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Chapter 29 - Breaking out of the Egg – 7

The awards ceremony was held later that afternoon, accompanied by the announcement of the results of the athletic meet and the selection of the MVP. The Qing team had successfully beaten the Baek team and not just thanks to the struggle between Kang Shin-hyuk and Yuta. As Karen Stringfield had predicted, the Vice-Captain of the Wyvern Knights defeated the Crown of Wizards in the finals, taking the Crown of Two Kings. When the Crown of Knights had lost in the quarterfinals, there had been some worry whether the Crown of Magic would claim the victory for the Magic Department. The Knight Department had claimed victory in the end, however, and strengthened their position this year.

“There are so many interesting characters at Shinyoung this year.”

“Did you see that second-grade kid, Eleanor R. Alger? I don’t remember seeing much of them last year.”

“Who was that first grader who defeated the Crown of Knights? Baek In-ha?”

“Shinyoung is still Shinyoung, after all. I’m looking forward to next year already.”

The results of the athletic meet were announced first, followed by the MVP class and individual awards. Following that, the Crown of Knights, of Magic, and of Two Kings were summoned forward and presented. Usually, one of the two Crowns occupied the position of Two Kings, but this year was different. Kang Shin-hyuk took this opportunity to see the Vice Commander of the Wyvern Knights that Karen Stringfield praised so generously in person.

‘Are they British? Did Karen follow them because they’re from the same country? I wonder if the Wyvern Knights and the Magic Society have all been taken over by international students…is she really eighteen-years old?’ Kang Shin-hyuk was focused on the English girl with long black hair and clear purple eyes. He wondered idly if her eyes were a result of some trait she had but couldn’t deny that they added to her noble image. The most surprising thing to him, however, was how short she was. She couldn’t have been more than 155 centimeters tall, with a slight stature that was unfavorable for close combat. No one would dare make fun of her for her height, however, as her presence there as the Crown of Two Kings proved her ability. Kang Shin-hyuk was filled with admiration for her as he watched her calmly accept the gaze of everyone around her.

-Next is the certificate award for the winner of the Rookie Game.

For the first time that day, Kang Shin-hyuk was face to face with the principal of Shinyoung, Shin Yoonhak. Like many others who worked at the academy, the principal was also a person who had made a name for himself as one of the top heroes in the world before working there

“Kang Shin-hyuk…I had a lot of expectations for you since the start.” That was the first thing the principal said as he greeted Kang Shin-hyuk for the award ceremony.

“Haha…thank you.” Kang Shin-hyuk replied with an ambiguous smile, not buying the words he was hearing.

“You have met my expectations wonderfully. To help students like you with unique and wonderful traits find the right path and grow up- that is the duty of our school.”

“Thank you. I will try my best going forward.” Kang Shin-hyuk almost couldn’t stop himself from laughing at the words unique and wonderful. Shinyoung would fall from grace if they really cared for kids with such characteristics, but in the first place, it was just a pretense, so he decided not to bother with it. People in this country didn’t water seeds to make them grow; they looked for the sprouts that had grown on their own in a dry land. He thought it was stupid, but he knew he couldn’t help that the world ran like that. At that moment, Kang Shin-hyuk had broken through the hard ground and sprouted. He proved he deserved water.

“More than that, you saved face for the Korean students. I look forward to your success in the future. Especially in France.”

“Yes.” France. It took a second for Kang Shin-hyuk to recall what he was talking about, as he had forgotten all about it while preparing for the games. The finalists of each individual exhibition, including the rookie one, would participate as school guests at the 15th World Superman Conference held in Paris. He couldn’t help but be excited about a free overseas trip.

“This red badge will be evidence of your victory today. Always wear it on your school uniform.” The principal presented him with a certificate and then attached the badge directly to the left side of his uniform.

“Okay.” Similar badges had been given to the other victors.

“That will be all.”

“There was the prize as well, Principal.”

“Ah, yes. There were two options. Which one did you want, Kang Shin-hyuk?”

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“I’ll take the spherical object.” He responded without hesitation. The principal lifted an eyebrow at this boy who would dare take the unknown object over the excellent B-class artifact.

“Very well. May I ask why?”

“It feels like the correct choice. Besides that, I can’t even use mana so the other one is useless to me.”

“Haha, of course. That it is.” The principal burst into laughter and waved a nearby faculty member to hand Kang Shin-hyuk his prize, a box with the spherical egg inside.

“Maybe you can awaken the possibilities it holds.”

“Maybe.” Kang Shin-hyuk took the box and hugged it to his chest, responding with a firm voice. The principal shook his hand with a smile. At the moment, Shin-hyuk could feel energy secretly emanating from the principal, trying to explore him. He almost reactively used his spiritual power to protect himself, but before he could, a message from the administrator arrived.

-Spiritual power isn’t the type of thing he can sense, so don’t worry. Stay still.

‘What about my regenerative power?’

-If you don’t open the status window yourself, he won’t see that either.

Thanks to the administrator’s advice, Kang Shin-hyuk was able to avoid rousing the principal’s suspicion by activating his spiritual power in response to the principal’s search ability.

“Well, yes.” Seemingly satisfied to learn just about the Awakened Wyrm ability, the principal nodded with a smile upon his lips. Kang Shin-hyuk shook off his thoughts and bowed his head, pretending not to notice a thing. Though he had to bite his tongue to keep it that way.

‘From the beginning, I was suspicious.’ There was no one in this world to trust. As Kang Shin-hyuk went down from the platform, recalling that fundamental truth, all of the first-year C class members were waiting for him, with Baek In-ha at the front.

“He’s here, everyone get out of the way!”

“Rookie of the Year is coming through!”

“From now on, I will sing his achievements! Principal, give me a beat!”

They all crowded around him, pretending as if they had always been best buddies. However, he didn’t try to push them away or rebuke them. He decided it was wiser to not waste his energy with the past, and instead focus on what would happen from then on. Maybe he could make a new relationship with all of them. It would have been impossible for him to consider it before, but now, he had been able to shake away that negative mindset at least a little bit.

“Ah, Woojin Do.” Woojin Do was off by himself, but he made eye contact with Kang Shin-hyuk. Even though he won the championship with his own power, he was thankful for his help.

“Thank you. It’s thanks to you that I won.”

“Thanks to the belt?”

“Yeah. I made sure to use it properly.”

“Okay.” Woojin Do gave him a small smile, which Shin-hyuk returned as he handed him back the belt.

“Hey, Woojin Do lent him that?”

“When did they get so close?”

“How kind of him.”

“Woojin Do, right hand of the Rookie King!”

As soon as they heard the conversation between the two, his classmates began to swarm Woojin Do as well. The awkward atmosphere between the two had entirely disappeared now.

“Well done.”

“Ha.” Baek In-ha showed up to the side of Shin-hyuk. Instead of asking Baek what he had done well, he instead brushed him off, the red badge swaying from his chest. Baek In-ha’s eyes shook as he looked at the badge.

“Jealous?”

“Just you wait. Next year, you will call me brother.”

“Okay then, I’ll listen to you next year when you win. Until then, call me brother.”

“If that’s the case, I have no choice but to take the throne now!”

***

The athletic competition, as tumultuous as it had been, ended in success. New stars had emerged. Those were Kang Shin-hyuk and Baek In-ha, of course, but Woojin Do, who had shown off his strength despite losing, was also receiving attention. Scouts were fiercely competing for the prospective talents they found. Kang Shin-hyuk was receiving messages from several people as well, but for the time being, he put them all on hold. He thought he was still too weak to properly respond to them. Two of them, however, couldn’t be ignored. The first was the guild that made Korea the world’s top superhuman power- Vanguard, the guild at the top of the world rankings.

“I’m Hoon Lim, team leader of Vanguard One.”

“I’m Kang Shin-hyuk, a freshman in the Knight Department.”

“Why not just introduce yourself as the Rookie King?”

“That’s a bit embarrassing for me to say…” Later in the evening, long after the closing ceremony for the athletic meet, Kang Shin-hyuk was sitting across from Hoon Lim in a café near the school. Hoon Lim tried to offer to take him to the campus café for a drink, but Shin-hyuk refused. He didn’t want to draw the attention of the other students for no reason, and he had never been to the campus café before.

“It’s been a while since I’ve seen a Korean student occupy the position of Rookie King. I’m proud both as a Korean and as an alumnus of Shinyoung.” The man didn’t touch the iced americano that he had ordered, but Shin-hyuk wasted no time in trying his mocha latte with extra whipped cream.

“Shinyoung is a place where talented people from all over the world come together. In terms of ability, though, Baek In-ha is much better than I am.” Shin-hyuk’s response was exceedingly polite as he put down his mocha. Hoon Lim suppressed a smile and shook his head in response.

“That boy was defeated after choosing to go after the Crown of Two Kings. Choosing your battles wisely is a valuable ability as well. You made a great choice and proved your abilities, which is why we’re contacting you.”

“Is that so…”

“Of course, that’s not the only reason. I hope you’ll excuse me, but I went ahead and looked at your admission records. You barely made it through the entrance exam, correct?” Kang Shin-hyuk nodded while making his way through the whipped cream. It wasn’t really a secret, after all. Nearly everyone knew about it.

“Despite that, in the two months since you arrived you went on to win the title of Rookie King. We are looking forward to your frankly amazing speed of development and the potential you will show in the future.”

“It is an honor.”

“What a polite young man. Right…let’s go ahead and take a look.” He took out a contract and handed it to Shin-hyuk. It was unexpected to Shin-hyuk that they would be so blunt about it, and Hoon Lim let out a laugh as if he could see right through him.

“This is Vanguard’s policies. We are the best in the world, we don’t need to waste any time in recruiting someone.”

“I like that way of approaching things.”

“Yes, I thought you might.” While Hoon Lin stopped to enjoy his americano, Kang Shin-hyuk finished off his own drink as he checked out the contract.

-There are no clauses that are specifically detrimental to you, and quite a few of the provisions are beneficial.

‘Oh, thank you.’

In the end, he didn’t even have to read it through because the administrator checked it for him. Did he really have nothing else to do?

-In fact, I like that Artifact Support is a big part of this contract. Although you will be able to create the best artifacts on the planet.

‘Vanguard is the world’s number one guild. It’s ridiculous for me to sit face to face with the leader of Team One like this.’

-However, you are one of the most notable being in the Hero Universe, where countless worlds gather. You don’t need to dwell on being number one in this world right now.

Sometimes the administrator’s words were so grandiose that they caught Kang Shin-hyuk off guard. He couldn’t say they were completely wrong, though.

‘I haven’t even shown everything I can do yet.’

From his previous life as Anvil to his metallurgy and spiritual power, even his characteristics that were beginning to develop…Hoon Lim had said he was surprised by his growth, but to Kang Shin-hyuk, he was just now on the starting line. He could tell that now he had been using spiritual power, he could be sure he had endless potential. Now he could be in a position to choose rather than be chosen.

“Vanguard is a great guild.”

“Of course, we are the best. In fact, we’re making you an offer that you can’t refuse because there will be no better place than in Vanguard.” The world’s best guild had contacted this first-year after seeing what he could do for just one day. If he passed it up now, there might never be another chance like it. But…

“But for now, I want to continue to grow by myself.”

“Hm?” Hoon Lim’s eyebrows raised as high as they could. He didn’t seem upset or mad, simply confused.

“I can’t openly do guild activities while in school anyway, right? There’ll be plenty of time for you to reconsider me joining before I graduate.”

“Of course, it is mostly in name, but even while you are still in school our guild can provide you many benefits such as renting artifacts. You could even take the Crown of Two Kings next year with our help.”

-It would be better to make your own artifacts. Ones meant for mana users won’t be suitable for you.

Kang Shin-hyuk wasn’t as sure as the administrator sounded, but he knew it was as attractive of an offer to him as it would be to other students. Besides, he had something else in mind.

“I want to solve that by myself. When you were a student, you didn’t need artifacts so desperately, did you?”

“Hmm…you’re right, of course. All right. We will wait as much as we can.” Hoon Lim nodded, full of confidence. The response had been crystal clear.

“Maybe the contract we offer you next time will be a little different.”

“Haha, was it because of my answer?”

“No.” The contract that Vanguard had brought him was extremely beneficial, written with the consideration of his potential for growth. Just looking at the contract was enough for Kang Shin-hyuk to realize how they were able to become the number one guild in the world.

“I’ll be showing you more than just what I have so far.”

“Hahaha! It should be expected that a Rookie King would have this much spirit. Alright, make me come back with an even better contract.” In the end, Hoon Lim burst into laughter. Kang Shin-hyuk responded with a smile and shook his hand, glad that the meeting had gone so well.

He had set his mind on not belonging to this guild, but he hoped he could maintain a good relationship with them going forward.