The Demon of the In-Seoul Class
EP 5 The Demon of the In-Seoul Class at the Retake Academy. I rode the elevator down to the twelfth basement floor. Beep. The doors opened to reveal a long corridor lined with waiting-room doors.
“Ms. Se-rin. Is that you?” A manager wearing a golden badge greeted me. Her golden hair rippled in waves, and her clothes embroidered with gold thread fluttered as though defying gravity. She narrowed her eyes, then smiled faintly at me. I understood why. My current appearance was pathetic: a shabby red tracksuit, a mask and glasses hiding my face, and a shaggy wig covering my eyes. Anyone would find the sight dismissible.
“Yes.”
“Welcome. I’m Horan, the general manager of the prestigious university class overseeing this duel. I’ll be presiding over the match.”
Following Horan down the long corridor, we reached its end and stepped into a vast space. It was a colosseum. The upper spectator seats overlooking the arena were empty. Instead, floating interface windows filled the space. No faces were visible—only virtual avatars: tigers, bears, smiling faces, or cartoon characters. They interacted with one another through emoticons and text.
“…How novel.”
Horan chuckled at my reaction. “Don’t tell me this is your first time seeing something like this?”
“It is.”
“You’ll be seeing it often from now on. Those are all high-ranking officials from universities and corporations. Many can’t attend in person for work reasons, or prefer not to reveal their identities, so they observe duels this way.”
As I stared at the spectacle in wonder, Horan covered her mouth and laughed. “Some of them are executives from major corporations. I’d advise against any rudeness. You’ll end up in a far more miserable state than death.”
“…Is that so.”
“Especially that one over there—you should be careful.”
“Huh? Who…?”
Horan pointed to the very top of the spectator area. There floated an enormous interface window occupying the space of twenty seats. It was so massive that other windows looked like tiny scraps of paper beside it. At its center was a cute teddy bear character.
“That is none other than Taeguk Singun, Lady Lee Seon-hee.”
Horan looked down at me as though she herself were Taeguk Singun. The moment I stepped onto the arena floor, a large message appeared above the stadium.
Taeguk Singun is cheering for Lee Se-rin.
Horan’s eyes widened. She glanced back and forth between me and the message several times, then clasped her hands together respectfully.
“Um… Lady Se-rin…? May I ask what your relationship is with Taeguk Singun…?”
“She told me to call her Mother.”
Horan’s face went pale. She began frantically rummaging through her pockets, as though trying to offer something along with an apology.
“I-I… I’m…!”
“Ah. It’s fine. You don’t need to do that.”
Of course, it wasn’t her fault.
“…Ah. Thank you.”
“I have no intention of getting close to you, though.”
I simply wasn’t in a good mood right now.
“Ah……”
Horan’s face turned ashen. Leaving the trembling manager behind, I stepped up onto the arena. Baek Seol was already there. Golden cross-shaped stakes floated around her limbs, and she wore nothing but black sports underwear. She stood under countless gazes, waiting for me.
Horan, who had been staggering, seemed to regain her composure and rose into the air. From roughly six meters above, her voice boomed across the entire arena.
“Now then! We will begin the duel between Baek Seol, ranked first in the In-Seoul class, and Lee Se-rin, ranked second! The match ends when either combatant is rendered unable to fight or declares surrender. To prevent external interference, a magical barrier will be deployed over the arena. There are no restrictions on the use of artifacts or target areas. If both parties understand the rules, please confirm!”
Baek Seol and I answered almost simultaneously.
“Understood.”
“Understood.”
Our stats appeared on the arena’s screen, and blue light surged from the four corners of the twenty-meter square ring, forming a rectangular barrier.
“This protective barrier was personally installed by Director Oh Yoon-hee of Samryang Construction. It won’t even get a scratch from a Refined Realm duel!”
Samryang Construction Director Oh Yoon-hee is cheering for Horan.
“Thank you!!! Now then!!! Let us begin!!!”
Beep!!!
The whistle blew, and Baek Seol kicked off the ground. Bang!!! She slid toward me and threw a punch. Using Taeguk Four Divine Steps to accelerate and dodge, her fist struck the barrier a moment later. Thud! The rubbery barrier bounced her fist away. In that instant, I took two steps and positioned myself behind her. It all happened in roughly 0.1 seconds.
Thud. I planted one foot forward. Pulling my fist back, I focused on my target—Baek Seol’s cervical spine. I drove my fist straight into it. My punch landed before she could twist away.
BOOM!!! Something exploded at the end of my fist. Baek Seol extended her leg upward in a kick aimed at my chin. Smack!! The power and elasticity were tremendous. Even I couldn’t perform an upward kick strong enough to launch a person from that posture.
While airborne, I looked straight ahead. Baek Seol had clenched her fist. She lowered her stance, preparing to thrust her fist forward. A red aura coiled around her fist and forearm. I recognized it. Extreme Area Destruction Technique—her strongest offensive magic.
I couldn’t dodge in midair. So I would block. I raised both hands to my chest.
Bang! Baek Seol’s fist tore through the air, aimed at my heart. Si-cheon-hwan-dong’s dynamic vision surged two hundredfold. Kiiing! A metallic sound rang near my eyes, and every visible detail sharpened. The surrounding dust, Baek Seol’s body as she punched, and the flow of energy around her fist and arm—all of it began to move in slow motion.
With one hand I grabbed her arm; with the other I caught her fist head-on. Thanks to the enhanced perception from Si-cheon-hwan-dong, my body could move at extreme speed as well.
BOOM!!! The impact far exceeded my imagination, sending me flying backward. My organs rattled from the shock. If I had taken it cleanly, I might have died. As I tried to brake by planting my feet while flying, Baek Seol shot toward me like a cannonball once more. I quickly regained my stance and raised my guard. Baek Seol spun rapidly in front of me. A rotational movement too fast for normal vision to follow—like a typhoon. My Si-cheon-hwan-dong read the posture completely. Before I knew it, her long, pale leg was swinging in a circle toward my head. It was less a kick and more a mace. Fast. Powerful. And her combat experience was exceptional. But my Si-cheon-hwan-dong had already analyzed everything.
Of course, taking it directly was impossible. The bones in both hands that had caught her previous punch were faintly cracked, and the skin on my palms was torn. I ducked to avoid the leg and swung my arm like a windmill, striking Baek Seol’s head.
BOOM! Baek Seol was sent flying. It reminded me of the dance with Lee Ah-rang. In that 0.1-second window, dodging her swinging leg and countering with a punch to her head was a bizarre sight—even to me, the one performing it. Like two gears meshing and turning in perfect synchrony.
Messages appeared from all directions.
“Four investors have expressed their intent to sign contracts with Lady Se-rin! And all of them are at the executive or president level! As expected of someone favored by Taeguk Singun!”
Immediately afterward, even more messages appeared. They must have sensed even greater investment value from her connection to Taeguk Singun.
“Ugh.”
Baek Seol jumped back several steps. The blood flowing from her forehead had stopped, but the loss of stamina was obvious. My Si-cheon-hwan-dong was reading every one of her movements perfectly. The only artifact on her body was the stakes. And that was the full extent of their effect.
Baek Seol stood still, then opened her mouth. She kept gagging as though vomiting something up. “Uwek.” She spat out a black lump. She unfolded it and slipped it onto her left hand. It was a combat glove with holes for the fingers.
Gauntlets that create compressed-air bullets through mana. The durability and explosive power of the bullets depend on the user’s mana control and the amount of mana invested.
Ta-at! Baek Seol leaped toward the barrier. The moment she stepped on it, the barrier stretched like rubber and launched her upward. Thud!Thud! She repeated the motion, soaring higher and higher. At roughly twenty meters above the ground, she stopped jumping and began running along the barrier. She was circling the square barrier walls enclosing the arena while maintaining her altitude. The moment she stopped, she would plummet. Baek Seol ran faster. The golden stakes on her arms and legs glowed brighter. Flash!
In that instant, my Si-cheon-hwan-dong saw twenty wind bullets fired from the Wind Demon Gauntlets. Each bullet followed a different trajectory, ricocheting off the barrier walls before raining down on me. The wind bullets approaching from all sides formed a net around me.
Can I deflect them?
I accelerated Si-cheon-hwan-dong’s dynamic vision to two hundred times normal. A larger golden light spread from above. Thud!!! The sound of something being repelled. Baek Seol kicked off the barrier wall and dropped toward me—a vertical strike. Wind bullets from all sides. Baek Seol from above. I was completely surrounded.
The enhancement of my dynamic vision was also an enhancement of my cognitive ability. I checked the gaps between the falling wind bullets. Diving through them was impossible. Dodging upward was equally risky—Baek Seol’s approach speed was too precise; I would be intercepted midway. So instead of dodging, I would counterattack.
I took a breath and relaxed my muscles. The Taeguk Four Divine Steps Lee Ah-rang had shown me included techniques for using an opponent’s power against them. I extended both arms, rotated my body, and altered the trajectories of the wind bullets raining down on me. I changed their paths, slowed them, and finally gathered them around my fist. Twenty wind bullets now spun around my hand. I switched the magic I was using from Taeguk Four Divine Steps to the Man-sang-pa-ji Fist Strike Technique. I stomped the ground with enough force to shatter it, and the entire arena trembled. The impact reflected from my stepping foot traveled through my thigh and waist into my fist. Thanks to the cognitive enhancement from Si-cheon-hwan-dong, every muscle in my body was under perfect control. I could feel my muscles screaming. Like a rubber band stretched to the breaking point, I pushed my body to its limit. All the strength wrung from every muscle converged on my fist.
I looked up. Baek Seol’s leg, trailing red energy and golden light, extended toward me.
“Aaaaaaaaah!!!”
I punched the sky. The moment my fist met Baek Seol’s leg, a tremendous roar exploded before my eyes. My entire body twisted, and the space around me felt as though it were collapsing from the shock.