If You Started, You Should See It Through
Song Minwoo remembered the first time he saw Lee Taehoon.
So another pitiful fool had come to Flote Academy chasing some stupid dream he didn’t even understand.
Skin and bones. Arms that looked like they couldn’t even hold a proper sword, and smooth, callused palms that didn’t look as though they had ever seen real training. Even among all the applicants to Flote Academy, Lee Taehoon stood out—and, sure enough, he went on to score F in every single category of the physical test. The sight of him staggering around and retching was pathetic, almost laughable. So Minwoo had walked up to him and said,
"If you’re that talentless, just give up. I’ve been watching from a distance, and it’s almost sad how hard you’re trying, so I figured I’d tell you."
It wasn’t some grand sense of superiority. It was simply that a lowly insect with no talent at all, one that couldn’t even be bothered to make a real effort, was trying to crawl upward anyway. That arrogant persistence without knowing its place was infuriating. He had wanted the man to quit, but Taehoon didn’t. Instead, he had asked back,
"Thanks for the advice. So what are your scores?"
"Me? Obviously all A’s."
He had spoken with absolute confidence then. Aside from the legendary S rank, which had never actually appeared before, A was effectively the highest grade. If S belonged to the realm of the inhuman, then earning even a single A—whether on the physical assessment or in either stage of the qualification test—meant you had already proven yourself a capable talent. In practice, A was a perfect score; no one could really top it. At least, that was true for the physical assessment. Still, Minwoo had believed Taehoon would be crushed by his results.
What the hell is wrong with that bastard?
But Taehoon had looked at him as if A rank were nothing at all. Minwoo had been irritated, yet he had assumed it was just his imagination. He thought Taehoon’s expression was the jealousy of someone hearing about an achievement he could only admire. But then he saw Taehoon’s qualification test results, and everything changed.
“Lee Taehoon got an A in the first-stage qualification test.”
“Lee Taehoon got an S in the second-stage qualification test. The first perfect score in history.”
Fuck... how in the hell is this happening...?
It couldn’t be. It simply couldn’t. That skinny little bastard, who looked like a piece of trash blown in from the gutter, was somehow several steps ahead of him. And on top of that, he had recorded the first perfect score in history on the qualification test, which carried the highest weighting of all. Even luck had been on his side during the exam. He had happened to take down the Core Entity, which earned him an A-grade result, and because of that the Dark Hounds had been wiped out quickly, letting him conserve his strength. There was no doubt Taehoon’s high score had come purely from chance. His uncle had talked about the Core Entity’s traits, but when he thought about it, how could some half-baked idiot who had only just entered the academy possibly have known to do that? It had to be a fluke.
“Grrrrr...”
Minwoo ground his teeth. He hadn’t even truly hated the man at first, nor had he felt much of anything toward him, but every time those scores came out, it became harder to endure Taehoon looking down at him as if he were insignificant. It had been bad enough that the person he had once felt superior to was now catching up—and even surpassing him—but there was something even more humiliating about it. It felt unfair.
All because he got lucky.
All because he earned a high score without doing any real work.
And now that bastard had started openly acting as if Minwoo were beneath him.
Lee Taehoon’s voice was cold. “Cut the crap and get lost. Before I kill you.”
“Ha... haha... was that supposed to be aimed at me?”
That idiot, who wouldn’t even last a single exchange in a real fight, was posturing just because there was a girl nearby. The bastard who didn’t even know how to swing a sword properly and had fought a Dark Hound with his bare hands. The same bastard who had flailed his sword around like some street thug when he’d drawn it to deal with the Core Entity was now picking a fight with him. It made no sense.
“What the hell are you relying on? Do you really want to die? Wake up. You got lucky and your scores came out high, and now you think you’re untouchable? I’ll fucking make you want to drop out.”
Min Sua stood behind him, watching. Then she spoke to Taehoon.
"Should I help?"
"No."
Sensing Min Sua had suddenly come closer, Minwoo flinched. His eyes naturally went to the sword at her waist.
The Blian Family...
The young lady of the Blian Family. A girl who had been born with such prodigious sword talent that people called her a monster rather than a genius. The only girl who had earned A rank in both the first and second stages of the physical test and the qualification test.
Grrrrr...
He had no idea how she knew Taehoon, but he needed to rein in his temper and be careful here. However great Minwoo’s own family might be, it would be impossible to confront the Blian Family head-on.
“It looks like you were just trying to protect this bastard. Do you know him?”
Minwoo couldn’t quite bring himself to abandon his pride, so he shoved one hand into his pocket and asked the question. Min Sua gave a small snort of laughter.
“Does it matter if I do? If I said we were close, would you bow your head and apologize now?”
She was the type who looked down on the weak and bent only to the strong—the kind of person Min Sua despised most. Just moments ago, when she’d thought Taehoon had no backing at all, this man had spread rumors and acted rudely however he pleased. Now that it seemed he might have some connection to the Blian Family, he had backed off to watch the situation carefully.
Grrrrr...
Minwoo lowered his head.
“I didn’t know you were acquainted with the young lady of the Blian Family. Please forgive my mistake.”
Then, while meeting Taehoon’s eyes for just a moment, he mouthed silently, You lucky son of a bitch. Don’t think this is over.
Looking at him, Taehoon said with obvious contempt, “I met Min Sua today for the first time. I’m not close to her. No matter what you try to do to me, nothing’s going to happen to you because of it. So why don’t you go ahead and do whatever you want?”
“...”
Minwoo’s eyes slowly darkened. Then he slipped a hand to his waist and prepared to draw his sword. His target was Taehoon. The slash would go for the bastard’s abdomen. He would swing only enough to scare him. He’d make him understand that violence was always close at hand, that someone like him—acting all high and mighty—could be crushed at any time. He would carve into him the fact that he could be killed whenever Minwoo pleased.
“Aaaaaah!”
The moment Minwoo shouted and lunged forward to draw his blade—
—thud!
Taehoon suddenly rushed in, stomping on Minwoo’s drawing arm so he couldn’t pull the sword free, then twisted his body and kicked him aside. Minwoo couldn’t control the force carrying him forward and ended up crashing to the ground.
Thud.
Lying there, Minwoo stared blankly at Taehoon. Only then did he realize his hand had been pinned under Taehoon’s foot, and he exploded into a frenzy.
“Fuck... I was just gonna scare you, but I guess that’s not happening... you fucking bastard...”
No matter how Minwoo responded, Taehoon simply stood there and looked down at him in silence. After a brief standoff, Minwoo brushed the dirt off himself and charged again.
“Die, you fucker!”
Even as Minwoo rushed at him, Taehoon looked around. He checked where the instructors were, what the supervisors were doing, and how many people were actually watching them, all in the span of a few short seconds.
The current supervisors were too busy managing the ongoing test to notice much else. Most of the students were also absorbed in watching the exam and seemed not to realize a fight was breaking out here. The only problem was that a few instructors were nowhere to be seen.
Should I beat him half to death?
He had provided the justification, and Minwoo had been the one to rush in first. Taehoon could make him pay an appropriate price. If not that, he could at least make Minwoo feel the gulf between them and retreat before things got worse. Taehoon considered it for a moment. What would be the right way to handle this? Was it really necessary to deal seriously with a brat who had only just started swinging a sword?
Even for the sake of his future academy life, there was no need to make a scene right at the start. More than anything, while there weren’t many people watching, there were still some, and if he made things bigger here, he had no idea what kind of trouble he might face after entering the school.
...
Taehoon looked at Minwoo charging at him again. This time, he didn’t dodge. He stood perfectly still.
“Aaaaaah!”
Minwoo lunged. But Taehoon neither countered nor evaded. Minwoo didn’t care and thrust his blade straight out. Then—
Drip.
The sword grazed Taehoon’s cheek, and blood began to run down his face.
Slash—!
Blood flowed, and with it came the lingering scent of it. The moment the blade cut him and left a wound, Taehoon’s breathing grew faster. Adrenaline and dopamine surged through him like a mad flood, and before he knew it, the pain in his body had faded.
“Wh... what... what is this...?”
A cold chill spread through the area, and Taehoon’s eyes narrowed. Then he reached for the sword at Min Sua’s side and drew it free.
"May I borrow this for a moment?"
When Min Sua nodded, he pulled the blade from its scabbard. Beautiful curves, a blade that stood with a chilling edge at its very core—at a glance, it was clearly the work of a master smith. The mana conduction rate was also extraordinarily high. It was a truly exceptional sword.
Snick.
But it had been a long time since he’d held a sword. He wasn’t used to having his right arm back. Even balancing his body still felt awkward. And yet the atmosphere was all too familiar.
The battlefield.
If the other side had come at him with the original intention to kill, then it was only right that he be prepared to kill in return. In war, age meant nothing. The only thing to do was exact a certain and merciless punishment for malice.
Taehoon raised the sword in a strange posture. His right arm drawn back, his left arm pressed tightly near his face, the blade held backward in reverse grip. It looked inefficient, but when he had only one arm, this had been the optimal stance. To anyone else, it might have looked like a taunt—like he was fighting with one arm tied behind his back.
“So you’re going to keep doing this till the end, huh? I’ll make you live your whole damn life as a one-armed cripple.”
“I already lived that way. And I survived.”
“What the hell are you talking abo—”
The moment Minwoo shouted and tried to swing his sword—
Slash—!
“Huh—?”
Clang!
Taehoon’s blade cut through Minwoo’s sword, and the broken pieces fell to the ground.
“You... you bastard—!”
Minwoo stumbled backward, trembling, and Taehoon smiled as he muttered,
“Where do you think you’re going? If you started it, you should see it through.”