TopAppnovel Chapter 99 : Chapter 99
Chapter 99 : Chapter 99
Chapter 99: Flowers Blooming in the Mud (1)
"I think we should depart now as well."
After the predicted villain attack finally began.
Ju Ha-yeon, who had fired the signal, spoke to me in a calm voice.
I looked at her with an expression of surprise and opened my mouth.
"You are more composed than I expected."
"What of it?"
"No, it is just that normally, one would be flustered in this situation, but you do not seem to show any sign of that."
"...Being flustered does not make the situation any better. And you are just as calm, are you not?"
That is because I knew in advance.
However, if I were to say such a thing, it was obvious I would be hauled away later.
'And if I think about it, it is not actually that strange.'
In the first place, the education in this world felt like that.
Prospective players are constantly taught how to deal with monsters and villains starting from secondary education.
I suppose it feels like studying Korean, English, or Math to ordinary students?
So, Ju Ha-yeon's composure was not incomprehensible.
'Well, it could also be the cold-headed judgment of a businesswoman.'
Whatever it was, it was not a bad thing.
After all, what was needed in this situation was calm judgment.
As I thought that, an insecurity suddenly occurred to me.
'I wonder if Ha Eun-ha is okay?'
Unlike in the original work, she was currently on the field because she had not suffered an early elimination.
Even though Do Gang-ho was with her, it was true that I was worried.
It was partly because Do Gang-ho was not yet that strong, but...
'Above all, Ha Eun-ha herself is the problem.'
She did not exactly have a resilient personality.
It would be much later that Ha Eun-ha finally made up her mind to be steadfast.
Therefore, the creeping anxiety was unavoidable.
'But I must focus on the present for now.'
I am not with Ha Eun-ha right now.
What could I possibly do in this situation?
So, for now, it was right to focus on the task at hand rather than feeling anxious.
"Then let us depart immediately."
After making that decision.
I began to run at full speed toward the meeting point along with Oh Jin-eon and Ju Ha-yeon.
Even in the midst of that, the conversation did not stop.
"Do you have a rough idea of what the situation is?"
"How would I know? But it is certain that those villain bastards have invaded."
"...Whew. Everyone kept calling it prestigious, but it seems this academy has quite a lot of problems."
I agree.
In the novel, I only thought of it as a device for entertainment, but experiencing it firsthand made me feel like I was going to lose my mind.
To allow three villain invasions in a single semester.
If it did not have the name of a prestigious school, it was certain that it would have been shut down long ago.
It was while I was inwardly cursing this rotten world.
"Do you have a plan of some sort?"
Ju Ha-yeon suddenly asked me if I had a plan.
Since it would be strange to act like I knew too much, I replied moderately.
"Why are you asking me that?"
"It seems to me that your judgment is quite fast. That is why I asked."
"...Is that so?"
"Yes, in my view as well, your judgment is very fast."
Oh Jin-eon added a word from the side.
Based on the atmosphere, it seemed I would have to say I had a plan even if I did not.
'...I do not exactly have a plan worth mentioning.'
What I had prepared was merely gathering the kids in one place.
That was exactly as far as it went.
After that, it was simply about blocking the villains' attacks with Kim Su-hyeok and Ryu Jin-oh as the main pillars.
It would be a bit embarrassing to call something like that a plan.
Still, it was awkward to stay silent, so I opened my mouth for now.
"It is not really something I would call a plan, but..."
"Still, tell us for now."
"After we gather at the meeting point, I was going to have Kim Su-hyeok and Ryu Jin-oh lead the defense. Fortunately, the others are clustered around this area as well."
Ju Ha-yeon suddenly went quiet at my words.
Damn it, this is why I was not going to say anything.
I will probably hear something like, 'Did you call that a plan?' or 'That is a quite disappointing plan,' soon.
Just as I was clearing my mind for the impending verbal abuse.
What I heard were words completely different from my expectations.
"Everyone, stop for a moment."
"What?"
"Something is strange."
At those words, both Oh Jin-eon and I stopped running.
Ju Ha-yeon has an excellent sense of energy, as expected of a long-range position.
In fact, she also possessed a talent for sensing presences.
In short, it meant she would not have said that for no reason.
"What is the matter?"
Could it be that a villain had appeared nearby?
If so, it might delay us a bit, but it would not be a problem.
Most of them were C-Rank to B-Rank, and since they were those whom Hwa-ryeon had prepared as disposable pawns, they were the low-tier ones even among those ranks.
Furthermore, since they had not entered in large numbers, they would likely all be acting individually.
Therefore, considering that Ju Ha-yeon and Oh Jin-eon were here, it was more than enough to win.
However, my expectation was wrong this time as well.
"I am not sure myself."
"...What does that mean?"
"I mean, it is certain that something is strange, but I do not know exactly what it is."
Ju Ha-yeon spoke as if she were displeased, perhaps because she did not like this situation herself.
I could not help but be flustered by those words.
'Enough to escape Ju Ha-yeon's sensing ability?'
That is impossible.
The reason the damage was significant in the original work was because they were completely unprepared.
It was absolutely not because there was an expert of that caliber.
While I continued to rack my brain about it.
'No way.'
One possibility occurred to me.
One possibility that absolutely should not be true.
There is someone who is interested in you.
The contents of the phone call I had with the Puppeteer before.
There, the Puppeteer had told me.
That Baek Ha-seong was showing interest in me.
'Damn it, why did this suddenly come to mind?'
It makes no sense.
It is a possibility that absolutely cannot exist.
Why would Baek Ha-seong come all the way here for this?
However, however, my head kept telling me that the impossible possibility was the truth.
And that soon became reality.
"Mist?"
Oh Jin-eon's voice blurted out as the surroundings gradually turned hazy.
However, this was not something like mist.
This was a cloud.
"Impressive. I did not hide my presence very sophisticatedly, but you noticed it."
And not long after, a single voice flowed out from within that cloud.
A voice so melodious that one might believe it could melt a person.
Though I had never heard it in person, I could at least tell who the owner of that voice was.
"If there are many kids like you, the future of this country will be very bright."
There was only one person in my memory who had pure white hair and purple eyes that seemed to pull one in.
Yes. Before us stood the single possibility I had truly wanted to deny: Baek Ha-seong.
***
"..."
How much time had passed since Baek Ha-seong appeared?
It felt like a long time had passed, but not a single word was exchanged.
Only the sound of the wind, which felt chilly despite it being summer, lingered.
In that quiet situation, it was Baek Ha-seong who broke the silence first.
"Good grief. It is awkward because it is so quiet."
He appeared to be full of leisure, unlike us.
Well, it was natural.
He was not a person who would need to feel nervous against a mere three cadets.
But the next voice burst out from an unexpected place.
"The Irregular..."
The owner of that voice was none other than Ju Ha-yeon.
I could not help but be surprised by the words she uttered.
Because...
'Baek Ha-seong's existence is not that famous.'
Of course, that does not mean he lacks skill.
If skill alone were the criterion, his name would have spread widely throughout the world.
Baek Ha-seong's skill is, honestly speaking, on a different level.
It means that not all S-Rank villains are the same S-Rank.
'If there were something like a Disaster-Rank, just as there is a Hero-Rank among player grades, he would certainly be that.'
Although it was not precisely revealed in the novel, he was in his late teens to early twenties when he swept through the Baek Family.
For an ordinary player, it would be a time when they were growing diligently.
Despite that, what would it mean that he caused such a bloodshed?
It meant he was a figure whose skill could be discussed at the very peak.
'There were even sayings like, "What would it have been like if Baek Ha-seong had not become a villain?"'
Anyway, what I wanted to say was this.
The reason Baek Ha-seong's name was not well known was not because of his skill.
There was another reason behind it.
That was...
'Intentional concealment.'
As I just mentioned, Baek Ha-seong was very young when the bloodshed occurred.
Nevertheless, the Baek Family lost 207 lives, including the Patriarch.
Think about it.
Would those who call themselves a prestigious family like that fact to be revealed to the outside world?
The fact that they almost faced extinction because of a single person?
'Their pride would absolutely not have allowed it.'
They are the type who drone on about lineage and such.
They would absolutely have hated for it to be revealed externally.
That was why Baek Ha-seong's name was only known to people like villain hunters and was not made public to the world.
Of course, just because it was not public did not mean no one knew.
'Is it perhaps because of her family's nature?'
Why did Ju Ha-yeon know of Baek Ha-seong's existence?
This was the conclusion I reached while following that line of reasoning.
Is her family not the one that does business targeting players?
As such, they would have to be sensitive about client information.
And among those clients, the Baek Family surely existed as well.
'As expected of Ju Ha-yeon when it comes to information.'
The novel described her this way.
Birds hear the words of the day and rats hear the words of the night, but Ju Ha-yeon is the owner of those birds and rats.
It meant her information gathering was the best of the best.
Even in the story, there were several incidents that would have turned into disasters if not for Ju Ha-yeon's information.
It was just as I was inwardly thinking how truly fortunate it was that she was an ally.
"You are even bold."
Baek Ha-seong replied to the word 'Irregular' with a peaceful air.
Fortunately, he did not seem to be in a bad mood.
That was because he even sent words that were subtly mixed with praise.
"As I said earlier, looking at you all, the future of the player industry seems truly bright."
"..."
"With that talent, would you not be able to see the threshold of A-Rank within at least a year?"
It was a statement that anyone listening would call a severe exaggeration.
Seeing the threshold of A-Rank in a year, when they would be eighteen?
Honestly, who would believe those words?
However, the story was different if those words came from Baek Ha-seong's mouth.
'Because he has a talent for recognizing others.'
'Piercing Sight,' one of Baek Ha-seong's talents.
It is one of the cheat-like talents that reads the opponent's physical abilities or the flow of mana.
He was likely stating his assessment based on that.
'Considering the story in the original work, that speculation is actually correct.'
That is why he is impressive.
Piercing Sight is a talent that shows the appearance of the 'now.'
Yet, to accurately infer the future based on that required an immense amount of observation.
The problem was that the entity possessing that talent right now was an enemy, not an ally.
"But you see. Is that not a story that is only possible if you are alive?"
Yes, the problem was that he was currently in the position of an enemy.
And Baek Ha-seong also knew his own position exactly.
"Boldness is good, but sometimes one must also know how to understand the situation they are in."
Baek Ha-seong delivered chilling words that made his previous praise pale in comparison.
Of course, he is likely not serious.
If he had come with the intention of truly killing us, the three of us would already be in the afterlife.
Baek Ha-seong was not exactly the type of person who enjoyed watching the reaction of the person he was going to kill.
But.
"..."
That is a fact only I know.
In reality, the hand of Ju Ha-yeon, who was aiming her bow next to me, was shaking uncontrollably.
To her, those words were coming across as entirely sincere.
And it was not much different for Oh Jin-eon.
Although he was in a combat stance, he had already lost his will to fight.
This was not good.
'The two of them are key figures who must play an active role in the villain attack.'
Yet they were going to stay tied down here having lost their will to fight?
I could not let that happen.
Therefore, I had no choice but to rack my brain quickly.
How could we escape this situation?
What exactly did Baek Ha-seong want?
And the conclusion came very quickly.
'Baek Ha-seong's target is probably me.'
I am by no means saying this because I am self-important.
Did the Puppeteer not say so?
That Baek Ha-seong was showing interest in me.
'In such a situation, Baek Ha-seong intervened unlike in the original work.'
And of all places, he appeared here?
What this implied was only one thing.
That what Baek Ha-seong wanted was me.
Of course, I did not know what else he wanted from me, but for now, knowing that was enough.
Why?
Because...
'At the very least, I will be able to resolve this situation.'
Yes, I would at least be able to untie the feet of two out of the three of us.
Therefore, in the quiet atmosphere, I opened my mouth toward Baek Ha-seong.
"Please let the two of them go. I would be grateful if you could show some mercy."
I spoke while harboring a grounded conviction that he would surely let them go.