Chapter 87

[Participant Lee Hyung-jin has achieved the fourth victory . ]

[Would you like to enter?]

“Hey, don’t you think it would be all right for me to enter now?”

Having heard what I said, Kim Min-hyuk counted the remaining participants and shook his head .

“Some of the Hard Difficulty’s rankers has not come out yet . ”

However, although time had passed, nobody was stepping up to challenge Lee Hyung-jin .

Although Lee Hyung-jin is a challenger from the Hell Difficulty, there are a some high level Hard Difficulty challengers who could stand toe-to-toe with him .

However, it won’t be easy to neutralize Lee Hyung-jin . In the end, the challenger might lose to the next contestant due to the exhaustion and forgo their chance for winning the tournament . It seemed nobody was stepping up out of their own interest .

They were all hoping that someone else will knock down Lee Hyung-jin .

Ignorance is a blessing .

Are they seriously thinking they can win the tournament? When I’m here? They sure dream big .

[Only one minute remains before Lee Hyung-jin is declared as the victor of the individual tournament . ]

[Would you like to enter?]

Many rankers started panicking .

It was the start of the game .

The one who fight Lee Hyung-jin will be distancing oneself from winning the tournament .

However, if nobody steps in, then Lee Hyung-jin was going to win the tournament .

“If nobody steps in by the time there’s only 30 seconds left, I’m going to enter . ”

“Um… I’m sure someone will challenge him in next 10 seconds . ”

“I need to educate the masses about the fact that excessive carefulness and greed, when combined together, will always come back as poison . ”

Rankers had been postponing entering the match because they didn’t want to fight Lee Hyung-jin . I wonder how they would feel when I enter?

“Having the guts to step up to the challenge and fighting head on are also necessary . ”

“Still, you beating the crap out of Hard Difficulty rankers one after the other is…”

“I’ll go easy on them . ”

Kim Min-hyuk didn’t protest anymore .

It was not that he was convinced by my words . It seemed he was just concerned about the tournament becoming stale .

Actually, the tournament was rapidly becoming boring . Some were dozing off . Some were focused more on chatting with someone next to them . The audience slowly lost interest in the tournament .

The Order of Vigilance figured that they might as well provide entertainment to the people through this tournament .

If I entered, I will be able to refresh people’s attention and expectations for the tournament .

[There’s 30 seconds left until Lee Hyung-jin will be declared the winner of the tournament . ]

[Would you like to enter?]

“Yes . ”

As soon as I responded, I was teleported to the middle of the arena .

[Tournament’s individual match, the main match’s 14th duel will start . ]

[Participants: Lee Hyung-jin vs . Lee Ho-jae]

[Standby time: 1 minute]

Shouting exploded from the stands .

All right, all right .

Honestly, being showered with attention like this from the audience feels great .

I know . I sound a little like an attention whore, but…

That’s how it really feels .

Some retired sports professionals even develop depression because they could not forget this sensation .

I was like that too .

“Big Bro Ho-jae… You entered already? What do we do?”

“Nobody was stepping up, so what could I do?”

“Someone would have entered before the time ran out . ”

“But that won’t be fun . ”

Lee Hyung-jin’s face looked as if he chewed something horrible .

The rankers who were engaging in glancing game had the same look plastered on their faces .

“Ugh . Well, I was not thinking about winning the tournament, but I wanted to have more wins at least . ”

“You won enough, you rascal . ”

“All right . Big Bro, well then, please go easy on me . ”

“I got it, kid . ”

[The duel will start . ]

As soon as the standby time expired, Lee Hyung-jin quickly dashed toward me .

His best ability was, like myself, his speed .

One thing that was a little different was that, unlike me who could block attacks by fully utilizing the advantages of the sword and shield that I chose as the starting armaments, Lee Hyung-jin relied on dodging .

I sometimes intentionally used my body to block attacks . He was different from me .

He was very safety-oriented . In short, he was a scaredy cat .

That’s why, like this…

Booooong-

I punched the shield with my knuckles, echoing into the wind .

Lee Hyung-jin was coming straight at me, but he quickly changed his trajectory and dodged past me to the left .

His ankles are shaking . Perhaps it is because he had to change the trajectory too quickly .

It looks like he is not able to control his speed very well .

Moreover, he was too conscious of my knuckles when it was not even within effective range . He changed his path too soon .

Against a stupid and blatantly obvious attack like this, you should have attempted to dodge it narrowly and charge in deeper .

Perhaps it is because it had not been long since he entered the Fourth Floor . He is still lacking in his ability to make split-second decisions .

A kick is coming from the back .

It’s good that you are attacking from the blind spot, but it is too obvious .

Also, that’s not my blind spot anyway .

I snatched Lee Hyung-jin’s leg with my hand .

“I surrender!”

Lee Hyung-jin immediately declared surrender .

He gave up too quickly .

“Why didn’t you fight me a little longer? You are deflating the balloon here . ”

[Participant Lee Ho-jae achieved his first victory . ]

“Ugh… As I thought, there is a huge difference between us . ”

“Still, it was not bad . I noticed a few things you should fix . I’ll tell you later . ”

“Yes, Big Bro . Win the tournament!”

After his words of encouragement, he was moved to the stands .

* * *

After I entered, I wondered if I would win the tournament immediately due to lack of new challengers . However, quite a few rankers came to challenge me .

Maybe it is because the duel between me and Lee Hyung-jin ended rather gently . There were many challengers who wanted to measure their strength against me .

“Thank you for your hard work!”

“Hard work? You don’t really need to say that . ”

[Participant Lee Ho-jae achieved his fifth victory . ]

That was Lee Jun-suk, the Hard Difficulty’s most promising challenger . After achieving victory against him, I looked at the stands .

I think all rankers who wanted to challenge me already had .

In the distance, there was Kim Min-hyuk . He was cramping his face as if he was trying to tell me something by mouthing the words .

He is probably trying to say that I should take it easy .

However, I really am holding back here .

I didn’t use any skills . I had been neutralizing the opponents using clean and simple movements .

I didn’t use any flashy Power Skills either . I had only been using my physical abilities .

It would still be apparent that I am the strongest, but the rankers could think the following .

He is not a complete fiend . Maybe I can beat him .

I had been holding back so they could have such hope .

Since I was in charge of being the force of the Order, I should actually avoid creating such image .

In fact, establishing a more powerful image of myself in people is better for the Order of Vigilance . If I looked overwhelming, then it couldn’t be better .

However, the Order had a plan in place for the second tournament where the challengers from foreign nations will also participate .

It was at that moment when a familiar looking man was teleported to the arena .

[Tournament’s individual match, main match’s 19th duel will start . ]

[Participant: Lee Ho-jae vs . Lee Chan-yong]

As soon as the message appeared, loud shouting exploded from the stands .

Oh, I was not expecting this .

Lee Chan-yong .

He is the challenger at the highest floor in the Tutorial .

He is also the challenger that the Order was supporting to achieve the first total conquest of the Tutorial .

He was also the regular who was brought up frequently in discussions in the community about who is the strongest person in the Tutorial .

There are quite a lot of people who say Lee Chan-yong must be the strongest since he is at the highest floor .

However, nobody knew for certain .

He didn’t have anyone who he could compare his strength against .

When rankers are mentioned the term usually refers to the players who were at the higher floors of the Normal and Hard Difficulties .

Normal Difficulty rankers were usually around at 50th Floor . As for the rankers at the Hard Difficulty, they were at around 30th Floor .

Rankers’ strengths were assessed based on the floor they were in .

In that case, what about the challenger who is at 89th Floor at the Easy difficulty? What kind of power does he possess?

Nobody knew besides Lee Chan-yong himself .

It was not like anyone else besides him were even close to that floor .

“Big Bro . I thought you would not be interested in something like this . ”

As I said, Lee Chan-yong was obsessed with clearing the Tutorial like it was his lifeline .

He didn’t pursue strength . He didn’t desire challenge either . He didn’t want to be entertained .

He just wanted to clear the Tutorial and reunite with his family again .

It’s impossible that he was thinking he could beat me and win the prize .

“After some time passed…”

Lee Chan-yong calmed his breathing and said,

“After I got stuck behind a wall, I finally got a moment to spare and look around myself . ”

I had already heard that he was having difficulties in clearing the 89th Floor .

I even made a report to the Order based on that information .

“That’s why I entered . To gain experience . ”

Experience huh…

Experience is important .

“Please, let us have a good duel . ”

“Yes, same here . ”

[The duel will start . ]

This is a tricky fight .

I’m fighting an opponent with no knowledge of his combat abilities . Meanwhile, I need to hide my own .

From the stands, Kim Min-hyuk was looking at me, concerned .

He probably wants me to have tough fights or even fights one after the other and achieve a narrow victory at the end .

However, a human being’s heart will not always move the way it should .

[Blink]

I used Blink to leap to the front of Lee Chan-yong . I immediately threw a punch at the him .

He raised guard fairly quickly, and my fist struck hard at his guard .

Kwang~

It sounded like an explosive went off as Lee Chan-yong’s body flew off to the outside of the ring .

* * *

“I told you that you should hold back . ”

“Ah, I said I am sorry . Why are you still scolding me? Could you please stop?”

The tournament was over . Kim Min-hyuk and I were going to the residential section .

We had to check to make sure everyone left the arena, so we were one of the last ones to leave .

The housing building was a wooden building . It was about 10 stories tall .

There was a large dining hall at the first floor . Starting from the second floor, there were separated rooms tightly packed in the allocated area . The building looked like a motel .

The Order assigned the rooms to the people .

Different floors were assigned for each gender . Different floors were assigned for different difficulties .

Of course, the assignments were not mandatory . If someone wanted to move, then the Order moved their room .

To start with, there were more rooms than the people anyway .

It was just that, ever since the tournament concluded for the day, the people who grew closer started to get together . Requests to move the room became more frequent, and thanks to this, the members of the Order who were in charge of room assignments became busy .

That’s what I’ve heard, although I don’t really need to mind this .

Kim Min-hyuk, who was walking next to me, let out a deep sigh .

“Hey . Just what were you thinking?”

“I only used one skill, the Blink . ”

“So, you finished it with just one punch? What are you, the One Punch Man? Are you bald, just like the One Punch Man? You completely ruined the plan . ”

“I think this is fine too . ”

“What are you talking about?”

“Before giving them despair, I wanted to give them a chance too . ”

Kim Min-hyuk fell silent for a moment . He then tousled his hair .

“Ugh . I don’t know . I really don’t . It’s already a cup of spilled milk . There’s no point in crying over it . ”

That’s right . That’s easier . It’s the right decision too .

Kim Min-hyuk was repeatedly sighing . I ignored him and opened the inventory to check the prize for winning the tournament .

[The mysterious box for the winner of the first tournament]

Description: It’s the prize for the winner of the first tournament ever held . The box’s contents are unknown . However, it will definitely be useful for the winner .

Well, it feels good to win at least .

In the distance, I could see Park Jong-shik and Park Jung-ah waving at us at the front .

It looked like they were waiting for us in front of the residential building .

Now, it’s time to drink and play . I suppose I can think of this as a celebration for winning . It’s perfect .

It’s a perfect plan .

* * *

As soon as we got to the motel, we went to Park Jong-shik’s room and started drinking .

The bottom line was that we were somewhat successful at the drinking table .

Not just myself and Park Jong-shik, but Park Jung-ah and Kim Min-hyuk also had Poison Resistance Skills .

The skill responded to the drinks .

In the end, the four of us could not get intoxicated .

However, we succeeded in getting intoxicated by the mood .

Although we were not getting drunk, we could have fun while drinking and playing drinking games .

In particular, it seemed Park Jong-shik was born to be at the drinking table .

As for Kim Min-hyuk, perhaps because he was stressed so much until now, he was causing a loud ruckus .

I think I never saw Park Jung-ah smile until today .

She always maintained a stiff, emotionless face . Today, she was smiling brightly . Looking at her smile, she really looked like a different person from the usual .

I cannot remember how long it had been since I got to chat away and laugh loudly like this with everyone .

I can recall the drinking table I attended before I nosedived back in my professional gaming days . Perhaps that was the last time?

It was a joyful experience . I even wished that we could have drinking occasion like this often .

I wish we could have even more people next time instead of just the four of us .

It was not just me . The other three had not been living happily ever since they entered the Tutorial .

Each one of us focused on clearing the Tutorial while getting used to exhaustion, tears and death everyday .

Just like I have, I’m sure they could relieve themselves of the stress and anxieties here, even though it is just for a while .

I think the problem with Park Jung-ah’s attitude toward me is making progress .

She is still unable to be at ease toward me, but at least the uncomfortableness and awkwardness that she had in her behavior towards me are now gone .

At least now she won’t be awkward in front of others when she is talking to me .

After the drinking party ended, I went to my assigned room .

I wish I could play the whole night . However, we drank all of the booze . Kim Min-hyuk also said that he had something he had to do early in the morning, so we concluded the party and went our separate ways .

Now that I was lying down on the bed, I suddenly felt lonely again .

I was having fun all excited with others and laughing only a moment ago, compared to the quiet, desolate room .

I still have some time left before the morning .

I’ll have just enough time to sleep, but because of insomnia, sleep is not coming to me easily .

I stared at the ceiling and counted sheep . In the end, I gave up and sat up .

Should I read a book instead?

I picked up the book I almost read but decided not to last time .

I turned on the stand next to the bed . I was about to read the book, but I heard knocking sound on the door .

Knock knock

The door opened . The one I saw was Park Jung-ah .

She was holding a bottle of wine .

“Would you like another drink with me?”

That’s definitely my wine .

Also, when the drinking party ended, there was no booze left .

Unless she filled the bottle with water and brought it here, there is only one conclusion that could be deduced from this .

“Before the booze ran out, you hid a bottle away, didn’t you . ”

“I am sorry . Actually… I wanted to drink it separately . ”

“With just me?”

“Yes . ”

Honestly, I panicked . I didn’t know what to do .

My panic-stricken mind reflected onto my face . Park Jung-ah looked at me and furrowed her brows a little .

“W… What is it? Do you still see me as just a girl in school uniform? I’m an adult now . ”

Are you drunk? You have Poison Resistance, so you couldn’t be .

Park Jung-ah was reciting seductive lines rivaling that of the prelude from some triple X-rated adult movies . However, her voice was shaking, and her words were stuttering awkwardly .

I could see her face was red . She was blushing . She was tightly clutching the door handle as well .

I think she will break into tears if I left her be .

“Drinking together… You don’t want to?”

“No, that’s not it . Come in . Let’s talk as we drink . ”

Don’t want to? Of course I want to drink . I’m actually thankful .