Chapter 30

Yuseong never thought this quest could be resolved through ordinary means.

Let’s take Earth as an example.

When children from influential local families or socially upper-class households collectively bully a single student with teacher’s tacit approval, what methods are there to resolve it?

Pleading? Violence? Reporting?

None of those are suitable.

If they were the type to listen to pleading, they wouldn’t have bullied someone steadily for over a year. If he had enough strength to resolve it through violence, he wouldn’t have been bullied in the first place, and when teachers were ignoring the situation, reporting it wouldn’t change anything.

In the end, there was only one method left.

[Spending 1,000 Karma points to bring out Smartphone(D)]

“Just gather evidence and blow it up.”

On Earth he would have exposed it to the media to make it a public issue, but since there was no media here he had to take the second-best option. At first he planned to take his time gathering evidence slowly, but hearing that the king himself would come to the appointment ceremony in three days, he moved up his plans.

He caused a huge incident to make the professors gather, then laid out everything Leon had experienced, subtly inserting words like “king”, “service”, “discrimination”, and “powerful vs weak families” throughout.

This was why the professors felt something off about Yuseong’s speech.

From the start, Yuseong was making a speech aimed not at the professors present but at the king who would see the video.

‘Even when my flesh was torn and bones broken, I endured thinking of repaying my family, His Majesty the King, and the kingdom. But because of what Professor Felix dismissed as “individual matters”, that dream had to be shattered.’

“Well well. Though not intended, coincidentally it was recorded as if a student overflowing with loyalty to His Majesty and the kingdom had their life ruined by an incompetent professor. Of course, you and I know this isn’t the truth, but I wonder what a certain person who will see this in three days will think.”

“……”

“I…”

It was a miracle.

What was miraculous was avoiding Felix’s fist.

Like skipping a video, Felix who had been far away suddenly appeared right in front of him and swung a fist the size of a child’s head, and Yuseong barely managed to dodge that attack with the help of Asura Perception Way.

Bang!

Just the wind pressure made his head spin.

Without a doubt, an attack meant to kill him.

Realizing the gravity of the situation, Yuseong urgently tried to open his mouth but realized surviving took priority over blocking Felix’s second punch.

‘Can’t dodge!’

His stance was already broken from dodging the sudden first attack.

If he dodged the second attack, what little stance he maintained would completely crumble and he would meet death without even being able to scream from the third attack that would follow – he had to block this attack no matter what.

Shadow Moon Style 16. Mountain Strike.

A simple but powerful strike that pours all the body’s strength into a single punch.

While this would have been more than enough against student level opponents, feeling the aftermath of Felix’s attack just now made Yuseong realize this wouldn’t cut it, so he added one more skill.

Mana Enhancement.

A skill that temporarily boosts physical abilities using mana.

Yuseong’s suddenly accelerated fist passed the point where Felix’s punch would reach maximum power and shot forward.

“Kuhk!”

With an impact like being hit by a car, Yuseong was blown backwards.

He tasted iron in his mouth and his whole body ached, but there was no time to rest.

‘A third strike? You crazy bastard! At least give me time to talk!’

He had poured every last drop of strength and mana into blocking Felix’s second punch, yet unbelievably a third punch was coming without pause.

Looking at the fist wrapped in crimson aura like blood, clearly meant to end things for good this time, Yuseong ground his teeth.

‘Damn, I knew he had a bad temper but to suddenly go this far as to try killing a student. Using a retry right to aim for a second chance… no, it’s too early to give up. There must be some way. Something…’

In the slowed time, Yuseong threw another punch.

Felix’s aura-wrapped fist and Yuseong’s blood-stained fist.

Anyone could see who would win, and finally their fists collided.

Clang!

“…What?”

Bewilderment spilled from Felix’s mouth.

His aura-wrapped fist that could pierce steel was blocked by a bare fist of mere flesh and blood without any aura.

‘What is this?’

At this baffling situation that shattered all his common sense, Felix unconsciously raised his head and froze seeing eyes tinged with faint gold. The first opening since the fight began, and Yuseong didn’t miss that moment.

“Even if you kill me now, you cannot resolve this situation. Surely you don’t think what I hold is the only evidence?”

“…What is that thing.”

“It’s a magical tool that can store images and sounds. Not just this meeting, but everything I’ve experienced at the academy is recorded.”

“Everything?”

“Yes. Everything.”

“Impossible. Such a thing cannot exist.”

“You don’t have to believe it. No matter how much you deny it, what exists won’t disappear.”

Mix truth with lies.

Having already confirmed the recent trial was fully recorded, faced with an unfamiliar object and Yuseong’s confident attitude, Felix’s momentum faltered.

“Besides this magical tool in my hand, someone else has another magical tool recording both the recent trial and everything I’ve experienced until now. If I die or disappear, that someone has promised to deliver the magical tool to His Majesty.”

“There’s no way two such magical tools exist, and even if they did there’s no reason to tell me about it. Though you seem to be trying to survive through cheap tricks, you can’t fool me with such shallow thinking.”

“If you think it’s a lie, just kill me. Though it’s a bit regrettable that I won’t get to see what happens in three days.”

“…You damn brat!”

A fist swung at his head along with the curse.

However, Felix’s fist stopped just a paper’s width from his nose.

“If you’re going to kill me, hurry up and do it.”

Grind!

Seeing eyes that didn’t waver even with death right before them, Felix ground his teeth and withdrew his fist. His experience built up dealing with and observing countless people as an elite mercenary told him.

This is real.

The eyes of someone who truly does not fear death.

‘He’s truly convinced he doesn’t mind dying. Does someone really have a magical tool like that?’

Seeing Felix hesitate, Yuseong began hunting like a hunter who had found prey.

“Though my temper wants to just hand this magical tool to His Majesty and make the students who bullied me and professors who ignored me pay the appropriate price… as I said before, I want to negotiate.”

“Negotiate?”

Words he had let in one ear and out the other now looked like a rope dropped from heaven.

“As you can imagine professor, the impact when this magical tool becomes public will be enormous. Everyone involved will have their honor thrown in the gutter and face His Majesty’s wrath.”

“……”

“But in that case, besides satisfaction from revenge, there’s almost nothing I can gain. No, to be precise, I could get some compensation but wouldn’t be able to keep it.”

Seeing Felix’s lips curl up faintly for an instant, Yuseong grinned.

‘He understands perfectly despite my roundabout explanation. He must be catching on now?’

As Yuseong guessed, Felix spoke in a somewhat gentler voice than before.

“…That’s probably true. The families of students involved in this incident certainly won’t stay quiet.”

Even if the king found out about this incident and severely punished those involved, at best it would likely end with just fines and loss of honor. No matter how seriously the king viewed this incident and how angry he became, the number of students involved and their families, plus the professors’ numbers and influence were simply too great.

“They may not be able to move right away due to His Majesty’s attention, but once time passes and His Majesty’s interest fades, the students and families harmed in this incident will seek revenge against you and your family.”

“That’s correct. And that conflicts with my dream of restoring the Bermund martial art and reviving my family.”

“What a troublesome situation. Want to uphold justice but the victims can’t receive proper compensation, yet can’t ignore justice for the victims’ compensation, so it seems…”

“Don’t we need to negotiate?”

As their gazes met, both suddenly grinned without prompting.

* * *

“I’ll be going now. The night air is cold so hurry back to your dormitory and rest.”

“You take care getting back too, professor.”

Watching Felix’s retreating back with light footsteps, Yuseong looked at the red vial in his palm and chuckled. Hard to believe someone who was charging with terrifying killing intent until just now would even give him a potion to take care of his health.

They say the world works in mysterious ways, but he couldn’t help laughing at such an extreme gap.

-I never imagined you would negotiate here.

‘Had no choice. I wasn’t confident I could actually show this video to the king.’

If the king saw the video inside this, he would naturally punish those involved.

That’s right.

IF he sees it.

When a mere academy student tries to privately approach the kingdom’s one and only absolute ruler and thrust an unknown magical tool at him asking him to watch it, what are the chances the king would simply comply?

More likely he wouldn’t even manage to get close due to the guards, let alone show it.

‘Felix must have known too. But the phrase “just in case” exists for a reason, so he didn’t want to risk it.’

If he had shown weakness, who knows how things might have gone, but Yuseong showed he was prepared to die and that made Felix back down.

He made Felix accept that there really could be another magical tool, that he had prepared plans for the truth to come out somehow even if he died, that the disadvantages of venting anger on a mere student would be far too great.

‘Plus if we didn’t negotiate, I couldn’t guarantee what would happen after I left.’

If it was just about reducing or eliminating the bullying, he could have just exposed everything without thinking about the aftermath.

But Yuseong was aiming for an SSS rank clear.

To make up for points lost from using otherworld skills and artifacts, he needed to raise the fate change rate above 100%, and for that he needed to create results beyond perfect.

‘If we collect about 100 gold coins from each student, that’s 8,600 gold coins. No wait, we should collect from all the perpetrators too right? Hey, exactly how many people bullied you until now?’

-I-I think around 200 people?

‘Then that would be about 20,000 gold coins. That should help revive your family right?’

-…Probably so?

‘Plus while we’re negotiating with other professors tomorrow we can casually ask them to pay attention to your grades which will improve your evaluations…’

-I-isn’t that academic dishonesty?

‘What? You don’t like it?’

-…I don’t dislike it.

He couldn’t get his head straight.

Problems that had continued endlessly for the past year, that he thought could never be resolved, were being cleanly resolved in just one day and even his dreams looked likely to come true.

-To think a problem that could be resolved so easily made me suffer so much…

‘Like it was really that easy. Think you could have resolved this alone without me?’

-Ahem.

Yuseong chuckled while making small talk with Leon.

All that remained was putting on the finishing touches.