Chapter 42.

“Oh no, I’m so sorry . ”

The nameless person apologized in shock . The Chameleon Troupe’s boss seemed just as shocked as she remained completely still . First, I took the soda cup off of her head . The ice cubes sitting on her head immediately drizzled down, and Boss shut her eyes close .

“Please wait just one minute . I’ll go get a towel…”

But at that momenet, the nameless person suddenly froze . His eyes turned lifeless and he began to walk out in a strange zombie-like manner .

I glanced at Boss’ neck on which a faint light was glimmering . It seemed what just happened was her necklace’s ability . That necklace… I felt like I knew it, but I couldn’t quite remember it . I wasn’t too keen on item settings .

“Haa . ”

She suddenly let out a deep sigh . Then, she turned towards me .

I scratched my neck .

I had a tiny pack of tissues in my pocket, but it was nowhere near enough to take care of the mess on her head and clothes .

“…”

But because her eyes were fixed on me, I took out the tissues .

“Um, you can use this…”

She looked back and forth between me and the pack of tissues . She then grabbed the tissues and wiped her face, legs, and arms .

“Thank you . ”

Then, she gave a light bow and thanked me . I fell into a daze momentarily . What just happened?

At that moment, the host’s loud voice resounded .

—We are now starting!

The crowd cheered loudly . A countless number of reporters aimed their cameras at the arena . Although they weren’t allowed to film the duels, they were allowed to take pictures . The reporters from England were especially excited .

—Duel between rank 3 Rachel and rank 4 Chae Nayun!

A battle between a rapier and a bow .

This was something that happened in the original story . In other words, I already knew who would win – Rachel .

I stared at Rachel and Chae Nayun standing on the arena . Though they were far away, I could see them as though they were only a couple feet away . Chae Nayun’s mouth moved . I could hear what she was saying .

—Princess, our rank will be changing today .

Rachel didn’t react to Chae Nayun’s provocation .

—Beginning countdown! Three! Two!

Chae Nayun aimed her bow at Rachel, and Rachel held up her rapier .

Facing each other, neither side had even the tiniest imbalance in their postures . Waiting for the start signal, they concealed their openings while searching for their opponent’s openings .

—Start!

Chae Nayun fired her arrow immediately . Her magic arrow flew out at lightning speed . However, Rachel skirted past the arrow by a hair’s breadth with refined, efficient movements .

Chae Nayun continued with a barrage of arrows . When the arrows raining down from the sky hit the ground, they split into several offshoots and took on unpredictable paths . It seemed this was the plan Chae Nayun made for this fight . Since Rachel would just dodge her arrows if she shot at her directly, Chae Nayun was trying to box her in .

However, Rachel dodged the terrifying barrage of arrows elegantly . Not only that, but she didn’t hesitate to stab with her rapier when given the chance . The magic power from her attacks shot towards Chae Nayun like beams of light . Even so, Chae Nayun didn’t dodge them . Instead, she emitted magic power in the form of a shield to block them .

Immediately, the crowd erupted into cheers and applause . Chae Nayun’s magic power control had already surpassed the level of a cadet .

However, the outcome of this fierce battle was predetermined . Chae Nayun couldn’t win against Rachel .

Rachel was a swordsman specialized in receiving long ranged attacks . Her slender and flexible body could dodge arrows with the slightest movement, and her attacks of delicate magic power continuously disrupted an archer’s posture . Chae Nayun created a shield to prevent her posture from becoming unstable, but this method was too costly in magic power .

The moment Chae Nayun’s magic power ran out, it would be Rachel’s victory .

“I saw your duel against Kim Horak . ”

At that moment, a voice suddenly rang out from next to me .

Startled, I jolted slightly .

Because I was too focused on Chae Nayun and Rachel’s duel, I had forgotten who was sitting next to me . It was incredibly foolish, considering she was currently far more important than Rachel or Chae Nayun .

“Um, thank you . ”

I replied as calmly as possible .

She asked while staring at me .

“Was that your Gift?”

“…I’m sorry, but that’s not something that I can reveal so easily . ”

“…”

She took out a business card from her pocket .

“This is who I am . ”

She gave me the business card .

[Li Xiaopeng]

[Desolate Moon’s grade 3 Hero]

[Contact address: 0103-3243-9203-93]

This was likely one of her many fake identities . Even so, my heart trembled as very few people had way of contacting her . In order to not make it obvious, I simply smiled and muttered .

“It’s illegal to scout cadets in advance . ”

“…”

She tried to put away her business card .

“Ah, but…”

I grabbed her wrist . As I thought, she didn’t know about playing hard to get .

“I’ll hold onto yours . ”

“…”

She nodded and gave me her business card .

“I’ll leave now . Contact us whenever you want . ”

With that, she got up . As she walked out, I stared at her back in a daze .

“…What did she come here for?”

I couldn’t understand . No matter how much I thought about it, there shouldn’t have been any reason for her to visit me at this point .

**

All duels ended by 5 P . M .

Kim Suho, Shin Jonghak, Rachel, and a cadet named Joo Youngho were the only ones to win all their duels . Because cadets could fight up to three times a day, many unexpected outcomes had occurred due to one side being tired .

—Wow, that was amazing . Did you see Kim Suho? How stylish can he get?

—Chae Nayun lost to Rachel… I’m a bit bitter . This is the first time I’ve seen Korea’s rising star losing to a foreigner .

By the time I left the arena, the sky had already turned dark . Many spectators brushed past me as they reflected on today’s battles .

Before I returned to the dorm, I first went into an alleyway in the back of the arena . After sitting down in a random spot, I took out the drone I placed in my cross bag .

This drone was quite different than the original, as I added several settings like battery life boost, stealth mode, and target lock-on . These changes would last for four days, which was when the Chameleon Troupe would leave . Consequently, the modification was relatively cheap in SP .

“Fly . ”

I threw the drone into the air . The drone flew into the forest, and I got up to head back to the dorm .

—…kuk, huk… kuk

“…Huh?”

But a sudden crying sound made me stop . It sounded a bit like an animal crying, but it was also pitiful enough to make me turn to its direction . My eyes broke through several walls in the path, and in a nearby forest close to the back of the arena, I saw someone hiding between trees and crying .

It was Chae Nayun . Her body was shaking and her face was buried between her knees .

“Ah . ”

This event, I remembered it .

It was the when Chae Nayun would completely fall for Kim Suho . Soon, he would come to console Chae Nayun on her defeat, and with everything else that should have happened between them, Chae Nayun would come to see Kim Suho as not just a friend . Although things had changed slightly from the original story, it seemed the big picture remained the same .

I turned back without much thought .

“…Tsk . ”

But I hesitated to leave .

Kim Suho would console Chae Nayun, but his kindness would only comfort her .

“You can do better next time,” “Work hard with me,” “I will help you get stronger”… Such words wouldn’t really help Chae Nayun .

In life, it was sometimes better to give up rather than continuing to work hard . But there was no such thing as giving up in Kim Suho’s dictionary . He never gave up on anything and never suggested others to give up .

Because of Kim Suho, Chae Nayun wouldn’t give up on using a bow for a long time .

“…Huu . ”

In the end, I turned on my smartwatch .

The message Chae Nayun sent me last night was there .

[Hey, don’t ignore me . If you don’t reply, I’ll nominate you for real . ]

I gave her an 18-hour late reply .

[What are you doing?]

Through the walls, I could see Chae Nayun’s smartwatch ring . But because she was crying, she didn’t check her smartwatch . I sent her another message .

[I saw your duel today . ]

Chae Nayun then glanced at her smartwatch .

—…What does this bastard want now?

It seemed she was planning on ignoring my messages . I didn’t have any other choice . I sent her a message she couldn’t ignore .

[See, I told you . You’re more suited to a sword than a bow . It’s not too late to change your weapon . I did too . ]

—This son of a…

It was incredibly effective . Fuming, Chae Nayun tapped on her smartwatch .

[Screw off before I kill you . ]

The reply I sent back immediately was enough to drive her over the edge .

[Come on, you defeated a Djinn with a sword, so why do you insist on using a bow? I just can’t understand . It’s almost… pitiful . If you fought Rachel like how you fought that Djinn, do you think you would have lost?]

[What? You wanna die?]

[Think a little . You beat her when you were in Agent Military Academy, so why do you think you’re losing now? It’s because you don’t have the aptitude for bows . ]

[What you piece of shit where are you do I look like a pushover you bastard don’t be so arrogant just because you beat Kim Horak]

Her emotional message was hardly readable because of punctuation errors . I didn’t even read it all . I didn’t reply to her either . I wanted to mess with her a bit more because her reaction was funny, but unfortunately, it was time .

—Huh? Chae Nayun?

Kim Suho peeked his head behind the tree, where Chae Nayun was hiding .

—…Eh?

—What are you doing here?

—W…What!

Chae Nayun quickly wiped off her tears . She then tried to run, but Kim Suho caught her .

—Let me go!

Chae Nayun tried to shake him off, but Kim Suho wasn’t the type of person who would leave a crying girl be . He had a typical main character personality . Consoling a crying girl was almost in his instincts .

“…It’s time to go . ”

I didn’t stay behind to watch what would happen between them .

Making sure that Chae Nayun didn’t forget about her real Gift, that was the extent of my role .

**

Wednesday .

The next combat exam began . As cadets had to fight monsters in this exam, ordinary people were prohibited from spectating . Furthermore, because magicians’ summoned monsters were of varying types and power . the exam was graded on an absolute scale rather than a relative scale .

“Be especially careful in today’s exam . If you refuse to give up, you might really end up dying . ”

Kim Soohyuk gave a solemn warning . Just like he said, summoned monsters were dangerous . Even though they were summoned by magicians, they were unable to comprehend complex orders .

“Annihilate enemies and protect allies,” that was the extent of the order they could understand . An order like “test that cadet’s skill” was out of the question .

Not to mention, summoned monsters didn’t just disappear into thin air when magicians reverse summoned them, so cadets had to be on their toes even after surrendering .

“If you think your life is in danger, give up immediately . You can yell ‘I surrender’ or simply tap on the ground twice . ”

“…”

I stood still and calmly listened to Kim Soohyuk’s explanation . Chae Nayun was glaring at me from the side, but I ignored her .

“Magicians in charge of the exam will give the rest of the explanation . Give them a warm welcome . ”

The door opened and robed magicians walked in .

Summoner magicians weren’t given any special treatment . The Magician’s Tower had a strict hierarchy among magicians depending on their specialty, and summoner magicians were nothing more and nothing less than average . And because summoner magicians often worked outside of the Magician’s Tower, they didn’t have twisted personalities like most magicians .

“Nice to meet you all . I am the Chief Magician, Jin Joohwa . ”

The leader of the magicians bowed to the cadets .

“Today, you will fight monsters we will summon . But be careful, summoned monsters are no different from real monsters . Even if we reverse summon them, they won’t disappear immediately like in games . So if things look dangerous, surrender immediately . ”

The cadets nodded at the magician’s kind explanation .

“Good . Then we will tell you how the exam will proceed . ”

Jin Joohwa smiled brightly .

“Four cadets will go in at a time, and each cadet will be given 15 minutes . You will not be graded based on victory or loss, and your fighting role will obviously be taken into account . ”

Jin Joohwa stuck up his index finger .

“First is how long you last . Next is how calm you responded . In other words, you don’t have to try to kill the summoned monster . ”

Wiing—

A smartwatch’s faint vibration cut him off mid-sentence .

The magician looked around the room .

“Please turn off all smartwatches . ”

He spoke nonchalantly .

We also nonchalantly turned off our smartwatches .

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