I'll Pay You Back Exactly
Thwack! Thwack!
Kwon Si-hu thought amid the unrelenting agony.
'Please... just let go of this hand... I can't... can't breathe... it hurts so much...'
The pain of his eyeballs bursting and facial bones shattering was excruciating, but above all, he couldn't breathe. His nasal bones had completely caved in, blocking even the tiny bit of air that had been getting through.
'No... no... please...'
Just as his desperation for oxygen reached its peak.
"Puha!!! Heok!!! Heok!!!!"
Ji-min released the hand that had been clamped over his mouth.
Was this enough? Was he finally done?
In his unbearable suffering, Kwon Si-hu clung to that faint hope for a moment. He even started feeling grateful to Ji-min for letting him breathe.
But the instant he saw Ji-min's eyes, Kwon Si-hu realized. He had no intention of stopping yet.
So Kwon Si-hu screamed desperately.
"Aho... aho...!!!" (Surrender... surrender...!!!)
But his tongue was already swollen, and with all his teeth shattered, he couldn't even pronounce it properly.
Ji-min looked down at him and smiled.
"What's that supposed to be? Aho? That means 'idiot' in Japanese. Still cursing me out? You've got some spirit."
No! I was trying to surrender, I just can't speak right!
But the professors wouldn't recognize his garbled words as surrender.
"Aiya... eue... aiya...." (No... that's... no....)
He tried somehow to get through to Ji-min.
"Oh dear... looks like regression to infantile speech. I'll snap you out of it."
"?!"
Ji-min stepped over to Kwon Si-hu's right leg and spoke quietly.
"Last year, you broke my knee. Remember?"
"......"
Anyone not an idiot could imagine what came next.
"A dae... a dae...." (No... no....)
He was already covered in so many injuries that even with healing, full recovery would take months. If his bones broke here too, that time would double.
"Even so, outright breaking it feels a bit much, right?"
Nod! Nod!
Kwon Si-hu nodded frantically with his smashed face. Pride meant nothing now.
"Yeah... you're right... breaking it the same way is too mild... I'll grind it to dust."
"...Huh...?"
Before Kwon Si-hu's dumbstruck noise could finish, Ji-min raised his foot. And then.
Crunch! Crunch! Crunch! Crunch! Crunch!
"Uwaaaaaaaaahhhhh!!!!!!!!!"
Ji-min's foot, blackened by hardening, mercilessly stomped Kwon Si-hu's right knee.
Until his bones turned to powder. Over and over.
"Uhheuk... uwaaa... uwaaaaa...."
The sensation of bones shattering. The torment of being pulverized to dust was beyond horrific. He wondered if this could even heal.
The faint-hearted cadets were already vomiting and looking away. Even the professors frowned at the brutality.
"Ah! Si-hu! I forgot something."
"......?"
What now? What more could he possibly do?
"You broke my arm too, you fucking bastard."
"Ah...."
The moment he grasped the meaning, Kwon Si-hu mustered what little strength remained.
He couldn't even twitch his body, but he desperately raised both arms.
And then.
"Mia... miahae... eoba... bwa... jwo...." (Sorry... sorry... please... spare... me....)
He clasped his hands together, begging desperately.
Please stop here. No more pain. Please show mercy.
He could only plead for Ji-min's mercy.
"No can do. Can't stop now, Si-hu. You know that, right?"
"Eoba... eoba...." (Please... please....)
Ji-min sneered down at him.
"Fine. As you said, stopping here would be bullshit. You haven't publicly apologized yet."
"...Ah...."
It was exactly what he'd said to Ji-min last year. He realized it was just his own words and actions boomeranging back.
Dripdripdrip—
Overwhelmed by extreme terror, Kwon Si-hu pissed himself.
And then.
Crunch! Crunch! Crunch! Crunch! Crunch!
Ji-min stomped his elbows to pieces again.
"Aaa... aaaaa...."
Did he lack the strength to even scream? Kwon Si-hu blacked out.
At the same time.
Pop—
The barrier shattered.
"S-stop it!"
"......"
"The... winner is Yoo Ji-min...."
And so, Yoo Ji-min's first rank battle ended.
The auditorium fell silent after the match ended.
No cheers, no murmurs cursing me. Everyone just held their breath, frozen.
I turned and walked out of the arena.
"Fuck...."
Did successfully getting revenge feel good?
Honestly, I wasn't sure.
I'm not the type who enjoys others' suffering, and midway through, I debated stopping there.
But I had to go all the way.
If I stopped halfway, scum like him would just raise their heads again, stiff and proud. I couldn't tolerate that.
And this was just the beginning. Today, I only beat one weakling. The real ones I wanted to crush to death were still far ahead.
Dragging my exhausted body out of the auditorium, I heard someone call from behind.
"Cadet Yoo Ji-min!!!"
"...?"
Professor Namgung Hyeok. The one in charge of D-rank class, where Kwon Si-hu belonged.
"Cadet Yoo Ji-min. That was too much earlier."
"......"
"Even if the rules allow it, there are lines you don't cross."
Lines to respect? Was there such a thing?
"Really? Then why didn't you say that to me last year when it happened?"
"...That was..."
Namgung Hyeok bit his lip, at a loss for words. Cadets and professors alike—nothing but shitty bastards. They all just watched when it was me, and now they pretend to care about cadets. Trash.
"Still, you went too far! What you did could ruin another cadet's career!! That's the kind of cruel shit villains do! Get a grip!!"
Villain-level behavior...
"The strong survive, the weak get weeded out. Isn't that the academy's philosophy? If he's fit to be a hunter, he'll overcome it. If not, he was trash to begin with."
"......"
I hated the professor's logic. Why judge the 'degree' of someone else's pain by their own standards? What happened to me was 'just part of sparring,' but their student getting it was 'villain shit'?
"Cadet Yoo Ji-min... keep that up, and you'll make enemies of every cadet. Is that what you want?"
"Yes. It's no different from now."
Everyone already treats me like the enemy? What's new?
No, I hoped they'd hate me even more. So I wouldn't hesitate later.
"Keep up that attitude, and it'll cause problems! Top guilds might not take you! They value personality!!"
"I'll handle that myself."
"......"
It was laughable to me.
The hunters these shitty cadets become after graduation. Guilds are where those hunters gather. And above that, the Hunter Association.
Those bastards are the trash who framed me as a sex offender without evidence.
Me joining them? Never gonna happen.
Why? Because I hate hunters down to my core. And I'm not just another academy hopeful.
My actions are no different from a villain's? Of course not. That's obvious.
My name is Sexy Guy. A bottom-tier villain who's already killed.
The next day, Saturday.
I woke at dawn to head to the Labor Office like always.
"Aigoo, my whole body aches...."
Muscle pain everywhere—I couldn't get up.
Sure, I didn't take much damage in yesterday's rank battle. But that didn't mean there was no strain.
Beating someone up takes this much out of you...
I'd punched nonstop for minutes, keeping constant pressure so Kwon Si-hu couldn't rise.
Even a well-trained body gets sore from overusing unused muscles. And I'd burned stamina via mana conversion, so the aftermath was expected.
Can't make it today... need rest...
I messaged Team Leader that I couldn't come and closed my eyes to sleep. Or tried to.
Ding—
Ha... fucking bitch...
I know. I get it.
I know rank battles start next week, and I need to pull the gacha. But fuck, let me rest one day. I'm dying here.
I ignored the alert to sleep again, but tapped details just in case.
And I jolted upright in bed, shocked.
Achievement Reward: SR - Crisis Detection (Trait)
Automatically activates and alerts you when a crisis approaches.
(※ Note: Can only activate once every 12 hours.)
Whoa!!!!
A ridiculously OP trait dropped out of nowhere.
"This is it!!! Outer God of Gacha!! Thank you!!!"
Overwhelming gratitude.
The once-per-day limit sucks a bit, but this is basically an extra life.
Grinning, I got out of bed.
Alright! Time to power through and head to the Labor Office now!
As I prepared to leave.
Ding—
Crisis Detection activated.
Danger detected now!
Huh? What?
And then.
Crash!!!
The living room window of my house shattered to pieces.
"What the fuck?!"
What the hell just happened...?