Chapter 77
Chapter 77
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 77
Chapter Title: Storm's Golden Sun (13)
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"It's starting to come into view? What's that?"
"Your movements, ma'am."
"......What?"
Just moments ago, he'd been knocked down after a mere ten exchanges, and even after sparring twenty times a day for a whole week until it got nauseating, barely lasting twenty exchanges was the best this scrub could manage. Hearing such words from his mouth left Ryu Jia utterly dumbfounded.
'Ah, no way this guy...?'
Suddenly, it hit her. Ryu Jia intuited that Yang Woo-bin was just gauging her reaction, spouting this nonsense to keep her engaged.
He was sharp enough as it was, so of course he'd noticed day by day how she was growing fed up with these pointless spars.
But since he couldn't afford to stop the spars, he was desperately grasping at the last dying embers of her interest with this ridiculous bluff.
Once she thought about it that way, Ryu Jia started finding his absurd nonsense kind of endearing.
It was true the spars were boring her to death, but the heavenly mealtimes that followed made it all worth enduring, so she had no intention of quitting first.
Still, she had no plans to say that out loud.
"To be precise, I should say I've figured out a way to see your movements clearly."
Yang Woo-bin, willing to spout utter drivel just to stay by her side, was simply too cute.
"Heh, is that so?"
Her adorable junior, who cooked delicious meals and provided mind-blowing sex, was putting on this baseless bravado just to hang out with her—it was too amusing. Instead of teasing him mercilessly, Ryu Jia opted for a casual acknowledgment.
"Perfect timing, then. This is our last spar of the day. Show me that 'method' you just realized."
She wanted to shatter his bluff head-on and watch his face flush with embarrassment when it fell apart.
"Yes, ma'am. Let's get started right away."
At her words, Yang Woo-bin stood up as if he truly believed his own hype.
He brushed the dirt off his body with a few pats, then looked up at Ryu Jia, smirking with one corner of his mouth as he spoke.
"Feel free to come at me full force now. For real."
"Pfft, hahaha."
The words nearly made her burst out laughing—bluffing to this extent was straight-up pathological—but since she'd already decided to expose it by beating it out of him in the spar, Ryu Jia swallowed her retort and moved to her position.
The two took their places, facing each other as always.
"You told me to come at you full force, with intent to hit? Don't regret it......!"
As always, Ryu Jia moved first.
She cloaked her body in crimson aura, kicking off the ground with the sole intent of giving her bluffing cute junior a good whack on the head.
Not a charging attack, but a simple run to close the distance—any charge would just get parried, as she knew all too well, so she no longer bothered.
Her speed was slower than a full charge, but still incredibly fast, closing the gap to Yang Woo-bin in an instant.
Kwaaak—
Just before entering striking range, Ryu Jia pulled back her tightly clenched fist beside her shoulder, loading it like a cannon, and locked eyes with him.
It was time for his reckless bluff to crumble without mercy.
"Huh?"
She'd looked up expecting a face twisted in dismay, but instead, Ryu Jia was the one caught off guard.
'What the hell is that? Did he really figure something new out!?'
Yang Woo-bin's red eyes were glowing with crimson light.
In their 140 spars so far, she'd never seen this completely new sight. Heat flared in Ryu Jia's chest, her boredom evaporating in an instant.
'No, wait. Don't get your hopes up, Ryu Jia. Expectations just lead to disappointment. Most people can't even touch my toes no matter how hard they try. Especially a guy like the newbie... impossible.'
But that lasted only a moment. Having lived her whole life without seeing talent comparable to hers—save for Jin Se-jeong—Ryu Jia quickly snuffed out the spark of anticipation in her chest.
Just some cool-looking red glow in his eyes; nothing would change. With that thought, she thrust her loaded fist toward his face.
Tsspang—!
But her full-force punch sliced emptily through the air, missing its mark.
Yang Woo-bin had simply tilted his head aside, dodging it effortlessly.
It wasn't all that surprising, though.
After all their spars, he'd grown enough to last about ten exchanges.
So Ryu Jia felt no particular reaction to the dodge, continuing her barrage of punches.
"......"
But he passed ten exchanges with ridiculous ease.
"......?"
And breezed past his personal best of twenty.
"Wha-what?"
Even after a full fifty exchanges, Yang Woo-bin was still calmly handling her attacks. Ryu Jia's heart pounded harder and harder.
The expectations she'd deliberately suppressed crept back up, and the embers in her chest reignited brightly.
Shweee! Tsspang—! Thud. Paak, kwaaaang—!!!
He dodged or blocked her full-power punches effortlessly, countering with explosive fists the moment she slipped—now she couldn't help but get excited.
"Whoa, took that to the face and doesn't even flinch."
"Ha, haha."
Even with Yang Woo-bin's explosive punch landing squarely on her face, Ryu Jia took zero damage thanks to her crimson aura. She just laughed as his fist pressed against her brow.
She was thrilled that he could truly see her movements.
His gender no longer mattered.
There was actually someone besides Lead Officer Jin Se-jeong who could fight her—Ryu Jia was so excited and thrilled that she couldn't even think to lower her unconsciously rising lips.
"Newbie, this isn't a dream, right......?"
"Of course not. Wait, are you teasing me? Mocking me because my punches don't hurt, so it must be a dream?"
"N-no! That's not it! It just feels like a dream! I'm so happy that you're actually the kind of person who can fight me for real......"
Even as she spoke, Ryu Jia's heart thumped wildly, her body heating up just looking at Yang Woo-bin.
With her unparalleled talent, she was overjoyed that he'd awakened something new.
Being able to fight her meant he could stand on her level.
Yang Woo-bin, once just a cute, capable junior useful to keep around, was now registering as an equal being.
"Ah, s-sorry, hold up. Let's go again."
Having been born with everything she needed and grown up without ever having a friend, Ryu Jia's way of speaking to Yang Woo-bin had completely shifted.
"This time, I'll really go all out! I'll push hard so it helps your training!"
"......Ah, sure."
Her low posture reminded him of Fuyuno Tsubaki, leaving Yang Woo-bin speechless for a moment, but since they needed to finish the spar, he nodded.
"Alright, let's do this! Fighting!"
Ryu Jia grinned happily at the thrilling flutter in her chest, unleashing her punches with all her might to impress this rare equal she'd finally found.
※
Two weeks later.
"......Haa."
Boredom washed over her, and Ryu Jia let out a sigh.
She'd completely grown sick of sparring with Yang Woo-bin.
Just two weeks ago, when he'd started emitting that red glow and reading all her movements, she'd been so thrilled and joyful. The reason she'd fallen back into disappointment and boredom was simple.
"I'll keep getting stronger just by breathing from now on...... If you can't break through my aura now, you never will."
His punches were just too weak.
Of course, they weren't actually weak.
A single explosive punch fueled by his Solar Body's mana could snap the arm bone of Yasuri Yaiba, a top-tier first-year Jincheon Class cadet.
But that was impressive only to ordinary eyes. To Ryu Jia, whether it was Yang Woo-bin's explosive punch or a child's fist, it all felt equally feeble.
If he couldn't pierce her crimson aura, it wasn't a real fight. And even that red glow had limits.
It strained his eyes after exactly five minutes, making it unusable—when Yang Woo-bin told her that, Ryu Jia felt like a bucket of ice water had been dumped over her head.
Having overdosed on the red pill of his "strength," her expectations cooled, replaced by boredom and disappointment multiplied several times over.
In the end, she was back to sparring just to earn her meals, like two weeks prior.
"I'm here, ma'am."
"Oh, hey."
"Shall we head to the arena, then?"
"Yeah, sure."
The daily routine: Yang Woo-bin opens the clubroom door and suggests sparring; she drags herself off the sofa and replies dryly with an "okay."
This utterly dull routine was about to repeat itself today as usual...
"Oh, right, ma'am. Starting today, I'm focusing on offense. Up until now, I was too busy adjusting my suddenly improved dynamic vision to your movements to put any thought into attacks. So if you just tank my punches like before, it's gonna hurt."
"F-for real? O-okay! Let's go quick!"
Ryu Jia's red eyes sparkled with vibrant excitement!