Clashing steel. The sound of gunfire echoing in the training grounds...
Two sights were unfolding that drew the class's attention.
The first was Kim Hajin frantically running around and evading the female instructor who was sparring with him since he didn't have safe ammunition to spar with.
And the second was Lee Shin standing firm and countering Kim Suho, who kept devising new ways to approach Lee Shin and close the gap enough to slash him with a sword.
An hour had passed since the start of class, so most people were taking breaks.
And like that, Nayun and Rachel, who had been sparring together, paused to watch the spars.
"Huh." Nayun tilted her head, watching Lee once again send Suho flying. "...Lee fights really smart, doesn't he?"
Rachel nodded. "He does."
It was a clear but simple tactic.
Lee couldn't defeat Suho in an exchange of blows. The moment the exchange went to three strikes, Suho would definitely close in and finish it.
So Lee simply didn't let him.
Suho's weapon was shorter. To reach Lee, he had to somehow get past the halberd, which when fully extended covered twice Suho's own range.
Ordinarily, speed should be enough. If Suho rushed towards Lee fast enough to close the gap, then he could finish it.
But the problem was that Lee seemed to be able to perfectly predict Suho's movements, even when Suho was attacking in a blindspot.
Nayun frowned, watching Lee send Suho flying yet again after Suho tried to rush in with a stab from behind Lee. "Is that guy a precog or what?"
"No." Rachel watched carefully and said, "...There's a timing."
"Timing?" Nayun looked at Rachel. "What timing? Wait... is that how you keep dodging my arrows?"
Rachel chuckled. "No. That's just you being inaccurate."
"HEY!"
Rachel smiled.
Nayun huffed. But then she stared at Lee and watched Suho charge and immediately abort the attack as Lee's halberd cut through where he would have been if he continued. "...How is he doing that?"
"He measured it." Rachel's blue eyes watched Lee closely and she said, "He knows the distance of Suho's blade. He knows the distance between them. And he knows how fast Suho can move. Not only that, but from the sound of Suho's footsteps against the ground, he can calculate the exact moment when to swing... or vary his swing speed as well."
"...You're kidding me. That's inhuman!" Nayun's head turned on a swivel back to watch Lee and Suho's clash.
And it was exactly like Rachel said.
Lee wasn't looking at Suho with his eyes. Instead, he had his head tilted, like he was listening. And the moment Suho moved, Lee acted.
Not react, but act.
A delayed swing that Suho couldn't avoid or dodge, sending him flying back as the blade smacked into his armor.
"Gah!" Suho rolled back up to his feet and said, "You're crazy, Lee. Super crazy. No wonder you're here even when you have like no magic power."
Lee laughed and said, "You're the crazy one, Suho. I'm only hitting you one in ten times. The rest you've blocked or avoided."
"Thanks for the backhanded compliment, but doesn't that mean I still haven't hit you once?!"
"I mean, if you want to bring it up, yeah?"
"Come on!"
Rachel covered her mouth and let out a soft giggle.
Nayun shook her head. "That guy..."
Nayun couldn't help but compare Lee to another spearman with the family name of 'Shin.'
In the distance, Shin Jonghak was sparring with one of his underlings, a buff martial artist named Kim Horak. But the way that guy used his spear was completely different from Lee.
Shin Jonghak was constantly on the attack, his spear swinging in for slashes, piercing with rapid thrusts, or lunging for a heavy blow. Offense, not defense.
Nayun nudged Rachel and said, "Hey. Look at Jonghak over there. If he went against Lee, who do you think would win?"
Rachel looked over and then hummed, calmly assessing it. Then she said, "100% to Lee if the fight ends in the first exchange. Otherwise... 75% to Jonghak if it extends beyond it." Rachel watched Lee again and then said, "Jonghak is faster than Suho and stronger as well. It would be hard."
Nayun looked amused. "Not going to talk up your crush, huh?"
Rachel's face turned red and said, "He is not my crush. He is... a friend. A dear friend."
Nayun teased. "A 'dear friend' huh?"
Rachel pursed her lips.
Nayun laughed. But then she composed herself and looked at Lee. "...I disagree though."
"Pardon?"
"You saying Jonghak wins 75% of the time. I disagree." Nayun watched Lee closely and said, "Lee fights smart. Jonghak doesn't. And more than that..." Nayun chuckled. "Jonghak has an attitude problem. Look at Lee. Even though the fight's gone on this long without a break, isn't he fine? If he slips up once, Suho wins. But he hasn't. For a whole hour."
Rachel paused. Then she shifted her gaze to Lee and let out a warm smile. "...You're right."
Nayun clapped her hands. "Alright! Breaks over." She walked back a few paces from Rachel and said, "I'm feeling inspired. Get ready, Rachel. You're going down this time!"
Rachel smiled and drew her rapier, holding it at the ready. "...I've been inspired as well. Come then."
===
By the time the anti-personnel class was over, Lee was drenched in sweat.
But he was still better off than Suho, who had to get dragged off to the infirmary along with Hajin after getting knocked out from a sloppy dodge.
Walking out to grab an early lunch with Rachel and Nayun, Lee chuckled and said, "I still can't believe how stubborn that guy was."
Nayun laughed and said, "That's Suho for you. The guy doesn't know when to quit... though I was surprised at Hajin too."
Rachel nodded, an amused smile on her face. "Indeed... to think that he would actually bite the instructor's hair..."
Lee chuckled. "Well, whatever works, right?"
Personally, Lee felt that Hajin was kind of pitiful...
Didn't he have that cheat story intervention ability or whatever? He really should just give himself 'Gun-Fu' as an Art. If Hajin fought like John Wick did with his bullet time ability or whatever he had, Hajin would win most fights in a single clash.
Nayun shook her head. "It's kind of annoying watching him fight though. It's like he doesn't have any combat skills at all... seriously. How'd he even get into Cube. I mean, YOU I get Lee. You probably would be at least top 300 if you had decent magic power."
"I'd say top 100, but thank you for the compliment."
Nayun lightly punched Lee's arm and said, "Don't let it get to your head. There's a clear difference, you know? The only reason you beat Suho was because he wasn't fighting seriously. I mean, it was still impressive, but in a real fight..."
"Well." Lee wiped the sweat off his face with his shirt and said, "A real fight doesn't usually last beyond three attacks, you know? In fact, in the real world, there aren't 'fights' but 'encounters.' You win or lose by the second attack, and you're usually running by the third if you're alone. That or dead."
Rachel's face was red... probably from seeing Lee's abs when he lifted his shirt to wipe his face. But she quickly composed herself and said, "That is true. Statistics from the top 10% of those on the Hero rankings show most fights ending without injuries in the first few exchanges or with wounds beyond that."
Nayun rolled her eyes. "You and all this data..." She paused and looked around. "...Hey. I just realized. Have you guys seen Yeonha at all?"
"Hm?" Lee tilted his head. "Come to think of it... I haven't."
Rachel nodded. "I did. She went to go check on Hajin."
Nayun blinked. "She did? On that guy?"
"Oh... right." Lee nodded. "She probably wants to confirm if he can really timeslip or not."
"Wait." Nayun paused. "...I think I just heard something crazy? Did you just say that our trashy teammate, the one who uses a gun, the one who can't even run two kilometers without gasping for air and water... he can control time?!"
"Not control time. Just move in it differently. Think of it like... temporarily going sideways in time before going back in normal time."
"That's still ridiculous!"
Rachel tilted her head and said, "...How do you know that, Lee?"
Nayun quickly nodded. "Yeah! How do you know that? Are you like psychic? Is that how you kept reading Suho's moves?"
"Hm? No. I just noticed that Hajin was skipping frames when he shot the octopi."
"Skipping frames?!" Nayun grabbed Lee's shirt and said, "You did NOT just compare Hajin to some game character who's lagging in a public lobby!"
Lee's eyes lit up. "That's actually a great comparison. He's basically doing that but in real life."
Nayun let Lee go and threw her hands up in the air. "I give up! This world's gone mad!"
Rachel giggled.
"Glad SOMEONE finds this hilarious." Nayun huffed. "Honestly... is the bottom 100 of our class just smurfs? First Lee with his ridiculous combat IQ and now our gun guy can apparently use real life lag to blast enemies down..."
Lee laughed. "I'm pretty sure it's just us two, Nayun."
"The fact that you're confirming Hajin is ridiculous is NOT sitting well with me, Mister!"
Lee shrugged. "I mean, he's the sort who looks helpless but can pull out bullshit- I mean, pull out some BS out of his ass- butt when the time comes."
Rachel giggled a bit harder.
Nayun rolled her eyes. "Of course he is. The defenseless looking guy is secretly the strongest one in the group who can pull out things out of a hat whenever he needs them..."
"Yep. So keep an eye on him. You'll be surprised otherwise."
"Yeah, yeah..." Nayun placed her hands behind her neck and said, "By the way, you guys joining any clubs? Most of them aren't opening up for a while, but there's a few starting up now, right?"
Rachel nodded. "I am joining the reading club."
Nayun blinked. "...The reading club."
"Yes. It seems peaceful."
"...And you, Lee?"
"Probably the reading club too." Lee nodded. "I actually have a lot of extracurricular reading I need to do, so it'll be a good excuse for it. Plus, sitting in your dorm room all the time is no good."
"...You two are suuuper boring."
"Well," Rachel said. "What about you then, Nayun?"
"Traveling and hunting, obviously. Traveling so I get an excuse to go relax, and hunting so I can make some pocket change." Nayun smiled. "Resourceful, right?"
Lee placed a hand on his chin and said, "...Oh yeah. We can do that, can't we?"
He had forgotten, but since he was a Cube Cadet, he had six free monthly portal uses to and from Cube and various places.
"...I should probably go to a field on the weekend to train for real."
Nayun's eyes lit up and she said, "Ooh! You're going on a trip to hunt monsters? When? Where?"
"Probably... What was that place called? Gangwado Woju?"
Rachel laughed and said, "You mean Gangwondo Wonju?"
Nayun nodded. "Of course. That makes sense... Hm. I could probably get Yeonha to have some people come along to bring back the stuff we kill. Usually they'd take a cut, but we could probably get it for free if I ask."
Rachel looked at Lee and said, "I can do that as well... probably. The English Royal Court has a few agents in the area."
Nayun hummed. "That's probably better... It makes sense for people to move for you. But I guess it'd be the Essence of Strait people for Yeonha, so that might be a bit too much attention."
Lee raised an eyebrow, amused. "Did you two just volunteer yourself on a hunting trip with me?"
Nayun nodded. "Well, duh. How else am I going to properly test the archery you taught me, huh?"
Rachel blushed a bit and said, "W-Well... I DO need to do some training after all the studying. And it would be nice to get out of the academy for a while."
"Right?!" Nayun nodded. "We could get food and stuff too! I heard there's lost of things to look around at in Wonju!"
"...You do realize that if I show up with the two of you I'm going to be public enemy number one of Cube's male population?"
Nayun clapped a hand on Lee's shoulder and said, "That's the price you pay for being my friend and for being Rachel's crush, Lee!"
Rachel blushed. "L-Lee is not my crush!"
Lee nodded. "That's right, Nayun. Rachel's my future girlfriend."
Rachel immediately turned a bright red. "L-LEE?!"
Nayun burst out laughing. "Oh my GOD. You're so brave, Lee." She wiped a tear away and said, "I'll prepare the eulogy."
Lee laughed and said, "Well, it's still a bit far out. I have to get up there in rank first, right? If it gets out that the number one is dating the second to last in Cube..." He paused. "Actually, the headlines on that might be incredible..."
Rachel huffed and swatted Lee's arm. "No!"
"But think of the press, Rachel! The drama! The media attention! And when you make a proper debut as a Hero, you'll already be world-renowned!"
"I am already world-renowned, you silly person! And I do NOT need to be world-renowned for my love life!"
"I mean, Princess Diana was though?"
"That is...! Shut up!"
Lee laughed.
Rachel puffed her cheeks out to pout.
And Nayun shook her head. "Man... I didn't think I'd be having this much fun at Cube, but I'm all for it."