Kajun stared at him in disbelief. The movement had been so fast that he could hardly see it.
For some reason, he felt strange when he looked at Woojin. Something about him was a reminder of Yan Hanu.
Woojin looked calmly at Kajun and told him to understand one thing first. He had not interfered because Kajun came from a rich family.
For a moment Kajun almost thought that the person standing in front of him must actually be Yan Hanu. Of course, he did not know that the truth was not far from his idea.
The thug's friends quickly ran to wake their leader. He became furious. How dare someone attack him?
Without wasting a moment he picked up the axe and threw it straight at Woojin. The students nearby panicked and started moving away.
Woojin reacted immediately. He grabbed Kajun's wooden stick and kicked it forward. The stick struck the axe flying through the air. The stick was shattered. But the axe was knocked out of its path. At least no one was injured.
Woojin said calmly to Kajun that an ordinary weapon can never stop a powerful one. Having courage was a good thing.
But Kajun looked frightened. The wooden stick had been his only weapon, and now it was completely destroyed. Woojin added that moving forward without thinking was not wise.
Then he slowly turned towards the group of thugs and said, as for you lot. His quiet voice was enough to make them restless.
Woojin stepped forward and picked up the thug's axe from the ground. He spoke. Challengers in this world are not superior to everyone else. Ordinary citizens and the lower classes of society are not weak or inferior; they are the foundation of society.
The watching students were shocked. Woojin had picked that weapon up as though it were nothing. No D rank challenger of his age could do that. It was not possible in any way.
Some students began wondering whether this year's competition would really be so tough.
Woojin set the matter of Yan Hanu aside for the time being. He could not tolerate someone using the advantage of a higher level to pick on people and bully them. He raised the axe and prepared to bring it down on the bully.
But before he could do anything, a hand suddenly caught him by the wrist.
A man with blue hair said peacefully: stop. Answering violence with violence is not a respectable thing.
Woojin was a little surprised. Someone had stopped him.
The blue-haired man explained that teaching the bully a lesson was enough. Keep fighting, and the chance of revenge later only grows.
This man was an S rank challenger. Instructor Ching Gangchu.
Gangchu had seen that a D rank had picked up that weapon so easily. At that age it was no ordinary thing. Curiously, he asked Woojin's name.
My name is Yan Han—
For a moment Woojin almost revealed his true identity, but he composed himself immediately and said Shou Woojin.
Gangchu let go of his hand and said he would remember this name during the selection. He would be watching him.
After the instructor left, Woojin kept watching them for a moment. He kept telling himself to stay calm. He must not get exposed by mistake. He thought to himself that life really was unpredictable. He had never once imagined that one day he would be breaking up this kind of fight among schoolchildren.
Gangchu, looking at that crowd of troublesome children, was thinking that today was going to be a very busy day.
Finally, the selection evaluation began.
The atmosphere inside the huge arena was very tense. Thousands of students had gathered in one place. Everyone hoped to prove that he was different from the rest. For many, this was a moment that came once in a lifetime. This was the deciding moment that would reveal whether they were really talented, or whether they would remain ordinary competitors in the crowd.
The announcer's voice echoed throughout the arena. Registration of all students was already complete. This year's first-year competition had broken all records. A total of four thousand three hundred and thirty-eight students.
Hearing this, the crowd filled with excitement.
The announcer explained further that for the sake of fairness, the order of evaluation for the students would be alphabetical by surname.
Woojin stopped, stunned for a moment. His surname, Shou, sat near the end of the alphabet. His turn would come at the very end.
Kajun worked it out just as quickly. His own surname began with a W, so his place in the order was not much better than Woojin's.
The announcer then announced that before the official evaluation began, special guests had been invited to energise the atmosphere.
At that same moment a man passed politely by Woojin and Kajun. Both of them moved aside to give him room. And as Woojin looked ahead, some familiar faces became visible in the distance.
The announcer revealed the special guests. The members of the Divine Rhino Corps.
As the elite team emerged, powerful cheers echoed through the arena.
One student said softly to a friend that the Divine Rhino Corps had recently suffered a crushing defeat in a dungeon. Still, they had been called here as leaders. He felt a little sad about it.
The Divine Rhino Corps moved forward with confidence. Their presence was as impressive as always. Not one of them realised that they had just walked past the very person they had betrayed.
Kajun commented softly that the aura coming off the Corps was truly terrifying. After all, they were one of the top-level teams.
Woojin's face changed. Seeing them here, something moved inside him. These were the betrayers. Why had they come here? Perhaps they were looking for another opportunity to insult him in front of everyone. But he immediately suppressed the thought.
Yanshi walked forward and began addressing the students.
He introduced himself as the acting captain of the Divine Rhino Corps and said that he was very happy to meet everyone here. He said that many of the students had probably heard about the incident that had happened a few days ago. Because of certain decisions taken by their captain, the Corps had suffered serious losses.
The whole Corps stood in a line behind him. It seemed almost like a well-planned performance.
Yanshi kept speaking. Despite everything that had happened, he hoped that all of them would still consider Captain Yan Hanu their idol. He said he did not expect people to show a great deal of tolerance when asked to remember his late captain. But he wanted to remind them that no one in this world is perfect. No one should be completely written off because of one mistake.
Woojin's face stayed calm on the outside. But the anger inside him was slowly rising. Kajun commented softly that there seemed to be some hidden meaning in those words.
Yanshi continued the speech. The real reason for the failure of the dungeon had not been the captain. He had not been arrogant and careless. Yan Hanu had been a hero of humanity. A pioneer who had fought the dangerous beasts.
The speech sounded noble. But the hypocrisy behind it was quite clear.
Yet some students in the audience began to believe it. One student commented that even though his captain had let him down, Yanshi was still refusing to blame him. Another student's reaction was the opposite. The more Yanshi spoke like this, the more it seemed that Yan Hanu must have been a very bad person, one who had put so many loyal comrades in danger.
Yanshi kept saying that today he would be watching everyone's performance carefully. He hoped that from this crowd someone would emerge whose ability was far greater than that of their former captain, and who would one day lead humanity to complete victory over the fierce demons.
After finishing his speech, he handed the microphone back to the announcer.
The announcer announced that the evaluation competition was now officially beginning. The students jumped for joy. Some shouted that they were definitely S rank. Some said that they would be the ones to beat Yan Hanu.
Soon the students began waiting in queues in front of the ability detection machines.