Chapter 20: What happened in his first year? (7)

It was originally such a story.

She had no interest in humans at all.

No, to be precise.
She, who had cut off all interest and had only revenge left.

Met a human similar to a lost comrade and regained interest in humans.

And that interest brought change to her, and furthermore, to the academy.
It was such a story.

However, with the intervention of a third party, the story was greatly twisted.

Baek Yu-shin, stripped of all his connections and fortuitous encounters, could not grow as strong as the story demanded.

Thanks to that, she could no longer harbor interest in humans.

The academy, which should have slowly changed, also remained in a twisted state.

At least, until today.

The real can recognize the real without needing to fight.

Baek Yu-shin, currently exuding fighting aura before her, possessed power so immense that not only most academy students but even instructors were no match for him.

It was to the point where one wondered if the person before them was truly Baek Yu-shin.

However, the saying that the real can recognize the real without needing to fight.

Conversely, it was also a story that applied to Yu-shin, not just Ban Se-rin.

‘At best, my win rate is about 20 percent.’

Unlike his chest, which boiled hotly with competitive spirit, his mind had already coldly finished its calculations.

The gap between Principal Ban Se-rin and Yu-shin was enormous.
Skill wasn’t the problem.
However, the biggest problem was that his hardware, his body, was simply too weak.

His body, the hardware, was too weak, preventing him from fully manifesting all of his techniques, the software.

But even if his win rate was low, and even if he was weak now.
He didn’t want to avoid the fight.

One who bows their head once will bow it forever.
Just as he did in the fantasy world in the past.

At that time, when he was dropped into the fantasy world by that fcking anonymous user.
Yu-shin was too weak, far too weak.

Perhaps it was natural.

How strong could an ordinary adult man, who hadn’t even properly exercised, let alone learned swordsmanship or magic, possibly be?

But the hero summoned after all this time was terribly weak?

That became a good prey for the summoners of the hero and their opposing rivals.

[How is that supposed to be the hero who will save the world?!]

[That’s absurd!
We cannot entrust the nation’s fate to such a person!]

[This is just the beginning.
We must believe in the Hero and lend him our strength!]

[….]

There, Yu-shin was treated like an object.
Simply for being weak.

And on that day, Yu-shin decided.
That just because he was weak now.

He would never bow his head to those who tried to suppress him.

He would rather fight and die.
And that conviction continues to this day.

Someone might call it foolish.
That waiting for the right time would be wiser.

‘But what am I supposed to do?’

He never wanted to feel that powerlessness again.

And above all, those who tried to arbitrarily manipulate others just because they were strong.

He found them unbearablely annoying.
Because they reminded him of the helplessness he felt in the past.

Like a provocateur fighting the main mods and sub-mods who controlled the gallery for 500 a month.

Yu-shin’s will began to burn hotly.

‘This is truly interesting!’

However, seeing Yu-shin’s appearance, whose provocateur’s blood was boiling, Serin was completely mistaken.

Well, of course.

The empty cart that had succumbed to reality and taken its own life had returned this strong.

Then she, too, had no choice but to treat him accordingly, didn’t she?

Serin barely suppressed the competitive spirit surging in her chest and explained directly to Yu-shin.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t fight right now.”

“Reason?”

“Because I’m bound by a contract.”

“A contract?”

“It’s a show-off contract to reassure humans.”

She was the hero who ended the Great War.
Naturally, she possessed immense power.

While there were those who revered and respected her, there were also those who feared her.

And their fear became a very annoying obstacle to her revenge.

So, to gain their cooperation, Serin placed significant restrictions on herself.

Thanks to that, Serin couldn’t even fight as she wished.
Of course, even so, it was merely an empty promise.
No one was directly monitoring her.

Nevertheless.

She had never once broken that restriction until now.

If one doesn’t keep it just because others aren’t watching, it’s deceiving even oneself.

Yu-shin, having heard all of Serin’s circumstances, nodded and thought.

‘She chickened out.’

I won.

Winning just because she didn’t respond to the fight.
It was an extremely provocative mindset, but.

Unfortunately, she couldn’t read Yu-shin’s provocative thoughts.

Conversely, Serin was now calculating Yu-shin’s growth in her mind.

“What you want is severe punishment for those involved in this incident, right?”

“Strictly speaking, yes.”

“Then I shall grant your wish.”

“Your words change easily.”

“This too is simply following my conviction.”

Initially, Serin had judged that Yu-shin’s growth, at best, would only reach Class A.

However, as a result of facing him directly.
She had no choice but to significantly revise her previous judgment.

At this level, he is at least Class S.
While there are plenty of personnel to replace Class A.

There is no one to replace Class S.
In other words, obtaining one Class S individual is far better than saving dozens of Class C individuals.
That was Serin’s judgment.

“Will this satisfy you?”

“Expelling everyone, huh…”

When she actually offered to expel everyone, Yu-shin inwardly felt incredibly twisted again.

There was no reason.
If told not to do something, he would do it no matter what, and if told to do it, he would only then not do it.

Because that was his nature as a provocateur.
And Yu-shin did not betray his conviction.

“No!
I don’t like that either?!”

“Then let’s conclude this matter as such.”

She naturally moved on to the next topic.

As the principal of Cheongwol, the pinnacle of academies.

Serin had already fully grasped Yu-shin’s actions.
Serin smiled and said.

“I’d like to make you an enticing offer.”

As an ‘offer’ rather than an ‘order’.

Treating each other as ‘equals’.

Just yesterday.

Hyunwoo had genuinely been in a bad mood, but.

Today was different.

He had decided to completely change his mind.

Today is Friday, the day of the Class S promotion exam.

Only top-tier talents selected by Principal Ban Se-rin can challenge the Class S promotion exam.

And naturally, Hyunwoo, being the 1st ranked in Class A, was also given the qualification to challenge for Class S promotion.

‘I can’t be tied to the past forever.’

Of course, losing Ha-young was a huge loss, but.

That doesn’t mean the tower Hyunwoo had painstakingly built until now would collapse.

There was already an unbridgeable gap between himself and a mere Baek Yu-shin.

Baek Yu-shin was struggling in Class C, while he, on the other hand, was challenging the Class S promotion exam, wasn’t he?

Moreover, the Class S promotion exam is held once a year.
In other words, if he missed this opportunity.

It meant he wouldn’t be able to challenge again until at least his third year.
If that happened, the gap would widen even further.

In other words, Hyunwoo now had no reason whatsoever to care about Baek Yu-shin.
The gap was already overwhelming.

And this gap would not narrow in the future.
Although he hadn’t perfectly stolen the protagonist’s position.

With such an immense difference, wasn’t he practically the protagonist already?

Hyunwoo walked with a self-congratulatory air, almost like a mental victory.
This was because the principal had prepared a separate examination hall at the academy for the Class S promotion exam.

The location for this Class S promotion exam was the practice arena where Baek Yu-shin and Selena had dueled before.

As luck would have it, it was a place that reminded him of Baek Yu-shin, so Hyunwoo’s mood instantly soured again.

He soon shook his head to shake off the bad memories.

Today is the best day for me to be promoted to Class S.
But if my mood is ruined because of a vermin.

That would only be a loss for me.
Thinking that, Hyunwoo tried hard to cut off his thoughts.

That is, until he saw a familiar face in the examination hall.

Only 5 students, including Hyunwoo, could challenge the Class S promotion exam.

In other words, there were only 5 people in that large space.

Naturally, since they were gathered together, they could easily recognize each other’s faces.

Wasn’t there one face that shouldn’t have been here?

“Y-you, why the fck are you here?!”

A boy with dark black hair and a sharp impression, unlike before, Baek Yu-shin.

The very guy he had tried so hard to erase from his memories, happened to be here now?

What it meant was clear, but Hyunwoo desperately denied it.
There was absolutely no way.

For a moment, Hyunwoo did his best to erase a certain thought that flashed through his mind.

However, as if mocking such desperate denial.
Baek Yu-shin replied indifferently.

“Well, that’s how it is.”

“No, I mean!
How the f*ck is that possible for you?!”

“How would I know?
Go complain to the principal yourself.”

‘He received an opportunity directly from the principal…?!’

Principal Ban Se-rin.

The hero who ended the Great War, and a being called the foundational hero.

And one who had no interest whatsoever in humans unless she acknowledged them.

Because Hyunwoo had already read the original work and knew Ban Se-rin thoroughly.

The shock was inevitable.
Today was clearly the best day for Hyunwoo.

However.

Unfortunately.

Today had turned into the worst day for Hyunwoo.