The World After the Bad Ending - Chapter 22



21 – Forming a Team Because No One Invited Me

The time to form teams was approaching.

No team calls came to me.

“…Why?”

No team calls from anyone.

I muttered with a blank face, unable to accept this situation.

I definitely performed well in the mock battle.

Even though my rank was not in the top tier, but 14th place.

Even though I used some tricks!

I defeated the lazy genius Ban.

So why is no one calling me!

“Haah, do you really not know?”

As I twisted my body with my hands covering my head, the person in front of me spoke.

Her name was Sharin Sazarith.

She was teaching me the magic engraving I requested today as well.

“I don’t know.”

I really don’t know.

“Then, let me tell you a bit about what the others are saying.”

Sharin straightened her posture from her slouched position on the desk.

Then she cleared her throat and adjusted her voice.

“It seems like you won’t cooperate at all.”

It was the voice of a female classmate.

“Isn’t your fighting style a bit dangerous? I don’t know how it would be in the labyrinth, even if it’s fine in duels.”

This time, it was Nam Hak-woo’s voice.

“Even if we consider physical strength, the attack ability is honestly ambiguous.”

Only then did I understand the whole situation.

“……Are you saying there’s nothing to show for what I’ve done?”

“That’s right.”

I fought thoroughly in a one-on-one manner to achieve results in the mock battle.

And this point failed to prove my advantage to the students.

In the Demon Palace, you encounter two types of beings.

One is the apostles created directly by the Evil Lord.

The other is the demonic beasts controlled by those apostles.

Of course, these beings are far from human.

This is something that the second-year students who have already experienced the Demon Palace know very well.

So that put me in a very ambiguous position.

My evasion and durability are excellent.

But their common thought was that this alone was not enough to progress through the Demon Palace.

“Tsk.”

I swallowed my saliva.

In the game, if you achieve high scores in the mock battle, you get calls from good teams.

My obsession with ranking was a mistake.

“Sharin, your team is.”

“Full. It’s me, after all.”

It’s a bit annoying that she’s bragging, but Sharin is the top student in Magic Studies.

There was no way Tio would be in her team.

‘Then there was no reason to raise my rank in the mock battle.’

My mind becomes complicated.

An unexpected variable has disrupted my plan again.

“What’s this about lacking cooperation?”

Where can you find someone as cooperative as me?

Sharin blinked her eyes for a moment.

She didn’t say anything more and smiled faintly.

Feeling the benevolence in her laughter, I firmly grabbed Sharin’s shoulder.

“Hey, tell me right now. What’s wrong with my teamwork?”

“I-I just pointed out the flaws.”

As I shook her shoulder vigorously, Sharin made an excuse.

I stopped shaking her shoulder.

These people can’t even recognize talent.

If they went with me, the labyrinth would have been the easiest thing in the world. I can do it!

‘What to do.’

At this rate, I’ll end up in the leftover team that the professor assigns.

Of course, I won’t achieve what I want.

Just as I was pondering, a light bulb went off in my head.

Come to think of it, why didn’t I think of this?

“I can form the team myself.”

I can create the dream team.

Then Sharin looked at me with a peculiar gaze.

“Sharin, explain the meaning of that look. Why do you look at me like I’m someone without friends?”

“Good luck.”

Sharin weakly raised her hand.

“Later, when I form the team and you beg to join, I won’t let you in.”

“Yeah, that’s fine.”

She didn’t care at all.

From noble mtl dot com

Next time, I’ll give her a cream bun without any cream.

Now the problem starts here.

‘Act 3, Scene 1, the second-year event and Act 3, Scene 2, the mock battle passed without any issues.’

Now begins Act 3, Scene 3.

The first labyrinth event of the second year.

Compared to the first year, Lucas, who has grown significantly, heads back to the labyrinth as a second-year student.

Based on the experience of defeating the apostle known as the beginner slayer in the last labyrinth battle of the first year.

This time, he progresses relatively easily, but faces new threats.

‘And soon.’

The dragon lady of disaster.

Nikita’s brother joins the first prince’s side, foreseeing the imminent horrific accident.

This is a forced event in the game that cannot be prevented no matter what.

An event that cannot be avoided.

Nikita’s brother is as good as dead due to causality.

‘But now.’

The butterfly of flames has become reality.

Indeed, does Nikita’s brother really have to die?

While thinking that,

To let this world flow according to the original story, the death of Nikita’s brother, Nia Cynthia, was inevitable.

That fact left a bitter taste in my mouth.

Because I know well that the end of Act 3 is Nikita’s death.

Nikita came to my mind.

At first glance, she seems cold, but she is warmer than anyone else inside.

I have already seen countless times in the game how she falls apart after losing her brother.

“Sharin.”

“Yes.”

“Do you think you can change fate?”

With Lucas’s death, the world deviated from the original story.

I am just barely holding on, patching it together.

This world can no longer follow its original path.

That’s why I am even more afraid.

Every time a variable is added to the already deviated path,

The road becomes rougher and more unpredictable.

Eventually, the only merit I have, the game strategy, will disappear.

I cannot guarantee which direction this world will go.

My mind became complicated with hesitation.

The bonds I have built with them here were tying me down.

‘The reason I approached Nikita was.’

The necessity of motivation to confront her, who awakens as the dragon of disaster in place of Lucas.

How is it now?

The distant reality I had been ignoring.

It is slowly pushing its head towards me.

“Inevitability.”

At my casually thrown words, Sharin pondered more seriously than I expected.

Then, as if she had organized something in her own way, she lifted her head.

“Inevitability is a massive chunk of fate.”

A massive liquid-like chunk formed in her grasp.

She squeezed it tightly with her hand.

“No matter how strong a force is applied to press it.”

Thud!

The liquid quickly returned to its original state.

“It has elasticity, so inevitability itself doesn’t change.”

So, does that mean inevitability cannot be changed?

“But.”

Sharin began to press the chunk of inevitability tightly again.

The moment a strong force was applied for a while.

In the end, the chunk of inevitability couldn’t withstand it and burst with a snap.

“Everything in the world has a limit to what it can accept.”

The reason inevitability couldn’t be changed was because a stronger force wasn’t applied.

So, it must be pressed with a force strong enough to break inevitability.

That’s what she was saying.

“Reckless.”

“To break a massive shackle like inevitability, you have to be reckless.”

It makes sense.

A force strong enough to change inevitability.

Can such a force be found?

‘If necessary, it must be created.’

To do so, I returned to Jerion Academy in the form of Hanon.

I can see the distant mountains through the north-facing window.

The Dragon Ridge Mountains.

The time is approaching.

* * *

The Demon Palace team consists of five members.

Usually, two for the vanguard.

Two for the rear guard, and one for recovery.

‘I am in the vanguard, and Poara is in the rear guard.’

Poara, the contractor of the Spirit Lord.

In terms of firepower, she was second to none.

‘Then it’s fine to invest only Poara in the rear guard.’

It’s better to add two more to the vanguard.

‘The remaining issue is where to find two more for the vanguard and one for recovery.’

I wandered around Jerion Academy.

First, I looked for second-year martial arts students.

“Ah, sorry, I already have a prior engagement.”

“I already have a team.”

Most of them already had teams.

Especially the top students, no need to mention.

“Are you crazy? Who would team up with someone like you?”

As a test, I asked the four girls.

They were disgusted and cursed at me.

‘No, not the four girls.’

Then I noticed one of the four was missing.

“By the way, where is your forehead?”

“Forehead?”

At first, the three were puzzled, but soon they realized who I was talking about and snorted.

Their reaction was strange.

I sensed a reluctance towards Seron from the three.

Was there something?

“I’ll take care of it.”

“Don’t worry about it?”

Nawon.

“Why are you all so useless?”

“What!?”

“That, that’s really!”

I quickly turned my foot.

Not long after, I ran into a familiar face in the hallway.

“Ban.”

When I called that name, Ban, who was walking leisurely, turned this way.

Then Ban raised his hand more warmly than I expected.

“Hello.”

“Looks like you’re coming back from somewhere.”

“I did some training.”

Hearing the next words, the corners of my mouth slightly lifted.

“Are you thinking of winning next time?”

A slight smile also appeared on Ban’s lips.

“Yes. Look forward to it.”

The lazy genius abandoned his characteristic laziness.

I look forward to seeing how strong he will become.

“By the way, Ban, do you have a team for the archery competition?”

If Ban joins the same team, it couldn’t be more reassuring.

“Yes, Isabel came the other day and asked me to join her team.”

But he had an unexpected prior engagement.

I never thought Isabel would recruit Ban.

‘Isabel’s team was originally supposed to be Lucas.’

It seems they filled that spot with Ban.

If it’s a substitute for Lucas, it has to be someone like Ban.

Not a bad choice.

“Alright, do well.”

I wasn’t foolish, and after exchanging greetings with the class, I left.

In the end, I didn’t achieve anything in the second-year martial arts class.

‘Should I check out the first-year special class?’

Since there’s Poara in the special class, maybe I could ask for some help there.

As I was thinking that and heading towards the first-year floor.

The moment I turned the corner, someone’s face was thrust right in front of me.

A white forehead blocked my view.

My reflexive hand struck the forehead.

Smack!

What a clear sound!

I looked down at my hand in surprise.

“Ahh?!”

And the one who got hit on the forehead screamed.

“Wh-who’s crazy enough to do that!”

A venomous voice echoed.

What a loud voice.

“It’s me.”

“…Sweet potato?”

She’s still calling me that.

“Why did you suddenly jump out like that!”

“You’re the one who suddenly jumped out. You bruised tomato.”

“Who said you could bruise me!”

Already lost her memory.

Should I re-educate her?

Leaving the huffing Seron, I glanced in the direction she came from.

“Why are you on the first-year floor?”

Seron’s shoulders flinched.

She gathered herself as if to cover her arms and grumbled.

“…What does it matter if Nam moves in or not.”

Well, that’s true.

“You, you got kicked out of your group of friends, didn’t you?”

Her eyes widened.

Then, with her face turning bright red, she shouted at me.

“What, what, what are you talking about? Do you think I’m like you? I’m doing just fine!”

Fierce denial is sometimes a fierce affirmation.

As I stared at Seron, her lips quivered and then were pressed tightly together.

Seron has a fiery personality.

To be precise, it’s dirty.

If something doesn’t make sense, she crashes into it.

As a result, she often doesn’t get along well with people.

Because of this, she often takes the lead among the girls.

This kind of personality is quite useful when you have her around.

But when someone challenges her, the situation changes.

“You fought.”

For some reason, it was clear that Seron had fought with them.

Seeing that my words weren’t wrong, she clamped her mouth shut and glared at me.

“It’s because of you.”

Me?

“Since I lost miserably to you, you became arrogant and looked down on them.”

“They got beaten by me just the same.”

“…I was the first one to lose.”

So.

They needed someone to take the blame, and it happened to be Seron.

She was sacrificed as a stress reliever.

Seron’s lips quivered, and then she hung her head low.

“No, it’s actually because of me.”

Even with her head down, I could feel her face trembling.

“I lost because I wasn’t skilled enough, and I never really got along with those girls because of my personality. They probably just hung out with me because I was somewhat useful.”

She seems to be aware that her personality is a problem.

If she’s saying this much to me, she must have a lot on her mind.

“Ah, you know it well.”

So I affirmed it.

They say people grow more when they are affirmed.

Seron slowly lifted her head.

Seron, who had a bewildered look on her face, soon got angry again.

“…You, what do you know!”

Like a bulldog, even when affirmed, she gets mad.

Besides, I think it was this kid who said last time that she had no friends and no girlfriend.

My eyes narrowed.

“I know better than I look. And I also know that you were peeking around the first-year special class team because you didn’t have a team.”

Seron’s face froze.

Her forehead turned bright red with embarrassment.

Seron squeezed her legs together and clutched her skirt tightly with both hands.

Her tightly closed lips couldn’t overcome the embarrassment, and a sniffling sound came from her nose.

At some point, tears welled up in her eyes.

Oh, she’s crying.

“Are you crying?”

“So what, what! What do you want me to do! The second-year kids’ spots are all taken, and the only ones left are the ones I’ve clashed with, so I can’t even ask to join their team!”

She shouted like that, covering her face and sitting down on the spot.

“Hic, really, even in front of a burnt sweet potato, I have to go through this.”

I quietly looked down at Seron, who started sobbing.

“Seron.”

“What?”

“I’m making a team.”

Seron glanced at me through her fingers.

I saw her eyes filled with tears.

“Just saying.”

Leaving those words, I continued down the stairs, leaving Seron behind.

Sorry, but.

No matter how urgent I am, I have no intention of inviting Seron first.

Given her personality, if I suggest it first, she will most likely climb up.

‘At least if she wants to join my team.’

I should educate her in advance.

Seron has a dirty personality.

But.

My personality is even dirtier.

Let’s have a pride fight among dirty people.