Swordsmanship Training # 4
Swordsmanship Training # 4
If I let my embarrassing side show, she cut me a little slack, but this one's on Woo Yu-ri! No matter how you slice it, telling someone to drop out of school—that's way over the line!
"Hey! Why the hell would I teach you! You're talking nonsense!"
"Nonsense? Does this look like nonsense?"
"What?"
"After running your mouth that hard, you'd damn well better teach me!"
"What kind of bullshit...!"
Blazing with fighting spirit!
When it comes to a war of words—weapons aside—I, Kim Geun-cheol, never lose. Honestly, I don't lose most fights, either. It's just this superhuman world that makes it look that way; against ordinary people, I'd win just fine.
Anyway, a war of words.
"If you're so skilled that you can tell me to drop out, you can teach me a thing or two, right! You've got complaints! Fine, then fix them! With that swordsmanship of yours—fix me!"
I seize the momentum, shouting in a burst of force and staring straight into Woo Yu-ri's eyes!
"What's with that glare while you're talking...!"
The moment I came on strong, she started floundering.
"Stop with the bullshit and get lost!"
So she's weak at verbal sparring. She looked like she had a hell of a temper, but when I started shouting louder, she lost her bearings.
"You think I'm getting lost? If anything, I've got to learn from you!"
"What?!"
"You said all that to me, you think this is over? If you're so great, then you should teach me!"
"You worthless little shit, stop your yapping! Why would I teach you!"
"Because I want to learn from you."
Utterly brazen nonsense.
"Ha!"
Woo Yu-ri scoffed at me.
"I have a goal—to become stronger than anyone! So I'm going to learn from you, since you looked down on me! Aren't you supposed to be good? You belittled me—now back it up and teach me!"
"Wh-what? Stronger? A guy with sloppy skills like that saying he'll get stronger—that's pure crap, and you—"
"It's not crap!"
—whoosh!
I lock eyes with her again and yell!
Just like that time with Ryu Cheon-hwi...! The same fighting spirit I had when Instructor Lee So-ra called us both in! If it had been just the two of us, I'd have shut up for fear of getting decked, but there are plenty of people here, and Instructor Lee So-ra is right over there!
When I have backup, I hold nothing back! In a situation like this, I'll say whatever I please! Why hold my tongue when there's no chance I'm getting hit?
"It's not crap!"
"So what!"
"I have a reason to become stronger than anyone!"
"A... a reason to get stronger...?"
Flustered, Woo Yu-ri showed a flicker of interest.
"Yes! I have a reason to get stronger! That's why I'm at Ares Academy, giving it everything I've got! But you ignored that and told me to quit school—basically told me I was worthless! That honestly stung!"
"Hey, that's...!"
When I zeroed in on that, Woo Yu-ri panicked.
She hemmed and hawed like she actually felt sorry.
"So I want an apology. In the form of swordsmanship lessons. If I learn from you, I'm pretty sure I'll see results. So teach me a little! Look, I'm asking nicely!"
Seamless pivot from yelling to asking.
"W-well."
I was just being unbelievably, shamelessly brazen right now.
But it's not like I'm expecting enormous help from the start. Woo Yu-ri—her name's a little unusual, but I could tell her swordsmanship is the real deal. And now we've connected.
So.
If I can latch onto this as an excuse and ask her to teach me swordsmanship, I can probably get some help here and there. She's the type who yells at people's faces when they're frustrating her.
People like that can't resist butting in.
So if I ask someone like that to teach me? My calculation: she'll say no with her mouth, but her eyes will keep landing on me and she'll end up throwing in pointers every so often.
"So, you're not going to teach me?"
No jokes here.
I'm dead serious about training. Mana, body, sword—I need to become a strong superhuman to survive in this world. That's my goal and I'm moving toward it.
Any scrap of help from someone with experience is a gain for me. So I might as well ask shamelessly.
"Tch...!"
The tension eased.
Woo Yu-ri dodged my stare and bit her lip. Her face went red.
"Answer me."
"I-I don't know, you asshole! Who do you think you are, asking me to teach you swordsmanship!"
"Then at least apologize, man! You said some emotionally scarring crap to me, and I'm here with a sacred mission!"
"Shut up! Get lost! I don't care! A pathetic scrub like you saying you'll get strong—give me a break!"
—fwoosh!
With that, Woo Yu-ri whipped around and jumped off the ring.
"Fine. Watch me."
Damn backseat-driver type.
Think she can sit still when I'm swinging a sword like a total scrub right in front of her? She'll come over and butt in with something. I just have to gobble it up.
* * *
"Hoo."
Anyway, my turn's over.
I climbed down from the ring like Woo Yu-ri. Instructor Lee So-ra, who'd been watching us and scribbling something in her notes, gave me an odd look, and Leona and Si-hoo came over.
"Oh, Si-hoo. How'd your bout go?"
Did you win?
"Close match. But Geun-cheol, what happened with Woo Yu-ri? You two were really going at it verbally."
"Yeah! Kim Geun-cheol, you! Why did you get into another fight with a classmate! Explain yourself!"
They both asked at once, so I calmed them down and answered.
"It's not a big deal. Just a little argument over something minor. Leona, what's the deal with Woo Yu-ri? She's got a pretty nasty temper."
"Is Kim Geun-cheol now daring to suggest that I, the Archangel Leona, gossip about a classmate behind her back?"
"What?"
Leona abruptly folded her arms and got dead serious.
"As class president, I absolutely cannot permit that."
She's ridiculously firm about it!
"It seems you require physical therapy, Kim Geun-cheol. Shall we visit the hospital together? It's called Leona's Violence Room—the doctor there is exceptionally skilled."
"That can never be the name of a hospital, Leona! Just calm down! You think I'd gossip? She picked the fight first, that's why I brought it up."
"She started it—fine, then gossiping is conditionally approved. So what kind of person is Woo Yu-ri?"
"Yeah."
"Kim Geun-cheol, you really seem to have zero information. She's decently well-known."
"Well-known?"
Why?
"Woo Yu-ri is the heir of the Woo family, which runs a superhuman combat arts dojo."
"Wh-what?"
A superhuman combat arts dojo?
"The most famous dojo in Korea. It trains a huge number of superhumans as intensive students. But what's the point of explaining? Woo Yu-ri is the eldest daughter of that family. The daughter of A-rank hero Woo Tae-kyung."
Leona briefly broke down Woo Tae-kyung for me.
Woo Tae-kyung.
His mana reserves are supposedly around A-rank, but his actual combat ability is said to rival S-rank heroes. Basically, the ultimate old-school badass who covers a slight mana deficit with pure skill.
"Whoa. She's that kind of person?"
"So what exactly happened with Woo Yu-ri?"
"Well, that."
I explained what had just gone down.
"Okay, first off, I'd never sparred before, right? I'm a total beginner who's never actually fought a superhuman. So the skill gap was massive and I sort of screamed a little during the bout?"
"He screamed again! This Scream Man!"
"Hey! A blade's flying at my face, you think I'm just gonna stand there!"
This is unjust!
"Anyway, skip that because it's embarrassing. So, we're going back and forth in the spar, and... I guess I frustrated her, and Woo Yu-ri starts yelling? Saying with skills like that I'll just go out there and get myself killed, so I should quit trying to be a hero."
That was a low blow.
"What? No, isn't that a bit much? Even if Kim Geun-cheol is an idiot who does nothing but scream and is basically an Undernourished Kid, there's a line between what you can say and what you shouldn't say."
"You're the one saying the most things you shouldn't say!"
She's not an Archangel, she's an Archdevil...!
No!
She's Asura Leona, bearing both aspects!
"Quit scolding me with a straight face...!"
This wounds my heart!
"Is that what matters right now, Meal Ticket Man Kim Geun-cheol! Just get on with it!"
"Ugh... well, so. We bickered a little. Then I yelled, if you don't like my skills, teach me yourself. At that, she got pissed and climbed down. That's it."
Leona nodded at that.
"Hm. Hearing the details, it sounds like a common squabble between classmates. Please work it out nicely on your own."
"Will do."
Once that topic was wrapped up.
"Geun-cheol?"
Si-hoo, who had been quietly listening, called my name with an expressionless face.
"Yeah, Si-hoo?"
"You asked her to teach you swordsmanship?"
What's this?
The mood feels a little cold.
"Yeah. That's what I said. Honestly, she fights really well. Figured it'd be good to get something out of it, so I threw it out there. Mm? Si-hoo?"
Why does her expression look a little scary?
"Why didn't you ask me?"
Ah.
"Hey. What's this? Don't tell me you're mad that I didn't ask you, a friend?"
"I-I'm not exactly mad..."
"That's not it, man. I already get a ton of help from you, Si-hoo. With Woo Yu-ri, I just brought it up on the spur of the moment."
And honestly, I'd feel a little guilty getting even more help from Si-hoo. Even now, she's helping me with my mana control—asking her to teach me swordsmanship on top of that would be, as a friend, me having no conscience whatsoever.
I do have that much awareness.
But Woo Yu-ri said some awful stuff to me, so I figured it was okay to ask that much.
"I-is that so? Still, Geun-cheol. If you want someone to teach you, I can do it too."
"Heh-heh, thanks. Help me out sometime. Get me started on swordsmanship."
Still, I'd feel a bit bad leaning on Si-hoo all the time, so I'll try to reel in Woo Yu-ri a bit more.
"Got it! I'll teach you really thoroughly! So that weak Geun-cheol can become a superhuman!"
Seeming cheered up, Si-hoo said it with a smile.
Well, then. Should we observe the other cadets sparring?
"But where'd Woo Yu-ri go?"
* * *
Somehow she wanted to avoid the place.
What she felt was an inexplicable shame. Woo Yu-ri, having fled as if escaping to the back of the training building, sat down with her back against the wall.
"Ha. Ridiculous bastard."
It was absurd. She'd gone out of her way to voice concern, and what did she get?
"Pathetically weak punk, acting up."
Kim Geun-cheol.
She didn't participate in classes all that much, but he was so conspicuous she knew his name. A guy who hollered at a laughably loud volume.
Honestly, it was a little pathetic.
A hero has to be heroic. Gutsy, and a good fighter. In short, you need the quality. A weakling becoming a hero just gets himself killed on the battlefield. Fragile people can't possibly endure combat.
Being a hero is a job where you stake your life.
Of course you have to take it seriously.
Monsters, monsterkin, villains—all of them are masters at killing people. On a battlefield like that, a sloppy fighter can't survive.
Just like.
Her own brother.
"...Shithead."
It left her feeling needlessly unsettled. What? He wants to get stronger? He has a reason to get stronger? What pure nonsense.
But that fierce, determined look in his eyes... was that for real?
"Argh, shit. Who does he think he is, asking me to teach him swordsmanship?"
She couldn't even form words, it was so ridiculous.
She didn't have the right to teach anyone yet. She was the heir of the Woo martial arts dojo, but she hadn't yet earned the instructor qualification.
Being an instructor had been her dream since childhood, so she was devoting herself to that goal, but her father still hadn't acknowledged her.
"..."
But.
Kim Geun-cheol's image surfaced—shouting straight into her eyes about how he had to get stronger. That dredged up old memories, and she found herself overlaying her own image onto his.
That sentimental thought lasted only a moment, of course.
"Tch."
Thinking about the way he gripped a sword, the way he moved. And that ugly sight during the clash—jerking his head back and squeezing his eyes shut—it made her blood boil.
That's a hero cadet?
She couldn't accept it.
To strip down that sloppy posture and drill the fundamentals into him, she'd have to be tough. She didn't have any intention of formally teaching anyone, but she could manage throwing in some pointers. A guy like that was too frustrating to leave alone.
But before that.
"Better find out what kind of guy he is."
She'd do a little research into whether he was even worth the pointers. What family did he come from, for him to be that shameless? No matter how you sliced it, talking like that to the heir of a famous martial family. There were limits to shamelessness.
"Kind of want to see his parents' faces."
It's not like some movie where he's trying to get stronger to avenge his parents.
"A reason to get stronger, my ass. What kind of cringey bullshit is that..."
A scoff escaped her.