F-Rank Secretly Becomes Stronger - Chapter 22

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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22

“Fight?”

“Yeah, just you and me.”

“….”

A sparring match out of the blue.

I was a bit stunned to receive a sparring request from someone I wasn’t even that close to.

‘Is she joking.’

I glanced at her eyes.

The emotionless look in her eyes made me realize immediately that this wasn’t a joke.

“I didn’t have anyone to spar with, but why so suddenly?”

“There hasn’t been anyone until now, someone my age with similar skills.”

“That would make sense.”

Sui had quite a large skill gap even with the Salutatorian.

The gap had only narrowed because her theory scores were slightly lower, but in terms of pure combat ability, she was overwhelmingly first in the grade.

“So you’re saying I look somewhat similar?”

“You’re stronger than the Salutatorian, so you’re probably the strongest among our age group.”

“Stronger than you?”

“Well.”

She fell into thought for a moment.

Shortly after, she continued with a dry voice.

“If you’re still at your previous skill level, probably not.”

“….”

I didn’t feel bad about it.

I knew that what she had just said wasn’t provocation, but something she genuinely believed and voiced.

Who could think that expressionless face without any emotion was trying to provoke anyone in the first place.

‘Come to think of it, I did feel it was a bit lacking training alone every day unless I was in the Training Room.’

Han Sui would make a decent opponent for this.

Jung Juhyeok nodded and accepted her challenge.

“Alright. Let’s have a match.”

“Good.”

The sparring match was set.

As soon as I accepted, Sui grabbed my arm.

“Then let’s go.”

“Huh?”

“Our Guild has a Sparring Hall, so we can go there.”

She immediately tried to drag Jung Juhyeok away for the sparring match.

Jung Juhyeok lightly shook off the grabbed arm.

“Let’s buy weapons first. Didn’t you also come to get equipment fitted today?”

“The Sparring Hall is only available now. We have to go right away if we want to use it.”

Saying this, she checked the time on her cell phone.

Judging that there was no time to spare, she put away her cell phone and urged again.

“Are weapons urgent?”

“….”

The weapons weren’t particularly urgent.

There was still quite a bit of time before entering the Gate.

I was also curious to try using the Sparring Hall of the major Guild that Sui belonged to, so there was nothing I couldn’t compromise on.

“Then can I use your Training Ground facilities after the sparring match?”

“Yeah, I’ll talk to the Senior Members for you.”

“Okay. Let’s go.”

I had been feeling awkward about borrowing the Training Ground from Mir Guild every day, so this worked out well.

Plus, if it’s a major Guild, the facilities would be good too, so it’s killing two birds with one stone.

I immediately agreed to the favorable conditions and departed together to the Guild Headquarters she belonged to.

*

“Black Long Sword?”

“Yeah, any longsword will do.”

The Sparring Hall I arrived at with Sui.

As expected of a major Guild, it was quite a spacious area and the facilities gave off a luxurious feeling.

While I was looking around and taking in the surroundings, she held out a long Wooden Sword to me.

“Did you originally use a longsword?”

“You used a longsword when we sparred too.”

“….”

Sui fell silent.

She seemed to have completely forgotten the fact that I had sparred with her.

‘I figured as much.’

She wasn’t particularly interested in others anyway, and we had only sparred once during our second year, just a practice match by chance.

“It’s understandable you don’t remember since it ended in less than a minute.”

“No, I remembered.”

“Really? Then you’d remember that I had my bangs down back then too?”

“Yeah, you had your hair up back then.”

She hesitated for a moment before nodding and trying to play along.

Jung Juhyeok smiled slightly as he watched Sui like that.

“I’m lying. I’ve never put my hair up at the Academy.”

“….”

Her face hardened without a word.

There was still no change in her expression, but her ears turned slightly red.

She picked up her sword without saying a word in response.

“I’ll start.”

“Alright.”

Ending the small talk and taking their stances.

He tapped the floor and stepped forward to face her.

Her reddened ears gradually returned to their normal color.

Focus.

There wasn’t even an agreement on who would attack first.

The two slowly steadied their breathing without taking their eyes off each other.

‘Let me get a feel for this first.’

Though he had achieved an overwhelming victory against the Salutatorian, his opponent was Han Sui.

A monster who had defeated everyone from first-years to second-year Valedictorians.

If he moved recklessly against such talent, he might face a futile defeat.

He moved with utmost caution.

Just like when he faced the doll in the Training Room.

Her footwork.

Her gaze.

The angle of her bent arm.

Just as he was concentrating on everything.

“If you won’t come, I’ll go first.”

After the tension, the fuse was lit.

Her nimble footwork lightly kicked off the floor as she flew forward, and a thrusting attack aimed at his shoulder came in.

Thwack-!

The sound of wooden sword clashing against wooden sword.

As he lightly blocked it, the crisp sound of wooden swords echoed through the Sparring Hall.

‘She’s fast as expected, but it’s not impossible to keep up with.’

At this level, he had experienced it thousands, tens of thousands of times against the doll.

However, he couldn’t let his guard down.

Jung Juhyeok, who had directly blocked her attacks during his Academy days, knew that this wasn’t the extent of her abilities.

“You blocked that quite leisurely.”

She seemed somewhat surprised that he had blocked it more easily than expected.

Well, the Salutatorian would have had difficulty blocking even this speed.

Jung Juhyeok spoke to her, who showed a hint of surprise.

“You can pick up the pace a bit more.”

“…Alright.”

After that, she lightly rode along the deflected sword and flowed into a turn movement, sending a horizontal sword path flying.

Facing the sword that was slightly faster than before, Jung Juhyeok showed no sign of panic as he lightly performed a parrying motion and pushed the sword away from his body.

“Hrgh…!”

The moment the swords clashed, he quickly spun once and reversed the direction.

Since the force was used opposite to the originally set Sword Path, her body’s balance crumbled.

An ordinary person would surely have collapsed to the floor right here, but.

“Hup.”

As expected, Sui didn’t fall to the ground so easily.

She quickly adapted her body to the changed flow of force, following him with a light jump and landing on the ground.

‘I thought she would definitely fall.’

This was indeed befitting of her, who had been called a crazy talent since her Academy days.

Sui was amazed that her force had been completely read and even redirected outward.

Jung Juhyeok was impressed by the balance that received it all at once without losing equilibrium.

Both looked at each other with inner admiration.

“There definitely wasn’t anyone at this level in the Academy.”

“Right. There was no one like this at the Academy.”

Back then, he was a poor student who couldn’t even rank in the top 200.

Receiving her sword so easily and even counterattacking like now was something he couldn’t have achieved even in dreams.

“The world is wide, you know. It wouldn’t be strange if there was at least one person our age outside the Academy who could parry that attack.”

“….”

Sui took her stance again.

She stomped the ground hard, then slightly twisted her previously expressionless face.

Though the distance made it hard to see clearly, he could vaguely tell it was an expression far from anger.

“I think I can go all out.”

“Really?”

She thinks she can go all out.

‘I’m not so sure about that.’

Even after parrying that attack, the feeling hadn’t come yet.

Still, since she was coming at him with full power, he didn’t need to worry deeply about it alone.

“Come at me.”

He lowered his stance by bending his knees.

Then Sui jumped lightly once, and the moment she landed, she rushed at him at twice the speed as before.

‘Did she enhance herself with mana?’

Physical abilities enhanced by wrapping mana around her lower body.

The sword flew like lightning at explosive speed.

It was a pace that would be difficult for an F-rank Hunter to even follow with their eyes.

However.

Clang-!

Jung Juhyeok felt it all.

The sound of wind splitting against the sword.

The vibrations spreading through the ground from her footwork.

Even without mana, all those elements stimulated his sixth sense, and he grasped the entire situation by combining those small changes.

“….”

When her earnest attack was blocked, she flowed into Consecutive Strikes like water.

Jung Juhyeok lightly pushed away each of those consecutive strikes.

Every attack had enough power to send him to his grave if it landed wrong.

If he wavered even slightly, he would be finished by an attack through the opening, but his unwavering gaze moved leisurely following the sword.

“Tch….”

Her heart gradually grew impatient as none of her attacks landed.

At first, she was simply happy to meet a peer who could counter her attacks.

But having all her attacks completely read like this gradually gnawed at her mind.

Frustration.

Impatience.

Even Sui, who was naturally gifted at maintaining a poker face, had never experienced such relentless attacks that wouldn’t let up.

A sword that was not yet mature.

Emotions that wavered easily due to lack of experience.

This created an opening that wouldn’t have appeared under normal circumstances.

“Your waist.”

Jung Juhyeok didn’t miss it.

Thwack-!

“Gasp!”

A counterattack that struck her side.

It wasn’t a particularly strong blow, but having her opening properly exploited, her body rolled sideways once in the air.

While she had poured out dozens of attacks, Jung Juhyeok had thrown her to the ground with just one strike.

“Your movements got too big for a moment, leaving your torso exposed. You need to be careful.”

And he even verbally pointed out the strike location.

This couldn’t be considered sparring between peers of the same age.

It was like instructional sparring where an instructor teaches a student.

Even from this very brief exchange, it was clear enough.

“…You’re much stronger than me.”

He wasn’t at a similar level to her.

He probably had sufficient ability to enter a B-rank Gate right now.

“Seems that way.”

She was no longer the strongest Hunter among her age group.

*

“Thanks for today.”

“I got to use the training ground to my heart’s content thanks to you, so no need to thank me.”

The two had even trained together after their sparring match.

As the sun was setting, he gradually left the guild to visit his mother at the hospital.

‘I guess because it’s a major guild, the facilities are really good.’

Though he felt sorry for making comparisons, the training ground definitely had better equipment than Mir Guild.

It felt refreshing to train in a good facility for the first time in a while since graduating from the Academy.

“Are you going home now?”

“That’s the plan.”

There was no need to specifically mention he was going to visit his mother at the hospital, so he gave a casual response.

Then Sui took out her cell phone from her pocket and held it out to him.

“Give me your number.”

“My number?”

A number she suddenly wanted to get.

He looked back and forth between the cell phone and her expressionless face before asking.

“Why do you want my number?”

“So we can train together next time too.”

“….”

In the end, even though she couldn’t land a single effective hit during their sparring, she still wanted to spar again?

Of course, he would do the same if he were in her position, but knowing this wasn’t ordinary behavior made it somewhat interesting.

‘It would be good for me if I can use the training facilities here.’

If he ended up sparring with her in the future, he’d be able to use these excellent training facilities again.

Since he had been bored without anyone to spar with, it wasn’t a bad proposal.

“Alright.”

After entering his number into the cell phone and parting ways, Jung Juhyeok left.

Sui stared quietly at her cell phone with his number on it.

[Jung Juhyeok]

A contact entry with his three-character name honestly written and saved.

Excluding family, this was the first number she had saved as a personal relationship.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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