Chapter 90 – Fake and Real (2)

Rachel returned to the sixth floor with the other members of Team Black. They asked for the situation, but Rachel ran without explaining.

“What.”

They spotted three cadets from Team White on the ground when they arrived. Someone had tied their hands and feet together as they wriggled like caterpillars.

“Um, what’s this?”

The bizarre scene confused Team Black. Rachel’s mind also turned blank until she realized what happened. She thought even Kim Hajin couldn’t handle six cadets, but he proved her wrong.

“Um, Rachel?”

“Ah, it looks like someone took care of the situation.”

Rachel replied somewhat in awe. A spearman walked in from the other side of the lobby.

“Ah, it’s Shin Jonghak! Jonghak!”

Yi Kyungrak, one of Shin Jonghak’s lackeys, ran up to him. Shin Jonghak smiled. He lost to Kim Suho, but avoided critical damage and escaped to the sixth floor.

“Nice to see you.”

Shin Jonghak greeted the other team members. Rachel slightly bowed as Shin Jonghak nodded.

“Jonghak, do you know what happened here?”

Yi Kyungrak pointed to the cadets on the ground. Shin Jonghak calmly replied, “I do. I eliminated two of them.”

Rachel frowned. She thought he was trying to steal Kim Hajin’s achievement. In reality, Shin Jonghak spotted Yoo Yeonha and Chae Nayun fighting with some nimble guy and used that opportunity to ambush two cadets.

“Cough. Then from now… I’ll take command.”

Shin Jonghak spoke as he glanced at Rachel. She looked at the other members. They seemed more comfortable with Shin Jonghak as the leader. However, Rachel didn’t want to be with someone who stole someone else’s achievement.

“Then I’ll take my leave here.”

“Ah, you should come with us.”

Yi Kyungrak tried to dissuade her, but Rachel made up her mind. She walked east towards the emergency staircase as Shin Jonghak and the other members headed to the central staircase.

The mock artifact scramble continued at a quick pace. Shin Jonghak gathered the surviving members of Team Black and managed to steal two more artifacts. Rachel also contributed with her guerilla tactics. Team White successfully protected most of the artifacts despite Rachel chasing after them. Kim Suho displayed outstanding leadership as they safely transported five artifacts to the designated locations. Finally, Team White came out victorious thanks to Kim Suho and Chae Nayun. Rachel and Shin Jonghak also received satisfactory grades.

For the record, Kim Hajin miraculously survived Chae Nayun and Yoo Yeonha. Then he spent the rest of his time hiding in the fourth floor bathroom.

***

“Yaaawn.”

Tomer woke up in the seventh floor bathroom and blankly stared at the ceiling.

“Oh right, the mission.”

She suddenly recalled and checked her smartwatch.

“Huh?”

She fell into a daze when she saw that the time was 3:02 P.M. She thought it broke and rummaged through her pockets for the cadet smartwatch.

Mock Artifact Scramble Results: [Final survivors – Team Black: 12 / Team White: 11] [Artifacts – Team Black: 3 / Team White: 5] [Team White MVP – Kim Suho, Chae Nayun] [Team Black MVP – Shin Jonghak, Rachel] Team White Wins

“What?”

Tomer slapped her cheeks to wake herself up. However, the smartwatch remained the same. She slapped herself even harder, but nothing changed.

“No way, no way, no way…”

She ran out of the bathroom. The class had ended and all the lights had turned off.

“Ah…”

Tomer collapsed to the floor devastated.

***

All the cadets sat on a grass field after the combat training. Some frowned as they consumed potions while most talked about the artifact scramble.

“Is Jamer not out yet?” Kim Soohyuk called out Tomer’s fake name.

“Tsk.”

Chae Nayun sat alone and picked on the poor grass. She felt unhappy about many things. They had won, but she didn’t finish her fight with Rachel. They also couldn’t defeat Kim Hajin in a six versus one scenario even though Shin Jonghak interfered. Most importantly, what Yi Jiyoon said bothered her.

“Hmm.”

Yoo Yeonha approached her with a grin.

“Are you bothered?”

“What do I have to be bothered by?” Chae Nayun bluntly retorted as Yoo Yeonha nodded.

“Oh really? I just thought what Yi Jiyoon said might’ve bothered you.”

“W-What, are you crazy? Why would I be bothered by that? I don’t even remember what she said.”

“But still…”

Yoo Yeonha stared at Kim Hajin. He sat with his team and Rachel under a big tree. Yoo Yeonha spoke straightforwardly, “He might get taken away at this rate."

“Wh, what? Taken away? Can you stop spouting bullshit? He never belonged to me in the first place.”

Her actions contradicted her words as she clenched her fists. Yoo Yeonha looked at her before continuing.

“Well, I don’t believe in those rumors either, but he might be searching for someone else since you keep pushing him away.”

Chae Nayun slowly looked towards Kim Hajin. She saw Rachel next to him and frowned before looking away.

“He isn’t my type to begin with if his feelings change so easily.”

“Pft.”

Yoo Yeonha couldn’t help but laugh at her excuse. Chae Nayun wanted to rebuttal, but Yoo Yeonha continued, “Nayun.”

“What now?”

“Who is it between Kim Suho and Kim Hajin?”

“You—! It’s not like that!”

Chae Nayun shouted with a red face. The nearby cadets looked over, but Yoo Yeonha couldn’t stop laughing.

“Then is it Jonghak?”

“Are you crazy?”

She reacted much colder. Yoo Yeonha felt somewhat relieved since it couldn’t be Shin Jonghak.

“I’m jealous,” Yoo Yeonha blurted out feeling a bit bitter.

“About what?”

“I have no one, but you get to choose from three.”

“Ueek.”

Chae Nayun shook her head and didn’t bother to answer. Then Shin Jonghak confidently swaggered towards them. He felt through the roof after racking up nine eliminations and stealing two artifacts.

“Yo, Chae Nayun.”

“Oh, Shin Jonghak. Your team lost. How do you feel?”

Chae Nayun snickered as she made fun of him. However, Shin Jonghak felt satisfied as his team’s MVP.

“It couldn’t be helped since Team White had you.”

“Hm, I guess you’re right.”

Tomer finally walked out of the excavation site. Chae Nayun glanced over as Kim Soohyuk approached Tomer with a scary expression.

“Jamer, why did you come out so late?”

“…”

“I checked your smartwatch GPS. It looks like you stayed in the seventh floor bathroom the entire time.”

Tomer looked completely lost and couldn’t even reply.

***

I returned to my room after the scramble. My body ached all over. Perhaps I should’ve eliminated myself, but I stayed until the end because I never wrote about it in detail.

“Hajin. Hajin. Hajin.”

My fatigue melted away as Evandel ran up with a bright smile. I held her up and looked around at a nightingale, a crow-tit, a dog, and a cat. Evandel had made all sorts of animals.

“You didn’t forget to keep them inside the room, right?”

“Un!”

Evandel replied as she checked my hands and pockets. However, I didn’t bring anything back. Next, she peeked over my shoulder and even checked my back. I didn’t have any food there either as she looked at me confused.

“Hajin, you didn’t bring anything?”

“Ah, sorry. I am tired, so I forgot.”

“…”

Evandel closed her mouth. Her sparkling eyes filled with disappointment as she began to tear up. I stopped her from crying with just one sentence.

“But I ordered chicken and pizza. It’ll arrive soon.”

Her expression immediately brightened.

“Aha! I see. I see.”

Of course, I lied. I would have to order them while I pretended to use the bathroom.

“I need to use the bathroom.”

I set her down and went to order a chicken and pizza set on the toilet. Then I checked the most recent news.

“Oh!” I exclaimed at the trending front page.

[New guild Packhorse Master conquers Suwon Devil’s Nest!]

It had been a while, so I worried that something might’ve gone wrong. However, I felt relieved now. I quickly entered the guild stock market.

As expected, my 1.5 billion won had turned into 10.3 billion.

“Bravo.”

I felt happy, but also slightly worried. Should I sell this now or later? The stock price should multiply by ten, but it currently only jumped by seven. Perhaps I should check again tomorrow. Of course, I could still receive 10.3 billion won if I sold it now and comfortably live the rest of my life. However, the money would disappear once I returned to my world.

“…”

Suddenly, a strange feeling filled my heart. I couldn’t quite describe the mixture of bitterness with a heart-wrenching emptiness.

“Ah, rather than that…”

I slapped my cheeks and shook away such thoughts. I needed to worry about something else.

“Singing, singing… Yi Yeonghan, you son of a bitch.”

No enemies would infiltrate Cube until the end of the next midterms, so I only had to worry about singing. Yi Yeonghan, you fuck.

“Ah!”

I suddenly remembered about arts and accessed my laptop.

[Art (1/3)]

I could create up to three arts. Currently, I only had parkour, but I would have to be crazy to fill one of these precious slots with singing unless I could delete it later. I tried deleting parkour just in case.

[Parkour will be deleted and 200 SP will be refunded. You will not maintain the level you achieved.]

“Oh geez.”

I immediately canceled. Thankfully, they could be deleted, and even a portion of SP returned. I might consider singing. I projected the hologram keyboard and tried creating an art.

[Master Singer] — Will allow you to masterfully sing.

“It’s only singing. How expensive can it be?”

I tried hitting save.

[Master Singer] [Practical] — Will allow you to masterfully sing and clearly convey your emotions.

[500 SP will be used. Would you like to save?]

It cost more than I thought. This art made someone sing at an artistic level.

“I don’t need to sing that well.”

I didn’t intend on shocking the crowd with high notes and becoming a singer. I only wanted to avoid a one-time embarrassment. It would be enough to sound like a good ballad singer.

“Is it possible?”

I tried to change the content.

— Will allow you to sing beautifully.

[150 SP will be used. Would you like to save?]

I could accept that even though it wasn’t cheap either. The crowd would contain at least 4000 spectators. Singing in front of such a large crowd would probably net me around 60-70 SP.

“Yi Yeonghan, you son of a bitch.”

I cursed the source of this evil once again, then hit save.

“Ah, aaah, aaaaaah. Oho oho, oho oho.”

I made different noises as I pressed my neck.

“Hyohyohyo, yohyohyohyo, yohyohyo. Yodelei, yodelei.”

I couldn’t notice any differences. Tok, tok. Evandel knocked on the bathroom door.

— Hajin, someone knocked on the door. Hehe, I think the chicken is here.”

Evandel began to drool already.

“Uh, yeah, I got it.”

I ran out to receive the chicken and pizza. When I came back, Evandel modestly sat in front of the kitchen table with plastic gloves. I placed the chicken and pizza on the table before opening them up.

“Make sure to chew.”

“Un!”

Then I went back to practicing. Ah, Aaah, aaaaaah. Woong— Suddenly, my smartwatch rang.

[Hajin, you have to sing, right? Don’t you need to practice?]

Jin Hoseung messaged our team’s group chat.

[Wanna go karaoke? What do you think, Rachel?]

Yi Bokgyu sent a suggestion. I secretly looked forward to Rachel’s reply. I felt confident now thanks to my new art and the hornflute.

[I have to study. I want to go, but… I don’t have the time ㅠ.ㅠ]

Rachel seemed unavailable.

“Damn.”

Then I had no reason to go either. Why would I go karaoke with a bunch of guys? I said I couldn’t make it too and took off my smartwatch.

***

Jain stared at a monitor in Jeronimo Mercenary’s office located in Seoul. She wore the face of the world’s rank 58 mercenary, Yohan Zestiops.

“This will do.”

She searched for a suitable apprentice mercenary mission. The mission had to involve killing someone, an evildoer who deserved death. She contacted Boss after finding a mission that met all the criteria.

“Yeah, Boss. I found one.”

— What is it?

“An Italian Mafia. He’s apparently a djinn. No, he’s like a djinn.”

— Not bad.

“Ah, but are you sure he accepted the offer?”

Jain wasn’t sure whether Kim Hajin had decided to join Jeronimo Mercenary.

— I received a positive reply.

“Really? What did he say?”

— Mm… hold on.

Boss went silent as she searched through her messages.

— He said, I’ll contact you soon when I have time. I think this sounds very positive.

Jain felt a slight headache the moment she heard Boss’ words.

“Boss, you… when did you receive that message?”

— The day I gave him our business card.

“That was two weeks ago.”

— Yeah, so he should be contacting me any moment now. Make sure you have that mission ready.

Boss said what she wanted and hung up as Jain sighed. Was it because Boss never experienced a normal life? Or was she like this naturally? She acted too dense.

“Tsk. I have no choice, but to do as I’m told.”

Jain placed the mafia assassination in the confirmed folder.