Chapter 65: Contempt for the Weak
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 65: Contempt for the Weak
As I turned my head, Jo Si-a, who happened to be wandering nearby, caught my eye and gave a little wave.
I waved back, and Lee Su-ho’s gaze followed mine.
“Who were you waving to?”
“I’m not gonna tell you.”
“What the hell, this bastard has a shitty attitude!”
Jo Si-a had already turned away before Lee Su-ho could get a good look, so I lowered my hand and stared at him with an unimpressed expression.
“So I have to practice with you? No thanks.”
“I hate it more, you bastard!”
“Why is it so noisy over there?” an instructor called out. Lee Su-ho flinched and shut his mouth.
Ever since Seo-ho had chewed him out, he’d learned to keep his head down in front of the instructors.
“Since everyone seems to have paired up, we will begin the training session immediately.”
With that, the instructors started the class.
The format was simple: pairs would come up in front of an instructor and engage in a one-on-one spar.
It was a class designed to identify and correct weaknesses while teaching students how to subdue opponents based on their abilities.
They even taught a few physical techniques, like throws, for subduing opponents without relying on powers.
It was good practice for those with purely offensive or no defensive abilities to try out new skills.
That is, as long as there were no hard feelings between the participants.
“I’m telling you now. You’re dead.”
Since it was a spar, the basic rule was that the first person to successfully subdue their opponent won. There were even prizes for those who demonstrated proper technique, so everyone was participating enthusiastically, and some were getting a little too heated.
And in the middle of all this, Lee Su-ho decided to provoke me.
Was this guy an idiot?
‘Ah, right.’
To him, I was just an F-rank hunter.
It made sense that he was so smug.
“Students Lee Su-ho and Kang Ha-chan, please come up.”
Just as the previous pair finished their spar, we were called.
As we approached, we saw an instructor standing there. She had a sharp face and wore glasses, and she was swiping at a tablet before looking up at us.
“Stand in front and get ready. Be aware that an instructor will intervene immediately if the situation gets out of hand.”
She spoke with an air of indifference, as if tired of her academy duties.
“Ah, it’s Su-ho oppa! Go, oppa!”
Suddenly, a cheer rang out.
I turned to see his girlfriend cheering for him enthusiastically.
Lee Su-ho glanced her way, then shot me a triumphant, winner’s smile.
For the second time since Kwak Sa-yeon, murderous intent boiled up inside me.
But it was his arrogant face that pissed me off; I wasn’t particularly envious of his girlfriend. Perhaps because I’d been surrounded by so many beauties lately, my senses toward women had grown a bit dull.
‘This is dangerous.’
It seemed my standards had gotten way too high.
As I pressed the corners of my eyes, I saw Seo-ho in the distance.
He glanced at the girl cheering for Su-ho and frowned, then turned to me and gave me a firm fist pump.
Yeah, who cares about a girl’s cheer?
I was being cheered on by the great Snow Mountain Wolf himself.
Meanwhile, the instructor started tapping her tablet again.
“3.”
A countdown began to sound from the device.
“2.”
“Don’t cry after you get your ass beat,” Lee Su-ho said, swinging his arms around.
Watching him, Baeksan, who was floating in the air, spoke.
“1.”
“Just fuck him up.”
Roger that.
The moment he finished speaking, Lee Su-ho shot toward me, kicking up a gust of wind. He seemed to be a wind-ability user; his body was as light as a feather.
Watching him, I was reminded of my training with Baeksan.
Along with the daily basic training, Baeksan had made me do one other specific drill.
It was to train my reflexes.
Baeksan’s attacks in his ghost state couldn’t touch me, but I could see his form with perfect clarity. At the same time, I could distinctly feel the aura he was emitting.
“In this state, I can’t harm you. But I’ll make sure you can feel my presence clearly. Practice dodging my attacks, no matter what.”
Just as he’d said, the moment Baeksan used his aura, I had to back away reflexively. His previously faint presence had become chillingly palpable. Thanks to that, his fists felt as real as any physical attack, and I had to spend every day rolling on the ground just to dodge them.
I was someone who had practiced dodging attacks from a regressor, of all people.
Thanks to that, a straightforward attack like this was painfully obvious.
“Urk?!”
I took a single step back, dodging Lee Su-ho’s attack while simultaneously wrapping both my arms around his leg.
‘0.1%.’
As the aura flowing through me strengthened my body, I pivoted on my left foot and spun.
Before Lee Su-ho could even let out a full scream, I released my grip on his leg.
Whoosh! Thud!
“Gyaaaah!”
The sound of Lee Su-ho flying through the air and tumbling across the floor echoed through the training hall.
If he were a skilled wind user, he would have stopped himself mid-air, but he was just a fledgling who had only recently awakened his ability. His entire hunter career consisted of a few days at the Hunter Training Academy. Frankly, even to me, his combat skills were pathetic.
“Oppa!”
His girlfriend’s belated scream rang out.
I ignored it and dusted off my hands.
“You looked down on me for being F-rank, so what’s with this pathetic display?”
Maybe it was because I’d had so many near-death experiences among returnees.
Lee Su-ho’s attack seemed almost cute by comparison.
“You bastard!”
Roaring in anger, Lee Su-ho shot to his feet and spread his arms wide. In that instant, blade-like winds began to swirl around his wrists.
That looked a little dangerous.
But since the instructor hadn't stepped in yet, it must have been something I could handle.
“You’re dead!”
Lee Su-ho kicked off the ground and charged at me again.
I settled into a stance and watched him, my eyes fixed on his. He looked like he’d been in a few fights before, but they were probably just street brawls; his form was incredibly sloppy.
To me, who was being force-fed lessons from Baeksan on everything from how to use my muscles to how to apply those movements, his actions were completely transparent.
His left leg lifted, and his right shoulder pulled back with it.
A straight punch, coming right at me.
Having read his move perfectly, I tilted my head to dodge the fist.
Whoosh!
The wind that followed pushed me back, leaving a small cut on my cheek. It really was a blade of wind. A direct hit would probably hurt quite a bit.
“Stop dodging!”
Emboldened, Lee Su-ho swung his next punch.
I had no intention of taking another hit, so I kicked him squarely in the ankle.
Thwack!
“Ack!?”
Caught completely off guard, he staggered, losing his balance.
In that opening, I infused my next kick with aura and struck the same ankle again.
“Uwaaaah!”
Hitting the same spot twice.
As he clutched his ankle and started to roll on the ground, I leaped forward and pinned both of his arms with my knees.
Instantly in a mounted position, Lee Su-ho stared up at me with a dumbfounded expression. I grinned down at him.
“The hell you looking at, punk?”
Crackle—
As a spark of electricity flared to life and his face went deathly pale, my fist slammed into his jaw.
“Aack!”
Ah, it was a glancing blow.
“Gggghk!”
He was trembling like he’d been hit with a stun gun. Feeling bad for messing up at the very end, I offered my apology by socking him in the jaw again.
His eyes rolled back into his head, and he passed out. As I dusted off my hands and stood up, the instructor approached.
“Student Kang Ha-chan, have you ever learned martial arts?”
“Ah, well, if you can call it learning, then yes.”
I learned it from the regressor in my head, but that still counts as learning, right?
She nodded as if she understood, then lifted Lee Su-ho’s eyelid to check on him.
“Doesn’t look like there are any major issues. He’s a hunter, so he’ll recover and wake up soon enough with some rest. Please move him to the corner.”
If I’d known this would happen, I wouldn’t have knocked him out.
I clicked my tongue and carried Lee Su-ho over.
“Oppa!”
His girlfriend, the one who was cheering for him, ran over. She snatched Lee Su-ho from me and glared at me with burning eyes.
“How could you hit someone like that!”
“Oh, he didn’t seem like a person to me.”
“What!?”
She scrunched up her tattooed eyebrows, shot me one last glare, and carried Lee Su-ho away.
“What a sight. Seriously.”
It was becoming a habit of mine to say that.
“I’ve been thinking about it lately,” Baeksan said. “I think I know why that bitch Kwak Sa-yeon ruined you and even put a curse on you.”
“Why?”
“You say whatever the hell you want to people who are hostile to you. You must have done the exact same thing to that bitch.”
Did I?
I thought about it for a moment, then shrugged.
“I’m not the kind of person who has the luxury of being nice to people who are hostile to me.”
“Right. Better to just beat them to death than be ignored.”
Unexpectedly, Baeksan and I might have had something in common.
“Anyway, how was I? Didn’t I fight pretty well? It was like something out of a comic book.”
I said, throwing a few punches into the air.
“Bullshit. It was so sloppy it was infuriating to watch. If that guy wasn’t a complete rookie, you would’ve died when he wrapped his arms in wind.”
A harsh review.
But I couldn’t deny it was true, so I just scratched my cheek.
These days, videos of hunter battles were extremely common on YouTube. On top of that, I’d personally watched the training of the Rodri Company’s hunters, including Ji-eun and Si-ho. A properly trained and skilled hunter was on a completely different level.
The only reason I won was because Lee Su-ho was weak.
“Tsk, still, you did well for your first spar. For a first spar.”
What a tsundere.
I chuckled and returned to my spot to sit down.
Meanwhile, the training session seemed to be winding down.
Is Eunnamu still in her interview?
As I was passing the time, I saw Lee Su-ho jolt upright in the distance. He was clutching his jaw and groaning, but his expression changed the moment he saw his worried girlfriend next to him. The way he pretended to be fine was disgusting; I could see him telling her things like he’d just been careless.
A moment later, he looked my way, his eyes burning with rage.
Guess he didn’t get hit enough.
But then, as if the result of the spar didn’t matter, he casually wrapped an arm around his girlfriend’s waist, wearing an expression that seemed to declare that he was the real winner here.
I need to beat him up more.
“Domi-oppa, what are you looking at?”
Just as I was about to get up, I turned my head at the sound of Ahyu’s voice beside me. Ahyu was there, and even though she was wearing the same standard-issue academy tracksuit as me, her beauty shone brightly.
“Oh, oppa, your cheek is hurt. Who did this?”
“It’s from sparring practice. It’s nothing serious.”
“What if it leaves a scar?” Ahyu said, touching my cheek with concern.
As I was thinking I should probably go to the nurse’s office later, my eyes met Lee Su-ho’s again.
His jaw was hanging open, his eyes glued to Ahyu. He kept looking back and forth between me and her with an expression of utter disbelief.
Ah, I see.
A good idea popped into my head.