Chapter 147 – No. 7 Kang Geom-ma (5)

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Translated by Jinmu

Read only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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‘…That’s all.’

Assistant Manager Han concluded her explanation in a small murmur.

She had said only the main point. Up to the part where, as a first-year, I would receive the right to run in the student council president election and could choose either number 6 or 7 as my candidate number.

Originally, there had also been a fair chance she would casually slip in a scouting offer as well, but….

Assistant Manager Han raised her eyes just slightly. Pale blue hair was reflected on her retinas.

‘That girl.’

A female cadet with blue flames boiling in her eyes. That girl had cut off the Association’s attempt to approach Kang Geom-ma in one stroke.

Had her name been Saki Ryozo? Assistant Manager Han had been uncertain at first, but she realized it belatedly.

Saki. That surname belonged to the House of Absolute Bow. In other words, it proved that she was the daughter of Saki Kojima.

To think she was the daughter of a monster who was both one of the Seven Heroes and the head of Japan. No wonder her first impression had seemed anything but ordinary.

‘If I’d known this would happen, I should’ve just flatly refused from the start, confidentiality agreement or not….’

It was a mistake. But to excuse herself, the thought of speaking to Kang Geom-ma alone had been too terrifying.

He was someone who could instantly kill magical beasts by giving them heart attacks, and I was…?

If our eyes met by accident, wouldn’t it be just squeak and off to the Yellow Springs?

Assistant Manager Han absolutely could not summon the courage to look Kang Geom-ma in the face.

The basics of sales were eye contact with the other party. It was the most basic of basics, something she had heard often enough for her ears to scab over back when she was in the Association training center.

But forget eye contact, those black eyes did not even seem to permit breathing too loudly.

She erased Section Chief Sung’s instruction from her mind, the one telling her to establish as friendly a relationship as possible with Kang Geom-ma.

‘I’m sorry, Section Chief Sung.’

Assistant Manager Han bit her lower lip. If only she had managed to sell things properly to Kang Geom-ma.

It would have been more than enough to cover this year’s results for our Strategic Planning Department. The higher-ups of the Association were watching Kang Geom-ma along with Leon.

But company work was not more important than one’s life, was it? Even the section chief, who was probably being thoroughly chewed out by the headmaster right now, would understand.

‘No, more importantly, how are we even supposed to talk to an unmeasurable cadet!?’

While Assistant Manager Han grumbled faintly inwardly, Kang Geom-ma propped his chin on the table.

He made a slanted expression, as if something did not sit well with him.

“So the reward is running in the student council president election.”

A voice as chilly as a slicing wind drifted through the side room.

Kang Geom-ma tapped the table lightly with his fingernail.

“Is that all?”

“…!”

Assistant Manager Han involuntarily raised her head. What was this? This was running in the president election of Joaquin Academy, the greatest elite academy in the world.

A chance originally available only to second- and third-years, one where even just running would raise the standing of your household.

Yet Kang Geom-ma frowned as if to say, You dragged me through all that trouble for something this trivial?

His gaze said that this sort of honor meant absolutely nothing to him.

It was beyond Assistant Manager Han’s common sense. But then again, who was he?

A genius called the Sashimi Sword Saint. A madman said to tolerate not even the slightest provocation and to reach for a blade at once.

Madmen were, by nature, people with loose screws in their heads. The Association President’s atmosphere was like this too, so she knew it well.

Their systems of thought were different, and the things that made them happy or sad were also different from ordinary people.

So there was no way an ordinary person like Assistant Manager Han could know what part of Kang Geom-ma she had stimulated.

A prickling chill ran down Assistant Manager Han’s spine. Sweat formed on the two hands she had demurely placed on the table.

“I-I’m sorry.”

Even she herself had no idea what exactly she was apologizing for, but her subconscious had chosen apology.

At that moment, Ryozo lightly tapped Kang Geom-ma’s arm.

“Geom-ma, seriously, think about the other side a little too. When you set the mood like that, it really feels like your breathing gets cut off.”

“Ah.”

Kang Geom-ma scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. He seemed to have calmed down. Only then did Ryozo let out a deep sigh of relief.

“And in Korean, you’ve got to hear someone out to the end. Assistant Manager Han still hasn’t finished talking, so if you come out like that, how is she supposed to keep speaking? Right, Assistant Manager Han?”

“Ah, yes, yes.”

With teary eyes, Assistant Manager Han nodded. She collected her ragged breathing. She thought that bringing this lovely girl along had been a divine move.

Ryozo asked in Kang Geom-ma’s place:

“Everything from today’s mock exam onward has been unusual. It feels like there has to be something more besides just running in the president election. Is that right?”

“O-Of course! We’ve agreed that the president elected this time will be issued an access pass to the Association’s Korean branch. In other words, the president of Joaquin Academy will be able to enter and leave the Association freely whenever they wish.”

At those words, light passed through the pupils that had been pitch-black. He had been disappointed by the ridiculous reward of suddenly becoming a presidential candidate, but if it was an access pass to the Association, that was a different story.

Kang Geom-ma said:

“Does that mean I can enter any place within the Association’s Korean branch?”

At his much softened tone, Assistant Manager Han answered at once.

“Any facility except the classified document archive can be used. For example….”

“Does that include the artifact storage vault?”

“Yes, the artifact vault is included in the permissions.”

“I have one more question. Do you happen to have the Monolith at the Association as well?”

“If you mean the Monolith… ah! You mean that rock. Yes, the Monolith is an artifact managed by the Association, and it just so happens to be stored at the Korean branch. Of course, there are conditions. You must be alone, with no accompanying personnel. And physical contact is not allowed.”

“…!”

Hope that had crumbled into ashes rose once more in Kang Geom-ma’s eyes. Meanwhile, Assistant Manager Han muttered:

“Though with that Monolith, if you see it in person, you’ll be terribly disappointed… We call it an artifact, but in reality…”

“That doesn’t matter.”

For him, that was enough. If he could obtain the system’s next objective, the reward for the second fragment of 【???】 would be secured.

Even the effort he had spent in this mock exam would no longer be him getting played for a fool, but would turn into a clear gain.

Still, it was not something he had completely seized yet. The main event remained two weeks from now.

And on top of that, it would surely be different from all the previous times, when he had simply crushed things through force.

To reign at the top of the cadets, what would be required was not brute force, but strategy, information, and cunning.

Kang Geom-ma quietly looked at Ryozo’s face. She tilted her head.

Kang Geom-ma’s gaze shifted to Assistant Manager Han. Wearing a face full of conviction, he said:

“I’ll run as number 7.”

* * *

…An hour later, Section Chief Sung returned to the department like a Buddha.

With a face worn down by fatigue, he slumped back into his chair. Assistant Manager Han, who had come up quietly, handed him a could of coffee.

“You worked hard, Section Chief. Drink this and hang in there.”

“Don’t you have any coffee from outside instead of this? I’m really not a fan of sweet canned coffee.”

“I went down to the cafe on the first floor earlier, but an Americano was nearly 20,000 won. If we think about the budget allocation, we’ll have to live on canned coffee while we’re here.”

“For a place only rich people attend, the prices really are something….”

Clicking his tongue, Section Chief Sung popped open the could.

“What happened with the Sashimi Sword Saint?”

In this line of work, Kang Geom-ma was known as the Sashimi Sword Saint. The phrasing sat nicely in the mouth.

At Section Chief Sung’s question, Assistant Manager Han rubbed her still trembling shoulders.

“Don’t even ask. I seriously thought I was going to die, you know? The way he was staring, the whole atmosphere was just…!”

“How did the pitch go? Did he seem at all interested in the Hero Association?”

“That’s the part that’s a little ambiguous.”

Assistant Manager Han poked her cheek with her index finger. A shallow dimple formed on the left side. She organized the conversation she had had with Kang Geom-ma and reported it.

“At first, he seemed to dislike it. But once he heard he’d get an Association access pass, he changed completely. He got really proactive? His eyes even started sparkling. Especially, he seemed very interested in the Monolith.”

The canned coffee that had been on its way to his lips stopped.

“The Monolith? That rock? Why?”

“Who knows? Honestly, I didn’t feel like I could ask any more. Ugh… even thinking about it now, he was really too scary. By the way, did things go well with the headmaster? You were called in because cadets fainted during the mock exam, right?”

“…Well, that’s part of it. But it seems like some sort of problem may happen with the Gehenna Gate.”

The Gehenna Gate. It was the passage connecting the demonic realm Gehenna to the human world.

“Huh? Nothing has happened for seven hundred years, so all of a sudden?”

“The headmaster said she sensed an anomaly with the [Blessing of the Poet]. That’s why she called me, to make a request for an investigation to the Hero Association. Of course, I also got chewed out thoroughly.”

“…Nothing will happen, right? I mean, it really, really shouldn’t, but if by some chance the gate were breached….”

“……”

As though trying to shake off his tangled thoughts, Section Chief Sung waved the could a few times. Then he drained the last sip.

“Ugh, this tastes like crap, I can’t do this. Assistant Manager Han, tell the others we’ll leave work early today and have a company dinner. We risked our lives working today, so we deserve a reward too. Since we’ve come all the way to Wonju, let’s go eat Korean beef.”

“Oh! Me-at! Are you paying, Section Chief?!”

“Like I have that kind of money.”

Smiling, Section Chief Sung slipped a card between his index and middle finger. Its color held a golden sheen and shone brilliantly. Assistant Manager Han flinched back at the radiant light.

“Th-That is!”

“The corporate card.”

* * *

The hallway leading back to my room.

As I walked slowly, I reviewed today’s results.

‘Running for student council president.’

It was the sort of event that rendered laughable the mindset I had had only a few months ago, when I wanted to hide and live quietly. It was not that I regretted things now. I just felt a little empty somehow.

‘Candidate number 7.’

The choices had been 6 and 7. When I chose the latter, Ryozo had tried to stop me.

She said that if I was going to do it anyway, the closer the number was to 1, the better. As the daughter of Japan’s lifelong prime minister, she apparently knew this kind of thing inside out.

But I chose number 7. Seven was the sort of number that brought luck.

‘Leon naturally became candidate number 6.’

Without intending it, I had ended up in a situation where I would clash head-on with Leon. But thinking about it again, could I really beat him?

If it was just clashing with swords, I was confident, but an election, well….

In the original story, once Leon became a second-year, he took the presidency without much difficulty.

He was handsome, had a good personality, and was strong. And above all, he was the protagonist. In every respect, he was on a completely different level.

And it wasn’t just him. The upper-year candidates would surely be formidable as well. The faces that immediately came to mind all belonged to people with solid foundations.

‘Will the current president run again too?’

Whoever it was, as seniors, they would know the hearts of Joaquin Academy’s cadets well.

By contrast, my footing was extremely weak. Wolf Class, below average. The tag of being a special-admissions student, treated as lowly. It was like running with sandbags hanging all over me.

Even so, I had a chance of winning. Ryozo and Weapon. Two sharp people were my allies. We even had experience all working together to run the kimchi-jjigae booth during the festival.

It was a bit of a hassle, but this was the only way to gain access to the Monolith. I couldn’t exactly raid the Association with a sashimi knife in hand.

‘I should talk more with the club members.’

…A little later, when I got near my room.

“Huh?”

There was a box sitting by itself in front of the door. When I approached and looked, the sender’s name was written among all the stickers plastered over it.

=Byullant=

“He said it would take a week, but I guess he finished in three days.”

The moment I stepped into the room, I cut through the packing tape first. Buried under bubble wrap was a keenly murderous form.

It was my beloved armament, Murasame. Even though it had only been three days, my lips curled at the affectionate feeling. I immediately drew the blade.

Shrring.

The blade let out a seductive cry. In the room, where I hadn’t even turned on the light, Murasame scattered light all on its own.

The handle, the finishing, the polish, all of it was hard to find fault with. It was Byullant’s masterpiece.

At that moment, a status window appeared in my vision.

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[Murasame (叢雨)]

Type: Sashimi

Description: A sword once called the blade that held the dew. (……)

Specifications: 「Blade length – (35▶36) cm」, 「Width – 6 cm」

Traits: 「Destructive Power – (C▶B)」, 「Range – E」, 「Hardness – (C▶B)」, 「Growth Potential – (A▶S)」

Grade: (D▶B-) rank

[NEW! A new function has been added.] ◀ (Unlock by touching.)

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Its abilities had risen evenly across the board overall. The rank had even climbed by about two whole steps.

‘Byullant, that old man must have really gritted his teeth over this.’

I smiled briefly and lowered my gaze. Even if the enhanced stats were encouraging, the main point was the line below.

I licked my lips and tapped the sentence at the very bottom.

Flash!

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1) 〈Power of the Underworld King〉

The King of the Dead who rules the underworld.

You borrow a part of the power that came after death.

◈ Abilities and Conditions

: Within five minutes, you would be able to command (1) of the entities cut down with this weapon.

: Through proficiency and additional strengthening, you could increase the number of entities.

: The entities you could command were not divided by category.

: However, the effect did not continue permanently, and was limited to ten minutes.

[※ By fulfilling a certain condition, you have attained the special title 《Underworld King》.]

2) [ ――(empty)―― ]

3) [ ――(empty)―― ]

※ Special abilities could only be granted through a *mana stone*, and activate arbitrarily.