Chapter 42: Anti-demon War Simulation (4) (1/2)

“Oi you guys. Come here for a bit.”

Soujiro and Kim Ji-in, who had been glancing around until that point, came up and crouched down before Yeorum. That room had a relatively wet layer of dirt on the ground, and Yeorum started drawing something on the floor.

The two of them opened their eyes wide. All the rooms and corridors that their team had visited were simplified onto a map. Since it had been twenty hours or so from the start of the simulation, the number of rooms and corridors also numbered in hundreds. Despite that, Yeorum calmly continued drawing on.

Not knowing the outstanding memory of a dragon, they were baffled staring at the map being drawn realtime.

“In my opinion, the first, the third and the fourth teams are leaving records for each other.”

“Leaving records for each other?”

“Yeah. On the rooms they visit, they write, ‘We had been here, and will head in this direction’. They leave such marks down.”

“How?”

“If you can’t see the obvious, then just listen with your mouth shut.”

“…”

Hearing her words, the two of them closed their mouths. They no longer seemed displeased by Yeorum’s bad mouth and seemed to be ignoring it.

Meanwhile, Yeorum drew three circles inside the large dungeon, showing their paths.

“I think the three teams are moving like this.”

“So that their paths don’t meet?”

“Yeah.”

Kim Ji-in complained in frustration.

“Actually, I heard their society’s seniors giving them advice. They said the professor of combat experience had participated in the Great War and that he was a bit more lax with the rules…”

“Huk. Really…?”

“Yeah. But to think they would use it like this…”

“Haa, that…”

Turning to Yeorum, Soujiro carefully asked.

“Then what should we do? S, should we pay them back?”

“What?”

“Like, if we use their travel path to our advantage, wouldn’t we be able to catch them unguarded? I, I think we are a bit strong now…”

Yeorum snorted in response.

“Are you retarded?”

“N, nn?”

“Did you get slapped by them before? Why would you bother paying them back? While throwing away a good opportunity like this.”

“What?”

“They are all in the top ranks. If we meet them, whatever the outcome, the fight will take longer and we will definitely lose HP so why would we fight them like an idiot?”

“Then? What do you think?”

Letting out a laugh, “Kekek”, Yeorum drew a small circle in the middle of the circles.

“The good things should be shared.”

As if he had been shocked by the cultural difference, Soujiro turned blank while Kim Ji-in shook her head speechlessly.

If they followed Yeorum’s suggestion, they would indeed escape from the pathways of other top-ranked teams. In other words, they would be riding on the connection of other teams without them realising it.

“…You are more shrewd than I thought. I thought you were just someone with a bad personality.”

“What can be used, should be used.”

After finishing her words, Yeorum stared at Yu Jitae. She then mumbled, “Hnn? Nn?” like she was asking a question.

What.

“How is it.”

“How is what.”

“I mean, is my decision correct… well, you probably know more than me when it comes to these things,” she said.

Yu Jitae returned a nod. Useless pride in places where lives could be threatened was a quick road to death and Yeorum’s decision was appropriate for survival.

When Yu Jitae gave his acknowledgement, Yeorum replied while turning her body slightly away, as if it had been a trivial question.

“I was just asking. I knew it was a good call.”

She then fidgeted with the hand holding the weapon.

He now had a rough gist.

Yeorum tended to do that when she was in a good mood.

***

After that, the 50th Team followed down the new pathway they thought of and ambushed every team they met. Even then, their rank did not go up from second place.

When they opened up a detailed version of the given data, it was evident that their score difference with the first team wasn’t even that much and for Yeorum, this was a source of frustration.

She could see people that tried to rest from exhaustion in a time like this, and Yeorum felt no need to encourage them.

“Get up you pigs! Don’t you see that we are still in second place?”

“Uahhh…!”

Although they were both superhumans, they couldn’t follow Yeorum’s stamina no matter what. It was already nearing the nighttime of the second day. They had an intensive schedule for almost 40 hours, without a proper sleep or meal, which made even the superhuman cadets tired.

“L, let’s catch our breath for a bit…”

“I feel like dying…”

Yeorum shouted.

“Bullshit. Who said we will rest? Even during our break time, other teams will push forward.”

“S, second place is already a good result…”

“I!”

When she bellowed yet again, the loosened gazes of the two gathered onto Yeorum.

“I would rather die than lose to an opponent I can beat. If it was an opponent I gave up on, or a given-up lesson of a given-up subject, that might be alright. You all participated with the thought of trying your best and if we fall back now…”

Her expression crumpled into a scowl like a devil.

“Hey, you pig!”

“Eht, me?!”

“I think I remember you saying with your own mouth on the first day, that you will try your best and wouldn’t cause any trouble? Right now, you are causing me trouble – what’s your opinion on that?”

“T, that’s… but right now it’s too exhausting…”

“Ahh, I see. So regardless of whether it will cause trouble to someone else or not, you can take your own words back and lie down on the spot when you’re tired, huh?”

“T, that’s not it but…”

“Why would you guys become leftovers until the very end without being chosen by others? Both of you can fight decently and yet why are you being treated like trash? Maybe it’s because of times like this where you sit for a rest despite being able to get up and move? Have you ever thought about it like that?”