Chapter 256 Unofficial Beast Tournament I

Kim Jin Seok assumed the position atop one of the huge boulders present in the area. After clearing his throat, he addressed everyone, telling them to listen up as he had an announcement to make. Of course, everyone was already aware of what he was about to say next so they eagerly gathered around him before he even spoke. He wasn't the only one excited for the upcoming beast tournament, and it showed based on the enthusiastic reactions of everyone.

"First, before I go into the details of this unofficial beast tournament, I'm sure that some of you wouldn't want to join so... to anyone who doesn't want to join, please raise your hands and you can go stand in the sidelines. This way, I'd be able to efficiently divide you into two groups and then assign your brackets after that."

His announcement was met with sighs of relief since there were a number of participants who didn't want to join the unofficial beast tournament. Either they tamed a weak beast or they just weren't in the mood to fight— those individuals backed down and stood on the sidelines in order to cheer for those who wanted to fight. They didn't bother asking Kim Jin Seok if they could be excused early since they wanted to check what type of beasts would be fighting in that ring. In any case, they wanted more information on the beasts so the next time they visit the Beast Dimension again, they'd have a rough idea about what beast to hunt for.

"Do your best, you guys!"

"We'll be cheering for you! Do well!"

The cheers from the superheroes who didn't join started reverberating from the sidelines, giving the participants the extra motivation they needed for the upcoming tournament. Of course, the spectators weren't the only ones excited for this second segment.

"All right, now we'll set up the list so you'd know who your opponent will be. Please be informed that I'll be drawing randomly just to be fair to everyone. I wouldn't want all of you to choose which opponent you'd want since that would ruin the order of the beast tournament. Also... it would be an inefficient way to handle one so there's that."

After he spoke, however, one of the participants raised his hand for a question. It was none other than Satoshi, and he looked specifically troubled.

"Yes? If I recall, you're Midoriyama Satoshi, right? Son of the Midoriyama Duo? It's nice to meet you, I'm Kim Jin Seok. I'm a huge fan of your parents!" Kim Jin Seok's eyes sparkled. Ever since he saw Satoshi in the group, he'd wanted to strike up a conversation with him because he was a die-hard fan of the Midoriyama Duo. While he had plenty of chances to speak to him, he couldn't bring himself to do so since he felt a bit timid.

"Um... do you want their autograph? I'd get one for you after this if you want." Satoshi gladly offered before he asked his question. "By the way... your offer about standing by the sidelines... does the offer still stand? I want to drop out from the tournament?"

"Of course, you can go right now... if it's not too prying... why would you want to drop out, Satoshi?" Kim Jin Seok curiously asked.

Just like any other superheroes around the world, he'd seen Midoriyama Satoshi a couple of times on world news. He wasn't famous in Japan alone, he's also somewhat famous around the world due to his many feats. One particular video that Kim Jin Seok saw about Satoshi was his fight against the Slime Alien. Back then he wasn't as strong and the fight was pretty much his debut. But he did rather well— dealing with a monster that no one was able to defeat. Not even the Midoriyam Duo could hold a candle to that monster.

'And yet he wanted to drop out? Why? Did he run out of time? I did remember him straggling behind at first... but there's no way he wasn't able to tame a beast... no, maybe he only tamed a common beast? That's a possibility.' Kim Jin Seok wondered.

Since Satoshi didn't answer his first question, he decided to ask another one. "Satoshi, what beast did you tame? Is it all right if I asked?"

"Um..." Satoshi's voice trailed off. The main reason why he didn't want to join the tournament was that Ryoko could easily defeat all the familiars everyone had. As mentioned before, he was at the top of the food chain. In fact, the tournament wouldn't even be a challenge to her at all.

Plus, she wasn't really the type of person/beast to hold back. Based on the conversation Satoshi had with her, he could tell that she was a passionate individual and that passion would really be reflected in her fighting style. Satoshi didn't want to see a familiar being defeated one-sidedly.

"SATOSHI! What did you mean by that? You're not going to join the tournament?!" Just when Satoshi was about to tell Kim Jin Seok that he didn't want to show the beast he tamed, Hiroshi came up to him and grabbed him by the collar. He started rambling, spit spraying on Satoshi's face as he did so.

p "Um, I have my reasons." Satoshi vaguely replied.

"Reasons my ass. Look at this! Look!" Hiroshi then pointed at his red salamander, still bobbing its head up and down as if matching the tune of ievan polkka, a famous classic Russian song. "That's a red salamander, probably the most common beast out here. But I'm still joining! No matter what beast you caught, Satoshi, don't be embarrassed! You should join just like me!"

"Yeah, you go kid! It isn't your fault that you caught a weak beast!"

"Come on kid! You can do it!"

"We're cheering for you!"

Funnily enough, those who were cheering Satoshi were none other than the people who went to the sidelines, giving up on the tournament altogether. It was an ironic turn of events that Satoshi had to suppress his urge to laugh due to how ridiculous the scenario was.

And during that time, Satoshi actually got an idea. Now that he thought about it, he had a lot of familiars stored in Orb Oboros. There was no rule that said he'd have to bring out the familiar he recently caught, he could use anyone in his barracks.

Because of that, Satoshi changed his mind, all thanks to Hiroshi but for an entirely different reason. "Thanks, Hiroshi, I guess I'll be joining the tournament after all. I also caught a Red Salamander so I wanted to back out."

"That makes the two of us. You don't have to worry about losing, we're in this together."

Kim Jin Seok, who saw everything, was impressed by Hiroshi's camaraderie as well as everyone's support of Satoshi. It was a heartwarming scene, and he couldn't help but tear up a little bit. 'So he managed to tame a red salamander... I guess even one of the strongest superheroes has their own setbacks, huh.' Kim Jin Seok said to himself as he cleared his throat for the second time.

"I guess that settles it." Kim Jin Seok announced, grabbing a tablet from his pocket and projecting a holographic image in the air with it. "This is the bracket setup. There will be two brackets, and the winner of the two brackets would face off each other in the finals... honestly, it's that simple." Kim Jin Seok sighed because he went through the trouble of hyping up the setup when there was nothing spectacular about it.

"And let's roll the dice!" With one click of a button, names began appearing on the lowest parts of the brackets. There were two groups, and the people in their respective groups were set up to face each other off.

Even though Satoshi felt unsure of himself, he was confident that he'd be able to win a match as long as he wasn't pitted against the ice types or water types— specifically, Lydia Schwarz's frost elephant, or Yukine Shiroi's Fluffy Penguin.

"I can't wait to fight your red salamander, Satoshi. Well, I've been able to bond with my red salamander pretty quickly so I think we'll be able to put up a good fight." He continued, patting Satoshi on the shoulder as if to console him.

"We have Shiroi's Fluffy Penguin in our bracket, so there's a good chance you'll fight her first before me though." Satoshi returned.

But their words were thrown out the window the moment when the matchups were put up.

And coincidentally enough, Satoshi and Hiroshi were going to fight each other first.

"Are you kidding me?!" Satoshi exclaimed, not because he was afraid of Hiroshi's red salamander, but because he couldn't believe the matchup. 'What are the chances?!' He screamed inwardly.

"HAHA! Be prepared to lose, Satoshi!" Hiroshi taunted him, immediately taking his place on one side of the open area that Kim Jin Seok opened up for the unofficial beast tournament.

"Sigh~ are you kidding me?" Satoshi scratched his head and positioned himself on the other end of the open field.

"FOR THE FIRST BATTLE! GIVE IT UP FOR SATOSHI AND HIROSHI!" Kim Jin Seok announced.

"By the way... where's Satoshi's red salamander?" Lydia Schwarz confusedly asked Emma on the sidelines.