Chapter 89
Right after Kim Minhyeok's first attack.
Tatsuki, who had been watching silently from the Japanese waiting area, narrowed his eyes.
"Tatsuki, what are you staring at so seriously?"
"So he landed one attack. What's the big deal?"
Most of them thought it was nothing more than a successful opening strike.
But Tatsuki, the only one among them from the swordsmanship department, saw it differently.
"...That's not it."
"What?"
"That strike just now."
"It wasn't simply an attack that happened to land."
At first glance, it looked ordinary.
Even if you stood directly in front of it, it would probably still look ordinary.
Just like Liu Hu, you'd underestimate it and think it was nothing.
And then, the moment the sword moved...
You'd realize something.
For some reason, your body couldn't keep up with it.
What happened next proved Tatsuki right.
Liu Hu was driven back helplessly.
"What the hell...."
The moment the defeat was declared, everyone looked at Kim Minhyeok.
Everyone except Tatsuki.
His gaze had already moved toward the waiting room above.
Lee Janghyeok, was it?
Who the hell is that man?
How did he make someone improve this much in such a short time?
The important part of Kim Minhyeok's fight hadn't actually been his sword.
It had been his footwork.
He deliberately stepped forward one beat faster than his downward strike.
Once the opponent began adjusting to that rhythm, he slowed the step down.
Or accelerated it even more.
The opponent's attention would naturally remain on the sword they could see.
"That's not something you can do just because someone teaches you."
Tatsuki narrowed his eyes.
"The student's talent has to support it too."
Naturally, none of that would've been possible without an exceptional teacher.
"Lee Janghyeok...."
A faint smile appeared on Tatsuki's face.
"Now I want to fight him at least once."
Meanwhile, the Korean waiting area had practically turned into a festival.
They had just defeated China for the first time.
The instructors' waiting room wasn't much different.
If anything, the instructors were having an even harder time accepting reality.
"D-Does this even make sense?"
The chief instructor laughed in disbelief.
"I'm not seeing things, right? Right?"
"Hahaha!"
The superpower instructor looked equally stunned.
"I-I'm honestly too shocked to even speak...."
The enhancement instructor beside Kang Hana had tears in her eyes.
"Sniff... H-Hana..."
She wiped her face.
"We... sniff... w-we won...!"
"Haha...."
Kang Hana smiled faintly.
"Looks like we did."
She was surprised too.
She hadn't truly expected Suhyeok's training method to work this well.
When she'd first watched him teach, she honestly hadn't understood it.
There had been almost no explanation.
No elaborate lectures.
Only endless sparring.
More than anything...
I never imagined Minhyeok would win like that.
He was on a completely different level from last year.
She might've believed it if one of the other students had done it.
But Kim Minhyeok?
There was a reason the swordsmanship department was considered the weakest track.
Its education quality was low.
The students never developed their potential properly.
Even if he ranked decently within swordsmanship, Kim Minhyeok probably wasn't even among the academy's overall top one hundred.
And he changed that much in only two weeks....
What exactly did Lee Janghyeok do?
I watched every single training session, and I still don't understand.
Leon sat on Suhyeok's shoulder, tearing into a Churu.
[ Lee Suhyeok, what the hell did you do, nya? ]
[ How did that airheaded guy actually win, nya? ]
[ Didn't you basically do nothing except beat him up over and over, nya? ]
[Many Constellations prepare popcorn and eagerly demand the truth.]
[Several impatient Constellations throw bags of Coins at you.]
[A total of 50,000 Coins has been sponsored.]
Suhyeok answered without changing expression.
Nothing special.
Like you said, I beat him up and made him practice the basics over and over.
That was all he'd taught Kim Minhyeok.
He corrected his stance through repeated sparring and drilled the fundamentals into him.
The more they fought, the more flaws became obvious.
Bad fundamentals.
Habits he'd developed without even noticing.
Suhyeok dismantled every single one of them and rebuilt them from scratch.
It took time to reconstruct the foundation.
But those seemingly insignificant differences were exactly what had allowed Kim Minhyeok to grow.
Kya. So betting on the favorite was the right move after all?
This is the fun part. Nobody here picked China or Japan, right? LMAOOOO
YOU FUCKING BASTARDS!!!!!!!!
It's not over yet. Stop celebrating like Korea already won ;;
(crossing his arms and slowly pushing up his sunglasses with a contemptuous look) How amusing that a mediocre fool feels the need to explain himself. Hahaha!
Suhyeok spread his energy throughout the stadium.
He felt several familiar presences.
As planned, Taesu, Lee Yumi, and Kim Hyuna had arrived safely.
I told them to stay hidden in case something happens.
There shouldn't be any problems.
They had no way of knowing when the attack would begin.
And above all...
The System's ominous words remained in his mind.
It had said another moment of choice would come.
Most likely, that meant a situation where someone had to die.
"...The next match will start soon."
Suhyeok turned away from the window.
"I should prepare too."
The following matches proceeded quickly.
And Korea kept winning.
One victory after another.
China and Japan were eliminated one by one.
For the first time in the event's history, Korea hadn't lost a single participant.
The boos from the spectators had long since turned into cheers.
Korea still had all six students.
China and Japan each had only one remaining.
Spectators from those countries began throwing their cheering sticks in anger.
"You useless bastards!"
"Just die already!"
"What kind of matches are these?!"
"If you're going to get crushed this badly, you shouldn't have come at all!!"
As public anger intensified, China and Japan grew increasingly desperate.
A loss here could become a serious problem.
Important officials from all three countries were watching.
Then one person walked onto the arena.
China's final remaining student.
Zhi Lianhua.
And her opponent was...
Seong-a.
Zhi Lianhua brushed her red hair back, revealing sharp eyes filled with barely restrained fury.
"...I really don't understand."
"How can some tiny country do this well?"
"How?"
Seong-a, in contrast, looked completely relaxed.
She even smiled brightly.
"Wow, you look really hot!"
She pointed at Zhi Lianhua's hands.
"Don't your hands get hot?"
"That would be really useful for making a campfire later!"
"..."
The situation itself was already absurd enough.
At first, Zhi Lianhua had ignored Korea.
There was no way they could lose to a team that didn't even include Kang Rahee.
And yet...
Now she was the only Chinese student left.
Every other representative had lost to Korea.
How dare they?
Us?
Me?
Lose to a tiny country like this?
Grind.
Fine.
It was all because of that man.
Lee Janghyeok.
Unless he'd done something, there was no way they would've lost this miserably.
Fwoooosh.
Flames erupted over her hand.
They weren't ordinary fire.
They looked almost like hellfire.
"It doesn't matter."
"If I burn every last one of you to death here, this humiliation will disappear."
Her lips curled.
"I'll kill all of you."
"You..."
"And ‘Lee Janghyeok’ too."
Seong-a's smile disappeared.
"...What?"
Zhi Lianhua raised one hand.
Flaming masses began raining from the sky like an erupting volcano.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The carefree expression Seong-a always wore vanished.
Her face became cold.
"You can insult me all you want..."
Her eyes changed.
"But I won't forgive you for insulting Dad."
A wave of killing intent exploded outward.
Zhi Lianhua flinched.
Her instincts screamed.
I might die.
BAM! BAM! BAM!
She unleashed continuous waves of fire to stop Seong-a from approaching.
It was useless.
Everything in front of her burned until there wasn't a single place left to step.
