What Are You Staring At? Never Seen Training?
Yuna’s explanation painted the picture clearly.
The copper-skinned man’s name was Naseen. An Egyptian Lucinus student.
Yesterday, during the separate training sessions for Lucinus students and the top two ranked students, Naseen had brazenly challenged Seol Si-yun to a sparring match. Even though Naseen was a genius among geniuses, Seol Si-yun was a monster whose strength couldn’t be concealed even by Seong himself. Naturally, Naseen suffered a crushing defeat, and Yuna had treated his battered body.
Up to that point, Seong had thought it was ordinary. But when he heard what Naseen said to Yuna after his treatment, the muscles in his clenched fist tightened.
“You… have my child.”
That was the clumsy Korean Naseen had slurred at Yuna—not a thank you, but a sudden demand to bear his child. When Seong had looked at Hae-sol and Hwa-young with a “Is this really true?” gaze, they had nodded in confirmation.
If it had been Seong or Hwa-young, they would have torn that dog’s mouth apart and burned it. But naturally, kind-hearted Yuna had only politely distanced herself, saying she had a boyfriend. Hwa-young and Dang Hwa-ran, who were training alongside her, had also told Naseen to give up, citing the good relationship between Seong and Yuna.
Two Lucinus students and the person involved herself had politely rejected him. Yet Naseen hadn’t stopped.
“I… won’t give up.”
After declaring he wouldn’t give up, Naseen had stopped training and returned to the dormitory. The meeting that followed was the one happening now.
Yuna, who had thought his earlier words were a joke, had been flustered when Naseen told her today he would never give up. She hadn’t wanted to tell Seong, knowing he’d lose his mind if he found out.
“As expected, Yuna knows me too well.”
Of course, Yuna’s prediction was perfectly correct. Right now, a murderous intent was creeping up from the depths of his heart, ready to kill Naseen on the spot.
The only reason Seong was staying calm was because Yuna had earnestly told him she would keep rejecting him and that he was the only one for her.
If that hadn’t been the case—if he were the Seong from before his regression—he would have just killed Naseen. For daring to insult Yuna.
Even so, Naseen still irritated him, so Seong planned to visit Imir soon. He would extract everything about Naseen—his family ties, his unique ability, and all the important details. He’d even bring a gift to bribe Imir, who would likely hesitate at such a request.
“Phew… I understand. I won’t do anything, Yuna. I’ll follow what you said.”
“Really? Really, Seong?”
“Yeah. You already rejected him, and causing a scene won’t do any good.”
Seong felt a little guilty about lying to Yuna, but since he wouldn’t kill Naseen, he considered it a significant concession.
“So he’s thinking about it behind our backs?”
“I can hear everything, you brat.”
“Huh? Seong, where are you going?”
Seong glared at Hwa-young, who was openly ignoring him, and stood up, walking toward Naseen. Yuna, flustered, asked where he was going.
“Where? We’ve rested enough. Time to start training again.”
As Seong stretched and said he was going to train, Hwa-young, saying it would be fun, sat on either side of Yuna with Hae-sol.
“Huh?”
“Y-you really aren’t going to do anything, right?”
Hae-sol tilted her head, confused about why she was sitting there, while Yuna anxiously asked Seong again if he really wasn’t going to do anything.
“I won’t do anything, so don’t worry. I’m just here to train.”
Even if he was angry, Seong wasn’t an idiot. He wouldn’t break his promise right in front of Yuna.
“Come on, Yuna. If he had any intentions, do you think he’d do something in front of you?”
Though Seong felt a bit annoyed, when Hwa-young said it would be fine, Yuna finally sighed in relief.
“Hae-sol! Give me just one popcorn!”
“No… I don’t have enough.”
“Ah~~! Just give me one!”
While Yuna was enduring for ages, Hwa-young pestered Hae-sol, who was eating popcorn, for just one piece. Despite having at least three or four bags of popcorn nearby, Hae-sol blocked Hwa-young’s hand with her whole body, claiming she didn’t have enough.
“Wow! This is best watched with popcorn!”
“Hing… mine.”
Finally, Hwa-young snatched the popcorn from Hae-sol and, holding a wooden puppet, watched Seong, who had turned toward Naseen, crunching popcorn.
“Oh! Looks like it’s starting!”
Soon, the wooden puppet beside Naseen activated, moving quickly toward Seong.
Click… click-click-click?—click?!
“Hm?”
“Huh?”
“Uh…?”
But no matter how they looked, the situation seemed off. Was it just their imagination that Seong, who was supposed to be training, was instead tormenting the wooden puppet? Everyone watching thought the same.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Boom—!!
Click?!
Boom—!!
Click. Click!
The lifeless wooden puppet darted away from Seong as if it were alive.
“Where are you running to.”
Click-click-click?!
Seong restrained the fleeing puppet with snake-like movements, then slammed it into the ground.
Mana began to rise from his body.
This was proof that he wasn’t enhancing his body by fusing mana with demonic energy, but by strengthening his physique with mana itself.
Naturally, it wasn’t surprising that the wooden puppet couldn’t stand a chance against Seong, who had already dominated it without using mana.
Boom!!
Seong’s true kick shattered the wooden puppet into pieces.
“You. What’s your identity.”
At that moment, Naseen, who had been watching Seong even before he used mana, asked in his still-clumsy Korean what his identity was.
“What identity? I’m just an academy student.”
“That’s a lie. You’re strong.”
Naseen denied Seong’s claim of being just an academy student. Seong, standing crookedly, replied.
“Then what do I look like to you?”
“Well…” Naseen scanned Seong up and down.
His messy, unkempt hair. His slouched posture. His school uniform, unbuttoned at the top because it felt too tight.
Combining these three things, Naseen’s assessment of Seong was this:
“Thug?”
Pffft!!
At the word “thug,” Hwa-young, who was far away eating popcorn, drinking cola from somewhere, and wearing movie theater sunglasses, sprayed her cola.
“Pff… pff! Thug, thug… you’re a thug, lol.”
Seong glared at Hwa-young, who was clutching her stomach and laughing like she’d seen a comedy. Hae-sol, who had eaten all of Hwa-young’s popcorn, reached for it with dark intent.
Slap!
“No! This is mine!”
“Huh…”
Noticing Hae-sol’s hand, Hwa-young slapped it away, saying “No!” Seong shook his head in disappointment.
“Hey. Take your eyes off Yuna.”
Seong told Naseen to look away from Yuna, and Naseen tilted his head.
“Who is Yuna?”
Seong, thinking “No way,” pointed at Yuna.
“Ah, her. I rejected her.”
Only then did Naseen realize the person he was looking at was Yuna, and he expressed his rejection to Seong.
Seong glared at Naseen, and Naseen stared back.
Seong could tell Naseen was tall from a distance, but facing him made his size even more real. Seong wasn’t short himself, but he had to look up to see Naseen’s face, and Naseen’s build was half a shoulder width wider than his.
Naseen, despite being much larger than Seong, couldn’t find any openings in him. It was astonishing that Seong wasn’t a Lucinus.
They stared at each other for a moment. Just as Yuna’s anxiety was about to peak, Seong was the first to look away and return to her.
He had said he’d train again to test how Naseen would react to his strength. “I can deal with him later.” There were countless opportunities to handle Naseen, even if not now.
No matter how Naseen struggled, he couldn’t escape Imir’s grasp. Seong knew he’d have to give up a lot to escape Imir, and even if he ran, he wouldn’t get far before being discovered. If Seong tried to find Imir, Imir could easily hide if he set his mind to it.
A lizard cutting off its tail to escape and a predator chasing its prey were entirely different things.
Imir was only staying put because he didn’t want to move his lab and preferred to spend his time researching. If he had wanted to hide, he would have moved long ago to a place Seong couldn’t find.
Even so, Seong didn’t want to break his promise to Yuna right in front of her to deal with such a trivial jealousy. If he had to handle it within the academy, he’d either have to challenge Naseen to a sparring match or…
“Kill him secretly.”
But the first option would disappoint Yuna, and the second was too risky. If he got caught, it would put his loved ones in a difficult position.
Not all of the academy’s highest-ranked instructors were like Ryu Se-rin. They had experience as a weapon, and within the academy, Seong was at a disadvantage.
Seong could confidently say his experience from the war with the Celestials wasn’t lacking, but they were veterans who had fought countless battles and life-or-death struggles.
Of course, if he asked Beatrice, who could freely use teleportation, for help, he could finish it easily. But even Seong didn’t want to ask Beatrice to kill someone over such petty jealousy. That would stain her hands—no, her karma—with blood.
It was better to ask Imir and leave it for later. So, for now, Seong decided to back down.
“Eh… what? It’s boring, it’s already over? I still have popcorn left.”
Seong snatched the popcorn from Hwa-young, who was complaining that it was boring and she still had popcorn, and threw it to Hae-sol, who was clutching her stomach.
“Hng! Wow!”
The popcorn spilled from the bag and floated into the air. Hae-sol, seeing it, lit up and jumped, skillfully sucking the airborne popcorn into her mouth.
“Ah! My popcorn! Hey! What are you doing!!”
“I thought you were asking me to clean up since there was popcorn left.”
“Hng… mine.”
“Ah!! Hae-sol, wait! You didn’t eat it all, right?!… Ahh!! You ate it all!!”
Hwa-young, who had been about to argue with Seong, rushed over when she saw Hae-sol mumbling “It’s delicious,” and snatched the popcorn bag, but the remaining popcorn was already in Hae-sol’s stomach.
“Hey! What are you going to do! Give me back my popcorn! Give it back!!”
“You have so much money, why are you asking for it back?”
It was pitiful to see the youngest daughter of the Flame King Guild, the strongest in Korea, demanding popcorn back over a single bag.
“Hey! Don’t look at me like that! If I buy it myself, it doesn’t taste as good as when someone gives it to me for free! Don’t you know free is the best in the world?!”
Look at that.
Who could think of someone with such a mindset as the Flame King’s precious jewel?
Seeing Hwa-young like this made Seong realize how genuine and kind Hana was, and it gave him a sense of mission to not let her become like this.
“Fine. I’ll buy dinner. Stop whining and follow me.”
Unable to stand Hwa-young’s continued whining, Seong said he’d buy dinner and told her to stop. Hwa-young looked at him with a “Really?” expression.
“I’ll really buy it, so stop. Hae-sol, come with us. I’ll buy for you too.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, really. Come on. Yuna, let’s go.”
“…Yeah. Okay, Seong.”
But when Seong told Yuna to go eat, she responded with a look that something was bothering her. Seong was puzzled.
He was buying dinner for the two of them to help them get closer to Yuna, so why did Yuna look upset? And he hadn’t done anything extreme, just as Yuna had said, so why did she seem unhappy? Seong couldn’t figure it out.
In the end, Seong had to wonder why Yuna was upset all the way to the academy cafeteria, but he never found the answer, not even by the next day.