Ch.2727. The Conductor

Seol Yu-hwa looked at Do Jong-hyun with a curious expression.

‘Clearly, he doesn’t have a summoning spirit…’

Not having a summoning spirit in this aptitude user world was equivalent to being treated as disabled.

Unqualified. Someone who couldn’t function normally.

Looking at how people fought with their special abilities through summoning spirits, he seemed to be the type who had no special abilities and just used raw magical power.

Weak abilities and useless.

That was everyone’s perception.

Yet Do Jong-hyun was now commanding everyone, including herself.

‘Come to think of it, it’s really strange.’

Do Jong-hyun, who had nothing, was giving orders to powerful people like them.

“Normal attacks won’t work on Living Armor. There’s only one strategy. Target its weak points properly.”

“How do you know that?”

Aerial asked with irritation. Do Jong-hyun remained calm.

“Because I know the information. Otherwise, we’d foolishly charge in and get knocked back.”

He spoke his mind without any fear, even when facing Aerial.

“Let’s tackle them one by one. No need to overdo it. We have eight sidekicks. The neck, inside the armor, the sword it’s holding, the back, or the shadow reflected on the ground are the main targets.”

“I’ll take care of the shadow.”

Geum Do-hyun stepped forward. With his Ifrit, sniping a shadow reflected on the ground from a distance would be a piece of cake.

Next was Han Min-woo.

“I’ll handle the sword. My shield can manage it.”

“Who should take the back? Aerial has good speed, right?”

“Of course.”

Do Jong-hyun smiled and assigned the back to Aerial. Seol Yu-hwa pondered for a moment.

What could she do? All she had was Brisingamen, which wouldn’t work, and the ability to emit strong magical power.

Gu Sang-heon decided to target the neck, so naturally, the inside of the armor fell to Seol Yu-hwa.

In a way, it was the most difficult approach. To target the inside, she would have to get underneath the floating body.

That was no ordinary risk.

“Wait a minute.”

Aerial pointed at Seol Yu-hwa.

“Isn’t the inside the hardest? It seems like Seol Yu-hwa’s Brisingamen doesn’t work.”

That was true. Without Brisingamen’s protection, she was significantly inferior compared to the other geniuses.

Seol Yu-hwa showed a gloomy expression, but Do Jong-hyun’s choice was unexpected.

“It’s fine. She can do it. She just needs to stay calm.”

Do Jong-hyun was showing trust in her.

For once, Seol Yu-hwa felt grateful to Do Jong-hyun.

He believed in her.

Now they observed the Giant Living Armor standing alone in the distance.

It was time to attack again. The combat teams moved with Aerial in the lead.

Meanwhile, Do Jong-hyun even explained the enemy’s patterns.

“First, it will launch sword winds from a distance. They’re wide from left to right, so jump or dodge. When Aerial circles behind and draws its attention, it will turn its body. That’s when you strike the neck! Gu Sang-heon! And when it shifts its focus again, Geum Do-hyun, you…”

“I’ve already figured it out!”

Geum Do-hyun leaped forward, igniting flames.

Being geniuses, they instantly understood their roles in the attack plan.

When Aerial jumped, a wide-ranging sword wind indeed swept through.

Aerial sprang up and circled behind, causing the monster to turn.

At that moment, Gu Sang-heon and Geum Do-hyun’s attacks precisely targeted the top and bottom.

In an instant, both spots were hit, and the Living Armor’s body trembled.

“Fall back! That’s a sandstorm!”

At Do Jong-hyun’s command, everyone retreated.

As the sandstorm raged, unlike before, no one was blown away.

And through that sandstorm, Aerial struck the back.

“The back isn’t it either.”

As the opponent turned, Han Min-woo raised his shield in front of Aerial.

When shield and sword collided, a powerful shockwave erupted, and the sword shattered.

But the Living Armor remained unharmed.

Now everything depended on Seol Yu-hwa.

‘I can do this.’

While Aerial and Han Min-woo defended against the enemy’s attacks, Seol Yu-hwa darted underneath like lightning.

Inside the Living Armor. Where exactly should she attack?

Even Do Jong-hyun hadn’t taught her this. It seemed like she should just quickly scan any part of the interior, but Seol Yu-hwa thought of a more efficient method.

‘What if I use Brisingamen’s range?’

Brisingamen inflicted a special mental attack on opponents. Its range was about 300 meters from Brisingamen.

What if she concentrated it in one direction?

Focusing the mental attack itself to create energy that could touch physical matter.

This was the technique that would make Seol Yu-hwa play a major role in the monster invasion three weeks later.

And now, she had just realized it on the spot.

As vibrations began to shake the interior, she received a signal from around the lower chest area.

Something was different there.

Seol Yu-hwa concentrated the vibrations and blasted that spot in one go.

Like breaking porcelain, a hole formed there, allowing her to see outside.

Her vision shifted downward. Seol Yu-hwa looked up.

[Seol Yu-hwa, Aerial Team, Special Point Monster Defeated!]

-Overall 1st Place

Somehow, by delivering the finishing blow, Seol Yu-hwa secured first place.

With her own hands.

‘No, it wasn’t just me.’

Her eyes found Do Jong-hyun. Without him in the first place, she wouldn’t have had this opportunity.

‘Still, better than I expected?’

She began to view him more favorably than before.

*

[3,000 M-points acquired!]

They’re practically giving away points since it’s the lowest tier. Anyway, the big event has finally passed.

I don’t need to get close to them; I just do what I can.

If they had ignored my instructions, I would have proceeded with just those willing to follow.

But as expected, my concerns were unfounded.

We did it. These people are the real deal. When I teach them strategies, they create new routes on top of that.

My original strategy was to target one weak point at a time. But they lowered the difficulty by hitting two at once with perfect timing.

They instinctively know the timing. This is what makes geniuses different.

Compared to them, I… Better not think about it. What matters is that everything is going well.

Everyone stays alive and builds their skills enough to prepare for the future.

In the future, allies will become enemies due to monster transformations.

After the advanced class team leaders finished their training, the intermediate and basic class team leaders entered the gate simulation in turn.

Originally, today’s simulation would have ended after 5 PM as in the previous timeline.

But this time, since all teams entered together, it seemed like we could finish two hours earlier.

While eating the delivered lunch boxes, I chatted with Han Min-woo.

“Strong aptitude users like Dokgo Jun are great, but no one compares to Seo Jin-hoon.”

“I know. He was on par with Dokgo Jun, right? He died, but he died saving people until the end. An amazing person.”

“At that time, an apartment building was collapsing, and if he had abandoned us, he could have defeated that ‘shadow,’ but he saved hundreds of people and ultimately died.”

Han Min-woo had a somber expression.

“I want to be someone like Seo Jin-hoon too. Since I was saved from that apartment.”

“What?”

This was news to me.

“You were in the apartment that Jin-hoon saved at the end?”

“Yes. Since then, I’ve thought that I should help people like he did.”

That was truly an admirable goal. If I were his parent, I would have praised him.

“But you’re doing really well even without a summoning spirit.”

“I’m just watching from behind.”

“No, you step forward yourself too. That takes courage. Plus, you’re in the upper ranks thanks to that.”

Han Min-woo slapped my back. Right, this is enough for now.

Without revealing that I’m a monster. Due to my monster summoning spirit, I transform into a monster, and if only society had been a bit more peaceful…

Moreover, the monsters appearing two weeks later will consume me even more.

Half-monsterized humans who have accepted monster powers.

The human side becomes more sensitive due to internal betrayers.

So I need to be careful now and even more careful in the future.

After everything ended, Dokgo Jun stood on the platform and called us.

“Aerial, Seol Yu-hwa, Gu Sang-heon, Geum Do-hyun, Han Min-woo. The performance of these five was truly overwhelming. You’ve proven your skills in the given tasks. I’d like to scout all of you for our guild.”

Dokgo Jun subtly revealed his ambition. Since one guild becoming too powerful wasn’t socially desirable, there were limits on scouting targets.

One to two people per guild. That’s why the top student always goes to the White Dragon Guild.

By convention, the second-place student is given to another guild, and then they choose again.

But as Dokgo Jun was praising each combat team, he suddenly looked at me.

Me? From the basic class?

“And Do Jong-hyun from the basic class. I didn’t expect it, but you were impressive. You have excellent planning abilities. I’ll keep an eye on you too.”

“Do Jong-hyun?”

Surprised voices came from around. Well, I was surprised too. He’s noticing me?

This was something I couldn’t even dream of in the previous timeline. I’m happy… but seeing his oppressive behavior in the future doesn’t make it that great.

However, being noticed by the strongest aptitude user in the country definitely changed people’s perceptions.

“Why Do Jong-hyun?”

“He’s been hanging out with the advanced class students lately. What’s going on?”

The reactions were truly unbelievable.

Even more unbelievable was that after it ended, I was summoned—not Aerial or Gu Sang-heon, but me.

Led by an instructor to the interview room, I could see Dokgo Jun, the strongest in Korea and among the world’s strongest.

Next to him was our academy’s senior, former top student, and his girlfriend, Lee Chae-rin, looking at me.

“Hello.”

In an awkward greeting, I sat down.

Dokgo Jun’s gaze, as always, was like a viper scanning people.

It really felt like he could see through you.

Sitting down, I looked directly into Dokgo Jun’s eyes.

There’s nothing to fear, and he couldn’t possibly know I’m a monster.

“Sit comfortably.”

As Dokgo Jun straightened his back, Lee Chae-rin handed me black tea.

I prefer green tea, or if not that, job’s tears tea from the vending machine.

Anyway, I sipped the black tea, and Dokgo Jun shook a pile of documents.

“The reason I came to inspect today was actually to see Aerial and the other advanced class students.”

“I figured as much.”

“But there was an unexpected harvest. From the basic class… and without a summoning spirit, you showed remarkable performance.”

“I was just a passenger.”

“Are there passengers who give instructions to the driver? We confirmed that you were giving orders.”

“Your knowledge was impressive.”

Lee Chae-rin smiled like an older sister from the side. Damn, she’s so pretty. Dokgo Jun, you lucky bastard.

“Overall, you even attacked all the weak points of the Giant Living Armor that we forcibly inserted. Our White Dragon Guild wants someone like you.”

“Yes. So, are you scouting me…?”

“That’s right. How about joining our White Dragon Guild after graduation?”

Lee Chae-rin’s smiling eyes turned to me.

At least the results of my diligent theoretical studies as a humanities student have shown up after regression.

The joy of being recognized is before me, but I don’t have any intention of joining anywhere right now.

“Well…”

“Of course, contact us if you’re interested. Actually, we’re the ones who want to ask you something.”

“Pardon?”

A business card was placed in front of me, and Dokgo Jun rested his chin on his hand, smiling.

“There was a monster attack incident before, right?”

“Yes.”

A sense of unease crept over me.

“At that time, both the instructor and Aerial, among others, reported seeing a mysterious monster. An unidentified monster.”

“Yes.”

He’s talking about me. About me transforming into a monster. Dokgo Jun’s sharp eyes pierced through me.

“Let me be direct. That monster, it’s related to you, isn’t it?”

My heart pounded violently.