Chapter 38.

—There’s nothing special about him .

The voice answered after ten minutes of waiting . The woman smacked her lips . It was her habit that came out when she was dissatisfied .

—Really . He’s an orphan without parents or relatives . The orphanage he was in held an examination for potential Heroes and he was admitted to the Agent Military Academy at the age of 6 . He never stood out, maintaining a below-average rank before entering Cube . He has a 300 million won debt . That’s it .

“…”

‘Then how did he notice me?’

To her, that was the question . Siren’s Necklace was a mythical grade accessory . Siren, of course, being the half-human half-bird creature in Greek mythology .

‘Perception distortion’ was one of the many abilities the necklace had . Without exceptional perception and eyesight, it was impossible to see through it .

—Do you still have doubts? I can put his name down on the notebook if you want .

“…No . ”

The woman dropped her head .

“We still have many chances . We can write his name down after we find out more about him . ”

“Oh, Boss, you were here . ”

At that moment, an imposing voice resounded . The woman turned around . There, a large-bodied man was smiling viciously .

“It’s been a while, Boss . ”

It was a bit funny seeing a man call a woman, whose height couldn’t reach his shoulders, Boss . However, the man clearly treated the woman with great respect .

“This place is filled with powerful Heroes . ”

Click, click . The man clenched and unclenched his gauntlet-covered fist .

“Take it off . We didn’t come here to cause trouble . ”

“Ah, right . I almost forgot . ”

At the woman’s command, the man’s black gauntlet scattered into dust . He then scratched his neck in silence, while the woman glared at him coldly .

“W-What?”

Startled, the man asked . What the woman wanted to ask was said by the mysterious voice .

—The report .

“Oh, right . There’s nothing to report . I can pop everyone’s heads with a flick of a finger . ”

—Idiot… That’s obvious . I’m talking about their future potential .

The man rubbed his chin and pondered .

“Hm… I’m not sure . I went to watch the second year’s rank 1 cadet, but he wasn’t anything special . ”

—First years are who you should be watching . This year’s freshman are said to be exceptional, so go look again . Oh, Boss, I have something to do now, so I’ll talk to you later .

“Yeah, screw off . ”

—…You shut up .

The voice disappeared, and the man smiled as he stared at the woman .

“Boss, I don’t think there are any good saplings . What do we do? Since we’re here, can’t we fight these self-proclaimed Heroes?”

The man didn’t hide his willingness to fight . He flaunted his battle spirit by releasing his magic power, which fluttered in the air through the wind . Though it was a careless move that could draw a keen Hero’s attention, the woman watched his action without a change in her expression .

“…Gyeong . ”

“Mm?”

“Let’s test something . ”

She imbued magic power into her necklace . Immediately, the necklace changed color from gold to blue .

“How is it? Can you see me?”

“Oho, is that the treasure you got before? I can see a faint silhouette, but not your face . Ah, I have to focus . Even though you’re not moving, I keep losing sight of you if I’m not focused . Ah, you just fused with the tree, Boss!”

“…”

As expected, the necklace was working fine . Although the man was a muscle-brained brute who only trained his body, he still had a deep perception that matched his skill . But even he couldn’t see through her, so how did a mere cadet manage to do so?

“Oh, dang . I can’t tell where you are now, Boss . Let me borrow that too . I’m way too noticeable because of my large body . If there’s someone I wanted to kill…”

“We’re done here . Go . ”

The woman cut off the man’s chatter .

“Make sure you complete your mission . ”

“Yes, Boss . ”

The man turned around without a fuss .

The woman watched him walk away imposingly . His bulky back, mountainous shoulders, and flawlessly refined physique showed that he was anything but simple . In reality, he was an Irregular who had inherited the old Martial God’s spirit and vigor .

—…Cheok Jungyeong wasn’t always that stupid, right Boss?

His name, Cheok Jungyeong[1] .

That was the ‘past life’ he awakened through ‘enlightenment’ and ‘inheritance’ .

**

The weekend passed by in the blink of an eye, and the combat exams began .

Monday’s exam was a duel .

The exam was carried out in a simple way . Cadets could nominate cadets they wanted to fight . Each cadet had 3 nominations, and a nominated cadet couldn’t refuse the duel .

Though it might seem like a way for the strong to bully the weak, Cube wasn’t so stupid . The exam was designed to be fair, giving bonus points depending on the difference in the cadets’ rankings .

For example, if Kim Suho who was rank 1 fought with a bottom-ranked cadet, he would receive negative points even if he won, while the bottom-ranked cadet would gain points even if he lost .

Furthermore, an ungraded element called ‘fame’ encouraged cadets to challenge stronger opponents .

There were thousands of cadets, numerous duel arenas, and limited time . Naturally, scouts from various countries’ guilds spectated high ranking cadets . So if low ranking cadets challenged high ranking cadets, they would be able to appeal to these scouts even if they lost .

“…I knew this would happen . ”

But even with this mechanism encouraging fairness and challenge…

I was nominated by the rank 18 cadet .

[Duel 1]

[Rank 18 Kim Horak vs Rank 934 Kim Hajin]

Even if Kim Horak won, he wouldn’t gain more than three points . A fight between rank 934 and rank 18, it was obvious who would win .

…This muscle-brained buffoon .

“Well, what can I do . ”

It seemed he really wanted to beat me up .

I put my laptop back in my cross bag and left the dorm .

The scenery outside was completely different than usual .

If I were to put it, it was touching and heartwarming . I could practically smell a flowery scent blowing in the wind .

“Yunseok, say cheese~”

“Wow, isn’t that Kim Suho? O-Oppa, are you friends with him!? I want to take a picture with him!”

Many cadets walked around with their family . Since last Friday, cadets were staying with their families in the same dorm room .

I walked solitarily, watching other cadets laughing and joking with their family .

“Where are you going?”

At that moment, someone scurried next to me like a cat . I paused and turned my head .

“To the duel arena, obviously . ”

“Oh right, Horak nominated you~”

Yoo Yeonha feigned ignorance .

“…Is there something you want to say?”

“I tried to stop him but he insisted on fighting you . I had no choice . ”

“Oh, I see . ”

I continued walking . Yoo Yeonha followed after me, then suddenly backed off . There was a camera up ahead . It seemed she didn’t want to be near me in front of a camera .

Once the camera disappeared, Yoo Yeonha returned to my side .

“Oh, also…”

Tak . She snapped her fingers . Immediately, a tall man walked up and handed her a suitcase .

“Here are 100 pinnacle grade bullets . But if you need any more, just tell me . You can also ask for any defensive equipment . ”

“Oh?”

Just when I was about to take it, Yoo Yeonha suddenly pulled the suitcase back .

“But don’t misunderstand . This isn’t a payment for you saving my life . ”

“Huh?”

Yoo Yeonha stuttered somewhat bashfully .

“T-This is… just a present . ”

“Yeah, I get it, so give it here . ”

Uninterested, I snatched the suitcase from her hands .

“Also, they’re asking for my testimony . ”

“Hm?”

“For the Djinn incident . ”

“Oh yeah, what about it?”

“They want me to testify, but I’ve been delaying it since it looked like you wanted to hide your power . ”

So she purposely didn’t report that I sniped the Djinn .

“…Then keep doing that . ”

Yun Hyun was contracted to an especially dangerous devil, Lilith . Lilith’s Djinns were ill-natured and heinous, so if they found out that I killed Yun Hyun, things could get difficult since I didn’t have any backing .

“Understood . Ah, by the way, will Horak win?”

I paused . Her question had a strange connotation .

‘Will Horak win?’

It sounded like she was asking if I would lose on purpose . In reality, I couldn’t win even if I wanted to .

“Then I’m off . ”

Before I could reply, Yoo Yeonha left .

Was there another camera?

Just when I was thinking as such, I saw a group of reporters, who noticed Yoo Yeonha and was running towards her .

**

I arrived at the second duel arena . It was only eight in the morning but the place was bustling with people . There were also numerous reporters equipped with cameras and microphones .

Coincidentally, a nearby reporter was talking about why .

“Today, Kim Suho, Chae Nayun, and Kim Horak are scheduled to duel from 9 A . M . to 11 A . M . ”

I plowed through the crowd of people and walked towards the duel arena . Suddenly, I was stopped by a man in an official Cube uniform . I asked, somewhat disgruntled .

“I’m wearing a cadet uniform, can’t you see?”

“Haha, it’s not that . Cadets need to go that way . ”

The man pointed at a pathway next to the main entrance .

“Oh, thank you . ”

I walked through the pathway and arrived at my assigned waiting room .

[Waiting Room 5]

This room was likely full of extras like me . People like Kim Suho and Chae Nayun were in waiting room 1, which was closest to the reporters .

I opened the door . 30~40 cadets, who were talking among themselves, immediately fell silent . Their eyes landed on me . One, two, three… After three seconds, they retracted their gaze in disinterest and continued talking .

I walked in and sat down on a random seat .

“I heard you were fighting Kim Horak . ”

When I was resting by myself, someone I didn’t know struck up a conversation . His face looked somewhat familiar, so he was likely in my class .

I nodded without replying .

“Damn, Kim Horak must have you marked . You shouldn’t have shown off so much . ”

“…”

I wanted to say something but gave up . Instead, I murmured inwardly .

‘Unlike you guys, I get stronger by showing off . ’

“Oh right, why do you keep leaving Cube? Are you really throwing money in cabaret clubs and brothels?”

It seemed these rumors were still going around . I shook my head silently .

“No way, you really do?”

But he interpreted my gesture as he wanted . Without a choice, I opened my mouth .

“No . Even if I want to, I don’t have the money . ”

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