Chapter 207
As the situation was resolved, Kang Yura spoke to Yu-hyun.
“Brother. Are you okay?”
“Huh?”
“I mean, those people. They look dangerous and scary…”
To Kang Yura, the people in suits were only seen in media like movies or dramas.
And most of those people were either wicked and dangerous or involved in illegal activities.
Yu-hyun chuckled as if he found Kang Yura’s worry cute.
“It’s fine. Those guys are just talkers, they don’t have anything to back it up. You can ignore them.”
“Yeah, Yura. If they seem wrong, I’ll teach them a lesson.”
Seo Sumin also stepped in and said that, making Kang Yura feel more relieved.
“Geez. You guys are amazing.”
Im Gunwoo approached the three of them and said that.
As the cheeky man came over to them in a friendly manner, Kang Yura was wary and Seo Sumin narrowed his eyes.
Seo Sumin could tell that Im Gunwoo was not an ordinary person.
Kang Yura asked him like a scared puppy.
“Who are you, mister?”
“Me, mister?”
At that word, Im Gunwoo broke out in a cold sweat.
“Hey, I’m not that old, okay? I’m not a mister, okay? Can’t you call me brother instead?”
“Huh?”
Kang Yura reacted strongly as if she didn’t understand what he was saying. Im Gunwoo couldn’t stand the honest feedback from the student and collapsed.
He drooped his shoulders and said with a sullen face.
“Uh, fine. I’m Im Gunwoo, just a normal collector.”
“Huh? Im Gunwoo?”
Surprisingly, Kang Yura recognized Im Gunwoo. She was very interested in collectors and knew all the names of the high-ranking collectors.
Im Gunwoo perked up again when Kang Yura identified him and smirked.
“As expected! I knew you would know me. How about it? Don’t you want to call me brother now?”
“Uh, no. No matter what, that’s a bit…”
Kang Yura was flustered and changed the topic.
“But, did you know him? Brother?”
“I met him for the first time today. But we got along quickly. He’s not a bad person.”
“Wow. That’s awesome.”
Kang Yura exclaimed sincerely. Of course, the target of her praise was Yu-hyun.
Im Gunwoo, who had been listening quietly next to them, couldn’t understand why he was the one who became friends with him, but Yu-hyun was the one who got complimented.
‘Is it because of his looks? Is being handsome the best?’
Im Gunwoo stroked his chin and seriously pondered ‘But I’m not bad-looking either, right?’
Choi Yeri, who had been watching him pitifully from the side, gave him a jab.
“It’s really pathetic to act like that at your age, so just stay still.”
“…Okay.”
People around them were murmuring and glancing at them.
They were getting too much attention because of the incident earlier.
Seo Sumin didn’t care much, but Kang Yura was uncomfortable with it.
She changed the topic to distract herself and asked Yu-hyun.
“Brother. Do you know what the next test is?”
“I have a rough idea. If there is one, it will be a duel this time.”
“Ah, a duel?”
At the word ‘duel’, Kang Yura felt a bit of anxiety, even though she thought it was possible.
She had somehow managed to defeat the synthetic beast in the first test, but a duel with another student felt daunting.
“Maybe if we have a duel, they’ll match us with the same rank. And if we show an overwhelming performance, we might get lucky and be promoted to the next rank.”
Yu-hyun said that, but he didn’t say what the real purpose of this duel test was.
‘To select the best among the A-rank students.’
Anyone who used their brain a little bit would know what the people who were still sitting in the audience wanted.
They didn’t care much about how amazing the overall level of the students who were entering this time was.
The important thing was how much achievement their invested students showed in this entrance exam.
Even for the students, this place was nothing more than a board game that encompassed profit and calculation.
‘They all think that the students they brought are the best.’
Some of them noticed that Seosumin’s power was extraordinary and glanced at him secretly, but they were not yet at the stage of being wary.
Yu-hyun didn’t care about that either.
“Sumin. Yura. Don’t worry, both of you.”
They would do well without worrying, anyway.
“Just do your best with what you can show right now. That’s enough. Got it?”
“Ah, yes!”
“I got it.”
The two answered energetically.
Yu-hyun then suddenly remembered something curious and asked Im Gunwoo.
“By the way, where is your student? I’m curious who it is.”
“I don’t know either. He’s a weirdo to begin with. He’s the kind of guy who shrugs it off even when I look for him, so if I try to find him, he’ll probably hide?”
“He sounds like an unusual person.”
He didn’t bother to look for him if he didn’t show himself.
Soon, the break time was over and the second test began.
Yu-hyun left a word of encouragement to Seosumin and Kang Yura and returned to his seat.
“This test is a duel between students.”
The students’ faces were mixed with joy and sorrow at the instructor’s words.
They never expected that they would have a duel, and some of them looked gloomy as if they were in big trouble.
“Each student will be matched with someone of the same grade. The basic rank is fixed from the first test, but if you show a good performance in this duel, you can get a better grade, so work hard.”
The first start was a duel between the lowest F-rank students.
Most of them had traits that had nothing to do with combat or even no traits at all.
No one was interested in the duels of F-rank students.
What they wanted most from this place was the main event of this test, the duels between A-rank students.
So E-rank to C-rank students’ duels ended.
And it was time for B-rank.
“Yura, fighting!”
“Uh, yeah.”
There weren’t many B-rank students either, so Kang Yura’s turn came quickly.
She held the spear she had received at first and climbed up to the test site.
On the opposite side, her duel opponent was already there.
It was a female student wearing the same outfit as her.
She saw Kang Yura who was already nervous and curled her lips up in a haughty smile.
“What? You’re going to charge at me with a spear? Do you think you can stab me?”
She said that loud enough for Kang Yura to hear and took her stance.
I held a small wand in my hand. It proved that I was specialized in long-range combat and could use magic.
“I’ll finish this as quickly as possible.”
As soon as I said that, the duel began. I waved my wand in the air and wrote with it like a brush. White letters formed in the air. They were so fast that they seemed to appear as soon as I started.
“Huh?”
But before I could use my skill with the letters, I noticed that Kang Yura, who was standing in front of me, had disappeared.
She was there just a moment ago, where did she go?
I didn’t have time to think.
Thud!
“Ahh!”
I felt a huge impact on my side and flew out of the arena.
The letters I barely formed dissipated, and only Kang Yura, who swung her spear, was left standing in confusion.
She asked the security officer innocently.
“Did I win?”
“Ka, Kang Yura wins!”
Kang Yura jumped like a rabbit in joy.
“Wow! I won!”
She thought the first duel between students would be scary or difficult, but it was easier than she expected.
However, the other students who watched her couldn’t feel the same way.
“Hey. Did you see that move?”
“No. She was so fast. What the hell?”
“She sent her flying out of the arena with one swing of her spear. That’s crazy strength.”
“Crazy. Isn’t she just A-rank? No, if you look at her physical abilities alone, she seems stronger than A. Why is she B-rank?”
Especially, the B-rank students and above who had discerning eyes were afraid of Kang Yura’s monstrous physical abilities.
She looked innocent and cheerful on the outside, but her strength was not like that at all.
Or maybe, her naive and playful attitude was also an act to make her opponents lower their guard.
They thought so and shivered as they looked at Kang Yura again.
‘I should never mess with her.’
‘No wonder she was friendly with that A-rank student earlier. Birds of a feather flock together. They were both crazy monsters.’
Kang Yura came down from the arena.
The only regret was that her rank remained B.
She didn’t complain though.
She was more than happy with the title of B-rank.
And then, the long-awaited A-rank students’ turn came.
The atmosphere that had been noisy until then became quiet in an instant.
Yu-hyun, who was watching from the audience, narrowed his eyes.
‘As expected, they all know that this is the main event.’
It was the same for the students and their guardians.
It was a fight to decide the ranking among the top 10 students. It would be a lie to say they were not interested.
That’s why this duel was not a simple pairing of two people, but a tournament format.
“Is it because they are A-rank?”
“They seem to want to settle the ranking properly.”
“Wow. This is going to be fun.”
The students’ eyes sparkled.
There had been constant talk about who was the strongest and who was the best among the new entrants.
Now that they were about to see the results, it was strange not to be excited.
“Who do you think will win? I say Lee Pyeong-won. He may be rude, but he’s strong.”
“Lee Pyeong-won? I think it’s obvious that Gu Seo-yoon will be the first. She’s been famous since before.”
“They say there are more amazing kids from overseas this time. Larina Levgenyeva from Russia is one of them.”
“What about Jin Shin from China? I heard he killed a lot of people over there.”
The students debated who would take the first place.
Occasionally, Seo Sumin’s name came up, but there were very few people who expected her to win, since she had shown too little.
The big shots in the audience had similar reactions.
“Hmm. Is that chairman’s son really that great?”
“He can’t compare to our lady, of course.”
“Tsk tsk. He’ll lose to Larina, who has been trained hard since childhood.”
“What about James, the prince of England?”
They seemed to respect their opponents, but what was underlying was their confidence that their students would surely win.
Invisible swords and knives clashed through their tongues.
Seeing that scene, Im Gun-woo shook his head.
“I’m glad I’m not there. If I were there, I would have vomited the chicken I ate 10 years ago.”
“Your expression is so vulgar. Please shut your mouth.”
“Ah, why. Ye-ri. Be honest, did I say anything wrong? So, Yu-hyun. Who do you think will win?”
A question flew out of nowhere, but Yu-hyun did not answer and smiled silently.
“Huh? You smiled? You think that Seo Sumin girl will win, don’t you?”
“Why do you say that? Then who do you think will win, Gun-woo?”
“Me? I’m just…”
Im Gun-woo tried to answer, but closed his mouth.
As a senior collector, he had already analyzed how good the A-rank students were.
Who will win?
Wasn’t the answer already decided?
He said with a tremble in his voice.
“You’re asking me even though you know. You have a bad personality.”
“That’s my nature.”
Soon, the long-awaited first tournament began.
“This is… I didn’t expect to see this here. Is this fate?”
“Not really.”
Was it a joke of fate, or someone’s prank?
The first opponent Seo Sumin faced was Lee Pyeong-won.
Lee Pyeong-won was happy to have a chance to pay back his humiliation and gripped his weapon tightly.
“I won’t spare you even if you cry and apologize. You should have played hard to get. Why are you so annoying?”
Seo Sumin said with a disdainful look.
“Do you only fight with words? Enough, come on. I’ll finish you quickly.”
At her words, Lee Pyeong-won flared up. He stepped forward, but a security officer raised his arm and stopped him.
“Stop. It hasn’t started yet. Both students stand in your places.”
Lee Pyeong-won reluctantly stood in his place. Seo Sumin did the same. The instructor nodded at the scene, and the guide shouted as soon as he received the signal.
“Both of you do your best fairly. The match begins!”