Chapter 9: 7

Chapter 7

The greatest academy in Korea.

She was first place in Gaon’s student rankings; the strongest first-year student that everyone was talking about.

Adela Ortensia entered the Image Room. Even during her free time, Adela was not one to skimp on her training.

“Location: random.”

A voice cold enough to chill someone to the bone.

Adela’s face was as expressionless as a robot.

[The location has been set to the fields.]

A refreshing breeze splayed her silver locks beautifully as the holograms were constructing the location.

“Three rank 4s.”

[Fighting monsters. Difficulty: Rank 4, three centaurs.]

Zzt!

The holograms created a monster with the upper body of a human and the body of a horse. The centaurs displayed their tall height and muscular bodies that contrasted Adela’s own physique.

“Grr!”

“Human! We’ll destroy you!”

Even as holograms, they were very intimidating.

The Image room recreated all five senses used in combat. The ground shook as the centaurs charged.

Clop clop clop!

With an impassive gaze, Adela stretched her hand towards the floor.

Crack! Crackle!

Everything froze.

Adela was the only one who was free in her world of ice.

Snap! Snap! Shatter!

The frozen centaurs broke into pieces as if they were crafted ice sculptures.

“Weak.”

Even when she went to the strongest hunter academy in the strongest hunter country of South Korea…

“Too weak…”

Her opponents were too weak. It’s why Adela felt so hollow. If Shin YuSung had only trained his body under the Fist King, Adela was a hunter that had only trained her Trait.

And her trait was S-rank.

Adela had the disposition to become the strongest hunter in the entire world, let alone Gaon Academy. Obviously, no one there could match up to her.

[You have attained a new high score.]

Adela wasn’t even a little bit happy at the mechanical voice congratulating her.

[Image Room – First-year records]

[1st — Adela Ortensia]

[Three rank 4 monsters. Total: 15000 points]

When the expressionless Adela was about to close the holographic screen, she happened to see an interesting name.

[9th — Shin YuSung]

[Five rank 3 monsters. Total: 10000 points]

“…The disciple of the Fist King?”

Adela had not forgotten the sole hunter, Fist King Yu WonHak, who had defeated her grandfather. Possibly because of that, Shin YuSung’s name was swirling around in Adela’s mouth.

“…Shin, YuSung.”

Even while being in F Class with an F-rank Trait, Shin YuSung had managed to get ninth place after just one day of attending classes. This was not a simple matter of skill.

While Adela’s face was still expressionless, she seemed to be interested in Shin YuSung’s actions.

‘If he has truly inherited the Fist King’s skills…’

With that as her reason, Adela stared at Shin YuSung’s name written on the hologram for a long time.

Gathering ingredients for Potions class.

F Class was having a hands-on lesson in the forest on Gaon Academy grounds.

“…What’s the difference between weeds and herbs?”

“They all look the same.”

“Ugh, the flowers… there are way too many that are the same color.”

The majority of the students were having a hard time with gathering herbs, but Shin YuSung was pointing to a red flower and chatting with Lee SiWoo in a carefree manner.

“This flower is called a Highness.”

“Wow, you found another one! So this is poisonous too?”

As Lee SiWoo asked, interested, Shin YuSung shook his head.

“Not usually. But…”

Shin YuSung mashed the Highness’s petals against the stalk of one of the plants he had gathered earlier. The two plants slowly got stickier and turned into a purple sap.

“If it combines with the stalk of a Hajid plant, it can cause serious food poisoning. It’s nearly impossible to go about your daily life when you’re sick with it.“

“Wow! Where did you learn all of this?” Lee SiWoo asked, surprised.

Shin YuSung remembered another conversation he had with the Fist King while combing through his memories.

[YuSung-ah, a hunter needs to be proficient in many fields to be a great one! Even knowing about a useless-looking herb like this one can save your life when you’re in a tight spot!]

Because the seven-year-old Shin YuSung was gathering up the herbs that the Fist King was talking about, he was running frantically all over the mountain. Due to his training back then, Shin YuSung gained enough knowledge about herbs and poisonous plants to rival the students in the graduating class.

“I learned it from my master.”

“Y-your master, you mean…! The Fist King, Yu WonHak?! That’s amazing!”

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Lee SiWoo’s eyes were shining with excitement. The students watching the two being friendly with each other were whispering amongst themselves.

“He seems nicer than the rumors?”

“Hey, haven’t you heard about the Demon of the Arena? Ju HaJin in D class goes into convulsions after just hearing Shin YuSung’s name! How brutally did he beat him down for that to happen?”

“Enough to kill him…”

Shin YuSung’s classmates all had the same question: Why was Lee SiWoo fine? Why was he getting along with the other boy? One student who was looking at both Shin YuSung and Lee SiWoo creased their forehead and mumbled:

“…Maybe he’s safe because he’s cute? There are a lot of people who have a soft spot for cute things, after all.”

Sumire, who was listening in on the conversation, wrote something down in her notebook.

[Note! Shin YuSung is weak to cute guys!]

TL/N: Good for him kekw

Sumire hadn’t noticed that ‘cute things’ had been changed to ‘cute guys’. Of course, the party involved, Shin YuSung, was having a conversation with Lee SiWoo without knowing that weird rumors—alongside his nickname as the Demon of the Arena—were spreading.

“Master taught me a variety of things outside of combat.”

“To think that Fist King-nim* personally taught you all these things…”

Lee SiWoo got excited about it as if he was the one being taught. Grinning widely, he asked:

“Oh, right, YuSung-ah! Are you done preparing for the exam?”

“…The exam?”

Shin YuSung remembered Headmaster Jin ByungCheol’s words. He had definitely said something to that effect relating to his student rankings.

‘Come to think of it, he told me that he would move me to a nicer dorm if I was higher in the rankings.’

Of course, the dorms weren’t hugely important to Shin YuSung. Compared to the days of old when he was sleeping in caves while being pelted with wind and rain, his current dorm room was practically a hotel room.

‘If I had to point out an issue, it wouldn’t be the dorms, but things outside the academy…’

Students placed low on the student rankings were subject to many penalties from the academy; they were also restricted from participating in events outside of the school—his current grades were important for his hunter career after graduating.

‘If I want to pursue the title of the strongest hunter, like Master, having good grades at the Academy is a must.’

As a matter of fact, the Fist King had been a representative in the International Competition during his academy days. He had eventually claimed victory over a large variety of opponents and had raised South Korea’s position in the world.

This feat was a part of the reason why he was called a legend in the hunter community.

Lee SiWoo laughed in a joking manner at Shin YuSung, who had fallen deep into thought.

“Oh, don’t worry too much about it! There’s a bit of luck in which opponent you’ll get, but with your skills, you’ll definitely earn a good score!”

“The other students all know what’s going to happen during the exam?”

“Hm… nothing for sure, but we’ve pretty much done the same thing every time. They always tell you who your partner for the exam is a day before the test, and the contents are pretty similar as well.”

Shin YuSung showed disapproval at the word ‘partner’. The Fist King had constantly emphasized the strength of hunters—but, at the very least, he could say that the students in F Class seemed very far away from being classified as strong.

“A partner…”

Usually, for the exam, the student with the highest amount of skill was paired with the student with the least skill in the same class. Shin YuSung was someone with a standout level of skill in F Class, so the student with the lowest grades was naturally his partner.

Excluding Shin YuSung, who did not have a ranking yet, the student in Gaon Academy who was 209th place out of 209 students in the student rankings was Hanajima Sumire. The girl in question was stealing glances at Shin YuSung while muttering:

“P-partner…”

* * * *

8 PM. It was too early to sleep.

Shin YuSung entered his dorm and sat on a worn chair.

Creeak.

On the other side of the glass, one could see Gaon Academy’s grounds. Rain was pouring mercilessly, drenching the entire world.

“…Rain.”

Shin YuSung thought back to a memory of when he was five years old.

Rain  was pouring just as hard back, but what made him feel cold inside back then wasn’t the rain pelting his body.

[You won’t survive in the ShinOh family with an F-rank Trait, anyways.]

Shin Yu-sung still remembered those cold eyes—a gaze that chilled you to the bone—looking at him like he was useless; it was not a gaze one usually aimed at their own child. Shin YuSung’s father left after those parting words without even looking behind him.

His mother had brought a large sum of money in a backpack to the orphanage, putting it in the director’s hands as a show of dismissal of her son.

[He might be better off if he gave up on being a hunter and lived an ordinary life.]

The ShinOh family could tolerate a child who didn’t have any powers, but they could not tolerate someone as disgraceful as a child with an F-rank Trait. A person could have their Trait examined when they turned five. After he was examined, Shin YuSung was abandoned.

But it was different with the Fist King.

Yu WonHak said this to Shin YuSung the first day that he had met him.

[Pipsqueak! You were born with incredible talent!]

To Shin YuSung, who had been abandoned by his parents for having an F-rank Trait, he laughed heartily and added:

[Why don’t you be my disciple and try to become the greatest hunter in the world?]

Even though it wasn’t raining that day, fat raindrops were splashing on Shin YuSung’s feet. He was five years old. Ironically, Shin YuSung was thrown away because of his lack of talent and also chosen for having talent.

“…The ShinOh family.”

Shin YuSung, who was deeply reminiscing about the past, spoke to himself. He slowly opened the glass door to the veranda.

Splashhhhh!

It was a downpour.

Of course, the Shin YuSung of five years old was different from the current Shin YuSung. He wasn’t a member of the ShinOh family, nor the child abandoned at the orphanage.

“I am…”

Shin YuSung was the only disciple of the Fist King.

He was a full-fledged hunter who was pursuing the title of the strongest. The ShinOh family who had cast him aside and the Fist King who had brought him in. Shin YuSung wanted to prove himself through his existence to the world that had persecuted hunters through the rank system.

“I will become the strongest.”

Gaon Academy was nothing but a step towards achieving that goal for Shin YuSung.

*-nim is an honorific used for someone to indicate respect, such as an elder. It’s also used as an honorific for customers/guests in more formal settings.

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