Chapter 167
"What kind of watch looks like a bracelet? I thought I was in the club for a second,” Yu-Hyun muttered in a mocking tone while wearing the digital watch.
His team members looked at him with uncomfortable eyes. The team members who already knew him just smiled. And within that atmosphere, the Priest-A team split into two factions.
In one faction, there were the students who already knew Yu-Hyun and thus followed him without any suspicion or caution. In the other faction there were the students who didn't know Yu-Hyun. As a result, they doubted him, were guarded against him, and feared him.
“Well, in any case, let’s all do our best. It’s good for everyone if we do well on the exam, right?”
Thus, they all unconsciously followed Yu-Hyun. Respect, in its essence, was an emotion that was not all that different from fear, and so if those two emotions were tied together, they became reverence. Yu-Hyun instinctively knew how to make others respect or fear him.
One of the team members familiar with Yu-Hyun asked cautiously, "Yu-Hyun, are we going to have a plan... or something like that? What are you going to do?"
The student couldn't help but be cautious. It was because the student thought of Yu-Hyun as a somewhat close friend, but he wasn’t sure whether Yu-Hyun considered them a close friend as well.
With his unique, slanted eyes, Yu-Hyun stared at the student’s face as if scanning it, and said, "Plan... a plan? I haven't thought about it, hmm..."
Snap!
Yu-Hyun pondered and snapped his fingers. The sound was so loud that it was hard to believe that it had come from his fingers. The attention of Yu-Hyun's team members was focused on him. Without them realizing it, the team members found themselves waiting for Yu-Hyun to continue speaking.
“I came up with a plan. First, we have to meet with the other members of the Department of Priests. Especially Ha-Yeon."
"How do we know where they are?"
"We're roughly on the same line. We'll meet as we wander around," Yu-Hyun confidently said as he walked away.
The team members followed him without any objections. They had no idea why Yu-Hyun had come up with such a plan, nor did they know exactly what he was saying. Yu-Hyun sighed quietly as he watched his teammates follow him with stupid expressions on their faces.
“You know that the intention behind this exam is a three-way battle, right? Since it’s evaluated based on your department."
“...”
The students nodded silently.
Yu-Hyun continued, "So they would have roughly designed it so teams from the same department can gather together. They want us to stick together within our own departments and compete against the other departments."
"Ah, I see..."
"Just stay quiet and follow my lead. I'll take care of everything," Yu-Hyun said.
He then positioned himself at the front of the formation. His steps were so quick that his teammates struggled to keep up with him.
While walking, Yu-Hyun fleshed out and solidified the framework for his plan. He tried to understand the intentions of the teachers who created the exam. He thought about the important figures from the other departments that he would have to face, devised various countermeasures, and considered the variables when dealing with these opponents.
If he were to judge solely based on individual abilities, the Department of Crusaders, which included Jin-Seo, Min-Seo, and Su-Ryeon, could be the most threatening. However, because the crusaders were somewhat individualistic and had aggressive tendencies, they would not be able to unite and they would not be much of a threat. Manipulating them was possible as well.
Since paladins tended to be more collaborative and had a higher likelihood of uniting, the Department of Paladins, which Sun-Woo and Dae-Man belonged to, would be the most threatening opponent at the moment. After thinking up to this point, Yu-Hyun saw another team from the Department of Priests in the distance.
"Oh, hello!"
Yu-Hyun waved his hand and pretended to be glad.
The team that they encountered was initially cautious, but after seeing Yu-Hyun's smiling face, they gradually let their guard down and approached. Once it was proven that they were from the same department, they completely let down their guard as if they had been on the same team from the beginning.
The newly joined team was the Priest-F team. After roughly comprehending that they were from the Department of Priests, Yu-Hyun erased the team name from his mind. It was because the team was not very important in this exam. The department was important, not the team.
After combining the two teams into a new team, Yu-Hyun grabbed the person who looked like the leader and asked, "Have you seen Ha-Yeon by any chance? She looks unique, so it should be easy to spot her, even from a distance."
"Ha-Yeon? Hmm..."
"If you haven't seen her, never mind. Where on earth could she be?"
Yu-Hyun didn't even wait for an answer and started walking again. One of the team members following him grabbed Yu-Hyun with a look of confusion on his face.
"Where are you going? Weren't we supposed to combine our two teams like this?"
"Two won't work."
Yu-Hyun brushed off the team member's hand and continued on his way. Then, he murmured, "As many as possible... at least four teams. We need to gather that many to survive."
"Do we really need four?"
"The other departments will definitely target us."
The Department of Priests was weaker in combat compared to the other departments. However, since it was generally composed of high-achieving students, it would be relatively easy for them to obtain tokens by completing non-combat related requests.
The problem was the other departments already knew about this fact, and the Department of Paladins and the Department of Crusaders would definitely target them to keep them in check. Therefore, they had to unite. Just like how herbivores gathered together to deal with predators, they needed an overwhelmingly large population to deal with the hyena-like paladins and crusaders.
"Well... even if we screw up, I can take them all on myself!” Yu-Hyun boldly said to his teammates looking at him with worried expressions.
His teammates took it as a joke, but Yu-Hyun was serious. With the exception of Dae-Man and Jin-Seo, he could deal with the rest. In fact, he was confident that he could easily beat them.
No, never mind. Sun-Woo, that guy was...
"...We have to gather as many people as possible for now. You guys should split up as well and find the others. Call me when we have at least four teams gathered together."
After requesting his teammates to search for other teams, Yu-Hyun walked away in order to find other teams as well. The sky turned darker with each step, and ominous shadows began to be cast on the ground. He lifted his head and looked up at the sky. From the heavy and dark clouds that had formed in the sky, one drop, then two drops of rain fell from the sky.
Pitter, patter...
Then it started pouring. Thunder roared and lightning struck intermittently. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call it a storm. Yu-Hyun smirked as he looked up at the capricious sky.
"Did some bastard perform a rain ritual again...?"
***
"First, head to where the priests are located. I'm not sure where it is... but I’m guessing it will be toward the north."
Dae-Man kept reminding himself of Sun-Woo’s plan as he moved with his team. Sun-Woo had said that it was best to hold a hostage early on, and the most valuable hostages would probably be the priests.
"But where exactly is north from here?"
After he heard the plan, Dae-Man had looked up at the sky and asked that question. The clouds made it impossible to see the sun, and it wasn't night, so there were no stars to guide them in the right direction.
"If you don't know, just go in that direction. You don't necessarily have to go north."
After saying that nonchalantly, Sun-Woo added a few more words. He said that since the teams that belonged to the Department of Paladins received three more sets of handcuffs, they had to actively utilize the “hostage system.” If they met a clergyman on the way, they were free to attempt to get tokens, but if it seemed like it would take too long, then they were instructed to give up.
If it rained, they were to choose the most intact building nearby and wait for about five minutes. Unexpected encounters could happen. After saying that, Sun-Woo left. No one knew what he went off to do.
"I didn't know it would really rain..." Dae-Man muttered to himself while looking at the sky.
Just like Sun-Woo said, it was indeed raining. Although the sky had been cloudy, it didn’t seem like it would rain, but it was almost as if his words had caused it to rain. Anyway, since it was raining, they decided to follow Sun-Woo's advice. Dae-Man roughly wiped the water off his face with his hand and turned his body toward his teammates.
"Everyone, let’s go into that cathedral over there!" he shouted while pointing at a nearby building.
It seemed to be a building that had been used as a cathedral before the battle with Wrath, which was why the building was so large and in good condition. Despite the fact that it was still an abandoned building, it was sufficient to take shelter from the rain for a while. When Sun-Woo said to choose a relatively intact building, he had emphasized the importance of choosing a building that could block the rain.
"Let's wait here for a moment."
Dae-Man removed his clothes upon entering the cathedral and wrung them out. Although there were female students among his teammates, no one paid any attention. Everyone knew that Dae-Man had a habit of taking off his clothes wherever he went.
He had intentionally worn very thin clothes today, so there was not much difference whether he wore them or not. Dae-Man looked around in that state. Everyone was soaked due to the rain. Perhaps because they had moved very quickly, their tired faces already showed signs of exhaustion.
"Hmm."
It seemed like Sun-Woo had given instructions to choose a suitable building to rest in, as it would be difficult for the team members to exercise their full capabilities in the rain. Dae-Man expressed admiration for Sun-Woo's instructions, which had considered both the weather and the capabilities of the team members, and began checking the personnel who entered the building.
"Check the personnel regularly."
This was also something he was doing because Sun-Woo had requested for him to do so. The length of the exam was long and there were a large number of students taking the exam, so it would be difficult to rejoin with any unexpected deserters.
The total number of members in the Paladin-D team was ten. So there should be ten people in this building as well. Dae-Man raised his fingers to count the number of team members.
One, two, three...
"Nine, ten."
It was correct. Fortunately, there didn't seem to be any missing personnel. At that moment, a question crossed Dae-Man's mind. Since Sun-Woo decided to act alone and left the team, although there were ten members in total, there should have only been nine members present here.
Then why were there ten people?
Maybe he had miscounted. Dae-Man stared at each member's face one by one and recounted.
"..."
An unfamiliar face caught Dae-Man's eye. Not only their face, but everything from their physique to their skin color was unfamiliar. Their build was too frail to be a paladin. They had pure white skin and hair that looked like untouched snow in the middle of winter. She was sitting next to the confessional in the corner of the cathedral, trembling due to getting drenched in rain.
It was Ha-Yeon from the Department of Priests. Dae-Man stared intently at her, and soon she also noticed Dae-Man's presence.
Her mouth opened halfway and her eyes widened.
"..."
With a pale face, she tried to slowly get up from her seat. However, perhaps because she had lost strength in her legs, she repeatedly failed to lift herself up. At this point in time, the other members of Paladin-D also began to notice Ha-Yeon's presence. It was such an overwhelmingly distinctive appearance that it was difficult to ignore. Ha-Yeon confronted a group of nine paladins from Paladin-D by herself. A cold silence filled the air.
Someone's shout broke the silence.
"...What are you all doing? Quick, catch them!"
Ha-Yeon was cautiously taking steps backward, but suddenly turned around and started running. However, it was futile to escape. Between Ha-Yeon and Dae-Man, without even needing to do a comparison, it was fairly obvious who was faster. Before Ha-Yeon could even take a few steps, Dae-Man was already behind her.
Click!
Handcuffs were placed on Ha-Yeon's wrist. These handcuffs were mainly used to arrest corrupt or rebellious clergymen. It was a holy artifact that controlled the flow of divine power within their bodies to incapacitate them.
Thud.
She had failed to get far from the confessional corner before the handcuffs drained her strength and she slumped down on the spot. Initially, she was startled by Dae-Man and lost strength in her legs, but now the handcuffs completely immobilized her body. It was to the extent that she couldn’t even move her toes. She wanted to say something in an attempt to resist, but she couldn't even open her mouth.
Dae-Man looked down at her with wide eyes.
"When it rains, go to the nearest intact building and wait. There might be unexpected encounters."
Sun-Woo's words resounded in Dae-Man's ears. His words were like a prophecy, accurately predicting the future.
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