The One Who Conquered the Mage Class with a Single Fist #3
The One Who Conquered the Mage Class with a Single Fist #3
Lately, Leona had a big worry.
'Namely, Kim Geun-cheol had been acting far too suspiciously.'
"Tch."
Unconsciously nibbling at the tip of her thumb, Leona thought,
'How could a guy who wears his underarmor like it's his wife end up with a wound on his forearm like that?'
It was ridiculous. Kim Geun-cheol, practically married to that underarmor. He wore it every day like a spouse, yet he'd gotten a wound that drew blood.
Maximum Kraken's underarmor is an item with outstanding defense. It can even stop rifle bullets—so how is there blood?
Of course, it doesn't absorb all the impact, so injuries are naturally possible. But the key point is that you almost never get that kind of wound in daily life.
'He's been saying he got hurt during training, but one look at his face tells me that's not true.'
Since he kept trying to hide it, she'd played along for now, but she knew it wasn't true. Anyway, Leona's curiosity only grew.
And then, on the day she saw Kim Geun-cheol's wound,
Leona was certain.
'It's a stab wound.'
The long scar on Kim Geun-cheol's forearm. It wasn't from a bullet or anything else—it was unmistakably a stab wound. The story that he'd hurt himself while messing around with a sword during training might sound plausible, but—
'You shouldn't underestimate Leona Kainus.'
One look, and she could size it up.
It was clearly a wound inflicted when someone who knew how to handle a sword drove a thrust into him.
He got hurt training alone?
'Unless his arm stretched out like a rubber man and he stabbed himself, that's impossible. This is one hundred percent a wound from someone else stabbing him.'
Having made that conjecture, she felt a sense of unease.
Where would he get a stab wound like that? And since it pierced his underarmor, whoever did it must be fairly skilled.
"No way."
Could it be something involving villains or crime?
Leona considered that possibility too, and she began watching Kim Geun-cheol carefully at school.
Then, at lunch, Kim Geun-cheol suddenly vanished. He said he wasn't feeling well, but something felt off. Wondering if something like that might happen again, she mentally steeled herself—and the very next day, her suspicion proved exactly right.
'Where do you think you're going all alone?!'
Right after class ended, she dashed to observe Kim Geun-cheol, took up a position, and concealed herself—then spotted him slipping out through a window.
—Thump, thump.
Feeling her heart pound, Leona tailed him.
'Where on earth is he going?'
Outside the school. Kim Geun-cheol strode quickly, as if he had a clear destination. To avoid being spotted, she hid here, hid there, waited a moment, hid again—and briefly lost sight of him, but in the end she found him.
And then Leona witnessed something.
"What?!"
The sight of Kim Geun-cheol one-sidedly beating up the Mage Class students.
"Stop right there!"
Leona immediately jumped down and landed.
* * *
"What is going on?! Students brawling with each other! Explain what happened, clearly and to the point, right now!"
Leona, who had descended like an angel, shouted while staring me straight in the eyes... chills ran down my back, and at the same time my face grew hot.
I'd shown her a shameful sight!
"Wait, Leona. How did you even find me...?"
"I tailed you!"
A cry brimming with spirit!
With arms crossed and feet planted shoulder width apart, Leona stirred a fierce gust around her!
"You're way too unapologetic about that!"
"Then maybe you shouldn't do suspicious things! It's your fault for not noticing you were being followed in the first place!"
When she declared it that brazenly, I had no comeback!
"Anyway, explain! What's with that Ahn Do-min over there?! And all the kids lying on the ground are from the Mage Class! What on earth is this?! A mass beatdown of the Mage Class...! There's no way Kim Geun-cheol would do something like that!"
But whatever else, Leona is Leona. Even after seeing this sorry scene, she still intends to hear my explanation.
"What on earth is this, really! Have you been getting into fights outside?! Why on earth! Is this some kind of warrior's pilgrimage?! Was that how you got wounded?!"
Her tone was scolding, but I could clearly feel her concern for me.
"Well, you see..."
In the end, Leona had caught me completely.
"Since it's come to this, I'll explain everything."
What else could I do? I couldn't hide it anymore.
I'd just lay it all out plainly.
"Actually, Leona. Here's what happened... You see Ahn Do-min over there?"
"Yes, I see him. Head bowed and trembling."
"Yesterday... wait, no. The day before yesterday. Right after school that day, when we'd just split up and I was about to head home, Ahn Do-min called me over, remember?"
I explained what had happened then.
How Ahn Do-min insulted me and ordered me to distance myself from you, Leona. How that made me decide to beat him down and mete out punishment to the whole clique that had been ostracizing me along with him. How I carried all that out, and how in the end, you caught me—the whole thing.
As I explained that,
"W-W-W-What did you say...?!"
Leona, fists clenched and trembling, ground her teeth hard.
"So right now... this Ahn Do-min. He insulted you, Kim Geun-cheol, dismissing you as beneath him... and told you to stop being close with me because you're not on my level? Is that what you're saying?"
"That's why I'm doing this."
"Insane! This is beyond outrageous! Ahn Do-min!"
—Graaah!
As Leona roared in fury, a gale erupted!
"He dared insult me! Unforgivable!"
"W-Wait! Kainus! I didn't mean it like that...!"
"Then what did you mean!"
"Just a general principle...!"
"A general beatdown!"
—Wham!
Leona kicked off the ground and charged at Ahn Do-min!
And then.
—Crash!
"Gyaaaak!"
A magnificent shoulder tackle exploded. As if he'd been in a car crash, Ahn Do-min was sent flying, slammed into the wall, and sprawled out—and then Leona's one-sided beating began.
—Thwack! Thwack!
—Smack!
Truly the technique of a noble young lady.
Fists and kicks drove into Ahn Do-min's body. It was genuinely magnificent violence—nobility really are the embodiment of martial might.
"How dare you say such a thing to me! A bastard like this needs to get beaten! No, what kind of punk runs his mouth about me like that?!"
"Hey! Wait, Leona!"
"Trying to stop me won't work! This is an insult to me! Keep quiet, Kim Geun-cheol!"
"No, that's not— Not the face!"
"I know that without you telling me! Hold him!"
"On it!"
—Whoosh!
Instantly I launched myself at the fallen Ahn Do-min, hauled him upright, and held him. It felt like something out of a villain holding someone down for a beating, but actually, it's the opposite.
"Seriously, what the hell is this?!"
"Uwaaaah!"
—Wham!
—Wham!
Using the palm and the back of her hand, Leona pummeled Ahn Do-min's torso, arms, and thighs over and over. Actually, if someone of Leona's level hit for real, he'd die instantly. So this was a sort of damage control.
"When superhumans act up among themselves! They get beaten! Did you not know that?!"
"Gack...!"
And so, after being subjected to Leona's one-sided beating, Ahn Do-min collapsed.
"Phew!"
Having finished the work, Leona stretched with a supremely refreshed face. Going by her expression alone, she looked like an angel who had saved someone and ascended to heaven feeling gratified—so I decided to just go with that interpretation.
"That felt so clean! But, Kim Geun-cheol? Why on earth did you not tell me about this?"
"Well, uh..."
"I went and thought you were going around picking fights like some dojo-smasher! Picking up wounds all over the place! I was seriously worried, you know!"
Leona, puffing with anger, grabbed my head and squeezed it with force, as if applying an Iron Claw...!
"Nghk...! T-That was...!"
"Seeing you fight in back alleys, I thought you were some crazy man drunk on fighting!"
"What kind of man is that?!"
—Whoosh.
Having yelled her fill, Leona released my head.
"All right, talk."
And she demanded an explanation.
Seriously, Leona is so kind. When something happens, she always wants to hear the reason first. She's got the makings of a true educator.
"It's nothing big. I just didn't tell you because I was afraid it would turn out like this."
"What?"
"I could've handled it myself just fine. Beating kids up isn't exactly a good thing, is it? There are school issues too. I was trying to keep the trouble from reaching you... Hey. And you think I've got so little pride that I'd go tattle to a friend over a few insults?"
If you get hit or insulted, you settle it yourself. The moment you go tell a friend, all your swagger's stripped and you become a loser.
Run crying to Leona like some embarrassment? I'll handle it my own way.
"Good grief. Swagger this and that. You really are full of it, Kim Geun-cheol."
Having said that, Leona exhaled a sigh.
"Just tell me, all right? I was insulted—and you hid that? If someone's been insulted, you exact punishment no matter what. That's the code! As a superhuman aristocrat, there is no compromise on that front!"
That's also true.
Ahn Do-min insulted me, but at the same time he insulted Leona. In superhuman society, things like that don't just slide.
For superhumans, honor matters.
If an ordinary person gets cursed out and throws a punch, it's assault—but in superhuman society, that kind of thing never happens.
"Hey, Kim Geun-cheol! I'm talking to you and you're spacing out! Do you get it or not?! Answer!"
"Yeah! I get it!"
"From now on, if anyone badmouths me, come tell me everything! I'll beat them all to a pulp! Also, if you ever get insulted, tell me first—I'll referee the duel!"
If Leona's the ref, that's reliable!
"Okay! I'll do that!"
"There! Then! Case closed!"
Having said that totally coolly, Leona turned around.
So like Leona.
"Heh-heh-heh, you really are cool, Leona. Just cold. Cold."
"Cold or whatever, just tidy up Ahn Do-min so there's no loose ends. Since I beat him to the brink of unconsciousness, he ought to be pretty cooperative now."
"Because he's in a mentally and physically fragile state?"
"Exactly. The basics of deliberate violence are to reduce your opponent to a state of mental and physical weakness, then enforce your will. If you understand, go finish whatever you were doing."
Leona's violence carries an aesthetic.
Anyway, I had to wrap this up. I flipped Do-min over—who was lying face down and trembling—grabbed his face, and said,
"Hey, Ahn Do-min. If you get it, let's just keep quiet from now on."
"Urk... hrk!"
"Now get lost. You've got some nerve, daring to insult me. Since I'm letting you off at this, make sure you conduct yourself so there's no more trouble. Understood?"
"Keok... k-hrk, I... I understand... hrgk!"
Do-min answered through tears.
"Phew. Then let's go. Lunch break's almost over. We'll skip lunch. Want to get something to eat after school?"
"Yep!"
"'Yep' your face. Anyway, kinda refreshing, isn't it?"
"Me too."
"It was a bit of a funny turn of events. Then, back to school, go-go!"
With Leona shouting energetically, we ran back to school like we were running a marathon.
At this point, you'd admit it's been settled clean, right?
"Yeah, I'll admit that."
Anyway, it was a pleasant day.
* * *
"Grrrk... hrghk! Heuk!"
Body and mind.
There wasn't a single part that didn't ache.
Dragging his pain-racked body, Ahn Do-min barely managed to catch a taxi home, and tears streamed down his face.
"This can't be...!"
He'd never been hit once in his entire life. Born into a wealthy superhuman family, almost everything had gone his way, and he'd thought this time would be the same—but all common sense had shattered.
That was why, when Kim Geun-cheol had beaten him one-sidedly, he'd been paralyzed with terror, unable to do anything; frozen by fear, he'd just mechanically obeyed.
But.
"Leona Kainus...!"
Setting everything else aside.
The moment that noble young lady hit him, his mind snapped alert. The fact that he'd been beaten by a woman crushed his pride, and he felt an extreme sense of shame.
—Shiver.
Ahn Do-min picked up his phone with trembling hands.
"G-Grandfather! Hic!"
And he called his grandfather.
To a renowned Awakened in Korea.
To Chairman Ahn, who carries the alias Jade.
* * *
The next day.
Many people came to the school.
"Fuck."