Chapter 81.

Under the faint moonlight, Kim Suho was walking alone to his dorm room . As he walked along the dark road, he suddenly burst into laughter .

The fight he just had flashed before his eyes . He was flown away helplessly when he was only an inch away from Kim Hajin . Even now, he was unable to understand what attacked him .

Was it a physical attack or an instantaneous emission of magic power? In either case, a mysterious force had struck him away from the battlefield, and Kim Hajin was able to deal a valid blow .

‘…I thought I was the only one hiding my power . ’

Abnormally high strength would undoubtedly attract unwanted suspicion . As such, Kim Suho had only revealed enough of his power to maintain first place rank in Cube . He was hiding his power for himself, and the only reason he maintained first place was for his family .

‘So there was someone else thinking the same thing as me . ’

Kim Suho didn’t go easy in his fight with Kim Hajin . Still, Kim Hajin managed to avoid his attacks with strange movements . Even now, Kim Suho felt that Kim Hajin’s movements were completely mysterious .

It was seemingly mindless and lacking in foundation .

He seemed slow and full of openings, so much so that Kim Suho saw dozens of opportunities to attack . However, his attacks only grazed him or slashed through the air .

Even when he thought it was over, Kim Hajin escaped his range with incomprehensible acrobatics . It seemed like an easy victory at first, but he couldn’t close out the fight .

He truly couldn’t tell whether Kim Hajin was real or fake .

It was flawlessness masked as weakness .

“…Hm?”

At that moment, Kim Suho heard the sound of a sword cutting through wind . He could even hear a small, clenched shout . The sound was coming from the park near the dorm . Curious, he headed over, whereupon he saw a girl swinging a sword .

It was Chae Nayun .

“What are you doing?”

“…Hyak!”

Startled, Chae Nayun threw the sword she was swinging . The sword flew like a baseball bat and struck a dorm window . Thankfully, the window didn’t break, but the cadet inside seemed to have woken up as the lights came on .

“Wh, what!”

“Why are you so surprised?”

“… . ”

Chae Nayun glared at the sudden uninvited guest . Kim Suho smirked and asked .

“Were you doing sword practice?”

“…Just stamina training . ”

Chae Nayun unleashed magic power . The sword flew back into her hand following her magic power .

Chae Nayun dusted off the dirt on her sword and pointed it at Kim Suho .

“Where are you coming back from?”

“Me?”

Kim Suho answered honestly .

“I met with Kim Hajin . ”

Chae Nayun’s eyes widened .

“Kim Hajin?”

“Yep . ”

“…What for?”

Chae Nayun asked as she tucked her hair behind her ears, pretending to be unconcerned . Seeing this, Kim Suho had a mischievous thought .

“We were talking about you . ”

“Wha, wha, what . Bu, bullshit . ”

She reacted rather strongly . Her face flushed all the way to her ears, and her hands and feet couldn’t stay still . Kim Suho shook his head while laughing .

“It was a joke . We sparred . ”

“…Sparred? You and Kim Hajin?”

“Yeah . ”

“Who won? No, you must have won . But why?”

“…You don’t need to know that . ”

Chae Nayun stared at Kim Suho sourly . Then, she turned around and began to focus on her sword practice again .

Whish . Whish .

She swung her sword, but she was putting in too much strength .

Kim Suho stepped in, unable to bear watching it .

“You can’t hold a sword like that . ”

“…What . ”

“If you put that much strength into your grip, you won’t be able to cut what you should be able to . ”

Kim Suho pulled out a wooden sword and gave a demonstration . He didn’t grip his sword tightly . He held it lightly yet firmly enough so that he could change his grip at any moment .

Kim Suho swung his sword as a demonstration, drawing a clear sword wind in the air . The sword wind touched Chae Nayun’s hair and scattered .

Chae Nayun’s unenthusiastic attitude took an immediate turn . She carefully watched Kim Suho’s grip and copied him .

“…Like, like this?”

The lesson she suddenly started with Kim Suho continued until midnight .

**

When Chae Nayun returned to her dorm room, she immediately made a video call to Hazuki . It was to tell her about the team she decided on .

She made Hazuki the vice-leader and selected an average supporter and sharpshooter in addition .

Two warriors, one support, one sharpshooter, one magician .

As the magician was from the upper ranks of Seoul Magic Academy, it was a well-balanced team . Furthermore, Chae Nayun could act as both a warrior and a sharpshooter, making her team even more flexible . Her team wasn’t just decent, it was undoubtedly one of the best .

—Ah… then is Hajin-ssi not joining us?

However, in the holographic video call, Hazuki murmured regretfully .

“Uh, well, I can bring him if I wanted, but then I’d feel bad for Rachel’s team . Other than Rachel, everyone on that team is only average . ”

Conscientiously, Chae Nayun replied with a loud voice .

Just like she said, without Rachel and Kim Hajin, Team Rachel wasn’t particularly outstanding . First, their team had three warriors and no supporter, and the magician named Tomer was below average as well .

—But…

“Let’s not think about them . I’m going to submit the team list like this, okay?”

—Y-Yes .

Just like that, Team Chae Nayun was confirmed .

Chae Nayun hung up the call and jumped on her bed .

It was time to sleep, but she wasn’t sleepy .

Frankly, she was frustrated and annoyed . If she knew this would happen, she would have asked Kim Hajin much earlier . That way, they would have been able to obtain a good score in theory too . Because she kept hesitating, he ended up being taken away by Rachel .

“…Am I going to lose again?”

She could still remember her defeat during the midterm . The result of her duel with Rachel was perhaps a decisive reason she switched to the sword .

Chae Nayun, who was recalling this bad memory under the blanket, suddenly shot up . She simply couldn’t fall asleep .

Without a choice, she picked up a helmet lying next to her bed . To relieve stress in this late hour, playing games was the only option .

[Gladiator of the Century]

It was a famous virtual reality game whose competitive scene was frequently on public broadcasts .

Because it helped with image training, it was enjoyed by many Heroes and cadets all over the world . With its popularity, the rank 1 player of each season was naturally at the center of media attention .

[Nayunjajangman]

[98 wins 17 losses]

Her dazzling win rate was something Chae Nayun was very proud of .

“Hm . ”

Unranked matches were better than ranked matches for relieving stress .

Chae Nayun rolled her eyes as she searched for an opponent . Soon, she found someone suitable .

The player’s nickname was Extra7 . He was in platinum league with 43 wins and 43 losses .

It seemed like an easy victory .

[You asked Extra7 for a duel . ]

[Extra7 has accepted your duel . ]

“Oho, this guy is quite bold . ”

Chae Nayun grinned as she focused on virtual reality .

There were no stats or items in this game . Only battle sense and superior control determined victory or defeat .

[Start!]

The duel began . Chae Nayun wanted to take things slow and test the waters . However, the opponent was unexpectedly reckless . Before she could adapt to his sudden attack, her character floated up and was torn apart by a series of consecutive strikes . By the time she knew what happened, her vision had turned red .

“Eh, what? A-Ah!”

She tried to take things more seriously, but her HP was too low .

…In the end, she lost after just three minutes since the start of the duel .

[Defeat]

Chae Nayun stared at this word blankly, then frowned .

“Argh, this sly piece of crap!”

*

[Victory]

I won again . I was currently playing a game called [Gladiator of the Century] . It was quite realistic, both in terms of graphics and movements, so I’ve been playing it recently as a way to image train .

“So, it works on this too . ”

The number 37 was engraved on the console helmet . It meant Random Consolidation System was active .

===

[Random Consolidation System]

[Low rank] [Spirit attribute]

…

—Random Consolidation

*Consolidates the ‘concept’ of the scanned equipment by 1~44% . The consolidation lasts for 24 hours, after which the consolidation percentage will be randomized once again .

…

===

The consolidation of ‘concept’ . Using this ability, my game console had become something else . Not only did the console’s functionality and performance increase, the speed of my thoughts and feelings also increased by 37% . It was 37% numerically, but I felt like it was a bigger increase .

“I won seven times in a row . ”

Thanks to my new Gift, I ended up defeating a 98-win-17-loss veteran seven times in a row . Of course, it was an unranked match, so it didn’t really impact my ranked stats .

[Nayunjajangman requests a rematch . ]

[Nayunjajangman requests a rematch . ]

[Nayunjajangman requests a rematch . ]

“This kid sure is tenacious… . Well too bad for you, I have to sleep now . ”

I turned the game off and put the helmet away . Suddenly, I caught sight of Evandel in the corner of my eyes .

“Yummy . So yummy . ”

She was asleep when I got home, but she woke up when I started to play Gladiator of the Century, and now she was fully awake and munching on cake .

The huge cake I brought had been reduced by half . Was she allowed to eat that much? I was a bit worried .

After watching Evandel for a bit, I confiscated the cake .

“Ah, aan! W-What ish it!”

“…Let’s save the rest of it for later . ”

“Why, why!?”

“It’s not good for your health . ”

Evandel hopped up to try and grab the cake . However, I was coldhearted . I put the cake away on the topmost shelf in the fridge .

Realizing that it was away from her reach, Evandel placed her hands by her waist and frowned . It was almost as if she was disgruntled with the whole world .

“I want more! I want more!”

She even learned to complain… .

I placed my index finger over my mouth .

“Shh . You should only eat a little snack after meals . Also, you can’t be loud at night . ”

“… . ”

Although she quieted down at my warning, her tiny hands were trembling . Without any other choice, I held up Evandel .

“Tomorrow, you can eat the rest of it tomorrow, okay? I’ll buy even more delicious food tomorrow . ”

“…Really?”

“Of course . Have you seen me not keep a promise?”

When I stroked her head, she finally seemed to have been appeased .

Not long afterward, Evandel fell asleep, and I placed her on my bed .

When I checked my smartwatch afterward, I noticed that Kim Suho had sent me a message two hours ago .

[Second week of August, Friday . Let’s meet then . ]

“…Whew . ”

===

[Cadet Jacket]

A jacket created by Cube .

—Trap Transformation

*When someone steps on this jacket, an unknown force will strongly push the person off .

*This effect lasts for 10 minutes and will disappear after one activation .

===

It seemed he recognized my skill . It was all thanks to the cadet jacket I modified . Kim Suho didn’t seem to suspect anything either . Of course, it was his jacket, so there was no reason for him to suspect it .

Moreover, it was an ‘unknown force’ that pushed him . Kim Suho would never figure out what had done him in .

**

Wednesday .

It was the first class since the team formation, a combat training called ‘Dungeon Investigation’ .

Normally, when Heroes find a Dungeon, they would dispatch an advance party first in order to get a rough idea of what’s inside the Dungeon . In this combat training, cadets would act as this advance party .

“Ah, it’s so cold . ”

“Auuu, aren’t you cold, Hajin?”

My team was currently inside a Dungeon that was covered in ice . The five of us shivered in the cold as we walked onward .

After about 20 minutes, the road suddenly forked into five branches .

“It’s here . ”

Tomer suddenly pointed at the rightmost path . I opened my eyes wide and stared at the direction Tomer pointed . As expected, there was a trap there .

“No, that’s the wrong place . ”

“What? No, it isn’t . ”

Tomer was purposely leading us into a trap . I didn’t think there was a Djinn waiting to ambush us, but she must have a set some sort of a life-threatening trap .

“In a Dungeon Investigation, it’s common sense to listen to your sharpshooter . ”

“… . ”

Tomer stared at Rachel . Too bad for her, Rachel was also on my side .

“Let’s go as Hajin-ssi says . ”

“…Don’t regret it later . ”

Tomer was a sore loser .

“There’s a yeti up ahead . ”

A yeti was sleeping in the pathway I chose .

The Dungeon’s first monster, yeti .

We advanced forward, keeping our guard up .

After that, Tomer continued to try to lead us, especially Rachel, into a trap . However, I was always there to prevent her .

“Guys, I think it’s this way, for real this time . If you see the traces of ice around there… . ”

“No, it’s not . ”

“No, trust me just this once . Rachel-ssi, come with me . Wouldn’t it be more efficient to split into two groups?”

“No, we can’t . ”

I had to commend her for her constant effort, but that didn’t mean I could let her do as she pleased . I grabbed Rachel by her wrist, and she followed me silently .

As time passed, Tomer’s expression grew more and more irritated .

“Um… . ”

My Thousand-Mile Eyes found the shortest path in this maze-like Ice Dungeon . There were no obstructions and no difficulties .

By the time we caught a glimpse of the instructor waiting at the exit, Rachel spoke uncomfortably .

“Um… Hajin-ssi . ”

“Yes?”

“This… . ”

Rachel glanced at her wrist . I was holding onto her, thinking Tomer might take her away .

“Oh right, sorry . ”

“No, you don’t need to be… . ”

“Team Rachel!”

The instructor spotted us and shouted in a thunderous voice . We hurriedly ran up and stood in front of him .

“Your findings?”

“Yes . A yeti, snowbeast, white calamity, white drake… . ”

Rachel recited the result of the investigation . The instructor listened quietly and compared the findings with a list . Then, a faint smile appeared on his face .

“Based on the rank of the monsters distributed in the Dungeon, the Dungeon’s boss is likely to be at least intermediate rank grade 3 . ”

“Good . Team Rachel, perfect score . ”

Rachel’s face turned bright . It was the same with the other team members . They clenched their fists and deliberated on the words ‘perfect score’ .

“…Dammit . ”

Meanwhile, Tomer kicked a rock with an irritated expression of her face .

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