Editors: Ana_Banana, Sei
The Championship had begun, but Min Ha-rin only really paid attention to two days at a time.
The day of preparation before her match, and the day of her match.
Because of this, time flew by in a flash.
“…”
A blade flowed smoothly as though it was dancing, the uniquely gentle movements drawing the eyes of any who saw it.
This was the Plum Blossom Sword Technique. And it was usually hard to predict the next movements of those who used this technique.
Or at least, that is what Min Ha-rin would have thought only a short while ago.
Swoosh!
The blade, which had seemed to be flowing, suddenly changed direction and accelerated.
But she wasn’t flustered.
She maintained her composure, but her eyes grew more focused.
She could see the sword’s path.
And she responded with a familiar movement.
Clang!
It was impossible for her to win direct clashes of strength.
Therefore, Min Ha-rin half focused on swinging her sword and half focused on casting a fire spell.
Fwoosh!
They had been battling for more than an hour, and she was certain that her opponent’s concentration was reaching its limit. Seeing an opening, she decisively swung at it, expecting to hit it.
But she didn’t.
Instead, he stepped back, escaping her unexpected fire attack.
“Tch.”
Min Ha-rin clicked her tongue upon seeing this, and just as she was about to follow up, she heard a voice.
“I think that’s enough for today.”
After saying this, he lowered his sword so that Min Ha-rin couldn’t attack further.
“…alright.”
She felt a bit regretful since her body was just starting to warm up, but she knew it couldn’t be helped.
Unlike her, Lee Jong-hak had a match scheduled for the next day, so it would be best for him to not push himself too far.
After all, it was an important match.
“To be honest.”
After a moment of silence, Lee Jong-hak spoke with a slightly emotional expression.
“I don’t think I can guarantee my victory against you anymore.”
“…”
It took her a while to realise that was a compliment.
Min Ha-rin also felt a bit emotional.
She never thought the day would come when she heard those words from Lee Jong-hak, a hero that all hunters looked up to.
Unable to respond immediately, she pursed her lips for a moment to suppress her building emotions and said.
“It was all thanks to Jong-hak oppa.” (TL: By now, everyone should know that oppa is how a girl says big brother… I’m not translating it)
It had been about two weeks since the Championship had started, and her relationship with Lee Jong-hak had gotten closer.
This was because she felt that he took care of her in many ways.
Just like the spar they just had.
After their spars, Lee Jong-hak never spared any advice and gave Min Ha-rin many tips on how to improve. This allowed her to win her next three Championship matches.
Of course, this wasn’t to say that any of them were easy matches. In all of those matches, she had to fight tooth and nail without any guarantee of victory or defeat. Nevertheless, Min Ha-rin didn’t lose.
‘…the biggest reason.’
In truth, it was luck.
It was almost as if someone had manipulated Min Ha-rin’s match draw.
None of her opponents were easy, but on the flip side, none of them were so hard that she didn’t have any hope of winning.
In addition, it was also a great advantage that all of her opponents somehow managed to be placed in a position so that the next one was always stronger.
If the order of her matches had been somehow twisted, for example, if her third opponent had been swapped with her first or even her second, the results would have changed drastically. It was possible that Min Ha-rin would have already been eliminated by now.
Nevertheless, there was no use speculating about things that weren’t possible.
In the end, she won, and she survived.
And as a result, she grew explosively.
Now, there was one left.
If she won just one more time, she would be able to advance to the semi-finals of the Championship.
It was the same for Lee Jong-hak.
“Tomorrow’s match…”
“Mm?”
“How about giving up…?”
It was very difficult for Min Ha-rin to say this.
For the past two weeks, she’d watched Kran and Lee Jong-hak closely. And she devised countless strategies until it felt like her head would explode. But in the end…
“I told you that I would give up if my life was in danger.”
“I think it’s better to not compete at all.”
It was only then that Lee Jong-hak understood what Min Ha-rin was trying to say.
“Are you saying that you think I’ll die without being able to withstand a single blow?”
“…”
He’d read her inner feelings perfectly.
Min Ha-rin sighed and said.
“Are you confident that you can survive?”
She had watched and carefully analyzed all of the matches in the arena, but when she watched Kran’s matches, she made sure to push her concentration to the max.
She did this in order to find a possible weakness. But in the end, there was none.
Every time she watched Kran’s match, all she could feel was shock, admiration, and astonishment.
And among them, the most shocking match…
“In yesterday’s match, Kran’s opponent was the Champion of the Major City, [Tikrit].”
“Junibal was an excellent Fighter.”
“Yeah. But his entire body was still crushed by Kran’s attack.”
At the end, Junibal’s body looked like he’d been stepped on by a giant. His blood, flesh, and organs were so entangled that it was impossible to see their original shape.
Junibal was by no means a weak Fighter.
He was a strong Fighter who was not inferior to Min Ha-rin or Lee Jong-hak, and he certainly had skill since he was able to become the Champion of a major city’s arena.
In fact, the spectators all expected Junibal to be able to block Kran’s first attack.
But in the end, he became a pile of flesh before he could even realise how he died, just like the others.
“…I’ll be honest. I have no intention of surrendering.”
“Why?”
“He told me to give up too.”
A strange glimmer appeared in Min Ha-rin’s eyes.
“He did…”
“That’s why.”
“…because Kran looked down on you? Are you saying that you will risk your life because he hurt your pride?”
Her tone showed that she clearly found the thought to be ridiculous.
Lee Jong-hak knew that she was acting this way because she cared about him. So he explained in a calm voice.
“It’s not because of a foolish reason like that. Kran is being manipulated, but he still told me to surrender. Don’t you understand what that means?”
Min Ha-rin tilted her head at the strange revelation.
“…he’s being manipulated?”
Lee Jong-hak nodded and continued.
“That’s not the only strange thing. I’ve seen Kran fight before. He was strong in the past, but not this strong. And there is something… strange about his current power.”
“He could have grown stronger like us.”
“He should have cleared all 10 stages of the tutorial. In other words, he only appeared in this world a few months ago. Counting the time he first appeared in the arena, it is impossible for him to have grown this much. So that leads me to an assumption.”
“An assumption…”
“What if the first attack he displays at the beginning is actually an all-out attack?”
Min Ha-rin blinked a couple times before opening her mouth dumbly.
“Huh?”
“It literally means that he pours every ounce of his energy into the first blow. His first priority is to finish the opponent off as quickly as possible because his body will become strained if he overdoes it. If that assumption is correct, then it would mean that as long as he doesn’t kill me with his first attack, defeating him is not an impossibility.”
“…but it also can’t be said that it’s a possibility. Why do you think he would resist killing you in the first attack?”
“This is also an assumption, but I don’t think the control over him is perfect. If the fight goes on for long enough, he might even be able to break free of the control. Assuming that’s true, everything will be fine.”
“…”
To an extent, that was a reasonable assumption.
No, in fact, the probability of it being true was fairly high.
However, in the end, it was still only an assumption.
If the assumption was wrong… If Kran’s first attack wasn’t an all-out attack, but a normal one… If the Demon King had somehow made him much stronger after kidnapping him…
“You asked me earlier if I’m confident I can survive the first attack. Of course, I am.”
“…”
Lee Jong-hak smiled faintly.
“You don’t have to worry. I don’t want to die. So if I think that anything isn’t going as I expected, I’ll give up immediately.”
(TL: Do you guys think Lee Jong-hak survives? If there are 5 correct answers in the comments, I’ll add an extra chapter to next week’s release)