"Hah, hngh, Mr. Sahyeon... this iron cage, it's moving forward, right?"
An iron cage on wheels, the size of a sedan.
Inside were as many as ten Grinder Rats.
Haeseong pushed the cage, wringing his muscles, but it barely picked up any speed.
"It's moving, so just push it properly. Hauling it counts as part of the training."
"Yes, sir......"
This is more like torture than the scope of training......
Compared to the battered Haeseong, Sahyeon was immaculate.
He simply walked ahead with light, easy strides.
'This is like pushing an elephant...!?'
His arms and legs, already drained from the monster captures, trembled mercilessly.
At last, Haeseong loaded the cage into the elevator.
"...Finally!"
I can't do this anymore......
He slumped against the elevator handrail, gasping for breath.
"We'll make it to class in time."
Sahyeon leisurely pressed the ground-floor button.
While Haeseong dangled there on the verge of fainting—
Sahyeon crossed his arms and asked Haeseong.
"Got paper and a pen?"
"......? Yes, of course."
Haeseong fished a pen and notebook out of his inventory with limp hands.
Taking them, Sahyeon ripped a sheet from the notebook with a brisk hand, then began tearing it into palm-sized pieces.
'...What on earth is he trying to do?'
Before Haeseong could grasp his intent—
Sahyeon scrawled something roughly on the paper, then pulled off his right glove.
"......!"
For Sahyeon to remove his glove meant......
Haeseong's slowly blinking eyelids snapped wide open.
Sahyeon, holding a scrap scrawled with a doodle.
His irises soon began to dye a thick blood-red.
'A skill, on paper......?'
While Haeseong swallowed a startled breath, Sahyeon repeated the same action on the other scraps.
Before long, seven slips were complete in his hand.
DING—
With a cheerful arrival tone, the elevator doors opened.
Tucking the slips into his pocket, Sahyeon strode out ahead without a care, then suddenly turned back to Haeseong.
"You not pushing it?"
Haeseong's pupils trembled.
Right...... I have to move it all the way to the training hall too......
He looked up at the massive cage with a faraway expression.
"...Yes, I'm coming......"
Save me......
***
"Teach's not here yet~?"
Euno, throwing the training hall door wide open as he entered.
Jaeyun followed in behind him with familiar ease.
"Glad we're not late......"
"Should've slept five more minutes."
Gyeol let out a jaw-splitting yawn.
Just then, a cluster gathered in one corner of the training hall turned their heads in unison.
Among them, a student with an orange buzz cut tilted up the corner of his mouth.
"Whoa~ showing up later than your seniors. The first-semester rookies have zero discipline, huh?"
Combat Class B's Ji Seyong.
A self-appointed discipline enforcer who had taken the hazing culture entrenched at the Academy and carved it into his bones.
Gyeol scoffed and muttered as if to himself.
"There he goes again. As long as you're here before class starts, who cares."
"...That bastard's saying that for me to hear, right?"
When Seyong scrunched his brow and growled, his peer Mugeon nodded flatly.
"Seems like it."
"Hah! Gyeol's got spine, that's for sure."
Ryua, with long straight hair, burst out laughing brightly.
"Now that the Dungeon Break's hit, the first-semester numbers are gonna balloon, so try to get along, Ji Se-yong~"
"......"
Seyong glared at his uncooperative peers.
Then he twisted his mouth and threw his gaze back at Euno's group.
"Heard you guys failed the Gate test yesterday and got disqualified?"
"Huh? How'd you even know that."
When Euno reacted, Mugeon readjusted the combat vest he was wearing and tossed out a flat remark.
"His uncle's the martial arts professor."
"Ahh."
Gyeol let out a dry, unimpressed sound.
So that's why he's so full of himself.
"All three of you lined up to repeat the year. Think you'll even graduate?"
Seyong said with a smirk.
At that, Jaeyun, who had been fidgeting nervously, quietly spoke up.
"Ah, that's... the Gate suddenly changed to B-rank. It was cut short out of necessity, but Teacher Haeseong said he'd look into a solution......"
"Huh?!"
"...B-rank?"
Ryua and Mugeon reacted at the same time.
The test rules dictated that Awakened of C-rank or below were tested in E-rank Gates, and those above in D-rank Gates.
There had never been a case of an Academy student entering a B-rank Gate during a test.
"...Where do you get off lying? How does a D-rank turn into a B-rank?"
A crack appeared on Seyong's face.
Gyeol lifted the corner of his mouth and spoke with feigned nonchalance.
"The Gate penalty was a half-grade stat reduction, so it was a pretty tough fight."
"!"
Seyong gaped, brow creasing, while Mugeon let out a low exclamation.
"Wow."
"For real?! You guys are insane! I've never even faced a B-rank!"
At the unexpected story, Ryua's eyes sparkled.
At that, Euno let out a gasp of awe and grinned at Seyong.
"Oh, so since we faced a B-rank monster first, that makes us your B-rank seniors~ go on, call me Euno-seonbae!"
"What?! You little bastard?!"
When Seyong bristled and shot up as if to lunge, Mugeon, standing beside him, pressed down on his shoulder to hold him back.
"Stop."
"Whoa whoa~ guess it's past your meds time, Ji Se-yong!"
Ryua clicked her tongue and planted herself in front of Seyong. As if to change the subject, she asked Euno's group.
"So you went with the new professor who arrived yesterday! How was he? Even Seyong's uncle said there's no info on that hunter!"
"He's nuts! Best ever!"
Euno let out an awed gasp and stuck up a thumb.
At that, Seyong scoffed and sneered.
"Strong, sure. For a nobody who got the job through connections."
"Connections?"
Gyeol's eyes narrowed.
Seyong crossed his legs and continued.
"I heard the Association President slotted him in. And his background's unclear too. Can you really trust his skill? Not sure he'd even beat me in a proper sparring match."
"Huh?"
Euno let out a genuine scoff.
"What nonsense — one flick of his finger and you'd go flying, ...mmph."
Gyeol clamped a hand over Euno's mouth.
"Mmmph (what gives?)"
When Euno protested, Gyeol gave him a look that said to stay still.
Then he smiled, eyes crinkling, and answered smoothly in his place.
"You're right, probably. Seyong-seonbae's the top of the combat classes, so maybe you would win?"
"Right?"
Pleased by Gyeol's words, Seyong puffed up, shoulders rising high.
"My uncle says tons of people were eyeing Professor Lee Haje's vacated position. This time even a famous guild—"
He launched into grandiose talk to his two peers, looking thrilled.
In the meantime, Euno, freed from Gyeol's grip, spoke with a wronged expression.
"What's the plan, hyung? Honestly, that guy would wet his pants from one of Teach's fingers."
"I think so too."
Gyeol shrugged lightly.
"Then why......"
When Jaeyun looked puzzled, a wicked grin spread across Gyeol's lips.
"Because it's funny."
"!"
"The first student to go flying like that summon could just be Ji Se-yong, you know?"
"Oho?"
Euno wore a similar grin, intrigued.
"Your faces are way too scary right now, hyungs......"
Just as Jaeyun was trembling—
RUMBLE— THUD.
The training hall's heavy door wrenched open.
Through the gap, a figure appeared, backlit by the sunlight.
Sahyeon, hands in the pockets of his black suit, stepped into the training hall with a languid gait.
"Oh! Sahyeon-ssaem!"
Euno waved cheerfully.
Sahyeon answered the students' ensuing greetings with a mere flick of his eyebrow.
He gave the training hall's interior a light scan, then parted his lips.
"Looks like everyone's more or less here. I'm Yeom Sahyeon, in charge of the live combat class starting today."
After an introduction that was concise to the point of indifference, he continued slowly.
"For your first class......"
The training hall door opened again.
RUMBLE, CLANK!
A massive iron cage rolled in behind him.
"It's live hunting."
Inside, monsters with gleaming little eyes squirmed.
Clicking their teeth menacingly.
"Grinder Rats? Aren't those E-rank monsters?"
Gyeol, first to recognize them, furrowed one brow.
Sahyeon added in a languid voice.
"Class ends when each of you takes down at least one. Time limit is one hour."
"Huh, one? That's way too easy."
Euno said with full confidence.
"Aren't they underestimating us a bit much."
Seyong let out a loud scoff.
The students stirred along with him at his reaction.
And it was true.
No matter how freshly Awakened, every student here was A-rank combat personnel.
E-rank monsters could be hunted as easily as catching rats — literally.
Unfazed by such reactions, Sahyeon headed toward Haeseong, sprawled behind the monster cage.
"You said the training hall field could be changed too?"
"Y-Yes! Hah, hngh... you operate it from that control device. Hah."
Haeseong moved toward the control room beside the entrance and explained the controls to Sahyeon.
Watching the sight, Seyong let out a snicker.
"Can't even work a control panel and he wants to be a professor......"
That was when it happened.
WHIRRRRR—
Along with an ear-piercing mechanical noise, the view glitched as if an error had occurred.
Soon the training hall's spacious, pleasant scenery vanished, transformed into a dark, damp space.
"...What is this place?"
A voice echoing with reverb.
The faint sound of running water reached them, and a musty stench drifted to their noses.
The training hall had instantly become a cramped, winding sewer.
"This kind of device is handy."
With a brief comment, Sahyeon returned to the front of the monster cage.
"We'll start with a lottery draw."
He pulled the hand that had been in his pocket.
Six slips sat on the palm spread before them.
"What are these?"
Gyeol asked warily, but Sahyeon merely tilted his chin.
"Just draw."
Ignoring Gyeol's thoroughly skeptical eyes, Euno drew a slip first.
"Then I'll go first~"
Following his lead, the rest reluctantly took a slip each, faces sour.
Euno, who'd unfolded his slip first with anticipating eyes.
"This is......"
Two wavy lines drawn horizontally, with squiggly, lumpy lines beneath them......
"...A giant earthworm?"
Euno's head tilted at an odd angle.
It was the same for the other students.
A scribbly circle, a single small spiral coiled in a swirl, and so on.
Each had a different drawing on it.
"Why'd he give us doodles like this?"
Just as Seyong scrunched up his whole face—
"You each drew a body part."
A body part?
Euno blinked and examined the slip again.
...Ah!
"Then this is a leg!"
The two long vertical lines were legs, and the squiggly worm beneath them was toes!
"How'd you figure that out?"
Gyeol let out a light breath of disbelief and studied his own slip intently.
"Then these two haphazardly overlapping circles are... beans? Kidneys? Ah, eyes?"
Jaeyun guessed at his own too.
"Mine's... a hand? Looks like the left arm."
"Whoa~ Teach is an artist?"
Combat Class B, catching on belatedly, examined their papers closely too.
Eyes, ears, arms, legs...... what they'd received was, just as Sahyeon said, one body part each.
"So what's this supposed to be?"
When Gyeol, unable to bear the frustration, looked up at Sahyeon—
"!"
Gyeol's eyes went wide for an instant.
"Shall we begin class, then."
Sahyeon's eyes, flashing red.
And then......
"!! What the?! The doodle turned red?!"
The drawing on the slip emitted an eerie red glow.
Just as Euno turned the slip this way and that—
"......! Urk!"
He suddenly lost his balance and toppled over.
"Euno hyung, are you oka...! ...Huh?"
Jaeyun, reaching out to help Euno up, paused.
His left arm dropped limply.
As if it belonged to someone else, no strength would enter it.
The anomaly didn't end there.
"Agh! My leg!"
"My fingers won't move?!"
"What??? I can't hear!!!"
The training hall descended into chaos in an instant.
Gyeol raised a trembling hand and waved it before his eyes.
His left field of vision, gone black.
'Don't tell me......'
He cut off my senses?
While Gyeol let out a stunned breath with an aghast face—
Sahyeon crossed his arms and leisurely surveyed the chaos-stricken students.
"Today's random penalty."
At the low voice, the students' commotion stilled at once.
Sahyeon's red eyes rippled chillingly.
"For one hour, you'll be hunting with that penalty."