Chapter 18: skipping a grade(5).

Standing outside Arena’s fifth-floor intensive care room, Chayeon suddenly felt self-conscious. He was clad in an A*****s tracksuit, a wooden sword clutched in his hand – an odd sight for a hospital visit. He’d planned to work out after, so he’d come as he was.

Well, no one’s stopping me.

Slide- Chayeon opened the door. Two women in conversation looked over. One was Arena, propped up in bed, the other was unfamiliar, though about the same age.

“Oh my, a knight in shining armor has arrived?”

“Wh-what are you saying! Shut up! Be quiet!” The unfamiliar girl giggled, causing Arena to flush crimson.

“I’ll leave you two alone. See you tomorrow.” The girl brushed past Chayeon, whispering, “Take care of Arena,” before exiting.

Take care of what?

Arena was still trembling, apparently very agitated.

She looked better than expected.

“You didn’t tell her!”

“Didn’t tell her what the moment I walked in?”

“That! You didn’t tell her you’re a guy!” Arena’s face reddened further as she raised her voice.

Ah, that “knight in shining armor” comment must have set her off. He didn’t really care.

“You look well. I heard you woke up today.”

“Hmph! Of course! It’s not just anyone, it’s me.” Her tone and expression seemed cheerful, a far cry from before she collapsed. Aside from the full-body casts, she seemed unchanged.

Chayeon placed the items he’d brought on the table, and Arena’s eyes widened.

“Wh-what’s this?”

“I couldn’t come empty-handed.” It was a fruit juice set he’d bought on the way.

“Y-you, who are you?!”

“Huh?”

“Jeon Chayeon would never do something so considerate! You imposter! Give me back the real Chayeon!” What kind of impression had he given her, anyway?

Chayeon returned Arena’s glare.

First impressions were important, after all. Coming in with a curse on their first meeting had clearly defined her perception of him.

“Stop talking nonsense. How’s your body?” Chayeon asked, looking at Arena’s arm.

“Ah, uh… they said there’s nothing wrong anywhere else, but my hands…” Arena stammered.

“Your hands?”

“…There might be some aftereffects. It might be difficult to grip a sword like before…” Her words trailed off, but then she perked up and returned to her usual self. “Still! I’ll recover! So you better be ready for when I finally defeat you, Hmph!”

“Sure,” Chayeon chuckled, prompting Arena to widen her eyes and fix him with a penetrating stare.

“What, why?”

“Y-you, you can smile?!” Was he a psychopath?

“Of course I can, what kind of question is that?”

“But! You haven’t smiled even once before!” Arena, who had been shouting, suddenly blushed, lowered her head, and fidgeted, it was hard to see due to her body being on casts

“So you can make that kind of expression…”

“Huh?” He couldn’t hear what she was mumbling in a voice as small as a mosquito’s.

She was still consistently strange.

“Did you hear about the advancement?”

“…Ah, yeah. Teacher Seohee came by and told me earlier.”

Looking at the snack set on the table, it seemed like a gift from Teacher Seohee. Her teleportation ability must keep her busy.

Good or bad?

“Jeon Chayeon, you defeated that thing, right?” Arena, looking at him again, asked with a serious expression.

“Somehow.”

“…I see. Amazing… Ah, no! Of course, I could have defeated it too, but… well, I can’t right now…” Her tone shifted from dejected to impassioned, then dejected again.

She was the most emotionally volatile person Chayeon had ever met. Seeing that, he felt an unexpected sense of kinship, noting her surprising honesty.

She wasn’t a bad kid, just… dense.

“When are you getting discharged?”

“They said they have to observe me for at least another month.”

A month, huh? It seemed long, yet also sooner than he’d expected. But then again, Jindal’s hospital wasn’t ordinary, with its healers and all.

“Alright. I’ll see you later then.”

“Eh, you’re leaving already?”

“What else is there to do?”

“I see…” Arena’s eyes drooped.

It was unexpected to see her acting this way, since Chayeon thought she hated him.

“You have a lot of friends, right? Someone else will come by. Take care of yourself.” He was about to leave when Arena’s words stopped him.

“Weren’t you scared?” Her voice trembled.

“Scared of what?”

“That day, that woman. The demon, I mean.” Her tone was lower than usual.

He understood what she was trying to say.

Whether she had an Ineungnyeok or was skilled in swordsmanship, Arena was still a seventeen-year-old girl.

For a girl like that, who had lived a bright life without incident, to have her bones broken, be tortured, and almost killed… the shock must have been immense.

And that was the same for Chayeon. Despite being older, he was only twenty years old.

He was fortunate to have gained power and won, but what if he had suffered the same fate as Arena?

‘It was lucky that the invading demon was female,’ Seohee’s words in Arena’s room surfaced. ‘It happens sometimes: Ineungnyeokja are s*xually tortured before being eaten.’

Thankfully, Arena hadn’t suffered that kind of abuse.

“I was scared too.” With only those words, Chayeon left the room.

In the end, fear could only be overcome alone. There was nothing he could do to help.

A spirit had entered him, he had become a woman, and he had received an Ineungnyeok. He had entered Jindal, and now, he was targeted by demons. He was struck anew by just how heavy a weight that was, and how much it had twisted his fate.

‘Hey, are you listening?’

Heukgu was still silent.

“Ah, sh*t.”

He’d hoped to avoid seeing him, but he’d ended up running into him anyway.

Chayeon’s face crumpled as he discovered Joo Jiho in an open space.

“Hoo, hoo, hoo-. Oh, you came today?” Joo Jiho, who had been on the parallel bars, saw Chayeon and came down, walking towards him.

“Hey, get lost. Don’t come closer.”

“Ooh, harsh,” Joo Jiho said, raising both hands in a show of surrender and stopping in place as Chayeon pointed the wooden sword at him.

“As long as you don’t do anything stupid like last time.”

“I was wrong last time.”

“Huh?”

Chayeon’s face, which had been snarling, went blank at the unexpected apology.

“I’m sorry. I was just joking around, trying to get to know you, but I think I went too far.”

“……”

What’s this guy up to?

Chayeon’s eyes darted around, trying to figure out his intentions.

“I’m serious. Actually, I got scolded by my hyungs afterwards. You saw him, right? Exst-hyung from last time. It seems like he saw me joking around, and gave me a stern warning that he’d kill me if I ever used my ability like that again.” With those words, Joo Jiho smiled.

His expression still made him look like a villain from a back alley.

“Ext-hyung is scary, so I don’t want to die. And I really do think I went too far.” Joo Jiho still had both hands raised above his head.

Could it be… ?

‘Was I mistaken?’ He was such an insidious-looking guy, but maybe he wasn’t like that on the inside? Had he been treating him with prejudice just because he was good-looking?

Joo Jiho was still smiling.

Once that thought came to mind, his smile suddenly seemed somewhat sheepish rather than insidious.

“So, can you put that down?”

Chayeon obediently lowered the wooden sword. Even so, Joo Jiho didn’t approach him.

Instead, he moved away from Chayeon and went back towards the parallel bars, focusing solely on his workout without even looking at him.

“…Hey.”

“Huh?”

“I’m going to hit you once, at least.”

Thwack! A cheerful sound rang out, and Joo Jiho grabbed his forehead.

But soon, he was smiling as if nothing had happened.

Was he saying he’d take it?

He really had a dark aura.

He looked like a movie villain.

“Is this enough? I was just really excited since you’re a fellow student who advanced with me.” Joo Jiho said as the last and did a long-breathed exercises , not glancing towards Chayeon.

Well-trained muscles rippled under his clothes.

Embarrassed, Chayeon averted his gaze and grabbed the pull-up bar.

His goal today is the hanging knee-up!

Even if it’s out of his reach, let’s give it a try.

Grasping the rod and pulling his legs bit by bit to tighten the lower part of his abs he said internally ” Come on…COME ON !!!”…

“ah sh*t”

It was out of his reach.

He lacked ab muscles and nothing seemed to work on his body.

Even the push-ups felt as they will never be mastered.

“What have I been training so hard for!!”

Even those late night sessions didn’t seen to work in any way.

Chayeon was feeling the low moral and turned his vision and saw the wodden sword,then he got an idea.

“what if?”

Chayeon grabs the sword left hand and tight on one of his arms and use the iron rod then started to pull him up to show those muscles what he meant and finally got him self to grab the upper part of the iron rod, and his eye was glowing.

He could do it!!.

And his mind wondered around and start to use the momentum he had and make him self like a spinning machine…

“This can’t be” he was feeling his mind and power connected but the downside of him been on that position was that he would not train anythin

While he was thinking that thought what to the rest of him when ,an new light bulb got in his mind. “This has no mean to me” the nexts moments could not be comprehends in normal eye vision.he start use the wodden sowrd to use like a support of the core in other to go up the strength of his arms like a push and what happens was out of world experience.

The new force could not be stoped an seen and for him a light shined on his back.

He start to spin more faster and the force he had was being in released and then the light stop and start to flow around his entire presence.

he could see all muscles getting use to every moment like a water falling with a new shape getting adapt to what it was made for! he was so happy and and a new form of power he ever had. “it might be something i need”he taught.

He release the power and he could walk as it was before but ,as he was going and walking to do the old form, the was some new unbalace of strenght “what with you” as it did.

He stopped and used the wodden swod and it was balance…then it was as the new power and him got use each other. “what about trying that on push ups!?” and then he run the 10 km he never did before .

At his limit of the top speed he look him self with the mirror and saw the reflection of him and new strength.

“”
It is something, i need and I must to embrace it.”

And the the power inside him spoke and let the rest he knows he knows for sure this life will never be the some has it was to him.

After all of the effort he has make he final stop and had a deep breath until.

“Good job.”

Joo Jiho, who had approached sometime while he was in his world, handed him a water bottle.

“I’m sure it’s hard to go that far. You’re amazing.”

“Hooa, thanks.” Chayeon, who had been very thirsty, gladly took the water bottle.

Just as Chayeon was about to drink the water, he paused.

Was there some kind of strange drug in it? After worrying, Chayeon shook off that thought.

It wasn’t a crime movie or anything.

It seemed that after experiencing so much, he had become more imaginative.

Gulp, gulp-

“Ah, I feel alive.”

Chayeon, who had emptied the water bottle, breathed out and looked up at the sky.

The unique lethargy felt after a full sprint felt pleasant.

“The water’s delicious, right?”

“Ah, it’s cool.”

Replenishing fluids after exercising was delicious.

It was truly sweet.

“You drank it all?”

“Ah, I’m sorry. I was so thirsty.”

Tremble, tremble-

His body was growing tired as it did the exersices.

It was lethargic all over.

Had he ran too hard?

The sky was shaking.

What is this?

Something,

Something, was strange.

Thud-

The sound of someone sitting down was heard.

His vision was getting lower, and the sky was turning yellow.

Through his blurry vision, he saw Joo Jiho’s face looking down at him.

He was just staring with that familiar smile.

Ah,

He should have known.

This

F…CK!, Shi..