Chapter 130: 130

The seventh test was a team cooperation defense mission . The time limit was 10 minutes . But even before the results came out, the audience watching the test were shocked .

“W-what a lunatic!”

“That’s… very harsh . ”

Song Hyeong-gi and Hak-joon, who were watching the screen, frowned . The camera showed four people . The test had just begun, but three people were on the ground already . Their arms and legs were bent bizarrely . One man gave up the test when his opponent started to approach him . That man had defeated the three other participants . He broke their arms and legs with a smile .

“That bastard did that on purpose . They couldn’t fight back,” Su-hyeun said, eyes glued to the screen .

Hak-joon nodded . “Yea . You’re right . ”

“I think everyone would agree . He’s quite skilled . ”

“What’s his name?”

“His name is Thomas Mathiras . He’s from Germany . He just recently became a S-Rank awakener . ”

“Recently?” Ha-joon looked at Thomas who was alone on the screen .

He looked in his mid to late twenties . His hair was dyed red . He was a good-looking man, that was hard to argue with . He had been smiling through the entire competition .

“But he’s really strong, isn’t he?”

Counting Su-hyeun, Thomas was only the second awakener that showed such overwhelming power than other awakeners . They were watching his game through the screen, but they could feel his power . Hak-joon couldn’t believe that he had become S-Rank just recently .

“I guess,” Song Hyeong-gi said, “he was focusing more on climbing the Tower of Trials than on reputation, power or money as an awakener . I’m sure there were many people like him . They’re just not well-known since they only stayed in the tower . ”

“Then why would he come to the Ranking Wars…?”

“I guess he became curious about his level . Like ‘How strong would I be compared to other, famous awakeners?’ That’s just a guess, though . ”

“Hmm…Possibly . ” Hak-joon turned his eyes to the screen again .

Thomas, who had gotten rid of the other awakeners by this point, took the test alone . Since he was so talented and skilled, he completed the test alone without showing the slightest hint of strain . There was no need to watch more . Thomas would advance to the finals .

“Hak-joon . If you…” Su-hyeun hesitated for a moment, then said, “If you meet him at the finals, just withdraw from the match . Okay?”

“…Alright, I will . ” Hak-joon studied Su-hyeun’s face .

His face looked calm . But Hak-joon had been spending a lot of time with him . He could tell what he was feeling . Su-hyeun was very, very angry .

Hak-joon took the 17th round test . He was able to advance to the finals without difficulty . The people of the 17th team actually cooperated, unlike the other teams . There was one awakener from the Middle East who was known for his sense of justice . He was competent, too . The two people who advanced to the finals from that team were that awakener from the Middle East and Hak-joon .

Hak-joon approached Su-hyeun, hopping . “Brother! Did you see me?”

“I saw . I saw . ”

“Yay! I’ll call Yun-seon! Uh? What? Brother! I can’t make a call here!”

“We’re in Johnny Brad’s hallucination . Of course, you can’t make a call . Please, be quiet and sit down . You’re distracting me . ”

The preliminary round was completed without any further problems . Song Hyeong-gi also passed the preliminary round without difficulty . Finally, Gordon Rohan passed the test by himself, like Suhyun .

“He’s very strong, as I expected,” Hak-joon said .

Gordon Rohan took the test with his bare hands, as if to show off to Su-hyeun . He even didn’t use any special skills . He injected his magic into his bare fists and made them hard . He smashed the monsters with fists as strong as iron . His ability made the other four people in his round seem shabby .

“Well . That’s Gordon Rohan,” Song Hyung-gi replied as if it was an obvious thing .

And Hak-joon couldn’t disagree with that . Gordon Rohan was considered to be one of the strongest awakeners in the world . Of course, he would be skilled like that .

After the preliminary round, people had a day to rest . 66 people entered the final round . Originally, 70 people were going to advance, but four teams had only one finalist . The finalists went up to the top floor of the Gordon Tower . The 190th to the 199th floors of the tower were a hotel .

“W-wow . This is amazing . ”

Hak-joon looked around the huge room . His mouth hung open . Hak-joon was far from ordinary hotel life . And Gordon Tower’s hotel was one of the best hotels in the world .

“Yes . It’s amazing . But what are you doing here? Your room is next door . ”

“I was bored all alone . And brother Hyeong-gi kicked me out of his room . ”

“…You’re a real social butterfly . ”

Hak-joon, who Su-hyeun had met in his previous life, had been very cold and dark . But he was the complete opposite now . Su-hyeun even wondered if they were the same person or not . If he hadn’t seen Hak-joon’s level in this preliminary round, he might still wonder .

“Are you confident about the finals?” Su-hyeun asked .

“How can I be confident against people like you, Gordon Rohan, and Thomas Mathiras?”

“I’m not talking about winning . ”

“Hmm… If it’s not about winning…” Hak-joon thought for a moment and nodded . “I already achieved my first goal . So, now I’ll just go as far as I can . ”

“But, wasn’t it easier than you thought?”

“Yes, it was . There were only a few people that I thought I couldn’t beat . ”

Hak-joon was very talented . He had become an awakener at around the same time as Su-hyeun and had been climbing the tower continuously . There was a difference between them, but it wasn’t a difference in talent . It was a difference in experience and knowledge .

Su-hyeun remembered his previous life . And it wasn’t just memories . His body also remembered his experiences . That gave Su-hyeun a big leg up .

Su-hyeun had seen how Hak-joon fought . His brilliant talent had begun to germinate . Hak-joon’s abilities were clearly behind those of other S-Rank awakeners at the moment . But his head for combat was far ahead . Su-hyeun thought Hak-joon could be considered a pretty high-level awakener among S-Rank . And, in the next year or two, he would grow much stronger than he was right now .

“Stop playing . Go to your room and get some sleep . It’s pretty late and you have to manage your condition,” said Su-hyeun .

“Okay!”

Hak-joon, who had been chattering, left the room . Then, he called someone from outside . Su-hyeun assumed he wanted to talk with Yun-seon .

Flop—

When Hak-joon left, Su-hyeun lay down on the large bed in the center of the room, big enough for three or four people . He didn’t turn off the light . He just looked at the ceiling, thinking many things .

Su-hyeun thought about the man who he had seen on the screen before . Thomas broke the other’s limbs even though he could easily beat them without injuring them . For that reason, he got a warning from the management team, but he didn’t seem concerned . He looked very calm, as if nothing had happened . But it was violence, not competition . He’d probably do it again in the finals .

After a day for rest, the finals began . They started at 2 p . m . like the primarily round . It was nighttime in Korea .

“Brother! Did you look at the reactions to the Ranking Wars?” Hak-joon asked .

“No,” said Su-hyeun .

“You’re a star . Check this out . ”

As they went down in an elevator, Hak-joon showed his smartphone to Su-hyeun . It was the posting on SNS . Su-hyeun took the smartphone and checked it . People were arguing over the rankings on their own .

-I think Gordon is the best .

-That Gordon followed Kim Su-hyeun, you idiot . Didn’t you see it? He fought without a weapon like him . That means Gordan paid attention to Kim Su-hyeun .

-How could he have followed Kim Su-hyeun? I know you’re Korean . But I think you’re letting your pride think for you .

-I think Thomas is one of the front-runners . He was a bit cruel, though . I think he’s crazy .

-No, he’s not .

-Yes, he is .

-To be honest, Thomas was cruel . He stabbed other people in the back first . But Kim Su-hyeun was stabbed in the back, and he just dealt with it . They’re definitely different .

-Everyone shut up . Kim Su-hyeun is the best .

The title of the post was ‘Ranking of Preliminary Round’ . The publisher saw the preliminary round from a subjective point of view and listed the ten strongest awakeners in order . Obviously, the rankings hadn’t been decided yet, so there was a lot of controversy . The most popular names were Su-hyeun, Gordon Rohan, and Thomas .

“According to this post, you’re one of the three top-rank awakeners,” Hak-joon said .

“Top three?”

“Yes . But most opinions think you and Gordan Rohan will be the best . ”

“It would be four, not three,” Su-hyeun said .

“Four?” Hak-joon asked with a puzzled look . He wondered if there was another one that Su-hyeun was thinking as a top-ranks . “Who’s the other one?”

“I won’t tell you . But there is one more . ”

Hak-joon asked Su-hyeun who it was, but Su-hyeun didn’t answer, just headed to the stadium .

“Hey . What’s up?” Song Hyeong-gi was waiting for them, holding a potato chip in his hand .

Hak-joon, who had gotten sullen because Su-hyeun didn’t answer him, approached Song Hyeong-gi . His mood changed and he got some chips from Song Hyeong-gi .

“The stadium has changed a lot,” Hak-joon said .

“It’s nice to be simple . The theme is easy to understand . ”

The stadium was white for the preliminary round, but it had been replaced with an arena for the finals . Of course, it was too large to be just a simple arena . As Lee Ju-ho said, it was a similar size to the Hangang Park .

“It’ll be good to just fight . ”

“The whole stadium is protected with shock-absorbing magic . The ground itself is quite hard, too . ”

Su-hyeun liked the composition of the stadium . At least, it seemed that there would be no damage to the spectators in any way . Time passed and it was 2 o’clock to start the final match . Gordon Rohan appeared at the top of the arena at exactly 2 p . m . , as if he had been waiting for it .

“As we’ve already announced, the first round of the finals is a one-on-one match . The winner will advance to the last round . The loser will be eliminated . Simple, right?”

“It’s simple, but how do you decide who will play against whom?” Song Hyeong-gi raised his hand and asked .

Gordon Rohan snapped his finger and answered, “Questioning is a good attitude . But it’ll be the same as last time . ”

“Randomly?”

“Yes . ”

“Can I point out if there’s someone I want to fight?” Su-hyeun spoke for the first time at the official meeting .

Gordon Rohan looked down at Su-hyeun as if he didn’t expect him to speak . Then, he shook his head .

“I’m sorry, but you can’t . That wouldn’t be fair,” Gordon Rohan said .

“I don’t think your way is fair, either . ”

“I told you last time . If you think so, bring it on . Challenges are always welcome . ” Gordon Rohan grinned .

It looked like he was confident that he was the best one there . At Gordon Rohan’s provocation, Su-hyeun frowned a little and sighed . Su-hyeun could guess what Gordon Rohan was thinking . He didn’t want to react to that . Above all, Gordon Rohan wasn’t the one who Su-hyeun wanted to fight .

“Then, from now on, I will decide your opponent . ”

Snap—

Ding, ding, ding—

When Gordon Rohan flicked his finger, the names appeared next to him . The two names were paired up and down . Su-hyeun found his name . His opponent’s name was below .

[Kim Su-hyeun . ]

[Thomas Mathiras . ]

The corners of Su-hyeun’s mouth lifted in the slightest smile .