Chapter 33

< Chapter 33: Rapid Rise (1) >

A moment of silence passed.

“I admit that you have a good head, good judgment, and you did a decent job as a vanguard. Honestly, I was impressed.”

One of the team members said to me with a sigh.

“But you’re not going to face the Guardian alone, are you? If it’s because of your pride…”

“It’s not that.”

I cut him off.

I knew what he wanted to say, but did he think I was crazy enough to challenge the Guardian alone because of my pride?

“It’s just that this is the best option.”

“The best option? The recklessness of an F-rank trying to deal with the Guardian by yourself?”

I shrugged my shoulders.

“I never said I would handle it by myself. I said I would take care of it.”

“What?”

Even if it was a fake, it would be at least a C-rank. How could I possibly take it down by myself?

“In other words, I’m the bait.”

“Bait?”

But if I used the extremes of the weapon and the Master of Weapons. And with the Predator’s Killing Intent, it would be possible to buy some time.

“I can buy some time, at least.”

“Is that what you meant?”

His expression softened slightly.

He seemed convinced.

“But, if what you say is true, then the bait role is the most important one, right? If you go down, then it’s really over. I think leaving the Red Haetae to Shin Jia alone would be better.”

That was a good suggestion.

I also thought that way at first.

“No. I’m better than Jia.”

“Why?”

“Simple. The key to attacking the Blue Haetae is the ‘fire attribute’. If it’s a flame made of magic, it will follow me blindly.”

“What does that have to do with you being the bait?”

I focused my magic on the spear in my hand.

Whooosh-!

At that moment, red magic flickered like fire on the spear.

“Are you crazy?”

The three of them widened their eyes.

“That’s why.”

* * *

The Officer Academy Control Room.

Numerous instructors were looking at each monitor.

“Team 17 wiped out. Requesting medical team.”

Each monitor showed the teams that were raiding the virtual ruins.

“Team 2 completed the raid. Overall evaluation C+. Starting individual evaluation.”

They all stared at the screen with fire in their eyes. It was to prepare for any possible accidents that might occur during the training and also to evaluate the movements of each team.

“Team 21 started the battle with the Guardian Stone Sphinx.”

Amid everyone’s busy movements.

One of the assistant instructors who was taking a break yawned and said.

“Wow. Stone Sphinx? They put in a really annoying one. The instructor who put that in must be Satan. Right?”

“I don’t know.”

Pi Jin-ho answered indifferently.

The Guardians that appeared in the virtual ruins raid were decided and deployed by the instructors in charge of the virtual ruins.

“That’s nothing compared to what I set up. It’s like a bonus stage.”

The assistant instructor asked with trembling eyes.

“What kind of Guardian did you set up, Instructor Pi?”

“Are you curious?”

“Yes. Very much.”

“Hmm. Nothing much.”

Pi Jin-ho smiled faintly.

“Taegeuk Haetae.”

“I’m sorry?”

“I said Taegeuk Haetae.”

“The twin Guardians?”

“Yes.”

“Wow. There really was a devil here.”

“Don’t exaggerate.”

“It’s not an exaggeration…”

The assistant instructor shook his head vigorously.

“Team 7 only got unlucky. Let’s see who those poor cadets are… Huh?”

He turned his eyes to the monitor and his eyes popped out.

“Shin Jia and Kang Seo-yul? Team 7, don’t tell me they’re your class cadets, Instructor Pi?”

“Yes.”

“And how do you plan to deal with their resentment later?”

“I don’t know. I think they’ll thank me instead.”

“Thank you? Why?”

“Hmm. Because they’ll get a lot of extra points for dealing with such a difficult Guardian.”

“No, that’s only if they succeed… Oh. Is it possible with Shin Jia?”

It seemed possible with Shin Jia.

“Well, sure, it would be a jackpot if they succeed. But then Shin Jia would be the only one to benefit.”

A huge amount of points would be given to the one who contributed greatly to the raid of Taegeuk Haetae. It was likely that Shin Jia would monopolize the points.

“No. If I borrow your words, the one who will benefit is not Shin Jia, but Kang Seo-yul.”

The assistant instructor tilted his head.

“Why Kang Seo-yul all of a sudden?”

“The key to attacking the Blue Haetae is ‘fire’.”

“What does that have to do with Kang Seo-yul…”

It was then.

“Wow!”

“Oh my god!”

Exclamations burst out from the front of the monitor.

“Fire attribute strong energy!”

“Kang Seo-yul also awakened attribute magic?”

“It’s the second one after Ha Si-yeon! What’s wrong with this year’s freshmen!”

Pi Jin-ho’s lips curled up slightly.

“That’s why.”

The assistant instructor’s mouth opened wide.

“Holy cow.”

Beyond the monitor.

Kang Seo-yul was fighting with the Blue Haetae, waving his red strong energy. And he was doing it alone.

Although it was a battle focused on evasion, his movements were very neat and precise.

Exclamations flowed from the instructors’ mouths.

“Woah. They divided it into 1:3, and used fire attribute magic to lure out only the Blue Haetae, and they seemed to know about Taegeuk Haetae too?”

“Maybe Shin Jia? She has an amazing amount of knowledge.”

All the instructors’ attention was focused on Team 7’s battle scene.

“Shin Jia is as expected. The other two are not bad either. And lastly, Kang Seo-yul… He’s good at using a spear too?”

“He still has excellent skills. But his stats are still lacking.”

The assistant instructor looked at Pi Jin-ho and asked.

“But did you know that Cadet Kang Seo-yul could use a spear too? I thought he specialized in daggers and bows.”

“Yeah. He started using it yesterday.”

Pi Jin-ho’s casual words made the control room silent.

“Wait a minute. Did you say yesterday? That? That’s a day’s worth of spear skills?”

The spear skills of Kang Seo-yul beyond the screen were not those of a beginner. The way he covered his lack of stats with skills was beautiful.

“He also awakened his strong energy yesterday.”

“Oh, my god.”

The murmurs grew louder.

How could he do that?

But they had to believe it because it was Pi Jin-ho’s words. Because his eyes were more accurate than anything in the world.

“How is that possible?”

“Sometimes there are. Students whose genius starts to bloom late. My wife was like that.”

A faint smile lingered on Pi Jin-ho’s lips.

“Ah. By the way, you said something when you saw Cadet Ha Si-yeon earlier?”

“Me? What did I say?”

“Something like, it seems like the first place of this year will be decided between Ha Si-yeon and Shin Jia. Something like that.”

“Oh, yeah. I did.”

“I personally think both of them will have a hard time getting first place. They’ll probably fight for second and third place.”

“What do you mean?”

Pi Jin-ho didn’t say anything more. He just looked at Kang Seo-yul beyond the monitor.

But there was no instructor who didn’t understand Pi Jin-ho’s meaning.

“Kang Seo-yul.”

It was the moment when the instructors’ perception of Kang Seo-yul changed 180 degrees.

* * *

“Team 7! Overall evaluation A!”

We successfully raided the virtual ruins.

“Individual evaluation scores. Shin Jia A. She handled all the attacks by herself. Especially when she fought the Red Haetae, using an arrowhead in close combat was really brilliant.”

As expected of Jia.

She got a high score.

“Seo In-ryang, Kang Ho-bin are both B-. They showed the necessary movements at the right time, but there were many mistakes in between.”

The two of them looked satisfied.

After all, B- was a score that would put them in the top 10%.

“Lastly, Kang Seo-yul.”

The eyes of four pairs, including the instructor, turned to me.

“Individual evaluation score A+!”

Yes!

I cheered inwardly.

“The vastness of knowledge that knew about Taegeuk Haetae, which even the instructors didn’t know well, and the excellent strategy that used that knowledge. And finally, the 1:1 battle with the Blue Haetae using fire attribute strong energy. It was excellent.”

The instructor who was in charge of our evaluation smiled playfully.

“It’s a pity that your stats are low. If you had taken down the Blue Haetae by yourself, you would have gotten an individual score of S.”

“Haha. I’ll try harder next time.”

“Yeah. Compared to when you entered, your stats seem to have improved a lot, so I’ll look forward to it.”

The instructor smiled brightly and patted my shoulder.

“Thank you.”

“Then, we’ll end the virtual ruins raid training here!”

“Good job!”

* * *

That night.

The cafe in the dormitory was noisy with the topic of two people.

“Did you hear? Ha Si-yeon got an S for her individual evaluation this time.”

“She took down the Golden Gargoyle by herself, right?”

One was about Ha Si-yeon, who had grown rapidly.

“And the more surprising one is Kang Seo-yul. He got an A+?”

“Wow~ Does that mean I can catch two rabbits with one stone if I date Kang Seo-yul?”

“Your next to him is Shin Jia.”

“Cough. She’s killing me with facts.”

The other one was about Kang Seo-yul.

“But isn’t it really amazing? There are only a thousand attribute magic awakeners in the world, and there are two of them in the same grade.”

“And they have the most versatile attributes, ice and fire. That’s even more creepy.”

“All kinds of guilds are trying to get Ha Si-yeon. I heard that even ‘The One’ guild from the US is moving.”

“Holy. Is that serious?”

The world’s number one guild ‘The One’

Everyone was surprised by the fact that the American guild, which was famous for not accepting rookies, was moving.

“She’s a so-called magic swordsman who has decent physical abilities. I’d be tempted too.”

“Wow~ The first place ranking might change soon, right?”

“Nah. I still think Shin Jia will have a hard time.”

The two of them were hot potatoes.

“Wow~ Everyone is praising them so much, what do you think? The superhuman Ha Si-yeon, who will join ‘The One’ guild in the future?”

In a corner of the cafe, there were people who were quietly listening to the conversation.

“I don’t know…”

Kim Chul-jin, Ha Si-yeon, and Choi Ji-hoon were there.

Ha Si-yeon had her face buried on the table.

Her face couldn’t be seen because she was lying down, but her ears were red. She looked embarrassed by the overflowing compliments from the other cadets.

“Hehe.”

Kim Chul-jin laughed as if he was enjoying himself.

Teasing Ha Si-yeon was one of his few pleasures.

“By the way, Ji-hoon, you must have a headache, right?”

And among his few pleasures, mocking Choi Ji-hoon was also included.

“What do you mean?”

“Kang Seo-yul. He used fire attribute strong energy this time. Isn’t that completely crushing you?”

“Bullshit. Even if he did, it doesn’t change the fact that he’s an F-rank.”

“Eh? I can’t hear you well because you’re a loser who got hit by that F-rank.”

Kim Chul-jin smirked with a smug expression.

“…”

Choi Ji-hoon gritted his teeth.

He wanted to retort and fight back, but Kim Chul-jin would enjoy it more if he reacted. He decided to stay quiet.

“Tsk.”

Kim Chul-jin clicked his tongue as if he lost interest.

“Si-yeon, what do you think? Who would win if Ji-hoon and Kang Seo-yul fought?”

“I don’t know…”

Ha Si-yeon turned her head slightly and looked at Kim Chul-jin with one eye. Her cheeks were still flushed.

She looked like she didn’t know what to do with the compliments from the other cadets.

“Hmm…”

Ha Si-yeon thought.

The winner would definitely be Kang Seo-yul.

He said he would win when she casually asked him before. He would surely win no matter what.

‘He said he succeeded in loosening the seal.’

He said he pushed himself a bit because he needed to raise his ranking.

Choi Ji-hoon’s defeat was inevitable.

Ha Si-yeon glanced at Choi Ji-hoon. His expression was full of subtle expectations.

She couldn’t say ‘Seo-yul will win!’ in front of him.

‘Ugh.’

She didn’t like lying, but she had no choice.

“Maybe half and half? Either win or lose.”

Well, and that’s not really a lie either.

“Half and half…you say?”

But Ha Si-yeon’s words were enough to provoke Choi Ji-hoon’s pride.

‘Do I compare to that trash?’

He felt even more hurt by the fact that it was Ha Si-yeon who said it.

‘Kang Seo-yul.’

In Choi Ji-hoon’s mind, jealousy and pride mixed like a sticky darkness.

He felt a desire to bury him using the power of Suseong Group.

“Huh.”

But he held back.

That was something that Ha Si-yeon hated very much, and more importantly, his pride wouldn’t allow it.

Choi Ji-hoon calmed his mind.

‘I just have to endure for three days.’

The ranking match was in three days.

He just had to endure until then.

‘I’ll show him.’

A fierce light flowed from Choi Ji-hoon’s eyes.

Meanwhile,

At that time, Kang Seo-yul was swinging his spear in Pi Jin-ho’s personal training room.

“I did it!”

He shouted with a wicked smile on his lips.

“Choi Ji-hoon, you’re dead.”

Red strong energy was swirling faintly at the end of Kang Seo-yul’s spear.

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