Chapter 6
Chapter 6
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter Title: Sparring with the Protagonist
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As I passed by Han U-sol and Yoon Na-rin and took my seat, Yoon Na-rin followed and sat down next to me.
"Anis, it's really a misunderstanding. It's not like what you're thinking?"
She must have been embarrassed about getting caught flirting with Han U-sol, because Yoon Na-rin hurriedly made excuses to me, flustered.
Here I was, worrying about how to deal with the protagonist hating me from now on, and someone else was acting all shy about her romance getting exposed.
It pissed me off to no end, but I couldn't say anything mean. If Yoon Na-rin ended up hating me too, I'd truly have no friends left.
"Yeah. I get it."
I smiled and replied, and Yoon Na-rin's expression visibly relaxed.
"And don't worry too much about Han U-sol taking his notes back. He doesn't hate you."
That wasn't hate? The moment I asked to borrow his notes, his face hardened, and he handed them over all stiff. And that wasn't enough—he snatched them back. Giving me the cold shoulder twice on purpose? That's something you only do to people you really despise.
Even someone as oblivious to social cues as me could tell that much.
'She's already defending her crush?'
I had a lot I wanted to say, but losing my one and only friend wasn't an option, so I just nodded. Yeah, having no friends was my crime, after all.
"We'll wrap up morning classes here, have lunch, and then afternoon classes will be practical sparring training~"
Yeah, I figured it was about time. It was the classic event in any academy story where the protagonist starts shining right from the early game.
"Hey, Han U-sol! Let's eat together! If you refuse again... I'll tell everyone?"
"Ugh... Fine..."
"Anis! Let's go!"
Yoon Na-rin dragged Han U-sol over and said. Han U-sol glanced at me and hardened his expression again.
'He wants to eat alone with Yoon Na-rin, and I'm ruining it.'
I considered bowing out, but eating alone sounded miserable, so I ended up tagging along.
Sharing a meal with someone who hated me was awkward. So awkward I couldn't even tell if the food was going in my mouth or my nose.
Should've just eaten alone.
The conversation was mostly between Yoon Na-rin and Han U-sol, with Yoon occasionally checking in on me. Han U-sol never said a word to me the whole time.
'What a petty jerk...'
Even with Yoon Na-rin shooting him looks, he stubbornly kept showing his dislike. It was starting to piss me off too.
Lunch ended, and we headed to the arena building.
As we entered the arena, a massive banner hanging from the ceiling caught my eye.
"What the hell is that."
They could've just told me on day one with a note, but now this flashy banner for a second notice? It made no sense.
I muttered in disbelief, and Yoon Na-rin asked curiously.
"What?"
"You don't see that?"
"Huh? Where?"
"...Never mind. I must've seen wrong."
There was no way she couldn't see a banner that huge. She wasn't teasing me, so it must've been visible only to me.
"Attention! Is everyone here?"
As the students gathered, a tall, bald teacher with an eyepatch shouted.
"Let me introduce myself first. Name's Rockbell."
"Heroes fight magic beasts, but sometimes you have to fight villains too. This sparring is for that, so take it seriously."
Villains—probably criminals with powerful abilities.
'Angels, demons, magic beasts, and now villains... This life fucking sucks.'
A fierce rage boiled up from deep in my chest.
A dangerous world, and the protagonist's cold attitude. My patience was already gone. Sorry to my sparring partner, but I needed to vent this nowhere-to-go anger.
Aaah—this was anger management issues. No one could stop me now.
"Entrance exam first place, Han U-sol. Special admit, Anis Harper. Step forward."
"......"
Suddenly, my anger felt perfectly under control.
Han U-sol and I faced off. He created a plain longsword in his hand.
'What the hell is that crappy thing? Fucking asshole...'
It felt like he was looking down on me, and it ticked me off.
I summoned a battle axe.
Holding the battle axe brought back the berserker blood surging through me after so long.
Han U-sol looked a bit rattled seeing the axe gleaming menacingly.
"Uh, let's have a good match, Anis...?"
"Yeah."
"Ready? Begin!"
The moment the bald teacher signaled, I charged forward and swung the axe down.
Boom!
A huge axe mark scarred the arena floor. Han U-sol had already stepped back, dodging the attack.
"Take this!"
Boom! Boom!
Fearsome axe marks gouged the floor and walls everywhere.
With me swinging the massive axe around wildly, Han U-sol couldn't get close and just kept backing away to dodge.
Dodging around like a damn fly pissed me off.
"Die!!"
My patience snapped, and I hurled the battle axe at Han U-sol.
"...!!"
Clang-!
Han U-sol barely deflected the flying battle axe. The force chipped and cracked his longsword's blade.
As he staggered from knocking away the heavy axe, I summoned a dagger and rushed in. The deflected battle axe vanished.
Gripping the dagger in reverse, I stabbed down. Caught off guard by my sudden speed, Han U-sol desperately raised his sword to block.
Crack. The dagger lodged into the existing crack in the blade. I twisted it, and his longsword snapped.
"Gotcha."
"Gasp...!"
Thud. I stepped on Han U-sol's foot as he tried to retreat, locking his movement. He broke out in cold sweat.
What the—protagonist's nothing special. My inner anger issues took over again. This time, no one could stop me for real.
But I couldn't actually slit his throat. If the protagonist died, who'd save the world?
'A few punches to satisfy myself.'
I'd just compromised like that and raised my fist to unleash my rage when—
"...?"
Dozens of weapons floated in the air, all aimed at me. Han U-sol's ability.
"......I surrender."
I reined in my anger.
"Whoa, wow..."
Yoon Na-rin thought as she watched Anis summon her battle axe.
Anis is really pissed off.
It wasn't a hard rule, but usually people used light weapons and toned down their powers for sparring. Going all out led to too many injuries.
But the Anis swinging that battle axe around right now wasn't holding back, no matter how you sliced it.
'She's so jealous...'
She'd noticed it this morning when Anis entered the classroom and glared at Han U-sol talking to another girl. Anis seemed super jealous.
On top of the morning incident, seeing Yoon Na-rin and Han U-sol playfully passing notes, plus him only talking to Yoon at lunch—it must've made her jealousy explode.
"Die!!"
Watching Anis hurl a battle axe as big as herself at Han U-sol, Yoon Na-rin made a vow.
No more doing anything that could be misunderstood around Anis from now on.
"Ah, Anis. Feeling better now?"
Yoon Na-rin asked as we came down from the arena. Had my bad mood been that obvious? Guess piling up bad situations lately had built up a ton of stress.
Still, after letting loose in that fight, I felt a bit better.
"Yeah. Much better now."
I smiled at Yoon Na-rin, and she gave an awkward smile back, like "Really...?"
We chatted idly while watching the other spars. Everyone else seemed to be going easy, so maybe I'd overdone it.
"Next up: Entrance exam 8th, Yoon Na-rin, and 9th, Mark Rapster. Step forward."
Yoon Na-rin's turn came. Despite ranking 3rd in magic power measurement, her overall exam score was lower than expected. Apparently, she'd aced the practical but bombed the written test.
'Rapster? Sounds tasty.'
As I gave Yoon Na-rin some cheers while she headed out, lost in silly thoughts, that's when—
"Um, Anis?"
"...Yeah?"
Han U-sol came over to the seat next to me and spoke up.
"That was... impressive. You're really strong."
"...Your ability's pretty amazing too."
"You can handle all weapons that well?"
"Not ranged ones. But all melee weapons, yeah."
"Wow... That's incredible."
Han U-sol seemed genuinely impressed, showering me with praise.
Didn't he hate me? What was with the sudden change?
'...! No way!'
'He saw my skills and his favorability went up?'
It could happen. Even if I looked weak now—unable to summon high-level gear from the game and my body feeling nerfed—I was still max level there. Confident I was better than other students.
A bit presumptuous, but if I kept showing off and leaving impressions, maybe we'd mend things and I'd get that weapon eventually.
I'd half-given up on improving relations with Han U-sol and getting his weapon, but suddenly this possibility!
"Thanks."
Feeling good, I smiled and thanked him.
"Anis! Did you see me win...? Hm?"
Yoon Na-rin, approaching after her match, froze seeing Han U-sol sitting there. Did she get jealous seeing us talk? She came over and sat next to me anyway.
Once seated beside me, Yoon Na-rin didn't talk to Han U-sol. She only gave curt replies when he tried.
'She's pissed.'
Yoon Na-rin had more jealousy than I thought.
'Whatever. Han U-sol will smooth it over later.'
With Yoon Na-rin quiet, Han U-sol and I talked more. His tone was still stiff—not fully fixed—but him initiating felt like some recovery.
'Sorry, Na-rin. But I need that weapon to survive too.'
Fortunately, Yoon Na-rin seemed over it by the time academy ended and we headed to the dorms together.
I flopped face-down on my dorm bed. Moving around after so long made for an exhausting day.
Chapter 3 updated. I read it quickly, but it was pretty much the same as chapter 2.
Third-person view logging Han U-sol's actions only. No inner thoughts.
Just academy classes and sparring. Naturally, no mention of me.
After finishing chapter 3, I hammered out a review on my phone.
My daily bad review ritual.
I showered, plugged in my phone, and lay in bed.
Wasn't planning to sleep early, but I was more tired than I thought, and sleep hit fast.
[Scum like you shouldn't have been born.]
Father appeared in my dream after a long time.