Chapter 42
Chapter 42
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 42
Chapter Title: A-2 Class Swimming Lesson
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Kids in standard-issue swimsuits stood in formation, spines ramrod straight.
Pacing back and forth in front of them was the instructor teaching the swimming class, fiddling with a stopwatch.
“Gates can open anywhere, anytime, in any way we can’t predict. Ours kicked off with the very first one bursting open underwater, you know?”
The instructor grabbed an underwater rifle hanging on the pool wall and loaded it.
“You kids can’t just be good swimmers. You’ve got to be able to wield weapons freely while swimming. That way, no matter your awakening abilities, you can kill monsters underwater and shut the gate.”
The massive reinforced glass tank, vast and deep, was rigged with traps and targets. The instructor climbed to the top of the tank, aimed at a target, and fired.
The bullet blatantly missed the mark. Underwater targets were tricky—range and trajectory calculations just didn’t line up right.
Hearing the kids murmur, the instructor fired off to the side where they stood.
“Everyone, shut your mouths!!! Who gave you permission to talk?!”
The kids clamped their mouths shut at the gunshot. But a few were giggling, so it didn’t seem like they were scared. Grimacing, the instructor descended to the base of the tank.
“Anyway, let’s start training. Lee Sae-byeok, you’re up first. Lead the warm-up exercises.”
“Yessir~”
A girl shuffled out from the group. Her swim cap was a mess, and her goggles were poorly adjusted, dangling like a necklace around her neck.
Lee Sae-byeok began the warm-ups in the order taught by the Association, starting from the feet.
“One, two, three-four, jumping jacks, five-six, seven-eight, seventy, eighty—”
“Say the chants properly!”
The instructor shot her a glare to shape up.
Discipline was key, but every now and then, some kid muddied the waters.
Look at that sloppy getup. She didn’t even know how to adjust her own goggles. These orphan brats were such a hassle, needing constant hand-holding.
“Hey, enough. Go to the back and fix your cap and goggles properly. Who’s from the same batch as her?”
A pale, delicate-looking boy in the group raised his hand.
He hadn’t even gotten in the water yet, but he was already wearing his goggles. What a bunch of weirdos.
Still, his posture was neat, his speech and manners polite and cautious.
A lost-child necklace hung around his neck. He must’ve had some parental upbringing before losing his guardians and ending up here.
Last time they met, he’d bowed politely—good manners. The instructor liked that.
“Mind helping her out?”
“Yes.”
Seol Do-yoon nodded with a smile.
The warm-up leader switched, and the kids resumed chanting through the exercises.
Sae-byeok sat in front of the mirror at the back of the pool, wrestling with her swim cap. Do-yoon went over and stared blankly at her.
“What’re you staring at, dummy.”
“The instructor said to help, lion-head.”
“Ugh, this sucks. My hair keeps slipping out.”
“How old are you to not even put on a swim cap by yourself?”
She tried fiddling with the cap but gave up when her arms got tired.
Turning, she saw the pale goggle-wearing dork smirking at her.
“Why’re you wearing goggles already, you skinny little cicada?”
Do-yoon rolled his eyes and took off the goggles. Clear indentations marked his eyelids, bruised like a panda’s. His super-pale skin made the lines stark.
“What the—pfft. What happened?”
“Someone accidentally bumped me, and I fell.”
“Pfft, hahaha! Oh man, sorry. I got dizzy and lost my balance for a sec, heh, sorry. Pfft, haha! Because of me... heh. Snrk.”
“…….”
Worried the instructor might chew her out, Sae-byeok clamped her mouth shut and snickered to herself.
Do-yoon watched her with a straight-faced grin, then spoke up.
“Sae-byeok, you gotta wear the swim cap.”
“Hng, heh, pfft. Ngh.”
“Come here. You’re supposed to tie your hair first for a proper cap fit. I’ll do it.”
Do-yoon put his goggles back on and undid Sae-byeok’s half-tied ponytail, clamping the hair tie in his teeth as her body shivered.
Gripping firmly, he deftly gathered every strand without a single escapee.
Before she could protest, he swiftly tied it tight and secured the mess of hair under the flipped swim cap.
He’d tied it so sharply that her already-upturned eyes looked even sharper. The white rubber cap clung perfectly, accentuating her fierce little head.
“Wow... you look so pretty.”
Do-yoon beamed at her face, the brightest smile imaginable.
His recently sickly pallor had brightened, color returning to his cheeks.
It was a smile like fragrant petals fluttering around.
“Al... Alien! Just like the one in the WHY book!!”
“Bald monster breed!!!”
“…….”
The kids, having finished warm-ups, started heading for the main lesson but began buzzing at Sae-byeok’s new look.
She scowled at her reflection. Scowling only made her face look fiercer. With her cheeks pulled tight, her mouth wouldn’t close right—game over.
“You... this... you panda cicada punk...”
“Bald monster breed.”
The Association-raised kids were mostly quiet and disciplined from harsh training and grueling experiments, making them easy to control.
But among the classes divided by combined physical and mental scores into A, B, C, D, only A-2 Class was a nightmare to wrangle. Despite topping the charts.
“Whoa! They’re fighting again! Let’s watch!”
“Go, bald alien!”
“Go, panda cicada!”
“Win! Whoever! Just win!”
In the circle of encircling kids, Do-yoon and Sae-byeok were in the middle, fists clenched, brawling like crazy.
The instructor eyed the chaos, raising his weapon to threaten, but Sae-byeok and Do-yoon shrugged off showy intimidation, and the other kids followed suit, not budging.
Instructors got paid big to enforce tough lessons—if they skimped, pay got docked.
Biting his nails, the instructor radioed admin.
“Ahem, this is A-2 swimming instruction. Fight broke out—any manual for this?”
[A-2, huh? We can guess who. Best to let ’em be. After they scrap, the other kids’ morale inexplicably skyrockets. Some supervisors even egg it on. Just chill till they’re done, kill time.]
“Ah, got it. Thanks for the advice.”
Clicking off the radio, the instructor waded into the mess. The fight was a sight.
They improvised obstacles from nearby objects, used the slippery floor to trip each other.
He blew his whistle.
Sae-byeok seemed hotter-tempered—maybe provoke her.
“Looks like Do-yoon’s winning. Wanna move to the tank and fight there? Change of venue might flip the script. Or stay out here and go at it with this spear gun?”
The brawling kids froze mid-punch at his words. They exchanged glances and halted.
Lately, instructors loved jumping on fight bandwagons, but this guy was way too blatant.
More than wanting to kick some obnoxious kid’s ass, they hated dancing to his tune.
Their hype crashed.
Sae-byeok helped the roughly fallen Do-yoon to his feet. He wiped her nosebleed with a handy towel.
“Sorry, sir. We’ll stop fighting. Just do the lesson.”
What the actual fuck.
The instructor’s blood pressure spiked.
* * *
Underwater, not everything’s solved with fists. Swinging punches to kill monsters was inefficient and exhausting.
Dun pulled weapons from his inventory for the first time in ages.
He caressed the sharp harpoon tip, scanning the prowling monsters around.
With his immense strength, he no longer needed the spear gun. A simple toss outdid it.
Piranha-like monsters swarmed him in a frenzy.
Memories of hunter training days flashed—nailing multiple underwater targets with the spear gun.
Dun focused each throw, seeking the optimal angle to skewer the max piranhas.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Three harpoons impaled nearly the entire school. A couple stragglers remained, but too few to matter.
“Underwater attacks go like this. Now you finish ’em for the XP. Hunt on your own till level 100.”
Dun handed the piranha-skewered harpoons to Yoo-hyun. Not fully dead yet, they flopped helplessly on the shafts.
Following orders, Yoo-hyun cut their last breaths, raking in heaps of experience.
Yoo-hyun couldn’t hide his shock. Raw power killing monsters easy? Fine. But nailing fast-swimming fish monsters with perfect angles and minimal harpoons? Next-level strength.
His form screamed decades of harpoon mastery.
“Wow... you throw harpoons... harpoon-tastically.”
“?”
“Sorry, don’t kill me.”
Dun couldn’t let Yoo-hyun’s dumb pun slide. He grabbed another harpoon, then set it down.
How much had he even moved? Already tired. Dun stretched out limbs underwater, floating like he was lying in midair.
“You’ll get good with practice. I’m pretty skilled, so level up on your own.”
“Yes, rest well. I’ll grind hard.”
“Wait—got any item mats for underwater breathing?”
“Uh... checked, none. We can breathe here anyway, right?”
“Bring useful mats tomorrow; I’ll whip something up. No telling what Yenz and Gray’s attacks’ll be like—better prep.”
Yoo-hyun was level 90 now. He’d leveled up fat on the way here.
High levels meant killing tons per ding, but Uller teemed with small high-level mob packs—smart play made it smoother than elsewhere.
Plus, he had the Blade of Growth. Used it often in hunts; seemed he’d decided to keep it over selling.
[Level up.]
Hearing Yoo-hyun’s notification, Dun floated corpselike, eyes closed.
Leveling at 90 was brutal, so Yoo-hyun struggled hard.
While Dun slept, he died five times, slew three quasi-bosses.
His pet retrieved items on deaths, returning them on respawn.
Three days later, pure grinding got Yoo-hyun to level 100.