78. My Buff is a Drug
78. My Buff is a Drug
July 5 (Sat) 9:58 AM
Sparring Ground Entrance
"......You came."
Saturday meant the promise he'd made with Park Yuri.
A promise to fight over Lanfang.
"You came alone?"
"Any reason to bring her?"
Lanfang had wanted to come, but he'd deliberately left her behind just in case.
"Smart choice. Would've been ugly if she saw you get wrecked for nothing."
Park Yuri seemed to take her victory as a given.
She had zero intel on Hye-yong—where did that confidence come from?
'Then again, the same went for me.'
Still, Hye-yong did know that Park Yuri was a C-rank Martial Fighter.
He'd also studied how strong C-ranks were and had a rough grasp of it.
'Let's see... main stats around level 10, primary weapon proficiency around level 8, give or take.'
Plus the extra layer of skills.
And her own combat experience.
'That much, I can cover easily enough.'
Hye-yong didn't think he'd lose, either.
He, too, had grown.
[ Physical Ability Enhancement ]
Strength stat +11 levels
Agility stat +14 levels
Stamina stat +8 levels
[ Combat Proficiency Increase ]
Combat Proficiency +15 levels
'Shit, I really beefed up nicely.'
With a full-cost buff active, the difference was undeniable.
The buff he'd used on Lanfang before had definitely pushed the cost to the limit—Strength and Agility at level 10, Dagger Proficiency at level 14, if memory served.
Even before the fight began, power was surging through every inch of his body.
'Means I'm stronger than your average C-rank student, at least.'
If mana stats got involved, maybe not. But this was a sparring match with no mana usage.
At this level, he had zero doubt that skill or combat experience could override the gap.
Combat Proficiency at level 15 would make him move like a professional fighter from the get-go.
He entered the private sparring room with Park Yuri.
"What weapon do you use?"
"Knuckles."
Park Yuri's face scrunched slightly.
"You're a Martial Fighter?"
"Eh, more or less."
"Never saw you in class."
"Something like a secondary position."
"Ha. Not enough to fight me with your full strength, so you're giving yourself a handicap."
Her glare turned vicious.
"I'll make you regret it."
Yeesh. Kinda scary, actually.
They each gripped their knuckles and stood facing one another, just the two of them.
As if determined to back up her threat immediately, she stepped in and snapped out a straight right.
'Whoa... I can see everything.'
He'd been slightly worried, but he saw with perfect clarity where it was coming from and how.
All Hye-yong had to do was tilt his head slightly and slip it.
'Proficiency gap's huge, all right.'
Having dodged, Hye-yong extended his left and fired off a quick jab.
Thwack!
"Gh—!"
Hye-yong had never learned boxing, but thanks to Combat Proficiency, a jab with surprisingly polished form shot out and tapped Park Yuri lightly on the face.
The moment it landed, Park Yuri raised her guard.
'Raising her guard means... she's gonna take hits while assessing the situation?'
With both arms shielding her face and chest, there genuinely wasn't an obvious opening to wallop her cleanly.
'Well, nothing for it.'
He decided to start by pounding on top of her guard.
Thud! Crack!
He'd swung maybe six times.
Predicting Hye-yong's incoming right, Park Yuri blocked the shot with one arm and pulled her right down low.
'Ah, it's coming, I think.'
Clearly aimed at the left side of his torso.
A bit of knowledge from a comic surfaced in Hye-yong's mind.
'Liver blow... I think they called it. Supposedly hurts so bad you can't even stand up if it lands.'
After exchanging a few punches, Park Yuri must've sensed something off and shifted her focus to defense, waiting for her opening.
And this was indeed the perfect moment to land a crippling blow.
If only Hye-yong's Agility stat and Combat Proficiency weren't so much higher.
Fwoosh!
He twisted his body to the right and slipped it—Park Yuri's fist sliced through empty air.
Hye-yong, already primed to counter, drove a fist straight into Park Yuri's abdomen.
Crack!
"Guhk...!"
Park Yuri staggered back, hips pulling away.
Then she clutched the spot he'd hit, dropped to her knees, and convulsed with her head bowed low.
In an actual combat sport, that was a down.
A down in a single blow.
'Whoa, that looks insanely painful... dunno since I've never been hit like that, but is it really that bad?'
He hadn't put his full force into it, worried about actually hurting her.
He knew a sturdy body wouldn't get seriously injured by a sparring weapon that couldn't channel mana, but he'd still had slight reservations about blasting a girl in the gut.
And despite that, this was the result.
Park Yuri should've been pretty used to taking hits.
Maybe the Combat Proficiency had made him unconsciously land an absolutely precise blow.
"Grrrk. I wasn't going to use skills, but...!"
True to her Martial Fighter class, she endured the pain and forced herself upright.
That line meant she was going to use them now.
Hye-yong readied his stance and carefully watched Park Yuri approach.
-
"Aghk...!"
Park Yuri's eighth down!
Propped on her hands, slumped on the floor, both arms and legs trembling uncontrollably.
She hadn't taken that many clean hits—but she'd blocked so many kicks and punches that it had added up.
Blocking didn't mean taking no damage.
Hye-yong had dodged nearly every attack and, even when he blocked, absorbed the blows at angles that caused minimal harm—while Park Yuri's body was steadily accumulating damage.
'Feels a little cheap, but... as long as she doesn't catch on, who cares.'
Hye-yong approached Park Yuri, whose arms and legs had gone red and trembly, shivering all over.
"You want to keep going?"
"Hngh, hah, it's not over yet...!!"
Anyone could see the outcome was decided, but Park Yuri tried to stand up again.
Thump!
"Hic...!"
But she collapsed right back down.
Her body simply had no strength left to give.
"Y-you... what the hell are you? I've never heard of a guy like you!"
There it was.
That line.
Hye-yong felt a tiny shiver of delight at living out a stock web-novel cliché himself.
'This is why the "secretly ripped" trope is so good.'
Huh? That guy looks like dogshit?
The joy of flattening an opponent who thought that way and watching their dumbfounded expression.
And that opponent also happens to be a hot girl?
And he'd already secured a promise that if he won, he could have his way with her for the night?
'That's just a perfect score, man.'
Hye-yong gave a standing ovation in his heart to this inevitably exhilarating situation.
If he'd been known as strong, this would never have happened.
"Heard it from Lanfang. You beat her down and then dragged her to the treatment room and did this to her, right?"
Hye-yong walked up to the downed Park Yuri and slowly loomed over her from above.
Of course, it was just a gesture—hardly any direct physical contact.
"Ngh, guh...! G-get off me...."
Park Yuri pushed at Hye-yong's chest with trembling arms.
But maybe because she had no strength left, he didn't budge an inch.
"Why? I won. You said I could do whatever I want."
"It's not over yet!"
"You can't even stand up and you want to keep going? Don't tell me you're hoping I'll start ground-and-pounding you right here."
"Y-you...!!"
Park Yuri gritted her teeth.
For Martial Fighters sparring each other, getting caught on the ground and eating unanswered punches was just part of daily life.
That is, when you still had the energy to keep your guard up.
Already her eighth down.
Even though he clearly could've finished things decisively with follow-up strikes every time she fell, this man had let her get back up over and over.
And every time she rose and came at him, he'd drain her stamina through long, grinding exchanges focused on breaking her guard, then exploit an opening to down her again.
As a result, Park Yuri had next to nothing left in the tank.
She couldn't even land a proper counter on the man who now had her pinned, wide-open gaps plain to see.
If this man fully mounted her and established a ground-and-pound position right now, she wouldn't be able to block properly and would eat clean shots to the face over and over.
'There's a skill gap from the start... and he calls this a secondary position?'
If striking were his main role, there's no way a Martial Fighter class like herself wouldn't know.
Which meant he was telling the truth about it being a secondary position.
Being able to toy with and effortlessly suppress her—someone in the upper ranks of C-tier—meant his skill level was at least B-rank or higher.
And if that were the case, his name should've been known by now...
'Has he been hiding his strength all along? But what reason would he have to...'
Park Yuri's head grew tangled.
'No! It's because I let my guard down too much! If only I hadn't eaten that stupid liver blow right at the start.'
Even if Hye-yong hadn't swung with full power, the liver punch guided true by his Combat Proficiency correction had dealt definite damage.
That one shot had snatched away her momentum, and Park Yuri had never once regained her rhythm.
'If we go again—once I recover and we go again....'
If we go again, I can definitely win.
But she'd already lost.
Grinding her teeth, Park Yuri ultimately opened her mouth to declare defeat.
"......I lost."
"Good. You'll keep your promise properly, right?"
You scumbag...
No, it wasn't even scummy, but...
Whatever, he was obnoxious. Zero appeal!!
Targeting his girlfriend—she'd done that. Challenging him to a spar—she'd done that. Accepting the terms—she'd done that.
Unable to properly curse Hye-yong even in her own head, Park Yuri just got pissed and yelled.
"You think I'm a shameless piece of shit like you!? I keep the promises I make!"
"Says the person trying to rape someone else's girlfriend... pretty sure that's way more shameless."
"Just get the hell off me already!!"
Oh, wow. Spicy.
Still, the thought of spending a hot night with this spicy young lady was already getting him hard.
The moment Hye-yong moved aside, Park Yuri—at least recovered enough to stand by now—lurched roughly to her feet, irritably hung up her knuckles, and stalked toward the exit.
"Where are you going?"
"I said you could do whatever you want with me at 「night」! ...Nine PM. I'll be waiting at that bus stop."
"Oh, you're really coming at me like that? Then make sure you get some proper sleep beforehand. Because I'm telling you now—tonight, I'm not letting you sleep at all."
"Hmph, do whatever the hell you want!"
Squeak.
Squeak.
If that door hadn't been automatic, a loud SLAM!! would've echoed for sure.
'Wow... what do I even do. I'm genuinely looking forward to this?'
The more prickly and uncooperative Park Yuri acted, the more it only fueled his excitement.
Why? Because tonight, he could do anything he wanted.
'Full stack of sensitivity buffs, loaded and ready. I'm gonna absolutely butcher her!'
Today was going to crawl by.
-
July 5 (Sat) 8:51 PM
Shuttle Bus Stop
He'd arrived ten minutes early and waited; Park Yuri showed up one minute later.
When she went out to fight club or sparring, she wore revealing women's athletic gear, but outside, she was always in a proper, neatly pressed uniform.
"Ha, you kept your girlfriend waiting for your date, but with me you show up ten minutes early? Cheating really gets you going, huh? Aren't you just absolute trash?"
Park Yuri sniped at him the moment they met.
From Hye-yong's current position, whatever she did looked cute.
"What about you, then? Why'd you show up ten minutes early? That eager to meet me?"
"Unbelievable. I just had time to kill. Delusions that bad are a disease, you know!"
Hye-yong studied her closely, sensing something different about her.
'Hm....'
A ponytail that looked deliberately dyed dark brown.
The hairstyle seemed to be the thing that had changed.
'Before, it gave off a kind of irritable vibe—now it feels a little softer.'
He figured it out.
The height of the ponytail.
When she went out to train, she'd neatly gather up even her bangs and side hair and tie it high, but now she'd left the rest of her hair loose and free, only tying up the back lightly.
Enough to noticeably change her impression.
Only slightly, though—the base was absolutely unchanged.
'Now that I think about it, it was this kind of feel when she hit on Lanfang, too.'
Hye-yong thought this look was much prettier.
Yanking her bangs and side hair all the way back into a tight tie gave off way too much of a fight-girl vibe.
"Your hair's way cuter like that."
The moment Hye-yong noticed the change and complimented her, Park Yuri floundered hard.
"Don't give me that flattery! Getting complimented by you just pisses me off!"
"Cute things are cute. I can't lie about stuff like this. Makes me happy you did it up like that to see me."
"Wha—!! Who do you think changed their hair on purpose for a guy like you!? I tie it up because it gets in the way during training!!"
Park Yuri made her excuses in a panic.
Hye-yong, inwardly dying of laughter, smoothly changed the subject.
"You eat dinner?"
"Didn't want to eat with you, so I ate before I came!"
"I wanted to eat with you, so I came on an empty stomach."
"Go into any place and eat by yourself."
"Nah. Skipping one meal won't make me that hungry."
It was actually better this way.
Hye-yong smiled faintly and spoke.
"Then, with nothing else to do, guess we should head straight to the hotel."
At those words, Park Yuri visibly flinched.
She'd realized that eating beforehand had backfired.
"E-eating together would've been fine, at least."
"Let's go, Yuri."
"Gah, don't get all buddy-buddy calling my name and putting your arm around me, you bastard!!"
He grabbed Park Yuri and dragged her toward the hotel.
She could've resisted if she'd really wanted to, but the promise held her back, and she got dragged along meekly.
Park Yuri, now inside a hotel alone with a man, wore a thoroughly miserable expression.
Maybe she'd given up, though, because she went in ahead of him.
"Should we shower first? Could do it together if you're up for it."
"......No need for a shower."
With a pretty girl—unlike some people—skipping the shower was honestly more of a turn-on.
Just as Hye-yong was having thoughts about checking every inch from toes to armpits—
Park Yuri showed a suspicious sign.
She walked straight over, put her back to the wall, and took up a fighting stance with her eyes brimming with hostility.
Watching this left Hye-yong dumbstruck, and he gave voice to it.
"What exactly are you trying to do?"
"I said you could do whatever you want. I never said I wouldn't resist!"
Ha. Seriously.
This was straight-up absurd.
"Then you can do whatever you want, too! Go ahead—beat me down and take it by force!"
Still... that might actually be kind of hot.
'Is this an SM-play vibe? I've kinda wanted to try it soft once.'
Thinking this could be fun, Hye-yong cast his buffs first, then mirrored her fighting stance.