Chapter 23: Ranking Test (3)

“That bastard! You have to beat him. No, kill him!”

This was already the fourth time.

Chayeon was receiving a similar request.

On the day of the finals after the preliminaries ended, a woman she had never seen before appeared in front of Chayeon as she headed to the match venue, bowing her head and pleading.

<<That man has certainly accumulated a lot of resentment.>>

“Tell me about it.”

Just how many victims were there for Chayeon to have heard this kind of request four times already?

It meant the actual number of victims was likely much higher.

To think they let trash like this run loose.

It made her wonder what capital and force truly meant.

Public opinion was leaning towards the negative, but it was still ambiguous.

Although there were many victims, as long as they kept silent, the perception of Ju Jiho among the majority of students was merely that of a talented but cruel freshman.

“Yes, I’ll win.”

“Pl-please!”

The woman said that and scurried away.

[The final mock battle will begin shortly after 11:00 AM. Repeating the announcement. Shortly after…]

Right after Chayeon arrived at the auditorium, the announcement played.

The seats were already filled with other students.

It was only natural, as this was one of the most famous matches within the current ranking competition.

The stage where the two grade-skipping freshmen met in the finals to fight over who would receive the A rank.

The atmosphere inside was already heated.

It felt just like being at some kind of sports stadium.

Time passed, and five minutes before 11:00 AM, Chayeon and Ju Jiho stood facing each other in the middle of the auditorium.

“There are no restrictions on fighting styles, but I will stop the match if it looks like serious injury will occur.”

“Just like the preliminaries, there’s no concept of forfeiture.”

“The match continues until the referee stops it.”

“You both understand, right?”

Seohee, serving as the referee, asked them one last time for confirmation.

Chayeon nodded, while Ju Jiho just grinned widely.

20 seconds before the match.

All eyes were focused on them.

Chayeon lightly gripped her wooden sword and glanced towards Seohee.

[I’m sure. I saw him drink it earlier. The effect should appear soon.]

Seohee’s final confirmation came via telepathy.

3, 2, 1.

“Begin.”

Simultaneously with the start of the match, Chayeon’s body was pushed away as if floating.

But she was immediately pulled back by a powerful force.

Chayeon’s body swung violently up and down like a puppet with cut strings, as if riding a rollercoaster.

“Ah…”

Seeing Chayeon seemingly being overpowered helplessly, some couldn’t hide sighs of disappointment.

Crash!

“Kuk!”

Ju Jiho saw Chayeon slam onto the floor, unable to hold back a groan, looking pained.

“What’s this, Chayeon? Nothing’s changed?”

As Ju Jiho extended his hand, Chayeon’s body was pulled straight towards him.

With a smack– sound, Chayeon’s face collided directly.

It was the same torture method Ju Jiho had demonstrated before.

“Huh? Nothing’s changed.”

“Nothing’s changed! Resist more!”

Smack! Smack! Smack!

“……”

The small girl’s body was being toyed with at will by the large man, unable to resist.

Yet the referee merely watched the situation unfold.

Sighs, gasps.

Someone couldn’t bear to watch and squeezed their eyes shut.

The match was already decided.

Just as the spectators were finding it increasingly difficult to watch her being helplessly beaten.

“What… is that?”

“Crazy, that’s crossing the line.”

Murmur, murmur-

A stir spread through the crowd.

Those who despised Ju Jiho and those who defended him all stared wide-eyed at the scene utterly inappropriate for the venue.

In the center of Ju Jiho’s lower body, a huge hill had formed over his pants.

Truly a magnificent tent.

His junior was making its presence known even through the clothing.

“…? What the…!”

Ju Jiho, also flustered by his son suddenly standing at attention against his will, let go of Chayeon.

His butt was awkwardly sticking out backward.

“…Crazy pervert bastard.”

“Wow, did he really get turned on by bullying her like that? Such a small girl?”

“Nah, no way. Maybe he has some kind of illness?”

“That bastard was already famous for getting excited by bullying girls.”

“Really? Wow…”

“Didn’t see him like that, but that’s a bit…”

“Ah, now that’s a man.”

A few strange opinions were mixed in, but the majority couldn’t hide their shock at his state.

Th-This? Why?

Whew~

Drugs should be repaid with drugs. I haven’t tried it, but Viagra’s performance is guaranteed, right?

Let’s mix Cialis in too.

…Cialis?

It’s also an erectile dysfunction drug.

Teacher, what happened?

Yes, I dissolved the medicine and moved it into the water bottle Ju Jiho always carries. I just confirmed he finished drinking it.

When will the effects appear?

From what I heard, shouldn’t the effects start about 10 minutes after the match begins?

“Hah, you fcking btch…!”

Realizing the abnormality in his body was Chayeon’s doing, Ju Jiho ground his teeth.

Chayeon casually brushed off her clothes and stood up, looking completely unfazed as if nothing had happened.

“Pervert bastard.”

Chayeon smirked.

“You small-dcked bastard.”

“Ha, you btch! I’ll definitely kill you!”

Ju Jiho exploded in fury, unleashing his ability.

The center of his black pupils glowed red.

But nothing happened.

“…Huh?”

“Ah, my neck hurts from tilting my head.”

Chayeon rotated her neck back and forth as she approached Ju Jiho.

Now that ‘Adaptation’ was complete, Chayeon’s senses perfectly captured the aura flowing from Ju Jiho.

How he interfered with physical force.

The direction and intensity of the force’s application were perfectly visible.

If the surrounding forces distorted and tried to pull Chayeon’s body, she just needed to slightly release her internal energy to counteract it.

It was as easy as breathing.

“…What the. F*ck, what!”

Ju Jiho froze, bewildered that his ability wasn’t activating at all.

His ability might be outstanding, but in aspects like this, he was an amateur.

Even Arena was better than this.

Chayeon gazed steadily at her target.

‘Kill him thoroughly.’ The first meaning of that had already been achieved.

From now on, even if it happened behind the scenes, no one would openly defend Ju Jiho in front of others.

Because Ju Jiho was just a crazy pervert bastard who got an erection during a ranking match while bullying a girl much smaller than him.

And now, it was time to kill him in the second sense.

Conveniently, the target was enticingly large.

Fshat!

No one except Seohee could follow Chayeon’s movement.

Suddenly appearing at Ju Jiho’s side with her body twisted, Chayeon held the wooden sword high above her head.

Do I just cut it like this?

Yes, Chayeon, you’re doing well. This is called dicing.

Wow, dicing!

She remembered the home economics class from her innocent elementary school days.

‘Cucumbers are diced.’

“…!!!”

“Hup!”

A mournful scream, believable even if attributed to an animal rather than a human, echoed through the auditorium.

The spectators watching instinctively flinched, shifting their weight back.

Chayeon drove her knee into the face of the trembling, kneeling Ju Jiho.

“Keok!”

Ju Jiho was thrown back by the direct hit, his front exposed once again.

You just pluck the stem off like this. Watch. Pluck!

Wow, let me try!

Yes, yes. Oh my, our Chayeon is so good!

Hehe.

Childhood memories of helping her mother remove shiitake mushroom stems surfaced.

A nostalgic memory now.

She revived the technique from those days.

The only difference was using a sword instead of her hands to pluck the stem this time.

‘Thank you, Mother.’

Crack-

The tip of the wooden sword, slicing diagonally upwards, exquisitely grazed only the top part of the tent.

Though through the fabric, the blade tracing precisely through the slit at the end of the massive pillar gifted Ju Jiho an unforgettable memory.

‘This wooden sword is sharper than it looks.’

“Kkeueueuk!!”

A sound unimaginable from his previous relaxed demeanor escaped Ju Jiho’s throat.

It closely resembled the squeal of a pig being slaughtered.

‘It suits him.’

His eyes rolled back, but he barely regained consciousness, clutching his middle tightly as he quickly tried to regain balance.

Simultaneously, a powerful repulsive force, different from before, struck Chayeon.

<<Hooh, seems he still had some power left.>>

“Looks like it.”

Chayeon, sent flying, landed lightly on the ground.

It was a much stronger force than before, but even that was ‘Adapted’ to while she was in mid-air.

Ju Jiho seemed to realize his maximum output wasn’t working either.

“Heok, heok, Hey, Referee!! Aren’t you stopping the match!? What are you doing!?”

“In my eyes, neither side is judged to be incapacitated. Continue.”

To Ju Jiho, who was glaring and screaming, Seohee merely replied coldly.

“Can’t look away, can you? We need to get closer.”

And in that fleeting moment when Ju Jiho turned his gaze to Seohee, Chayeon had once again closed the distance, right in front of his nose.

“You, f*ck…!”

A blade shot out from Ju Jiho’s right sleeve.

A silver, shining knife – no ordinary blade.

A special knife, properly honed to fight demons.

In ranking matches, such weapons were forbidden unless they were a restriction condition of an ability.

Ignoring even that rule, Ju Jiho swung the blade straight at Chayeon.

It was a blatant foul, but Seohee just watched silently.

Whoosh-

Faster than Ju Jiho could swing the knife, Chayeon ducked low, weaving into his reach.

Being petite, when Chayeon lowered her upper body and dove in, her body was almost below Ju Jiho’s waist.

‘The position is perfect.’

Leaving her right hand holding the sword, she extended her left hand.

‘This is a bit unpleasant, but it can’t be helped. I can just wash my hands later.’

Teacher! Chayeon broke another egg!

Chayeon! I told you not to use so much force. When cracking an egg, you tap it gently.

Waaah! Teacher, I can’t do it.

Since childhood, Chayeon had been bad at cracking eggs.

She always used too much force, inevitably crushing them.

It seemed she failed to control her strength today as well.

“Oh, Lord…”

Laments, sighs, gasps stemming from indirect experience.
The auditorium sank into a grim silence.

Gurgle, gurgle-

Ju Jiho’s eyes rolled back as he foamed at the mouth and fainted.

The shock must have been immense.

“St-Stop! Chayeon! Stop!”

Just as Chayeon was about to unveil her ultimate technique, ‘Moon Rabbit Pounding the Mortar,’ Seohee rushed forward to stop her, finally bringing the inhumanly demonic spectacle to an end.

On that day, Jeon Chayeon became a legend.