Chapter 172 – Youth Retreat (2)

Seokmo Island was shaped like the heel of a long boot placed upside down.

The retreat center was located in the heart of the island and spans widely between the Nakga Mountain and the Myeonghwa Mountain in the south.

Whether it’s for safety reasons or for them to earn more profit by serving several teams at once, each facility and each dorm were placed quite far away from each other.

One dorm was for the 1st year Class Zero male students, while Ham Geunhyung, Kwon Lena, and Kim Yuri have a separate one.

Song Daesok saw this and said something.

“Eungwang High seems like it is being operated fairly, righteously, and transparently.”

“Huh? What are you saying out of nowhere?”

“A family relative of the chairman is in this class, right? Even so, we’re assigned to such poor accommodation! I didn’t expect any special treatment, but I didn’t know we’d get the opposite!”

Song Daesok let out harsh words as he pointed to the tents where we were supposed to stay in.

These tents were one of the school supplies utilized by pro players back when the attack on this world was prolonged.

Although it’s only meant to be used as temporary accommodation, these tents are made of strong materials that can withstand medium-sized typhoons without getting ripped to shreds.

Originally, the 1st year Class Zero was going to be assigned to the same building where the teachers were staying, but I persuaded Ham Geunhyung that we’d volunteer to stay in the tents instead.

“I don’t want to share the same room with kids from the other class, but I also don’t want to stay in the teachers’ building as it would be a bit awkward.”

“Vice president, were you the one who suggested this?”

Song Daesok looked at me with an uncomfortable stare.

“The tents seem fine so why are you acting like that. If you don’t like it then just sleep outside.”

“Ah, I have a sleeping bag but you’re telling me to sleep outside?”

“….Just sleep inside then.”

When Maeng Hyodon and Saeum of April started to unpack and set up the tent, Song Daesok started to help as well.

After setting up the tent and observing the area around it, even those who complained at first started to look excited as it was the first time that they’d set up one.

“Hello? Yes, I’m available to talk on the phone. Please go ahead and speak. Oh, yes…. We’ve arrived already. There’s no need to worry. “

After it was set up, Saeum of April proceeded to take a call in one corner of the tent.

Even from a long time ago, Saeum of April’s family has a lot of worries about him as he had already been through a lot of hardships in the past.

“Ah, I tried to take my device right when we arrived, but my homeroom teacher stopped me…”

As Saeum of April said, a lot of our things almost broke during the entrance ceremony which was held in the auditorium before we moved to the accommodations.

A thing to complain about was when a retreat instructor shouted at us with his stone-hard face the following words; “Did you come here to play?! Sit down, get up, and bow your heads!”

‘Everyone’s lined up nicely and no one’s chatting at all.’

Then after that, they suddenly asked us to turn off our devices and submit them to them.

It was known that an inspection would be conducted to ensure that no dangerous items were brought in, but we didn’t know that they’d take our wearable devices as well.

The students became agitated then.

Ham Geunhyung stepped up to ease the situation.

— What are you trying to say right now?

Ham Geunhyung spoke politely, but his expression was very rough and she looked scary. Also, in reality, he’s a very skilled player so the retreat instructor who tried to discipline the young students seemed to shrink in his feet.

— What do you mean confiscate the device that receives the danger warning from Player SAT-K? Is it okay to deal with this kind of serious matter without prior consultation from us?

— It’s because it’s a custom for us to do confiscation…

— A custom? Have you always confiscated the devices of 1st-year students?

As Ham Geunhyung’s face hardened more and more, the instructor backed down and said “I’ll let you off this time.”

Ham Geunhyung will definitely investigate this thoroughly once we return to school.

Choi Pyeondeuk organized this retreat tightly with rebates.

There were a lot of instances where Choi Pyeondeuk, who happily earns a lot of money anyway, turns a blind eye to the way the instructors treat students. Often he silences other teachers who try to report the situation as well.

‘In the game, Ham Geunhyung and Choi Pyeondeuk, who were the homeroom teachers for 1st Year Class One, had an argument.’

In the end, what happened in the game was all students had their devices confiscated, except for Kim Yuri of class zero, and Moon Saeron who hid her device as a backup coverage material.

Worried about the students whose devices were confiscated, Ham Geunhyung patrolled every night throughout the duration of the retreat as a way to minimize damage.

“No… I’m still unable to find that person. But we already met with Yeom Junyeol. Yes…”

I think it’s not ‘that person’ but instead ‘that word’.

Isn’t this a crucial part of the story?

I guess I have no intention of being wary of the kids from my class.

Hwang Jiho unpacked his luggage and gazed at Saeum of April with glistening eyes, and when Saeum felt his gaze on him, he hurriedly tried to change the topic.

“Ah, well that’s why… H-how is auntie doing?…. Oh? I heard something break, is everything okay?”

Saeum of April, who was still listening to the person on the other line, continued speaking.

“But the last time I called, since she already got married to uncle Semin, they said it’s okay for me to call her ‘auntie’…. Yes…”

It seems like someone has positively appealed to Semin of April.

People who were close friends with Saeum of April are also treated as his family.

‘No way, was it the caretaker from before…?’

Back during the time of Hwangmong Auction, the caretaker tried to save Saeum of April and Semin by hitting the back of Byun Sunhwi’s head.

It reminded me of when I personally tied and beat up Byun Sunhwi myself.

Dingdong.

At that moment, a message notification came up.

[Lee Lena] We’re done unpacking here! How about the tents in the men’s dorm? Can we hang out?

It was a message from Kwon Lena, who was still registered as ‘Lee Lena’ in the device address book.

The only female students in our class are Kwon Lena and Kim Yuri, so we decided to separate the males and the females and have a 2-person-1-room system for our room accommodations.

Soon enough, Kim Yuri, who was being held by the hand and led to the tents by Kwon Lena, caught my eye.

* * *

After the students in the class had lunch with the food provided by Eungwang High.

The scheduled youth retreat will now officially begin.

The first thing on schedule; teamwork training.

It was named ‘teamwork training’ but in reality, it’s just physical training and the standard military PT training.

My true colors showed after I finished warming up.

“Do 50 jumping jacks! Don’t get stuck on the last command. Do the last command with shouts of solidarity and responsibility. Do you understand?”

“Yes!”

The voices of the students who shouted vigorously had traces of laughter in them.

The obstacle course for the teamwork training was the same one used by ordinary high school students, so it wasn’t very difficult.

This feels like a walk in the park compared to the training that we receive in school.

‘That’s why the seniors laugh this off and let things slide even if they’re given unreasonable commands…’

However, if the students made it obvious then the retreat instructors would get angry, so everyone was trying to shush down and do things seriously.

No one shouted the last command, but the voice that the instructor used to shout it was a bit small. So, the instructor made the students stand side by side and do several squats.

Even Kwon Lena, the weakest student in our class, completed the training without breaking a sweat.

“Yeah, it was easier than I thought.”

“I know right! Are retreats usually like this? From what I heard on the Internet, things are a bit harder and more difficult in retreats.”

“Maybe it’s because none of those reviews are from players who have better physical abilities.”

“Aha…”

Although we were constantly asked to shout, what they made us do was nothing compared to what our physical strength and ability were as players.

That’s why seniors from class zero, who left brilliant legacies during retreats, did not really cause trouble immediately. But if they wanted to cross the line, they would do so and things would get out of hand.

“How are retreats like in middle school? Does anyone here have experience?”

Kim Yuri was the only one who raised her hand.

Kwon Lena and Maeng Hodon didn’t really participate in money-consuming activities, while Saeum of April and Song Daesok skipped part of middle school by taking a qualification exam.

When I was in middle school, I focused on practicing chess whenever summer vacation came around.

As for Hwang Jiho… I’m not really curious at all.

“Oh, am I really the only one?”

“You went to a retreat in middle school? How was it?”

“Well, how was it… We went to a retreat center in Gyeonggi Island with another all-boys middle school. The venue there was larger than this one.”

Kim Yuri was from an all-girls middle school.

I heard that on the last day of their retreat, all the other students fought over Ahn Dain.

After talking about those days, the break time had already ended.

The next in the schedule was the outdoor activity facility experience.

It included things like crossing a rocking bridge with the width of a small snake, passing through a maze-like tunnel, climbing an artificial rock wall, and so on….

Hwang Jiho, who was the first one to complete the course in our class, laughed out loud and ran.

Maeng Hyodon was right behind him.

“…We can’t just fly over this one can’t we?”

“I don’t like hurting my hands.”

Although they somehow completed the other courses, Saeum of April and Kwon Lena had a difficult time with the rock climbing course.

“Come quickly! After this rock wall, the path is all downhill! This is really fun!”

Song Daesok, who maybe thought it was fun to pass through the downhill road, climbed the rock wall all over again like an excited child.

Perhaps inspired by the word ‘downhill’, the two also worked hard to finish climbing over the wall.

We had light dinner after finishing all our afternoon schedules, and no one in our class failed.

“The biggest problem in this retreat is this perfect dinner that they gave us.”

“It’s really nothing compared to our school meals, but maybe it tastes so good because we’re so hungry…”

What we had for today’s dinner was multigrain rice, an excessively tied curry, soggy fish, braised burdock, and sour kimchi.

Gourmet eater Hwang Jiho complained while the other kids moved their spoons and chopsticks busily to eat.

“From now on, I’ll personally choose the outsourcing company for the retreat food.” Hwang Jiho declared as he left a lot of rice on his plate.

The other kids thought it was a weird thing for Jiho to say, and passed it off as ‘the crazy one acting crazy again’.

Recreational activity was held after we had dinner.

Although the kids clapped and shouted slogans according to the recreation instructor’s commands, they got tired over time from the repetitive pattern so the instructor had to shout at us.

“Okay, from here on, I’ll be giving out points to each class. The class which accumulates most points will be exempted from roll call on the last day of the retreat!

Woah….

The voices of the students were still strained.

“Your voices are too small, shout it out louder!”

Woahh!

As expected, angry shouts were let out by the students.

Either way, the retreat instructor was satisfied.

1st Year Class 2 who shouted the loudest gains 500 points.

Ohhh!

I saw Bang Yoonseob of Class 2 screaming with excitement near the neighboring shuttle.

“Wow, do we really get exempted from roll call if we get the most points? Does that mean we can play around all night?”

“You thought I was lying?”

After Saeum of April asked the instructor naively, Kim Yuri smiled bitterly and spoke.

Kim Yuri, who was the only one who had experienced a retreat, eventually realized that she’d have to make all sorts of excuses to make everyone sleep.

“There’s no way that the recreation instructor has any authority to change the schedule set by Eungwang High. He’s not the one who can take responsibility if ever residents complain against the students who make too much noise at night, or if something bad happens to a student. It’s obviously a lie.”

Song Daesok spoke in a cynical manner, but he was also one of the students who clapped and shouted loud when the instructor said so.

“You’re too mean! I won’t do it energetically next time!”

April of Saeum and the other students, shocked at the revelation, began to move against their will.

The retreat instructor who was watching us from the back tried to give us a handful of scolding, but another instructor stopped him.

Hwang Jiho overheard them and relayed what the instructors said.

“I tried to shout at Class Zero earlier, but I had to calm myself down after remembering the mysterious phenomenon that they caused in the past years.”

“Mysterious phenomenon?”

“Well, something like a fire suddenly hitting the instructor’s accommodation, a mannequin with simple clothes being installed outside the bathroom window, and…”

Not long after listening to the legacy left by the previous Class Zero, the night schedule also ended.

The only thing left to do was the roll call.

A total of 6 people were in charge of the roll call, which includes the president and vice president of each class.

When I returned to the tents after chatting with Yoo Sanghoon and Joo Soohyuk of Class 1 and Class 2, most of the other kids were already asleep.

“Hey, I’m going to go out.”

“Let’s go out together.”

Hwang Jiho woke up and made dummies along with hiding items so we could sneak out of the dorms without getting caught.

In order to prepare for what would happen in the future, it was necessary for us to learn the topography of the island.

The sun didn’t take long to rise as we stayed up all night going around Seokmo Island and studying its map.

“If I summon my family to this island right now, the job would be completed easily.”

Hwang Jiho suddenly spoke to me as we were returning to the dorms.

“If you do something like that, we’d be caught immediately. Even if we’re not caught, the intentions of the association and the rabbit clan would be revealed.

“I know.”

At dawn.

Amidst the dawn, Hwang Jiho looked straight at me and said, “Don’t forget that it’s still an option for us.”

I could ask what Hwang Jiho was worried about, but I decided not to know.

Just like that, the first night of the youth retreat was over.