Chapter 88
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 88
Chapter Title: Ramju Thunderbolt
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Jun-hyeok was sprawled out in his chair like he owned the place. Su-hyeon perched on the edge of the desk.
Thankfully, after sharing a big laugh to kick things off, there wasn't a hint of awkwardness between them.
Su-hyeon's legs dangled and swung lazily in the air from her spot on the desk.
"Hey, remember Tae-cheol?"
Jun-hyeok's words drew a squeal from Su-hyeon.
"Of course I do! The guy was a ping-pong wizard. He crushed kids from other classes with a zero-card deck."
"Man, I threw everything I had at him with a five-card setup and still lost. Anyway, you know he's a soccer coach now?"
"Wait, for real? He ruled at ping-pong, but soccer? Worst in our class."
"...? Honestly, about on par with you."
"I'm better. I was a defender."
"Hmph..."
Ignoring her friend's glare, Su-hyeon pressed on.
"Anyway, where's he at?"
"Munich."
"Bundesliga!? Wow... talk about making it big."
"Wanna see a pic?"
"Sure."
Their heads huddled close together.
Jun-hyeok scrolled through KakaoTalk profiles until he found Tae-cheol's.
"...Huh?"
The phone screen showed what was unmistakably a balding guy in his late forties.
The suit and frantic pointing on the field made him look even older.
Su-hyeon shot her friend a dubious glance, barely lifting her eyes.
He said he was thirty-three, right?
"This the guy?"
"Yup. Take a good look."
Squinting hard, she started to make out echoes of that old face peeking through the glasses.
"Holy crap..."
A slight chill ran down Su-hyeon's spine.
But a friend's perfectly timed misfortune was prime comedy material.
"No way, pfft, heh... Did he shave it on purpose? To look less approachable? Or is coaching that brutal?"
Jun-hyeok shook his head gravely.
"His crown started thinning right after he turned twenty."
"......Oh."
Su-hyeon's expression sobered instantly.
After a brief moment of silently mourning her friend's hairline, Jun-hyeok spoke up.
"So, what turned you into this?"
He was still leaning back casually, like it was no big deal.
"Uh......"
Su-hyeon hesitated.
Was it okay to spill the beans?
Seeing her waver, Jun-hyeok gripped the armrest and slowly sat up.
"Hey, the guy sitting in front of you is Korea's most secretive person. Lowly guild grunts? Hell, even the president doesn't know my face. Just a handful of old fogeys, that's it."
"......What does your secret have to do with mine?"
"You holding my face and history in your hands? That's as good as you having my secret. So we're even—one secret apiece. Plus, I got no reason to blab yours. You think I look like the type to sell you out?"
"...Guys who say that are usually con artists."
She didn't really mean it.
But that phrasing was way too shady.
"Tch, whatever."
As Jun-hyeok crossed his arms, Su-hyeon slyly averted her gaze.
Su-hyeon wasn't a complete idiot.
What he was saying boiled down to sharing secrets for some easy camaraderie.
But she wasn't mentally prepped for it today.
"Hmmm......"
Jun-hyeok pondered for a bit, then snapped his fingers.
"Fine, how about one more of my secrets? Only one other person in Korea knows this besides me."
"...A secret? What good's knowing yours do me?"
"It's just something wild to see."
"Pass."
Su-hyeon whipped her head away like she couldn't care less.
But her ears were still pricked toward him, very much intrigued.
"What if I slip up and spill?"
"It's fine. Gets noisy at worst—no real harm. Like a hidden ultimate move or something."
"Hmmm......"
"C'mon, a shot at being the third in Korea to learn an S-rank hunter's secret trump card."
"Who's second, by the way?"
"Ye-rin. My secretary."
"......"
Su-hyeon and Jun-hyeok scribbled their names on the contract and left the office.
They arrived in a vast underground space.
"Hold up."
Jun-hyeok authenticated at the entrance, and lights flickered on throughout the room.
Not electric—powered by mana, somehow.
"This."
The entire area was lined with some weird material that didn't conduct electricity.
"Gonna reinforce the walls eventually. But just in case."
Jun-hyeok handed her some goggles and earmuffs.
"Gonna need a kid size next time."
Su-hyeon's head was so small that even the tiniest size had extra room.
"Can't be helped. Hang onto this. Won't matter if you drop it, anyway."
"Got it."
She pressed the earmuffs down tight, and the world went blissfully muffled.
Jun-hyeok took position in the center of the open space. A transparent box descended from the ceiling.
Glass? Acrylic?
Three layers of seriously thick enclosure dimmed the inside slightly.
But can I even track an S-rank hunter's moves?
She could barely follow Ga-eun's, let alone Brüel's.
The question hit late, but it vanished as Jun-hyeok started limbering up.
And then...
Rumble—
Like thunder echoing from miles away.
Oh?
Su-hyeon sure couldn't see if he'd even budged.
The box interior just exploded in a flash of light. Guess he did something.
Rumble—
After a few more peals of thunder, Jun-hyeok turned toward Su-hyeon and opened his mouth.
Of course, earmuffs and enclosure meant no sound got through. But instinct told her:
Here we go.
"!"
In that instant, Su-hyeon caught a massive whiff of mana.
It didn't just sting her nose—it blew straight through.
Crackle—
Jun-hyeok's hair seemed to quiver, then the tips bleached white.
"Ooh?"
Starting from his veins, a glow spread slowly across his body until he was a single bolt of lightning.
Zzzzzap—
A leisurely-floating, human-shaped bolt of lightning in midair.
Hair and clothes indistinguishable, he began spewing plasma from every inch.
Beams of light lashed out from him, savagely scoring the box's interior.
"Whoa..."
Su-hyeon circled the box, peering from all angles.
Too scared to get close.
"Hmm..."
After a full lap around the enclosure, her expression turned a touch odd.
"Definitely badass, but..."
Isn't this straight-up Pikachu's Ten Million Volt Thunderbolt?
Voltage was way higher here, obviously.
She briefly mulled copyright issues before shaking it off and gazing at her airborne friend.
Features blurred beyond eyes and intensity.
Visuals were undeniably overwhelming.
So what exactly is he gonna show?
Gulp.
Just as anticipation swelled in Su-hyeon, the lightning dimmed. Jun-hyeok reverted and slowly touched down.
"...There. Done."
"Huh?"
Whirrrrr—
The box imprisoning Jun-hyeok slowly ascended, releasing a sharp tang of residual mana.
"Wait, that's it?"
Su-hyeon gaped in disbelief.
"Super inefficient. One finger twitch, and you'd vaporize energy equal to thousands of nukes."
Fair enough—propelling an adult male's mass at lightning speeds? No wonder.
That explained why he'd just stood there before releasing.
"......But doesn't that make it total garbage?"
This was his trump card?
"But in this state? Feels omnipotent. I could take any other S-rank."
"You literally can't move."
"Pfft, mana solves that. US combat eval said even an S-rank's mana pool 'falls short of full output potential.' Rated my potential and mana output top-tier, though."
In other words: raw power off the charts, practical combat way behind.
A brutal ego-check.
CIA with NASA pegged his combat rank at third.
Couldn't output full power, and plenty outpace lightning on Earth—that was the reasoning.
Ranks weren't gospel anyway.
Unofficial to boot.
Su-hyeon felt a twinge of disappointment but called it good enough.
It was intimidating as hell.
...Wait, lightning. What about thunderbolt? Lariat?
"So, thunderclap? Lariat?"
"Piece of cake."
Crackle—
Jun-hyeok clenched a fist, and blue lightning danced around his hand.
"Ooh...!"
"I can solo a double lariat too."
"Nice."
Su-hyeon clapped her tiny hands gleefully.
Even after fifteen years and a body swap, some tastes never changed.
"......So this is your true form?"
"Less 'true form,' more 'sprout from a seed,' from what I hear."
Jun-hyeok briefly pictured bugs.
Cicadas, butterflies—larva and adult totally different.
"Huh."
Tough to swallow.
If not for the living, breathing proof before him. Or seeing that elf recently.
"So you're aliens like the elves?"
"Nah, natives apparently. Just been in hiding."
"Lived your whole life clueless till the other day?"
He gave her that look you save for a pitiful kid.
"Ahem. Brain plasticity... uh......"
"What're you on about? Brain fried or something?"
"......"
Excuses flew right over the high-school dropout's head.
"Speaking of, tell your elf pals to quit spying on me. My office is on the hundredth floor, y'know? Twenty-four-seven stares? Driving me nuts."
Hundredth floor surveillance?
Some mega-telescope?
And how the hell did she sense it?
Now Su-hyeon shot him a pathetic look.
"What'd you do to earn a tail?"
"Y'know, the PC bang thing."
"Oh, that time?"
When she'd pegged him for a deranged bum.
No wonder Brüel had been on high alert a few days back.
Su-hyeon figured she'd pry about one more nagging thing.
"Come to think of it, what's with you?"
"Huh? With what?"
"Talking all pissy. That constant sleazy grin creeps me out. Like a black-hearted psycho."
"Huh...?"
Jun-hyeok looked mildly stunned.
"You didn't notice?"
"Nah, the pissy talk's on purpose... but my smile's creepy?"
It was a trick straight from his U.S. days.
Calculated to a T.
But the grin wasn't the issue...?
"Yeah. You smirk slyly at everything, zero real emotion—straight-up goosebumps. Pervert vibes. Honestly, second time I saw you, I barely wanted to talk."
"Gah."
Current shell was a perfect five-year-old girl exterior.
Couldn't shrug off the brutal roast.
Jun-hyeok felt wronged.
"How? I was copying you."
Su-hyeon felt equally hard-done-by.
"What? When did I ever grin like a freak?"
"Teachers or kids just talked to you, and you'd beam all goofy and happy. Seemed like everyone dug it, so I copied."
First she'd heard of it.
I was short but a total guy's guy.
"...What're you saying? I wasn't some puppy grinning at every word."
"Sigh. Got duped..."
Su-hyeon had always been short and androgynous back in male days.
Tall, chiseled Jun-hyeok mimicking her? Doomed to creepy.
Everyone had their look-based survival hacks.
After the long reunion wrapped and Su-hyeon headed out, Jun-hyeok asked Ye-rin.
"...Ye-rin. My smile weird?"
"Pardon?"
Ye-rin blinked in total confusion, like he'd asked the sky's color.
Differs by person, huh?
Her bafflement sparked hope.
Only she found it off—maybe 'cause she'd seen him ape his friend?
But Ye-rin's follow-up was another red-pill chaser.
"Wasn't it on purpose? You said annoying people makes reading them easier. Speech, expressions—all tuned to grate souls perfectly."
"......Yeah. It was."
"Yes, I recall."
Explained the frequent desk-smashings...
Eyeing her faintly proud look, Jun-hyeok vowed to quit the pointless grinning in public.
"Haa."
Ye-rin spoke up, catching his sigh.
"Oh, right. Sorry about your friend."
"Huh?"
"Didn't know he'd passed. You could've said something, and I'd have..."
Jun-hyeok cut off her condolences.
"Hold on—who died? Something recent?"
"Pardon?"
"Wait, what was that about his daughter earlier?"
"Pardon???"
The two stared at each other, blinking in unison.