K Channel’s ‘billboard’ reporter, Yu HanNah.
She made a beeline for the first-year F class while bringing her large caraman along.
“I told you that it was a huge scoop back then, right?”
“Um, y-you did. But the producer told us to film the graduating year first…”
“Oh No! I’ll be the one deciding the order! If he doesn’t like it, tell him to splice the footage.”
Yu HanNah was the main anchor of the news station and the one with the last word. Even if she was eccentric, she had a good eye for news, so everyone pretended to look the other way.
As if in a good mood, Yu HanNah laughed, “fufu!” and showed her phone screen to the caraman.
“Look at the comnts on the video. He definitely has so sort of innate star quality!”
—Wow, K Channel’s Academy feature was sick… especially the Fist King disciple!
—Does he really have an F-rank Trait with those skills? Is his opponent even alive brr
—What the hell is up with God YuSung’s looks…? I just learned abt this great program sadge
An endless stream of viewer comnts.
In just one day, the video of Shin YuSung’s spar had reached 280,000 likes. Of course, the number of views was currently several tis that. Current ratings were 6% as well.
K Channel and Yu HanNah appreciated Shin YuSung’s star quality.
“…There’s a kind of, ‘wham!’ feeling from him. An F-rank Trait hunter defeating other hunters with high rank Traits!”
Yu HanNah shouted this towards the caraman and made a fist.
“On top of that, the disciple of the Fist King who had suddenly announced his retirent! And, gasp! He’s super handso! Enough for people to make a fuss about it!”
“Interviewing the graduating class? Phoo. I’m absolutely going to interview Shin YuSung. Okay?” She asked the caraman a question she already had an answer to.
“O-okay.”
Right when the caraman had finished responding, soone was trying to enter the classroom for F Class.
“Oh~ wait wait! Excuse , cute student over there~ are you okay for an interview?”
Regardless of the answer, Yu HanNah caught the student. The female student who was sweating and trying to discreetly avoid Yu HanNah’s eyes was none other than Shin YuSung’s partner, Sumire.
“Huh? C-cute? I’m not that cute… everyone says I’m gloomy and depressing… and I can’t even speak all that well…”
Yu HanNah tried approaching her amicably even as Sumire’s face beca paler and she tried to back away.
“Don’t be like that! It’s a really short question. You know the Fist King’s disciple from the sa class, right?”
“Eh? …S-Shin YuSung-ssi*?”
Yu HanNah nodded at Sumire’s cautious response.
“Yes! Can you give just one sentence! About what kind of student Shin YuSung is?”
“Um, b-but I don’t really know anyth…”
“Just say anything, don’t worry too much~ it’s fine even if it’s sothing superficial!”
“B-but still… oh, oh right!”
Sumire recalled what she had written in her notebook after seeing Shin YuSung get along with Lee SiWoo.
“Shin YuSung-ssi just… gets along very well with others.”
At her careful reply, Yu HanNah mumbled with a blank face:
“Hm, is that so?”
Yu HanNah was wearing an indifferent expression.
‘What a boring answer.’
It seed like she wasn’t a fan of Sumire’s reply.
‘Isn’t there a way to make this a scoop…’
* * *
Shin YuSung and Lee SiWoo were practicing for the exam in their own ways.
Lee SiWoo, whose weapon was a bow, aid at the target and drew the bowstring. He had an uncharacteristically serious expression on his face. Lee SiWoo carefully controlled everything down to his breathing and, to not lose concentration, let go of the bowstring.
Whoosh! Snk.
The arrow hit the bullseye of the target.
“Woohoo! Yes! 10 points!”
While Lee SiWoo was happily hopping around, Shin YuSung—who seed to have his interest pique —grabbed a pebble that was next to him. The distance between the target and Shin YuSung was around 100 ters. Shin YuSung briefly took a stance and, without aiming, lobbed the pebble.
Whoosh! Boom!
The target broke into pieces from the shockwave. Due to this, Shin YuSung’s score couldn’t be gauged.
“W-wow, you hit the target with a rock? You’re really…”
Lee SiWoo looked at him with an awed expression. Shin YuSung humbly replied:
“I was lucky.”
“I-is that so?”
Lee SiWoo went “hmm,” and fell into thought for a mont. He started muttering words mixed with praise for Shin YuSung.
“Hm, even still it’s unbelievable. To think you have to take the exam with the lower-rank classes…”
“Lower rank classes?”
“That’s what we call C Class, D Class, E Class and F Class all together.”
As Lee SiWoo had said, the exam was being held by first splitting the classes in half. C Class, D Class, E Class and F Class took their exams together while S Class, A Class and B Class—the 3 upper rank classes—took theirs together.
“It’s a huge advantage for us! Even when they split the classes like that, our test scores are kept as-is!”
Lee SiWoo had been shooting arrows for over an hour and was tired. He eventually wiped the sweat running from his forehead and sat down on a wide, flat boulder.
“Phew! I can’t train anymore.”
Voom! Fwt!
Shin YuSung perford a picture-perfect punch. Lee SiWoo watched him do so in amazent and opened his mouth.
“YuSung-ah, as expected your goal is the Seven Numbers, right?”
Seven Numbers.
A title given to the seven students with the highest student rankings per grade in the school. Lee SiWoo thought that Shin YuSung was the only individual in F Class who could try to be a Seven Number. Of course, to Shin YuSung, becoming a Seven Number was nothing put a part of the process. It wasn’t important to him how strong the students at Gaon Academy were; the mont that he had beco the disciple of the Fist King, Shin YuSung’s goal had always been to beco the strongest hunter.
This was his way of repaying the Fist King who had taken him in, and a unique form of revenge for the Shin-oh family who had abandoned him.
One deep breath.
Shin YuSung released his posture, and, rembering what the headmaster had told him, asked Lee SiWoo:
“Why is everyone so focused on becoming a mber of the Seven Numbers?”
“Our school, you see~ treats you differently depending on your skills. If you beco a part of the Seven Numbers, your dorm room is super fancy~ and they give you grants, and…”
Lee SiWoo bead while looking at Shin YuSung’s face.
“You can participate in all of the difficult extracurricular activities as well. It’s great for getting your na out there.”
“So prominence is key.”
“Yep!”
Lee SiWoo nodded his head, then added more to his explanation.
“If you want to be selected by the voters, you have to at least be one of the Seven Numbers.”
“Then, I’ll have to raise my student ranking first,” Shin YuSung replied calmly.
If he wanted to beco the strongest hunter, he should definitely be able to achieve sothing like becoming a mber of the Seven Numbers.
“Heh~ it’s because of the facilities, right? No matter how you put it, the lower rank dorms are…”
“No. It’s because of my goal. I want to beco the strongest hunter in the world.”
Lee SiWoo seed surprised at Shin YuSung’s aspirations. The world was vast, and there were a lot of strong hunters. Even if Shin YuSung was the disciple of the Fist King, becoming the strongest hunter was a completely different story. Because of that fact, the Fist King had always told Shin YuSung to keep moving forward with a modest heart. Those were not empty words ant only to scare him.
“A-are you saying that you’re going to win against all of the hunters in the world?! Even the disciple of the Sword God from Skyscraper Academy?!”
Like the disciple of the Sword God that Lee SiWoo had ntioned, there were a large number of academies and highly skilled students all around the world. Those students having been born with talent was a given, and they also put in a lot of effort in improving themselves.
“The disciple of the Sword God?”
Sin YuSung unearthed a hazy mory.
[…Especially among them, the Sword God! He was the most annoying! Stubborn and inflexible, and with the sa amount of skill as !]
The Sword God was a hunter that Shin YuSung’s master, Yu WonHak, had talked about until his lips had worn down.
“The Sword God has a disciple as well?”
Interested, Shin YuSung asked Lee SiWoo, who nodded his head.
“Ho, you didn’t know about Liú Jùn? There’s no way you haven’t heard about him, unless you were living sowhere up in the mountains…”
The Sword God’s disciple, Liú Jùn, was that famous. His incredible reputation had spread throughout China and had even reached South Korea.
“…So his na is Liú Jùn?”
Shin YuSung repeatedly etched the na into his mind in an effort to rember it. Liú Jùn was definitely one of the strong hunters that his master, the Fist King, had warned him about.
‘Liú Jùn…’
Right then, soone panting and gasping ran towards the two from the direction of the Academy.
“Huff, huff! I finally found you! Shin YuSung! Wow! Why are the grounds so freaking large? It took so long!”
That soone was K Channel’s Yu HanNah. After concluding her interview with Sumire, she had been searching for Shin YuSung all this ti. After catching her breath, she pointed the mic towards him.
“Now, now, student Shin YuSung? We’re going to be doing a short interview with you. Wait, are you even listening to ?”
Yu HanNah sideeyed the caraman, then asked the question that she had prepared.
“Is there a hunter that you, as the disciple of the Fist King, are concerned about?”
At her question, Shin YuSung mumbled a na as if he was ruminating on it.
“…Liú Jùn.”
Heavyset eyes.
A faint voice, as if he had waited a thousand years to say this. Shin YuSung had a far-off look in his eyes, as he was deep in thought. Liú Jùn was the disciple of his master’s acknowledged comrade, the Sword God.
“…That person is the most worriso to .”
“Hm~ so, do you have any goals as a hunter after you graduate and go off into the world?”
“My goal is to beco the strongest hunter on Earth.”
Yu HanNah went “mhm,” and nodded her head at Shin YuSung’s adamant reply.
‘There’s a lot of nuance to this if I use the right angle for it.’
K Channel’s pride and joy, the devil’s editing that could make even an angel look evil. Anticipating a success, Yu HanNah laughed wickedly.
* * * *
China’s pride and joy, Skyscraper Academy.
The gigantic 100-floor building was installed with cutting-edge techniques for the developnt of its students.
Even in China, there was a man who was far and away the top contender for the strongest student out of the first years.
The Sword God’s disciple, Liú Jùn (刘俊).
He swept back his sweat-soaked bangs after finishing his training regi that was on par with an active hunter’s.
As he did so, Liú Jùn’s face, which had been covered by his hair, naturally relaxed. Thick eyebrows and cool eyes, and a lonely atmosphere that brought the two together.
Plip.
A bead of sweat snaked down Liú Jùn’s sharp jawline and dripped onto the floor.
“What business do you have with ?”
Liú Jùn asked this with a displeased expression, and his frigid voice rang coldly throughout the training area.
As he did so, a female student who was grinning ear to ear walked out from behind a pillar.
“Oh~ you knew I was there? I was waiting there to try and surprise you.”
“…I asked you what business you had with ,” Liú Jùn asked in an annoyed tone.
The female student grinned as if she had found sothing funny and offered him a Korean newspaper.
“Why don’t you see for yourself?”
Unlike the female student who had co from Korea, Liú Jùn was fluent in Korean despite being from China. This was due to China choosing Korean, a cca for strong hunters, as its second language.
Rustle.
Liú Jùn had no other choice; he opened the paper that the female student had given him.
[K Channel Shin YuSung! Exclusive interview!]
[Fist King’s disciple! Impressions revealed!]
[Sword God’s disciple is the most worriso!]
[Announced his resolve! He will win against everyone to beco the strongest!]
Liú Jùn, who was reading the newspaper expressionlessly, creased his brow. Liú Jùn was the pupil of the greatest hunter in China, the Sword God. He had never been provoked by a hunter from another country.
That was because he had overwheld everyone with his unprecedented skills. At the provocation of a newcor like Shin YuSung, Liú Jùn mumbled in a cold voice:
“这小子于嘛呢? (Who is this kid?)”
It really was a strong first impression.
*-ssi is an honorofic used to refer formally to soone, usually of a higher status. In this case, Sumire is being just a little bit too formal.
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