Chapter 29
Chapter 29
It is said that hard work does not betray.
Whether thats true or not, my savior, Professor Byrne, declares the end.
Well call it a day here. Thank you for your efforts. This is the end of todays training.
I-Im saved.
I stop running, relieved that its finally over, and then my legs give out and I collapse to the floor.
That was hard!
[Goddess of Destiny says you worked hard].
Its awkward coming from someone whos obsessed with me every day.
I want to answer her, but I cant, so I just shake my head.
Whats going on? Why is it so quiet around here?
When I looked around, I saw something unexpected.
There are a lot of knight wannabes, so I thought that even if I couldnt do it, I would still be able to do it half the time.
But contrary to my expectations, there were only five people left on the school grounds right now, including me.
And among them, except for Eileen, there are quite a few gasping for breath.
What the.. is this? Am I more physically fit than I thought?
It was just when I was questioning myself that a quest completion message flashed in front of my eyes.
[Endure the long run! You have completed the quest].
[400 points as a reward].
400 points.. I cant believe I ran myself to death to get this
Somehow I feel like Ive lost, even though Ive clearly gained.
I brushed the system message aside and got up to get some water.
I walked over to the water bottle.
What is this? Why do I feel stares?
I continued to feel the stares and looked around. Most of the students on the grounds are staring at me, mouths agape.
I guess I have good physical strength after all.
I thought they were just giving up due to a lack of willpower, but judging by their reactions, it seems thats not the case.
The doping effect is definitely good.
Of course, its not like I didnt do a lot of stamina and strength training, but even so, if it wasnt for the Exp Potion, I would never have made it to the end.
If it wasnt for that, I would have just given up halfway through.
But Im still surprised to be in the top 10.
Most of the kids who dropped out at the beginning were not knight wannabes. But all of them are knights, except for those running guys.
So they must have been training together every day. But the only ones who made it to the end of the run were me.
Hmmm. Well, perhaps it was due to a mistake in the initial energy balance.
No matter how much health you have, if you dont control it well in the beginning, youll run out of energy quickly.
Thinking about it like that, its not strange that I managed to make it to the end.
Rather, the ones who didnt control their stamina were the monsters.
I drank the water in one gulp, convinced.
Gulp! Gulp!
Wahh! . Finally, I feel alive!
It was like being in the desert and not having water for days and then finding an oasis and drinking it. Of course, Ive never had that experience, but Im just saying.
Anyway, I downed the bottle of water in one gulp and wiped my mouth once with my arm . Then I stumbled into the shower to wash off the sweat.
***
Meanwhile, that time.
Constellation sipped her refreshing orange juice and stared at the screen.
Hmmm something off?
The Kane she knew would never have gone on such a long run.
Granted, shed only known him for nearly a month, but she could tell by his behaviour so far.
Basically, Kane is sleepy, lazy, and good at acting crazy.
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And the best of all is, of course, his acting.
Lets think about his performances so far.
The way he made the drunken holy water look like a potion. The way he acted as if the Constellation had actually descended, just those two things alone make me cringe.
The pretense he showed yesterday, the self-deception, saving Kim Soo-yongs life and then casually leading him to the culprit being the Church, as if he was genuinely worried about him.
Dont even get me started on his acting skills. He is pure human trash.
The problem is, you cant call it evil. What he does is waste that cant be recycled, but when you think about it, his actions have done as much damage as the Church.
Potions scams are common in this world.
Not only that, but aside from the potion scam, all of his targets so far have been people who have tried to harm him, and even when called evil, he has done nothing to deserve it.
In other words. His behaviour may be trash, but he doesnt go around mocking and killing innocent people.
And it has its moments.
For some reason, in contrast to his usual slothfulness, he trains hard every day and is infinitely nice to his people.
Not to me, of course.
Anyway, he ran the entire fitness test that wasnt training, nor was it beneficial.
Why? For what?
Apart from Kane, normal people tend to do things based on profit and loss.
The rest of the guys, except for Kane, must have thought it was training.
No, not just them, but all the wannabe knights probably thought so.
But most of them may have run hard, but not hard enough to the point of death.
Hmm .. But Kane wasnt like them.
He literally ran himself to death.
Theres no reason to run like that for no gain.
.
.
Suspicious.
Did Kane run because he thought it was training?
That would make sense, but the thing is, he looked like he really didnt want to run.
It was like, Do I really have to go through with this?
Judging by his reaction, its not like that.
I dont understand it no matter how much I think about it. There must be a reason, but I cant find it.
And here I thought, that theres no human being who I can not understand .
Ive seen a lot of humans, but never one that I fail to understand and is unpredictable.
I cant even begin to guess.
***
Eileen stares at Kane blankly.
Jenny nudges her in the side with her heel, smiling sheepishly.
Very. Youre just making a face like youre in love?
Uh, huh?! Its not like that!!!
Eileen shouted, breaking away sharply at Jennys question.
Hmph. Well, I think youre in trouble, Eileen?
Huh? In trouble with what?
Now. Looking at the faces of most of the girls here, it looks like a few of them have a crush on Kane.
At Jennys words, Eileens head snapped up and down.
True to her word, the girls blushed a little and glanced at Kane.
Seeing that, Eileen made a face of panic.
Jenny smirked widely before continuing.
Definitely. Its just that Kane had a weird personality in the first semester, and his looks are great. Arent you going to lose him like this?
Ugh! Hes the one who broke up with me in the first place. I-I dont like him..
Well, at least youre finally admitting it.
Honestly, it had only been a day since school started, but she was in denial.
She told her that she was falling out of love with Kane and that she was just being a little bitter.
But as Kane continued to show her a different side of himself, she couldnt really deny it.
Eileen wiped the sweat from her brow and sulked.
Jenny saw the look on her face and smiled smugly.
Dont worry, sister, Ill help you.
***
Phew, after exercising and taking a shower, it sure feels good.
Feeling refreshed, I walked to the cafeteria at a leisurely pace.
As expected, the academy cafeteria was spotlessly clean.
It was similar to a mansion dining room.
Seeing this, I realised that the restaurants in the third world are amazing.
Some places treat soldiers who protect the country like a dogs, but this place is like a high-class restaurant, even though its just a student canteen.
Lets look at the menu.
Tonkatsu, beef soup, beef steak, vegetable salad, ramen, etc.
There was a lot of food on the menu.
But.. why is there ramen?
Of course, theres nothing wrong with ramen.
But the fact that the word ramen exists in the game world is absurd.
Im pretty sure the creators put it in because they wanted to eat it while making it.
Otherwise, it doesnt make sense.
Anyway, should I eat ramen ?
Honestly, its not that the food served by the David family is bad.
To put it bluntly, its melt-in-your-mouth delicious.
I probably wouldnt even be able to eat it on Earth.
But.
Even with such fine food, my taste buds have already been tamed by MSG.
Not only that, but Im Korean before Im Kane.
Noble food that is served like a foreign country may taste good, but it doesnt bring back memories.
So when I was trying to decide what to eat.
The students nearby stare at me and gossip.
What are they talking about with such a surprised look on their faces?
Curious, I turn up the volume.
Did you hear, Kane had a physical fitness test today?
What?! Isnt that bullshit? How can that bastard do that against aspiring knights? Isnt he doing it from behind?
Shiva, no, you bastard!
If you guess Kanes behavior so far, its not unreasonable to think like thatbut isnt it too much to say I win in reverse?
I immediately want to tell him no, but Im afraid Ill be the only one who looks like an arsehole; if I do, so I just prick up my ears and listen.
I thought so too at first, but then all the kids in gym class today said it, and I saw their reactions, and it looks like its not from the back, but from the front.
Crazy. He was so weak in the first semester, wasnt he?
The classmate in front of him nods.
I know. Why did he come to the canteen anyway?
Oh, yeah. Normally, he wouldnt come to the canteen because its dirty or the food is inferior, but today, he came because of what?
I mean, normally hed be eating at his mansion, not here, or sitting alone drinking.
I turned the volume back down, thinking there was no point in listening to any more of this conversation.
[Goddess of Destiny also agrees with them].
Constellation is having the same reaction as them, so its true.
Kane, this bastard needs to serve in the army to come to his senses.
He just needs to eat army shit to realize, Ah Im a lucky man.
Forget it, whats the point of thinking about it, lets just order.
Ill have a ramen, please.
Y-yes.
In response to my order, the lady at the restaurant nodded, looking nervous and flustered.
I walked over to an empty table and sat down.
Hmmm. I wonder if they serve kimchi and pickled radish?
Or at least ramen as I know it, right?
I felt a little ominous, but still, my mouth watered at the thought of eating ramen after so long.
As I wipe the saliva from my mouth, someone sits down in front of me.
It was none other than Jenny and Eileen.
I thought I was just going to sit down and eat ramen in peace.
In fact, eating with Eileen in front of me would make any other male student envy me.
But from my point of view, I was only concerned about eating ramen with or not Eileen in front of me.
They avoid my eyes, as if they know theyre in an embarrassing situation.
Jenny scratches the side of her head and laughs awkwardly.
Ahahaha. Come to think of it, Im not hungry. You two have a nice meal
With that, Jenny stood up from her seat.
Seeing this, Eileen looks at Jenny, wide-eyed, as if she didnt expect it.
The look in her eyes seemed to say, I thought you were going to help me?
Jenny shrugged it off and scurried away at the speed of light.
Eventually, it was just me and my ex-girlfriend at the table.
[Goddess of Destiny asks why this bitch keeps following you around].
Ah. You were there too.
Anyway, its a bit of a stretch to include her, since shes not directly sitting at the table.
Well, I had something to say to Eileen about this, so its good, though the timing is off.
Im sorry.
Eileens shoulders flinch at my sudden apology, as if she wasnt expecting it.
W-why the sudden apology?
Im just talking about the breakup during the school holidays, and I know you must have been going through a lot at the time, and Im really sorry that I just said and left it at that.
Eileen bowed her head deeply when she heard the reason for my apology.
No. At the time, all I was thinking about was breaking up with Kane, and I honestly dont deserve an apology from you for what happened Hey. Do you feel the same way now as you did then?
Her head is down, so I dont know what her expression is.
But I can tell by the tremor in her voice.
Im sorry. Im thinking the same thing now.
Well, yeah.
For some reason, I find myself dumping Eileen once more.
But I cant help it.
Honestly, I find her to be an attractive woman, but if I make the mistake of accepting her, it could be very different from the original.
No, its actually quite different now.
In the original story, Eileen has to go through life at the academy with a face that looks like its about to die because Kane is dead.
However, unlike in the original, I survived and am living a good life Thanks to the butterfly effect.
But I cant help this part.
Honestly, I intend to keep up with events, but that doesnt mean I cant die.
Anyway, even though its different from the original, I still have to follow it as closely as possible.
If I change completely from the original, Ill have to die multiple times to find out information about the future.
Damnit. Thats no good.
We stared at each other, neither of us saying anything.
After a few seconds of silence, someone else approached us.
Oh. Is it Jenny?
Rejoicing at the thought of a saving hand, we turned our heads.
But it wasnt Jenny. It was Ogtin.
He even approaches with a frown on his face, his eyes full of fire.
He stops in front of me and slowly removes his gloves.
What? No way, It couldnt be, isnt that a clich? Im not going to accept it anyway, you madman!
But Ogtin ignores me and throws the glove at me.
David von Kane, I challenge you to a duel!