Chapter 365

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Chapter 365: The Ultimate Evil of Promotion (1)

Supersonic Descent.

While Team 023 was swiftly flying northward, beyond the sky, Evaluation Team 9 was basking in endless applause.

And soon, the reason for this applause descended upon the Promotion Hall.

BOOOOOM!

In the form of a massive pillar of light.

-What the—

Amana, leading her team through the skies, looked up, and her pupils were instantly filled with a blazing yellow glow.

Unfortunately, the ominous pillar of light was descending directly onto Team 023.

-Watch out—danger!

Mistaking the sudden burst of light for an attack, Amana swiftly maneuvered to evade.

The other three team members, tethered to her by a ring of wind, were thrown sideways with her abrupt movement.

-Ahhh!

-What’s happening?!

Aldo and Taru screamed in panic.

Meanwhile, Yeongwoo fixed his gaze on the yellow pillar of light that had just engulfed the space they’d occupied a moment earlier.

‘What is that? Doesn’t seem like an attack.’

Yeongwoo, a veteran of countless planetary bombardments, couldn’t mistake destructive energy.

But no matter how he looked at it, the pillar of light before him didn’t seem lethal.

“Amana, wait a moment.”

At Yeongwoo’s request, Amana, who had been about to retreat quickly, hesitated.

-Why? We should get out of here—

“That’s not an attack.”

-What did you say?

By this point, Yeongwoo had already freed himself from the wind ring and was descending to the ground.

Thud!

As if on cue, the yellow pillar of light began to shrink, leaving behind a golden chest on the ground.

‘I knew it—something’s there.’

Yeongwoo’s eyes gleamed as Amana and the other two team members hurried down to the ground after noticing the chest.

-What the—

-There’s a chest?

-So it wasn’t an attack after all?

And just then—

FLASH!

From the sky above the Promotion Hall, golden waves erupted, filling the heavens.

It resembled golden rain, and Yeongwoo tilted his head to gaze at the sky.

The other three team members did the same.

“Looks like they’re making an announcement. Didn’t they mention releasing the rankings earlier?”

As Yeongwoo murmured, a colossal system message materialized in mid-air.

「First Ranking Release」

-What?!

-How did you know that, Yeongwoo?

-It’s true!

The three team members looked at Yeongwoo in suspicion, but he maintained a calm expression as he observed the message in the sky.

“It’s big enough for everyone in the Promotion Hall to see. That pillar of light earlier and this message—it’s clearly a notice everyone has to see.”

In a place like the Promotion Hall, the most likely candidate for such a grand announcement would be the rankings.

Revealing the rankings early would give an idea of the leading competitors’ strength and tendencies, allowing latecomers to strategize on whom to target or avoid.

BOOM!

With a deafening roar that shook the heavens, the ranking chart appeared.

SWOOOSH!

「Real-Time Score Rank #1: Team 023」

Following this, profile photos of Team 023 members appeared in the sky, as if taken without their knowledge.

-Huh?

-What?

-Why are our faces up there?

Yeongwoo’s profile was at the forefront of Team 023. Clad in his Vesedel armor, it was clearly a recent photo.

“Don’t they have privacy laws in space? And when did they even take this?”

The profiles of Team 023 displayed proper portraits showing them from the chest up, their faces blown up to enormous proportions for all to see.

It was practically a wanted poster disguised as a ranking board.

The rankings then continued with the second to fifth teams:

| Rank #2: Team 004

| Rank #3: Team 029

| Rank #4: Team 006

| Rank #5: Team 049

However, no profiles or photos were shown for these teams.

-What?! Why aren’t their faces shown?

-This isn’t fair.

-re they really only showing our faces?

As expected, the three team members grumbled, staring at their still-floating profiles with dissatisfaction.

They weren’t naïve enough to endure unfair treatment without complaint.

But for someone as deeply steeped in villainy as Yeongwoo, his perspective was entirely different.

“Why is this unfair? This is actually a good thing.”

-What?

-Excuse me?

-What do you mean by that?

“Didn’t we deliberately come to a place with the most teams to make ourselves prime targets?”

Of course, this wasn’t a strategy the other team members had agreed to.

“Now everyone knows who’s ranked first and what we look like. Those with ambition will be laser-focused on finding us.”

This time, the team members managed to piece it together themselves.

-No way.

-They’ll target us to take first place…?

-That’s insane.

“That’s the burden of being villains, folks.”

Yeongwoo grinned wickedly as he glanced at his team.

Just then, another boom resounded through the sky.

BOOM!

This time, it was the Power Rankings.

「Real-Time Power Rank #1: Team 023」

-What?!

-Power rank #1?!

-We’re first in both rankings?

The profiles of Team 023 disappeared from the sky as they took first place in the power rankings as well.

FLASH!

A video played in the skies, showing why Team 023 had been selected as the top-ranked team in power.

—These losers were all trash.

‘No, these crazy bastards.’

Yeongwoo immediately recognized his own voice and blinked in disbelief.

The footage showed him from just minutes ago in the central-western Promotion Hall, confronting their first opponents.

BOOM!

Earth’s guardian, Jeong Yeongwoo07, was annihilating Team 011 with his overwhelming strength, wielding his weapon, Bastard.

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‘If they’re going to show that, won’t it scare off the challengers? Who would want to ruin their plans by coming after us?’

Yeongwoo, slightly dumbfounded, watched his own display of power as he utterly destroyed Team 011.

It was certainly compelling evidence for ranking them first in power, but for potential challengers watching the same footage, their motivation to engage would likely plummet.

―Poima, I swear I’ll avenge you!

―You despicable bastard!

The scene then switched to the desperate final stand of Count Katissan, the toad and the last survivor of Unit 011.

It replayed until, like his comrades, his body was split in two, and the footage ended.

Flash!

Next, a highlight reel appeared, like ending credits, showing the rankings of power from second to fifth place.

| Power Rank 2: 004

| Power Rank 3: 050

| Power Rank 4: 042

| Power Rank 5: 033

‘Huh?’

But something seemed odd.

‘Except for the second place, the scores and power rankings don’t align at all.’

Aside from Unit 004, which ranked second in both score and power, the other top spots in the two rankings were held by entirely different units.

And what this suggested was...

‘There’s something going on. The scoring system isn’t just based on elimination rankings.’

This wasn’t entirely unexpected, given the numerous icons visible on the world map.

But the fact that the top spots, aside from the overwhelming first place and the still-mysterious second place, were distributed across various units indicated something unusual.

It implied that it was possible to achieve high scores without engaging in combat or demonstrating high combat power.

‘What kind of bastards are raking in rewards without spilling a drop of blood?’

As Yeongwoo glared with a fierce intensity, Aldo, the second prince of the Shelbir royal family, looked at him with concern.

-Yeongwoo, is something the matter? Is there a problem?

Yeongwoo quickly changed his expression to one of brightness and replied as if nothing had happened.

“Oh, Prince, it’s nothing. Any problem can be solved, right?”

He then glanced down at the unopened golden box and added:

“You all come from the world of good karma, but I hail from the world of evil karma. So I’ve never truly experienced anything like the ‘benevolence’ of the universe.”

-Oh…

-Is that so?

-That’s unfortunate.

What nonsense was this man about to spew again?

The three virtuous participants looked at Yeongwoo nervously.

“That’s why I believe there’s no such thing as ‘benevolence’ in this trial. Just look at how they’ve mixed people from the worlds of good karma and evil karma.”

-…What?

-What do you mean by that exactly?

-No benevolence? I don’t quite understand.

Still inexperienced in the ways of the world of evil karma, the three virtuous participants tilted their heads in confusion.

Yeongwoo placed a hand on the golden box and spoke seriously.

“Why do you think this box has been placed here? Isn’t it a reward for being ranked first in both score and power?”

-Well…

-Since you’ve ranked first in both categories, they must be giving you extra points.

-It must be some sort of ranking reward.

That was the logical assumption of the virtuous participants.

But Yeongwoo’s opinion—or rather, his hope—was a bit different.

“If it were a simple reward, boxes would have been distributed to all top-ranking units. But this one was given only to us.”

He was confident of this fact because the leaderboard and profile displays had appeared at the same location as the box’s landing point.

Then Amana, growing impatient, asked Yeongwoo:

-So, what kind of reward do you think it is? Are you planning to use it to kill more participants? Just hurry up and open it so we can see what it is.

“Shall I?”

Without hesitation, Yeongwoo swung his mythic cursed sword.

Slash!

Right at the golden box’s lock.

Clang!

The lock fell to the ground, split in two by the sword, and the box’s lid flew open, emitting a radiant golden light.

-Oh…

-What is this?

-Wow.

The virtuous participants’ eyes glimmered with gold as they gazed at the holy-looking light.

Meanwhile, Yeongwoo reached into the box.

Swoosh.

From inside, he pulled out a small orb radiating a mysterious light.

“What the hell is this?”

Yeongwoo, who had been expecting a specialized weapon or tracker for the hunt, furrowed his brows at the unexpected item.

A system message then appeared in midair.

「Unit 023, ranked first overall, has obtained the special reward ‘Game Maker’!」

“Game Maker?”

An ominous name.

The instructions for the “Game Maker” began to appear above the orb in Yeongwoo’s hand.

[1] Discuss with your unit to determine the order of turns.

[2] Each member may input one primary rule in turn.

[3] Once a rule is input, it cannot be invalidated by subsequent members.

[4] When all members have input their rules, strike the device to confirm the rules.

[5] The confirmed rules will replace the existing rules of this trial, and previously earned points will be preserved.

“What?”

Yeongwoo’s eyes widened after reading the instructions.

Amana, who had been reading alongside him, raised her hand and shouted:

-From now on, no more killing! We can set the rules now!

“…Damn it.”

Virtue versus vice.

A one-against-three unfair battle.

Foreseeing the potential chaos, Yeongwoo closed his eyes tightly and muttered through gritted teeth:

“Please, don’t make crazy suggestions like banning all killing. Let’s pick something else, I beg you.”

Hearing this, Aldo cautiously raised his hand.

-Then… how about the unit that shakes the most hands wins?

[TL/N: These guys are kinda pissing me off 💀.]

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