Chapter 4
Chapter 4
I Really Can’t Get Used to This Atmosphere…
Four days had passed since Jihun returned to the modern world.
During that time, he attended academy classes diligently every single day without fail.
The academy lessons were more useful than he expected.
Learning about the terrain inside various gates and the characteristics of monsters helped refresh things Jihun had forgotten after returning to modern society.
Truthfully, in terms of combat ability alone, Jihun probably wasn’t inferior to anyone at the academy anymore.
No—
He might even possess more combat experience than anyone else in the modern world.
Jihun had been thrown naked into the martial world and survived countless life-threatening dangers.
The martial arts he built from the ground up were completely different from the abilities of academy cadets who merely awakened and trained for a few years.
Still, duels between martial artists and wars against the Demonic Cult had all been human-versus-human combat.
Battles between martial artists differed greatly from fights between hunters and monsters—or hunters and hunters.
Modern society was threatened not by the Demonic Cult, but by mindless monsters emerging from gates and a handful of evil hunters.
Over the past four days, Jihun repeatedly felt the differences between the martial world he spent ten years in and the modern world.
But he soon realized one thing.
The martial arts and physical abilities he had honed as a martial artist could still become overwhelmingly useful and powerful in this modern world.
And at the same time—
As a hunter, he was still an extreme novice who had barely grown at all.
The fact that his hunter stats remained at the lowest level didn’t make Jihun feel despair or self-loathing.
Because it also meant his potential for growth was limitless.
Jihun had already crossed the threshold of death countless times in the martial world and reached a fairly high level as a martial artist.
His desire to become stronger made him see his weak hunter abilities not as a flaw, but as potential.
And then there was Yeonhwa.
To see Yeonhwa again, he needed to grow stronger as a hunter and raise his skill level no matter what.
For now, Jihun planned to spend a few more days learning about modern society and adapting again.
Those ten years where survival and Yeonhwa had been his only focus seemed to have stripped away much of his sense of reality regarding modern life.
“Still… I seriously can’t get used to this…”
Jihun looked at the four men surrounding his seat.
“Hey asshole, answer us already. I heard you killed the King Goblin? Teach us the secret.”
“Why’s this bastard just blankly staring into space? Feels like he left his brain behind in the gate.”
“Hey hey, stop it already. As if a loser like this killed the King Goblin. Those Class 11 bastards probably made the whole thing up together.”
E-rank hunter Do Younghwan from Class 10 and his group were openly provoking Jihun.
Monthly evaluations and quarterly evaluations constantly ranked academy cadets against each other.
Support funds differed by class, and higher-ranked classes also received access to superior weapons and books.
Because of that, every academy student viewed everyone else as competition and desperately fought to climb even one class higher.
So naturally, rumors about a Class 11 cadet showing extraordinary performance spread through the academy rapidly.
And since the person in question was Kang Jihun—the weakest cadet even within Class 11 itself—
Do Younghwan had gathered his clique and come looking for him personally.
“Hey, are you deaf? If you can one-shot a boss monster, why the hell are you still stuck in Class 11? Answer me already.”
Younghwan’s mocking grew more blatant while the laughter of his group filled the classroom.
The other Class 11 students pretended not to see what was happening while whispering among themselves.
Some even sided with Younghwan’s group and joined the ridicule.
“I heard the Team B students couldn’t even see what attack he used. Honestly, I was curious too~”
“Seriously. They say this great hunter killed the boss without even lifting a finger? Hahaha.”
“I cut its neck with a sword. So technically, I did move my hand.”
Jihun, who had been quietly observing the situation until now while organizing his thoughts, finally responded.
“Oh shit, so the mute can talk? Then why the hell haven’t you been answering us?”
Do Younghwan stepped forward from the group and lowered his head to meet Jihun’s gaze while he sat there.
“You asked for the secret…? There’s no real secret. I simply cut it.”
At Jihun’s answer, the four Class 10 students surrounding him widened their eyes before bursting into laughter.
“What? Pfft… this crazy bastard… pffft!”
“No seeecret? I just cut ittt… hahaha!”
“Holy shit, this guy’s hilarious. Hey, was he always this kind of character?”
Unable to hold back his laughter, Younghwan turned toward the nearby Class 11 students.
“W-We were never close to him, so we don’t really know.”
“Nobody’s interested in him.”
“Right, right.”
“What a pathetic social life… Was I really this bad?”
Jihun sighed inwardly.
It seemed he needed time to adapt not only to modern society, but also to the position his past self occupied ten years ago.
“Hey, enough already! Just go back! What are you even doing?!”
Jihun’s eyes shifted toward a female student with long straight hair and very large eyes standing among the Class 11 cadets.
“Oh, Han Sooyoung~ You’re Han Sooyoung, right? The loser ranked right above this guy.”
“T-That’s none of your business!”
The girl who stepped forward to defend Jihun was Han Sooyoung.
She was an E-rank healer-type hunter who possessed only a C-rank healing skill capable of restoring small wounds and slight fatigue—the second-worst failure in Class 11.
“Wow~ Birds of a feather really flock together. What, are you this loser’s girlfriend?”
“W-What are you talking about?! I’m not— no, that’s not it! Why are you guys bullying someone who was just sitting quietly? Do you even realize this violates academy rules?”
“Wow, the low-level trash from Class 11 really are something. What are you, elementary school kids? Gonna call the teacher?”
Younghwan turned away from Jihun and redirected his mockery toward Sooyoung.
“What’s so wrong about asking this loser for gate tips, huh?”
Younghwan reached toward Jihun’s shoulder as though pressuring him to agree along with the joke.
Crack.
“….”
“AAAAAGH!! AAAAAH!! MY WRIST!! AAAAAGH!”
Right before Younghwan’s hand touched his shoulder, Jihun grabbed his wrist and twisted it instantly, snapping it apart.
Then Jihun slowly rose to his feet while still gripping the broken wrist.
“First, the wrist that holds the sword. Strong wrist strength is extremely important.”
“AAAAAGH! LET GO! FUCKING LET GO!! AAAAGH!”
Younghwan screamed desperately, but Jihun ignored him completely.
“And shoulder strength. You can’t ignore shoulder strength when swinging a sword quickly either.”
Jihun smoothly swung his arm.
The moment he did, Younghwan’s body lifted entirely off the ground with the twisted wrist as the pivot point before slamming violently onto the floor.
His wrist still remained trapped in Jihun’s hand.
“AAAAAGH!! AAAAGH!!”
After already suffering a broken wrist, Younghwan’s shoulder dislocated as his body crashed into the ground.
“L-Let go! Ugh… ugh… AAAAGH!!”
Even trying desperately to endure the pain, he couldn’t stop the horrifying screams pouring from his mouth.
Meanwhile, the three Class 10 students who came with him stood frozen like statues, unable even to think about interfering after witnessing the gruesome scene unfold instantly before their eyes.
“If your wrists and shoulders are this weak, then there’s no way you could swing a sword like I did and cut off the King Goblin’s neck.”
Finally releasing Younghwan’s wrist as the boy lay sobbing on the floor with tears and snot everywhere, Jihun slowly bent down.
“Sorry, but I didn’t even know your name. You’re obviously not from my class… Which class are you from again?”
The situation had completely reversed.
Now it was Jihun lowering his head calmly to meet Younghwan’s eyes.
“You… you fucking psycho! Ugh… my shoulder… my wrist… You’re dead! Hey! What the hell are you idiots doing?! Kill this bastard!”
At Younghwan’s scream, the three Class 10 students hesitated briefly before once again surrounding Jihun and preparing to fight.
Then—
“Do you like juk? Or maybe rice porridge… something soft like that?”
“What… what kind of bullshit are you saying?!”
Jihun grabbed Younghwan by the hair, yanked his head upward—
And slammed his palm directly into his face.
“Ugh… urgh…”
Blood now poured from Younghwan’s mouth and nose alongside the tears and mucus.
Then he finally lost consciousness.
White fragments that looked like teeth spilled from his mouth onto the floor.
“If you don’t have teeth anymore, you’ll need to eat soft food like porridge. I just happen to have a habit of not tolerating loud mouths…”
Leaving Younghwan collapsed on the ground bleeding, Jihun stood back up and faced the remaining three students.
Then his eyes shifted toward Han Sooyoung, who stood nearby with her mouth hanging open in shock.
“Ah… wait. What were the academy rules again? Am I… not allowed to hit these guys?”