A Duel Has Been Issued! (1)
The week-long intense subjugation operation had finally come to an end. After assessing their specs and optimizing their equipment, the party spent their time grinding through a C-rank gate. To match their coordination, I participated while deliberately limiting my power to a level similar to the rest of the party.
“Ugh… I never want to see another slime again…”
“It wasn’t too bad, aside from the awful smell.”
“I think I could go again?”
The gate consisted of an endless series of caves, teeming with various types of naturally occurring slimes. The subjugation went incredibly smoothly thanks to a tactic that used the protagonist’s abilities to drop stalactites from the cave ceiling. The protagonist had praised me endlessly, claiming I must have brought them here specifically to make use of his powers. But since that had never been part of my plan, I simply kept my mouth shut and accepted the compliments.
As a result, in just seven days, we achieved the astonishing feat of raising the protagonist to level 12 and Peony to level 10. It was probably thanks to one of Peony’s traits that granted bonus experience when she had the lowest level in a party of three or more. The developers had likely balanced her that way so the main heroine could always be easily recruited, but I intended to use her quite differently.
If I pulled the protagonist aside for separate leveling sessions, wouldn’t Peony be able to level up relatively safely and easily? Of course, that would mean the protagonist would have to suffer even more in return.
Beyond the level-ups, there were other gains as well. Since it wasn’t a dedicated farming gate, selling the magic stones and byproducts only earned us about two million won. Still, because I refused to take any share and split the earnings between the two of them, it seemed to be a rather satisfying amount in their eyes. Even that much was only possible because our means of transportation had drastically cut down on lodging and food expenses.
And now, after a full week plus one additional day, we could finally return to school.
The classroom had twenty seats arranged in rows, and the few students who had arrived early were already claiming the best spots. Seeing some familiar faces made me feel a strange sense of nostalgia. At last, it was beginning—the story I had only ever experienced through the game!
“Haneul! Over here!”
“Yes, Peony unnie!”
Peony, who had arrived first and saved a seat, waved her hand enthusiastically. But why did it have to be the very front row?
When I flew over to her, she looked startled at the object I was sitting on.
“Wow! Robo-Cleanie came back to life!”
“It’s a machine, so I just had it repaired.”
I had planned to leave the completely burned-out robot vacuum at a repair shop, but a researcher investigating the auditorium had scanned it with various pieces of exploration equipment and stubbornly insisted on taking it away. A week later, the robot vacuum had been returned, completely refurbished. There didn’t seem to be any major changes to its appearance, but apparently being struck by lightning had imbued it with intelligence on the level of a puppy. They had even added a speaker that allowed it to make simple beeping sounds.
“Beep! Beep!”
“There, there! I missed you too, Robo-Cleanie!”
“Beep! Beep! Beep!”
I set the robot vacuum down and handed it to Peony, who immediately began petting it with wild enthusiasm. But wasn’t this a bit much? It had barely reacted when I was the one riding it. Wasn’t that unfair?
“I’m the owner, so why does it seem to like Peony unnie more?”
“Beep?”
“If this disobedient robot vacuum keeps ignoring me, I might just sell it at the pet market, you know?”
“Beep!”
The three of us—no, the two of us and one robot—were chatting away when the protagonist arrived right before class was about to start. Why did he always cut it so close?
“Senior. Over here!”
“Senior? Me?”
“Yes. Si-woo sunbae.”
“Didn’t you call me ‘Si-woo-ssi’ this whole time?”
“Yes, that’s right. But calling you that even inside the academy would be a bit strange, wouldn’t it?”
I absolutely refused to call him ‘oppa,’ so I had decided to settle on ‘sunbae.’ This was something my inner self—the true manly giga-sangnamja Lee Haneul—could not tolerate.
“We’re in the same class. Isn’t calling me sunbae a little weird?”
Only in moments like this did the protagonist’s senses become strangely sharp.
“Just like how you call Peony ‘unnie,’ wouldn’t it be fine to call me Si-woo oppa?”
“Have you lost your mind, sunbae-nim?”
“Is it really that hard? It’s just a title.”
“Yes. It really is that difficult, so I’ll stick with sunbae. Sunbae.”
“Alright then. I’ll be counting on you from now on, junior.”
This was one area where I absolutely would not yield. My inner giga-sangnamja Lee Haneul seemed to agree, nodding his head inside my imagination.
After exchanging a few more words, the bell signaling ten o’clock rang out. At the same time, a woman opened the door and entered the classroom. She wore a formal jacket and skirt, holding a tablet in one hand and a jerrycan in the other. Her hunched posture was matched by heavy dark circles under her eyes, and though her black hair was tied back, it still looked messy. Fortunately, I recognized her face. She was an NPC who had appeared as the homeroom professor in the game during my previous life.
Thud!
The sound of the jerrycan hitting the floor instantly killed the light chatter that had been building. Without bothering to call roll, she swept her gaze across the room and got straight to the point.
“One, two, three…”
“Twenty people. Everyone’s here. I am Kwon Do-hee, the homeroom professor for the Dragon Head class. It’s nice to meet you all.”
“I also serve as the academy’s vice principal, the dean of Ability Combat Studies, and the dean of Ability Utilization Studies. If you have any related inquiries, please contact the faculty office instead of the department office.”
The sudden introduction was met with a lukewarm reaction from the class. Only Peony clapped her hands like an enthusiastic seal.
“Those of you who have enrolled in the Dragon Head class will receive the following benefits.”
“You will have priority when enrolling in desired courses such as close-quarters combat studies, magic support studies, and more.”
“You may also directly accept some of the requests that come to the academy.”
“Other than that, you are required to gather once a week at this same time for mandatory lectures.”
“As a reminder, since the academy was closed for a week, please complete your course registration by tomorrow. Any questions?”
The homeroom professor rattled off the explanation like a machine gun. Since it was the first day, she probably wanted to finish quickly and go get some sleep. Her dark circles looked even deeper than they had in the game—perhaps she had worked hard, or rather, even harder during the week-long closure.
“Professor Kwon Do-hee-nim! I have a question!”
“You only need to use ‘nim’ once, student Peony.”
“Ah, Professor Kwon Do-hee-nim! What kind of requests are they?”
“Sigh… As you all know, those who enrolled in the Dragon Head class are stronger than most active ability users.”
“That is why the academy has created a system where students can accept a select few of the commissioned requests deemed safe for students, allowing them to gain real-world experience.”
“That sounds fun!”
“Sigh…”
After Peony’s comment, no one else raised any questions. The homeroom professor announced the end of class, then opened the jerrycan and began gulping down its contents.
“Whoa… Haneul, do you know what Professor Kwon Do-hee-nim is drinking like that?”
“It’s all coffee. The professor is using her ability right now.”
Obviously, her ability wasn’t one that used coffee as fuel. Professor Kwon’s ability was Accumulation. It was an incredibly useful power even for office work.
“It’s an ability that allows her to accumulate all sorts of elements inside her body and release them whenever she wants. Right now, she’s storing coffee—specifically, caffeine and sugar.”
“That… sounds incredibly convenient!”
“It is both convenient and highly effective.”
“Though she herself doesn’t seem very happy about it.”
Contrary to the saying that ‘the best abilities are those that help in everyday life,’ her power was so useful that she was constantly being worked to the bone. While we watched the professor finish off an entire jerrycan while still standing, someone approached from behind.
“You. Come with me for a moment.”
“Yes? Me?”
“Yes. You, elf. Ever since the entrance ceremony, you’ve been pulling strange tactics and damaging the academy’s honor. Are you even aware of that?”
The woman had dyed her hair blonde and wore heavy makeup. She was a student who could be called Extra A—one of the lackeys in the Dragon Head class.
“Why would I be? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in the auditorium before. Did you perhaps evacuate?”
An innocent straight punch landed squarely on Extra A’s solar plexus.
“Ugh… Elf. I challenge you to a duel.”
“What’s that?”
A duel. It was a simulated battle conducted between students at the academy. There was no real compulsion, and neither victory nor defeat carried any tangible rewards or penalties, but since spectators could watch freely, it essentially served as a public ranking match.
“Peony unnie. A duel is like a fake fight. It seems this classmate wants to spar with you.”
“Spar? Oh! I’m in!”
It wasn’t anything special—it was an event that triggered if the main character teamed up with Peony during the entrance ceremony battle. If the protagonist’s charm stat was above a certain threshold, this jealous extra would challenge them to a duel while thinking, ‘That seat was supposed to be mine…’ and venting her frustration.
Anyway, this girl was weak, and I had already raised Peony’s level quickly, so there was nothing to worry about.
“Isn’t that basically suicide? Right, Haneul?”
“Pretty much. Right now, Peony unnie’s combat strength ranks third in the class.”
“Then am I second?”
“No? Second place is someone else. Second is…”
As the classroom buzzed with the lightning-fast news of the duel, another commotion erupted.
“Then… I’ll also… apply for a duel with Do-min…”
“You’re challenging me to a duel?”
Wait, the timid one? Against the pushover?