Ch 211
Became a swordsmanship instructor at the academy
Chapter 211
Why on earth do I have to duel twice?
I, the person directly involved, didn't say a single word, yet why don't they listen to my opinion and just decided things arbitrarily?
"Chan-seong can do it too, right?"
It's quite annoying, but if I say I can't do it here, it would put Teacher Kim in an awkward position.
Maybe they'll use this incident as an excuse to make me attend on weekends unconditionally from now on.
I have no choice.
"Of course."
"Don't be stubborn. Don't try to make excuses after you lose. You just need to duel with me..."
"Nam Ji-hyeon, why don't you worry about yourself?"
"What?"
"You're going to duel Min-woo first, right? Then you need to beat Min-woo first."
"Those weaklings from the magic class acting tough. I'll finish quickly, so don't try to back out later."
It's not acting tough.
How ridiculous.
And if you talk like this...
"Look who's talking. Hey, Nam Ji-hyeon. Do you think I'm easy?"
Sure enough, Cha Min-woo seems to be heated up as he frowns deeply.
"Yeah. You're easy, aren't you?"
"Nam Ji-hyeon, you really! If you're so confident, let's make a bet on the duel."
"Guys, this is just a regular duel."
"Teacher, I don't mind. What kind of bet?"
"If I win, you have to bow 90 degrees every time you see me for a month, call me big brother, and use honorifics. If you're scared, just give up."
"Scared? Then if I win, it's the opposite - you bow 90 degrees for a month, call me big sister, and use honorifics."
Wasn't Nam Ji-hyeon targeting me?
With Cha Min-woo butting in, the two of them really got fired up.
If this goes through, whoever wins, it'll be quite an entertaining sight for a month.
Of course, Teacher Kim or Teacher Hwang would oppose... they're not?
Well, if I were a teacher, they said they'd do it themselves, and it's not an extremely difficult condition... it's just kids' pranks, so I would have just overlooked it too.
"This is going to be totally fun."
Lee Ji-sung seems to think the same as me.
"Right. Whoever wins, it'll be hilarious for a month."
"Chan-seong, aren't you making a bet?"
"Well, I'm not really into that kind of thing. And Nam Ji-hyeon has to beat Cha Min-woo to duel with me."
"Right, so you think Min-woo will win?"
Well, Cha Min-woo versus Nam Ji-hyeon... In the original work, Cha Min-woo seemed slightly stronger.
But that was when they graduated from school, meaning when their growth was complete.
Both kids are still first-year rookies who haven't even gone on a single practical training, so there's a possibility that Nam Ji-hyeon could be stronger.
For now, the magician Cha Min-woo seems to have a bit more magic, but in terms of physical abilities, Nam Ji-hyeon, who has trained even a little more, would be much superior.
Moreover, magicians are generally known to be disadvantaged in 1:1 combat compared to other hunter professions.
Of course, it changes once they reach a certain level, but these kids are still first-years...
There are too many variables.
"I don't know. Honestly, I don't really like Min-woo either because he's too pretentious, but if he wins, I only have to duel once, so I should cheer for Min-woo."
"I also think Cha Min-woo is annoying, but since he's from the same magic class, I should cheer for Min-woo this time."
"Rather than cheering, you're first. Hurry up and get ready."
"Oh, right."
After the situation was sorted out and we had some preparation time, the duels began.
The first match was Lee Ji-sung versus a first-year from the archery class.
The result was naturally Lee Ji-sung's defeat.
Lee Ji-sung had improved a lot since his first duel with Teacher Kim, so it wasn't a disgraceful defeat, but losing is losing.
It can't be helped.
The first-year student who came out as Lee Ji-sung's opponent, if they're participating in the martial arts tournament, even if not as much as Nam Ji-hyeon, they must be an elite with skills in the first-year archery class.
Lee Ji-sung, who hasn't obtained any opportunities yet, is far from elite - at best, he's upper-middle tier.
It's impossible.
With the archery class student winning the first match, the archery class kids were energized.
On the other hand, our magic class atmosphere feels slightly deflated.
It's only the first match, and I don't understand why everyone's getting discouraged.
Wasn't Lee Ji-sung a throwaway card anyway?
But when the archery class student also won the second duel, our magic class had a funeral atmosphere.
Fortunately, in the third duel, a third-year senior from the magic class defeated a second-year student from the archery class and won.
The atmosphere recovered a bit, but it was a third-year versus a second-year, and we're still behind 2:1.
"Chan-seong, Teacher believes in you."
"Min Chan-seong, your opponent seems to be the archery club captain. Will you be okay?"
Looking at the female student standing in the arena first, as Lee Ji-sung said, she has a yellow armband on her arm indicating she's the captain.
"Oh? Really."
"Do well. You must win."
Lee Ji-sung also seems immersed, cheering in a way that's unlike him.
I feel a bit sorry for thinking of him as a throwaway card earlier, even though I didn't say it out loud.
I smiled at our magic class members one by one and went up to the arena.
Worrying about a dragon among sheep is a luxury.
Teacher Hwang, who was acting as referee, gestured for us to come to the center.
"It ends when one side surrenders or when Teacher Kim or I judge that it can't continue."
"Yes. Understood."
"Understood."
She has a calm impression and looks cute, but her face is quite familiar.
Of course, I learned the name Jeong Hui-ju for the first time today.
She wasn't in my class last year, and I only taught the swordsmanship class.
Still, she's a student from the grade I was in charge of for two years, so we must have passed each other a few times.
It would be less awkward if I didn't know her at all.
I offered an apology inwardly.
After hearing simple precautions and such, we stood in our designated positions.
TWEEET!
An arrow flies toward me simultaneously with the whistle sound signaling the start.
It's a quite heavy arrow with magic, though Shigi (arrow energy) hasn't manifested yet.
I thought about blocking it with a barrier but stepped aside to dodge it.
"Oops."
Of course, I can't dodge too easily, so I pretended my feet got tangled and I briefly lost balance, very narrowly.
Oh, another arrow flies immediately.
Rapid fire. As expected of a third-year, it's quite fast, but this time I blocked it with a barrier.
THUD!
I suppressed my internal energy as much as possible when creating it, so while it deflected the arrow, it immediately shattered.
My effort paid off.
Seeing the barrier break, she gained confidence and nocked another arrow, but this time the shot was a bit slow.
The flustered expression on her face was brief, and the arrow flew relatively quickly, but it was useless.
The moment the barrier broke, I used illusion magic to create five copies of myself.
Hui-ju hesitated and aimed at the farthest one, but it was the wrong answer.
"Senior, unfortunately, that was just an illusion."
Speaking simultaneously, I used Ice Bolt as is.
She tried to quickly deflect it with her bow, but as I expected.
BANG!
The Ice Bolt I created collided with the bow and shattered, but the shattered ice crystals stuck to the bow.
The bow began freezing solid in an instant.
Both the body and the string.
"Wh... What is this!"
From the beginning, what I was targeting wasn't the female student but the bow.
Still, as a teacher in name, I can't use attack magic on a student.
At first, the female student tried to break the ice by hitting the bow on the ground, but since I abandoned everything else in the Ice Bolt magic and greatly enhanced only the freezing property, there was no way it would work.
An archer without a bow is like a swordsman without a sword.
I slowly approached and created a Fire Ball in front of her eyes, then referee Teacher Hwang intervened.
"Duel over. The winner is magic class Min Chan-seong."
"Min Chan-seong! Min Chan-seong!"
"Oh, Min Chan-seong! I believed in you!"
It's quite a commotion down there.
Instead of going down immediately, I approached the female student who was my opponent.
"Senior, could you lend me your bow for a moment? I'll dispel the magic for you."
Actually, I can dispel it without touching it, but there are eyes watching around.
She looked quite shocked, but perhaps because I said I'd dispel the magic, she obediently handed over the bow.
I received the bow, dispelled the magic, and handed it back, but as the female student received the bow, she extended her other hand.
"Honestly, I was careless, but even if I wasn't, the result would have been the same. It was a good match."
She seemed to have received quite a shock, but she's a student who recovers quickly.
"I was just lucky."
"Modest, aren't you. You're also student council, right? As expected, student council kids are different. I hope we meet late in the martial arts tournament."
If it had been Nam Ji-hyeon, she would have stubbornly insisted on a rematch, but since she's a student who accepts it so gracefully, I want to give her some advice, but right now I'm a first-year student, so I shouldn't.
I smiled and shook hands with her, then came down from the arena.
"Chan-seong, you really did well. I knew Teacher's eyes weren't wrong."
"Haha... I was lucky."
"Min Chan-seong, you're pretty good? Well, not as much as me, though."
Is this a compliment?
Anyway, that Cha Min-woo kid really lives for his own self-satisfaction.
"Th... thanks."
"Oh, and you don't need to prepare for the second duel. After my duel ends, she won't have the energy to move."
He's overflowing with confidence.
"Okay. I'll cheer for you."
"I don't need cheering from guys? It's actually bad luck, so just watch."
"Huh? O... okay."
"Min-woo, it's not right to say that when your friend is trying to cheer for you."
"Would he listen even if you told him? He's originally a kid who lives for his own self-satisfaction."
"Lee Ji-sung, why don't you stay quiet? Are losers supposed to talk?"
Lee Ji-sung is trembling with anger, but that bastard Cha Min-woo is really genuine.
Cha Min-woo, who cast wide-area provocation, went up to the arena with great momentum.
Even though he's annoying, I'm cheering for that bastard for now.
If that kid wins, I don't have to duel again.
Nam Ji-hyeon from the opposite side also came up, but... huh?
I was surprised to see the bow Nam Ji-hyeon was holding.
I'm an outsider when it comes to bows, so I don't know the detailed names, but other students used modern bows that felt like what I'd seen in Olympic archery.
But Nam Ji-hyeon brought a somewhat small but entirely black bow.
She already received that?
Even though I don't know much about bows, I know that bow well because it appeared in a quite significant episode in the original work.
Heukying (Black Shadow).
Though it's a somewhat simple name, the meaning contained in that bow is never simple.
It's a bow made from the horn of a Dark Drake that Nam Ji-hyeon's father Nam Il-seong caught in an S-grade 40-person portal, one of only five in the world.
Even without special abilities, being made from S-grade monster materials, its performance is so good that it refuses comparison with ordinary bows.
Seeing Heukying, Cha Min-woo might have some trouble.
Not only is the bow's performance impressive, but to receive that bow, one must be recognized for their skills even within Bicheon Guild.
It's a bow that appears in the second-year episodes, so I naturally thought she received it around that time.
Of course, the fact that Nam Ji-hyeon is the daughter of guild master Nam Il-seong would have influenced her receiving Heukying to some extent.
Still, if she had no skills at all, she wouldn't have received that bow...
TWEEET!
The match began with the whistle sound.
Unlike other students, she moves sideways while shooting arrows, and the speed of the arrows is definitely on a different level from other students.
At a level that a first-year magic class student absolutely cannot react to.
But Cha Min-woo also deflected the arrows with a memorized barrier, befitting an ace.
However, unlike other students who stop when shooting arrows, Nam Ji-hyeon continues moving while shooting, so Cha Min-woo can't easily attack.
After about ten minutes of offense and defense, Cha Min-woo's barrier finally broke.
Not only that, but arrows pierced Cha Min-woo's shoulder, leg, and arm in three places, so the referee finally stopped the match.
Normally, the referee would have immediately stopped the match after just one arrow hit, but those three arrows were shot simultaneously.
Triple Shot.
It's a technique used by active hunters of upper C-rank or B-rank.
It seems she didn't receive Heukying simply because she's the guild master's daughter.
"If you hadn't stubbornly held on, it would have ended with one arrow."
Cha Min-woo comes down with a frustrated expression, supported by Teacher Kim.
As soon as the match ended, Teacher Kim immediately went up to the arena, pulled out the arrows, and treated him with healing magic, but the kid's expression is completely crumpled.
It's probably because of the wound to his heart, not his body.
After acting so superior.
"Min Chan-seong, are you scared? Come up quickly."
She's completely energized.
"The duel just ended, so shouldn't you rest a bit?"
"I don't mind though?"
Haha... That Nam Ji-hyeon kid definitely has skills.
But it's only at the level of students.
She's just a slightly fierce sheep among the flock.
A slightly fierce sheep defeating a dragon?
Even in fantasy novels, if someone wrote such a thing, readers would rise up saying it lacks believability.
"Don't be stubborn and rest sufficiently. Don't make excuses later that you lost because you didn't rest."