“Hey! Nam-jin! Are you okay? You ate a monster!”
Geum Tae-seong ran to me and checked my pupils and snapped his fingers to see if I was conscious. I was fine.
My solar plexus felt tight, like I had indigestion, but it was bearable.
Twitch- Twitch-
The problem was that Inging-i wasn’t staying still in my stomach and kept moving around.
I felt like I was going to throw up, but I had to suppress it somehow.
“I’m, ugh, fine!”
“My friend! Well done! The 2 million reward points are ours! Two successful monster hunts in a row during practice! This is a first for our D-Class!”
Chang-sik was overjoyed, while Yoo Yeo-reum and her team members seemed quite disappointed that they had been robbed of the credit for the monster hunt, and they couldn't seem to leave easily.
Beep-
At that moment, the smartwatches on our wrists beeped, signaling the end of the practice. Now, if we just found the “Exit” marked on the map, the practice would be over.
“We won't lose next time.”
Yoo Yeo-reum muttered curtly and disappeared into the distance with her team members.
I also felt it would be best to escape this place quickly to calm my churning stomach, so I started walking.
“The nearest exit seems to be in the building where we started. Let's go there.”
Finding the exit wasn't difficult since we just had to retrace our steps, but a small problem occurred. We ran into some annoying guys right in front of the exit.
“You bastard! Ha Nam-jin!”
He was a skinny, annoying-looking guy.
What was his name again?
“Sa Ma-gui, was it?”
“It’s Sa Ma-jun!”
Right, that was the name.
The delinquent guy we met in Seo Ga-eul's party.
Wang Ja-hyun's lackey? Yeah, that’s a good way to describe him.
Where is Wang Ja-hyun? No, that’s not important right now.
Of all times for Inging-i to rampage in my stomach, it had to be when I ran into these guys. Was my Bangdeng-i’s “Misfortune” at work?
I looked at the “Door” installed next to them.
If I went through there, I could go back to school.
But Sa Ma-jun, thinking this was his chance, started acting up.
“We've taken over this Door, you know? If you want to leave, use another one. Of course, it'll take you more than 10 minutes to walk to another Door! If you don't like it, fight us.”
Make me walk 10 minutes when the exit is right in front of me? This was blatant harassment.
He clearly hadn't forgotten what happened last time.
How unmanly. I should've crushed his marbles and turned him into a girl last time.
No, I thought it would be a good idea to solidify this mantis-like guy's gender identity right now, when Baek Yeo-ul shouted.
“...W-We won't just stand by if you want to fight! I'll curse you! The curse of misfortune! ...I-I don't know what will happen! I warned you!”
The curse of misfortune?
Could Bangdeng-i do that too? Bangdeng-i looked at Deok-sun and said in a small voice.
“Deok-sun! Remember the plan we talked about at Chang-sik's house yesterday! I think it's time to use it! Erase the surrounding sounds when I shout!”
“...A-Are you serious...? And I'm Deok-hee, not Deok-sun-i...”
It seemed like Bangdeng-i and Deok-sun had a pre-arranged plan. What were they going to do? I was getting more nervous. Tada- Bangdeng-i ran towards the F-Class students.
The F-Class students burst into laughter.
“Baek Yeo-ul? What are you going to do, you can’t even control your ability properly? I'm Sa Ma-jun! Sa Ma-jun of the 「Torch Lighter」! Even if I just blow─.”
“Deok-sun, now!”
Baek Yeo-ul shouted.
Soon, Deok-sun, with an air of 'whatever, I don't care', started to dance randomly. With that, the noise around us was completely erased.
Complete silence.
We could see Baek Yeo-ul, loudly shouting with her mouth open, and the dumbfounded expressions of Sa Ma-jun's F-Class members.
About 20 seconds passed, and Deok-sun's dance ended.
Huff, huff- Deok-sun was catching her breath when the F-Class guys shouted.
“A letter that started in 20th century England? If you don't send the letter to 7 people, misfortune will befall you? What kind of ridiculous prank are you pulling!”
“I thought you were going to do something amazing!”
What exactly happened?
After catching her breath, Deok-sun explained in a small voice.
“Yeo-ul recited a chain letter. A letter saying that if you don’t send the same content to 7 people, you’ll have a really unlucky day...verbally...so only they could hear it.”
In other words, when Deok-sun created a silent barrier around us, Baek Yeo-ul recited the ‘chain letter’ so only they could hear it.
Would that really work? Deok-sun also shook her head, saying, “Honestly, I'm not sure about the effects either...”
However, Bangdeng-i was filled with confidence.
“You guys are going to be unlucky for the next few days! The only way to fix this is to send the letter I told you about to other people! I warned you!”
Now that I looked, Baek Yeo-ul’s eyes were half-crazed. Like she was high on something. Was it the pink hair dye after all?
“Fuck, I can’t play along with this anymore.”
Sa Ma-jun seemed to have given up on playing along with this bizarre scene.
Flare-
Flames erupted from his palm.
Was Sa Ma-jun an ignition ability user? No wonder he was so annoying.
“...W-What should we do?”
“My friend! This is a crisis!”
Deok-sun and Chang-sik were useless in a fight.
“You guys! I warned you! It'd be better to write the letter now!”
─Right now, Bangdeng-i is out of her mind.
I guess I’ll have to step in─I was thinking that when...
“Nam-jin, you rest. You're not in good shape after fighting Yoo Yeo-reum.”
Thud- Thud- Geum Tae-seong stepped forward.
Sa Ma-jun’s face, which had been relaxed until now, became slightly tense.
“Geum Tae-seong, I heard you weren’t going to fight anymore?”
“I didn’t hear anything like that.”
Geum Tae-seong lightly tripped Sa Ma-jun.
“Whoa!”
Tripped by Geum Tae-seong's unexpected move, Sa Ma-jun fell to the ground. Unfortunately, there was a protruding stone on the ground, and his head hit it.
“Uwaaagh!”
Sa Ma-jun foamed at the mouth, his eyes rolling back.
“Ma-jun!”
“You bastard!”
His companions were about to jump on Geum Tae-seong for revenge, but the ball of fire in Sa Ma-jun's hand caused trouble.
Flare-! Boom-!
“Kyaak!”
“Yiaaak!”
Sa Ma-jun and his companions were caught in the flames they had created and were blown away.
What unlucky bastards.
“See! What did I say! I told you you’d be unlucky! Ta-da!”
Did the ‘chain letter’ Bangdeng-i mentioned actually work?
Honestly, even I was starting to wonder.
# # #
“The first place in this practice goes to 「No Leftovers Day」. I never thought I’d see students from my D-Class successfully hunt monsters consecutively. Ha Nam-jin, what kind of magic did you use?”
“It wasn’t magic, it was skill. Actually, it’s thanks to my outstanding leadership, but saying that would sound a little immodest, so I'll give the credit to all my team members.”
I rubbed the bridge of my nose with my finger, feigning embarrassment.
Everyone clapped for us for getting first place, which felt really good.
Is this popularity? I understand why everyone dreams of being a celebrity.
Hmph-. Teacher Puppy, who had been watching me with disapproval, scoffed beside me.
“You were just lucky. You had good teammates.”
Teacher Puppy went up to Geum Tae-seong and stroked his arm, making a flirtatious sound with her nose.
“Tae-seong, wouldn’t you like to come to F-Class? With my recommendation and your grades, you could adapt well to F-Class.”
Our team leader was me, but for some reason, Teacher Puppy was more interested in Geum Tae-seong. However, Geum Tae-seong just shrugged as if he wasn't interested.
“I like D-Class.”
“You're good at fighting, too. Only four people have lasted more than a minute against Yeo-reum-i in sparring. You’re one of them. Although you’re a problem child, I recognize your skills and I’m making a special exception to accept you.”
Narrow-
Teacher Puppy narrowed her eyes and looked at Geum Tae-seong. She looked like a predator in the marriage market, trying to snag a good younger man.
However, Geum Tae-seong was not easily swayed.
“I don’t fight anymore. Besides, Teacher, don’t you have something to say to Nam-jin?”
Right, Teacher Puppy should have something to do with me, not Geum Tae-seong.
I approached the teacher and puckered my lips like an octopus.
“...W-What are you doing?”
“You promised to kiss me. A kiss.”
“...You smell! You reek like a sewer! And you want to kiss me with the mouth that just ate a monster? No way! At least go brush your teeth!”
“Teacher, are you going back on your word? A teacher who educates Awakened individuals! What will the students who see that think if you go back on your word!”
“Grrr!”
Teacher Puppy’s face turned bright red, and she even snorted. She must be embarrassed because she likes kissing me so much. Women are so dishonest.
In times like these, a man like me should take the lead, even if I’m younger, right?
I wrapped my arm around the teacher's waist and kissed her.
“Oh!”
Teacher Puppy seemed surprised by the sudden action. She then rubbed her lips with her hand and sputtered in frustration.
“That was my first kiss!”
I didn’t care. I raised both hands in the air like a victor holding up a trophy.
“I’m number one! Hooray for D-Class! Hooray for D-Class independence!”
“Woohoo!”
“Woohoo! But what independence?”
“Hooray for D-Class!”
The D-Class kids started clapping.
Of course, there were some who were sad.
Mostly the boys from F-Class.
“Our Moon Teacher’s first kiss was with that guy...”
“Ma-jun, cheer up. It was just a peck. Not even a real kiss.”
“Shut up!”
Good, good.
I was the main character today as well.
Rumble-
My stomach suddenly churned violently.
“Excuse me, just a moment. I need to use the restroom.”
I quickly got off the podium on the playground and headed towards the back of the nearby auditorium. And with the determination to vomit everything in my stomach, I opened my mouth wide!
“Blech!”
━Kyu-ing.
The only thing that came out of my stomach was Inging-i.
The blue slime, Inging-i.
Seeing him, the tightness in my solar plexus, which had felt like indigestion, disappeared instantly, and I felt better.
“Inging-i! Nice to see you! I’m so lucky!”
Why am I lucky? Because with Inging-i, I can use the 「Eyes」 Concept Stone and the 「Eyes」 Concept Stone that I obtained after defeating the monster before!
Let's do it right now!
Clatter-. I took the Concept Stones out of my pocket and held them out to Inging-i.
Inging-i, still wary of me after being eaten, sensed something from the Concept Stones and slowly climbed onto my palm.
━Kyu-ing.
And he ate the Concept Stones!
Squirm- Squirm-
After Inging-i squirmed on my palm for a while, he finally spat out a small, round marble. As if spitting out useless nutrients.
“The 「Eyes」 and 「Nose」 didn’t suit you, Inging-i? Well, I guess a slime wouldn’t need eyes or a nose.”
━Kyu-ing.
When monsters ingest 「Concept Stones」, they absorb only the concepts they need and spit out the unnecessary concepts after extracting some nutrients.
Here, nutrients mean toxins that are beneficial to monsters but harmful to humans. In other words, the marble Inging-i spat out was a 「Concept Stone」 free of toxins.
Moreover, it’s a Fusion Concept Stone, fusing the concepts of 「Eyes」 and 「Nose」.
I could’ve gotten at least 1,000 bottle caps for this at the ‘market’.
With that money, I could’ve lived in a safe shelter for a few weeks, eating clean food and drinking clean water. It was a very high price.
But there’s no market to sell this to now.
Then, what should I do?
Should I eat it?
Or should I give it to Seo Ga-eul to strengthen her?