The next morning, the moment I opened my eyes in the dormitory, yesterday’s events flooded back, making me feel a twinge of regret.
Buried in madness, I realized I had missed things I should have done.
I cursed my weakness for not keeping my sanity intact.
Noticing the turmoil in my emotions, Peace spoke up.
[Do you regret yesterday’s events?]
“Honestly, it’s a bit disappointing.”
[Speak to me. What weighs most heavily on your heart?]
The waves of regret were slowly gnawing at my heart.
In the face of the incoming tide, I desperately clung to my sanity, doing my best not to lose myself.
I poured my heart out to Peace in anguish.
“When I burned the Chief, I didn’t even boil oden soup in that fire.”
[What the f*ck? I was expecting better from you!! I guess I’m the idiot here!!]
“But to become a true hero, it’s a necessary step.”
I pondered.
What if I had boiled the oden soup?
“Would this story have become a masterpiece then?”
[Please just shut that mouth of yours! No ‘god’ talk from you!]
Curious about the aftermath of yesterday’s chaos, I turned on my phone and accessed the academy’s anonymous bulletin board.
It had been a while since I turned off notifications for the academy’s anonymous board.
Crazy posts were pouring in there.
Although the bonfire of expectations had dwindled yesterday, the flames on the anonymous board were still burning fiercely.
[Even if this novel goes BL drift, it wouldn’t burn as much as this.]
“Shut up with that bullsh*t. This novel wouldn’t make a difference no matter what we do.”
Most posts were mockeries or insults aimed at coin enthusiasts, accompanied by clown photos.
Occasionally, there were disgusting images questioning the existence of such things in the world.
Of course, such posts inevitably got deleted in an instant, as they didn’t fit the board’s vibe.
Still, countless posts kept appearing and vanishing in quick succession.
Like the ebbs and flows of the sea.
[Managing such a board must be a pain.]
“It might be tough, but it’s doable. They’re all high-salary folks.”
Even though it’s an anonymous board, someone is managing it.
One absolute being marked in orange and one manager in blue.
Many users on the board mocked or despised them with various derogatory terms.
Armband. Slave. Dung. Barnacle, etc.
However, it was common knowledge that the absolute being and the manager were high earners.
In the end, they used those derogatories out of jealousy and envy.
It was merely a childish and petty act of self-consolation.
Just that.
When I mentioned their salary, Peace countered incredulously.
[You say they manage a chaotic board, but do they really earn that much?]
“If they didn’t, would they be around 24/7 on the board?”
[Now that you mention it, you might be right. Well, it wouldn’t make sense for them to do it for free.]
“Doing this for free? Please make sense.”
[I suppose I was a bit shortsighted. My bad.]
Dismissing Peace’s question sharply, I shoved my phone into my pocket.
And since it was still the weekend, I called Hyeji and stormed into the Martial Artist Concept Guild again.
Even if I was restricted from entering, how could I stop Hyeji?
Ignoring the wary looks, I began searching for Jeong Ahyeon.
Before long, I found her and suggested doing a quest together, but she replied,
“I’m busy, so leave me be.”
“…… It’s not because of a quest, you’re busy with chores.”
“This is part of my training.”
Currently, Jeong Ahyeon was diligently polishing a giant Cheonma statue all by herself.
“How the heck does polishing a Cheonma statue count as training?”
“Shinwoo, I want to practice targeting with a rifle on that.”
“Hyeji, stop acting like a kid.”
“But the Gongja has really become a person. At least they can discern right from wrong.”
Hyeji wore a gloomy expression while Jeong Ahyeon looked proud of herself.
Of course.
“Now that you’re an adult, you should be using a 50 caliber.”
“You’re right!”
“Don’t do that! It ends up being me who gets scolded!”
Her expression changed in an instant.
Hyeji looked happy while Jeong Ahyeon looked pleading for help.
Seeing the number above Jeong Ahyeon’s head rise by one, it seemed she really broke the statue in the future before regression.
In the Martial Artist Concept Guild, the beautiful culture of “downward harassment” remained.
Strangely, the culture of downward harassment prioritized the length of membership in the guild over the tier.
That’s why the Martial Artist Concept Guild stagnated like a puddle, without new influx like in Tekken.
But suddenly, Jeong Ahyeon volunteered to be a slave and placed herself under them.
This was like a dog bringing soybean paste. A duck bringing green onion. A research student claiming they would do an integrated doctoral course.
There was no difference.
So even though Jeong Ahyeon was a mere newbie, she was getting joint-fisted by the veterans.
“Shinwoo, are you just going to leave her like that?”
“Let her enjoy it.”
Hyeji and I left Jeong Ahyeon and exited the Martial Artist Concept Guild.
*
A while of academy life was just the same mundane routine.
On weekdays, I attended classes and monitored the student cafeteria.
Occasionally, I caught professors sneaking into the cafeteria and shaved their heads regardless of gender.
‘If you have hair on your conscience, you should at least get rid of the hair outside.’
[…Just kill them, please.]
“How can I kill someone without thought? I’m not that kind of person.”
But I didn’t shave everyone. Only the center of their conscience.
Since I left the rest, isn’t that enough?
Hair will eventually grow back, after all.
And on weekends, I wandered around with Hyeji, completing quests at various guilds.
Since Jeong Ahyeon was clocking in at the Martial Artist Concept Guild, I no longer had to pick her up.
Elcia mentioned there was too big a tier difference to form a party together.
In the end, it was just Hyeji and me doing quests.
It wasn’t bad doing quests with Hyeji; it could even be considered good.
However,
“I’m sorry, but we have no further subjugation requests in our guild.”
Hyeji’s capabilities were too outstanding.
In many ways.
Of course, each guild had many requests prepared for academy students, and there were quite a few subjugation requests among them.
But they were merely requests for academy students.
They were beneath Hyeji’s capabilities.
[……Wasn’t Hyeji initially a supporter?]
“Let’s just say an aircraft carrier is a mere tool.”
Request execution was not just about performance; it also led to a small pocket money.
The aftermath of Hyeji’s clearing left behind numerous scraps and monster remains, allowing us to collect and sell them to the guild.
Though the guild didn’t always want to buy, it posed no significant issue.
“These kinds of trash, we can’t accept them.”
“Hyeji, please!”
When Hyeji earnestly and genuinely persuaded, the guild always made a purchase without fail.
Although I couldn’t use the money directly as it was deposited into the account, I still felt good seeing my balance increase.
‘To resolve things easily through persuasion, it’s nice that there are people who communicate in the guild.’
[……Giving such defective goods… What’s the difference between you and a fraud?]
“At the very least, they don’t process a return claiming the price went up.”
Due to environmental destruction, the goods weren’t valued high, but results were results.
A small result for one request.
So I just needed to finish enough requests to create a larger result.
With this mindset, we performed all requests in a bulk-sale manner.
It’s only natural for supply to fail to catch up to demand.
Consequently, each weekend, we traversed various guilds, carrying out all the subjugation requests available.
[Do you even have a conscience? Isn’t Hyeji doing it all alone?!]
‘Just bringing her on our side is sufficient.’
[……Well, I guess that’s a relief since they’re on our side.]
“Hey, Ellen, don’t play dumb. We have Hyeji.”
There were indeed some criticisms.
The sheer number of subjugation requests completed. The too-short time taken. The small number of people relative to this.
Doubts arose that it hadn’t been done by multiple people sharing the success.
Eventually, to check this, some guild members followed us to observe the quest execution.
And they ended up regretting it.
A sea of flames erupted, and the sounds of countless gunshots along with accompanying monster screams pierced their ears directly.
Simultaneously, monsters encountering Hyeji transformed into mere heaps of meat.
Whether fast or slow.
Due to the process of slaughter, the observed members experienced severe PTSD.
Just the sound of fireworks made them shiver.
Some even quit being hunters and joined monster rights associations, lamenting the plight of monsters.
Ultimately, our performances were recognized as honest.
The guild lost a few members, but we got to roam around freely without any issues.
It was like a unique ecosystem.
A mad whale consuming all the krill under the guise of quests.
And a barnacle, held fast to the whale alongside it.
“You know, I feel like my treatment keeps getting weirder.”
“……No, nothing has changed.”
“Really? I heard something.”
‘Is she crazy for real?’
[That’s not something you should be saying.]
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