Ch 66
Became a swordsmanship instructor at the academy
Chapter 66
The dueling grounds used by hunters are magically enhanced.
Starting with barrier magic that separates the exterior from the interior of the dueling ground, there are various spells including magic that repairs damage, and these magics operate by magicians infusing magic through magic stones installed in the dueling ground.
I was so busy dodging and blocking that I didn't notice, but all the barriers that had been deployed in the dueling ground have disappeared.
The floors damaged by Aura Blade fragments aren't being repaired either.
Looking below the dueling ground, I see that all three staff members—the two in charge of barriers and the one who served as referee—have collapsed.
Although the magic stones installed in the dueling ground serve as mediators while also bearing some of the magic burden, making magic consumption low, it seems it was too much to withstand Kim Dae-chan's mindless Aura Blade bombardment.
"Let's move locations."
"Didn't you say you had dinner plans? Come to think of it, I also had some schedule or something. And how can a person be so heartless? We should take care of these staff members first."
He speaks shamelessly, but when we talked earlier, he suggested having dinner together, so what kind of schedule is he talking about now?
Since I'm not easy to deal with, he definitely planned this situation from the beginning and launched that mindless Aura Blade bombardment.
"I do have a prior engagement, but if I explain the situation, they'll understand. Let's call 119 and move locations."
I'm sorry to Teacher Kim and Teacher Hong, but I absolutely cannot end things like this.
"My schedule cannot be postponed."
How can a person be so shameless?
The words "Do you want to be cowardly like that?" rose to my throat, but I barely held back and opened my mouth again.
"Then are you admitting defeat?"
"That's not it. But I do acknowledge your skill."
"Don't try to brush it off like that. Promise me that from now on you won't make Se-jin train harshly and won't burden or pressure her in any way."
"Wasn't that the condition if you won? You didn't win either...."
Sigh.... I just want to beat up this parent regardless of anything else.
"Then what do you want to do?"
"Let's change the conditions a bit. Earlier, you told me that training in my way won't allow our Se-jin to win at WHCU. Do you still think so?"
"My thoughts haven't changed on that."
"Then it sounds like you're saying that if I abandon my methods and leave it to Se-jin herself, she can win. Is that right?"
"That's...."
"You just said your thoughts haven't changed, so why can't you answer properly? Don't tell me it was just something you said without thinking?"
No, this isn't even domestic but a competition where all the top hunters under 18 from around the world participate. How can he ask me to guarantee....
"I can't guarantee victory, but at least Se-jin preparing on her own will achieve much better results than you overworking Se-jin."
"By better results, you mean winning, right?"
"I heard that the opponent Se-jin faced in the first round last time won the championship. If the bracket luck isn't that bad, she'll definitely make it to the rankings."
"Rankings? What kind of good result is that? People don't remember second or third place. If it's not a victory, it's meaningless."
"What are you trying to say?"
"Until the WHCU competition, as you requested, I won't make Se-jin do other training and won't force or pressure her in any way. If Se-jin wins, I'll admit I was wrong and won't interfere in the future either."
"What if she doesn't win?"
"Since Se-jin couldn't win because of your argument, you should take responsibility. Hmm, yes. Quitting school and coming to our guild seems reasonable. How about it?"
***
"I saw the message earlier saying you might be a little late, but for something like that to happen.... Are you okay?"
"As I mentioned, it was interrupted midway so I'm fine."
"So how did you respond? You didn't accept it, did you?"
"I accepted it."
"Teacher Kang... You accepted such an unreasonable proposal?"
"No, why did you do that!"
"If I had refused there, I felt like he would try to make Se-jin do excessive training again, so I had no choice."
I had made a big show in front of Se-jin, telling her to trust only me, and my pride was hurt, so I couldn't back down.
"Se-jin is an excellent student, but I heard her results weren't that good in the last competition."
"That was because of bad bracket luck. The opponent Se-jin fought in the first round was the previous competition's winner."
"Um... Teacher Kang, was last competition's winner a third-year?"
"What?"
"WHCU allows previous winners to continue participating as long as they meet the age requirement. If the previous winner wasn't a graduate, they'll participate this time too."
"Ah, that's right. Regardless of how the bracket turns out, if she can't win, Teacher Kang will have to quit and go to Ares Guild...."
"Probably, she was the same age as Se-jin."
"You knew that and still accepted?"
"Then she'll participate in this competition too. What do we do?"
I'm the one who accepted the proposal, but somehow Teacher Kim and Teacher Hong seem more worried.
It's true that I accepted the proposal out of pride, but I didn't accept it purely out of pride—I calculated everything too.
The name of the person who defeated Se-jin at the January WHCU competition this year is Bianca Rowell.
She's a character who appears in the original work, but actually Bianca Rowell's role isn't that significant, and Bianca Rowell's younger brother Ryan Rowell and their father Conrad Rowell have much more significant roles.
First, their father Conrad Rowell is a member of the Ten Stars, the world's strongest hunters.
And Bianca's younger brother Ryan appears as the protagonist Lee Ji-sung's opponent in the WHCU competition finals.
He's the typical character who thinks he's the best, so at first he doesn't get along well with Lee Ji-sung, but after getting properly educated, they become friends later.
In his second and third years, he continues to meet Lee Ji-sung at the WHCU competition, and when Lee Ji-sung becomes an adult and opposes Antas, Ryan also helps him.
Bianca first appears helping Lee Ji-sung along with her younger brother, but as novels always go, the protagonist solves everything, so she doesn't have any special achievements.
In the original work, she felt like Extra #7 helping the protagonist, but she definitely cannot be ignored.
Bianca has been representing Britain at the WHCU competition since her first year and won not only this year but also last year.
She's a world-class prospect whom many expect to become the youngest S-rank globally, and in her home country Britain, she's even called the 'Reincarnation of Merlin'.
Even before appearing in the original work, her younger brother Ryan mentions her quite often.
'Sister is scarier than father.'
'If our sister had been a swordsman instead of a magician, I would have given up the sword because I wouldn't want to be compared.'
In the original work, the protagonist is so overpowered that it's not well expressed, but she's a genius who dominated an era.
Of course, our Se-jin is also a promising prospect with high expectations domestically, but honestly, she falls short compared to Bianca.
If the two fight again, Se-jin would have a higher chance of losing than winning.
But according to the original work, Bianca won't participate in next year's WHCU competition.
***
"Bianca Rowell? Her surname is exactly the same as yours, Ryan. The photo looks somewhat similar too... Ah, is this your sister?"
"Similar my foot! We don't look alike at all. If our sister heard that, you'd be dead."
"Come on, anyone can see you're carbon copies. Right, Chris?"
"She's a complete beauty, so what do you mean similar? Brother-in-law, please take care of me from now on."
"Beauty my frozen ass... It's all Photoshop. And what brother-in-law? You can't handle my sister."
"Is she that scary? Oh, last year's photo is also of your sister. So she won two consecutive times? That's impressive."
"She had been winning consecutively since my first year, two times in a row. She'll win this year too, so I'm more impressed."
"This year won't work. And my sister has also won as a representative since her first year."
"Huh? Then why didn't she participate in her third year?"
"She was selected as a representative in her third year too. But she left home."
"Left home? So she ran away? Why? Don't tell me it was an elopement or something?"
"What are you talking about? With our sister's personality, how could she have a boyfriend? From around that fall, she was extremely irritated saying she couldn't get materials for some research, then as soon as winter break started, she left saying she'd get them herself and came home two days before graduation."
"What research? I mean, no matter how important research is, she was selected as a national representative but didn't participate?"
"I heard from mom that sister contacted her and said that there were no kids at her level anyway, and since she'd definitely win if she participated, it wasn't fun so she didn't go."
"Your sister is as confident as Ji-sung."
"No matter how much it was vacation, didn't your parents say anything when their daughter was out for so long?"
"Sister was an adult then, right? Originally, sister is untouchable in our house, so even dad doesn't say anything. And she said she originally wasn't planning to go to give other kids opportunities, so why should anyone complain?"
"Giving others opportunities is good, but WHCU is a competition where the most skilled person represents the country. Yielding such a position seems wrong."
"If Britain couldn't win because my sister didn't participate, then maybe. But Britain won even without my sister participating, so it doesn't matter."
"Wow, annoying. Yeah, your Britain is so great."
"Our Britain is pretty great. It's the country with the most WHCU victories in history."
"That's all old history. I won the last 2 years, so Korea is great and Britain is outdated."
"Out... Outdated? Lee Ji-sung, you've said everything now, haven't you?"
"Ah, really... Why are you guys like this again?"
***
Of course, according to the original content, Se-jin doesn't win, but that's because Kim Dae-chan harshly drove Se-jin and completely ruined her condition.
In the interview Bianca left after winning this year, she mentioned Se-jin, whom she fought first, as the most impressive opponent.
I prevented Kim Dae-chan from overworking Se-jin, and as long as Bianca doesn't participate, I thought we could definitely aim for victory.
"Um... There's something more I need to tell you two."
"What is it?"
"The WHCU competition starts in mid-January. When I accepted the proposal, I said I'd take charge of Se-jin's education during winter break, so I'm planning to include Se-jin in this winter break's dungeon run. What do you two think?"
"Didn't we decide to go to an A-grade portal? Se-jin hasn't even taken her grade assessment yet...."
"For A-grade 4-person portals, since Teacher Lee Seol and I are A-rank hunters, there's no problem with entry in principle."
When hunter school students go for practical training, they mainly go to E-grade or D-grade portals, and third-years sometimes go to C-grade portals.
But this is only what the school decides considering the students' overall level, and it's not legally stipulated that hunter school students cannot go to B-grade or A-grade portals.
"I haven't asked Se-jin herself yet so it's not certain, but knowing that kid, she probably won't refuse. Of course, practical experience and education are the main purposes, but I'm not planning to make her participate in the dungeon run excessively by putting her in the front line with me."
"You mean to take her around like sightseeing."
"That's right. For profit distribution, I'll only distribute if I judge that Se-jin directly participated in the dungeon run and was helpful, so you don't need to worry. If distribution happens, I'll take care of her separately from my share."
"What? That's not right. Teacher Kang works the hardest during dungeon runs but doesn't take more. If Se-jin is helpful, it's right to divide from the total profit."
"I also think Seol-ah is right about this. If Se-jin receives distribution, it should come from the total."
I know both of them aren't the type to haggle over money usually, but I deliberately suggested taking it from my share just in case... I think I've really met good colleagues.
***
I was worried about what to do if that bastard Kang Shin-hyeok didn't accept the proposal and stubbornly insisted on continuing the duel, but thank goodness.
His skill is truly outstanding, unbelievable for someone who just became an A-rank hunter, but his head doesn't seem that good.
Since that bastard accepted the proposal, I have nothing to lose.
If he makes our Se-jin win, that's good in itself, and if she can't win, Kang Shin-hyeok will come to our guild, which is also good.
Whatever happens is all good, but if possible, I hope Se-jin doesn't win.
That bastard is definitely comparable to an S-rank hunter.
If he comes, our guild will effectively have two S-rank hunters, and later when Se-jin becomes an S-rank hunter too, our Ares Guild will have three S-rank hunters.
If that happens, our Ares Guild will be Korea's strongest... No, perhaps the world's best guild.
No guild in any country has three S-rank hunters.
Of course, since we didn't set a specific period, he could come to the guild and leave after exactly one year.
But I have it all figured out.