“Now that you put it that way, I’m curious. What is it you can’t tell me even though we’re in the same guild?”
“How am I supposed to trust that mouth of yours?”
Just two days ago, Yun Seungah had obtained a confidential document titled the “Yu Yeonha Report.” In that report, Yu Yeonha had rated Kim Hajin as even more outstanding than Kim Suho.
……Of course, if Yun Seungah herself or any other ordinary cadet had said such a thing, they would have been called a crazy bitch and beaten to a pulp, but the one doing the evaluation in this report was extraordinary.
Yu Yeonha. Though young, that incredibly clever fox was closer to Kim Hajin than anyone else. She was still an inexperienced student, but she would not have written such a report for no reason.
“Can you prove it?”
“Mm…… I’ll have to try when I have time.”
Naturally, there was also the possibility that the information itself was false. However, Yun Seungah had already discovered something unusual about Kim Hajin. It was the “magic power of light.”
Kim Hajin had already awakened the magic power of light. For a cadet like that, she could afford to be fooled at least once.
“So, what are you going to do?”
Bieri asked. Yun Seungah pointed at the name tag pinned to her chest.
[Rank 307 Yun Seungah]
The rank 307 here was not her cadet rank, but her worldwide rank. Even that was a rank that did not yet reflect her achievements from the previous year, and the prevailing prediction was that when the rankings were updated on July 1, she would likely rise by nearly fifty places.
“This is worth 200 points, right? It is 200 points, isn’t it?”
“Hah. So you’re going to use that as bait? You think the kids will even dare? They’ll run away right away.”
“……Is that so? Then I’ll just hide and watch.”
Without really denying it, Yun Seungah chuckled and sipped her tea.
* * *
At an hour that may or may not have been deep in the night.
Rachel, who had volunteered to stand watch, glanced toward the tent. The canvas blocked her view, so she could not see inside. Conversely, that meant they could not see her from inside either.
She rummaged through her pocket and took out a bullet. In the deep darkness, the small platinum-colored bullet gleamed under the moonlight.
It was hard to believe that this tiny thing had protected her.
After putting the bullet back into her pocket, she thought again. In truth, she was certain. Among the cadets, Kim Hajin was the only one who used a gun.
What puzzled her now was why he had said it was not him, and how he had known she was in danger.
But perhaps it was because of the chilly wind, or perhaps because of the pale moonlight.
As Rachel pondered this and that, old memories suddenly came back to her. In England, not Korea, the man who had spoken gentle and kind words to her.
—No matter what happens, Princess, I will protect you. Of course, even if it is not me, there are many who would wish to protect you.
However, the man who had said those words had returned as the worst assassin, one who threatened her life.
Lancaster. Whenever she thought of him, one corner of her heart grew cold, as if it would freeze over.
Today’s attack must have been his doing as well.
“……”
Rachel, her heart heavy, buried her face between her knees.
Perhaps I should have died with them back then after all.
Sad and barren emotions revived once more within her heart.
* * *
I woke up in bed. There was no sunlight shining in. Even when I pulled back the tent flap, it was still dark outside.
Don’t tell me it plans to stay dark for all five days.
Yawning, I stepped out of the tent.
Rachel, who had volunteered to keep watch last night, was sitting neatly at the table, waiting for breakfast.
Maybe it was because I wasn’t fully awake yet, but she looked like some kind of elf. So I stared blankly at her for a while.
Rachel tilted her head as if puzzled by my gaze, then said one thing.
“……What will today’s menu be?”
Those words snapped me back to my senses. What the hell was I doing with a character I created?
“Ah. I’ll go wash my face for a moment.”
I staggered over to the river and washed my face. Then I dried myself with a towel and approached the kitchen(?).
What should today’s menu be? There was more than enough food.
Since we needed to hunt a lot of monsters today, let’s go with beef. I turned my head toward Rachel to ask for her opinion.
Rachel was staring fixedly at me. No, to be precise, she was staring at my magic pouch, which contained the food.
“How does beef sound?”
“Sounds good.”
An instant answer.
I took out the sirloin I had marinated beforehand. It was already perfectly aged.
I placed two thick pieces on a well-heated frying pan. As I said before, my aunt’s family runs a barbecue restaurant, I have four years of experience living alone, and though it isn’t something to brag about, I served as a cook in the military.
In other words, I had some experience with food.
I grilled the meat together with onions, paprika, and the like, then poured sauce over it. Before long, a fragrant and savory smell filled the air.
“It’s ready.”
I portioned it onto a plate so it would be easy to eat and placed it in front of Rachel. Rachel’s eyes sparkled as she looked down at it.
“Would you like rice with it too?”
Rachel smiled brightly and nodded.
I put the steak and rice together and handed them to her. She held her knife and fork and waited blankly. It seemed to mean I should eat first.
“I’ll eat.”
Only after I cut into my steak with a knife did the meal begin.
Maybe it was because we were eating it out in the wilderness, but it tasted quite good. The juices were incredible, and the meat melted as soon as it entered my mouth. Online, it had said, “Grade-1 magical beef raised in a place dense with mana—,” so I bought it out of simple curiosity, but it was certainly worth the price.
Thanks to that, breakfast was over in ten minutes today as well.
After drinking water to cleanse my palate, I checked the exam watch.
“……What is this?”
For some reason, I had four more points than yesterday.
“A monster came while I was standing watch. Even though we divided up the work, I thought we should split what we earned like this.”
“Ah. Thank you.”
In any case, thanks to that, I earned points without lifting a finger.
“Then let’s split up now. We have to hunt.”
I said as I got to my feet. Rachel also stood up after me.
* * *
The third day’s schedule was rather comfortable.
Just in case, I sealed away the Desert Eagle, but I could hunt to some extent even with a cadet handgun. It was thanks to my upgraded talent rank and “Aether.” Aether clung inconspicuously to my cadet handgun and strengthened its inherent performance. Of course, even so, I had to avoid anything above low-intermediate rank 6 no matter what.
In any case, like that, I hunted easily while walking along. As always, from a distance, without taking any risks—bang, bang, bang, pow.
“A lake.”
Then I discovered a dark lake.
Places like this were actually a gold mine.
There should be a few crocodile monsters inside, and since they were “ambush monsters,” their point value should be quite high.
For me, the method to draw them out was simple. I just had to shine a light bright enough to cover the whole lake. And I already knew magic related to light. Rather than having learned it, I had never needed to learn it.
“Sphere of Light.”
The magic Yu Yeonha had said “they still could not do.”
Using the magic power of Stigma, I created a sphere that emitted white light. A cluster of pure white light floated up and illuminated the surroundings.
Just as I was about to send it drifting over the lake, I sensed a faint movement behind me.
“Who’s there!”
When I shouted loudly, the presence vanished as if it had never been there.
I still did not know who it was, but their tailing skills were so impressive that I had not noticed them until now.
However, now that they had been discovered, they could not escape my eyes. As I glared hard beyond the bushes, my vision stretched far out and caught sight of someone.
……It was Chae Nayun.
Chae Nayun quietly backed away, then stopped at a certain point. It seemed she intended to start following me again once things calmed down a little.
Bang.
I shot at the ground beneath where she was crouching.
Chae Nayun’s short scream echoed through the forest.
End
Eek—!
After that brief scream, Chae Nayun popped out from the bushes. With a very sullen expression, she slowly approached me.
“What is this? Why are you tailing me?”
I asked, still aiming my handgun at her.
“……I wasn’t following you, okay?”
Chae Nayun scratched her cheek as she made that excuse.
“Then what were you doing?”
“……”
“See? I’m right.”
I placed my finger on the trigger. Chae Nayun’s body flinched.
“No, first of all, before that. How did you do that thing just now?”
However, instead of being intimidated, she asked about the Sphere of Light I had just used. So the gun wasn’t even a threat to her, huh.
“I asked why you were tailing me. Say that first.”
Chae Nayun frowned hard and only then answered.
“I told you, I wasn’t following you. I was following Seungah unni.”
“……Huh?”
My head tilted. Why would Yun Seungah come here?
“Seungah? The Yun Seungah I know?”
“Yeah. But aren’t you being a little too casual?”
“……”
Pretending to think, I turned around, took out my laptop, and checked the drone footage.
There were as many as four drones filming this place. In one of them, I discovered Yun Seungah. She was sitting atop a tree like a cat, looking down this way.
“Yun Seungah……”
“Why do you keep calling her so familiarly?”
I also knew Yun Seungah’s movements during the exam.
On the first and second days, she observed Kim Suho. Then on the third and fourth days, she observed promising cadets other than him.
If things were going according to the original story, she should have been watching people like Jaden or Kim Gyeongsu, so why…… Could it be that I had made it onto that list of promising cadets?
“Hey. More importantly, how did you do that just now? That was Sphere of Light, right?”
“Yeah. I did it. But since you’re here, let’s catch these together.”
“No~! I know you did it, but I’m asking how you did……”
Chae Nayun’s words did not continue properly.
From deep within the lake, crocodile monsters were slowly rising like squid drawn to light.
Low-intermediate rank 5 to 7 Wizard Alligators.
These crocodiles, whose skin was unusually blue, condensed the magic power inside their bodies and spat it out like a breath attack. They were threatening when ambushing from underwater, but once they came up onto land like this, their speed was halved and they became less dangerous.
Pointing at them, I made a proposal to Chae Nayun.
“Half and half?”
Alligators had tough bodies, so they were hard to kill with a cadet handgun. I had originally planned to catch them using the Desert Eagle, but I could not use it while an examiner was watching.
“First, tell me how you did that thing just now—ah, shit.”
At that instant, an alligator fired magic power. Not at me, but at Chae Nayun.
Mm.
I was satisfied.
Luck helped me like this, even in trivial situations, so things would work out in my favor.
* * *
Yun Seungah hid herself in the tree and looked down below.
“……I almost got caught.”
When Kim Hajin created the Sphere of Light, Yun Seungah had in fact been greatly shaken as well. If Chae Nayun had not been there, she probably would have been discovered instead. Of course, something like Sphere of Light was a magic most heroes could use easily.
But the problem was the strength of that light, and the timing at which he was using that magic. The technique of condensing magic power “outside” the body and maintaining it was quite difficult, and Yun Seungah herself had only fully mastered it in the second semester of her first year.
“I knew that child wouldn’t have written a baseless report.”
And he had done it so easily.
Yun Seungah smiled in satisfaction.
Kim Hajin. She would have to add a star beside those three syllables.
* * *
The alligator opened its jaws wide. I poured bullets into its mouth. Ratatatata. I emptied one magazine, all twenty rounds, in a single second. It was an astonishing rapid fire.
The alligator shuddered in pain.
However, it was not a fatal wound. My attack merely inflicted damage, and the main attack came next.
A flash of magic power drawn in a straight line.
The terrifying magic power rising on the blade sliced through the alligator’s maw. With its body and jaws separated, the alligator went limp.
It was Chae Nayun’s sword strike. Even the last alligator could not endure Chae Nayun’s attack more than once. It was truly a single stroke that cleaved in two. An attack power that made one marvel.
“Looks like you’ve started using a sword?”
“……”
Chae Nayun sheathed her sword without a word. Her hand was trembling noticeably as she did so. Seeing that, I closed my mouth. Right now, the unpleasant sensation of cutting through blood and flesh must still be lingering in her hand.
I did not know that sensation. Because I did not know it, it was even more frightening.
“……There are four of them. Let’s register two each. I’ll take this one and this one.”
I registered two alligators with the exam watch. Out of conscience, I chose the smaller ones.
Chae Nayun also registered the remaining two alligators.
With that, the hunt ended.
There was no reason to stay with Chae Nayun anymore.
“There’s nothing else to do, so I’m going.”
“...You’re really not going to tell me until the end, huh? I asked how you made that magic power sphere.”
Chae Nayun grumbled, jutting out her lips.
I gave a small laugh and answered.
“If you know, you’ll get hurt.”
“What?”
Chae Nayun’s face crumpled in displeasure.
But it was the truth. To explain the magic power of Stigma, I would have to tell her that this world was actually inside a novel.
“...What kind of bullshit is that?”
“Just go. I got here first, so you go that way.”
I pointed in the opposite direction and walked forward.
Chae Nayun seemed to glare at my back for a moment, then soon went on her own way. Thump, thump, thump. Her footsteps were extremely rough.
*
After parting ways with Chae Nayun, I moved busily.
Making full use of Thousand-Mile Eyes, I found and killed only mid-low rank monsters between grades 7 and 9. Wolves, roe deer, octopuses, and so on. While playing Lu Bu against weaklings, I earned 15 points in just two hours.
And now.
“......”
Sensing a presence in the bushes behind me, I stopped.
There was no longer any intent to tail me. She was moving openly. The woman who had been following me all this time seemed to be finally revealing herself.
So she’s done observing, more or less.
I waited quietly.
Before long, she flew through the trees like a butterfly and landed about fifty meters in front of me.
“Hello?”
Yun Seungah smiled brightly as she spoke to me.
“Is this the first time since you turned me down back then?”
As her first greeting, she brought up what had happened that day. The day I had coldly(?) rejected Yun Seungah’s business card.
“...I suppose it is. But why so suddenly?”
“Ah, I’m sorry. It is a bit sudden, isn’t it?”
Yun Seungah nodded as if she understood, then continued.
“Actually, I’ve been going around holding events for the cadets. Partly to test their skills.”
“What? An event?”
“Yes.”
Yun Seungah pointed with her finger to the name tag on her chest.
“Would you like to try taking it?”
“...Pardon?”
To my ears, it was an extremely suggestive action and statement. Of course, I was sure she didn’t mean it that way.
Whether she knew what I was thinking or not, Yun Seungah continued.
“The rules of the event are simple. I’ll stay still in this spot, and I’ll only use my left hand. If you can make me move even a single step—no, if you can land even one valid hit anywhere other than my left hand—I’ll give you this name tag.”
“...Your name tag?”
“Yes. I promise on my guild.”
If she was staking even her guild on it, it was less a promise and more an oath.
So I rubbed my chin and thought.
That name tag was worth a whopping 200 points. If I got 200 points, I would unquestionably become first place without having to weigh anything else.
But what could I gain from taking first place on the final exam?
My SP would rise quite a bit. The guilds would pay attention, and the Djinn faction would follow suit.
On top of that, Kim Suho, having lost first place, might be stimulated and become stronger than in the original work... No, no.
I had forgotten the most important thing. What I had to focus on wasn’t what came after, but what came before.
Could I take Yun Seungah’s name tag?
“I’ll stay still just like this. Choose. Will you challenge me, or will you leave?”
As if she had read my thoughts, Yun Seungah added.
“This is a very sudden event.”
As I spoke, I fired my gun in a surprise attack. Yun Seungah lightly swatted away the incoming bullet with her hand. The bullet bounced off like a stalk of straw and buried itself in the ground.
“...That stings. It’s twice as powerful as a cadet-issue gun. As expected, your talent must be related to firearms?”
Yun Seungah had deliberately not wrapped magic power around her hand. She had deflected the bullet with her pure body. Probably to check the bullet’s power.
For reference, the reason the bullet was stronger wasn’t some talent, but Aether’s invisible assistance. Aether clung to weapons and enhanced the performance of the weapon itself.
“Try again.”