"Ahjussi, do it with me." (Yi Yu-Jin)
As soon as Kim In-Soo turned around and left, Yi Yu-Jin asked Sae-Jin for a fight.
On the seventh day, which would be the next day, it was reserved for things like measuring of Mana and Magic strength, psychological tests, and having interviews with Knights Orders, so realistically, this was it for her to reverse the rankings. However, Yi Yu-Jin looked a bit anxious, since if Sae-Jin refused, then that would be the end.
"..."
Unfortunately, Jin Seh-Hahn/Kim Sae-Jin was dazedly staring at the empty air and didn’t reply to her request. Feeling a little frustrated, Yi Yu-Jin grasped his arm and shook it. Only then, he turned his head towards her direction.
"Let’s do it." (Yi Yu-Jin)
"...Do what?" (Sae-Jin)
"The duel." (Yi Yu-Jin)
"Uh... Ah... Sure thing." (Sae-Jin)
At his easier-than-expected agreement, her expressions turned weird. But that only lasted for a short while. She began energetically smiling.
"As expected, Ahjussi is really manly and straight forward! No backing out now, right?" (Yi Yu-Jin)
"Yeah, sure." (Sae-Jin)
And so, the meal time came to an end and the cadets started performing light exercises to prepare for the upcoming duels.
One hour later.
All the remaining cadets gathered at a huge dueling arena on the fourth floor of the Tower.
Kim In-Soo told the cadets to greet the observers hidden from the view, and so, they bent their backs 90 degrees. That signaled the beginning of the duels.
Most cadets thought that the procession might become rather tedious as there were a fair number of participants, but when the things actually got going, every battle lasted only for a way, way too brief moment.
No, that didn’t mean high-ranked cadets chose to fight against a low-ranked ones, though. The thing was, these high-ranked cadets were mindful of the scoring system and so, they tried not to fight against opponents with too low a rank, but then, many low-ranked cadets who were confident of their chances in duel began provoking the high ranked ones instead, and somehow, successfully got the duels going.
*SFX for lights (?) falling*
"...Ohhh."
A flash of light shooting out from Goh Yun-Jong’s blade melted a nameless male cadet’s sword, thereby ending the 35th duel. And it had been only 25 minutes after the start of this whole duel thing.
"The 9th ranked, Goh Yun-Jong, winner."
"Nicely done!" (Yi Yu-Jin)
Elated by the victory of her friend, Yi Yu-Jin stood up from her seat and shouted out loudly.
"Next, Yi Yu-Jin and Jin Seh-Hahn. Come up on the arena."
Her joy only lasted for a brief moment, however. As soon as her name was called out, her face became incomparably stiff.
Jin Seh-Hahn/Kim Sae-Jin made his way up on the arena first and she followed him up soon after.
As the two of them faced against each other, different lines of thoughts flowed in their minds.
’...Now how should I handle this? Do it with one punch, just like until now?’ (Sae-Jin)
’Surely, he has no experience in duels like this, so I must not give him time to get organised and attack him right away... But, something doesn’t feel right. Maybe, I should take my time, and wait for a gap...’ (Yi Yu-Jin)
It was kind of obvious that Yi Yu-Jin’s thoughts were a lot more weighty compared to her opponent’s.
*
"Who do you think will win?"
Observers couldn’t hide their excitement as the main match was about to get under way.
"I still believe Yi Yu-Jin would win this one. Yi Yu-Jin might have graduated from the Academy at a younger age than Yu Sae-Jung, but she’s a Knight who is willing to become a repeat test taker just for an opportunity to enter Eden. There should be quite a gap between the two as far as actual combat strength is concerned."
Observers spoke out their own educated opinions. Someone said that, after using
a special finishing move, the duel would end quickly, judging by what had gone before. Some disagreed and said their skill levels were similar so it might continue on for at least 5 minutes...
But in the midst of this, out of the blue, a shout loud enough to shock everyone into stupor exploded out from the arena below them.
"...That’s the end! The 1st ranked, Jin Seh-Hahn, winner!"
Even the referee’s voice was trembling, as if he was confused somewhat.
"...What was that?" (Kim Yu-Rin)
Stunned by that sudden, unexpected announcement, Kim Yu-Rin quickly got up from her seat and with her own two eyes, checked the situation at the dueling arena. There was Yi Yu-Jin toppled over, clutching her stomach, while standing in front, Jin Seh-Hahn looking at the girl, his fist clenched tight.
The duel was clearly over.
"...Keum." (Sae-Jin)
Jin Seh-Hahn/Kim Sae-Jin scratched the back of his neck, looking embarrassed slightly. He wasn’t planning to finish things up this fast... but even he didn’t expect Yi Yu-Jin to madly dash towards him, and so, he ended up swinging his fist.
And the result of that simple punch was this.
"...*pant*... *groan*..."
Yi Yu-Jin was drooling all over the ground while unable to recover her wits; meanwhile, all the other cadets were dumbfoundedly staring at him.
"M, my luck is pretty good, eh. Didn’t expect you to move the way I wanted you to. Really, my luck is the best." (Sae-Jin)
...He felt the need to say something under those intense gazes, so, he did.
*
After the first stage of the duel had come to an end, cadets rested their bodies while waiting for the expert’s arrival.
Jin Seh-Hahn/Kim Sae-Jin continuously chugged down bottles of water as he got nervous about running into Yu Sae-Jung. On the side, Yi Yu-Jin remained silent, totally downtrodden. There were traces of tears on the corners of her eyes, even.
"Oh, wowsers!!"
It was then, Yu Sae-Jung made her entrance.
She was, without a doubt, an idol.
Not only the quietly-seated cadets stood up quickly in order to take a good look at her, even the referee for the duel, Kim In-Soo, stood there totally dazed as he gazed at the woman who seemed to exhibit a bit more mature charm than before.
*SFX for soles of high heels making noise*
Despite coming to duel, Yu Sae-Jung wore a pair of high-heels. She ascended the arena and spoke while sweeping her gaze over the cadets.
"...My evaluation standard is straightforward. If you can withstand one strike from me, I’ll give you a fair amount of score." (Yu Sae-Jung)
Yu Sae-Jung’s attitude was incredibly cold and distant, which was completely different from when she was with Sae-Jin in private.
"Since I don’t have a lot of time, let’s start quickly, from the bottom. The last person in the rankings, please come up." (Yu Sae-Jung)
And the second half of the duels - or, in this case, ’guidance’, began in this manner and ended faster than the first half. None of the 70 or so cadets could receive Yu Sae-Jung’s strike with a wooden sword, so the whole thing only needed about ten minutes or so.
There were six different types of Magic Tattoos inscribed on her small and petite frame; Sae-Jin finally got to see for himself just what kind of a mini-monster he had inadvertently created here.
Fin.
(TL: $4 left out of $50 for this week’s first sponsored chapter.)