I'll Show You Hell
The next day, the Rank Battle began.
After morning roll call, we moved to the grand auditorium. Not only the cadets scheduled to fight today but also those who wanted to watch started gathering.
‘Come to think of it, Ha-eun has a Rank Battle today too, right?’
I’d heard it while eating lunch yesterday. She said her match was scheduled for today. Unfortunately, first-years fought in a different auditorium, so it would be hard to go watch.
‘Well… she’ll handle it. She said her mana capacity has skyrocketed. And with her naturally good mentality, she might even aim for an undefeated record at the first-year level.’
I found a seat far away by myself and waited quietly. Soon, the professors entered.
Then the matchup order appeared on the screen.
‘I’m sixth…’
A professor stepped forward and gave a brief explanation of the rules.
Surrendering would result in a heavy penalty, so don’t give up. There would be absolutely no threat to life, so fight with everything you had. And the most important rule: no matter what happened during a match, no one—including the professors—could ever interfere.
‘Very nice.’
Last year, those rules had caused me nothing but pain and torment. Now they sounded like the most welcome news in the world.
And so the Rank Battle began.
The cadets picked supply weapons and started fighting. Some matches ended without serious injuries after they politely traded blows, but others turned into bloody, splattering brawls. Victory declarations rang out at the perfect moments. Of course, there were fights that continued until the barrier shattered because one side refused to accept the declaration, but it felt less like malicious harassment and more like both sides were truly clashing with everything they had.
“Next match—Kwon Si-hu from Class 5 and Yoo Ji-min from Class 2, please step forward.”
It was finally my turn.
‘Keep running your mouths.’
Your turn is coming soon enough.
I grabbed a single sword from the weapon supply station installed at the entrance to the arena. Kwon Si-hu chose a spear and shield—the standard tank combination, unchanged from last year.
I slowly walked up onto the dueling stage.
“Ji-min! Hyung’s been in a really bad mood since yesterday, you know? You might get seriously hurt today, so why don’t you apologize to the girls right now?”
“Kk-kk-kk-kk-kk-kk.”
That pathetic, dogshit babbling only made me laugh now.
“You’re laughing? You think this is funny? Hey, Yoo Ji-min, did awakening give you a little confidence? You really want to die?”
“Hey, Si-hu. You know what? No matter how tough you act, girls are never going to like you.”
“…What?”
At that moment, the professor shouted.
I took my stance.
“Come at me already, you attention-whore bastard.”
My light provocation made Kwon Si-hu’s previously relaxed face turn bright red in an instant.
“What did you just say?! You fucking piece of shit!!”
Boom—
Kwon Si-hu kicked off the ground and charged straight at me. He pushed his shield forward while preparing to thrust his spear.
I watched his movements until the very end.
‘Hold the sword slightly diagonal, just like the Team Leader taught me.’
The instant he thrust his spear—
Clang—
I used the flat of my blade to deflect the attack perfectly. I immediately swung my sword for a counter, but—
Clang—
It was easily blocked by his shield.
‘Tanks really are annoying to deal with…’
I knew a thrust would come next, so I immediately retreated to create distance. Thanks to that, his spear cut through empty air.
‘I learned this technique from the Team Leader while hunting lava slimes.’
After putting some distance between us, I was pondering how to break through that shield when Kwon Si-hu suddenly prepared another thrust.
‘What the hell is he doing? Thrusting from this range?’
The moment he thrust, I felt compressed air shooting toward me from the spear.
Shweeeeee—
‘Oh, fuck!’
Steel Body (Hardening)
Kwaaaaaang!!
A long-range attack aimed at my shoulder. Thankfully I activated hardening at the perfect moment, so there wasn’t much damage, but—
“Ji-min! You can’t run from hyung, you know? Ready to apologize yet? Should I make you kneel right now?”
“……”
That technique definitely didn’t exist on him last year. He must have developed a new ability and used it to climb to D-class.
A tank strong in close combat had just gained a long-range attack option. For me, who still lacked any long-range skills, this was clearly a disadvantageous situation.
‘But so what?’
Thinking about disadvantages wouldn’t help. Besides, I already had a plan in mind.
I charged straight at Kwon Si-hu. I wasn’t going to give him any distance.
“Come on! Come on! Our little Ji-min better dodge well, okay? You can’t just die right after getting hit!”
Excited, he fired compressed air at me as I closed in.
Boom! Boom!
I dodged some, blocked others with hardening, and kept running.
‘My reflexes have definitely improved since the stamina amplification.’
It didn’t feel like only my health pool had grown. I could clearly feel that my fundamental strength, agility, and endurance as an awakened had all increased dramatically. The boost from stamina amplification was probably around the average level for awakened people.
But I had one thing that set me apart from the others: pure physical strength I had trained to its limit through blood, sweat, and tears even before awakening.
Awakened people usually don’t bother with physical exercise because they experience a unique surge in physical stats. It’s far more efficient in terms of specs to focus on raising mana and wrapping it around the body rather than building muscle.
However, I couldn’t awaken for a long time, so I trained like a madman to close that gap even a little. At least to the point where I was stronger than a normal person.
In the end, the stamina amplification brought my body up to the same physical specs as other awakened. But that didn’t mean all the training I did before simply disappeared.
In other words, I now possessed strength that surpassed the average awakened. At the very least, I held a clear advantage over Kwon Si-hu in pure power.
I closed the distance while dodging and blocking his long-range attacks. Just as I expected, Kwon Si-hu thrust his spear at me.
This time, I didn’t deflect it with my sword.
I waited until his spear came close, then twisted my body slightly. And then—
Thud—
I trapped his spear between my left arm and torso.
Crrrrrrk—
The moment I hardened my grip and locked it down tight, Kwon Si-hu began to panic.
“You son of a—let go of that!”
He shook the spear back and forth violently to pull it free, but it didn’t budge. The difference in raw strength was already overwhelming, and I was holding it with hardened force.
Deciding it was hopeless, he raised his shield high to smash my head.
I had been waiting for exactly this moment. The instant his defense opened up.
Weak Point Detection
Enemy weak points will be highlighted for the next 30 seconds.
(※ Caution: Weak point locations change whenever the opponent changes posture. Stay focused until the end!)
(※ Caution: Can only be used once every 12 hours.)
The new SR skill I obtained as an achievement after kissing Ha-eun.
‘I’ll just take the shield smash.’
I hardened my upper body.
Bang!
His shield slammed into the side of my neck. But at the same time—
Crunch—
I smashed the pommel of my sword down with all my strength onto the forearm of his right arm—the one holding the spear—right where the weak point was marked.
“Gaaah!!”
The moment the attack landed on the highlighted weak point, he dropped the spear. Still, true to his awakened nature, he quickly recovered and tried to swing his shield.
Slaaash—
I swung my sword quickly, slicing deeply across the upper arm of his left arm where another weak point was marked. It was a practice sword, so it didn’t sever the limb, but the blunt edge dug into flesh and bright red blood sprayed out.
“Ugh…”
Clang—
Thanks to that, he dropped his shield too.
I didn’t stop there.
I clenched my left fist so the middle knuckle protruded and struck him precisely on the side of the neck.
“Kuh… kuhk…!”
His eyes widened in shock at the completely unexpected form of attack.
I threw my sword away entirely.
Clatter—
Kwon Si-hu’s attention was momentarily drawn to the flying sword.
I quickly dove under him, grabbed his legs, and executed a takedown. I flipped him over and mounted him in full guard.
“Now the real fun begins, you attention-whore bastard.”
Kwon Si-hu was utterly confused.
‘How the hell did it come to this?’
He had considered the possibility that Yoo Ji-min had awakened. And since the guy had always been muscular, he knew there was a chance he might be strong. But Yoo Ji-min had only just awakened. No matter how strong he was, how strong could he really be? And no matter what techniques he used, it was obvious they wouldn’t amount to much.
In reality, Kwon Si-hu had a long-range attack ability, so he thought he could simply pressure him with the shield and accumulate damage until he could cook the bastard easily.
But the result was completely different.
The guy’s strength was stronger than expected, and the impact transmitted to the shield with every blocked attack was heavy. Still, since Yoo Ji-min had no way to deal with long-range attacks, he thought he would win if he just endured. But then—
The way Ji-min grabbed the spear, smashed the arm, and made him drop the weapon. The way he sliced the right arm and made him drop the shield. It was all too strange.
It felt like he already knew exactly where to hit to make him drop his weapon. And the attacks seemed to pierce through weak points that even Kwon Si-hu himself didn’t know about.
‘It must be a coincidence. Fuck!’
There was no way a guy who had just awakened could have that kind of insight. Even upper-rank cadets couldn’t do something like that.
‘I just need to find an opening somehow.’
But Kwon Si-hu hadn’t given up yet. He was sure that Yoo Ji-min would get excited and start attacking recklessly, leaving an opening. If he could escape quickly and counter at that moment, he still had a chance.
But—
Thud! Thud!
The pounding from Yoo Ji-min continued without pause.
‘Ugh… damn it, that hurts! You fucking trash!’
What’s worse, Ji-min never hit the same spot twice. He kept striking different areas.
It was as if he intended to distribute the damage evenly across his entire face and head without leaving a single gap.
Then suddenly, Ji-min stopped punching. He looked down at Kwon Si-hu with cold eyes and spoke.
“Apologize.”
“…What…?”
For a moment, Kwon Si-hu doubted his own ears.
“I said apologize.”
What the hell was this nonsense all of a sudden?
“Fuck off! You piece of shit! You should be the one apologizing to the girls—”
Thud! Thud!
‘Fuck…’
Before he could even finish speaking, Yoo Ji-min rained down punches around his mouth. Kwon Si-hu accidentally bit his own tongue and nearly severed it.
“Apologize to me.”
Thud!
“Apologize for slandering me for something I never did!!”
Thud!!
As Yoo Ji-min grew more emotional, the power behind his pounding gradually increased. What started as bare fists was now gradually turning black through hardening, becoming harder and harder.
‘Shit, this isn’t good. I’ll pretend to apologize first and look for an opening while he lets his guard down.’
Kwon Si-hu decided to calm Ji-min’s rage and look for a chance to counter. He thought that if he apologized, the guy would waver, and then he could explosively circulate his mana to escape in one go.
But—
“I-I’m sorry… mmph!”
Yoo Ji-min clamped a hand over Kwon Si-hu’s mouth. Then he squeezed with a hand strengthened by hardening.
Crrrrrrrrk—
“Mmmmmmph!!!!”
All of Kwon Si-hu’s teeth shattered. The grip strength was monstrous.
‘F-fucking bastard… teeth take forever to heal!!’
But Ji-min didn’t stop there.
“Apologize for using me to look good in front of the girls!!!”
Thud! Thud! Thud!
‘It hurts so much!! How am I supposed to apologize when my mouth is covered!!!’
“Apologize, you fucking bastard!!!!”
Crunch! Crunch! Crunch!
Kwon Si-hu tried to raise his mana to escape somehow, but it was useless.
The endless pounding. The utterly horrific pain.
Under the continuous assault, Kwon Si-hu’s mind went blank. But because he had circulated his mana, his heightened senses forced him to feel every single moment of his body being destroyed in vivid detail.
Crunch—
The previous blow had cracked his skull.
Crunch—
He couldn’t see out of one eye anymore. The eyeball had been crushed and burst.
Crunch—
His nose was broken. Shards of bone and blood clogged his airway, making it impossible to breathe properly through his nose.
The beating continued for dozens of minutes. And in a Rank Battle, no one could stop it.
Kwon Si-hu, who kept getting pummeled, was overwhelmed by unimaginable terror.
‘Stop… please stop… it hurts too much… please stop…’
But those were only his thoughts.
Crunch! Crunch! Crunch! Crunch!
Yoo Ji-min did not stop. No matter how much blood Kwon Si-hu shed, no matter how crushed his face became, the fists kept flying.
‘I surrender!! I’ll surrender!! Please let me surrender!!!’
No matter how much he screamed inside, the surrender was never declared.
Crunch! Crunch!
‘Please stop… I’m sorry… I was wrong… please stop…’
He could barely see anymore. He had lost hearing in one ear.
His nose was completely destroyed. With his mouth covered, he couldn’t breathe at all.
‘It hurts so much… please at least let me breathe… please…’
The surroundings had already fallen silent. No one spoke a word.
Neither the cadets nor the professors could help him.
That was the rule of the Rank Battle.
Trapped in horrific agony, Kwon Si-hu could only continue begging inside his own mind. Tears streamed endlessly from his one remaining eye.
But Ji-min leaned down close to his ear and whispered like a devil.
“Si-hu. We haven’t even gotten to the real part yet. Since you won’t apologize, I can’t stop, can I?”
Crunch!
Kwon Si-hu’s true hell was only just beginning.