CHAPTER 114

“The Seed Team... seed, seed... As expected of a first-year team. What a unique name. ”

“I admire their spirit in founding a team before the end of the first semester. However, I’m afraid they have yet to meet their cold reality. As seniors, it’s only natural that we teach the juniors about the horrors of the world.”

***

After finishing class, Jae-Hyeok met up with Hae-Rin, Da-Hee, and Do-Jin before heading to the shooting range at a full sprint. Jae-Hyeok’s habit of using his daily life as training caused his team members to taste hell.

However, after thirty minutes with wind in their ears, Hae-Rin ran out of breath and slowed down—only to regret it.

Someone shouted between gasping breaths, “Wait! We... challenge you... to a team fight... ”

A group of second-year students had been following them, and after Hae-Rin slowed down, they took the opportunity to approach and present their challenge.

Hae-Rin stopped, as did Jae-Hyeok, Da-Hee, and Do-Jin, who were further ahead.

The second-year group proudly revealed the Team Battle Permit issued by the Student Council. After seeing it, Jae-Hyeok answered on behalf of Hae-Rin.

“Okay, we surrender.”

“Ah?”

“Huh?”

“What?”

Hae-Rin, who was regretting slowing down; Da-Hee, who was furthest ahead and determined to take first in their race; and Do-Jin, whose eyes were flashing excitedly for the upcoming fight—all three of their minds froze at Jae-Hyeok’s words.

The second-year students were also speechless.

“Surrender? Why?"

“Y-yes! You saw our permit. We went through the proper process with the Student Council! You can’t refuse our challenge!”

The second-year students shouted as if they were of one heart and one mind with Do-Jin.

“I didn’t refuse; I surrendered. You’ll receive the points for the victory,” Jae-Hyeok replied indifferently. Then, he ignored the shocked Do-Jin and shot off into the distance, leaving behind the words, “Last place gets two extra-special training sessions from me.”

“W-what?!” At the words, ‘special training,’ the sound of thunder played in Do-Jin’s ears.

Thunder-response training? Twice in a day?

Is he telling us to die?

The pale-faced Do-Jin hurried in Jae-Hyeok’s direction, only to realize he was looking at Hae-Rin’s back. What the hell, you were acting like you would collapse just a moment ago!

Perhaps because of his short legs, but no matter how he tried, Do-Jin couldn’t narrow the distance with the rest of his group. He snapped and spun on the second-year students following behind, grabbing one by the collar.

"Dammit! Since when did Park Hae-Rin start running again? Isn’t this cheating? You definitely helped her on purpose! Who paid you, huh?”

The second-year students were already surprised by the unexpected surrender—the person who was grabbed panicked and pushed Do-Jin’s hand away.

“Paid? How much more are you going to insult our legitimate battle request before you stop?”

“‘Insult’? You’re the ones insulting the system. You applied for a challenge permit against a first-year team. Being in the same year as you guys is embarrassing.”

“‘Embarrassing’? Beak Do-Jin, an inferior student like you, who failed to find a team for a whole year and ended up clinging to a first-year student, is lecturing us?”

Do-Jin and the second-year students, who had stopped, started punching each other.

Seeing this, Da-Hee and Hae-Rin relaxed and adjusted their pace. No matter what, they were free from the crisis of last place.

Their peace was short-lived.

“First-year cuties, over there! Accept our Black Rose team’s challenge request.”

A new group of second-year students appeared and blocked their way.

Jae-Hyeok immediately called out, “Okay, we surrender.”

“W-what?” Eventually, Chae Da-Hee stopped running. “Did you create a team just to surrender? Did you recruit me just to show me something like this?”

“Everyone except for first place gets two special training sessions.”

“Eeeeek!”

Da-Hee shrieked, and her mind went blank. She could discuss it later. For now, all she knew was that she needed to run.

However, by the time she resumed running, Da-Hee realized she was looking at Hae-Rin’s back. Huh?

It seemed Hae-Rin hadn’t slowed or hesitated even after witnessing Jae-Hyeok’s surrender for the second time.

“Is she a real cat?”

Escaping the commotion and running away alone!

Da-Hee felt betrayed and shouted, “Hey! We fought to the end against those school-bully sisters just yesterday! We were practically ready to share a drink and become sworn siblings!”

“Sworn siblings? I don’t know about that. I don’t drink alcohol.”

“How petty!”

She is entirely like a middle-aged man, Jae-Hyeok thought as he looked at Da-Hee, feeling slightly puzzled.

Sharing drinks and becoming sworn siblings... Da-Hee’s tastes were very different from her peers’, which made Jae-Hyeok a little worried. After all, if the girl who said she respected Duk Kang Dae-Guk the most had tastes like this, then...

Is it also a matter of taste that ordinary people don’t respect my father?

If so, that was a problem. A person’s tastes were a human rights issue, so even Jae-Hyeok couldn’t force it.

Hae-Rin suddenly stopped—because she belatedly felt sorry for Da-Hee?

No.

Two new groups of second-year students stood in her way, eight students in total.

“Let’s fight!”

“I challenge you to a duel!”

Any newly created first-year team was bound to be tasty prey for the second-year teams hovering in the lower ranks. Do-Jin, Da-Hee, and Hae-Rin had all anticipated that the challenge requests would keep coming. However—

"I surrender."

—They hadn’t expected Jae-Hyeok to avoid every match through surrender.

At this point, even Hae-Rin hesitated. “Hey, 30 points will be deducted from our score every time we surrender. And we’ve surrendered four times already.” Rather than increase, their starting rating of 1,000 points had dropped to 880 points in an instant.

The purpose of a team was to fight in team battles, win, increase their score, and get various rewards. They had no reason to have created a team early if they were going to fall to the bottom.

“Let’s fight,” Hae-Rin said with a firm expression. And taking the lead, she drew her sword and aimed it at the two teams.

Do-Jin and Da-Hee also caught up, gasping for breath, and stood beside Hae-Rin. Do-Jin said, “Of course, we have to fight! Kang Jae-Hyeok, if you ate something bad, then you should go to the bathroom.”

They decided to ignore Jae-Hyeok's craziness. The three of them could work together to protect their score first.

I don’t have more time to waste—Do-Jin had an obligation to avenge his parents. Loren had dared to chase him to Lion’s Castle after doing such a terrible thing. He was already ready to cut Loren’s throat and sacrifice it to his parents’ skeletons. But to succeed, he had to become stronger first. He planned on closing the gap with Loren by accumulating points and earning rewards in the team competition, despite joining a team later than his peers.

It doesn’t make sense for a player to surrender without even fighting—Chae Da-Hee dreamed of becoming a real aristocrat like Duke Kang Dae-Guk. She needed to live up to her beliefs and prove herself at every moment. Only then could she earn a title.

I have to reassure my father—Park Hae-Rin’s father had fallen ill and was fighting to keep access to the high-level gates. If he received news that she had disobeyed his will and abandoned her shield, his condition and situation could become much more serious. From that point on, many things would start to fall apart—the influential sub-master, Jeong Jae-Uk, might take over most of her father’s authority and swallow up the Guardian Guild. Hae-Rin had to convince her father before that happened. She believed that if she quickly proved her abilities after abandoning the shield, her father could feel relieved and calm down.

“Huh, look at these cheeky brats?”

The past two second-year teams also caught up and joined in. Now, four teams surrounded Jae-Hyeok’s group and laughed.

“You want to fight instead of surrendering? Even though you know there are four teams ready and waiting to fight you?”

“The confidence of these first years is a bit annoying. Hey, if you aren’t going to take us seriously, then be prepared to let us vent.”

“That’s right. You can’t back down now.”

They tried to hide their joy as they exchanged greedy looks, trying to decide who would go first.

Gaining points through a surrender was indeed good; however, while the surrendering team lost 30 points, the winning team only gained 15 points in order to prevent teams from abusing the system. Thus, the second-year teams hoped to get more points by fighting and winning directly against Kang Jae-Hyeok’s team.

In a situation like this. Our points are practically guaranteed.

It was four against one. If they engaged in continuous battles, Kang Jae-Hyeok’s team would tire quickly, and the second-year teams would win without much trouble.

However, the first team to step up would have the most difficult time.

“Let’s decide through rock, paper, scissors.”

“There’s nothing fairer than that.”

The second-year teams started openly communicating to decide the order.

Do-Jin growled and muttered something inaudible, but everyone ignored him. They were excited to get free points, and Do-Jin was nothing more than a minor obstacle. There was no reason to notice him.

Jae-Hyeok stopped silently observing the situation and slowly said, “The more hasty you are, the more you should slow down... My father couldn’t do that.”

Do-Jin, Hae-Rin, and Da-Hee all turned to Jae-Hyeok in surprise when he mentioned his father.

Jae-Hyeok made direct eye contact with each of them. “If you only rely on your strength and keep charging forward, a time will come when you will surely regret it. It happened to the Kang family. I saw it with my own eyes.”

“W-wait a minute.”

His father and the Kang family—all of them knew how important these two things were for Jae-Hyeok. Da-Hee, especially, knew it well. Jae-Hyeok’s respect for the Yaksha was higher than even her own. Yet he was discussing the Yaksha’s failure in front of so many people. Why?

Jae-Hyeok smiled at her anxious face. “Sometimes, it’s best to take a break. Now is the time to pause for a moment.”

He was wary of Gu Suk-Jeong’s actions the day before, and winning consecutive matches and increasing their ranking right now would only make it easier for Gu Suk-Jeong’s group to target them. Once they started down this path, they would be receiving challenges one after another, day after day.

Moreover, Gu Suk-Jeong was the grandson of an elder of the Guardian Guild. Jae-Hyeok was sure Jeong Ru-Han’s malice lurked behind Gu Suk-Jeong’s actions, so it was hard to predict what type of dirty schemes could happen.

“Ah... ”

Da-Hee and Hae-Rin came to their senses, realizing Jae-Hyeok’s worries.

Meanwhile, Do-Jin had a mind full of question marks. “Take a break? Why?”

The second-year teams also had no intention of letting this opportunity go. One of them said to Jae-Hyeok, “The Kang family... So you’re the kid from that filthy, traitorous family, right? Good. If we defeat you, it’ll be like punishing the Kang family.”

“Filthy, traitorous family?” Jae-Hyeok’s temples pulsed, and he smiled widely. “You dare?” Before anyone could react—

Bang!!

A thunderbolt fell.

In his rage, Jae-Hyeok had used his sword-drawing technique and linked it with Two Scythes Block a Cart, which had also triggered Traces of Thunder Tribulation.

“Uh?”

“H-huh?”

Hae-Rin and Da-Hee blinked with surprise. For a moment, it was hard to accept the sight of half of the sixteen second-year students charred and unconscious on the ground.

Do-Jin cackled.

“That’s it! This is Kang Jae-Hyeok! The Kang Jae-Hyeok I know is someone who doesn’t know how to retreat! Fuck, come at me all at once!”

“Uh, wait... ” Jae-Hyeok suddenly regained his sanity and tried to stop him, but it was useless. Do-Jin had already started his rampage.

Da-Hee and Hae-Rin glanced sideways at Jae-Hyeok and widened the distance. Then they joined Do-Jin.

“Hiik! Y-you crazy bastards, stop for a moment! People are dead!”

The second-year students were still in chaos after the thunder strike and were quickly reduced to a few ragged stragglers.

They couldn’t stop the runner-up freshmen and the mad dog, both of whom were running around with Hae-Rin’s buff.

Shortly after—

[The Seed team has won.]

[The Seed team has won.]

[The Seed...]

Uh, wow, the score is going up pretty quickly.

The flustered Jae-Hyeok scratched the back of his head.