A Newcomer’s Bold Display
Cheon Seong handed a drink to Yuna and the others who were watching the sparring matches of their fellow classmates.
“Thanks, Seong-ah.”
“Hey, thanks, but is there no juice besides this?”
“No juice, so just drink it like this.”
He tossed the drink toward Hae-sol, who had come here for reasons that were impossible to guess—whether for the matches or just to eat—without even knowing what it was.
Five Colors
Five Colors
“Hey, if you only drink that, your throat will get stuck.”
Whoosh!
Sip, gulp, glug, gulp.
Hae-sol stared blankly at the flying drink, chewed the contents in her mouth thoroughly, and then leaped high from her seat.
She caught the drink I threw in mid-air and landed perfectly, but the jump had sent the trash from all the food she usually ate flying everywhere.
“Haa, don’t do things like that in front of other people. It would have just fallen on you anyway.”
Whoosh—!
I caught the trash Hae-sol had made with my telekinesis magic and scolded her, while Hae-sol nodded her head while gulping down the drink I bought.
Nod, nod, nod.
“Don’t nod your head while drinking. The drink’s gonna spill.”
Nod, nod, nod.
“Haa, I have no idea how you got into second place at the academy.”
Twitch!
Hae-sol’s ears twitched at my mumbled words while wiping up the spilled drink.
Even though her family was a prestigious clan and she had entered second place ahead of the genius Yoo Hwa-young—who was supposed to surpass transcendent realms in the future—she was undeniably skilled. But from the way she had been acting until now, it was hard to imagine it was really Hae-sol.
Yoo Hwa-young and Cheon Yu-seong had shown their past selves, and Seol Si-yun had proven his strength after regression in the Seoraksan dungeon.
The flames of Hwa-young’s fire that dyed the city sky red. The lightning that blanketed a mountain for Cheon Yu-seong. And Seol Si-yun who had ended them all with a single slash.
But unlike these three, I hadn’t known Hae-sol’s name before regression.
Even if I had been uninterested, as the second-place student at the academy I should have at least heard her name. So why hadn’t I?
Her family was a prestigious clan. If something had happened to the eldest daughter of the Sunlight Family, a massive storm would have hit society.
I had been pondering this for a few moments when my gaze, looking at Hae-sol, pulled me out of my thoughts.
Hae-sol looked back at me with eyes that asked why I was staring, then rolled up her sleeve with a grunt and said,
“I’m strong. That’s why I’m second place.”
It looked like she was showing off her strength by rolling up her sleeve, but the arm she had bared was white and smooth—no muscles at all.
Of course, judging strength from appearance alone was foolish, but it would have been better if she had just said she was strong without rolling up her sleeve.
Evidence of that was that Yuna, Hwa-young, and Kim Ha-jin were all looking at Hae-sol with adorable eyes.
“Sure, sure. I know you’re strong, so just roll down your sleeve.”
“I’m really strong. I’m telling the truth.”
My words didn’t sound sincere. Hae-sol puffed out her cheeks in a pout and said she was strong again, but the more she acted like that, the less real it felt.
Just as I was about to roll down her sleeve,
‘Eh? What’s this? Did I see wrong?’
At the moment I rolled down her sleeve, a scar-like mark briefly appeared on Hae-sol’s arm.
“Eh? Cheon-seon, why are you doing that?”
“It’s nothing. And it’s Seong, not Seon. Stop forgetting already.”
“Yeah, Seong.”
Hae-sol tilted her head curiously at me, who was standing still holding the sleeve, and I hurriedly rolled down the sleeve and answered that it was nothing.
The scar wasn’t strange to me—I had plenty in my past life. The odd thing was that a scar on the daughter of a high-class clan.
Even in the martial world, injuries were treated immediately, so scars shouldn’t exist unless something truly major happened.
Well, I didn’t know everything about such things, but I was just momentarily startled by the sight that didn’t match my expectations.
After I had rolled down Hae-sol’s sleeve and she sat back down, Kim Ha-jin approached Seong with a snickering grin and whispered in his ear.
“Hey, hey. Did you see that too?”
“See what?”
“Come on, honestly, you must have seen it and paused for a second.”
“So what exactly are you talking about?”
Whenever I asked what he was talking about without seeing it, Ha-jin’s expression turned ugly and he whispered,
“When you rolled down Hae-sol’s sleeve just now. You saw it for a second. Black underwear!”
Crash!!
“What the hell was that? I’m so embarrassed.”
What grand secret was he talking about? I had been waiting expectantly until he finally revealed that the color of Hae-sol’s underwear I had glimpsed for a moment was black.
At the sound of my fist involuntarily rising, Kim Ha-jin’s head was slammed down hard. The guy grabbed the spot and said to me as if complaining,
“Why’d you hit me! Honestly, you saw that too… sorry, bro. Please stop that punch.”
Seeing Ha-jin bow his head again right after I gave him another punch was a little funny, but I still had no idea what about that guy’s underwear he was curious about.
Her age and body were adult, but her behavior made her seem even more mature than me.
“Uung, ma-is-eong.”
“You want to see that kind of girl like this?”
“Ugh, if you say it like that, I don’t know what to say… Honestly, how could a guy not look away at that?”
Pointing at Hae-sol who was happily munching on candy with a big smile, Ha-jin scolded me, but he still thought it was wrong and tried to argue back at me, saying how a guy could possibly not look away.
“I didn’t look away. Stop treating me the same. It’s disgusting.”
“Hey! You have a wife like Yuna, so that’s why! But me, a guy like me has no choice!”
“Don’t say ‘wife’ outside. Yuna will be embarrassed.”
“Oh right. Sorry. Wife.”
“Ah, i-it’s fine.”
Ha-jin sighed after apologizing again and calling me wife, and Yuna finally answered with a shy smile from the gazes feeling a little stronger around her.
Start!
At that moment, Hae-sol, who had been eating the food and snacks ravenously, suddenly stood up from her seat.
The moment Hae-sol stood up, all eyes turned to her—Yuna, Hwa-young, Seong, and Ha-jin. Hae-sol looked straight into Seong’s eyes among those gazes and said,
“Now it’s my turn. Watch this.”
Seong thought that the words were meant for him.
‘She’s hurt her pride.’
I had forgotten something because I had only seen her childish side.
Hae-sol was a beastman, and beastmen had strong pride.
***
Hae-sol stood at the sparring arena, and in the spectator seats, exactly my gaze was fixed on her calmly.
It was as if she was saying, “Look how strong I am.”
Even though that look seemed like a child trying hard to impress her parents, I was anyway going to watch her in perfect detail, because even if Hae-sol didn’t do that, I would be watching everything.
The people who would become strong in the future were almost always remembered, but I didn’t know the strength of the current strong person, Hae-sol.
And I was looking forward to seeing what kind of appearance she would show.
Even though I had kept calling her childish, that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
Children didn’t give up easily and had rich imaginations that adults lacked.
I was also confirming whether Hae-sol had that imagination now, but I was especially looking forward to how she would incorporate it into combat.
‘Well, actually, this is all hypothetical, but what if Hae-sol really had that kind of imagination.’
“Then are both sides ready?”
“Yes.”
Nod.
The professor who was supervising the sparring in the arena walked apart from both disciples and shouted with a nod.
“Sparring begins!”
The sparring had begun with the professor who handled the judgment in the arena moving far away from the two.
As the professor moved away, the exploration phase between Hae-sol and the opposing male began.
Actually, it was the opposing male who started the exploration alone.
Hae-sol’s gaze stayed fixed on one spot, and at first I thought it was to induce his complacency, but when the opposing male saw that she wasn’t actually paying attention to him, he shouted,
“Hey! Even if you’re second place, this isn’t the way!”
The students who had entered the academy were among the top talents, so they all had high pride.
But Hae-sol had already gouged a hole in the opposing male’s pride before even facing him in the first round by ignoring the man, and despite his shout, since Hae-sol didn’t look at him, the man fidgeted with his hands and set his stance.
Shhh!
“No matter how much second place you are, I’ll make you regret that arrogance of ignoring me.”
Bang! Whoosh!!
The man stomped the ground, and with a sound like a gunshot, the neck scarf in his hand aimed for Hae-sol’s jaw.
‘I’ll end this with one shot!’
Using my unique ability, I fused the fastest of my techniques—Fusional Sword Dance.
Even if you were second place, I could guarantee an attack that wouldn’t be able to react.
But
Whish, bang!
“Wh-what?!”
Contrary to my confidence, second place simply blocked my sword without even looking at it.
‘Then I’ll fight him with raw power!’
I had blocked, not repelled the attack.
So there should be a reaction from blocking with one arm.
With a reaction present, the advantage in a power struggle was clearly mine.
Krunch!
“Hwaaaaah!!”
With a firm battle cry, I poured power into the hand gripping the sword, and as the sword edges began to tremble against each other, for the first time Hae-sol looked at the opposing male and said,
“There is no one you have ignored.”
“What? What do you mean—”
“It wasn’t that you needed to be careful.”
Rattle, rattle rattle!
Hae-sol’s sword gradually pushed back the opponent’s sword with force, and when the man who had never imagined being pushed back finally retreated a step and tried to say something more,
Crack, crackle!
‘C-crap, the sword! I have to get away now!’
Seeing cracks spreading like twigs on his sword, he tilted his sword to let Hae-sol’s sword slide off and used his unique ability to create distance from Hae-sol.
Haa, haa… haa!
The man, who had overused his unique ability out of panic, panted heavily while checking his neck scarf’s condition.
All the items at the academy were top-grade.
Even the neck scarf used in sparring was a masterpiece weapon made with the best materials, yet after one power struggle it had cracked along the blade as if twigs had spread through it.
They wouldn’t even be able to properly spar without the swords breaking first.
‘What the hell did he do?’
He was strong, but not strong enough that I couldn’t handle it.
He had lost the power struggle with second place who had blocked my blade and taken a heavy reaction, or had made the sword break just before, and I couldn’t understand it at all.
Even without any attack—only a power struggle with me.
‘First, I’ll avoid attacks as much as possible and look for a gap—’
After confirming the condition of the sword, the man thought of maintaining distance from Hae-sol and acting defensively.
As if knowing the man’s thoughts, Hae-sol relaxed her body and lowered her posture by bending.
Then she poured power into the arm holding the sword and threw it strongly toward the man, and as he saw the quickly approaching Hae-sol’s sword coming at him, instead of blocking he moved his body to dodge the sword.
Crash!!!
The Hae-sol who had lowered her posture lunged forward and caught the sword flying toward the man in mid-air while bent over as if about to fall.
In an instant, even though she had closed the distance between them, against Hae-sol’s attack that had already dug into his blind spot, the man tried his best to respond.
Crunch, whack!
The sword, already at its limit, completely failed to block Hae-sol’s attack and shattered into pieces. The neck scarf was destroyed as the sword swung by Hae-sol struck the man and sent him flying far outside the sparring arena.
Shuaaaaah!
Even though the sparring had ended, the professor who was the judge was so impressed by Hae-sol’s skill that he forgot to announce the result, and the students watching the sparring were also too stunned by Hae-sol’s skill to say anything.
And the person who had created that result, Hae-sol, raised her lowered body with vigor and looked toward the direction where Seong was. She raised both hands high toward the sky.
Seong shouted something urgently toward Hae-sol, but she couldn’t hear what he was saying, and just as he was reinforcing his hearing to listen to Seong’s words,
Ting!!
With the sound of something being torn and bounced away, his hearing was reinforced and Seong’s voice reached him.
“You crazy bitch! Get over here in front of me right now!!”
Seong’s surprise was not the kind of surprise Hae-sol had wanted.
