Though she was making steady progress towards the exit, Anak couldn’t help but feel as though something was wrong with the current situation. It didn’t make sense for Khun to anger a Ranker if his only objective was to create a scenario where she could reach the exit unobstructed. There were countless ways they could have secured the victory without antagonizing Quant, chief among them being the plan he had mentioned during their brief conversation on the bridge.
Anak wasn’t fond of being made a fool of, so, even if Khun’s plan ended up creating a favorable situation for her climbing up the Tower, she vowed to beat him if said plan involved embarrassing or shaming her. She got the impression they were meant to lose this game, so, with nothing but a straight path between her and victory, the only way their team could lose was if Quant somehow managed to appear before her…
Confirming her suspicions, Anak eventually saw the outline of a person standing in front of the exit. Almost immediately after she registered their presence, a powerful blast of wind slammed into her body as a red and white blur flashed past her in an instant. To make matters even worse, she could hear the man venomously remark, “Never underestimate a Ranker…” before crushing her badge in his hand.
—
Feeling a potent shiver run along his spine, Khun couldn’t help but pale slightly as he remarked, “I guess I’ll need to beg Phae to bake some more cookies…”
Hearing Khun’s remark, Laure just yawned in response before replying, “I told you not to show off too much…well, whatever…let’s hope Endorsi handles her part well…”
Immediately following Laure’s remark, a loud buzzer echoed throughout the entire arena, followed by the voice of Director Yu declaring Team A’s loss. Shortly after that, a bluish-white light enveloped each of their bodies, seemingly converting them into a hazy white mist that rapidly diffused into the surroundings. The exact opposite phenomenon was occurring in the Suspend Ship positioned over the arena, and, after a few seconds had passed, all fifteen Regulars from Team A had been gathered in a small briefing room, a depressive aura immediately descending upon them.
Despite orchestrating the events leading to his team’s defeat, Khun ignored Anak’s venomous glare as he balled his hands into fists, head lowered as he shakily muttered, “I’m sorry…”
Unfortunately, before anyone could observe Khun’s act, Shibisu threw a small wrench into his plans by loudly shouted, “Aaaaargh! Damnit! How can they expect Regulars like us to beat a monster like that!?”
Quickly deciding to follow Shibisu’s example, Khun balled his fists even tighter as he spat through clenched teeth, “Damn it! How could I have been so stupid!? Getting cocky against a Ranker!? What the fuck is wrong with me!?”
Further emphasizing his ‘anger’ and ‘indignation’, Khun slammed his fist against the wall with more than enough force to fracture a couple of bones. This also caused a series of cracks to spread from the point of impact, a trickle of blood quickly coming into view due to the metal shards that had cut into the fleshier bits of his palm.
Surprised by Khun’s outburst, nearly every Regular present began to feel sorry for the man, Nare being the first to say, “You did your best, Khun…don’t-”
Shaking his head, Khun used his bloodied hand to conceal the upper half of his face as he darkly muttered, “No…I could have done better…I shouldn’t have come up with a plan to try and capture a Ranker. There were numerous ways we could have tricked him but I let my ego cloud my judgment. I wanted to have the achievement of beating a Ranker despite still being on the Floor of Tests…I…I…”
To further increase the amount of empathy he was receiving from his fellow Regulars, Khun’s voice took on sobbing undertone as a few tears, mixed with blood, began staining the ground. He forced himself to recall some of the most unpleasant memories in his life, so, while he was ultimately just pretending, there was legitimate pain and anguish audible contained within his voice.
Though he knew Khun was just pretending, Shibisu was legitimately surprised by the man’s acting ability, his expression showing genuine concern as he muttered, “Khun…come on, man, you don’t have to apologize…”
Hearing Shibisu’s remark, Khun was preparing for a second outburst, but, before he could find the most suitable words, the other Regulars began bombarding him with support. Though there were a few obvious exceptions, such as Laure, Anak, and Hwa Ryun, everyone else was successfully fooled by his ploy. This filled Khun with legitimate guilt, but, for the sake of his friends and his penultimate goal, he didn’t mind becoming a devil wearing a mask…
—
A stark contrast to the depressive atmosphere present within Team A’s waiting room, Team B’s was exceptionally festive. After all, while they weren’t guaranteed to win, they had the benefit of seeing the previous match. This gave them the advantage of knowing what to expect, and, though it would be next to impossible for them to defeat Quant, they could, at the very least, commit themselves to a better performance than their adversaries…
Of course, not everyone on Team B was prematurely celebrating a victory. After all, both Hatsu and Baam were members of Team B. They also had Endorsi, Chunhwa, Rachel, Hoh, and Serena on their team, the latter of which had become fairly close to Shibisu over the last few weeks. In other words, the largest group of friends among the Regulars had effectively been split between the two teams, a situation none of them were too enthused about.
Fortunately, Team B had yet to depart the observation room so Baam was able to approach Vahn, Phae, and Gandr, politely greeting the former before asking the latter, “Do you think Mr. Khun and the rest are going to be okay? I don’t think I can climb up the Tower without all of my friends with me…”
Taking note of the fact that Baam had specifically mentioned his friends rather than ‘just’ Rachel, Gandr snickered in his characteristic manner before saying, “You worry too much. Remember what the Director said? Even if Team A lost at Hide-and-Seek, that doesn’t mean they are going to fail the exam. Khun, Shibisu, Nare, and Laure all have plenty of points so the only person we really need to worry about is Anak. However, given the performance of the other Fishermen on her team, I can’t see them passing before her.”
Relieved by Gandr’s words, Baam exhaled the tensions from his body before adopting a beaming smile as he happily chimed, “That’s great! Thanks a lot, Mr. Gan-chan…!”
Resisting the urge to default into a deadpan expression, Gandr forced himself to continue smiling as he replied, “Go and join your team. If they see you fraternizing with us, some of the members are bound to become a little suspicious. Also, make sure you keep a close eye on Grey and Hoh. I don’t think they’ll do anything, but you can never know someone’s intent until they choose to act. There are only two Wave Controller positions so there is a chance they might try to undermine you during the test. Stay close to Endorsi or Hatsu. They will protect you.”
Since he got along with both Grey and Hoh, Baam couldn’t help but feel troubled by Gandr’s words. Unfortunately, unless he chose to give up his chance to climb the tower, there was no way to make everyone happy. Thus, after remaining silent for several seconds, a sad smile spread across Baam’s face as he muttered, “I understand…thank you…”
Following his utterance, Baam made his way over to where Endorsi, Hatsu, and Chunhwa were all engaged in a conversation. During this short journey, he noticed that both Hoh and Grey were at the periphery of the group, both looking far more serious than he had seen them during the past month. This made him feel even sadder, but, having already made his mind to climb up the Tower, Baam forced himself to smile as he caught Rachel staring at him from the side…
—
With the arena being restored to its original state, the members of Team B soon found themselves in the so-called Safe Area. Then, much like Team A, they were given thirty minutes to organize their team, adapt to the marginal increase in Shinsu density, and formulate a plan.
Unfortunately, with Endorsi smiling in amusement at the side, Team B quickly succumbed to the chaos of several people vying for the position of Leader. There was even a duo of Spear Bearers calling themselves the ‘Spear Bearer Revolutionaries’ who were legitimately trying to convince the rest of the team to simply dogpile Quant so they could rain down spears from above.
It was only when there were less than five minutes left that Endorsi moved from her position, her voice cheerful yet domineering as she said, “Shut up. All of these plans are completely pointless. All we really need to do is spread out into small teams to buy as much time as possible. Based on what we observed from the previous test, it is obvious that the Ranker won’t go for our team’s ‘it’ before he has evaluated each of the other candidates. After all, that is the only way to ensure everyone has a chance to be evaluated by the other Instructors. I’m obviously going to be our team’s ‘it’ so I’ll be taking the rest of the Fisherman, one Light Bearer, and one Wave Controller along with me. There is no way to pass the test by aiming for the exit so we will prepare a battlefield that gives us the best advantage against the Ranker. Everyone else will follow the direction of the other Light Bearers to form two teams, spreading out as much as possible to buy us time. Any questions?”
Though there were quite a number of people who didn’t agree with Endorsi’s plan, none of them tried to speak out against her. She was stronger than the rest of the team combined, and, given her temperamental nature, you were bound to suffer if you tried to speak against her. This, combined with the fact her plan was actually better than most of the ideas that had been put forth, caused the remaining Regulars to effectively split into two groups: those who chose to ingratiate themselves to the Princess and those who went along because they didn’t really have a choice.
Seeing there was no one willing to argue against her, Endorsi puffed her chest out proudly, her chin raised to accentuate the haughty smile on her face. This was the reaction she expected from people as a Princess of Jahad, a stark contrast to the way a certain brat reacted around her. Still, it wasn’t as if she hated said brat, so, while she enjoyed standing above others quite a bit, Endorsi was willing to abide by Khun’s plan to ensure they could all go up the Tower together.
With this thought at the forefront of her mind, Endorsi pointed towards Baam and a man named Full Black, the Light Bearer closet to passing the exam. She wasn’t particularly fond of Rachel, but, even if Baam complained about not taking her along, Endorsi could easily convince him she was in the right. After all, the plan laid out by Khun effectively had her ‘eliminating’ all of the Regulars who were closest to passing. She would go a little easier on someone like Chunhwa, but, for the sake of Anak, Endorsi was willing to betray the other Fishermen.
Unfortunately for Chunhwa, Des Lion, and Full Black, they had no idea what Endorsi had in store for them the moment they were separated from the rest of the group. As for Baam, he was told to stay close to her before the test even started, so, without suspecting a thing, he happily joined her party in order to pass the test together…albeit not before asking if Rachel could also join…
(A/N: Alternate Titles: ‘*Angry Cucumber Noises*’,’Premature Celebration’,’Women with looks and authority can be scary…’)
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