I Alone Am an EX-Class Summoner - Chapter 40

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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I Am Alone EX-Grade Summoner Episode 040

National Team Selection (2)

The long-awaited June 30th!

The matches will be held at the Samseong-dong Player Zone ‘Arena’.

A building where fair battles are possible with the system’s help!

– Now! The long-awaited National Team Selection has finally begun!

Just like any popular sports event.

There were commentators, casters, and other broadcast crew.

Countless cameras from the three major broadcasting companies to individual broadcast stations were filming.

– Who will be selected as the national team players this time! By the way, a total of ten national team members will be selected today! They will receive national support and prepare for the World League for six months!

– That’s right. National support aside, just being selected brings tremendous benefits, right?

– National merit recognition and lifetime pension are basic, plus tax benefits as I understand it. Moreover, the government recently played their trump card! If they achieve results of round of 16 or better in the World League, they’ll receive enormous prize money based on those results!

– That shows just how desperate our South Korea’s situation is!

While the broadcast crew took turns explaining about the selection, citizens gathered one by one in front of TV screens.

Baek Jin-woo’s family was no exception.

“Mom! Mom! Come quickly!”

Though June 30th isn’t a national holiday, most companies guarantee their employees rest on this day.

They know that even if they make them work, they’ll just secretly watch the selection anyway.

Most companies chose to let them rest generously and take credit for it instead.

Thanks to that, Hwang Myeong-hee also didn’t go to work and rested at home.

“Brother’s coming on soon!”

“Really?”

Hwang Myeong-hee sat on the living room sofa with a tray of cold beer cans.

“Dad, hurry up too!”

“Hehe, wait just a moment. It’s almost done frying.”

Sizzle, sizzle!

Dad had practically become a chicken research expert.

Baek Jin-chul, who had shown off his practiced skills by deliciously frying chicken, also sat on the sofa.

– Now, it’s time to introduce the players who applied for the selection!

– That’s right! The nation selected a total of 40 players through various methods, and only 10 of them can become national team members!

– I want to emphasize that just standing in that position makes them amazing players!

The commentators explained each player one by one, and the renowned players often seen in the media were organized and displayed on screen.

And there.

– Now, next is player Baek Jin-woo!

– Yes, he’s a hot player these days! The protagonist of the Weekly Dungeon records! I understand he made quite a bit of money selling that information to rankers.

– He’s definitely a player whose performance in this player battle will be worth watching!

“Wow, there there! That’s brother!”

“Oh my, it really is!”

“Hehehe. That kid really made it to the selection.”

Baek A-jin clapped her hands in delight, while the couple looked at their son with expressions of disbelief.

It was truly the family’s glory.

“A-jin.”

“Yes, mom.”

“Can your brother actually win there?”

“Hey, honey!”

It was Baek Jin-chul who answered, not Baek A-jin.

“No matter how proud we are of our son, how could he win there? Don’t you see the contestants? They’re all incredible people. It’s just for experience.”

“Right, mom. Brother hasn’t even been awakened for six months yet. Just standing there is amazing. Come on! Let’s still cheer for him with a toast! For our brother’s future! Cheers!”

“Hoho, shall we? Cheers!”

The family’s beer cans clinked together in the air.

And at that moment.

Outside the arena, in the temporary waiting room.

Players and officials gathered together, warming up before preparing for the matches.

There were a total of four officials supporting Baek Jin-woo.

Yu Ji-a, Park Chang-seok, Kim Byeong-jin, Hwang Tae-seop.

“The first round is a group battle.”

Yu Ji-a approached Baek Jin-woo and whispered.

“If they’re selecting 20 people, they’re planning to eliminate half here… You need to be careful of the existing cartel.”

“Existing cartel?”

“Yes, the players who were selected last year. They won’t bother touching each other.”

“Ah, that makes sense.”

People naturally have a strong tendency to avoid danger.

They wouldn’t want to clash with each other, fearing they might get eliminated by making the wrong move.

Then?

They’d target complete newcomers or the weak.

Like Oh Ji-myeong and Park Ho-seop over there, who were blatantly staring at him and licking their lips.

Right.

You guys just wait.

‘I’m definitely going to eliminate you two first.’

When Baek Jin-woo briefly met their gaze.

Smirk.

The two rankers chuckled.

Oh really?

Baek Jin-woo also smiled slightly.

If it were the Five Emperors doing that, it might be annoying, but since it’s these guys, it’s just cute.

Like two chicks going peep peep?

Whether she knew about that staring contest or not, Yu Ji-a continued chattering.

“Don’t step forward too much at first. You need to read the situation and endure as much as possible. It’ll be difficult, but that’s the best choice.”

Actually, Yu Ji-a was starting to feel greedy.

Of course, she knows there’s no way Baek Jin-woo could achieve good results here.

‘No matter how much he’s called Jinugod.’

He’s still a player who hasn’t even grown for a year.

Meanwhile, those others are the nation’s top elites who have grown for three years, pouring in all kinds of money and runes.

‘But.’

Why is it?

Looking at Baek Jin-woo’s relaxed eyes, her heart was pounding and fluttering with excitement.

Wasn’t that the look of someone about to cause another incident!

“Baek Jin-woo.”

“Yes?”

“Just in case, if by any chance… you make it to the final selection.”

“Why, will you give me some shares?”

“Yes yes. I can definitely do that much, so please do your best.”

“Whoa, really?”

Baek Jin-woo currently holds 70% of Yubak’s total shares.

At first, that didn’t feel very real, but lately he’s been experiencing it like crazy.

He knows that even 1% of those shares is an enormously large amount.

‘Is she that desperate?’

It was fascinating.

That pure heart of hers, supporting him while sacrificing even her own share.

Baek Jin-woo isn’t heartless enough to take away someone like that’s portion.

“The shares were a joke. Don’t worry about it.”

Baek Jin-woo chuckled.

“Even if heaven and earth were to turn upside down, there’s no way I’d fall from this level.”

“…What?”

“Oh, and one more thing I’m curious about.”

“…?”

“What happens if I eliminate all 40 people here at the same time? Simultaneously, so fast the system can’t even judge it.”

“…?!”

Yu Ji-a’s expression became bizarre.

‘This person.’

What on earth is he talking about?

“Ah, there’s no need to go that far. If I want to definitely eliminate those two annoying players first… Hmm, but I shouldn’t do that.”

What?

Is he joking or being serious?

He has the ability to do it right now, but he’s choosing not to?

“Ms. Yu Ji-a, and Mr. Park Chang-seok.”

“Yes?”

“…Yes, please go ahead.”

“Are there any players who absolutely need to be eliminated, or players with poor character, or players you personally dislike?”

“Wh-why do you ask?”

When Yu Ji-a asked, Baek Jin-woo’s smile deepened.

“Well, I heard we’ll have training camps together if we make the national team, and it would be uncomfortable to be with weird people.”

“Uh…”

Park Chang-seok and Yu Ji-a exchanged glances.

With expressions that showed they didn’t know how to react to such absurd confidence.

The Arena.

It was a type of dungeon.

A dungeon where the system provided the field, and you could freely operate within it.

However, unlike existing dungeons, the opponents were players instead of monsters, and if you lost all your summoned creatures there, you would automatically be ejected from the dungeon.

– The first match will start as a multi-player battle just like the World League preliminaries! The field is set as a forest, and it will proceed survival-style until 20 people are eliminated! Each player, please enter in order!

‘A multi-player battle.’

During the Battle of Summoners days, he hadn’t done many of those.

The user count was small to begin with.

And when Jinugod participated, everyone would forfeit and leave, saying it wasn’t fun.

“Jin-woo, fighting!”

“Let’s go! Fighting!”

Hearing the cheers from Yubak staff, Baek Jin-woo entered the Arena dungeon.

[Entering ‘Abandoned Forest’.]

His vision changed, and he saw birds floating around nearby.

More precisely, birds with camera lenses for eyes.

‘Oh.’

It seemed they were using summoned creatures capable of filming inside the dungeon.

They must be broadcasting live through those.

“Ramba, Hunkyo, Pokryong, Doldol, Songgorae.”

As soon as he entered, Baek Jin-woo summoned his creatures.

Especially in Doldoli’s case, he activated the ‘Assassination’ skill immediately upon appearing.

It was a skill that provided temporary invisibility, and if used continuously without attacking, the invisibility could be maintained indefinitely.

This was Baek Jin-woo’s original style.

Not exposing information about his core summoned creatures to opponents!

That’s why even during his Jinugod days, Rachel and the other Five Emperors never figured out Doldoli’s true identity.

– Jinugod sir. What exactly is that summoned creature?

– What the hell, it starts and then suddenly ends with extreme damage… Did you get some new S-rank summoned creature?

They never dreamed that what had slaughtered their summoned creatures was actually a B-rank ‘Gale Slayer’.

They probably still don’t know.

Since he never told them until the end.

And they were isolated shortly after, so they didn’t dig deeper either.

“Ramba.”

– …!

Swoosh swoosh swoosh swoosh swoosh swoosh!

Ramba began swinging her staff without answering.

The target was naturally Hunkyo.

– Kiruurururu!

Songgorae also focused speed buffs on Hunkyo.

Shing!

Sword-wielding Hunkyo closed his eyes and received the stacks in a reverent posture.

‘Normally I’d need to stack Doldoli, but.’

He didn’t feel the need to do so.

Not exposing full power was also a strategy.

‘This multi-player battle starts with Hunkyo and ends with Hunkyo.’

Smirk.

Baek Jin-woo smiled and leaned his back against a nearby cut log.

He crossed his legs and sat in a very comfortable position, beginning to rest.

‘Is there any need to move?’

Anyway.

The ones who’ll be eliminated will come looking for him on their own.

As Baek Jin-woo expected.

Oh Ji-myeong and Park Ho-seop made contact with each other immediately upon entering.

The two players who made eye contact smiled coldly at each other.

Someone might complain.

That forming teams in a survival match isn’t fair competition.

But the current international world considers even that as skill.

“Where’s that brat now?”

“Wait a moment. Hmm, this way. 200m north, 700m west. Pretty close?”

The World League is directly overseen by the system, not the headquarters.

In other words, judging ‘fairness’ by human standards is meaningless.

“Let’s go ambush him right away.”

“Is there really a need to ambush?”

“True. Should we go humiliate him a bit before finishing?”

The two players maintained confident attitudes.

Domestic rankings 9th and 10th.

Moreover, since they were selected for last year’s national team, there were no players bold enough to mess with them carelessly.

Even if they encountered others, they were just players who quickly turned and fled.

“Kuk.”

Oh Ji-myeong sneered at them but didn’t pursue.

First, Baek Jin-woo.

He had to finish that parasite first.

Step, step.

Pushing through the bushes, they soon arrived at their destination.

And there.

“Huh?”

Baek Jin-woo was visible with a relaxed expression, hands clasped behind his head, smiling.

‘Look at this little brat?’

Oh Ji-myeong’s expression was instantly colored with bewilderment.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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