Breaking Up with the Heroine of the Female-Oriented Game - Chapter 52

Chapter 52

Midterm Exams (4)

“Team leader?”

When a girl who looked like an extra questioned me, I nodded and slowly explained.

“Yeah. Since we need to clear the dungeon as a team, we need someone who can quickly assess the situation and give orders.”

Because the team members had just been selected right before entering the dungeon, coordinating opinions was difficult.

The academy had intentionally designed it this way, making it part of the evaluation criteria for the trainees to quickly coordinate and work together with others whose abilities and strengths they didn’t know well.

Therefore, if someone took on the role of leader and guided the team well, they could easily earn additional points.

Yeah, what I’m aiming for is those extra points, those extra points.

The team evaluation score and individual evaluation scores are separate after all.

“If that’s the case, well…”

Sunari sneaked a glance at my face.

She didn’t particularly like taking orders from anyone except Yoo Seolhyun, but she had already experienced working with me during the performance assessment.

Thanks to my strategy and leadership skills back then, we had achieved good results, so it was a natural choice.

After all, Sunari wasn’t really the type to use her head.

“Wouldn’t it just be better to let him do it? He’s surprisingly smart and useful, you know?”

“I don’t know.”

At that point, a male student expressed his doubts in a slightly gruff tone.

Ah, as expected, that guy.

I knew it. There’s no way he’d stay quiet.

After all, he’s not the type to enjoy taking orders from someone either.

“That’s Lee Jinhyuk, right? I heard from someone in our class that he barely scraped into the academy. Do we really have to listen to a guy like that?”

“Hey. Who cares if he barely made it in? What matters for an operator is knowledge and the ability to assess the situation.”

It was Lee Jeonghoon from Class 6.

Ranked 29th among the freshmen.

He was from a fairly famous clan and had a strong sense of pride.

So, of course, he’d be dissatisfied.

Listening to orders from someone he’s never heard of.

Th i s w a s c o p i e d f r o m k i ng m tl. o rg
‘And that guy has a subtle rivalry with Sunari, so he might not like me because she’s defending me.’

In short, he’s not someone who can be persuaded with words in a short amount of time.

If I were to brag about how I’ve actually cleared the Youngdeung Mountain Dungeon before, it would probably just provoke him into reacting even more negatively.

Well, that’s fine.

I never intended to persuade him with words anyway.

Actions speak louder than words.

“If that’s the case, I’ll just give the orders, and you guys… huh?”

Lee Jeonghoon’s words suddenly trailed off.

He had noticed something. A dark shadow was writhing along the far wall of the cave.

Just as I thought, it appears here.

“What the heck is that?”

“The shadow, it’s moving, isn’t it?”

“I think I saw this in class…”

“Damn it, get ready to fight!”

Though initially flustered, the kids quickly assumed combat stances.

“Kiiieee, kiiieee.”

The name of that monster was Shadow Sentinel.

It looked like a kind of demon.

A rather troublesome artificial monster, to say the least.

And it seemed the kids didn’t even know the monster’s name.

It was briefly explained in the Monster Biology class, but still.

“Ah, crap! What is this thing, it’s not working!”
Th i s w as c o pie d fro m k i n g m t l. o rg

The first to strike was the reckless Sunari, but despite her physical enhancement abilities, the Shadow Sentinel just squirmed and slithered, unaffected.

It was as if she had punched a lump of clay.

The Shadow Sentinel had high resistance to both physical and magical attacks, so ordinary attacks couldn’t inflict much damage.

In other words, it was an excellent punching bag.

“That monster, I think it’s called a Shadow Sentinel. I heard it’s resistant to physical attacks.”

“R-Resistant to physical attacks…? Then, what do we do?”

A timid-looking girl was on the verge of tears.

Th i s w as c op i e d fr o m kin g m tl . o r g
The kids tried various attacks on the Shadow Sentinel, but realizing they were ineffective, they bit their lips in frustration.

“We have no choice. Everyone, we should retreat for now—”

Just as Lee Jeonghoon was about to shout for a retreat, I stepped forward with my bow drawn.

“No, hold on a second.”

“You?”

Do you know why I didn’t try to persuade you and instead lured you all the way here where the Shadow Sentinel appears?

To show the kids.

Directly, I mean.

Kids like this need results, not words, to be convinced.

“Hey, that level of attack won’t work on—”

But it will.

I ignored his words and released the arrow.

It flew straight towards the left lower abdomen of the Shadow Sentinel.

And then…

Th i s w as co p i e d f r o m k in g m t l .or g
“Kiiieek? Kiiieeeeee!”

The Shadow Sentinel, which hadn’t flinched even at Sunari and Lee Jeonghoon’s attacks, let out a piercing scream.

Good, looks like I hit the mark.

“Huh?”

Lee Jeonghoon’s face showed a hint of confusion.

I then fired a magic-infused arrow straight into the Shadow Sentinel’s mouth.

Thanks to the artifact, I could concentrate a significant amount of magical power into a single arrow.

The arrow shot into its mouth and then…

Boom!

It exploded inside, causing the Shadow Sentinel to vomit up dark fluid before collapsing with a thud.

“……”

Two attacks were all it took to bring it down.

The same monster that Sunari and Lee Jeonghoon couldn’t even scratch.

“Wh-What? How did you—”

“That’s a Shadow Sentinel.”

I pointed at the fallen monster with my chin and continued.

“I-I know that, but…”

“It has high resistance to both physical and magical attacks, but there’s a core hidden under the skin in the left lower abdomen where its nerves are concentrated. If you attack that spot, it causes immense pain.”

Th i s w a s c o p i e d f r o m k in g mt l . o r g
“Huh?”

“Of course, that alone isn’t enough to take it down, but while the Shadow Sentinel is strong against external attacks, it’s extremely vulnerable to internal ones. And its weak spot is in its mouth.”

“When it screamed in pain, you shot an arrow into its mouth?”

“Yes. I judged that a magic-infused arrow would be enough to bring it down.”

According to the setting, this was an artificial monster created by an Archmage to test the students, so as long as you exploited its weak points, it was designed to be taken down without much difficulty.

“…You knew all of that?”

“Of course. I’ve practically memorized the monster-related books and textbooks. I even look up research papers.”

“R-Really?”

Yeah, that was a complete lie.

Where would I find time to read research papers?

But saying it makes me seem more impressive, doesn’t it?
T h i s w a s c o pi ed f r om k in g mtl . o r g

“And besides, this isn’t a real battle, it’s an exam, right? The monsters probably have obvious weak points that can be targeted.”

That’s right, it’s an exam.

This dungeon conquest was an exam.

It wasn’t about brute force; the monsters that appeared had clear weak points to assess how well the students had studied theory.

And I knew the weaknesses of all the monsters that appeared here.

Where to attack, how to attack, and how much to attack.

“Ah, so it was you… I wasn’t sure at first, but…”

“Hmm?”

“I heard there’s an academy student who actually participated in a real dungeon raid with the Gaon Nuri Clan…”

The timid-looking girl hesitated, as if she had just remembered something.

“They said he was amazing because he knew almost all the monsters’ weak points… Seowoo unnie praised you a lot…”

Wait, she knows Han Seowoo?

“Wait a minute, a hero rescue? Dungeon raid? …Him?”

“Yeah. Didn’t you know? He’s the one who actually participated in a dungeon raid. They say he did quite well.”

“…Huh.”

Upon hearing Sunari’s words, Lee Jeonghoon fell silent.

Now that he had learned of my participation in a raid where even professional heroes had failed, I seemed to have taken on a new light in his eyes.
T h is w a s cop i ed f r o m ki ng mt l.or g

This kind of thing never has much impact if you boast about it yourself.

It needs to be heard from a third party to gain true credibility and objectivity.

Good, the momentum is in my favor.

I should take this opportunity to say it.

“Guys, why don’t you leave the role of giving orders to me?”

I said as I scanned the faces of the kids.

I didn’t know the two others beside Sunari and Lee Jeonghoon since they were extras, but it didn’t matter.
T h i s w a s c o p i e d f r o m k i n gm t l .o r g

These two alone were enough to clear the dungeon.

“If you follow my orders, I promise you one thing.”

At times like this, you can’t hesitate or speak without confidence.

You have to speak with absolute certainty.

“We’ll clear the dungeon faster than you think.”

I then looked directly at Lee Jeonghoon.

“I’ve actually participated in a real dungeon raid, so why don’t you give it a try and trust me?”

“…”

Lee Jeonghoon stared at me for a moment before letting out a deep sigh.

It was an unspoken approval.

Yeah, with real combat experience and having shown that I could take down the Shadow Sentinel by exploiting its weak points, even you wouldn’t have much to argue against.

The other kids seemed to trust me quite a bit after what they had just witnessed.

‘…We’ve been delayed a bit, but it doesn’t matter.’

In this first exam, it’s impossible for the others to beat me, even if they wanted to.

Really.

***

Jin Soyeon, who had just finished her dungeon conquest.

She managed to complete the first exam of the midterm, which would span several weeks, without any issues.

But…

“Sigh… I didn’t make it into the top ranks, after all.”

She muttered to herself as she stared at the 3D screen in the auditorium where the trainees were waiting.

The 3D screen showed the real-time rankings of the teams that had cleared the dungeon the fastest, from 1st to 10th place.

Despite her best efforts, she hadn’t managed to enter the rankings.

The academy had balanced the teams quite evenly, so she had been somewhat confident, but…

“Siwoon is first, as expected. Impressive.”

1. Dungeon conquest time: 37 minutes 09 seconds. Lee Siwoon, Park Seongwoon, Lee Hangyeong, Choi Joon, Kim Oh-hoo.

2. Dungeon conquest time: 37 minutes 43 seconds. Kang Daehan, Lee Jeonggyeol, Kang Daeul, Oh Sooyeon, Lee Hanbom.

3. …

37 minutes?

As expected of Lee Siwoon.

Jin Soyeon’s team had taken almost an hour…

“Yoo Seolhyun is in 5th place.”

She felt a slight twinge of frustration.

Of course, her individual performance couldn’t compare to Yoo Seolhyun’s, but this was a team exam, a team exam.

She could’ve done much better.

“Wow, as expected of Siwoon! How did you finish in 37 minutes?”

“Siwoon’s team definitely had an easy ride, didn’t they? Siwoon’s bus was sweet, huh?”

“So lucky~ If I had teamed up with Siwoon, we would’ve finished in no time.”

A bunch of girls were chattering around Lee Siwoon.

“Ah, Daehan, it’s such a shame. If it weren’t for your teammates dragging you down, you would’ve been first.”

“Whatever. Team rankings don’t matter. What matters is the individual ranking match.”

“Yeah, true? Even if it’s Lee Siwoon, there’s no way he’d beat our Daehan in a one-on-one!”

T hi s w a s c o p i e d fr o m k in gmtl . o r g
Kang Daehan was also surrounded by people, chatting noisily.

‘…Both of them are impressive. Finishing in the 30-minute range.’

She could clearly feel the difference in level between herself and them.

“Huh? Soyeon, didn’t make it into the rankings?”

“…What do you want? Did you come over just to say that?”

“No, you just caught my eye.”

“….Tch.”

As Yoo Seolhyun smirked smugly, Jin Soyeon bit her lower lip. Annoying, Yoo Seolhyun.

Yeah, she’s 5th place, right? That’s what she’s bragging about?

Of course, this ranking was just based on the dungeon clearing time, and the actual individual scores would vary depending on how well they performed in the dungeon. But still, there was nothing bad about being highly ranked.

“Hmm. Is Lee Jinhyuk’s team still not up? I wonder what rank he’ll be.”

“You sound like you think Jinhyuk will make it into the rankings?”

“Who knows? Huhu. I’m curious too.”

Yoo Seolhyun smiled with a knowing look.

That smile was strangely infuriating.

Acting like she knows everything.

“Who knows? Maybe Lee Jinhyuk will end up with a surprisingly high score…”

It was then.

“Huh? Hey, look! The rankings changed! What? What’s going on?”

“Wait, could it be…?”

“What? Did Lee Siwoon get dethroned?”

“No way? Who?”

The kids suddenly erupted in chatter.

They couldn’t hide their surprise at the unexpected turn of events.

Curious, Jin Soyeon and Yoo Seolhyun turned their heads.

The rankings on the 3D screen had shifted.

Every rank on the 3D screen had dropped by one.
Th i s w a s co p ie d f r o m k in g mt l.o r g

Which means…

A new 1st place had emerged.

-Beep.

1. Dungeon conquest time: 25 minutes 15 seconds. Sunari, Lee Jeonghoon, Park Sooyun, Chae Yeonsu, Lee Jinhyuk.

2. Dungeon conquest time: 37 minutes 09 seconds. Lee Siwoon, Park Seongwoon, Lee Hangyeong, Choi Joon, Kim Oh-hoo.

3. Dungeon conquest time: 37 minutes 43 seconds. Kang Daehan, Lee Jeonggyeol, Kang Daeul, Oh Sooyeon, Lee Hanbom.

“…25, 25 minutes?”

Jin Soyeon’s eyes widened in shock.

No way? Really?

Did Jinhyuk’s team…

The team that had taken 1st place with an overwhelming time difference was none other than Lee Jinhyuk’s team.

“Lee Jinhyuk. He’s not even hiding it anymore?”

Yoo Seolhyun chuckled, clearly amused.

End of Chapter.