Chapter 44: First Rank Confirmed

Jinhae

The notification hit as my boot cleared the last step.

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[BOSS DEFEATED]

FIVE-TAILED CRIMSON FOX

Status .................. Dead (Bled Out)

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*— The body cools in the dark below.

*— No one else will claim this kill.

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Academy staff were already waiting.

Three of them. Gray uniforms, official insignia. They carried writing boards and ink.

The fourth figure stood apart from the clerks.

His eyes moved across our group as we emerged. Lingered on the claw marks on my chest. On Seol's borrowed robe. On Soyeon's bandaged face and the Baek crest on her collar.

On Harin, whose Iron Serpent insignia should not have been in the same corridor as our team number.

“Team Seventeen?” he asked.

“And two members of Team Four,” I said.

A beat.

“Where is the rest of Team Four?”

“Baek Museong and Jinmu departed ahead of us,” I said.

The instructor processed this. His expression didn't change.

“Come with me,” he said. “All of you.”

He led us through a side door, away from the main courtyard where other teams were emerging and comparing bruises. Down a short hallway. Into a room with stone walls, a single desk, and no windows.

He closed the door.

“Sit,” he said.

There were only two chairs. Soyeon and Harin took them. The rest of us stood.

The instructor leaned against the desk. Arms folded. His gaze moved between us with the patience of a man used to pulling answers from people who didn't want to give them.

“Tell me what happened,” he said. “From the beginning.”

I told him. The instructor's jaw tightened when I described the creature's five tails.

“You're certain,” he said. “Five.”

“Five,” I confirmed. “Crimson fur. Gold eyes. It filled half the vault when we arrived.”

“That's a third-floor specimen,” the instructor said quietly.

“The containment array failed?” Seorin asked.

The instructor looked at her. The calculation behind his eyes was no longer about extracting information. It was about damage control.

“I need to ask something of all of you,” he said.

He straightened from the desk. His arms uncrossed. The posture shifted from interrogator to something closer to a man requesting a favor he had no right to ask.

“The creature you encountered was not supposed to be on the first floor. The containment arrays between levels are inspected quarterly. The last inspection was three weeks ago. Everything was in order.”

A pause.

“An array failure during an entrance evaluation, with first-year candidates inside, is not an incident the Academy can afford to make public.”

“Your performance will be evaluated at the highest possible marks. All associated privileges: priority class selection, upgraded dormitory assignments, first pick of training ground reservations, and instructor assignment.”

He looked at each of us in turn.

“In exchange, I ask that you do not discuss the nature of the creature you fought.”

The room was silent for three heartbeats.

I had been hoping he'd say something like that.

Every instinct from eleven thousand hours of this game told me the same thing: a secret the Academy needed buried was worth more than any ranking.

Then Ahyun stepped forward.

“But—” Her voice came out small. She caught herself, swallowed, tried again. “Forgive me, sir, but… that creature nearly… the Young Master was…”

Her eyes went to the claw marks on my chest. Her lip trembled.

“He was hurt,” she whispered. “People were hurt. If—if we hadn't been there, they could have…”

She trailed off. Her hands clasped in front of her, fingers twisting together.

“I'm asking you to refrain from discussing specifics—”

“But shouldn't someone know?” Ahyun's voice cracked. “If it happened once, couldn't it… couldn't it happen again? To someone who isn't…”

She glanced at me. The sentence died.

“Ahyun,” I said.

She turned to me. Her eyes were wet. Her hands stilled at her sides, fingers curling inward.

“He's right,” I said.

She searched my face for half a breath. Whatever she found there was enough.

Her chin dipped.

“Yes, Young Master,” she said quietly.

I held her gaze a moment longer, then turned to the instructor.

“We fought a monster that shouldn't have been there, and we won. The Academy knows it. The instructor standing in front of us knows it.”

“The creature's body is still in the vault. Corridor three, leftmost passage. It collapsed near the eastern corridor entrance after we severed four of its five tails. It bled out before we reached the exit.”

The instructor's eyebrows rose.

“You confirmed the kill?”

“My combat specialist did.” I nodded toward Seol. “Every tail.”

The instructor moved toward the door. He called through it. Two staff members appeared. Rapid, quiet orders. They departed at a run.

Then he turned back.

“First rank,” he confirmed. “Team Seventeen. Effective immediately.”

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[SPECIAL EVENT COMPLETE]

Floor 1 — Containment Breach

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Objective ............... Survive ✓

Result .................. BOSS KILLED

Rank .................... 1st (Team Seventeen)

Reward .................. Priority privileges (all)

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*— The Academy owes you silence.

*— Silence is a currency.

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He looked at Harin and Soyeon.

“Your team's ranking will be adjusted as well. The circumstances warrant it. I'll speak with the coordination desk.”

Harin said nothing. Her dark eyes watched the instructor.

Then she nodded once.

“Agreed,” she said. “But I want it noted that Baek Museong abandoned his team during a combat encounter with a third-floor specimen.”

“That will be part of the debrief record.”

“Good.”

The instructor dismissed us.

Harin paused at the courtyard threshold. She turned to face me.

“Kang Jinhae,” she said. “The Iron Serpent Sect repays its debts. When you need something, find me.”

She didn't wait for a response. She walked toward the eastern barracks, her stride long and unhurried, her torn robe flaring behind her.

Soyeon lingered a moment longer.

“Your wounds,” she said. “You should let your healer treat them properly.”

“I will.”

She hesitated.

“I'm glad you were there,” she said quietly. Then she followed Harin.

Seorin watched them go with wide eyes. The Good Girl Mask held.

“The Iron Serpent heiress,” she murmured. “And a Baek. Jinhae, do you realize—”

“Later,” I said. “I need Ahyun to stitch these claw marks before I bleed through another robe.”

“Um… Young Master.” Ahyun's voice was barely above a whisper. Her fingers hovered near the medicine bag without opening it. “You're not… you don't have a robe on right now. You gave yours to Seol.”

The worry from the debriefing room still sat in the corners of her eyes, soft and stubborn.

“Then I need you to stitch them before I bleed on the courtyard stones.”

Her lips pressed together. But her hands were already reaching for the medicine bag.

Seol stood apart. She hadn't spoken since we emerged.

Her eyes met mine across the courtyard.

I knew what she saw when she looked at me.

The only person alive who had seen her secret—and the only one who could end her Academy career with a single word.

I held her gaze for two seconds.

Then I smiled.

Your secret is mine.

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[LEVERAGE ACQUIRED]

SEOLHWA — Identity (Female / Namgung Heir)

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*— One word ends her cover.

*— One word ends her Academy career.

*— She knows this.

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