The Ranking Match (1)
As I've mentioned before, Cheonun Academy, the school I attend, was an institution dedicated to training Awakeners. On paper, it was classified as a university, but the curriculum was vastly different.
For instance, completely separate from written exams, midterms, and finals, we had Ranking Matches twice a month. This was the primary feature that set us apart from typical universities.
Rattle.
"Han Taeyang, Class 2-B. Report to the waiting room."
"Yes, sir."
Today was the second Monday of April, the day of the Ranking Match. I slid the door open and stepped out of the classroom, following the instructor who had called my name.
The grounds of Cheonun Academy were vast, easily the size of two or three ordinary university campuses from my past life combined, and they housed a wide variety of facilities. Among them was a colossal arena where students unleashed their Awakener abilities to fight in the Ranking Matches—commonly referred to by everyone as the Stadium.
Well, its official name was Gymnasium 1, but only the stiffest members of the faculty actually called it that.
"...Oh?"
By the time I reached the Stadium at a leisurely pace, I spotted a female student leaning against the wall of the waiting room. She was, in all likelihood, my opponent for today...
She was a girl with dark black hair tied in a side ponytail, complete with rare, amethyst purple eyes. She must have heard me entering, because she turned her head to look at me.
"...Ugh."
The moment she saw my face, her expression contorted as if she had just laid eyes on a monster.
I let out a chuckle and gave her, Seo Ah-hyun, a lazy wave.
"Yeah, good to see you too, Seo Ah-hyun. But don't you think looking like you just swallowed a bug is a bit much for a greeting? Your way of showing excitement is seriously warped."
"...What kind of nonsense is that? Of course I look like this. I just saw a face I'm not happy to see."
"You're still as shy as ever, I see."
Despite her blunt hostility, I shrugged and replied with a smirk. Experience had taught me that responding like this was the absolute best way to get under Seo Ah-hyun's skin.
"Who's shy?!"
Sure enough, Seo Ah-hyun immediately pushed herself off the wall, her temper flaring.
"...Whew. No, forget it. It's my fault for even trying to talk to you."
"Oh?"
Surprisingly, her anger subsided quickly. Quelling her temper much faster than usual, Seo Ah-hyun took a few deep breaths and stared at me calmly. She even went a step further, curling her lips into a provocative smirk—a rare sight for her.
"We're about to face off in the Ranking Match anyway. I'll get to beat that annoying face of yours myself. I'll tolerate you until then—as a special favor."
"Oho."
I couldn't help but feel genuinely impressed. So, even Seo Ah-hyun was capable of growth. In the past, whenever I subtly needled her like this, she would fly into a rage without fail. It seemed she had finally realized that engaging in a long conversation with me only dragged her down. The fact that we were matched up for today's duel probably gave her a little extra patience, too.
I clapped my hands as if proud of her, but unfortunately, that was the straw that broke the camel's back. A prominent vein popped on Seo Ah-hyun's forehead.
"...What's with that face? You look like you're thinking of something incredibly insulting."
"That hurts. It's a misunderstanding."
"I highly doubt that..."
Seo Ah-hyun rested a hand on her hip and glared at me with narrowed eyes. Thanks to her experiences over the past year, her intuition told her I was thinking of something obnoxious, but without proof, she could only glare.
I offered her a sly, greasy grin in response. Seo Ah-hyun let out a disgusted groan, looking away as if she had just seen a monster. It was pretty terrible treatment, but...
This is practically cute.
I didn't mind it at all. Strictly speaking, who had dealt more damage in that exchange? From my perspective, successfully grating on her nerves with just a few words was a win. Anyway.
"So, how's your love life going lately? Any progress? Though I bet you're still the one whipped."
"...Why are you talking to me so casually? Didn't I just make it incredibly obvious that I don't want to speak to you?"
I leaned against the wall, keeping a distance of about two paces between us. For our match to begin, the duel currently taking place had to finish first. Until then, we had to wait quietly in the holding room, which was always a tedious affair. If there was someone to exchange light banter with, wasn't it better for both of us to do so? Just some harmless small talk. What was wrong with that?
"I wonder how Kim Min-jun is doing. Come to think of it, I haven't seen his face since last winter, so we haven't had a chance to catch up."
"Ah, seriously, stop talking to me..."
Of course, my conversational partner was Seo Ah-hyun, a literal heroine of the original novel. Just like Baek Seol-ah used to be, she was someone I needed to keep at arm's length. But heroines differed, and I tailored my approach to each one. The ultimate goal was to prevent myself from getting unnecessarily close to them. I had to avoid causing trouble for guys who were in perfectly normal relationships, unlike the original Han Taeyang.
In the end, as long as I made the heroines despise me, the method didn't really matter. And when it came to Seo Ah-hyun, grating on her nerves like this was the most effective route. It was a customized strategy—similar to how I treated Baek Seol-ah, but with a slight twist in how actively I initiated the conversation. Thanks to this consistent attitude, her opinion of me was likely scraping the absolute bottom of the barrel. Which was exactly what I wanted. After all, maintaining a hostile relationship with the original heroines was the safest bet.
Well, as for Baek Seol-ah... it's already too late.
Our unspeakable relationship, forged over the last few days, was an extreme outlier. Logically speaking, there couldn't possibly be another degenerate with a fetish as twisted as Lee Hyun-seong's in this academy, right? Surely, no other male lead would beg me to sleep with his girlfriend. As long as I kept doing what I'd been doing with the other heroines, everything would be fine.
"..."
As my thoughts reached that point, I paused, a strange sensation washing over me. Honestly, the very fact that Lee Hyun-seong had proposed a Netorase arrangement to me was absurd in itself. Hmm. Hmmm.
...There really isn't another pervert like him here, right?
No way.
There's no way.
A deeply unsettling thought crossed my mind, but I quickly shook my head with a dry laugh. It was a ridiculous assumption. Still, the ominous feeling lingered. As I scratched my cheek with a grimace, Seo Ah-hyun glanced at me out of the corner of her eye.
"...Stop prying into my love life, which is none of your business anyway. Why don't you tell me about yourself instead? I still haven't heard what happened between you and Seol-ah."
"What? That again?"
She just had to bring up the one topic that doubled my discomfort. I had just managed to dismiss my ominous premonition as a mere delusion, only for her to throw a wrench in it. Knowing exactly why she was so curious, I openly scowled and kept my mouth shut, but she wasn't about to back down.
"Come on, spill it. It's the first time in a year I've ever seen Seol-ah talk to you for that long. Of course I'm curious."
Just moments ago, Seo Ah-hyun had been acting like she couldn't stand the sight of me. But seeing my reaction, she must have smelled blood. Her eyes sparkled as she pressed me relentlessly. The tables had turned in an instant. I replied reluctantly.
"If Kim Min-jun sent you to interrogate me..."
"Ah, this has nothing to do with him. I'm curious myself, so just tell me. And don't give me that pathetic excuse that nothing happened."
"Tsk."
She cut me off irritably, though she was slightly calmer than she had been a few days ago. But I had absolutely no desire to answer. I rubbed the back of my neck, feeling awkward.
How did things end up like this?
Seo Ah-hyun's claim that she was curious regardless of her boyfriend probably wasn't a lie. Of course she'd be interested. After all, we were talking about the Baek Seol-ah. The model student who had spent the last year looking down on me as a lazy delinquent. Who could have guessed that she would willingly take the seat next to me in class? Even without factoring in Kim Min-jun's lingering feelings from his unrequited crush on her last year, it was enough to pique anyone's curiosity. In fact, the incident was already becoming a hot topic of gossip on the school's online community. Baek Seol-ah probably had no idea since she didn't even know the community existed, but my blood pressure had spiked seeing anonymous posts like, "Did B.S.A. sleep with H.T.Y.? lol." What infuriated me most was that their analysis was so spot-on that I couldn't even deny it.
Ugh, if it weren't for that bastard Lee Hyun-seong...
Well, technically, he was the primary contributor who had given me the chance to ravish Baek Seol-ah's body to my heart's content. Whether I viewed him as a savior or a culprit depended entirely on the situation. A pathetic loser who hands over his own girlfriend to another man deserves to be treated like dirt anyway. Smacking my lips, I snapped back to reality and looked down at Seo Ah-hyun. The petite girl showed no intention of taking her eyes off me until she got the answer she wanted.
"...Well, if you're that curious."
I let my eyes scan her body—petite and slender, yet possessing enough feminine curves to be noticeable—before speaking.
"I guess I have no choice. How about we do this, Seo Ah-hyun?"
"...Huh? Do what?"
Seo Ah-hyun, Class 2-C, Rank 7. And Han Taeyang, Class 2-B, Rank 31. Please enter the arena.
Right on cue, the waiting room speaker chimed, calling our names. I looked at Seo Ah-hyun as she raised her head, and jerked my thumb toward the entrance of the Stadium.
"Since we're about to fight anyway, let's make a bet. If you win... I'll tell you exactly what happened with Baek Seol-ah."
"...? What? Seriously?"
"On the other hand, if I win."
I looked at her wide, disbelieving eyes and delivered the condition for my victory. With a low, steady gaze, I declared:
"You have to obey one command of mine, no matter what it is. If you're fine with that, accept the bet."
"Ha...?"
Her reaction was simple. She let out a scoff, completely dumbfounded. Perhaps it was because the condition I proposed was so absurd. A blank-check command was practically a free pass, after all.
"Are you stupid? I don't know what you're thinking, challenging me to a bet like this."
But that wasn't it. Her reaction was actually born of supreme confidence. Just as I expected, a smirk played on her lips. Her gaze flicked to the monitor hanging at an angle from the ceiling of the waiting room. This was the source of her confidence, the reason she could mock me despite being offered such an seemingly unfair bet.
As the numbers on the monitor indicated, there was a massive gap between our rankings. 7th and 31st. With a disparity like this, the former would normally dominate the latter ten times out of ten. Putting aside the question of why the academy, which usually prioritized balanced matchups, had allowed this fight to happen in the first place...
"Perfect. I've been wanting to beat you to a pulp anyway, especially after what happened last week, Han Taeyang."
Seo Ah-hyun's pretty face twisted into a smirk of blatant competitive fire. She crossed her arms and stretched, signaling her willingness to accept the wager.
"Don't come begging me to call it off later. You'd better not regret this."
"Be my guest."
I nodded casually and gestured toward the entrance leading to the arena. Seo Ah-hyun was brimming with confidence, unable to even conceive of a future where she lost to me. With that, she took the first step onto the stage.
About ten minutes passed.
A perfectly square arena, devoid of any obstacles or environmental hazards. With only the young man and woman remaining on the stage, the electronic voice from the speakers made its flat declaration.
The single word that decided the outcome of the brief duel.
"..."
Ranking updates can be viewed on the Stadium's central monitor shortly. To ensure the smooth progression of the matches, please vacate the arena promptly...
The subsequent formal announcements from the AI did not register in Seo Ah-hyun's mind. She lay collapsed on the arena floor in a pitiful state, her pupils trembling.
"Whew..."
Han Taeyang, who had pinned her down by her slender neck, let out a brief sigh and wiped the sweat from his brow. The Ranking Matches were mock duels between students. Structurally, it was almost impossible for a student ranked in the thirties to defeat a top-ten powerhouse. Indeed, the ten-minute duel between Han Taeyang and Seo Ah-hyun had been shockingly one-sided. The only issue was that the prediction, which should have been foolproof, had been completely flipped on its head.
"...How..."
Seo Ah-hyun's HP, visualized as a bright red bar by the arena's magic, had hit rock bottom and read 0%. In contrast, Han Taeyang, who had cleanly subdued her, still had over half his HP remaining. It was unbelievable, impossible—at least according to the statistics.
Throughout their first year, Han Taeyang had always been a mediocre, upper-middle-tier student. This meant he had never even had a chance to cross paths with Seo Ah-hyun, who had reigned at the very top since day one. Even within his own tier, Han Taeyang had possessed a thoroughly average win rate. Yet here he was, completely overwhelming her. Seo Ah-hyun held her breath, her eyes trembling with profound shock and disbelief.
"Looks like I won the bet, Seo Ah-hyun."
"..."
"Don't bother begging, because I'm not letting you off the hook."
Han Taeyang released his grip on her neck and stood up casually. He extended a hand to help her up. Seo Ah-hyun, unable to even think of accepting his hand, could only freeze in place.