The Scent of Salt
'Something smells salty.'
It was probably because we were somewhere near Ulsan, close to the sea.
Lee Seoha shifted his gaze.
Toward the Student Council President.
Black hair that cascaded down to her waist, like a slice of the night sky given form. And eyes that gleamed like polished obsidian. Resting on her shoulders were the epaulettes that only the Student Council President was permitted to wear, and she was watching us with an air of easy confidence — though at a glance, her posture seemed almost languid, strangely slack.
'Impressive.'
He activated his Divine Sight and studied her. The Black Divine Martial Arts pursued a body of absolute perfection, and Seoha took pride in the fact that his eyes for judging a physique had been honed accordingly. Heukcheon had affirmed it time and again: his body was already a work of art in its own right. A frame forged by the Black Divine Arts had long since transcended into the heavenly physique every martial artist dreamed of.
The President's body wasn't slack at all. It only looked that way because it was too perfect.
'On par with me — or beyond.'
It had to be thanks to the innate constitution she carried. The Heavenly Body (S+). And her talent, the Infinite Chalice (S+).
"You. Aren't you staring a little too hard?"
...Had he been?
At Park Unhyeok's words, Seoha put on an awkward expression. How to put it — the sight stirred up old feelings. He had looked at her one last time, meaning to commit her to memory, and in that instant their eyes met. The Student Council President stared back at him for a moment with a puzzled look.
"If everyone's here, form a single line."
At Instructor Seo Wooju's command, the students began lining up. Erciel took her place beside Seoha, with Kim Ara and Seo Gayeon standing behind him.
But the atmosphere was strange. A fierce hostility crackled through the air — directed, of all people, at the Student Council President.
"Then as now, women never change. They treat whoever they've decided is their rival as an enemy."
"Well, that's only natural, considering how much charm our master radiates~"
Yeongcheon wagged her tails in cheerful agreement.
"We will now begin the joint training session. Second-years — you will teach the first-years what you have learned over the past year. First-years — with humility, you will discover what level of skill you might attain after a year of training here."
As Seo Wooju spoke, he sighed inwardly.
He was an instructor whose family line had managed the first-years for generations, and so he knew better than anyone just how extraordinary the current first-year class was.
'In my ten years at this school, I have never seen raw gems like these.'
And if he trusted the word of those who had served even longer, these students deserved to be called the finest cohort in the academy's entire history. Some of them had already become beings that even the instructors and professors dared not touch.
'Never mind backgrounds or bloodlines.'
There were children who had surpassed their professors and instructors on pure, unadulterated skill alone. And at the head of that pack stood a presence named Lee Seoha.
Overwhelming didn't begin to cover it. When Seo Wooju had first laid eyes on him, the boy's discipline hadn't even been classified as 'martial arts' — and now, several instructors rushing him at once couldn't guarantee a victory.
That was why Seo Wooju had opposed this training. The first-years' current level was simply too high — high enough that today's second-years could not hope to bear it. If the second-years lost en masse to their juniors, their morale would crater. And once the rumors began to spread, a good number of the second-years' career paths would slam shut.
'I gave my approval.'
But Seo Wooju respected his superiors. She — the one they called the Emperor — had permitted it, and the professors had scrambled to assemble a joint training program. The reason still escaped him. His best guess was that they wanted the first-years to trample the second-years and force new sprouts to bloom. Or perhaps...
Perhaps it was the heart of someone who believed that sacrificing everything for the sake of a few brilliantly shining sprouts was a price worth paying.
For all its grand title, the joint training was nothing special in practice.
"First-year, Park Unhyeok! Second-year, Woo Hyoseong! Step forward!"
The first-years and second-years would duel one another, the second-years would show the first-years a wall, and the first-years would humbly take a year's worth of lessons from the sight of it. That was the whole point.
Seoha turned his gaze back to the Student Council President. Her face was expressionless as she watched the sparring ring, but he knew. Underneath, she was unsettled.
'The level is higher than she expected. That must be rattling her.'
The first-years were legitimately strong these days. Kim Seohyun, who grew stronger the more she admired him; Hong Yuhwa, who had bloomed the Usurper under the stimulation of his very existence; Seo Gayeon, who had obtained Star Mana from the earliest possible moment; and Kim Ara, who had unlocked her Primordial Force outright. And as they grew stronger, everyone around them began to feel the pressure in turn. A chain reaction had set in, and the whole class had been lifted a notch above the level they were ever meant to reach.
"Haaah!"
Woo Hyoseong swung his greatsword, but Park Unhyeok parried it with unhurried calm. After a handful of lightning exchanges, his spear came to rest against the second-year's throat.
"Park Unhyeok wins!"
Park Unhyeok simply bowed his head as he stepped down. It was respect for the defeated — the shame of a second-year losing to a first-year cut deeper than most imagined, after all.
With Park Unhyeok as the trigger, the first-years began racking up victories one after another. A few students did lose to the second-years, but — well, he supposed that couldn't be helped.
"Seo Gayeon wins!"
"Kim Ara wins!"
Every time the referee called a result, the Student Council President's expression darkened a shade further. Seo Gayeon and Kim Ara had crushed their opponents with overwhelming force — trampled would have been the more accurate word.
'Did the first-years ever make enemies of the second-years?'
The thought slipped out before he could stop it. Come to think of it, no — but maybe one had formed without anyone noticing. Some butterfly effect born of the moment he'd fallen into this world, perhaps.
Seoha studied the President. The second-years' overall level was mediocre, as expected. But... the President was a little different.
'A bad matchup. That's all it is.'
She was formidable in her own right, but more than that, every talent she possessed carried a power that could fairly be called his direct counter.
"Erciel wins!"
Erciel offered her opponent a graceful bow.
Seoha was still turning the problem over. He was the top of the first year; she was the top of the second. He had no intention of losing to her — his means were varied enough.
'The real problem is that I might not be able to win, either.'
His power negated all abilities. It was a different breed from mysteries that meddled with the System, granted — but the complication was that the President possessed a mystery of a similar nature. And to be perfectly honest...
He didn't particularly want to fight her in the first place.
"Lee Seoha! Step up!"
His name was called. Heaving an inward sigh, Seoha ascended the ring.
Top of the second year. The Student Council President — Seong Hanbyeol.
"Yes."
She walked toward him across the training ground. Toward him, wearing a confident smile — though her eyes were warily tracking his every move.
'Then again, looked at another way — is she just engraved into my memories?'
Once he thought of it that way, it didn't feel half bad.
Ding.
A Naga went on a rampage, collapsing the ecosystem of a nearby region. The merfolk who suffered from that devastation have wandered all this way.
However, their primary food source is humans. Eliminate them.
◆ Reward: 20,000P — additional rewards granted based on performance.
'...What luck.'
Seoha turned his gaze outward, this time peering through his Divine Sight — and there it was. A warped smear in the fabric of the background.
'...No. Not luck at all.'
The waves of mana were warping and buckling. Which was also proof that something powerful had arrived.
"Now, we will begin the mat—"
"I don't think we should."
What was that sound?
The Student Council President, Seong Hanbyeol, looked at him and asked the question with her eyes alone. Then her expression turned peculiar. She kept staring at him.
"...Your senses are sharp."
"I was born a little gifted, I suppose. Anyway, it seems we should deal with those things first."
"Good. You do understand that the students' safety comes first, yes?"
"I do. That's why I'll buy time against the strongest one."
Seoha lifted Heukcheon and stepped forward.
"No — what I mean is, you matter just as much."
"...Yes."
Only then did Seoha remember why he had liked the Student Council President in the first place. She looked unbreakable on the outside, but underneath she was soft. She remembered every single person who had died and left this world, and she strove — relentlessly — to avenge them or grant the wishes they'd left behind.
Well. Her looks had played a part too, admittedly.
"It's all right. I'm confident I can take down at least one of them whole."
"Even so, don't push yourself too hard. You're still a student, after all."
He read the meaning beneath her words. As someone still in the position of a learner, she was telling him, he ought to treasure his own life a little more.
The instructors and professors were already making preparations to intercept the merfolk. If Seoha stepped in on top of that, the level of casualties would drop to something negligible.
'That won't do.'
Seoha stepped forward. There were many reasons. But chief among them was this: Seong Hanbyeol was the kind of person who believed that as long as the students lived, no amount of harm to herself mattered at all.