C23: Flapping Wings (2)
Kim Seo-joon didn’t collapse and explosive shouts filled the stadium.
Each scouter looked at the scene with a look of astonishment, while the spectators stood up and shouted in excitement.
Right now, in the minds of many people here the name, “Kim Seo-joon” was inscribed and Seo-yoon was no different from them.
“How…?”
undefinedSeo-yoon was absent-minded because she couldn’t believe what she saw.
Lee Jun-hwan definitely used sword aura however, Seo-joon’s move could not be understood by any standard.
“At that time, I’m sure…”
Seo-yoon recalled Seo-joon falling down in their last duel because he couldn’t withstand her sword aura.
He couldn’t handle a sword with mana just two weeks ago, but now…
“No way! No way!”
Someone’s voice was heard by Seo-yoon.
It’s normal to not hear it properly because it’s buried by the crowd, but somehow the voice was clearly heard so Seo-yoon turned her head in the direction the voice came from without realizing it and when she saw the person that spoke she was a little surprised.
‘That person is…?’
He was none other than the man with a black hood who bet a large amount of money on Seo-joon at the gambling house.
“Oh, how…! This…This can’t be happening!!!”
The man in the black hood shouted without even knowing that his hood had come off. He didn’t care about the eyes around him at all, and looked at Seo-joon and made a stunned face.
Seo-yoon tilted her head slightly without realizing it.
The scene Seo-joon showed was so amazing, but despite that, the reaction of the black hood was too much.
Seo-yoon turned her head again, feeling proud. Then suddenly, Seo-yoon felt something strange.
‘But that person…’
Didn’t he say that Seo-joon would win?
Seo-yoon tilted her head once and looked at the man in the black hood again. However, when she looked again, the man in the black hood was gone.
Seo-joon’s footsteps, walking out of the stadium, were somewhat drained.
It was partly because he poured all his energy into the fierce battle against Lee Jun-hwan, but in fact, there was another big reason.
Seo-joon was disqualified.
It is true that Seo-joon’s behavior was a clear violation of the rules.
Although Lee Jun-hwan’s actions crossed the line, Lee Jun-hwan has already forfeited. Furthermore, Seo-joon suddenly broke in, so it was not an official duel.
The referee warned Seo-joon about his actions, but he ignored him.
Of course, Lee Jun-hwan was also disqualified like Seo-joon. In addition, he was punished separately for using sword aura.
Although it was a field of competition and Seo-joon wasn’t punished because he won, the association disqualified him from taking the professional hunter test for the next five years.
Thus, Seo-joon and Lee Jun-hwan were disqualified, and Lee Chul-min, who went up because of the draw, won the competition.
In addition, Lee Min-ki, who scored high in the first competition, came in second. The ironic thing was that Jang Deok-cheol finished third.
‘But still…’
Nevertheless, Seo-joon did not regret it. Rather, if he hadn’t stepped up there, Seo-joon would’ve regretted it more.
<Chiron Lecture Progress +15% (48.7%)>
<Shakyamuni Lecture Progress +5.2% (12.1%)>
<Xian Yu Lecture Progress +20% (56.9%)>
The progress of his lectures exploded in the confrontation with Lee Jun-hwan.
Now that he thought about it, the strange power that he felt in the last clash with Lee Jun-hwan was probably caused by Xiang Yu’s lecture progress exceeding 50% and the higher the progress rate, the more room for lectures.
‘Maybe I can afford another lecture.’
In a sense, it could be said that it was the best action.
The Academy competition ended like that and although there was a big incident, it was not known by the public.
Not many people paid attention to it because it was a competition in the fourth division.
“Seo-joon!”
He heard a voice calling him from somewhere when he was thinking about what to do.
When he turned his head in the direction of the sound, he saw a beautiful woman with long black hair and a pure feeling. He couldn’t recognize her at once because she was wearing a hat, but Seo-joon quickly found out that she was Seo-yoon.
“Oh, Seo-yoon.”
Seo-joon smiled awkwardly at Seo-yoon’s rushing appearance.
“How is your body? Are you hurt?”
As he got closer, Seo-yoon asked Seo-joon with a worried look.
He didn’t know why Seo-yoon was worried, but Seo-joon smiled for no reason.
“Yes, as you can see, it’s fine. I’m pretty strong, though.”
When Seo-joon ran lightly and spoke, Seo-yoon smiled softly as if she were relieved.
Seo-joon looked at Seo-yoon’s face and said carefully.
“I’m…I’m sorry Miss Seo-yoon.”
“What?”
Seo-yoon was for a moment at Seo-joon’s sudden words.
When Seo-yoon looked at Seo-joon, Seo-joon slowly opened his mouth.
“I was able to win, but I shouldn’t have come forward…”
It was only then that Seo-yoon could understand Seo-joon’s words and she shook her head.
“You don’t have to be sorry Seo-joon. Are you okay?”
“What? Why?”
“At that time, you seemed to have a lingering desire for the prize money. Didn’t you?”
“What?”
Seo-joon was momentarily absent-minded. He forgot because he was distracted by the progress of the lecture, but now that he thought about it, he had lost 100 million won in prize money. And that was the amount needed to buy Longinus’ spear, which was sold by the Transcension Academy.
However, as he was disqualified the 100 million won in prize money also evaporated.
“…”
Seo-joon couldn’t say that he was okay even if it was empty words.
Seo-yoon shook her head and said to Seo-joon.
“You were going to buy a weapon with the prize money, right?”
“How do you know that?”
“I thought it was strange since you were carrying that iron bar…”
Seo-yoon continued.
“Speaking of which, can’t you do something about that iron bar? Is there a special reason why you carry it around? It’s made of special alloys.”
“No, it’s not like that. Is there any particular problem?”
“Are you really asking because you don’t know?”
“Is there a problem…?”
Seo-joon’s expression showed that he knew nothing so Seo-yoon was stunned for a while.
“That’s not how others see it since you were able to win with that crude iron bar.”
“No, no. I never meant that. I’m just…”
“And why are you being stubborn when you say you don’t have anything special?”
“I’m not stubborn…”
Seo-yoon interrupted Seo-joon as if she didn’t want to hear it.
“Never mind. Change your weapon immediately! No, let’s just go buy one.”
“Now? I have no money.”
“I’ll buy it for you. That’s enough, right?”
“Seo-yoon? Why?”
“You worked hard today so think of it like a scholarship instead. If you’re really uncomfortable, you can think that your image will affect the academy.”
Seo-joon had nothing to refute Seo-yoon’s firm words. It was because he realized how stupid his behavior was when he thought about it.
In fact, Seo-joon couldn’t see any other weapons since he thought of buying Longinus’ spear.
Therefore, his original plan was to get 100 million won in prize money, buy a weapon from the Transcension Academy, but that has already gone wrong.
Now he had to save money to repurchase the free pass.
He didn’t know when he would raise 100 million won, so there was no reason to insist on an iron bar until then.
“Then… I’ll choose an expensive one.”
“Yes, yes. So please get rid of that iron bar.”
Seo-yoon looked as if she was talking about an abhorrent bug and
Seo-joon burst into laughter because Seo-yoon’s appearance was quite funny.
When Seo-joon and Seo-yoon were about to leave.
“Hey! Seo-joon!”
Someone called him.
The two heads turned at the same time and saw Min-ki panting and running to the place where they were.
Seo-yoon pressed down on her hat. However, Min-ki, who approached, did not even look at Seo Yoon.
“Are you leaving now?”
Min-ki looked pretty dirty. His face was haggard and his clothes were disheveled.
“Yes.”
Seo-joon had a lot to say, but he swallowed all those words while Min-ki looked hesitant for a while at Seo-joon’s appearance.
“That…”
Then he opened his mouth as if he had made a big decision.
“Will I be able to become like you if I work hard.”
Seo-joon looked up at Min-li. Then he thought for a moment and opened his mouth.
“I don’t know. It’s probably hard.”
Min-ki and Seo-yoon, who were still listening to Seo-joon’s words, looked surprised.
In fact, Min-ki’s talent was quite insufficient to become a professional hunter in this era. Of course, it is said that there is nothing you can’t do if you try, but the reality was not so easy.
“Don’t think about becoming a hunter too much. You just have to be good at other things. Don’t be disappointed, you’re still young.”
“···I’m sure that’s the case.”
Min-ki smiled bitterly as if he knew.
“I’m here to say goodbye. Thank you, brother.”
Min-ki turns his back and leaves.
Seo-joon then looked at Min-ki’s back and said,
“Don’t you ever listen. Whether it’s my words, or anyone else’s.”
Min-ki stopped walking.
“It’s human psychology to feel sick in your stomach when others do well.”
Seo-joon said to Min-ki.
“You have no talent. Yes, this is an undeniable fact so people will say this when they see you.”
Min-ki slowly turns his head and Seo-joon words follow.
“But keep that in mind. Someone’s opinion doesn’t become your reality. If there’s anything you want, do what you want. That’s all you need.”
“Brother…”
Min-ki’s eyes trembled while Seo-joon looked at him and smiled softly.
When he first saw Min-ki, Seo-joon felt like he was seeing himself in the past.
“Can we see each other again?”
“I don’t know.”
Seo-joon smiled.
“But we might be able to meet, right?”
Min-ki shouted with a big smile.
“Yes! That’s right! I’m sure we’ll be able to meet!”
Min-ki quickly left, as though he was embarrassed to see himself shouting like a child.
Min-ki turned around again and shouted.
“Hey! You’re so cool! Really! I’ll visit you with my sister someday!”
Then he quickly disappeared.
“Seo-joon…you have an unexpected side.”
“It’s a pointless mess.”
Seo-yoon gave a pleasant smile.
“You have a new fan, right?”
“From Seo-yoon’s point of view, would a student have been better than a fan? I should have introduced our Dream Academy.”
Seo-joon also lightly responded to Seo-yoon’s joke and moved slowly.
However, Seo-yoon only stared blankly at Seo-joon’s back although she didn’t know the reason yet.
‘Our Academy…’
The words made her feel better.
An old man was busy walking in an antique tiled garden. He didn’t have a right arm, but his steps were steady as if he was quite used to the fact.
He stopped walking in front of a door and asked the employee who was waiting.
“Is the doorkeeper inside?”
“Yes, but he told me not to let anyone in because he’s meditating.”
“It’s urgent, so let him know I’ve come.”
“But…”
“It would be faster if I told him in person.”
The old man strode into the room, leaving the helpless employee behind. When he went inside, I saw a haggard old man sitting cross-legged in the center of the simple room.
He kneeled down and said to the old man.
“I’m Seo Moon-chul.”
“I’m sure no one told you to come in…”
The old man said.
“Are you ignoring me?”
At the same time, a tingling sensation runs through the nape of his neck but Seo Moon-cheol swallowed his saliva and said,
“The lady said that she participated in the academy competition this time.”
At those words, the old man opened his eyes.
“Academy competition? You mean Seo-yoon?”
“Yes. I’m still figuring out the details…but it looks like she recruited new students.”
“Hmm…”
The old man raised his hand and smoothed his long white beard.
Seo Moon-cheol knew well that it was an act he did when he was quite upset.
“I’ll take care of it on my own.”
“No.”
The old man…no, the Sword Saint slowly rose from his seat.
“I’ll see him myself.”
