CH 40

Chapter 40 — Freshmen Hunt (10)

一 The Active Skill 《Universal Derivation》 has been activated.

一 Would you like to de-construct the mind-controlling spell 《Indoctrinate》?

JaeHyun nodded his head slightly at the clear voice ringing in his ears.

Zzzt…!

Soon after, mana filled with vitality started to emanate from the hand JaeHyun had placed on Ahn HoYeon’s forehead.

Schwaaaaa…

The mana spread quickly and completely covered his face.

The thin strands of mana thread wrapped around HoYeon’s head, and the spell he was under was quickly de-constructed.

<A few moments later>

Together with the sound of glass breaking, a translucent screen appeared in front of JaeHyun.

一 You have cleared the sub-quest 《Save the Cadet Under Mind Control!》.

一 You have received a blank card as a reward.

The messages rang out one after another.

JaeHyun let out a long exhale and watched as HoYeon started to move.

<A moment later>

The remaining mana started to disappear.

The surroundings which had been dyed white slowly returned to normal, and the hidden cameras in the demi-plane started to turn this way and that as power returned to them.

‘This is the best I can do right now. It would be bad if I showed all of my skills here.’

JaeHyun had used 《 Flashbomb 》 to block Gu Ja-In’s sight a moment ago because he didn’t have the slightest intention of letting anyone know about his EX-rank skill 《 Universal Derivation 》.

One should keep the cards they have close to their heart as much as possible, after all.

To survive as a raider, it was more advantageous to have more secrets.

‘《 Universal Derivation 》 is especially useful in a fight. There’s no way I would show Gu Ja-In something like that.’

“Eughh…”

As he was organizing his thoughts, a groan came from Ahn HoYeon.

‘His recovery speed is shockingly fast. It hasn’t even been 30 minutes since he passed out, yet he’s already waking up.’

JaeHyun nodded as he simply admired his endurance.

‘Seo Ina and Ahn HoYeon really are the cream of the crop. Innate talent is seriously something else.’

Even at Millaes Academy where those with monstrous talent were gathered, the two stood out.

They were truly great geniuses that were the target of others’ envy.

JaeHyun placidly asked HoYeon who was getting back on his feet after waking up.

“Are you feeling better?”

“Eugh… Wh-What about you?”

His unfocused eyes quickly returned to normal. Ahn HoYeon, who swayed for a moment, took in the sight of JaeHyun standing before him and tilted his head.

“This is… the Nightmare Forest?”

“Around it, to be more precise. And just so you know, you suddenly attacked me, got beat up, and passed out.”

“…What?! I attacked you?”

Ahn HoYeon resisted his terrible migraine and tried to recall what he was doing a moment ago.

“…A voice. I heard a strange voice. Then my body started to move by itself like it was being controlled by someone else…”

At his words, JaeHyun replied without any surprise.

“It’s nothing. You were under a mind-manipulating spell.”

“…You mean I was being controlled to attack you? But…”

HoYeon couldn’t quite believe JaeHyun’s words.

Normally, the rank of spells that could manipulate other people’s bodies or minds were very high—at least above B-rank. Most of the spells that were really useful were above A-rank at the very least.

But wasn’t this a demi-plane where skills only C-rank and below could be used?

Using a spell like the one JaeHyun had described in such a place was impossible.

In addition—

‘There’s no way a cadet who could use such a spell would exist to begin with.’

Ahn HoYeon lifted his head and observed JaeHyun who was looking down at him.

Responding to the gaze that was asking for an explanation, JaeHyun continued, albeit seemingly annoyed.

“Someone interfered with the Freshmen Hunt this time. Someone who cadets wouldn’t even dare to go against meddled in the event. Though we can’t be sure of why they would do so.”

JaeHyun added at the end so as to reduce the suspicion he would be receiving. HoYeon blinked as he proceeded to ask.

“…Who that person is. And why they would interfere. Do you know?”

“No.”

JaeHyun answered right away. No matter how many times he were to say that it was Chairman Gu Ja-In who did it, it would be useless.

Besides, Ahn HoYeon would also realize this fact after experiencing a few more events at the academy. There was no reason to scare him right now.

What was important at the moment was that they were both alright and that he had just received a blank card a moment ago.

‘Just in time. With this, I can copy another high-level skill.’

A smile spread on JaeHyun’s lips.

On the other hand, HoYeon was lost in thought with his head bowed. He reflected on what had just happened and turned back to face JaeHyun.

Just before he lost consciousness, a voice in his head had ceaselessly ordered him to attack Min JaeHyun.

Ahn HoYeon lost complete control of himself to the sweet yet venomous eerie voice.

He had attacked Min JaeHyun as soon as he saw him, even breaking the rules and using an A-rank skill.

But even though he’d attacked with killing intent, he still wasn’t able to win against JaeHyun.

‘…Is this my current limit?’

HoYeon stood up as he spoke.

“I’m sorry. You’re…”

“It’s fine. I’m not hurt. Rather, you’re probably the one in pain with how you got hit.”

“No. I’ll recover quickly if it’s just this much… Keuk!”

As he was standing up, HoYeon curled up and coughed. JaeHyun scratched his nose with an awkward expression on his face as he watched him.

‘ …Did I hit him too hard?’

Gathering his strength to stand up properly again, HoYeon slightly bowed his head.

“Thanks. It would have been really bad if you’d been careless.”

“Stop being gross. It’s fine. You should be fine, right? Even if you get eliminated right now, you should have earned more than enough points already.”

“Nah. You have way more points than me. To think you got more than a million points… You’re really amazing.”

Ahn HoYeon responded while waving his hand.

‘I wonder if the girls are doing okay.’

JaeHyun opened the system window to see how the two were faring.

The current amount of points he had was 1.3 million.

‘It seems they’re doing alright. I should go and meet up with them quickly.’

JaeHyun turned around with a satisfied expression.

“Then, I’ll be leaving now. Let’s do our best in the time remaining.”

At his dry words, HoYeon hurriedly grabbed his wrist.

“W-Wait! Take this.”

He passed something he’d been holding in his hand to JaeHyun.

JaeHyun’s expression stiffened.

“…What are you doing?”

JaeHyun stared with bewilderment at the item Ahn HoYeon had passed to him.

He continued placidly.

“If you don’t have your name tag, you’ll be eliminated.”

“It doesn’t matter. Like you said, I’ve earned quite a bit of points anyways. Plus—”

After a very short moment, Ahn HoYeon’s eyes were filled with competitiveness.

“I lost. Even if it’s not a rule, it doesn’t matter. Since I lost, this is yours.”

“Hah…”

JaeHyun was unsure how he should react in this unexpected situation.

He’d been certain that Ahn HoYeon was weak-tempered and cowardly. But he wasn’t the type to suffer a loss.

“I lost this time, but… I won’t next time. I’m gonna win. That’s why I’m giving it to you.”

“That’s not something you should say to your savior, but… well, do your best.”

He discerned that Ahn HoYeon had a pretty cheesy side to him and took the name tag HoYeon was holding out to him while scratching his head.

The item itself was only worth 10,000 points. However—

The thought he put into the decision was probably worth a lot more than that.

‘The ‘next time’ Ahn HoYeon is talking about is probably the 《 Millaes Campus Festival 》.’

There, the two would inevitably fight once more.

JaeHyun pondered.

Would he be able to win against Ahn HoYeon then, too?

A moment later, the clear system alert announced the results of the fight.

一 Player ‘Ahn HoYeon’ has been eliminated.

一 Players ‘Min JaeHyun’, ‘Seo Ina’, and ‘Kim YooJung’ have received 10,000 points.

Slowly becoming translucent, HoYeon then completely disappeared from the demi-plane.

A meaningful smile spread on JaeHyun’s face. In his hand was the name tag that Ahn HoYeon had held out to him a moment ago.

He had earned a measly 10,000 points, but JaeHyun was filled with excitement.

Ahn HoYeon, the one called the Star of the Warriors and who he’d been so envious of.

Such a person had given him the name tag while admitting defeat—

While claiming to be eagerly awaiting their next match.

“This is the beginning, huh...”

For the first time, he could be sure that he was taking steps toward his goal.

Draugr, Skeletal Soldiers, the Night Shade… He’d defeated a variety of enemies, but it felt very different from those fights this time.

He was taking a step forward after erasing the past wherein he was so weak.

Diligently and one step at a time.

For a moment, JaeHyun stared at the spot where Ahn HoYeon disappeared, then turned around.

There were only two hours left. JaeHyun resumed moving so he could continue snatching name tags from seniors.

***

一 The 72-hour event ‘Freshmen Hunt’ has ended.

一 You are being transported to the real world.

一 Calculating the points you have acquired.

一 You have earned 1.53 million points.

一 You have earned the highest number of points on record.

Vrrrr…

Together with the messages, the demi-plane started to close. The wide-open abyss closed and the gathered mana dispersed. The allotted time had passed.

JaehYun had quickly met up with his party after his fight with Ahn HoYeon and eliminated more seniors.

Since it was the last day, there were many seniors who had come to hunt for freshmen leaving the shelters.

As a result, the three were able to gain quite a lot of points and maintain their rank.

They succeeded in defeating the previous record of 1.14 million points—

with a total of 1.53 million points.

It was an amount that a group of 6 Warriors would normally be unable to obtain.

Of course, this was only possible due to JaeHyun’s careful preparations and how well synced the three were. JaeHyun looked at his name at the top of the ranking and mumbled quietly.

“1.53 million points… This much should be good enough.”

“Hey. It’s still the highest recorded number of points. Shouldn’t you be happier? Ina, don’t you think so too?”

Kim YooJung pouted. Seo Ina slid her thumb and pointer on her chin as she spoke with a serious expression.

“If we’d had one more hour, we could have gotten 1.6 million points…”

“These guys really are insane.”

YooJung clicked her tongue at them in disbelief.

It was the record-breaking score they’d gotten with a lot of work, so wasn’t it right to be happier about it?

‘There’s a limit to how competitive you can be.’

YooJung shook her head in disbelief. Then, as if she had just recalled something, she suddenly turned to JaeHyun with excitement

“More than that, with this much points, we should be able to live quite luxuriously for a while, right?”

“Well… Normally, if you multiplied the amount of points by 10, it would be kind of similar to actual money. I think it’s okay to say that we’ve just earned about 15.3 million won.”

“…W-We earned so much?”

Ina seemed shocked as she asked with wide eyes.

JaeHyun added without a care.

“‘I’m in first place, and you two are in second. So there should probably be additional points.”

“Huh? There’s additional points, too?”

YooJung asked wide-eyed since she hadn’t known about that.

JaeHyun nodded.

“Yeah. I think it was a million points?”

“A… A million?!”

A million points were usually awarded to those who ranked in the top 3 at events in Millaes Academy.

Listening to JaeHyun’s words, YooJung and Ina stared at each other with visible shock.

“W-We’re rich!”

“…Yeah!”

The two hugged each other with delight.

Looking at them, JaeHyun shook his head in surprise.

“Ah, really… Guys? It’s embarrassing, so could you guys stop it?”

They were already getting a lot of attention from the others since they got first place in the event. Was there a reason to gain even more attention by overreacting like this?

JaeHyun looked around and sneakily took a few steps away, pretending he wasn’t in the same group as the two girls.

And at that moment, he felt the aura of a man heading toward them.

JaeHuun turned to the direction the footsteps were coming from and bit his lip slightly.

‘Here he comes.`

A familiar middle-aged man stopped in front of the group. Kim Seok-Gi nodded slightly as he looked at them with a smile.

“Hello, everyone. I’m Instructor Kim Seok-Gi. I’m the one who came to pick up the freshmen on the first day.”

“Ah! Yes, sir.”

“…Hello.”

The two girls finally let go of each other. Instructor Kim Seok-Gi examined them, then spoke in a low voice so no one else could hear him.

“I have something I wish to speak to the three of you about. Though… shall we go somewhere else instead?”

“Is it related to the amount of points we got at the Freshmen Hunt?”

JaeHyun asked sharply. Kim Seok-Gi nodded slightly.

“That’s correct.”

“Let’s go, then.”

JaeHyun led the way. Kim Seok-Gi and the girls followed him with surprised expressions.

Ina carefully approached JaeHyun and asked in a whisper.

“…Uhm, shouldn’t we… ask where we’re going first…”

“The chairman’s office.”

JaeHyun purposely stated in a louder voice. At his words, Kim Seok-Gi narrowed his eyes and glared at him.

A smile appeared on JaeHyun’s lips.

“Am I wrong?”

Silence followed for a moment. Kim Seok-Gi then nodded again and looked at the three cadets.

“You are correct. Cadets Min JaeHyun, Kim YooJung, and Seo Ina. Chairman Gu Ja-In would like to speak with you.”

____