Yu-ri and the Dojang People # 5
Yu-ri and the Dojang People # 5
Anyway, I sparred with Yu-ri's instructor to gauge my skills. The mood was decent the whole time; it seemed like he acknowledged my ability to some extent.
Damn right.
Of course he should. I've trained my ass off. Ever since I got here, I've basically become a human weapon—Kim Geun-cheol—trained like a dog.
So now it's time to kick back and enjoy my own skill like a king.
"Ack!"
—Swish!
Maybe I was getting tired, but my mind wandered for a split second, and in that instant the instructor's sword flashed in and knocked mine away.
"You lost focus."
My sword slipped from my hand and clattered onto the ring.
"All right, that's enough sparring."
"So what do you think?"
"Hmm, let's start with your swordsmanship form and stuff. Yu-ri, come up and get him to show it."
"Yeah."
Yu-ri answered coolly and climbed onto the ring.
"You saw Kim Geun-cheol spar well. Now, strike a pose. The stuff I taught you, from start to finish."
"You mean do a form?"
"What's this form crap? This isn't Taekwondo... It's called a sequence, dumbass."
"You're being too sensitive about words, aren't you?"
Speaking of which, what's the status of Taekwondo in this world? I'll look into that later. Anyway, I performed the sequence as Yu-ri instructed.
—Whoosh!
—Slash!
I stepped forward and slashed with force, then took a step back, rotating the sword and scooping it upward. Practicing these sequences is important, because it's about learning to swing a sword efficiently in real combat.
"Huff!"
I worked through all the sequences Yu-ri taught me, right to the end. By the time I finished, I was out of breath. After a full sparring session, and now running through sequences—today at the dojang I'm packing in a ton of training, and it feels fucking great.
—Clap clap clap.
The instructor clapped for me.
"Oh, you're clapping?"
"You did well, so of course I'm clapping. Good job. You said you started after enrolling in the academy? You're at a very decent level already. You've got good raw material."
"Wah! What a generous assessment! Yu-ri! Did you hear that!"
"Ah, so Uncle, is that because he's good, or because I taught him well?"
"You taught a kid with some promise, and you did a good job."
That's a damn good assessment!
"Heh, really?"
Yu-ri giggled happily, and I felt unbelievably good too! Because my talent was being recognized!
"In this short time, you've absorbed Yu-ri's swordsmanship well. Are you, by any chance, a bit aggressive and combative?"
"Yeah, this bastard's exactly like that."
"I see. That's exactly the kind of personality that makes a good swordsman."
"Heh heh, is that right."
Watching them talk about me made me feel shy. I scratched the back of my head and thanked them.
"Hey Geun-cheol, you want to register at the dojang?"
And the question stabbed in like a sudden thrust.
—Whoosh!
At the same time, the gazes of the trainees watching the ring zeroed in on me...!
"If you train properly from now on, you'll definitely..."
"No, no. There's no need for me to teach you here at the dojang. I'll just take you around and train you myself. Why register?"
Exactly!
I think that's better too!
Training is one thing, but if I had to deal with an upperclassman-underclassman hierarchy with those weird older guys here, I definitely wouldn’t survive.
Besides, I saw the fees on the way in, and that's tough right now.
"Alright, go with that. Yu-ri's enough."
"Yeah. I'll train him up more later and show you the results."
"Okay."
Well, that's how my skill assessment ended. The evaluation was good. They say I have decent talent.
"Heh heh, ahh, getting my talent recognized feels so damn good."
"Stop showing off, dumbass."
"Ack!"
Maybe she was just feeling good, but Yu-ri laughed and put me in a headlock...!
"Hey! Yu-ri! Let go!"
Something soft...!
Specifically, her chest!
Yu-ri's big boobs are touching my face!
—Squeeze!
"Gahk!"
She squeezed without mercy, grinding my face against her soft flesh...! Does this Woo Yu-ri even care?!
"You gonna stop showing off, or not?"
"I'll stop! I'll stop! Please let me go!"
"Heh heh. Seriously, every time I see you, you crack me up."
—Whoosh.
Only then did she release the headlock.
Man, that was really something.
"Hey, you're pretty decent yourself. And I'm a good teacher, right? So, you know, let's train even harder."
"Whew... Right, let's do that. But Yu-ri, is it really okay for you to do this?"
"How many times are you gonna ask? If I say it's okay, it's okay."
We've had this conversation plenty of times, but the fact that Yu-ri is training me is an incredible favor.
"After I train you up good, you show off your skills at the dojang. I'll say I raised you to this level, and then I'll have something to tell my dad, right?"
"Yeah."
"Then I can go straight to becoming an instructor."
Yu-ri's dream is to become an instructor at this dojang.
"Yu-ri, but seriously, I'm asking for real."
"What?"
"The people training here are mostly active heroes or hunters, right?"
"Yeah."
"So how many of them can you handle?"
"What, you curious, Kim Geun-cheol?"
"Yes!"
"You're curious? Kim Geun-cheol wants to know how strong his older sister is?"
"Yes! I was curi-ous!"
—Smack!
I answered bright-eyed with my hand raised.
"Ah, fuck. Forget it. I'm giving up on teasing him like this."
Yu-ri made a genuinely disgusted face as she said it. I mean, she started it.
"Honestly, if I get serious..."
"If you get serious?"
"I can beat active heroes too, you know? I mean, not all of them. Sometimes I lose, sometimes I win."
"Wow."
"Yeah, something like that. But real combat is different, right? Just because you're a bit better doesn't mean you always win. So it's hard to measure exactly."
I see.
Still, I could tell roughly how strong Yu-ri is. I mean, she spars with active heroes and wins or loses, right?
Anyway, from what she said, the top cadets are often stronger than average active heroes. But even so, sparring and fighting have a lot of variables and depend on condition, so nobody guarantees a 100% win rate.
For example, even StarCraft pro gamers sometimes lose to regular folks on the ladder.
It's like that.
"Hey. Let's go shoot guns."
"Hell yeah!"
So I went down to the shooting range with Yu-ri.
* * *
—Brrrrt! Brrrrt!
I grabbed the Uzi they had out and, without even messing with the safety, ripped off a burst.
"Yeeeaaahhhhh!!!"
An exclamation escaped my lips unbidden.
Wow, this is fucking refreshing. Who knew that just spraying bullets nonstop could be this fun?
—Click.
After the burst, I swapped mags and started firing controlled bursts at the target.
—Brrrrt! Brrrrt!
Holding it tightly with both hands, very precisely.
"Hey, what the hell are you doing shooting with both hands? You've gotta handle it with just your left."
"Handle it with just the left hand? Come on."
Right after she said that, I held the gun with only my left hand and fired.
—Brrrrt!
I could shoot, yeah, but the bullets went fucking everywhere. Even as a superhuman, accurately firing a submachine gun with one hand is tough.
"You suck, dumbass."
Yu-ri sneered at the shredded target.
"Who the hell are you calling a loser?"
"Give it here, fucker. Big sis will show you."
"Yes, big sis."
"Fuck, you actually called me big sis! That's so gross!"
"Again, you started it..."
Anyway, Yu-ri took the gun, pretending to be disgusted.
—Clack.
Super cool, she shoved her right hand into her pocket, held the Uzi with only her left, and unloaded at the target.
—Brrrrrrrrrrt!
"Whoa!"
I was amazed again. The grouping was no joke. She's firing one-handed with her left hand, and the shots are clustered dead center.
"Holy shit, Yu-ri, you're a damn good shot!"
"See? Look, as a superhuman you've gotta do this much. What are you, some little girl shooting with both hands going 'ah, ah, ah' like a wuss?"
"What an age we live in, where using both hands makes you a little girl. Anyway, Yu-ri, can you control the recoil that well?"
"You think a superhuman can't do that?"
She sure has a harsh way of saying yes.
"Well, as you already know, a submachine gun is a very useful weapon for heroes like us."
I'd heard that from Instructor Lee So-ra many times.
"It's a pain to cut down every random monster with a sword, right? So you just hose 'em down with an SMG and move on. That's why you gotta practice steadily. You reinforce your muscles with magic, right? Control the recoil, and shoot accurately, bam bam. Now take it again."
"Okay."
Following Yu-ri's instructions, I held the gun with only my left hand again. Yu-ri grabbed my wrist.
"Hold it tight so it doesn't shake. No, actually, just get used to the recoil. Once you do, you'll naturally learn to control it."
"So I just need to get used to the recoil."
—Brrrrt!
I let off another burst.
Shooting guns, too—today felt really worthwhile.
"Ah, fuck. You really suck. Hey, let's get out of here."
Yu-ri said coolly, as if she'd lost all interest.
"But I barely got to shoot..."
"You gonna pay?"
"Let's go! Let's get out right now!"
Onward to freedom!
* * *
"I can't see them!"
The target had gone inside the dojang, so I could no longer observe them.
"Dammit!"
—Bam! Bam!
Frustrated, Leona pounded the floor with her fists to calm herself. Because of the special windows, you couldn't see inside from outside. But going into the building would definitely get her caught.
—Whoosh!
Having judged that far, Leona wrapped her camouflage cloak around herself, stealthily descended the building, and approached the dojang.
She stood in front of the dojang's first-floor wall, attached a listening device that looked like a frying pan, and tried to pick up sounds from inside.
Of course, she couldn't hear a thing.
"What on earth is happening inside...!"
Ever since the two of them went into the dojang, I've been dying to know how things are unfolding!
Leona stamped her feet, then returned to her original sniping point and waited for Kim Geun-cheol and Woo Yu-ri to come out.
How much time passed?
—Slip.
Finally, the two targets emerged!
"Gah!"
She was so moved that she'd finally achieved her objective. She didn't know where they'd go from here, but at least it was better than them being inside the dojang.
Because she could see them.
—Slip.
Leona got up and immediately began tailing them, hopping across the rooftops.
"..."
"..."
She watched the two of them, a man and a woman, chatting happily. Judging by their expressions, it looked like they'd had a really fun day.
"Kim Geun-cheol."
Leona looked down at them and—
"Well, as long as he had fun today, I guess that's it."
She murmured, clenching her fist.
—Tremble.
"But why is my fist trembling?!"
