novelraw Chapter 40 : Chapter 40
Chapter 40 : Chapter 40
Chapter 40: Midterm Exams (5)
"Whoaaaaa!!!"
Tension, anticipation, and a competitive spirit.
I stepped onto the sparring arena carrying various emotions.
The heat in the area had already been scorched to a boil by Kim Su-hyeok and Ryu Jin-oh.
Amidst that intense heat, the host spread his arms wide and shouted toward the audience.
"It is finally the third turn! Who exactly is the cadet who will decorate the end of this heated opening ceremony?!"
As soon as I heard those words, a thought I had already felt in the waiting room resurfaced: this was absurd.
From the lines to the actions, no matter how I looked at it, this was a festival for entertainment.
It was impossible to see it as an exam that would determine the future of cadets who would one day become players and block the threats of Gates.
"Now, the final cadet is Glory Year 1, eight hundred… huh?"
The host, looking at the bracket, suddenly became flustered.
I knew the reason well, but I could not help but feel a bit annoyed.
'Sigh, how nice would it have been if I had at least started in the middle ranks.'
I found myself hating the author once again.
However, like a professional, the host quickly resumed speaking as if he had never been flustered.
"Year 1, 899th Place! It is Cadet Choi Yu-seong!"
Even as a professional, it seemed he could do nothing about the atmosphere of the audience.
As soon as the host finished speaking, the cheers from moments ago vanished, replaced only by a surrounding murmur.
"899th Place? No, how does someone in 899th Place come up to the sparring arena in this order?"
"Did the host see it wrong? Even 89th would be questionable."
"And what is up with that black cadet uniform? Is he just an attention seeker?"
People whispered with faces that could not comprehend my appearance.
However, I had absolutely nothing to say in response.
Just as they said, it made no sense for the 899th ranker to be in this order.
'Not that I have any intention of being intimidated, though.'
Is there not a term called the "frustration effect"?
If anything, I felt more venomous; I was not the type of person to lose heart over something like this.
And the host continued to speak in a voice that, like mine, was not cowed by the surrounding atmosphere.
"Now, as for the dueling player… huh? It is listed as private? It is said that the player requested to remain anonymous."
"…Sigh."
In the end, a sigh I had been holding back finally escaped.
I understood the desire to make a grand entrance, but he should have considered my situation at least a little.
As I expected, voices of anger began to surface from the audience, moving beyond doubt and dissatisfaction.
"We did not come here to see something like this."
"What exactly is going on here?"
"That guy really was an attention seeker."
Seeing the host sweating profusely, he seemed at a loss for what to do.
Naturally so, since even I, who was about to duel, had no idea how to act.
I had no choice but to let it go in one ear and out the other.
"Send up a promising cadet instead of someone like that!!"
"Hey! Stop bullshitting and get lost!"
"Do you think we came to see this kind of trash?!"
The jeering from the audience showed no sign of stopping and continued incessantly. Just as the intensity was about to cross the line.
BOOM!!!
With a massive roar, a single Black Spear flew through the air, boasting a predatory aura, and slammed into the floor of the sparring arena.
Along with it, a man appeared, smiling but radiating a chilling atmosphere.
"My, my. I intended to come out at a more dramatic moment, but I could not stand the sound of dogs barking. Isn't that right, boy?"
My admired hero, Shin Yu-hwan, finally revealed himself.
***
"Th-That is Player Shin Yu-hwan, right?!"
At the same time Shin Yu-hwan completed his grand entrance.
Ha Eun-ha, who was in the audience, also stared at the sparring arena with a look of immense shock.
"Un-Unbelievable!! That person is incredibly famous!! How did Yu-seong manage to bring someone like him?"
Ha Eun-ha was making a fuss, her words even becoming jumbled.
Ju Ha-yeon, who would normally have silenced her mercilessly, could not spare any attention for her this time.
'His dueling opponent was Shin Yu-hwan?'
Ju Ha-yeon was also incredibly shocked by this situation.
'No, how on earth did he recruit Shin Yu-hwan?'
Ju Ha-yeon’s doubt was natural.
She had met many players for the sake of the family business and had diligently gathered information about them, so she knew very well what kind of person Shin Yu-hwan was.
'That man is definitely not the type to do favors for others.'
Shin Yu-hwan.
There is no one in the player world who does not know him.
A player who rose to the top in an instant based on insane talent and skill, but who never reached S-Rank because he had no interest in anything other than hunting villains.
And he was a man who considered himself the standard of the world, never doing favors if he did not feel like it.
Everything about Shin Yu-hwan was far from ordinary.
'As far as I know, he has rejected every single request until now.'
Shin Yu-hwan is a player who graduated from Glory.
Because of that, she knew that the Glory side, as well as the children of famous corporations and families attending Glory, had made countless requests to him.
However, he had rejected them all without a single acceptance.
He was so self-centered that he even rejected a scout offer from the Horizon Guild that included insane conditions, so everyone had just come to accept it, but…….
'To think he brought someone like that.'
This fact pointed to only one thing.
It was not a favor; Shin Yu-hwan had come to this position simply because he felt like it.
She did not know what had made him feel like coming, but that was the only possible explanation.
'I definitely have to raise his evaluation.'
She did not yet know exactly what Choi Yu-seong was like.
But a cadet who caught Shin Yu-hwan's eye? This alone was worth placing a high value on his potential.
As if to prove it, the hands of many other scouters had also become very busy.
It was then, while Ju Ha-yeon was also hurriedly changing Choi Yu-seong’s evaluation in her notes.
"Wow! Yu-seong was acquainted with that person? Oh, now that I think about it, don't you also like him, Jin-oh?"
A friendly voice was heard from behind.
At that sound, Ju Ha-yeon finished changing the evaluation in her notebook and turned her head to identify the source of the voice.
There, she saw Kim Su-hyeok and Ryu Jin-oh, who had finished their duels and were now watching.
"Haha, I want to duel him once later, too."
Kim Su-hyeok looked at the sparring arena with a naive smile.
However, Ju Ha-yeon checked Ryu Jin-oh rather than Kim Su-hyeok.
She saw Ryu Jin-oh looking at Shin Yu-hwan and Choi Yu-seong with an intense gaze, without saying a word.
'The Ryu Family was also among those who made a request to Shin Yu-hwan.'
It was certain.
Since her information-gathering ability was at a level where she could boast it was second to none.
She knew that the Ryu Family had personally stepped forward to make a request to Shin Yu-hwan because Ryu Jin-oh liked him.
'Of course, it was rejected.'
But the Shin Yu-hwan who rejected that was now standing on that stage as an opponent for another cadet?
And that too, instead of Ryu Jin-oh, who possessed enough pride to be called the best in the world?
'Hehe. This is probably going to be interesting in the future.'
Although he was not showing it much, his competitive spirit must be burning right now.
Ju Ha-yeon felt interested in future events and turned her gaze back to Choi Yu-seong.
***
"You certainly took your time getting here."
"Haha, boy. Still, I am a grand senior; shouldn't there be at least this much of a performance?"
I spoke in a flat voice toward Shin Yu-hwan, who had appeared with his identity, the Black Spear.
"Thanks to you, I think I have been cursed at enough to live a long life."
"I have nothing to say about that. I did not know there would be so many beasts here either."
Shin Yu-hwan spoke and turned his gaze toward the audience.
Simultaneously, the audience became completely silent.
They must have judged that getting on Shin Yu-hwan's bad side was not a good choice.
Unlike a ranker like me in 899th Place.
"Boy. I am being cursed at too, so go easy on me, okay?"
One might think, who would dare curse at Shin Yu-hwan, but his words were true.
In fact, unlike the silent atmosphere of the audience, a boisterous voice could be heard from one side.
"Th-That brat! He said he was going to a friend's wedding today, k-ugh!"
"Calm down, Team Leader! Hey! What are you guys doing? Hurry up and hold the Team Leader!"
Listening closely to the conversation, they seemed to be from the same government-affiliated Villain Response Team.
It appeared they had come for scouting purposes, but Shin Yu-hwan had slipped away.
"But a wedding hall? Isn't that a too cliché of an excuse?"
"Hahahaha! There is always a reason why things continue long enough to be called clichés. It actually worked well, didn't it?"
"Please work a bit harder."
"Boy, do not expect something too difficult from me."
Shin Yu-hwan spoke confidently while shaking his head.
Since he was so confident, I actually had nothing to say.
When I fell silent with an absurd expression, Shin Yu-hwan looked at me as if something had occurred to him and spoke.
"Boy. By the way, is that for me?"
"That?"
"The cadet uniform you are wearing."
Ah, now that I think about it, I had put this on to save Shin Yu-hwan's pride.
However, I did not want to give him an affirmative answer to that question.
Because thanks to his late appearance, I had received a lot of unnecessary curses, right?
'Though I did gain some Influence Points thanks to that.'
Still, who would feel good about being cursed at?
It was not a situation that made me extremely annoyed, but it was not a situation where I felt particularly good either.
Therefore, I decided to deliver a petty revenge to Shin Yu-hwan.
"No. I put this on because I thought things would get dirty everywhere if I dueled Mr. Shin Yu-hwan."
"Haha! You have a very shy personality, boy."
The problem was that Shin Yu-hwan had already decided on his own answer.
I let out a hollow laugh at Shin Yu-hwan's reaction and replied.
"Why do you even ask when you have already decided on the answer?"
"Humans naturally only hear what they want to hear. Isn't that right?"
"It is also a problem when you only hear what you want to hear, though."
It was just as our small talk continued with no sign of ending.
"Um, we should start the duel soon; would that be all right?"
The host peeked into the conversation and requested in a polite voice.
He was probably requesting so politely because he had just witnessed Shin Yu-hwan's personality.
But anyway, it was true that the duel had been delayed too much, just as the host said.
Therefore, I nodded at the host's words and slowly drew my sword with my right hand.
Shring—
The training sword was drawn, emitting a bleak sound.
In fact, there was no need to use a training sword. For the practical exam, artifacts are allowed as long as they are 'weapons.'
So, I had considered using the Blood Wish Sword, but I ultimately had to reject that idea.
'The penalty is too strong.'
Traits and talents are similar, but there is a clear difference.
A talent can be used when I want to, but a trait, unlike that, is used automatically even if I do not want to.
Therefore, I could not bring the Blood Wish Sword, for which I had finished testing the abilities.
'A penalty of 48 hours. It is an out-of-this-world penalty.'
Of course, the stats that increase accordingly are also undeniably incredible.
Because I found out that the increase rate during "Maximized" state while using the sword's ability is 'double.'
But to use that sword for a single duel while bearing that penalty? That would be nothing short of madness.
Of course, it would be fine if I did not use the ability, but as the duel continued, I might use it unintentionally.
Therefore, engaging in the duel with a training sword was the best choice.
'Since I have things to do later, it is not a good idea to bear a penalty unnecessarily.'
It was at that moment when I held such thoughts. Shin Yu-hwan, standing opposite me, also finished all preparations for the duel by drawing his Black Spear.
Then, he threw words at me in a joyful voice.
"Boy, do you know how much I have looked forward to today? It was a time that was harder to wait for than you think."
"I feel somewhat the same."
"Hahahaha! Is that so? Well, that is quite fortunate."
With that conversation, we fell silent as if by agreement.
This was a courtesy toward the opponent, showing no intention of disturbing their mind with useless words.
Thus, we met each other's gaze in silence, holding our breath amidst a strange tension.
"Then, for the third turn, we will begin the duel between Glory Year 1, 899th-place Cadet Choi Yu-seong, and Player Shin Yu-hwan!!!"
Immediately following the host's voice announcing the start of the duel, the two of us rushed toward each other as if we had promised.
At the same time, the spectacular sound of weapon clashing against weapon rang out.
CLANG!!!
The duel with Shin Yu-hwan, which I had looked forward to and anticipated, had begun.