Chapter 15
Chapter 15
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 15
Chapter Title: Hoping to Get Close (5)
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Since when had she noticed?
San Su-yu stared at me with her usual impassive expression.
-What are you?
Her emotionless mutter carried a chill.
-Slam.
San Su-yu stepped out into the hallway and strode right up to me.
The sweet scent of her sweat wafted up from the wide-open door. Now that I looked, her T-shirt was soaked through with sweat, clinging to her skin.
"You."
"Yes?"
"What were you just doing?"
San Su-yu's status was higher than I'd imagined, so I responded politely as a base.
"I'm sorry."
I bowed my head.
Copying someone else's swordsmanship after watching it was a breach of etiquette. It wouldn't be strange if she killed me under the pretext of secrecy.
On top of that, the Cornerus Family she belonged to was one of the top families in Korea.
In short, I was in the wrong.
I waited in that bowed position for her words.
"Why are you apologizing?"
It was an unexpected response.
"Pardon?"
As I reflexively questioned her, San Su-yu leaned toward my bowed head without a care.
"Earlier."
......Earlier?
I lifted my head slightly.
'!!!'
I froze in shock. Right in front of my eyes was a massive chest asserting its presence.
E? F?
Considering she was wearing bandages and a sports bra on top, it had to be even bigger.
This had to surpass even a World Tree in maternal allure. The title of world's strongest breasts was well-deserved.
"Answer."
As I lost my words, San Su-yu spoke again in a completely flat tone.
"Earlier... do you mean when I copied your swordsmanship?"
"Copied?"
"Ah, yes. I'm sorry. I knew I shouldn't, but it looked so cool..."
San Su-yu crossed her arms under her chest and stared at me with vacant eyes.
"Do it."
"Pardon?"
"Earlier."
She wanted me to show it again.
It was her swordsmanship to begin with, so I readily assumed the starting stance.
"This one."
I glanced around for a sword, and San Su-yu held out hers. The heavy wooden sword felt perfectly suited to me, like it was made for her.
It was probably her personal training sword.
"Then, here I go."
"Yeah."
Had she always seemed this emotionless?
'Well, she was always sitting alone in class, aloof and isolated.'
Put nicely, a flower on a cliffside. Put harshly, a pretty big-breasted loner.
Actually, detached from worldly concerns might be more accurate.
With that thought in mind, I swung the sword.
-Whoosh!
There was no flaw in my form.
Regardless of power, my talent and faith in the sword yielded to no one.
I turned my left foot back into the first stance, adding elasticity to the motion with my waist.
Advance firmly. Retreat without hesitation.
The movement contained no mana whatsoever, so I couldn't mimic her unique petal flourish, but it exuded a presence worthy of her.
"Sip, whoosh."
A breath that cleared the mind, the sword extending straight from my core.
No muscle went unused in the precise form. She probably knew that better than I did.
There were points to refine here, but I'd set those aside for now.
What I needed to show was her sword, after all.
-Clack.
Final stance.
San Su-yu's face was as stiff as before.
The only difference was her eyes were slightly wider, her bright yellow irises gleaming with light.
"How?"
"Pardon?"
"How did you do it."
"I just saw it and could do it."
I spoke the truth rather than deception.
San Su-yu listened intently, tapping her forearm with her finger while keeping her arms crossed.
"Mana?"
"That... I don't have any mana yet."
"Why?"
Why ask that here?
The conversation with her, whom I'd thought I had a grasp on, abruptly halted.
She was asking why I had no mana.
"I don't know. It should appear soon, probably."
"Oh?"
San Su-yu extended her hand indifferently. As I blanked out not understanding, she frowned slightly.
"Sword."
"Ah, yes."
"Follow."
"Pardon?"
She turned toward the training room she'd been using and gestured for me to follow.
"Hurry."
I grabbed a wooden sword from the wall and entered. The sweet bodily fragrance from earlier hit me strongly.
Maybe because she was wooden folk, even her scent was floral. It flustered me a bit.
-Click.
San Su-yu switched the training room to sparring mode and took her stance. No sign of mana activation.
[5!] [4!] [3!] I matched the countdown, assuming my stance and regulating my breath.
My swordsmanship already had a solid framework.
The epitome of orthodoxy.
The wooden dummy master's sword, synthesized from tens of thousands of techniques via deep learning.
Trusting my adaptable body, I committed to honest swordplay.
[2!] [1!] -Beep!
San Su-yu's body surged forward. Agility in the mid-5s. Or higher.
Her sword, taking the form of swift blade, flew like a dagger at my shoulder.
Wooden Dummy Swordsmanship 1st Form. Leaf Snap.
-Swish swish swish!
The first stance my master showed most often. I perfectly deflected her fluid, rapid strike.
"!"
San Su-yu's eyes widened slightly as she stepped into the second stance.
A faint image of petals etched behind her.
The strike I'd seen then.
I mimicked it exactly.
Stepping back, using my body's elasticity to make the sword's path unpredictable.
But this wasn't suited to the wooden sword I held.
The sword in my hand was a sturdy dark brown one made from ebony heartwood, similar to persimmon trees native to Southeast Asia.
Length: 102cm. Standard mass-produced model.
I realized as I watched.
San Su-yu's swordsmanship was designed for light, thrusting swords, not crude ones like this.
'She probably didn't have a training sword.'
Our stances were nearly identical.
So, here I introduced a variation. A kind of arrangement.
-Crunch.
My startled muscles protested from the sudden shift.
I forcibly aligned weight and power.
My swordsmanship was one big data set learned by a wooden puppet.
Thus, overly orthodox and predictable.
But this was different.
A novel sword art, forged by my hands from San Su-yu's unique style.
-Slash!
The two swords crossed between us.
"......!"
Shock unfathomable compared to before filled San Su-yu's eyes.
I'd wanted to see that emotion.
This was why I'd built potential by sacrificing charm and stats until now.
Wooden Dummy Swordsmanship 3rd Form. Branch Prune.
-Bang!
After unleashing the technique, we silently dropped our swords.
"......"
"......"
There was no victor.
No one had taken damage enough to end the match.
Simply, the swords we held shattered to pieces.
"You."
San Su-yu glared at me with a stiff face.
Wooden fragments crunched under her slight step. This wasn't ordinary destructive power.
Probably, San Su-yu had unconsciously manifested mana. Those petals I saw were clear proof of mana.
'Then.'
How had I withstood her sword strike?
The answer was evident on San Su-yu's wide-eyed face.
Mana: 1
Mana... had increased.
"Liar."
San Su-yu glared at me with pursed lips. Her impassive face and contrary reaction were quite cute.
"Not a lie. Just now..."
"Just now?"
"I awakened my mana just now."
No reason needed. That was the power of potential 20.
With luck 10, I'd drawn legendary artifacts. Imagine 20.
"......"
But San Su-yu seemed unsatisfied with my answer.
She strode out of the training room, glancing back.
"Every day at 6, except weekends."
"Pardon?"
-Thunk.
She left before I could reply.
She glared at me through the glass wall as she departed.
Every day at 6 except weekends. Come then? To settle the score properly?
'This is......'
Friend material!
As I smiled warmly, San Su-yu suddenly stomped back and opened the training room door.
"Do you have more to say?"
San Su-yu said nothing.
Seemingly embarrassed after suggesting we continue later only to return, she bowed her head and began picking up wood fragments.
Ah, cleaning.
I watched quietly, and once she'd cleared the trash, San Su-yu left the training room again.
-Glare.
She glared and fled.
I let out empty chuckles looking at the spotless floor.
Not sure if intentional, but she'd cleaned mine too.
"Affinity wood indeed."
I jotted her name in my mental gallery and headed back to the dorm.
Next friend: her.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ The Cornerus Family was a renowned swordsmanship house that had produced numerous World Tree guards across generations.
The sword art passed down from their ancestors was befitting of the title "supreme," and every inheritor became a formidable figure without exception.
San Su-yu was the eldest daughter and a promising talent of such a Cornerus Family.
She had awakened mana in childhood, showed exceptional sword talent, and mastered magic to a level others couldn't ignore.
Thus, she grew up showered in attention like a flower in a greenhouse.
Praised endlessly at Wood Person banquets, fed elixirs rivaling delicacies.
Naturally, her achievements soared.
Everyone praised her.
-You're doing great.
-At this rate, succeeding the family will be easy.
-You must receive the World Tree's grace.
No one thought that would poison her.
Praise as poison rivals a heap of elixirs if used well, but excess becomes a burden that binds.
San Su-yu had always suffered.
An inexplicable weight on her shoulders. Fear of betraying them someday.
Overwhelmed by attention in youth, one part of her mind broke at some point.
Emotions didn't stir without intense stimulus.
How agonizing that was. Ironically, she'd long forgotten even that agony.
"Please get in, miss."
"Yeah."
San Su-yu elegantly boarded the black sedan waiting outside the training room.
Cadets on the road gaped at her poised, graceful figure.
She was pure nobility.
"What class did you have today?"
"Afternoon practice sparred with Jeong Si-woo."
"I see. How was it?"
Jeong Si-woo.
He was remarkable.
His swordsmanship always surpassed hers, and his mana and stats matched hers despite her elixirs.
Thus, sparring him always made her chest tremble.
Frustration and envy.
But too late to recognize those emotions, she vaguely guessed it was just one of the stimuli she could feel.
"Was it fun?"
"Maybe."
She wasn't sure if it was fun.
Even jealousy was just a stimulus to her.
Suddenly, one figure flashed in her mind.
"......But Mi-ho."
"It's Ji-ho, miss."
"Our family sword art. Can someone usually copy it just by watching?"
"What do you mean? Impossible. If so, our family's swordsmanship would be all over the internet by now."
"I see."
A man in a mask. Name unknown.
He discerned her sword art at a glance and made it his own.
Even she, called a genius, couldn't do that.
-Thump!
Something stirred then.
Envy and jealousy.
But this time, not pleasant stimulus, but something rough and indescribable.
If Jeong Si-woo sparked competitive envy, Lee Si-heon induced bitter, crushing jealousy.
'Si-o? Si-woo? He's different.'
Recently, only two people had made her feel emotions.
But she lacked the judgment to deem both envies the same.
What was certain: the emotion from Si-heon dwarfed that from Si-woo.
Outdone in talent by two.
Realizing that, her chest tightened instantly.
She always had to lead, yet she didn't.
"Di-ho."
"Ji-ho, miss."
"Sorry. For our family's honor..."
"What nonsense, miss. A slight rank drop doesn't diminish you."
San Su-yu bowed her head.
Ji-ho looked at her pityingly, then smiled wryly and suggested.
"How about making a friend?"
"Friend?"
"Yes. You can learn much from friends. It might even fix your chronic issue."
San Su-yu touched her mouth, recalling memories.
Friend.
Where people gathered, cadets always laughed.
Did friends always laugh by your side?
Could she laugh?
"......Friend."
She decided to try.
Ji-ho, with her since childhood, was never wrong.
"Ji-ho, thanks."
"Ji-ho, miss. Start with the name."
On the way to the single-family home, San Su-yu blankly stared out the window.
Cadets on the sidewalk ahead smiled happily, chatting with street food in hand.
A wistful feeling welled up.