TRPM 459

chapter 459

Lee Dumin approached me in a boxing stance.

However, unlike Eliot, who would rush in immediately to attack, he kept a posture that allowed him to defend at any moment and advanced slowly.

Seeing that, I lightly swung my sword at a speed he could respond to.

“!”

Whoosh!

Lee Dumin pulled one leg back and leaned his body sharply, dodging my sword. Then, with his relatively close arm, he threw a light jab at me.

Thunk.

“Not bad.”

If it had been a normal punch, it might have barely missed my face. But Dumin was wearing gauntlets. If I hadn’t blocked, that punch would have hit my face directly.

It was more of a probing attack, but since he was a superhuman with iron abilities wearing gauntlets, the force was quite strong.

“They said in the superhuman club that if a superhuman doesn’t have the confidence to take down an enemy in one hit, it’s important to endure by accumulating hits on the enemy,” I said.

“Learned well, huh.”

The defining traits of a superhuman are their defense and stamina. In a brawl where both sides accumulate as much damage as possible, superhumans naturally have the advantage.

However…

“No matter how strong a superhuman’s defense and stamina are, if they can’t attack and just take hits, they’re bound to lose, you know?”

I said that as I swung my sword again. This time, the speed was still something Dumin could respond to, but…

Thwack!

“Ugh?!”

He couldn’t respond to my attack this time. The sword came from a blind spot he couldn’t see.

“You can’t be blamed for focusing on the enemy, but your field of vision is too narrow.”

“Wait… what was that just now? The sword suddenly appeared…”

“It didn’t suddenly appear. It was just hidden behind your fist.”

“…Ah.”

Dumin looked at his own arm. He realized that the fist he had extended to probe was blocking part of his field of vision.

“…But that can’t be helped, right?”

“Right. But it happens more often than you think that an awakened person will target blind spots, or that a monster’s attack coincidentally hits one. So it’s good to have a way to compensate for blind spots.”

I can sense all around me with my ki, but for Dumin, a superhuman, that’s impossible.

Wait, how do superhumans detect their surroundings again?

‘…If I remember correctly from before…’

Their enhanced skin can sense changes in temperature and air movement, allowing them to detect nearby surroundings.

…But the superhuman who taught me this was abnormal, so I shouldn’t tell Dumin. I’ll just have him figure it out at the superhuman club he often visits.

“So? When do you use the gauntlets for that technique?”

“Now.”

Dumin said that and put some distance between us. Then…

Bang!

He clashed both of his gauntlets against mine.

“?”

I could see the gauntlets glowing red. There’s no way simple impact could make them that hot…

‘It must be a function built into the gauntlets themselves.’

It wasn’t a “new technique,” per se. He was probably planning to use the heat for something.

“Here I go!”

“Alright, come on. I don’t know what it is, but if you go that far, I’m curious.”

At my words, Dumin charged at me with his heated gauntlets extended forward.

‘Hmm… better dodge than block.’

I had protective gear over my body, so that level of heat wouldn’t harm me, but a regular awakened person would likely try to dodge such an attack. I decided to act as a normal awakened person would, since this was just sparring.

Shiiik…!

‘Shiiik?’

A strange sound came from Dumin’s gauntlets…

Shiiiiiiik…!

Smoke burst forth, obscuring my vision.

‘So that’s another feature of his gauntlets.’

I blocked the incoming gauntlets with my sword.

‘But it won’t work on me.’

The smoke muffled some sounds, but not completely. I could still pinpoint Dumin’s exact location.

“Hm?”

Thunk!

The gauntlets I blocked fell to the floor. That meant Dumin had removed them while I blocked his punch.

‘Why?’

Was it really necessary? As I pondered that and watched Dumin attack through the smoke…

“Ah…”

I understood why he had taken off the gauntlets. His arm had transformed into a sharp sword aimed at my neck.

Cheng!

I parried Dumin’s attack and asked,

“Wow… you enhanced your superpower… you actually did it?”

Superpowers can be enhanced. It’s not widely known, and I’ve never seen it directly, but I’ve heard of cases.

[In some cases, a person’s existing superpower can become stronger.]

Chairman Shin Hanji had said that during winter break at the ski resort. Dumin must have trained since then to strengthen his ability—and he succeeded.

“How is it? Cool, right?”

“Just asking… does it only transform into a sword?”

“No. Anything made of iron can take any shape, but swords or armor are the hardest forms.”

A versatile ability. That must be why he had equipment that emits smoke.

‘The claim that training gear could be destroyed was probably a bluff to hide its real purpose.’

Not bad.

“Huhah!”

While evaluating that internally, Dumin tried to stab me with his sword-transformed arm. I raised my foot and collided it with his torso.

Thunk!

“Ugh?!”

Dumin, moving at full speed, collided with my foot and fell to the ground.

“All good, but using that well will be tough, huh?”

“Ugh…”

Dumin had some sword training, but his arm below the elbow had completely transformed into a sword. Sword techniques designed to be wielded by hand didn’t suit him.

“I know… ugh… I’ll stop here… that hit hard…”

“Really? That painful?”

“When part of your body transforms, it feels like your superhuman abilities don’t work elsewhere…”

Ah… so getting hit in the torso must have really hurt. I carried Dumin, who couldn’t get up, to the stands. One of the other students had come down to the sparring area.

“Looks like the ten are already decided?”

“Yeah! Please take care!”

“Alright.”

After that, I conducted sparring with ten students, pointing out each thing they needed to correct.

After finishing sparring, I had lunch with the remaining students from our class at a nearby tonkatsu restaurant. It was newly opened and had an ongoing event.

However…

“The food is okay, but the portions seem a bit small, right?”

“Yeah. Might be better to just eat tonkatsu at the snack shop near school.”

The kids who came to eat had a negative reaction. Honestly, I felt the same. The event made it cheap, but outside the event, it would be pricier than the school shop. Taste and portions were mediocre.

‘Not that it’s completely tasteless.’

Thinking that, we finished lunch and left the tonkatsu shop.

“Then we’ll head out.”

“Yeah. See you tomorrow.”

The kids going a different way from me parted, leaving only Lee Ha-eun, Elena, and Eliot beside me.

“Let’s head home too.”

“Wait a moment.”

Elena called to us before we could leave.

“Excuse me… could we come to Ha-eun’s house today?”

She seemed to be specifically asking Ha-eun.

“Huh? Why?”

“Nothing much. I just want to relieve some stress from vacation with games.”

“Ah, then me too! I’ll relieve my stress from not sparring with Arthur with games!”

“Eliot can be ignored.”

Right, Elena and Eliot sometimes went to Ha-eun’s house to play games.

“I don’t mind…”

Ha-eun glanced at me. No big reason—she and I had planned training this afternoon.

‘I also want to hear about the Hydra hunt we did during winter break with Chairman Shin Hanji.’

In other words, I already had plans.

“It’s fine. Hearing about it doesn’t have to be during training. And if we’re going to play games anyway, we might as well play as four.”

“Really?!”

Ha-eun looked excited. …Did she dislike training that much? She could have skipped if she didn’t want to.

“I’m not against training; it’s just that she’s happy to play with you, Gunwoo,” Elena explained.

…That makes sense.

“But did I mutter something? How did you read my mind?”

“You just looked bitter, so I noticed.”

Anyway…

“What does hearing from Ha-eun mean?”

“Well… you’ll know while playing games, but to explain…”

I told Elena that Ha-eun had participated in the recent Hydra hunt as we walked toward her house.

About two weeks later, it was the day of the closing ceremony.

Before the ceremony officially began, the students in our class were chatting, realizing that their first year of high school was over.

“When spring break ends, we’re second-years.”

“Being second-years won’t change much, though.”

At most, the classroom changes and one new member joins the class.

“How significant is a classroom change? I might unconsciously go to the old classroom. When I first entered high school, I sometimes went to my middle school classroom without realizing.”

“…I get it, but that’s extreme.”

Lee Dumin muttered in disbelief at Ryu Amin’s comment. I also felt the same disbelief but hadn’t said it. Even so, he went to a different school…

“Luckily, my old middle school was next to our high school, so I wasn’t late.”

“I get it too. During first semester, I stayed in the dorm, then moved to a nearby apartment in the second semester. At first, I accidentally headed toward the dorm too.”

“Ohhh…”

Elena defended Ryu Amin, who looked relieved.

“I think I’ll subconsciously go to this classroom when second-year first semester starts too.”

“Woahhh…!”

Even teacher Son Ji-hye in the classroom chimed in, causing hearts to seem to shoot from Ryu Amin’s eyes toward her.

“…I know you like the teacher, Amin, but it hurts my pride to see such a reaction,” Elena muttered, but no one cared.