Chapter 110 : Chapter 110
Chapter 110: Final Exams (2)
What he felt as soon as he opened his eyes were humidity and unfamiliar smells.
The smell of grass pierced his nose.
Looking around, he saw dense trees and rough ground.
And his classmates fallen on the dirt floor.
Jin-ho got up first from his spot.
"Is everyone okay?"
In Jin-ho's line of sight were three students.
"Uh, I think I'm okay."
"Oh my, my back. Wow…… I didn't know Teacher would really go this far."
"……."
Jun-seok and Chang-ho, defense-type Awakened whom he wasn't particularly close with but felt no awkwardness with since they had already spent half a year together.
And lastly, the model student whom he had never properly talked with.
He was a student who wasn't very close to or conversed much with anyone in the class.
While Jin-ho was taking in the children with his eyes.
[Ah-ah, mic test. Ah-ah, can you hear me well, brats?]
A voice that seemed to come from broadcasting sound equipment, which didn't suit this jungle-like place, was heard.
"Teacher?"
The owner of the voice was Yoo jin.
[Okay, since I gave most of the explanation earlier, I'll get straight to the point.]
Leaving behind the curiosity of Jin-ho and the children, the one-sided voice rang out again.
[The exam starts right from now. Those you are with right now are your team. And everyone else is an enemy.]
"What are you saying right now……."
Jin-ho and the children made eye contact, but there was nothing they could do.
Only waiting for Yoo Jin's words flowing from somewhere.
[I told you earlier, it's an exam like real combat. Where is there a raid party of 30 people going to handle a single dungeon? Well, it's not like there are none at all, but we need to do mock training at the most average value. So I divided teams into four to five people on average.]
The more they listened, the darker the expressions of Jin-ho and the children became.
[Anyway, I think you get the rough idea. Now, if you meet other groups, don't think of them as the same humans, but as a different race and deal with them. Or fight thinking of them as beings like Barbarians who don't understand words.]
At the suddenly given absurd mission and setting, the pupils of the children including Jin-ho trembled.
***
It wasn't just the group Jin-ho belonged to.
Artificial Dungeon.
Zone B.
[When the exam ends, you will grade the scores yourselves. Anonymous submission is prohibited.]
Kang Tae-wook and other children who fell into the swamp area also had darkened expressions after hearing Yoo jin's broadcast.
Zone C.
[You will write down one strength and one weakness of the teammates you were with and submit it. And I will grade the scores referring to that. Well, naturally, I'll be watching you continuously through cameras installed everywhere. So there won't be any unfair incidents.]
Ye-na and a few children who fell into the 'Rainy Season' area where rain continued to fall listened to Yoo jin's voice under a large tree.
Zone D.
[In words evaluating others, oneself is always reflected. Well, think about that when the exam ends tomorrow, and for now, trust your teammates.]
Chan-yeong and other students who fell into the area where a waterfall flowed listened to Yoo jin's last words while hearing the sound of the falling waterfall.
[Lastly, you may steal food. You may steal the house, meaning the sleeping place, made by enemies with force. Then…… try to survive well.]
Just like that, Yoo Jin's voice, which they didn't know where it was ringing from, disappeared.
Chan-yeong and the children, who thought it would be a final exam that wasn't too difficult, though not exactly camping, had perplexed expressions on their faces.
"……."
"What is this……."
The exam became strange.
From just surviving.
The remaining people became enemies.
How they were supposed to fight.
There was no such explanation either.
It would have been easy if it were capture the flag or catch the tail.
They couldn't know if they were supposed to really fight or what.
Chan-yeong, who was looking at the waterfall, turned his body toward the children with him.
"Let's find a sleeping place somewhere where we won't meet kids as much as possible, and withstand the time while standing guard there."
Before thoughts become too long, they must set a goal first.
It's an exam like a problem with no answer already.
Then, focus on the essence.
"This isn't about killing many monsters or fighting and winning against other friends. Since we win if we just last a day."
It wasn't because he was unawakened.
It wasn't because he knew he couldn't win fighting other children either.
Chan-yeong took the children with him.
One B-Rank and the rest were C-Rank.
There wasn't a single A-Rank Awakened.
Not ignoring the children, but fighting and winning against other groups with this team including himself is impossible.
Knowing that, he tried to focus on the essence as much as possible.
Fortunately, the children with him were people he could communicate with.
"Right, let's do that."
"I have the same thought."
"If we got higher scores for catching many monsters, we would have pushed ourselves, but it's not like that. And I don't want to fight with the kids either."
As opinions matched smoothly, Chan-yeong smiled and nodded.
With Chan-yeong in the lead, the children began to move their steps.
A place not too far from where they first fell.
A cave was seen in that place where the sound of the waterfall could still be heard.
"Shall we make this our base first and spend the day?"
"Oh, not bad."
"Good!"
"Then let's look around nearby as much as possible to see if there's anything to eat."
"While checking if there are monsters too."
"Wow, our team has good chemistry already?"
Expressions with not a single worry appeared on the faces of Chan-yeong and the children.
At that moment.
"But it's strange?"
"What is?"
"Teacher, I mean. Why did he make the exam so difficult?"
"Yeah……."
While the children were pondering, Chan-yeong spoke.
"Yoo jin Teacher must have everything thought out. And he said that. That he would let us do the teammate evaluation. Wouldn't it be to let us discover things we didn't usually see, or new sides only seen in this kind of situation?"
"Ah! Must be that."
They didn't know if that was really the intention, but the children thought of it as the answer and kindled a spark in their hearts.
"But what was the last remark?"
"What?"
"The words that we can steal food and steal sleeping places."
The children stroked their chins.
"He probably just said it."
"Right. And it doesn't make sense in the first place. To see friends as Barbarians or a different race. Even so……."
No matter how much Lee Chan-yeong was saved in the underground store, this alone was hard to understand.
He decided to believe everything Yoo Jin said was the correct answer, follow his back, and think of him as a lifelong benefactor, but…….
"Right? Surely who... would try to fight among us. Stealing food too. Stealing sleeping places too, there's no way there are such weird guys."
As soon as Chan-yeong finished speaking.
"Kiyayaak!!!!"
"Hand over everything you have!"
Class A's Trio of Silliness.
Jo Seong-hyeon and the twins appeared like mountain bandits.
"……."
"……."
Lee Chan-yeong's focus faded away.
'Ah... there were such crazy bastards……?'
***
Sparring Room No. 7, where Lee Si-wang and Yoo jin remained.
"Did you expect those guys would be like that?"
Lee Si-wang was looking at the screen installed on one side of the sparring room.
Inside it, the scene of the twins and Seong-hyeon stealing Lee Chan-yeong's group's food was flowing out.
"No? But I did think that not everyone would be guys who think, 'Let's just not fight, be all nice, and just last in the room'."
Lie.
He saw it clearly.
That he dropped the children into the dungeon timing it for when Seong-hyeon and the twins were gathered together as three.
That's right.
Yoo jin is utilizing those children as a catalyst.
Not just forming groups, hiding, and lasting for a day.
Stirring up muddy water like that.
Although they do it for fun in their own way, he wanted to see the situation changing urgently due to their erratic actions.
Due to that.
The children will become sticky.
Since roles within the same team will be determined.
In addition to that, they will fight, and conflicts will arise too.
Well, anyway.
"Let's just watch. What choices the children will make."
Yoo jin, making a wicked smile, took in the screen with his eyes.
'That devil…….'
Lee Si-wang swallowed those words only inwardly.
***
Artificial Dungeon Zone A.
The jungle terrain dungeon where Jin-ho and the children fell.
Squish!
With a chilling sound, a Lizardman slumped forward.
Jin-ho and the children instantly took care of a group of Lizardmen they encountered while exploring the surroundings.
"Whew... is this the last?"
Jin-ho wiped his forehead, extinguishing the blue flame that bloomed on his fist.
Jun-seok and Chang-ho, who helped with aggro and defense, approached Jin-ho's side.
"I felt it since the athletic meet, but wow, you got super strong."
"I don't think you're D-Rank, take the test again, Jin-ho."
It was a bit awkward to tell the children about the gourd.
And it was uncomfortable to say he was receiving supplementary lessons alone, so Jin-ho glossed over it with a laugh.
At the children's voices, Jin-ho showed an awkward smile and quickly changed the subject.
"First, since we seem to have cleared the surrounding monsters to some extent, I think it would be good to look for a place to sleep for today."
"Oh! Good idea!"
"I agree with that too. Anyway, if we just secure a spot, if I put up a defensive barrier, most things won't be able to cross over. Even if they do, I'll know if the barrier breaks, so don't worry."
"Reassuring?"
Jin-ho and the children looked at each other and showed smiles.
At that moment.
The model student, pressing down his glasses, was looking somewhere.
Jin-ho and the children, who were looking at each other and laughing, noticed and approached the model student.
"What is it? Is there something there?"
Even though the children spoke and approached, the model student didn't say anything or take any action.
He was only staring intently at somewhere.
When Jin-ho and the children arrived right next to the model student, only then did the model student look at the children once and moved his eyes again.
Although he didn't speak, as if saying there is something over there.
He was making a quite serious expression.
Jin-ho's gaze headed to where the model student was looking.
"What is that? That…… food that looks like a trap no matter who looks at it?"
In Jin-ho's view.
In front of a large tree.
A grilled pork belly set for camping was seen.
Jun-seok and Chang-ho, who discovered it afterwards, shouted.
"What! It's pork belly?"
"Meat!!!"
Jun-seok and Chang-ho taking steps without an inch of doubt.
"Guys... wait……."
Jin-ho, who was at the back, tried to stop them, but they, whose eyes had already turned for the pork belly, did not stop their steps.
"Yoo jin Teacher must have hidden it."
"Like a treasure hunt. Telling us to last a day with one gimbap didn't make sense anyway."
Expressions and steps without any small suspicion.
Jin-ho looked at the model student, but he was still only looking at the place where the pork belly was with an expressionless face.
Treasure hunt?
High-grade emergency rations?
Could be.
If it's Yoo jin Teacher, he could certainly have prepared an event like this.
Something like a small event where we can laugh and say 'we were lucky' if we find it.
However.
He doesn't know why, but strangely to Jin-ho, that pork belly.
Rather than a treasure hunt, a trap.
That is, it looked like a trap waiting for stupid fish.
Although it was a feeling he could only call intuition.
Something…….
Felt chilling.
So he moved quickly without realizing it himself.
Whoosh!
Blue flames bloomed on the soles of Jin-ho's feet.
Dash!
Jin-ho, who moved forward quickly, snatched the back of Jun-seok and Chang-ho's necks.
And then pulled them back strongly.
At the same time.
Slash!
Rumble!!!!!!
A tremendous slash flew in.
Dust clouds rose.
"……."
"……."
An attack that would have cost them their lives if they had taken just one more step.
At the situation unfolding before their eyes, the color disappeared from Jun-seok and Chang-ho's faces.
And Jin-ho, realizing his gut feeling was right, looked at the place where the pork belly was with sharp eyes.
There.
"Well well, is it because you are Big Brother's disciple after all? There is one useful guy?"
The Samurai making an amused smile.
The Supreme King was standing there.