novelraw Chapter 17 : Chapter 17
Chapter 17 : Chapter 17
Chapter 17. I Admire You (2)
The Thanksgiving Festival.
It was an event held every March to commemorate the first time an S-Rank Gate, which was called a disaster in the past, was cleared.
A day to convey gratitude to the Players who stopped the S-Rank Gate, and to wish for the peaceful rest of the Players who sacrificed themselves while fighting heroically.
'They said it always rains.'
It was said that on the day the S-Rank Gate was cleared, heavy rain poured down from the sky.
So, as a way to mean that they would not forget the past, I think it was said that one Hero-Rank Player with a rain-related talent made it rain every Thanksgiving Festival with the help of other Players.
"Even so, is the Thanksgiving Festival not a bit much?"
Do Gang-ho spoke in a voice that showed he was not thrilled with my idea.
It was not that I did not understand.
Because the meaning the Thanksgiving Festival held in this world was incredibly significant.
Players and civilians alike, without exception, considered the Thanksgiving Festival sacred.
"No. It absolutely has to be the Thanksgiving Festival."
However, I had no intention of bending my opinion.
"The Thanksgiving Festival is the only day when the instructors' eyes are not on us. Do you perhaps want to live like that for another year?"
"That is not it, but..."
"Then what is it? Are you perhaps scared of Lee Ho-jae?"
"What kind of bull... Ah, f*ck! I do not know. If you say so, then it must be so."
Since Do Gang-ho had absolutely no connection with studying, it seemed like he was just glossing over it.
It was incredibly frustrating when I read it in the text, but now it was extremely convenient.
"Alright. Now that the date is set, I have something to ask you."
"What is it?"
"How far do you plan to take this fight?"
I asked Do Gang-ho in a serious voice.
It was not an issue to be taken lightly.
'Because a fight between Players is a matter directly tied to their lives.'
What Do Gang-ho and Lee Ho-jae were going to do was not a spar, but a real fight.
And it was the kind of fight that could dictate the rest of their lives.
Of course, since they were cadets, no one would die, but it would not be strange if someone got seriously injured.
Do Gang-ho pondered for a moment at my question before opening his mouth.
"I am going to fight until the end. Until either me or that bastard drops out."
"...Understood."
Roughly estimating, it did not seem like a fight that would end with minor injuries.
If a problem were to arise, I would have to contact Shin Yu-hwan separately and ask for a favor.
"This should be enough for now. I will handle the rest and set the stage, so just take good care of your body."
"Is that so? For someone who set such a serious mood, that is quite anticlimactic."
"Considering Lee Ho-jae's personality, I have a rough idea of how to drag him out."
I just had to roughly write a note under Do Gang-ho's name and send it.
With Lee Ho-jae's personality, he would not be able to tolerate someone he considered a bug crawling up to him.
"Then can I just leave now?"
"Yeah. The Thanksgiving Festival is this weekend, so remember it well."
"Even if I am bad at studying, I am not stupid enough to forget the Thanksgiving Festival and the garbage recycling day, so you do not have to worry."
Do Gang-ho treated Lee Ho-jae as nothing more than trash and stood up from his seat.
Since Do Gang-ho had not really brought anything, he did not have any belongings to pack.
"Let us meet again on the Thanksgiving Festival. You suspicious guy."
"Suspicious guy?"
"I am thankful that you helped, but I still do not know why you helped me. That is why you are a suspicious guy."
True, if a guy I had never even exchanged a word with suddenly appeared saying he would help, even I would suspect him first.
This was why I had intended to build some level of friendship before approaching him.
Still, it could not be helped.
Because Do Gang-ho was such an important existence to me that I was willing to ignore such causality.
'Besides, it was surprisingly not that bad.'
For approaching him like a crazy person, it was a decent result.
At least my title had been upgraded from 'son of a b*tch' to 'suspicious guy.'
Having a good memory, I remembered every single word I had heard at the garbage dump.
Let me say this again, I just had a good memory. I was absolutely not being petty.
"He is gone."
Do Gang-ho had left while I was having useless thoughts.
Then, it was time for me to do the task assigned to me.
"Should I write the note first?"
It was not something I absolutely had to do right this moment, but I decided to write the note to send to Lee Ho-jae first.
They say your work efficiency goes up when you do what you want to do, right?
"Then I will start with, 'To the guy worse than a beast'."
I merely placed my pen on the letter paper, but the words flowed out smoothly.
As expected, people should do what they enjoy.
On top of that, was every single thing like this not related to Influence Points?
It meant that I was absolutely not doing this out of mere emotion. Yes, of course.
I started writing down the words with that thought, and as a result, I succeeded in writing a note that spanned a whopping ten pages.
***
This is Reporter Na Il-bo from GBS!
We are currently here to meet the Players who have gathered to make it rain for the Thanksgiving Festival. Ah! Over there is the Hero-Rank Player...
"It is already the Thanksgiving Festival."
Waking up early in the morning, I rubbed my sleepy eyes while watching the news.
Because I had so much to prepare during this time, I had not slept much, so even though I slept enough today, I inexplicably felt tired.
"Still, I have to wake up."
Today is an important day.
No matter how tired I was, I could not go back to sleep.
I lightly slapped my cheeks, SLAP SLAP, and checked my phone.
Then, I saw texts marked as 'unread'; they seemed to be messages that arrived while I was asleep.
"Let us see... Kim Su-hyeok, Oh Jin-eon, and Do Gang-ho?"
I checked the contents of the texts in order.
The first text was from Kim Su-hyeok.[Kim Su-hyeok: Yu-seong, then are you not coming to training tomorrow either? Understood... If you can make it to training by any chance, you have to let me know! T_T]
It seemed to be a text sent because I had told him that I probably would not be able to attend training for the next few days.
It was not like I did not want to go, but I was too busy with work right now, so it could not be helped.
After sincerely writing a reply saying I understood, I checked the next text.[Oh Jin-eon: You seem busy lately, so take good care of your health. It is not good to focus too much on work either.]
A check-in text from Oh Jin-eon, whom I had gotten quite close with since the cooperative training.
It was a stiff text, much like his way of speaking, but since it seemed he was genuinely worried, I did not ignore it and sent a text thanking him.
"Next is Do Gang-ho."
After handling all the previous texts, I checked the contents of the final text.[Do Gang-ho: Suspicious guy, where are we meeting tomorrow?]
Ah, come to think of it, I had not yet told Do Gang-ho where to come.
I hurriedly typed out a text.[Me: I will attach a picture, so you just have to come to the location I send.]
[Do Gang-ho: Okay.]
Do Gang-ho's text arrived not long after I sent mine.
He was not showing it, but it seemed he was nervous.
'A certain amount of tension should be fine.'
Being too nervous would be bad, but I thought it would be fine if it was Do Gang-ho.
Because Do Gang-ho was not the type to get nervous to the point of causing problems in actual combat.
"Since I set the time for the afternoon, I still have some time to spare."
In the note I left in front of Lee Ho-jae's dormitory yesterday, I had written for him to come in the afternoon.
Because the peak of the Thanksgiving Festival would be the best timing.
Therefore, I used the remaining time to contact Shin Yu-hwan.[Me: It seems like I will be causing an incident today. Is the task I entrusted to you going well?]
I did not get a reply immediately.
If it was Shin Yu-hwan, I thought he would have texted back saying, 'Of course! What do you take me for, boy?'
It seemed he was busy with something.
"Normally, it would be difficult to even meet him, so this is normal."
If Shin Yu-hwan did not have such an unusual personality, it would have been difficult to even strike up a conversation with him.
I did not have a hobby of clinging to a reply that I did not know when it would arrive, so I put my phone down and picked up my sword.
"Shall I slowly head out?"
Since there was nothing left to do even if I stayed in the dormitory any longer.
Sitting still would only make my body stiff.
"Let us go."
It was now time to change Do Gang-ho's fate.
***
SWOOOSH-!!
A massive downpour pouring down like crazy.
It was a heavy rainstorm so fierce that my skin stung every time I got hit by it.
I had chosen a closed outdoor training ground located far away from the dormitory as the location, and because of that, there was no way to escape this heavy rain.
But since we had to avoid the eyes of the instructors, indoors was impossible.
Just as I was inwardly cursing the instructors who worked pointlessly hard, I saw Do Gang-ho walking over from afar.
"You are here?"
"Yeah. You really called me far away."
Saying that, I tried to look into Do Gang-ho's eyes, but I had no choice but to give up.
Because looking up at Do Gang-ho, who was a full handspan taller than me, made my face hurt too much from being hit head-on by the fierce rain.
"You know why I called you far away, right? Anyway, I did not know it would rain this much."
"I heard that rain clouds originally rolled in, and combined with the Players' abilities, it multiplied."
I see. I did not know that.
Well, even if a Hero-Rank Player stepped up, it would be difficult to cause such a heavy downpour nationwide.
Because if they had that kind of power, the heroes I admired would not have died.
I thought so inwardly and looked at Do Gang-ho.
"Have you completely finished your preparations?"
"Of course. Putting food waste in a bag is basic."
Despite saying that, his appearance had not changed much.
At most, he had just brought some brass knuckles?
However, I nodded my head without saying anything.
'Because Do Gang-ho does not normally use weapons.'
Do Gang-ho's specialty was bare-handed combat.
Before entering Glory, his fists, which he had recklessly started swinging because he could not even afford a single dagger, became Do Gang-ho's weapon.
Of course, that did not mean Do Gang-ho was weak.
Because getting hit by those massive fists would definitely either wake you up instantly or make you lose consciousness completely, one of the two.
Such trivial imaginations of mine were cut off by Do Gang-ho's words that followed shortly after.
"Hey, suspicious guy. I think they are coming over there."
I turned my head at Do Gang-ho's words.
Then, I saw a group of people faintly visible in the rainstorm, and Lee Ho-jae was standing in the center.
Lee Ho-jae, who had walked to a distance where they could hear each other's voices, shouted to Do Gang-ho in an acting tone of voice.
"Gang-ho! You know how much I care about you, so why did you do such a thing? How on earth are you going to handle the aftermath?"
At the same time, the guys standing like background characters behind Lee Ho-jae began to sneer.
Anger flared up when those guys, who looked like third-rate villains from their appearance alone, sneered at Do Gang-ho, but I did not say anything.
Because it was Do Gang-ho's turn now.
I merely watched their conversation quietly.
"Shut up, and stop flapping your dirty mouth."
"Ahaha!!! Gang-ho. Just what are you trusting to act like this? Perhaps that guy next to you?"
Lee Ho-jae burst into laughter for a long time at Do Gang-ho's words and then turned to look at me standing next to him.
Lee Ho-jae, who narrowed his eyes and carefully observed me, began to roar with laughter again after seeing my name tag.
"What, 899th place? Haha, f*ck, Gang-ho! Are you trying to do a comedy sketch with me today?"
"He is a hundred times better than a piece of trash like you, so shut up."
"Wow! You are really going to be f*cked if you keep that up. If you act like that to me, how are you going to feed your mother later? Huh?"
Lee Ho-jae's mockery bringing up Do Gang-ho's mother.
At those words, Do Gang-ho's fists trembled.
An anger that could be acutely felt even in the fierce rainstorm.
However, Do Gang-ho barely managed to control his mind and continued speaking with a trembling voice.
"Are you talking so much because you are scared? Well, it would be embarrassing to get beaten up by me and run away. Is it not? You bastard who lives steeped in an inferiority complex."
"What? Have you finally gone crazy?"
Lee Ho-jae, who had maintained his composure until now, dropped his smile for the first time.
I knew the reason, and it was clear that Do Gang-ho had aimed for it too.
'The word "inferiority complex" is practically a taboo word for Lee Ho-jae.'
The reason Lee Ho-jae uniquely tormented Do Gang-ho was also because of that word.
When the two first met, Do Gang-ho had said to Lee Ho-jae, who was trying to reign like a king in the class, 'Are you doing that kind of sh*t because you are steeped in an inferiority complex?' And that was how things had come to this point.
It was then.
Lee Ho-jae, whose expression had hardened, stepped forward and spoke to Do Gang-ho in a low voice.
"Gang-ho, you are a lost cause. For now, let us just beat you up until right before you die."
Then, the background characters standing behind Lee Ho-jae began to step forward.
What a truly cliché repertoire.
Did these thugs decide amongst themselves to act this way?
Of course, I had no intention of letting them go to Do Gang-ho.
SHING.
I drew the sword hanging at my waist and walked out in front of Do Gang-ho.
Then, Do Gang-ho furrowed his brows looking at me.
"This is my problem, so do not interfere, suspicious guy."
"I have no intention of interfering."
Just cleaning up the trash that has no need to appear in this scene.
"You just need to fight Lee Ho-jae. So leave those things to me."
"Those guys are also my problem..."
"Do Gang-ho."
I cut off Do Gang-ho's words and looked at him.
It was blurry because of the rainwater continuously gathering around my eyes, but I could at least tell that Do Gang-ho was agitated right now.
"You know it too. That it will be difficult even just facing Lee Ho-jae alone."
"......"
"It does not mean you should know your place. It means that sometimes you need to know how to entrust things to others."
"...Tch. Understood."
Do Gang-ho nodded his head at my words.
I was worried about what to do if he refused, so that is a relief.
'I just need to change him little by little like this.'
Do Gang-ho is still awkward at receiving help from someone, but he still has to change.
It was even more so because I could imagine the sight of him dying alone.
'That does not mean changing him completely, though.'
Because what Do Gang-ho needs is a comrade to stand beside him, not a savior standing in front of him.
With that thought, I slowly walked toward Lee Ho-jae's lackeys.
Then, Lee Ho-jae looked at me with a sneering expression.
"Wow! Another lowly peasant stepping up for a lowly peasant! It is just like a movie."
An unfunny provocation.
I also appropriately retorted to his words.
"Then you should die here. Because the ending of the movie is a happy ending."
Lee Ho-jae's expression distorted at my words.
He seemed like he was going to say something, but I did not wait.
Because actions would resonate more than words to that disgusting guy.
'Embodiment of Admiration.'
I stared at Lee Ho-jae and his lackeys without a word and activated my talent.
Then, Shin Yu-hwan's ability began to indwell within me.
From now on, it was time to show that even an 899th-place extra had something he could do.