Chapter 58
Chapter 58
The waiting room for the students preparing for the confrontation was spacious and comfortable.
The only reason why I, who was only a temporary student council member, was able to enter the room with one of the professors under the pretext of administration was because of their kindness.
It was because the professor, who noticed that I was quite close to Choi Hyun Woo, who was scheduled to be in the confrontation today, graciously offered me to accompany him.
Since I had no reason to refuse, I gratefully accepted his offer.
And a little while ago, I was able to talk with Choi Hyun-Woo under the guise of inspecting the students’ preparations for the confrontation.
And Choi Hyun-Woo, who was talking and laughing, hardened his face when he saw the old woman sitting next to Han Soo-Yeong caught on the camera that randomly illuminated the audience, and then he murmured in a small voice.
I can’t lose.
And seeing Choi Hyun-Woo like that, I could tell that the old woman was Choi Hyun-Woo and Han Soo-Young’s master.
… I couldn’t remember, so I took out the setting book and it was telling me that the old woman’s name was Nam Hyun-Hwa.
‘Is that how you leave and come out looking younger later?’
Her unique skill is none other than metamorphosis, so when Han Soo-Young or Choi Hyun-Woo is in danger, she appears in her younger form to help them, or even as an unknown person to help them with their training.
And I vaguely remembered that Nam Hyun-Hwa in her youthful form had the strength to not be pushed back even if she competed with the Ten Strongest.
Beeeeeep!
On the screen where the situation of the confrontation was being broadcast, a loud whistle resounded.
At the same time, Choi Hyun-Woo and Ahn Do-Hoon, who looks like they are watching a train, rushed at each other…….
“Bang.”
As I was watching this, I heard the voice of a young girl next to me.
It was a familiar voice.
When I turned around, I saw that she, who was one of the ten strongest, was pointing her hand in the shape of a gun towards me.
“We meet again, Oppa.”
“…Only the staff can come in here.”
With those words, I quickly looked around.
The professor who came with me and the two men who seemed to be part of the administration staff looked stunned.
She opened her mouth as she looked at me with mischievous eyes until I looked around and grasped the situation.
“You know who I am, don’t you?”
Every time her eyes blinked, the pattern of hexagon flickered in them.
As I just kept my silence, she gave me a look as if I was no fun, but then quickly sniffed my body.
“Oh, the smell… ?”
Then she looked at the ring on my pinky finger.
Her eyes widened for a moment, and then she showed an expression full of interest to anyone who saw it.
“Where and how did you get this?”
“Um, if you don’t have anything to say, can I leave now?”
“No.”
She smiled and held out her hand as if blocking.
It looked like a young girl’s slender arms, but the power it contained could never be ignored.
“Your name is Yoo Ji-Hyuk, right? The one who often associates with Myung-Joon.”
I nodded honestly, thinking it would be no use pretending not to know.
Then she got up from her seat and said, pulling me.
“Will you go somewhere with me?”
And she added in her serious voice.
“I don’t know the details, but Myung-Joon secretly asked me to call you. It seemed like something very important.”
At her words, I nodded and stood up.
Then she gently reached out and pulled my sleeve.
Feeling reluctant, I asked her carefully.
“If possible, could you please return to your original form?”
“Huh?”
“If you go around with me like that, I’m a little…… .”
She flicked her fingers at my words that sounded troubled.
Then her appearance changed to a similar age to mine.
And before I knew it, she was dressed in the clothes of the students of Orhe Academy, and I nodded as if it was enough.
“Yes, then let’s go.”
“Thank you for following me without asking for details.”
After saying that, she walked forward.
I knew well about Lee Myung-Joon and her, and if he asked her to bring me there secretly, I could only guess that it was not something ordinary.
It was probably because of an attack or something like that.
What I couldn’t guess was why he needed me.
“…… .”
Before leaving the waiting room, I turned my head one last time to look at the screen that was broadcasting the confrontation.
A fierce battle was still taking place on the screen.
And finally convinced that there is no need to worry, I took a step.
* * *
Of the two, the one that moved the faster was, ironically, the heavier one.
The lance was pulled back, and with a peculiar rotation, it was thrust forward with full force.
It was an attack filled with the will to kill with just one blow.
However, Choi Hyun-Woo easily avoided the threat by twisting his feet a little.
The hem of his clothes fluttered as if being sucked in by the passing lance.
Choi Hyun-Woo quickly threw himself away and stepped back, and he could notice that a peculiar pattern was carved like a groove on the lance’s spear.
Is it sucking like a whirlpool?
Choi Hyun-woo set the gap between Ahn Do-hoon’s attack, which he had initially estimated, by half a step wider.
“Hup!”
Ahn Do-Hoon swung his lance wildly, as if he didn’t care if he dodged.
Choi Hyun-Woo carefully caught it with his sword blade and let it flow gently.
Then, the sword blade caught in a small groove that was caved, created an unpleasant noise.
“Cis!”
Ahn Do-Hoon exhaled as if chewing.
It was because Choi Hyun-Woo’s sword was stuck to the lance as if it had been glued on and didn’t fall off.
And it was when his sword, which was stuck to it, moved closer and closer to his wrist as if he had already known, even when he violently shook off his hand.
“Twaet!”
Suddenly, Ahn Do-Hoon spat at Choi Hyun-Woo’s eyes.
The use of memorization was a disqualification, but there was no rule that the use of saliva was a disqualification.
In fact, the referee, who saw it, paused for a moment, but continued the match.
It was because Choi Hyun-Woo avoided it as if he knew it was coming, but it was also because Ahn Do-Hoon threw away the Lance handle and stepped back to widen the distance.
He pulled out the hanging greatsword without even showing any spirit.
It was ignorantly big and was more like a blunt weapon than a sword.
Most people would have been rather swept away by its weight, but Ahn Do-Hoon was already one of the few who knew how to handle it perfectly.
Even with two hands, it looked difficult to swing, but Ahn Do-Hoon swung it effortlessly with one hand.
Choi Hyun-Woo didn’t dare to block it.
It was because he thought that the sword, not him, would not be able to withstand it.
Choi Hyun-Woo continued to step back and back.
On the way, a high-pitched scream came from the stands.
Choi Hyun-Woo, who narrowly avoided it, was convinced that he would not be cut, but it was not from the point of view of ordinary people watching it.
In their eyes, Choi Hyun-Woo had already been crushed or his neck had been blown off, or one of the two endings was coming.
However, he continues to move without a single wound.
When the situation became like this, it was Ahn Do-Hoon who felt the pressure despite the fact that he was pushing.
Shaking off those feelings, he snorted and opened his mouth mockingly.
“Why, are you waiting for me to get tired and fall down?”
For Ahn Do-Hoon, the most unrealistic defeat was self-destruction due to physical exhaustion.
He was born with everything in his hands.
His talent with the sword and spear, as well as his tremendous physical strength and never-ending stamina, were no exceptions.
As if to prove it, the floor of the Sparring area that Ahn Do-Hoon had struck was shattered.
Before the two of them fought, it was a Sparring area where the 17 teams had fought and no matter what they did, they weren’t even able to scratch it.
Choi Hyun-Woo, who witnessed the physical strength beyond his imagination, hurriedly threw himself backward.
Because even the pieces that were broken and scattered were threatening.
At that moment, Ahn Do-Hoon let out a breath.
It was the unique exhalation of a person who sensed victory.
He put his foot between the handle and the guard part of the Lance, which was momentarily off the ground, and kicked it up with all his might.
The lance shot like an arrow aiming at Choi Hyun-Woo’s head.
However, it just cut through the air like the wind and flew away.
Ahn Do-Hoon was not surprised when he saw Choi Hyun-Woo dodge the shot by throwing his body forward in the air.
Rather, as if his aim had been this, he simply swung the sword by measuring where he would fall.
It’s over.
Ahn Do-Hoon smiled, intuiting his victory, but it soon turned into a cry of astonishment.
“What?!”
It felt like hitting iron.
At the sensation that shouldn’t have been felt, he reflexively gave his hand strength.
At the same time, the rebound seemed to tear his hand, but thanks to the quick force applied to his hand, he managed to evade the greatsword.
What the hell.
An unbelievable scene unfolded in the eyes of Ahn Do-Hoon, who had been thinking like that.
“…… .”
It was obvious that he had inserted the sword upside down into the ground, used the hilt as a foothold, and jumped up again.
As if to prove this fact, mana flowed and remained on the blade of the sword that Choi Hyun-Woo had just been holding.
Yes, it was understandable so far.
What Ahn Do-Hoon couldn’t understand was the sword that Choi Hyun-Woo had put mana into, and the fact that he had cut the sword that had left his hand in two.
He had only experienced this twice before.
His father.
And his uncle, only when he competed with them in his childhood.
They told him that this often happened when the skill gap between the two was overwhelming.
As Ahn Do-Hoon was crazily thinking like that, a brutal sound came from his mouth and blood spurted out from its corner.
There were two people he had thought were his goals on the other side of his consciousness.
The fact that he had overlapped with those two, even if only for a moment, with Choi Hyun-Woo, made him blind with rage.
From his mouth, which was opened as if to disprove it, a shout that sounded like a scream erupted.
Then, he forcibly turned the trajectory of his greatsword, which had already been cut once, and swung it again.
His wrists and elbows seemed to shift as he did this, but the anger was enough to suppress the pain.
Choi Hyun-Woo was still in the air.
What, still?
A small voice whispered quietly from the other side of Ahn Do-Hoon’s consciousness, saying that it felt as if several minutes had already passed.
It was only a timer engraved on the electronic display and a handful of people who knew that less than five minutes had passed since the two started the match.
Once again, exclamations burst out.
This was because Choi Hyun-Woo trampled on the sword wielded by Ahn Do-Hoon and slammed it to the ground.
The people in the stands admired the movement, which was like a feat, but Ahn Do-Hoon couldn’t do that.
Rather, he had to throw away the greatsword and step back by pulling out the sword he brought as a backup and swinging it lightly.
A sense of humiliation ran through his heart, through his veins, and over every inch of his body.
To lose one’s weapon and be defenseless in front of the enemy, where could such humiliation be found again?
Ahn Do-Hoon, even before he could think of it, threw himself down and picked up the lance that had been thrown to the ground.
And when he twisted his body and took a vigilant posture, he could see Choi Hyun-Woo lowering his sword as if he was waiting for him to be ready.
“This… !”
It was when Ahn Do-Hoon was so angry that he was about to shout something.
Choi Hyun-Woo, who had not said anything throughout the match, suddenly opened his mouth and cut off his words.
“What’s this?”
“… What?”
Choi Hyun-Woo lightly turned the sword and weighed it.
It definitely feels lighter than before.
It reminded him of his master’s word, saying to swing the sword as he wished, as he will.
It was a sensation that had been lingering in his mind ever since that day.
No matter who his opponent was, the thought that he would never be defeated never left his mind.
From the time he saw Ahn Do-Hoon, who looked overwhelming, it was a thought that had never left.
It was a thought that had never crossed his mind when he fought with Yoo Ji-Hyuk.
“It wasn’t like this when I fought with Ji-Hyuk.”
Ahn Do-hoon let out a ragged breath as he spat out those words without realizing.
He knows who Yoo Ji-Hyuk is.
And he could see well that Choi Hyun-Woo evaluated him as inferior to Yoo Ji-Hyuk.
He is calling me an S-rank, lower than E-rank.
“You bastard… !”
Ahn Do-hoon muttered as if chewing, raising his lance.
Choi Hyun-Woo just looked at it indifferently.
He already knew why Ivan had said he had no respect for his opponent and that he didn’t want to fight him.
Because from the beginning this was for venting his anger.
A few days ago, he and Ahn Do-Hoon had fought to a draw in a face-off.
It didn’t matter that he mocked and laughed at him, saying that time saved him, that he was lucky.
In fact, it was him who was being pushed.
However, Choi Hyun-Woo had not forgotten that he insulted Han Soo-Young and Yoo Ji-Hyuk.
There was no way he could forget each of them whispering and laughing quietly about the conditions they didn’t have and the limitations of their talents.
“Yes.”
Choi Hyun-Woo came to that conclusion and walked slowly towards Ahn Do-Hoon.
Then, he felt that Ahn Do-Hoon was also refining his magic, keeping a wary eye on him.
Despite the fact that he was showing the momentum to rush in like he was going to explode at any moment, Choi Hyun-Woo did not try to avoid him.
Yes, I admit it.
Choi Hyun-Woo admitted that Ahn Do-Hoon had more talent than he was arrogant.
He was definitely more talented than himself, Han Soo-Young, and Yoo Ji-Hyuk.
That was why Choi Hyun-Woo could not understand Ahn Do-Hoon.
“Ahhhhhh!!!”
Choi Hyeon-woo muttered to Ahn Do-Hoon, who rushed in with a big breath.
Why in the world don’t you polish it even though you have such a talent?
Was it instead of answering him?
The lance, which was filled with Ahn Do-Hoon’s refined magic, collided with Choi Hyun-Woo’s sword and split in two with a loud noise.
Beeeeeep!
At the same time, the whistle to announce the victory rang out.
It was a loud noise, as if trying to fill the gap between the two people that could not be filled.