Live Combat
"No, hang on — what are you even talking about…?"
Chae Chi-su, the supervising teacher for Team 8, made no effort to hide his bewilderment at Park Yeon-chan's sudden demand.
He wants me to call the teacher in charge of Team 7? Out of nowhere?
It was true that the teachers checked in with each other on a regular schedule to make sure nothing was wrong — but you couldn't exactly sit glued to a radio the entire time you were inside the tower. Contact intervals were fixed for a reason.
"We don't have time for this! We need to check now!"
And yet Yeon-chan was insisting, stubbornly, that he make the call immediately.
That much Chae Chi-su could almost swallow. But then—
He's saying Teacher Yu I-jin is the danger?
Yu I-jin was a year his senior. From the day Chae Chi-su had first joined the Academy as an instructor, Yu had been the senior who'd looked out for him. Their ranks were the same now, so they spoke casually — but Chae still felt a genuine debt of gratitude toward the man.
"Park Yeon-chan. I think you've picked up some strange rumor somewhere and jumped to conclusions. Teacher Yu I-jin is not that kind of person."
There was no way he was going to take Yeon-chan's baseless accusation at face value.
"Just check. That's all I'm asking. If I'm wrong, I'll apologize properly — so call him and have him put one of the kids on."
Chae had expected a little pushback and then a retreat. Instead, Yeon-chan's stance was so unyielding that the teacher finally exhaled a long sigh and pulled out his radio.
Static crackled.
A burst of ordinary radio noise washed through, and Chae pressed the button and spoke.
"Teacher Yu, do you copy?"
"Yeah. What's up, Chi-su?"
The voice came through without a hitch. Chae shot Yeon-chan a look that said, See?
"Uh… where are you right now?"
—Hmm? What is it? Something wrong?
Chae couldn't quite bring himself to spit out the bizarre request to hand the radio to one of the students. He fumbled for words.
"No, it's nothing, I just—"
Yeon-chan snatched the radio straight out of his hand.
"Hey. What the hell do you think you're doing."
—…Chi-su? That's not Chi-su.
"I asked where you are, you bastard. Where did you take those kids? Planning to sell them off?"
—What are you suddenly—
"Freedom's Yu I-jin. Or should I say Baek I-jin."
—…
"I've got your whole file. Talk while I'm still being nice, you piece of shit."
With every word, Yeon-chan's presence grew more vicious. Off to the side, Kang Min-hyeon — who'd been watching the whole exchange — started trembling violently.
He's already not being nice…??
Silence stretched across the radio after Yeon-chan's words.
Then, not long after, Yu I-jin's voice returned.
—Ah. So I've already been found out?
"Teacher Yu…?"
A reply that all but confirmed everything Yeon-chan had just said. And what came next hit Chae Chi-su like a second blow.
—Then I really can't tell you, Park Yeon-chan.
"Last chance. If you don't talk, you are not dying clean."
—Thanks to you, a lot of things went sideways. But I don't resent you for it.
"I asked where you are, you son of a bitch."
—Because of those hardships, I've been given a chance to shine this brilliantly. That's all it is.
Click.
With those final words, the radio went dead.
That transmission had been made while Team 7 was in the middle of fighting monsters.
"What… this is real…? Teacher Yu is with Freedom?"
Chae stood frozen, his face drained by sheer disbelief. Yeon-chan walked toward him without expression.
"Teacher. How many dungeons are in this tower?"
"Huh? There are four dungeons…"
"If they prepared something, they put it in a dungeon. Plant it on a regular route and someone might stumble across it."
As he answered, Yeon-chan pulled out the paper and pen he'd been using for the mapping assignment.
"You've got a proper schematic of the tower, right? Let me see it."
"I do, but…"
"Hurry."
Under the relentless pressure, Chae finally handed over a detailed schematic covering everything from the dungeon entrances to the tower's full layout. Yeon-chan studied it and began rapidly sketching something onto his own rough map.
For less than a minute his hand moved in a blur — then it stopped. He returned the original schematic and held up his own perfectly identical copy.
"Which route is Team 7 taking?"
"This one."
Chae pointed to the path Team 7 had been scheduled to follow. Yeon-chan clicked his tongue before he could stop himself.
There's no path to a dungeon on that route.
He'd half expected it, and sure enough — Yu I-jin hadn't taken his team along the planned route at all. He'd led them somewhere completely different.
Which left only one option.
If he couldn't track them by the route—
Then I tear the whole place apart until I find them.
Having made his decision, Yeon-chan rolled his shoulders loose and turned to Chae.
"Teacher, radio the situation outside. And get the kids out of here if you can."
"Wait — what about you?"
"I'll sweep every dungeon entrance on this side. You go first."
Yeon-chan started to sprint — then something occurred to him. He muttered, "Oh, right," and bolted back the other way.
He was so fast that even Chae, a teacher, nearly lost track of the movement.
Yeon-chan stopped directly in front of Lee Ju-won. He slung an arm around the boy's neck, dragged him a few steps back, and whispered at a volume no one else could hear.
"Hey. I know about you too. Stay out of my way and I'll let you live. Don't try anything stupid. Got it?"
All he'd done was rest a finger against Lee Ju-won's throat — but the freezing gaze looking down at him and the killing intent pricking his skin made it clear this was no empty threat. The words Yeon-chan had snarled into the radio — you are not dying clean — flashed through Ju-won's mind, and he nodded frantically, cold sweat pouring down his face.
Apparently satisfied, Yeon-chan released him.
"Alright. I'm going."
WHOOOOSH—!
With those last words he vanished, kicking up a violent gale in his wake.
Whoa… he's insanely fast…
Chae had been wrestling with whether he should try to follow rather than leave Yeon-chan alone. One look at that full-speed departure folded the idea neatly away.
CLANG!
Min Ji-won's sword crashed against Yu I-jin's knuckle guards.
I can't beat him head-on.
An Academy student defeating a teacher was, for all practical purposes, nearly impossible.
SCREEE— CLANG!
Blade and knuckles sparked against each other for a moment — then Yu drove power into his fist and sent Ji-won's sword flying back. The force lifted her body clean off the ground.
Yu stepped in immediately, closing the distance — and midair, posture broken, Ji-won yanked something from her belt and hurled it straight at him.
SHUNK—!
A dagger streaked toward Yu I-jin.
CLANG!
It wasn't a particularly vicious attack, but he'd already committed to his offensive stance. His reaction lagged. Caught off-guard, he had no choice but to block rather than dodge — and in doing so, he lost the timing to rush her.
Yu I-jin was stronger than Min Ji-won. Not by a little. The gap was the kind no amount of luck could bridge.
A conversation she'd once had with Park Yeon-chan flickered through her mind.
How do you fight someone stronger than you? You don't. You run. Why take a fight you're going to lose?
But if you can't run — make the first attack simple. Sell it like it's your best shot. From the second attack on, you start using feints.
SLASH! SHHK!
Ji-won's blade carved sharp lines across the ground. Dust billowed up in thick clouds, choking the air until neither of them could see a handspan ahead.
"Min Ji-won. Didn't you learn this when you fought Park Yeon-chan? When the skill gap is this wide, cheap tricks don't work."
Yu shifted into a stance to whip up a wind and clear the dust — and in that half-blind haze, something came flying at him.
He assumed it was another dagger like the first and moved to slip past it lightly.
Ice…?
What came at him was far larger than a dagger — an ice spike. A long-range attack from Oh So-hee.
CLANG! CLANG!
Unexpected, but nothing that rattled him. Yu shattered the ice attacks with casual swings of his knuckles and started to clear the dust again—
WHOOOOM—!
A massive spear came screaming toward him on a wave of raw force.
Can't dodge that.
It was faster than he'd expected. He had no choice but to block — and in the same instant the spear arrived, Min Ji-won drove in hard.
The timing caught him flat. Her relentless combination slammed into him without mercy — high to low, low back to high. She chained the motions together in one fluid offensive, and as his stance crumbled under the pressure she carved shallow cuts across his right shoulder and left thigh.
The better your opponent knows you, the more a surprise feint will throw them off and open a gap. When that gap appears — take it.
SLASH! SHHK.
Yu tried desperately to create distance and reset, but Ji-won gave him nothing. She kept the pressure on without a single pause.
Once you've made the opening, it's all offense. Ride the momentum and don't stop attacking.
It wasn't her usual fighting style — but she'd been taught this was a method too.
There's no such thing as a fair fight. Lose and you're a loser. Die and you're just a corpse.
By any means necessary.
SLASHHH!
A rising cut from low to high scored the floor as it went, flinging debris into her opponent's eyes.
"Kh…!"
At the same time a razor-sharp thrust grazed across Yu I-jin's chest. Unlike the start of the fight, there was no ease left in his movements now.
I can't let this slip…!
This was a gap she and her teammates had clawed open together. A once-in-a-lifetime opening — try it a second time and it would never land.
"Hah… hhk!"
The continuous assault left her lungs burning raw, but even so, Min Ji-won's hands never stopped.
Faster.
Her body answered her will, accelerating past the screaming of her breath.
SLASHHH! SHHK!
The accelerating flurry made Yu I-jin's body stagger.
Now!
She didn't miss it. She drove in deeper — and in that instant—
WHOOM—!
From a blind spot outside her field of vision, Yu's kick came whipping in.
You're still a long way off, Ji-won.
He could already picture it: land the kick, reset his stance, seize the advantage again.
But—
"You said fists hit harder."
SHHK—
She'd anticipated even that. In a flash she dropped her center of gravity and slipped under the kick.
"Don't fixate on one thing. Always track the opponent's entire body."
"This is—"
Perfect timing. From his current position, there was no thread left to pull for a counter.
Ji-won was about to chain her next attack and end the fight in a single decisive stroke when—
FLUTTER—!
"I didn't expect I'd have to use even this against the likes of you."
Great sheets of cloth unfurled to Yu I-jin's left and right.
Ji-won flinched for a fraction of a second — but her hands didn't stop. She swung anyway.
SHWOOOOM!
A brilliant light poured from the cloth, and something burst out of it, slamming her blade aside with brutal force.
"Ugh…!"
She fought to hold her ground, but the shove was overwhelming. She was forced to give ground.
The thought that she hadn't finished him settled cold in her chest as she looked up—
"A Red… Boar?"
Whatever had erupted from the cloth shed its radiance and resolved into the shape of a monster.
A Red Boar. A B-Rank monster. In basic size and build it wasn't so different from a Forest Boar or a Bones Boar — but the flame-wreathed red mane and the way fire clung to everything it charged through put it firmly in a higher tier of B-Rank.
"A dud. I'd heard it could produce anything from C to A-Rank."
Yu I-jin flicked the red cloth — no, the red bundle — and casually brushed the dust from his clothes as he rose.
"I truly am impressed by your growth, Min Ji-won. If you'd been a comrade, I would have found you utterly reliable."
Ji-won tightened her grip on her sword until her knuckles went white.
She had good reason.
FLUTTER—!
In Yu's other hand, a black bundle was unfurling. And she knew exactly what that bundle was.
"But this is as far as it goes. I'd love to savor this a little longer, but if I drag it out, interruptions are going to start arriving."
Blinding light began to spill from the black bundle.
And then—
SKREEEEEEEEEK!
A shriek that felt like it would rupture eardrums tore through the dungeon.
"Min Ji-won!"
Her teammates came running from behind and formed up around her — but Ji-won could only stare, vacant, at the enormous radiance pouring from the black bundle.
"Why… that monster…"
"Min Ji-won, what do we do? Min Ji-won?"
Even as her teammate called her name, her eyes never left the creature emerging from the bundle.
"We can't win…"
A whisper, barely voiced.
The light hadn't fully faded yet, but she already knew what it was.
The monster that had come out of the black bundle.
It was—
"A Skull Dino."
The S-Rank monster that had taken her mother's life right before her eyes.