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Arena Chapter 81 – Back to the Arena (Part 1)
The 60-day rest period went by smoothly.
Living with Min-jeong went by without a problem.
Min-jeong, busy with work, still always made me delicious food, and on days that we were too tired, we ate out.
I, of course, stayed at home and used Sylph to make the house spotless so we didn"t have any issues with each other.
I actually had Sylph memorize the original placement of every item in the house. That made organizing incredibly easy. Even if I made a real mess, Sylph could use her wind once and she could clean it up instantly.
My family was well too.
Noona, who works at a big law firm, needed not be mentioned at all of course, and mom continued to sell her fried chicken well.
Nowadays, mom has been thinking of retiring and wants Hyun-ji to take over, and was in a hurry to do so.
Even with so much money, there"s no place for me to put it for family.
If my family was poor, I could have splashed out the money and saved the family.
The only problem our family has is Hyun-ji.
-Son, son, talk some sense into Hyun-ji.
"What about Hyun-ji?"
-She said she wants to move out.
"Move out?"
-She said there"s lots of business in Seoul and said she wants to move there.
It is not a completely unfounded excuse.
"Maybe she"s feeling the pressure now that she"s graduated and officially started the unemployed life."
-Why should I treat her like a queen if she"s unemployed?
"So, what did you tell her?"
-I told her to move out with her own money. And Hyun-ju put her foot down and said she won"t help.
(TN: Hyun-ju is the older sister, in case you forgot.)
Even though I wasn"t there, I"m sure Hyun-ji threw a tantrum and insisted. The heartless mother-daughter combo probably didn"t flinch.
"Isn"t that a bit too harsh to Hyun-ji? At least she"s thinking of getting a job."
-She just thinks it. You know her well enough too. It"s the kids that don"t study well that say they"re going to study. They just don"t actually do it."
I know it well.
The bundegi b.a.s.t.a.r.d said it was because I had never known starvation.
-Anyway, Hyun-ji might nag you about it so beware.
"Got it."
As soon as that call ended, a text came.
It"s Hyun-ji.
[Hyun-ji: Oppa, are you home?]
[Me: yeah]
[Hyun-ji: Ok]
"Ok to what."
I felt a slight worry.
Finally, I get a call from Hyun-ji, and it"s a video call.
"h.e.l.lo?"
-Oppa~!
"What, it"s that voice you use when you want something."
-Hing, oppa!
It sounded similar to Min-jeong.
That"s why it annoyed me even more.
"What do you want."
-Oppa, turn in a circle with your phone.
"What are you saying?"
-So I can see what kind of house you live in.
I flinched at that.
Clever girl.
So that was why she first asked through text if I was home.
The fact that I live in a luxurious penthouse is a secret that only Min-jeong knew.
-Hurry up and show me. Hehe, oppa, you have lots of money so you aren"t living in a crowded studio. And all the while you were prepping for the entrance exams, you were in that bas.e.m.e.nt studio so you probably shudder at the thought of them.
For an idiot, she"s quite sharp in this area. What useless insight.
-Hurry up and show me.
"I don"t want to."
-Why not?
-I"m shy.
I said with slight aegyo.
-Don"t BS me.
At my aegyo, Hyun-ji"s expression turned icy.
-Oppa, I know you live with Min-jeong.
"Say what?"
-Min-jeong told me everything.
… Yoo Min-jeong!
Hyun-ji made a sweet grin.
-Every time I asked her what she"s doing she said she was out grocery shopping. Would she shop so much if she was living alone? She"s being all like a newlywed wife. Can"t trick me.
"For an idiot… "
"Hey, don"t call me an idiot! Anyway, are you really going to say you live with Min-jeong in a tiny studio? I felt it last time when we went to Europe, but I think oppa, you have a lot more money than I think you do.
I couldn"t help but shudder at Hyun-ji"s incredible insight.
"I can"t show you my home."
-Hmph, really? I guess I"ll just have to torture Min-jeong.
"Don"t you bother Min-jeong! I"m going to tell her to keep her lips sealed well."
-Puahaha, lips sealed, Min-jeong?
Hyun-ji laughed like she had just experienced a hilarious comedy.
-She might not seem like it but you know she"s actually a huge pushover? If I work her even a bit, she"ll tell me everything.
"Kuk…"
-Let"s see, how much I"ve made her tell me, that lately her hips are sore…
"Ok, stop. Let us not cross the conversational barrier as siblings."
-If she said she can"t even keep her head straight, oppa, you must be a genius!
"Ku akkk-!!"
-Hehehe!
Hyun-ji"s wicked laughter bothered my ears.
Just how far did you push Min-jeong for her to tell you! She"s my little sister but she really is a dangerous woman.
"What is it you want?"
Then Hyun-ji, who has been confident up until now, changed her tone.
-Oppa! Seriously, help me!
"Move out?"
-Yeah! I want to go up and live in Seoul on my own!
"You living alone without anyone to keep you in check, just picturing it is scary."
-Hing, I really am going to try hard. Even now, I"m trying to get a job and I"m applying here and there.
"Then do it."
-Give me some money.
"Get lost please."
-Ang, oppa!
"Don"t nag me."
-Help me out, I"m your only baby sister!
"If it"s like this with one, I wonder how bad two would"ve been."
-Seriously! Help me out.
It is a video call and it made it all the more annoying. The tantrum throwing and nagging Hyun-ji, I have to see it with my eyes.
"I heard mom and noona said no too? Then what does that make me look like if I help you?"
-Those two are trying to get me to fry chicken!
"Do it, fry chicken. At your level, there aren"t a lot of ways to make it big."
-Isn"t it too much to cut off all my other options and make it so that that"s all I can do? I need to be given a chance!
"All this time, did you not have enough chances? Even your college grades are only a 2.0, right?"
-I"m going to change from now on. Please give me one chance, huh?
Ah, Hyun-ji really lays on the sophistry.
Oddly, I see where she"s coming from and had nothing to say in response.
"I"ll think about it and decide."
-… okay.
I finished the call and let out a sigh of relief. Trying to converse with Hyun-ji when she wants something is a tiresome thing.
That night, having come back from her first day at work, Min-jeong went to a welcome party and came home late.
As soon as she came home she ran to me and immediately kowtowed.
"Oppa, I made a mistake."
She must have heard from Hyun-ji.
"Do you know you"ve done wrong?"
"Yes."
With such a pitiful expression, I couldn"t say anything to her.
"Why are you so weak with Hyun-ji."
"It"s not that I"m weak…"
So goes Min-jeong"s story.
Originally, her and Hyun-ji and Ji-hyun, no matter where they went they stuck together, the trio. She said something like their hobby was divulging each other"s secrets?
If you have something you wish to keep secret, the other two friends will make you spill no matter what.
"That"s why we don"t have secrets from each other and that"s why we are so close."
"Yeah, I got that. Hyun-ji called me a genius."
"Kyak! I"m sorry! Ji-hyun started saying something about what it"s like at nighttime… ang!"
Min-jeong grabbed her head in misery.
Just like that, the time for repentance was over and Min-jeong suddenly said.
"But oppa, what are you going to do about helping Hyun-ji gain her independence?"
"You"ve been had by Hyun-ji again."
"Hehe, yes."
That Hyun-ji, seriously.
"If she comes up to Seoul and has no one to keep her in check, she"s bound to go crazy, how could I let her?"
"She won"t, oppa."
"I know her well."
"You and me both are going to work, and Hyun-ji is hard at work looking for a job. With us two working, you think she"ll go out by herself? Even if it"s for us, she"s going to try hard."
That makes sense too.
But I got the feeling this too was because Hyun-ji made her rehea.r.s.e it.
After thinking about it a little for, I decided and sent a text to Hyun-ji.
[Me: Hey]
[Hyun-ji: Yes, dear brother!]
[Me: -_-;; I have a studio, you can use that]
[Hyun-ji: Really? YES!!]
[Hyun-ji: But just a studio?]
[Me: You should just bury your bones in Cheonan]*
(TN: He"s saying to just stay and die in Cheonan since the studio isn"t good enough for her.)
[Hyun-ji: No, no, thank you for the studio! Arigato!]
[Me: I will give you one check card so use that for living expenses and I"m going to check everything you use it for so if you use it for something else or make a withdrawal, that instant, you"re done]
[Hyun-ji: Hmph, got it]
[Me: For now, we"ll see how it goes for half a year, until June. If you make no progress by then, you are the Cheonan chicken fryer, ok?]
[Hyun-ji: ok, ok, I love you ❤]
[Me: shut up]
Then Min-jeong got a text. Min-jeong laughed and showed it to me.
[Hyun-ji: good job, my girl]*
(TN: This was written in English.)
What a fuss. Goodness.
I don"t know if this is a good thing and just sighed.
By tomorrow, mom and noona will have heard this news and will say something.
"I"m just going to say this, but we can never invite Hyun-ji to our place."
"Yes."
"You promise?"
"Aww, I got it."
Again, again, with the aegyo in her voice, this habit, I"m sure she learned it from Hyun-ji. Or Hyun-ji picked it up from Min-jeong.
Like that, 60 days pa.s.sed.
The time, for the exam, I got plenty of the .357 magnum bullets and 7.62 bullets and stuffed them into the spatial storage s.p.a.ce.
The spatial storage s.p.a.ce is up to entry level 4 and the s.p.a.ce has grown considerably. Even with plenty of bullets, there was s.p.a.ce left.
Just in case I get bored, I put in the violin and music books.
"Time to go."
I texted Min-jeong and lie and said I have to go on a business trip. Then I went to a nearby hotel.
If I do die during the exam, Min-jeong will wake up with me dead right next to her. I don"t want to give her that kind of trauma.
I think maybe and decide to leave a last will on my smartphone for my family and Min-jeong.
"Done."
The preparations are done.
I don"t want to anxiously wait for the time to go by until the exam time is here.
"h.e.l.lo and welcome."
I"m so sick of seeing this baby angel, and he greets me.
"Board retrieval."
Familiarly, I summon my board and check the exam.
-Name: Kim Hyun-ho
-Cla.s.s: 16
-Karma: 0
-Mission: protect the brown mountain elves
-Time limit: 12 months
My face completely crumples.
"A year, again!"
"That"s right."
"Isn"t this too much?"
"You must know that there are examinees with far longer exams."
I recall Neilson Aslan and I shut my mouth. I am definitely better off than him.
"Doesn"t a longer exam give you a good opportunity to grow?"
"I don"t get the feeling this time will be safe like last time?"
"You"ve had it easy twice so now it"s time to pay the price."
Protect the elves.
From who?
"The enemy was the undead."
The Bastian enemy from the north will fall by Odin"s army"s war.
The silver clan to the east isn"t really a danger to the elves.
The leader, Leon Silver, is rather intelligent and strengthened the clan but I am sure they do not recognize their inferiority.
Then the only enemy left is the zombies climbing up the cliff.
"Then all the things that have unfolded thus far can only point to the black wizard that is moving the undead."
The overall flow of the exams, I have thought of it, and something came to mind so I asked the baby angel.
"What do I have to do to block the undead?"
"I"m not sure?"
"It"s the Tree of Life, isn"t it?"
"I"m not sure."
"The Tree of Life is the center of this exam, isn"t it? That"s why the last ones, the 4th and 5th turn, were about saving the Tree of Life. Aren"t I correct?"
"I"m not sure?"
I stared straight at the baby angel.
The baby angel, like always, was just jolly.
It was like always, impossible to tell what the angel is thinking by judging his expression.
Then again, it"s not a human, but an angel.
But I think I"m right.