Midterms Are Solo (5)
Though Lee Sang-cheol had proposed and designed the subject himself, he'd been constantly thinking that ranking the top spot for this midterm would be incredibly tricky.
And for good reason. The grading criterion he'd announced to the students—contribution—seemed simple at first glance, but it could get endlessly complicated if you dug deeper.
Thinking simply, it was just about how actively the group participated in combat. But viewing it more rigorously changed everything.
Who assembled the team? Who was the leader? Who commanded the fights? Who disarmed the traps? And so on.
Contribution could be scrutinized to infinite depths if you wanted. Yet Lee Sang-cheol had chosen it precisely because of that difficulty.
Sure, it meant more work for the instructors. But there were clear advantages: precise, comprehensive scoring.
Even beyond combat, it evaluated everything from basic situational awareness to intuition, sociability, and adaptability, allowing for an extremely accurate assessment of each student. That's why he'd selected this method.
A contractor couldn't become top-tier just by excelling in battle.
So Lee Sang-cheol had no regrets about using contribution as the metric. The real headache was the top ranks.
Rankings at Valhalla carried immense weight for students, and the top spots in midterms often came down to margins as slim as 0.1 points.
That's why he'd been fretting over the top ranks...
...Only to realize there was no need to worry after all.
Lee Sang-cheol let out a hollow chuckle as he stared at the Excel sheet.
1st:Kim Joo-hyuk
2nd:Choi Ah-rin
3rd:Yoo So-yeon
4th:Oh Se-hyeok
5th: ───
───
──
─
..
.
13th ─
14th ─
15th ─
16th ─
Places 1 through 4 were already locked in, while the rest remained blank—the grading wasn't finished yet. But the top four stood out so decisively from the others that there was no contest.
'Starting with Oh Se-hyeok.'
The heir of the Oseon family hadn't assembled his team as cleverly as Yoo So-yeon, but he'd dominated combat contributions and leadership in his group to an overwhelming degree.
'Next, Yoo So-yeon.'
Lee Sang-cheol gazed at her name with pity.
She'd embodied his ideal for the dungeon conquest midterm: optimal team composition, firm leadership, balanced morale management, precise combat commands, and motivational presence. She deserved first place without question.
That is, if not for the anomaly.
'Choi Ah-rin...'
Lee Sang-cheol recalled the footage he'd reviewed with the other instructors, staring at the name right above Yoo So-yeon's.
'...Clearing an artificial dungeon solo...'
It defied common sense.
The instructors hadn't designed the artificial dungeon for solo clears.
Yet Choi Ah-rin had entered alone, cleared it up to the golem without issue, and emerged on time.
'Well, she did spend over two hours battling the golem.'
Two hours on the golem fight. But she'd defeated it and escaped within the limit.
That pushed her past Yoo So-yeon, who'd aced every category but had to split points with her team—contribution was a shared metric, after all.
In essence, Choi Ah-rin had shattered the very grading framework Lee Sang-cheol had envisioned, claiming second place.
But even she was overshadowed.
Because she paled next to the true outlier.
'Kim Joo-hyuk...'
The name proudly sitting at number one.
"Good grief..."
Lee Sang-cheol shook his head in disbelief, replaying Kim Joo-hyuk's footage for the umpteenth time.
In just 23 minutes and 32 seconds, he'd blitzed the artificial dungeon.
Monsters and traps, placed based on real dungeons, hadn't slowed him by even a second.
And the ostentatious golem, built to intimidate students? It lasted less than five seconds under his hands before shattering.
The pinnacle of absurdity.
No normal student could pull that off—and no one would even believe it if they did. Yet Kim Joo-hyuk had taken first.
'What the hell is this kid...?'
Lee Sang-cheol's doubts deepened.
No matter how he sliced it, Kim Joo-hyuk's skills were too exceptional for an orphan from a rundown outskirts orphanage.
He knew better than to judge by origins alone, but this was extreme.
Even more ridiculous? Investigations—both his personal probe and Valhalla's discreet check—found no signs of forgery or manipulation in his background.
Kim Joo-hyuk was genuinely from that orphanage.
Lee Sang-cheol pictured him striding through the dungeon with utter confidence.
'...If he keeps growing like this and enters the industry, he might reclaim the top spot for Korea.'
The One.
The title for the world's strongest contractor, the absolute number one on the registry. In Korea, it had last belonged to 'Lee Jon,' the Dragonian, fifty years ago.
'...At this level of freakish growth, I can't help but get a little excited.'
For a moment, Lee Sang-cheol felt like he was watching tales of the Dragonian he'd idolized in his youth, a strange expression crossing his face.
'What am I even thinking?'
He snorted and shook it off.
"...Time to wrap this up."
Soon enough, he dove back into work.
The auction house in Market District 1 was always bustling.
Items up for bid were invariably thrilling, high-quality goods.
Sure, the sums exchanged were astronomical, but that never deterred the crowds.
Especially today, with a relic from the Era of Destruction on the block.
"Welcome to the auction house."
A leather-clad attendant bowed stylishly amid the packed venue, where there wasn't even standing room.
"With so many guests today—"
She ran through the customary greetings.
And then.
"Normally, we'd build suspense by ordering the lots strategically. But due to special instructions from a very important figure, we'll start with today's highlight."
Unlike usual, she placed the star item—a relic from the Era of Destruction—directly on the podium.
"Oh...!"
Gasps erupted.
Bidders' eyes gleamed with raw greed.
It looked like an exquisitely crafted ring, but it held the power to grant immense strength.
Even without awakening that power, a determined buyer could repurpose it in various ways.
Seated bidders silently vowed to claim it, licking their lips.
To the wealthy, it was irresistible.
—
The attendant droned on with useless details about the ring. Onlookers buzzed excitedly. Bidders dropped all pretense of subtlety.
"Now, the bidding for the 'Era of Destruction Relic' begins. As you know, starting bid is the house minimum: $100,000."
The awaited auction kicked off.
Onlookers' gazes converged. Wagers flew on the final price.
Bidders scanned rivals, gauging who would lead.
But.
"Yes, bidder number one."
The spotlight auction, drawing every eye...
"Ten million dollars."
...ended in a flash, courtesy of the man in the black cat mask.
The Market's owner, Black Cat.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Ten million dollars, sold!"
[The Ruler Behind the Scenes demands you bring the ring quickly!!] (x13)
[The Ruler Behind the Scenes says it's driving them insane!!] (x13)
"...Lord Constellation, could you please just wait a little?"
…….
…
.
He rubbed the dark circles hidden beneath his mask, his face etched with exhaustion as the notification windows flooded his vision at breakneck speed. Wearily, he muttered to himself.