Episode 31
It wasn't a matter of strength.
The purity of his qi, power, and speed. In all of these, Jonghyeon was overwhelmingly outmatched by Raven.
Fights using a short dao inherently lacked defense, but to say he had created a new martial art based on the Cheonwon Simje swordsmanship and his own combat martial arts would not be an exaggeration.
Because of that, it incorporated a slightly defensive stance, allowing Jonghyeon to barely hold on.
‘But this too has its limits.’
In a prolonged fight, Jonghyeon no longer had confidence. Maintaining this state, he wouldn’t last even a minute.
He had to stake everything on one blow.
Thwack—
Taking Raven’s wooden sword grazing lightly past his waist, Jonghyeon thrust his short dao forward.
The spectators could no longer follow the two fighters’ movements with their eyes. Only the sound of clashing steel and the light of colliding sword qi reached them.
Only the two A-rank examiners could make out their movements.
“By the way. Is there such a thing as black sword qi?”
The A-rank mage watching asked.
“Right. I’ve never seen sword qi like this either.”
Jonghyeon’s black sword qi was enough to surprise everyone. Normal sword qi was blue or white.
“Occasionally, those who have mastered demonic arts are said to use dark red martial techniques.”
“But to call that demonic qi…”
“I know. If he’s using demonic qi of such high purity, he must have already overcome the demonic nature.”
The two A-rankers conversed as if providing commentary while watching.
‘Should I use the Shadow?’
Jonghyeon desperately blocked Raven’s sword while thinking ceaselessly. If he used the Shadow, he was confident he could fight a little better.
But he soon gave up on that thought. Because although it was his ability, if that ability became known to the world, he feared attention would focus on him in a different sense than when he had conquered the Red Rose Guild.
‘They might try to dissect me.’
Since blood was slowly trickling from his body despite clearly being scratched by the wooden sword, Jonghyeon was reaching his physical limit as well.
‘This is the last one!’
At that moment, Jonghyeon concentrated the qi throughout his entire body into his left hand. It was something he hadn’t known, a fact he only realized after training.
He was left-handed.
Since ordinary sword stances and sword arts were all based on the right hand, dealing with a left-handed sword style could be difficult.
Jonghyeon aimed for that very opening.
Whoooosh—!
With a tremendous roar, black qi exploded, and Raven and Jonghyeon, who had briefly created distance between them, attempted to clash head-on.
But.
“I concede.”
Jonghyeon suddenly acknowledged his defeat roughly one meter before the collision.
As he spoke, Jonghyeon quickly fell back, and Raven withdrew her sword with astonishing reaction speed.
Jonghyeon had rarely sparred like this before, but he could instinctively tell.
‘If I had gone in like this, I would have suffered a fatal wound.’
He realized it when they were within two meters of clashing. That his move was already exposed to Raven.
It was something he knew instinctively because his intuition had greatly increased ever since acquiring the Orc’s Orb.
The most he could cut off was, at best, one arm. But the image of having to lay down his own life in exchange had been drawn in his mind even before the clash.
‘Looking at it this way, it’s like some manga’s intuition ability. What was it called, Haki?’
Among the manga Jonghyeon had read as a child, there was something similar to his ability. Recalling that, Jonghyeon put on a bitter smile as he looked at Raven and spoke.
“It was an honor. Simply being able to cross blades like this.”
“Good work. I could tell for sure. You are far above A-rank.”
At Raven’s praise, Jonghyeon spoke with an embarrassed expression.
“Thank you for going easy on me.”
“Not at all. I wasn’t going easy on you. And Mr. Ryu, you made a wise decision. I was actually wondering if I should stop around here, but seeing your qi got me excited… It has been a while since I could fight like this, so I was happy. I apologize for getting carried away as a proctor. By the way, Mr. Ryu, where did you learn your martial arts?”
Raven didn’t even seem to be out of breath. But Jonghyeon’s heart couldn’t help but race at Raven’s words that she had grown nervous facing his sword.
Someone this strong had acknowledged his might.
“I taught myself. The fact that my qi is black is something I realized from the first time I used qi. I don’t know why either.”
“…”
Raven was at a loss for words. Reaching this level at such a young age was already unbelievable enough, but to be self-taught on top of that?
Raven had always been called a prodigy and started learning the sword at age eleven. It took over twenty years to reach this level.
‘The real prodigy was right here!’
Had Jonghyeon told her that he had mastered all of this in less than a year, Raven might have fainted from shock.
Of course, Jonghyeon had handled swords for a long time as a veteran, but it hadn’t even been a full year since he properly learned martial arts.
Clap, clap, clap—
Thunderous applause poured out from the surroundings for the splendid spar. Jonghyeon scratched his head, bowing slightly in belated embarrassment.
“For now, Mr. Ryu is confirmed as an A-ranker. We will reissue your Ranker license and send it to your registered address. It seems the procedures have been greatly delayed because of us. I’ll take my leave now.”
Only then did all the tension leave Jonghyeon’s body. The fact that he had received A-rank. That alone made him indescribably happy.
‘I did it. I really did it!’
Jonghyeon suddenly recalled his childhood up until now.
The days when he was teased for being an orphan. When there was someone he didn’t like, he beat them up quietly, but the frustration of being trapped in the mold of an “orphan” was never resolved.
So he started going off track. Living trapped in the mold of “I’m an orphan anyway,” he pickpocketed.
Then he gradually met people who needed his abilities, and finally he was able to reach this point.
Jonghyeon didn’t think he had been this happy even when he became a fixer. Seeing Jonghyeon’s expression, Raven, who was standing afar, also smiled at him.
‘Please be happy to your heart’s content, Mr. Ryu. You are one of the greatest prodigies born in Korea—no, in the world.’
★ ★ ★
Having left the examination hall, Jonghyeon called Chairman Lee.
“Hello. Is that Jonghyeon?”
“Yes. Chairman, I succeeded.”
When Jonghyeon spoke in an excited voice, Chairman Lee asked as if intrigued.
“Hoo. So, did you get B-rank? Well, given that you annihilated the Red Rose Guild, aiming for A-rank would be worth a shot.”
Chairman Lee’s judgment was not to be underestimated, as expected.
“That’s right. I received A-rank. The proctor herself tested me personally.”
It was Chairman Lee who was more surprised by Jonghyeon’s words.
“Wait. The proctor? As far as I know, the global examination proctor is Raven… was it her?”
It was Jonghyeon who was bewildered by Chairman Lee’s surprised voice.
“Is… she that amazing?”
“Of course she is! You don’t know her? You truly have no interest in world affairs.”
After hearing a brief explanation about Raven from Chairman Lee, Jonghyeon couldn’t close his mouth in astonishment.
“Yes. Anyway, congratulations on receiving A-rank. Rest well today and return tomorrow. I believe there will be a press conference tomorrow.”
It was a small congratulation from Chairman Lee, but Jonghyeon could clearly read the surprise in those words. Since he himself was astonished, how could Chairman Lee not be surprised?
“Yes, I understand. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
After finishing the brief call, Jonghyeon found a bar.
He wasn’t usually fond of alcohol, but he couldn’t let a day like today pass by just like that.
Gulp—
“Kyaah~”
As if filming a beer commercial, Jonghyeon downed his beer without even pausing for breath.
“Another five hundred of beer here!”
Jonghyeon learned for the first time that they sold squid as bar food in America too.
Munching on squid legs deliciously while drinking beer, he felt as if he had become an ordinary person.
The beer tasted especially good while watching the American streets at night.
Tuk—
“Huh?”
Jonghyeon set down his beer bottle and tried to tear off a piece of squid, but accidentally bumped into the person behind him.
“I’m sorry.”
Jonghyeon quickly apologized and reached for his bottle to drink again, but the person behind him didn’t seem to have any intention of letting it go.
“Hey. Yellow monkey! You call that an apology?”
Ever since dungeons broke out across the world, and because Korea lacked high-ranking talents, Koreans were often looked down upon.
Jonghyeon didn’t want to cause unnecessary trouble, so he apologized once more, but the other party didn’t seem willing to accept it.
“Do you know who I am? I passed the C-rank today!”
The opponent seemed somewhat drunk, and as he spoke in a rough tone, spit flew onto Jonghyeon’s face.
‘Hoo. Should I kill him?’
It was with the intention to endure one last time that Jonghyeon offered an apology.
“Shut up! You need to be taught a lesson today. Follow me!”
Jonghyeon lightly shook off the white man’s hand that tried to drag him out like that.
However, from Jonghyeon’s perspective, who merely shook it off, it was light.
From the receiving end, the white man couldn’t overcome the recoil of his arm and was rolling on the ground.
“Kyah! Call the police!”
The surroundings began to grow rowdy.
‘As expected, I shouldn’t have bothered.’
He’d never imagined he’d cause trouble even after coming to a foreign country.
Normally, he would’ve quietly taken them outside and dealt with them, but today he was drunk, so he had acted on impulse.
And so a fight broke out with his group, and shortly after, his companions were all kneeling with their hands up.
“You bastards. Should’ve known your place and let it go.”
Jonghyeon spoke like that and drank the remaining beer.
“Ptooey—my beer’s gone lukewarm because of you! And you, bastard, what’s with this ‘yellow monkey,’ monkey my ass! If you ever speak like that one more time, I’ll kill you. Got it?”
At Jonghyeon’s slightly drunken sermon, the white men looked aggrieved, but none could object to his words.
Because they had clearly witnessed Jonghyeon’s martial prowess. And shortly after, the police arrived.
Ranker Police.
It was a measure America had created to maintain national power. Made to control fellow Rankers, and to ensure ordinary people weren’t harmed, only those of at least B-rank could become Ranker Police.
Therefore, their numbers were small, so they often moved in pairs.
The Ranker Police was a system unique only to America, and perhaps that was why America could receive almost no interference from guilds, unlike other countries.
“Everyone, come with us. If you don’t comply, we will subdue you by force.”
At the Ranker Police’s threat, Jonghyeon and the five white men quietly put on handcuffs.
Given Jonghyeon’s position, unless he intended to go to war with America, he could not recklessly lay hands on the Ranker Police.
Shortly after arriving at the police station, Jonghyeon and the white men had their identities called out.
“Ryu Jonghyeon. Korean-affiliated D-ranker. Hmm? But a D-ranker overwhelmingly made three C-rankers and two D-rankers kneel?”
The police were surprised even as they looked at the documents. Since he was Korean, they had requested cooperation from the Korean police, and an official document had arrived in response.
The five white men had prior records of drunken disorderly conduct.
“Anyway, since you used force in a place with civilians, it’s a fairly serious crime. However, considering that nothing was broken and no civilians were injured, a fine will be imposed on Ryu Jonghyeon.”
As the police officer received Jonghyeon’s passport and entered it into his computer, his eyes went wide the moment he typed something.
And he began rapidly contacting somewhere.
---------= Author's Afterword ---------=
Episode 32 will be released in the morning.
Please vote for this work~~