Combined Class #3
Combined Class #3
"What?"
Ma O-hun looked at me and cocked his head.
"Whaddaya mean, 'what,' you bastard! Standing there like a goddamn statue! Stop your bullshit and get over here, man! We can't start the class without you, you crazy pig bastard!"
"Sword-bearer. Calling me a pig crosses a line I despise."
Instantly, a challenging tone rolled off his tongue.
"Heh-heh-heh, that so?"
I can feel the fighting spirit riding in his voice.
You want to throw down with me right now? Why is this bastard brimming with so much confidence? Just because you look cool as hell doesn't mean you're strong.
I'm good enough to drop this pig bastard in three seconds flat.
"If you don't like hearing it then come join the class already."
"I am not exactly in the mood for class, you see."
"Hah, I couldn't give a damn about your mood or whatever else. Looks like I'll just have to make you attend class."
"Try to make me. Attend the class. If that is what you desire."
—Squelch.
Clumsily, Ma O-hun hoisted his flabby belly fat up with one hand as he rose to his feet.
What I could see in his eyes was.
Obvious fighting spirit.
Unusually for a Korean, his eyes were red.
"It's pathetically unsightly. Trying to give orders when you haven't even chosen a squad leader."
"You son of a bitch. Fine, let's pick one right now. I'll be the squad leader. Get over here."
"I will not listen. To the commands of someone weaker than me."
After delivering that line with absolute coolness, Ma O-hun—
—Fwoosh!
"Schwarz Flügel."
—unfurled jet-black angel wings from his back as he glared at me.
"Hoh. As expected, it really does look cool as hell."
The sight of Ma O-hun staring me down after sprouting those pitch-black wings from his back was, honestly speaking, cooler than a motherfucker. Gotta give credit where it's due. I was so jealous and envious of that ability I couldn't stand it.
"Will you be able to handle it? Me, I mean? Sword-bearer."
—Flutter.
The bastard flapped his wings and lifted slightly into the air.
—Whoosh.
Simultaneously, a silk hat composed of mana materialized above his head.
"Wow."
That is truly crazy cool.
A silk-hat fallen angel, of all things.
"I shall show you. The power of the black wings."
"Heh-heh-heh, Ma O-hun, you fucking chuuni bastard. I'm gonna yank those chicken wings right off. Guess you need to taste defeat before you come to your senses, huh?"
I rolled my neck.
And loosened my shoulders a bit.
"Hey. Ma O-hun."
"..."
"I gave you a pass for looking cool, but that stops here. If you're going to waste my class time, your body is about to learn the true meaning of mercilessness."
My free pass for this bastard's rule of cool ends right now.
If I have to use my fists.
Then I'll fucking use them.
"Come down before you get turned into stir-fried pork. You crazy flying pig bastard."
"Insolent!"
—Flutter!
The bastard let out a kiai as he amped up the output of his wings. Followed by a wingbeat. As the black wings fluttered, his body soared higher.
"Mana Helm!"
—Whoosh!
I instantly deployed the Mana Helm over my head, and as I conjured up a mana shield, I kicked off the ground.
"Take this!"
The airborne Ma O-hun pointed a finger at me. Are you planning to fire light bullets? Too late, I'm already ready, you bastard!
—Papapak!
The sound of light bullets raining down on the spot I'd just left echoed from behind.
"Too slow."
As if I'd ever let that shit hit me. My running speed is faster. I'd already sprinted clear of that falling barrage, and lightly kicked off the ground to jump.
"Hup!"
I planted my foot on the rooftop railing and—
—Leaped!
—launched myself vertically straight toward the ascending Ma O-hun!
—Swoooosh!
"Hurk?!"
The distance between me and the airborne Ma O-hun dropped to zero in an instant. His eyes went wide the moment he saw my face, a strangled yelp bursting out as if he'd never imagined I would catch him like this.
"That's why you shouldn't act up."
—Crunch!
"Aagh!"
I clamped both hands tight around that thick layer of his belly fat.
"You bastard!"
—Wham!
Twisting my body halfway, I hurled him with everything I had straight toward the rooftop!
—Swoooosh!
"Uwaaaaaagh!"
Ma O-hun briefly screamed as he was launched, and—
—Boom!
—slammed right into the rooftop.
"Hahahahaha! You dare challenge me? You've got some fucking nerve, you bastard."
Laughter bursts out of me. As I lightly braced my fall and landed, I saw Ma O-hun struggling to roll over while groaning in pain.
"Urgh...!"
"I'll stir-fry your pork ass!"
"Wait!"
My original plan was to just sort of grab him and throw him, rough him up a bit and call it a day, but he had to go ahead and fire light bullets at me. No choice, then. Since I also don't want to waste any more class time, I'll settle this hierarchy nicely so we can move on.
If I don't put him down here, he'll pull this shit throughout the entire class. I can't stand having my class time stolen away. Consider this a beating born of love and accept it!
With that thought, I raised my hand high, and—
—Splat!
—I splayed my palm wide open.
"Stir-fry!"
And gave his broad flank a good whack.
—Bam!
"Squeak!"
A truly intense spike.
Ma O-hun let out this squeaky cry as his limbs shot straight out like he'd been electrocuted.
"Uurgh...!"
"Take a few more!"
I'd kinda like to just full-on 'Mun-Min' him, but I've grown. I no longer beat the shit out of my classmates like that. It's not assault, it's subduing. Repeating those words in my mind, I raised my hand again and—
—Bam!
—Bam!
—Bam!
—I mercilessly smacked the bastard with my palm.
"Keuaaaaaaagh!"
"Quiet, man. Whatever happened to the silence of a fallen angel? Your silk hat's gone too, see."
"You crazy—! I-I've at least got the basics...! Khak!"
After getting smacked around like that, Ma O-hun scrambled forward faster than a turtle having a seizure, then agilely got back to his feet.
Of course, I'm not about to miss that opening.
"Where do you think you're going, you bastard!"
—Bam!
I slapped Ma O-hun in the stomach with my palm, just as he was trying to rise.
—Thudumbl!
The bastard was sent skidding backward, rolling across the floor.
Yeah.
That should've knocked some sense into him.
"Oh man, you bastard. If you're gonna strut around, at least have the skill to back up the aesthetic. Did you actually think you could stop me with a mere Schwarz Flügel? Get up, man."
"Keuup...!"
"Hmm?"
"Uwaaaaah!"
—Flutter!
The moment the bastard got to his feet and roared, deploying his Schwarz Flügel again—
"Tackle!"
—I kicked off the ground and slammed a shoulder tackle right into him.
—Boom!
The bastard went flying the moment we collided before crashing into the railing and collapsing.
"Keuhak...! I— I give! I admit defeat! It's my loss...!"
The surrender came out instantly.
A single tear welled up at the corner of his left eye.
"You admit it? Your defeat?"
"I admit it...! Urgh!"
"Then you get that I'm stronger than you now, right. Good, now get up, you bastard. Because we're going to class."
"W-Will do... as you say."
That goddamn inversion of his.
—Shake shake.
Ma O-hun was struggling to pick himself up, so I went over and personally hauled him up.
From now on, this bastard's my squadmate.
"I'm the squad leader from now on. If you don't want another stir-fry session, you do what I say. Got it? Follow my orders during class."
"I... shall do so..."
"Wow."
Ahh, that felt refreshing as hell.
As expected, it's really the most convenient to solve things with your fists.
I honestly hadn't really planned on hitting him, but since the bastard issued a challenge to me, accepting it is simply a matter of common human decency. Duels are an important part of life among superhumans, after all.
But well, it's not like some bastard like this could ever beat me, tempered through the extremes as I am, anyway. From the looks of it, he only focused his ability development on aesthetics, so he's met his match.
You need to train practicality over aesthetics to grow strong.
That's why aesthetic builds remain a pipe dream forever.
"Ma O-hun. You come to your senses a little?"
"D-Don't hit me. I have come to them. Urgh."
The bastard cast his eyes down, rubbing his own stomach and the small of his back.
"My palm hurt you that much?"
"It... hurts considerably. For my Schwarz Flügel to be handled so easily..."
"Hey, man. Of course I'd shatter it easily. Who the hell do you think I am? Anyway, what's your deal? If I were the one who had the Schwarz Flügel... I bet I would've used it a hell of a lot better than you."
"R-Ridiculous..."
"Ehh? Ma O-hun. You wanna call for another stir-fry?"
"I understand!"
"Good. Now let's go take the class."
"Tch..."
The bastard nodded and stood next to me, staggering a bit. Having thus completed Ma O-hun's mental re-education, I headed back down to the classroom with him.
"Hey. Ma O-hun. Also, what's with that way of talking, dude? From now on, use a more cooperative tone. Got it?"
"..."
"Got it, or not got it."
"Will do... as you say."
"Who the hell uses inversions like that?"
Anyway, for fuck's sake.
I don't know about anything else, but I feel like Instructor Kawar needs to get chewed out a bit.
"Just try saying anything to me about this."
Honestly, this is a hundred percent Instructor Kawar's fault. And besides, this was a fair duel, so there's no reason for me to get in trouble.
"Ma O-hun! If you don't participate properly in class, we're sparring again! Got it!"
"I will... do my best! Diligently!"
"You do that."
Now that's a bit more reliable.
* * *
"You brought him back well. But hey, Kim Geun-cheol? Did you perhaps use violence?"
"He said he wouldn't take orders from someone weaker than him and challenged me."
"Oh dear."
Instructor Lee So-ra pressed her fingers to her temple.
"We'll have a separate talk about this after school."
"No need, Instructor. It was a formal challenge. We resolved it nicely through a duel. And it wasn't like the old days... you know, it wasn't like what I did to Mun Min. I fought a truly humane duel. You'll understand when you hear about it."
"Hmm, is that so?"
The Instructor looked at me.
A gaze that was truly mature and reassuring. I mean, would I ever spout bullshit in front of that Instructor? The one thing scarier than a tiger is Instructor Lee So-ra, you know?
"Yes. That's what I mean, that I've grown. Take a look. Does Ma O-hun look seriously injured?"
"Well... it doesn't seem like that to me. I see. 'Grown,' huh. It does seem that way indeed."
—Pat.
The Instructor's hand rested on my head.
"I'll trust that you solved it well. And this is the situation sheet for today's class. Discuss it well with your squadmates, write it out, and submit it."
"Yep."
I took the paper right away and headed over to my squad.
"Ah, ahh... Y-You're back...?"
"Yeah. Ha-yul. It's settled. Ma O-hun will participate in class now."
"U-Uh-huh... B-But, did you maybe, like, hit... hit him...?"
"It was an honorable challenge and a fair duel. Right, Ma O-hun? Isn't that true?"
When I asked Ma O-hun—
"Honor..."
—the bastard muttered as if he'd realized something at the word 'honor'.
"I merely abide by the result. I challenged him honorably and lost, so those words are correct."
He answered with a nod.
"See?"
"U-Uh-huh...? I-Is this... really how it works...?"
"Well, let's just write this thing up."
Alright, what have we got here?
"State of having entered a wasteland zone as a three-man cell. Identified threats: 100 Antazora. Mission Objective: Exterminate the D-rank monsterkin operative, Galliare, a ground contamination agent currently in flight. The target is hiding within the wasteland zone. Describe how you will carry out the extermination... What is this, some kind of TRPG? Well, we can just write whatever seems reasonable."
—Flap.
I set the paper down on the desk.
"So, squadmates? Let's hear your opinions."
Let's see how well this bastard Ma O-hun follows orders now.
