Arena Chapter 23:
Chapter 23 Evaluation (Part 1)
“Hyung!”
Jun-ho sees me and his expression is extremely glad . Kang Chun-seong is awake too . He may have woken up from the sound of the shot .
Jun-ho sees Lee Hye-su follow behind me and his face freezes .
I too can now make out Lee Hye-su’s face from the light of the campfire .
‘Aw, **** . ’
Her face is pitifully swollen . She was beaten senseless by Park Go-chan . That bastard!
I hold down my boiling rage and speak .
“We were attacked by red apes on our way over . Thankfully we handled them but sadly, Park Go-chan didn’t make it . ”
“…”
A chilly silence falls on us .
The awfully beaten Lee Hye-su, the gunshot, Park Go-chan’s death . Joon-ho and Kang Chun-seong have no way of knowing what these things imply .
“Moreover, lets rest . You guys eat?”
“Uh, no, not yet . ”
Joon-ho awkwardly stumbled out a reply . I take out the half eaten portion of grilled rabbit I had placed in my pocket earlier .
“Okay, for now, eat this . We will properly hunt and eat tomorrow . ”
“Wow, thank you . ”
“Miss Hye-su, come sit down and eat too . ”
“Yes…”
Lee Hye-su sits down next to me and takes a chunk of grilled rabbit .
“Here . ”
I throw a piece to Kang Chun-seong as well . He catches it and asks me .
“How did the thing you left to go do go?”
“I succeeded in killing their leader . Seeing as how after that none of them chased after me, I don’t think we have to worry about the red apes anymore . ”
“Wow, hyung you’re really amazing!”
“What do you mean I’m amazing . It’s all thanks to Sylph . ”
“But still . How did you think to barge in alone and kill their leader? It’s really amazing . You’re going to get so much karma when this exam is over . ”
“Yeah, thanks . Anyway, tomorrow when the day brightens, let’s move to a safe location spend the remaining time with our hearts calm . ”
“Okay . ”
We finish our meal and go back to sleep .
“I will be the sentry . It’s because I can’t sleep . You should all sleep . ”
“Hyung, you must be the most tired . ”
“It’s okay . It’s because I can’t sleep . ”
“Then I’ll head off to bed . If you get tired, just wake me up . ”
“Alright . ”
Everyone goes to sleep and I think to myself in the silence .
‘I’m sure he’s dead . ’
I am sure he’s dead . Because I saw him spewing blood from his neck and fall over .
I could not find the courage and didn’t verify Park Go-chan’s body . I just took Lee Hye-su and spun back around to here .
…I killed a person .
The corpse of the person I just killed will still be in its place . It will be neglected there for all eternity . Who knows, a red ape or some other beast may come upon it and eat it .
And so the life of the man named Park Go-chan ended . At my hand .
I look down at my right hand .
It’s shaking .
The sensation of pulling on the trigger has still not disappeared .
I become miserable at the thought that this sensation might never leave my memory .
I did nothing wrong .
He was deserved to die . He was someone who, had I let live, might have taken his revenge on me when I wasn’t looking . Had he been a man of good priorities, he would not have tried to **** a comrade during an exam of life and death .
He was a **** that lived just as he pleased . If only but for the purposes of going forward in the exams, I could not let him live .
‘Yep, I did nothing wrong . ’
I think that in my head but my heart feels different .
I recall Park Go-chan’s voice that shook in fear at my threats .
He did .
Even human trash like him, he didn’t want to die . He wanted to live . A person like that, I ended his life . I pulled the trigger with this finger…
I clench my hand into a fist .
The shaking doesn’t go away .
“Are you okay?”
Lee Hye-su’s voice brings me back from my distraction . She is looking at me with worried eyes .
“Yes, I’m okay . ”
She gets up from her seat and comes close to me .
She grabs my hand with both of hers .
There is a certain warmth to them .
The light from the fire reflects on her face, where the puffiness hasn’t dissipated . It hurts my heart . How could he just beat a woman so . He was a **** . I did good to kill him . I saved this woman .
“Really, thank you . ”
“No worries . ”
“And I’m sorry . Because of me…”
“No, don’t be . I had thought I should kill him too . I just couldn’t because I didn’t have the courage to . I only found the courage thanks to you . ”
I am holding her hand and it strangely makes the shaking go away .
We stayed that way for a while . Holding hands . Using hands to exchange our heat, that quiet time, it felt so good it almost felt strange . Like frozen snow that melts, my heart warms up .
“Do you want to go?”
“Where?”
“To him . ”
I am startled at her words .
“There is… nothing good to come of looking at the corpse . ”
“No . In my opinion I think it will be worse to move on without seeing the body . ”
She continues to speak in a shaky voice .
“Is he really dead, what about the body, is he actually alive and plotting revenge… these thoughts won’t go away . You too, right?”
“… yes . ”
“So let’s go together . Let’s verify that he really is dead and give him a proper burial . I’m too scared to go alone but I think I’ll be okay if you come with me . ”
Her words are right .
To just go on, I may never be able to forget Park Go-chan . I have to tie the knot for sure and move on .
“Okay, let’s go . But what should we dig the grave with?”
“I’m not sure . Um, would this not work?”
She shows me the sword . Its Park Go-chan’s sword .
“Huh, its owner died and it’s still here . ”
“I know . ”
“Can you try saying ‘weapon cancel?”
“Weapon cancel?”
Then,
Pat! Goes the sword and disappears .
Her and I both are surprised .
“It, it disappeared?”
“This time, try saying ‘equip . ”
“Equip . ”
As she said it, the sword appeared in her right hand . With her eyes wide open, Lee Hye-su speaks .
“Why is this following my commands?”
“I’m not really sure… . What…”
In an instant, I understand what must be happening .
‘Hand over the weapon to miss Hye-su . ’
That’s it! Back then, Park Go-chan handed the sword over to Lee Hye-su, and that transferred the ownership .
I explain this to Lee Hye-su .
“So then this is mine now?”
“Yes, you didn’t have a weapon, this is fortuitous . ”
“I’m not sure if I can use this . It’s very heavy . Why don’t you or Joon-ho use it instead…”
“But still, for now, hold on to it . It’s difficult to use now because its heavy, but later when you get the physical strength buff, you’ll be able to use it . ”
We go to where Park Go-chan died .
We are able to see his dead body .
He is effortlessly strewn on the ground, on ground that is drenched in blood . A surprised expression on his face and a red hole in his neck .
I had no confidence in facing the body, but now that I have, it’s not as scary as I thought it would be .
‘Miss Hye-su, it’s a good thing we came like you suggested . ’
If I had run away without seeing this, it might have remained as a scary memory forever .
“Let’s start . I’ll go first . ”
“Okay . ”
I receive the sword from her and start to dig . I continue the job of hammering into the ground and digging out the dirt .
Taking turns with Lee Hye-su, as the sun rose bit by bit, in the early morning, a decent hole was dug . We shove Park Go-chan into it and bury him .
I use Sylph to make a gravestone out of a thick branch . I engrave it ‘Park Go-chan’ and place it on top of the grave .
“There was no other option . Live more kindly in the next life . ”
I say those simple words and take a moment of silence . Was that too cocky? But I have nothing else in particular to say . His bad luck is all of his own doing .
Lee Hye-su closes her eyes too and takes a moment of silence . I wait, without a word, until she is done .
“It’s done now . ”
She opens her eyes and lets out a big smile . I think to myself that even though her face is swollen purple, her smile is still quite attractive .
We head back together to the campfire . We sit next to each other and share all kinds of stories .
We exchange stories of our lives and she was indeed a girl who grew up in a wealthy and happy family, living a comfortable life and grew up as an intelligent lady .
Perhaps for those reasons but she found the stories of my family to be incredibly entertaining . A mean older sister and an obnoxious younger sister that likes to party, a cute mother obsessed with her son . This and that, lots of stories came out .
And so we talked not knowing time passing by, when she said this .
“Actually, I have something to confess . ”
“What is it? Just say . ”
“That is, I, I told a lie . ”
At those words, I smiled .
“You mean when you said you had the entry level 1 physical strength buff?”
“Oh, how did you know?”
I talk to a surprised her .
“Your physique is lower than mine so there was no way I wouldn’t have known . ”
“I’m so sorry . I didn’t want to be labelled as a total burden to the team with having absolutely no power… even though that’s how it ended up . Just being a pain for everyone . ”
“There is no need to think that way . Just think of my aid as an investment in the future . ”
“Investment?”
“Yes, you may be weak now, but you will receive karma and grow your skills and be able to make your rightful contributions . So, for now, just think of yourself as a probationary employee . ”
“Thank you . ”
“Anyway, how much karma did you get in the first exam? You came without a skill, let alone a weapon, so it does seem weird . ”
“Honestly…”
She fussed and waited, and then Lee Hye-su spoke .
“-50 . ”
“…huh?”
“-50 . ”
“If a minus…”
“I did not succeed in the first exam . ”
Lee Hye-su tells an astonished me the whole story .
Simply put, she was not able to defeat the red ape but she wasn’t killed by it either . She had resisted and ran and fought back and when the 30 minutes were barely up and the exam door appeared, she made a run for it .
“I guess that means failing the exam doesn’t mean you die . ”
“Yes, but I was fearful the whole time about how the minus would affect me . ”
“Don’t worry . You will be able to make up for the minus with this exam . ”
“But there is nothing I did for this exam either . What will I do if I don’t keep getting stronger and just stay a burden?”
She is nervous and I pat her on the shoulder .
“Do not worry too much . The way I see it, fighting isn’t everything to the exam . There is definitely a role you can assume in different areas . Just find those areas and earn enough karma to get the skills . Until then, I will protect you . ”
“Hyun-ho…”
She seems moved and stares at me .
“What will I do . Always just getting help from you…”
“I do have one request, will you grant it?”
“Yes, whatever it is . ”
At her ‘whatever’ I immediately think a dirty thought . I’m such a bastard!
I do a fake cough and speak .
“Just call me oppa . It’s a bit toe-curling hearing Hyun-ho, Hyun-ho . ”
Lee Hye-su lets out a short burst of laughter .
“Got it . Then Hyun-ho, I mean oppa, you lower your speech to me too . ”
“Yes . I mean, kay . ”
We look at each other and laugh shyly .