Chapter 549: Side Story (15) Obstacle Relay (1)

Is that... okay?

I stared, mouth hanging open, at the man being dragged limply behind them like a corpse tied to the rear of a tank.

That had to hurt quite a bit.

“Giacomoooooo!”

Well, he was an enhanced body holder, so even if he got injured, he’d recover....

Unlike me, who was thinking that, the seniors nearby had all gone pale.

But they didn’t seem worried about John Mühlen’s safety in the slightest.

It looked more like they were worried about getting penalty points.

“Pick him up!!”

The seniors shouted, veins bulging in their necks.

“Pick him up! Pick him up, damn it! Pick him up!!”

But since he was completely focused on running, there was no way he could hear them.

Ro kept running. With the wind roaring in his ears, human voices probably didn’t reach him at all. His eyes were fixed straight ahead, and he showed absolutely no sign of looking back.

Even Ami and Angela, running neck and neck in the adjacent lane, hadn’t noticed what was happening, so what more was there to say?

At least it was a three-legged relay.

I blankly watched Ro sprinting forward, kicking up an enormous cloud of dust behind him.

Then I grew curious about everyone else’s reactions and turned my gaze.

“...Yehyeon.”

I found Yehyeon watching the whole chain of events with the face of someone too resigned to even bother saying anything anymore.

“He doesn’t even look like he has the energy to get mad....”

“Hahaha!”

Kairos burst into laughter.

“He’ll be fine. There were people who used to get tangled in reins while trying to bridle horses and got dragged around like that all the time. As long as they didn’t get trampled by hooves, everyone usually survived.”

“What?”

Luke Lyle stared at Kairos as if he had just heard something utterly ridiculous.

“You say weird things like that way too often.”

“Hmm? Was that strange?”

“Ah, fuck.”

Kairos looked curiously at his fellow rookie Luke, while nearby Chen gave up on shouting altogether and raked a hand through his hair.

“Hey!”

Then he yelled,

“At this point, just don’t drop him!”

There was absolutely no way Giacomo Ro had heard that shout.

But Chen’s wish came true. Until Ro finished running his lane, the knot tying the two runners’ legs together never came undone.

“I’m telling you, that guy’s luck is absurd.”

“Sunbae!”

Leeho’s shout crashed over Chen’s mutter.

He was Ro’s next runner.

“This is seriously driving me insane!”

Smack!

The baton handoff flowed smoothly.

Leeho started sprinting with his unnamed senior partner, and almost at the same time the opposing team received their baton as well.

It was Tom and a 45th-generation senior.

“Oh.”

I murmured as I watched Tom and Leeho shoot forward.

“They’re both really good.”

Their partners had been assigned at random, so it wasn’t like they could have practiced.

Despite the difference in height, Leeho’s team and Tom’s team ran in a dead heat. I watched them for a while, then checked on Ro and Ami after they’d finished their roles.

The staff were quickly dragging John out of the lane.

With practiced ease, they lifted the scientist onto a stretcher and headed for the ambulance.

Yehyeon was crooking a finger, summoning Ro.

Ro, who had been looking down at John Mühlen, turned toward Yehyeon at the other people’s nudging. Seeing the beckoning finger, an invisible question mark practically appeared over his head.

The curly-haired senior wore a face that clearly said he had no idea what was going on as he obediently walked over to Yehyeon.

“Run!”

The moment Yehyeon disappeared behind the podium with Ro, Leeho and Tom’s sprint also came to an end.

“Run run run!”

“Give it!”

The final runner was Bobby.

“The baton!”

“Let’s go!”

Both of them had run really well.

But Tom’s team had been just a little faster.

“We can catch them!”

Bobby took the baton.

It was a start delayed by one beat. The final runners of the Snake-Eagle team were about the same height, unlike Leeho’s team, which had struggled because of the major height difference.

Even in that situation, Bobby started reeling in the opposing team like a gazelle.

“Senior Bobby runs really well.”

I said as I watched the senior sprint refreshingly across the field.

Luke Lyle added what sounded like a mutter to himself.

“Senior Shu looks like a cicada.”

Bobby and Shu’s team hadn’t chosen to run side by side either.

Instead, Shu was clinging tightly to Bobby’s body like a cicada. She refused to come off the blonde senior, while Bobby ran as if she were carrying absolutely nothing.

Good thing she can run like that.

I thought as Bobby overtook the other team in the final stretch.

If it weren’t for the prosthetic leg, she might have run even better.

Still, she sprinted with such lightness that it made even the spectators feel refreshed.

“WOOOOOOAH!”

And then she pulled off the comeback victory.

A roar exploded so loud it made my ears ring.

“Winter! Winter! Winter!!”

“Look at that, you birds!!”

The seniors shouted, pumping their fists.

“This is Black Mamba!”

The seniors were exhilarated by the consecutive victories.

The late-morning air, half-heated by the sunlight, trembled with the noise. The scent of sandy wind tickled my nose.

The players who had taken part in the three-legged event wiped their sweat and returned to their respective teams.

I clapped for them while checking the opposing team’s runners. I’d wondered if they’d be dejected after the string of losses, but Ami was wearing a perfectly bright face as she comforted the gloomy final runners.

I’m glad she’s enjoying herself.

A normal relay followed.

The winner of that event was the Snake-Eagle team. It had been another razor-thin match, but this time the Snake-Eagle team’s final runner had run brilliantly.

The moment he crossed the white line, a clear burst of noise erupted from the Snake-Eagle side.

I smiled faintly as I watched Ami hopping excitedly with everyone else.

I could see Ricardo looking down at Ami with a faint smile.

Hesh was celebrating with an arm slung around Tom’s shoulders.

There were plenty of other familiar faces too, but my own mentor was still nowhere to be seen.

Surely he didn’t just not come at all.

But no matter how much I looked, I couldn’t find him, so I left him a message asking whether he had even come to the field.

Meanwhile, the setup for the morning’s highlight event finally began.

The obstacle relay.

The first category was none other than “Elite Specialist!”

It was the event where Kairos would take the field.

Since the setup took time, a break was announced.

People either headed to the bathroom, took the chance to rest, or went to the vendors who had come to the field to sell food.

And then Ro came walking out from behind the podium....

“Ah.”

Ro walked back looking sulky, rubbing the back of his head.

“That hurts, shi—”

Judging by that, it looked like Yehyeon had smacked him on the back of the head.

Meanwhile, the seniors who had probably been holding themselves back from approaching Kairos all rushed toward him in a wave.

They formed a circle around Kairos, who was tying his shoelaces.

“Go, Black-Jack!”

“Wipe them out even on two feet!”

“Honestly, I already feel like I won just by being on the same team as you.... I still can’t believe I get to see you this close.... Though I wish you’d go back to the track....”

“I said killing shots aren’t allowed.”

The one who stepped in and recited that ominously was Jason Trevain.

“But nobody said anything about not using whatever servant-control thing you people do.”

Use creature control?

Strictly speaking, wasn’t that cheating?

Of course, I wasn’t stupid enough to voice what I was thinking.

And honestly, if something unexpected happened, I was planning to use my own embarrassingly rusty creature-control ability in front of Kairos.

I could already feel the presence of monsters scattered throughout the course the staff were setting up.

They were unfamiliar presences to me, and since the staff quickly covered the entire course with tents while installing everything, I couldn’t tell exactly what kinds of monsters would appear.

Kai would definitely know, though....

Kairos stood after tying his sneakers and smiled.

“That may be true, but I doubt using creature control would make much difference.”

We all stared at him.

The red-haired tamer narrowed his eyes in a smile.

“You’ll understand once you see it.”

Near the end of the break, one of the unfamiliar seniors bought me a sausage.

I blinked as I accepted the sausage he held out, and the senior asked,

“Can’t eat it?”

“Uh, no. I eat well.”

“Enjoy.”

He waved a hand and coolly left.

“You can always recover the muscle loss later, so don’t take it too hard.”

I had completely forgotten about reality, so I ended up a little glum as I ate the sausage.

It was nicely browned and delicious.

As I chewed, the obstacle relay setup was finally completed.

Kairos was strategically the final runner, but our team planned to flexibly adjust the relay order.

The strategy was to make full use of the rule that allowed runners to be swapped at any time in the obstacle relay.

“Stay focused.”

Trevain said bluntly as he looked over ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) the teammates who had grown noisy during the break.

“If I tell you to sub in and you don’t jump out immediately, I’ll call you out separately later.”

The first relay runner was Chen Koenig.

The opposing team’s first runner was Sylvia Kip.

The moment they finished warming up, the obstacle relay course was revealed.

Pop!

The tents vanished like bursting balloons.

The space that had been a smooth athletic field instantly transformed into a colorful course.

“What are all those?”

Leeho, who had been drinking an ion sports drink, furrowed his brows.

“The structure’s kind of weird for a relay course, isn’t it?”

[Is everyone ready for the next event?]

The announcer’s voice rang out from the speakers installed around the field.

Personnel Director Ju had stepped onto the podium.

Everyone in the field focused their gaze on the announcer, and Ju spread both arms with a bright smile.

[Then I’ll explain the rules for the next event!]

Obstacle relay theme: “Elite Specialist!”

A drone captured Ju standing on the podium and projected the image onto the massive screen.

The staff came up one by one from behind the podium.

Huh?

That’s Hiroshi and Kate.

My eyes widened as I watched the scientists climb onto the stage wearing staff outfits.

My surprise doubled when I saw what they were struggling to carry.

What is that?

[What is the representative core competency required of a specialist?]

Ju stepped aside to make room for the scientists and gestured toward them with an open palm.

[It is the determination to never give up on rescuing any citizen!]

“That’s a citizen?”

Ruta Ayer muttered.

“So what, we have to rescue that thing?”

Unable to answer, I just stared at what Kate and Hiroshi were presenting.

It was an android.

One symbolizing a civilian.

It was the size of a real adult human. It was dressed, and it even had facial features.

The moment you saw it, it was obvious it was an android, but it was just realistic enough to feel unsettling.

And the two units looked different from each other.

The middle-aged android Kate had carried up looked at the drone and suddenly opened its mouth wide.

{What the hell? Why are you filming people without permission?}

Gasp.

Everyone in the field inhaled at once.

I blinked too, staring at the android on the screen.

Leeho muttered,

“Why does that AI have such a shitty personality?”

{Don’t you know what portrait rights are?!}

The android started wildly swinging its arms as if trying to swat the drone out of the sky.

{Kids these days have no basic manners!}

{Could you keep it down over there?!}

Good lord.

This time the android Hiroshi had brought up suddenly barked out in anger.

{Do you think this street belongs to you alone?!}

{What?! Still wet behind the ears, and already acting up!}

{If you’re old, just stay quietly at home....}

[As you can see, these dolls were modeled after the Top 4 Most Difficult Civilians!]

Personnel Director Ju said brightly.

[And in this obstacle relay, they are your batons!]

I stared blankly at the announcer and the staff, completely speechless.

Ju continued the explanation cheerfully.

[The key is to safely arrive at the finish line while preserving the civilians’ stamina! Both dolls have built-in energy bar graphs in their arms!]

It was true.

Inside their transparent forearms was a giant battery indicator, like an enormous phone battery display.

There were twenty total bars, and exactly five were glowing in a bright light green.

[This represents the stamina of the civilians you must rescue, and the team that arrives with the highest amount remaining wins!]

Ju explained while lifting the arm of the grumbling android.

[Right now only five bars are filled. As you run along the course, break through the various obstacles to obtain batteries and raise the energy! The team that brings their civilians to the goal in the healthiest condition wins!]

Then like Leeho said, speed isn’t the key.

This feels closer to a treasure hunt than a relay....

[But be careful! The stamina of the civilians you’re rescuing will steadily decrease over time!]

“BOOOOO!”

The Badgers, finally snapping back to their senses, showered the field with boos, but of course Personnel Director Ju didn’t even blink.

The announcer spun around cutely.

With a fresh smile, he finished the explanation.

[If the civilian dies because you fail to obtain the energy bars in time, you lose!]

A mock difficult-civilian rescue race.

That strange event finally began.