I Became an Illegal Cheat User – Chapter 24

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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It was a huge cave, to be precise, a mock Other World created for training purposes.

The first thing I did as soon as I entered was to check the training objective that Kang Cheol-su had mentioned.

‘Oh, it’s survivor rescue.’

Fortunately, it was a very easy objective.

But unlike me, Park Ga-ram and Lim Da-hee didn’t seem to think so at all.

“Re, rescue su, survivors?”

“… In a maze-like cave?”

Park Ga-ram and Lim Da-hee expressed reluctance at the training objective of rescuing survivors in a maze-like cave.

Yeah, I know too.

That was the normal reaction.

Who would think it’s easy to rescue three survivors within 30 minutes in a wide and dark maze cave?

Moreover, in a place with monsters.

However, this ‘survivor rescue’ training objective was really easy if you know the strategy.

Why is that?

It was because the survivors that would be located throughout this cave were not real people, but dolls embedded with ‘mana stones’ for the mock training.

And in my inventory, there is a ‘Manastone beetle’, the mana stone detector I used during the first exam, the ‘Wisdom Exam’, of the entrance exam.

I immediately opened my inventory and took out various items, including the ‘Manastone beetle’, and placed them on the ground.

Then, Park Ga-ram and Lim Da-hee, who were perplexed, saying the training objective was too difficult or asking if it was even possible, were startled by my sudden action.

“To, top student, wh, what are you do, doing?”

“…What are you going to do with those items?”

Oh, they don’t know?

Then I’ll have to let them know about the items I took out.

But before that, I need to resolve the dark field of vision first.

I grabbed the 15cm long light stick I had placed on the ground and snapped it.

Tick.

With a sound like a branch breaking, the stick emitted a yellow light.

Only then did our field of vision become a bit brighter.

But I didn’t stop there and snapped two more sticks, lighting up purple and green.

“Here, wear these.”

“O, okay.”

“…Thanks.”

I handed the purple stick to Park Ga-ram and the yellow stick to Lim Da-hee, instructing them to wear them.

The reason I told them to wear the light sticks was not only to brighten our field of vision but also for friend-or-foe identification.

In dark places, while the field of vision is poor, other senses become more sensitive.

So much so that they react sensitively to small sounds or sensations, so they may accidentally attack allies.

To prevent this, I distributed the light sticks.

“…When did you get these?”

Lim Da-hee, who had attached the light stick to her waist, asked in a still discouraged voice.

To that question, I answered while attaching the light stick to the back of my tactical vest (I brought it together from the training ground).

“I got them before the entrance exam.”

“…Before the entrance exam?”

This time, I spoke while attaching a military-grade lantern to the front of my tactical vest.

“Yeah, before the entrance exam. Since I didn’t know what kind of exams we would be taking, I bought quite a lot of things.”

“…Impressive.”

Somehow, for a voice saying it’s impressive, it seems like a slightly disgusted face?

Well…, I guess it’s understandable.

If someone acts like they have not only preparedness but foresight as if they predicted the future, it would be a bit scary.

But by my standards, my current level of preparedness is way too lacking.

‘If I had just a little more money.’

I wouldn’t have been so poorly prepared like this.

‘Just wait until I get the Infinite Items cheat.’

I’ll show you preparedness that goes beyond thorough to perfect.

While I was inwardly wishing for the next cheat I’d acquire to be Infinite Items,

“To, top student…, I, I ca, can’t we, wear this.”

Park Ga-ram approached me with a crying face, saying “Hing”.

The light stick tightly gripped in her hand.

Only then did I realize that the clothes she was wearing were a dress.

“No…, hah…”

I was at a loss for words.

Even if she’s a mage, how could she…

Come to a training session wearing a dress?

Surely they gave us 10 minutes before departure to check our equipment.

“Wh, why are you li, like that?”

When I sighed while holding my forehead with one hand, Park Ga-ram fidgeted as if wondering if she had done something wrong.

“… No, you, dress…, why…”

I couldn’t speak properly because it was so absurd.

But fortunately, Lim Da-hee, who had checked Park Ga-ram’s outfit like me next to her, spoke on my behalf.

“…Park Ga-ram, do you think that outfit is appropriate now?”

“My, my outfit?”

At Lim Da-hee’s words, Park Ga-ram lowered her head to check her own clothes.

“Wh, what’s wrong with this?”

But as if she had no idea what the problem was, Park Ga-ram tilted her head with a face that said she had no clue.

Then Lim Da-hee let out a short sigh and explained what the problem was.

We came here for training practice, we should have worn clothes that are comfortable for activities, dresses are comfortable clothes too, but they are not suitable for training at all, and so on.

With the calm explanation that seemed like she had taught many young children, Park Ga-ram finally realized that her outfit was inappropriate and looked at me and Lim Da-hee with a face that seemed genuinely sorry.

“So, sorry. I, I didn’t know we, well.”

At Park Ga-ram’s apology, I let out a short sigh.

…She’s a bit sinister and honest, but she’s kind.

I accepted her apology.

“…Next time, wear something more comfortable than a dress.”

Saying that, I took out a spare tactical vest from my inventory and gave it to Park Ga-ram.

But Park Ga-ram just stared at me blankly.

From that, I immediately noticed that she didn’t know how to wear it.

So I personally put the tactical vest on her and attached the light stick.

“Okay, preparations are done.”

Now we were ready to advance.

The remaining objective time checked through the smartwatch was 25 minutes.

I thought some time would have passed, but it seemed like it was just my feeling, as there was still plenty of time remaining.

Still, considering that this mock Other World will change into the ‘real’ one, we need to move quickly.

With that thought, I picked up the item left on the ground, the ‘glass bottle containing the Manastone beetle’.

Then Park Ga-ram approached me, pretending to know about the Manastone beetle glass bottle I was holding.

“Th, that’s a ma, magic stone be, beetle, right?”

[T/N: he refers to it as mana but they refer to it as magic. ]

“Yeah, that’s right.”

“Wh, what are you go, going to do with th, that?”

She seemed to know what a Manastone beetle was, but not what it would be used for.

Well, of course she wouldn’t know.

How would the students know that the ‘survivors’, the training objective, were dolls powered by mana stones?

So I told them that this would play a crucial role, but didn’t explain in detail.

“Let’s set off now.”

Our dark field of vision was also resolved.

I took out a handgun from my inventory and stepped forward.

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Bang! Bang!

Boom, Kwang!

Not long after going inside,

Monsters appeared and attacked.

The name of the attacking monster was ‘Shadow Monkey’.

It was a monster that hid in the darkness and launched surprise attacks.

However, thanks to bringing a lantern and light sticks, our field of vision wasn’t dark.

So we could deal with the Shadow Monkey’s surprise attacks without difficulty.

– Kieeeek!

The monster hit by the rubber bullet I shot let out a pained sound.

And on the forehead of that monster, a light the size of a small bead was engraved like a target.

Why was such a target engraved? It was because of…

It was because of the weapon I obtained yesterday in the dormitory by using the ‘B-grade Item Selection Ticket’.

My original plan was to use training weapons and then use this weapon when this place became ‘real’.

But when I actually faced the monsters, I thought there was no need to use training weapons, so I just used my newly acquired weapon.

Bang!

When the rubber bullet hit the forehead of the monster with the target engraved again,

Kwang!

A small explosion of white light occurred, as if informing that it was holy damage.

– Keuhaaa!

Then the monster staggered back.

I thought the damage wouldn’t be dealt since the bullets were rubber,

But thanks to the effects on the gun itself, it dealt quite a decent amount of damage.

However, rubber bullets were still rubber bullets.

While it dealt holy damage, it couldn’t deal substantial damage.

That was because, after staggering for a moment and only receiving minor burns, the monster’s momentum didn’t decrease.

But it’s okay.

Because I’m not the only one fighting.

Bang!

The mark was engraved on the monster’s forehead again.

Seeing that mark, I shouted,

“Lim Da-hee!”

“… Got it!”

Lim Da-hee, who heard my shout, kicked the ground and thrust her spear into the monster’s forehead.

Seeing that, I shouted again.

“Imbue the spearhead with electricity!”

“… Uh, okay!”

Bzzt!

However, the electricity spewed out from Lim Da-hee’s body, not the spearhead.

Kwajik…, Kwang!

The spear that wasn’t imbued with electricity pierced through the monster’s forehead.

And the following effect of the gun.

Thud.

The monster with a pierced forehead collapsed and turned into dust.

If it were a monster from the real Other World, a corpse would remain, but since the mock Other World was strictly created for training purposes, the dead monster turned into dust and would be reused for training later.

As such, the monsters here were fake and lacked the unique ‘magic energy’ of monsters, so Lim Da-hee’s spear simply pierced through, but real monsters had ‘magic energy’, so like piercing through a superhuman’s mana, the weapon needs to be wrapped in mana.

Of course, Lim Da-hee could also wrap mana around her weapon, but that was a basic technique that any superhuman can do.

For Lim Da-hee to become as strong as the main character level, she needed to know how to imbue her ‘Electricity’ skill into her weapon.

So, to also keep my promise to make her strong, before this place becomes ‘real’, I’ll make it so Lim Da-hee can imbue electricity into her weapon.

To do that, there needs to be more monsters, more battles.

‘The remaining time now is…’

I slightly lowered my gaze and checked the remaining time on my smartwatch.

[Remaining Objective Time: 18 minutes.]

’18 minutes…, I can fight for 3 more minutes.’

I’ll fight for just 3 more minutes and then go find the remaining two survivors.

But why did I say I’ll go find two survivors, not three?

It’s because I’ve already found one survivor.

‘I was lucky.’

The tip written in the training objective guidance message.

‘The survivors make a sound every 5 minutes.’

And exactly at 5 minutes after we started moving,

I heard a shout saying ‘Save me’ from a nearby location.

Following that sound, I found a survivor doll with broken legs, constantly shouting ‘Save me’.

And that doll was in my inventory.

Why?

According to the survivor, it was only recognized as a rescue if I took them with me.

So I put them in my inventory.

Since I can take them out of the inventory when I find all three survivors.

Anyway, with 18 minutes remaining, I can train Lim Da-hee for 3 more minutes.

So I shouted to Park Ga-ram, who was throwing fireballs at the monsters from behind.

“Park Ga-ram! Do you know how to use a Sonic Boom spell?”

“Ye, yeah! I kn, know how to u, use it!”

“Then, detonate a Sonic Boom spell once!”

“Ri, right now?”

“Now!”

“Oh, okay!”

At my instruction, Park Ga-ram stopped throwing fireballs and gathered mana in both hands.

Then she raised her arms high and clapped her hands together.

Zzaaaaak─!!

Then an enormous clapping sound spread throughout the entire cave.

And following that,

– Kieeeek!

– Kyaaaaak!

– Kirrrr!

The cries of the monsters were heard.

And,

Thud thud thud thud thud…

Many monsters running could be felt through the vibrations on the ground.

“…To, top student?”

Lim Da-hee looked at me with a pale face.

But instead of saying anything to her, I placed mines on the ground using Transfer from my inventory.

I did lure the monsters to make Lim Da-hee strong, but it shouldn’t be too many.

“…Lee Yu-jin!”

Lim Da-hee called out to me again.

This time by name, not the title of top student.

That’s how perplexed she must be.

I finished setting up the mines and approached Lim Da-hee.

And grabbing her shoulder, I told her,

“I promised you, didn’t I? That I’ll definitely make you strong.”

“…”

At those words, Lim Da-hee stared at me blankly with her mouth open.

But her eyes seemed to be asking, ‘Is this really the way to become strong?’

So I nodded to her.

“You will surely become strong.”

But I didn’t say it would be easy.

Still, I can guarantee this.

People become strong when pushed to the extreme.

“I, I won’t die, right?”

Lim Da-hee trembled at the sight of the horde of monsters starting to appear.

Next to Lim Da-hee, I spoke while reloading.

“You absolutely won’t die, so trust me and fight.”

“…”

When I spoke as if making a bold promise, Lim Da-hee’s trembling body gradually settled down.

Then, after staring at me intently, she slowly nodded her head.

“… Okay. I’ll trust only you and fight.”

So, Lim Da-hee added.

“Don’t ever let me die.”

Don’t ever let me die.

A very easy request.

“Yeah.”

I grinned and nodded.

And aiming my gun at the approaching monsters, I said,

“I won’t let you die, so you just focus on becoming strong.”

“…”

No audible answer.

Instead, what I heard was,

Bzzt.

The sound of electricity wrapping around the spearhead.

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