Chapter 121
Chapter 121
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 121
Chapter Title: Training Results and Future Plans
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Recalling the massive fireball I'd occasionally seen during spars with Yoo Ara, I said,
"Hmm... If they fight like that from time to time, the terrorists have a clear advantage. Is this really okay?"
Of course, it was just speculation, but that situation wasn't ideal for the special forces team.
Given the clear gap in skill, the best strategy was to avoid direct combat as much as possible and use information for psychological warfare.
From the mana I could sense outside, it was obvious multiple battles had broken out.
Shin Young-jun shook his head.
"...Sigh. Looks like they're losing. No way they can win going at it like that head-on."
"Let's wait and see for now."
"Wait? They're not getting rescued, and it feels like it's wrapping up."
Tsk tsk. Shin Young-jun clicked his tongue.
That's when it happened.
The door began to creak open.
Everyone looked at it in surprise.
A man with a familiar face walked into the room.
Everyone stared at him in shock.
The man, Kim Sun-woo, said,
"Hey. Come on out."
Kim Sun-woo's successful hostage rescue completely flipped the situation for both teams.
"What?! The hostages are free?"
"Park In-hwan and the others were guarding them, right?"
The freed hostages turned their efforts toward capturing and eliminating the terrorists.
With top-tier fighters like Lee Seo-jun and Shin Young-jun joining in, the terrorist team crumbled quickly.
Of course, Yoo Ara, skilled in fighting groups, unleashed massive fireballs and demonstrated one-against-many prowess on her own, but her opponents were Lee Seo-jun and Shin Young-jun.
She couldn't handle them both alone.
And so, after about 30 minutes in the hall,
The training came to an end.
Yoo Ara, who had stubbornly held out alone, ultimately couldn't withstand the combined assault from Lee Seo-jun and Shin Young-jun and was defeated.
That said, she'd taken out numerous students in the process, so regardless of the win or loss, it wasn't a bad outcome for her.
[Victory Team: Special Forces & Hostage Team]
[Individual Kills TOP 3]
1. Yoo Ara — 11 kills
2. Kim Sun-woo - 7 kills
3. Lee Seo-jun - 5 kills
[Hostage Rescue Rankings]
1. Kim Sun-woo - 6 rescues
2. Jeong Jin-won - 4 rescues
[Base Occupation Score]
The training results were announced.
Some students rejoiced at their scores, while others vented frustration at unsatisfactory outcomes.
But most fell into doubt staring at the results.
"Hey, what's with Kim Sun-woo's kill count?"
"Yeah? 7?"
"No way, how'd he trash them like that? Park In-hwan was there too, right?"
"Whoa, is that rumor about Kim Sun-woo really true?"
"Hey, Baek Du-eon. Spill it. What happened that all the hostages got freed?"
The students asked Baek Du-eon, who had been guarding the hostages.
Baek Du-eon stared blankly at the rankings, then shifted his gaze to Kim Sun-woo sitting alone in the distance.
And then he blurted out something unexpected.
"I'm joining Teacher Kim Sun-woo's sect."
"See you tomorrow."
"Yeah. Take care."
The busy schedule for the day finally wrapped up. Students packed their bags and trickled out of the classroom one by one.
I ignored the stares and whispers directed my way.
Man, moving around a bit made my whole body ache.
I'd unnecessarily fought groups and used more mana than expected.
Still, the results were good, so I was satisfied.
I worried a little that my big performance might draw Jeong Hyun's attention too much, but it had been unavoidable for me.
The Seongmuje that Lily Rose had mentioned, coming next spring.
With several incidents set to occur there, I had to participate no matter what.
But Seongmuje required being in the top 5 overall scores—a tight condition—and my current standing made it iffy.
Sure, my ranking was climbing steadily.
But the gap between 20th and 5th was an enormous chasm that words couldn't capture.
With average exam results, breaking into the top 5 this year would be extremely tough.
With little time left, I had to give my all in every upcoming training and exam.
Whether practicals, attitude scores, or theory—everything.
"Kim Sun-woo."
That's when Lee Seo-jun called out to me as he approached. He looked at me with an intrigued smile and spoke.
"Wanna grab food with the group? You bailed last time."
Behind Lee Seo-jun stood Shin Young-jun, Lee Hyun-joo, Yoo Ara, Yoon Ha-young, and a few others I didn't know well.
"Yeah, Sun-woo, let's eat together~."
Yoon Ha-young smiled and said to me.
I'd thought she might be down after losing the training, but she seemed fine now.
Hmm. Food... Didn't really matter to me.
"Where we eating? Don't wanna go far."
"Oh, trying to weasel out alone again."
Shin Young-jun cut in, glaring at me playfully.
"From the way you talk, you don't seem busy today. Just come along, yeah?"
"...What're we eating then?"
"We'll decide now. Got anything you wanna eat?"
Shin Young-jun asked. Nothing sounded appealing, so I answered vaguely.
"Anything's fine for me."
"Hmm. Noodles then?"
"Nah, not feeling flour."
"Sashimi?"
"That won't fill me up."
"Pizza."
"That's flour."
Shin Young-jun narrowed his eyes at me.
"You messing with me?"
"......Ahem."
I cleared my throat awkwardly and spoke again.
"Meat?"
It wasn't my top choice, but at least it was less picky.
"Ugh, says anything's fine but ends up picking anyway."
Shin Young-jun nodded and started polling opinions.
In the end, we decided on a barbecue spot per my suggestion. No objections, thankfully.
"Let's go!"
We arrived at a nearby grill house not far from school.
After sitting and chatting briefly, the meat started arriving on the table.
Lee Seo-jun, sitting across from me, took charge of the tongs for grilling.
"But man, you were no joke in that exam. 7 kills. Impressive."
Lee Seo-jun said while grilling.
"Yeah, and Park In-hwan was there too. You take them all on at once?"
Yoon Ha-young, sitting next to me, asked. Explaining the details myself felt awkward, so I brushed it off.
"Just got lucky."
As we talked, Shin Young-jun, who'd been quietly fiddling with his smart student handbook, suddenly looked shocked.
"Huh? Whoa, what's this? Hey, hey. Kim Sun-woo, check this out."
Shin Young-jun shoved his smart student handbook at me.
[Lilly Rose(@Lilly_lJ)]
[Photo]
[Fire emoji]
It was Lily Rose's SNS.
There was a screenshot from a video posted there.
The person in the photo looked familiar.
Face covered by a burning emoji, but the build made it obvious—it was me.
So, she'd captured me from the recent public test video and posted it.
Why'd she post my pic?
"Isn't this you?"
"...Looks like me."
Shin Young-jun gave a puzzled look.
"What? Why'd Lily Rose post your pic?"
Beats me.
"No idea."
"...Hmm. Suspicious."
Shin Young-jun squinted at me.
"You two got something going?"
"Nope."
"Then what's with the fire emoji? You two hot and heavy or what?"
"...Is your brain wired only for that?"
"Or what?"
It threw me off too.
No clue, but the fire emoji probably meant my test video fired her up—motivated her, stimulated her or something.
It was clear Lily Rose felt competitive toward me.
"Huh? Hey, Lee Seo-jun. What're you doing?"
Shin Young-jun's voice snapped me back suddenly.
I saw Shin Young-jun snatching meat with quick chopsticks, and Lee Seo-jun too.
"Ah, sorry."
Lee Seo-jun gave an awkward smile.
I stared blankly at the meat on my plate.
Charred black.
I'd just remembered Lee Seo-jun had zero cooking sense.
After finishing all my tasks for the day, I grabbed some food from the convenience store and headed back to the dorm.
Opening the door, I saw Gretel's tiny back. Hearing me approach, she turned, toddled over.
"Bored, huh?"
Gretel nodded.
Glancing around, I spotted sausage wrappers scattered on the floor. Plenty of other food at home, but she only eats that.
Then Gretel's eyes locked on the convenience store bag. She twinkled, sensing food inside.
"Bought it for you."
[Gretel feels intense joy.]
[A new component is added to the 'Mystical Demon Tree Fruit' due to its effects.]
[The efficacy of the 'Mystical Demon Tree Fruit' increases by 5%.]
New component? Efficacy boost?
The sudden messages startled me a bit.
The fruit changes based on the demon tree's mood—literally.
Now I was really curious. What kind would come out?
Maybe something safe like boosting mana stats? Or a trait?
If I could get a trait from a fruit, that'd be huge.
Trait fruit...
Feels like a devil fruit. Nice.
Then Gretel approached and reached out. Hurry up and hand it over gesture.
"Alright, alright."
I rummaged through the bag, pulling out food one by one.
Tired of just sausages lately, I'd gotten variety.
Ham, smoked chicken leg, salad.
Gretel eyed them, picked the ham and chicken leg.
"The salad?"
Gretel shook her head.
"Same category, so no?"
Gretel didn't respond. Just focused on devouring the chicken leg.
Good thing she liked it—she ate well.
She's picky in her own way.
Crouching to watch Gretel, my smartphone alarm rang.
[U-Day]
[Auction has ended.]
[Final bid: 80 billion]
"Oh."
The sword auction finally closed.
Final price: 80 billion. Sold for a solid amount.
Considering regular A-rank swords traded for 30-60 billion, this was top-tier pricing.
"Better than expected."
My total assets now exceeded 110 billion.
Considering I'd blown nearly all my cash at the underground auction 2-3 weeks ago, I'd amassed it ridiculously fast.
"Got a good chunk of cash now..."
Time to start that plan I'd been mulling.
Timing was perfect too.
What I had in mind: land speculation.
Snagging land that'd turn to gold in the future.
Of course, it wasn't some petty investment chasing development zones.
There was a special land investment method unique to this world.
Buying land where dungeons, towers, or ruins would spawn in the future.
In this world, if a dungeon, tower, or ruin appeared on your property, you could claim ownership.
That's why 'looters' existed.
Of course, the landowner had to discover and register the dungeon for legal ownership, so most got cleared without the owner knowing.
The 'Bokma Battlefield 5th Entrance' that Yoon Ha-young and I cleared recently was a case where the owner didn't even know.
And with my future knowledge, I knew the location of land for an upcoming dungeon.
That dungeon had massive deposits of 'natural magitite,' one of this world's key energy resources.
Location: Hwacheon, Gangwon-do.
Gangwon-do had high dungeon spawn potential, so land was pricey, but I had enough cash.
Dungeon spawns in a month or two?
"...I'll check the land this weekend."
I opened my smart student handbook.
As expected, a message waited.
[Notice: This week's Thursday special elective activity.]
[Three lectures are prepared. Please select your preferred one.]