“Oi you guys. Come here for a bit.”
Soujiro and Kim Ji-in, who had been glancing around until that point, came up and crouched down before Yeorum. That room had a relatively wet layer of dirt on the ground, and Yeorum started drawing something on the floor.
The two of them opened their eyes wide. All the rooms and corridors that their team had visited were simplified onto a map. Since it had been twenty hours or so from the start of the simulation, the number of rooms and corridors also numbered in hundreds. Despite that, Yeorum calmly continued drawing on.
Not knowing the outstanding memory of a dragon, they were baffled staring at the map being drawn realtime.
“In my opinion, the first, the third and the fourth teams are leaving records for each other.”
“Leaving records for each other?”
“Yeah. On the rooms they visit, they write, ‘We had been here, and will head in this direction’. They leave such marks down.”
“How?”
“If you can’t see the obvious, then just listen with your mouth shut.”
“…”
Hearing her words, the two of them closed their mouths. They no longer seemed displeased by Yeorum’s bad mouth and seemed to be ignoring it.
Meanwhile, Yeorum drew three circles inside the large dungeon, showing their paths.
“I think the three teams are moving like this.”
“So that their paths don’t meet?”
“Yeah.”
Kim Ji-in complained in frustration.
“Actually, I heard their society’s seniors giving them advice. They said the professor of combat experience had participated in the Great War and that he was a bit more lax with the rules…”
“Huk. Really…?”
“Yeah. But to think they would use it like this…”
“Haa, that…”
Turning to Yeorum, Soujiro carefully asked.
“Then what should we do? S, should we pay them back?”
“What?”
“Like, if we use their travel path to our advantage, wouldn’t we be able to catch them unguarded? I, I think we are a bit strong now…”
Yeorum snorted in response.
“Are you retarded?”
“N, nn?”
“Did you get slapped by them before? Why would you bother paying them back? While throwing away a good opportunity like this.”
“What?”
“They are all in the top ranks. If we meet them, whatever the outcome, the fight will take longer and we will definitely lose HP so why would we fight them like an idiot?”
“Then? What do you think?”
Letting out a laugh, “Kekek”, Yeorum drew a small circle in the middle of the circles.
“The good things should be shared.”
As if he had been shocked by the cultural difference, Soujiro turned blank while Kim Ji-in shook her head speechlessly.
If they followed Yeorum’s suggestion, they would indeed escape from the pathways of other top-ranked teams. In other words, they would be riding on the connection of other teams without them realising it.
“…You are more shrewd than I thought. I thought you were just someone with a bad personality.”
“What can be used, should be used.”
After finishing her words, Yeorum stared at Yu Jitae. She then mumbled, “Hnn? Nn?” like she was asking a question.
What.
“How is it.”
“How is what.”
“I mean, is my decision correct… well, you probably know more than me when it comes to these things,” she said.
Yu Jitae returned a nod. Useless pride in places where lives could be threatened was a quick road to death and Yeorum’s decision was appropriate for survival.
When Yu Jitae gave his acknowledgement, Yeorum replied while turning her body slightly away, as if it had been a trivial question.
“I was just asking. I knew it was a good call.”
She then fidgeted with the hand holding the weapon.
He now had a rough gist.
Yeorum tended to do that when she was in a good mood.
***
After that, the 50th Team followed down the new pathway they thought of and ambushed every team they met. Even then, their rank did not go up from second place.
When they opened up a detailed version of the given data, it was evident that their score difference with the first team wasn’t even that much and for Yeorum, this was a source of frustration.
She could see people that tried to rest from exhaustion in a time like this, and Yeorum felt no need to encourage them.
“Get up you pigs! Don’t you see that we are still in second place?”
“Uahhh…!”
Although they were both superhumans, they couldn’t follow Yeorum’s stamina no matter what. It was already nearing the nighttime of the second day. They had an intensive schedule for almost 40 hours, without a proper sleep or meal, which made even the superhuman cadets tired.
“L, let’s catch our breath for a bit…”
“I feel like dying…”
Yeorum shouted.
“Bullshit. Who said we will rest? Even during our break time, other teams will push forward.”
“S, second place is already a good result…”
“I!”
When she bellowed yet again, the loosened gazes of the two gathered onto Yeorum.
“I would rather die than lose to an opponent I can beat. If it was an opponent I gave up on, or a given-up lesson of a given-up subject, that might be alright. You all participated with the thought of trying your best and if we fall back now…”
Her expression crumpled into a scowl like a devil.
“Hey, you pig!”
“Eht, me?!”
“I think I remember you saying with your own mouth on the first day, that you will try your best and wouldn’t cause any trouble? Right now, you are causing me trouble – what’s your opinion on that?”
“T, that’s… but right now it’s too exhausting…”
“Ahh, I see. So regardless of whether it will cause trouble to someone else or not, you can take your own words back and lie down on the spot when you’re tired, huh?”
“T, that’s not it but…”
“Why would you guys become leftovers until the very end without being chosen by others? Both of you can fight decently and yet why are you being treated like trash? Maybe it’s because of times like this where you sit for a rest despite being able to get up and move? Have you ever thought about it like that?”
Her nagging continued without an end. On the verge of crying, Soujiro murmured, “Hiing…!” while getting up on his trembling legs. Yeorum growled with clenched teeth and crunched the air as if she would bite him.
Seeing that, Soujiro made a straight posture in fright.
“And you! Pessimist!”
Her next target was Kim Ji-in. She, who had been pressured by Yeorum’s aura, made a gloomy expression.
“W, why… What.”
“Can you even see what’s in front of you with your bangs covering half your face? So what if your eyeballs are decent, when your hair gets in the way of your sight every time you fight? Right. Now that we mentioned this, I can’t let this be anymore.”
“Uh, uh?”
“Come here, you.”
“D, don’t touch my hair…”
“You’re not coming? Should I go to you?”
“I don’t want anyone touching my hai… kkyak!”
After walking up to her, Yeorum grabbed a handful of Kim Ji-in’s hair which was drenched in sweat.
‘Ah… it’s going to be torn apart!’ thought Kim Ji-in as she blocked her face with her hands. But when she reopened her eyes, she found Yeorum’s face right in front of her, while tying her hair with a rubber band.
“Was this how you looked?”
“…”
“You look like a worm.”
Her last words crushed the warm feelings rising up inside.
“Good. Keep it like this until the end of the lesson. If you don’t, I’ll rip all your stupid hair out and make you into a monk. You got that?”
“N, nn…”
“If you got it, then quickly stand up and start preparing your weapons! You idiots!”
It was an extremely energetic outburst and the two had no choice but to follow her despite their complaints. Although they were dissatisfied about the current situation, they didn’t seem discontent with Yeorum herself, because Yeorum was moving at least twice more diligently than the other two.
Not bad, Yu Yeorum.
Looking at her, Yu Jitae made a fleeting smile.
As the guardian, he didn’t stop looking for the ‘marking traces’. Meanwhile, Yu Yeorum would glance at those marks and add an extra message to the mark.
What she was doing was obvious – she was trying to mix up their paths and have them meet for a fight.
He asked.
“Do you want me to tell you if there’s a slightly bigger clash happening nearby?”
“Nn. Tell me.”
Yeorum smiled like a mischievous child.
***
Yeorum’s strategy slowly began being realised as time went by. The team members who had been forming a group at the top of the spectrum felt doubt at the different marks they saw.
‘What? Are they saying they’ll head that way now? It’s different from the previous message though?’
‘Well, they must have some sort of plan that made them change their course. We should just move accordingly I guess.’
A conversation shared via traces that had been promised beforehand, not by language or words. Due to their trust in the code, they believed in their promises despite the doubts, without even guessing that those promises had been fabricated.
And on the morning of the third day, a problem happened with merely three hours remaining until the end of the lesson.
“W, why are you guys here…”
“Haah…”
The moment they passed by a corridor and entered a room, the members of the two teams all gave frowns. The first team had ended up meeting the third team.
Currently, the first place and the second place were in a tight match, while the same was happening for the third and fourth places.
Since the lesson would be coming to an end after three hours, they couldn’t do anything until the end of the lesson if they were to die here. But one of the rules that must be followed, was that the ‘virtual demon’ they encountered must be fought against, and that was an element that couldn’t be changed.
“You guys, what are you…!”
“Way.”
When a female cadet from the first-place team was about to say something, their training guardian stopped her from continuing. A face-to-face negotiation wouldn’t be just a deduction of marks, and could be a potential cause for disqualification.
“…Damn it.”
Due to that, the first team and the third team had no choice but to point their weapons at each other.
“Ehew, retards. Can’t even do something that easy properly…”
The third team was frustrated, but their fight nonetheless soon began.
Meanwhile, in one of the corridors that was connected to the room where the fight was taking place, there were people watching their battle. It was the 50th Team. They were lucky – right when they were passing nearby, the fight took place and Yu Jitae took them here.
“What a fierce infight.”
Yeorum laughed heartily as Soujiro and Kim Ji-in made reserved smiles while watching their fight. The team being pushed back was also from a Level 4 society, and they weren’t weak either. While the two teams had their HPs being reduced with every second, the onlookers remained quiet and watched on.
Yeorum took the decisive action right when their fight had come to an end. Although the opposing guardian noticed it and warned them of the ambush, the first-place team was busy collecting their breath from the battle they had just gone through.
“Kuhuk!”
And when Yeorum dashed in to attack in a situation like that, the sharpshooter of the top ranked team collapsed in an instant.
“You guys, how cowardly…!”
“What?”
“You were waiting for our fight to end before ambushing!”
“What are you grumbling about. Will you complain that a demon is cowardly when you’re dying as well?”
She then smacked the head of the opposing cadet and made him collapse.
In the middle of that, she made a frown. As expected, the top ranked team was at a different level from others and it was safe to assume that their individual skill level was similar to herself. She even had the thought that she wouldn’t be able to beat them 1 on 3 if their HPs were full.
‘In fact, can I even beat them 1 on 1, 100%? In a polymorphed state?’
That came to Yeorum as a fresh shock. She had known that the cadets belonging to the Level 5 society were strong from the rumours, but it was her first time having a direct fight with them. If possible, she wanted to fight them 1 on 1 and beat them fair and square but that would be for later.
They, who had been completely defeated in terms of strategy, helplessly fell before Yeorum’s fist, plus the support from Soujiro and Kim Ji-in.
Before long, the first-place team had to exit after being declared dead. And during the three hours when they were out, Yeorum’s team had three more victories added to their record, and their ranks were therefore flipped.
[No.50]
Rank: 1
Finally, the 50th Team conquered first place as the lesson came to an end.
– Now, I proclaim the end of the lesson!
The professor’s voice was heard from the device hanging on their ears.
“We did iiittttttt——!”
With tight fists, Yeorum screamed from the bottom of her lungs. Her sincere shout had the Dragon Fear embedded within, as it shook the underground dungeon several times.