Chapter 9
Chapter 9
Now It Begins
“Where is he? Where the fuck did he go…?”
Because Jihun had vanished from sight in an instant, Changhoon’s tension shot through the roof.
Just last year, Jihun had been nothing more than his personal punching bag.
Whenever Changhoon hit him, he simply endured it.
If Jihun tried blocking while groaning in pain, Changhoon beat him even harder for daring to defend himself.
Changhoon had carefully engraved fear deep into Jihun’s mind so thoroughly that resistance never even crossed his thoughts.
Later, when Changhoon heard Jihun had awakened as a hunter, he panicked briefly and avoided him for a few days.
But not long afterward, Changhoon himself awakened too.
And unlike that pathetic loser, he reached a much higher level.
The moment he received a C-rank evaluation, the first person who came to mind was Jihun.
That bastard who probably strutted around proudly after awakening as an E-rank hunter.
Changhoon wanted to drag him beneath his feet again and make him feel despair.
So he intentionally sought Jihun out again just to beat and torment him.
Even after becoming a hunter, nothing had changed.
You’re still my punching bag forever.
Changhoon had carved that fear into Jihun’s head once again.
But now—
Even while facing his former punching bag, Changhoon couldn’t relax for even a second.
The horrific pain from the barely sealed wound in his lower abdomen sharpened his instincts.
“There’s no way I’d get pushed this far by an E-rank hunter—especially not Kang Jihun. Whether he reawakened or learned some new skill, something’s changed. Don’t let your guard down. Go all out.”
The difference between Class 11 and Class 6 was massive.
Though they spent the same year inside the academy, the combat training Changhoon received was on an entirely different level from Jihun’s.
No matter how much he used to mock and abuse Jihun, Changhoon had already advanced beyond the level of a rookie who got overwhelmed simply because he underestimated an opponent.
“WHERE DID YOU GO?! GET OUT HERE, YOU CRAZY BASTARD!!”
Changhoon screamed wildly while raising his fighting spirit.
“Why’s he yelling like that…? Just wait a second. I’ll be right there~ Boss, can I put this on my tab…? I’m short on cash…”
“S-Sure… I’ll make it quickly… but, uh… student, are you really okay?”
“Ahh, don’t worry. Ah! Wait, are you worried customers won’t come because it’s noisy? Damn, guess I should finish this fast.”
The vanished Jihun was now casually chatting with the food truck owner.
“Did I really completely lose track of that… that idiot’s movements?”
Pshhk!
“AAAAAAAGH!! AAAH!! AAAAAH!”
A second hole suddenly tore open beside the wound Changhoon had barely sealed earlier.
“God, you’re loud!! Hey, do that freezing thing again. I avoided your organs and vitals, so stop overreacting.”
“AAAAH!! AAAAH!!”
Changhoon somehow endured the pain once before, but suffering the exact same agony again made his mind begin to blur.
He collapsed onto the ground writhing while desperately trying to stop the blood pouring from his stomach.
Once more, he gathered mana and froze the wound shut.
“Huff… huff… ngh… you crazy bastard… what the hell are you…”
“Whew… thank god. You were screaming so much I thought you might pass out, Changhoon! Anyway, like I promised, I’m cutting off one leg now, okay?”
The playful tone in Jihun’s voice filled Changhoon with horrifying dread.
Changhoon forced himself upright and raised his mana again.
Thick streams of magical energy poured from both his hands like smoke before freezing the surrounding air.
Ice Wall.
A B-rank defensive ice magic skill unfolded.
Towering walls of ice nearly two meters high formed around Changhoon one after another, completely surrounding him.
“Ooooh!! What’s that?!”
Jihun’s eyes widened like an excited child visiting an amusement park for the first time.
“Huff… ngh… you crazy bastard. I don’t know what trick you’re using, but I’m getting serious too.”
Changhoon’s eyes gleamed through the narrow gaps between the ice walls.
As he pulled every last drop of mana from his body, jagged ice crystals burst outward from the front of the frozen barrier.
Soon the crystals transformed into sharp-beaked ice birds and shot toward Jihun like arrows.
“So there were people who challenged Great Hero Kang in your previous world too?”
“No, Yeonhwa… they didn’t challenge me. They just bullied and beat me up one-sidedly.”
“They… bullied Great Hero Kang? Those horrible people! How dare they hurt my husband…”
“If I met them again now, obviously things would be different. But honestly, it was so long ago I barely remember. I nearly died countless times after arriving in the martial world. Childhood stuff doesn’t matter anymore.”
“It matters! Absolutely! You must never forget! There’s a saying that revenge for a martial artist isn’t late even after ten years!”
“No… why are you angrier than me…”
“Because I cherish Great Hero Kang more than Great Hero Kang cherishes himself! Promise me… promise nobody will ever dare disrespect you again… promise nobody will ever treat you rudely again… sniff…”
“A-Alright… okay… stop crying. There, there…”
When Yeonhwa asked what kind of person I used to be in my previous world, I should never have told her the truth.
Whenever I buried my face against her chest and confessed painful or sad memories, I could always sleep peacefully afterward without worry.
But maybe that was selfish of me.
After hearing about the bullying and suffering I endured, Yeonhwa cried nonstop for three straight days.
Even while serving me warm tea, she cried.
Even while preparing dinner, she cried.
Whenever she embraced me, she cupped my face with both hands and pulled me tightly into her chest while tears streamed endlessly down her cheeks.
She looked so furious and heartbroken that anyone watching would think she was the one who had been bullied.
Ah… right.
I remember what she said.
Because she cherished me more than I cherished myself, she wanted to cross worlds and tear apart the people who hurt me with her own hands.
But she had no way to do that.
That helplessness filled her with sorrow and rage.
The pain and sadness I experienced must have become several times more painful for her.
Because she cherished me more than I cherished myself…
Facing the bird-shaped masses of ice flying toward him, Jihun briefly emerged from his thoughts and raised his internal energy around his body.
Protective Aura.
BOOOOM!
The ice birds collided head-on with Jihun and exploded with a deafening roar.
Moments later, thick mist filled the surrounding area.
Academy cadets who had already sensed the mana and gathered nearby to watch the fight stared in shock.
“Isn’t that Sung Changhoon from Class 6? Why’s he using skills in the middle of the street?”
“Hey hey look over there… someone got hit directly by that.”
“Oh my god… what do we do? Is there a healer nearby?”
Everyone around them worried about whoever got struck by Changhoon’s ice magic.
His freezing magic was flashy and overwhelming enough to serve as his signature technique.
The spectators instantly recognized the caster as Changhoon just from the skill itself, but couldn’t clearly see who had been hit.
“Huff… huff… you fucking idiot… that’s why you shouldn’t act cocky… did he die…?”
Like the reckless thug he was, Changhoon had already triggered the classic “Did I kill him?” flag.
The mist slowly began clearing.
And Jihun came back into view.
Standing exactly where he had been before.
But his expression had changed.
The playful grin that covered his face until now had disappeared.
Instead, it was filled with sorrow.
“H-How are you still standing after taking that head-on, you son of a bi—”
“Changhoon… honestly, it was so long ago that I personally don’t really care anymore.”
“What the hell… are you talking about, you crazy bastard… huff… ngh…”
After using too much mana, the intense pain in Changhoon’s stomach surged violently again.
“No, if I only cared about myself, maybe I could’ve just ignored someone like you.”
“What the hell does that even mean… huff…”
“But now I can’t do that anymore… because you made Yeonhwa cry.”
“…What? Yeonhwa? Ngh… who the fuck is that?!”
Jihun’s feet slammed against the ground instantly.
At the same time, the surging energy flowing around his right arm sharpened into the form of a sword.
Srrrk—
A clean line appeared across Changhoon’s massive, sturdy ice wall.
“AAAAAAAGH!!! AAAAAH!! Grrrk!”
At the same moment Jihun struck, a matching line appeared above Changhoon’s right knee—
And his entire lower leg fell cleanly to the ground.
Changhoon screamed hysterically from the unbearable agony before foaming at the mouth and losing consciousness.
Step.
Step.
Jihun slowly walked toward him.
Blood poured endlessly from Changhoon’s severed thigh, but Jihun’s hands moved quickly across several pressure points.
He stopped the bleeding instantly.
“Until you can’t even dare look at my face anymore… until you spend your life pressing your head against the ground before me… don’t die. I’ll reattach and cut off this pathetic leg as many times as necessary. Because the price of Yeonhwa’s tears is unimaginably expensive…”
Jihun turned away from the unconscious Changhoon.
Then he picked up the severed right leg and began walking.
Toward Jinhee—
Who sat collapsed on the ground trembling violently, her mouth hanging open in horror.