All sorts of incomprehensible things happened and existed inside dungeons. Participating in a single raid would broaden one’s horizons in regards to the situations, existences and objects that deviated from common sense.
Soldiers that survived for a few, or even dozens of years at a place like that, had one thing in common.
“…”
They knew how to obey their instincts.
“…”
It was the same for Yong Chuljun, who had been adopted into the Yong household as a young prodigy, eventually being praised as one of the top rankers.
He prided himself for being an important figure of the Yong household no matter where we went, but even he was nervous when confronting a monster inside a dungeon, since monsters wouldn’t acknowledge his position and run away.
So whenever he felt like this, he knew it was important to be cautious.
“…”
But this time, the opponent was a problem. This feeling of incomprehensibility was currently coming from a man who appeared to be more than 10 years younger than himself. It felt similar to what he felt when he was entering an SS ranked dungeon while he was still under the Association.
During the forty years of his life, Yong Chuljun had never felt this way from another human. Something extremely ominous that had been felt from a dungeon the size of the South American continent was flooding out from this man, despite him standing still.
His last question therefore had a lot of pressure behind it.
Use her as a scapegoat?
Yong Chuljun wanted to lie but it felt like he shouldn’t. Like how a young child couldn’t hide their thoughts from their mother, it seemed that small tricks would never be able to hide the truth.
It was a decision made by his instincts and the ominous feeling encroaching his heart.
He had to be honest.
“Such a thing was never my intention…”
*
The eyes of the demon archduke judged its target.
His nature was neither good nor evil.
The authenticity was shown to be true.
And his favourability changed from ‘faint like’ to ‘faint dislike’.
He wasn’t an evil person at heart and had no intention of openly throwing her away as a scapegoat. Plus, the positive feeling he had for the Yu household became slightly negative.
“However, I was thinking of placing her at the back of the four-man group. There was the possibility of making her a scapegoat but if the problem occurred at the front side, the scapegoat would have been our Taeha instead.”
“Are you saying something could happen to the cadet called the greatest genius of Korea in a B+ dungeon?”
“Haha. Thanks for the compliment but as you know, dungeons… No. It’s nothing.”
He closed his mouth, just to ensure that nothing that was even slightly false could leave his mouth.
“In any case, it’s true that I wasn’t thinking of a completely fair arrangement so let me apologise. I shouldn’t have brought it up in the first place.”
Despite the situation, he took his outward appearance into consideration. There were many onlookers inside the classroom and even during his apology, he remained as a member of the great Yong household.
His attitude wasn’t really to his liking.
The Regressor knew himself well. He had lived for a long time but wasn’t enlightened and the life he had led was too devastated for him to be virtuous. He was nothing but an old beast.
Although the complex mechanism of emotions had been broken, the cog of irritation and annoyance remained intact. From time to time he felt annoyed, and that tended to lead to needless thoughts and actions.
It was the same now.
“I wish good luck for Cadet Yeorum.”
He didn’t like how the opponent was reaching his hand out for a handshake at a level ground despite cowering beneath him. The thought of crushing his neck appeared for a split second.
Therefore, the Regressor squeezed killing intent into the opponent’s body during the handshake.
Blades stacked on top of each other like an ocean wave and surged up the arm through the palm. The hand twitched instinctively and he tried to pull it out, but the Regressor maintained a firm grip.
After piercing through the skin, the blades wreaked havoc and ripped his organs and the heart, including every strand of mana that was nearby.
“…!”
The moment he let go of the hand, Yong Chuljun’s body faintly trembled. His eyes shook as he stared at his own hand and the body, and his gaze turned even more anxious as he looked back in search of the exit.
“I wish good luck for the Yong household as well.”
“Yes, yes…”
It was surprising that he didn’t fall. It should have been more painful than slicing his skin and organs with a kitchen knife and yet the man did not let out a single groan. However, his fingertips trembled endlessly, so Yong Chuljun had to hide his hand inside the pocket.
A soldier was a soldier regardless.
Yong Chuljun gave a faint bow and turned around. The fact that he was holding onto his breath because of the tear in his lungs was visible but Yong Taeha and Yong Danbi were unable to sense anything.
It was quite severe and even a superhuman with a tough body would vomit a fair amount of blood once he went to the hospital.
Perhaps having guessed something after looking at Yong Chuljun’s expression, Yeorum appeared slightly surprised.
“Let’s go.”
On the way back from the academy district, Yeorum’s surprise soon changed to joy. Her eyes flickered.
“Ah… that’s freakin’ great.”
“What is.”
“You getting angry for real. I thought you only knew how to act weak but seems to be wrong ey?”
“…”
He didn’t think much of what had happened.
Conflicts of interest and strife were common in dungeons where groups with conflicting interests gathered together.
Lair was a small society of superhumans.
In the end, whether he liked it or not, he had to spend time with humans who were blinded by their greed. It was because the Red Dragon had to prove its own accomplishments in this place, while he was currently living for the dragons.
“You know, you can be slightly more angry when you’re mad.”
“…”
“I think guys are cool when they act like a beast when they’re angry.”
“Stop your nonsense.”
“Okay ♥”
She threw a joke with a mischievous tone and laughed out loud.
*
“…?”
When he returned to Unit 301, Gyeoul came running up to Yu Jitae with an anxious look on her face.
“Why.”
“…Did somessing, happen?”
“No. Nothing.”
“…Really?”
“Yeah.”
Even after he said that, Gyeoul toddled and chased after Yu Jitae while staring at him with a serious gaze. Thinking that she was asking for a hug, he reached out but she shook her head instead. With her tiny hands Gyeoul pointed back at the watch, which he was using to send a message, and gestured him to not worry.
Despite that, she continued following him around like a turtle shell so he couldn’t not worry about it.
Her two eyes resembling sapphires kept on glancing at him. As if anxious, she grabbed her right hand with her left and fidgeted.
Did she know something? But it’s not like she could see Providence like Bom did.
“Gyeoul! Ahjussi! Let’s eat tteokbokki!”
But when Kaeul came back carrying tteokbokki, her glare vanished and she moved her head around following the trail of smell. Then, she became surprised at the fact that something had managed to steal her attention before once again glaring at Yu Jitae with big eyes.
Just stick to one thing at least.
While eating the tteokbokki, she obediently sat on his lap. As she took a bite of the sticky yet soft and spicy rice cake, the worried look on her expression vanished in an instant and was replaced with a bright, blooming smile.
In any case, there were only three days left till the day of the assignment and Yeorum had to find a party of four.
“Hmm, should I bring them?”
Them?
“You know, those losties.”
She seemed to be talking about Hisaki Soujiro and Kim Ji-in.
“Are they attending the competition as well?”
“Yeah. Apparently they’re trying to do whatever that can be added into their CV. They’re both weak as, and are at the bottom though.”
“Do what you want.”
Yeorum called the two of them with her watch. It seemed that she somehow knew their numbers.
Despite her scores being on the line, she was bringing in cadets that wouldn’t be able to help much. Was it because she was that confident?
Regardless, everything was up to her.
“Right, then who’s gonna be the last one? I wish the last one would be slightly useful though.” She grumbled, “It’ll be kinda annoying to have three losties.”
He had already sent a message for the last person – someone that was fairly useful, that would probably match well with Yeorum.
After around two hours, Yu Jitae’s watch rang.
– Mihailov speaking.
“It’s Yu Jitae. Have you talked to her about it.”
– I did. Sophia liked it.
A voice complained from the side saying, “Who said I liked it, Mihailov.”
Yu Yeorum, Hisaki Soujiro, Kim Ji-in and Sophia Vorkova.
Those were the four members of the group.
That evening, Yu Jitae took Yeorum and headed to the central area of the academy district. Inside a strategy meeting room of Colosseo Lair, Soujiro, Kim Ji-in, Sophia and Mihailov had already gathered and were waiting for them.
“Hello, weaklings!”
To her greeting, Soujiro gave an awkward smile, Kim Ji-in greeted back indifferently and Sophia showed her middle finger. As Mihailov greeted Yu Jitae with his eyes, the scar on his forehead twitched faintly and it appeared that he was slightly uncomfortable.
“You smacked Zhang Xueyan up didn’t you? She couldn’t do shit when she was getting bashed around.”
“I did. Unlike someone who couldn’t do shit and got bashed up by Yong Taeha.”
“…I had my period that day and I wasn’t feeling good.”
“Hnng. I seee.”
“What about yourself. Didn’t you almost get shit on by the education department?”
“They’re making a fuss out of nothing.”
“You’re saying doing that to someone on the ground is nothing? Look at you. How’re you gonna get married in the future?”
“I’ll just look for a slave or something if I need to.”
“Don’t know who it’ll be but unlucky for him.”
“Isn’t it better than getting sliced by a knife during a lovers’ quarrel?”
Yeorum and Sophia laughed and joked around but Kim Ji-in and Soujiro turned pale while watching from the side. In their eyes, it appeared as if they could slap each other any time.
While the cadets were bustling around, the guardians watched the situation unfold with their arms crossed.
“Who knew a day like this would come.”
“Indeed you’re right.”
“Thanks for calling. You see, that child doesn’t have any friends.”
“…”
It was the same for Yeorum.
“Isn’t Sophia the genius of RIL.”
“She is, but, her personality… is as you can see so…”
Apparently, Sophia wasn’t that friendly even to the ones inside RIL. It seemed that she was on the temperamental side even among the young hunting dogs of Russia.
“Um, you know, Yeorum…”
“Yeah?”
“Is it really okay for us to be here…?”
Soujiro worriedly asked.
He came because she told him to but one of them was the genius of RIL who also belonged to a Level 5 society, Sophia Vorkova, while the other was Yu Yeorum who had 25 consecutive wins that had defeated Ling Ling and Zhang Xueyan.
“Right. I also… feel skeptical. I think we’ll just be a nuisance.”
“R, right? We’re doing average at best so…”
Kim Ji-in nodded with a gloomy expression. Until the start of the competition, they were able to spend time with Yeorum normally.
But as the competition began, the two of them realised that there was a massive gap between Yeorum and themselves which only increased over time.
With an overwhelming talent and a crazy amount of effort, plus a good guardian, Yeorum had everything that the two of them did not have. And when all that was revealed on top of a competitive playfield, the two of them began slowly avoiding Yeorum.
“You two are similar, but we are not…”
“What the fuck are you guys on about?”
“Why, it’s true isn’t it? If I hold you back, I think I’ll start loathing myself…”
Yeorum frowned.
“No, what the fuck are you talking about. You said she’s similar to me? She’s weak as fuck.”
“What? Me?” Sophia asked with a frown. “Hey. Have you gone mad? Who are you comparing me with?”
“All three of you except for me are all baggage. You losties. All the other teams have ranker candidates grouping together, you useless idiots.”
“Yu Yeorum.”
“So get up now. If you don’t want to hold me back, you need to practise cooperating for the next three days at least.”
Yeorum stood up, but the two depressed kids and Sophia did not.
“What you doing. How long are you gonna stay on your stupid bum? Oi! Soujiro–!!”
Her sudden yell startled the kids.
“N, nn?”
“Raise that heavy ass up right now!”
“Aht, sorry…!”
Soujiro immediately stood up from the ground.
Despite being discontent, Sophia was led by the aura she was giving off and closed her mouth.
Yeorum took them and headed to Lair Central Training Room and began preparing for the raid in full. They had to plan out the route and decide on the formations, the battle plan and an overarching strategy.
Yu Jitae and Mihailov decided to watch over and help the kids.
.
.
.
There were only 3 days to go, until the start of the assignment performance [B+ Underground Fissure Raid],