The Sting of Inexperience
Ah-hyun’s eyes widened in shock at Seong-il’s evasion. She drew out even more of her power, swinging her fists with ferocious intensity. Watching her, Seong-il thought to himself, Just as I expected… If I activate Induction and maximize my internal energy before executing the footwork of the Mountain Shattering Divine Fist, I have more than enough competitive edge against first- and second-years—so long as I’m not facing a physical enhancer on the level of a pro hunter!!
Having finished evaluating his own level, Seong-il flashed a crooked smile. He pretended to dodge once more before reversing his momentum, stepping into the footwork of the Mountain Shattering Divine Fist and charging straight at Ah-hyun.
Startled by the sudden, bizarre footwork behind his assault, Ah-hyun tried to adjust her stance and pull her center of gravity backward. But Seong-il’s charge expertly pierced her blind spot. Her steps crumbled in an instant, all her effort rendered meaningless, and her defense lost its solidity.
In the blink of an eye, Seong-il had seized the flow of the fight. Using the razor-sharp senses Induction fed him as if they were his own eyes, he remained unmoved by any of Ah-hyun’s movements and began unleashing the techniques of the Mountain Shattering Divine Fist like lightning.
BAM!!THUD!!CRAAASH!!!
In less than a single breath, Seong-il mercilessly poured his techniques onto her guard. “Khk…!”
She had only been hit three or four times, yet the heavy impact of his strikes delivered a tremendous shock that seemed to ignore her guard entirely.
Four techniques left…! I’m going to shatter her within those four…!
Seong-il grit his teeth and prepared the final four seconds of the Mountain Shattering Divine Fist. Jin Cheon-hui, leader of the Martial Alliance, had proudly declared that the first four moves were merely preparation for the latter four, and that the latter half possessed an entirely different level of power. Seong-il now poured those finishing techniques onto her.
His left hand slammed into Ah-hyun’s flank, his right fist struck her face, and then his left elbow smashed into her features once more. Using the recoil, he took two light steps backward with his footwork, aligned his shoulder and head in a straight line, and drove a perfect body tackle straight into her head and chest.
“Kuhk…!”
Ah-hyun flew backward as if her entire body had been crushed along with her guard. Even though he saw her completely defenseless, Seong-il did not press the attack. Instead he retreated slightly, focusing on dissipating the strain that the explosive internal energy of the Mountain Shattering Divine Fist had placed on his body. Only then did he once again assume the ready stance of the technique.
Fuck… That’s the problem with the Mountain Shattering Divine Fist. If my training were higher it might be different, but at my current level, fully executing all eight moves makes the internal energy inside my body boil madly and run out of control. I need at least two full breaths to cool down…
But Ah-hyun seemed to interpret his behavior as consideration for her. She steadied herself and spoke.
“I lost.”
“Hm? Already? I thought you could keep going…?”
“Haa… No. If you had tackled me the moment my posture completely collapsed and mounted me, I would’ve ended up like Young-tae.”
It’s just that using the techniques made my internal energy run wild and overload my body…
Of course Ah-hyun had no way of knowing that. She gave him a satisfied smile and continued.
“That’s more than enough. With your current combat ability, you could become an immediate asset in a 9th-grade dungeon even without prior experience—so long as you don’t let your guard down.”
“Uh… thanks.”
Seong-il broke into a goofy grin at her sudden praise. Watching him, Ah-hyun smiled faintly.
“Especially those monstrous reflexes of yours—they’re downright awe-inspiring. I was proud of how concise I’d made my striking movements through fairly intense martial arts training, but you dodged my attacks so easily. Impressive.”
“Ahem, ahem…”
Seong-il’s face flushed bright red at Lee Ah-hyun’s compliments. He scratched the back of his head, looking embarrassed. She straightened her posture and spoke again.
“Right, then. Shall we do this properly now?”
“Ah… sure. But…”
“Hm?”
“I’m just curious—could you show me your space distortion once?”
“Hmm…?”
Ah-hyun looked puzzled. Seong-il began desperately trying to persuade her.
“As you know, I’ve never been on the same level as you in sparring before, so I’ve never directly experienced space distortion… Since we’re doing this anyway, I’d like to see it with my own eyes and hear an explanation. It’s for injury prevention. We have a dungeon exploration the day after tomorrow—if I get hurt it’ll be trouble.”
Ah-hyun nodded in agreement.
“That’s true. Normally I would have hidden as much information as possible to test your crisis response, but… given the situation, it makes sense to show you my ability.”
So saying, Lee Ah-hyun spread her hand and pointed at a specific spot.
“Whoa…!”
Amazingly, the place she indicated began to warp and twist. The space itself appeared to bend and cave inward. After activating her ability, she began explaining to Seong-il.
“As you can see, I can distort space to create depressions or twist objects to make obstacles. However, the ability cannot directly harm people or structures—it can only interfere. But the most important aspect is…”
“Is…?”
“At my current level I still can’t use it, but highly skilled space distortion users can apparently shorten the distance to a target through distortion or tear space to create portals.”
“Portals?!”
“Yes. Not long distances—only within visible range, meaning line of sight. So roughly a maximum of one to two kilometers…?”
“Even that seems incredible…?”
Ah-hyun nodded at Seong-il’s words.
“It is. That’s why highly skilled space distortion users excel at creating variables, and the higher the tier, the greater their evaluation.”
“I see…”
“Alright. Now that the explanation is finished, shall we spar?”
“Ah! Just a moment…”
Seong-il took a moment to steady his breathing, normalizing his rampaging internal energy and optimizing his condition before moving to the center of the training ground.
A real fight against a top-tier prospect…! Should I use every resource I have this time…? If I use Haste in a crisis, I might be able to create a variable…
After briefly devising tactics to face her, Seong-il focused on the match with Ah-hyun and waited for the countdown.
“5… 4… 3… 2… 1…”
The moment the countdown from the phone ended, Seong-il charged toward Ah-hyun—unlike before.
“Khk…!”
He stepped forward with powerful momentum, but the impact and sudden loss of footing beneath his feet made him instinctively look down.
Damn it… When did a pit this deep appear in the floor…!
The hole he had stepped in looked about thirty centimeters deep. Seong-il felt his lower-body balance collapse from Ah-hyun’s trick and staggered.
She charged at him like a hawk seizing prey and threw a heavy punch.
CRACK!!
He barely managed to guard, but the heavy pain that radiated through his arms made him groan. “Kk!”
Seong-il staggered backward, shocked by a level of pain he had never felt before.
“Huh?!”
Another pit appeared beneath his feet. In an instant his lower-body balance was completely destroyed and he began to fall backward.
Damn it all… I should have projected Induction onto the floor instead of focusing it on Lee Ah-hyun to prepare for the space distortion…! That was a fatal mistake…!
Still lacking real combat experience, Seong-il had been given information about her specialty in advance yet possessed zero combat sense to actually apply it. Because of that inexperience, he couldn’t even use his strengths or his secret card Haste before being instantly driven into a defensive position.
THUD!!
Seong-il crashed to the floor. Ah-hyun swiftly mounted his upper body, completing the mount position, and began raining down merciless punches.
BAM!!THUD…!!CRACK!!
Seong-il was helplessly pounded by her attacks. Unable to regain his senses, his mind grew hazy and he finally lost consciousness.
“Ugh…”
A dull pain throbbed in his head. Enduring it, Seong-il slowly opened his eyes. A white ceiling came into view.
Damn… I must have passed out for a bit.
Forcing down the ringing in his skull, Seong-il pushed himself up.
“You’re awake?”
Ah-hyun was looking at him. Seong-il asked, “Yeah. By the way, how long was I out?”
“…About ten minutes? Sorry. After experiencing your combat ability firsthand, I couldn’t afford to let my guard down, so I might have gone a little too hard.”
Seong-il shook his head at her apology. “No, it’s only natural. If you had held back I would’ve felt worse. Anyway, what are your impressions after sparring with me?”
“Quite favorable. Your physical ability is excellent, and your sense is impressive too. But the most surprising thing is the proficiency you show when using physical enhancement.”
“…Proficiency?”
“Yes. Based on the timeline, even at the longest estimate you can only have been awakened for about two weeks, yet your proficiency is far too high. It doesn’t make sense.”
“…”
Seong-il flinched at her words. When he remained silent, Lee Ah-hyun continued with her evaluation.
“It’s one of two things. Either you possess truly innate combat sense and talent, or you have some additional special ability.”
Seong-il panicked at the words ‘special ability.’ Feeling cornered, he hastily made an excuse.
“‘Special ability’? I don’t really have anything like that. If I had to say, it’s just that activating Induction maximizes my physical senses and lets me target openings.”
“Hmm… Is that so? Certainly Induction itself isn’t a direct combat ability, but used as support it could be extremely threatening. Seeing how easily you dodged earlier only reinforces that impression…”
When Ah-hyun seemed to accept his explanation, Seong-il secretly breathed a sigh of relief and answered.
“Right. It’s probably because of Induction.”
“Yeah, I think so too.”
“Anyway… that’s the end of the sparring, right?”
“Yes. Let’s stop here. We have the mock team training tomorrow and the dungeon exploration the day after. Overdoing it wouldn’t be wise.”
“Good idea… However…”
“…?”
“Could I request another sparring session later? Just the two of us like this.”
“Well… it’s not difficult, but why…?”
Ah-hyun looked puzzled for a moment before suddenly flinching and adopting a defensive posture. Seeing her reaction, Seong-il thought, Fuck… The way she flinched mid-sentence means she thinks I have ulterior motives toward her, doesn’t it?! I mean, she’s not entirely wrong, but…
Realizing why she had reacted that way, Seong-il quickly waved his hands and began explaining.
“No, no! It’s not that I have dirty thoughts about you. It’s just that while sparring with you earlier, I realized one big thing…”
“…Which is?”
“That I’m severely lacking in real combat experience…”
“Hmm…”
“Even though you told me everything about your ability and even demonstrated it, I should have recognized that and prepared accordingly during the fight.”
“…”
“If I had, I could have projected Induction onto your hand when you used your ability, or onto the floor around me. Then I wouldn’t have been defeated so pathetically by your space distortion.”
Ah-hyun nodded at his words. Gaining confidence from her reaction, Seong-il continued.
“So why couldn’t I use the information you gave me properly? I believe it’s simply because I lack real combat experience. And the fastest way to fix that is to spar with someone stronger than me.”
“Ah, I see…”
“That’s why, if possible, I’d like us to spar together like this from time to time. And honestly, ending it here feels unsatisfying. I still have a secret card I haven’t shown you.”
“…Secret card?”
Ah-hyun frowned when Seong-il suddenly mentioned a ‘secret card.’ He quickly answered.
“Don’t misunderstand. I wasn’t deliberately hiding it. The technique is still incomplete, and the rebound is severe, so using it in real combat is still too risky. But in a sparring session with safety measures like this, I think it would be perfect to practice with…”