Episode 55. Doubt and Oath 10
Episode 55. Doubt and Oath 10
[April 11th, Saturday, 11:04]
"Haaam......"
I stretched my arms as if reaching the ceiling while yawning.
I usually wake up well past noon on weekends, but since I woke up earlier than usual, my body felt particularly heavy and sluggish.
Suppressing the urge to crawl back under the covers, I properly got up.
Stumbling to the living room, I took a cup noodle from the cabinet and tore open the packaging.
Thanks to the card Seyeon gave me, our household had become just a little more comfortable. We had bottled water in the fridge, triangle kimbap, and even ramen... I could confidently say we'd reached the average standard for a self-sufficient student.
After quickly finishing lunch, I washed up and headed out.
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Arriving at the school in light clothing, I first checked the time.
12:40. I was a full 20 minutes early for the meeting time.
'Maybe I should change into my gym clothes first.'
Though it was called a skill test, it was essentially no different from supplementary training.
As I opened the glass door and entered, the school's Main Building was filled with an eerie atmosphere. Perhaps because the weather was cloudy.
Additionally, the contrast with the hallway that was usually bustling with students' voices now being completely silent made it feel even more so.
Running my fingers along the bumpy concrete wall, I climbed the stairs briskly and headed to the changing room.
A short while later, after changing clothes and coming out to the Training Ground, all three of them had already gathered.
"Yubin-ah!"
As expected, Seyeon was the first to come running toward me.
She immediately grabbed my wrist and dragged me along like an animal.
After exchanging greetings with the other two, we immediately began our discussion.
"So you made it exactly as we talked about before?"
"Yeah. Something that temporarily amplifies stats."
"Duration?"
"Don't know yet."
"What about the effect?"
"That too, still......"
After exchanging a few questions and answers with us, Eunbyeol looked up at the sky once and spoke.
"Well, I guess we'll only know by testing it. Right?"
Seyeon and I nodded.
"Then let's get the dummy out first."
Dummy?
I wondered what dummy she meant, but soon found out.
Under the command platform covered in splotches of sky-blue paint, there was a door. Opening it and going inside, I could see various supplies piled up in a dusty space. Remembering my school days, such places usually stored equipment for PE classes.
It was the same here. Of course, fitting for a Hunter Academy, there were many unfamiliar, foreign objects besides just basketballs or mats.
Coughing from the dust flying everywhere, we pulled out a wooden training dummy.
"Oh......"
The wooden dummy, shaped similarly to a human figure, was quite tall. Almost as tall as Haseong, who was a guy. Probably made to match the average height of an adult male.
After placing the dummy in the middle of the Training Ground, Eunbyeol spoke.
"Who wants to try first?"
"......"
"......"
"......"
Everyone fell silent at her words.
Well, I'm the buffer so I'm excluded. Seyeon too... no, she said she had attack methods besides debuffs last time, so she should be included.
As no one stepped forward readily, Eunbyeol spoke again.
"No one? Then I guess Haseong should do it?"
"Me?"
"Yeah, you."
Haseong glanced at Eunbyeol a few times, then hesitantly grabbed his sword.
He seemed to be checking her reaction... is he whipped by Eunbyeol...? I had felt that vibe from them before too.
Anyway, Haseong gripped the hilt and drew his sword straight out.
Shling-
"Huhk......"
I suddenly gasped.
What came out of the scabbard wasn't the wooden sword he usually used. It was a real sword that glittered brilliantly in the sunlight.
"Wow... is that a real sword?"
I asked, timidly pointing at the sword with my finger.
"Yeah. It's a pretty good one."
As if proud of his sword, Haseong answered with uncharacteristic confidence.
"Won't that dummy break if something goes wrong?"
"I heard it doesn't break easily. From a senior."
At Eunbyeol's answer, I just silently nodded.
After the brief conversation, we roughly took our positions.
The test plan was like this:
Haseong would run from a distance to strike the wooden dummy, and I, standing slightly apart, would activate the skill at the appropriate timing. Very simple.
"Let's start now!"
From a position about 10 meters away from the wooden dummy.
As Eunbyeol and Seyeon, who were stuck to my sides like spectators, shouted that, Haseong started running full speed with his sword.
"......"
I gulped dryly. I tried to keep Haseong's form, which was a small dot gradually growing larger, completely in my field of vision.
As I realized before, Intuition needed information anyway.
As the distance closed, my hands began to tremble. I could feel my heart rate gradually increasing in sync with the footsteps shaking the ground.
Calm down. My Intuition will handle it anyway. I just need to gather information with my five senses.
Haseong's hand slowly rose upward. It was a sign he would soon swing his sword. The sounds around me became muffled as if submerged in water. My vision gradually turned black and white, with only the ivory-white blade and the hand holding it still retaining their color and shining.
My heart seemed to sink with a thud. Blue lightning crackled and gathered around the blade. For some reason, I could hear the sound of a clock ticking.
At that moment, I felt something leaving my body.
The blade faced the sky.
BOOM - !!!
The moment the sword struck the dummy's neck, a flash of light and tremendous noise shook the very ground.
'Huh?'
It was a bit more... than I expected......
"Kyaaaah!"
With a massive shockwave and strong wind blowing, all three of us fell down ungracefully on our bottoms.
Of course, we were slightly better off.
The main person involved, Haseong, floated backward the moment he hit the dummy, flew about a meter, then rolled around on the dirt ground about ten times before stopping lying down with his limbs stretched out.
"Haseong-ah!"
True to being a girlfriend, Eunbyeol got up and immediately ran toward Haseong.
We also brushed off the dirt and ran after Eunbyeol.
"Are you okay?"
"......Yeah."
Eunbyeol asked with a trembling voice while caressing Haseong's cheeks with both hands. But since he answered, he probably didn't lose consciousness. When I gave him emergency treatment with Heal, he groaned but was able to stand up.
I suddenly looked at the wooden dummy.
"......"
The dummy's neck was half-cut and dangling.
"Hey, guys."
"Yeah?"
"Look at that."
When the others also looked at the dummy, they froze on the spot.
"That dummy... even third-year seniors using it didn't make a dent......"
Eunbyeol's muttering floated in the air.
As if mesmerized, I took out my phone and opened the Hunter Interface App.
Vitality Boost is a D-grade skill.
There's no way such a pathetic ability could produce this much power.
When I pressed my profile, text came pouring out.
I immediately moved my finger to check the skills section.
[Name: Eun Yubin]
[Birthday: July 25th]
[Specialty: Buff]
[Abilities:
Heal(D)
One-Hit Kill(A)
Intuition(S)]
?
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Fortunately, Haseong was fine. His injuries were just minor scrapes on his limbs. It seemed like such a huge explosion, so how was he unharmed... when I asked, Seyeon immediately provided the answer.
"That's because it doesn't just increase attack power."
"Aha."
It wasn't just strengthening offensive power but also overall enhancing body toughness and defense. So he ignored the explosion damage and only had wounds from rolling around after the effect ended.
When I asked Haseong about how it felt, he said his memory was patchy. He remembered kicking off the ground and jumping, then suddenly lying flat on the ground.
'Was it because of the explosion?'
Anyway, after hearing his general impressions, I turned on my phone and showed the screen to Seyeon.
"What's this? Do skill names normally change like this?"
"Hmm. Didn't you change it while doing Skill Editing? Even if you don't remember well because your memories disappeared."
"Hmm......"
I tightly closed my eyes.
'I'll just leave it as is.'
One-Hit Kill... it's kind of cringey... This isn't a game.
As I lamented my past self, I soon realized that the name wasn't the important point and asked Seyeon again.
This time in a very small voice.
"But why did the grade go up? Didn't I just change the duration?"
"......"
Seyeon glanced at me but didn't answer further.
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And so we took turns testing the skill. Duration, range, distance, effect, etc.
Because of Haseong's precedent, we switched to imitation weapons before proceeding, but everyone's power was still impressive.
"I think I need to use it when shooting, not when the arrow hits."
"Got it."
Eunbyeol's arrows created shockwaves with a bang every time they hit the dummy, and Seyeon's magic was the same.
'Just looking at this, it seems like an amazing skill.'
Of course it's good, but it has a fatal flaw.
The duration is extremely short. After several tests and measurements, it was roughly about 1 second.
Meaning, if you miscalculate the timing or the attack misses, it's all for nothing. Plus there's a cooldown.
Second is that it's still just one shot.
Even if you manage to take down one person using the skill, there would still be three or four left.
Then since we're still the weakest factually, we who used One-Hit Kill (lol) would just get beaten up as usual and lose.
So to win, we need to take down all four with one shot.
Etc... with various problems, we discussed for a long time and did practical tests too.
"Hooooo......"
After moving around diligently for hours, everyone was a mess with dust and sweat.
"Let's stop here for today, guys."
"Uung......"
"But let's meet again at the same time tomorrow."
At Eunbyeol's words, we obediently nodded.
"Yubin-ah, wash up before going."
"Should I?"
Since I needed to wash my gym clothes anyway, it might be better to wash at the Dormitory which has state-of-the-art washing machines.
Following Seyeon's suggestion, I washed up refreshingly and changed into casual clothes, then came out to the school's main gate, but.
Plop.
Plop plop.
"Huh."
Suddenly, raindrops began falling from the sky one by one, and in an instant, it became a heavy downpour violently striking the ground.
Seyeon, who came to see me off, and I hurriedly hid under a nearby awning.
"Of all times, it rains now."
"Right. But it should stop if we wait a bit."
"Should've brought an umbrella."
I did buy one as I thought before, but I left it at home.
Then 10 minutes later.
Whoooosh-
Far from stopping, the rain was pouring down fiercely as if a hole had been punched through the sky.
"Ah... what should we do?"
"If we wait for the rain to stop, we won't get home until after sunset. Yubin-ah, wait here."
"Huh?"
With those final words, Seyeon suddenly dashed out and ran wildly through the fierce rain.
'......?'
I stood frozen with a blank expression at her sudden action for a few minutes, until eventually Seyeon returned with calm steps, different from before.
With an umbrella.
"Seyeon-ah...! I feel so sorry about this......"
I wiped and brushed the moisture from Seyeon's hair with my sleeve.
"Don't. Your clothes will get wet."
"But still."
"It's okay, I'm not really that wet."
While repeatedly expressing my thanks, I examined Seyeon.
Seyeon, holding a pitch-black umbrella, was contrary to her words—very wet. Her clothes were damp and soggy as if they'd been dipped in water and taken out. Raindrops flowed from her crown down her face, making her look like she was crying.
The distance from the school's main gate to the Dormitory was quite far, so it was unavoidable.
'Huh? By the way......'
"Seyeon-ah, did you only bring one umbrella?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"No, what will you do when you go back after giving it to me?"
"Giving it?"
Seyeon smiled faintly, then pulled me from under the awning into the umbrella.
"......"
"Let's go, Yubin-ah."
Speechless, I just mumbled with my mouth before finally resigning myself and stepping forward. Each time, the umbrella immediately followed over me.