Academy's Delinquent in Charge: Episode 35
As if it were only natural, the repeating students praised Won Jin’s palm technique.
“As expected of Shaolin’s Great Strength Vajra Palm.”
“Isn’t that Moyong Seok? Did he get his ribs broken?”
But the freshmen were all struck dumb. Not a single one among them had ever thought Moyong Seok would lose.
Yet he had.
And it was an overwhelming defeat.
“Moyong Seok!”
Namgung Jongsu quickly entered the stage and came out carrying Moyong Seok on his back. Moyong Seok, whose ribs were broken, breathed raggedly.
“The infirmary! Hurry!”
Hwangbo Cheolsu, receiving Moyong Seok from Namgung Jongsu, carried him on his back and ran to the infirmary.
Once he confirmed Hwangbo Cheolsu had taken Moyong Seok out, Dan Gyehong called the next participant’s name.
The next match was Chris and Thomas. Both, true to their Magic Track background, bombarded each other with long-range magic.
The result was Chris’s victory, but his injuries were severe enough that he forfeited the next duel.
“Next, Ye Jawon and Raika, please come out.”
Raika and Ye Jawon stepped onto the stage and exchanged greetings.
“Senior, I’ll go first.”
“Do as you please.”
Lightning spewed forth from the four magic circles that rose above Raika’s hand. Raika intended to bet everything on the first strike.
‘If I can’t finish this in one blow, I have no chance.’
Ye Jawon raised her exclusive weapon, the Huixiang Sword. Her movements were very slow for someone using martial arts.
By the time she had fully raised her sword, Raika’s magic was already bearing down on her.
Kwaang—
Thick smoke billowed up from where Raika’s magic had struck.
“I got her!”
“What exactly did you get?”
At the voice coming from behind, Raika turned with an expression of disbelief. Ye Jawon, who had somehow gotten behind him, was pointing her sword at his neck.
“Wh-when……”
“Concede.”
Raika’s eyes wavered. He found it hard to accept defeat, but reality was cold. In the end, he dropped his head.
“……I concede.”
Ye Jawon sheathed her sword with the same slow motion and left the stage. Raika slumped to his knees on the spot, as if he couldn’t believe it.
Of course, he got smacked on the head by Dan Gyehong and was immediately chased off.
The next match was Ji Taegyeong and Namgung Jongsu, and Baek Iljin was granted a bye.
Namgung Jongsu, who had ascended the stage, warmed up by hopping in place.
“Jones! Jones! Jones!”
“Namgung! Namgung! Namgung!”
The male students came right up to the stage and cheered for Namgung Jongsu. Some students had even torn up scraps of paper to write his name on.
“Ah, quit it already.”
Ji Taegyeong, seeing that scene, forcibly suppressed a bubbling laugh and spoke.
“Pfft. Junior Namgung. You’re quite popular, aren’t you?”
Namgung Jongsu’s eyes went wide. He was already irritated to death, and now being mocked by this bastard made fury surge up.
‘That punk……!’
Namgung Jongsu drew his sword instead of answering. Then he slightly moved it toward Ji Taegyeong.
Click— Click—
“Ha, you’re really not in your right mind.”
“Enough chatter. Get in here.”
Ji Taegyeong was genuinely curious why Namgung Jongsu was acting so cocky. Objectively speaking, Namgung Jongsu didn’t stand a chance against him.
No matter that he had failed to advance a grade, one year at the academy hadn’t been spent in vain.
‘This time, I’ll have to make sure he learns his place properly.’
Namgung Jongsu knew as well that Ji Taegyeong wasn’t someone to take lightly. But there was a reason he was acting so confidently.
‘The Small Return Pill……!’
The academy had recognized his merits during the Blue Rose incident and bestowed the Small Return Pill upon Namgung Jongsu as a reward, and he consumed it immediately upon receiving it.
And thanks to that, he, who had been facing a wall, was recently able to cross into a new realm.
‘At this level, I absolutely won’t lose to Ji Taegyeong.’
“Emperor Sword!”
Namgung Jongsu shouted the name of the martial art and charged forward.
The freshmen took it in stride since they knew his tendencies well, but the repeating students watching the duel whispered among themselves.
“Wow, it’s my first time seeing someone call out a martial art’s name while using it.”
“Me too. Namgung Jongsu or whatever—he seems like a crazy bastard.”
“His way of speaking was weird from the start, though.”
Ji Taegyeong also drew his sword and unleashed the Demon-Subduing Sword of the Gongdong School. At the same time, the two charged in simultaneously, their swords clashing with a spray of sparks.
The Emperor Sword of the Namgung family and the Demon-Subduing Sword of the Gongdong School were both martial arts that pursued raw strength; the two pushed against each other without an inch of concession.
The moment their swords met, Ji Taegyeong felt his internal energy draining rapidly from his dantian.
“How does a brat like you have such internal energy……”
“There’s barely a year between us.”
Pressed back in internal energy, Ji Taegyeong was the first to turn aside. Namgung Jongsu threw a sneer at him.
“Running away with your tail between your legs from a younger brat.”
“……”
Namgung Jongsu scattered his sword strikes like a predator chasing prey. His bearing was so ferocious that it seemed an emperor passing judgment.
But his sword couldn’t reach Ji Taegyeong.
Ji Taegyeong’s real combat experience was superior to Namgung Jongsu’s, and based on that, he was able to evade every attack even while being pushed back.
“So the little rat was here.”
“A greenhorn who only knows how to rely on his internal energy……!”
Having regulated their breathing, the two charged in as if to clash swords once more.
Just before blade met blade, Ji Taegyeong, having heavily channeled internal energy into his legs, kicked off the ground and leaped into the air.
Thanks to that, Namgung Jongsu’s sword cut through empty air in vain.
The wasted stroke created an opening, and Ji Taegyeong, seizing that gap, cast magic right at Namgung Jongsu’s face.
“Light.”
“Argh—my eyes!”
Seeing Namgung Jongsu squeezing his eyes shut and floundering, Ji Taegyeong grasped his sword in a reverse grip.
“It’s over, Junior Namgung.”
Ji Taegyeong formed a thick smile and brought the reverse-gripped sword straight down toward Namgung Jongsu’s head.
Stopping the sword a mere centimeter above his head, Ji Taegyeong patted Namgung Jongsu’s shoulder with his palm.
“This is the wall.”
“What do you mean……!”
“Perfect.”
Ji Taegyeong sheathed his sword and swaggered down from the stage. Cheers could be heard from afar.
Unable to swallow his rage, Namgung Jongsu slammed his fist into the stage.
Thud—
He had nothing to say.
‘I lost, and it was perfect.’
Light was a very basic spell that he could use too. Yet he had never thought to use it like that.
‘I lacked real combat experience……’
With a stiffened expression, Namgung Jongsu trudged down from the stage. The male students swarmed in to offer words of comfort, but he wasn’t consoled in the slightest.
Then, someone handed him cold water. The hand offering the water was rough and calloused from wielding a sword, but instinctively, he could tell.
‘It’s a woman’s hand!’
Namgung Jongsu hurriedly took the water and looked up. Standing before him was Ye Jawon, a repeating student from the Jeomchang School.
“Y-Ye Jawon-senior?”
“I watched your duel.”
Namgung Jongsu, as if he had never been sulking, relaxed his expression into a broad grin and expressed his gratitude.
“A true man learns more from failure, you know.”
“Is that so? I’ll look forward to it, then.”
Having said that, Ye Jawon smiled and walked past Namgung Jongsu to ascend the stage.
Namgung Jongsu, who remained in place, pressed the cold water he had just received against his cheek. It was cold enough to sting his skin, yet somehow, he felt as if it held Ye Jawon’s warmth.
‘Namgung Jongsu, your campus flower garden life starts now!’
The male students, seeing Namgung Jongsu now grinning foolishly, lifted him up and tossed him into the air.
“Jones, learns, from failure!”
“Put me down! You crazy bastards!”
The next match was Baek Iljin and Ye Jawon.
Dan Gyehong laughed “heh, heh” and winked at Baek Iljin. But since Dan Gyehong was wearing an eyepatch over one eye, it merely looked like he was blinking.
‘I suppose he got dust in his eye.’
Ye Jawon said the same thing to Baek Iljin that she had said to Raika.
“Please, come.”
“Yes.”
Baek Iljin watched Ye Jawon’s ready stance.
‘Her weight is concentrated on her right ankle. She plans to step and dodge to the left.’
Baek Iljin extended his palm. Then he drew three magic circles around his hand.
“Air Gun.”
Bang— Ta-ang— Peok—
Air bullets shot from the magic circles, spinning as they aimed for Ye Jawon.
Ye Jawon used the same movement technique she had used to evade Raika’s magic to consecutively dodge two Air Gun shots. However, she could not avoid the last one.
From the unexpected hit, Ye Jawon lost her balance and fell flat on the ground.
‘It’s just a 1-star spell at best.’
She immediately got up and prepared for the next attack. But the leg hit by the Air Gun had no strength in it.
‘Did my ankle twist?’
This was the first time something like this had happened.
Even as she thought, ‘How can a 1-star spell produce such power?’ Ye Jawon quickly twisted her ankle, forcing the bone back into place.
But by the time she raised her head, three magic circles were already surrounding her, fiercely spewing light.
Baek Iljin spoke quietly.
“Please concede.”
Ye Jawon looked at the magic circles with a distraught expression. Now that she was trapped within them, there was no way to evade.
“……I concede.”
Unlike when Moyong Seok lost, the repeating students were left speechless. They had definitely heard that student named Baek Iljin was from the Theory Track. So what was this strength?
“To lose to a theory student, and to Number 200 at that……”
“It’s really unbelievable.”
Without leaving the stage, Baek Iljin spoke to Dan Gyehong.
“Professor, please start the next match right away.”
“Hm? Oh, let’s do that. Heh, heh.”
The dazed Dan Gyehong, hearing Baek Iljin’s words, gestured toward Won Jin and Ji Taegyeong. Ji Taegyeong and Won Jin came up onto the stage side by side.
“Since only three remain for the final, you will fight it out together. Any objections?”
“None.”
“None here either.”
Unlike when he had faced Moyong Seok, Won Jin’s face showed a hint of tension.
“Shiju, you are no ordinary person.”
“Thank you.”
“Hmph, as if that punk is anything special.”
Ji Taegyeong, who stood by listening to the two’s exchange of courtesies, pouted and grumbled.
Baek Iljin shifted his gaze to Ji Taegyeong. Then he stared intently into Ji Taegyeong’s eyes. Ji Taegyeong glared back without avoiding them.
Until now, Baek Iljin hadn’t thought much of Ji Taegyeong. But since the man had kept picking fights with him since morning, he was starting to get annoyed.
‘What a pain.’
Baek Iljin asked Ji Taegyeong, who was provoking him with a throat-slitting gesture.
“Why have you been picking a fight with me since morning?”
“Wh… what? This bastard’s speaking informally to a senior.”
“You’re the one who used informal speech first.”
“Ha, kids these days. This is why they’re no good.”
In fact, Ji Taegyeong wasn’t provoking Baek Iljin without reason either.
The reason was none other than Seol Hayun. Of course, he couldn’t say it because of his pride, but Ji Taegyeong had secretly harbored feelings for her since childhood.
But this morning, he had happened to see Seol Hayun greeting Baek Iljin, and his insides had been boiling ever since.
‘How dare you eye my girl without even knowing your place?’
He had been waiting for this very moment since this morning.
‘I’ll beat him half to death.’
Just then, Dan Gyehong blew the horn.
Ji Taegyeong, who had tensed his entire body, tried to charge straight at Baek Iljin but faltered.
‘Where did he go?’
Seeing Ji Taegyeong flustered as he looked for Baek Iljin, Won Jin pointed behind him with his finger.
‘Above?’
Kwajik—
The moment he raised his head, Ji Taegyeong’s head was slammed into the ground.