The Tutorial Is Too Hard - Chapter 122

Chapter 122

[Park Jung-ah, 44th Floor: Yes . Please tell him no . ]

I sent him the reply and closed the messenger .

After that, I looked at the guest . He was still looking anxious .

His gaze ran met mine . He flinched .

I’m used to this kind of response, but it still hurts to see this .

Even before I entered the Tutorial, I’ve heard from people that my eyes look a little fierce . However, it was not this bad back then .

It is not like I shoot some kind of laser beam from my eyes . Why are they so surprised?

Does deadly aura get piled up every time I kill people?

Only until recently, I didn’t care if people were scared of me or if they cursed about me behind my back .

I actually liked that, thinking that such an impression of me would help me .

However, lately…

They were useless thoughts .

I should just focus on what’s happening in front of me .

“I’m sorry . I had to send a message real quick . Well then, may I hear the rest?”

“Yes, yes . ”

The visitor was a Korean .

He was no ordinary Korean .

He was summoned to the tournament as a part of the Australian server .

His name was Jung Chan .

29 years old . He introduced himself as a student who went to Australia for his studies .

However, when I asked further, he said he also obtained the Australian citizenship .

I could not figure out if he was summoned as a part of the Australian server because of the citizenship or if because he was simply residing at the country .

I will have to inquire the manager after the tournament ends to learn about this .

Also, Jung Chan provided us with an interesting information .

It was information about the gangs that were dominating the Australian server .

“So, that is… Where was I… So…”

The man stuttered .

“You said that the atmosphere in the Australian server was different during the last tournament . That’s how far you were . ”

According to him, the uneasy atmosphere in the Australian server was growing during the first tournament .

It had not been long .

Other than that particular gang group, there are many other groups . Also, even that gang is internally divided into several groups . There is no large faction that encompasses the entire server .   I don’t find that surprising considering that the first tournament only happened a while ago .

“I think the first problem happened during the second day of the tournament . ”

They had the group matches during the second day of the first tournament .

“When it begun, it was some of the challengers from the Hard Difficulty who sparked the issue . They attacked other challengers they met at the tournament . The attacks were one-sided and carried out as a group . ”

It was plausible .

The people in Hard Difficulties who spent rounds after rounds at the lower floors would have had an easier time organizing themselves than people from other difficulties .

“They blocked people’s mouth in middle of the matches . They kept attacking to interfere with others when they tried to surrender . Like that, they struck down the other challengers . During the second day, even after the tournament was over, they continued their violence and attacked many challengers . ”

Like that, with their power and through violence, they spread terror and committed acts of viciousness .

Also, as soon as the third day came, people all returned to waiting rooms to take shelter from the gang’s violence .

Meanwhile, at the place of the tournament, only the perpetrators remained to stay for another day .

We don’t know what they discussed there .

After that, time passed like that, and the second tournament was held .

He said that the Australian people greatly feared that the gangs will perpetrate acts of violence again, especially because this tournament was going to last longer than the past tournament .

Also, he said that some of the gangs left taunting notes on the community, saying that other challengers should look forward to the tournament .

However, when the tournament started, they ran into the Order of Vigilance . Instead of fighting the Order, the gang choose to hold their breath and stay quiet .

Jung Chan stuttered his way through the conversation . After he finished telling his story, I sent him back . Before I realized, it was already evening .

The story had so much unnecessary details, so more time had passed than I realized .

The details were mostly about the violence committed by the gang and the suffering of the victims .

The details spoiled my mood .

“Ugh . ”

My insides were a ruckus .

I memorized the details of appearances of the gang’s main figures .

I was thinking about their faces, but also other faces were being superimposed on them .

Also, I saw another face superimposed on Jung Chan’s face .

My hand was shaking a little . I brought out the sphere shaped Transmutable Thousand Arms from the inventory .

I placed it on top of my hand and let it roll in the palm of my hands . I felt like my insides were feeling a little better .

I changed its form into a ring shape .

It was no ordinary ring . It had a needle spike the length of a forearm attached to its front .

It was a kind of a weapon . After all, this was Transmutable Thousand Arms .

Still, it is a ring .

I put the ring on my finger . I closed my eyes for a moment and calmed my breathing .

“Are you alright?”

Lee Yuu-jung brought me tea and asked .

“Yes, I’m all right . Thank you for the tea, Big Sis . ”

I put up a peaceful face and responded to her .

However, she grabbed my hand and looked at me with moist eyes, like how she always was .

I wonder how long this trauma will follow me around .

It’s been a year, which is a long time . I think it is about time for it to disappear, yet…

I lifted the tea cup and took a sip from it .

The tea cup shook a lot because of the ring I had on my finger .

The ring is too heavy .

I put down the tea cup and opened the message window .

[Park Jung-ah, 44th Floor: I finished my conversation with him . ]

[Kim Min-hyuk, 30th Floor: Please start with a brief summary . ]

As he requested, I started with an explanation .

I suppressed my emotions as much as possible . I tried to describe it as objectively as possible .

I am not sure if I did well .

[Kim Min-hyuk, 30th Floor: I vote that we wait . ]

[Park Jung-ah, 44th Floor: I second that . However, what if they do not show themselves until the tournament ends?]

[Kim Min-hyuk, 30th Floor: If that happens, then we should go and hunt them down . ]

[Park Jung-ah, 44th Floor: I also second that . Please ask other captains about their opinions . ]

* * *

[TL: The perspective is now back to Lee Ho-jae’s view . ]

[Tournament, Day 3, 11:30]

“Ugh . Huk . Huk . ”

Lee Hyoung-jin was gasping for air while sitting at a spectator seat . I clicked my tongue at him .

You totally lack endurance .

“Is it hard?”

“Ugh… Phuuuu… No . ”

Oh, is that so?

“It is not hard . I think I’m going to die, Big Bro . ”

Oh, is that so?

“Can you describe your current condition in detail?”

“Ugh… That is… I just… can’t breathe very well . I feel like my vision is spinning . I feel dizzy . The color of the ceiling is shifting . Uuuuaaaa . I feel like there is a mosquito that’s circling around at the tip of my nose . My ears . I cannot hear anything through my ears sometimes . I hear the high pitch noise sometimes too . My inside hurts as well . Big Bro . I feel like I’m experiencing motion sickness, and then it feels like I’m being pressed down all of the sudden . Also, I cannot feel very well through the tips of my fingers . I think it is just cold too… Also… From the back of my neck…”

Outside the arena building, he finished a special training that went on only for three hours . However, Lee Hyung-jin was already completely exhausted .

It could not be helped, so I carried him on my shoulders and brought him into the arena building .

Lee Hyung-jin finally regained his consciousness after 10 minutes of lying on the seats .

He needs to develop faint resistance .

“You only trained for three hours, and look at you . You are already exhausted . I see you had not been training when you were by yourself usually . ”

“I… I did train! Big Bro, and how could you call that training!”

It seemed he felt wronged . He shouted in a loud voice . He closed his eyes again and gasped for air . His breathing was rough .

When one is trying to catch breath, it is not a good idea to talk so much like that .

That will make the head spin due to a lack of oxygen .

“Anyway, I really think you lack persistence . You only know to treat your body carefully . Um… How should I say this . Ah, right . You are too weak against pain . You need to be able to endure difficulties . Only then, you will be able to accomplish anything . ”

“Pardon?”

“I think you will need to raise pain, paralysis and faint resistances first . From now on, continue to buy poison potions and diligently train with them . Ah, first, I’ll help you until the tournament ends . I have a skill called Poison Energy, you see? If I use this, then you won’t need to waste points buying poison potions . ”

“B… Big Bro… Please let me live . ”

“It’s all right . You won’t die . No, actually, you could die if you were exposed to Poison Energy skill for a long time, but I can adjust it so you won’t die . I’m an expert at this, you know? Just trust your Big Bro . ”

Lee Hyung-jin’s face was full of sweat . Now, new drops started to form on his face . They were flowing down his face like a waterfall .

You, are you crying now? Crying?

I could not stand to watch this . I turned my face away from him .

Still, I had no intention of allowing him to skip the special training .

“Would you stop torturing the kid? Although I’m just watching, even I can feel the pain . ”

I want to say I will stop this .

However, one day, Lee Hyung-jin will be challenging the 17th Floor . Thinking about this, I want to give him a harder training and grinding .

Also, Lee Hyung-jin was quite motivated .

He was complaining that he was so exhausted and on the verge of death . However, he saw the training to its end . As we saw at the individual tournament’s preliminary matches, he tried all sorts of things to focus on his growth .

However, it was just that his body was not able to catch up to the harshness of the training I gave him .

Still, the training I made for him is going to become his blood and flesh . No matter how much he suffers during the training, I have no choice but to make him go through it even if it is going to bring tears to my eyes .

Well, it is not like I’m a pervert who enjoy making another person suffer . Would I force someone into grinding when he doesn’t want to?

“By the way, aren’t you going to go do your work?”

I changed the topic from about Lee Hyung-jin .

This was a question that has been in my mind since yesterday .

Jung-ah never showed herself throughout the day, saying she was busy . However, this rascal was sucking honey while sitting around at the spectator seat .

“I’m working . Through the messenger . ”

“Really?”

“Really . ”

I really think this rascal is just goofing off and loafing around .

However, I have no way to confirm my suspicion .

I moved my gaze away from Kim Min-hyuk for a moment and looked down below into the arena .

The first place my gaze headed was the match where the Korean server’s Hell Difficulty challengers formed a party and entered .

Initially, Lee Hyung-jin was included in that party . However, he left the party momentarily left the party for the special training .

With Lee Hyung-jin out, I thought the rest of the Hell Difficulty challengers would give up on the match, but it seemed they decided to try anyway .

They were not able to do so well .

After all, they were all from the First Floor .

Also, there weren’t many of them .

There were fewer of us Hell Difficulty challengers in the Korean server now .

Now, there were just six of us, including myself and Lee Hyung-jin .

I know I have to do something for them too .

Kim Min-hyuk said that perhaps I shouldn’t give them advice so soon .

He was concerned about people challenging traps with misplaced courage blown into them by encouragement, and that could only lead to more deaths instead .

Although it may look like he was being irresponsible, he was not wrong .

How am I going to get them to pass through the First Floor?

I feel so frustrated .

Other matches had consisted of Hard Difficulty challengers from the Korean server who formed their own groups .

Most of the people from the Hard Difficulty formed parties with people they like and entered the group matches .

Also, they were all overwhelming the opposing sides .

The difference is significant .

There was the difference in heights between Korean and foreign servers, but even within the Korean server, the power of the groups from the Hard Difficulty was overwhelming .

They were from the higher difficulty, so it could be said that this was an obvious outcome . However, even with that under the consideration, the gap was too big .

Since the early days of the Tutorial, the Hard Difficulty challengers had a exclusive club-like atmosphere amongst themselves . I think this had a big influence .

The challengers of the Hard Difficulty have been training and clearing stages together since the lower floors . So, their mastery level in party battle itself is different .

They show great synergy too .

However, it was not like the formation of such an atmosphere among the challengers never posed problems .

Because the Hard Difficulty challengers were sticking with one another too much, they had a tendency to alienate and patronize challengers from other difficulties .

In fact, something similar to the ideology of being superior, chosen people had rose among them, and we went through a tough time because of this .

It would had developed into a huge problem if it was not for the fact that Park Jong-shik was the leader of these people from the Hard Difficulty and the fact that I was standing above them .

In the world inside the Tutorial, the standard of anyone’s worth was based on strength . Considering this, it is difficult to retort against their ideology .

In fact, all of the challengers in the leadership roles in Japanese or Australian servers are from Hard Difficulties .

The Korean server is the only one with high participation rate from Easy and Normal difficulties .

It’s all because of the Order of the Vigilance .

Well, anyway, from the looks of things in the tournament’s group matches, I think Korean server’s victory is a certainty .

* * *

[TL: This section is in Kim Gyoung-jin’s perspective . ]

[Tournament, Day 3, 11:10]

“Ahah . I am no good at these . ”

“No, you can do it, Gyoung-jin . I, your Big Sis, believe in you . ”

“Believe in? Do dogs have horns?”

I’m serious .

I hate stepping up and facing people like this .

I tried to voice my dissent . However, all I got in return was belittling laughter .

“Kim Gyoung-jin, you are the biggest attention addict in the community . What did you just say that you hate?”

The group was snickering around . I sent them a ‘fuck you’ to them all . I went to the friend who was standing on the far back .

“Anyway, I didn’t know you would come too, Jun-suk . What happened?”

“I was also… got beat up a lot yesterday . Should I say it is for revenge?”

“Oh, that makes some sense . It sure does . ”

For some reason, the group was finding this amusing as well . Having heard Lee Jun-suk’s answer, they started to snicker and laugh again .

What a bunch of crazy bastards . Have you guys been drinking?

“Now that I think about it, other than Jun-suk and direct subordinates of Jong-shik, everyone is here?”

I know . They are all here .

Big Bro Jong-shik’s direct subordinates, in other words the Order’s Strike Division, are not here . All of the other Hard Difficulty’s rankers are here .

Every single one of them .

Ah, this feels strange .

“Hey, hey . Let’s get going . The patrol will be here soon . ”

The Order’s patrol will come by here soon .

I told the group that we should get going now to avoid the patrol .

The group again found it entertaining . They said it was exciting and nervous . They snickered around .

Ugh, you crazy bastards .

Leading the group, I walked through the narrow street .

Before long, we were able to arrive at the building that we had an appointment at .

It was a rough looking wooden door . I beat on it .

“Say the password . ”

Password? What the hell is he yapping around for .

I forced the locked door open and entered .

As soon as I opened the door, a dagger came up on my face . However, I leisurely twisted the wrist of the hand that held the dagger . I neutralized the opponent and entered the building .

Inside the building, there was a small hall with just a table .

There was the uncle from the Japanese server named Nakajima whatnot .

It seemed he was displeased with something . His arms were crossed and his mouth was firmly closed quietly .

Also, this other guy from the Australian server is… who was he?

“Welcome . If you entered more politely, then we would have given you a warmer welcome . You said your name is Kim, right? Mr . Kim . ”

[TL: There is a Korean/English translation related comment by Kim Gyoung-jin here that would make no sense since this is translated to English now . It is irrelevant to the story, so it was omitted . ]

I thought about if I should tell him to call me Kim Gyoung-jin, but I decided to let him just call me Kim .

“That… what is it . ”

“David . ”

Lee Jun-suk, who was standing next to me, whispered the name quietly in my ear .

“David, as promised, we got here without being tailed . ”

“I see . Thank you for keeping the promise . Have a seat here . ”

Ugh, man . I really hate this .

I glanced at my group, but they were all pushing me to go take the seat .

In the end, I am taking the role of both the head and the mouth .

I sat at the seat and said to David,

“I’ll get straight to the point . ”

“Oh, wait . Please wait for a little longer . We still have one more guest who has not arrived yet . ”

“You have another one coming? I didn’t hear about this?”

“He just joined recently . I am not saying you guys will not be enough, but we should make sure of our preparations . ”

Having heard the man, I decided to sit quietly and wait .

The Japanese man, who was sitting on the opposite end, was also quiet as well . So, David also quietly closed his mouth, and like that, an uncomfortable silence lasted for a while .

Several minutes passed and another person entered the building .

He was most unexpected .

“Big Bro Chan-yong?”

He was known to be nearing his goal of clearing the entire Tutorial . He was the challenger who was at the highest floor .

It was Lee Chan-yong .