Pick Me Up Infinite Gacha! - P.M.U Chapter 185: For Just Once (9) (Part 2)
Someone was sitting there.
As if they had always been there naturally.
With a small stature almost child-like, and a cap pressed down to their eyes.
“Stupid idiot.”
A boy with his arms crossed muttered while watching the stage.
“I’ve told you several times. But it seems like my words don’t reach you.”
I narrowed my eyes.
‘This guy…’
“Such a naive fool, lacking spirit and determination. He needs to be beaten up five hundred times. What’s the point of just trying hard? You need to thrust your spear into that pig.”
“……”
“Master.”
The boy lifted one side of his cap.
His deep purple eyes shone intensely.
“Do you know why I’ve come here?”
I said nothing.
“I can’t stay long. I might get slapped by the Mist Lady. I’ll keep it brief.”
The boy’s mouth moved slightly.
<Aaron is……>
The whisper lasted about five minutes.
After finishing his words, the boy smiled broadly.
The next moment, I blinked, and the boy had vanished.
I looked towards the stage.
Aaron was pressing his spear’s blade against the neck of his fallen opponent.
It was the result of a battle that lasted about 15 minutes.
“I, I lost.”
“Well done.”
Aaron helped his opponent up, then after exchanging greetings, exited the stage.
No one was there to cheer him on.
“The next match!”
The referee in the center of the stage shouted.
“Main event 16th round, Group G! From Townia, Han Israt! From Lersande, Jardi Noslight!”
It’s my turn already.
I stood up.
<Attention to all individual competition participants! From the quarterfinals onward, due to the crowd at the arena, all heroes are requested to wait in the player’s waiting room.>
The arena-wide announcement was broadcasted.
I leaped over the barrier separating the spectator seats and the stage, then climbed onto it.
A knight holding a shield and sword emerged from the opposite passage. A typical sword-and-shield type.
“Your injuries are severe. Forfeit. I dislike fighting the weak.”
The knight said to me directly after seeing me.
I silently drew my sword.
“This is against my beliefs, but can’t be helped. I’ll take it easy on yo…”
Click.
The blade of my sword widened.
I raised the transformed Bifrost, now a great sword, and charged at him.
“The start signal hasn’t even…”
The knight, though startled, raised his shield to brace himself.
My full-strength strike dented the shield deeply, making the knight stagger back several steps.
“Wait, just a moment!”
It was only after that the referee’s whistle blew.
That should do it. I planted my front foot firmly and swung my great sword several times with all my weight.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
On the fifth, the steel shield shattered into pieces.
And on the sixth,
Crack.
The knight collapsed, spewing blood.
“Ha, Han Israt. Victory.”
The referee looked at me, bewildered.
I’m not fighting because I enjoy it. If I drag it out, the aftereffects will worsen.
I shook the blood off my great sword and stepped down from the stage.
Shortly after, the quarterfinalists were more or less decided.
Aaron and Vanil were in Group A, me in Group B, and the remaining spots were taken by four-star high-class heroes. Most of the trash had been filtered out; now, it was really getting serious.
2 PM.
The seats in the individual competition arena began to fill up.
The Battle Royale and the team final had ended. The mini-games were also wrapped up. What remained was the main event of the three major events, the individual competition.
<Phew, I barely survived. I almost died.>
“You won, that’s what counts. How’s your injuries?”
<Um, Kishasha is slightly injured? It’s nothing serious. I’m heading to the individual competition arena now. To watch you, Oppa. You can win, right?>
“What kind of question is that?”
<Well, how is Aaron, Oppa?>
“He made it through. He’s here with me in the waiting room.”
<Got it. Anyway, hang in there.>
The conversation with Jenna ended.
I tossed the depleted magic stone into a trash can and looked around.
The gathered competitors were in the waiting room. Aaron, whose turn was next, was sitting on a bench, not looking particularly nervous or resolved. He was idly fiddling with his spear.
“Hey.”
“Ah, Hyung-nim.”
“Don’t get up. Stay seated.”
“How are you feeling?”
“Good enough for the finals. Worry about yourself.”
Aaron grinned.
“Did you come to encourage me, Hyung-nim? Thank you.”
“Aaron.”
“Yes.”
“Do you want to be like him?”
I pointed to Vanil, who was warming up in a corner.
Vanil was slowly moving his well-sharpened long sword. It might look like meaningless fiddling at a glance, but it was a motion filled with high concentration and skill.
“What do you mean… I don’t quite understand.”
“Do you want to be a talent freak? The type who knows ten things from one look, and from ten, uses a hundred, bragging as if it’s obvious. Looking down on others who can’t do the same with disdain.”
“Well…”
Before Aaron could answer, I spoke.
“You can’t.”
“……”
“You’ll never catch up. Sword Domain, Sword Spirit, no matter how much it’s explained, you don’t get it. It sounds like empty talk to you. Even if shown, you wouldn’t understand how to do it. Why bother clinging to something so desperately?”
Aaron hung his head.
“Aaron.”
“……Yes.”
“Beat that annoying guy and make it to the finals. I’ll be waiting.”
“But…”
“If you say you can’t, you might as well die. If it doesn’t work, make it work. Find a way. Whether you lace his water with sleeping pills, coat the spear with poison, or go up now and smack him in the back of the head, use whatever means to win.”
Aaron bit his lip.
“Why did you say you wanted to become stronger? Was it just to keep with us?”
“I, I…”
“Don’t idolize him. You can’t become that guy. Don’t even think about it. You can’t. You’ll always be the same. Even in the future. So… destroy him.”
Like Mudin did.
Just as he had thrust his spear into the hearts of geniuses thousands of times better than him.
“……”
Aaron looked at me, not understanding.
It’s okay. You don’t need to understand. Just remember this one thing.
<The next match is starting! Contestants, please come to the stage!>
“It’s your turn.”
Just as the broadcast was going on.
Aaron stood up for his entry.
“I don’t quite understand what you mean.”
Aaron picked up the spear hanging on the wall.
“Are you telling me to win?”
“You understood correctly.”
“I’ll try…”
“That won’t do.”
Aaron smiled bitterly, then gripped the spear tightly.
“I will win.”
“Good. Go on then.”
Aaron bowed to me and then left through the door.
After him, his next opponent also departed. I looked up.
The inorganic ceiling of the background caught my eye.
<Such a foolish, stupid kid.>
Myuden’s voice echoed in my mind.
<Aaron didn’t spend 57 years there.>
That’s right.
No human mind could handle that time.
He had reset his memory dozens of times and recreated his personality to endure it.
Yet, through it all, Aaron had not lost ‘himself.’
‘Monster bastard.’
I smiled.
And quietly recited the time Aaron had endured.