Arena

Lee Hye-su escaped to a dark and remote place and once again, carefully looked around her surroundings. Being alone in the dark of night gave her a creepy feeling.

It seemed like no one was there but Lee Hye-su could not relax.

The red apes like to hide and ambush. They did so in the first exam and they did so the second time when they ambushed on the first night of the second exam. There is nothing to say they won’t do it again.

But then.

Ddook-

The sound of a twig being stepped on and broken. It is small, but the sound was definitely heard.

“Who, who is it!

Gripped in immense fear, Lee Hye-su firmly grasps her spear. The question is: will she be able to properly wield the shoddy spear that Kim Hyun-ho had made her.

No one came from the place the sound came from. But now she could feel that someone was definitely there.

She stabs in the direction with her spear and with a shaky voice, Lee Hye-su yells out.

“I said come out!”

“For a bitch who wants to die, you’re scared shitless!”

A familiar voice rang out.

‘Park Go-chan!’

It is not a red ape, but Lee Hye-su is actually more frightened now.

Park Go-chan walks out.

He is holding his sword in his right hand. Due to the darkness, his face is hard to make out. But he is sure to be wearing a nasty grin.

“Wha-what?”

“What do you mean what, bitch. You said you want to get fucked and go to heaven? So I came to send you to heaven.”

Park Go-chan is chuckling.

“Get away!”

“You should speak formally to your elder. Or you might die and end up in hell.”

“Hell is for you!”

“I just won’t die then.”

Park Go-chan wields up his sword and continues to speak.

“I thought about it carefully and I can’t undo all the bad things I chose to do so far in my life. So I thought. Ah, I guess I just won’t die, then.”

“...!”

“I’m just saying, I just have to finish this shit exam and live to the end. No matter what kind of bastard I am, I just have to finish the exam. Isn’t that why they called me here in the first place? Huh?!”

“S-so?”

“Fricking bitch, if you had just submissively crawled around like you should have, you wouldn’t be in this foul situation, no? Did you think that bastard Kim Hyun-ho would keep on protecting you? The world is as you see, its guys who pretend to be strong like that that die first!”

Park Go-chan abruptly charges at her.

“Kyak!”

Lee Hye-su screams and lifts her spear.

Skuk!

At the swishing sword, her spear is futilely cut. And then Park Go-chan’s fist strikes Lee Hye-su.

“Aak!”

Lee Hye-su effortlessly falls over.

Park Go-chan’s entry level 3 physical strength buff was at level she could not handle.

Park go chan sat on her fallen body. He grabbed both her hands, desperately flailing, and yelled.

“It may feel like shit, but the bastards who live to the end are the guys like me! Got it? You fucking bitch!”

Puuk! Puk!

“Aak!”

At the ruthless punching, Lee Hye-su face swelled up.

Park Go-chan starts taking off her shirt. Lee Hye-su screamed and resisted, but the shirt was roughly ripped apart by his hands.

And then.

“Halt-!”

Park Go-chan’s hands freeze momentarily.

‘What?’

A familiar voice. A voice he thought he’d never hear again.

***

It has been two hours since I chased after my group’s tracks.

Sylph returns from scouting and tells me that the group is at a distance of 900 meters away.

“Not much must have happened to them. Did Hye-su look okay?”

But then Sylph shakes her head at my question.

“What? What is it?”

I ask like that and Sylph has no way to answer that kind of question.

“Is she hurt?”

Shake, shake.

“Then has she been attacked?”

Now Sylph nods her head. From that moment on I run like crazy.

“Is it a red ape?”

I ask as I run. Sylph shakes her head. Then...

It’s no school field, and trying to run through a forest is difficult and I feel like my breath will leave me. I grit my teeth and keep on running.

“Sy-sylph, huk (gasp)! Park Go-chan, now, huk! Attack Hye-su?”

I pant and barely get to ask and Sylph nods her head.

“Huk, huk, how many meters are left?”

Sylph draws the number 642. Damn! At this rate, I may be too late.

...Hold on?

The distance that Sylph can be apart from me is 900 meters, right? So that means she can exercise her powers within that 900 meters?

I pause my running for a moment and catch my breath and ask Sylph.

“Can you attack Park Go-chan from here?”

-Meow.

Sylph shakes her head.

Of course.

They said the further a spirit gets from the summoner, the weaker it gets. Even if she does attack, it seems it won’t do any damage to Park Go-chan.

But then is there no other way?

I roll through my head and an idea pops up.

“Sylph, can you deliver my voice to them?”

-Meow!

Sylph nods.

‘It’s possible!’

I think maybe, and I ask again.

“Then can you deliver their voice to me too?”

-Meow.

She nods again.

‘Impossible!’

I am once again surprised at Sylph’s usefulness. The wind spirit is an incredible means of long distance communication!

“Sylph, then will you deliver my words to Park Go-chan and Hye-su?”

-Meow.

Now, in a loud voice I yell ‘halt!’

Sylph delivers my message and returns and I continue to yell.

“Any bullshit, and I’ll shoot! I’m aiming at your head!”

I yell that and then ask Sylph to deliver Park Go-chan’s message back to me.

It is, of course, crap.

My magic rifle distance range is just 60 meters. But my bluff definitely has an effect.

“Where are you?!”

Sylph delivers Park Go-chan’s voice to me. The alarmed Park Go-chan’s voice it is clear as if he is right next to me. Interesting, indeed.

“Where? If I pull the trigger it will hit your head!”

“Co-come out!”

“I don’t want to?”

“You’ll shoot me? You think you can?”

“Yeah, I can shoot.”

“Haha, yeah right. You ever kill a person before? You’ll shoot me?”

“I’ve killed plenty that are close to human. If I shoot, whether it’s your skull or a red ape’s skull, I think the exploding will be the same.”

“...”

Maybe the threat worked because Park Go-chan, out of fear, does not reply.

He has no way of knowing that I am still more than 500 meters away.

“Sylph, is he holding a weapon?”

-Meow.

“Okay.”

I yell at Park Go-chan again.

“Hand over the weapon to Hye-su. Try any bullshit and I’ve told Sylph to cut you.”

“Hey, let’s not do this, how about a bargain?”

“...?”

“You’re real interested in her too. I know it all. So what are you waiting for? You think if you keep helping her out and being a pushover, she’ll say thanks and give it up once? Bastard, don’t get used and choose the right side here. How about it?”

I am at a loss for words. He’s so dirty I don’t even want to keep exchanging words. I just want to go ahead and shoot him but I can’t so I have to keep talking.

“That’s an interesting suggestion.”

“Haha, isn’t it?”

“Hand over the weapon to Hye-su and back away.”

“You fucking dumbass!”

“The dumbass is you. You’re pulling shit like this when our lives are at stake?”

“...”

I ask Sylph. 𝗳𝔯𝙚e𝒘e𝚋𝘯𝚘ν𝙚l.𝑐o𝙢

“Can you whisper so that only Hye-su can hear me?”

-Meow.

Sylph nods her head. Wow, really convenient.

I deliver my words to Hye-su.

“Miss Hye-su, get away from that bastard. Hurry and come this way. Sylph will show you which way.”

Moments later, Sylph alerts me that she is coming my way. Alright. Success at getting her away from Park Go-chan.

“Fine, now we good?”

“What do you mean good? Did you think I would just move on like all this never happened?”

“So, what are you going to do about it, bastard?”

“What do you think?”

“Yo-you’re going to kill me? A fellow examinee? You’re not scared of the penalty?

‘Penalty?’

I haven’t thought of that before.

‘Now that I think of it, when I finished the first exam and received my karma, it was marked as +500. Does this mean there can be a minus (-) too?’

It is a complete possibility. I hesitate on how to handle Park Go-chan.

The distance is now shrunk to 200 meters. From afar I can see Lee Hye-su, panting and running. It is dark so I cannot make out her face but I am sure she is shaking in horror.

“Over here.”

“Hyun-ho!”

Lee Hye-su ran straight into my arms. And she explodes into tears.

She is holding the sword; it seems Park Go-chan handed her his weapon upon my request. Thinking about it though, when he disarms his weapons it will just disappear, I didn’t think this through very well.

I am completely surprised but I tap her on the back.

“You’re okay now.”

“Uh hu hu huk!” (sobbing noise)

I calm Lee Hye-su who is crying in my embrace, and I speak to Park Go-chan.

“Leave this place!”

“What?”

“I said, leave this place. From now on, you will act independently from the rest of us.”

“You want me to act alone? That’s telling me to die!”

“Then shall I stoke a fire and prepare meals for you? As if nothing has happened? I can’t do that. So get lost. Whether you live or die, take care of it on your own.”

“Hey, let’s not do this and make up. I was wrong. I wasn’t in my right mind. You know? You do crazy things when you’re in a panic.”

“You must’ve been in a panic your entire life then?”

“You fucker! So what do you want me to do? If you tell me to go off alone, then that’s nothing more than telling me to die! You think you’ll still be safe! You think after this exam we won’t cross paths again in the next one?”

Park Go-chan brazenly replies.

The distance dwindles down and I am less than 100 meters away. If I walk a little more, I will be within shooting distance.

“Hey guy, I said I was sorry. I’ll turn over a new leaf so let’s try this one more time. You and me, we’re both people that have already died once. Let’s not live-or-die with each other.”

“...”

What should I do?

He seems sure that I don’t have it in me to murder him. That’s why the bastard tried to rape a girl and is brazenly trying to stay with the group still.

It can’t happen.

I have to shoo him off. But since he is so bent on sticking around, I have no choice but to kill him.

Do I really have to kill him?

And then.

Grip.

Lee Hye-su grabs my hand.

“Please do it.”

“Do what?”

“Kill him.”

At her words, my heart clunks down.

Her two hands holding mine are trembling.

“I am so miserable I want to die. I can never see his face again. I’m terrified. I would rather die myself. Please, I beg you. Please save me.”

“...”

I clench my teeth.

I can see Park Go-chan now. Approximately, 40-50 meters.

I take out the magic rifle. I load a lead bullet. I place the butt of the rifle against my shoulder, and I set the sights on Park Go-chan’s head.

Thankfully it is dark and I cannot make out his face. If I had seen the expression on his face, I would not be able to pull the trigger.

Lee Hye-su is tightly holding onto the end of my shirt. As if it was the very life-line that was saving her.

Okay.

Let’s think of it that way.

In place of killing Park Go-chan, I am saving Lee Hye-su. Because if I have to pick one to save, it is Lee Hye-su.

Toong-

“Kuk!”

Then that’s it.