This World is too Cruel to Men – Chapter 20

What… what just happened?

I couldn’t understand anything.

I was still dizzy from the ringing in my ears that had started with the onset of this strange situation.

It was like a mosquito buzzing in my ear on a summer night.

It was persistent… making it hard to grasp what was going on.

‘So…’

What exactly happened?

Why is this being shoved right in front of my neck?

There was definitely a sound that took over my ears—a sudden beeping noise blaring right before everything spun, and I just closed my eyes for a moment, then opened them again…

“Are you surrendering or not?”

A calm voice slipped into my ears, whispering directly to my brain.

It’s over.

You, lost.

‘I lost…?’

Me?

Why?

Like this?

In such a ridiculous instant?

It was absurd.

No, it was beyond absurd; it was infuriating.

-Listen carefully. If my guess is right… the moment right after the tournament starts will be crucial. So…

Dogun’s voice echoed in my head, making me feel that way, as if he had been waiting for this moment.

…Of course, it wasn’t frustration directed at Dogun.

‘You stupid girl…’

Dogun had specifically come to warn me, so what happened?

I already acted as if I had won while facing him, and now I’m in this ridiculous situation, unable to even fight properly and I lost?

If it was going to end up like this, why did I even ask him to get food, or why did I ask to watch a movie?

‘How embarrassing…’

Not just embarrassing but utterly humiliating to the point where tears were about to burst out.

It wasn’t just showing such a pathetic side in front of so many people, but the gaze of Dogun, who was watching from the audience, bothered me even more.

I should’ve just kept my mouth shut.

If I had done that, I wouldn’t have felt so terrified to look up.

What kind of thoughts or expressions was Dogun having while looking at me?

It was obvious even without looking.

He was probably looking at me with disdain.

Even after giving me a warning about being cautious in the early stages, here I was not fulfilling a single bit of that advice and ended up in this state.

Naturally, he would feel disappointed from the perspective of someone who had warned me.

What was even more embarrassing and annoying—

“I understand that it’s hard to accept the result… but it seems like it wouldn’t matter if you tried again.”

That was Baeksulhwa’s voice, or Baeksulhwa, I guess.

A businesslike yet calm tone.

That voice made me want to cry.

Just hearing her voice made it seem like she completely believed I could never win against her, no matter how many fights I had.

That led to me unintentionally biting my lips, and what sprouted inside me was an emotion I’ve never felt before: inferiority.

For the first time, the fact that I had just lost helplessly like that planted the seeds of inferiority within me, and the fertilizer that helped it sprout was… the advice Dogun had given me.

Dogun, after all, had only analyzed the opponent to slightly increase my chances of winning, but after my awakening, the initial taste of defeat had caused all rational thought to fly out of my head, leaving me unable to make proper judgments.

And the conclusion drawn from that was—

‘So… that means I’m interested in her, huh?’

That was it.

Of course, it wasn’t completely wrong.

The one who instilled these feelings of inferiority at this moment was someone with an appearance and body that anyone would be inclined to take interest in.

Especially for a man, it was all the more true.

In fact, Dogun had felt slightly intrigued by that aspect, but that was it.

Dogun had firmly established that he wouldn’t give even a glance to anyone under twenty years old for a long time, so he wouldn’t waver now.

However, for Yoonseo, who had no idea about that truth, Dogun’s detail about the opponent, delivered with far more enthusiasm than usual, came off as if he was interested in her, and as a result… began the misunderstanding.

As Yoonseo struggled in her whirlpool of inferiority regarding Baeksulhwa and misunderstanding about Dogun, it was a voice that snapped her back to reality—

“Yoonseo?”

It was the voice of the host who had now come up to the tournament stage.

At the moment that carefully tossed voice trickled into my ears, my mind snapped back to attention, and I immediately admitted my defeat.

“…I lost.”

The match had long since been decided; struggling here would only make it more embarrassing.

Once I stepped down from the tournament stage, I realized why the defeated opponents I had seen before looked so tragic.

Just a moment ago, I had firmly believed I was the protagonist of this world… and in an instant, I felt like I had plummeted to the position of an extra with no lines.

The immense drop into despair, and perhaps the thought that Dogun’s feelings towards me were merely a figment of my own imagination, was so overwhelming it made me feel branded as the most useless existence in the world.

Did everyone who had lost feel this way?

One thing was certain… my legs felt utterly weak.

Despite only having climbed onto the stage and bowed my head towards my opponent, I felt like this.

‘I’m tired…’

I wanted nothing more than to lie in bed and rest right away.

That was how much my legs were shaking and my whole body felt heavy.

But I couldn’t do that.

Since the regular tournament was more like a league system than a tournament, there were still more matches to handle.

So, I forced my legs to walk towards the waiting room.

And the results of the match, which covered me in a heavy weight, were indescribably… pitiful.

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‘Oh my…’

Even the advice given was useless as I listened with one ear and let it flow out the other; I was anxious, but I never expected to be so thoroughly defeated.

Honestly, just that was enough to make me feel utterly flustered, but what followed was worse.

Was the pain of tasting defeat for the first time after awakening that overwhelming?

With a face that clearly showed the after-effects of defeat, I flailed around on the tournament stage… it felt like I had returned to that day when I first revealed my awakening.

That meant I was that hopeless.

Still, I had enough basic competence that I didn’t leave the remaining matches with a losing streak, but… if I had known it would be like this, it might’ve been better to lose all cleanly.

If I had done that, I could’ve sharply scolded myself as a friend asking, “What are you doing?” but seeing myself struggling just to avoid losing made it hard to feel that way.

‘Sigh…’

The one who had brought down the Yoonseo who had been soaring high ended up performing like this later…

When matched against middle school students, I definitely showed a clearer winning streak, but against high school students, not so much.

Sometimes I won, and sometimes I lost.

If I just looked at the high school matches, my win rate felt a bit lower.

That made it feel even more impressive.

‘Is that what it means to not fully utilize your talents?’

Thanks to that, it became scary again.

It made sense, given that the powers wielded by Awakened individuals aiming to become Heroes are essentially like psychic abilities from my perspective.

Here I was, putting up a fight using only physical abilities against those who could freely manipulate their abilities as if they were limbs… if that Baeksulhwa character fully harnesses her talents, just how far would her abilities go?

I didn’t have some kind of scouter in my eye and couldn’t predict others’ futures, but if they managed that, wouldn’t passing the Hero qualification exam be a given?

If the exam topic was something absurdly strange, the chances might drop a bit, but the fact remains that competing against people does not change.

And if Baeksulhwa’s abilities turned out as I thought, with enough honing, she could showcase her talents to be top-performing in a person-to-person conflict.

I honestly had no clue when dealing with the Abnormal Creatures, known as the Another Ones.

‘Do they even have ears?’

Based on various videos I had watched, it seemed they did have their five senses intact… anyway, it wouldn’t matter if I claimed to specialize in person-to-person combat.

With how much noise Villains made, I heard the demand for that was immense.

Anyhow… let’s stop these random thoughts for now; it seems the event is coming to an end, so maybe I should go comfort our little one who must be sulking.

‘The problem is how to comfort her…’

Since this was the first time something like this happened, I couldn’t come up with any solid plans.

The methods I had used occasionally didn’t seem to fit this situation.

At least, there was one fortunate thing among the increasing feelings of helplessness: it didn’t seem like it would be a fight I would have alone.

There was someone who seemed even more restless than I was right beside me.

“Should we go to Yoonseo first? Sir?”

“Y-yeah…!”

Had he been waiting for those words?

The moment those words flowed from my mouth, Yoonseo’s uncle, who had been anxious since the closing ceremony, jumped up from his seat.

Using that uncle as a shield, I made my way into the waiting room.

“Yoonseo…? Are you okay?”

She looked in pretty rough shape, didn’t she? Was she so out of it she didn’t even have the energy to turn on the lights?

Once inside the waiting room, it was dim enough that I couldn’t see a thing ahead.

So, I turned on the light first, and as soon as I did, I saw Yoonseo curled up on the sofa.

“…Yoonseo?”

Upon seeing her, her uncle called her name again, but… there was no response.

Instead, she shot up suddenly and headed somewhere—

“Yoonseo? Where are you going…?”

“…To the bathroom.”

Once I managed to grab her just before she could slip out of the waiting room, only then did she finally speak up.

“Y-yeah… take care.”

To be perfectly honest?

Despite the chilling and heavy atmosphere, I couldn’t help but chuckle.

It was just too cute from my perspective.

‘What is this…? Is she protesting for comfort or something?’

Anyway, since I couldn’t just send her off alone, feeling a swell of emotions that could lead her off somewhere else, I trailed closely behind her instead.

I moved, but—

“…”

Was the fact I was behind her bothering her?

She stopped walking without a word and came to a standstill… then, turning towards me, I lightly added some playfulness to my voice and asked.

“Why? Didn’t you say you were going to the bathroom?”

“…And why are you following me?”

“Hmm, just because?”

“Ha…!”

What was this?

What was with that ridiculous scoff?

Could it be that she was… annoyed with me?