This Guy's Insane?
"This guy's insane?"
"You think you're crazier than some punk coming to another club's room begging for food? As of today, Familia is protecting this place, and I'm the one in charge, so security's my job. So get lost."
"Familia? Security? What kind of fresh bullshit is this, Lee Se-ri?"
At the man's voice calling her name, Lee Se-ri peeked out from behind Jinwoo and shouted.
"W-We, the Recipe Development Club, have a contract with the Familia Club! Th-This is a threat, so... please leave!"
"What? A threat? Ha, unbelievable. Who'd I hit? Who'd I curse at? I got hurt on a mission and just want some food. Isn't that what you support clubs are for?"
"Th-That's not an obligation! What we do is just support, not tribute!"
The man made a ridiculous face at Lee Se-ri's words.
"Tribute? Ha, anyone hearing that would think we're the bad guys. Is it wrong for a combat club to expect support from a support club?"
"It's wrong the moment you force it on people who don't want to."
To Jinwoo, who'd grown up around the Bivalt family organization since childhood, this was crucial. He'd always taken immense pride in being part of the Bivalt family under the Calione umbrella.
And the Calione and Bivalt never forced anything on those who supported them.
"Last warning. Get out, unless you wanna die."
"You little punk... You think your senior's a joke? What're you gonna do if I don't?"
In that case, Jinwoo would just faithfully carry out his mission.
"Club Familia's orders mean I gotta beat your ass."
His mission was to protect the Recipe Development Club from threats, after all.
"Ha, you wanna throw down with me? For some unheard-of Familia club? You serious?"
"You leave, and we won't have to. But you're not planning to, anyway, right?"
Jinwoo glared at the man as he spoke. The guy burst out laughing like it was hilarious.
"Ahahaha! This dude's a total riot. Yeah, the club president told me not to come back without a firm answer. ...Follow me to the arena. I'll give you that fight you want."
With that, the man turned and headed out of the club room. As Jinwoo started to follow, something grabbed his clothes from behind.
"Y-You're really going? Like this?"
Lee Se-ri and the Recipe Development Club members looked at him with worried faces. Jinwoo flashed them a carefree grin, like it was no big deal.
"We're family now, right? Trust me. Bonus points if you come cheer me on."
Saying that, Jinwoo left the room after the guy, quickly typing a brief update into the club chat.
This would be his first arena fight since losing badly to club president Eugene Han Calione.
He'd gotten wrecked in that one, but Jinwoo felt zero anxiety about this upcoming bout.
His opponent in the verbal spat wasn't some monster like Eugene.
The two headed to the arena, borrowed it from the instructor using club activities as an excuse, and stepped into the prep room.
"Field's forest, yeah? That way you can't claim you lost 'cause it wasn't your turf."
Jinwoo suggested the field setting before entering. The man ground his teeth and replied incredulously.
"You really think you can beat a Ranger in a forest?"
"Yeah."
"...Instructor, set the field to forest, please."
Once the arena's control panel switched the interior to forest, the two entered. The stark white space rippled, transforming into a lush woodland.
Birds chirped from the sky, a cool breeze rustled the leaves, and the ground felt just like real dirt underfoot.
Jinwoo took a moment to marvel at the realism, but he quickly shut his eyes and drew the two daggers from his belt—ever since his fight with Eugene, he knew better than to drop his guard.
The instructor's voice boomed from above, and Jinwoo leaped into the trees, hiding among the leaves to scan his surroundings.
In the whispering wind and rustling foliage, an off-note sound made him whip his head around.
───!
An arrow grazed his cheek and thunked into the tree behind him.
Even concealed in the leaves, he'd been spotted.
Realizing his position was blown, Jinwoo dashed forward along the branches, hunting the Ranger's location.
"Tch."
Arrows kept flying at him relentlessly. He dodged by sight when he could, but the leaves blocked his view, forcing him to rely on instinct and hearing.
But he couldn't just keep taking it.
Pinpointing that the arrows came from one direction, Jinwoo charged straight ahead.
He bounded acrobatically from branch to branch, closing the gap bit by bit. Then, something flashed white in his vision.
"Dumbass, you think I'd just sit here doing nothing?"
The sustained fire from one spot had been bait—a Ranger trap to lure him in.
"Die."
The Ranger drew his bowstring with a creepy creeeak.
Per his plan, Jinwoo's eyes should've still been blinded. At this range, without sight, dodging was impossible.
If he'd actually lost his vision, that is.
"Predictable."
Jinwoo snapped his eyes open and lunged at the Ranger.
The guy panicked and loosed the arrow, but Jinwoo casually deflected the arrowhead with his left dagger, batting it away.
"How...?"
"You think you're the first asshole to pull that? Been keeping my eyes shut since I started running your way."
Jinwoo was family-born. He'd grown up watching street fights.
To him, those fights were defined by dirty tricks.
Do whatever it took to neutralize the enemy. Fights starting with fists ended with rocks; crying kids meant ambushes.
That was the "fight" Jinwoo knew.
That's why he respected his father and the Bivalt family—they never lost, not once, in that world.
And Jinwoo knew he was Bivalt too.
Once the boss gave an order, defeat wasn't an option.
"Gotcha."
He thrust the dagger in his right hand straight at the guy's lung.
A tiny hole there would be fatal.
But realizing his plan had failed, the Ranger dropped his bow, drew his machete from his belt, and parried the blade.
"Think you can win up close?!"
"Yeah, I do."
Their legs crossed, slamming hard into each other's bodies.
Both reeled from the impact and fell.
Jinwoo gripped his dagger reverse and stabbed it into the tree to halt his drop; the Ranger vanished into another tree.
Jinwoo yanked his blade free and landed.
"No bow, and you're running? What for?"
He stayed alert, scanning while expecting a machete ambush.
Then—
The arrows embedded in trees yanked free and swarmed him from all sides.
'Telekinesis?!'
Jinwoo swung his daggers, batting away the incoming volley.
There were too many arrows he'd fired earlier—normally, even he couldn't block them all.
Normally.
'Huh? Feels like I can block 'em all.'
Despite the near-perfect ambush, he was deflecting almost every one flawlessly.
The Ranger watching from above was stunned, and even Jinwoo himself was surprised.
But then he remembered what he'd been scarfing down lately, and it clicked.
The Recipe Development Club.
A club of Awakeners who made buff food. After eating so much of their stuff, boosted physicals were only natural.
"What the hell kind of nonsense...?"
Fire any arrow launched at a designated target once more, regardless of circumstances. Unique skill.
Seeing his prized skill completely blocked by a first-year punk, the man blurted it out, forgetting he was hidden.
And that gave Jinwoo his opening.
"──Found you."
"You mad bastard!"
The Ranger desperately swung his machete to fend off Jinwoo's reverse-grip daggers.
As intended, Jinwoo dodged and vanished from sight.
"My weapon reach is longer!"
The Ranger bellowed to assert he was fine, scanning around.
No visual, so he listened for rustling leaves—but—
──!──/─!──!/───/!───/───!
He quickly noticed something off.
'Rustling from everywhere?'
Wind from one direction sways all leaves that way. Pinpoint the odd noise amid that—basic tactic.
But now? Irregular gusts everywhere, like wind from all four directions.
"Where are you! Where?!"
Panicking at the impossible natural phenomenon, he wildly slashed his machete around him, yelling.
Then it hit him.
If it couldn't happen naturally, only one possibility.
An ability.
That was the punk's power.
"You damn chick! If you're gonna use a blade, fight fair and face me head-on! Ain't you ashamed, against an archer like me?!"
Clinging to his last hope, the Ranger bellowed provocations.
The fight had an audience. He prayed the kid would bite and charge straight.
At least then, he'd have a shot.
But he'd overlooked one thing.
"──I'm an assassin, dumbass."
A cold voice whispered in his ear.
And the Ranger's consciousness faded.