The Second Sparring Match (2)
In the private training hall built beneath Eunyoung noona’s house, only the ragged breathing of two people echoed through the space.
“Haa-euk… haa-euk… haa-euk…”
“Haa… haa… one more…”
We faced each other with our sparring greatswords raised, reading one another’s intentions through our eyes. I had already lost count of how many times we had done this. Five full hours had passed since I began swinging a training blade against my master—a former S-class hunter, now effectively an active S-class once more. It was more than enough time to exhaust both body and mind.
Of course, we hadn’t spent the entire five hours locked in combat. There had been three or four breaks for rest and hydration to keep me from collapsing. Even so, the sheer act of crossing blades with Eunyoung noona at full strength was brutal labor and exquisite torment.
“Huuu… haaaaa…”
“Hup… haaaaa…”
We drew in long, deep breaths, trying to recover as quickly as possible. Eunyoung noona, standing across from me with her sword in hand, was doing the same. I had lost track of how many bouts we had fought. After passing the fiftieth match, the numbers had blurred together. The only thing I clearly remembered was that I had managed to score four points against her.
With only one point left to reach the five-point condition she had set, we had fought nearly twenty more meaningless rounds that all ended in my defeat.
…Or perhaps they hadn’t been meaningless. Since I was growing tired, Eunyoung noona must have been accumulating fatigue as well. I couldn’t say it had become any easier to face her, but simply forcing the stamina of someone I once thought of as superhuman to this point was already far beyond what a B-class hunter should be capable of.
…At least, if we were only talking about the limits of a normal B-class hunter.
If I had planned to end my hunter career as “the world’s only male B-class hunter,” I never would have asked Eunyoung noona for such harsh training in the first place. One reason I had made her pick up a sword again after so long was to rekindle her will to live. Even so, choosing her instruction had been entirely my decision. No one had held a blade to my throat. Therefore, I had to absorb as much of her Spartan-style education as possible.
Besides, receiving one-on-one lessons from an S-class greatsword master was an absurd level of privilege to begin with.
Perhaps because fatigue had built up, quite a few idle thoughts crowded my mind. I shook them off roughly and settled into a stance, ready to charge. Out of the four points I had earned so far, only one had come from countering her attack. That alone showed how much her ability was built around offense rather than defense.
It suited her awakened power—the Berserker of the Greatsword—perfectly. That didn’t mean her defense was sloppy, but it did mean that rushing in to attack had a much higher chance of success than trying to block her charge and hoping for a point.
-……Clench.
Perhaps sensing how tightly I gripped my sword, I felt Eunyoung noona’s eyes and her own grip tighten in response. I didn’t want to give her any more time to prepare. Without hesitation, I launched myself toward her.
Her training greatsword swung at me. The two blades clashed and rebounded through the air again and again. …When the final exchange ended, the only person still standing on two feet in the training hall was Eunyoung noona.
“Haaah… haaah… haaah…”
“Haa… you worked hard…, haa, son…”
“…Thank you for your guidance… Eunyoung noona…”
In the very last instant, instead of meeting her blade with mine, I had chosen to dodge while swinging. The strike that barely grazed her after her posture broke from the missed swing ultimately gave me victory in this match. The moment my attack landed, her stance had collapsed, so she couldn’t stay on her feet—but it was undeniable that I had cut her just before I fell.
The hellish, seemingly eternal sparring session had finally come to an end.
Overall record: 98 matches, 4 wins, 1 draw, 93 losses.
A victory covered in wounds… no, a victory that was nothing but defeat.
Ten minutes had passed since the sparring with Eunyoung noona ended and I had simply collapsed onto the floor. The moment I realized it was truly over, my exhausted body sank down and began to rest. In just ten minutes, the tension had drained from my muscles so thoroughly it felt like every fiber had gone limp.
Still, at least we hadn’t reached the full hundred matches I had expected. That was something to be grateful for. While I was letting out a sigh of relief in a rather strange place, Eunyoung noona’s gentle scolding reached my ears.
“Taegyeong, it’s time to get up. You know what will happen tomorrow if you sprawl out so obviously, don’t you?”
“…Yes, noona.”
I had no desire to spend the entire next day groaning in bed from muscle pain, so I forced myself upright, ignoring the screams of my protesting muscles. Once on my feet, I began cleaning the rather disordered training hall as if tidying up after the sparring session.
While restoring the room that had been thrown into chaos by our fight, Eunyoung noona spoke to me in a tone of praise.
“Your movements have improved a lot, son.”
“Thank you.”
“And in today’s sparring, every swing of your sword carried proper logic. It’s clearly different from last time when you seemed to be swinging wildly just to see what would happen.”
“…Is that so? I just moved with the thought of knocking aside or dodging your sword like before.”
“It may be an instinct your body has learned even if your head hasn’t fully realized it yet. Still, one thing is certain—today your movements were based on logical judgment.”
Come to think of it, even when I had prepared for the B-class promotion test last time, I had swung my sword while properly considering my opponent. The difference was that my opponent had been a monster rather than a person, but that was around the time I had begun wielding a blade properly without relying on skills.
The person who had instilled that mindset in me was none other than Eunyoung noona, who had given me sword lessons shortly before the promotion test. If my way of swinging a sword had changed around then, three weeks had been more than enough time for logic to take root in my blade.
“It’s all thanks to your teaching, Eunyoung noona.”
“Hehe, flattering this auntie won’t get you anything, you know?”
Well. From my experience, I seemed to remember getting quite a lot. I pushed the slightly lewd imagination that rose in my mind aside and once again expressed my gratitude to my swordsmanship instructor.
“I’m only saying it because I truly mean it. It’s a fact that I’ve grown after receiving your teaching.”
“Isn’t all of that rapid growth possible because you, Taegyeong, have the will to learn? Everything is a result you earned through your own effort, so have confidence.”
Of course, that didn’t mean I should become arrogant. I nodded at Eunyoung noona’s words.
“First, let’s wash off all this sweat. Will you stay for dinner?”
“If possible, I’d like to.”
“Hye-eun is getting off work early today too, so it would be nice for the three of us to have dinner together and chat about this and that. I also have something I need to tell you, Taegyeong.”
“Something you need to tell me?”
While I was wondering what she meant, the conversation I had shared with her over drinks last time vaguely came to mind.
“Is it about changing companies?”
“You have good instincts, son.”
At this point, the only important matter Eunyoung noona would have to convey to me was that. It seemed her earlier words about meeting the company president, Seo Ok-hui, and speaking with her had not been empty.
I had known from the start that Eunyoung noona wasn’t the type of person who would deceive me about something like that.
“She said she’d like to talk sometime the weekend after next—in other words, around the end of November. Would that be all right?”
“Of course it’s all right. If I’m given the opportunity, I’ll make the time.”
“Good. Then let’s plan for the weekend after next. I’ll let Ok-hui know as well.”
Probably only a handful of people in the world could speak so casually about the representative of Eun & Ok Co., Ltd. Aside from being an SSS-class hunter and the leader of a major guild, Seo Ok-hui herself was known for having very few personal relationships. She was famous for almost never meeting anyone privately, so Eunyoung noona’s direct connection to her was, in itself, tremendous good fortune for me.
“Let’s head up, son. We need to ventilate the basement, and it’s unpleasant to keep the smell of sweat on your body for too long.”
“…Yes, that’s true.”
“You use the bathroom outside, son~. Auntie will wash in the master bathroom…?!”
Eunyoung noona let out an adorable cry as my hand slid along her lower back.
“Why go through the trouble? Your house has a big bathroom. We can just wash together like last time.”
“Hya-eut, Taegyeong…”
The moment I instinctively kneaded her firm buttocks—toned from long training—Eunyoung noona gave me an easy-to-read reaction. The strict swordsmanship instructor aura she had shown just moments ago had completely vanished. In its place was my woman, excited by my touch and my cock.
“If we go in together like last time, you’ll ignore washing and focus only on my body…”
“So, did you dislike it?”
“……”
“If you really disliked it, I’ll only wash with you this time. I can be satisfied with just that.”
“…It doesn’t mean I disliked it.”
“Then it means you enjoyed it in your own way, right?”
“……”
Her reaction was still full of embarrassment, but that silence served as her answer.
“Let’s wash together, noona.”
“……”
“Once Hye-eun arrives, we won’t have any time alone. You should enjoy my body plenty while it’s just the two of us.”
“E-enjoy… where did you learn to say such strange things…”
“Never mind that. Be clear, noona. You’re going to enter the bathroom with me, right?”
“……”
In the silence, her head nodded slowly up and down.
…Well, truthfully, I had already expected this would happen even before I came to her house today.