Chapter 51: Sword Lessons and Secret Warnings

Kim Seo-jun was discharged from the hospital only after another day had passed.

Even though his wound had completely healed, Baek Yeon-ji insisted on several thorough check-ups, and it was only after the attending doctor confirmed for the third time that he was fully recovered that she could finally relax and proceed with the discharge process.

In fact, Baek Yeon-ji had her own reasons for being so insistent.

When he was first admitted, the attending doctor had said, after examining Kim Seo-jun’s injury, that he would need to stay hospitalized for at least two weeks. The situation was so serious that even considering Kim Seo-jun’s young age and fast recovery, the doctor was worried.

Baek Yeon-ji had brought in the best medical team and even summoned a medical Hunter with a healing mystery to treat Kim Seo-jun’s wound.

However, the medical Hunter said something strange.

He said the mystery’s healing effect wasn’t working well on the wound.

Kim Seo-jun’s wound was resisting treatment, making it nearly impossible to shorten the hospital stay.

How could Baek Yeon-ji not be surprised?

The reason Kim Seo-jun was able to dramatically shorten his stay was thanks to his own efforts.

While hospitalized, he tirelessly practiced the Solar Divine Art, boosting his regenerative power, so the treatment that was expected to take two weeks was reduced to only three days.

The medical team and the medical Hunter were astonished by this phenomenon.

It was a completely unexpected outcome, and all they could say was that he had been exceptionally lucky.

Having been discharged, Kim Seo-jun decided to return to the academy the very next day, despite his parents’ pleas that he should rest at home for a few more days.

His constitution simply didn’t allow him to just rest at home when his body was perfectly fine.

So, Kim Seo-jun started attending school again from Thursday.

Inside the subway heading to the academy.

Kim Seo-jun stood near the door, quietly looking at his phone.

But gradually, the surroundings grew noisy.

“Oh my, look over there… isn’t that the student who took second place in this year’s Academy Competition?”

“Looks like him, but wasn’t he hospitalized with an injury?”

“Oh my, look how handsome he is! He’s even better looking in real life!”

“Wow, just standing there and he’s got such an aura! He looks like a model!”

The commuters riding the subway recognized Kim Seo-jun. Feeling awkward, Kim Seo-jun quietly took out a mask and put it on.

Ever since the rift incidents became a part of daily life, masks had become essential items, and everyone carried at least one when they went out.

Even with his face covered, the commotion didn’t die down since everyone already knew he was Kim Seo-jun.

Fortunately, when he reached his destination, Kim Seo-jun was able to quickly get off the subway.

Yet the commotion didn’t end.

A few young people began to follow Kim Seo-jun.

Curious bystanders gathered to see what was happening.

The young people told everyone that the masked man was the famous participant from the Academy Competition, and the word quickly spread, drawing an even larger crowd.

By the time Kim Seo-jun arrived at the academy’s front gate, he was surrounded by a throng of people asking for his autograph.

From young students to men and women in their twenties and thirties, everyone demanded autographs and photos.

Since he couldn’t deny who he was, Kim Seo-jun had no choice but to fulfill their requests.

What was even more overwhelming was the large banner above the school gate.

[23rd Hunter Academy Competition Runner-Up, Kim Seo-jun! The Pride of the 3rd Hunter Academy!]

It was enough to make Kim Seo-jun want to hide in embarrassment.

Even as he made his way to his classroom, the attention didn’t cease.

He thought it might ease up inside the academy, but now it was the students themselves crowding around him.

“Our school’s pride, Kim Seo-jun!”

“Kim Seo-jun is finally back!”

“Hey, look over here, Kim Seo-jun!”

“My love, Kim Seo-jun!”

“Please date me!”

The female students, in particular, were especially forward.

Kim Seo-jun managed with difficulty to make it into the classroom.

But even in the classroom, there was no peace for him.

Classmates swarmed him with all sorts of questions, took photos with their phones, and bombarded him with requests for autographs.

Just then, someone appeared and lent Kim Seo-jun a helping hand.

“Tsk! Are your heads just for decoration? What are you all doing crowding a patient who just got out of the hospital? Get lost, now!”

At Ju Gwang-sik’s fierce words, the students finally returned to their seats one by one.

“Sigh… What is all this?”

Kim Seo-jun sighed as he saw the mountain of gifts piled on his desk.

“What do you mean? It’s love gifts from the female students who adore you. They’ve been carrying all sorts of stuff since yesterday, waiting to give them to you when you were discharged.”

Ju Gwang-sik pointed at the girls who kept glancing over.

“This is a bit much.”

“That just shows how much you accomplished. Second place against all those strong contenders—honestly, I never expected you to make it that far.”

“You made it to the round of 16, though.”

“Come on, that’s nothing compared to being runner-up. By the way, check out that letter over there. I’m curious what kind of love message is inside.”

Among the gifts was a pink envelope adorned with pretty decorations.

Seeing Ju Gwang-sik eyeing it, Kim Seo-jun quickly snatched up the letter and tucked it into his pocket.

Then he swept all the gifts into his bag.

The once loose bag was soon stuffed full and bulging with presents.

“You’ll call me for the gift-opening ceremony, right? Hehe.”

Ju Gwang-sik rubbed his hands together, eyes full of anticipation.

“Gift-opening ceremony, my foot. By the way, shouldn’t you be calling me ‘hyung’ now? You said if I won in under a minute, you’d call me that—I definitely heard it during the match.”

Kim Seo-jun hadn’t forgotten what Ju Gwang-sik had shouted during the competition.

“Uh? Did I say that? Hahaha. Why get hung up over stuff like that between friends? The competition isn’t a speedrun or anything. I’ll treat you to a meal instead. I got a fat allowance for making it to the round of 16.”

At the mention of allowance, something dawned on Kim Seo-jun.

“Oh, right. What about the scholarship and the 300 million won support fund? Do you know when they’ll pay out?”

“They said they’d settle it this week. Professor Shim Jae-deok asked for my account number.”

“Glad they’re fast about that.”

Thinking of the academy’s 300 million won support fund and the 200 million won reward he’d receive from Jaeger, Kim Seo-jun smiled contentedly.

“Come to think of it, you should treat us now. Didn’t you get a reward for being runner-up?”

“Huh? Reward?”

Kim Seo-jun had completely forgotten about that.

Since he’d never considered winning or even placing second, he hadn’t even realized that there was a five hundred million won reward for being runner-up.

‘That means a total of a billion?’

With this, he’d have a billion won going into his account.

He swallowed nervously, realizing he was about to receive an amount an ordinary person could hardly save in a lifetime.

“Congrats, you jerk. Use it to spoil your parents.”

Ju Gwang-sik slapped Kim Seo-jun on the back with a palm as big as a pot lid.

“Since you just hit me, let’s call it even for treating everyone.”

“What? Hey, you—cheapskate!”

As Kim Seo-jun and Ju Gwang-sik bickered, the classroom door opened and two people entered.

One was, of course, Professor Shim Jae-deok. The other was an unexpected guest.

“Attention, everyone. Today, I have a special person to introduce to you all. I’m sure you all know who this student is?”

With a wide smile, Professor Shim introduced none other than Adelheid Lorian.

The girl with bronze hair prettily tied in a ponytail and blue eyes—Adelheid.

No one knew why or for what reason she was here.

“Say hello, everyone. This is Miss Adelheid from PSH, the prestigious French university.”

At Shim Jae-deok’s gesture, Adelheid stepped forward, looking a bit shy, and spoke.

“Hello, everyone? I’m Adelheid. Nice to meet you all.”

Her Korean was a little awkward, mixing informal and formal speech, but it was easy enough to understand her meaning.

“Wow! A goddess has appeared!”

“She’s even prettier in person!”

“Miss Adel! Please accept my love!”

The male students began to cheer enthusiastically.

Shim Jae-deok quieted the students down before continuing.

“Miss Adelheid will be doing a two-day exchange experience at our academy, today and tomorrow. She’s been assigned to our class, so everyone, please behave like gentlemen. Understood?”

“Oh, yeah!”

“Sit next to me!”

“Professor! Let’s have night classes, too!”

“I wouldn’t mind an all-nighter!”

It was utter chaos.

Shim Jae-deok ignored the commotion and, in awkward English, told Adelheid to sit wherever she liked.

Adelheid smiled brightly and walked confidently forward. As if prearranged, she sat right next to Kim Seo-jun without any hesitation.

“Ugh! As expected, beauties end up with heroes.”

“Even I don’t get a chance!”

“Oh, my goddess! Don’t abandon me!”

Sighs of regret erupted all around.

Ju Gwang-sik, who sat on Kim Seo-jun’s right, leaned forward to look at Adelheid.

“Hey. Good to see you again, Adelheid. You remember me, right? Ju Gwang-sik. Anyway, let’s get along.”

With his fierce-looking face stretched into a grin, Adelheid flinched a little. Kim Seo-jun sighed and spoke in English.

“His name is Ju Gwang-sik. You met in the round of 16, right? As you can see, he’s my friend. He’s not as scary as he looks, so don’t worry.”

“Oh, the one who used the time-related mystery in the round of 16? Kim Seo-jun, I didn’t know you two were friends.”

“His face might be a little rough, but he’s a youthful 21-year-old at heart.”

Kim Seo-jun’s English flowed smoothly.

Seeing how Kim Seo-jun and Adelheid could communicate so easily, their classmates looked on with envy.

“Now that introductions are over, let’s get on with the lesson. And, Kim Seo-jun, it’s good to see you back. Congratulations on your recovery.”

“Yes, thank you.”

Shim Jae-deok’s words were sincere.

He had truly been concerned for Kim Seo-jun’s injury and was happy to see him healthy again.

Kim Seo-jun glanced at Shim Jae-deok, tilting his head.

‘Can a person really change this much? The fact that it’s not an act or a lie just makes it all the more confusing….’

*****

Two days passed in the blink of an eye.

Especially with the doll-like Adelheid attending class with them, the male students barely noticed the time passing.

During theory class, everyone kept sneaking glances at Adelheid instead of listening to the professor. In practice, they all clamored to be her sparring partner.

Yet Adelheid never left Kim Seo-jun’s side, not even for a moment.

Like gum stuck to asphalt, she stayed glued next to him, completely ignoring everyone else.

At lunchtime, she followed Kim Seo-jun everywhere and sat right next to him to eat.

Because of that, she got a little closer to Ju Gwang-sik.

Adelheid was always smiling.

But that smile was always directed at Kim Seo-jun.

Her mouth never stopped moving.

She was always talking to Kim Seo-jun, eager for his reaction.

“…So, at our PSH Academy, the atmosphere is much more rigid. You almost never see students as free-spirited as they are here.”

Even now, heading to the training hall for practice, Adelheid was talking about France’s prestigious PSH Academy without being asked.

“If it weren’t for the rule in the Lorian family that I must graduate from PSH, I’d transfer and attend here right away… It’s such a shame that I can’t.”

Come to think of it, Adelheid was the successor of one of the world’s top ten families—the Knight Lorian family.

Kim Seo-jun secretly used Reverse-Balsam Energy to check Adelheid’s magical power, and found that she possessed a full hundred points of magic.

Truly a fitting heir to a knight’s household.

“Is your family close to any of the other top ten families?”

“Hmm. I wouldn’t say we’re close. We only interact maybe once or twice a year. Still, there’s always an effort to learn about the other families. After all, there’s no weapon in the world stronger than information.”

“Do you know anything about the Bright family?”

Since the topic had come up, Kim Seo-jun asked about Leonard’s family, the Brights.

Adel’s expression stiffened slightly.

As if recalling something unpleasant, she looked uneasy.

“If it’s uncomfortable, you don’t have to talk about it.”

“No, it’s not that…”

Just as Adelheid was about to say more, the professor signaled the start of class.

Students paired up for light 1-on-1 sparring practice. Of course, Adelheid chose Kim Seo-jun as her partner.

“Let’s have a good match today.”

Adelheid smiled brightly, and Kim Seo-jun returned an awkward smile.

“Would you take a look at my swordsmanship today?”

“Me?”

“Yeah. Last time you said my swordsmanship was too full of unnecessary moves.”

He had said that before.

Now he couldn’t pretend otherwise, so Kim Seo-jun nodded.

Adelheid picked up a practice rapier, and Kim Seo-jun, as before, took up a practice sword.

Without drawing on any magic, the two tested their pure swordsmanship against each other.

Phew-phew-phew-bup!

Adelheid’s rapier was as sharp as ever.

Each thrust looked like a single strike, but she could target three or four spots at once, putting her opponent in a tough spot.

But once again, Kim Seo-jun dismantled her swordsmanship with ease.

With a single fluid motion, like a dragon soaring, he swept his sword and deflected all of Adelheid’s rapier strikes.

Frustrated, Adelheid unleashed even faster, lightning-like thrusts.

This time, eight strikes came at him simultaneously.

But the result was the same.

Ta-da-da-da-dang!

Adelheid’s thrusts could not pierce Kim Seo-jun’s sword curtain even once.

No matter how many times they repeated it, nothing changed.

Realizing it was pointless to continue, Adelheid let out a deep sigh and lowered her stance.

“Amazing. How can you block all that? I did just as you said—trimmed away the unnecessary moves, made it cleaner, and it still didn’t work.”

Adelheid had genuinely taken Kim Seo-jun’s advice, minimizing extraneous movements in her swordsmanship.

As a result, her speed and power had improved.

Kim Seo-jun could clearly feel that.

‘Is this girl a genius?’

That was his honest thought.

“You’ve improved a lot. If it were anyone else, it’d be hard to dodge.”

“But you did dodge them all—or rather, blocked them all.”

“That’s because I can read the path of your sword as you attack.”

“You can read my sword path? Is that possible?”

Adelheid was astonished.

She’d expected Kim Seo-jun to brush it off, but he’d given her a direct answer.

“By reading your eye movements, predicting your shoulder angles, and seeing how your weight is distributed between your feet, it’s not hard to anticipate the sword’s path. If you understand that, you can do it too.”

“…What?”

Adelheid was dumbfounded.

It was English she could understand, but she couldn’t grasp the meaning of what Kim Seo-jun was saying.

It felt like he was asking, ‘I can do it easily—why can’t you?’

“Could you explain it a bit more simply?”

“There’s no such thing as ‘easy’ in understanding swordsmanship. If you want to grasp it, you’ll have to train under my method for at least a year.”

In other words, if she wanted to know what true swordsmanship was, she’d have to study under him for at least a year.

Adelheid quickly became dejected.

“When you have time later, come find me again. Then, I’ll be able to teach you even more.”

Kim Seo-jun left it at that for Adelheid.

Even though she possessed the incredible Soul Trap mystery, she had trained her rapier skills to a high level.

He’d told her not to rely too much on mysteries during the match, but compared to other Hunters, Adelheid actually wasn’t overly reliant on her mystery.

Since Kim Seo-jun thought highly of Adelheid, he’d offered stern advice for her development.

And he still felt the same.

In fact, if Adelheid sought him out again, he was more than willing to help her overcome the weaknesses in her swordsmanship.

“Okay. I’ll definitely come back to find you.”

Adelheid was genuinely happy.

No one had ever explained everything so selflessly before.

The fact that Kim Seo-jun was so much stronger than her made her all the more delighted.

She felt sorry to just leave things like this.

She wanted to do something helpful in return.

“There’s something I need to tell you.”

“Oh, yeah?”

Kim Seo-jun didn’t think much of her words.

“You should be careful of the Bright family and the Rothschild family. Especially, the Dark Tien family is really dangerous—never get involved with them, okay?”

At the sudden words, Kim Seo-jun frowned.

“Why?”

His question had many layers.

Why was she telling him this? Why should he be wary of those families?

“So we can meet again.”

Adelheid’s answer was just as layered.

Kim Seo-jun didn’t ask further.

If Adelheid had intended to give a clear answer, she would have said so from the start.

Her vague reply meant she couldn’t say any more.

That was the end of Kim Seo-jun and Adelheid’s last lesson together.

That very day, she left the academy for the airport.

Before leaving, Adelheid said one more thing to Kim Seo-jun.

“I’ll let you call me ‘Adel.’ Next time we meet, make sure you use that name.”

Leaving behind a bright smile, Adel departed Korea.