Chapter 94 – Initiation (1)

Ordinary people might’ve missed what happened because of the angle. Giant vines had covered the sky and Kim Hajin’s arrow looked like a needle. However, every cadet saw what happened. Kim Hajin’s arrow clearly curved. Magic arrows commonly curved, but Kim Hajin hadn’t used any magic power. They could hardly believe what they just witnessed. His arrow felt more like a well-trained raptor cutting through the tiny gap to chomp down its prey.

“Whooa!”

Chae Nayun squeezed her bag as popcorn rained down on the person in front of her.

“Ah, fuck, what is it!”

“Fucking hell, who did… Oh, it’s Nayun.”

“Ah, sorry. You guys can eat that.”

“Huh? Oh… Uh, sure.”

The cadets in front of her began to munch on the popcorn. Chae Nayun stared at them before turning towards Yoo Yeonha.

“Hey, you saw that, right?”

Yoo Yeonha grinned at Chae Nayun’s awestruck voice. “Looks like he didn’t want to go easy this time.”

“Huh? What are you talking about?”

Yoo Yeonha continued staring at the archery range. Chae Nayun followed her gaze towards Kim Hajin who threw down his bow. He seemed somewhat angry.

“It looks like the harsh favoritism annoyed him.”

“Yeah, he has quite a temper surprisingly. The tampering seemed too obvious ever since the halfway mark. Is the magician discriminating against him because of his looks?”

“Hu, huhum.”

Yoo Yeonha could barely hold back her laughter. She didn’t think Kim Hajin looked that ugly, but he was uglier than Moren.

“It’s not because of his looks. Grand Duchess Ah Hae-In must’ve intervened since Moren is her nephew.”

The Magic Tower Association had bestowed Ah Hae-In with the title, One Man Army. She was the greatest expert in summoning magic. A master rank magician who could summon seven high rank monsters with their own intelligence.

“Didn’t Grand Duchess Ah Hae-In become a naturalized Korean citizen a long time ago? How can she have relatives?”

“Her older sister still has French citizenship. Moren is her older sister’s son.”

Grand Duchess Ah Hae-In held an S rank grade in Yoo Yeonha’s talent book. Naturally, Yoo Yeonha knew all about her family background.

“How do you know all this?” Chae Nayun curiously asked since Yoo Yeonha seemed to know everything.

“You should take some time to study too.”

“I’m too lazy.”

Chae Nayun briefly replied before staring back at Kim Hajin. The judge asked him if he wanted to continue, but Kim Hajin shook his head. Then he turned towards the crowd and suddenly made eye contact with Chae Nayun. He quickly averted his gaze, but Chae Nayun still felt an odd feeling.

“…”

She carefully placed her hand over her heart and felt it beating differently. Chae Nayun couldn’t help but recall what her mentor told her. She would begin to only see his good points.

“No way, I’m not crazy.”

Chae Nayun laughed it off as the host shouted.

— Veritas class’ Kim Hajin achieves the first place record at 350 meters!

Clap, clap, clap—

The competition ended with applause from the crowd. Chae Nayun saw Kim Suho heading to the waiting room and asked Yoo Yeonha, “Hey, wanna go to the waiting room?”

“No.” Yoo Yeonha stretched and stood up. “I’m busy. I have to work.”

The analysis of Kim Hajin’s ginseng would arrive in the afternoon, and Falling Blossom would also meet. She hoped to learn more about Kim Hajin’s past to repay her gratitude.

“How do you have so much work as a cadet?”

“I know, right?”

Yoo Yeonha headed back to the dorm.

“…”

Waiting room, dorm, waiting room, dorm. Chae Nayun hesitated before walking back to the dorm with a sigh.

***

“Uh…”

The archery competition finally ended. The 5 star magician became speechless. Kim Hajin won despite the excessive favoritism towards Baire Moren. How was he supposed to react? He couldn’t punish that cadet for defeating the Grand Duchess’ nephew.

“Pft.”

Contrary to his expectations, Ah Hae-In only smiled.

“Why do you look so afraid? It’s only natural my nephew lost against someone like him.”

Only then did the 5 star magician begin to relax.

“Ha, haha… is, is that so?”

“Of course. Anyways, I’m jealous. So that’s a specialized gift.”

She dreamed of becoming a hero when she was young. However, her body wouldn’t develop despite her efforts. Her gift and physique specialized in magic, and she became a magician instead.

“Tell my nephew I want to see him for lunch.”

“Yes, understood.”

Ah Hae-In stood up as the 5 star magician bowed. She barely reached 164 cm thanks to the heels hidden by her cape, but her real height was only 151 cm (a rumor stated that she was even shorter, and had tiptoed during her official physical measurements). Furthermore, her small face didn’t contain a single wrinkle, and her eyes sparkled like a child’s.

The 5 star magician secretly doubted Ah Hae-In was 30 years old. Who would think she was the One Man Army at first glance? Weren’t most Caucasians tall? Why was the Grand Duchess so short? Even the 5 star magician’s fourth grade son seemed taller.

Ah Hae-In suddenly turned around. Her sharp eyes pierced the magician.

“What were you thinking just now?”

“Y-Yes? Ah, n-nothing. I just thought the golden stars on your cape looked beautiful…”

“Tsk.”

Ah Hae-In clicked her tongue as the magician felt a mysterious chill. Ah Hae-In’s magic power subconsciously seeped out and cooled the temperature.

“Don’t stare at me when I’m standing. I don’t like it.”

Ah Hae-In left after admonishing the magician who stood in a daze.

“Uh…”

He flattered her all day and even allowed her to tamper with the final match, but all his efforts had gone to waste.

***

Rachel opened her eyes at 3 A.M. on Sunday when most should’ve been asleep. Her eyes hurt from shutting them too tightly to try and fall asleep.

She sighed and raised her body. The penthouse room entered into view. It looked huge, but empty. She had no talents for decorating, so she left the room as she received it. It only contained the standard furniture: a couch, a bed, and a TV.

“Sigh.”

Lately, she suffered from insomnia. Of course, she couldn’t sleep well ever since that incident, but it grew more severe lately. Anxiousness and apprehension coiled around her every time she lay down to sleep. Embarrassing moments from the past few days rose in her mind, especially the mock artifact scramble. She never expected to lose so helplessly against Kim Suho. Furthermore, she also considered her fight against Chae Nayun a loss since Chae Nayun only recently switched to a sword. Rachel might’ve lost her rising star title if not for Kim Hajin.

She turned on her smartwatch. She only had 37 contacts and lived most of her life without any friends. Then she entered her only group chat with 153 unread messages.

[Kim Hajin, you were amazing today, you little bastard. How did you make that arrow curve?]

[I know right? The singing competition and now archery. Hajin hard-carried the two events he participated in.]

[Oh right. Jamer, are you here??]

[What.]

[Why aren’t you talking?]

[I’m sick. Don’t talk to me.]

[Oh look, there’s an official video of Hajin’s performance. It already has 10000 likes!]

The talkative Jin Hoseung sent a link in the group chat.

What is it?

Rachel grew curious and pressed on the link. A hologram video suddenly popped up over a social media page. The title read:

[Cube’s rising star cadet. Live performance – If]

“Ah.”

It’s the song Kim Hajin sang. Rachel’s finger moved to stop the video, but then she paused. The lyrics felt slightly overbearing, but the song sounded good enough for another listen.

“Cough.”

Rachel resumed the video as Kim Hajin’s sweet voice rang out after a calm piano melody.

The music filled the space in her huge room. Rachel went under her blanket and closed her eyes as she listened to the calming music.

He sounded much better live. Should I buy a Bluetooth radio tomorrow? Bluetooth… blue tooth… that reminds me of Rome… et tu, Brute…

Rachel’s random thoughts drifted away as she fell asleep.

***

The class competitions finally ended on Sunday after the dungeon speedrun. Veritas class naturally won with all the top cadets, but that didn’t mean they won overwhelmingly. The other classes won the majority of non-combat events like gaming, drawing, dancing, and cooking. The difference between first and second place was only about 30 points. In any case, they held a big celebration sponsored by Shin Jonghak.

“Yummy, yummy.”

Of course, I didn’t participate and spent time with Evandel instead. She munched on a chicken wing next to me as I examined a document.

Apprentice Mercenary Mission [Difficulty: D] [Reward: 300,000,000 Korean won or an item of equivalent value] [Goal: Assassinate Siemens, the advisor to the chief of Colaion Mafia’s Southern Torino Branch. [Siemens is a notorious mafioso known for committing murder, rape, blackmail, and human trafficking. Some say he is a djinn.]

Jeronimo Mercenary had sent me this document.

“Colaion.”

The Colaion Family would later play a role in the middle of the main story.

“An apprentice mercenary is supposed to do this?”

I slightly regretted accepting the offer after looking over the document. I told myself I would write my own story, but wasn’t the difficulty too high?

The mafia in this world was dozens of times more dangerous. Especially in Italy, the mafia grew much more powerful after Outcall since monsters had lessened the government’s crackdown on them. The advisor to a Mafia branch’s chief had to be as strong as a low rank, grade 1 hero.

“A djinn…”

I would feel less guilty if he was a djinn. Furthermore, assassination would likely become my specialty since I could attack from 2 km away with the Desert Eagle’s sniper mode. However, I would have to fire within 1 km or my attack power would drastically decrease. In any case, I had no plans to immediately accept this mission. The world outside of Cube was like the wild. You could never be fully prepared.

“Let’s see.”

[Physique (0/3)]

For now, I planned on creating a physique.