Chapter 41
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 41
Chapter Title: Flash Strike
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Dazzling sunlight.
The beautifully manicured campus park befitting the prestige of the National Seoul Hunter Academy.
The vast lawn had been meticulously maintained into a lovely shape.
Students on break were lounging on benches or picnic blankets, enjoying their free time.
Most of them appeared to be couples.
'Except for this spot.'
"So, what's all this about?"
"Why not? Isn't it great?"
Erina Esnatia was rummaging through a rattan basket that looked utterly out of place being carried around the academy grounds, pulling out various items.
Thanks to Erina's sudden visit, they ended up having lunch here.
"I was just gonna skip eating."
"That's exactly why I came. A weakling like you would starve without food, Si-woo Kim."
"Charity for the less fortunate?"
"This is noblesse oblige! Kyahaha!"
Yeah, I'm probably the poorest student in this academy.
"Just wait and see."
I wasn't expecting much.
In [Awakening to SSS Hunter Academy], Erina Esnatia's cooking skills had never come up. It was impossible to imagine her putting sincere effort into making anything.
"Here we go! Feast your eyes!"
Erina confidently popped open the lid.
'Usually, this is where some cliché purple wriggling mass X pops out...'
?
"What, doesn't it look delicious? Of course it does."
"What do you mean 'of course'? You went to all this trouble and it's a ZI?"
"You think I made this?"
"Obviously."
The food that emerged from her basket was shocking in an entirely different way.
Not the greasy McD-something burgers advertised by that clown mascot, but fresh, vibrant burgers that screamed homemade.
Vegetable skewers grilled on thin sticks.
Colorfully sliced and prettily arranged fruits.
They were a bit different from the lunchbox I'd imagined—food that reeked of "I came from America."
"You bought it, right?"
Erina brought her extended hand to her mouth and looked down at me.
"Ha! Spending time with me has even improved your flattery skills, Si-woo? Not bad at all."
What an insufferably smug expression.
Why does it piss me off so much?
"Looks can be deceiving, and the taste sucks... cliché."
"Quit yapping, Si-woo Kim. Just shut up and eat."
Erina Esnatia glared at him.
'Let's start with the least suspicious-looking one.'
He picked up a burger and took a bite.
It's good?
What was it? Not some earth-shattering revelation, but definitely not amateur hour.
"Why is this so good?"
"Ha? Isn't it obvious? What do you take me for, Si-woo Kim?"
"I figured you couldn't pull off something like this."
"'Something like this'? What do you mean 'something like this'? I came all gracious-like!"
Erina Esnatia shook her head at him.
Times like this called for surprise worship.
"All hail Erina! All hail!"
"Stop with the forced praise."
"Not working, huh."
"Do you think I'm an idiot?"
"Nah...?"
"Shit!"
"All hail Erina! All hail! All hail!"
"Speaking of, don't you have better things to do than hang with me?"
"Ha! What do you take me for, Kim Si-woo? I'm loaded with free time!"
That's not something to brag about.
Calm down.
"No, seriously. Weren't you looking for your prince? Didn't you come to Korea because of Lee Seong-hyeon?"
At his words, Erina flinched slightly, looking a bit guilty, then quickly averted her gaze.
"HAHA... I've put that on hold for now. That Lee Seong-hyeon guy seems to have some personality issues."
"You said men should be strong, right?"
"When did I say that? Just shut up."
She still mixed in English when flustered.
"Your match is out there somewhere. Take your time looking."
"I was gonna do that anyway. You just shut up and eat, Kim Si-woo."
Good. If Erina Esnatia doesn't approach Lee Seong-hyeon on her own, that's for the best.
Nothing good could come from her getting tangled up with him.
"Alright, let's eat!"
Erina headed off to her lecture.
Truth be told, she had little interest beyond finding her prince, so skipping classes didn't faze her much.
'I basically forced her.'
While devouring her lunch, he'd nonstop preached about the importance of attending class until she clutched her ears, claiming blood was coming out, and went of her own accord.
'She might as well attend diligently while she's at it.'
For now, few people were as close to him as Erina Esnatia.
He was human too—affections built up inevitably.
Erina Esnatia had a few quirks in her personality.
Still, thinking of the future, getting even a little stronger would benefit her.
And he had his own business to attend to.
Professor Kang Geom-seon's private office.
At his request, securing a private audience had been easy enough.
-Knock knock
"May I come in?"
"Yeah, come on in."
A slightly breathless male voice.
Opening the door revealed a spacious training area that hardly fit the image of a professor's office.
In the center, Professor Kang Geom-seon was swinging his sword.
"Hello."
"No need for such stiff greetings. My prized disciple number two!"
He had no memory of becoming Kang Geom-seon's prized disciple.
Absolutely not! He couldn't let himself end up as a grad student.
Noticing his expression, Professor Kang Geom-seon chuckled.
"Just kidding. You really hate the idea of being my disciple? Other students are dying to learn even one technique from me."
"Haha, of course not. The title was just too overwhelming for a moment."
His face had given it away.
He'd welcome instruction from the professor anytime.
But handing over his career path? No thanks.
The professor set down his sword and looked at him.
"So, you want to learn Flash Strike? What does that mean?"
Professor Kang Geom-seon had initially brushed off his request to learn Flash Strike as a joke.
Of course, he knew it was a skill.
"I misspoke. I don't want to learn Flash Strike itself. I'm curious about the method you used to master it."
"My training method?"
Originally, he'd planned to fill in his basic swordsmanship gaps through the professor's classes.
He trusted that Professor Kang Geom-seon could impart sword sense in short order.
But thanks to [Fate Intervention], the professor had taken a keen interest in him—an unexpected windfall.
Far more than anticipated, the professor was invested.
So, naturally, he should exploit that to the fullest.
That's why he'd asked to learn the professor's Flash Strike training method.
Professor Kang Geom-seon's Flash Strike was a skill that sliced the opponent precisely in an instant, regardless of distance.
"I don't get why you're curious about my Flash Strike training. Even if you knew, it wouldn't help someone without the 'Flash Strike' skill."
Fair point.
Without the Flash Strike skill, knowing the training method was meaningless.
Unless...
What if he had a similar skill?
Flash Strike wasn't magic.
It was simply a skill that propelled a slash toward the opponent at such blinding speed it became uncontrollable.
If you couldn't control it with exquisite sense, it just veered off into nowhere. That's why it was B-rank despite looking A-rank worthy on the surface.
Didn't that sound a lot like one of his crappy skills?
[Bunny Hop]
The core principle wasn't all that different.
If he could train directly under Professor Kang Geom-seon to master Bunny Hop control...
That would elevate Bunny Hop's potential to [Flash Strike].
To [Fake Strike].
This was where the gamble began.
A gamble with sky-high odds of success.
"There's something I'd like to tell you now, Professor Kang Geom-seon."
"So, if I understand correctly, your leg strength is so exceptional that you can achieve speeds comparable to Flash Strike?"
"Not quite Flash Strike level, but very fast."
"And you can't control that speed yourself, which is causing you trouble?"
"Yes."
"Then, if I help you, you might unleash an attack similar to Flash Strike?"
He hadn't blabbed to Professor Kang Geom-seon about having the [Bunny Hop] skill.
Instead, he'd circled around it deliberately.
'Exceptional leg strength allows movement at speeds approaching Flash Strike.'
The professor would focus less on any hidden skill and more on the promising talent he'd discovered—a new possibility.
Where Professor Sin So-ah might hide things for personal gain,
Professor Kang Geom-seon would cover for him for spiritual satisfaction.
His hidden desire was raising a disciple who could surpass his brother 'Kang Young-ho' with the sword alone.
And if the reaction was off? Just play it as a joke.
He hadn't shown anything yet.
"..."
He cautiously glanced at Professor Kang Geom-seon.
The professor was smiling.
"Sure, you might have legs like that. The more I see of you, the more intriguing you get."
Just as he'd believed the professor would say.
Professors were all a bit eccentric.
"Two weeks. In two weeks, I'll get you on track."