Chapter 142

“Sh-shouldn’t we let her out?”

Now only Sujeong Kang was left in the test. Yeonggi Cha approached with a worried look and spoke, and Cho-i tilted her head, asking him back,

“Why?”

“W-well…”

“Can’t you see the situation?”

“Yes, that’s why we should let her out…”

“No, there are only a few Dummies left.”

Cho-i Hyeon was smiling. In fact, she had already seen Sujeong Kang’s stats before approaching her. While Sujeong Kang was timid, her stats were excellent, better than anyone else’s. Especially, like Cho-i, her attack power was high for a tank, so while it might be difficult against many, dealing with them one by one was no problem.

‘Well, it would be a problem if there were many, but the Dummies don’t attack enough to kill a person anyway.’

Sujeong Kang gritted her teeth, her face full of tears, and swung her greatsword at the three remaining Dummies. Crack, thud! When two Dummies fell and only the last one remained, she felt like her arms and legs were about to burst. But she didn’t back down and raised her greatsword.

“Aaaagh!”

And with a scream, as if squeezing out her last strength, she brought it down with a crunch! All the Dummies disappeared, and the test ended. A transparent blue door opened, and a notification sound announced the end of the test. But Sujeong Kang had no energy left to walk out and was sitting on the floor, panting. Cho-i Hyeon clapped and approached the door.

“You did well, didn’t you?”

“W-what are you doing?!”

“Why?”

“You… you pushed me alone into B-Rank. I… I…”

“So why? You did it, didn’t you?”

“Uh, uhh…”

Sujeong Kang was at a loss for words and stammered for a moment. In reality, she had been hit a lot by the Dummies, but not enough to collapse. Perhaps also because, as a tank, she had a large health pool.

“I… I passed the B-Rank test alone?”

“Yes, why are you so timid when you don’t need to be so scared?”

“B-but I couldn’t do it like this when I was with my classmates…”

“That’s because there was someone to do it for you, so you got scared and backed down. Now that you’re alone, you saw it through to the end. You have some grit, though. I was going to let you out if it really didn’t work out.”

Of course, that was a lie.

“I… I did it.”

“Yes, come out quickly. Let’s heal first.”

Sujeong Kang put away her weapon, pushed herself up from the floor, and somehow managed to get out of the cubicle. This was because she had an anxious feeling that if she whined about not being able to get up, the test would start again, and that anxiety was not unfounded. As Sujeong Kang rushed out, Cho-i Hyeon looked back at Suui Kim. Suui Kim sighed and shook his head. He came down from the platform, approached Cho-i Hyeon, and whispered to her.

“It’s good to instill confidence, but let’s not create another one like you.”

“Ugh, what’s wrong with me?”

“We shouldn’t have any more tanks who try to solve everything on their own like you.”

“Don’t worry, no one else can do what I do anyway.”

“Anyway…”

Suui Kim sighed again, then turned and approached the children who were gathered. He began to point out each of their bad habits and their weaknesses in coordination. Some students were visibly annoyed but didn’t speak, while others listened calmly. Cho-i Hyeon watched them and could guess which students would improve.

Well, I wasn’t one to listen to Suui Kim much either.

Looking back, she had reacted not because of the unpleasantness of having her flaws pointed out, but because old wounds were touched, causing her to lash out. However, it was clear that those who could accept advice from others would develop further.

‘Hmm, so I haven’t developed?’

Cho-i Hyeon trusted Suui Kim. It was because he had followed her all the way when she was dragged away, and she was somewhat touched that he had even entered the hidden dungeon.

“Alright, if everyone’s rested, shall we go to the dungeon?”

“Ah, I’m not fully rested yet.”

Sujeong Kang timidly objected. Cho-i Hyeon looked around and said to the student who was a healer,

“Someone heal her. We’re leaving right away.”

“Yes.”

The children started to follow Cho-i Hyeon with uncertain expressions. This was because Cho-i Hyeon seemed to only focus on Sujeong Kang and showed no interest in the other children. The teacher, Suui Kim, who came as an assistant instructor, was more articulate in pointing out their weaknesses and flaws.

“They say S-Ranks aren’t good at teaching others.”

“Really? But the teacher said they weren’t S-Rank from the beginning.”

“I don’t know either. But the moment you become S-Rank, everything becomes easy, so they wonder why others can’t do it.”

“Well, just looking at how Kang Sujeong was being pushed earlier…”

“Hey! I can hear you all the way over here!”

At that, the chattering children immediately fell silent. They thought if they kept talking, they might have to take the same rank test themselves. Regardless of what they were thinking, Hyeon Cho-i smiled contentedly at the quiet atmosphere.

“Don’t threaten the students.”

“?”

When Cho-i looked at Kim Suui with a look that asked, ‘When did I?’, Kim Suui shook her head, saying it was nothing. Chonghyeon’s most unique feature was that it directly owned several dungeons. Most of the dungeons were C-rank to B-Rank, and they said the A-Rank dungeon used by upperclassmen wouldn’t be used in this practical training.

“We should go to the B-Rank dungeon.”

Hyeon Cho-i led the children to the south of the school. Going south, a huge entrance welcomed them. The school dungeon management team had apparently checked the dungeon’s condition this morning in advance for the practical training.

“So, we’re going straight in?”

“J-Just a moment. Aren’t you going to form teams for us?”

“You all already formed them anyway.”

“C-Can we go in just like that?”

Then, Hyeon Cho-i looked at Cha Yeonggi with a bewildered expression. Cha Yeonggi, receiving that look, spoke cautiously.

“While students can form teams freely, in practical training, teachers usually make changes.”

“Oh, come on, you said they were good kids. They must have done well on their own.”

Hyeon Cho-i’s relaxed remark made the children a little uneasy. But her words were also true. It was literally normal for the teacher to just look over the combinations a bit and only replace about one person.

“However, since we have a total of 21 people, one team needs to have five members. Who wants to be on the same team as Kang Sujeong?”

But no team stepped forward. It would probably not be easy for a team that had already worked together to accept a new member. Cho-i asked Cha Yeonggi.

“How did you usually do it?”

“I just put them into suitable parties. It’s not a high enough grade to need two tanks, after all.”

“Hmm, a party with two tanks…”

Cho-i Hyeon suddenly raised a finger as if an idea had just struck her.

“Can’t we just enter an A-Rank dungeon?”

“Oh, no, you can’t. That’s only for upperclassmen.”

“What year are these kids again?”

“First year. First year.”

Suui Kim quietly informed her from the side. Cho-i Hyeon fell into deep thought with a serious expression. Sujeong Kang had also worked hard in her own way, but if she went in with Cho-i, she wouldn’t be able to do much. So in the end,

“Coca-Cola is delicious. If it’s delicious, I’ll eat it again…”

Ding dong ding dong! Cho-i Hyeon pointed to the party she had just found and said,

“Sujeong, let’s go in there.”

“Yes, yes?”

“You can’t enter a dungeon alone.”

“Of course not!”

“So you have to join somewhere.”

“R-right?”

At that moment, one of the male students in the party raised his hand.

“What if we refuse?”

“Refuse?”

Cho-i Hyeon’s eyes widened as if she had heard a word she had never encountered before in her life.

“You refuse my words?”

“What if we do?”

For some reason, the male student was confident. Cho-i used ‘Inspect’ to view his stats. Ah, his stats weren’t visible. Aha, she realized why the male student was so confident.

“You’re an S-Rank, aren’t you?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Cho-i Hyeon let out a small laugh. Why were all those born S-Rank so annoying? No. Taehyeok Sa was an SS-Rank, so his annoyance was double. So this much could be overlooked as cuteness.

“No, you can’t~”

“Huh?”

The male student asked back, dumbfounded by her firm words. Cho-i Hyeon completely wiped the smile from her face and asked again.

“What’s your name?”

“I’m Honggyeong Kang.”

“Alright. Our student Honggyeong?”

“……”

When Cho-i Hyeon called Honggyeong Kang with an expressionless face, he fell silent. The atmosphere had completely changed. She stared at him for a moment, then smiled again and tilted her head.

“What’s not allowed is not allowed. Don’t be annoying and let’s go, okay?”

Anyway, Cho-i Hyeon was an instructor invited from outside. She had no intention of trying to please the students by watching their reactions like a regular homeroom teacher. The world was coming to an end. Even teachers had to cater to students’ moods. Cho-i shouted at the children who were looking at her.

“Anyway, I’ll be following you all the way, so don’t even think about doing anything weird. Do it right.”

“You’ll follow us all the way?”

“Are you feeling okay?”

“I’ll just be watching from the side anyway. I’ll only step in if it gets dangerous.”

Cho-i Hyeon raised her arm in the air.

“Alright! Team 1, let’s go!”

“Who is Team 1?”

Honggyeong Kang, who had been looking around, asked Cho-i.

“I don’t know who Team 1 is yet, but you’re last.”

When Cho-i Hyeon answered with a bright smile, Honggyeong Kang closed her mouth and lowered her hand. Cho-i first spoke to the party standing on the left.

“You guys go in first. Are you all ready?”

“Yes, yes!”

“Alright, let’s go~”

The first party entered the dungeon with Cho-i Hyeon.