Chapter 110: Change and Contrast (6)
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‘Yoon Ji-a? Did you say Yoon Ji-a?’
I blinked in disbelief and read the text again.
[010-xxx…] Hello. I’m Yoon Ji-a, a 3rd year wizard. I saw the notice and contacted you – I was wondering if you’re accepting applications from 3rd year students? I know I’d only be able to participate for one semester, but I really want to join the <Anti-Villain> circle.
‘Wow, it really is Yoon Ji-a.’
There was no reason for her to lie in an application, so it must be the real Yoon Ji-a.
The president of the <Flame Dance> circle, and the possessor of exceptional skill.
Due to her near-perfect mastery of fire magic, she was a Holder that made even Kang Juyeon feel like she had hit a wall.
And she was contacting the <Anti-Villain> circle to ask about joining.
‘Is she quitting Flame Dance?’
If someone like her, a circle president, wanted to join our circle, it meant she was quitting <Flame Dance>.
Was our circle so attractive that she’d do that?
Absolutely not.
We were just a new circle with a grandiose slogan but nothing substantial yet.
So there could only be one conclusion.
‘Yoon Ji-a must have a grudge against the <Villains> too…!!’
Most of the Holders inquiring about joining our circle had this sort of reason.
Either they or someone close to them had been victimized by <Villains>.
Otherwise, there was no reason to join a circle whose dangers were still unknown.
That’s why I wasn’t too worried about recruiting essential members – I figured there would naturally be enough people interested in the <Anti-Villain> circle for this reason.
‘It’s a good thing.’
Yoon Ji-ah was not among the recruits I had envisioned, but if I could bring her, there was no doubt that she would be the best member.
The reason is, of course, because of Kang Juyeon.
If only Yoon Ji-ah would come to our circle, there would be no reason for Kang Juyeon to be in <Flame Dance>.
After all, the only stimulus she needs is Yoon Ji-ah.
And if I didn’t stop Kang Juyeon’s growth, I also had no reason to stop Kang Juyeon from joining <Anti-Villain>.
“What’s with that text that you’re making that face at…?”
Seeing me stare at my phone for a while, Kang Juyeon asked.
I looked at her with a bright smile.
“Juyeon.”
“…What, what is it?”
Maybe because I suddenly called out to her, Kang Juyeon answered with a visibly flustered face.
I spoke to her in an excited voice.
“Let’s do it together, the circle.”
***
Ippotranslation
***
Awooo-!!
Swish- whoosh, whoosh-!!
“Hey! Why aren’t you doing it when you said you wouldn’t!?”
I shouted at Park Jin-woo fighting beside me, using the newly learned [Staircase Slash] on the attacking wolves.
Awoo, awooo-!!
Snap! Thwack- slam-!!
Park Jin-woo was also busy dealing with the wolves with his sword, unable to spare any attention.
“It has! Nothing! To do! With me!”
I had to earnestly persuade him to join the circle, as I had assumed he would readily accept the offer. Unexpectedly, he declined to join, saying he wasn’t very interested in fighting villains.
‘Is it because the opportunity hasn’t risen yet?’
The point when Park Jin-woo would directly clash with <Villains> was during the ‘Academy Annihilation Operation’ towards the end of the story.
When <Villains> infiltrated the academy he was quietly training as a student and they slaughtered many students.
Park Jin-woo, as a student, naturally had no reason not to fight the group destroying his educational institution.
And that wasn’t all.
As Park Jin-woo rose as one of the core powers on the academy’s side, <Villains> targeted his younger sister, Park Yoon-seo.
At the time, Park Jin-woo was in 2nd year and his sister Park Yoon-seo was a 1st year new student.
Fortunately, he succeeded in rescuing Park Yoon-seo, but <Villains’> vicious attempt to go after his family sparked Park Jin-woo’s fury to the extreme.
‘That’s when the all-out war began.’
Park Jin-woo, representing the academy’s core fighting force, the major clan and Holder associations…
<Villains>, facing all-out war against every Holder-related organization in Korea.
I had thought of recruiting him with that picture in mind, but…
Unexpectedly, he didn’t seem particularly interested in <Villains> before this ‘opportunity’ arose.
Thanks to that, I was here earnestly trying to rope him into joining by bringing him to the ‘Stained Rock Pile’ Dungeon.
[As the falling plum blossoms have the shadow of a sharp blade etched upon them, it’s hard to discern whether your dagger is the plum blossom or the plum blossom is your dagger. Your proficiency in the Plum Blossom Sword Technique has increased.]
[The level of the ‘Plum Blossom Sword Technique’ rune has risen.]
Meanwhile, my rune levels steadily rose.
Recently I had been learning dagger techniques (short sword techniques) from Yoo Eun-seol, frequently utilizing these Assassin-type runes.
With high utilization came steady growth.
[Plum Blossom Sword Technique] was already at level 4.
‘I wonder if Plum Blossom Sword Technique has an ultimate skill too?’
I know Yoo Eun-seol’s [Snowy Plum Blossoms] has an ultimate skill.
[Plum Blossoms Settling on a Snowy Field].
The ultimate skill like her trademark.
But I was unsure whether its derivative form [Plum Blossom Sword Technique] had an ultimate skill.
Since it was a rather rare martial arts rune, I figured I could build some decent skills just by raising the level steadily, even if there was no ultimate skill.
Awooo….
Grrr- Thud!
Around the time I was finishing up the hunt, lost in thought.
Park Jin-woo also laboriously stabbed his sword into the wolf’s neck, ending his battle.
The entrance of the Stained Rock Pile Dungeon.
Grade B monsters that traveled in packs, the Gray Wolves.
Park Jin-woo had soloed one while I handled the rest of the wolves alone.
[Descendants of the Barbarian King], and [Oppression].
Thanks to the stat-pumping combo I had utilized before, luckily it wasn’t too hard to face multiple B-grade monsters.
“Are you even human? How did you take them all on alone…”
Once the fight ended, Park Jin-woo looked at me like I was some kind of monster.
I have to admit it now.
That I am a monster.
What C-grade Holder could solo five B-grade monsters?
But since that wasn’t originally my own strength, I honestly told him.
“This isn’t exactly my original power. My stats go up a lot when I’m fighting multiple enemies.”
Park Jin-woo’s eyes grew wide at my words.
“What? There’s an effect like that? What rune is that?”
“That’s something I can’t tell you, bro.”
I probably could tell him and he might believe me, but….
I clunked over and rummaged through the Gray Wolf corpses.
It was to apply the <Harvesting Byproducts> theory I had been learning recently.
Thunk- schluck-
“Ugh, this is annoying. Why isn’t this working?”
As expected, theory without practical experience wasn’t perfect.
Despite thinking I was butchering them decently, without the proper runes and skills the hides wouldn’t come off cleanly.
After a rough attempt at butchering, I soon moved my hands to the magic stones that were easier to harvest.
Then I spoke to Park Jin-woo again.
“Hey, you really won’t do it?”
“I told you I won’t do it- It’s not a training circle or a sparring circle, so what’s the point of joining.”
“We might be able to fight villains too, you know?”
“Maybe we can, but we aren’t fighting them right now, are we? If we were really fighting, that would be a clan, not a circle.”
Uncharacteristically logical words from Park Jin-woo.
While we were a circle researching and preparing countermeasures against <Villains>, it was far removed from the training or sparring Park Jin-woo wanted.
Since we weren’t directly clashing with <Villains> in an all-out battle.
And if we did end up in outright battle, that would be a problem in itself.
It would make the biggest weakness of our circle, that ‘it’s dangerous’, a reality.
Lost for words, I sighed and asked.
“So what circle are you gonna join then?”
In the original story, the circle Park Jin-woo joined was <Warrior>.
A sweaty circle gathering all kinds of warrior-type classes who loved to fight.
“Me? I’m thinking of somewhere like a Warrior.”
And exactly as I had guessed.
I wonder why butterfly effects don’t occur in parts like this and it remains the same.
I calmly made a deal.
“Okay. I’ll duel with you at least twice a week. Let’s do the circle together.”
“Oh, twice? That’s a lot, but…”
Park Jin-woo scratched his head and looked at me.
“I’ve dueled with you so much already that now it’s a bit….”
This punk…
I barely held back the sigh that was about to burst out.
Even with all this back and forth, we needed Park Jin-woo in our circle.
Among the student Holders, Park Jin-woo was the most trustworthy warrior-type.
He was rapidly improving his skills and getting stronger, nearly top of his 1st year class as a tanky bruiser-type.
‘He just soloed a B-grade monster on his own.’
With someone like Park Jin-woo in the circle, we’d have a solid fighting force.
No matter how protected a circle we were as part of the academy, with <Villains> being a gathering of psychos, who knew when some physical altercation might occur.
It was necessary to recruit him in preparation for any situation.
I made a new offer to him.
“Once a week. I’ll come hunt at the Stained Rock Pile Dungeon with you. But instead of me being main, you’ll be main. Hunt however you want, taking the front, and I’ll properly support from the assassin position. Deal?”
It sounded like I was generously proposing it, but this was actually beneficial for me as well.
The dagger techniques (short sword techniques) I was learning from Yoo Eun-seol, and [Plum Blossom Sword Technique].
To maximize the efficiency of her instruction, I needed to raise the level of these runes and abilities, and to do that, playing the damage dealer role in a party was more effective than soloing.
But it was clearly an attractive proposal to Park Jin-woo as well.
“Deal.”
I could tell from the instant agreement.
The <Anti-Villain> circle we had started to create change.
Its members were gradually taking shape.
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