<69 - Hot Run>
Course 1, Swamp Breakthrough.
If you look closely at the ground, you can distinguish between swampy areas and non-swampy areas.
[With excellent observation skills, you have passed the Swamp Course without falling into the swamp even once.]
[Observation Experience Points +5]
[Terrain Awareness Experience Points +2]
[Swift Recon Experience Points +1]
[While passing Course 1, you hit all targets.]
[Mobile Shooting Experience Points +3]
[Concentration Experience Points +3]
[You helped a lagging junior pass the Swamp Course together.]
[Good Kid Experience Points +3]
[Charisma Experience Points +1]
Passing the course with ease was as expected, but one skill had risen unexpectedly.
Why is “Good Kid” increasing more than my charisma in this awesome performance?
“There’s a weird pole set up ahead, one after another! W-What should I do, Oknodie?!”
“Don’t panic, just run calmly.”
[Course 2]
[Spring Hurdles]
Dozens of hurdles set up in succession.
It looked like a challenge just to jump over them, with Line 1 runner Skola and Line 2 runner Liv already far ahead.
“They’ve already run halfway?!”
“If you get too anxious, you’ll trip, you know?”
[Caution]
[Knock down the hurdles and lose points!]
A warning sign stands tall, flashing for all to see.
Mob was caught between the anxiety of falling behind and the fear of losing points.
“Just run with the rhythm, and when a target appears, shoot it like ‘ta-ta-pat’! It’s easy!”
As if that’s possible, you talentless brat.
Despite whining, Mob somehow pulled the bowstring.
Even with short aiming time and failing to hit the target, standing still and continuously shooting would result in greater penalty due to time passing.
He ran while desperately ignoring the targets underfoot.
The hurdles appeared again.
Stepping on the platform before them, the spring compressed.
I don’t know the timing!!
Jump!
The spring released, and with a powerful leap, Mob soared over the hurdles.
Though he managed to avoid knocking them down while flailing in mid-air, it took a significant amount of time to regain his posture.
“Damn it, can’t they give me a test more fitting for a first-year?!”
“Should we slow down a bit?”
Mob’s groaning didn’t end.
His eyes changed after he spoke those words and looking back at his own overly relaxed state.
“Why are you still running next to me?!”
“What does it matter? We said we’d run side by side in the same group.”
Should I fake an injury to let you in first?
At that moment, something shocking happened.
“Oooh! The person in Line 4 suddenly started running like crazy!”
“Is that guy out of his mind?!”
“The gap with the lead group is narrowing!!”
Seniors specializing in tactics shouted in astonishment.
This miracle began right next to Mob.
He suddenly awakened.
Ugh. What am I doing?
The top student is exposing my scores in real-time for my sake.
Is it humiliating to receive help from a child?
Am I less than a child, making me feel shame?
This isn’t even about that.
I’m the stumbling block, and a kid who could run faster than anyone is falling behind.
“Group A’s top student isn’t anything special.”
“Damn, it’s annoying. I thought I’d definitely place 2nd.”
“Is the Border of Class 981 filled with nothing but bugs? How can someone like that be the top student?”
Even complete strangers are cursing at him.
Don’t joke around. This kid isn’t someone you can ignore so easily!
Oknodie already had greatly indebted him due to her club activities.
Not able to repay a favor, how shameful it is to repay hatred.
Where’s your manhood?
Can you still call yourself a man after all this?
This isn’t what a man is!
What is a true man?
Someone who knows how to repay kindness.
Unlike the proud nobles.
Mob, raised in an ordinary commoner family, hasn’t been taught great skills or mysterious knowledge.
Instead, he inherited one lesson that was more precious than all that.
-Mob. Become a man who knows how to repay kindness.
Oknodie, who even gave up on a record competition for him.
She must feel disappointed too.
Yet she still smiles, claiming that rankings don’t matter.
How much does it hurt under that calm face?
How much resentment does she feel just wanting him to do a little better?
I know. With my skills, overcoming these unfamiliar hurdles and shooting at targets while moving is all overwhelming.
If he continues like this, both his scores and Oknodie’s scores— which depend on him— will become a total mess.
You can’t have it all.
So he decided.
To become the man who knows how to repay kindness.
Just as Oknodie saved him by reversing the tide, this time he would save her.
“Oknodie. From now on, I will give it my all!”
“What? That’s too much for your skill, Mob!”
“Yeah. Running the course, jumping the track, finding targets, shooting while moving—nothing is easy for a guy like me.”
Mob’s legs began to pick up speed.
Even as the track neared, he didn’t hesitate anymore.
He felt no fear of falling or getting hurt.
What terrified him now wasn’t those trivial things.
It was the thought of causing Oknodie distress.
The fact that everyone was ignoring Oknodie’s potential.
“Whoa! Line 4 is speeding up like crazy!”
“But they can’t aim accurately at that speed!”
“What’s that guy thinking?!”
The question raised by the seniors also crossed Oknodie’s mind.
Mob is just a lower-class extra.
In the original game, he was even less than a minor character.
A student A going through the academy without a line.
Just a presence living in the same space.
A prop to boost someone’s self-esteem by dragging them down.
There’s no way someone like Mob could create a miracle.
If he had that kind of potential, he wouldn’t remain an extra in the first place.
Countless times he had played ‘Graduating Academy through Luck’ and could never remember a name tied to his failures—always a loser who never succeeded.
I hit it, but can Mob hit it too?
As he ran and shot his bow, a feeling came through.
This is a hit.
In a fleeting second, as Oknodie glanced back at Mob, she was shocked.
“Mob! Did you miss your timing for shooting?!”
Mob hadn’t shot his bow.
Not shooting even one arrow at the target was clearly a penalty.
Yet there was no anxiety on his face.
Smirk.
Baring his white teeth, there was a glimpse of a manly resolve in his smile.
“I didn’t miss. I chose not to shoot.”
“Huh?!”
“To keep up with a genius, an average person must give up on trying to do everything exactly as they do.”
Mob stated.
“So I gave up. Finding the target and shooting arrows. Instead, I gained the speed to chase after the leaders!”
“But Mob’s score—!”
“Haha. Aiming calmly wouldn’t even give a chance to hit one out of ten. So, I have no regrets.”
The gap with the leaders really narrowed.
The gap of 45 tracks was now down to 33.
Still far away.
At this rate, Oknodie would remain behind.
Mob loaded all his strength into his legs.
Bam! Bam! Bam!
“That guy is seriously insane!”
“What kind of run is that? Does he not fear penalties?!”
“That guy not only gave up on hitting the target but also on jumping over the hurdles!!”
[-1 point]
[-1 point]
Instead of jumping over the hurdles, he sped along the ground beside them.
The penalties for each hurdle he passed piled up at a frightening speed, leading to a drop in Mob’s score.
“Stop! If you don’t run straight on the line now, you’re going to come in last…”
“Go ahead! It’s fine!”
“Really?!”
“Since we’re in the same group, we can run side by side, right? You won’t leave a friend behind? If that’s your stubbornness, then my stubbornness is becoming a man who knows to repay kindness.”
With a serious expression, Mob shouted straight ahead.
“If you want to cross the finish line side by side, then you need to run in front. If my presence is going to be a hindrance, I’d rather give up all my points!”
“Mob…!”
“Don’t hesitate. Don’t look sideways. Jump over the hurdles properly, find the target, aim, and hit. While doing that, you can run with me at this speed!”
[Line 4’s obstacle score is currently at the lowest.]
[-40 points]
Though coming in last was already confirmed, Mob’s face showed neither regret nor disappointment.
“Show everyone. Group A can do this. This friend running alongside me, Mob, is this awesome. Let’s put the Imperial Bastards and the gloating seniors in their place!!”
When the space beside the line shrank, making it impossible to run on flat ground anymore, Mob kicked away the hurdles and bolted ahead.
The pain from his shins and thighs crashing into the hurdles would have brought tears to his eyes, yet even as he received shocking impacts, he clenched his teeth and ran.
No matter how much he swayed, even if a scream escaped his lips, he corrected his posture.
Clenching his jaws to swallow his screams, he ran forward, only looking ahead.
So that Oknodie could run just a little faster.
To prove her worth to everyone.
This fool. Scoring points is granted for recognizing a target and aiming as well, you know?
He didn’t know it yet, but the penalties he was receiving were far greater than what could be seen.
But even if he did realize, Oknodie understood that it wouldn’t slow his pace.
The passionate run of one man racing for someone else, the desperate dash of a nameless extra made Oknodie’s heart race.
[Line 1, Course 2 cleared!]
[Line 2, Course 2 cleared! +1 Track]
The announcement shining on the large mana board.
Mob’s run ultimately failed to catch up with the Empire students.
[Line 5, Course 2 cleared! +3 Tracks]
Instead, it became a gap of two tracks.
Reducing the difference from 45 tracks to 33, and even further to just three tracks ahead of the leader, and two tracks from the next position.
Ugh…
“Mob!”
“Prove it to me. That my run wasn’t in vain!!”
Mob could no longer bear the pain of his strained run and stopped.
His body may have halted, but his burning spirit was clearly conveyed.
“Yeah!!”
Oknodie made a vow.
“This race, I’ll come in first, taking Mob’s share too!”
The watching seniors thought to themselves.
“Wow. The instructor looks really pissed.”
“That sudden burst is insane.”
“Still, it’s not bad. That heated guy.”
The fiery run of one extra began to dramatically turn the tide of the match.
