The roles were quickly assigned.
The number of roles was as follows.
20 terrorists.
10 hostages.
20 special agents.
Lee Hyun-joo and I were assigned the role of “special agents.”
Lee Seo-jun and Shin Young-joon were hostages.
Yoo Ara, Yoon Hayoung, and Park Inhwan were terrorists.
And so, we entered the virtual multipurpose training field.
Like the previous virtual tower climb, this place was a mysterious space where reality and illusion overlapped.
Of course, since we couldn’t borrow the power of the sacred relics, it didn’t have the perfect life protection system like the virtual tower climb training.
There wouldn’t be any direct physical damage, but some level of mental shock was to be expected.
We were assigned to our positions.
In the distance, I could see the terrorists and hostages guarding two separate strongholds.
Some, completely immersed in their roles, were even teasing the hostages playfully.
Shin Young-joon, for some reason, was enthusiastically acting the pitiful hostage, pleading, “Please spare meee~”
“Tsk.”
Clicking my tongue at the sight, someone next to me started a conversation.
“Sunwoo, let’s do our best!”
It was a female student I didn’t even know the name of. I had gotten used to this kind of sudden attention, so I didn’t think much of it.
“Uh, yeah.”
This time, another male student came up and said,
“Hey, hey. Let’s do well.”
“Yeah, sure.”
As we exchanged meaningless greetings, a voice echoed in the air.
[The role-play will begin in 5 minutes.]
[Please feel free to discuss strategies with your teammates.]
“Whew…”
As the voice echoed, the hostages and terrorists disappeared into the buildings—the “strongholds.”
It was to avoid revealing their positions to the special agents.
The primary objectives for each role were as follows.
Terrorists must eliminate special agents and defend the strongholds.
Special agents must rescue the hostages and capture the strongholds.
Hostages must capture the terrorists.
It might sound a bit strange that the hostages goal is to capture the terrorists, but that’s because they’re not ordinary hostages—they’re former special agents.
There are also some additional complicated rules.
There are bonus points depending on how long terrorists defend their strongholds, and additional individual points based on combat contribution. There are also objective achievement points.
Another important rule is that terrorists can choose to kill or spare the hostages.
However, if a hostage is killed, there’s a big point penalty.
The same goes for special agents. If a hostage dies, they get heavily penalized.
That said, it’s unlikely that terrorists will actually kill hostages.
If a hostage is killed, it doesn’t affect the whole terrorist team—only the one who did the killing gets penalized.
But no one here is going to sacrifice their own points for the good of the team.
“This might be tough.”
“Yeah. Yoo Ara and Park Inhwan are both top-tier.”
“Wasn’t Park Inhwan ranked 5th?”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
“How are we supposed to win?”
I heard anxious voices next to me.
Even setting aside Yoo Ara, Park Inhwan, ranked 5th overall, had also taken the role of a terrorist, which made things pretty difficult.
In the first place, to account for the hostage rescue objective, the average skill level of the terrorist team had been set significantly higher.
Still, it was doable.
If we could rescue Lee Seo-jun and Shin Young-joon first, things would probably go more smoothly than expected.
And we already had a rough plan.
I spoke to everyone.
“Everyone, gather up. Let’s have a meeting.”
Stronghold A, one of the key locations in the role-play.
There, the students assigned as terrorists were deep in a strategy meeting.
Of course, the hostages had been locked in a nearby small room to prevent them from eavesdropping.
“So, what should we do, guys? Anyone got strategies or special ideas?”
Baek Du-eon, ranked 17th and known for using an axe as his main weapon, spoke up first.
Then Park Inhwan chuckled and said,
“Strategies? Forget that. Just bulldoze them. Our side’s way stronger. No need to overthink it.”
Yoo Ara jumped in to object.
“No, that’s not going to work.”
Annoyed that his opinion was flatly rejected, Park Inhwan frowned.
“Why not?”
“If we go in blind without knowing the enemy’s location, their team might try to sneak in and rescue the hostages.”
Among the hostages were Lee Seo-jun and Shin Young-joon, both top-tier students.
If they were freed, the terrorist team wouldn’t stand a chance. That scenario had to be avoided at all costs.
“Then let’s just stick close to the hostages.”
“That’s no good either. If everyone gathers around the hostages, who’s going to defend the strongholds?”
There were two strongholds in total.
If all the forces were concentrated on one, the defense of the other would be weak.
“Tch, so nothing works, huh.”
Park Inhwan scowled. As the tension started to rise, Yoon Hayoung stepped in.
“We just need to divide our forces smartly between the two strongholds. If we all gather in one place, it’ll just make things harder.”
Then Park Inhwan gave a sly grin and added,
“Actually, there is one super easy way to win.”
Yoo Ara immediately caught on and narrowed her eyes.
“Don’t even start. Who’s going to sacrifice themselves for that?”
The “easy win” he was referring to was having one person sacrifice their own points to kill all the hostages.
“We can just vote and pick the most useless guy to do it.”
“Wow. You… You know what? Just shut up.”
When Yoo Ara shot him a glare, Park Inhwan awkwardly nodded.
“But honestly, isn’t the only one we really need to stop Lee Hyun-joo?”
It was Sung Jin-won, ranked 72nd, who had been quietly listening, that spoke up.
A few students nodded in agreement.
“Right. Other than her, there’s no one super strong on their side.”
“At best, they’ve got Yoo Ji-won, ranked 14th, and Kim Sunwoo, ranked 20th.”
“Let ten of us gang up on Lee Hyun-joo, and the rest can just handle things as they come.”
The idea of neutralizing Lee Hyun-joo spread, and many students nodded in agreement.
To be fair, it made sense.
She was ranked 4th overall, and her skills were proven by her rank.
But Yoo Ara didn’t see it that way.
The most dangerous person on the special agents side was, without a doubt, Kim Sunwoo.
Even though he had ranked 3rd in the final exam and had shown great performance in the last evaluation test, his overall ranking was still 20th, so no one had really paid him much attention yet.
It hurt her pride, but Kim Sun-woo was at least a top-two contender in terms of actual ability.
And from what she could guess, Kim Sunwoo had skills that rivaled even Lee Seo-jun.
“The most dangerous one is Kim Sunwoo.”
Yoo Ara said seriously. The others responded with confusion.
“Kim Sunwoo? I mean, sure, he’s improved a lot recently, but putting him above Lee Hyun-joo seems like a bit much…”
“Yeah. Do you even realize how big the gap is between 4th and 20th place?”
“Ha. Yoo Ara, are you a Kim Sunwoo fan too? Like, part of the Kim Sunwoo cult or something?”
At Baek Du-eon’s comment, Yoo Ara gave him a puzzled look.
“Kim Sunwoo cult? What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You don’t know? It’s this new-age religion that’s been spreading around the school lately.”
“New-age religion? What are you talking about?”
It was the first time she had heard of it.
“What do you think? It’s basically a cult that believes Kim Sunwoo is hiding his real skills and is actually better than Lee Seo-jun. Total nonsense.”
“Heh. No way. There are really people like that?”
“It’s been spreading among the first-years. They seriously believe it.”
“Figures. First-years are naive. Sure, Kim Sunwoo’s gotten way better recently, but saying he’s stronger than Lee Seo-jun? That’s a stretch.”
“Haha. This is killing me. Kim Sunwoo cult? For real?”
One of the girls burst into laughter, holding her stomach like it was the funniest thing ever.
“But seriously, there are a few of them. I know like five just in my circle. They say it was Kim Sunwoo who took down Lily Rose during finals, and that his magic looked stronger than Lee Seo-jun’s in the recent public test. Heh.”
“Wow. Those kids are complete noobs. Who are they? I need to stay far away from them.”
“How would Kim Sunwoo beat Lily Rose?”
“And he only got 3rd in the finals because of that treasure hunt bonus.”
Yoo Ara listened to the conversation with fascination.
There were students actually making claims like that about Kim Sunwoo.
It was surprisingly similar to what she’d always thought.
So I’m not the only one who sees Kim Sunwoo that way.
“…It’s probably true, though.”
“What?”
“I’m saying, it’s probably true.”
“No way. For real? Yoo Ara’s in the Kim Sunwoo cult too? This is wild!”
As Baek Du-eon made a fuss, Yoo Ara furrowed her brows.
“What? You gonna call me a noob too?”
“Huh? N-no, that’s not what I meant…”
That’s when Yoon Hayoung, who had been quietly listening, spoke up.
“I think stopping Sunwoo first is important too. Like Ara said, Sunwoo’s way more impressive than you guys think.”
“Oh? Another Kim Sunwoo cultist over here?”
Baek Du-eon chuckled.
But Yoo Ara and Yoon Hayoung’s claims stirred some confusion among the students.
“Is Kim Sunwoo really that good?”
“He’s been kinda impressive lately, sure, but hiding his power? That’s a bit much. Plus, the guy’s got low mana reserves.”
“Not that low, though, if you’ve seen him recently.”
“What do you think?”
Yoo Ara turned to Park Inhwan and asked.
Park Inhwan flinched. He didn’t have any fond memories when it came to Kim Sunwoo.
“Wh-what?”
“What do you think of Kim Sunwoo? Didn’t he send you to the hospital during that defensive role training?”
Poked right in a wound he was trying to forget, Park Inhwan burst out.
“Hey! That—that was because I was playing the defense role, alright? If it was a real fight, I would’ve crushed him.”
“…Sure, whatever.”
Everyone’s entitled to their opinion.
Then, a loud voice echoed through the air.
[5 minutes have passed.]
[The roleplay will now begin!]
Stronghold B, first floor.
I was walking down a long corridor alone inside the building.
The key to this hostage training scenario is infiltration and information gathering.
Since the average skill level of the terrorists is higher, a direct confrontation isn’t ideal. That’s why there are operatives infiltrating alone to gather intel.
Like the hostage’s location, or how many guards are stationed at each base.
Of course, that’s not the reason I’m moving on my own. I’ve crafted a personal strategy based on the original storyline.
“Hm.”
Anyway, I was using the effect of the “Light Footed” trait I’d acquired earlier.
Just like the name, my footsteps barely made any sound.
But that mysterious achievement earlier still had me curious.
[You’ve earned the achievement ‘Birth of a Religion.’]
[You’ve received 2,000 points as a reward.]
Birth of a religion.
No matter how much I thought about it, I had no idea what it meant.
I didn’t even have a guess.
“What the hell is that about?”
Could there be a glitch in the outsider’s privilege?
A glitch…
There’s never been one before.
Could it be some outside influence?
“…Hm. I’ll think about it later.”
I was deep in enemy territory.
This was not the time to let my guard down. I had to stay alert in case someone suddenly attacked.
Where was the hostage?
Thanks to past experience, I had a general idea of where they were being held.
I had gone through this training before my regression. But too much had changed to rely on those memories completely.
Like how Yoon Hayoung, who played the special agent role in the original story and my pre-regression life, was now assigned as a terrorist.
That’s when a man appeared at the end of the hallway. His expression quickly stiffened as he spotted me.
“…Kim Sunwoo?”
I stared back at the man.
Not a major character, but not just an extra either.
Ranked 5th overall at the Magic Academy: Park Inhwan.
“…Didn’t expect to run into you here.”
Park Inhwan gave me a twisted smile.
But despite his forced smirk, I could see his fingertips trembling. He was nervous—more than I expected.
I smiled and spoke to him.
“Been a while since we talked. You’ve been quiet ever since that defensive role training.”
“Shut up. I’ve been thinking about how to pay you back for that humiliation. Looks like now’s the perfect time.”
Park Inhwan started ranting, glaring daggers at me.
I ignored him and glanced around, wondering if there were any other terrorists nearby.
Fortunately, I didn’t sense anyone else. Looked like he was alone.
That meant it was a one-on-one.
Before, my lack of mana made it hard to win without Heart of Nature, but things were different now.
I’d grown a lot over the break.
“So you’re coming at me alone?”
“Ha! Cocky bastard. Just because you did well on the finals, you think you’re hot shit? You’re still just 20th place.”
Park Inhwan gathered mana and suddenly launched a Flame Thorn spell.
Whoosh!
I twisted my body, dodging his attack by a hair’s breadth.
It was a lightning-fast strike.
Way different from how he looked during the manifestation class in the first semester.
Definitely growing fast, just like someone in the top ranks should.
“Tch!”
Startled by my movement, Park Inhwan quickly began casting another spell, but I didn’t give him a chance.
I rapidly fired back my own spell.
Three magical orbs shot from my hand and slammed into his shoulder and legs.
“Aaargh!”
Park Inhwan collapsed to the ground, screaming in pain.
I didn’t miss the opening. I enhanced my body with mana and dashed forward.
“You son of a—!”
Even while in pain, he tried to fight back by firing a flame spear.
But I countered it by launching a magic orb at just the right moment, canceling his attack.
As I got closer, I channeled mana into my fist and struck him hard in the stomach.
“Urgh!”
Park Inhwan clutched his belly and dropped to his knees, groaning in agony.
“Ghh… cough!”
He spat on the floor, clearly in bad shape.
Thud!
[Character ‘Park Inhwan’ feels fear toward you.]
[You’ve earned 500 points as a reward.]
Park Inhwan collapsed to the floor, curled up and panting heavily.
Still, even in that state, he kept swearing under his breath.
“Damn it…!”
I summoned a magical orb above my hand.
It wasn’t holding a huge amount of mana.
But it was strong enough to end him with a single hit to the head.
Park Inhwan saw it and gritted his teeth.
“Y-you bastard—!”
“Hey.”
When I called out, Park Inhwan looked up at me, confused and wary.
“You wanna live?”
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