Chapter 86 – Promotion Match (1)

It was a month later that Ichie met the stat restrictions. By this time, quite a few students were smiling, saying that they had reached the stat limit and would soon be given a D grade. There were quite a few cases where he grew rapidly by fighting strong enemies within the gate, and there were also cases where his basic stats were as high as Kim Joo-sung.

“Be strong now. Look at this. Muscle,”

Ichie showed off his muscles like a bodybuilder would. Her arms, with small muscles firmly embedded, showed off her curves in an attractive way. I poked her arm once and said.

“It’s awesome. Reason.”

When I complimented her, Ichie shrugged her shoulders and gave off a pleasant smile. Senior Yu-jeong clapped her hands congratulating her on achieving her goal.

The camp training was just like when the Rookie of the Year started. We packed daily necessities to take to the training ground and listened to simple tips from senior Yoo-jeong. Senior Yoo-jeong said that the name camp training sounds grandiose, but in reality it is more like experiential learning or retreat than training, she explained.

“Retreat? What is the retreat?”

“It’s a vicious custom of being taken to a Marine Corps camp or something. It’s awful.”

After hearing my explanation, Senior Yoo-jeong was startled and said,

“Oh, really? It used to be like that.”

I became depressed after hearing Yoo-jung’s words. Ichie patted me on the back and said to senior Yoojung.

“Yoojung unnie is not good. It’s bad if you make fun of your age.”

“No…”

Yu-jeong looked at Ichie with a puzzled look, and she hugged Ichie even tighter. Senior Yoo-jeong didn’t know what to do, but she ended it like this.

“Anyway, good luck with your exam. It’s a pity that I can’t go with you.”

“What? Yoojung’s older sister Aren’t you going to watch?”

Ichie asked. I also looked at her senior with a slightly surprised face. She was a bit disappointed that senior Yoo-jung didn’t go with her. Senior Yu-jeong nodded her head and said.

“Mentors don’t usually observe together. It seems like it’s burdening me for nothing, so that’s why. In fact, during training, there is nothing I can do for you, so I go to my work. This time, I also have a schedule for the gate exploration team.”

“That’s too bad.”

“Call me when you’re done. How can I go when the time is right? Let’s eat together.”

Ichie interjected, she said.

“And we do events.”

“Event?”

At the word event, all kinds of imagination came to mind. When I made a mysterious expression, Yoo-jeong hurriedly ended the conversation.

“Ah, think about the menu to eat. Because I can buy expensive things.”

At that, Ichie said he wanted to eat chicken stir-fried soup. Her heart tightened at the thought of taking the test. She seemed to have to tell the Almighty Emperor that there was no need to beat her heart to encourage her.

**********

[Good luck with the test. Contact me when you’re done.]

I took a look at senior Yoojung’s text message and held Ichie’s hand tightly. Ichie entangled my fingers like a spider’s web and leaned his head on my shoulder. In front of our eyes, the instructor was telling us about the precautions to take when entering the gate.

We were now in a forest far from the academy. It was said that it was near Gapyeong, and they bought all the places that were originally used as a resort and turned it into a training center exclusively for the academy.

The practice room only had a grand name, but there were no particularly flashy devices. A sturdy warehouse for storing the equipment used to open the gate and quarters for the staff who manage this equipment. And a huge vacant lot blocked from the outside to open the gate and a neat accommodation made exclusively for us were all.

Students including Ichie and I were sitting huddled together in the center of the clearing, listening to the instructor wearing a red hat giving safety instruction. It reminded me of when I was in the army, and also when I went to a retreat at the Marine Corps camp as a child.

During the training, cameras were running behind our backs. He said it was used to prove that he had completed safety education for his family. The content of education itself was not very important. The same contents as the safety education that I had heard before the first gate practice were being flowed out using the same materials. Looking around, most of the people were touching their phones or pretending to be listening.

Ichigo was bored, so he pranked me by touching my knee with his fingers. I pressed Ichie’s fingernails with my fingers to keep her from touching her knees. Ichie glanced at me, then slithered her fingers on her lap like a snake, then placed her fingers on my thigh.

I poked her in the side. Ichie startled and began to press her thighs tightly as if he couldn’t lose. Every time I pressed her thighs, a strange stimulus came to me, and I had to twist my back slightly and laugh.

I started kneading her thighs. Ichie smiled slightly and twisted her body away from my hand. The instructor’s explanation continued.

“And, this time, I will tell you how to deal with special situations. It’s a story about the gate instability phenomenon, and those here have probably heard about it at least once through a mentor during practice.”

We stopped playing around and looked at the instructor at the same time. As if they had heard a lot about the gate instability, other students’ eyes also flocked to the instructor at the same time. The instructor looked around with a bewildered face like someone who had to make a sudden announcement, then cleared his throat and said.

“Originally, this item was not a separate training item, but this month it has been included as a revision of the safety training rules. When searching, gate instability is severe, or the gate closes due to a specific accident. In this case, the gate maintenance team captures the hunter’s vital signs and rescues them, so please don’t be too agitated even if the gate closes and survive in the environment as healthy as possible.”

We waited for another explanation to follow. The instructor put on his hat once with a puzzled face that put our expectations to shame and then said.

“That is all.”

“No way.”

A faint sigh came from everywhere. We also clicked our tongues and looked at each other again. The instructor spoke again in a stern voice to calm the atmosphere.

“Okay then, now that the safety training is over, let’s start the camp training for the D-class promotion in earnest. We will separate the training group and the actual promotion group, so please gather here for the actual promotion group this time.”

Following the instructor’s instructions, we rushed out. Aside from Nana and Ichie, the group with Kim Joo-sung, Kim Jin-pyo, and Oh Min-young stood out. Jin-pyo smiled at me while Oh Min-young was openly showing hostility.

Kim Joo-seong was fiddling with his phone and looking elsewhere. Said the instructor.

“The promotion group, please wait at your accommodation while the gate entry drill is in progress.”

The dorms were separated from men’s and women’s quarters. It was a pity that they didn’t seem to allow co-sex even in a team. Ichie also pushed past me into the women’s quarters with a sad expression on her face. Kim Jin-pyo clung to Kim Joo-seong, and the other members also took out their cell phones appropriately or ran to the familiar group member.

I quietly packed my things and headed to my room. I decided on a corner room where no one would come, spread out my seat and lay down. I was on my cell phone, and if I was bored, I was thinking of calling Ichie and chatting outside and taking a walk.

I logged on to V-tube and looked around the latest hot issue videos. Jun-seok’s comprehensive streamer activities seemed to be cruising along. His channel, which had about 3,000 subscribers until the last time I checked, was now on the verge of reaching 10,000 subscribers. Even if this is not a large company, isn’t it a successful axis?

On the channel’s main screen, the [Done Reaction Collection] Video, a collection of his recent reactions, was playing automatically.

“Oh brothers! Thank you so much! We will enter the zero two dance with a reaction! Huh!”

“…Ah fuck.”

I lost my eyes I hurriedly down the video and found another issue video. A video of a popular streamer with over 1 million subscribers challenging a special mission came to mind. I clicked on the video without thinking.

“Yes! All our cuties! Hello! Today’s Donation Mission! [Enter the funeral hall and make the resident laugh!] Now, let’s try!”

“Isn’t this a crazy bastard?”

I was dumbfounded, so I laughed and turned off the video again. There was nothing to see on V-Tube today. It was difficult to keep up with trends as I have been devoting my entire life to exercise, training, meditation, and sex lately.

As I was tapping my phone screen, a text message came flying.

[I’m bored. Take a walk.]

It was Ichie. Even though I couldn’t go to Ichi, I nodded and replied.

[Is it so.]