Chapter 12
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 12
Chapter Title: First Tournament (5)
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The goblins that burst out from the summoning circle were huddled together in a bunch.
They were all bound with vines.
"...Come on. Hurry up and kill the monsters."
I stepped out from among the tied-up goblins.
Mitsuda was staring at me like he couldn't believe it.
I ignored him and brushed the dirt off my clothes.
Ah-young approached me and asked calmly.
"...Tae-hyun? What is this...?"
"Monsters."
For some reason, Mitsuda was there, along with some cadets I'd never seen before.
The goblins, out of their minds, collapsed one by one onto the floor.
"Exactly eighty of them. That's for you eight."
I pointed at the knocked-out goblins.
"Come on. Hunt them. You can handle tied-up ones, right?"
"Uh... uh, yeah..."
No matter how injured they were, dealing with bound goblins shouldn't be hard.
If they couldn't fight, I'd just weaken them a bit more and let them finish the kills.
With this, the entire C Class passes.
'This is it. Feels like I'm the mother bird.'
No sooner had I thought that than the cadets who hadn't met the quota drew their weapons and charged in.
Mitsuda approached me and shouted.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?!"
He came at me barking, but it was no threat to me at all.
"What's the problem?"
"...You think the higher-ups will accept kills like this?"
"Accept?"
What was he talking about?
This wasn't just about filling the goblin quota.
Right now, the cadets on the fifth floor were probably scrambling to find the boss.
What I'd done was, in effect, to take down the Goblin King.
The boss.
And I'd claimed it.
Before my regression, I'd cleared this dungeon dozens of times hunting goblins.
I knew its structure and what tricks that guy would pull.
'If Mitsuda hadn't strayed from the team, we would've all come to this room together nicely.'
Do people change that easily?
He'd gone for an obvious ploy, and I'd seen right through it.
I had no intention of falling for his childish prank or playing along.
My goal was to win this tournament.
So there were no flaws in my plan.
No cadets got hurt, and everyone benefited in the end.
I shoved my hands in my pockets and walked toward him.
"What, pissed off?"
"Kuh...!"
Mitsuda ground his teeth without a word.
He knew he wasn't my match.
He'd tried every trick to get me kicked out, but I'd been two steps ahead.
I hadn't broken any rules or injured allies.
In the end, Mitsuda had danced in the palm of my hand.
"Ugh...! Ugh...!!!"
Mitsuda huffed and puffed his emotions out but did nothing else before turning away.
It was a good thing Lee Jae-yeol's weapon was a gun.
He almost couldn't even take down the bound goblins.
With Lee Jae-yeol last, C Class safely met the quota.
Some classmates had collapsed from exhaustion or fallen asleep.
Three hours until the test ended.
Just barely safe.
"...Thanks."
Lee Jae-yeol said, leaning against a rock.
His face looked wrecked from fatigue.
Jae-yeol slowly opened his mouth.
"I've got two little brothers... I'm here to send them to school."
"..."
I just listened without saying a word.
"You know how it is, right? If I devote myself as a hunter for humanity, scholarships cover the family too. Our folks are gone, so I have to do this crap."
Parents.
Siblings.
...Honestly, I had no idea.
I was abandoned by my parents as a kid. With my little sister.
And my only sister died to a monster.
Longing for family? No, just vengeance.
Family.
Fine, humans need family.
But even so, it didn't sit right with me.
I stood up.
"No matter the reason, this isn't a daycare."
"...What?"
"This isn't an agency to feed your brothers. It's a school to train hunters. Drop the little brother excuse."
I shoved my hands in my pockets and headed elsewhere.
I looked at the goblin corpses crushed under rocks, sliced by blades, and burned.
Most were the ones who'd helped me.
The goblins who'd obediently bound themselves with vines at my command.
No pity for monsters.
For my revenge, I had to climb higher.
Higher, to a place no one could reach, and judge all evil.
Maybe that's my fate.
The tournament will end soon.
Participants, please move to your portal locations.
Portal relocation in 1 minute.
30 seconds.
10 seconds.
Tournament end!
Comprehensive rankings for written, physical, and tournament: announced.
1. Hong Ga-yeon (464 points)
2. William Mountbatten Jr. (463 points)
3. Yoon Seo-hyun (245 points)
...
29. Kang Tae-hyun (165 points)
...
The tournament was over.
I got a 29th place score sheet.
Not bad.
29th was solidly upper ranks.
Plus, I'd secured my ultimate goal: weekend outing and overnight pass privileges.
Honestly, as long as I got that, the ranking didn't matter.
Three days after the tournament ended.
Cadets were holed up in the infirmary, not moving a muscle.
The medical team visited each private room to check conditions and aid recovery.
Prepping for second-semester training.
The other cadets were probably dying to get out.
Especially the top rankers—reporters would be swarming them already.
Reporters desperate for interviews too.
"First place as expected: Hong Ga-yeon."
Second: William.
Third: Yoon Seo-hyun.
Fourteen dropouts from the tournament.
They had to pack and head home, regretfully.
In the end, all of C Class survived.
From what I heard, there'd been some back-and-forth with Mitsuda and the class president.
Honestly, I didn't care anymore.
The only thing I cared about was the 'Blue Room key.'
'Come to think of it, haven't been to the Mana House in a while.'
I wanted to head back to the dorms right away and see that lady's face.
Tell Ms. High-and-Mighty Yoon Family daughter that I'd outranked her by a mile.
"Ha, this sucks..."
Even for a hospital, three days was brutal.
My body was fully healed; now it was itching for action.
Chicken instead of pheasant: 300 push-ups, 300 squats, 300 sit-ups a day to hold out.
Bzzz-.
At that moment, my hospital room door opened.
A short guy with cropped hair stood guard there.
Definitely a stranger.
"You the one? Kang Tae-hyun."
"And?"
The guy beckoned me to follow.
"The lady's calling for you."
"...Lady?"
"Yeah. No idea why she'd want a punk like you."
What lady?
I lost interest and rolled over.
"...What're you doing?"
The guy spoke, and I replied.
"Tell her if she has business, come herself."
"What the—?? You little shit...! Do you know who she is?"
"Get out."
"Fine. I'll tell her exactly that. Not a shred of manners."
The guy spat curses and left the room.
Moments later, an unexpected woman entered my room.
She strode in haughtily.
I sat up the moment I saw her.
'What? Hong Ga-yeon...?'
She swept her hair behind her ear and approached.
A fresh floral scent wafted over.
The breeze through the window rustled her black bob.
Captivating eyes.
"...Sorry. Smith messed up. Wasn't meant like that. Apologize if it upset you. Just wanted to talk once."
"Uh... uh... sure..."
Hong Ga-yeon glanced at the man; he scowled and left the room.
The room fell into heavy silence with just us two.
Hong Ga-yeon broke it.
"...You're Kang Tae-hyun?"
"Y-yeah..."
Lately, I'd been crossing paths with all sorts of key figures.
Never dreamed it'd be Hong Ga-yeon too.
Where to look?
"You found the King, right?"
"Yeah, uh, got lucky."
Goblin King.
Truth be told, I'd only found it; couldn't kill it.
A bit more mana training, and I'd have one-shot it.
In that sense, a regrettable tournament.
"Goblin King. Caught in the end. Instructors slipped up. Even the hotshot detection-type instructors had no clue it was hiding there."
She fidgeted with her fingers.
"Uh, yeah."
"Detection-type instructors are elite among elites, baseline A-Rank."
"Uh... so what're you getting at?"
No clue what she wanted.
This situation was just uncomfortable; I wanted out.
Hong Ga-yeon closed her eyes softly.
Her red lips moved.
"But how did a first-year cadet like you spot the Goblin King?"
Straight to the point.
My body froze like ice.
The instructors hadn't found the 'King's room.'
But some no-name did?
A little thought would've revealed it.
Hong Ga-yeon hadn't missed it.
"...That's."
What was her angle?
Couldn't figure it out.
Obviously, I'd found the 'King's room' because of my regression.
I'd watched a Mutube livestream with an exploration team; there was a hidden dungeon.
I'd seen it and referenced 'that guy's' interview.
-The shaman gave me some weird stone. Followed it, found the king's room. That's it.
If humanity's top talent said it, it'd be 'oh, okay.'
But I was just an orphanage kid, mana dud, hunter wannabe.
'If Hong Ga-yeon suspects, the media's probably in a frenzy already.'
Cold sweat trickled.
She watched me.
Waiting for my answer.
"...That's."
"No. Forget it."
"Huh?"
Hong Ga-yeon smiled, interest gone.
"Even if you have some powerful force that got you that info..."
She flashed a rare smile.
Overwhelming beauty.
"...You're not a bad person, so it's fine. That's why I wanted to see you. What kind of guy you are. Won't pry more. Sorry for the intrusion."
"Uh? Uh..."
Hong Ga-yeon dropped a meaningful line.
Conversation ended; no more words.
Finally, discharge day on the fourth, long-awaited.
Stepping out the hospital door, a barrage of flashes blinded me.
"What the..."
Click! Click! Click!
So many reporters I couldn't move forward.
"C Class hero! Interview possible?"
"From China CCTV. You went alone for the Goblin King for your team... Your feelings then?"
"Did you plan the reverse summoning circle? How'd you learn it?"
"How'd you look after your comrades to the end? Camaraderie? One word!!"
Should've bought sunglasses.
I pushed through the reporters.
Immense attention.
My face plastered huge on newspaper fronts.
The world was turned upside down.
Just as I'd intended, etching my existence here firmly.
-Mysterious Korean saves comrades?
-First cadet finds King's room. His life story?
-Cadet Kang Tae-hyun: C Class guardian.
"...Kuhh...!"
Laughter burst out.
Every front page was about me.
Hong Ga-yeon, first place, relegated to page two.
I figured I'd edged closer to S-Rank.
"Happy? In the papers. Like it?"
"Yes. Feels good."
Yoon Ji-yeon propped her chin boredly.
Her reaction made sense; Yoon Family daughter—one of Korea's four great houses—got one line at the bottom.
"Alright! Training time."
"...Yeah. Okay."
Couldn't settle for just front-page fame.
Now, aim higher.
This training was for that, and why I'd regressed.
(To be continued next time)