Chapter 111 : Chapter 111
Chapter 111: Finals Exams(3)
Sparring Room No. 7.
The screen displayed Jin-ho saving Jun-seok and Chang-ho, who had almost died because their eyes rolled back at the sight of the pork belly set.
And a man blocking their path.
As the image of a man leisurely walking towards the pork belly set appeared, Lee Si-wang’s surprised voice filled the sparring room.
“What! Why is the Supreme King over there?! Did you even call the Supreme King?!!!”
“I didn’t call him, he said he would help.”
“No, just Seong-hyeon and the twins are already enough of a catalyst!”
“It’s insufficient.”
At Yoo Jin's firm voice, Lee Si-wang, who had been loudly expressing his emotions, settled his expression.
“Like you said, Seong-hyeon and the twins are merely catalysts. They will create small incidents here and there. That is all.”
“Well…….”
Lee Si-wang knew it too.
They would steal food and cause chaos like bandits, but that would be the extent of it.
Children who lost their food would find something to eat somehow, and children who lost their sleeping quarters would move again to find an answer.
Even if it wasn't strictly a test, if compared to a dungeon, that level of unpredictability always exists.
“Still…….”
“Don’t worry. I didn’t just recklessly throw the Supreme King in there. And he promised me. He won’t kill them.”
“Isn… Isn’t that obvious? It’s just a kids' test…….”
“It’s not just a kids’ test.”
Yoo jin’s eyes hardened into a straight line.
“Just for today. Getting a good score and being done with it is a story of the distant past. These children aren’t going towards an ordinary future; a future where they become Hunters and face life-or-death combat every single day awaits them.”
Lee Si-wang closed his mouth.
“Of course, the test is important too, but I want to teach the children something more important than that. That the world does not flow as one expects. And…… that one cannot do anything alone…….”
“…….”
Lee Si-wang’s expression sank.
Only now did he understand why Yoo Jin had constructed the test this way.
Lee Si-wang’s gaze turned to the large screen.
To the screen of Zone A, where Jin-ho and the Supreme King were confronting each other.
Good intentions.
Connections that could bring a Returnee into a mere kids' test.
Clearly, this was a class only Yoo jin could provide.
However…….
Even so.
The worry did not disappear.
“It’s good to let them experience the lesson physically, but let alone two days and one night, the kids are going to be wiped out in an hour…….”
“Don’t worry. Jin-ho has become quite strong too.”
“No, I know. I know, but for Jin-ho to face the Supreme King….”
“Of course, he can’t win.”
“You know that, yet!”
“Oh? You’re worried? Then you go in and save them, you rascal.”
“That’s too much….”
Lee Si-wang, who had been glaring at Yoo jin, bowed his head deeply.
Seeing Lee Si-wang like that, Yoo jin wore a faint smile.
‘He’s really become a proper Assistant Homeroom Teacher.’
“Don’t worry. I’ve told him everything. Fighting isn’t the goal.”
“Then…….”
“Just seeing how it goes. What choices the children will make. At the end…… when it comes to the very end…… whether they will make the choice I hope for.”
Many emotions swirled in Yoo jin’s eyes as they held the screen.
***
At that time when Yoo jin and Lee Si-wang were worrying about Jin-ho and the children in Zone A.
Zone D.
“Ugh…….”
“I’m resentful…….”
“My rice roll…….”
The sounds of Chan-yeong and the children’s screaming were added to the place where the sound of the waterfall echoed.
And in front of them.
“Hehe!”
“Call me the Bandit King!”
“How is it? The feeling of having all your food stolen!”
The twins and Seong-hyeon were making expressions like extra villains from a third-rate manga book.
“You jerks!”
“Isn’t this too much?!”
“Not only did you steal all the food as soon as we started, but eating it all right in front of us!”
Unable to overcome their resentment, the children of Chan-yeong’s group vomited out their anger.
“This isn’t just a test anymore! It’s actual combat!”
“We are barbarians!”
“It has been a custom handed down from long ago that the victor of battle monopolizes the food!”
“This is Sparta!”
“Oh!!!!!”
The twins and Seong-hyeon roared while raising their fists high into the sky.
As per Yoo Jin's plan, they were performing their roles properly, just like actors fully immersed in a play.
“What do we do with these guys?”
“Yeah. What did the barbarians do?”
“Hmm…… When barbarians won a battle, they would cut off the necks and carry the heads around…….”
At the sound coming from Im Jong-sin’s mouth, Chan-yeong and the children sitting on the ground made strange noises like ‘Hiiik!’ and were struck with fear.
“Let’s not go that far. We aren’t low-class barbarians but high-pride warriors.”
At Seong-hyeon’s voice, the twins sheepishly touched their noses.
“Rascal!”
“Isn’t that cool?”
“Huhu!”
Seong-hyeon, admiring himself for being too cool even after speaking, smiled and shook his head, then raised his fist once again.
“This is Sparta!”
“Sparta!!!!”
The barbarians' roaring continued.
At that moment.
“What is it? That middle schooler syndrome line?”
A new voice reached the barbarians.
“What?”
“Who dares to compare the roar of a high-pride warrior to something like middle schooler syndrome?”
“Who is it!”
Seong-hyeon and the twins turned their bodies toward where the new voice appeared.
There.
“I did hear we could steal food… but to think there were idiots who would actually execute that.”
Kang Tae-wook stood there with eyes looking at something insignificant.
“I was waiting.”
“Idiots, you say? I’ll make you regret it.”
“Anyway, our final target was you. I’ll make you pay the price for treating us like fools until now.”
Seong-hyeon and the twins looked at Kang Tae-wook with expressions slightly upgraded from third-rate extra villains to supporting extra villains.
“Well, I didn’t like the hero of justice character because it was cringe-worthy. Well…… since you guys played the villains…….”
Swoosh!
Around Kang Tae-wook’s body, ice of Absolute Zero began to soar.
“I’ll take the role of the protagonist. A crazy hero, though.”
A devilish expression formed on Kang Tae-wook’s face.
A touch-and-go situation.
However.
“…….”
“…….”
Souls were escaping from the faces of Chan-yeong’s group children who were sitting in the corner watching.
No.
The test is just about enduring for one day.
Why…….
“Everyone is frantic to fight…….”
Already, the test had disappeared from their minds.
***
Zone A, where Jin-ho and the Supreme King were.
Boom!
Bang!!!
Tremendous explosion sounds were ringing out.
“Uaaack!!!”
“That person is crazy!”
“He really intends to kill us?”
“…….”
Jin-ho and the children were running this way and that to avoid the slashes unleashed by the Supreme King.
“Hahahaha! How long will you only run away? Brats! Do you not want to eat this pork belly!”
Tremendous explosion sounds and slashes strong enough to split the ground even without the sword touching directly.
The Supreme King was unleashing such slashes with one hand.
And in his other hand.
Sizzle!
Tongs were held.
Tongs that were flipping pork belly that was grilling to a golden brown, at that.
“No! Wasn’t he Japanese?!”
“Why is he grilling pork belly so well?”
Even while running around here and there, Jun-seok and Chang-ho’s vision contained the Supreme King grilling pork belly.
“My grandmother is Korean.”
The Supreme King copied a catchphrase from a certain skit that came out a long time ago.
However, even if it was a vocal mimicry.
The words contained within were genuine.
“I grew up under a Japanese grandfather and a Korean grandmother, so I can speak Japanese and Korean fluently! On top of that!”
Sizzle!
Waiting until the Maillard reaction comes and not flipping, then at the very end, clack!
Pork belly being flipped with killer timing.
“I grill meat much better than the ladies at the restaurant for most standard meat!”
To think a person who is even a Returnee would make such a pride-filled expression about grilling meat well…….
Slaughter Machine.
Returnee of Japan.
Samurai who cuts the moon.
Supreme King.
He was called by many aliases, but.
The nickname the Samurai liked the most was.
‘Tongs Master Toshi.’
He was a meat grilling master who received the transmission from his grandmother.
Even while smelling the savory scent of burning fat rising up, the sword held in one hand moved.
It looked like it moved very slightly, but.
Boom!!!!!
The slash that flew from the sword knocked down the tree where the children were.
The children hiding behind the tree frantically ran to another tree.
“We’re going to die at this rate.”
“Let’s just give up.”
“But the smell of pork belly…….”
“…….”
The faces of the children hiding behind the tree were filled with agony.
Food?
It is still okay.
Because they have one rice roll.
If they look around other places, they could find tree fruits or something to fill their stomachs.
To put it bluntly, one doesn’t die from not eating for a day.
One rice roll?
Even if it’s lacking, if they set their minds to endure, they could endure.
However.
The children peeked only their heads out from the side of the tree trunk.
Sizzle!!!!
Smoke rising thickly.
The Samurai lifted a thick piece of pork belly.
And then.
Swish!
As he moved the sword a few times, the pork belly was cut into pieces good for eating.
Then the tongs moved.
The Samurai looked at the tree where the children were hiding and twitched his eyebrows.
And then.
Chew!
Chew!
He shoved the well-cooked pork belly into his mouth.
“Kuu…… This is it. Pork belly eaten outdoors is indeed the best.”
The unique savoriness of pork scorched by fire was conveyed far and wide.
To the point where saliva pooled just by looking.
The children behind the tree, without exception, gulped down dry saliva.
‘That looks delicious.’
Only one thought was filling their heads.
The children, who pulled their heads back inside the tree trunk, looked at each other.
“Ah… I really want to eat just one bite?”
“If you try to eat one bite, you could cross the River Styx.”
“…….”
Jun-seok, Chang-ho, and the Model student.
Different words and emotions poured out from the three’s mouths, but.
In their eyes, the emotion of wanting the pork belly was revealed without being able to be hidden.
That was the same for Jin-ho.
He wants to eat.
rice roll is sufficient and good food, but.
How can rice roll be compared to pork belly?
Wanting pork belly was the essence of a human being.
An instinct that cannot be refused.
However.
More than that.
A strange thought was grazing Jin-ho’s mind.
‘Of all things. Why? Why specifically.’
Did Teacher Yoo Jin place the Supreme King over there?
With pork belly that would tempt the children there.
If one thinks about it with common sense.
Pork belly?
Want to eat it to death.
But the one guarding in front of it is none other than the Supreme King.
It was the Samurai, a Returnee.
If they are guys with thoughts, unconditionally.
No, everyone.
Will give up.
They won’t even think of attempting it.
Because they will die.
No, since it’s a test, he won’t kill, but.
Because they know they won’t succeed anyway.
That is the basic.
It would be the thought anyone would have.
It would be so.
It would be so, but…….
Just why on earth.
Teacher Yoo jin is…….
Jin-ho, who was contemplating seriously, made an expression that finished the contemplation.
And then looking at the children, he said.
“First, let’s give up for now.”
Words that missed the mark of the contemplation flowed from his mouth.
However, the other children, who had no way of knowing his contemplation, thought he said obvious words and nodded their heads.
“Right, how do we beat the Supreme King in the first place….”
“Let’s eat pork belly after the test ends. Let’s go find fruit or something….”
“…….”
Like that, the children’s expressions sank.
However, the last part.
The words that came out of Jin-ho’s mouth were words far from giving up.
“Let’s find other children, and challenge again. Two teams. No, even if it’s just at least one team. Find them.”
At Jin-ho’s words, Jun-seok and Chang-ho’s pupils shook.
“What, you….”
“Are you saying that sincerely?”
Jin-ho nodded his head.
“It’s not because of the pork belly. Ah, well, of course, there is a share of the pork belly too, but…… the bigger thing is…….”
Jin-ho scratched the back of his head as if embarrassed.
“Even if it’s an opponent you can’t win against. Because there will be times when you can’t avoid it…… Wouldn’t Teacher Yoo Jin have deployed the Samurai hoping for exactly that?”
At Jin-ho’s voice piercing through the test.
“…….”
“…….”
The children’s expressions disappeared.