is the only thing I have.
I drew ether out from inside my sleeve, thin and fine. Thinner even than cotton thread.
The thread moved faintly, so that she would not see it by any chance. It wriggled out of my sleeve and toward her limp left arm.
Right now, her gaze was focused entirely on me. Those deep eyes felt as though they were tightening around my throat just by meeting them, but I stared straight into them. That was how I bought time.
And at last, when the ether thread removed her watch without making the slightest contact with her skin—
She opened her mouth.
“Take out your weapon.”
“……Weapon?”
When I asked back, she nodded. Even then, the ether thread was carrying her watch low along the ground. When the watch had gotten close enough, I pulled the thread into my hand.
“Phew.”
Was it thanks to luck, or thanks to the Boss’s own somewhat careless nature? Either way, it succeeded. A sigh of relief escaped me.
Then, pretending to take out a weapon, I pulled her watch from my pocket.
“……Are you saying you surrender?”
Seeing the watch, she somehow revealed a disappointed look. As expected, she hadn’t noticed.
To begin with, with her new skin layered over her through Jane’s talent, it was hard to expect the same sensitivity as bare flesh. On top of that, she hadn’t even used a single “Spell Opening” right now.
“Does this look like mine to you?”
At the question I asked while trying to sound as relaxed as possible, she narrowed her brows. I gestured with my eyes toward her wrist. She tilted her head in puzzlement, then slowly lowered her gaze toward her left wrist.
“……Huh?”
Her eyes went wide. She turned her wrist this way and that, confirming that the watch was gone.
“You know that if I press this hard, you’re eliminated, right? The watch uses fingerprint recognition.”
I spoke as calmly as I could. Perhaps the fact that she truly hadn’t noticed came as a shock to her, because the Boss was out of it. She was just staring at her own wrist like someone whose country had fallen.
“This… this can’t, this can’t be……”
With a reaction like that, would I get about 50 SP?
Feigning composure, I smiled and fastened the watch back onto her wrist.
“Wh-what? What are you?”
She was even more flustered than when it had been stolen, but I fastened it all the same.
Still maintaining my smile, I bluffed.
“I let you off once, okay?”
“……Let me off?”
Even as she said that, her sword was still aimed at my neck. But it felt much duller than before, so I ignored the sword and turned around.
“Wh-where are you going?”
The Boss tried to stop me. Naturally, I ignored her and walked forward, then forward again. In all my life, I had never paid so much attention to my legs. Just meeting her eyes for a little too long had drained all the strength from my body, and my legs were shaking so badly I thought I might die.
* * *
After Kim Hajin left, the Boss stood blankly, looking down at the watch fastened around her left wrist. Just how that watch had ended up in Kim Hajin’s hand, she still could not figure out.
She had only come to test Kim Hajin’s skills even a little……
That blunder had come as quite a fresh shock.
Even if nearly half her senses had vanished because of Jane’s talent, to suffer such humiliation from a mere seventeen-year-old cadet.
When had he snatched the watch? When they first met? Or while they had been facing off against each other? No, neither. At the very least, his body had not moved. There had been no trace of magic power either.
This time, she looked at her right wrist. The “Spell Opening Formula” engraved there. Among the four spaces divided in the shape of a four-leaf clover, not a single section was colored in. Should she have activated at least one section in advance?
“Haa.”
Left with no choice, she asked the witness for help.
“Jane. Did you see?”
—……Hm? See what?
However, the answer that came after a brief pause sounded as though she knew nothing about the current situation.
The Boss’s face crumpled at once.
—Ah, ah, ah, sorry. I got distracted for a second. But it’s not my fault. Droon kept pestering me to buy him Lego, so I didn’t see. What happened?
“……”
Kim Hajin had stolen her watch in that brief span of time. No matter how restricted he had been, that level of agility and meticulousness was already beyond that of a cadet.
—Explain it to me. What happened?
“……I’ll tell you later.”
—No, tell me now. I’m curious. Ah, Droon, seriously, because of that brat. Boss. Boss?
She coldly cut off the communication.
Today, she became certain.
Kim Hajin. He definitely had potential. Now, if she could just figure out the remaining two candidates, Kim Suho and Shin Jonghak……
Just then, her smartwatch rang.
[Ms. Ijin. Where are you? Please hurry over. I told you to come by 30 minutes ㅡㅡ]
“……”
She looked down at the text message with empty eyes.
Yu Yeonha, what is with this girl, always telling me what to do?
* * *
After successfully escaping from the Boss, I found a place for my tent.
This time, too, the terrain was fairly good.
……Actually, my legs had too little strength left, so I just settled down roughly somewhere near a river.
First, I set up the tent, unfolded a folding chair and table, and placed bullets on top of it.
Fourteen sniper rounds. Twenty shotgun rounds.
These bullets were ones I had converted on my own using SP. By immediately consuming SP to obtain volatile strength, they cost about 7 SP each, so I absolutely couldn’t use them carelessly.
“Still, I should keep at least twenty of each stocked.”
If I tried to refill them in a panic when I ran low, it would be too late.
I turned on my laptop.
[Available SP — 1214]
My current available SP was 1214. I would need at least 2000 to write a usable talent, but because I kept spending it on things like bullets, the destination kept getting farther away.
Still, it was better than someone dying.
I replenished six bullets, then took out a torch and a burner.
I had gone a little hard with the parkour, so I was very hungry.
Today’s lunch was…… braised spicy chicken. Though it was so dark that calling it lunch felt strange, and I could barely see right in front of my eyes.
From my magic pouch, I took out the frozen braised chicken I had prepared in advance.
[For those capable of handling magic power, adding magic power will make it slightly more delicious……]
After putting the frozen braised chicken into a frying pan, I added magic power just as the instructions said. I didn’t know what principle was behind it, but the noodles and chicken suddenly became springy and fresh.
Just when I was thinking it should be fine to eat now—
Rustle, rustle—
A faint sound came from the nearby bushes.
I quickly took out my handgun and aimed it in that direction.
Although the person over there had not revealed themselves yet, I lowered my gun first and gave a small laugh.
The faint rustling gradually grew louder and became footsteps.
Soon, the person who emerged after pushing through the bushes was Rachel.
“Ms. Rachel?”
I acted as naturally as possible. On the top of Rachel’s head, some kind of sprout was stuck like an antenna. It seemed to have gotten caught on her while she was making her way through the forest, but she herself seemed unaware that it was there.
“……”
Rachel simply looked around me without saying a word. The combination of a modern tent, burner, and food seemed to be quite a shock to her, as her mouth hung half open.
She was only silent; her reaction was similar to Chae Nayun’s.
“Ah, I’m just a bit thoroughly prepared.”
When I said that with an awkward smile, Rachel finally came back to her senses. She looked at the burner. On top of it, braised chicken was cooking golden-brown in the frying pan.
“Would you like some?”
“……W-would that be all right?”
“I’ll reasonably charge you just 4 points.”
I unfolded a new folding chair for her. Rachel hesitated, but still sat down on it.
I took out a plate and served her half of the braised chicken.
And so the meal began. Rachel must have been quite hungry, because she ate it all in ten minutes without saying a word. My stomach hurt from trying to keep up with her eating speed.
After the braised chicken vanished in the blink of an eye, Rachel asked while I was clearing away the dishes.
“By the way, what have you been doing all this time?”
“……Pardon?”
I tilted my head.
Considering she had come all the way here, it seemed she had noticed that I was the one who helped her.
Was she probing me, perhaps?
“Just, well. I was doing this and that to earn points.”
I simply played it off. Saying directly, “I’m the one who saved you—” was, as expected, too awkward and embarrassing.
“Hm……”
Rachel shot me a strange look, but she did not question me any further. Instead, as though thinking something over by herself, she began staring quietly at the campfire I had made.
……I thought she would keep asking. I was planning to answer reluctantly around the third time.
“By the way, it looks like you’re hurt somewhere.”
Suddenly, I noticed a fairly deep wound near her collarbone. It seemed to be an injury from fighting the Djinn earlier.
“Ah, yes. Something happened……”
It was then.
The seed, which had been sleeping wrapped in gauze inside my chest until now, suddenly popped out with a boing.
“Huh?”
The seed bounced and suddenly clung to her collarbone. At the completely unexpected cold surprise attack, Rachel let out a shrill cry.
“Ah! Wh-what is this!”
“……Ah, um. Well. That’s.”
I was so startled that I stood up as well.
“Ah, this, what is this!”
Rachel hurriedly tried to grab and pull the seed off, but the seed, clever as it was, fled into her clothes—more specifically, toward her armpit. At that point, there was nothing I could do either, so I froze while standing.
“Th-that, ah, actually. That’s my pet almond… no, why did I say almond. My pet seed. Um, oh my.”
While I was making excuses, Rachel shoved her hand into her own clothes. I hurriedly averted my eyes.
After that, a struggle broke out.
After that somewhat fierce scuffle, the situation seemed to have settled, and I heard Rachel let out a rough sigh.
I quietly looked at her.
Rachel, her face bright red, was straightening her clothes. I lowered my head first. I hadn’t known the seed would suddenly do that.
“Ah, I’m sorry.”
Rachel looked back and forth between the seed in her hand and me, then said,
“……A pet seed?”
“Ah, yes, yes.”
One might wonder if such a thing existed in the world, but there were so many bizarre things in this world. In truth, I had no better excuse.
Rachel let out a deep sigh, then held the seed out to me.
“If you plant it in the ground and raise it…… I think it will become a little more docile.”
“Th-that sounds right.”
I took the seed and locked it inside a container.
End
After we finished eating, and around the time the awkward atmosphere caused by the seed had settled down, Rachel proposed that we team up. It was the “individual cooperative alliance” that, in the original, Chae Nayun, Kim Suho, and Rachel were supposed to form.
A small laugh escaped me. So she was using exactly what she learned there.
“You’re saying the exact same thing as Chae Nayun.”
“Ah…… Did Chae Nayun propose it to you first?”
“Pardon? No. Well, it’s not like that. I’m fine with it.”
From my perspective, there was no reason to refuse. It was Rachel, after all.
But Rachel, the one who had made the proposal, seemed to remember something that bothered her, and her expression turned slightly uncomfortable.
“Ah, right…… But there was already someone I was in something like a team with.”
“Who?”
Since I had been watching from the beginning, of course I knew who it was.
“By any chance, do you know Ju Yeohun……”
I said confidently,
“He doesn’t matter.”
I did not explain in depth.
I had already dealt with that guy.
In other words, I had left him to a stronger lunatic.
“……Pardon?”
“It doesn’t matter. Just team up with me.”
I smiled meaningfully.
No matter how much of a Djinn contracted with a devil he was, there were certainly cadets he could not touch for various reasons.
And Shin Jonghak was definitely one of them.
* * *
After offering Rachel to Lancaster’s Djinns, Ju Yeohun even hunted a little more at leisure before returning to his original base.
However, the base he returned to was not the same base as before. The base, which should have been filled with the savory scent of boar and deer, had transformed into a scene of ruin completely unlike before.
The house he had built decently enough had collapsed, and the ground was strewn with beasts’ blood and flesh.
At first, he thought he had come to the wrong place.
“……What the hell.”
Yet as if declaring that he was the one who had wreaked such havoc, a man sat arrogantly and boldly at the center of that hellish scene. Like an emperor upon his throne—no, imitating to the letter some image he had seen in a film or other media—he toyed with the exam watches he had plundered.
Ju Yeohun stared at him blankly.
“You’re here.”
He spoke first. His low, heavy voice rang out with authority.
He set the exam watches aside, then immediately hurled a tree branch. It grazed Ju Yeohun’s cheek and embedded itself in the tree behind him.
Ju Yeohun swallowed. The group that had ransacked his base was every bit that threatening. In a trembling voice, Ju Yeohun called his name.
“……Shin Jonghak.”
Ju Yeohun had been connected to Shin Jonghak since their days at the Agent Military Academy. It was an ill-fated connection. Perhaps Shin Jonghak had been part of the reason he had made a contract with the devil.
But right now, Ju Yeohun could not act rashly. He could not even be sure of winning one-on-one, and Shin Jonghak had brought along some of Cube’s notable powerhouses. The rising star of martial arts, Kim Horak; the wave swordsman, Jin Hanjun; the sharpshooter, Oh Jihun……
“So trash can talk.”
Shin Jonghak let out a small sneer and lifted his spear. His expression soon twisted fiercely.
“If you’d fallen behind, you should’ve just stayed crumpled up like trash. What gives you the right to crawl out and make a scene?”
Ju Yeohun had no idea what the hell was going on.
The answer was the branch Shin Jonghak had thrown at him. On that branch were written the coordinates of their base, along with a provocative message.
Ju Yeohun clicked his tongue.
“I didn’t send this. Someone else—”
“I know.”
“……What?”
Shin Jonghak cut him off lightly. He was not an idiot. He had likely already concluded that someone who held a grudge against Ju Yeohun had sent it.
However, the very fact that a bastard already crippled for a mistake long ago had done something to earn someone else’s grudge displeased Shin Jonghak.
“It doesn’t matter.”
As if those words were an order or signal, his close associates slowly rose to their feet.
“I just don’t like vermin like you. Snake-like bastards who only flick their tongues behind people’s backs.”
Shin Jonghak gripped the shaft of his spear.
Five against one.
Ju Yeohun had no choice.
He hurriedly turned and broke into a run, and Shin Jonghak fired his spear at him.
* * *
On high ground slightly northwest of the island’s center stood the “Supervisor Tower,” prepared for the supervisors and the eliminated participants. In its cafeteria, where medical facilities, dining, and lodging were all properly arranged, Yun Seungah, participating as a supervisor, sat quietly and gazed out the window.
“Are eight drones not enough? You’re even looking out the window.”
A man approached Yun Seungah as she sat there.
Bieri. A huge Latin man.
“Who’re you thinkin’ about?”
His appearance suited Spanish, but his earthy dialect made it clear he had lived in Korea for quite some time. Yun Seungah glanced at Bieri and said softly,
“……Kim Hajin.”
“Huh? Who’s that? Weren’t you a Kim Suho fangirl?”
Yun Seungah smiled faintly. Her top-priority cadet was, of course, Kim Suho. There was no room for disagreement there, and up until now, Yun Seungah had watched only Kim Suho. She had even deliberately shown herself to make a good impression.
However, information that everyone knew could not be called information.
Starting today, she planned to focus on finding hidden talent.
“I got my hands on some interesting information.”
“Information? What is it? Where’s it from?”
“As if I could tell you. It’s Class 1 confidential material.”
The Korean Peninsula was a narrow land. On that cramped territory, countless guilds were packed tightly together.
In order to survive, to avoid being weeded out, and to surpass other guilds, they waged fierce wars of information and politics.
But that applied not only to the “outside” of a guild, but also to the “inside.” Especially in guilds split into factions, like Essence of the Strait.
By making use of the internal power struggles and conflicts, Yun Seungah had extracted rather unusual information.