Chapter 19
“…”
Jooho stared at Sehyun blankly.
“Ha… Haha! Hahaha!”
A moment later, Jooho burst into laughter. Then, as if he couldn’t hold it in any longer, he clutched his stomach and laughed.
Sehyun’s face hardened at his crazy laughter.
“Ah, Sehyun. It’s been a while, and you’ve changed so much. I thought you’d be the same, but you’ve become even more interesting.”
Jooho wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes and caught his breath.
“So? What do you think is going to be different?”
In a blink of an eye, Jooho was right in front of Sehyun.
She didn’t even see him move!
Sehyun frowned. It seemed that the sparring ring could only adjust the difference in strength and skill level, not individual speed.
“Did you think you could beat me if I became an F-grade?”
“…”
“Or do you have another trick up your sleeve? Even if you do, even if you do!”
Jooho raised his hand. A faint heat surrounded his hand.
“Even if you do, you’ll forever be…!”
As Jooho roared and swung his fist,
Thud!
“Ugh!”
A short groan escaped Jooho’s lips. He opened his eyes and stared at himself in disbelief.
He was lying on the floor. No, he had known it from the moment he started falling.
But there was a big difference between what his mind recognized and what his heart accepted.
He couldn’t understand why he had fallen. Sehyun hadn’t moved, she had just stood there.
But as if he had been repelled by something…
Yes, repelled.
Repel…
Jooho’s face turned pale as he muttered softly.
“…Repel… me?”
“It’s also called recoil.”
Sehyun replied calmly. Jooho’s mouth fell open slightly.
“You…”
“What? Never seen recoil before?”
“…”
“That’s understandable. It’s not common.”
Sehyun smiled faintly. Jooho’s eyes wavered as he watched her speak so naturally, as if the skill had always been hers.
“This… This…”
It was his skill.
Sehyun had the same skill as him?
Of course, it wasn’t impossible. The world was vast, and there were quite a few Guards, so occasionally, skills overlapped.
Especially common skills like ‘Sound Blocking’ were possessed by almost all high-ranking Guards.
But ‘Recoil’ was different.
‘Recoil’ was one of Jooho’s main skills, the skill that had earned him his A-grade. And Kim Sehyun, an F-grade, of all people, possessed that skill.
“This is impossible… This is impossible! What have you done!”
Jooho jumped to his feet and shouted, lowering his stance. Sehyun looked at him with a puzzled expression, as if she didn’t understand what he was talking about.
‘He’s not completely stupid, after all.’
She thought inwardly.
It was a coincidence that she had discovered Jooho’s ‘Recoil’ skill.
When Jooho, who was using ‘Recoil’ to counter the annoying flower petals, had struck her arm,
Skill ‘Recoil’ confirmed.
Do you want to create ‘Recoil’ as a skill?
A notification had popped up. Sehyun quickly created the skill.
Just in case, she had deliberately let Jooho grab her and slap her cheek.
She had thought she could escape if it wasn’t the right skill, but deep down, she had been certain.
Certain that she could make that ‘Recoil’ hers.
Skill: Recoil (Unavailable)
Skill detected. Sensitivity increased by +1.
As expected.
A status window appeared.
Whether he was excited about hitting her or wanted to hit her harder, Jooho didn’t release the skill.
Thanks to that, her sensitivity soared.
Skill: Recoil (Unavailable)
Skill detected. Sensitivity increased by +1.
Skill: Recoil (Unavailable)
Skill detected. Sensitivity increased by +1.
Of course, it didn’t feel good.
She wanted to break free from Jooho’s grasp and kick him in the shin, but Sehyun endured.
She pretended to struggle, flailing her arms and blocking Jooho’s vision. That way, she rapidly increased her sensitivity to the skill.
She knew how self-destructive and pathetic this method was.
But this was the only way.
If she dragged it out and other people came and interrupted the spar, or if there were spectators, or if Shin Jooho, with his short attention span, got bored and left, it would be troublesome for her.
This was her only chance to fight Shin Jooho on equal footing.
He might not be thinking straight now because he was agitated, but he might sense something was wrong when he calmed down.
He was a paranoid guy, so he might think his skill was being stolen.
If that happened, the nasty Shin Jooho would never step foot in this sparring ring again.
He wouldn’t set foot on the sparring ring his own father had created.
So she had to acquire Shin Jooho’s skill now, no matter what. If not, she had to at least figure out what his skill was.
That way, she would have a way to stop him when he was released from the training center and went on a rampage in a month.
And after all that, she had finally made Shin Jooho’s ‘Recoil’ skill her own.
“Ha…”
Jooho’s face was expressionless as he got up. The crazy bastard had finally lost it. Sehyun knew it the moment she saw his face.
If only she had more slots…
Sehyun bit her lower lip in regret, but there was nothing she could do now.
She focused her gaze on Jooho, her legs firmly planted on the ground.
Whoosh!
Jooho was in front of her in a blink of an eye. His fist cut through the air.
Bang!
Sehyun raised her arm to block it.
Clang!
Their recoils clashed. Their bodies were repelled with even greater force. Sehyun, pushed back, quickly twisted her body using ‘Dodge.’
But ‘Dodge’ was literally just a skill to avoid attacks.
It only bought her a moment.
It would be nice if she had something to enhance her defense or speed…
Sehyun felt a pang of regret as she retreated.
But it wasn’t all regret.
Skill: Recoil (Unavailable)
Skill detected. Sensitivity increased by +1.
Skill: Recoil (Unavailable)
Skill detected. Sensitivity increased by +1.
Skill: Recoil (Unavailable)
Skill detected. Sensitivity increased by +1.
Her sensitivity to the ‘Recoil’ skill was increasing at an even faster rate because she was using it while blocking the opponent’s recoil.
As Sehyun was feeling somewhat satisfied, Jooho looked like he was about to lose his mind.
“Why… Why the hell are you…”
Jooho muttered, not even realizing he was speaking.
His number of attacks, his attack power, everything was superior.
Even though their grades had been lowered to the same level, the fundamental difference in their skill levels, their physical differences, and the amount of training they had undergone created a huge gap.
So he should have been able to crush Sehyun in an instant.
Or so he had thought.
But why…!
Jooho bit his lip painfully.
It was a strange feeling. Sehyun’s recoil, which had felt weak at first, was becoming more and more solid.
It felt like he was hitting a springy membrane.
And it felt like she was recovering quickly even when he attacked the exposed areas after her recoil was broken.
Wait, recovering…?
Recoil and recovery?
If she had both those skills, she would have been an A-grade from the start.
Grades were determined by what skills they were born with and how proficiently they could use them.
So, since Kim Sehyun was an F-grade, there was no way she could possess both ‘Recovery’ and ‘Recoil’ skills.
She shouldn’t have them, it wasn’t possible…
But what was this feeling of being overwhelmed?
“This can’t be happening. No, it can’t! It can’t!”
Jooho muttered softly and raised his hand. His hand turned silver. Sehyun’s eyes widened at the sight.
That crazy bastard…!
“I didn’t think I’d have to use this.”
He had only planned to use ‘Recoil’ to enhance his punches…
That would have been enough to take down Kim Sehyun.
But unexpected things had happened one after another.
Jooho’s silver fist, fueled by his rage, cut through the air. Sehyun instinctively tried to activate ‘Recoil’ but flinched and backed away.
Her recoil might be broken!
It was a realization that came from her survival instincts.
Sehyun used ‘Dodge’ to move out of the way. But she couldn’t move in the direction she wanted.
A leg flew towards her from the other side at high speed. She couldn’t dodge it even though she saw it coming.
“Ugh!”
Sehyun’s body flew through the air.
She felt a dizzying sensation, as if her brain was being shaken, followed by a numb pain.
The ‘Divine Touch Upon You’ skill activated automatically, but it couldn’t completely negate the impact.
Thud!
Her body hit the ground. Sehyun managed to land safely, protecting her head, but she couldn’t relax.
As soon as she tried to get up, Jooho’s knee was right in front of her face.
Sehyun quickly leaned back to avoid it. She blocked the next attack with her arm. She managed to deflect it using ‘Recoil,’ but she had to absorb some of the impact.
Jooho, seeing that, pressed his attack like a madman.
Sehyun was dodging as much as possible using ‘Dodge’ and ‘Recoil,’ but she couldn’t completely bridge the fundamental gap between them. Even if their grades were the same, she couldn’t overcome the difference in their individual abilities.
Sehyun had become a Guard recently, while Jooho had been preparing for it for a long time, undergoing various training.
After exchanging a few blows, Sehyun was gradually pushed back.
“You were so confident, and this is all you got? Huh? Is this all you got!”
Jooho shouted, as if venting his frustration.
But despite his blustering, sweat was dripping down his back.
Even though their grades were the same because of the sparring ring, he shouldn’t be struggling this much against Kim Sehyun.
“But why!”
Thud!
Sehyun was finally thrown out of the sparring ring by Jooho’s kick, who had completely lost his mind.
Hmm