Ch 212
Became a swordsmanship instructor at the academy
Chapter 212
"Are you afraid to fight right away? If you're scared, just forfeit."
Even when I think and give advice, really. This is ridiculous.
"Both of you stop it and have your final duel in 30 minutes."
"Right. Ji-hyeon, you tone it down too."
Teacher Hwang and Teacher Kim intervened, and a 30-minute break was decided.
"I'm really fine though.... Hey, Min Chan-seong. No forfeiting now."
Tone down the provocation a bit... No, honestly, this isn't provocation, it's just bluffing.
The bow Heukying that Nam Ji-hyeon uses is definitely better performing than ordinary bows.
It's because it's a bow made from S-grade monster materials, but due to that, the bow has a Drake's curse on it.
As I mentioned earlier, it's not really a special ability.
At most, the more you use Heukying, the more confident you become, that's all.
Of course, gaining confidence allows you to fight more aggressively, but compared to such minor benefits, the price is quite harsh.
It gnaws away at the user's stamina, and after stamina comes the mind....
At first it only affects you when using the bow, but slowly you become tainted by Heukying, and eventually your personality gradually becomes more aggressive and you go berserk.
In the original work, this Heukying episode appears during the summer vacation of the second year, first semester.
Nam Ji-hyeon's older brother, who received and used Heukying from Bicheon Guild, goes berserk and causes a big accident.
During hunting, he becomes completely eroded by Heukying and attacks his companions, then escapes the portal and causes damage to even civilians.
Of course, Nam Il-seong, the Bicheon Guild master, steps in to subdue Nam Ji-hyeon's brother and handles the situation well, so it doesn't get reported in the media.
But naturally, Nam Ji-hyeon, being family, learns about this fact.
I was a bit surprised earlier when I saw that she had already received Heukying because of this.
I naturally thought Nam Ji-hyeon had inherited the Heukying that her brother used.
Anyway, seeing her idol and always-ahead brother broken, she worries and receives help from Lee Ji-sung.
Lee Ji-sung, who had already learned magic from Luciel, investigates and reveals the fact that Heukying has a curse on it.
He immediately calls Nam Ji-hyeon and suggests smashing Heukying and trying to learn something other than archery.
This is because Lee Ji-sung, while investigating her brother's berserk phenomenon, discovers not only Heukying's curse but also the fact that Nam Ji-hyeon had no particular talent for archery.
Of course, Nam Il-seong, the Bicheon Guild master, uses a bow, and her older brother Nam Hyeon-su also inherited the talent and uses a bow well.
But Nam Il-seong's talent was only inherited up to Nam Hyeon-su.
Just as children of doctors don't all become doctors, just because Nam Il-seong shoots arrows well doesn't mean all his children can inherit talent for archery.
Simply put, Nam Ji-hyeon learned archery because all the other family members use bows, but Nam Ji-hyeon has no talent for archery.
Of course, she's currently the ace of the archery class, but this is just the result of effort from a young age.
At Lee Ji-sung's sudden action and abrupt suggestion, Nam Ji-hyeon initially gets angry, asking what he thinks he's doing.
But when Lee Ji-sung subsequently saves Nam Ji-hyeon's brother, and even her brother and father say things like 'How about trying something other than archery?' and 'Even if you don't use a bow, you're still my daughter,' Nam Ji-hyeon eventually gives up archery.
She converts to martial arts, and while it's somewhat common for prospective hunters to change weapons upon entering high school, there are absolutely no cases from the second year onward.
With only 2 years left until graduation, changing your main weapon is something that requires taking enormous risks.
But Nam Ji-hyeon, befitting a heroine, achieves great success as a martial artist despite there being no precedent.
It's natural that she falls head over heels for Lee Ji-sung, who saved her brother and showed her a new path.
I've been feeling that Nam Ji-hyeon has a really prickly and fussy personality, but maybe it was because of Heukying's curse.
Right, honestly, even if she's close with Seong Ji-an, still.
Seong Ji-an herself doesn't say much, and it's not like she was rejected by me, yet her hostility toward me was too strong.
Should I accidentally break Heukying while dueling this time?
She'd probably throw a fit if I did that.
Besides, her brother hasn't gone berserk yet, and contrary to my thoughts, it might not be that her personality changed from being eroded by Heukying, but that her original personality is just somewhat like that.
While thinking about various things, before I knew it, there wasn't much time left in the 30 minutes.
"Chan-seong, don't be too hung up on winning or losing. If it seems like you can't handle your opponent, it's okay to just forfeit."
Teacher Kim seems worried about me.
Did I hold back too much in the duel?
Like with the earlier bracket, it seems like she thinks I'm somewhat inferior to Cha Min-woo.
"Min Chan-seong, can you really win? Cha Min-woo may be unpleasant, but he was definitely the ace of the magic class."
Oh, even Lee Ji-sung.
Wait, this guy... is he worried about me?
"Honestly, I'm not confident."
"I knew it...."
"Ah, I forgot one word at the beginning."
"What?"
"I'm not confident I'll lose."
Leaving behind Lee Ji-sung, who's disgusted by my joke, I climbed up to the dueling arena.
Since there's still a bit of time before the 30 minutes are up, referee Teacher Hwang hasn't come up yet.
I'm lightly warming up when Nam Ji-hyeon, who had come up first, approaches me.
"Min Chan-seong, how about you also make a bet based on the outcome like Cha Min-woo?"
She's gotten quite cocky after beating Cha Min-woo once.
"I don't mind."
"Then with the same conditions as with Cha Min-woo earlier...."
"How about adding one more thing to that - the loser grants the winner one wish?"
"A wish? You bastard, what perverted thing are you trying to make me do!"
She's shouting with a face turned bright red, I wonder what she's thinking....
This is ridiculous.
"If you're not confident, forget it."
"Who says I'm not confident? You're the one who shouldn't regret it."
"So we're doing it?"
"Yes! Let's do it!"
Stupid girl. She fell for it perfectly.
"You two over there, what are you doing? Come to the center."
With good timing, just as our conversation ended, referee Teacher Hwang came up.
"Since you heard the explanation once earlier, let's start right away."
Completely commanding tone.
That Nam Ji-hyeon girl really talks back even to her supervising teacher....
"Ri... right. Then everyone go to your positions."
Even if she's Nam Il-seong's daughter, they're being too lenient with her.
Nam Ji-hyeon glares at me once and returns to her position.
I intended to control my strength in this duel like in the previous one, but since she keeps provoking me like this, I can't help it.
That said, going all out would be ridiculous, so I should put in just a tiny bit, about one-tenth of my sincerity.
"Are you both ready?"
When we nod, Teacher Hwang looks at both sides once and brings the whistle to his mouth.
TWEET!
An arrow flies immediately upon the start.
THUNK! THUD!
The arrow bounces off my Barrier magic.
Since I barely put any internal energy into the barrier, it shatters immediately from one arrow, but it doesn't matter.
Nam Ji-hyeon has already collapsed on the floor.
It's not Gravity Control magic.
Gravity Control is advanced magic that requires at least upper B-rank level, so I had no intention of using it.
If I had used Gravity Control in the first place, the arrow wouldn't have flown like this.
What I used was Grease, which instantly eliminates friction.
I thought Nam Ji-hyeon would move around while shooting arrows like in the previous duel, and my prediction was right on target.
She immediately tries to get up by placing her hands down, but that won't work.
Grease again.
THUD!
She slips with the hand she placed down and falls ungracefully.
She tries to get up again, but I used Grease consecutively.
"What is this...."
Standing up and maintaining balance on a floor where friction approaches zero is by no means an easy task.
Our Eunseo would naturally be capable of it, and you'd need to be at least at the level of the third-year swordsmanship aces Eunsu, Jinsu, and Minhee.
So it's absolutely impossible for someone at Nam Ji-hyeon's level.
Of course, the archery class also does physical training and definitely utilizes the body better than the magic class, but that's only when compared to the magic class. Compared to the swordsmanship, martial arts, or spear arts classes, their training volume isn't that much.
Actually, this method is one that Lee Ji-sung uses at the second-year WHCU in the original work.
Well, this much should be fine, shouldn't it?
If it's the second-year Lee Ji-sung, he could easily win the championship even without this method.
Eventually, giving up on standing, she sits on the floor and shoots arrows.
SWOOSH!
I lightly moved one step and dodged it.
I didn't particularly exert myself, and unlike the sharp arrow at the beginning, this arrow was slow enough that an average magic class student could dodge it.
Since it's an arrow forcibly shot without proper posture or even balance, the speed had to be terrible.
As I dodge, she immediately tries to get up from her position, but it's useless.
For someone like me, who is just a slightly excellent magic class student, dodging such pathetic arrows while casting Grease magic isn't that difficult.
Nam Ji-hyeon tried to escape the Grease hell by shooting arrows again, but it was meaningless.
Eventually, Nam Ji-hyeon ran out of all the arrows in the quiver on her back.
Thinking it was over now, I stopped using the Grease magic.
Now it's time for happy contemplation.
What magic should I use to finish this so that rumors spread about how well I ended it?
Should I make her feel a tingling sensation with a Lightning Ball? Water Ball to give her a cold water baptism to snap her to attention would also be fine.
Ah! Pretending to make a slight mistake and burning some of her hair with a Fire Ball would also be... Huh?
I thought she'd give up since she ran out of arrows, but noticing that the Grease magic was lifted, she throws away her bow and charges at me.
THUD!
I immediately used Grease magic and knocked her down.
What kind of archer charges without arrows.... Wait. Looking at it now, seeing me cancel the Grease magic, she seems to think I ran out of magic.
She probably thinks that since she originally has talent for martial arts too, and a weak magician can be beaten with bare fists, but unfortunately.
I definitely used Grease a lot, but Grease is basic magic among basics.
Even a first-year student who can only use innate magic, if they're average level, can easily use it hundreds of times.
A guy like Cha Min-woo who has a lot of magic could probably do it a thousand times.
Well, let's finish the match first, I thought, and approached Nam Ji-hyeon who was lying on the floor.
"Fighting a duel in such a dirty and cowardly way...."
She glares at me venomously while speaking, but there's no threatening feeling at all.
Rather, it's amazing that her spirit isn't broken even in this situation.
Should I call this admirable or should I call it stupid?
"That kind of talk is too old-fashioned."
"What?"
"How is it dirty and cowardly for a magic to use magic?"
"...."
She shuts up when I hit her with facts.
Actually, it's like a compliment.
In the games I mainly played in my previous life, when I played too well, the other side would send praise saying I played dirty and cowardly.
"Thanks for the compliment, and I'll finish this now. It'll be a bit cold at first."
I used a Water Ball first, and a large sphere of water moistly wets Nam Ji-hyeon.
"Now it'll be a bit tingly."
"End of du...."
Teacher Hwang tried to intervene, but my Lightning Ball was one step faster.
Nam Ji-hyeon, who looked like a wet rat, immediately fainted from electrocution as soon as the yellow Lightning Ball touched her.
"Ji-hyeon! Chan-seong, didn't you hear the teacher saying it was over?"
"I was already in the process of casting magic...."
Birds of a feather flock together, she glares at me fiercely, but I've shown considerable mercy given this level.
I am a teacher after all, and since Nam Ji-hyeon is a girl, I thought burning her hair would be a bit much, so I excluded Fire Ball.
Teacher Kim comes up and treats her with magic, so fortunately she wakes up quickly.
It was a natural result since I had controlled it to an absolutely non-dangerous level from the beginning.
I'm slightly regretful that I could have tormented her a bit more, but well, I think I finished it quite cleanly.
Besides, I still have one wish left.