Chapter 40 Part 10: Connivance.

Honestly, I was worried my homeroom teacher might refuse.

After all, a favor isn’t something the other person is obligated to do.

I wouldn’t have been able to say anything if she cited reasons like unfairness or being too busy.

But when I actually went to the teachers’ office, she welcomed me.

“Do you want any coffee or snacks?”

“Oh, I’m fine…”

“But we have some, so please have some.”

“Okay.”

I sat down and started eating the snacks that were unexpectedly offered.

Does she always anticipate students visiting?

It was a little surprising to see such a variety of snacks, sorted by type.

I thought someone like her would probably avoid snacks.

If she did eat them, I expected maybe just a chocolate or two.

But seeing this, it seemed like she enjoyed various snacks as well.

“So, what brings you here?”

My teacher asked with a friendly smile.

She had a listening attitude, as if she would gladly listen to any request.

Thinking that being a teacher isn’t something just anyone can do, I brought up the main point.

“If it’s not too much trouble, would it be possible to spar with you?”

“…Spar with me? Wouldn’t it be better to do it with another teacher?”

“You’re my homeroom teacher, but there’s also a reason why I specifically want to do it with Teacher Park Hyorim.”

I deliberately specified her name.

I wouldn’t know about other teachers, but I thought I could communicate with this teacher.

“Hmm…”

The teacher hummed and popped a chocolate into her mouth.

And while chewing on it, she began to think deeply for a while.

How much time passed?

The teacher, who had been munching on a few more snacks, readily nodded.

“Alright, there must be a reason why you specifically chose me.”

“Yes.”

“Originally, sparring between students and teachers isn’t allowed. There’s always the possibility of unexpected situations…”

“Unexpected situations?”

“We haven’t fully grasped the students’ abilities yet. Oh, if we think, ‘Let’s just go a little further…’ an accident could happen.”

“Ah.”

“But I don’t think that will be the case with Yeji, right?”

“Why?”

“Because you’re probably the strongest among the first-years.”

My face turned red at the sudden compliment.

I wanted to protest that it wasn’t like that, but the situation was a bit awkward.

So I just nodded silently and opened my mouth to set a schedule.

“Then should I come back later?”

“No, the training hall should be empty right now.”

“…Training hall?”

“Oh, I mean the virtual sparring room… You’ll understand why it’s called the training hall when you see it.”

“Ah…”

“If it’s alright with you, we can spar briefly right now.”

I readily nodded.

What was important now was to check whether my skills had gotten rusty.

If my skills had actually gotten rusty, I would need to sharpen them a bit.

With that in mind, I followed the teacher to the place called the training hall.

The virtual sparring room we arrived at was a small space, about the size of one floor.

Just hearing the name, I thought it would be huge, but I was surprised for a moment.

“Now, look.”

The teacher said that and pressed something, and the surroundings began to change rapidly.

In the space where there was nothing just a moment ago, a training hall literally appeared.

It looked like something straight out of a martial arts novel, and I gaped for a moment before expressing my admiration.

“How is it? It’s a training hall, right?”

“Yes, it is…”

“There are a lot of people at school who like martial arts, so this is the default setting. It’s a space where various magic engineering and technology, primarily illusion magic, are applied… so it won’t break easily.”

“Ah…”

I couldn’t understand it in detail, but it seemed to be something like that.

I don’t know much about it, but well. I can just understand that it’s a place that doesn’t break easily.

“The default setting is cool, but we’ll be sparring with a different setting today.”

“A different setting?”

“You’ll see.”

I heard the sound of buttons being pressed a few times, and then the surroundings changed again.

When I came to my senses, a bustling street, like the middle of Hongdae, had appeared.

Just as I was admiring that fact again, the teacher, who appeared from afar, spoke.

“I also wanted to gauge your skills. Would that be alright?”

“Yes, that’s fine. I like urban warfare, too.”

“…You like it?”

“…Not that I’ve done it a lot, I just like it.”

“I see. Should I let you go first?”

“No, do as you please.”

In terms of skill, I thought the teacher and I were probably almost equal.

Of course, there was no point in offering to go first or not among equals.

So I readily said that, but.

“Huh.”

In the blink of an eye, the teacher disappeared from my sight.

I stood there with a half-dazed expression, then belatedly came to my senses and licked my lips.

It seemed like acceleration or teleportation.

Whatever it was, it was different from what I had guessed, so I was a little flustered.

“I thought a teacher would use something like magic!”

“Haha, did you really think I was a mage?”

With those words, the teacher appeared at the edge of my vision and kicked me.

I hurriedly raised my arm just before being hit, but the impact that came through my arm was considerable.

My body instantly floated backward and rolled on the ground a few times.

I reflexively performed a breakfall and then immediately got into position.

Seeing that she was coming at me like this from the start, I had no choice but to go all out.

So I slowly took a deep breath and began to restructure my body.

To be useful in a combat situation, not for everyday life.

I increased the number of alveoli, made my heart beat faster.

I applied the information I had learned from experimenting on my body, increasing my physical abilities in real time.

How much time passed?

Again, the teacher, who had disappeared in the blink of an eye, made running sounds and vibrations from here and there.

Thinking that it would be easy to deal with if I knew this, I felt a vibration right behind me.

So when I turned my head, what I saw was a stone bouncing on the ground.

“Huh?”

It was surprising that she was skipping stones on the ground, but.

It was also surprising that she threw two stones so exquisitely, as if a person were running.

Just as I was thinking that one had to be at this level to be a hero, I turned my body and threw a punch.

My fist collided with the palm of the teacher, who appeared from the corner.

And the teacher immediately closed her palm, grabbed my fist, and applied a grappling technique.

But I was also confident in grappling.

As I slowly countered with an opposing technique, I saw her face twist as if she was a little flustered.

But that fluster was only momentary.

Again, the teacher, who disappeared in the blink of an eye, began to run around.

I detected the vibrations for a moment, then couldn’t hold back and asked a question.

“Teacher, can I ask what your ability is?”

“Student, what kind of person tells their enemy that?”

“But I’m a beast-person, so I know even if you don’t want to tell me. I think this is a bit unfair.”

It wasn’t really unfair, but I was just whining.

But the teacher seemed to think that made sense.

“My ability is acceleration. But it’s hard to see it as a typical acceleration.”

“I think so.”

“It’s convenient to think of it as increasing the overall speed of the body by repeating a specific motion.”

Even while saying that, I could see the afterimage of the teacher running 열심히.

I thought about what that specific motion was for a while, and then I realized one thing.

The teacher’s breathing method was different now from her usual one.

“Could it be… that breathing is that motion?”

“Haha, that’s right!”

With a huff, huff sound, the teacher began to show bizarre acrobatics.

It seemed like she was saying that everything up to now was just a joke, and her speed was extraordinary.

Thanks to that, I was starting to feel dizzy trying to detect it, so I decided to take advantage of the urban warfare.

So I raised my fist.

Then I struck a nearby wall to create debris and roughly found the building’s frame.

My arm, with somewhat increased muscle fibers, easily grabbed the frame, and I looked at the situation for a while before tearing it out.

Normally, a building doesn’t collapse just because one pillar is destroyed.

But what if several pillars collapse at the same time?

“Hehe…”

I counted the time in my head for a while, and when it was right, I threw a punch with all my might.

The already precarious building began to shake violently from that blow.

It was only natural since it was like crushing the bones of a person.

I never thought the teacher would be buried under the debris anyway.

I just wanted the teacher to be inconvenienced by the debris and to just attack me.

And that’s exactly what happened.

With a huff sound, the teacher appeared and began to engage in all-out close combat.

It continued for several tens of minutes.

I wasn’t lacking in stamina. Later on, the sparring progressed almost like one-on-one coaching.

Then I realized one thing.

My skills had definitely gotten rusty, but that was because my mindset had gotten rusty.

If I don’t kill others, I will die.

To survive, I have to condone the pain of others.

Rather, it was fine to think that my skills had somewhat deteriorated because that mindset from my time as a test subject had rusted.

It felt like a process of becoming human.

That’s how the sparring with the teacher ended, but regular sparring continued even after that.