Chapter 49

—Tangled, long hair.

—Eyes rimmed with dark circles.

—Sharp teeth bared in a grin.

Cheat was taking her mugshot wearing prison garb with her helmet off of her head, and restraints were on both of her arms. Of course, the mugshot was spread throughout the entire world.

[Rebellion member imprisoned!]

[Gaon’s student captures villain!]

[Cheat’s identity is a hacker from China?]

[Yu HanNah’s exclusive scoop! First interview with Rebellion member!]

[Refuses to comply with investigation. Kept her mouth shut until the end…]

Jin ByungCheol was grinning ear to ear as he read an article detailing Shin YuSung’s exploits.

“Kuhaha! Instructor Lin Xiao, have a look at this! People are getting really excited about how incredible our YuSung is, aren’t they? Praise for Gaon is pouring in… “

That was to be expected. The Rebellion was one of the few villain syndicates that even Association hunters feared. Somehow, a first-year student from Gaon Academy had captured one of their members. It truly was something that had never happened before.

“I’m worried, though. The villains might hold resentment towards him, for example… hmm.”

“Haha! Well, that’s true for all hunters, no? Besides, how will a hunter ever become famous and more powerful if they don’t face any danger?”

“True enough.”

Lin Xiao nodded his head. He then pointed to an article about Adela.

“Adela conquered a dungeon for her extracurricular activity. Even so, her prowess is being buried under YuSung’s own, it looks like.”

“That’s good news to me. It’s a little embarrassing to say this, but I’m telling you this because it’s you…”

The headmaster looked back and forth between the pictures of Adela and Shin YuSung on the paper that detailed the entrants for the National Representative Selection.

“Be honest. Don’t you think it would be better if YuSung was the one chosen instead of Adela? I’m just saying… a student who’s from Korea would be a better representative than an exchange student from Italy.”

Even if Adela was chosen to represent Korea, there were many cases where a country would insist on having their representative be someone of the same nationality as the country itself.

“Because the Association is fairly conservative in that aspect.”

Lin Xiao could do nothing but nod his head at the other man’s words. The headmaster, satisfied, turned his gaze towards the outside of his window.

“Right. That is so.”

—Beautiful scenery. Large grounds.

Jin ByungCheol, as the headmaster, always put forth a strength-based meritocracy in his school. As a result, Gaon was always Korea’s top school.

He fiddled with his beard before beginning to speak once more.

“I was wondering, what’s your opinion? YuSung and Adela. Who do you think would win?”

Lin Xiao thought hard about the answer. Shin YuSung was strong, for sure. Even he, as an instructor, couldn’t properly gauge the boy’s full strength.

But Adela’s strength was something completely outside the realm of possibility among the first years. He had never seen a Trait quite as incredible as hers in all of Korea, which was known as the capital nation of hunters. The same could be said, of course, of China.

‘I suppose the one who was closest to her power would be Liú Jùn, the disciple of the Sword God…’

Back when YuSung had just arrived at the academy, Jin ByungCheol had posed a similar question, which was: ‘Between Liú Jùn and Shin YuSung, who’s stronger?’

‘Back then… I replied with Liú Jùn without an ounce of hesitation.’

Lin Xiao’s eyes flew wide open.

Adela or Shin YuSung. His opinion had changed from before.

“I think…”

After pondering it over, Lin Xiao gave his answer.

* * *

* * *

The pride and joy of China, Skyscraper Academy…

Liú Jùn was at the top of the gigantic, 100-floor building. He stared at his Pocket, then creased his forehead for just a moment.

[Rebellion member! Caught by a student!]

It was hard to believe.

Even among the extremist villain groups, the Rebellion was one whose name was becoming widely known at an incredibly fast rate.

‘And he defeated that Rebellion… by himself?’

Cheat, especially, was a famous villain with a bounty on her head for hacking into various security systems in China and taking information from them. Liú Jùn slowly lowered his gaze to check the name of the student who had managed such a feat.

“…Shin YuSung.”

A familiar cadence.

He remembered his strong initial impression of the young man. This time, he made sure to etch the name Shin YuSung into his mind.

Liú Jùn did not underestimate the boy for a second just because he had an F-rank Trait.

Shin YuSung’s master was the Fist King.

One of the few in existence that Liú Jùn’s master, the Sword God, considered a rival.

‘If he’s skilled enough for the Fist king to take him in as a disciple…’

He determined that YuSung had talent in some other area that had drawn the Fist King’s attention, even if his Trait was F-rank. Proof of that could be seen in how he had dominated every activity he had participated in so far, and he showed no signs of stopping.

‘There is definitely something to him.’

Liú Jùn closed his eyes.

Owing to the height of the building, a strong wind blew past him—its strength made him feel like he was floating in the air.

Liú Jùn had sacrificed everything to garner the favor of the Chinese branch of the Hunter Association, and China’s name was elevated on the global stage through his skills. In return, the country provided him with something that he needed.

—Circulation stones.

The price of one stone could buy several buildings—that was how expensive it was. Liú Míng, his little sister, needed them for the treatment of her terminal illness.

On top of that, one circulation stone only lasted for a year.

If not for the support from China, it would be next to impossible for a student like Liú Jùn to afford Liú Míng’s treatment expenses.

As Liú Jùn experienced the sensation of his body floating in the air, his sister’s face came up in his mind.

Liú Míng, who always grinned widely for him, had said this to him one day:

[After my illness is cured, I’m going to go and make friends. And… a lot of them!]

A bitter expression crept onto Liú Jùn’s typically emotionless visage.

‘She must be so lonely.’

It was no surprise that she was. There was not a single person within the hospital's grey walls that was Liú Míng’s age.

The emotions that Liú Jùn felt during that time were indescribable. Even so, he gave his sister an obliging smile, then petted her head.

[…Right. I’m sure you will,] he had replied.

Liú Jùn wanted to fulfill Liú Míng’s modest dream no matter what it took.

It was a given.

Even since they were little…

Liú Míng’s wishes…

Had been his own wishes.

—That was how it had always been.

Whoosh!

Liú Jùn opened his eyes as the gale swept up around him, and his hair was being tossed around by the wind.

As the hologram fragments disappeared into the air, they left behind a silver blade in Liú Jùn’s hand.

Slice!

Liú Jùn stepped forward and swung his blade without an ounce of hesitation.

Even the strong winds were stopped in their tracks in the silent world that he had created.

The clouds were split in half along the trajectory of the sword strike—it was the strength of Skyscraper Academy’s number one. Liú Jùn sheathed his sword, grimacing.

‘…A dull strike.’

Even that incredible display of skill was not enough for him. In order to defeat every representative from every country, including Korea, he had to redouble his training—that was Liú Jùn’s way.

* * * *

The luxurious Sevens dorms…

YuSung was staring blankly at the amount of money written on his Pocket from the comfort of a sofa.

[Amount deposited: 20,000,000]

[Total deposit: 23,673,000]

20 million won from taking care of the gate.

It was quite a huge sum, even for hunters who worked for the Association. To YuSung, a student, the amount was even more overwhelming.

‘If one banana-flavored milk costs 1200 won… I can buy sixteen thousand milks and still have money left over.’

Of course, he wasn’t actually going to buy that much banana-flavored milk, but to someone like him, who had never properly spent his money before, he liked to compare the value of money to food.

Now that the money was in his hands, it seemed even bigger than it had back then.

Again, YuSung was impressed by EunAh’s frivolous attitude.

‘Calling this amount… chump change, huh.’

YuSung didn’t need this much money right this moment, but he did have a plan in place as to how he was going to spend it.

‘I’ll have to constantly gather money from now on so that I can afford proper equipment for my party.’

YuSung did not want to join another group or person’s party—all he wanted was his own party, and also a room for the team.

But it was near impossible for a first-year student to acquire a room.

3000 SP was needed to obtain the rights to a room, which was way too much for a first-year student to afford.

Normally, one would gather the team or party members together, pool their SP, then buy the room—dividing up the rights to the space in that manner. But YuSung had no intention of doing that.

He needed to pay all 3000 points to be the party leader and enforce his plan on the other members.

While it was impossible for a regular first year, YuSung was different.

He had already collected half of the SP needed.

Part of it was due to his own work, but part of it was also due to the favoritism of the headmaster, Jin ByungCheol. Not knowing that fact, YuSung grinned.

‘Collecting SP is much easier than I thought it would be—I’m almost halfway there.’

The same was true of collecting money. Even if he collected the SP to buy the room, it would be a waste if he left it completely barren.

One needed quite a bit of cash to buy equipment and appliances used in academy-related activities.

‘A club would have some sort of budget given to them by the school, but… a party needs its members to earn money through extracurriculars.’

Gaon placed skill above all else. Only those with the abilities could climb to the top. However, that sort of attitude was nothing new to YuSung. He had lived on the Martial Spirits’ Mountain for twelve years; if there was one thing he was used to doing, it was proving his worth.

‘Even so, I should take a break tomorrow.’

It was finally the weekend.

YuSung had worked harder and done more than anyone else the past few days; he deserved the rest. Letting out a huge yawn, he made his way to his bed and lay on it. As he did so, the Pocket that he had placed by his bedside began to vibrate.

Vmm!

[Amy♥: Party Leader-nim, my filming is all done! No way!? Could it be? Tomorrow’s the weekend!!! ヽ(๑丨⛛丨๑)ノ]

It was a message from Amy.

YuSung could clearly see the girl’s playful expression in his head as he read the contents.

Vmm!

Right when he was about to reply, she sent another message.

[Amy♥: We should celebrate your huge break, capturing the villain and all! Why don’t we go on a picnic together?!(ღゝ◡丨)ノ ♡]

YuSung thought about it for a moment, then smiled. He had already decided on the answer.

[Shin YuSung: Sure.]

It was a given that one would enjoy their break more if they spent that time with others.