Episode 50. Secret Friend

I went up to the training ground first and stretched.

Even though I didn’t expect to exert myself much, standing in a place like this gave me the feeling that I should do something.

This is my chance to show off a bit to Lucy and Lumi and save some face.

I’m still a guy; it doesn’t feel good to be treated like I’m weak.

“Look at you, trying to save face just because girls are watching. I could pretend this never happened if you apologize now.”

Before I knew it, the weakling was standing in front of me, grinning creepily and glaring.

He seemed to think he’d already won the moment he stepped onto the training ground.

“Scared? Fuck, you talk too much.”

“W-What did you say?”

The attention of those around us began to focus on the training ground we had climbed onto.

The tense atmosphere drew in more and more onlookers.

“Whoa, a real fight’s breaking out here!”

“Lee Hoyeon and Kim Hojin are fighting!”

Kim Hojin. I remembered a name I really didn’t want to recall.

This guy is the definition of a weakling.

Below the training ground, Lucy was yelling her head off.

“Hey! Does it even make sense for a mage to fight an assassin one-on-one? Kim Hojin, don’t you have any pride?”

So he was an assassin.

It’s convenient how information just falls into my lap without me having to do anything.

“I know Lee Hoyeon, but who’s Kim Hojin?”

“You don’t know Kim Hojin? There was a huge fuss last week when the Iris Guild contacted him.”

“Really? Contacted by the Iris Guild as a freshman?”

“Yeah, it was all over Everyday.”

Mhmm, I see. I see. It’s great how there are so many exposition dumps, just like in any academy story.

I think I have a rough idea about this weakling now.

The Iris Guild is the biggest information guild in France.

For reference, the heroine, Alice, is the daughter of the Iris Guild leader.

If they even contacted him, he must be quite the promising prospect.

Although he’s technically an extra villain, Do Jin-hyuk is also considered a promising prospect.

That’s how he competes with the protagonist.

Even though this weakling looks like this, he must be one of the popular guys in Do Jin-hyuk’s gang.

Then again, when I think about it, the weakling does give off a second-in-command vibe after Fatty, so he’s probably similar.

“But can a mage and an assassin really fight one-on-one? Especially in a dome with no terrain?”

“That’s exactly why Kim Hojin picked a fight like this. Idiot.”

“No, what’s Lee Hoyeon doing accepting it?”

The exposition dumpers are doing a great job hyping up the mood.

The other onlookers murmuring with concern for me made me realize how scary manipulation can be.

Zzzzing-

The magic circle on the training ground activated, deploying a spherical mana field.

A barrier formed between me and the weakling.

The weakling drew a dagger from his waist and lowered his stance.

It looked like a stance for a dash.

“Countdown starting!”

[3]

Thump.

My combat senses slowly rose from the tips of my toes touching the floor.

[2]

“Lee Hoyeon. I’ll definitely burst your bubble.”

The weakling aimed his blade, drawing out his killing intent.

Living as Lee Hoyeon, I’ve noticed how much hostility men send my way.

Then again, I probably sent off the same vibe when I looked like that.

[1]

Thump. Thump.

“What… is this it?”

My body wasn’t boiling with excitement anymore.

When I fought Felix, my whole body had screamed.

Even before the fight began, my heart pounded, vitality surged through me, my chest grew hot, and my senses sharpened.

But now…

Thump thump.

I was calm. So incredibly calm.

That meant I didn’t have to go all out fighting this bastard in front of me.

No, my full power wouldn’t even come out because he wasn’t worth the effort.

[Start!!!!!]

“I’ve been waiting for this, you son of a bitch! I’ll finish you in one hit!”

The weakling kicked off the ground the moment the match started and charged at me.

Admittedly, his speed was quite fast.

Not Felix-level, but speed-wise, he seemed comparable to Alice.

Zzzzing-

‘Awaken Sight.’

Mana gathered in the dagger held in the weakling’s right hand.

His route was a straight line. He was aiming to stab the dagger into the bridge of my nose.

He clearly held a lot of resentment towards my face.

Whoosh-

As the weakling charged at me, I timed my movement perfectly, leaning sideways to dodge the dagger.

To anyone else, it might have looked like I barely dodged it, but I was actually relaxed.

The weakling zipped past me and tried to brake behind me.

“Why did you even bother attacking when all you can do is dodge, you worm?”

Perhaps the weakling thought I’d barely dodged too, as he started taunting me with a chuckle.

“Is that all you’ve got? Don’t you have any stronger, faster, ultimate moves? I don’t have anything to show off here. Dude.”

If he only uses attacks like that, I won’t have anything to show.

With so many spectators gathered, shouldn’t I put on a bit of a show?

“…Fine. I was going to play around a little, but I’ll just finish this quickly.”

The weakling seemed genuinely pissed off, thinking I was looking down on him.

But I was serious. You need to show me something amazing so I look even more impressive when I win.

The weakling in front of me pondered how to finish me off, then began channeling mana throughout his entire body.

“Hoh…”

Circulating mana throughout his body… it was an operation similar to [Acceleration].

However, [Acceleration] is designed to send the recoil into space, so there’s no overload on the body, but that technique doesn’t seem to be that advanced.

He succeeded in accelerating his mana to force his body to move faster, but it seems he didn’t prepare a way to handle the recoil, so he couldn’t stop.

It seems he uses it by putting all his strength into the attack, transferring the recoil to the opponent.

In simple terms, if I don’t get hit, all that recoil goes back to the caster.

The guy started circling me rapidly.

He spun around me in circles, just like Felix used to.

But his speed was significantly lacking compared to Felix.

There was no way I, who had matched Felix’s speed, couldn’t grasp this level of speed.

“How’s this! I’ll cut you down before you even know you’ve been cut!”

“Wow… that line is fucking cool.”

“It’s too late to praise me now!”

“…Uh, yeah. Sure.”

Watching him circle around me, I activated [Acceleration] myself.

The wind, now familiar, wrapped around my entire body.

“I’ll kill you!”

Unable to control his speed any longer, the weakling lowered his body, gripped his dagger, and charged at me.

And I coated my hand in mana, preparing for the impact.

Pak-!

“Guh… W-What is this…”

“Slow.”

Osoi!

To others, it would have seemed incredibly fast, too fast to react properly.

I reacted easily to that incredibly fast charge.

I casually walked forward and grabbed the charging weakling by the scruff of his neck with one hand.

“Guh. H-How?!”

I lifted the hand holding his scruff high into the sky, then slammed it straight down onto the floor.

Kwang!

“C-Huh…?”

The weakling, still seemingly unable to grasp the situation, lay face down on the floor, trembling.

Well, at least he fell on his back, so it probably didn’t hurt as much.

I placed my hand on the weakling’s head and glanced around.

Lucy and Lumi, who had been squealing with worry for me just moments ago, had their eyes wide open, and the guys talking about the weakling’s guild and prospects were gaping in disbelief.

I then grabbed the weakling by the hair, lifted him up, and slammed him back down onto the floor.

Kwang!

“Guh… Huh…”

The magic circle was active, so he wouldn’t suffer life-threatening injuries, but the pain was definitely real.

It’s practical training, after all.

“That’s one for me. And ten for Lucy and Lumi.”

I knelt on one knee, bringing myself down to the weakling’s eye level.

I grabbed his hair, still stuck to the floor, lifted him again, and met his eyes.

His earlier confidence was gone, replaced by eyes full of fear and dread towards me.

“I-I was wrong…”

Sorry, but reflecting now is useless.

If I let him off easy now, it’ll just be more trouble later.

It’s like being the first unlucky victim to get points deducted for talking in class.

I could easily let it slide, but I’m deducting points from the first offender to maintain the class atmosphere.

Kwang! Kwang! Kwang!

“Nngh…”

[Duel, Stop!]

“Pathetic.”

I’d only slammed him down four times, and he was completely out.

The ‘Magic Duel End Phrase’ sounded, forcibly ending the match.

Outside the training ground, most of the A-Class students had gathered to watch our duel.

I caught a glimpse; Nam Daeun wasn’t there, but Alice’s face was visible.

I stood up, still holding the crushed head of the weakling.

All the students were looking this way.

“Hey everyone, you know I didn’t use magic just now, right?”

“…!”

I heard the sound of sharp intakes of breath.

A quick glance revealed Do Jin-hyuk’s gang.

“If anyone else acts up like him, I’ll burn their body next time. Watch yourselves.”

Kwang!

I released my grip on the weakling’s hair and walked off the training ground.

Lucy and Lumi, waiting for me, thankfully had faces filled with joy rather than fear.

It wouldn’t make sense for the heroines to be afraid of the protagonist being strong, after all.

“Whoa! Why are you so good at fighting! And why don’t you use magic in every duel? You’re not really a mage, are you?!”

“Th-Thank you.”

I wasn’t sure why Lumi was thanking me in this context.

But she looked happy, so that’s good enough.

*

Naturally, someone filmed the duel that took place during the 1-on-1 training session and leaked it.

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[Lee Hoyeon’s recent controversial duel video is legendary lol]

[Video]

Just watching the video, you might think ‘It’s impressive, but is it legendary?’

The twist is, this guy’s a mage lol. He beat the shit out of a promising prospect contacted by the Iris Guild without using a single spell.

Recommended: 329 Disliked: 120

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[Huh? A mage? But fuck, how did he catch that speed?]

[Whoa, look at him slamming his face on the ground, fucking scary ㄷㄷ]

[Iris Guild exposed as hype lol]

[Hype surrounding the whole world ㄷㄷ]

[I get that he fights well, but I press dislike just seeing his face. It pisses me off.]

[ㄴ Agreed lol This bastard is always photographed with girls every time I see him. So damn annoying.]

[——-Victoria Academy Losers List——-]

[This fucking bastard]

[Breaking lol Iris Guild cancels contract offer to Kim Hojin lol]

[For real? He’s fucked lolololol]

[But at this level, didn’t Lucy and he actually catch the Mine? ]

[Agreed. If he can do this much without magic, imagine him using magic – Mine would be instant fried chicken, totally possible.]

[Hmm. I’m still on the side that doesn’t believe it even after seeing this.]

[I don’t believe it yet either. It’s a fact that most active fighters who’ve faced the two-horned Mine are negative about it.]

“Look at these active fighters talking nonsense. If you’re weaker than me, you should lose the ‘active’ title.”

I was checking the reactions on Everyday, but I wasn’t entirely satisfied.

Still, I should be grateful that public opinion has improved.

I looked up old reactions; back then, people were calling me a scammer bastard.

They should have tipped me off sooner. Then I could have quickly cleared things up somehow.

How come nobody told me?

Aren’t they being too considerate of me?

“Haaah. I’m done! Lumi, how about you?”

“I’m done too.”

We were currently doing homework in the club room.

I finished mine in about 30 minutes, but it took Lucy and Lumi an hour.

Even when I suggested they just copy mine, they insisted on doing it themselves, which was quite commendable.

“If you’re both done, shall we get going?”

“Yep!”

“Okay! Let’s go home!”

Our club still only had three members.

As a result of my hard work for the club, it’s now visible on the list.

With the combination of the beautiful twins, Lucy and Lumi, applications from male students are pouring in, and thanks to me, applications from female students are also increasing.

However, Felix’s scar still remained on Lucy.

Since then, Lucy has minimized contact with men other than me.

Well, I was glad I didn’t have to see Lucy talking to other guys.

It was partly intentional, too.

Anyway, we decided not to accept new members for the time being, and this club room serves as a space for the three of us to get along harmoniously.

“See you tomorrow then.”

“Why say goodbye when we’re going back to the dorms together anyway?”

“Huh? Oh, I have some shopping to do today!”

Lucy said, shaking her wallet.

“Ah, really? What are you buying?”

“J-Just, you know. Daily necessities?”

The way she stammered told me it was sanitary pads.

To figure out a woman’s psychology from such a trivial detail, my intuition must be improving.

“Got it. Lumi and I will go with you. See you tomorrow.”

“Bye, Lucy. See you tomorrow.”

“Yeah! Bye-bye!”

Lucy dashed towards the academy’s main gate.

I turned to Lumi, who remained, and said,

“Shall we go too?”

“…Uh, Hoyeon-ssi?”

“Yeah?”

“I-I have something to say, could you possibly come back to the club room for a moment?”

“Oh, of course.”

I followed Lumi back to the club room.

Lumi waited for me to enter, then closed the door, locked it, and checked it several times.

“…Lumi?”

Lumi’s face was a little red.

She even locked the door.

At this point, I had a feeling about what was about to happen.

“Oh, thank you so much for standing up for us today. Lucy feels the same way.”

“It was nothing. I was just annoyed.”

“The feeling of having someone get annoyed for my sake makes me really happy.

Lucy is family, but you’re not family, Hoyeon-ssi. Yet you did it for me…”

Hmm, honestly, it was due to a combination of circumstances, but I’ll just stay quiet.

Lumi was squirming as if deeply moved. Cute.

“W-We’re secret friends, right? I-I think it’s okay to do something more… secret… at times like this.”

“…Yeah.”

“I want to express my gratitude to Hoyeon-ssi in a… secret way…”

Lumi made a V-sign with the index and middle fingers of both hands.

“S-Sooo… as a token of my gratitude… I’ll… make you feel good. B-But I’m still inexperienced…”

Then she put her V-fingers into her mouth, widened her lips into a square shape as much as possible, and mumbled.

“H-Here. Hoyeon-ssi, please use me…”

Gulp.

Lumi’s red inner flesh met my eyes.