She tilted her head.
"You really don't know? The rumors are totally rampant these days."
"Bullshit."
Yuyeonha cut in firmly. Right now, she had far more important matters to attend to. The point allocation for this mock battle was enormous.
"More importantly, have you located the relics?"
"Ah, yeah. I've got one. I found an NPC along the way."
Yi Jiyun pulled a small box from inside her clothes. A delighted expression spread across Yuyeonha's face.
"That's a relief. Then let's transport this to the first floor first."
"Sure."
"Hey, Yi Jiyun. But that's probably not true. That rumor spread because Kim Hajin and Rachel are on the same team, that's all……"
The moment Chae Nayun muttered somewhat seriously—
Arrows rained down from somewhere. Yuyeonha hurriedly swept her whip, deflecting the arrows.
"Ah, shit, who is it!"
Most of the arrow rain was blocked by Yuyeonha's whip, but the ambush itself was irritating. Chae Nayun shouted fiercely, her eyes flaring.
On the balcony stood Rachel and her subordinates.
"Rachel! You coward, is this an ambush?!"
Chae Nayun trembled with rage.
But Rachel looked down at them calmly and simply drew her rapier.
"I'll be charging in now."
At her small voice, her Black Team reacted simultaneously.
Now.
Two archers fired arrows from the balcony, while four warriors descended to the ground and induced a melee. The core of this ambush was Rachel. Rachel left Yuyeonha and Yi Jiyun to the other three warriors, while she faced Chae Nayun.
Chae Nayun was a beginner who had only recently changed to a swordsman, so Rachel brimmed with confidence that she could defeat her.
"Shit……"
On the other hand, Chae Nayun gritted her teeth tightly as she crossed swords with Rachel. The difference in realm and experience was felt to the bone.
Whenever she swung her sword once, Rachel swung twice, and attacks that she couldn't deflect, Rachel deflected with ease.
There were no distractions either. Everyone except Rachel was strictly marking Yuyeonha and Yi Jiyun. Right now, it was purely a 1v1 between Rachel and herself.
Clang! Clang!
Each time sword clashed against sword, the pain felt as though her grip was being torn apart.
As expected, Rachel was a master capable of delivering tremendous power even with a thin blade.
For Chae Nayun, no matter how much she thought about it, defending was her best option.
"Damn it—"
But Chae Nayun didn't want to lose.
At least to Rachel, she refused to be defeated.
And that desire not to lose—her stubborn pride—erupted with tremendous mana.
She released mana as if exploding, pouring every bit of it into her sword. The mana clung to the blade, creating the shape of a massive greatsword—broad and enormous.
"……!"
Rachel flinched in surprise at the ferocious yet majestic form of the greatsword.
Chae Nayun swung that greatsword with all her might.
But great force always coexists with great openings.
Rachel had no intention of taking that attack head-on; she rolled her body to evade it. Thus, Chae Nayun's sword simply struck the ground.
And in the very next moment, something Rachel hadn't anticipated occurred.
Boom!
The floor, struck by the sword, collapsed entirely.
Rachel, who had thrown herself to evade, fell to the floor below without even time to question what had happened.
Thud.
Having fallen to Basement Floor 4, Rachel stared blankly at the hole in the ceiling, feeling pain in her waist. Had that really been so fragile?
"Where are you!"
A lion-like voice roared from above. Rachel hurriedly rose. She had to return to the front lines at once. Without her, the forces gathered were too meager to face Yuyeonha and Chae Nayun……
But before her, a man revealed himself.
Rachel's entire body stiffened.
Wearing the white cadet uniform—the symbol of the White Team—he drew his sword.
It was Kim Suho.
He had been on Basement Floor 5, but had already defeated Sin Jonghak and climbed up to Basement Floor 4.
This was bad. Rachel bit her lip.
Kim Suho seemed to have no intention of holding back. The moment he confirmed Rachel was from the Black Team, he charged like an arrow. Rachel blocked his sword with her rapier.
Truly, a force and weight of a completely different caliber sent a sharp, piercing vibration through her entire body.
* * *
I stopped in front of the restroom on Basement Floor 6.
"Is the relic here……?"
I added an act just in case there were administrators watching. I checked the message Tomer had received again on my smartwatch.
[There is a management center underground in Sector B-3 of the lowest floor. The item has been left there. The management center will be completely empty from 11 AM to noon, so aim for that time window to retrieve it.]
The lowest floor is Basement Floor 7, and Sector B-3 refers to Room 3 of Sector B in Basement Floor 7's residential area.
"Relic~ Are you here~?"
I checked the time as I entered the restroom. 10:45 AM. There were still about fifteen minutes left.
"……Uh? What is this?"
But inside a stall on Basement Floor 6, I found a hologram. It was in the shape of a middle-aged man clutching something tightly to his chest.
I opened the stall. The hologram NPC flinched in surprise when it saw me. I was startled too and raised my pistol.
"Wow. It was really here?"
But I didn't fire; I simply reached out and stole only the relic. Its terrified expression looked more real than the real thing.
The middle-aged man hologram immediately dashed off somewhere after having the relic snatched away.
At any rate, I had obtained one relic.
I put the relic inside my clothes and glanced downward.
Right below the tile I was standing on, inside a stall in the Basement Floor 7 restroom, Tomer was still lying low.
"Hmm."
I pondered. In order to take that "item" in Tomer's place, I needed to retire Tomer. But how was I supposed to retire her?
I began to scrutinize every corner of the restroom, including the ceiling and floor.
And then I found it.
This was the Basement Floor 6 restroom. There was a ventilation duct connected to the Basement Floor 7 restroom.
A ventilation duct.
"……Could it be?"
I looked at my biceps. A tattoo in the shape of two strokes of the character for "one" crossing like a cross. The uses of this Stigma's mana might be far more infinite than I imagined.
Half in disbelief, I conveyed my will to the Stigma.
"Become a smoke of mana capable of putting Tomer to sleep."
In an instant, the mana of 1.5 strokes of the Stigma was consumed, and simultaneously, a grayish smoke rose from my biceps.
I stared blankly at the smoke. Curiously, the smoke moved according to my will.
"This much,
should be enough."
I carefully manipulated the smoke, sending it flowing below into the ventilation duct. The smoke traveled down through the duct to the Basement Floor 7 restroom.
I observed the proceedings through my Clairvoyance.
The smoke fluttered in front of Tomer's nose. She furrowed her brow and tried to push it away, but instead, the smoke seized that opening and entered her nostrils. Tomer coughed, hack hack.
Soon, her eyes grew hazy. Tomer yawned once and checked her watch.
I shouldn't fall asleep. Tomer muttered as such and tried to rise from her spot. However, the moment she stood up, she slumped right down. She had fallen asleep sitting on the toilet.
"Phew."
That did it. With Tomer put to sleep, all I had to do was go to the management area in her place.
I went down to Basement Floor 7.
The moment I arrived at Basement Floor 7, it became 11:00 AM. I moved without hesitation toward Sector B-3. The passage leading to the management center was hidden beneath a decorative flower bed.
I went down that passage.
"No one's here."
The place, with around twenty screens displayed on large monitors like a security room, was indeed empty as described. I approached a large desk. On it sat a certain black box.
===
[Stiletto of Weakness] [Advanced—Enchant] [Poison Attribute]
*A stiletto that causes the target it cuts to become weakened.
*Enchanted with the advanced magic effect, [Weakness].
===
The item inside the box was a stiletto that looked extraordinary even at a glance.
"Wow, what is this?"
I was surprised. It was actually an "Advanced" enchant. Though the equipment itself wasn't a relic, its market value was easily over 1.5 billion won.
An unexpected windfall.
"Ahem."
I cleared my throat lightly and glanced around.
From now on, this is mine.
After putting the dagger inside my clothes, I slowly went back outside. I also didn't forget to erase the CCTV footage via server hacking.
After that, I walked out of Sector B-3 nonchalantly and went back up to Basement Floor 6.
"……Hmm?"
When I came up to Basement Floor 6, I was slightly surprised. Not far away, there was Rachel.
"Why does she look like that?"
But Rachel was somehow thoroughly haggard. Her face was exhausted as if she had been beaten by someone, and her cadet uniform was torn in several places.
I ran over to her.
"Miss Rachel."
From close enough to see her with my eyes, I called her name softly.
"……!"
Even at the small voice, Rachel flinched and trembled. Her slender shoulders twitching, her head creaked—turning toward me.
"It's okay. I'm on the Black Team too."
"Ah…… Phew."
Only then did she seem to relax somewhat, letting out a deep sigh in my direction.
She looked like she'd been through hell. I smiled faintly as I approached her.
"What, did something difficult happen? Why is your face like that?"
Rachel looked up at me and answered briefly.
"I tried to ambush them, but I failed."
"I see."
Rachel continued in a weak voice.
"And I met Kim Suho, and lost."
"……I see."
She hung her head sulkily. But her hardships didn't end there.
"I barely escaped from Kim Suho, but then Chae Nayun and Yu Yeonha chased me…… And when I got away from them, now mages kept casting magic at me……"
Rachel finished her complaints as if emptying her grievances, then lowered her eyes in distress.
Then, seemingly curious, she suddenly asked me.
"……How many kills do you have, Mr. Hajin?"
"I have zero kills."
"Ah…… I have one kill."
In this mock battle, the most direct scoring criteria would be "relic acquisition" and "kill count." At this rate, both of us would be in the lower ranks. Ah, but I guess not, since I acquired a relic.
Anyway, I'm fine even if I'm in the lower ranks. I only need to maintain a mid-ranking score, after all.
But Rachel is different. Since her goal is set very high, if the battle ends like this, recovering this much of a deficit in score would be a bit difficult.
As if she knew it too, Rachel gazed at the floor with the saddest eyes in the world. Then she sharply kicked an innocent pebble with the tip of her foot. The pebble bounced pitter-patter and hit a nearby wall.
I fiddled inside my clothes and opened my mouth.
"Still, it's not too late. It's not over until it's over."
Rachel slowly raised her head.
Looking at her, I pulled out the relic I had inside my clothes.
"I'll give you this."
In an instant, Rachel's eyes went wide.
"Please transport it upstairs. You're faster than me, after all, Miss Rachel."
"……No. Why would I—"
"Just take it."
I cut off her attempt to refuse. For some reason, I just wanted to help her.
"And you see that far right end over there? There's an emergency passage there? There probably aren't many people over there……"
I surveyed the emergency passage. A few sharp-witted kids were already blocking that path, but most of them are from the Black Team, meaning they're on the same side as Rachel.
"There won't be many."
I said so with a wide grin.
"There they are!"
It was then. A thunderous shout echoed, and the White Team, led by Chae Nayun and Yu Yeonha, came rushing like a storm.
Rachel and I soon found ourselves facing the enemy.
Six on that side. Just the two of us, Rachel and me, on this side.
Well, this had turned into a surprisingly dramatic scene.
"……Kim Hajin."
Chae Nayun pointed her sword at me. Then she spotted the relic in Rachel's hand and her eyes went wide.
"Her, she's got a relic! Hey, who'd you steal that from!"
"Hurry, hurry and run. I'll buy as much time as I can."
At my urging, Rachel mumbled with her lips, hesitating,
"……Yes. Thank you."
With those words, she ran off.
An archer from the white team loosed an arrow at Rachel’s back. Like hell I’d let that happen. I fired a bullet into the arrow’s trajectory and struck it. The arrow collided with the magic bullet and slammed into the ground, and the archer looked at me in shock.
“Junyoung and I will chase Rachel.”
The two members of the white team seemed ready to ignore me and go after Rachel, but—
“No.”
Yoo Yeonha stopped them.
“...Stay on guard. He’s a difficult opponent.”
As she said that, she tightened her grip on her whip.
I briefly surveyed the terrain. There were plenty of things I could grab onto and run across, so if I made full use of parkour, I might be able to escape.
“What? Kim Hajin, you’re going to take on six by yourself? Are you insane?”
Chae Nayun asked. I didn’t answer and just shrugged. For now, all I needed was to buy time.
“No, seriously, what are you all scared of? He’s just one guy with a gun. I’m going first!”
Just then, a warrior wielding an axe suddenly charged out. The axe warrior thundered toward me. I fired a barrage of bullets at the ground where I guessed he would step. That managed to slow his charge for a moment, but Yoo Yeonha’s whip and the archer’s arrow, both far more threatening, came flying at me at the same time.
I activated Bullet Time.
In an instant, my perceived time slowed. I could predict the trajectories of the arrow and the whip in their entirety.
I blocked the arrow with a bullet and dodged the whip.
But then something rather amazing happened.
The arrow whose trajectory had been altered by my bullet curved, as if by some miracle, toward the heart of the axe warrior who had been charging at me. Whether his effective HP had already dropped from consecutive battles or not, he was eliminated right then and there.
“Uh, fuck! Hey, wait! How can you team-kill—”
The indignant axe warrior couldn’t finish speaking. A blindfold and gag were fastened over his eyes and mouth. Mmph, mmph! His thrashing figure looked a little pitiful. Still, the arrow that had just struck his chest protector was—by real combat standards—definitely a fatal wound.
In other words, this was something that had occurred purely by luck.
“...To think you bent the trajectory.”
However, Yoo Yeonha seemed to think even that had been my intention, and muttered with utmost seriousness.
* * *
Meanwhile, Rachel safely returned to the black team with the relic.
“Rachel stole the relic!”
The six cadets of the black team cheered at Rachel’s return, having thought she was dead, but Rachel’s mind was complicated.
Naturally, it was because of Kim Hajin.
“......”
Rachel stared blankly down at the relic in her hand. The relic Kim Hajin had handed to her with a gentle smile still seemed to carry his warmth.
“Haa.”
A sigh escaped her.
I shouldn’t have accepted it.
I’m not deaf. I already knew what kind of rumor Kim Hajin’s actions had become, and how they were spreading among the cadets. I had merely rationalized it until now, telling myself it couldn’t be true, that it was nothing more than gossip.
But today, I could no longer deny Kim Hajin’s true feelings.
Thinking back, it wasn’t just today. Ever since we became teammates, he had always hovered around me. As if he were there and yet not there, simply by my side...
The countless rumors that had been drifting around without legs whispered in her ears once again.
Kim Hajin was going to confess to me. He was going to sing a song for me—
But Rachel shook her head fiercely.
She was not in a position to freely share her feelings with someone. For her homeland, for her parents, and for the Royal Guild, she had decided to give everything up.
...No, perhaps that was just an excuse.
Her mother and father had always told her that if someone she truly loved appeared, she would want to throw all of that away just to be with them.
It was simply that, right now, she did not feel such a desperate pull.
There were still too many values she placed before herself, and she did not yet want to abandon them.
“...Ah, right!”
Rachel, who had been lost in deep thought, suddenly remembered Kim Hajin, whom she had left behind. There was no time for this. Right now, on the sixth floor—