Chapter 156: 2nd Semester (10)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 156: 2nd Semester (10)
I set Yoon Chae-ha, still in my arms, down on a quiet bench in front of the penthouse complex.
“Did you enjoy your meal?”
“Mmph.”
She nodded her head up and down vigorously in response to my question.
“That’s a relief.”
“Mmph.”
After finally managing to swallow all the pasta in her mouth, she looked up at me with teary eyes and said, “Next time… wait until I’ve swallowed everything…”
“Okay. I’m sorry.”
I gave her head a gentle pat as an apology.
A moment later, Cheon Yeo-wool caught up to us.
We walked in silence toward the Portal Clearance Office.
Our destination was the clearance office located at the eastern edge of Gaon Academy.
We headed for the designated meeting spot, Area C-3.
There was still some time before class, but when we entered the building, Instructor Do Han-seong and a few other students had already arrived.
“Instructor.”
“Ah, you’re here.”
He nodded as I greeted him.
While waiting for the other students, I took in the sights of the clearance office.
Gaon was a floating island near the West Sea.
As such, it also served as the largest portal hub connecting South Korea to the rest of the world.
— Final boarding for Portal 12 to New York will now commence.
The announcement flowed out in both English and Korean.
The interior of the clearance office was bustling not only with Gaon students but also with active heroes and personnel from various countries.
This place was more than just a simple school facility.
As I was observing my surroundings, nearly all the students gathered.
Instructor Do Han-seong addressed the group.
“We will now begin the first practical training of the second semester: Gate cleanup. Today, you will be assisting with the post-clearance processing of several Gates.”
Typically, after a Gate has been cleared, some residual monsters remain inside.
Others manage to escape to the outside before the Gate closes. The supplementary subjugation of these remnants is what’s known as cleanup.
It was the most basic type of mission, perfectly suited for a practical training exercise.
I nodded and waited for the instructor’s next words.
“Now… we will draw for teams. You will be in teams of three, and as I mentioned, the selection is random. I will only intervene if there is a major issue.”
Instructor Do Han-seong tapped his wrist twice.
“Please check your watches. We will begin the draw.”
As he spoke, a flashy, slot-machine-like lottery window popped up on my watch’s hologram screen.
The names of countless students began to spin rapidly.
It didn’t matter who I was paired with.
Just then, Cheon Yeo-wool, who was standing beside me, brought her hands together lightly in front of her chest and whispered, “…colo sao…”
A faint, divine light flickered at her fingertips.
“…What are you doing?”
The next moment, the slot machine stopped.
[Unit 7: Jung Hae-in]
[Unit 7: Yoon Chae-ha]
[Unit 7: Cheon Yeo-wool]
To my surprise, Yoon Chae-ha, Cheon Yeo-wool, and I were all on the same team.
I let out a hollow laugh and looked at Cheon Yeo-wool.
“This is what divine power is for, after all.”
Cheon Yeo-wool muttered brazenly, an expression of pure innocence on her face.
“……”
Instructor Do Han-seong checked his watch, then his gaze shifted toward the three of us.
He stared for a long moment before speaking.
“Well, grouping all the top-ranking students together isn’t necessarily a bad thing.”
He wasn’t wrong.
My, Yoon Chae-ha’s, and Cheon Yeo-wool’s rankings were all in the top ten.
Rather than splitting us up awkwardly, lumping us together might actually be better from a balance perspective.
The students began checking their assigned units and gathering with their teammates.
We, however, didn’t need to move.
“If you check your watches, you will find your unit’s assigned Gate.”
At the instructor’s words, I turned on my watch. A new mission brief appeared on the hologram screen.
[Unit 7: Mission Assignment]
[Location: Iksan, Jeonbuk, ‘Spider Web Forest’ B-Class Gate]
[Mission Description: A significant number of spider-type monsters have been confirmed to have escaped from the cleared Gate. Prevent their spread into civilian areas and clean up all residual monsters.]
I looked over the transmitted mission brief.
Finding the spiders seemed like it would be a pain, but the mission itself didn’t look too difficult.
I glanced at my two teammates standing before me.
“Haaah.”
Cheon Yeo-wool let out a yawn so big it brought tears to her eyes.
“……”
Yoon Chae-ha was dozing off while standing.
Was she having a sugar crash from the pasta?
Right.
This was my team.
Should I just ditch them?
A B-Class Gate was something I could handle alone…
“Hoo…”
In the end, I let out a deep sigh and dismissed the thought.
Flick.
I lightly flicked the foreheads of the dozing Yoon Chae-ha and Cheon Yeo-wool.
“Let’s go.”
I walked toward Portal 3, the one assigned to us.
Our first practical mission was about to begin.
*
Vwooom.
As we passed through the portal, the cool air of the clearance office was replaced by the earthy smell of soil.
We had arrived at an operation camp set up at the foot of a mountain in Iksan.
An active hero, waiting to hand over the training mission, approached us.
“The students from Gaon are… huh?”
He froze on the spot when he saw our faces as we walked out of the portal.
“Wait… are you really the students assigned here?”
“Yes. We’re Unit 7, assigned to today’s mission,” I answered calmly.
I could understand his surprise. Cheon Yeo-wool was already famous as the Saintess, and Yoon Chae-ha and I had been all over TV recently because of the incident at Bulgaram’s Workshop.
“Honestly, it’s a bit of a hassle, but this mission isn’t difficult enough to warrant students of your caliber…” the hero muttered, scratching his head. He soon sighed as if giving up on trying to understand.
“Anyway, could you follow me? I’ll give you the briefing.”
With that, he led us to a hill overlooking the Gate’s entrance.
He opened a holographic map and pointed to the vast mountainous terrain before us.
“To be honest, the spider monsters that escaped from here are C-Class at best. The problem is…”
His expression turned serious.
“Those bastards have built nests and hidden themselves all over this mountain.”
The place he pointed to was a forest, dense with fog and massive trees.
Here and there, however, were patches of white spiderwebs.
They were likely spun by the monsters.
“That’s why it’s a B-Class mission—the search component is included.”
“I see.”
I nodded.
This was looking to be more tiring than I thought.
I was good at fighting, but I was a little weak when it came to detection.
Of course, I could do it if I had to.
It looked like I’d be stuck scrambling around this forest all day.
I offered some encouragement to my two teammates standing beside me.
“Let’s try to finish before 10 PM.”
I looked at each of their faces, a smile playing on my lips.
But both Yoon Chae-ha and Cheon Yeo-wool looked completely unimpressed.
What’s with this reaction?
“Let’s do this.”
Were they down because the mission seemed tough? I tried to rally their spirits again.
But then.
“…What are we going to do after we’re done?” Yoon Chae-ha asked quietly.
“We can’t do anything. We’ll go home and sleep.”
I said 10 PM, but by my estimate, we could be at this past midnight.
“Hmm…”
At that moment, Cheon Yeo-wool placed a finger on her lips, tilted her head, and looked at Yoon Chae-ha.
“Doesn’t something seem off?”
“…Yeah, a little?”
The two of them exchanged a look.
The next moment, Cheon Yeo-wool turned to me and flashed a bewitching smile.
“What’s off?”
As I asked, bewildered, she whispered into my ear, her breath hot against my skin.
“So, if we finish early, will you give us a reward?”
A reward?
What kind of reward?
“Ah, never mind.”
Then, Cheon Yeo-wool slowly shook her head and made a proposal.
“How about a bet, then? If we complete the mission before 6 PM, you have to grant each of us one wish.”
I raised my watch to check the time.
It was 3 PM.
My estimated completion time was 11 PM.
6 PM was an impossible deadline.
There was no reason for me to refuse the offer.
“And if I win?”
“Mmm… we’ll grant you a wish, too.”
I didn’t need one.
Still, it was good if it motivated them.
For the record, there was no way they could finish by 6 PM. Absolutely no way.
“Alright, it’s a b—”
Wait a minute.
“Yoon Chae-ha.”
“What.”
“You’re not planning on burning down all the trees, are you?”
“……”
Yoon Chae-ha didn’t answer my question.
I knew it.
“…I won’t.”
She finally answered reluctantly, her lips jutting out in a pout.
That was a close call.
She almost would’ve made the news as the Iksan Arsonist.
Alright, now then…
“Give it your best shot,” I muttered with a confident smile.
And 10 minutes later.
Fwoosh.
“……”
I just stood there, dumbfounded, staring at the massive pile of spider corpses before my eyes.
“Pfft.”
“Heehee.”
Beside me, I could hear Cheon Yeo-wool and Yoon Chae-ha laughing.
“……”
There was one thing I had overlooked, one thing I had failed to realize.
Cheon Yeo-wool had obtained a Fragment.
And Yoon Chae-ha had acquired Eclipse.
What both had in common… was the power to annihilate Demonic Force.
To their magically gifted eyes, the locations of all the spiders hidden behind the webs had been visible from the moment they arrived at the mountain.
As I said before, I wasn’t confident in my detection skills, so I hadn’t even considered such an application.
And so, the moment the bet began, Cheon Yeo-wool had simply closed her eyes and raised her hands to the sky.
Shwoooooo…
A pure white divine power spread out from beneath her feet, blanketing the entire mountain.
The next moment, dozens of giant spiders that had been hiding underground and beneath the trees shrieked as they were flung into the air.
And one by one, those spiders were perfectly skewered by the lances of flame created by Yoon Chae-ha.
And all of that took exactly 10 minutes.
I could only stare at the scene with my mouth agape.
Cheon Yeo-wool checked her watch, then smiled sweetly at Yoon Chae-ha.
“Oh my? What time is it?”
Yoon Chae-ha also placed a finger on her lips and answered with a straight face.
“3… 10?”
As if on cue, the two of them turned to look at me at the same time.
