First, the trainees who moved to the dormitory locked the door and…
“Seriously, this is just too much!”
“Are you going to take the Shadow Technique exam? Isn’t this just a way to manipulate everyone?”
“Leaving yourself out of it!”
“Anyone with a girlfriend deserves to die!”
They started cursing Ho Cheon-an.
It had been announced that for the individual matches, trainees would be paired based on similar rankings from tests taken before becoming trainees. This was the proper way to gauge individual abilities, putting similar opponents against each other.
Since they had no way of knowing the scores of other trainees, they couldn’t tell who their opponents would be.
“Huh…”
Not knowing their opponents made it impossible to prepare tailored strategies, leaving them to rely solely on their personal skills. So, raising individual abilities at least a little by tomorrow was the way to go.
However, having one another assess their martial arts seemed strategically pointless. Teaching each other would waste the time of whichever trainee was doing the teaching.
The instructors, being those who could focus on the less capable ones, were the strategic choice, but Ho Cheon-an had left himself out of it entirely, leaving them with no answers.
Of course, even if they crammed for a day, it would be impossible to beat the right opponent, but their frustration with Ho Cheon-an was unavoidable.
“Damn it! Just break up with your girlfriend already!”
“Exalted Paradise! Hellish Love!”
As they cursed Ho Cheon-an, they gathered themselves in front of the Twelfth Squad, confronting the harsh reality.
“Nobody wants to lose in the individual matches, so let’s move on… but the group matches are the real problem…”
The atmosphere in the Twelfth Squad became heavy. The team had a structural weakness: they were one person short compared to the other squads.
While other squads had a full roster of fifteen, the Twelfth Squad only had fourteen.
The Twelfth Squad had to overcome the disadvantage of being down one person.
“If we ask the instructor to fight with us…”
“Don’t be ridiculous!”
“Are you an assassin or something?”
Amidst the negative voices, Kang Chumo-ru spoke up.
“I believe we can win the group match.”
Everyone’s attention shifted to Kang Chumo-ru. Jae Sang-hae represented their confusion and asked.
“Do you really have a clever plan that allows you to say that?”
“Of course. We have a unique characteristic that other squads don’t.”
“…the Shadow Technique.”
“Exactly.”
“Hmm…”
Kang Chumo-ru’s confidence left the other trainees looking a bit dubious. It was true that the Shadow Technique had improved significantly over the last two weeks, but…
Seong Yeol-hwi spoke up.
“To be honest, I think it’s too much of a burden to operate the Shadow Technique in real combat. If my opponent has equal skills, I don’t think dodging my attack would be that hard.”
That level was still basic, making it hard to trust in applying it to real battles.
“Well, there is a solution to that.”
Kang Chumo-ru quietly stated his strategy.
* *
“Are you sure you don’t need to guide the trainees?”
While observing the lone Ho Cheon-an, Song An-seong asked. Ho Cheon-an was recapping the content necessary to master the Socratic method when he casually opened his eyes and replied.
“Well, isn’t a mock battle an opportunity to see their usual abilities?”
“True, but wouldn’t it be advantageous for the instructors if the other squads feel a sense of crisis toward your squad?”
“Exactly. But they should know that well enough.”
Song An-seong was confused by Ho Cheon-an’s nonchalant attitude. The Twelfth Squad’s growth had been terrifyingly rapid. Each day, they were mastering the Shadow Technique, and their bodies were showing noticeable results despite even restricting meals.
Ultimately, why was this mock battle happening?
It was because the Twelfth Squad’s growth was alarming compared to the others.
“Is that so? To be honest, I can’t understand your intention.”
Song An-seong suspected that Ho Cheon-an had changed his mind.
Both Ho Cheon-an and Song An-seong aimed to have the Twelfth Squad eliminated. Yet, it seemed they had trained the trainees way too intensely for that goal. Song An-seong felt that with their current training results, the trainees might accept being eliminated. Still, Ho Cheon-an tightened the reins of their training even more.
Not only that? They needed to perform excellently in the mock battles to increase the Twelfth Squad’s chances of being eliminated. As the squad that was once assumed to be the bottom-tier started achieving high results, the sense of crisis grew significantly among other squads. Considering their intention to eliminate the Twelfth Squad, Ho Cheon-an should have intervened actively. So why was he leaving them alone?
“Have you perhaps changed your mind?”
“Oh ho.”
At Song An-seong’s suspicious gaze, Ho Cheon-an burst into laughter.
“Rest assured, I haven’t forgotten my objective. We’ll see from the mock battle results, won’t we?”
“Do you believe the Twelfth Squad will achieve good results?”
Doubt still lingered on Song An-seong’s face. While the physical enhancement was progressing smoothly, he believed that most of the Twelfth Squad members were at a turning point. The advantages gained from physical enhancement were being offset as their martial arts and physical abilities fell out of balance.
While the results over the last two weeks were impressive, they still didn’t change the fact that they were weaker compared to other squads.
As for the group matches, how could they overcome the critical flaw of being one person short?
However, could they still achieve good results without an instructor? Not just Song An-seong, but everyone who had a grasp of the situation expected Ho Cheon-an’s trainees to fall short in their performance.
Ho Cheon-an smiled as he looked at Song An-seong’s face.
“I predict my squad will come in first.”
Then he added one more remark.
“And we will do it overwhelmingly.”
* *
The next afternoon.
“Then let the individual matches begin!”
The rules for the individual matches were simple: the principle of the winner takes all, with the squad members competing in one-on-one battles, and the squad with the most wins overall is declared the victor. If three squads remained, the one that had expended the most energy would take the win by default.
“Let’s start with a match between the Twelfth Squad and the First Squad!”
Following the announcement from Song An-seong, who was acting as the host, the individual matches commenced. Since the purpose was to evaluate the squads’ strengths, each match took place in front of all squads.
“Jo Ga-ju vs. Yeong Seol!”
Jo Ga-ju took to the arena with a spear. However, the result was loss. It was simply impossible to secure victory with a weapon honed for only two weeks against a peak expert.
Jo Ga-ju decided to be satisfied with gaining practical experience in spear technique.
“Jae Sang-hae vs. Jang San!”
The result of the first match was a victory for the Twelfth Squad. The Twelfth Squad ended up with 8 wins out of 14 contests, suffering 6 losses.
“Such stamina among the lower ranks is impressive.”
In battles among the lower tier where seasoned individuals were gathered, physical training played a significant role. After all, it was debatable whether the technically excellent upper tier could outperform them in endurance.
“Victory is ours.”
However, they still didn’t appear strong enough to claim overall victory. The biggest obstacle was Jo Ga-ju, who was supposed to be their leader.
“It’s clear why the instructor gave him a spear, though.”
When Jo Ga-ju, wielding a spear learned in just two weeks, stepped into the martial arts arena, he was met with scornful gazes from everyone.
Even though it was meant to be a mock battle, there was a sense that he wasn’t taking it seriously.
However, once the match ended, most of those glares faded away.
Jo Ga-ju had fought as if he had been born to wield a spear. Throughout the duel, it was evident that he was growing. He truly had the momentum of a dragon soaring. However…he still needed more time. No matter how talented he was, it was impossible to defeat a peak expert with skills learned in just two weeks.
“Who knows what the future holds, but it’s confirmed that Jo Ga-ju will lose in this mock battle.”
With someone like Jo Ga-ju on the team, could the Twelfth Squad still claim victory in the individual matches? No matter how much he thought about it, it seemed doubtful, yet Song An-seong couldn’t shake a bit of hope.
After all, Ho Cheon-an had consistently displayed extraordinary performances, both positively and negatively. The fact that Ho Cheon-an was discussing potential victory made Song An-seong hopeful.
With that expectation, he proceeded with the individual matches.
The results of the first round saw the Twelfth, Eleventh, Third, Ninth, Fifth, and Seventh Squads advance to the second round.
In the second round, the Twelfth Squad faced off against the Eleventh Squad.
“Ready! Fight!”
The intensity of the individual matches was relentless. Since opponents of similar skill were battling, that was expected.
To suppress their opponents, one had to fully unleash their abilities, resulting in both winners and losers drenched in sweat as they left the arena.
“Jang Choo wins!”
Through the fierce heat and sweat, winners and losers were discerned; the victorious squads in the second round were the Twelfth, Ninth, and Seventh Squads.
“The last to fight in the individual match, the Seventh Squad, advances by default. The Twelfth Squad will face the Ninth Squad in a match!”
“Charge!”
“Ugh!”
The defeated squads glared at the upper-ranked ones with narrowed eyes.
Though they had lost, the real competition lay in the team matches scheduled for two weeks later! Naturally, the focus was on the three squads that had proven their competitiveness.
“The Twelfth Squad has reached third place…”
“The growth of the lower rank squads is frightening.”
Concentrating on analysis, the trainees began feeling a sense of crisis about the Twelfth Squad’s rapid growth, just as Song An-seong had intended. Despite Jo Ga-ju’s defeats, others had stepped up so much that they were outshining him.
The power of the Twelfth Squad, which had previously been expected to remain at the bottom, awakened a sense of crisis in every trainee’s heart.
“Victory for the Seventh Squad!”
Of course, the Twelfth Squad wasn’t the only focus of analysis among the trainees. They were also scrutinizing the Sixth and Seventh Squads as they pondered the final victor.
“It seems the Seventh Squad has the highest chance of winning.”
“True. Whoever wins, both sides will have consumed a lot of energy.”
Other squads cautiously predicted a victory for the Seventh Squad. Although they had promised ample rest time before the finals, a bit of rest wasn’t enough to recover from the aftereffects of fierce battles.
One single match could drain all their energy.
Whether from the Sixth or the Twelfth Squad, they would be facing the Seventh Squad having just emerged from violent battles, so they were bound to be at a disadvantage.
“Seong Yeol-hwi wins!”
Thus, even though the Twelfth Squad had scored a victory with an 8 to 6 result, the trainees were astonished by their resilience but also predicted the Seventh Squad’s victory as well. It wasn’t just that they had won; every match had been a tense struggle, and you could feel that both stamina and energy had been utterly depleted.
“I wouldn’t say the Seventh Squad is in perfect shape, but the Twelfth Squad’s consumption has been excessive.”
Song An-seong shared the same assessment as the trainees.
“Rest for half an hour! We’ll begin the finals after the break!”
Ho Cheon-an glanced at the victorious and beaming trainees of the Seventh Squad before stepping into the dormitory where the Twelfth Squad was resting.
Perhaps due to just finishing an intense martial arts match, the eyes of the sweaty trainees in the Twelfth Squad were gleaming brightly. Ho Cheon-an chuckled as he received their eager gazes.
“Do you think you can win?”
“I’m not confident,” Okryong opened his mouth.
“I think we’ll lose.”
