novelraw Chapter 14 : Orientation (2)
Chapter 14 : Orientation (2)
With the new semester, the busiest people were undoubtedly the homeroom instructors.
Just identifying the profiles and special characteristics of 40 cadets was already a headache-inducing task.
Because of this, Oh Chang-seong had persistently declined the homeroom position despite his status easily ranking within the top ten in the academy.
'Positions are best in moderation. Get too involved and it becomes troublesome.'
He felt that his current level of leisure was just right.
"Hey, you're all working hard."
"Instructor Oh! Thank you!"
As he wandered around giving unsolicited advice to assistants and regular staff, he eventually visited his close junior instructor's desk to cause disturbance.
"Instructor Oh. Don't you have a lecture?"
"Finished it all this morning."
"The Vice Principal was looking for you earlier."
"Ah, I was just in the process of escaping."
"Sigh."
The junior instructor sighed, looking at Oh Chang-seong's slick face.
"You were so serious during the entrance exam, couldn't you be like that normally too?"
"Nope. Doesn't suit my personality."
Oh Chang-seong shuddered, recalling how he had deliberately corrected his speech pattern at Kim Cheol-han's request.
"By the way, what are the freshman chicks up to now?"
"Well, aren't the Class 2 and 3 homeroom instructors probably crushing their kids while comparing them to Class 1?"
"I bet."
He smacked his lips.
"After about two weeks, the fierce determination will be flowing from their eyes."
Class 2, consisting of middle-ranking students, would be getting crushed the hardest.
"Four or five of them are probably already in tears."
"Ugh, once they cry, it's over."
He shrugged his shoulders, saying it was predictable without even seeing it.
"But the ones going through the roughest time are still the Class 1 students, right?"
"True. That guy is probably making them do something strange from day one."
Oh Chang-seong said, thinking of Instructor Kim Cheol-han's face, from which not a drop of blood would come out even if stabbed.
"I heard he already enlisted Instructor Kang Jun-man."
"Ah, that's right."
He grinned.
"They must be having a hard time."
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"I'll take the challenge."
Su-hyeon was the first to raise his hand, but several other cadets, including Yu-jin and Jun-seong, also raised their hands.
"Then let's decide with rock-paper-scissors."
Due to Kang Jun-man's words, Su-hyeon's turn was pushed back.
'That's disappointing.'
But it didn't take long for his turn to come.
"Ugh!"
"Aak!"
"Ow ow ow ow ow!"
Kang Jun-man mercilessly broke, squeezed, and twisted the challenging students, making them roll on the ground.
"Hong In-hyeon couldn't do it either."
The cadets' faces turned black with despair as they watched Hong In-hyeon get his leg properly twisted after being caught by the feet.
"Kwon Seung-yeon lost too."
"Is there even a way to do this?"
Yu-jin, who had been watching, stepped forward.
"I'll challenge."
"Oh!"
"Yu-jin is different."
'My penetration sword might be effective.'
If Kang Jun-man's characteristic was literally the ability to 'pass through everything,' there would essentially be no way to win.
Therefore, she wanted to confirm whether her characteristic would work, assuming that Kang Jun-man's characteristic wasn't invincible.
"Hmm."
Kang Jun-man looked at Yu-jin and grinned.
Sword God Lee Un-hak.
A man still called the strongest and a legend in the Hunter industry, even though he had mostly retired from the front lines.
As the granddaughter of such a Lee Un-hak, she could be considered to have a connection to him as well.
'I heard she landed a hit on Instructor Oh during the entrance exam too. Impudent one.'
"Come at me."
"Yes."
Yu-jin, holding a wooden sword, carefully narrowed the distance.
'If I allow close combat, I have no chance.'
For a swordsman, maintaining one's distance while fighting is fundamental.
"If you don't come, I'll go first!"
As Kang Jun-man charged from the front as always and reached out, Yu-jin turned sideways and struck down briefly towards his glabella.
'Let it work!'
Yu-jin's mana penetration is an ultimate ability that, if it just touches, infiltrates mana through the opponent's blood vessels to the heart.
"That was close!"
But Yu-jin's sword passed futilely through Kang Jun-man's forehead as if attacking a hologram.
"Urgh!"
Kang Jun-man twisted Yu-jin's wrist, which had cut through thin air, making her drop the wooden sword.
"I surrender."
When a position was created where she would only destroy her joint if she resisted, Yu-jin acknowledged defeat with a slight sigh.
"It would be the best if your characteristic could be a counter that pierces through the opponent's characteristic. But such luck doesn't happen often. Don't enter a fight hoping for luck."
"...Yes."
Yu-jin bit her lip and retreated at the criticism that left no room for rebuttal.
'Her approach is more ordinary than I expected.'
Kang Jun-man tilted his head, watching Yu-jin's back.
'Was she lucky during the entrance exam? Or...'
"You did well."
Yu-jin, who had become dejected, smiled faintly at Su-hyeon's words.
"Yeah."
"I'm next!"
Go Do-il, who had awakened the characteristic of 'steel transformation' and had performed well in the entrance exam like Kang Geon-woo, stepped forward.
"Good attempt."
Kang Jun-man praised Go Do-il, who had transformed his body into steel and crouched down.
"The idea of hardening your body to prevent techniques from being applied is good. But that alone is not enough."
Kang Jun-man simply broke Go Do-il's ankle by applying an ankle lock.
"Huuuk!"
Go Do-il, whose strength completely drained, immediately tapped out.
"Did you think you could block my joint techniques with just steel-level hardness?"
The Ma-in that Kang Jun-man had faced were monsters who could tear through iron and rip bullets apart with just their physical abilities.
Therefore, Kang Jun-man could also perform feats like tearing phone books with his fingers as easily as eating.
"Having a steel body doesn't mean invincible defense. You'll need to hone your ability much more to fulfill your role as a tank."
"Thank you for the advice."
"Hmm. Don't worry, your ankle will heal after a brief rest."
As Go Do-il retreated, limping on his ankle, the next turn belonged to Seo Jun-seong.
"Now Seo Jun-seong is stepping up."
"If it's Jun-seong, he might have a method, right?"
"Yeah, that's true."
"Ho, so you're Seo Dong-jin senior's son."
There probably wasn't a single instructor at the academy who didn't hold respect for him.
Kang Jun-man's mouth split pleasantly wide upon meeting the son of a respected senior.
"Let's see what you've got."
"...Please guide me well."
The two faced each other.
'Can I capture Instructor with my psychokinesis?'
Seo Jun-seong thought.
'Probably low possibility.'
Still, it was worth trying.
"Hup!"
As soon as it started, Seo Jun-seong brought both hands forward, focusing his psychokinesis on one point.
Gugugugu!
It was such high output that even the sand on the field was swept along.
"Unfortunately."
Even with his psychokinesis, he couldn't capture Kang Jun-man's entity.
'Tch.'
Seo Jun-seong, clicking his tongue, immediately executed Plan B.
That is, he changed the target of his psychokinesis to himself and lifted his body into the air.
"Hooh?"
Kang Jun-man smiled as if finding it interesting.
"What's the intention here?"
"...I've confirmed that my ability cannot attack the instructor. But as long as I float in the air like this, the instructor won't be able to attack me either."
It was a choice that stabbed at Kang Jun-man's weakness of not having flight ability or long-range attack means.
"Hmm. As you say, without the help of team members, I have no way to attack you."
Kang Jun-man finally smiled.
'Indeed, is there no wise son under a good father?'
"You've chosen a path where you can't win but won't lose either. It's the best answer among those that have come out so far."
However.
"But this way, neither you nor I can decide the match. It's not enough for a full score."
"......"
Seo Jun-seong bit his lip at the sharp criticism.
"You don't seem to have a plan for that?"
"That's correct."
"Alright. You can come down now."
"...Yes."
Seo Jun-seong deactivated his ability with a dissatisfied face.
"Only one out of thirty avoided defeat. And this is supposedly from a gathering of the most elite among your peers."
"...!"
The cadets bowed their heads at Kang Jun-man's words.
"If I were to rate my characteristic alone, it would be at most B-rank. On the other hand, the characteristics possessed by top-ranking cadets like Seo Jun-seong, Hwang Ji-su, Lee Yu-jin, and Hong In-hyeon could potentially receive A-rank evaluations in the future."
What he was ultimately trying to say was one thing.
"The innate power superiority doesn't matter. Even my characteristic, which was considered non-combat by you, can become an ability close to invincibility depending on how it's honed."
'Of course, thinking this ability is invincible itself means there's still a lack of imagination.'
Kang Jun-man, swallowing his inner thoughts, turned his gaze to Su-hyeon.
"You're the last."
Su-hyeon bowed his head with an unreadable expression.
"Please guide me."
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As I stepped forward, I could hear whispering voices behind me.
"His expression is surprisingly calm."
"Did he come up with a method?"
"Tch, what method could he have? He probably just got tired of hiding like a coward and wanted to show off."
Among them, there were even those like Park Chang-jun who openly mocked.
'That idiot.'
His voice was too loud.
"Park Chang-jun."
Sure enough, Kim Cheol-han's expression turned cold.
"Y-yes!"
"Shut up. Where did you learn such ill manners to freely run your mouth in front of instructors?"
"I-I'm sorry."
After simply crushing Park Chang-jun, Kim Cheol-han turned his gaze to me.
"Have you found a clue? If not, you don't have to force yourself to step up."
"Yes. I found it."
My answer was simple.
'More like I've known it for a long time rather than just found it.'
Kang Jun-man is the typical type of Awakened that you have to get hit to understand.
But.
'There's nothing further from a veteran player than getting hit because you don't know.'
From my perspective, opponents who attack randomly without patterns would be more challenging.
'Because if you know the strategy, the breakdown is surprisingly easy.'
This wasn't a fight that needed to take long.
"Good. Step forward."
'The key is to target the flaw in the ability to pass through.'
I slowly walked to the front of Kang Jun-man and extended my right arm.
"Would you like to break it?"
"!?"
Kang Jun-man blinked at the unexpected situation.
"What are you doing?"
"Exactly what I said."
Kang Jun-man tilted his head, as if not understanding my intention to suddenly provoke an instructor.
"You're an interesting fellow. Are you being stubborn?"
"How could that be?"
"Hmm. I'm looking forward to your answer."
Kang Jun-man's weakness.
It was that even he had to materialize when attacking.
'Of course.'
Everyone's just mistaken.
In other words, if he comes to apply a flying armbar to break my right arm...
"Damn it!"
Kang Jun-man, who was attempting a cross armbar by placing my right arm between his legs, made his body transparent and retreated.
"...?"
"What did he do?"
Everyone just blinked, not understanding what happened.
"You bastard!"
Kang Jun-man burst into laughter.
"Trying to rip off the instructor's balls, are you crazy?!"
"Isn't actual combat not governed by MMA rules that prohibit groin strikes?"
"Hahaha! You're right!"
"Ah!"
Just then, an exclamation of admiration was heard from Seo Jun-seong.
'Indeed, his understanding is quick.'
"Even the instructor has to materialize at the moment of attack. When you think about it, it's obvious. Otherwise, physical attacks on our bodies would be impossible too."
"My goodness, that's it!"
Yu-jin also opened her eyes wide as if she had realized something.
"So he deliberately offered his arm and then targeted the gr-groin."
Her face reddened a bit when talking about the groin.
"Then as an instructor, he had no choice but to give up the attack and retreat. Otherwise, he would have been att-attacked in the gr-groin."
Only then did admiration burst forth from among the other cadets.
"That's right."
"Amazing."
"Is he a genius?"
"I never thought there was such a method."
Kang Jun-man, hearing the cadets' conversations, chuckled.
"Even among your seniors, there were hardly any who showed such an idea from the first class."
"Shall we continue?"
I asked.
"That's enough! Enough!"
He declared, waving his hands.
"I didn't expect to say this from day one. Correct answer!"
[Amazing achievement! You've broken down Instructor Kang Jun-man's ability!]
[Achievement points 300 awarded!]
'Lucky.'
It was a very generous reward for just one twitch of the hand.