Around the time Lee Wonwoo was being force-fed the world of Heroes, talk of him was being exchanged in the corridor near the president’s office.
“What do you think, Teacher Kwon, of the student named Lee Wonwoo?”
There were many freshmen with outstanding talent and skill in this cohort, but the one who had unquestionably monopolized the president’s attention was Lee Wonwoo.
‘My stomach aches.’
To begin with, the barrier was difficult even for teachers and instructors to break, so if it did not draw attention, that would be a problem in its own right.
Teacher Kwon replied in a tone without rise or fall.
“I do not know. If that is the only reason you called me, may I return now?”
Teacher Kwon tended to dislike casual conversation. So without waiting for the president’s answer, he lightly nodded and left.
The president said,
“In that case, very well.”
This was not the first or second time this had happened, so the president did not think much of it. However, though he had not taken more than a few steps away, Teacher Kwon came to a sudden stop.
“Still, I do not believe anything you need to worry about will happen. Then.”
The president looked at his back with his arms crossed.
‘This is the first time I have seen him so discomposed by a first-year, and on the first day at that.’
He must have been trying to leave in order to hide that state. If not that, then he was simply as unsociable as usual.
The president cleared his throat once and looked out the window.
‘......How nice.’
What the president saw was himself, having put down all responsibility, spending the rest of his life in peace somewhere with fine land.
“I do not have the confidence to face Lee Wonwoo.”
He meant it sincerely. After all, there was no telling what would become of the stomachache caused by the barrier.
***
On the small mountain where [Understanding Physical Arts] was being held, something no one had expected happened.
KABOOOM!
Because it had happened just as Choi Jio drew his bowstring, few people had seen it clearly.
“What, what just happened? Did anyone see?”
“......He, he was launched.”
The voice sounded as if its owner had seen a ghost, full of gloom.
‘That’s merciless.’
Coincidentally, because of the Heavenly Hound’s special ability, I knew the full story.
Including the fact that beside me, a handful of dust had risen as if a bomb had gone off.
From between the thick dust, Choi Jio’s voice, with only its spirit still alive, could be heard.
“Brother...... I entrust my revenge to you.”
The nonsense spun out by a muscle fanatic was, lamentably, directed at me.
However, I had no time to answer. Because I was reviewing the brief exchange, one moment after another.
‘More precisely, he threw him.’
Seen from afar, it was astonishing, but all that had happened was that the instructor approached and threw the damned guy the instant he drew the bow.
‘He never said he wouldn’t touch us.’
One way or another, nothing would change. I had to adapt to this situation.
Perhaps my adaptability as a person had not had a single moment of rest since I came into the world of Heroes.
As the situation entered a lull, the instructor grinned.
“There’s a saying. Those who’ve been beaten before know how to take a beating.”
A threatening silence pushed in like the shadow cast over the small mountain.
“Unfortunately, nothing will change even if you all stay still. No one is exempt. If this gets boring, I might go to you myself, you know?”
He did sound sorry, but overall, the color of threat was strong.
“......Phew. I look forward to your guidance.”
“I’ll kill y—no, I’m Wi Yohan!”
And so, yet another melee unfolded, turning every direction into a battlefield.
Nothing reached the instructor. Sometimes like a fish drifting through water, sometimes like a butterfly cruising through the air, he let everything flow past him.
“Is your family head doing well?”
At the same time as he slapped the back of a hand, the instructor grabbed the arm and threw its owner.
“Oh, come on. Do not rely on useless tricks. Move forward one step at a time.”
I watched the scene with somewhat surprised eyes.
‘It really is a self-introduction?’
While several techniques poured toward him, the instructor identified their origins and gave advice.
“Too much, too much! Why are you drawing unnecessary strokes to create a magic circle? Tsk!”
Moreover, even though he was a martial-type Hero, he seemed deeply knowledgeable about magic circles as well.
The instructor did not discriminate. With plenty of love, he threw everyone fairly to the other side.
Everything that touched his hands flew here and there, so it would have been strange if the remaining students did not hesitate.
The instructor did not allow it.
“This will not do. I am coming.”
Amid the rapidly changing situation, I considered the atmosphere, where disorder and clumsiness crossed over each other, to be the perfect moment.
“Reclaim.”
Kubanda’s special ability would take the chaos as its companion and advance in the form of a demonic hand.
“......!”
In that instant, the instructor’s half-closed eyes opened wide.
‘That startled me.’
At the same time, the gaze of a cruel beast reached me. It was the same for me.
There was only a handspan left now.
“You’re more dangerous than you look.”
At some point, a pitch-black sword was gripped in the instructor’s hand, though he had insisted on using his bare hands until now.
There was no Hero’s aura from the sword. A tyrannical, ominous aura flowed down along the blade.
No matter how I looked at it, it was far from the atmosphere of a Hero.
‘I didn’t see it.’
And I had not seen any part of that process. Still, I had reached him, so if I absorbed his mana, it would be over......
“Heh heh. When you suddenly said Reclaim, I thought it was just wordplay.”
The instructor cut through the air with the ominous sword. Everyone else likely had no idea what it meant, but my expression stiffened.
‘So special abilities can be cut too.’
Because the path of his sword had been aimed precisely at Kubanda’s special ability. No, it would probably cut anything.
“An interesting kid has entered......”
It had been a tyrannical sword path that would cut down everything within its radius. To me, it was a move that taught me my special abilities were not perfect and absolute.
‘I’ll have to be a little more underhanded next time. Is that why Kubanda ended up looking so obnoxious?’
There was no need to feel intimidated.
Since I had learned this now, he was someone I should actually thank.
“......I wasn’t planning to do this from the first day.”
The instructor gave an awkward laugh and put the sword away again.
But saying “from the first day” meant he would simply draw it later, didn’t it?
With his hands clasped behind his back, the instructor asked me,
“Student, what is your name?”
“I’m Lee Wonwoo!”
CLAP!
At some point, the instructor had clasped his hands behind his back and clapped.
“Ah, you were Lee Wonwoo? Thanks for breaking it. Heh heh.”
“......Pardon?”
The proctor’s words that someone might be pleased I had broken the barrier blew through my mind like a gust of wind.
‘It was this person.’
“You should have said so earlier! Let’s see. A sword is a bit much, so I’ll match your level appropriately. Consider it special treatment.”
Well. Who asked for that?
THOOM!
As if to say the question and answer session was over, the instructor stomped the ground as though crushing it. As if he had gone down a step, the difference in the height of our gazes changed.
WHOOOSH!
A formless wave of force burst from his entire body. It was not something like mana, but killing intent.
‘If this is what he looks like when he’s happy, he’s just a madman.’
Even I, who knew nothing, wondered whether it was right for an educator to carry killing intent toward a student.
But if it were someone else, I did not know, but there was one part that surprised me a little. It was the part where I immediately sensed the killing intent.
‘Ah, so that’s why......’
Come to think of it, I suddenly remembered that when Dad took his socks off inside out and left them that way, Mom’s killing intent had been even more ominous than this.
This time too, the influence of killing intent was truly tremendous.
“......Instructor, that’s too much.”
“B-Breathing!”
Some students fainted as if they were hyperventilating. In a different sense from the high-concentration mana, it was binding everyone.
‘This time too, I’m going alone.’
Contrary to my expectation, this time, reinforcements appeared, though they were not entirely reassuring.
“It is not over until I say it is over. Instructor!”
It was a resounding shout that instantly raised morale. With his upper body slightly bent, he had brought his hands to his navel and was squeezing his muscles.
“......”
‘Move to the side. Get away from me.’
I was certainly grateful that I was not alone, but I had no idea why my face was burning hot.
The instructor burst into true laughter.
“Hah hah hah! You really are insane. Ah...... This is why I like people from Muscleman.”
Even in this situation, the instructor did not ease his killing intent.
‘He really is a madman.’
If someone smiles while saying he will kill you, what is he if not a madman?
Keeping his laughing posture, the instructor spread both arms and shouted loudly.
“Come at me together!”
I had been planning to do that anyway. Because the single move I had exchanged with the instructor just now had taught me a great deal.
‘I feel like I’ll change day by day.’
I could vaguely feel that I would be able to take another leap this time as well.
“Let’s go.”
And the students had their pride, so they did not cooperate, but I was different.
I had actively accepted the saying that the enemy of my enemy was my ally.
“......No matter how treacherous the road may be, enduring it and advancing silently is what makes a great man......”
I seriously thought a high monk was reciting a sermon.
“I said let’s go.”
Jio soon began to sprint at full speed toward the instructor.
‘It’s true.’
His agility was worthy of Muscleman’s motto.
“Wait for the right moment.”
At Jio’s words, I naturally hid myself behind his back.
Tap. Tap. KABOOM!
The instructor attacked only Jio persistently, as if telling me to watch everything from there.
Everyone else had been sent flying by attacks that seemed to be nothing more than light taps like this.
‘There really is a way to get hit?’
However, Jio did not fly away. He kicked off the ground with both feet and charged forward, and before his train-like momentum, the instructor continued to retreat.
“Do not underestimate me, Instructor. I have never learned how to step back.”
And so, in the cradle of muscle, I activated the Heavenly Hound’s special ability and observed the instructor’s movements one by one.
‘There has to be something like a habit.’
I closely examined parts like the attacks he unfolded from certain angles and the movements of translucent mana transferring to the right places at the right times.
My judgment was made at once. The instructor was a person whose outside and inside were different. Unlike his freewheeling outward appearance, his inside was solemn and systematic.
If I approached to a close range where I could not dodge and deployed my special ability, could I reach the instructor?
Even if my special ability reached him, could I endure until I absorbed all of his mana?
‘No, impossible.’
Accordingly, while keeping my thoughts flexible as usual, I gave variation to my countermeasure.
‘It’s my power now.’
The will held in that perhaps-lighthearted mindset was clearer than anything else. The target I would vary was Kubanda’s special ability, which was now my own power.
‘If I think about it broadly, in the end, it’s a pulling force.’
The principle of attraction.
Whether it would work or not was something I had to try to know. And until now, I had never been hit by anyone.
“Release Attraction.”
So the fact that I had come this far could be considered thanks to the Academy and the instructor for driving me to my limit.
***
Wagner looked at Lee Wonwoo with a faint smile.
‘An interesting one has entered after quite a while.’
The fact that he had drawn his sword against a mere freshman had alone raised his interest in Lee Wonwoo greatly.
Because Lee Wonwoo had also broken the barrier that openly distinguished between people, his interest rose even more easily.
‘But what have you been looking at all this time?’
From time to time, there were Heroes with peculiar eyes. It was due to the influence of each individual’s mana.
However, even Wagner had never seen such strange eyes that changed randomly and endlessly without rest.
‘Have I become sensitive?’
And why did it somehow feel as if Lee Wonwoo was watching the minute movements of his muscles, his mana operation, his breathing, and such?
‘It feels out of place.’
Of course, once someone reached a certain realm, they could sense such things, but seeing them was an incomprehensible domain.
Wagner mixed in small movements to confirm it, then soon formed a sly smile.
‘Wow...... You can see it, can’t you?’
The movement of mana did not show on the surface like muscles did. Lee Wonwoo had not reached a realm where he could sense this either.
But the fact that Lee Wonwoo’s gaze followed it immediately did not change.
Wagner knew it clashed with common notions and common sense. However, he was the type to trust his own instincts above all else.
That was why Lee Wonwoo was a student he strangely looked forward to.
‘Show me more.’
This time, Wagner wanted to experience directly the power that had broken the barrier. However, what came from Lee Wonwoo’s mouth was a bizarre chant.
“Release Attraction.”
“Huh?!”
Before Wagner could grasp the intent, a bizarre phenomenon occurred: formless threads flew from Lee Wonwoo’s outstretched hand like a cast net and pulled at his entire body.
SNAP!
Wagner’s head bowed as he instinctively reacted in the opposite direction.
‘What is this......?’
It seemed his boring days would end today. And so, a sly smile rose on his face.
‘Hm? Wait a moment.’
The watch he was able to see thanks to that informed Wagner that quitting time was close.
To Wagner, and Wagner alone, this was a problem he could never overlook.