Chapter 16: The Death Game’s Unruly Partner

Chapter 16

As I called out Yoon Geon-woo’s name, I felt his cerulean gaze slowly turn toward me.

I approached him with a warm smile, yet his demeanor remained as cold as ever. Well, it couldn’t be helped. Though I still felt a tremor of nervousness and a knot of worry, my focus now had to be entirely on the practical exercise before me.

Following the Esper teacher’s booming announcement of the Death Game’s commencement, the doors of the training ground slowly began to seal shut.

“Let’s do well today.”

“…”

“Don’t worry, I won’t be a nuisance.”

Beside me, Yoon Geon-woo offered no discernible reaction to my chatter. Yet, for some reason, I had a good feeling about it. With an S-rank like Yoon Geon-woo’s physical prowess combined with my marksmanship, I believed we could even aim for first place.

Of course, I shouldn’t have taken his seemingly docile attitude at face value back then.

With the inflated dream of winning first place in the practical, the class began, and it wasn’t long before I found myself…

“Yoon Geon-woo, are you absolutely insane?!”

…spewing out a torrent of curses I wouldn’t normally utter, all because of that bastard.

Just moments before, on the cusp of the practical’s start, the teachers had announced that the first team eliminated within the 60-minute time limit would incur demerits and penalties, while the last team standing would receive a special reward. Naturally, this reward was something that would make any Esper or Guide attending SAA absolutely covet it.

Specifically, it was an artifact under central management. Though shrouded in black cloth, preventing us from discerning its exact function, the description that it would greatly aid in future shooting classes immediately piqued my interest.

Thump—

Following the heavy thud of something being set down, a massive object came into view. Ahead of the main Death Game, Han Seon-ho and the Esper class president, along with a few others who had been bustling about during the break, brought in a colossal spherical device.

At first glance, it resembled a giant concert spotlight, but in reality, it was a rare artifact capable of generating virtual gates. Its size, far exceeding what I knew of such devices, suggested it wasn’t an SAA possession but rather an item leased from the central authority.

After several stages of installation by the teachers, the gate artifact was perfectly set up, conjuring stone ruins resembling a shattered temple within the vast, empty space.

Its grandeur elicited gasps of awe from all around, and even I, with my previous Death Game experience, couldn’t help but be impressed. The training ground before me was incomparably more intricate and sprawling than any virtual gate I had experienced before my regression. Given that a high-ranking central pair was serving as a teacher, it made sense that such expensive items would be provided on loan.

“Alright, then, let the first Death Game begin!”

With the Esper teacher’s cry, the colossal timer suspended from the ceiling began to tick down. In this transformed space, now resembling a massive movie set, each team began to move, seeking their respective hiding places. Since the practical was being conducted in an organized space under the guidance of capable teachers, I wasn’t overly concerned.

Thus, having overlooked the fact that incidents always occur in unexpected places, I was now squarely facing the consequences of my carelessness.

Bang—

Crasssh—

Amidst the roar of collapsing boulders, the screams of eliminated participants intertwined.

Wasn’t the very name of the practical ‘Death Game’? It was a survival format where everyone was an enemy, and I myself was a target, so I anticipated a great commotion. But I never expected it to take *this* direction.

“Someone stop that bastard!”

“Did he take drugs or something?”

“What the hell… this isn’t a shooting class!”

Barely ten minutes into the Death Game, two-thirds of the participants had been eliminated. Gasps of horror resounded in my ears from all around.

Through the pandemonium, I spotted Yoon Geon-woo’s silhouette shamelessly moving away after causing such a massive incident.

“Yoon Geon-woo, stop right there!”

Like those enraged at him, I, too, was on the verge of exploding. I’d endured enough; I couldn’t believe such a person existed. I glared at the back of Yoon Geon-woo’s head and shouted.

“You… you… aren’t you going to come back right now?”

He must have heard my calls, yet Yoon Geon-woo, like an unruly colt, leisurely headed elsewhere. At this rate, instead of seeking out a rampaging Esper, I felt I might be the one to go berserk first.

“That lunatic… Hey!”

Huffing with indignation, I followed close behind Yoon Geon-woo with urgent steps.

It had only been a few tens of minutes since I’d pretended to be friendly to make a good impression on Yoon Geon-woo, so why was I now spewing such harsh words? The reason was simple: that bastard was currently pulverizing Espers and Guides with a gun right in the middle of the Death Game battlefield. Literally ‘pulverizing’ them.

Not by aiming and shooting, but by swinging the taser gun like a blunt weapon!

While the rule limited weapons in the Death Game to taser guns, there was no explicit stipulation that one *had* to aim and hit the target with a shot. Yet, logically speaking, who in their right mind would wield a shooting practice gun in such a manner?

I had anticipated that physically enhanced Espers wouldn’t be able to endure the suffocating psychological warfare and would eventually break out. However, if that idiot was *my* pair, that was an entirely different story.

While I hadn’t moved with any specific plan myself, this bastard, acting completely on his own without a single word of consultation in a team-based class, was utterly uncontrollable.

‘Yoon Geon-woo, that blockhead. I shouldn’t have said anything to Park Hyeon-seo…’

Even as I regretted it, Yoon Geon-woo continued to swing his taser gun relentlessly. Each time, a terrifying sound of air being rent apart echoed. It made me wonder if a direct hit from that would split someone’s skull open.

Moreover, with his astonishing dynamic vision, Yoon Geon-woo was fending off a hail of bullets aimed at him, dodging them perfectly. Had he perhaps trained his body to death due to the ban on using his abilities? That sudden suspicion solidified into conviction when Yoon Geon-woo, with a swift strike of his taser gun, sent the burly Martial Arts Esper who had previously asked me to be his team member flying far away.

To see a man built like a giant rock sent hurtling with such force, as if he were nothing more than a scrap of old paper, left me utterly speechless.

‘What are you doing? Just standing there dumbfounded.’

Yoon Geon-woo’s lips, as our eyes briefly met, unmistakably formed those words. He gestured with his head towards the location of the Esper’s pair whom he had just felled. The lone remaining Guide, seemingly terrified by Yoon Geon-woo’s overwhelming presence, was trembling uncontrollably.

‘You handle this.’

Yoon Geon-woo’s impassive face seemed to convey the message: prove your usefulness if you don’t want to be abandoned.

“Damn it… That lunatic. Instead of protecting me, he keeps making me do things like this…”

I wondered if boasting about my excellent shooting skills had somehow led to this predicament. But no matter how unfairly I felt treated, what could I do when a teammate was rampaging so wildly? I had no choice but to aim for the heart of a fellow Guide from my class.

Thwack—

With a crisp, piercing sound, the Guide’s body, having taken a direct hit from the monster-hunting taser gun, slumped weakly. Even though they were wearing protective gear for the Death Game, the powerful shock from being hit by the gun wasn’t entirely negated.

‘Still… sending them off in one go would probably hurt less…’

Even among vital points, aiming for the heart rather than the head felt, somehow, a bit more courteous. It was just my own thought, but believing I had maintained a certain level of propriety, I silently wished the eliminated Guide peace.

Beep—

Beep—

As a red light illuminated the face of the recently eliminated team, I counted the remaining students displayed on the training ground’s ceiling.

‘Only four teams left, I suppose.’

Four teams remained: Yoon Geon-woo and I, and for some reason, Park Hyeon-seo and his team’s Esper, who were still alive.

When the area was crowded with many people, we were just frantically running, clashing, and fighting… but now, with only a few remaining, each hiding in their secret spots, a different kind of tension seemed to permeate the air. Having followed Yoon Geon-woo and fired successive shots, my hands were now thoroughly sweaty and sticky. I had been gripping the taser so tightly that my hand felt a tingling cramp, signaling a dire need to catch my breath.

“Haa… What in the world is this hardship?”

Come to think of it, the taser gun, which I hadn’t held in a while, felt remarkably heavy. As I scanned my surroundings cautiously, feeling strain in my wrist, I lowered the barrel of the gun for just a moment—and that was precisely when it happened.

Click—

With a heavy click from behind me, something cold pressed against my lower back. The suffocating tension left me no time to even turn my head.

‘Someone’s behind me.’

Even Yoon Geon-woo, who had been standing at a distance, now stared at me with a startled expression. He was looking at my pathetic self, taken hostage and on the verge of elimination.

Thwack—

At the sound of the trigger being pulled, I closed my eyes without much regret. Still, I’d held out well enough. It was a shame to miss out on the first-place reward, but I figured it was fine since I wasn’t last.

“No!”

In that instant, along with Yoon Geon-woo’s urgent cry, akin to a beast’s roar, a fierce surge of heat erupted, threatening to crush my entire body. From deep within, the metallic taste of blood surged, threatening to spill from my mouth.

“Gah… Ugh… Why… is this happening…”

The injured area felt as though it were being torn into a thousand shreds. Apart from the intense pain, it was difficult to comprehend what was happening to me.

“Sogum, no!”

The ringing in my ears, disorienting my mind, mingled with Yoon Geon-woo’s desperate cries of my name, fading into the distance.

‘You bastard… You know my name perfectly well.’

A strange sensation, as if my entire body was boiling, surged through me. That power I had first felt at the graduation ceremony. That inexplicable energy began to envelop my body.

Simultaneously, a single question arose.

‘Was that day truly the first time I had regressed?’

My once bright vision seemed to flicker—blinking in and out. Even as I lost consciousness, Yoon Geon-woo’s lingering image remained in my mind, stirring a ticklish sensation within me. My eyelids, heavy as a thousand pounds, slowly descended. Yet, somehow, I felt that even this time, I would never be able to forget the cerulean gaze I had met with his.

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