I Got an Ex-Class Omnipotent System - Chapter 8

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 8
Episode 8: A Rival? (4)
After the written test concluded.
The individual scores were as follows.
Guminah: 7 points
Yongchan Kim: 5 points
Yesul Park: 6 points
Dohyun: 10 points
Jeongminwoo: 9 points
Total: 37 points
——————
Kwon Eunchai: 5 points
Kim Yunjung: 7 points
Dongwook Park: 3 points
Jiyuchan: 9 points
Han Junseo: 8 points
Total: 32 points
With a five-point difference—a considerable margin—my team managed to secure Team 1 status, though I still wasn’t entirely certain how we’d arrived at this outcome.
“Haha, since Dohyun scored a perfect ten, we were able to win!”
Yongchan Kim’s words left me bewildered.
To be honest, wasn’t our victory more due to Dongwook Park’s significant blunder than my own merit?
“Really! I knew you’d score perfectly, Dohyun!”
I had no idea myself.
“Your eyes looked different during the lecture! You must have studied quite a bit back in school?”
I should avoid mentioning that I graduated from a regional university.
“The last problem was really difficult—how did you solve it?”
Analysis explained it to me.
Watching my teammates’ expectant gazes, I found myself at a loss.
I wondered if I’d stood out too much.
Still, the feeling wasn’t entirely unpleasant.
Their praise wasn’t something to dislike.
As I basked in this not-so-bad feeling.
My teammates began speaking in unison.
“The team leader really is different.”
“Right, right.”
“Who else would be team leader besides Dohyun?”
“I agree.”
“Uh, huh?”
So this was it after all.
Being saddled with the role of team leader?
I’d managed to avoid it throughout university, but I thought I could escape it this time—only to fall into it again!
Now the atmosphere was so ambiguous that even refusing felt awkward, so I scratched my head.
‘Well, being a team leader isn’t necessarily a bad thing.’
There was no burden allocated to the team leader anyway, and there was nothing I had to do, so I’d just let them call on me as they pleased.
Dohyun was thinking along those lines, but the other team members were genuinely looking up to him and learning from him.
‘He seemed like he was slacking off, but he got a perfect score, and in the running earlier he lasted the longest too—impressive. He seems younger than me, but I should learn from him.’
‘So it’s not just about his appearance.’
‘I thought he’d be weaker than me at first, but his stamina is incredible and he got a perfect score on the written test too. Is this what they mean by being skilled in both the literary and martial arts?’
‘I should just follow Dohyun’s example.’
Though it had only been a day, Yongchan Kim saw Dohyun as a younger sibling with much to teach him, Guminah and Yesul Park were amazed by Dohyun’s abilities that defied his appearance, and Jeongminwoo resolved to work hard to become like Dohyun.
After all, they were the same team who would share hardships and joys together for the next month.
There was nothing bad about forming bonds.
Above all, among those who had just awakened, Dohyun’s distinctly superior performance was igniting determination in each of them, while Dohyun himself, unaware of it all, simply thought he was dumping the team leader role on others and moved on.
The team members, each harboring different thoughts, rested briefly after Kim Arum’s lecture before receiving word to gather at the Sparring Hall and headed there.
They felt reassured knowing they would be together with Dohyun this time too.
* * *
Seoul Hunter Training Center.
Jiyuchan was washing his face with cold water at the sink.
Despite washing with ice-cold water filled with winter’s chill, the heat on his face showed no sign of fading.
When Jiyuchan saw his reflection in the mirror—the redness from the heat showing no intention of subsiding—he let out an exasperated sigh.
“Sigh. Why am I being so childish?”
Jiyuchan was well aware that the competitive spirit he was currently indulging in was itself childish.
But why was it?
He couldn’t let it go.
His reflection in the mirror was so striking that it naturally seemed handsome even by objective standards, and with a talent for athletics, Jiyuchan had always been quite good at sports since childhood.
He seemed like someone without a single flaw, yet he was increasingly feeling the pressure to live up to the expectations around him.
The pinnacle of that pressure was his mana awakening.
Because he’d consistently trained in athletics, he was able to record superior physical abilities compared to anyone else, and with fortunate timing, he awakened with considerably high mana levels. The expectations that followed were that he would be the second rising star to surpass Hwang Hana.
Because of that, Jiyuchan’s compulsion to be perfect had shattered from the moment he arrived.
‘From Instructor Hwang Hana to Dohyun.’
At first, it was Hwang Hana.
She pressured him with her mana aura, and unable to overcome it, his compulsion erupted like a seizure, but he forcibly endured it and tried not to show it.
But then Dohyun, who had endured what he himself couldn’t bear without collapsing, started to get under his skin.
‘From the long-distance run to the exam.’
On the very first day, he hadn’t beaten Dohyun in a single thing.
Because of that, Jiyuchan steeled his resolve and thought to himself.
‘The next training will be different.’
Then.
Knock, knock—
“Yuchan, buddy! Everyone’s gathering at the Sparring Hall!”
“…Yes, I’m going.”
The next training was sparring, and I was confident about it.
Since the sports I’d been practicing for so long—boxing and kendo—were familiar ground for sparring, I steeled myself to show a different side this time. With that resolve, I left my room and headed to the Sparring Hall with Dongwook Park, who greeted me warmly.
* * *
And so the trainees gathered in the Sparring Hall.
Even indoors, they could see the ground and facilities looked remarkably sturdy.
Whether it was the floor or the walls, they seemed to be made of some special material—gleaming with polish yet emanating a weighty, solid impression.
A few of them lightly tapped the surfaces with their hands and feet, and beyond the hardness, they felt the robustness and let out admiring gasps.
As they were marveling somewhat, a man who had appeared at the center of the Sparring Hall called out to them.
“Everyone, gather at the center.”
His voice was soft, yet mysteriously it reached everyone’s ears clearly and with weight.
All of them found it remarkable how such a weighty voice pressed into their ears, and they gathered at the center as instructed.
I gathered at the center with curiosity as well, and that’s when Analysis kindly explained it to me.
[Successfully analyzed the application method of Skill 「Pressure [D]」.]
‘So Pressure can be used in this way too?’
It really tells me everything.
In any case, I committed that application method to memory and gathered at the center, where I could see the new instructor.
Unlike the other instructors, he wore training clothes rather than instructor uniforms—a man who looked like everything was a bother. His hair was disheveled, and he looked exactly like one of those idle drifters you’d see one or two of in any neighborhood. But why?
All the trainees felt considerable pressure emanating from him.
Of course, the reason was.
[Skill 「Pressure [D]」 is faintly spreading.]
[Neutralizing Skill 「Pressure [D]」.]
‘Unlike Hwang Hana, he’s not trying to suppress us?’
Observing how he was subtly laying it down around us despite being capable of greater output, I could tell he had a different intention.
Thinking it was probably meant to focus our attention, I looked at the instructor, and Analysis proved its worth once again.
『Gangjihun』
『Trait: Spy [C]』
『Skills』
▶「Short Blade Technique [D]」
▶「Pressure [D]」
▶「Ambush [D]」
▶「Concealment [E]」
▶「Mana Control [E]」
『Stats』
▶「Strength: 49」
▶「Agility: 66」
▶「Stamina: 51」
▶「Mana: 29」
[Successfully analyzed through the effect of Skill 「Sword King’s Intuition [A]」.]
[Acquired 150 AP.]
‘Another C-rank!’
After Choe Phil, Kim Arum—being an ordinary person—hadn’t earned any AP, so I was secretly delighted. Then, suddenly, my vision flooded with red, and crimson text materialized before my eyes.
[Analyzing the threatening attack trajectory.]
A phenomenon I hadn’t witnessed during the tutorial against the Goblin.
I could have panicked, but perhaps thanks to the Sword King’s instinct, I felt a strange certainty that despite the Analysis warning me, there was no real danger.
Simultaneously, as I sensed this intuition and confirmed the attack trajectory displayed by the Analysis, I drew upon my body’s mana in one fluid motion.
In this decelerated world, I too moved at that same slowed pace, yet watching the attack trajectory shown by the Analysis and the red-traced hand of the attacker, I moved my body with maximum effort.
The mana circulating through my body infused me with vitality, and as I gradually accelerated even within this slowed world, I immediately pulled my head back as far as possible from the red trajectory.
A hair’s breadth away from contact.
By the narrowest margin—no thicker than a sheet of paper—I evaded, and the decelerated world snapped back to normal time. A fierce wind pressure swept across my face, disheveling my hair.
Whoooosh——
As the fierce wind pressure dispersed around us, the other trainees reacted belatedly.
“Kyaaaa!”
“What, what is this!?”
“Instructor, instructor!?”
They could see the instructor with his fingertips aimed at me and myself gazing at those fingertips with an indifferent expression.
The movement was so swift that the trainees couldn’t follow the intermediate steps—to them, it appeared as though the instructor had simply teleported.
Even as this unfolded, I didn’t so much as blink, and Gangjihun—the instructor—tilted his head in bewilderment, his expression questioning.
He hadn’t intended to strike; he’d meant to stop just before me. Yet seeing his fingertips positioned slightly farther away than expected, Gangjihun regarded it as strange.
Had his sense dulled?
No, that couldn’t be.
Then…
‘He… dodged?’
His attack?
Since that made even less sense, Gangjihun reached an internal conclusion.
‘It’s been a long time since I’ve been through the Black Gate. My sense must have gotten a bit rusty.’
In any case, thinking thus, he straightened his hand and lightly tapped my forehead before muttering.
“In the Sparring Hall, divided attention is forbidden.”
“Yes, I’ll keep that in mind.”
“…”
He answers well enough.
As Gangjihun turned away from me, I glanced at the message visible only to my eyes and smiled faintly.
Returning to his position, Gangjihun surveyed the other trainees, who were still in shock.
Among them, he noticed Jiyuchan’s eyes trembling violently, but he ignored it and continued speaking.
“I’m Gangjihun, the instructor in charge of sparring education. Though it’s the first day, I find it tedious, so we’ll begin team versus team sparring starting today.”
His voice and tone dripped with ennui, yet the intent behind his words was utterly ruthless.
Having them spar without any prior instruction on sparring—wasn’t that dangerous?
As expected, the female trainees reacted most sensitively.
Kwon Eunchai from Team 2 raised her hand first and spoke.
“Since this is our first time, wouldn’t sparring be dangerous?”
“Even if we get hurt, Choe Phil is here, so it’s fine.”
“…?”
Isn’t that basically saying we’ll get hurt?
While everyone stood dumbfounded at his absurd remark, Gangjihun responded to the trainees with a tone dripping with irritation.
“The Black Gate won’t wait for you to be ready. The Heterogeneous Beings inside it are waiting for you to let your guard down, and the moment you do, they’ll strike and take your life. So are you really going to complain about danger?”
“”….””
Everyone fell silent at Gangjihun’s words.
No counterargument came to mind.
They all knew too well that what he said was the truth.
Perhaps because of this?
One by one, the trainees’ eyes began to gleam with renewed determination.
Gangjihun watched them and thought, as expected, how bothersome this was. He scratched his head, but since he was an instructor after all, he added one more thing.
“I’ll give the winning team one hour of free time.”
Since sparring class ran from 11 AM to 1 PM.
He was essentially giving them half the class period off.
At those words, the trainees’ already burning motivation erupted like pouring gasoline on a raging fire.
“Yes!”
“We’ll do our best!”
“A whole hour?”
“That’s amazing!?”
“I was disappointed we only got 30 minutes before!”
“We’ll definitely give it our all!”
While everyone was excitedly chattering, only Jiyuchan couldn’t take his eyes off Dohyun.
And as if pouring cold water on the excited atmosphere, Jiyuchan spoke to Gangjihun.
“Instructor, I’d like to spar with Trainee Dohyun.”
It was a sudden nomination, but Gangjihun looked at Jiyuchan as if he’d already known it would happen.
Faced with Jiyuchan’s eyes burning with fierce intensity, Gangjihun quietly examined Jiyuchan’s hands and body, thinking to himself.
‘Boxing and kendo training for quite a while, it seems.’
Unlike Dohyun, he didn’t have Analysis, but after living as a Hunter for so long, he could easily discern this much. And the moment Gangjihun turned his gaze toward Dohyun, he felt an inexplicable chill and examined him carefully.
But there was nothing he could deduce.
‘Did this kid really beat Jiyuchan through sheer stamina?’
He couldn’t believe it even seeing it.
How could such a scrawny guy beat Jiyuchan? Puzzled, Gangjihun nodded and answered.
“Very well. The first sparring match will be between Trainee Dohyun from Team 1 and Trainee Jiyuchan from Team 2.”
At Gangjihun’s words, Dohyun stepped forward as if acknowledging, and Jiyuchan likewise moved to face him and prepared for the match.
As the two stepped out from their respective teams to face off, their teammates shouted like madmen.
“Dohyun, win!”
“Dohyun, fighting!”
“I know you’re going to win!”
“Brother, fighting!”
Team 1 cheered with remarkable restraint.
And in stark contrast to Team 1,
“Hehehehe! Knock him flying! Yuchan, my brother!”
“Yuchan oppa, fighting….”
“You can do it….”
“You’ve got this!”
At the sight of Dongwook Park making a loud ruckus with unbridled excitement, the other members of Team 2 cheered for him more timidly, as if embarrassed by his antics.
Though their cheers lacked a certain vigor, both teams nonetheless supported their respective leaders in this way.
Setting aside their teammates’ encouragement, the two faced each other with roughly five meters between them.
Gangjihun observed them both, his expression showing slightly less irritation as he glanced at them and spoke in a murmur.
“Since this is a sparring match, keep it reasonable. Victory goes to whoever admits defeat or loses consciousness.”
One might wonder if losing consciousness counted as keeping it reasonable, but no one raised an objection.
Gangjihun held his hand out between them, then raised it to signal the start of the match.
Whoosh!
As his hand shot upward, Jiyuchan assumed a boxing stance and was about to rush forward with quick footwork when something pale and luminous suddenly burst forth with blinding speed.
“!!!”
In that instant, Jiyuchan’s instincts screamed danger and he tried to jerk his head away, but his opponent, as if already anticipating this, altered trajectory mid-air and struck like a serpent, landing a solid blow to Jiyuchan’s jaw as he desperately tried to evade.
Crack—
With the sound of something breaking, Jiyuchan caught a glimpse of Dohyun’s bewildered face through his dimming vision before his consciousness surrendered to darkness.
Thud—
As the sound of his collapse echoed, consciousness returned to find Jiyuchan sprawled on the ground, Gangjihun’s eyes trembling violently, and Dohyun watching with a somewhat perplexed expression. Then Dohyun asked,
“Does that mean I won?”
“….”
Gangjihun found himself unable to answer.
There was no way around it.
That technique Dohyun had just displayed was the very same surprise attack he had shown Dohyun moments before.
Because of this, rather than answering Dohyun’s question about victory, Gangjihun asked instead,
“H-how did you just do that?”
His voice trembled in a way uncharacteristic of Gangjihun.
Dohyun answered matter-of-factly.
“Huh? I just watched and copied it.”
“…?”
Upon hearing Dohyun’s words, Gangjihun paused to think.
There was a phrase for this situation, he was sure. After a moment of consideration, it came to him, and he looked at Dohyun and spoke.
“You crazy monster bastard.”
“Huh? Me?”
Gangjihun glared at Dohyun with an expression that asked, “Who else would it be?”
Dohyun felt somewhat wronged.

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