Suspicion (10)
As the one-sided domination dragged on instead of a fierce duel, the heated fervor in the spectator stands gradually cooled. Jin Yeseo, hair disheveled and body covered in bruises, swung her arms forward in sloppy arcs, but they only cut through empty air. The masked male student dodged with ease, then dropped his stance again and drove in another fist.
—Wham!
“…!”
The heavy blow sank squarely into the blonde girl’s lower abdomen. Jin Yeseo could no longer even produce a hoarse scream. All she could do was flail her arms and open and close her mouth like a beached fish. A few onlookers could no longer stomach the gruesome sight and quietly slipped out of the arena.
“Is that really the Jin Yeseo I remember?”
Yet one large, muscular male student in the stands could not tear his eyes away.
“She’s seriously getting pounded like a dog…”
Choi Woojin watched with clear interest, showing not the slightest hint of sympathy. If anything, he found it rather satisfying. Her arrogant personality, that foul mouth no daughter of a prestigious family should possess, and on top of it all, monstrous talent. The two had known each other since childhood, but they had also been rivals who could never stand the sight of one another.
—Wham!
“This is insane… Ugh. Barbaric. Horrifying. No matter how you slice it, how can you beat a person like that in a duel? It’s not like he’s a demon or anything…”
At the sound of yet another fist slamming into Jin Yeseo, Mun Yeoul shuddered involuntarily. She pressed herself even tighter against the arm of her fiancé, Ryu Seungheon, who sat beside her.
“Mun Yeoul. Why are you talking like it has nothing to do with you?”
Catching the strange note in her words, Woojin immediately pounced on the opening. Rather than worrying about her friend, she seemed far more disgusted by the masked student’s savage behavior.
“Your friend is getting beaten to a pulp and you’re not even angry?”
At the muscular boy’s sly tone, Yeoul shot him her signature sharp glare.
“Choi Woojin. What kind of nonsense are you about to spout this time…”
“Why so defensive? I was just asking.”
Woojin continued nonchalantly, then made an exaggerated gesture as if something had just occurred to him.
“Ah, or is it this? Since you’ve never once beaten her yourself, watching someone else get revenge for you feels pretty refreshing—”
“Th-that’s ridiculous!”
A flicker of guilt crossed Mun Yeoul’s face as she snarled back. Personal feelings aside, they had been part of the same social circle since childhood. She knew the full story, which only made her want to strangle Choi Woojin for blurting out such obvious provocation.
The fact that she had never once defeated Jin Yeseo despite being friends since childhood had planted a quiet seed of inferiority inside her. And after entering the academy in the same year, the knowledge that Jin Yeseo had fallen from first to perpetual second had offered some comfort. Yet while Yeseo continued to fight for second place, Yeoul herself barely clung to the top ten. Though they maintained a decent relationship—entering Baek Seoyeon’s mentoring group together—the hidden rift between them only deepened with each passing day.
“Woojin. That’s enough.”
“Heh heh. Just kidding, just kidding.”
When Seungheon stepped in to shield his fiancée, Woojin finally backed off with a laugh. The muscular student turned his gaze back to the arena. The masked man was now dragging Jin Yeseo by the hair as if putting her on display, then hurled her into the arena wall.
—Boom!
“…I kind of want to fight him myself.”
Woojin’s eyes sparkled with interest and fighting spirit as he looked down at the arena. Mun Yeoul immediately fired back, as if taking revenge for his earlier words.
“Don’t make me laugh. How could you possibly beat him? Even Yeseo lost that badly. They’re even saying he’s the one who wrecked I-re unnie’s chin like that…”
“Don’t you dare say that in front of my sister. You remember what happened when Jae-ryong ran his mouth and got dragged off to the second-year training hall, right?”
Woojin cut her off sharply. When his older sister Choi I-re had reappeared at the academy after the Red Fire Incident, her half-destroyed jaw wrapped in bandages and casts had become quite the topic of conversation. Choi I-re was ranked second among the second-years after Baek Seoyeon herself, and she was the one who had pushed the Seongsan family’s signature magic, Phalanx, to its absolute limit. Even Baek Seoyeon had needed a full fifteen minutes to break through her Phalanx in a duel.
And Choi I-re had reacted with near-hysteria to the bizarre rumor that the person who had shattered her Phalanx and wrecked her chin was none other than the new heir of the Black Lotus.
“Besides, you never know until you actually fight, right? I might lose in versatility, but when it comes to pure barrier durability, I don’t lose to my sister.”
“…”
“It’d be nice if we get matched up in the next ranking match. Or maybe I should just submit a duel request? Or…”
Yeoul was rendered speechless by his baseless confidence.
Below their row, three female students were also watching the duel.
—Wham!
“Ugh…”
“Why does it feel like I’m the one getting hit…”
Every time Lee Hyun’s fist connected with Jin Yeseo, both Sera and Yeoreum flinched. He usually showed a rather gentle, almost innocent personality. Yet the way he transformed the moment a ranking match or duel began was still difficult to get used to.
“I’m so glad I stayed on good terms with Hyun… right…?”
“Yeah…”
The girl with shoulder-length hair—Yeoreum—answered Sera before lowering her gaze. Down below, a brown-eyed girl sat with her hands clasped tightly together. She trembled with every punch the boy threw, yet she never once looked away from the arena. To anyone unaware of the situation, it would have been perfectly natural to assume Yena was cheering for the blonde girl.
“…”
Yeoreum recalled the story she had heard from Yena countless times. How the masked male student had saved her from thugs in a back alley. She had heard it so often she could probably recite it in her sleep.
—Wham!Thud!
“Haa…”
She’s going to have a hard time…
Watching Yena flinch again at the dull impact, Yeoreum thought to herself.
“Ugh… No matter how you look at it, this seems excessive… He’s clearly holding back on purpose…”
“You’re telling me. I wondered why he insisted on that condition…”
From the row below where Yeon Minha sat on the left side of the stands, the voices of the professors serving as judges drifted upward.
Instead of simply accepting the duel, Lee Hyun had set one condition in advance. Since this was a private duel rather than an official ranking match, both parties could add conditions so long as they did not stray too far from the established framework.
The condition he had proposed was simple: for the first five minutes after the duel began, no matter what happened, the match must not be stopped or interfered with. Once his opponent accepted, the duel was officially established. Since the moral high ground was already on his side, refusal had never been an option. Moreover, it was an exceedingly straightforward condition with no obvious loopholes or tricks.
Of course, by now everyone present had clearly understood his true intention.
—Wham!
“Still, if he goes that far, he’ll face disciplinary action later… I wonder what he’s thinking…”
Mun Seongyeong—the graceful-looking professor and Mun Yeoul’s aunt—let out a deep sigh. No condition could override academy regulations. The violence the masked student was inflicting on Jin Yeseo had clearly crossed the line of what was permitted in a duel. The outcome was already decided. Once the five-minute mark passed, the bell would ring and the duel would end in his victory. Jin Yeseo would be rushed to the infirmary, while the masked student would be hauled before the disciplinary committee.
“He must know that,” added the male professor with a ponytail, Kwon Chan-yeol, in a nonchalant tone.
“He’s probably willing to accept the punishment if it means sending a clear message.”
“A message? What kind?”
“Well… there’s the matter of second-year Yeon Minha’s position to consider… And Jin Yeseo has been openly following Baek Seoyeon, hasn’t she? He’s probably combining all those factors to deliver a warning.”
“Are those two really that close…? I knew they joined the same mentoring group, but before that they didn’t seem to have much connection…”
“Aigoo, Professor, you already know the answer…”
Professor Kwon Chan-yeol waved his hand dismissively. The commotion that had occurred in front of the student council room a few days earlier, along with the subtle rumors about the two’s relationship, had already spread among the faculty. The details were specific enough that the Education Committee was considering demanding an official explanation. After all, the academy strictly forbade romantic relationships between students of the opposite sex unless they were officially engaged, all in the name of preventing reckless behavior and managing bloodlines efficiently.
“Oh my, then it really is…”
“Shh…”
“…”
Leaving the whispering professors behind, Yeon Minha continued watching the duel, still lost in thought. For the past several days, the same worry had been looping endlessly through her mind like a broken record.