131. Counterattack (3)
131. Counterattack (3)
The time was about two months before the Midterm Evaluation.
"Hoo boy, the only ways to raise stats are dungeon grinding, classes, and training—so I guess it can't be helped, but... ."
Jin Yu-ha had called the party members together out of the blue, and now he was tilting his head with his arms crossed, clearly dissatisfied about something.
"Is there some kind of problem with us?"
Shin Se-hee asked Jin Yu-ha.
"You guys are way too weak right now."
"...Excuse me?"
"Hah, the bastards we'll have to deal with are only going to get stronger. If we keep going like this, it'll just be a total wipeout. And it's not the kind of scale I can handle all by myself either."
"Th-then what should we do?"
Shin Se-hee, who at least tended to take Jin Yu-ha's words closer to the truth than the others, asked.
"Hoo boy, I'm still inexperienced myself so I'm not sure this is right. But now that I look at it, I'm certain. Starting even a little sooner really is better."
"Huh? Starting what?"
"Yeah, training. Starting tonight, you guys are going to be taking training I oversee, every single night."
At the same time, Jin Yu-ha muttered something under his breath in a voice no one else could make out.
"O-of course. It's absolutely not because I'd feel screwed being the only one suffering through it, or anything like that, okay?"
At that, the other party members—since it was true that their combat power was lower than Jin Yu-ha's—shut their mouths and nodded along.
But Kang Do-hee couldn't help but frown.
'...I'm, weak?'
That one line from Jin Yu-ha had gotten under her skin.
In Kang Do-hee's case.
She'd already been doing that grappling thing, or whatever it was, with him before, in Personal Combat Class.
Because escaping those bizarre joint locks was the condition for a rematch against Jin Yu-ha.
Of course, every time, one more pointless, trashy rumor got added to the pile.
And honestly, the way other cadets gulped as they stole glances at their training was a little irritating.
— C-can I, too...? Can I get him to teach me that? I want Jin Yu-ha to pin me down too!
— As if.
— Ugh... . I'm so damn jealous of Kang Do-hee. What, did she close an SSS-Rank Gate and regress or something? Just what kind of life do you have to live to...!
— Hey, you can kind of, kind of see her chest, right there!?
Zzzap.
— Eek!?
Since no one was blabbering about it right in front of her face, she let it slide.
Anyway.
'Fine, I'll admit that grappling thing or whatever it is has merit.'
The minor(?) issue of bodies pressing close and tangling stickily in poses embarrassing for a guy aside,
training with Jin Yu-ha definitely gave her considerable inspiration and insight into how to use her body.
However, that training had been premised on Jin Yu-ha already having her firmly restrained from the start.
In a real fight, she could have dealt with him before he ever wrapped his body around hers.
So it was only natural that she couldn't take Jin Yu-ha's "weak" at face value.
"Yellow Dog—."
"Kang Do-hee."
But before Kang Do-hee could step forward, Jin Yu-ha cut her off, as if he'd been expecting it.
"Of course, right now, you're stronger than me."
"... ."
"But, will that still be true a year from now?"
"What?"
"I mean my growth rate. Don't you think I'm getting stronger way too fast?"
At that, Kang Do-hee flinched.
Because that was something she'd been thinking about constantly ever since she recognized Jin Yu-ha's true worth.
Jin Yu-ha's growth rate.
He was different from a week ago and a week later.
Different from three days ago and three days later.
Different from yesterday to today.
Why, how on earth, could Jin Yu-ha get strong that fast.
While others sprinted forward on two feet, Jin Yu-ha shot ahead alone as if he'd sprouted wings.
That was why she was uneasy.
It was clear that, growing stronger at a rate different from everyone else, he would one day surpass even her,
and she might end up reduced to a bystander, a bit player watching him advance far ahead from behind.
She couldn't help but think that.
Since meeting Jin Yu-ha, Kang Do-hee had even cut her sleep to increase the weight of her solo training.
Yet the gap with Jin Yu-ha was closing steadily, day by day.
"... ."
Kang Do-hee said nothing and just stared piercingly at Jin Yu-ha.
"I'm going to tell you that secret right now. So, can you trust me and take the training?"
* * *
Ha.
A hollow laugh slipped from Kang Do-hee's lips as she recalled that old memory for a moment.
She still didn't know Jin Yu-ha's past.
She only knew the fragmentary fact that he'd lost his parents as a child.
Running a separate background check on him, or forcibly prying into things he didn't want to talk about, wasn't her style.
But, having endured that brutal training.
Only then did Kang Do-hee feel like she'd glimpsed the source of Jin Yu-ha's outrageous growth.
In reality, Jin Yu-ha had merely benchmarked Baek Seol-hee's education and brought it over exactly.
But this was something Kang Do-hee couldn't possibly know.
'Insane training.'
Jin Yu-ha had unleashed dense, heavy killing intent upon his party members.
Killing intent so vivid it showed illusions of your head actually being severed.
It was something a boy that age could not possibly possess.
'A guy who's lived every single day in the middle of death like that... .'
Even in a man's body, it would be stranger if he didn't get strong.
The cause was probably the death of his parents.
It was the training of a madman who dismissed his own life as "beneath notice" and devoted himself solely to getting stronger.
You couldn't endure it with a sane mind.
Kang Do-hee herself had almost broken multiple times from that batshit-crazy difficulty, honestly.
But she'd gritted her teeth and digested it all.
She wanted to be a rival standing right beside Jin Yu-ha.
She never wanted to be some bit player clapping from behind him.
*
"Ahahahah! You're cute, aren't you? What? You want me to beat you up a little?"
Ling Wei's expression went blank for a second before she suddenly burst out laughing.
"Fighting Dog, yeah, Fighting Dog... . I've heard the name somewhere, but at the end of the day, you're just a prospect, right? People hype you up, so you think you're something? If we fight right now, do you think you could even touch a single part of my body?"
"No way to know without trying, is there."
Kang Do-hee took her stance in front of her.
'So this thing is a Demonized Human?'
According to what she'd heard from Shin Se-hee, the opponent was a Demonized Human.
Demonized Humans (魔人).
Those who are human but have abandoned their human hearts.
Unlike monsters, enemies with intelligence.
Something exceedingly dangerous.
The existence of Demonized Humans—she'd only heard about them. This was her first time actually facing one.
Of course, not long after the entrance ceremony, when one of the upperclassmen had turned into a Demonized Human.
She'd participated in the fight when Jin Yu-ha summoned her, but back then she'd only faced the monsters that Demonized Human had brought with her.
By the time she'd headed toward the Demonized Human to help Jin Yu-ha, it had already destroyed itself.
Shing─
The weapon Ling Wei drew from her Subspace Tattoo was throwing daggers.
Multiple throwing daggers.
'Looks like she mainly uses throwing techniques.'
That Subspace probably held throwing daggers that would never run dry no matter how many you pulled out.
And it had to be ranged, of all things.
Slightly tricky for her, since she mainly used close-quarters attacks.
On top of that, her body was full of fatigue from the aftermath of the life-or-death fight with Lee Yu-ri just moments ago.
'But, so what.'
Kang Do-hee looked at the weasel-faced woman and let out a smirk.
This was an enemy she had to eliminate here anyway.
And for all she knew, Jin Yu-ha was probably somewhere else right now, locked in a bloody battle with an even bigger fish.
In a situation like this, if she couldn't even handle this kind of trash mob, she might as well roll over on her belly in front of Yellow Dog and bat her eyelashes.
"All you have to do today is just get the shit beaten out of you by me."
Kang Do-hee murmured lowly, then kicked off the ground and launched herself toward Ling Wei.
Whoosh—!
At that, Ling Wei's expression stiffened at the approach speed, much faster than expected, and she swung her arm out sharply like a bolt of lightning.
SWOOOOSH—!
Five throwing daggers shot out from her fingertips.
The daggers flew in, spreading like wings to encircle her.
Each dagger's presence was weighty, impossible to ignore.
At the daggers flying in with a brutal whistle, Kang Do-hee's eyes sank low.
— You were born with Mana like a wildfire, but that doesn't mean your head should heat up too.
If you get excited just because you're hit with killing intent, you just die right there on the spot.
Jin Yu-ha's voice flowed into her head.
'That Yellow Dog bastard.'
I know that even without you telling me!
Thwung─
Ting!
Ting!
She wreathed her hand in Mana and deflected one of the daggers.
And the deflected dagger collided with two others, their trajectories twisting.
Two daggers remaining.
Even while airborne, Kang Do-hee twisted her body and dodged them.
Then, the moment Kang Do-hee closed the distance.
"Hup!"
Shing!
A short blade sprang out from Ling Wei's wrist.
'A rat-like method, honestly.'
Kang Do-hee didn't dodge the short blade slashing toward her head.
She simply.
Reached out and seized the short blade's edge.
Crunch!
Drip─
Drip─
Red blood streaming from Kang Do-hee's palm dripped to the floor.
"Hey, so, you know what?"
Kang Do-hee stared straight at Ling Wei.
"Me? I recently learned the ever-loving shit out of a technique called grappling in personal combat class."
"...!?"
The corner of Kang Do-hee's mouth curled upward.
"And, you? You just got caught."