Chapter 18: The Kind of Person Every Academy Has (7)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 18: The Kind of Person Every Academy Has (7)
The notification that the main story was beginning didn’t actually change much.
During homeroom, Butt was still using my desk as her personal chair. Rumors were still flying around the class about whether I’d bribed my way into the school, and the delinquents were still tearing up perfectly good erasers to throw at people.
There were still six days left until the start, and since this particular incident didn’t have any notable precursors, things felt even more mundane.
If there was one thing that had changed, it was that our dear Butt had started managing her public image.
“Oh my, is our little loser here?”
What do you even call this?
Previously, she wouldn’t even acknowledge my existence, but she must have seen Cheon Yu-hak chewing out that pig in the cafeteria, because now she was the first to offer a greeting.
Calling someone a “loser” isn’t exactly praiseworthy, but I suppose I should forgive her since she’s become so polite—yeah, right. Like hell I would.
Her eyes were still brimming with ridicule and annoyance, yet she forced her lips into a smile. It was incredibly grating.
“If someone says hello, you should answer, loser.”
Oh, surprisingly, it seemed our Butt-girl, Kim Ga-eul, was so dim-witted that she had absolutely no recollection of her behavior over the past two days.
“Ah, I’m just joking. You’re not mad, are you?”
“Of course not. You’re actually nicer than I thought, going out of your way to greet a loser like me.”
She flinched, clearly not expecting me to play along like that, but she soon looked quite pleased, likely thinking I had finally surrendered.
Sure, enjoy yourself while you can.
In her head, she probably thinks she’s appealing to Cheon Yu-hak by showing she’s ‘different’ from the other thugs, but knowing his personality, that’s not going to be easy.
I sat down in my seat without a second thought, and Butt turned around with a look of utter bewilderment.
“What… what are you doing right now?”
“Sitting in my seat?”
It was true. There was no law saying I couldn’t sit in my chair just because a girl was sitting on the desk attached to it.
As long as I could overcome the bizarre sight of a back and a pair of buttocks right in front of my face and a voice echoing from above them, I could reclaim my spot.
“Pfft.”
Cheon Yu-hak, sitting nearby, let out a small chuckle, causing Butt’s face to turn bright red.
“You… just you wait.”
Oh, dear. This was an unintended moment where the rift between us grew even deeper.
Honestly, I wasn’t scared. Usually, the ones who tell you to ‘just wait’ are rarely the ones you actually need to worry about.
* * *
Today is Friday.
Specifically, Friday, April 6th, 2035, by the calendar of this novel’s world.
The first class of the day was personally very significant to me.
“Hello, everyone. I am Jin Gyeong-tae, and I will be your professor for Basic Monster Studies.”
A handsome male professor in a suit began his introduction with a warm, charming smile.
Just as the male students had reacted to Professor Cathy, the female students began to buzz at the appearance of this handsome young teacher.
“It might only be for one semester, but I am personally very proud and happy to have the opportunity to teach such excellent cadets like yourselves.”
Jin Gyeong-tae was, how should I put it… the image of an ideal young professor. It was only natural, considering that was how he was described in the original work during his lectures and student consultations.
“Since it’s the first day, I’d like to conduct the class in a simple Q&A format. Is that alright with everyone?”
“Yes!”
I looked to see which female student had answered so energetically, and of course, it was Butt.
Right, right. Our little face-connoisseur is hard at work.
“Then, I’ll take questions first.”
“Teacher, do you have a girlfriend?”
“Um, I’d prefer questions about monsters rather than myself if possible, but… well, getting close to the cadets is also important. No, I don’t have one right now.”
“Kyaaa!”
The student who asked the question let out a ridiculous squeal, gushing “Oh my god!” to her friends.
As a barrage of questions from the female cadets followed, he scratched his cheek as if embarrassed.
Wow, seriously. Just when I think I’ve finally adjusted, a gesture pops up to remind me in a new way that this is a novel.
Scratching his cheek because he’s ‘embarrassed’? The sheer hypocrisy of this guy, who wasn’t feeling embarrassed in the slightest, was truly disgusting.
“Hm, let’s try something else. How about… that friend sitting there with the bored expression? Why don’t you ask a question?”
No, seriously, why are all the professors here so obsessed with picking on me?
In an instant, all eyes were on me.
“…I understand monsters and villains, but what is the difference between a monster and a humanoid monster?”
“Ah, that is an excellent question. I certainly picked the right student to ask.”
Nodding with satisfaction, he began to write on the chalkboard.
“Yes. First, the difference between monsters—the things we will be studying—and villains or humanoid monsters is simpler than you might think. Villains are targets for elimination, but they are humans like yourselves who commit crimes. Humanoid monsters, on the other hand, refer to beings from the Otherworld that possess a certain degree of intelligence.”
That was correct.
If an Awakened who commits a crime is called a villain, and an unintelligent beast from the Otherworld is called a monster, then humanoid monsters were the ones somewhere in the middle.
“We generally refer to all races from the Otherworld that possess intelligence but are hostile to humanity as humanoid monsters. However, some argue that among them are simply races with whom communication is impossible. Well, since my specialty is monsters, humanoid monsters will likely be covered in a different class.”
He smiled and pointed at me jokingly.
“A round of applause for the cadet who asked a great question that pierced the essence of the lesson!”
Jin Gyeong-tae.
The guy loves cadets.
I’m not joking; he really does love them.
The problem, however, was that the form of that affection was incredibly twisted, and his methods were utterly bizarre.
He was a villain who longed for and idolized the beauty of youth and honest adolescence to a point of obsession.
The setting was that he periodically let out his twisted affection and desires in secret, but eventually, he would find that delusions and proxy acts were no longer enough, leading him to cause an actual incident.
He was likely finishing up his selection of prey right about now and making preparations.
A psychopath who had come to loathe everything else due to his overwhelming longing for youth was still smiling brightly at the cadets.
It was a truly nauseating situation.
“Ah, it’s already time for class to end. Good work, everyone.”
“Thank you~!”
Good grief, our future primary victim was grinning like an idiot.
Well, it’s not my business.
* * *
Comprehensive Weaponry.
This was a setting my friend added later just to create a class where Lilac, who uses a sword as his main weapon, and Cheon Yu-hak, who uses a spear, could be together.
The proof was that Lilac was already taking Basic and Intermediate Swordsmanship, and Cheon Yu-hak was taking Intermediate Spearmanship. Yet, they were both participating in this Comprehensive Weaponry class under the pretext that it was a feedback-oriented course centered on sparring.
To show just how many holes there were in the setting: because my friend didn’t want to design a specific professor character, the class was taught by whichever melee combat professor happened to be free that day. What more needs to be said?
For the record, today’s professor was Mr. Kim Min-soo from our Basic Physical Training.
The two students were facing each other in the sparring arena to give a demonstration.
Even though they were using training weapons, the fact that the combatants were Lilac and Cheon Yu-hak meant that the lack of a sharp edge was practically meaningless.
Without the latest technology to absorb the impact of the weapons and the safety devices surrounding the arena, one of them would likely have been seriously injured.
The reason the class took this form was that after finishing his explanation, Kim Min-soo suggested, “Since we’re lucky enough to have both co-top students in this class, why don’t we watch a demonstration!”
In the original work, the two already despised each other, but thanks to several coincidences, they were currently in a state where they weren’t exactly friendly, but not quite hostile either.
“Nice to meet you. Let’s have a good match.”
“We do need to settle this once and for all.”
Cheon Yu-hak lightly ignored Lilac’s greeting and raised his training spear.
“Huh?”
“Even if we’re co-top students, what meaning is there in a rank determined by perfect scores on fixed-answer tests or talent grades? I need to clearly engrave into our classmates’ minds who is truly superior.”
“Is rank really that important? Well, let’s both do our best.”
The two boys smiled.
Cheon Yu-hak took the initiative.
Fundamentally, the spear is a superior weapon to the sword.
A weapon that can toy with an opponent through footwork that maintains distance and threatening thrusts. That was the spear, and that was the correct way to wield it.
Despite his young age, Cheon Yu-hak’s thrust, which had already reached the realm of perfection through overwhelming talent, shot forward.
Most swordsmen would have been defeated by this single exchange, but the boy facing him was also a genius.
A divine energy began to swirl around the blunt training sword that possessed no attributes.
Even in the face of perfected spearmanship, he did not falter.
Knowing all too well that the moment he backed away in fear, the spear would pierce him, he chose to charge instead.
If his opponent was a perfected spearman, Lilac would simply show the form of a perfected swordsman.
Using the light of the Holy Sword, which possessed physical force, as a shield, he deflected the thrust and closed the distance.
Of course, Cheon Yu-hak wouldn’t simply give up his advantageous range, but unlike a spear which requires both hands, a sword allows for the use of a shield depending on the situation.
Unlike Cheon Yu-hak, who had to execute attacks and footwork simultaneously, Lilac could close the distance by using a shield made of light to deflect attacks while pursuing.
Taking advantage of the limited space of the arena and making the optimal choice to deflect the thrust rather than trying to block it by force allowed Lilac, who had been on the defensive, to switch to the offensive.
“Not bad.”
“You too.”
Cheon Yu-hak, who fundamentally liked capable people, grinned.
On the other hand, Lilac, who enjoyed the discipline of self-improvement, smiled back.
It was the moment the two, who recognized each other’s skill even if they disliked each other in the original work, clashed for the first time.
* * *
In the end, the duel between Cheon Yu-hak and Lilac ended in a draw.
Lilac tried to close the distance by deflecting every attack, but Cheon Yu-hak didn’t give an inch of ground with his fluid footwork. Conversely, Cheon Yu-hak hadn’t dealt any clear damage either, and the professor’s evaluation was that he had nearly been in danger from a sharp counterattack.
“Well, you two are so good that it’s difficult for me to even give feedback.”
It was nothing short of high praise.
“As an instructor, I’m very happy to have two such excellent cadets, but since the essence of this lecture is feedback, I’d like one more team of slightly less skilled students to come up.”
The students had been excited by the cool display just now, but they began to whisper, seemingly finding this next fight even more interesting.
Right, the best fights are the ‘scrub’ fights.
Of course, it sucks for the people involved, but who cares? As long as it’s not me!
But then, strangely enough, my hand shot up into the air.
It wasn’t some poltergeist-like supernatural phenomenon; it was because a girl had approached me unnoticed and grabbed my arm, hoisting it up.
“Cadet Kang So-hyun and I volunteer.”
Butt-girl Kim Ga-eul was smiling.
…Goddammit. That’s right.
In a webnovel, the guy who says “as long as it’s not me” is destined by the laws of the universe to be the one who gets dragged in.
“Oh, then will you two come up?”
I could have thrown a tantrum and refused, but I decided to just go up quietly.
This girl really saw me as a total pushover, and it felt like I needed to give her a bitter taste of reality at least once.
Meanwhile, our Butt seemed quite surprised that I was coming up so compliantly.
“Hey, loser. You don’t know how to read the room, do you? You actually came up just because they told you to?”
“You called me Kang So-hyun earlier, and now it’s back to ‘loser’?”
“Don’t get cocky. I told you to be prepared, didn’t I? The opportunity came sooner than I thought.”
Actually, our Butt had a pretty trashy personality, but she wasn’t exactly what you’d call an ‘evil’ person.
Well, if you look at it through the dichotomy of good and evil, she was evil, and in black-and-white logic, she was definitely black—but she wasn’t ‘I hope you die’ levels of evil.
In fact, except for when she was dealing with me or Lilac in the original work, her way of speaking wasn’t even that harsh.
She was just a spoiled brat who was self-centered, selfish, and tried to take out her bad moods on others.
…Actually, maybe she is just an evil person?
“Hey, let me ask you one thing. Why do you hate me so much?”
“What are you talking about, loser? Why would I hate you?”
The weapon she chose was a whip.
A whip, huh? I wasn’t sure about its practical use, but this was a world with mana. As a weapon with unpredictable movements, it could be quite threatening if handled well, but I didn’t have high expectations.
Her innate talent wasn’t suited for combat.
“Oh, what? I thought you hated my guts.”
“No way. I didn’t realize there was such a misunderstanding between us.”
She and I smiled at each other.
“Do you really think you’re even worth hating?”
The whip lashed out toward me.
Crack!
With an ominous sound, the whip struck the spot where I had been standing a moment ago.
Since it wasn’t her talent, she must have learned to handle it through pure effort.
“What exactly makes you so cocky? You’re just a weakling who can’t even exercise.”
True. I was a weakling.
In fact, I wasn’t just a weakling; I was such a weakling that if I got hit by that whip outside the arena, I’d probably cry my eyes out from the pain.
Crack!
The whip struck the floor again.
A one-sided offensive continued.
“I couldn’t even get on the same team, let alone the same class, so who do you think you are to reject Yu-hak’s offer? Are you really that special?”
Blind advocacy for the person she liked and an inferiority complex toward herself—common things for kids this age to go through.
I didn’t know how the recipient would take it, but at least in her mind, she was acting out of ‘goodwill.’
Of course, it would be a big problem if there were a victim, but since I was the target for now, it was still debatable whether she had truly crossed the line.
Suddenly, the thought crossed my mind: Should I fix her?
“You…!”
She didn’t seem to like the way I was nimbly dodging her whip, and she began to swing it violently and haphazardly.
The whip, made of lines, began to create a ‘surface’ through a series of strikes, snapping like a wall.
I didn’t have any combat tricks.
I didn’t have flashy footwork like Cheon Yu-hak, nor did I have the innate combat talent of Lilac.
But I did have something.
I calmly walked into the flurry of whip strikes that, to an ordinary person’s eyes, left no room to dodge.
An attack that was difficult to even track with normal eyes.
In that case, I just had to make my eyes something other than normal.
Thanks to the visual acuity I had already awakened through Reinforcement, everything in the world felt like it was moving in slow motion.
The whip, moving dynamically like a connected line, was ultimately just a single line until it hit something and bounced back.
A fast-approaching weapon is terrifying, but no one fears a weapon that looks as slow as if it were standing still.
My body was also damn slow, but this was enough to penetrate her defense.
The wall created by the flurry of the whip completely lost its function in this moment.
“Huh…?”
Perhaps I looked like a ghost to her, walking calmly through all her attacks.
The distance was already close enough. If I stabbed her with the dagger in my hand, it would be my victory.
As I approached leisurely and gave her a smile, her face turned pale with fright.
“Let’s play nice, okay?”
At the same time I ‘stabbed’ her with the dagger, I intentionally let myself get hit by the weakest swing of her whip.
Damn, that stings.
“Draw!”
The instructor declared a draw.
With this, to everyone except the two of us involved, it would look like I had recklessly charged in, endured the whip, and forced a stab with my dagger.
Six days left.
That was the time she had left, and also the time for me to decide what to do with her.