Ch.43Episode 9. Parent-Teacher Conference (3)

“I’m going in.”

“Please, come in freely.”

I observe Kang Sujin’s movements from a set distance. She moves in the opposite direction of my subtle movements.

The most basic way for a sword to face a spear.

It’s about not giving distance.

A spear’s reach is roughly twice that of a sword. The sword is at an absolute disadvantage.

Of course, that’s assuming the skill levels are equal.

I charged straight in.

Just before entering the range of the spear’s attack, I observe Kang Sujin’s movements.

Seeing the spear move sideways, I put strength into my feet.

Thud!

I kicked off so strongly that the ground cracked and fragments flew up. Having quickly closed the distance, I aimed my sword at Kang Sujin’s neck. However.

Whoosh—!

She threw herself sideways, spinning once in mid-air to avoid my sword strike. While doing so, she swung her spear.

“!”

Slash!

Blood sprayed from my shoulder.

Despite reacting in time and pulling back, her reach still connected. Being unfamiliar with the spear’s range, I was inevitably vulnerable to misjudging distances.

“Ugh!”

I pressed down on my bleeding shoulder.

“You’re fast.”

She points her spear at me after landing steadily.

“But Lee Yeon could do that much too. Surely this isn’t all you’ve got?”

I checked inside my coat. Looking at my blood-soaked white shirt, I sighed.

Ah, now I’ll have to get my clothes mended again…

I removed my hand from my shoulder and gripped my sword again, and she also changed her stance.

We clashed once more.

Clang! Clang!

Every time I try to charge in at maximum speed, she blocks my entry with the tip of her spear. When I try to knock it aside and enter, she retreats to maintain the distance.

That’s when it happened.

Ka-lang!

I block an attack that curved toward my side like drawing an arc. The blade cracked and I was pushed back several meters.

I overcame the numbness by tightly gripping the sword handle.

“You have strength and good reactions. The fact that you blocked my serious strike means your level isn’t bad.”

It was an attack that gave the illusion of the spear’s trajectory deviating for a moment. This was her skill, “Mountain Snake Strike.”

It was a tricky technique where you couldn’t tell where the attack was heading until it reached its target.

“Huff…”

So I can’t beat someone of her caliber, who’s among the upper ranks of A-class, without using Lightning Release?

I had wanted to avoid using it if possible, but it seemed impossible to win against an opponent like her without using my ability.

That said, I had no intention of letting her recognize me as the Lightning God.

I planned to try a method I had tested when I was alone a few days ago.

The method involved using it at the precise timing when I would normally use Lightning Release and Discharge.

“Do you want to continue? With that weapon?”

“…I won’t be taking any more of your attacks, Ms. Kang Sujin.”

“What?”

Since I had always kept the Release active while chaining skills, I hadn’t tried using them separately very often. But I didn’t think it would be impossible.

I quickly chained Release and Discharge. I swung my sword, emitting lightning.

Crackle!

“!”

While Kang Sujin flinched and pulled back at the sudden appearance of lightning, I activated Lightning Release to fill my body with power.

Just before the sparks could burst outward beyond filling my body with strength, I kicked off the ground and simultaneously deactivated the Release.

With speed incomparable to before, I instantly grabbed her from behind.

“What—!”

I grabbed the collar of her neatly worn blouse and threw her down.

She rolled on the ground and bounced back up. After regaining her posture, she groaned and pointed her spear at me.

“Ugh! What was that? Suddenly…?”

“I couldn’t bring myself to cut you with my sword. I think we should end the sparring here.”

“…That was just a fluke, right?”

Doesn’t she want to admit it?

It was understandable stubbornness for a hero who takes pride in their strength.

Or perhaps it was provocation to figure out my ability.

Either way, I would have to show her until she was convinced.

“By the way, I didn’t know you were a lightning ability user. That’s an uncommon ability.”

“…What do you mean?”

“Nothing. Just that the Hero Association has been wanting to scout someone for the past few months. That person was also a lightning ability user, but they couldn’t identify them because they always covered their face. Now the Association President has told us to stop looking for them, so it’s a closed matter.”

…Isn’t that about me?

“Is that so?”

“Anyway… Let’s try again. This time I won’t miss.”

I accelerated in the same way and once again took position behind her.

Kang Sujin was frowning, looking at where I had been just moments ago.

I gently tapped her shoulder and said quietly:

“Whoever they are, that’s too bad.”

“H-how…!”

“Is this enough to verify my skills?”

“I-I never thought I’d expose my back twice. I couldn’t even react. Did you teleport or something?”

“No. I just ran straight toward you.”

“…I see.”

She acknowledges it and dismisses her weapon.

She sighs dejectedly and shrugs her shoulders.

“But why didn’t you use it from the beginning? If you had, I wouldn’t have been so careless. Ah, is that an excuse?”

“Just because.”

I wasn’t without some arrogance.

Having never lost a fight against anyone, I thought I could beat an A-class without using my skills.

But this opponent showed no signs of being beatable without using my ability.

If I had been using a spear too, it might have been different, but she was certainly not someone to underestimate.

“But it’s also impressive that you received my technique without using your ability. Without your ability, you’re A-class. With it, you must be S-class. I’d like to see your strength too. Want to go one more round?”

“…Maybe another time. You didn’t come here today to spar with me, but to check if student Jung Lee Yeon is safe at the academy, right?”

“Speaking the plain truth, are you?”

I absolutely hated things getting more troublesome than necessary.

Even now, I couldn’t understand why I had to work on this precious weekend.

“Your blouse got a bit dirty.”

“It’s fine. The sparring was enjoyable, and that’s enough.”

She coolly dusted off her blouse as she spoke.

“Oh, more importantly, how’s your shoulder? I have a potion here. Want to drink it?”

She asks, pulling a small potion from her pants pocket.

She must have prepared for the possibility of accidentally inflicting a fatal wound.

“It’s fine. It’s already healed.”

“What?”

The wound had been healed when I activated Lightning Release and strength filled my entire body.

That said, this way of using my power seemed more useful than I expected.

It conserved my ability’s stamina, and it seemed difficult for opponents to adapt to such irregular movements.

Plus, I could use my ability while hiding the fact that I was the Lightning God.

On the other hand, I wondered if there was any point in hiding my power.

I had already shown my power to the instructors, Class A students, and various others.

Perhaps even Akcheon had noticed.

This meant that even people who weren’t directly tracking me would inevitably find connections to the Lightning God based on my characteristics.

In the end, being exposed was an inevitable outcome once I used my skills.

If that was the case, it might be better to use my power openly rather than hiding it.

But there was one thing that bothered me.

That was Yujin’s past.

Since I didn’t have Yujin’s memories, and his past wasn’t described in the story, I couldn’t help but worry about how to handle this risk.

Even if the Association President overlooked my beating and capturing Akcheon members until now, what happened before was the problem.

The fact that I caught Akcheon’s eye meant that Yujin must have done quite a lot of villainous acts.

To find the answer, I would have to meet Wolgwang.

Although the story had changed a lot, those guys probably hadn’t given up on the special class yet.

After all, they would absolutely need my power or hers to become the leader of Akcheon.

* * *

I ended up having a consultation in the spectator seats.

“Wow. That was amazing. Even I lost track of your movement for a moment. There aren’t many instructors… no, heroes who can achieve such speed.”

“Right?! RIGHT!! I told you so. Instructor Yujin is the best! Rather than teaching here, if he were out there beating up villains, he’d have such a huge fan base! It’s such a waste!”

I looked strangely at Jung Lee Yeon, who was chattering more enthusiastically than anyone else in response to Jung Woohyun’s words. Was she always this type of person?

“…Fan base?”

I had heard that heroes were sometimes consumed as celebrity concepts. Some heroes even worked as models.

But that was really a story of a tiny minority.

In this world, heroes were closer to police or soldiers than celebrities.

Now the atmosphere had changed as the concept of heroes had become somewhat lighter, but there were still many rigid aspects.

“You see, just a phone call away, our daughter has been praising Yujin quite a bit—”

“Waaah! Dad! There’s no need to mention that!”

Jung Lee Yeon hurriedly covered Jung Woohyun’s mouth.

Perhaps because her hair was so white, her blushing face was clearly visible.

“My daughter likes Yujin very much.”

“Is that so. I’m glad if student Jung Lee Yeon likes me. She’s an obedient and diligent student.”

“Haaa…”

I responded smoothly to the mention of her liking me.

“By the way, may I ask how old you are this year? You look very young.”

Why does this increasingly feel like a blind date?

While I was giving an awkward smile at the strange atmosphere, the sparring area suddenly became noisy.

“Hey, that person in the training uniform. Isn’t that the S-class hero ‘Sword Fire’?”

With those words, students began to move in droves. I followed their movements and my gaze fixed on one side of the sparring area.

The moment I saw the back of a man wearing a black training uniform, I had to stand up abruptly.

“I’m sorry. It seems I’ll have to postpone our consultation.”

He said he would come on his own… but did it have to be today…

I jumped down from the spectator seats as I watched Yeonmuhui and Yeonhwaryong looking at each other.