Slightly Twisted Gods (3)
What? Lee Dae-han…?
Of all the rotten luck, my very first sparring opponent turned out to be the academy’s top prospect, Lee Dae-han. I glanced behind me and caught the guy smiling. Aside from his stubborn buzz cut, he was the kind of handsome that made people do double-takes. Add in his monstrous talent, and he always seemed to radiate this special aura. In short, he was the living definition of a main character.
Professor Kang spoke up.
“Both of you, come forward.”
The moment the words left his mouth, Lee Dae-han strode out with confident steps. I got up a beat later and followed.
On the platform, practice weapons of every kind were neatly lined up. Among them, my eyes immediately went to the wooden sword. No matter the weapon type, as the awakener of Swordsmanship Lv.1, I could handle a wooden sword with relative familiarity.
Yeah. With this, maybe I could…!
That was when I heard the sound of air being sliced beside me.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
I turned my head and saw Lee Dae-han gripping a wooden sword and swinging it around. Every swing carried an overwhelming pressure wave. It might have been nothing more than a warm-up, but the sight was downright dominating.
Gasps and murmurs rippled through the crowd.
“Whoa, did you hear that sound just now?”
“So cool…”
The students watched him with eyes full of awe. I was no different. Just thinking about having to fight this guy made my mouth go dry.
Gulp.
But what choice did I have…? I finished my own preparations and started loosening up my body. At least until someone raised an objection.
“Excuse me! Professor Kang!”
One of the scouts raised his hand and called out. The other scouts beside him wore similarly displeased expressions.
Professor Kang answered, “Yes?”
“Is it possible to change the sparring opponent?”
“Pardon?”
“Well… the balance seems a bit off.”
The sudden third-party interruption caused a stir among the onlookers.
“What do you mean by balance?”
“We came to see a proper fight. But isn’t the difference between an Emperor Hall student and a Citizen Hall student painfully obvious? There’s nothing to gain from this matchup.”
“Ha Yeonjun is an excellent student as well, but…”
“Sure, that’s true. But a Citizen Hall kid is still kinda… you know?”
What? What the hell did he just say about Citizen Hall?
I and the other Citizen Hall students widened our eyes and glared at the incredibly rude scouts. But they simply stood firm in their position.
To be honest, I couldn’t completely blame them. The student they actually wanted to observe wasn’t me—it was Lee Dae-han. And to properly gauge his true ability, he needed a suitable opponent.
The man continued, “So, how about pairing Lee Dae-han with another Emperor Hall student? What do you think of Seo Geon-woo?”
“Geon-woo, you mean…?”
Professor Kang Dong-geun looked back and forth between Seo Geon-woo and the scout with an extremely troubled expression. Then he glanced at me before slowly opening his mouth.
“Then let’s do that.”
The scouts finally smiled in satisfaction and nodded.
“…Ha.”
On the other hand, I felt like I’d become invisible. As I reluctantly returned to my seat, Cheol-i came over.
“Hey, Ha Yeonjun! Just ignore what those bastards said. Original gems don’t shine right away, you know? Right?”
I gave him a bitter smile and nodded. Well, there was nothing I could do about it. This was the normal treatment Citizen Hall students received at the academy.
With that thought, I lifted my head again. That was when the familiar narration rang out.
An anonymous constellation is furious that the fight was canceled.
At some point, another unknown god had started paying attention to me…
An anonymous constellation feels frustrated by your current position.
An anonymous constellation is urgently looking for some soda.
At the very least, it was clear this god had a completely different personality from yesterday’s one.
*
District 6 of Unlimited was rather quiet. I was walking down its streets at sunset. I hadn’t come out for some rebellious stroll; I still had luggage left at my sister’s house that I needed to bring back to the dorm.
That was when my smartphone vibrated.
Clubs, huh… There was still plenty of time left to decide, so I’d think about it later. I slipped my phone back into my pocket.
The weather was still chilly. The academy’s curfew was 8 PM. They discouraged students from wandering around Unlimited too late at night. Of course, public safety here wasn’t bad. Unlimited had excellent Korean police officers, and above them was… well, never mind. Thanks to that, Unlimited could remain peaceful even late into the night.
Of course, there were always places where public authority couldn’t reach…
“Kyaaaaaah!”
A sharp scream rang out at that moment. I turned my head toward the alley between convenience stores.
“Hehe, it’ll only take a second! Just a second!”
“Let go of me!”
Yellow-haired delinquents were grabbing a woman’s arm. The biggest problem with Unlimited was exactly these kinds of punks. Anyone who awakened by chance and gained a bit of power all flocked here. So-called idiots and troublemakers were welcomed as promising talents in Unlimited as long as they could fight.
That was why you always had to be careful in alleys like this…
I checked out the delinquents. They looked like they were in the middle of an internet broadcast. I’d heard that harassing pretty girls on the street had become their signature content lately.
“Brothers! I caught a pretty lady! Now I’m gonna…!”
“I said let go!”
These trashy bastards… That aside, the girl they were holding looked very familiar. White dress shirt, black skirt… Huh? That’s our academy uniform.
The delinquents noticed me at that exact moment.
“Yo, who the hell are you!”
“You got a problem?”
They immediately started swearing and picking a fight with me. Honestly, I didn’t want to get involved with them. I wasn’t some hero, and without a sword nearby, I was just an ordinary person.
The girl’s desperate voice reached me.
“Please help me!”
Damn it, what am I supposed to do…?
I couldn’t just leave a female student from the same academy like this. First, I should call the police. There were three opponents. They looked older than me and were much bigger. While I was thinking, a mocking voice rang out.
“Hehe, look at him shaking in his boots.”
Ugh. As much as it pissed me off, the smart move here was to ignore them and walk away. Getting beaten up for no reason would be stupid.
“Son of a…”
I clenched my fist tightly. Still, running away so pathetically didn’t sit right with me.
At that moment, a narration echoed in my head.
The constellation 'Beating Maestro' is showing interest in you.
This was the same situation as yesterday. A translucent mission window appeared right in front of me.
Broadcaster Qualification Test
Genre: Violence, Action, Hardboiled
Mission Objective: The self-destructive brawler wants to test your violent tendencies. Use violence against the delinquents. (0/3)
Reward: 1,000 points
Additional Reward: Broadcasting contract, divine grace
Time Limit: 1 hour
Penalty: —
I looked at the delinquents again through the mission window floating in front of me. My eyes met the yellow-haired guy’s.
“What’s with this punk…?”
Then another fierce narration rang out.
The constellation 'Beating Maestro' promises to grant you power immediately if you complete the mission.
It felt like the devil was whispering in my ear. Falling for something like this would make me a total sucker…
“Kyaa—!”
Right then, one of the delinquents yanked the girl against him by her waist. Seeing her distressed face, I let out a deep sigh.
Haa. Screw it. Whatever happens, happens.
In the end, I tossed my bag aside and walked straight toward the delinquents. The yellow-haired guy stepped forward first.
“What are you gonna do about it? You her boyfriend or something?”
“Nope.”
With that answer, I slammed my fist straight into his face! I’d heard somewhere that the first strike wins.
Thud!
The guy whose face met my fist glared at me with wide eyes.
“Fuck! You son of a…”
Of course, my thin arms couldn’t knock him down in one hit. But that wasn’t my only target anyway. I swung both arms wildly, hitting the guys beside him at the same time. Then I shouted,
“Run! Hurry!”
I managed to free the girl, but…
“You little shit! You should’ve picked your fights better!”
Wham!
But there was no winning against numbers. I got hit in the back of the head from a blind spot and collapsed to the ground.
Thump!
Damn it. Was this really impossible…?
That was how I ended up getting stomped on by the three delinquents like a doormat. The pain was so bad I was about to lose consciousness.
You have passed the Broadcaster Qualification Test.
Rewards and additional compensation will be settled.
At that moment, a new window appeared before my eyes.
Starting solo broadcast for the constellations.
The constellation 'Beating Maestro' has entered the broadcast for the first time.
At the same time, an unknown rush of excitement began to burn through my entire body.
“Hehehe—”
“Bro, this guy’s laughing.”
“What the hell are you giggling about, you bastard!”
I bit my lip and barely managed to stand up. Then I immediately grabbed the yellow-haired guy’s arm and twisted it hard.
Squeeze!
The next message followed right after.
New divine grace, 'Fighting Spirit', has been activated!
I raised my fist once more toward the frightened delinquent’s face!