Chapter 50. Secret Friend

Chapter 50. Secret Friend

I arrived at the training hall first and started stretching.

I didn’t expect to move much, but just standing here made me feel like I had to do something.

I might as well use this chance to assert myself in front of Lucy and Lumi.

Even as a guy, it didn’t feel great to be treated as weak.

“Trying to act tough in front of girls, huh? If you apologize now, I might let this slide.”

Before I realized it, Weakling was standing in front of me, grinning smugly.

The moment I stepped onto the training hall, he must have assumed he’d already won.

“You scared? Damn, you talk way too much.”

“W-What did you say?”

As we stepped into the training ring, people around us started paying attention.

The tense atmosphere drew in more spectators by the second.

“Hey, there’s a real fight going on here!”

“Lee Hoyeon and Kim Hojin are fighting!”

Kim Hojin. Another name I didn’t want to remember got stuck in my head.

Weakling suited him much better.

From below the training hall, Lucy was shouting in frustration.

“Hey! How does it make sense for a mage to duel an assassin one-on-one? Kim Hojin, have you no pride?”

So, he was an assassin.

It was convenient having others explain things for me while I just stood there.

“I know Lee Hoyeon, but who the hell is Kim Hojin?”

“You don’t know Kim Hojin? Last week, he got scouted by the Iris Guild—it caused a huge stir.”

“Seriously? A first-year being approached by Iris Guild?”

“Yeah, it was all over Everyday.”

Hmm, interesting. As expected of an academy setting, there were always people willing to provide exposition.

I had a rough idea about Weakling now.

The Iris Guild was the largest intelligence guild in France.

And, by the way, Elise—the heroine—was the daughter of the Iris Guild’s leader.

If they reached out to him, he must be somewhat talented.

Even if he was just an extra villain, Do Jinhyuk was also considered a promising student.

After all, rivals needed to be competent to compete with the protagonist.

It seemed like Weakling was one of the more prominent members of Do Jinhyuk’s group.

Well, thinking about it, Weakling was kind of like the second-in-command after Tubby, so this made sense.

“But can a mage really fight an assassin one-on-one? Especially in a flat, open dome like this?”

“That’s exactly why Kim Hojin picked this fight, dumbass.”

“Okay, but why the hell is Lee Hoyeon even accepting it?”

The onlookers were hyping up the situation on their own.

Listening to them murmur worriedly about me, I was reminded of how powerful public perception could be.

Buzz—

The arena’s magic circle activated, and a dome-shaped mana field surrounded us.

A barrier formed between me and Weakling.

He drew a dagger from his waist and lowered his stance.

A position meant for dashing.

“Countdown starts now!”

[3]

Thump.

Combat Sense traveled from my toes up through my entire body.

[2]

“Lee Hoyeon, I’ll make sure to shatter your little reputation.”

Weakling pointed his dagger at me, exuding killing intent.

One thing I’d learned from living as Lee Hoyeon—guys really liked directing hostility my way.

Then again, I was probably the same way when I had that face.

[1]

Thump. Thump.

“Wait... is that all?”

My body wasn’t heating up any further.

When I fought Felix, my entire body screamed for battle.

Even before the fight began, my heart pounded, adrenaline surged through me, and my senses sharpened.

But now...

Thump. Thump.

I was calm. Too calm.

Which meant I didn’t even need to go all out against the guy in front of me.

No, it meant he wasn’t even worth my full power.

[Start!!!!]

“This is my chance, you bastard! I’ll end this in one blow!”

The moment the match started, Weakling kicked off the ground and lunged at me.

His speed was decent. Not Felix-level, but probably around Elise’s.

Bzz—

Clairvoyance.

Mana gathered around the dagger in his right hand.

His path was straightforward—he aimed to stab me right between the eyes.

He must really resent my face.

Swish—

As he lunged, I tilted my body just in time, dodging the dagger.

To others, it might have looked like a narrow escape, but I had plenty of breathing room.

Weakling rushed past me and skidded to a halt behind me.

“All you can do is dodge, you worm? Why even bother accepting the fight?”

He must have thought I barely dodged, because he started mocking me with a grin.

“Is that all you’ve got? Nothing stronger, faster—no ultimate move? You’re not showing me anything, man.”

If his attacks were this basic, I had nothing to show in return.

With this many spectators, I should put on a bit of a show.

“...Yeah. I was going to toy with you for a bit, but let’s just end this quickly.”

Weakling must have thought I was mocking him because he looked genuinely pissed.

I was being serious, though. If he put on a good performance, it would make my victory look even better.

He seemed to be considering how to finish me off before suddenly channeling mana throughout his entire body.

“Oh...?”

The way he circulated mana through his body reminded me of [Acceleration].

However, unlike [Acceleration], which disperses recoil into space to prevent strain, his technique didn’t seem that advanced.

He managed to forcibly speed up his body by accelerating his mana, but he had no way to handle the recoil—meaning he wouldn’t be able to stop himself.

He was likely planning to transfer all the recoil into his opponent upon impact.

In other words, if I dodged, all that force would rebound onto him.

He started moving rapidly around me.

Just like Felix had done, he was circling me in a wide arc.

But compared to Felix, his speed was severely lacking.

I had already managed to track Felix’s movements, so this level of speed was nothing.

“How does it feel? You won’t even know when I cut you!”

“Wow... cool line, man.”

“It’s too late for compliments now!”

“...Uh, sure. Whatever.”

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

The familiar rush of wind enveloped my body.

“I’ll kill you!”

Seemingly unable to control his own speed anymore, Weakling lowered his stance and charged at me, dagger in hand.

I wrapped my hand in mana to brace for impact.

Crack—!

“Urk...! W-What the...!”

“Too slow.”

Osoi!

To the spectators, his speed must have seemed overwhelming—almost impossible to react to.

But for me, his reckless charge was laughably easy to counter.

I casually stepped aside and grabbed him by the collar as he shot past me.

“Hnngh. H-How?!”

Raising my arm, I lifted him high into the air before slamming him into the ground.

Boom!

“Guh... Hgh...?!”

Weakling lay sprawled on the ground, trembling, unable to process what had just happened.

Well, at least he had landed on his back—probably hurt less that way.

Placing my hand on his head, I glanced around.

Lucy and Lumi, who had been shrieking in concern moments ago, now stared with wide eyes. The guys who had been hyping up Weakling’s status as an Iris Guild prospect were all slack-jawed in disbelief.

I yanked Weakling up by the hair before slamming him down again.

Boom!

“Guhh...!”

The magic circle was active, so he wouldn’t die, but the pain would feel very real.

That was the point of practical training, after all.

“One for me. Ten for Lucy and Lumi.”

Kneeling beside him, I lifted his head by the hair, forcing him to meet my gaze.

The confidence in his eyes was gone—replaced by pure fear.

“I-I was wrong...”

Too late for regrets.

If I let him off now, it would only be more annoying later.

He was like the first unlucky student to get punished for talking in class—setting an example for the others.

It was an avoidable situation, but someone had to take the hit for discipline.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

“Guhh...”

[Duel, stop!]

“Weakling.”

I had only slammed him down four times, but he was already out of it.

As the arena’s forced termination signal echoed, the duel came to an end.

By now, most of Class A had gathered to watch.

Nam Daeun wasn’t there, but I spotted Elise in the crowd.

Holding Weakling by the hair, I stood up.

Every cadet in the area was staring at me.

“Hey, guys. You all saw I didn’t use magic, right?”

“...!”

I heard the sound of someone swallowing nervously. A quick glance confirmed it was Do Jinhyuk’s crew.

“If anyone else wants to act up like this guy, I’ll burn you alive next time. So watch yourselves.”

Boom!

Releasing my grip on Weakling’s head, I let him collapse to the floor before stepping out of the ring.

Lucy and Lumi were waiting for me, their faces filled with excitement rather than fear.

Well, it wouldn’t make sense for the heroines to be scared of the protagonist’s strength.

“What the hell?! Why are you so good at fighting?! And why don’t you use magic in duels? You’re not actually a mage, are you?!”

“T-Thank you.”

Not sure what exactly Lumi was thanking me for, but she seemed happy, so whatever.

*

Naturally, the one-on-one duel from class got recorded and shared.

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[Lee Hoyeon’s duel video—absolute legend LOL]

[Video]

Just watching the clip, you’d think it was impressive, but not exactly legendary.

The twist? He’s a mage. And he beat the crap out of an Iris Guild prospect without using magic at all. LOL.

Upvotes: 329 Downvotes: 120

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fff

[Huh? A mage? Then how the hell did he react to that speed?]

[Wow, look at how he slammed his face into the ground. That’s terrifying.]

[Iris Guild’s fraud exposed, LOL.]

[A global bubble, damn.]

[I get that he fights well, but I just find his face annoying, so downvote.]

[Yeah, agreed. This guy is always taking pictures with girls. Pisses me off.]

[-------Victoria Academy’s list of losers-------]

[This f***ing guy.]

[Breaking news: Iris Guild cancels contract offer to Kim Hojin, LOL.]

[For real? He’s screwed, hahaha.]

[Honestly, if he’s this strong without magic, didn’t he and Lucy actually take down that demon?]

[Agreed. If he can fight like this without magic, he’d shred a demon in an instant if he actually used it.]

[I don’t know... Even after watching this, I still don’t believe it.]

[Same. The pros who’ve fought two-horned demons before all say it’s impossible.]

“These so-called pros are pathetic. If they’re weaker than me, they should stop calling themselves veterans.”

Checking the reactions on Everday, I wasn’t fully satisfied.

Still, I should be grateful that the public opinion was improving. Looking back at old comments, they were calling me a scammer before.

If someone had just let me know earlier, I would’ve explained things sooner.

How did no one tell me?

Were they being considerate or just too considerate?

“Phew. All done! Lumi, what about you?”

“I just finished too.”

We were in the clubroom, working on assignments.

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

Even when I offered to let them copy mine, they insisted on doing it themselves. Pretty admirable.

“Since we’re done, should we head back?”

“Yep!”

“Okay! Home time!”

Our club still only had three members.

Thanks to my efforts, our club was now visible on the list of active clubs.

With Lucy and Lumi—two stunning twins—applications were pouring in from male cadets. And thanks to me, a lot of female cadets applied too.

But Lucy still had lingering trauma from Felix’s attack.

Ever since then, she minimized contact with guys—except for me.

Honestly, I didn’t mind at all. I kind of orchestrated it that way.

For now, we decided not to accept any new members, keeping the clubroom as our private space.

“See you tomorrow.”

“We’re heading to the dorms together anyway, why bother saying goodbye?”

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

Lucy waved her wallet.

“Oh, really? What are you buying?”

“Uh, just... necessities?”

She was stammering—probably buying pads.

I’d gotten pretty good at picking up on little details like this.

“Alright. Lumi and I will head back. See you tomorrow.”

“Take care, Lucy. See you tomorrow.”

“Yep! Bye-bye!”

Lucy dashed toward the academy’s main gate.

I turned to Lumi.

“Shall we go too?”

“...H-Hoyeon?”

“Hmm?”

“I-I have something to say. Can we go back to the clubroom for a moment?”

“Oh, of course.”

I followed Lumi back into the clubroom.

She waited for me to step inside before locking the door. Then she double-checked it—multiple times.

“...Lumi?”

Her face was flushed. And she locked the door.

I had a pretty good idea of what was coming next.

“T-Thank you for standing up for us today. Lucy feels the same way.”

“It’s nothing. I was just annoyed.”

“It makes me really happy that someone would get angry on my behalf. Lucy is family, but you’re not. And yet, you still...”

Honestly, it was a mix of circumstances that led to it. But I decided to stay quiet.

Lumi squirmed shyly. Cute.

“W-We’re secret friends, right? S-So, I think it’s okay for us to do more... secret things.”

“...Yeah.”

“I want to show my gratitude in a... secret way...”

Lumi made a V-sign with both her index and middle fingers.

“S-So... as a sign of gratitude... I-I’ll make you feel good. B-But I’m still inexperienced...”

Then, she put the V-sign fingers into her mouth, stretching her lips into a wide rectangle while mumbling.

“H-Here. Hoyeon, u-use me however you want...”

Gulp.

Lumi’s flushed face and glistening lips filled my vision.

Chapter end