Group Project (2)

Through Jo Yun, an acquaintance of Go Donghyuk, I learned a few facts I hadn’t known before.

The Sura Guild and the Holy Church, which could be considered its polar opposite.

Six years ago, the Black Flame Cult, an organization I just happened to run into, turned out to be a subsidiary of the Holy Church.

And, even the fact that the Holy Church and the Sura Guild had similar objectives.

‘They’re similar, but still different. The idol they worship is different, after all.’

If the goal of the Sura Guild was the awakening of ‘Sura’… then the Holy Church would be after something similar.

Just, I couldn’t yet tell what exactly the Holy Church sought to awaken, but I could roughly guess through the Black Flame Cult.

Because I remembered exactly what the Black Flame Cult had tried to summon back then.

‘Eunseol…’

I also remembered clearly the child who was kidnapped that time.

Her name was Ha Eunseol. She was a child whose angelic wings on her back had left an impression on me.

Those guys had tried to use her as a medium to summon ‘something’.

‘Most likely, it was a god that was the opposite of what the Sura Guild worshiped.’

But of course, the descent of such a god wouldn’t happen so easily.

Even the mad cultists of Mewzealand had performed rituals to reach the level of divinity, but suffered either death or were turned into monsters as a side effect.

The act itself was so foolish, it just made me laugh in disbelief.

But, those guys would never think themselves foolish for that.

Rather, they considered it a sacred rite and simply kidnapped someone to serve as a medium.

‘Eunseol was also kidnapped because of that.’

She was already a kid who was being ostracized at school, and on top of that, she lost her parents.

But I’d heard she’d been adopted by the Angel Guild after being rescued.

That’s how it was reported in the newspapers at the time.

Thinking about it now, I could feel some sense of reward for having done a good deed.

But when I looked up articles about the Angel Guild, there was no information on Eunseol.

‘I can’t seem to find any news.’

Since she was rescued by the hands of the Angel Guildmaster herself, I thought there would be some big news about her later on, but it was strangely quiet.

Still, as she was being protected by a good guild, there shouldn’t be a problem.

She must be doing well, I’m sure.

****

“How’s the interschool competition prep going?”

“Um… about that…”

When I asked, Sang-ah answered hesitantly.

“It’s… going well.”

“Really?”

“Yeah…”

Her words lacked conviction for someone claiming it was going well.

It was painfully obvious she was lying because she didn’t want to get caught that things were actually not going well.

“Is there anything I can help with…?”

“No! No! I can do it just fine on my own!”

I wondered if she simply wanted to try doing it herself without my help.

No, more accurately, she didn’t want to drag me into it and trouble me for no reason.

After all, I was busy preparing for the interschool competition too.

“Are you really okay?”

“Of course! You know what? I became the group leader.”

“What?”

You’re the group leader?

“In terms of combat ability, I’m the strongest, so I was chosen to be the leader.”

I got a bad feeling about this.

It felt like an ominous cloud rising up like thick smoke.

“Did you volunteer for it yourself? Or did your group members force it on you, manipulating you to take it on?”

“Of course I volunteered.”

“Really?”

“…”

It seemed obvious it was the latter.

But kids these days don’t say, “Hey! You have to do it!” with poisonous glares anymore.

If you do things like that, the rumor spreads and it ends up being worse for you.

‘The days of pressuring people that way are over.’

Instead of direct pressure, they just nudge the atmosphere so you’ll choose it.

As I said, kids these days can’t wield physical threats openly.

But does that mean they can’t bully others?

Not at all.

If they can’t hit, they can always create a sense of isolation.

‘Sang-ah probably got swept up into being the leader by the group’s atmosphere.’

Their way of creating that atmosphere was surprisingly simple:

– You’re the strongest, so you lead us.

– You have the most money, so you should treat us.

– You get the best grades, so help us with our assignments.

– You have the most snacks, so share with us.

It’s just forcing others to yield, like that.

And if you let it slide once, they keep pushing you for more.

‘That’s how they just freeload off her.’

Of course, refusing is always an option.

If you do, they’ll act all disappointed and ostracize you as a ‘petty person’, but that’s just their last gasp—if you stand firm, they can’t say anything more.

But Sang-ah has little resistance to that sort of thing.

Could this clumsy girl really have refused?

“Sang-ah, are there second or third-year seniors in your group too?”

“Yeah. Exactly two second-year seniors.”

“They must have experience, so why did they push the leadership onto you?”

“…”

Sang-ah lost her spirit and remained silent.

She knew full well that what I’d said wasn’t wrong.

Her becoming the leader by their ‘recommendation’ was just the principle of majority rule.

‘If you don’t accept that, you’re the bad one.’

And Sang-ah missed the timing to slip out of that situation.

Now, it was too late to change group leaders.

“Sang-ah. Listen to me carefully—I’m not going to say anything bad.”

“Okay.”

“Even now, don’t ever get swayed by your group members. You want a good evaluation, right? Am I wrong?”

“You’re right.”

“If those guys don’t listen, you can even raise your voice. Why? Because you’re the group leader.”

True, she becomes a different person when she goes berserk, but on normal days, Sang-ah is very quiet.

I can’t quite picture her leading her group by force, but if she doesn’t want to be dragged along, that’s the only way.

“If you don’t do that, your group members won’t listen. You’ll just become their free bus driver.”

So, Sang-ah.

Please keep that in mind.

“If you want to get angry, get angry.”

Unless you want to become a bus driver working your bones off by yourself.

****

“Hm…”

Sang-ah sat at a park table, deep in thought.

The words she’d heard from Seongjin a few days ago were still ringing in her head.

― If you want to get angry, get angry.

Was she really someone who could get angry that easily?

So far, she’d been repressing her anger to control her tendency to go berserk.

She’d thought that, with the slightest influence, she might lose control and go on a rampage again.

In that case, the only option was to lead with an authoritarian tone.

‘But what should I do?’

But there was one thing she was worried about: it had been two weeks since the group had formed.

Her group’s competition match at school was next week.

With only seven days left, would they listen to her if she acted now?

‘Can I really do well?’

Still, she had no choice but to try.

If she did as Seongjin advised, surely things would turn out fine.

She was the group leader and… also the strongest in terms of fighting power.

“Leader! We’re here!”

“Did we keep you waiting long?”

Finally, her group members arrived.

They greeted her cheerfully as they sat at the table, but Sang-ah couldn’t bring herself to smile.

She’d already found something to criticize.

“What time do you think it is now?”

“Huh?”

“I asked, what time is it right now?”

“…”

As Sang-ah’s normally gentle tone turned forceful, they were flustered.

They felt something off that they couldn’t quite place, since she usually acted sweet and kind.

Looking at their phones in confusion, they answered,

“Six thirty.”

“What time did we agree to meet?”

“Well…”

“Six…”

They answered in dispirited voices.

The agreed meeting time was six o’clock sharp. But it was already six-thirty.

Just from this, it was clear how little commitment they had.

“What were you doing until now that made you late?”

Sang-ah asked sincerely again.

They darted their eyes, searching for an answer.

“Actually… we jaywalked when coming out of the station.”

“We got caught by the police and got a warning, so that’s why we’re late.”

“They just wouldn’t let us go quickly.”

They claimed they were running late and jaywalked, but got caught. It was a story just plausible enough to pass off.

But…

“You just got off at the station, right?”

“Yeah.”

“But what about those cup noodle stains on your clothes?”

“…”

The second-year senior’s face hardened.

It wasn’t just the cup noodle stains.

She even reeked of tteokbokki, all sorts of fried snacks, and even dumplings.

Sang-ah’s sense of smell wasn’t to be underestimated.

“You went to a PC cafe, didn’t you?”

“…”

As she suspected.

She was dumbfounded to realize they’d just goofed off and showed up late.

“I’ve been thinking about it for a while—are you guys really willing to put in any effort?”

“What’s with you, leader?”

“Yeah, this isn’t like you at all…”

Her group was bewildered by Sang-ah’s unexpected sternness.

So far, they had only seen her naive side and thought of her as a pushover.

Now that mask was gone, their arrogance would surely disappear too.

“This interschool competition isn’t just about me. Your grades will be evaluated too. You all know that, right?”

What in the world gave them the confidence to do nothing?

The reason was clear: they planned to just hide behind the group’s strongest member, Sang-ah.

“I kept thinking about this, but it’s just not right that I should do all the carrying. There’s still a ton of work left.”

The opponent team had already been decided.

And they’d even been told about the types of interfering objects that would show up on the field.

This information was given to their group a week ago.

She’d asked them all to research it, but not a single one of them had done it.

“On top of that, we still haven’t decided what tactics to use, or who will take what position. If we just rely on my strength, we’ll never get a good score.”

Ever since their group had been formed, Sang-ah had been harboring grievances toward them.

She regretted having spoken so meekly up until now.

So, from now on, she had to be assertive.

“You get what I’m saying, right?”

“…”

No one could object to what she was saying.

It was true: they’d done nothing, simply assuming that Sang-ah would handle everything.

“It’s not too late yet. We need to make a plan, starting now.”

Finally, her group members began to listen.

****

Six days passed after that.

Tomorrow would be the day Sang-ah’s group participated in the interschool competition.

The event was an objective capture match: to win, they had to destroy the gem located in the opponent’s base.

The distance to the enemy base in a straight line was 2 kilometers.

Time limit: 5 hours.

They were allowed to bring food, but only within reasonable limits.

Since the forest area was wide, both the enemy and their group would expend a lot of energy.

On top of that, there would also be interfering monster objects.

‘The monster that appears is the Holy Bat.’

Late at night, Sang-ah sat in the computer room, researching the monster.

Bzzz—

At that moment, her cell phone vibrated.

The caller was a second-year male senior from her group.

After checking who it was, Sang-ah didn’t look happy.

“Hello?”

― Leader! About that material you asked for… I don’t think I can manage it after all.

“What?”

― My mom suddenly got sick, so I had to run home for a while. Really sorry.

“Excuse me, senior!”

Sang-ah cried out, but this rotten senior promptly hung up on her.

If one tangerine rots, the whole box will rot too.

Growing anxious, Sang-ah tried calling another group member.

“Hello? It’s the leader…”

― Oh, leader! About the strategy you asked us to prepare, Seung-min and I are working on it right now, don’t worry.

― Yeah, leader. Just leave it to us.

When she called one classmate group member, another classmate group member was also with him.

― We’ll let you know right before it starts tomorrow.

“All right…”

She tried to take comfort in their words.

But…

“Wait a minute.”

Sang-ah caught something strange from the noises she heard over the phone.

Thanks to her keen hearing, she could clearly tell what they were doing.

“You guys are playing games right now, aren’t you?”

― Huh?

“You’re not going to tell me that counts as planning a strategy, are you?”

-…

No reply.

Then, another voice came loudly on the other end.

[Welcome to Summoner’s Rift.]

It was a very familiar sound effect from a certain game.

― Uh, we’re busted.

There was panic in their voices, and they hurriedly hung up.

The fact that these two were no different from the senior earlier made her hands tremble, but it wasn’t time to get angry yet.

There was still the last group member left: a second-year female senior. Sang-ah texted her, asking what she was doing right now.

A reply came immediately.

― Leader! Since we’re going into the forest tomorrow, what should we eat? Just snacks would be too boring!

A senior who thought of the test as a picnic.

Upon reading that message, Sang-ah was so appalled that her arm sagged, phone dangling in her hand.

She was so shocked, she had no strength left.

No words would come out.

Only…

“Ha ha… ha ha ha…”

She felt only despair at the realization that all her hard work had been futile.

“Hahaha… F***…!”

————-= Clacky’s Corner ————-=

Blow your lids off Sang-ah, it’s okay not to be okay…

Beat your teammates if you have to…

【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】

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