Chapter 29
Chapter 29
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 29
Chapter Title: From Today, Day 1
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"Shut up and stay quiet. If you make a noise, you're dead."
After blurting out that kind, considerate line to my new accidental roommates—something along the lines of, 'I have sensitive ears when I sleep, so please be thoughtful, friends'—I took advantage of the now-silent room to solidify my plans going forward.
Right now, it's exactly one month after enrollment, so the next scenario, the midterm evaluation, starts in two weeks.
That meant I had to build up enough strength to take down Jincheon Class cadets in those two weeks before it began.
No problem for me, of course, but raising Fuyuno Tsubaki to that level was definitely going to be tough.
Her total mana, as I'd checked via the status window, was a measly 3—less than when I first awakened. It was pathetically low, the smallest amount among all superhumans.
The Extreme Yin Body granted extreme sensitivity to mana, just like the Solar Body, but she still needed a decent baseline amount. Even I had 100.
With only two weeks until the midterm, bulking up her mana through meditation or training was impossible.
So, I'd need a special method, not the usual route.
"...Looks like I'll have to feed her an elixir."
Acquiring an elixir in the closed-off environment of Dabcheon Academy wasn't easy, but it wasn't impossible.
I'd have to put in some physical work... but that was no big deal.
With my mind set on executing the plan tomorrow, I went to sleep to rest up.
The next day, after finishing morning lectures and packing my bag to head to lunch, a timid voice came from beside me.
"Um, hey..."
It was Fuyuno Tsubaki, whose passive skill seemed to be mumbling and hesitating.
"Don't 'hey' me—call me by name. I call you by yours."
"R-Really? Is that okay? Then... W-Yang Woo-bin."
"What."
For some reason, Fuyuno Tsubaki wore an embarrassed expression as she asked me a question.
"So, um... have you decided on a club yet?"
"Club?"
"Yeah, all Dabcheon cadets have to join one. It was supposed to be decided three weeks ago, but you were... unconscious for a whole month..."
She looked incredibly sorry as she mentioned the month-long gap.
She seemed to think it was her fault I'd gotten hurt.
Of course, it was true I'd fought Hobabas to save her and gotten injured, so I didn't bother comforting her.
Instead, I answered her question.
"Yeah, I did. Ages ago."
"Oh, really? That's a relief. Um... can I ask which one? I'm in the reading club, for reference. No one talks, and I can just quietly read books... it's nice."
"Cool. Mine's one you won't have heard of, but no reason to hide it. Blast Dragon."
"B-Blast... Dragon?"
"See? You don't know it."
Scraaaape.
"Ah!"
As I finished packing and stood up, Fuyuno Tsubaki—who'd been tilting her head at the name Blast Dragon—scrambled to her feet to follow me.
I couldn't help but chuckle at her over-the-top reaction, which never got old, and as thanks for the laugh, I gave her a quick rundown on Blast Dragon.
"Eh, it's just... ordinary. A regular thug club."
And the only route to get the elixir for you.
"Oh... an ordinary thug club... Huh? Ordinary thugs? Wh-Wha?!"
I left Fuyuno Tsubaki behind—still wide-eyed and cocking her head, clearly not grasping my kind explanation—and headed to the cafeteria.
After lectures end, I'll go submit the application.
To the most ideal club for boosting my notoriety: Blast Dragon, led by Dabcheon Academy's worst delinquent in history.
"Alright, I'm off. Do everything I told you before bed, then sleep. I'll check tomorrow."
"O-Okay, got it. See you tomorrow, Yang Woo-bin...!"
"Don't, or you're dead."
"Hehe, got it."
Why's she happy to hear she'll die? What a weird girl.
After classes ended, I'd normally head to the dorms with Fuyuno Tsubaki since our paths matched, but I had business, so we parted at the classroom.
"Ugh, even in the game, this place was tucked in such a goddamn corner it pissed me off every time. Way worse finding it in real life."
Though Dabcheon Academy was within Korean territory, it was vast enough to be treated like an independent nation.
That made even finding a single clubroom a chore.
Blast Dragon's was especially obscure—no one like Fuyuno Tsubaki had even heard of it—so the trek was twice as bad as others.
"Phew, thirty minutes on foot from the main building? For real?"
The Blast Dragon clubroom was in such a remote, out-of-the-way spot that it took a full thirty minutes to walk there.
I swallowed hard at the ominous aura leaking from the closed door's gap and stepped inside.
Then I kicked the door open with a shout.
BAM—!!!
"Accepting new recruits!"
The door flew open with a bang, and outside light flooded the pitch-black clubroom.
My booming voice on top of that naturally woke the girl dozing inside.
"...Ugh."
Rudely roused by the commotion I'd caused, she rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand, then glared at me with blood-red irises.
"Who the hell are you."
Rooooar...!
"...!"
Right after, the intensity in her gaze and voice crushed down on me fiercely.
Just a glare and a short sentence, but the mana she'd unconsciously leaked reacted to her irritation, pressing on my shoulders.
Among everyone I'd met, only Principal Go Yeo-ryeong and Yang Family head Yang Ga-jeong could emit this kind of pressure—first time from anyone else.
This was Ryu Jia, heir to the Ryu Family, ranked fifth among noble houses.
Dabcheon Academy's most vicious, brutal, and strongest delinquent.
"I'm asking what you are."
When I didn't answer, Ryu Jia sharpened her already fierce eyes further and fully rose from the sofa.
Her bright red hair, reaching her waist, tousled as it fell, and the largest breasts I'd ever seen jiggled with imposing force.
She'd merely stood from the sofa, yet every movement held a charisma that pinned your gaze.
"...What the hell is this guy."
Dazed by Ryu Jia's overwhelming presence, I'd been staring blankly when she suddenly closed the distance right in front of me.
She was a head shorter than my 185 cm, looking up at me, but it felt like she was gazing down.
That was the gap in power between her and my current self.
"Hey, you gonna answer or what?"
But I couldn't just freeze up.
Ryu Jia was key to my 'Yang Family takedown' plan—the one I absolutely had to recruit as an ally.
So I activated my mana core, shaking off her oppressive mana, and declared confidently.
"My name is Yang Woo-bin. I'm here to apply. I want to join Blast Dragon."
I pulled the application from my uniform's inner pocket and handed it over. Ryu Jia glanced between me and the paper, then scowled.
"...You sane?"
Only one response to that.
"Of course."
"No idea what kind of lunatic you are, but Blast Dragon ain't for scrawny guys like you. Even tough girls fail the entry test and drop out. Go home before you regret it."
In the Blast Dragon-exclusive arena just a short walk from the clubroom—nicknamed the 'battleground'—I listened to Ryu Jia's earnest advice.
She had the rep as the academy's worst, but she wasn't totally reckless; that's why she said this.
Ryu Jia wasn't a villain, really... more like a beast living by her instincts. She could judge right from wrong.
In this world, men were naturally weaker than women, and to a top-tier powerhouse like her, I was just the scrawny guy she described.
With my mana total at a measly 100, that reaction was inevitable.
But regardless of how she saw me, I'd trekked thirty minutes with this application in hand. As president, she had to test me.
"No regrets. If I thought I'd fail, I wouldn't have come. So let's get started. The entry test."
"Talk big for a guy who'd crumple from a tap. Sigh..."
Ryu Jia sighed deeply like she really didn't want to, but rolled her neck, loosened her shoulders, and prepared steadily.
She lived like a beast, but her sense of responsibility was ironclad.
"Last chance. You really doing this? I won't take responsibility."
After warming up, she loaded a tightly clenched fist at her hip and warned me.
Only one reply to her final warning.
"What's with the long tongue on the great Ryu Jia? Scared you'll lose?"
"...Hah, haha. First time hearing that from a guy. Fine, you're on!"
Provoked, she dropped the warnings and steeled herself.
This was Blast Dragon's entry test, dubbed the 'initiation'.
Simple: stay conscious after one hit from the president, you pass; unconscious, you fail.
Only issue: the president, Ryu Jia, wasn't simple.
"Block well. Don't make me clean up a corpse..."
She didn't intend to kill, but her power made death a real risk.
I steadied my breath, fired up my mana core, and maxed out mana through my body.
At the same time, I invoked the trait 'Mana Fluidization' to pool a manageable amount in my palm.
"Here I go."
With her short declaration, the ground under her feet exploded!
Like a bomb, but that didn't register.
My eyes locked on one thing: the red-haired superhuman charging like a cannonball.
"Ngh...!"
Even holding my breath and focusing every nerve on her, my current eyes couldn't track Ryu Jia.
Straight charge from the front—I knew the path, the attack—yet I couldn't capture it.
But even if I couldn't see or react, I could still move my body.
Now!
Drawing on my Reverse Hero Saga playtime, I swung my mana-charged right palm at the calculated moment with full power.
KABOOM—!!!!!!!
The instant something hit my palm, a massive explosion blinded me.
Thud! Crumble crumble...
Something crashed behind me amid falling debris. Clutching my throbbing right hand—maybe fractured?—I turned.
"...Huh? Wh-What the hell?"
There was Ryu Jia, embedded in the wall amid rubble, blinking in disbelief.
I grinned at her.
"So, from today... day one?"
And just like that, I joined Blast Dragon.