Chapter 59 – Part 1: Vice-Captain of the Corps (4)

[Teach as Vice-Captain]

The morning arrived accompanied by a new notification.

Seol-Hwi went to the building that housed the Hidden Truth command post.

…Are they in here? Secretly, he was a tad nervous. Seol-Hwi was eager to put his teaching to work in a new mission—that would help prepare him for the uncertain future.

<Would you like to wear the mask?>

Once more, Seol-Hwi donned the mask before entering. He didn’t want to reveal himself to her like this.

“You’re late, Vice-Captain!”

“When are we starting?”

“We were waiting.”

“I’ve been looking forward to class.”

Yorim, Jeok Song, Yong Jin, and Seo Ryeong—amazingly, all of them were neatly seated.

[Day 1: Teach the Hidden Truth Squad’s Iconic Demonic Martial Arts <Advanced>]

Time began to speed up, Seol-Hwi was used to happening under certain conditions.

The passage of time was inconsistent. So was Seol-Hwi’s awareness of time passing.

[Day 2: Teach the Hidden Truth Squad’s Iconic Demonic Martial Arts <Advanced>]

[Day 3: Teach the Hidden Truth Squad’s Iconic Demonic Martial Arts <Advanced>]

[…]

…

…

The memories were vivid, but he didn’t realize they’d happened. Time flowed too fast for him to remember.

When time stopped, he was back in his room.

<Monthly results>

[Yorim’s favorability has increased by 4%]

[Jeok Seong’s favorability has increased by 6%]

[Yong Jin’s favorability has increased by 5%]

[Seo Ryeong’s favorability has increased by 10%]

Huh? Seol-Hwi didn’t know what to make of the increase in favorability. He ended up turning to the list on the right.

<Vice-Captain’s Favorability>

1st Member, Yorim: 14% Favorability (Curious)

2nd Member, Jeok Seong: 16% Favorability (Curious)

3rd Member, Yong Jin: 15% Favorability (Curious)

4th Member, Seo Ryeong: 20% Favorability (↑Interested)

Right: the goal is to win their hearts, Seol-Hwi remembered. He wanted to increase their favorability so he could take the command unit on missions. It seemed like they were directly related to his future.

“Well, if I get bored here I’ll do other missions…” There was a lot for him to do, from missions to warrior training.

Seol-Hwi went to bed with such thoughts in his mind.

At the start of the new day, Seol-Hwi stood in front of the door to set his schedule, as usual.

<Please set a schedule for month 10 of year 96.>

▶ Teaching

▷ Take a Mission

▷ Warrior Training

▷ Walk Around

He chose the first option.

▶ Teach as Vice-Captain (Available)

▷ Perform the Captain’s duties (Unavailable)

He chose teaching, but received another prompt.

[Where would you like to go?]

▶ Unit Training Room

▷ Outside of the Black Tortoise Hall

▷ Joint Training Center

▷ Training Building Rooftop

▷ Black Tortoise Garden

A whole five choices.

Seol-Hwi eyed the window. There has to be a reason for this. Nothing in particular was happening at the moment, but he knew there had to be something to it.

First, let’s get out of here. The Unit Training Room sounded like a normal training space, so he wasn’t interested in that.

<Moving to Outside the Black Tortoise Hall.>

Seol-Hwi blinked at the brightly lit scenery. A zelkova tree instantly caught his eye; it was massive and majestic, easily hundreds of years old. However, upon closer inspection, he noticed a person standing near it. The man leaned against the tree, immersed in contemplation, but then he approached Seol-Hwi.

“What is it, vice-captain?”

“Y-You…”

Long chin and sharp eyes—it was Yorim of the command unit.

“I was, uh, just looking around?”

“I see.” Yorim wandered away, his head bowed thoughtfully. It seemed he had no interest in what Seol-Hwi was doing.

“But why are you here?” Seol-Hwi asked.

“I just came for some fresh air.”

“You—”

“I will be heading back first.” Yorim nodded to Seol-Hwi. “I hope for a good lesson.” He walked away. Seol-Hwi noted he was headed for the Black Tortoise Hall.

I guess he’s not responding to me because his favorability is low? Seol-Hwi watched him leave thoughtfully.

In fact, I didn’t learn anything at all. Why send me here? It would be weird if he was here for no reason at all.

Seol-Hwi tilted his head thoughtfully.

[Where would you like to go?]

▶ Unit Training Room

▷ Joint Training Center

▷ Black Tortoise Garden

Eh? The choices were back, like the system had been expecting this. Of course, the option he’d selected was gone1.

One more, then.

<Moving to the Joint Training Room.>

“Ha! Hah!”

His returning vision was accompanied by shouts. Seol-Hwi found that they came from a familiar source.

Jeok Seong… The man’s face was beaded with sweat.

Seol-Hwi recalled Jeok Seong’s inner thoughts. A ‘more exciting mission,’ was it?

Jeok Seong paused for a brief break. He didn’t look surprised to see Seol-Hwi.

“What did you come here for?”

“I was just walking around,” Seol-Hwi casually replied.

“I practice here before lessons.” Jeok Seong turned away. “I need to go get ready for class.”

“Hah. As expected.” Seol-Hwi felt a little bummed about the way his students’ curt manners. It seemed talking to them would be quite difficult.

[Where would you like to go?]

▶ Unit Training Room

▷ Training Building Rooftop

▷ Black Tortoise Garden

Seol-Hwi picked the rooftop this time.

He saw the clear skies stretched out above him and another man peering into the sky.

Yong Jin. The most aggressive one as well as the first to attack Seol-Hwi. He had a gloomy expression.

Dogshit. We always have to clean up after the other units. It seemed he didn’t have a good impression of the Hidden Truth Corps.

“Who is it?” Yong Jin realized someone else was on the roof with him. “Ah, vice-captain?” He saw Seol-Hwi and bowed.

“The weather is nice, isn’t it?”

Seol-Hwi tried initiating the conversation this time. Unlike the others, Yong Jin’s face softened a little.

“Yes.”

“But why are you here? It’s lonely and miserable up here.”

“That’s exactly it, vice-captain.” Yong Jin seemed to have been waiting for him to ask. Then his expression suddenly went stiff.

“Uh, nevermind. I’ll talk to you later.” Yong Jin bowed hastily and left.

Another failure, although I was expecting this.

<Vice-Captain’s Favorability>

1st Member, Yorim: 14% Favorability (Curious)

2nd Member, Jeok Seong: 16% Favorability (Curious)

3rd Member, Yong Jin: 15% Favorability (Curious)

4th Member, Seo Ryeong: 20% Favorability (↑Interested)

Holding a conversation was impossible.

Then, another choice:

[Where would you like to go?]

▶ Unit Training Room

▷ Black Tortoise Garden

Last would be the three-story building where Seo Ryeong was.

“I’m looking forward to this.”

Unlike the others, Seo Ryeong had a higher favorability. Maybe she’d react differently.

Actually, I want to see… Seol-Hwi thought back to the past, to how desperate she seemed to change her fate. Now they were teacher and student, but that was good too.

If only he could meet her face-to-face.

<Moving to the Black Tortoise Garden.>

His eyes turned red.

Seol-Hwi sensed something as soon as his vision brightened. It was some kind of illusion, not reality—and it was serious.

“Is it her?”

“Yeah, that’s the bitch. There’s only one like that in this place.”

Men were approaching Seo Ryeong. Judging from their clothes and demeanor, they weren’t from here. In the first place, no one would act like that here.

“Member Kang, that’s the one. She attacked us first.”

A young man who looked like a subordinate caught his eye. Seeing how Seo Ryeong was looking at them, they seemed to be hostile.

Seol-Hwi examined their clothes and their abilities.

Brown uniforms. They might be leaders. It looked like they belonged to a private unit.

“Idiot. This is what happens if you don’t know what you’re getting into.” Even when surrounded by Hidden Truth leaders, Seo Ryeong’s eyes were sharp. She hadn’t lost her spirit yet.

“Let’s see if you can keep that up. Block this path!”

“Yes, Member Kang.” The messenger vanished.

“Look at you, all scared. Well, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, coming from someone of your level.”

“Watch your mouth. It’s going to die today.”

“Do you know the difference between us? It should have been obvious from the fights.”

“Fighting? Do we really need to fight? Member Kyu will take care of this.”

A man with his arms crossed came into view. He had very memorable features—a huge nose and an angled chin.

“Well, we were going to teach you a lesson either way.” He grabbed his sword off his waist and stepped forwards. That motion seemed to be violently accelerating.

And then it just stopped.

▶ Intervene

▷ Keep watching

▷ Pretend to not see

Strangely, this time Seol-Hwi was not concentrating on the choices. His eyes lied lower, at what came next.

[How would you like to increase favorability?]