- Catching the Sweet Fish -
Hoaqin didn't understand why FUG would decide to give the brown haired girl to him if he wins this competition.
He watched how Charlotte was trying to get something from the boy from Khun Family foolishly. There didn't seem to be anything special from her aside from her mysterious and strange ability. Her ability that could froze something for a few seconds out of blue was indeed mysterious, but that couldn't be enough for her to be selected as a slayer candidate.
From his side, the one who got the ten Dallars were Rachel, the one who has been using the strange application Emily to help him find his siblings or what they call as "clones" and Buelsar Elliot, the mad dog from FUG. The two of them also headed towards the stadium.
Meanwhile, Charlotte was still thinking whether Khun really misunderstood her or not. She was afraid that she would offend him when he was just acting and pretending to get things done quickly.
"Khun, it's not that I'm feeling uncomfortable around you" Charlotte tried to explain to him. "It's just that....that rotten brother of mine....he switched his Dallar and mine. I--!"
"You don't have to explain" Khun cut her words. "I knew that."
"Ha?" Charlotte was puzzled.
"Altaira switched your Dallars and claimed yours to be his, as well as passing all the work to you, I know that" Khun said to her.
"Then why....why did you not....."
"Expose him? It's because I also don't want to work with him" Khun answered. "And I thought that it would be amusing to see you getting mad once."
Charlotte literally stopped on where she was standing and looked at Khun in disbelief. She was lost in words when she heard it.
"........Khun, has someone ever said that you are irritating person?" Charlotte asked him with a forced smile that was mixed with disbelief and irritation. "I thought we are friends for all these years and that you will stand on my side. I did not expect that you are actually someone like this. You really make me disappointed. Don't you know that I am actually a vindictive person?"
"It's just a small joke" he said with a smile. "And besides, you don't seem to have the brain to be able to get back on me."
"Haven't you heard that as long as someone has the will, he will eventually find the way?"
While the two of them talked down below and headed to the stadium, Noah approached Altaira.
"Why did you do that?" He asked.
"Do what?"
"Don't pretend to be innocent" Noah said. "You switched your Dallar with Charlotte's. Why would you do that?"
"Because I don't like that work" Altaira bluntly answered. "You know me, I'm a freeloader. What's more is that I'm not someone who could miss the chance of pissing the others off."
Noah did not answer.
He didn't say a word and turned around, leaving Altaira all on his own.
Even though he had watched for Altaira and exchanged a few words with him, he surely didn't understand what was running on his mind. He could make himself useful or prove how strong he was, but he never done that. He rarely did that. He just told the others to do his tasks and works. Could it be that he was trying to hide his real power from his comrade? The thought crossed Noah's mind.
Altaira himself was glancing at Noah. He still felt that he missed something about this white haired man but he didn't know what it was.
'Oh well, the show is more important than that guy for a moment' he thought as he looked again at the stadium.
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Stadium
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"Are you sure you could handle him on your own?" Khun asked at Charlotte after hearing to what idea she said.
"I saw in the future that we're finishing this round in that way" Charlotte answered. "And there is a high chance that it will work. After all, I'm also a slayer candidate. He won't be able to beat me that easy."
In the manhwa, the one who should have gotten the Ten Dallars and headed to the stadium were Khun and Bero Bero.
Bero Bero was, as far as Charlotte could remember, a fat brown haired girl in yellow dress who loved to eat sweets as her fuel. Bero Bero had participated in the tournament in the Train City before and this time, she was also dragged in the slayer nominee competition. Charlotte wasn't sure about her name either since she rarely shown up herself in the manhwa, but she knew that in this round, she was focused to fight against Buelsar Elliot to avenge her dead comrade. What was his name again? Tochi? Mochi? Well, that wasn't important now.
It would be a mistake to look down on Bero Bero. Buelsar Elliot found it troublesome to deal with her and because of that, he didn't have the chance to help Rachel.
Charlotte had made up her mind to do the same thing like what Bero Bero did. But if she does it in that way, then she would miss the chance to piss Rachel off. But she won't mind though.
'After all, this match is to show how Khun will humiliate Rachel. I can't ruin that one.'
"I'm not doubting your abilities. I just thought that you would like to piss her off even more considering your habit."
"Why would I waste my breath and oxygen on someone insignificant? I would rather stretch myself and fight with the mad dog instead."
Khun glanced at the young girl for a moment before he replied, "....sounds reasonable. Then we'll do it in that way."
As the four of them gathered in the middle, Poro Poe began to explain the rules about the game.
"Then I will now explain the rules of the match!" he said to the regulars. "The name of this game is called 'Catching the Sweet Fish'! Literally, you need to catch the Sweet Fish! The Sweet Fish is going to play an important role for the next game, so please stay focused throughout the game! I will now show the Sweet Fish you will be catching!"
There was something wrong with the floor. Something moved upwards and when it paused, Charlotte could see what it was. It was a tank with water on it and a small but fast fish, swimming inside the tank as fast as it can.
"You will need to catch the Sweet Fish without killing it!" Poro Poe said. "If you happen to kill it, you will lose on the spot and your opponent team will be awarded with fifteen points!!
You may try to catch the Sweet Fish by all means! Even killing the opponent is allowed! The winner of this game will earn fifteen Dallars and the losers will lose fifteen Dallars!
Then, from now on, we will begin the first round, Catching the Sweet Fish!"
Less than a second after Charlotte heard it, she immediately opened her fan and then threw it to Buelsar Elliot.
"I will leave everything to you!" she said to Khun as she leaped to get her fan back and to fight with Buelsar.
"Alright" Khun coolly answered.
Charlotte caught her fan back and then landed on the weapon that Buelsar Elliot was using.
"How troublesome" the Mad Dog said to her while frowning. "Aren't you going to help your Light Bearer or something?"
"Don't look down on him" Charlotte replied. "Your Light Bearer isn't half good as him."
"We'll see about that."
"The one who loses......will have to give his own life!" she added with a cheerful tone.
She jumped backward and then landed on the ground again. She extended her right hand that was holding her fan on her back with her usual playful grin whenever she find something interesting. After that, she charged towards Buelsar.
Her fan and his weapon clashed with each other. From one glance, it might seem that the two of them tied. But on closer look, seeing the grin that the brown haired lady owned, she didn't seem to be using her full strength yet. In fact, she looked like she was playing with him which was true.
Meanwhile, Khun and Rachel were standing face-to-face with each other with the tank to separate them. Anyone could tell the tension between the two of them, and the will to destroy each other coming from the two of them.
The two of them never liked each other. In fact, if there was a day where the two of them decided to work with each other willingly, then that means the world and the tower were ending already. Working together with each other was the last thing that they wanted to do and right now, beating up each other was what they desired. No, correction, killing each other was probably what they wanted to do to each other.
And the sad part was that their desire won't be able to happen. Rachel was too weak to kill Khun while Khun, he still remembered Bam who cared for Rachel a lot.
"It seems like this match is just for you and I, Rachel" Khun began to talk.
He looked at the tank again, where the little Sweet Fish was swimming before he came up with an idea and looked at Rachel again with a definitely-fake-friendly smile.
"Will you try it first?" He asked.
"What?"
"Well, it's nothing much" Khun answered. "Frankly speaking, it doesn't make sense for us to play this without giving you any advantage. Of course I will win this game, but I'll give you a chance since it seems too easy for me. 'Cause somehow, I have a feeling that you won't be able get it even if I give you the chance.
Remember? A couple of years ago......when I was away for a little while....you betrayed me, killed my teammate, and ran away. I don't know where Apple and Michael are but you're the one who stabbed Dan's legs when he was almost dying. Guess what....? I've learned something from that incident.
You can't do anything on your own. You don't even know how to walk tall and proud on your own. And that's why you stabbed his legs when he was already down. Your two legs are too lousy and weak to the point where you were even jealous of the legs of someone dying.
You can't even catch that small Sweet Fish in the water tank on your own for sure.....because you are incompetent to that point."
Rachel was quiet for a moment.
"What a joke" Rachel responded calmly. She knew that the blue haired male was provoking her. She knew that he was mocking her. She knew that he looked down upon her. Everyone looked down upon her.
But it was fine. Since all of them looked down upon her, she will use it as her chance. She will use it as a chance to rise and to defeat them, just like now.
"I understand how much you look down on me. But let me show you clearly. I'll show you that I'm not as useless.....as you think."
Her yellow lighthouse floated forward the tank, heading straight to the Sweet Fish. With her three lighthouses, she trapped the Sweet Fish in the middle of it before lifting it up from the water carefully.
"Now I can catch a chance with my own strength.....only if...it comes to me" Rachel said to Khun while she was about to hold the Sweet Fish and end the game. "I can easily...take it with my own hands...."
"No, you can't" Khun disagreed. "Because that Sweet Fish....is too big for you to catch."
The Sweet Fish she was holding suddenly glowed. The Sweet Fish let out a blinding light and escaped from her hand that was about to catch it.
The small and puny Sweet Fish who everyone thought to be harmless and weak turned out to be a gigantic fish. Towards Rachel who was shocked and bewildered, it opened its mouth, about to devour her.
Rachel immediately guessed that the Sweet Fish has been compressed using shinsu. Khun let her try it first since he knew about it. His words weren't to destroy her pride, but to provoke her into catching the Sweet Fish first. But so what if she guessed it? She was about to be devoured by it.
"STOP!!" she shouted as she was about to use her lighthouses to save herself in which failed.
Suddenly, a blue colored shield made by three blue lighthouses appeared in the middle of the Sweet Fish and her. The shield stopped the Sweet Fish from eating Rachel and the one who did that was surprisingly Khun Aguero Agnes.
"I told you, you can't catch it" he said. "Never in the future as well- you won't be able to get anything in your hands."
"You...." Rachel gritted her teeth.
"Because.....whatever you are trying to get....."
"Khun Aguero Agnes caught the Sweet Fish!" Poro Poe declared the result of the first round.
"I will take them all from you."
"Viole's Team wins at the first round!"
"Ah, and.....Dan's legs have quite healed a lot now. So, he may not as fast as he used to be, but he's gotten quite fast now" Khun said to Rachel while holding the Sweet Fish that didn't stop moving in his palm. "He's probably a lot faster than you, Rachel.
You have not improved at all in that time. I truly think that God is fair.....'cause even if you have two healthy legs, if your soul is all rotten on the inside-"
Rachel who fell on the floor clenched her fists, 'Damn it.'
"-He won't let you run fast no matter what."
"The regulars who participated in this round, please go back to your team" Poro Poe said again.
His words stopped both Charlotte and Buelsar Elliot who were fighting against each other.
"Pht....the Sweet Fish got taken...." Buelsar mumbled with a disappointed tone.
Charlotte turned her head around to Khun and smiled to him, in which he smiled back in satisfaction and proud. The young lass shut her fan and then walked towards the blue haired male, completely ignoring Rachel who was still on the floor helpless and hopeless. She walked pass her without even glancing as if she was a mere dust, or that she was never there.
"You aren't hurt right?" He asked to her.
Charlotte shook her head. Her golden eyes were focused on the Sweet Fish, "Not at all! This Sweet Fish really looks cute when its small. Mind giving it to me?"
"This Sweet Fish is for the next round" he answered and refused, of course. "And moreover, the one who gets it is me."
"If it wasn't for my help, you won't easily get it either" Charlotte said.
Charlotte lifted her index finger and used it to touch the Sweet Fish for a bit. She smiled even wider as she watched how the Sweet Fish reacted.
".......If this isn't compressed, will you still call it cute?" Khun asked her.
"If this little Sweet Fish isn't compressed, then I would have capture it and grill it" she answered earnestly, licking her lips without taking her golden eyes off from the poor Sweet Fish. "I'm sure that its meat will be able to feed me for the next three years."
Hearing the word "grill", the Sweet Fish seemed to sense the danger and began to struggle even more. It was as if it knew that Charlotte was trying to eat her.
"We should go back now" Khun said and raised his right hand high so that Charlotte won't be able to reach it. He knew that his Sweet Fish was terrified already. "Don't scare my Sweet Fish."
"I'm just joking! Don't put it that high! I can't reach it!"