episode_0439

“Why!!!! Why are you discriminating against people!!!!”

Crash!!

“If you keep this up, you’ll end up breaking the table, you brat.”

“Ugh!!! Ah, it hurts!”

“Didn’t I tell you not to use the shotgun?”

“What’s a shotgun…ah!”

I grabbed the ear of the guy who seemed like he was about to smash the table in frustration over a failed enhancement, and pulled it hard.

“If you pull a stunt like this again, I’ll deal with you last.”

“Argh! But isn’t this too much!! Why am I still stuck at +12! There must be something wrong. Don’t you have any expectations for me? I can do anything if I can just reach +12!”

I couldn’t help but sigh at Terios’ words.

It wasn’t that I couldn’t understand his frustration, especially since there were others who had graduated by getting lucky and reaching +12 later than him.

But enhancement was not something I could control.

I couldn’t just make it succeed if it didn’t want to.

“I’ve said it multiple times, but this is not something I can control. The probabilities are the same for everyone.”

“Don’t lie to me!!!”

“This guy has lost his mind.”

I was about to intervene, thinking it was getting out of hand.

Thud!

“Oof!”

Someone else beat me to it and intervened.

“Long time no see.”

“Gabriel?”

I was taken aback by the unexpected appearance.

“Yes, I’m on vacation and stopped by for a bit. But what’s with this guy? He seems to be behaving rudely towards the boss.”

“He’s just acting out because of the enhancement. Hey, don’t worry, I’ll handle him if he gets out of hand.”

Seeing Terios whimpering as Gabriel held him by the nape of his neck, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for him.

“He just got a bit too excited and raised his voice. He didn’t mean any harm, so let him go.”

“Ah!”

“He seems to be in need of some mental education.”

“He’s about to pass out.”

As I was about to step in, Gabriel beat me to it.

“Are you out of your mind? This is attempted murder!”

“It’s not me who’s crazy, it’s you. You need to get a grip on yourself.”

Terios seemed to feel unjust as he didn’t understand what he had done wrong.

“What did I do!!”

“You acted out in anger. You dared to do that without even knowing who this person is.”

“This person?? You mean the shop owner?”

“Yes, this person. You raised your voice and acted out in anger. Just because you failed an enhancement.”

“He’s just a top employee…!”

Gabriel cut off Terios’ words.

“Even if he was just a top employee, there’s no reason for him to tolerate your behavior. But were you a fool from the start? Who would think that someone with such presence could be a normal top employee?”

Me?

I was even more surprised by Gabriel’s unexpected words.

‘Did I have any presence?’

Anyway, since Gabriel was on my side, I shrugged my shoulders at Terios, who was looking at me as if he was feeling unjust.

“It seems like people have terrible judgment. Don’t go around saying you’re an academy graduate. Or maybe it’s better to just fire you. Then you won’t have to make excuses for people’s lack of judgment.”

Terios bristled with a threatening air as if he was about to attack at any moment in response to Gabriel’s sharp and harsh advice(?).

Thud-

“If you’re going to discipline me, shouldn’t you reveal your identity first? How great do you think you are to discipline me?”

“What’s the point of knowing my identity? Are you planning revenge? Why wait for later? If you don’t like it, come at me now. I’ll take it. Why are you just standing there? Are you scared?”

Gabriel’s provocation was clear in Terios’s ears.

“It seems like you lack proper mental education. Leave it to me. I’ll educate him properly and send him back.”

“Hmm….”

As I listened to Gabriel’s words to Terios, I couldn’t help but think that I had bent my arms too much inward.

‘I let him off the hook after flipping the table and yelling…I was too lenient.’

Feeling a bit sorry for not being able to attach Terios’s unique equipment, I ended up accepting his temper.

There had never been a time when I was so rude as to get angry.

Terios was just frustrated by his bad luck and didn’t know what to do.

But it seemed that starting to let things slide one by one was becoming a problem.

“Indeed…it might be necessary?”

“Boss!!!”

Terios was shocked by my words as if he had been betrayed.

“You’ve thought well. Those who don’t appreciate kindness and beg rudely should be beaten until they come to their senses.”

“But isn’t it a waste to use your precious vacation for this kind of thing?”

What kind of vacation is this, spending time on educating that guy?

It was a great disrespect to Gabriel.

“No, I’m fine. It’s just a matter of taking some time out to train him properly.”

“Are you crazy, really? Are you selling your consent and saying such nonsense?”

Terios seemed amused by Gabriel’s words.

“Yes, there won’t be any problem if you don’t follow my instructions. But don’t think about reinforcing in the future. Boss, don’t reinforce this guy.”

“What?! That’s not allowed!”

Gabriel seemed to have understood Terios well in a short time.

For Terios, who was addicted to reinforcement, not being able to reinforce would be the worst disadvantage.

“It shouldn’t be too difficult to do that. Alright.”

“I have the right to reinforce through official sponsorship! Do you think you can change that as you please?!”

“You don’t seem to know that both the sponsorship and the right to reinforce were given by this person?”

“What?!”

Terios looked at me in confusion.

Although I didn’t explicitly agree, he seemed to have noticed from my attitude that I agreed with Gabriel’s words.

“Is the boss my sponsor?”

“It’s my money that’s being used. I’m the top shareholder.”

“But the top shareholder is a woman!”

“She’s the top shareholder who operates with me, Erin Tina. If you doubt it, check it out. You’ll find out soon enough.”

Terios looked puzzled as he splashed water on his face.

He seemed unsure of what to do in such a sudden situation.

Gabriel, who laughed at his immature behavior, said, “That equipment you care so much about. This person also shared it with you. It was this person’s decision that made it possible for all students participating in the crackdown to benefit.”

“…That’s ridiculous.”

“Whether you believe it or not, that’s the reality. Now you see how rude your behavior was? I’ll teach you the manners and character of a lacking junior as your senior. Any objections?”

Terios gritted his teeth, admitting that he had been rude.

“I admit that I was rude. I will formally apologize to the boss. But I can’t accept training from someone whose identity is unknown.”

“I can’t accept your apology when it’s so obvious. And besides, isn’t an apology supposed to address the root cause? You need to change that weak mentality of yours.”

“My mentality is perfectly fine!”

“A person with a sound mind throwing a tantrum because of a failed enhancement, does that make any sense? And on top of that, because of their weak mental strength, they keep failing in enhancements.”

Stressed out from the failed enhancements, Therios was about to lose it and jump at Gabriel’s provocation.

In reality, mental strength has nothing to do with enhancements.

“You wouldn’t understand because you haven’t tried it!”

“Why do you think I wouldn’t understand?”

Gabriel lifted the sleeve on her arm.

The unique equipment she was wearing, the ‘Sapphire Bracelet,’ sparkled and revealed its presence, transforming into full-body armor in an instant.

“That transformation scene is pretty cool.”

Even I, who had seen the transformation before, was surprised by this, so how would Therios, who was seeing it for the first time, react?

Therios’ eyes, which had widened at the sight of the bracelet transforming into full-body armor, quickly turned greedy.

“As you can see, I’ve experienced it before.”

“How did you acquire such equipment?”

The gaze that was fixed on Gabriel had already changed.

“Of course, the boss sold it to me.”

Therios immediately turned to me and said, “Get me that. I’ll give you anything you want!”

“…What do you mean by ‘anything’?”

Therios’ blunt demand was unbelievable.

Could such equipment be mass-produced like in a factory?

If that were possible, the Empire would be in chaos.

“That’s that, and this is this. It’s not strange to be greedy if you can have it, right?”

The nobles’ desire for equipment is well-known, so it’s not a surprising situation.

Although I didn’t have any rare equipment, I asked, curious about how far he would go.

“If you really want it, would you be willing to trade your current equipment for it?”

“Yes?? No way!”

Which SSR character would give up their unique equipment?

No matter how envious he was of Gabriel’s full-body armor, he would never do such a thing.

“Then I can’t either.”

“What? Am I being rude?”

“No. Originally, only one was given to each person. If one person monopolizes such equipment and covers their entire body with it, what do you think would happen?”

“…That’s true.”

“If you were to do that, the chances are high that it wouldn’t be you, would you still want to do it?”

“No. That’s not possible.”

Even he would have realized that it would lead to a collapse of balance.

After all, these equipment can only be used by the owner.

“See, why ask for something you can’t handle.”

“I… ”

Therios, who still couldn’t let go of his regrets, tried to speak but ended up closing his mouth.

“If the conversation is over, follow me, okay?”

“We’re not done talking yet!! And where are we going?”

“Where? To receive mental education. Haven’t you proven that you need to be disciplined?”

“!!!”

Gabriel placed her hand on Therios’ shoulder.

The pressure from her tight grip on his shoulder seemed to make Therios’ face pale.

As I started to worry that he might start crying, Therios seemed to have realized that there was no way to win, hesitated for a moment, then swiftly snatched his equipment from my hand and said, “Since a guest seems to have arrived today, I’ll come back later!”

“!!!”

Therios’ actions afterwards were quite unexpected.