The Clown Laughs Endlessly (2)
No one thought Kim Seongho would lose. A B-rank versus a D-rank. Even though Kim Seongho was the type who had grown strong purely through items, lucky encounters, and elixirs, the idea of him losing to a D-rank simply didn't compute.
The second- and third-years cheered him on, and Kim Seongho waved back with a relaxed smile.
"That bastard. I really want to punch him."
"...Same."
One minute before the duel was set to begin. Seonghyun was supposed to be stepping into the arena by now, but there was no sign of him. Kim Seongho smirked.
"Did he seriously run away because he got scared? I thought better of Seonghyun. How disappointing."
His voice trembled slightly, but the crowd didn't notice and simply burst into laughter.
"Heh. With all these heaven-like seniors watching, who wouldn't be scared shitless?"
"Right? The world's changed a lot these days. A junior getting to duel a senior? Never would've imagined it back in my day."
The stands were growing rowdy when—
"Huh?! It's Seonghyun!"
Lee Seonghyun was finally entering the arena.
"But... what's wrong with him?"
He was far from normal. His body was covered in scars—so many that he looked like a walking wound. Kim Seongho's expression stiffened at the sight. He knew exactly how those scars had gotten there.
"You've got some nerve showing your face here after pulling that shit."
At his provocation, Seonghyun simply offered a faint smile. There was no change in his expression. Like a machine. Like a statue. Utterly unchanging.
"Seonghyun... can he really win? What if he gets so angry he refuses to surrender?"
In a duel, no one could interfere until one of the participants verbally surrendered.
"He doesn't seem like the type to surrender, but I don't know if he can win..."
It had been some time since she'd seen his status window, but she doubted there had been any dramatic changes. I should at least get ready to step in. Her mind had already accepted his defeat as a foregone conclusion.
"Then we will now begin the public duel!"
Piiiik! The whistle blew.
In that instant—
EXPLOSION DETECTED
"Seonghyun-ah!"
"Lee Seonghyun!"
A powerful explosion erupted where Seonghyun had been standing. There hadn't even been a sign of skill activation. A time-delay trap. Considering the student council president's skill set revolved around thievery, it was clearly something he'd prepared in advance.
That fucking bastard!
"Kekeke! Ah, this is way too easy. I heard Seonghyun was making quite the name for himself among the first-years. Guess that was just talk?"
The thrill of having landed the first blow filled Kim Seongho with sadistic glee, and he let out a theatrical laugh. At the same time, the stands erupted in cheers.
"Nice!"
"That's what I'm talking about!"
But their laughter died the moment the smoke cleared.
"Tsk. So even that wasn't enough..."
His entire body was covered in burns. Yet Seonghyun's facial expression and posture hadn't changed in the slightest. He took one step forward.
Click. A landmine detonated.
Boom! Another step.
Thud. The sound of a wire snapping was followed by a dagger burying itself in his back.
The entire arena was a minefield of traps. Even so, Seonghyun didn't stop walking.
What the hell is that idiot doing?!
If there were traps, he should have looked for another way. Walking straight ahead like this was no different from accepting defeat.
Every time a trap went off, the crowd had laughed along with it. But after it happened several times, the laughter began to fade.
"Hey... shouldn't even a tank be down after taking hits like that?"
"Y-yeah..."
"And didn't Senior Seongho set up all those traps before the duel?"
"He did... Teaching him a lesson is one thing, but this is just ugly..."
It wasn't just the spectators who sensed something was off.
"Fucking monster..."
Even after taking traps that Kim Seongho had poured his soul into creating, Seonghyun kept advancing. His entire body was in tatters, yet he continued walking toward him in silence. Kim Seongho's face twisted like he'd bitten into a bug.
He drew two daggers and hurled them into the air.
"Let's see you handle this too!"
Möbius Dagger
The two daggers multiplied into over a dozen blades before raining down on Seonghyun. He looked like a porcupine. More than twenty weapons were now embedded in his body. Yet he kept walking.
"...This is insane..."
Kim Seongho's face turned deathly pale. The expression that didn't change even as unbearable pain tore through his entire body. The abnormally fast recovery rate. One step. Two steps. Before he knew it, Seonghyun was standing right in front of him.
"......"
"......"
Seonghyun said nothing. He simply reached out. A crimson aura surged, and a sword materialized in his hand. A blade as white as a swan's wing.
"Seongho."
"......"
"You've worked hard."
- MASSIVE IMPACT
"Guh!"
In a single swing, Kim Seongho was sent flying into the distance. Thanks to the defensive artifacts he carried, his body remained intact, but the impact still hit him fully.
"You son of a bitch!"
He hurriedly drew his daggers, but—
Clang!
"Khaak!"
He was sent flying in the opposite direction again.
This bastard is even faster than he was back at the workshop!
His speed was nearly on par with a B-rank. No, perhaps even greater when it came to pure speed alone. Though his attacks didn't look particularly fast.
"Khh... As expected of a tank. Can't break through the shield, huh?"
Item power. Five defensive artifacts protecting Kim Seongho kept him perfectly safe. He took a defensive stance in the corner.
Clang! Clang!
Seonghyun swung his sword fiercely, but the solid multi-layered barrier wouldn't break.
"Haa..."
Seonghyun took a deep breath. On his face was the expression of a man who had given up on everything.
This is so fucking annoying.
"What?"
Rumble. Shadows fell across the ground, and dark clouds gathered in what had been a clear sky. Raindrops began to fall, one by one. The burning heat, the heated atmosphere, everything began to cool.
"Nothing in my life ever goes the way I want it to."
The rain poured down. A cold summer shower that cooled the heat of the season.
And then the atmosphere shifted completely.
The aura surrounding Seonghyun changed.
Crack!
Crimson energy erupted from the sword and enveloped him. The once pure white blade began to transform.
Thunder God
Wooooong!
The pure white sword, ignorant of the world, became a demonic blade drunk on blood. Its grotesque appearance silenced the crowd. There was no trace of purity left. Only a sticky feast of blood wrapped around the blade.
With eyes that seemed to recall the past, Seonghyun swung his sword against the barrier.
"No matter how hard I try."
Boom!
"No matter how much I scheme."
Kwaaaaang!
"Something always goes fucking wrong."
Craaaack! Cracks spread across the iron wall.
"So I thought to myself."
Seonghyun raised his sword high.
"Just laugh."
"What...?"
"If I laugh, everything will be fine. Just laugh."
"......"
The mask—the mask he had always worn so effortlessly—finally came off. Beneath it was a man who had already been broken, crying.
The sword cleaved through space.
Kwaaaaang!
"N-no way! This is bullsh—Guh!"
The magnificent barrier collapsed, revealing the ant that had been hiding behind it. Seonghyun threw a punch.
"If I beat you half to death..."
Thud!
"Maybe everyone will change their minds."
"Guh!"
Teeth scattered across the floor, and blood from his nose soaked the ground. Even so, Seonghyun didn't stop.
Crack! One of his arms twisted at a grotesque angle.
"Kuaaaaagh! You son of a bitch!"
"Three left."
"Kuuu...! If you think I'll surrender just because of this, you're—Kyaagh!"
Both legs began twisting like they were dancing.
"Graaaaagh! My legs! Fuck! My legs!"
The remaining arm was bent beyond its joint's range and snapped.
"Kuaaaaaa......!"
Even then, he grit his teeth and endured.
"You've got some guts, I'll give you that."
"Heh heh... You think you'll get away with this?! The Baekho Guild members are probably waiting outside the arena for you to—Kugh!"
"Get away with it? If anyone's fucked right now, it's you."
"What...?"
Seonghyun pointed toward the spectators. The people who had been holding their breath while watching the fight were now whispering while staring at their phones. An academy-wide message had been sent.
It has been confirmed that former student Kim Seongho orchestrated sexual assaults and human trafficking. Any additional victims are encouraged to contact the counseling center...
"Is this real...?"
"No way... How could Senior Seongho..."
"Hey, it's even on the news. They say the Baekho Guild Master was arrested by the Association on sexual assault charges."
"Holy shit. If the Association got involved, that means it's basically confirmed, right?"
The gazes began to change. The second-years who had once respected and cheered for their senior now looked at him with contempt. The third-years clicked their tongues in disgust. The eyes that had once looked up to him as student council president now saw him as nothing more than a criminal.
Unable to endure it, Kim Seongho screamed.
"It's not true! This is just a rumor Lee Seonghyun spread! Guys, you believe me, right?!"
"......"
Silence. No one answered.
"I'm innocent! It's true! Sechan-ah! You know I'm not that kind of person!"
"...I'm sorry."
Abandonment. The moment the student council secretary turned his head away, Kim Seongho's face turned deathly white. Everything he had built was collapsing. His position, his relationships—everything was crumbling to dust.
"This can't be happening... This can't be!"
His desperate screams echoed through the air. As if denying reality, he kept muttering that it wasn't true. In just one week, everything he had built over more than a decade had been destroyed.
Crack. Something inside his brain seemed to snap. It was the sound of his last remaining sanity breaking.
"Kill me..."
"Kill you?"
"It's over... Everything's over now..."
The death of the person he loved. And now his own social death. He no longer had the strength to endure any more.
Seonghyun's lips curved upward.
"Too bad."
"What?"
"You don't get to die comfortably."
Seonghyun spoke calmly as he grabbed a fistful of his hair and yanked him up.
"Eighty years. That's your sentence."
"......"
"Reflect every year as you watch your body slowly disappear."
Fear flooded Kim Seongho's eyes. It wasn't a voice filled with rage or malice. The calm, matter-of-fact tone was what made it so terrifying.
"Shall we start with this for the first year?"
He reached out and touched his eyeball.
"W-what are you—Kuaaaaagh!"
His left eye was ripped out. The horrific pain made Kim Seongho try to shout his surrender.
"S-surren—!"
A terrible texture filled his mouth. The bundle of nerves and the squishy lens wrapped around his tongue.
"Ueeegh!"
"If you spit it out, I'll take the right one too."
His voice was calm. That was what made it even more frightening. It sounded like he really would do it. But to surrender, he had to spit it out. A dilemma. Kim Seongho's pupils shook violently.
"Right. Let's save the right eye for next year."
Seonghyun's hand gently stroked the remaining right eye. Kim Seongho's eyes shook madly.
"Do you regret it?"
He nodded frantically.
"Good. Regret it for the rest of your life. Until you stop breathing. Until the day your heart stops beating."
Seonghyun pushed his hand into the hollow left eye socket. The sensation of something foreign entering the flesh and blood-filled cavity. Kim Seongho shook his head, begging for mercy. But Seonghyun simply smiled as if to say not to worry.
"This is pretty good. It gives quite a nice amount of shame."
His incomprehensible words. And then—
Thunder God
"Kghuuuuup!"
The lightning traveled along the damaged nerves and surged into his brain.
"Kheeegh......"
Electricity spread from his brain to every nerve in his body. Sizzle. His body began to burn. Overwhelmed by the horrific pain, Kim Seongho collapsed to the floor. Foaming at the mouth, he lay completely still.
Seonghyun looked down at him with an indifferent gaze before scanning his surroundings. Silence. Some people were vomiting on the ground. Others had pale faces and were covering their eyes and ears. Reactions of all kinds. But one thing was certain.
There was no longer a single person in the academy who didn't know Lee Seonghyun's name.
***
Infirmary.
A man entered. A wreck. Looking no better than a rag, he stopped in front of the bed where Shin Suyeon lay. Her limbs were wrapped tightly in bandages. The man's mouth opened, then closed again. It was as if it had been glued shut. In the end, he smiled bitterly and began gently stroking her arm.
At that, Shin Suyeon slowly woke up.
"Seonghyun... ssi...?"
Her voice was weak, as if her body hadn't fully recovered yet.
"W-when did you get here... Huh? W-what happened to your body...!"
Noticing something was wrong, she forced her aching body upright.
"Y-you need treatment right away... Just a moment! Nurse! Nurse? Huh? Is no one here?"
Both her arms and legs were in casts, so she couldn't move properly. Seonghyun simply continued stroking her arm with a faint smile.
"S-Seonghyun ssi...?"
He said nothing, just kept stroking her arm. His expression remained completely unchanged, like something broken. Like a doll that had given up on moving. Even though his bizarre behavior should have frightened her, Shin Suyeon struggled to sit up and pulled him into her arms.
"Why are you crying like that? If someone saw, they'd think I was dead."
"......"
"The nurse treated me really well, and it looks like you've been through a lot too, Seonghyun ssi. So let's just forget about it."
Like a mother comforting her child, she gently stroked the back of his head.
"None of this is your fault, Seonghyun ssi. Please stop blaming yourself so much..."
Seonghyun's body trembled faintly. Shin Suyeon hugged him tighter, as if to say she was right there and he could relax. She held him with all her strength.
"Who could have tormented our Seonghyun ssi so much..."
"......"
"This person who has the kindest heart and is gentler than anyone..."
Tears poured from Shin Suyeon's eyes.
"Why... why would they torment him..."
Her words carried many layers of meaning. It was as if she had been holding everything in until now and was finally letting it all out. Thick, tangled emotions filled her voice.
They stayed like that for a long time, holding each other tightly.
After about ten minutes, when Seonghyun's trembling had finally subsided, Shin Suyeon smiled brightly as if she hadn't been crying at all.
"Hehe. They say if you laugh after crying, you'll grow hair on your butt. We're in trouble now..."
"......"
"Are you feeling a little better now?"
"......"
"I'm not going anywhere. No matter what happens, I'll always be by your side. So..."
Smiling, Shin Suyeon took his hand.
"Let's stop crying now, okay?"
At her words, Seonghyun nodded. And then he smiled. Brighter than he ever had before.