..."

"What do we do, seriously...!"

"Are those girls insane? Why aren't they throwing already?! Aren't they scared?!"

The irony of people in safety looking more terrified than those on the front line.

"Ready...!"

The zombies closed to twenty meters, and still the alchemist unit didn't move. Even with nothing but a barricade at waist height between them and the horde—hardly enough to feel secure—they showed almost no fear.

"...Throw!"

At the moment when waiting any longer would have been unbearable, Seo Hyejin bellowed the command.

"Hyaaaaah!"

"For Lord Jeong Hoon!"

"For the Alliance—ah, wait, no! For human civilization!"

"For myself!"

Each woman shouted her own distinctive battle cry at the top of her lungs as the alchemist unit hurled their reagent vials forward. Despite being composed entirely of women, not a single throw missed its mark.

That was clearly the fruit of training and hard-won experience.

Crash! Shatter!

The vials broke—

Whoosh!

Some erupted into flame—

BOOM!

Others exploded outright. The signature magic of mage-alchemists, the Explosion Potion, produced either a massive blast or a smaller detonation that simply ignited flames, depending on how the ingredients had been combined.

"Uwooooorgh...!"

"Uuuuuuugh...!"

In the blasts, zombies had their limbs blown clean off and died on the spot. Others flailed their arms in the flames before collapsing to the ground.

But Seo Hyejin's guild wasn't finished.

"First rank, fall back! Second rank, advance and prepare to throw!"

The alchemists who had just unleashed that storm of fire and explosions pulled back, and another wave of alchemists filled their places. Seo Hyejin gave the order again, and more reagent vials arced through the air like a constellation of glass stars.

And then—

Crash, whoosh, BOOM!

The chaos of explosions and flames, blood and shredded flesh, was a spectacle no ordinary person could bear to watch with open eyes.

"Urgh..."

"Bleeeegh..."

"Ugh, those girls have stomachs of steel...!"

Indeed, Jung Yun and her guild members watching from a rooftop near the bridge recoiled as if seized by convulsions at the grotesque scene.

Jung Yun's own stomach churned, but having already witnessed far worse horrors in the north, she was somewhat inured to it.

A-amazing... No wonder Lord Jeong Hoon trusted them with the defense!

Jung Yun was in awe.

Despite being composed mostly of non-combat classes, Seo Hyejin's unit was driving back the monster horde with remarkable skill. Blacksmiths slapped together barricades in moments and deployed them, while ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠behind those walls the mage-alchemists rotated in two shifts, lobbing explosion potions and exterminating zombies like so much vermin.

Still... there was something to worry about.

"There are still way too many zombies! And... Yun unnie, look at that..."

"Yeah. I see it too..."

That ominous sight entered Jung Yun's eyes.

A vast cloud seething with black energy.

The dark mass was slowly spreading from Gangbuk toward Gangnam.

The aura that blanketed the north had begun to seep into Yeouido itself.

As if it meant to snatch the sun's blessing away from the south.

The boss... was down!

But the triumph lasted only a moment.

The very next second, a notification appeared that drained every drop of warmth from our blood.

What... the... fuck?

"D-did everyone... see that notification?"

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"Yes, unnie... we saw it."

"This is..."

"Wow..."

Hollow voices rose around me, and I let out a long sigh of my own.

"Hoooooo...."

Because the alert that had just appeared meant only one thing.

This isn't the end. This isn't all of it.

Yep, there's still another boss. Go grind some more, you dogs~

I should have known from the moment that goddamn admin bastard designed this dungeon. I have to go through this hell again? There's probably a third, a fourth... hell, a final boss waiting too. Of course there is. Figures!

"System... on..."

I weakly called up my status window again.

My HP had dropped massively. I'd taken way more damage than even in the fight against the Minotaur. So that was why my whole body was throbbing. At least I wasn't gushing blood—small mercies.

One thing was certain: if a normal survivor party had come here, this boss would have wiped them out in a heartbeat. Without a tank packing serious HP, this place was unclearable.

In other words, this dungeon was designed exclusively for freakishly strong outliers! People like me!

And on top of that, you couldn't claim a single reward until you'd finished the whole damn thing—a nightmare of high risk, high return!

Goddamn it! What a shitty game design! And no, that is not a compliment!

"Ah, Jeong Hoon-ssi. Let me heal you."

"...My thanks."

Kim Seyeon approached with a gentle smile and held out her hand. Ah—a warm sensation flowed from her palm into me.

Lesser Heal. The next tier of holy magic after a Cleric's basic Minor Heal, and my HP shot right back up.

See that? Standing still for about a minute and I'd recovered a full seven hundred.

Though I still had no idea how the healing calculation worked. Was it a percentage of total HP? I'd have needed to play Brave Saga Online to know. And I'd never been this banged up before, so...

Ah, perfect. I should ask Sora, our resident gaming expert.

"Sora, do you happen to—"

"Th-th-th-th-that thiiiiing!"

Before I could even finish the question, Han Sora opened her mouth.

No—she screamed, jabbing her index finger furiously at something in the distance.

Hey, seriously! If she yelled that loud, what if other monsters came running?!

Ah, wait a second... I'd been so focused on the boss fight I'd completely forgotten!

Who took her tape off?! Well, her hands were free, so she probably ripped it off herself!

"Th-that... look at that!! Hurry, huuuurry!"

She was still screaming... but look at what?

My gaze followed Han Sora's fingertip of its own accord. It pointed to the spot where the "Teaching Assistant" monster had died after taking Yun Mina's lightning blast head-on.

And then I saw it too.

"Th-that's...?!"

"Huh?!"

Kim Seyeon, still healing me at my side, saw it as well.

Glittering with light, a mortarboard that had somehow kept its appearance perfectly intact—unlike the blackened, charred corpse of the "Teaching Assistant" monster.

That was... an item.

And not just any item—a dungeon drop item! A boss drop item!!!

Loot... and a rare item at that! I haven't checked the grade yet, but I'm sure of it!

"I shall inspect it."

But... caution first. There would be plenty of time to celebrate after identification.

Who knew? It might look fine on the surface and trigger a trap or curse the moment someone touched it. That was why I would put my hand on it first and check.

It is absolutely not because I just want to grab the drop loot and fondle it first!

"Ah, wait a moment... let me cast Holy Armor first."

Kim Seyeon even layered a buff on me just in case.

Come to think of it, without that buff earlier I would have taken even worse damage. Kim Seyeon really was our party's treasure. She shone in combat, she shone in daily life, and at night she shon—ahem ahem!

Anyway, I carefully approached the thoroughly incinerated Teaching Assistant's corpse. Then I slowly... reached out and touched the pristine mortarboard glowing atop it.

Tap.

And nothing happene—wait, no it didn't!

Wh-what is this... what? Intelligence up fifteen percent and MP up fifteen percent?!

Was this insane or what? These were absurdly good specs! Pure mage gear! With this...

"Wh-why, oppa? What's wrong?"

"Don't tell me it's a cursed item?!"

Han Sora flinched, and Park Seeun made a fuss. But right now... I barely had any attention to spare for either of them.

The moment my gamer brain registered this item's stats, I knew exactly who it needed to go to.

Without hesitation, I held the mortarboard out to that person.

"H-huh?"

"Hm? Jeong Hoon-ssi?"

The person about to receive the mortarboard and Kim Seyeon both made sounds of surprise.

Of course they did. Because right now, I was offering the mortarboard to Yun Mina.

But with Intelligence and MP bonuses... anyone could see it was meant for a Mage or a Cleric, right? I could use it too, but my magic worked on charge counts rather than MP consumption. Kim Seyeon (Cleric) was already relatively high-level and rarely needed to spam spells.

So from the start, there had only ever been one person who could make proper use of this item.

"A-ah... Orabeoni? Even if you want to win my favor, you can't just... h-hand something over this suddenly, you know?!"

Whoa. I'd never seen Han Sora this shaken.

Or... was it the first time? She'd reacted similarly back when the three of us went on a rampage out on the main road.

"This item is for you. More than anything else... you were the one who delivered the finishing blow to that ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠creature."

That airtight justification probably caught even Yun Mina herself completely off guard.

And indeed it did.

"W-woooow...! Orabeoni, you really... make it impossible to refuse, don't you?"

Yun Mina slowly placed her hand on the mortarboard.

Then her eyes went wide. Only now was she grasping the item's true value. You couldn't tell just by looking at it, after all.

What came next was a voice thick with disbelief.

"Th-th-this... r-really... for me?"

"Do I look like I'm lying?"

I didn't pull my hand back.

I simply held out this precious piece of loot toward Yun Mina in silence, as if telling her to take it already.

"...Thank you, Orabeoni. I'll... live up to this expectation. I promise."

"You always live up to my expectations, Mina."

"Heheh..."

Yun Mina carefully took the mortarboard in both hands and set it atop her head.

"W-woooow... this is... insane... Intelligence and MP are like...! Hyaaah...!"

Having tasted the true worth of a dungeon drop item, Yun Mina's eyes sparkled like a little kid's. She was probably staring at her status window in pure amazement.

"O-oppaaaaaaa...!"

Gah! Right!

I'd gotten so absorbed in my little moment with Yun Mina that I'd completely forgotten about Han Sora! Sora, blazing with jealous fury!

Ah, no... Sora. Th-this is...! I mean... for the sake of party balance! Yes! To maintain balance through improving the party's overall strength! A-and besides, this item was something Mina desperately needed, right? She's a Mage, and she has the lowest level among us, so...

Why am I only preparing excuses in my head and can't get a single word out of my mouth?!

Hey, 'Lawful Good'! Do you seriously have to be this unhelpful at times like this? Open my damn mouth and make an excuse, you bastard!

"More than anyone, this was a gift Yun Mina needed."

Anything but thaaaaaaat!

Spouting troll shit for the first time in ages. This 'Lawful Good' son of a bitch!

"Wh-what did you just saaaaaay?! A g-giiiiift?! O-oppa... how could you, right in front of me...! When you haven't even given me a gift?!"

Ah, no... it wasn't like I hadn't given her anything. I'd gone out of my way to get her a bow, found her clothes, taken care of all sorts of things... why couldn't I remember the details right now?

Was this that "brain freeze" thing that only hits boyfriends the moment they try to explain themselves to their girlfriends? (It wasn't.)

"Hey, Sora-seonbae?"

Ah, M-Mina? Please don't fan the flames when the house is already on fir—

"You saw that, right?"

Tilting the mortarboard at a jaunty angle and smirking—don't you dare! You're making the situation worse!

"Y-you biiiiiiiiitch?!"

See?! Short-haired Han Sora had fully transformed into a vengeful spirit! Enough to make monsters weep and flee!

And so, for a good ten minutes and more, Han Sora and Yun Mina went at each other without the slightest hesitation inside the great auditorium of the red building—a full physical scuffle over the distribution of a single monster drop item.

It was only after the two of them had worn themselves out from their tussle that we discovered the door beyond the auditorium stage—a door that seemed to announce its presence as if inviting us to step through.