༺ Onward to the Climax… (2) ༻
“AAARGH!”
A sound of pain echoed throughout the stadium, as if his arm had been completely severed.
‘If you attack, you have to be ready to be hit back.’
This isn’t a game.
If you were a 3rd Stage Awakener, you wouldn’t even get scratched by a sword unless it was being infused with a skill. However, the bodies of Awokens at the lower stages were no different from those of regular humans.
No matter how high or low their stats were, there was no difference in the fact that they would die if they were hit with a sharp weapon.
That was why it was very common for students to get gravely injured through accidents in these kinds of matches.
This guy’s getting a buff, so he’d be able to replenish his bleeding, but he’d still feel the same pain.
‘Your son is being treated like this. You’re not going to do anything?’
Of course, it was not like there was no way to get rid of his pain.
If his Stamina was increased to its fullest with a complete buff, even his arm getting cut off completely could be prevented.
But, if he did get a strong and complete buff applied to him, the fact he was getting buffed would be clear for all gathered to see.
“Choose.”
I couldn’t give him enough time to think of any other way.
I didn’t let my focus falter. If I let my guard down, it’d be me who gets it.
Only by reading his every movement, could I fight him despite my lower stats.
I looked at the professor, who was the acting referee.
“Look. Closely.”
And with my signature smile, I kept stepping and rubbing my foot on Park Ki-pal’s arm.
I was provoking the professor to try anything he could.
‘I feel a bit sorry for this guy, but he’ll stop doing this kind of stuff if he gets punished this much.’
Maybe it was because I still remembered my past life, but I couldn’t help feeling guilty about punishing a guy who I knew tried hard to be righteous.
However, this was the only way.
That didn’t mean I would actually cut his arm off.
It was all just a show. I wasn’t stepping hard enough to cut his arm off.
‘I told you to choose.’
I forced the professor to make a choice, making it seem like something big would happen if he didn’t.
Declare the match over as the referee? No, he would know something like that wouldn’t work on me.
I hadn’t built up an image of a gangster for nothing.
Considering how I had been presenting myself thus far, he probably thought that even if the match ended, I would still cut his son’s arm off.
Moreover…
-Murmur murmur
It looked like he was pondering for a bit, but soon after, Park Ki-pal overflowed with a mysterious aura.
The fact that he was getting buffed was clear to the eye.
And as soon as everyone saw that, the arena became noisy.
“Isn’t that a buff effect?”
“It is… But isn’t that at least an A-class buff?”
“The class isn’t the important part! Its effectiveness is at the level that would require a 4th Stage Awakener, that’s the problem!.”
“Is it possible for a student to have a skill at that level…?”
Of course not. This wasn’t the kind of buff that a student applying to the academy should be capable of.
And this meant that there was someone else involved apart from him.
Nobody dared say it, but everyone had probably already noticed.
And…
“Don’t buffing skills usually have a range limit…?”
“I don’t think the stands are close enough.”
“Then who’s applying it? There’s nobody who would…”
One by one, people started to suspect where this buff was coming from. The numerous people sitting in the stands started exchanging their knowledge to try and make sense of the situation.
Due to the number of people, their insights and knowledge spread quickly, and soon…
“Could the professor…?”
“Maybe he’s doing it because it could get dangerous? Didn’t the situation just now look a bit dangerous?”
“It could be but… If you think about it, didn’t that opponent look too strong for a student?”
“You’re right. There were several that were too strong for mere students. Could it be…”
One by one, the eyes in the stands started focusing on Professor Park Ki-yeol.
‘Should we start, then?’
Finally, the climax.
The time to finish this useless second exam, and the time for my first plan to succeed.
First of all…
I cast a huge explosion right at my opponent, Park Ki-pal.
The buff was completely gone due to the murmur in the stands, so the guy fainted immediately after being hit by the skill.
But this was not the reason I did it.
The large explosion focused all of the attention in the stands on me.
For a brief moment, silence fell upon the arena.
‘From this point onward, every word is important.’
The guy who killed me was the problem, but it was also important to destroy this corrupt academy.
But it was clear that brute force wouldn’t be enough to destroy it.
Even if I built up my strength and destroyed this place,
The stupid people who thought this academy was a good place would just make a new academy, putting the chairman and professors on a pedestal again.
I needed to make sure people knew how rotten the academy was.
Not just to make them suspicious, but for them to be sure of it.
So that there would be no way out.
“Professor.”
I started off lightly.
Just one word, my tone filled with anger.
“I had my suspicions from the very start. What is this buff?”
Of course, I already knew.
But now, everyone else in the arena was watching.
It was best to pretend not to know.
After all, this was a fight over public opinion.
That was why leading the flow of conversation in this way was the best way to sway the onlookers.
‘The spotlight is still on me.’
Everyone’s attention remained on my person.
The professor looked like he was thinking hard about a way to get through this, but, probably because he couldn’t find a way to get out of this, he kept his mouth shut pretending to be calm.
Well, I could just continue in that case.
“It’s been like this since the first match. I have a skill that allows me to detect skills like buffs. But even the first opponent I faced was getting a buff from an unknown source. I attacked you in hopes of finding it, and the buff was disrupted when I did that.”
Of course, such a skill didn’t exist.
I could see it through the Eye of Greed, but of course, that was not a skill of mine.
That didn’t matter, however, because all I needed was a plausible justification for my actions.
‘The important thing is who is more evil.’
Objectively, I had cultivated a friendly image for the students around me.
Initially, I arrived in such an extravagant manner to attract everyone’s attention…
Then I directly attacked this professor…
And now I was even messing with him.
But that didn’t matter.
The fact that “the extraordinary person who shattered the magic orb” had exposed a cheating scandal no one else had noticed was more than enough to become the main talking point.
“Could it be that you were cheating?”
I said, but acted in an exaggerated manner so that the crowd’s attention remained on me and didn’t shift to the professor.
After all, I was passing off something they couldn’t confirm nor deny as the truth.
“Please answer.”
I slowly, very slowly, approached the professor.
From the outside, I acted as if I was asking the professor for an explanation, but…
‘That’s not my goal.’
But my aim was something else.
I asked him to answer, but I pressured him so that he couldn’t.
If he spoke up, the situation would just get more complicated.
To prevent any argument, I immediately tried to continue my speech.
“I have no obligation to answer such nonsense.”
But Professor Park Ki-yeol continued to be shamelessly consistent.
‘Good. After all, it’s not like I didn’t expect this.’
I showed him the picture I had taken with my phone earlier.
“Can you still say that after seeing this?”
A photograph of him getting money.
Instead of showing it to everyone else, I put this picture right in front of his face.
“…!”
And as soon as he saw this picture, he panicked.
As the evidence he wondered about was placed right in front of him, his facial expression changed completely.
‘Such a satisfying expression.’
After seeing that, I quietly whispered into his ear so that only he could hear me.
“Don’t worry, you fucker. Only I have seen this picture.”
“What…”
“I don’t expect much from you anyway. It would be strange for me to have high expectations of trash like you. All you have to do is fight me. If you win, I’ll delete it.”
After I finished speaking, I took a step back so the professor could not respond.
There was nothing to think about for him anyway.
What I was doing now was not only destroying his image, but also maximizing my profits.
I kept talking loudly so that everyone could hear.
“I cannot stand by and watch this professor cheat in this sacred arena.”
“The rule of the academy entrance exam’s second exam states that three victories against opponents in the arena are needed to advance, but I wish to change my opponent.”
“I request that scum of a professor to face me in my final battle.”
‘Simply put, fight me.’
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