Anxiety. A Reality I Don't Want to Believe
-Bang-!
Only after bullets had riddled his entire body did Han Seonggil finally become completely incapacitated. Lee Hyunseung exhaled a ragged breath.
"Crazy bastard... He only passed out after his whole body was smashed to pieces."
Perhaps it was from losing too much blood, or maybe shock had set in—Han Seonggil lay unconscious. Lee Hyunseung placed a hand on the artery in his neck.
Still alive.
He was breathing clearly. His limbs weren't torn off, and with a high-grade potion, this level of damage would heal. There might be some lingering aftereffects, but his life itself wasn't in danger.
Having made that assessment, Lee Hyunseung kept his gun trained on Han Seonggil just in case and spoke.
"Jeong Eunseo. Bring me a potion. High-grade or better."
Jeong Eunseo rummaged through her belongings and pulled out a potion.
"S-should I pour it on him? He looks like he'll die if we wait any longer...."
"No. Not yet. This bastard still hasn't come back to his senses."
-Twitch-
Even with every joint in his body shattered, Han Seonggil struggled desperately to move. The only part of him that could still twitch was his fingers. Anyone who didn't know the situation might have wondered if he was some kind of zombie.
-Swish-
-Thud-
Eventually, Han Seonggil's hand fell limply to the floor.
-Whoosh-
When Lee Hyunseung forced Han Seonggil's eyelids open, the bloodshot eyes had returned to normal. The Berserker trait had ended.
"Now you can pour the potion."
Just then—
-Boom-!
Someone forcibly dispelled the barrier around the F-class and smashed through the door.
"Han Seonggil, cease your actions immediately...."
The person was Choi Yi-seul. The president of Broad Academy had come in person.
She came straight for Han Seonggil, so she must be here because of him.
Lee Hyunseung could easily infer that Choi Yi-seul had rushed over to prevent the situation from escalating, even if he didn't know how she'd learned what was happening inside the barrier.
He glanced around. Han Seonggil lay unconscious in a pool of blood. The floor was soaked red. Students stared in horror.
Shit... If this goes wrong, I could end up taking all the blame.
The scene looked like something out of a torture chamber. Lee Hyunseung knew that in moments like this, the best defense was to act completely confident. Any sign of panic would only make things worse.
With that thought, he addressed Choi Yi-seul naturally.
"Ah... You're a little late. The situation's already over."
"...."
When Choi Yi-seul remained silent, Lee Hyunseung took the initiative and explained quickly.
"Han Seonggil brought his friend here and assaulted members of the F-class. We told him to stop, but the two of them came at me instead. I subdued one of them easily, but Han Seonggil suddenly went berserk. Since he couldn't feel pain and was trying to hurt a lot of people, I had to put him in a state where he couldn't move. Everything I did was within the bounds of self-defense, and it was necessary. Everyone here can testify that what I said is true."
Jeong Eunseo quickly backed him up with a nod.
"That's right. I saw everything. If you need a witness, I'll testify."
But Choi Yi-seul stared blankly at Han Seonggil as if she hadn't heard a word. She calmly analyzed the scene.
The smell of gunpowder and the bullet holes in the walls suggest firearms were used... Most of Han Seonggil's injuries are gunshot wounds. Some of the bruises look like they came from hand-to-hand combat... No other traces, so it was one-on-one.
When she finished her analysis, Choi Yi-seul couldn't hide her disbelief. The conclusion was clear.
Lee Hyunseung single-handedly subdued Han Seonggil while the Berserker trait was active—using only a gun and close combat... and he did it perfectly. This is...
It wasn't that she doubted his abilities. What Lee Hyunseung had shown in the F-class representative selection match had been extraordinary, so she had no reason to dismiss his strength. What she found hard to believe was that a gunner had perfectly neutralized an Epic-grade swordsman whose Berserker trait had activated—and that there were signs of hand-to-hand combat as well.
A gunner who had only awakened six months ago, still just a first-year, had won a one-on-one duel against an Epic-grade swordsman with the Berserker trait active? Most people would sooner believe you could crack a rock with an egg.
Just how far do your abilities go...?
Despite his tremendous achievement, Lee Hyunseung's expression remained relaxed. Choi Yi-seul spoke to him.
"Don't worry about any misunderstandings. The state of the scene alone is enough for me to understand what happened. We came here because we detected the activation of the Berserker trait. I don't think you're lying, and there won't be any punishment for this. With clear physical evidence and witnesses, we'll handle it as self-defense."
Then Choi Yi-seul bowed her head deeply. Her secretary, Cha Imho, whispered in alarm.
"P-President, the other students are watching. If you do this...."
Choi Yi-seul ignored him, kept her head lowered for a long moment, then raised it and spoke to Lee Hyunseung again.
"Thank you. Thanks to you, Lee Hyunseung, an incident that could have caused massive damage has been resolved cleanly. I will definitely repay this debt."
If things had gone wrong, a catastrophic event could have occurred inside the academy. The only people in the F-class who could be considered overwhelmingly strong were Lee Hyunseung and Jeong Eunseo. If Lee Hyunseung hadn't stopped Han Seonggil properly, the berserk student might have killed countless people. That was why Choi Yi-seul bowed to express her gratitude for preventing a massacre.
The president of Broad Academy, an institution known as an elite school, bowing to a student was something that had almost never happened before. Because of that, the students gathered around could indirectly understand just how extraordinary Lee Hyunseung's actions had been.
Those nearby murmured.
"I thought gunners were weak, but I guess that's not the case. In the F-class representative selection match, I thought he was just all hype."
"Wasn't he the one everyone was calling a stalker until recently...? No matter how I look at it, he doesn't seem like that kind of person... Someone who'd risk his life to protect his friends wouldn't stalk anyone, right...?"
"I think so too. He looks kind of handsome, and the way he talks is cool, isn't it? Han Seonggil was supposed to be famous for his swordsmanship, and he stopped that guy all by himself. And he did it to protect his classmates."
"Maybe it really was a misunderstanding..."
-Boom-!
At that moment, Yoo Heeyeon stomped the ground in irritation. The students who had been whispering quickly shut their mouths, glancing nervously at her.
"Ahem...."
"What's so great about some gunner that everyone's making such a fuss...."
The students who had instantly changed their attitudes broke out in cold sweats, worried that Yoo Heeyeon might have overheard them.
The one who had labeled Lee Hyunseung a stalker was Yoo Heeyeon. If he wasn't actually a stalker, that meant she had driven an innocent person into a corner. And that was something she could never allow to be said in front of her, not with her pride.
-Grind-
Watching from a distance, Yoo Heeyeon muttered while staring at Lee Hyunseung.
"It wasn't a coincidence...? Not just the Class Annihilation Match, but now even an Epic-grade swordsman... How the hell did he do all that in such a short time... It doesn't make any sense... Just what the hell is he...?"
She wanted to deny it. She didn't want to accept it. She couldn't acknowledge that the very Lee Hyunseung she had branded a stalker was now gradually gaining recognition from others.
But more than that, she was afraid.
The practical exam....
She could never beat him in the written exam—he had never missed a perfect score. Even at her best, they would only tie for first. But she had believed the practical exam would be different. When he was chosen as the F-class representative and targeted the A-class, she had been delighted, thinking he had gotten a free score.
But not anymore.
-Tremble-
A single thought flashed through her mind, and her hands began to shake.
There was a hidden rule in the Class Annihilation Match.
1. If a lower class defeats a higher class, bonus points are awarded.
2. If a higher class loses to a lower class, penalty points are awarded.
The greater the gap between classes, the larger the bonus and penalty become.
In other words—
If we lose the F-class Annihilation Match....
She would definitely lose her top rank. She might even fall to the middle ranks, not just second place.
Among those connected to the Artemis Guild leadership, not a single person had ever failed to maintain first or second place during their academy years.
-Grind grind-
Never... It will never happen... There's no way... Something like that can't happen....
She repeated the words to herself over and over.