It’s an Academic Fact That Rankers Are Model Students – Chapter 136

Chapter 136: Ceram, the miscellaneous merchant (3)

“H, How did you……?”

Ceram’s expression clearly asks how Kyung-joon could possibly know.

Unfazed, Kyung-joon continues his persuasive pitch.

“I’m not an expert, since I haven’t properly studied this field yet, but it’s not like it’s genetically or magically impossible, right? Forest and earth attributes are practically close relatives. Trees grow from the ground, after all.”

Still, there’s no comfort or empathy in Kyung-joon’s words.

He’s simply stating facts.

Kyung-joon continues.

“Don’t worry about all the unnecessary details and just tell me if you like the conditions I’m offering. I saw you trading just now, didn’t I? You’re a merchant, aren’t you? Shouldn’t a merchant just say OK and sign if it’s profitable, regardless of who they’re dealing with?”

Elf, fairy, human, monster.

Dark-skinned or not.

Black, white, yellow.

Gender, of course.

Handsome, beautiful, ugly, fat, none of that mattered.

From the beginning, Kyung-joon didn’t care about any of that.

“Of course, there are various factors to consider. But to me, it doesn’t matter if you’re a black Sylva, a green Sylva, a rainbow Sylva, or even if you’re not a Sylva at all, but an Orc, an Ogre, or whatever. As long as I judge that you’ll be helpful to me, I’ll offer you the conditions, hire you, and sign the contract.”

Use them if needed.

Appoint them if they’re capable.

That’s all there is to it, a very simple logic.

Kyung-joon’s village operates that way.

[You have purchased a common item 『Territory Employment Contract (1 month)』 from the Territory Shop.]

Kyung-joon used the territory points he had accumulated while doing territory activities to purchase a Territory Employment Contract.

[Territory Employment Contract (1 month)]

▶Hires the target to the territory.

※Current Contract Details

━Wage: 25,000 Liyan (18 million Liyan per month)

━Accommodation included

━Complete protection as a territory resident for the duration of the contract

▶Takes effect when the target agrees and signs.

▶Item Grade: Common

Kyung-joon hands Ceram the employment contract and a gel pen.

Ceram accepts them with trembling hands.

He couldn’t refuse.

As Ceram holds the contract and pen, Kyung-joon asks with a serious look.

“Tell me, would you like to work at my territory for a while? Your job is to teach me your language.”

Kyung-joon’s final words reach Ceram softly.

Everything else is just a side note, Kyung-joon was saying.

“……. “

Scribble. Scribble.

Ceram rests the paper on his hand and silently moves the pen.

His name is inscribed.

The same name engraved on the stone necklace he wears.

Ceram hands the contract and pen back to Kyung-joon and says,

“……I understand. I really like the conditions you’ve offered. It’s almost too much. I accept.”

Ceram accepted Kyung-joon’s offer.

[Favorability with Ceram has increased by 15.]

▶Favorability (Ceram): 35

[Your relationship with Ceram has greatly improved.]

[Ceram now sees you as someone trustworthy.]

[You have obtained the first piece of Ceram’s quest.]

▶Ceram seems to have a deep trauma about his skin being black, unlike ordinary Sylvas.

“Good.”

Kyung-joon takes the contract and pen with a satisfied look and puts them back in his inventory.

Then he immediately turns around and urges him to hurry up.

“Then shall we go back and start the tutoring?”

“Yes……!”

🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷

Kyung-joon Special Management Team.

Watching Kyung-joon head back to the estate with Ceram, Kim Bu-ha was amazed, and the team leader scratched his head, saying, ‘Well, well, it’s just like Kyung-joon’.

Kim Bu-ha, still in shock, stared blankly at the screen and said,

“Wow…… He finished everything in just one day……”

“One day? It wasn’t even an hour.”

It didn’t even take an hour from the moment Kyung-joon met Ceram to when their affinity reached over 30.

AngerManagementVodka barely managed to get over 20 affinity after almost half a year (although it’s -10 now), but Kyung-joon opened his heart in just an hour.

And in a way no one expected.

“I never thought I’d see someone utilize the World Language Encyclopedia like that……”

“Didn’t you kind of expect it from the fact that the author was Limi Nuhu?”

“Well, that’s true.”

Ceram, with his dark skin, was abandoned by the river as soon as he was born.

He was left to die as a baby, drifting away in the current.

It was Limi Nuhu, the author of the World Language Encyclopedia, who rescued and raised Ceram.

That’s why Ceram is able to speak various World languages.

The fact that Kyung-joon had Limi Nuhu’s book helped greatly in increasing the affinity.

“But it wasn’t all because of the book. From the beginning, AngerManagementVodka and Kyung-joon had different approaches.”

As soon as AngerManagementVodka saw Ceram, he clung to him, thinking it was a hidden quest.

He didn’t care who or what Ceram was.

He just saw him as an NPC or a monster that gives hidden quests.

“Kyung-joon initially didn’t approach it as a hidden quest or anything like that.”

As a result, Kyung-joon became the player who got closest to Ceram’s epic quest.

But that wasn’t why Kyung-joon approached Ceram.

To learn languages from Ceram and charge up his Dimensional Study Room time.

That was his goal.

“But it’s not like he approached him out of pure good will, right?”

“Although both AngerManagementVodka and Kyung-joon approached him for their own purposes and gains, Kyung-joon was honest. Every word he said seemed to touch his heart.”

“That…… I have to admit. He felt acknowledged.”

Ceram, who had been persecuted all his life for his dark skin.

Ceram, who was abandoned by his parents and his community from the moment he was born just because he was different.

What someone who has been persecuted and discriminated against needs is not comfort or empathy.

It’s acknowledgment.

Acknowledgment of their abilities, acknowledgment of their needs, and ultimately, acknowledgment of their existence.

That’s all Kyung-joon did for Ceram, and in the end, Ceram was at least a little bit saved.

“Anyway, that settles it.”

The team leader smiled with satisfaction.

“Settles what?”

“Kyung-joon’s stance.”

“Aha.”

There was an order from Chairman Yoo that came down to the Kyung-joon Special Management Team.

To closely observe which side Kyung-joon will choose between the Holy Cross Faction and the Whale Forest monster faction.

“It may vary depending on how Kyung-joon continues and completes Ceram’s epic quest…… but I have a feeling he’ll choose the monster faction.”

“Why?”

“Why? Look at that.”

The team leader motioned towards the monitoring screen with his chin.

There, Kyung-joon was eagerly asking questions with a book open, and Ceram was answering them all one by one.

As questions and answers were exchanged, jokes and laughter were shared in between.

Anyone could see.

“They look like friends.”

“Haha. They do.”

The Holy Cross Faction and the Whale Forest monster faction.

Among them, Kyung-joon’s ally and friend was decided to be Whale Forest.

🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷

[New language knowledge (Rabbit) has been acquired.]

[New language knowledge (Deer) has been acquired.]

[New language knowledge (Pig) has been acquired.]

[New language knowledge (Wolf) has been acquired.]

[1 hour has been added to the Dimensional Study Room…]

．

．

．

Kyung-joon continued to learn World languages in his spare time after studying for school.

━The Rabbit language in this book is too old, so it’s not really used much these days. These days, rabbits don’t cry ‘kkeeluk kkeeluk’, they cry ‘kkuruuk kkuruuk’.

━What’s important in Wolf language is not the sound but the expression. Depending on how much you bare your teeth and how you squint your eyes, the meaning you’re trying to convey can completely change.

━You have to watch the tails of Cat Monkeys when they’re talking. Oh, you’re asking how they talk if they don’t have tails? It’s fine. Cat Monkeys are naturally perceptive and intelligent, so they can understand most things just by feeling.

Ceram, being a peddler, had traveled all over Whale Forest.

Thanks to that experience, Ceram was able to explain not only what was in the book, but also various things related to monster culture and ecology.

The content was interesting and all new to him, so it was a bonus that his Dimensional Study Room time increased dramatically.

With this, Kyung-joon was able to meet the minimum requirements to communicate with the Whale Forest monsters.

“Language is all about practice. You have to actually use it to improve.”

Today was the day to try out the World languages he had learned so far!

Kyung-joon and Ceram left the study estate and headed back to the edge of Whale Forest.

Ceram and Kyung-joon continued their studies as they walked.

“Kyung-joon-nim. Why isn’t 『I’ll live』 translated as 『I will live』 in this context?”

“Ah, that. It should be interpreted as 『I’ll be fine』 or 『I guess I’ll live』. It means I’ll continue to live as usual.”

“Aha, I see.”

Ceram seemed to really like languages, and he was very interested in the language of this other world, English.

The reason it wasn’t Korean was that the basic language of the World was Korean.

It was only natural since the Korean company Seolha Group created the World.

As the two of them were walking and asking each other questions.

Thump. Thump.

They both stopped almost simultaneously.

Kyung-joon whispered very quietly, without turning his head.

“……You too?”

“Yes. There’s something in the bushes over there. It’s probably a forest horned rabbit.”

Kyung-joon sensed it with Teemo’s detection ability, and Ceram felt through the ground that a forest horned rabbit was hiding in the bushes.

“As I said before, the forest horned rabbits of Whale Forest hunt by hiding in bushes like this, pretending to be dead. And the moment their target passes by, they kick the ground with their strong hind legs and jump up. The power of their horns is considerable, so if you get hit in a vital spot, you could be done for in one shot.”

Ceram said so and took the lead.

“I’m known as a peddler in Whale Forest, so it won’t attack me. I’ll go ahead and talk to it.”

Grab.

Kyung-joon grabbed Ceram’s shoulder and stopped him.

When Ceram looked back, wondering why, Kyung-joon said,

“I’ll go talk too.”

After all, language is learned by hitting the ground running.

Kyung-joon left Ceram behind and approached the forest horned rabbit hiding in the bushes at his usual pace.

🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷

‘Kkuruk. Kkurulook.’

(I’m hungry…… Hunting has been slow lately…….)

The forest horned rabbit in the bush was starving.

It hadn’t had a decent hunt in days.

The forest horned rabbit is the weakest creature in Whale Forest.

So, it was no easy task to succeed in hunting other monsters.

…….

Why would a rabbit hunt, you ask?

Because the forest horned rabbits of Whale Forest are carnivorous.

That’s why, despite their cute faces, their legs are bumpy with well-defined muscles.

‘Kkurulook……!’

(A, A human!)

A human could be seen approaching the bush.

Actually, the weakest being in Whale Forest is, in a way, a human.

Unlike their counterparts elsewhere, the forest horned rabbits of Whale Forest are level 150 powerhouses, possessing skills capable of killing most humans in an instant.

‘K Kuru…….’

(Giga Drill…….)

The forest horned rabbit tensed its legs and held its breath.

And it waited for the human to come closer.

About 5 seconds later.

‘Kkuruk!’

(Breaker!)

Taat!

Like a drill piercing the sky, the forest horned rabbit shot up towards Kyung-joon with great force.

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