The building housing the rest area in the theme park…
The F Class members, aside from the group that had entered the building, were neatly lined up in a row; in the middle of the line was 3rd in the student rankings, Shin YuSung.
'I still have to wait for my chance.'
Shin YuSung sat on a chair placed in the wide-open lobby.
Unlike the hunter team, who had to first score points or suppress the opponents, the villain team could win just by taking over the base. If the base was conquered during the time that Shin Yusung left it to save the hostage or capture the leader, the test would end.
Shin YuSung chose to stay on the defensive until the time came.
As long as he and the defense division were in the rest area, it was impossible for D Class to take over their base.
Shin YuSung used his pocket to intermittently give orders to his classmates.
"Long-range group, report back with updates on what you see the opposing team doing."
–Got it! Just leave it to me, YuSung-ah! Lee SiWoo replied enthusiastically to Shin YuSung's command.
Lee SiWoo, who currently wielded a bow, was a master of ranged weapons.
To him, the immense height of the Ferris wheel was a great weapon. On top of that, his Clairvoyance Skill created a wide field of vision. Due to this, their understanding of the situation was higher than the other team's.
Shin YuSung took stock of the battlefield.
'The long-range group has complete control of the area around the Ferris wheel.'
The problem lay in dividing up the opponents. The current situation was that if Shin YuSung wasn't with the defense division, even 10 D Class students could pose a threat to the base.
'3 F Class members can just barely fight against 2 D Class members.;
This was, of course, because F Class's average strength was lower than D Class's.
'We need to use our numbers more efficiently than the other team's to win in these intramurals.
Shin YuSung checked the location of the hostage with his Pocket.
[Special Mission]
[Description: The hunter team must rescue the hostage from the villain team.]
[Location: House of Horrors]
[Time remaining: 60 minutes]
The hostage that D Class was in charge of actually held a very threatening role towards F Class. It stopped Shin YuSung from making any rash moves, and if F class stayed put, 60 minutes would pass, and D Class would achieve victory.
'But we have our own ace up our sleeve.'
Shin YuSung activated his Pocket with a smile on his face.
"Sumire. The hostage is located in the House of Horrors."
–O-okay! I understand!
Before taking the Jewel Island test, she was known as the weakest student of her entire grade, but now she had become one of the Sevens proper. Even so, people rated her incredibly lowly.
'Surprisingly, no one from D Class is keeping Sumire in check.'
Sumire could act on her own without particular interference from the enemy. D Class was currently devoting all of their efforts into stopping Shin YuSung, who was lying in wait at the rest stop.
Due to this, Sumire, who was heading towards the House of Horrors, was neglected in favor of him.
'It's a good thing.'
D Class was overlooking both the synergy between Sumire and Shin YuSung's hair and also her newly obtained artifact.'
'Since it'll be too late by the time they figure it out.'
Shin YuSung rose up from his seat and scanned the area. The F Class students were showing fervor the likes of which they had never had before.
Shin YuSung picked out one of the students from among them.
"Renia?"
"Uh, yeah?!"
Renia, who had been standing around with a blank expression on her face, flinched as he suddenly called for her.
"You have a Trait related to fire, right?"
"Oh, y-yeah! You really remembered it! Even when it's an F-rank Trait with a lot of drawbacks…"
Renia seemed happy at the thought that Shin YuSung had remembered her Trait. With it, she could burn any object that she was touching—it could not make fire out of nothing.
It was rather impractical to use in combat, but Shin YuSung immediately found a way to use it.
"The area around the rest stop is made up of a lot of bushes, right?"
"Pretty sure? It's a park, so…"
The park next to the rest stop was riddled with large shrubs. It was a vibrant, well-maintained piece of forest land.
Shin YuSung pointed at the park and laughed.
"Burn it all down."
A pause.
"Huh? The… entire park?" Renia asked, stupefied. ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom
"You can do it, right?"
"I can! I can, but…"
Renia became flustered at the sudden suggestion. One of the male students next to her narrowed his eyes.
"Renia! Are you really going against the orders of Leader-nim?!" he yelled.
Renia's wide eyes became even wider in shock.
"Nooo…it's just that, if I burn something, it's arson! That's a crime!"
Shin YuSung shook his head at her words. He then took one step closer to the girl.
"The instructors told us to treat the test like it's real, right?"
Treat it like real life.
Gaon Academy's instructors told this to their students until it had practically become a habit of speech. Shin YuSung's master, the Fist King, had been the same.
[My training will always consist of practical experience. YuSung-ah! Devote yourself to your training with this in mind: failure is death!]
The Fist King was a crackpot who had made a 9-year old Shin YuSung defeat a rank 2 monster. Shin YuSung, as his disciple, was the same. In the face of real-life experience, he did not know the meaning of the phrase 'holding back'.
"Uh, mhm…"
Renia took a step back, intimidated. Shin YuSung took another step towards her in response.
"In that case, would you consider the hunters setting a fire in an effort to secure the area from the attacks of villains to be committing arson?"
"N-no…"
"Renia. There's no such thing as holding back in real life. You have to do everything in your power to win."
Shin YuSung told her all of this with a sincere expression on his face. Renia stared at it in a daze and nodded at his words.
"…You're right. The test is like real life…We shouldn't hold back…" she mumbled as if bewitched.
"You can do it, right?"
"Okay! I will!"
Committing arson for a test was much more drastic than what one would call 'doing your best'. But no one made a move to oppose Shin YuSung's wild-eyed lunacy.
"Hey, get a move-on! Leader-nim is saying we need to set a fire!"
"Bring stuff we can burn. Renia needs something to use as a catalyst!"
"We have someone who uses wind here, right? Blow the smoke around after the park starts burning."
Instead, the students of F Class took the initiative and began to set fire to the park in the name of victory.
By Shin YuSung's command, a campfire of unprecedented size began to form in the theme park.
* * *
* * *
The pitch-black House of Horrors.
Park HaWon, who was staring at her Pocket, was mumbling. Her face was pale.
"Wh-what is that?"
The Pocket was showing a video of the park around the rest stop building going up in flames.
"Who the hell sets a fire in the middle of a test?!"
She ended up screaming at Shin YuSung's eccentricity. A deafening amount of messages were pouring out of her Pocket.
–You told us to hide in the forest! It's on fire right now, you know?!
–Prez, what do we do? The ambush division doesn't have anywhere to hide in right now!
–One of the ambush division members got hit by the opponent's long-range division!
Park HaWon grimaced and began to spit our orders rapid-fire.
"…Shin YuSUng, why on earth did he command his people to do this?" she asked herself, trying to squeeze the answer out of her head.
Lin Xiao, who was playing the role of the hostage, proudly smiled next to her.
"Student Shin YuSung really is smart. We purposefully chose the rest stop as the base because it was easy to ambush, but to think that he decided to burn the park down."
"Even so, he's insane for doing this just to catch our ambush division, isn't he? This is only a test!"
Park HaWon scowled and adjusted her glasses. Lin Xiao shook his head.
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"Your name is HaWon, right? This is what I, Lin Xiao, think."
He looked at the student, then suddenly began to talk passionately.
"If you practice what you would do in a real situation when it's already a real situation, it's too late! If you don't take drastic measures during a test, will you actually be able to take those measures when it matters?"
"Th-that's…"
Park HaWon stuttered, shocked. Lin Xiao's voice grew louder.
"You won't! You will invariably make a mistake when it matters if you do not practice what you will do beforehand! Will the citizens forgive a hunter if they make a mistake in a real-life situation?"
"N-no, I mean…"
"What if a civilian loses their life due to a mistake when you could have saved them?"
"That's…"
Park HaWon's voice grew quieter. Kang MinSu, who was next to her, began to speak in favor of his instructor.
"Instructor Lin Xiao is right. The Shinsung group offered this location to us, so Shin YuSung is just taking as much advantage of it as he can."
"No, that's not what I wanted to…"
Her mind had become completely blank.
–Prez, are you listening to us?
–They set a fire! What do we do?
–We're retreating, okay?
On top of that, the ambush division was sending an endless stream of messages to her. Park HaWon could only take a step back in the face of a situation that she had never foreseen coming.
"…Ambush division. All of you, retreat. Get out of the park, and just make sure to keep track of Shin YuSung's location."
Park HaWon's pride was hurt at the fact that he had countered her strategy. However, there was nothing to be done about it. If she stubbornly clung to her initial plan, an even bigger mistake could occur.
'Shin YuSung…'
Even so, Park HaWon's eyes were burning with the desire to win.
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