Chapter 153: I’ll Try Approaching Cadet Kim Min-su.
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 153: I’ll Try Approaching Cadet Kim Min-su.
'Wait, something’s different today.'
As I was busy pummeling Min-su, I realized he was holding out much better than usual.
Normally, he would have pretended to collapse or fainted after taking a decent amount of hits. But today, perhaps because the Saintess was watching, he was tensing every muscle in his body, desperately trying to endure.
'But that actually makes it more pointless.'
Tensing up meant his body was becoming rigid. While it might minimize the immediate damage from an impact, that was all it did.
When the feet stiffen, the waist stops moving, and when the waist stops, movement becomes restricted. Kim Min-su couldn't even grasp this simple concept and just kept bracing himself like a cocoon.
He tried rolling on the ground and turning his body in the direction of the force when hit, but... well.
"Why don't you just give up at this point? I'm starting to feel bad for you."
"Heh... are you scared, Baek Tae-yang? You're afraid of the sight of me... defeating you spectacularly, aren't you?"
What is he even talking about?
What kind of delusion is he trapped in to say something like that in this situation? One side of his face was swollen like a balloon, and his legs were shaking like a leaf. Yet, Kim Min-su firmly believed he was still moving toward victory.
'How are you supposed to beat me at point-blank range?'
The guy had never beaten me even with a sword in his hand. Him winning a fistfight? It was pure nonsense.
Tap.
I flicked my left hand lightly, creating an opening with a fake.
"Gueee... ugh...!"
As his body tilted from the feint, I immediately drove my right fist home, drawing out a squeal like a stuck pig.
He must have done some endurance training somewhere, because the "Squeeeak" that usually dragged on was cut short—just like when Max Beramichi had beaten him.
This was actually a bit of a blow to my pride. As someone who wasn't an amateur when it came to beating Min-su, I felt a professional obligation to draw out that perfect pig-slaughtering squeal regardless of the circumstances.
'This is troublesome.'
If things kept going like this, I wouldn't be able to claim I was his "designated bully" the next time someone like Max showed up to thrash him.
"Ah! Cadet Kim Min-su! There is no hope if he just keeps taking hits!"
Did his body react to Kim Ji-hyuk's accurate commentary? Min-su forced his body to move, throwing a punch toward my face.
The problem was that it was so slow it made me want to yawn.
Swish.
I lightly dodged his fist.
Thwack.
I buried my fist precisely into his liver.
A liver shot. Even an ordinary person would gasp for air if hit lightly there, but what if an Awakened with extreme physical reinforcement drove a punch into it with full force?
There was no need for further explanation.
"Keugh... ugh... h-hng... Not... not yet...!"
"What do you mean 'not yet'? It's over."
The moment the liver shot landed, Min-su began to tremble as if he’d been hit by an electric shock. It was truly pathetic to see him struggling to hold back the urge to vomit while trying to maintain a fighting pose.
He was the one who barged into the exchange event, and he was the one being a nuisance, so why did I feel like the villain? Looking at the scene alone, I looked like a thug one-sidedly bullying the weak.
'But do people usually say "not yet" when they're losing...?'
He kept acting like he was waiting for the right moment.
'What is there to wait for?'
It wasn't a situation where Kim Min-su could win just by landing a few counter-punches.
"Go for it! You can do it, Hero~!"
Right on cue, I heard the Saintess cheering.
I wondered if this was what he was waiting for, but her cheering was far from what you'd call "pure." She was holding a camera, her veil fluttering as she filmed us. I couldn't see her face, but it was obvious she was grinning ear to ear.
'Why is she filming this?'
If she was on Kim Min-su's side, shouldn't she stop filming while he was getting beaten up? Her tone didn't sound like she wanted him to win; it sounded more like she wanted him to hold out so he could get hit more.
Of course, that might just be my imagination.
'She smells strangely like a kindred spirit.'
Leaving the unpredictable Saintess aside, just as I was about to finish Min-su off, I saw him break into a bright smile.
'Don't tell me he was waiting for the Saintess to cheer for him?'
What kind of idiotic thought was that? It wasn't like cheering would change anything.
"Huh?"
Along with Kim Ji-hyuk's surprised voice, an intense light began to pour out from beneath Min-su's feet.
'I guess it does change things.'
It was a light I had seen before. It was very similar to the light from when Kim Min-su was throwing a fit in the hallway during that "Unicorn Awakening" or whatever.
'Is he really trying to use his ability during the exchange event?'
Just how much of a nuisance did he have to be to be satisfied? I rushed toward Min-su and began pummeling his entire body.
"Guegh... ack... I have to endure...! I have to...!"
"Endure what?"
This was no longer about relieving stress by beating him up. If I left Kim Min-su like this, Victory Academy's reputation would surely plummet. If the student representative took the initiative to suppress the troublemaker, the image wouldn't hit rock bottom completely.
'This is driving me crazy.'
Would Kim Min-su use his ability first, or would I subdue him first? Unintentionally, I had entered a time attack during the exchange event.
It would have been nice if Kim Ji-hyuk said something to draw attention, but it seemed even the student council president's mouth was frozen shut after witnessing a situation that defied common sense.
"With this single str—ugh...!"
"Don't say a word, please."
Does he have no grasp of the situation? Does he have no tact at all? To openly advertise that he's using an ability at an exchange event where abilities are forbidden? Does he think others aren't using skills because they don't have them?
'The light is filling up faster than I thought.'
I swung my fists desperately. I struck Min-su's chin with a punch, then followed through with an elbow strike directly to his face.
'There's a reason the instructors aren't calling for a stop.'
They, too, wanted me to finish this quickly. The moment the instructors stepped in to restrain Kim Min-su, it would become a complete admission of failure on Victory Academy's part. But if I stopped him, there was a chance it could be dismissed as the deviation of an individual student.
One.
I threw a short right punch to his solar plexus, retracted it quickly, and thrust my left fist forward. As I did, I pivoted my left toe, using my waist and shoulder to swing the punch with full force.
Two—Hook.
"SQUEEEEEEEAK!"
Like a gourd bursting after being hit by beanbags during a school sports day, Kim Min-su let out a refreshing pig-slaughtering squeal and collapsed onto the floor. Perhaps the term "Indomitable Hero" wasn't for nothing, as my knuckles felt sore from hitting him so much.
"N-not... y-yet..."
"What?"
As if to prove his words, the light beneath Kim Min-su's feet did not disappear; instead, it grew even more intense. Just as it became clear to even an uninformed bystander that the light was on the verge of exploding—
"That's enough."
The Saintess stepped in. Like a conductor leading an orchestra, she erased all the light pouring from beneath Kim Min-su's feet with a few light gestures. The person who had been cheering for Min-su with a camera just moments ago was long gone.
"It seems a Gate was about to form while Cadet Baek Tae-yang and the Hero were fighting. I suppose the two of you were too focused on the fight to notice."
After saying that, she sat back down calmly as if nothing had happened.
'What is this?'
If she was going to do it, she should have done it sooner. Why wait until now to wrap things up? I was grateful, but I felt dirty, like I'd done a lot of useless work.
"Uh... Since Cadet Kim Min-su has been knocked out, the winner of the exchange event is Baek Tae-yang!"
With Kim Ji-hyuk's hurried conclusion, the exchange event ended without any major issues—at least on the surface. Everyone seemed to have a lot to say, but the priority was to wrap up the event, which had turned cold.
"We will conclude the exchange event here. There will be theoretical training for tomorrow's practice shortly, so everyone please get ready."
Following Cheon Hae-il's words, the cadets who had gathered for the exchange event all dispersed. It had been a short yet long event.
*
"There's definitely something there, isn't there?"
"Yes, it appears so."
Inside the VIP room after the exchange event had ended, Perkus and the Saintess were facing each other, enjoying some refreshments.
"It would have been a disaster if Cadet Baek Tae-yang hadn't noticed the anomaly and suppressed him immediately."
"Indeed. Thanks to him buying time, I was able to close the Gate."
The light that had appeared beneath Kim Min-su's feet—it was clearly a precursor to a dungeon manifestation. And a massive one at that, large enough to swallow all of Victory Academy. The Saintess had recognized it the moment she saw the light, gathered her strength, and barely managed to prevent the dungeon from forming. It had been a very dangerous moment that would have ended poorly if Baek Tae-yang hadn't quickly beaten Kim Min-su down.
"It's so strange that no one else noticed. Even you, Perkus, just thought it was light..."
"Yes... until you mentioned it, Saintess, I thought it was just some kind of natural phenomenon."
"So that means the only ones who noticed were me and Cadet Baek Tae-yang."
The reason no one had stopped the light when it appeared under Kim Min-su's feet? It was because they truly didn't feel anything was wrong with it. Baek Tae-yang seemed to have thought differently, but even his assumption hadn't hit the mark of the truth.
"A Hero who tries to manifest a dungeon... the more I learn, the more interesting he becomes."
The Saintess stood up from her seat.
"Where are you going?"
"I have to show it through my actions. Talking here is meaningless."
"I'll try approaching Cadet Kim Min-su."
As the Saintess was about to leave the VIP room after saying that, Perkus spoke up urgently.
"Saintess! But why are you taking the camera? You should leave it here."
"I don't want to."
Merong.
The Saintess stuck her tongue out, closed the door, and hurried away.