Ch.34Episode 7. Joint Class Sparring (7)

“Why did you suddenly gather us in the training hall?”

The Class A students, huddled together, wonder about this. Kang So-hee and Jin Su-do look just as puzzled as the others.

Whether these kids are real or fake is something I’ll find out soon enough, but I don’t think there’s a disguise artist among them.

The disguise artist is a cautious one.

They never take dangerous gambles.

Knowing their tendencies, I made one request to Kang-chan.

I asked him to bring everyone from inside or around the main training hall. I asked him to thoroughly check places like bathrooms and other areas with low foot traffic.

When he asked why, I told him I’d explain after I returned.

I couldn’t make him work on something I wasn’t certain about.

“I’m here to give you direction on how to move forward. As a bonus, I’ll provide feedback on your sparring, though you’re free to take it or leave it.”

“But where did Instructor Kang-chan go?”

To find the ‘corpse.’

I couldn’t say that out loud. It’s still just a theory.

“Sigh…”

I’ve set the stage, and there’s no turning back.

If my suspicions are wrong, I can just dismiss it as my own delusion.

I’ll be the butt of jokes and pointed fingers for a while, that’s all. I can handle the embarrassment.

But I couldn’t let someone from Akcheon run rampant in the academy. That would threaten even the special class.

“Ah, he just had something to take care of. He’ll be back soon.”

First, reassure them.

“Before I give my advice, I think there’s someone among Class A who shouldn’t be receiving my guidance.”

Setting the mood.

Now I’ll turn my suspicion into certainty.

“What?”

They innocently question my loaded statement.

I glance at Gu Yeon-hwa and raise my hand high.

Catching my signal, she places her hand on the ground and creates black flames that surround me and the Class A students.

Perfect positioning.

Her skill utilization is far beyond student level, even if her way of speaking sounds a bit like middle school syndrome.

“W-what’s going on?!”

Sensing danger from the flames surrounding them, Class A students begin to stand up one by one.

“Sit down. Anyone who stands up now will be considered a villain.”

Crack.

I release electric sparks while emitting killing intent.

I’m not sure if I can exert as much pressure as in fiction, but I’ve confirmed that villains are intimidated by my aura whenever I face them.

The students who touch my electricity flinch.

“Ah, that hurts…!”

“W-what are you doing, Instructor Yujin?!”

Fear, tension, and terror seep into the students’ expressions at this sudden oppression.

“Stay still. If you don’t follow my instructions, you’ll all die.”

I take a step forward.

As sparks fly violently, the students groan and recoil in fear.

The villains who hear my warning have no choice but to panic.

They’ll think I’m acting on certainty, not mere suspicion.

By now, they must be racking their brains trying to figure out how I caught on.

But too bad for them.

The answer lies beyond logic.

“Kang So-hee.”

“Yes…?”

I crouch in front of Kang So-hee and call her name.

“You’re not Kang So-hee, are you?”

As I lean in with a smile, her black pupils dilate and her mouth falls open.

An expression that seems to demand how I knew.

Not the kind of expression someone under threat would make.

But visible expressions alone aren’t enough evidence for certainty. My subjectivity is involved too.

“Die.”

I wrap electricity around my arm.

I give the impression I’m going to kill them right up until the moment before I strike. The killing intent is just an auxiliary device.

When faced with someone who genuinely intends to kill you, could you not react?

Whoosh!

…Of course not.

You who selfishly trample on others’ lives without a second thought, while considering your own life more precious than anything else—you wouldn’t simply surrender your life.

Seeing the exact moment my fist stops just before contact, she jumps backward to create distance.

“H-how…! How did you know?!”

The flames have already subsided.

I glance at Gu Yeon-hwa. She was panting heavily. Her stamina for using her ability had been depleted.

I give Yeon-hwa a thumbs up before turning back to So-hee.

“How did I know? I know everything.”

“Don’t tell me… you were an acquaintance of Kang So-hee?”

“Of course not.”

It’s the result of combining hints from the novel I read with the information available now.

“Then how…!”

“Curious? Then tell me where the real Kang So-hee is. If you do, I’ll tell you.”

“Hah!”

A red Japanese sword suddenly appears in So-hee’s previously empty hand.

A weapon creation ability?

If someone at Akcheon has a weapon creation ability, they would only be from Jeokwol…

“I’ll kill you! Lightning God!!”

Lightning God, huh.

No one at the academy calls me Lightning God.

My information is kept strictly confidential under the Association President.

Moreover, Lightning God wasn’t a name given by heroes, but what Akcheon called me.

In other words, knowing I’m the Lightning God is as good as declaring oneself a member of Akcheon.

“Thank you. Now I’m certain.”

My suspicion has become certainty.

I won’t hesitate anymore.

I grab the sword swung at me. Though the blade touches my hand, no blood flows.

The electricity was protecting my skin.

“I have many questions for you. I hope your tongue is loose.”

I strike her solar plexus with my electricity-wrapped arm. As my fist connects with the lower part of her chest, I use my skill.

“Electric Discharge.”

Boom!

Her body, unable to withstand the impact, flies through two boundary walls of the training hall before sprawling on the floor. She spits blood and convulses.

“Left your weapon behind?”

Clang.

As the Japanese sword falls to the ground, it dissolves into molecules and disappears. The ability user had lost consciousness.

Soon, the appearance of the person disguised as Kang So-hee changes.

Her hair was still red but now short, and her body shape changed. She became more slender.

Red hair and weapon creation…

Definitely Jeokwol.

To waste Jeokwol members here…

That Wolgwang bastard must be pretty pissed that his plan went awry.

I remember how he always flew into a rage when Jung Yi-yeon disrupted his plans. And then he would rationalize it disgustingly.

I wonder what kind of face he’ll make this time.

“You just lie there for now.”

Because there’s still one more left.

“Trying to escape?”

I spoke without looking back. I see someone among the students flinching with unusually large movements.

“Jin Su-do.”

“Kuk!”

“Did you think you wouldn’t be caught?”

“How did you know?”

He stands up and backs away from me, drawing a dagger and watching me warily.

Meanwhile, he rolls his eyes, glancing around. He seemed to be planning his escape.

Does he think he can escape with me right in front of him?

“Tell me where Jin Su-do is. Then I’ll tell you.”

His eyes grow fierce.

Hmm. Doesn’t look like he’ll talk.

“Why should I tell you that?”

“I need to know if they’re alive or dead to decide whether to kill you or spare you.”

“What…!”

“So, did I ask? Where are Kang So-hee and Jin Su-do?”

Crack!

I threaten him with sparks.

As I emit killing intent to create pressure, he pulls out a dagger in defiance.

“Do you think I’d tell you that?!”

Jin Su-do throws three daggers at me.

Between the eyes. Throat. Heart.

Before the daggers aimed precisely at vital points could reach me, I was already behind him.

“I should have told you that you’d need a beating to come to your senses. Then I would have hit you before talking.”

Not that there’s anything to discuss with villains anyway.

Boom!

“Kuhak!”

“I noticed it when you fought Yu A-ri. Your reactions are good.”

Realizing I was behind him, he blocked my fist with his dagger rather than counterattacking.

But the dagger shattered, and he had to absorb the full impact of being slammed into the training hall’s boundary wall.

“Urgh…!”

Seeing his arm hanging limply after blocking my punch, it seemed to have broken from the impact.

Jin Su-do roughly wipes the blood from his mouth with his remaining arm.

“D-don’t come any closer. I might kill the students…!”

He points at the students with a dagger he’d drawn out of nowhere.

The Class A students were just sitting there dumbfounded, seemingly unable to grasp what was happening.

That’s why they’re still just candidates.

Even if they’re Class A, that’s just an evaluation of their abilities and grades, not their practical combat capabilities.

“Do you think you can escape from me?”

“What?”

I had no intention of making the same mistake as when I missed the camping trip.

Even while dealing with the fake Jin Su-do, I kept glancing at the fake Kang So-hee.

“The moment you face me, you can’t escape.”

“Kuk!”

“So choose: either tell me everything you know, take a beating, and go to prison, or take a severe beating, tell me what you know, and then go to prison.”

Crack!

I repeatedly hit my palm with my fist as I spoke. Sparks flew each time my palm and fist collided.

“Which will it be?”

“Damn you!!”

Cursing, Jin Su-do charges at me and splits into four.

Watching him use “Clone Technique” as he rushes toward me, I nodded.

“So you choose to take a severe beating, tell me everything you know, and then go to prison? Got it.”

I fully unleashed the power I had been moderating until now.

Sparks violently erupted from my entire body. The enlarged sparks moved fluidly according to my will.

“You’re going to keep getting beaten until you give me the answers I want.”