Chapter 29
Do Sung emphasized the word “sparring.” His companions chimed in, creating a tense atmosphere with comments like, “Oh dear, our boss is angry,” and “Oppa, I’m scared!”
They were like a typical gang of thugs.
“Sure, let’s do it.”
Sehyun’s calm response made Do Sung’s eyes narrow.
“Ha! Alright. Let’s crush you one by one. No crying and begging to stop, okay?”
“You mean 1:1?”
“Do you want a group fight instead?”
“Let’s do 6:6 to save time. We have the right number of people, and the space is large enough. There’s a group sparring mode, too.”
“Ha, seriously…”
Do Sung’s expression changed in an instant. He rubbed the back of his neck and strode towards Sehyun.
“You think you can walk all over us just because we’re being nice? Hey, do you think I’m joking?”
Sehyun tilted her head slightly at his words.
“You?”
“…”
“Do you think I’m joking?”
Sehyun’s voice dropped to a chillingly low tone. Do Sung flinched unconsciously, then quickly composed himself and scowled.
This group had formed because they were the ones who couldn’t even dare to look at the A-grades, and they started gathering together to avoid the more skilled C-grades.
In other words, they were the weaker ones among the C-grades. They didn’t say it out loud, but everyone knew it. This fact had been a source of insecurity for Do Sung.
And now, even the F-grades were looking down on them.
Grit.
Do Sung gritted his teeth.
The F-grades had the audacity to hold their heads high, despite being three ranks below them!
“Stop running your mouth and come up here.”
Do Sung stepped onto the sparring ring and beckoned with his finger.
“Wait a moment.”
Sehyun turned around and gestured for Dongwoo to come over. Six people gathered.
“I-I can’t do it!”
“Why did you say that?”
Complaints poured out.
Two of the three complained to Sehyun, and the other glared at Hyeryeon.
“What did you expect me to do?”
Sehyun asked, looking at them calmly.
“Just endure…”
“Endure until when?”
“Until we become stronger…”
“When will we become stronger?”
“…”
“Do you think we’ll magically become stronger by running away?”
The other two F-grades’ faces fell at Sehyun’s question.
“But blindly charging in isn’t the best option either. What do we gain from fighting like this? Mockery? Ridicule?”
One of them shouted in frustration.
“Experience. The experience of trying something.”
“…”
They all stared at Sehyun in disbelief.
“And you all know that we haven’t been able to spar with the E-grade Guards, even though we’ve been working so hard, right?”
Everyone fell silent at Sehyun’s question.
The E-grades also refused to spar with the F-grades. They thought there was nothing to learn from them.
“This is our chance. When else will we get to spar with C-grades?”
“…”
“Let’s see how much stronger we’ve become after all our hard work.”
“But…”
“We’ve become much stronger. We sparred and trained while others were sleeping. We’re not going to just keep that skill to ourselves, are we? So let’s do it.”
“Yeah! If you don’t want to, then get out of the way! I’m doing it! How long are we going to stay like this among ourselves!”
Hyeryeon stepped forward.
“I’ll do it too. I can’t be a coward in front of my daughters. If things get bad, we can just press the emergency button, and the spar will end. What’s so bad about being embarrassed? Running away is what’s embarrassing.”
With Dongwoo and Hyeryeon taking the lead, the remaining three looked at each other and then stepped forward.
“I’ll do it too.”
“Me too…”
Finally, all five of them stood beside Sehyun. Sehyun smiled faintly, looking at their faces.
They might lose. No, it was only natural that they would lose. There was a three-rank difference.
But they had to do it.
So they could realize that even though these C-grades were strong, they weren’t as strong as they thought, and overcome their fear.
And maybe they would realize that what they were truly afraid of wasn’t other people, but the walls they had built themselves.
“Then I’ll briefly explain what you need to do.”
Sehyun began speaking calmly.
“Are you going to war?”
“Ugh, scary. So scary.”
Do Sung and his group clicked their tongues at the sight in front of them.
Hyeryeon stood at the very back, with three others beside her, and Dongwoo and Sehyun at the front. So the small curly-haired girl was the ranged attacker, the middle row was support, and the front was the vanguard.
“Stop running your mouth and let’s get this over with.”
Hyeryeon shouted, frowning.
“Ah, that bitch…”
One of the men in the group raised his hand.
Flames gathered in his palm. It was a powerful offensive skill.
At that moment, Hyeryeon raised her hand. Flower petals, which hadn’t been there before, bloomed intensely.
“Playing with flowers in the middle of this?”
The man on the far left chuckled.
Slice.
At that same moment.
“…Huh?”
A thin cut appeared on the man’s cheek. The thin, silver-like wound started to bleed.
“You little…”
A wave of flower petals surged towards them, enveloping them.
“You think these petty tricks will work on me!”
Flames swept over the flower petals. Then, a gust of wind blew, sweeping away both the flames and the petals.
Smug smiles appeared on their faces as they brushed off the annoying petals.
But their smiles didn’t last long.
“Wh-When did…!”
“U-Ugh!”
Shadows loomed over them.
“Block it!”
Do Sung, who was standing at the back, shouted. But it was too late. Dongwoo, who had approached them while their vision was obscured by the flower petals, raised his massive fist.
It was so large that it was hard to believe it was a human fist. It cut through the air.
Whoosh.
A chill ran down their spines as they heard the sound of the giant fist. But that was all.
Bang!
One of the men was sent flying like a fallen leaf, crashing into another man. The man who had been hit fainted, and the other man pushed him off, grimacing as he got up.
“Wow, don’t tell anyone you know me, you pathetic bastard. Getting knocked out with one hit from an F-grade, despite being a C-grade.”
As he cursed the fallen man and tried to approach them quickly,
He couldn’t move forward, no matter how hard he tried. As if someone was holding his ankle tightly…
The man’s eyes widened as he looked down. A lump of something that looked like melted candle wax was wrapped around his leg. He looked up and saw a guy standing in the corner, sweating profusely.
“Ha, these bastards… Where did they learn these cheap tricks!”
“Ugh, you pathetic bastard. Are you a signpost? Just standing there like that?”
“What, you bastard?”
“Watch and learn. The dignity of a C-grade.”
The woman stepped forward, chuckling, lowered her stance, and stuck out her tongue. She licked her lips and smirked.
“What a shame. It seems like your important personnel are exhausted.”
The woman looked around calmly.
“That big guy looks like he needs time to use his next skill, and that crazy flower girl is the same. The guy holding the ankle seems like he can’t move while using his skill. So, there are three left? What other surprising skills do you have? Let’s play.”
The woman smiled sweetly, inappropriate for the situation, and dashed forward.
I can’t see her!
People gasped in surprise. The woman smirked, thinking it was a natural reaction.
At that moment, someone blocked her path.
“I’m confident in my speed too.”
An F-grade man stood in front of the woman.
“Oh, really? So what?”
He’s an F-grade anyway.
F-grades were often those who had insignificant skills, couldn’t fully utilize their skills, or had skills that weren’t suitable for solo combat.
So, while they might be helpful in a large-scale monster hunt, they were at a disadvantage in a fight like this.
Especially against her, who excelled in speed and combat.
Crackle!
Ice shot out from the woman’s fingertips as she smiled.
“This is an accident.”
The woman raised an ice spear menacingly. The F-grade man’s eyes widened. He had a feeling he wouldn’t be able to get up if he got hit by that.
I-I have to do something…
But what could he do? He was just fast. He had barely managed to block her path.
Just as the F-grade man resigned himself and raised his arms to protect his face,
“Ouch!”
He looked up at the sudden cry and saw the woman, who had been about to swing the ice spear, kneeling on the floor. Sehyun stood in front of her.
“This is an accident.”
Wham!
Sehyun’s knee slammed into the woman’s face. No, it was so fast that he only realized what had happened after seeing Sehyun’s knee connect with the woman’s face. The man, who had been confident in his speed, stared at Sehyun with a blank expression.
Since when was she this fast?
While he was still dazed, Sehyun nudged the woman, who was lying precariously on the edge of the sparring ring, with her foot.
Thud.
The woman fell out of the ring, which meant she was disqualified.
“Just keep doing that.”
“…”
“Hey?”
Sehyun called out again, and the F-grade man, still looking bewildered, nodded belatedly.
“Y-Yes.”
“Thanks to you, things are going smoothly.”
“Huh?”
The man asked in confusion, but Sehyun was already quickly approaching Dongwoo.
‘Thanks to you, things are going smoothly.’
Ah… So I’m actually helpful in this fight.
‘Tae Sung, you’re fast, so block anyone who tries to approach us with speed.’
He suddenly remembered what Sehyun had said before the spar.
He had thought she was just giving him a random role…
But Sehyun had given him a specific role. To block the opponent’s speed so that the others could attack.
He was actually contributing!
Tae Sung’s face brightened slightly.
However, as Tae Sung’s face brightened, Do Sung’s face, who had been observing the situation, darkened.