novelzi Chapter 71 : Chapter 71
Chapter 71 : Chapter 71
Chapter 71
My Blue Team members surrounded the standing sign and carefully peered at the content written on its front.
After checking the content, each of them chimed in.
Jang Ha-na said.
“Wow, it looks really tough, doesn't it? Below the cloud ladder is a cliff. If you fall, you won't be safe.”
Heo Nam-jun, one of the three men, spoke.
“Since it said a maximum of two people, it means even just one person can participate. It seems a success judgment is given even if one person crosses twice.”
Choi Ga-eul, the other one of the two women, added.
“It’s written here that it’s exclusively for the Blue Team. I guess it’s a facility that only our Blue Team can participate in.”
I stuck my head out to look down at the deep cliff stretching below the cloud ladder.
Inside the 3-meter-wide crack, a darkness of unfathomable depth was lingering.
It felt as if a giant predator was opening its mouth to devour those who failed the mission.
An amusement ride where lives were at stake.
The scent of blood was too thick to feel like returning to childhood innocence.
While reviewing various elements was important, there was something I had to check first before that.
“Is there anyone who is seeing a cloud ladder for the first time by any chance?”
Kwon U-ram, another one of the three men, asked.
“Ju-seong-ssi, that question is a bit strange, isn't it? Everyone has graduated from elementary school, so of course they would know.”
“Just because I know doesn't mean everyone in the world has to know.”
“No, well…… I wasn't trying to pick a fight, I just brought it up because usually everyone knows.”
“Our Blue Team is too unfamiliar a combination to apply the aesthetics of omission. Let's get to know each other step by step.”
Whether they agreed with my words, the team members nodded their heads one by one.
I asked again if there was anyone who didn't know about the cloud ladder.
Answers came back that everyone knew.
A device where you hang on the ladder and cross like a monkey climbing a tree.
I had to narrow down the suitable personnel to use this device.
I turned my back to the cloud ladder and watched the team members one by one.
“It's impossible for an ordinary person's physical ability to cover 50 meters while hanging. The intention is to select and conquer with a suitable ability user for each device. Is there anyone confident in passing through this device?”
The burden that the participant had to bear was by no means small.
Not only would they die if they failed, but the team members would also lose the opportunity to obtain the prize money.
Shrinking due to the pressure of having to succeed without fail is bound to lead to mistakes.
While the majority were just reading the room due to the possibility of failure, Jang Ha-na confidently raised her right arm high.
“I have the ability to break through this device. I'll take one of the two spots. If there are really no volunteers, I'll take it by myself.”
It was an opportunity to check Jang Ha-na's ability.
The others didn't seem very willing and couldn't readily express their intention to participate.
So, I volunteered for the remaining spot.
“I will take on the challenge with Ha-na-ssi. The rest of you, please keep a lookout on the surroundings.”
Our Blue Team was attempting a standard strategy to dig through this game in detail, but there was no guarantee that the opposing Red Team would choose the same options.
There was no telling when the followers, incited by Kim Ju-han with talk of demon hunting and whatnot, would directly invade.
Keeping watch was a necessity, not an option.
The team members accepted my opinion.
“Let's do as Ju-seong-ssi says. Two will guard the entrance, and the rest will scatter and stand guard to see if anyone climbs over the wall.”
The team members scattered to each take charge of a spot.
Meanwhile, Jang Ha-na and I stood at the starting point of the cloud ladder.
Jang Ha-na's attire was a typical physical education teacher style coordination.
A purple training suit that was a set for the top and bottom, a white T-shirt peeking through the half-opened jacket zipper, and a whistle hanging around her neck like an accessory.
Jang Ha-na became conscious of my gaze and revealed her snow-white front teeth.
“It's an outfit that makes it easy to know what kind of person I am, right?”
“You must have been a physical education teacher.”
“To be precise, I was a contract director for a high school tennis team. I got fired after causing a big accident because I couldn't handle the pressure from over-the-top parents. What kind of work did you do, Ju-seong-ssi?”
“I came all the way here because of gambling debts…… that should be enough of an answer.”
“Ho~ You're different from how you look. Since your abilities were so outstanding, I thought you would have lived more soundly.”
“If I had lived soundly, I wouldn't be here.”
When I answered cheerfully with a bit of a joke mixed in, Jang Ha-na burst into a boisterous laugh.
Every time she laughed, veins stood out on her neck, and the separation of her forearm muscles became clear.
She was a born heroine.
Jang Ha-na grabbed the whistle hanging around her neck and asked me.
“What should we do for the order?”
I made a path for Jang Ha-na with humorous body movements like a circus clown.
“Let's keep our manners with ladies first here.”
“Hahaha, you're quite funny. If I had known you were such a fun person, I would have talked to you sooner.”
“I think so too, but strangely, the thoughts of those who deal with me are different.”
“Ah~ really funny. Oh right, we were talking about the order. I'll cross first. I'm confident in my physical strength.”
Jang Ha-na put the whistle in her mouth and blew it strongly.
Tweet!
Outwardly, nothing changed.
What changed was the invisible part.
Jang Ha-na refreshingly revealed her ability.
“It's not a particularly great ability worth hiding. It's an ability where stamina becomes infinite for a maximum of one hour when I blow the whistle.”
The official name was ‘Hot-blooded Teacher’.
When she blows the whistle, she enters the Hot-blooded Teacher mode and can enjoy physical enhancement abilities.
The physical enhancement ability included in the ability was precisely the one-hour infinite stamina effect that Jang Ha-na mentioned.
I already knew, but I pretended to be surprised on purpose.
“That's an amazing ability. You could even aim for a spot on the national team with two hearts for 60 minutes?”
“If nanomachines are drugs that don't get caught in doping tests, it might be possible as much as you like.”
Of course, since ‘only’ stamina was infinite, it was hard to see it as a good ability.
Basically, one had to have physical abilities above an ordinary person's for the effect of the ability to be maximized, and there was the disadvantage that extreme fatigue rushed in after use, making long-term rest essential.
Jang Ha-na set her foot on the cloud ladder to start first.
At that moment.
Beep-beep.
The timer attached to the standing sign lit up.
The number displayed on the timer was ‘10:00’.
10:00 just now changed to 09:59.
The numbers decreasing every second seemed to urge us to cross quickly within 10 minutes.
Jang Ha-na firmly grasped the iron bars stretching uniformly at the top of the cloud ladder.
“Since there's a time limit, I'll advance straight through without adjusting my pace. Can you follow me?”
I said while climbing the cloud ladder.
“I can definitely cross, so Ha-na-ssi, please focus entirely on yourself.”
“Oh~ you're full of confidence?”
“I also have a physical enhancement ability like you, Ha-na-ssi.”
Ability activation, Damage Doping.
Jang Ha-na hung dangling from the iron bars and alternately stretched both arms forward.
“Ju-seong-ssi! Are you coming!”
I also fully exerted my enhanced physical abilities and followed behind Jang Ha-na.
“Yes! I'm right behind you! Please keep advancing!”
The fingertips of Jang Ha-na, who was grasping the iron bars, turned pale white.
While her stamina was enhanced, her muscle strength was at its original level, so it wasn't that there were no factors of instability at all.
Still, like someone who held the title of physical education teacher, her athletic reflexes were no joke.
Jang Ha-na advanced straight ahead without looking back even once.
Right hand. Left hand. Right hand. Left hand.
Like a gibbon hanging from a branch moving to another branch, she used the rebound of her body to stretch her arms without hesitation.
Looking down at the abyss below my feet, my brow tingled.
It felt like riding a pseudo-floating experience amusement ride without safety devices.
At this moment in this place, pleasure did not exist, and only thrills existed.
Park So-yul's voice was heard from a distance.
“8 minutes left!”
20 percent of the given time was consumed.
The distance advanced was 25 meters.
It meant we had covered half the distance.
Supported by her infinite stamina ability, Jang Ha-na advanced two or three rungs at a time without even her breath being disturbed, and I exerted my enhanced muscle strength to follow behind her without difficulty.
25 meters, 30 meters, 40 meters.
When the arrival point was right before our eyes, 6 minutes remained.
While everyone had no doubt that we would succeed easily.
A variable occurred.
An announcement was heard from afar.
[The superiority of the collection box amounts has changed.]
[The seesaw tilts.]
Our Blue Team's collection box amount has not changed.
Therefore, a change must have occurred in the Red Team's collection box amount.
It didn't take long to directly experience the meaning of the words that the seesaw tilts.
The entire game site began to tilt toward the East.
Grrrrrt!
What was tilting was not the seesaw's central iron bar, but the entire game site!
The East side of the game site tilted slightly downward, and the West side, the opposite side, went slightly upward.
The change in angle directly affected Ha-na and me, who were in the middle of the mini-game.
We had departed from the East of the cloud ladder, and the arrival point was the West.
In short, after moving horizontally, we were placed in a situation where we had to cross the cloud ladder as if climbing a slope.
I gave Ha-na a warning.
“Time is plenty! Let's advance slowly, one rung at a time!”
One might have been flustered by the unexpected variable, but Jang Ha-na stretched her arms surprisingly calmly.
“Step by step! That's good! We only need to move twenty more rungs, so let's cheer up!”
The difficulty suddenly went up, but it didn't pose any problem for us.
It was only a difference of whether we arrived a few seconds earlier or later.
‘It was a structure where if the seesaw tilts, the difficulty of the mini-game for the side with the inferior collection box amount increases. I'll have to put gems into the collection box immediately after this mini-game ends.’
41 meters, 42 meters, 43 meters…….
While advancing while calmly adapting to the changed environment, an unusual sound was heard from far ahead.
Shhhhhhh!
The sound of waves? No. It was the sound of a substance with much higher density than seawater surging in large quantities.
I pulled my chin and raised my head, placing my focus on a distant spot.
A large amount of sand was pouring out from beyond the wall at the edge of the vacant lot.
The sand that had been spread in the passage began to intrude into the vacant lot as the game site tilted.
The sand spread wide and struck us along with thick dust.
It was only a minor trouble, but a small amount of sand particles entered Jang Ha-na's eye of all places.
“Ah!”
It was precisely while she was hanging with one arm and stretching her arm forward.
Due to the obstruction of vision, Jang Ha-na's right hand failed to grab the bar and flailed in the air.
Her body, which already had a lot of rebound in it, lost its balance and shook greatly.
Jang Ha-na's left hand, which had been holding onto the bar, could not withstand her own weight and the elasticity from the rebound and fell from the bar.
“Kyaaaaah!”
Just before she was sucked into the deep abyss.
I advanced the width of three rungs at once, stretched out both my legs, and wrapped them around Jang Ha-na's upper body.
As if tightening a nut with a wrench, I applied force to both my legs and held onto Jang Ha-na's body tightly so that she would not fall down.
Jang Ha-na panted heavily amidst the shock of almost falling.
“Huff, huff, huff!”
“Are you all right?”
“Huff…… sssip, whew. Barely.”
“Can you hang onto my legs with both hands just like that? Like a koala clinging to a tree.”
“I think it's possible…… but what on earth are you planning to do?”
It was Jang Ha-na looking up at me with an expression of disbelief.
As soon as she heard my request, she had imagined an impossible picture.
It would have been an impossible task for anyone else.
But if it's me, it's possible.
I grasped the iron bar strongly as if about to crush it like a can and wore a confident smile.
“Please hang on with a relaxed mind. Transporting one koala is no big deal for me.”